Stone Cold Revenge, Hugs.And.Kisses [bill gates books recommendations TXT] 📗

Chapter 8 Taken

Shock put down the book of creatures she had been reading and stared out of a hole in the wall. The boys were taking too long. Something felt wrong. She looked down at the strange world. Mist rolled over the roof tops like clouds that had no home in the darkened sky. It reminded her of when she had been trapped between portals. Was this world one of the ones she saw then?

She turned to Elder Gutknecht, "Elder, do you know how portals work?"

"What do you want to know?" Elder asked putting down his quill.

"What would happen if they broke?"

"Are you referring to last year's incident?" Elder said wryly.

"You know about that?" Shock asked surprised.

"The effects of the breaking portal were even felt here. If that one portal had broken, catastrophe would have ensued. Halloween would not be so frightening, Christmas would not be so joyous, Easter eggs wouldn't be colorful, fireworks wouldn't sparkle, and in short the Mortal World would loose nearly everything good and cheerful about it. Without the world celebrating the holidays, the holiday worlds would disappear forever. We should thank our lucky stars that it was fixed it before it was too late."

"Whoa, I just considered myself lucky that I made it out of there alive."

"It was your bond with your friends that saved you."

"What?"

"The bond you share is the strongest that I've ever seen. This is because it was made when you are both alive and dead. So that nothing, not even death can break it. It was enough to withstand a year of separation and strong enough to bring you from the depths of darkness."

"How do you know that?"

"These glasses help me see more than what's in front of me," Elder chuckled, fingering his ancient glasses, "Like that book you where you just reading, a strange creatures golems are don't you think? And to me your friend Kevin looks like he has been previously fallen out a window. Am I right?"

"More like pushed, what else can your magical glasses see?"

"Let's see, Barrel has a small piece of caramel stuck up his nose. Lock's tail twitches slightly every time he looks at you. Finally you yourself are very protective of all three of them, especially Lock."

Shock blushed deeply. Did Lock's tail really twitch when he saw her? Had she raised her voice a little too much when they were leaving? How did Elder know about that piece of caramel? Elder chuckled again and picked up the book he was writing in and descended his large pedestal, shelving it randomly. He started to pick up another one,

"Another thing, y-" Elder promptly dropped the book, causing Shock to jump. Elder stared blankly for a moment. Then she realized he was really staring into his glasses. "Get out."

"What?"

"Get out! Run!" Elder started pushing her to the stairs.

Before Shock knew it there was a loud popping noise and the staircase started filling with green smoke. There were more popping sounds and the rest of the study started to fill with smoke. Shrill cries came from the rafters as crows scattered in panic and plummeted to the ground. Shock couldn't focus, the smoke was foul and choking, and the only thing she felt was Elder gripping her wrist.

"No! Whatever you do don't breathe!" Elder screamed at her.

It was too late; Shock had inhaled too much and was slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing she felt was the grip on her hand being released and something falling down. Before she slipped into darkness she had time for one last thought. What was Lock doing?

Lock was running for his life. Well not exactly. Since he wasn't running for his life, he was running for Shock's. Barrel, Kevin, even Medusa, couldn't keep up with him. They had lost sight of Klondike a long time ago but knew he was headed for Elder's tower. Lock had no problem with directions now; all he could think about was Shock. If a wall almost fell on Barrel what could happen to her?

Before he knew it he was scaling the tower stairs and into the study. What used to be a disorganized study was a scene of chaos. Crows flapped around in a panic, book were strewn across the floor; a bookshelf had been turned over and buried in a mountain of loose papers. Klondike was digging at the overturned shelf and whining. With Barrel and Kevin's help, Lock lifted it up, to find a motionless Elder Gutknecht.

Klondike came over and licked the old skeleton's face. Elder gave a groan and struggled to push the dog away from him. Medusa pulled out Elder and the boys dropped the shelf. They made a chair out of books for Elder to sit in. Lock searched the library frantically but found no trace of Shock. After a minute of groaning, Elder was finally able to talk.

"We were attacked," Elder groaned, "With some sort of gas. My birds couldn't stop that."

"Elder," Lock asked anxiously, "Where is Shock?"

Elder shook his head sadly, "Gone. She's been taken."

If Lock's face could get any paler, it did. Shock? Taken? The words didn't make sense together. Shock was the strongest person he knew. No one could just, take her. It was impossible. Barrel and Kevin didn't get it either. Shock was the one who saved them, not the other way around. They stared at Elder in blank disbelief. Meanwhile Medusa was examining Elder's arm bone closely.

"The gas has absorbed into his bones," Medusa said flatly, "I need to get it out of him before he is reduced to dust. It's going to take a while."

"We don't have a while!" Lock snapped. Then realized what a jerk he just made himself sound. His face fell and he said quietly, "Shock..."

"We get it, Kevin and I want to find her too," Barrel said, "But we have no idea where she is or who did this."

"You're wrong there," Medusa said, she had found an old trunk with herbs and was mixing the treatment for Elder. "There's only one person who could know about this kind of gas. Vincent."

"What would a lab assistant want with Shock?" Kevin questioned.

Medusa shook her head, "I wouldn't know. But something bad is happening and I don't like it. When I told him I was bringing visitors yesterday I didn't tell him who you were. Somehow he knew we would have to leave Shock behind. Vincent chose this gas in particular; it knocks a normal corpse out and poison Elder's fragile bones. Giving him the opportunity to kidnap Shock and delay us at the same time. Whatever he's doing, he just bought himself some time to do it. You have to find him fast. I'll stay here and take care of Elder."

"But we don't know where-" Barrel said.

Barrel was cut of by a loud bark from Klondike. The wolf dog had been sniffing around while they were talking. Now he was pacing in front of the stairs, going down then coming back. Like he wanted them to follow him. The boys looked at each other.

"Well it's worked so far," Kevin said.

"Then we follow the dog," Lock agreed.

"Wait," Elder said, "You must be very careful. If you die in this world then that's it. There are no more stops between here and what truly lies beyond. Either you fly or you fall."

The boys nodded with grim understanding. Without a second thought Lock and Kevin started running after Klondike. Barrel however, hesitated a second. Did Kevin and Lock just agree on something? Things must be serious. Perplexed, Barrel followed his fellow miscreants. Each of them thinking the same thing. Where was Shock?

Chapter 9 Immortality: A Fool's Dream


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Shock was hiding in a closet. Any second now, any second, the sound of footsteps were coming closer. This was it! The footsteps slowed to a stop outside the closet. Slowly the closet door creaked open. Shock screamed and jumped out of the shadows. Her mother jumped back in fright.

"Ha ha! Shock strikes again!" Shock proclaimed proudly to her still stunned mother.

"Samantha how many times have I told you not to do that to me?" Her mother said, little breathless.

"Sorry, I thought you where dad," Shock said innocently.

"That's what you always say," her mother said, irritated, "Why don't you go to your room and play with your dolls like a good little girl?"

"Booooring," Shock said, "I'll be in the backyard!"

"Don't get your costume dirty!" Shock's mother called after her witch clad kid as she flew down the hallway and into their backyard.

Shock liked playing outside, mostly because her mom didn't. She would find little inch worms and caterpillars and put them in a line to march in. Her mom would see them and squeal while her dad would applaud her. Today Shock busied herself with some rocks and gravel next to the back porch. While she was looking at a rock that reminded her of a piece of peppermint she got a brilliant idea. When her mom wasn't looking she sneaked into the house to the front door. There sat the bowl of brightly wrapped candy for the trick-or-treaters, unguarded. Shock carefully picked up the bowl and headed outside. This was going to be tasty.

Later…

"Trick-or-treat!" The first trick-or-treaters said on the front porch.

Shock's mother reached over and picked up some of the candy and noticed something wrong. The candy weighed differently. She dropped all but one of them and opened it. It was a rock. After fishing some change from her purse to give to the trick-or-treaters. She came upstairs to confront her daughter. Who was in the bathroom bent over the toilet.

"Samantha Shelton did you eat all the candy?" Her mother asked angrily.

Shock threw up in response. Her mother opened the bathroom window and lit a scented candle. Once Shock was done barfing her mother started scolding her. Most of it was about how stealing was wrong and how much trouble she was in and so on. Shock, even though she was mad she got caught, didn't feel good enough to fight. So she just sat there as her mother read her the riot act. Until her mom got to the part about being like a regular girl. Shock hated when her mom brought this up. How her mom went on and on about how normal girls draw flowers and play with dolls while she played with bugs and drew little monsters.

"Well maybe I'm not normal!" Shock finally shouted.