The people who came to DarkCorner Land, wanted to go to a place that was unknown, so they could be free, and feel safe from dangerous oppressors. But the problem with a dark corner, is it’s also a great place for evil to thrive, hidden from the rest of the world. The people of DarkCorner Land, kids like Cade, Blake, and Drew, are constantly haunted by dark spirits. Kids always have to lock their windows at night, so they don’t get dragged away by dark spirits, who might take them to the aliens. But it’s not physical power that the dark spirits have, it’s spiritual. They have an ability to give kids dark dreams that can make them believe they are failures or losers, and must do dramatic and crazy things to overcome that and become successful. This is how they can come down with deadly dark illnesses, created by the aliens. You have to watch every shadow, stay away from every dark corner, and don’t get lost in the mists. Who are they? Where did they come from? No one really knows, yet…
The alien threat is growing throughout the kingdoms. The dark spirits are gaining power in the schools. Students are struggling more and more, and that’s why Cade is determined to stop whatever sinister plan the aliens have for a school in Dayascade. Find out what happens in the book called:
MYSTERY OF THE COLDOR CRYING GHOST
It’s going to be a mystery like you’ve never seen before. We will continue looking at the kids who might be the ghost, the one secretly working with the dark spirits on a sinister plan. They will be presented in alphabetical order by first name. Check out the clues and see if you can figure out who it is.
They call him the dancer in the dark. The students hear fast, rhythmic tapping of shoes on stage in the chilling dark. They hear bright, energetic dancing from the distance. As they creep up the dark, silent rows of the auditorium, they begin to see a shadowy figure dancing on stage, appearing and disappearing into various stretching shadows. He moves in a flash. He slides backward, flips, jumps incredibly high, shows up in one spot, disappears, then somehow shows up all the way across the stage. Thing is, this legend does not just exist in one kingdom, in one school, but in several schools across DarkCorner Land. But when they get too close, the dancer disappears into the shadows, leaving without a trace.
Cameron Darshia is a colourful, kind of odd kid. He has slightly long, dark hair shooting out in the back and calm, quiet eyes. Cameron is always moving, tapping his feet, rocking, jumping, running. His friends say you never see Cameron still, he’s always on the move. He talks quietly and smooth, only saying what he needs to say, short and to the point, always trying to move forward…
Cameron is from the Kingdom of Camden Saze, City of Cadensiah. You can find it on the map if you click on the page called DARKCORNER LAND. It’s a kingdom just north up the river from Cashes Dade. It’s considered a mid-level kingdom in DarkCorner Land. They’re known for their unique blue and purple lights, waterfalls, and all the really cool lights, lamps, and stringed curtains they produce.
Here’s one hint about Cameron. He dreams about going on a great journey, disappearing into the great unknown. The clues are there, see if you can figure it out. Leave a comment below if you think you know what it is. Do you know? Do you think he’s the ghost?
It’s time for the next mystery challenge. We’ll head back out to Cashes Dade and join Josiah, Casey, and the ghost strikers for the story about the fort at Ghost Peak which is now under siege. Josiah is looking for his dad’s final message to him. There is a secret power in this mountain that can be used to defend the fort against the aliens, making it too strong for them to destroy. The clues will be there. The four lines that Josiah’s dad told him about the mountain are the main clues. Is it a stone? Is it a jewel? Is it a mineral? What do you think? This is what he told him:
“You will find my final message at Ghost Peak
There is a mysterious power the aliens seek
Look closely and wait to see the pieces appear by light
Then you can solve the puzzle to hold the fort at night”
If you haven’t read chapter one, go back and check it out. Leave a comment below if you think you know the answer. Can you solve the mystery?
Josiah’s bright eyes shot back and forth between the two crowds of dark ghosts pressing in on both sides.
“I have a shooter and some powder,” he said, turning to Cade, Blake, and Drew. “I’ll blast an opening, we can fly through.” Blake gazed at the piles of large dusty rocks lining each wall. Dark gold lights flickered in a slow rhythm, barely cutting into the tunnel’s center.
“I have a better idea,” he said. “Blast them, then we cut through the rocks.” The ghosts waited on both sides.
Cade nodded. “We’ll lose them.” Josiah pulled out his small cylinder shooter. “Me and Blake left, you and Drew right.” He struck a match. He pointed it ahead, then spun around, shooting out a narrow blue fire into the ghosts. The kids split off. Dark gold lights raced by. Several ghosts reached for Josiah.
He blazed past. A ghost cut right in front of Drew. He slid to a stop. He looked around frantically.
Ghosts fell into the narrow space ahead of Cade and Blake. Blake jumped from rock to rock, flying past the reaching ghosts. As he jumped over another one, it just caught his left shoe. He tripped.
Cade jumped over a rock. He slid between two others. Several ghosts rushed in on him. He started up. They reached for him. A cool rush struck them as he dove down. Then Cade sped past the rocks, into the wider tunnel ahead. Three more ghosts suddenly popped up directly ahead.
Drew stared at them with fiery intensity. He backed up. Then he stumbled back, slid down, wildly grabbing at the rocks. The ghosts rushed in on him. With a crazed yell that shook the hall, he exploded out, throwing several smooth, oval shaped stones directly at them.
The ghosts fell back as Drew sped past.
Blake put his hands out. He landed on the next rock on all fours. The ghosts moved in. Then with a kick he knocked one back, launching over another, before scrambling ahead.
Blake and Drew hurried ahead, catching up to Josiah before disappearing into another tunnel just ahead of Cade.
Cade gazed up the left gloomy wall, then the right wall dimly lit by a few wide-spaced dark gold candle clusters. Then he stared directly at the ghosts, and slowly broke a wry smile. He started straight ahead, faked left, faked right, then went hard and fast diagonally to the left.
The three ghosts moved toward him. He got down low, prepared to dive. The ghosts closed in. Then Cade shot off to the right while they slid left. With a bright smile, he raced ahead down the curving tunnel before disappearing into a dark opening.
Loud booms started rocking the narrow, dark tunnel, in a constant series, one after another after another. Josiah gazed up anxiously, shielding his eyes from the falling dust.
“They’re really going after us,” Drew said in a low voice. Blake and Cade just nodded. The kids hurried down the tunnel winding back and forth, sloping down. Dead whistles echoed out behind them.
“Go, go,” Cade urged. Dim, dark gold light slowly spilled into the widening tunnel. As the heavy barrage continued, the kids jogged ahead into a cavern, with candle clusters lining the curved walls to the left and right. Blake stopped and gazed back down the tunnel.
A slow chilling rush came through, entering the cavern. “They’re after us, they’re after us.”
“They’re in the right tunnel,” said Josiah, jogging toward the dim, blue flashing tunnel entrance on the right wall ahead. He whistled three short, fast notes into the tunnel. Cade gazed into the center entrance leading into a wide tunnel. Dark shadows curving sharply to the left and down flickered to the rhythm of the overpowering booms.
Blake pushed past flickering dark mist entering the cavern running over to the far left entrance leading to a narrow, slick dark tunnel with steps leading up high. Clanging sounds echoed in the right tunnel. The blue lights quickly receded.
“We have to go in one of these,” Josiah said, talking fast, pointing to the two tunnels further left. Cade gazed deeply into the center tunnel, the dark flickering wall curving sharply to the right and up. “They both lead out.”
“They’ll be in here any second,” said Blake, as cool winds pushed past him from the right. “Let’s just take the left one.”
“Either way they’ll chase us out there,” said Cade. “We need to get them lost.” He took another long gaze into the center tunnel, then spinning back he said, “This one. They’ll get turned around in this one.”
The other kids gathered next to him, looking in.
“Looks good to me,” said Blake. “Let’s go.”
“Not yet,” answered Cade.
“Not yet?” asked Drew. Blake held his arms out wide.
“Let them catch up.”
“It’s not a game,” said Josiah.
“It’s cool,” said Drew, “he does this all the time.”
“He has a good reason, right Cade?” He stared up at the shifting shadows up high with every strike. “CADE?”
“Oh yeah, there’s a reason.” Dark spirits entered the cavern.
“Now would be a good time…”
“We lead them in here, lose them, follow me,” said Cade, before shooting off into the dark tunnel heading right. The other three followed close. Strong booms rained down over them. Blake glanced back. Dark ghosts chased after them.
“How we losing them?” asked Blake.
“Just keep going right,” said Cade. “We’ll disappear soon.”
“How?”
“In the shifting mists.” Dim blue light appeared ahead. Cool winds rushed past them. Dark, flickering mists fell over them moving left like massive curtains falling down. Blake glanced back. All he saw was empty dark space. Small intense flashing lights appeared in a narrow high opening far ahead in the distance.
The kids jogged up the long rocky slope. Drew flinched with every striking boom. The others just stared ahead with grim expressions. After awhile, they began to hear faint singing cutting through the relentless rocking. Callie’s sweet, steady voice rang clear.
She sang a slow rhythmic song with a slow rising melody, her strong, peaceful notes reaching out, reaching higher, reaching through the alien storm. Drew stopped flinching. The kids listened to Callie’s song as the booming grew distant.
Brilliant lights flashed at various points in the narrow dark opening. The kids stopped at the exit. They got down low behind a large rock. Blazing blue alien ships flew fast across the sky in wild loops. Some dropped fire balls. Others shot down blazing blue fires.
Several ships dropped down like vultures. Josiah gazed up at the square blackstone fort top, a short distance slightly up slope to their left. David remained standing still, leaning over the front edge of the balcony. The DadeStar flag lit by fast flashing dark orange lanterns remained completely still.
Three lines of intense flashing blue fires rained down across the upper left slopes. David gently waved a red light in his left hand. Soldiers appeared from under the neon blue glowing Sunday Evergreens. They fired out dark orange cannon fires up at the lower ships. Explosions in the sky pushed them back. Several more dropped down low over the slope above.
A small series of cannonfire shot out at them. Casey Cardade flew straight across the slope in the opposite direction of the firings. The alien ships drew back. One drifted to the left. Casey dove down behind several rocks. More dark orange cannon fire shot out driving the ship back. Slim, dark shadows fell away fast down the slope.
An alien ship flashing in brilliant white and gold lights dropped down suddenly from the sky to the rocks. It dropped a fire bomb. The rocks exploded in a bright flash. Josiah watched with a grave expression.
“What if they got him?” he asked.
“No way,” said Blake. Cade gazed around at the lower slope. A slim shadow blazed down slope, disappearing into a cluster of large stones. Cade just smiled and shook his head. He turned his gaze back up to the fort top. David stood still, now with both hands on the balcony edge, staring out across the lower mountain.
In a sonic rush, all the ships shot off in various directions, leaving the night sky empty. A chilling silence fell over them as they emerged from the tunnel to check out the damage.
Later that night, Cade, Blake, Drew, Josiah, and Casey met with David and Callie in a secret meeting room near the top of Ghost Peak. After having snacks at a round table, dimly lit by a bright gold candle cluster at the table center, and dark orange lanterns hanging from the blackstone wall of the room.
The room was embedded into the mountainside with a large, rectangular dark blue glass window looking out over the lower mountains in a blurry, misty dark blue haze under the black night sky.
David, with a mildly athletic build, sat at the left corner facing the window. Blurry moonlight lit up his short brown hair and strong, chiseled face. Callie’s bright face lit up in pure shine, with the light glittering through her dark, curly hair as she sat next to him. Casey and Josiah sat to their right looking directly out the window, while Cade, Blake, and Drew sat with their backs to the window.
“How did we hold up?” asked Josiah.
“They knocked out two of our five key stores,” said David. “Three soldiers were seriously hurt. We have a lot to rebuild tomorrow. We’re running out of time. If we can’t get the tunnel back to Cashes Dade completed where we can send in more food and supplies before we run out, we’ll lose the fort. By the way, you guys did a good job keeping the ghosts from finding the mines.”
Josiah stared at David questioningly for a long moment, then said, “That’s not all is it?” David turned his strong gaze out the window for a moment, looking at the dark ripples flowing across the night sky over the dreamy waves of mountain peaks below.
“We’re losing support,” he said quietly. He met Callie’s concerned gaze for a moment before turning back to Josiah. “The people are losing hope that we can hold this fort, and some don’t believe it’s worth holding at all.”
“You think they’ll attack again soon?” asked Josiah.
“I believe so,” answered David. “They’ve been trying to find our weak points, trying to figure out how our fort is laid out through the mountain. I think tomorrow night they’ll come back, and hammer us.”
“That’s why we’re here,” said Cade. He downed his third cup of red juice before adding, “There’s a secret power.”
“I don’t know about that,” David answered, “the aliens seem to believe we’re holding this fort to protect some kind of gold minerals that can form intense weapons, possibly strong enough to overcome the power holding the new Cashes Dade at the mountain top.”
“My dad knew the mountains better than anyone,” Josiah answered quietly. “If he believes there’s something powerful here, there is.”
“What’s this gold mineral?” asked Blake, leaning far back in his chair.
“It glitters like stars in the distance,” David answered, “then when you get closer they move away. It’s difficult to find their exact location.”
“Tomorrow we’ll explore the mountain,” said Cade. “We’ll find whatever it is.”
“What do you know about this mountain?” asked Blake, grabbing the table suddenly as his chair almost fell back.
“From bottom to top there are five key locations,” said Callie. “There are the deep pools that reveal a lot in reflections. Then the narrow tunnels with the glass walls cut through above that. Higher are the deep water channels that rise and fall, changing the shapes of the stones and minerals. After that are the high shelves and then toward the top the high steps.”
“Sounds like we have a lot of ground to cover,” said Drew.
“Take it one step at a time,” said David, “and take your time. Look at each stone, jewel, or mineral really close.”
“Doesn’t sound like we’ll have much time,” said Cade, tapping his shoes rapidly on the dusty ground.
“Don’t rush it,” said David, “or you’ll never find it. If I were you, I would spend time with the miners. They know this mountain better than anyone.” Josiah’s eyes lit up. Blake’s chair came crashing down, almost launching him onto the table. Cade just shook his head with a sideways smile.
Later the next morning, Cade, Blake, Drew, and Josiah crept into the massive caverns inside the base of the mountain. Creamy blue lights streamed through various tall, narrow openings in the outer walls cutting down into the murky darkness.
A long row of large, rectangular pools appeared up and down the cavern. Small blue and white speckled dusty rocks crunched under their feet. Drew picked up one and tossed it into a dark blue pool. The small ripples died out fast.
Blake gazed up the empty high blackstone wall. Josiah suddenly jogged up between two pools. He started singing a low, moderately paced song.
“Do you think there are any stones or jewels in these pools?” asked Drew.
“Only one way to find out,” said Cade. Josiah spun around sharply after hearing a loud splash.
“Are you crazy?” asked Blake.
“Aaaaaoooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrr.” Cade gasped for air, struggling back to the pool’s edge.
“What’s his problem?” asked Drew.
“It’s March. It’s freezing in there,” said Blake. Cade struggled out of the pool, and sat on the rough ground shivering uncontrollably. Blake just shook his head. Josiah hurried over with a pile of slim, dark arrow shaped stones. He lit a match, then placed it gently on the pile.
“You think those will start on fire?” asked Blake.
“Not on fire,” said Josiah, “but they’ll smoke.” Blue lights flickered around them. Strong winds rushed down through the openings. A sharp chill crossed over their feet.
“Dark spirits,” Drew whispered.
“They’re in here somewhere,” said Blake. The kids looked around the empty, whistling cavern. Dark shadows flickered in several upper tunnel entrances. “We better go after them.”
“I’ll stay here with Cade,” said Josiah as the smoke started up. “You guys check it out and we’ll catch up.” Drew picked up one of the slim, dark arrow shaped stones and tossed it far into the next pool. Small ripples slowly expanded, more and more until forming small waves. In the center the water turned blood red.
“Woah, look at that,” said Drew pointing. The kids stared with intense curiosity at the red lit water. “Maybe these stones have the power.”
“We already use them,” said Josiah, “but we can study them more later.”
“What were you thinking?” asked Blake, looking down at Cade huddled by the smoke.
Pale, empty ghostly faces reflected across the dark glass wall in the narrow tunnel. Blake and Drew crept along the narrow tunnel. Three bright, sparkling torch lights quickly passed by a crossing just ahead.
“It’s on now,” Blake whispered with eyes lit. The kids jogged ahead. Flat, octagon shaped gray stones crunched under their shoes. They got down low at the corner. They peered down the long narrow tunnel. Dark figures reflected in the shimmering blue wall.
Drew turned to Blake flashing a wild eyed expression that startled him. Whispers shot back and forth ahead. The kids crept up the tunnel. A few black rough, gravelly stones poked out among the dusty ground. Empty ghost faces appeared momentarily in the wall.
The kids stopped when they saw the dark spirits huddled. They listened intently to the whispers.
“Will this work?”
“They’ll be convinced.”
“All of them?”
“Enough of them will believe what they’re seeing, and the leader of the fort will be forced to give it up.”
A great opportunity is upon you. A chance to become a great star is near. A new, grand play will begin in the Kingdom of Dayascade, City of Dayas Caradames in the elite Lincon Bereen School. Every student of every kingdom is invited to try their talents. Auditions will begin on Monday morning, 9:00, on April 25th in the auditorium. This will be an outstanding show displaying the greatness of our top, elite students who reflect the prestige and power of your supreme leaders. Prominent citizens from all the kingdoms will be invited to attend this great event that will be remembered forever. Only the best and brightest students can earn the highest parts in this play. It will take intelligence and hard work. The rewards for high performance in this play will be great, leading to the ranking of WhiteStar and positions in our grand city of Arapreshday with all kinds of great rewards. This is your chance. There is a secret opportunity found only on stage. Only the best will find it. The cancer is growing, but the chance to defeat the heart of the cancer, the rebel students trying to interfere with our elite plans, is near. We will meet them soon, and you could be the one to bring them down. Do you have what it takes?
The DadeStar Revolution continues. Cade, Blake, and Drew have re-established the Kingdom of Cashes Dade, but the aliens’ power is growing stronger throughout the rest of the kingdoms. The students who think differently, who act different, are in grave danger. There is a chilling darkness growing through all the schools. The Cashes Dade Ghost Strikers are looking for the next opportunity, which will come in the form of a mysterious invitation. Find out what will happen in their next adventure in the next book called:
MYSTERY OF THE COLDOR CRYING GHOST
It’s going to be a mystery like you’ve never seen before. But first, we will continue looking at the kids who might be the ghost, the one secretly working with the dark spirits on a sinister plan. They will be presented in alphabetical order by first name. Check out the clues and see if you can figure out who it is.
It’s difficult to be a student in DarkCorner Land. The aliens run the schools, and they are strict. You have to sit still for long hours. You’re not allowed to learn or study in your own way. You have to learn by listening and taking notes, but in their exact order. You’re not allowed to draw pictures. Every test you have questions that you have to answer in the way they want you to. They also give out a ton of schoolwork every day. Usually it takes at least six hours after school to get it all done. How much schoolwork do you get? Is it a lot? Does it feel like way too much? Leave a comment below. Don’t worry, none of your comments will be shown to your teachers! Becoming top ranked, called WhiteStar, is really hard, mainly because of the massive amounts of work you have to be able to keep up with and get top grades on all of it. Cade, Blake, and Drew always struggled to get it all done, usually because they got distracted doing other things like reading books about planets, playing soccer, or even just exploring (wandering) for hours. But there’s a deeper, more mysterious reason why they couldn’t get it done, and it’s that very reason that makes the aliens nervous…
Cade Camorer is a relatively strong, fast kid. He has short, rough dark hair and dark, intense eyes. The first thing you notice about Cade is his intensity. His friends say he can burn holes through his competition, and they say you can feel his intensity like waves rolling through you. He talks remarkably fast, and boldly, usually going overboard trying to be convincing of his next great idea…
Cade is from the Kingdom of Masondom, City of Lunas Everias. You can find it on the map if you click on the page called DARKCORNER LAND. It’s a kingdom in the center, far to the east and slightly south of Cashes Dade. You can get there by rivers, mainly by the massive center spiraling river. It’s considered a mid-level kingdom in DarkCorner Land. They’re known for their mesas, unique races, and variety of crops they produce on their farms and ranches.
Here’s one hint about Cade. He always wants to be first, more than anything, to get out ahead of everyone else. The clues are there, see if you can figure it out. Leave a comment below if you think you know what it is. Do you know? Do you think he’s the ghost?
“My name is Josiah Mardade. Maybe you haven’t seen me, because I’m too fast and I never stop. But you’ve probably heard me singing; on your way to school, on your way to your job, in your kitchen, past your window, well, I don’t go right by your window, unless you’re on the side of a mountain, but then again, well never mind. Maybe you haven’t heard of me, but you’ve probably heard about my dad, Todd Mardade.”
“You’ve probably seen his face on the shirts we made that say Revolution in blood red. He had long, scraggly hair and a rough face. He had a quick temper, but he wouldn’t stay mad that long, then he would go back to being really calm and quiet. In the picture there’s a dark shadow across his face, because he liked working in the dark.”
“Everyone knows his last words, when they made their final decision to destroy the alien lights making so many sick, when he turned to the others and said, ‘Let’s roll.’ But it turns out that wasn’t his true final message.”
“I’ll never forget the last morning I saw my dad, because I knew it was the last time I would see him. How? I could see it in his face. He told me about the mission. He told me they had to stand up to the aliens. He said the seven of them talked it over and believed they had no other choice. Too many kids were getting sick. But really, I could just tell by his face.”
“He took me out to our balcony. He said we needed to talk. My dad didn’t talk that much. I think he told me more in that hour than he had all my life! He told me if he became a ghost, he would be in the mountains. So I go to the mountains a lot. I climb like he did, just straight up. We blaze trails for real.”
“He told me never to stop singing, so I sing all the time. He told me not to let the aliens put out my light, so I sing really loud. But he said there was one more message he had for me, but couldn’t tell me yet. I don’t know why he couldn’t tell me right then. He said I would have to find Ghost Peak and there I would find his message, his final message.”
“When I help out in the mines, I work really hard, and people ask me why I work so hard all the time. My dad used to work in the mines, and he worked really hard, like endlessly, he never stopped. He was relentless. So when I work like that, it makes me feel like him, and it feels like he’s close.”
“I still remember what he told me about Ghost Peak. He said there’s a mystery about that mountain, a mystery we need to solve before the aliens do. This was before the aliens destroyed our country completely, before we started to rebuild Cashes Dade on the mountain peak, and before I found Ghost Peak, and the fort that stands there. But the aliens found it too, and they’re trying to destroy it so they can find the secret power. Right now, we are the only country fighting them. We don’t have much power. What if they find a way to overpower us completely? Cade Mayson thinks they will do something terrible to us. He thinks they will ruin who we are. So we need to solve the mystery. This is what my dad told me about Ghost Peak:
“You will find my final message at Ghost Peak
There is a mysterious power the aliens seek
Look closely and wait to see the pieces appear by light
Then you can solve the puzzle to hold the fort at night”
“I wondered for awhile why my dad didn’t tell me his final message right then, but now I know why. He knew I would need many messages as I grow up and for the rest of my life, but he wouldn’t be there to give them. He knew he needed to leave one that I would seek, that I would find at the right time. If I would have known how much I would miss his voice, I would have listened to him talk every chance I got. I went to Ghost Peak to hear my dad one last time. But I didn’t get to hear his voice. As usual, it wasn’t something he said, it was what he did.”
It’s time for the next mystery challenge. We’ll head out to Cashes Dade and join Josiah, Casey, and the ghost strikers for the story about the fort at Ghost Peak which is now under siege. Josiah is looking for his dad’s final message to him. There is a secret power in this mountain that can be used to defend the fort against the aliens, making it too strong for them to destroy. The clues will be there. The four lines that Josiah’s dad told him about the mountain are the main clues. Is it a stone? Is it a jewel? Is it a mineral? Leave a comment below if you think you know the answer. Can you solve the mystery?
The blue tinted crescent moon appeared momentarily. Sleek, arrow shaped dark clouds passed over. A blurry image appeared as a sharp, triangular blue alien craft appeared. It hovered silently between two tall, jagged peaks. The massively wide, five mile high mountain called Ghost Peak glowed soft blue in the silent night.
Young, bright energetic singing cut the silence. It flew straight up the slope, flying through the lower forest of sleek, tall triangular shaped Sunday Evergreens glowing neon blue. The fast, tall 13-year-old blazed up the slope, singing out in rapidly changing melodies. Bright blue light lit up his short, blonde hair flopping slightly to the side, with some strands falling low to his bright, energetic eyes.
His fast-paced dancing song grew quieter as he entered the open fields. He ran low to the ground, charging fast up the slick grass.
From low in the shadows at the tunnel’s entrance, Cade gazed with a calm intensity up at the top front balcony of the small, square fort made of rough, oval shaped black stones, lit up under dim blue moonlight. Barely lit by a row of dark orange lanterns was the DadeStar Flag. David Mayer stood to the left. His dark silhouette didn’t move in the strong winds. Callie Mayer stood to the right.
“It’s about to start,” Cade whispered, turning to see Drew one inch in front of him. “They’re…” Cade jumped back. He just shook his head. Drew glanced around confused. “They’re in position. See any ghosts yet?”
Blake bounced from the large slanted stone just up the slope behind them.
“Not yet,” he answered calmly. The alien ship lit up in bright flashing white lights. They flashed in a random, frenetic pattern. Cade glanced up at the fort top. David remained still. The DadeStar flag remained still in the passing winds pressing against the steep blue shimmering mountain slope. The alien light grew brighter, slowly into a pale gold sphere between the mountains.
Just then, two ships streaked across the sky, one left, and one right. Three more distant ships like glowing blue triangles appeared in the blaze. A fiery blaze shot out from within the lights. It struck the bottom slope, lighting up the neon blue glowing trees called Sunday Evergreens. The kids fell back in a sonic rush.
Drew caught a glimpse of two ships flying past high overhead. Fire balls appeared all across the sky.
“Get back, get back,” said Blake, waving them back under the tunnel. Cade intensely watched the dark blue crashing sky. Strong booming rushes shot across the sky in multiple directions. Fiery blue streaks appeared for a moment. Blake and Drew peered over the edge of a rock. Fires rained down all down the steep rocky slope below down to the slick, empty green fields.
Blue rays shot down at a lower fort wall built with the oval shaped rough black stones. The entire wall crumbled to the ground.A heavy boom rocked behind them. Cade looked back at the fort top. The DadeStar flag remained completely still, held by a pile of the oval shaped rough black stones within the long, arched shadow of the front gate. David’s silhouette remained unmoved. A bright cluster of lights appeared in the sky beyond the two peaks, over the distant lower rounded peaks. Several more rays of blue light shot down and struck lower parts of the fort.
Soldiers rushed out from behind the broken walls. Two more heavy booms from the other side rocked the mountain. David raised his arms out wide, holding two dim blue candle lights. Jagged blue lights glowed within the long, arched shadow. Soldiers got down low and took positions. Alien ships flew around in the fast-moving sky.
Quiet, energetic singing cut through the crashing booms. The youthful echoes of various sounds blended more and more as it headed straight for them.
“It’s him,” Blake whispered. “Be ready.” A bright flash like a closing curtain across the sky lit up Josiah as he slid to a stop in front of Blake, Drew, and Cade.
“They’re heading for the breached fort,” he said, talking fast. The kids looked over to the soldiers. They fired several small cannons shooting out dark orange fires up into the clouds. Several ships fell back, their lights flashing in a circular rhythm.
“There’s a smaller group moving up this way. I think they’ll enter any opening they see. We need to lead them here.”
“We’ll light this up,” said Blake, “make it look like an alien strike.”
“Then we fake them out, draw them away from the miners,” said Drew. Several more explosions rocked the mountain side. Large rocks cascaded down the steep slope on their right. The kids got down low behind a small rock cluster just inside the tunnel.
Blake gazed up at the sky. Alien ships flew around like fireflies. Fires rained down. Heavy booms shook the mountain, one after another, in a relentless assault. Josiah looked over at the fort top. David remained still, standing strong, lit up by the fiery lights falling around him. Callie turned and walked to the back corner of the balcony. She gazed down below, her back to the falling fires.
Blake watched the lower rocky slope intently. “I don’t see them yet.”
“You will soon, got your match ready?” asked Josiah. Blake nodded. A calm, steady angelic voice began singing in the distance. She sang a melody slowly rising, gently falling, but holding out.
“It’s Callie,” Cade answered. Her voice had a mysterious strength. Her song played out clear even among the constant booms and chaotic lights. “She’s singing to the kids.” Dark shadows pushed up through the large stones below.
“It’s them,” Drew whispered.
“Showtime,” said Cade with eyes lit. Blake lit the match, then tossed it in a nearby pile. A small bright flash lit up the tunnel entrance. The four kids jogged inside. Heavy, chilling darkness fell over them. Josiah lit a dim, blue candle. They rushed further inside.
The wide tunnel sloped sharply to the left and down. Booms rocked the deep mountain hall.
“Right here, right here,” said Josiah. “Okay, grab a tool and start working. Blake, you know what to do?”
“Yeah, when I see them I’ll yell out really loud, THEY’RE HERE!”
“No,” Josiah answered with a thin smile, “tap the wall three times when they’re after us.” The kids pretended to work. Strong booms echoed through the tunnels. Dust fell on them in the dark. Cade tapped his shovel in a crazed pattern. Blake struck the hard stone wall in a steady, fast rhythm. A strong chill overtook them.
The air moved. Cade heard the clanging three times. Josiah’s light flickered out. Cade struck a match. Dark figures appeared in the dim gold light moving in on them fast. The kids took off down the slope. An overpowering boom struck just overhead.
They sprinted down the slope falling away to the right. Cade glanced back. Dark spirits rounded the corner. Josiah whistled out three fast, short notes. The tunnel split left and right. Cade led them slowly right, then shot fast to the left. The tunnel swerved back and forth. Dark orange lantern lights spaced far apart began to appear on both sides of the wide, winding tunnel.
The slope turned steep going up. Even dark shadows passed by their sides. Dark orange lights blurred by. A series of heavy booms rocked them. The ghosts closed in.
“Go, go, go,” Cade urged.
“We need to lose them,” said Blake. The tunnel slope evened out. Dark orange lights streaked past. Josiah let out three longer, drawn out whistling notes. Chilling winds rushed past them. Bright orange lights flickered far ahead. Winds started pulling them back.
The kids leaned forward, sprinting faster. Drew glanced back. Dark spirits came sharply into focus.
“They’re gaining on us,” he said anxiously. Cade glanced back.
“Be ready, follow me,” said Cade. Dark orange lights blended together on both sides. The lights flashed out ahead in a steady rhythm. Cade slowly drifted to the right. He ran an inch from the right wall. He glanced back and waved the other three over. “Almost there,” he said.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Blake urged strongly. Drew glanced back. Dark spirits reached out toward them.
“Hurry, hurry,” he called out.
“Time for super sonic mode,” said Blake.
“You asked for it,” said Cade. He leaned forward, shooting out even faster. A slim, quietly singing figure flew past. “Not again.” Cade shook his head and powered faster, leaning almost parallel to the ground. Blake bit his lower lip and powered straight ahead.
Cade pulled out a small stone. The kids moved in on the bright orange lights. Cade threw his stone ahead along the wall, dragging the lights momentarily. In a sudden flash, he shot left, disappearing into a narrow bright gold lit tunnel.
The other three followed after. “Go, go, go,” Cade whispered ahead. Bright gold candle clusters flew by. Drew glanced back at the empty, still circular tunnel. Dark shadows flashed past the tunnel entrance. The kids sprinted down the tunnel curving left, sloping down.
Josiah whistled out three longer, more drawn out notes.
“We lost them,” said Drew. The four of them smiled and bumped fists. The tunnel split. The kids turned up the right tunnel, sloping back up. Widely spaced small gold candle clusters streaked past, disappearing into heavy darkness. Several more booms rocked the hall. They passed a dark opening.
Deep black shadows passed over them from the rocky clusters and piles along each wall.
Cade turned the corner ahead. The other three slid to a stop right behind him.
“What are you doing?” asked Blake. Cade pointed ahead. Dark spirits blocked the tunnel ahead. The kids spun around to see more fall into the tunnel behind them.
Austin Candor is always on the move, in more ways than anyone, especially the aliens, even realize. He’s a bright, energetic kid from the Kingdom of Dascade Iris, City of Camdaysiah. He rarely sits still. In fact, he rarely sits at all. Some of his teachers don’t like him because it makes them dizzy watching him constantly shuffling his feet, swaying back and forth, pacing the back of the classroom. But he’s really smart and creative with fun ideas. He’s relatively short and slim with short dark brown hair that shifts slightly to the right over part of his eyes. What he’s known for though is his hair, the colour that is. He always has his hair a different colour, usually bright, often glowing in the dark. He’s been up to something lately. Well, he’s always up to something, but lately he’s really been up to something secret. He traveled somewhere. No one knows where. He was on a secret mission, and it had something to do with trying to hurt the aliens, but no one knows what that was. Now, the aliens stole a special fountain that belonged to his kingdom, one that helps students heal from various illnesses. They took it to the Kingdom of Dayascade, City of Dayas Caradames to their top school called Lincon Bereen. It’s being featured in a new school play and Austin’s going to sign up for it. He’s been secretly exploring the school a few months before the play is set to begin. There’s something sinister about this play. There’s a kid, one of the WhiteStar Ranked Students, who’s secretly working with the dark spirits. Austin refers to him as the ghost. Who is it?
Find out what happens in the next book called:
MYSTERY OF THE COLDOR CRYING GHOST
Get ready to go on a mission and solve an intriguing puzzle to find a ghost. But that will only be the beginning. First, we will look at the kids who might be the ghost, the one secretly working with the dark spirits on a sinister plan. They will be presented in alphabetical order by first name. Check out the clues and see if you can figure out who it is. Also, we will see a mystery showing our ghost strikers in action trying to defend a fort against the aliens. There’s a mysterious power to the fort that can lead them to hold out strong against the aliens and gain power in the war. Get ready, because the revolution is about to explode.
When the aliens arrived to DarkCorner Land, they displayed their awesome power, and then declared themselves to be the new leaders of every kingdom. They also run the schools. Imagine if your principal was an alien. Maybe you think they are. But for the kids in DarkCorner Land, their principal really is an alien. They have strict rules and demand the kids do a lot of work. They have some harsh punishments for those who fail, but there are great rewards to those who achieve the highest grades, those who earn the top ranking of WhiteStar. They are allied with the aliens, and in many ways, the greatest threat to Cade and his friends.
Ben Janshen is a strong, athletic kid. He has blonde, swirling hair and bright green eyes. The first thing you notice about Ben is his eyes. His friends call him eagle eyes, despite the fact his long distance vision isn’t that good. He just has a way of staring at you that feels like he can see right into you. He talks slowly and dramatically, his voice slowly rising, as he tends to describe things in great detail, trying to give you a grand vision…
Ben is from the Kingdom of Caladaria, City of Dayas Caradas. You can find it on the map if you click on the page called DARKCORNER LAND. It’s a kingdom in the west, just down the river from Cashes Dade. It’s considered one of the strongest and most elite kingdoms in DarkCorner Land. They’re known for having the best restaurants, food items, and elaborate dinner parties.
Here’s one hint about Ben. What might be his greatest strength, may also be his greatest weakness. The clues are there, see if you can figure it out. Leave a comment below if you think you know what it is. Do you know?Do you think he’s the ghost?
On Christmas Eve, Cade dared Blake and Drew to race to the top of Gloomy Peak. Blake double dared Cade and Drew. Drew triple dared Cade and Blake. Finally, when they had all been dared up to 100 times, they agreed to go for it. This rough, relatively steep mountain is covered in heavy dark blue mist. It flattens out near the top. Then it has high piles of snow with winding slick blue ice paths cutting through. If you’re daring enough, you can get a running start, then slide on the ice paths going slightly up slope to the peak, but if you don’t hit it right, you won’t have enough to get to the top, and you will slide back. Guess who was crazy enough to take the ice paths? Blake powered through the snow drifts to reach the peak. He pulled out a small Cashes Dade flag and planted it with great drama. Drew winded through the snow piles, tunneling like a madman until he reached the top and collapsed, sprawled out awkwardly on the snow covered peak. Cade went flying past up the blue path, crashing in the snow pile at the center of the peak. They had worked hard to climb the mountain under heavy shadow, a mysterious mountain that few people want to climb because it’s a rough climb up thick soil. You take steps, dig in, but slide back so it’s a slow, rough climb. But people also don’t want to climb it because it’s covered in heavy blue mist so they figure they won’t be able to see anything from the peak. But the Cashes Dade Ghost Strikers didn’t care. They wanted to reach the peak anyway just to see what was up there and to see if they could see through the mist at the top. The kids strained to see through the mist. At first they couldn’t see anything, but they waited and waited, then stood between the twin ice pillars covered in dim glittering lights that slowly light up in the deeper dark of the late night, believing it would clear at the peak. Finally they could begin to see the murky outlines of the surrounding mountains. Staring out intensely, they could barely see the ice slopes in the far north where it was cold, dark, and empty. But then at midnight, they couldn’t believe what they saw…
Few people in DarkCorner Land have seen the Christmas Ghost Express. It’s a legend for many people they don’t really believe exists because so few people have even met someone who’s claimed to see it and they have no evidence. The legend goes that at near midnight on Christmas Eve, a great host of ghosts light up in brilliant colours singing Silent Night in various pitches at the same time and they fly across the northern ice slopes in blazing speeds. They aren’t scary. These ghosts are the ones who are haunted, haunted by the way they were ignored in their lives. They only want to be seen by the right people, people who understand them and will give them a chance, a chance to see who they really are. It takes a lot just to see the Christmas Ghost Express even from the distance. The ghosts change the cold, dark landscape around them as they move. If you can reach them, they will carry you all the way. Visuals of colourful spiraling trees spring up along the route. Visuals of small shops lit up with gold candle clusters in the windows shop up on both sides as other ghosts sing Christmas Carols as they pass. At midnight, they reach their destination at Carolmire, the land where it’s always Christmas.
Alien lights burned bright at various towers around them. Dark spirits have been rolling in more and more. Numerous aliens ships have been seen flying in to land among the towers. A great attack is coming soon now that a strong fort has been built at Ghost Peak. The aliens want it, because if they take it, they might gain a weapon to break the power that protects the new Cashes Dade. Will they outlast the alien attack? Can the ghost strikers figure out how to hold them back? There’s a mystery in how the fort can be defended against them. Will they solve it in time?
There is something magical about Christmas, something mysterious. I have my own belief about what that is. If you’re interested, you can check out the link below to my facebook post about what I believe is the true meaning of Christmas based on the bible. It will be the top pinned post on my page. Christmas can be a really hard time for some people, but this holiday isn’t about some great joy and happiness, it’s about a faint light in the darkness, a distant and mysterious hope. Here’s the link:
The three kids smiled as they saw the colourful lights dance in the distance blazing the trail of ghosts. The alien lights grew dim in the darker night. But the Christmas Ghost Express only grew brighter and even when the lights were gone and they could no longer be seen, they could still be heard…
The mines are dark and cold, barely lit by dim dark orange lanterns. We have to work hard and fast to dig up enough of the minerals and jewels the aliens demand us to. We can’t go home until we give them the amount they want. The alien leaders walk the tunnels, and often times you’ll find one just standing there staring at you with their bright, intense half moon eyes. You better work smart and fast or they’ll point at you with their long arms. Dark spirits might lead you to meet with the alien supervisor where their messenger will tell you what you’re doing wrong and threaten punishments if you don’t immediately perform better. But when we reach the end of our monthly work period before Christmas week, during the still, quiet moments in the heavy dark, if you listen close, you just might hear them, the ghostly echoes coming from the Christmas Ghost Express…
In Carolmire, where it’s always Christmas, on the actual Christmas Eve, we all gather at the city center. This is a wide circle made of glowing gold bricks surrounded by small shops full of bright, colourful candle lights in the windows and along ledges in the walls. We gather close to midnight. Kids play tag among the crowd, flying around the standing people, trying to push through. Some of the older people complain about being included in the game as some of the kids run into them trying to avoid getting tagged. But it gets really cold late at night this far up north, so that’s why we all start singing and dancing as we wait for the ghosts to arrive…
Have you ever seen the Christmas Ghost Express? The ghosts fly so fast across the vast, empty northern landscape of just snow and ice under low drifting fiery red, stormy clouds. At first, you can only hear them singing Christmas songs. They lead a secret way to Carolmire, but they don’t really want to be seen. They do want to be found. They have a secret about who they were, where they came from, and the heartbreak they experienced. No one knows who they were. No one knows what happened to them. No one has ever seen them. But there are a few who have been able to find the Christmas Ghost Express, following the fast, blazing trail of colourful lights, but that only happens when you can follow the music…
As midnight approaches, we wait as we sing Silent Night. We sing it their way, with the angelic echoes of Silent Night between the lines of the chorus. Fiery red clouds blaze fast across the sky, then blend into a smooth blood red all across. We stand close together and raise up black curtains above the shops. We light up dark orange lanterns and hold them close together in a cluster. Our singing echoes in rhythmic circles. A chilling wind rushes in, blowing hard at the curtains, and they have to hold up. It blows the fiery dark orange lights around, but we huddle close to keep them lit. At the top of the tower is the glossy black marble clock with glowing dark orange numbers. The hour hand drags slowly around the clock face, groaning as it passes by each ghostly shaped number reaching out, but never reaching the hand. It circles back around slowly but passes by every time. We must keep them lit until the large clock strikes midnight. If we do, the clock screams out, and the Christmas Ghost Express enters our circle, the lit-up ghosts sing and dance among us and we celebrate.
Cade Mayson really gets into decorating for Christmas, and I mean really, really gets into it. He makes it a competition and takes it seriously.Cashes Dade has been rebuilding their kingdom at the mountain peak since late last Spring. They have built a five story tower with blue crystal glass. They also built a circular complex surrounding it with dark blue water pools in between. Some people stay in tents outside of that, but the people staying in the circular complex don’t get much space. Cade, Blake, and Drew share a large square tent near the edge of the peak, too close for Drew, who constantly moves it further in every day. He tries to be sneaky about it, but Blake always figures it out, and moves it back to their spot between the three large rocks to keep it secure. But now Blake has something far worse to deal with, Cade’s over the top Christmas decorations…
Before we find out more about Cade’s intense crazy Christmas decorating, it’s time to reveal the answer to the last mystery challenge. Are you ready? Did you figure it out? Here it is, the most important line to the mysterious prophecy is this one:
You must put all the pieces together to reveal the key
Were you right? What do you think it means? Leave a comment below. Can you put all the pieces together? Just know, that Cade is one of the pieces…
One thing Cade likes to do at Christmas, is set up candles, everywhere, and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere. He puts them on the floor, in front of the door, or tent flap in this case. He puts them on his bed. He somehow sleeps among them and doesn’t even put them out, but Blake does. Blake starts out by asking him to put them out. Then he tells him to put them out. Then he walks past and blows some of them out. Then, when he’s trying to get to sleep, and Cade’s intensely bright coloured candle lights are still burning, he just throws something at them to knock them out. Luckily, Drew has a bucket of water close by because for some odd reason he’s worried that 75 candles in a tent could be a fire hazzard. Cade has also been placing candles all around the mountain top, in front of people’s doors, and even on rafts floating on the pools. It is the most colourful mountain top in the world.
Cade also keeps stringing up the dark blue crystal lights that glow blue in the dark. They used to be strung throughout the original city, but now he is putting them up everywhere. The citizens don’t mind that. It’s not the strings of lights he’s putting up that’s the problem because they like them, it’s how he strings them up. They’re supposed to be strung in neat rows hanging down and across like a grid, but that is a foreign concept to Cade. You can expain it to him. You can show him, but he’ll just stare back at you in complete confusion. What he does is a lot of zigzagging, crossing them again and again and again so they become a mass of stringed lights that get tied up in knots everywhere. Some people can’t see out their windows. Other people trip over them when they go out their doors. Cade gets really upset when he has to spend an hour untangling one clump, yet he never learns…
But something really scary has happened. Is it something involving the aliens? Are they building something scary? Are they attacking? Are they getting invaded by dark ghosts? Worse, much worse, Cade has teamed up with Casey Cardade, a quiet mysterious kid who loves to experiment with explosives. He’s been letting Cade experiment with them as well. Cade has been setting off blazing blue fires every night at the edge of the peak. Luckily there aren’t any trees near the top so it doesn’t start any fires, for the most part. Cade’s favorite thing is to try and shoot off different fire lights at the same time, shooting them at eachother so they collide and explode in the sky, then kind of rain down over the lower slopes.
Why does Cade go so crazy with Christmas decorations? Why does he try to make the new City of Dayces Cameron shine so bright in the dark? Maybe it’s because he’s trying to blind the aliens. Maybe he’s trying to block out their intense green flashing lights from the new mysterious towers they keep building. But really, he puts them up because he’s looking for something, something about his parents…
“The aliens claimed to be highly superior. They claimed to be our heroes coming to our planet to save us from ourselves. They claim our problems, our sicknesses come from students who don’t follow the right way, the standard way. I’m Cade Mayson of Cashes Dade, and I was ranked BlackStar by the aliens meaning failure even though I was a perfect student. Okay, maybe not quite perfect. I got in trouble one or two…or fifty times. I fell asleep during lessons one or two…or fifty times. I got distracted one…well you get the picture. People think I didn’t like school, but I liked it before the aliens took over my school. Yeah, I didn’t like most of the “important” subjects, but I liked art and music and history. I liked doing fun projects and I liked some of the games we would play. I don’t understand complicated math or science but I know how to escape out of a trap. I know how to solve puzzles. I know how to play really cool music. I know how to come up with cool and fun ideas. They say the only true way to learn is to listen to the teachers, take down simple notes, and understand by thinking about the concepts. They claim students who learn by drawing pictures, working things out their own way, or by acting things out, are lazy. They claim students who don’t understand the key subjects, the important ones according to them, are stupid. They claim the students who try to think different, who try to be creative and come up with new ideas, are trouble makers. They say students like me, like my friends, are a cancer and must be punished, sent to the Dathmore to work like slaves and if that doesn’t work, we must be eliminated. Do you believe them? Is their way really the best way? Come to the new Cashes Dade at our secret location by following the dark orange lights in the night and see for yourself. Check out what we have built with our different skills and new ideas. They had us surrounded, you know. You should read about how we tried to reveal who the alien spy was and how we tried to break through in our Bloody Friday War. But if they are so superior, why did we break through?”
The adventure continues. In fact, it’s only getting started. The prophecy that will be featured in the next book is about to revealed below. Who wrote this prophecy is a mystery. It’s time for another mystery challenge. In this one see if you can figure out which line is the most important one. The clues are in Cade’s report. Can you figure it out? Which line do you think it is? Leave a comment below. The answer will be revealed in the next mystery challenge. Otherwise, get ready for lots of mysteries to solve as well as many twists and turns in the next book called:
MYSTERY OF THE COLDOR CRYING GHOST
There is a glittering puzzle to solve to set them free
You must put all the pieces together to reveal the key
Each piece will appear as a glowing word when you stare
When each one looks where they want, the answer is there
The intense, old climber reveals the secret of what they fear
The pieces must be together for the final answer to appear
The first piece will be found where the student plays
How does this visionary lead them through the haze?
The second piece is where the popular student can fly
But you can’t see it, blazing through, from so far up high
The third piece is where the grand symphony plays fast
Look for the answer to be found in the ship’s mast
The fourth piece is around the bend where the aliens lie
The head-strong student tries to reach, but too high
The fifth piece will be found under the blazing sign
The student stares at the glitter, blind to the design
The sixth and final piece will be found inside the show
When the bright students dance at once, follow the glow
The trap will be set where the students believe they can go
The true way out for them will be the door lit by the glow
The ghost who haunts the halls is locked in a cold gloom
Solve the puzzle to find where he must live out his doom
Some object in the school can be turned to find his room
Then you will hear his message to avoid the intense light
The stars must be determined to show the way in the night
The greatest tragedy is not failing to reach the glittering peak
It’s when you miss the chance to go after the glory you seek
When you hear the ghost crying in the dark, then you’ll know
The aliens with their brilliant light are afraid of the stars’ glow
But if you don’t find the ghost in time, Cade will die in the show
Josiah Mardade is a bright, energetic kid like an exploding star. It’s what the second name of his kingdom means and why kids like Cade, Blake, and Drew call themselves DadeStar students. But it’s mysterious how Josiah is always smiling, always bouncing, always singing. Finally, earlier in the fall, a kid asked Josiah why he isn’t sad, why he seems to be so happy all the time. This is what he told him:
“On the morning of Bloody Friday, my dad took me out to our balcony overlooking the channel down below. He kind of stared out for a long time, then he turned to me and said, ‘We’re marching on the DadeLuce Fountain today. We’re going to try to destroy it. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us.’ He looked up and said, ‘We’ll probably go to war soon, and we’ll have to regroup in the mountains.’ Then he looked at me, and he told me in a really low tone, ‘You have to promise me something. Don’t ever let them change you. Don’t ever let them break your spirit. No matter what happens, keep singing.’ And I promised him, and that promise was the last thing I ever said to him…”
It’s time for another feature on this mysterious kid from Cashes Dade, but before we go on, it’s time to reveal the answer for the last mystery challenge. Did you figure it out? Do you know which path is the way to find Ghost Peak? Here is the answer:
It is the rocky slope.
Were you right? Leave a comment below.
Josiah is an interesting kid to sit by in class. You might get distracted a lot, but at least you won’t be bored. He’s always doing something, usually behind a stack of folders that look like a city skyline. He plays around with every object on his desk, which may include toy soldiers, packs of gum, really small boxes no one knows where they came from, and small snacks. Josiah always has snacks on him, always. What he likes to do the most is have fights between his pencils, snacks, the toy soldiers, whatever. He gets really into it, and even seems to get really upset when a certain object “loses” the fight. Even when you remind him that he does the fight and decides who wins, he just stares back at you confused.
Josiah is a singer, but more than that he is a musician. He sings all the time, under his breath during class, and during many times when he’s not supposed to be singing or making any noise. But he’s also always moving, always kind of bouncing to some music playing in his head. He taps his feet in a really fast, bizarre pattern that changes at random times. It’s impossible to track his movements. His feet move so fast they seem to disappear…
Cade is a master at avoiding getting tagged in tag. Josiah is a master at getting people in tag. Hopefully someday we will get to see them go head to head. Josiah is incredibly fast. What’s crazy is how fast he accelerates. At first, you think you’re getting away, and you’re getting further and further ahead. You think there’s no way he can catch you. Well, he has you right where he wants you, because he will accelerate like you wouldn’t believe and catch up to you in a flash. He also has a way of knowing right where you are, even when he’s far away and hasn’t been watching you at all. There seems to be no way he could have seen where you went or where you are now, but all the sudden he’ll make this incredibly sharp turn, and you’ll be too shocked to get away…
“Josiah, you have to find Ghost Peak. They hold a key secret there. Ghost Peak may be the key to winning this war. If I don’t come home today, make sure you get there, and find my message…”
