Category: Dark Spirits

“It’s my first night at Ghost Peak. They say the aliens have something big planned for tomorrow night, some kind of attack we won’t be ready for, but that’s not what’s keeping me awake. I can’t stop thinking about something my dad said to me once. It’s a mystery. My dad used to tell me to write out my thoughts sometimes, because he would say my thoughts are like bouncy balls bouncing around in my head. Other people said things like that too, like I have a lot of scattered thoughts.”

“I don’t think they’re scattered or bouncing, it’s just I have a lot of thoughts that run through my head all the time, and they don’t really stop. They kind of shoot through really fast like stars, like blazing stars. I can’t even catch them sometimes. That’s why I forget something then bring it up in conversation much later. My friends think it’s funny when I do that.”

“It could be way later in the conversation, and that’s when I’ll remember it, or it will come back running through my head again, or some way like that. I don’t know. Oh yeah, but there’s a mystery, about what my dad said to me one time.”

“I used to hate washing the dishes. I didn’t like it when it was my turn. My dad would say I messed around too much. It always took me awhile, mostly because I played a game, well a few games, like the dishes dance, or dish battle, or trying to set up a fountain of dishes…anyway, it would take some time.”

“But my dad was more concerned with how clean they were. He would check every time. I used to hate it when I thought I was done, but he would throw a bunch of them back in the water and tell me they weren’t done right. I used to hate when he would lecture me about getting a job done right the first time. But now, I would give anything to listen to just one more lecture.”

“People don’t understand why I like doing dishes now, and why I always do them right, every time. I still play the fountain game. But I get them clean and shiny, and I think about the things he would say, usually the same thing over and over and over. But like I said, there was one thing he told me that remains a mystery to me now, and I think it has something to do with his final message here.”

“One night, after he tossed like ten dishes back in the water, he told me something I’ll never forget. He said, ‘You need to clean it until you can see the shiny lines.’”

Callie’s calm, still singing cut through the chaos. Neon blue flames reached high into the darkness. She knelt at the back corner, singing to the kids in the bunker below. David held the left blue lantern light still. He swung the right lantern fast in a circle.

Soldiers raced across the slopes above and below. Several broad, blue triangular alien crafts dropped down low over the gaping holes in the mountain side.

Bright gold lights slowly flashed through the craft. Dark spirits dropped out of the crafts into the gap.

“What they hit?” asked Blake.

“I’m not sure yet,” said David, “but they’re heading straight for several key reserves.”

Several more blue rays shot down into the gap. Intense blue light flashed out silently. Several moments later, intense booms knocked everyone to the ground. Josiah looked up, staring with sharp intrigue at David, still standing. Drew looked over at Callie, still kneeling at the back corner, singing out strong. Several soldiers approached him.

“They’re moving in fast on Keys 3 and 5.”

“It’s going to take a lot to drive them out,” the other soldier added, pointing to the alien ships circling like vultures over the gap. Just then, numerous alien ships shot out across the sky, blazing incredibly fast. Blake watched as two ships almost instantly switched places, crossing fast in blazing lines.

Fires rained down all over the mountain. Sour horns blared out across the sky. Heavy booming rocked the slopes. Another soldier reached David.

“We’re getting pounded. We need to fire all out.” David shook his head. “Do you not see what’s happening? We’ll be over run in minutes.”

“They’re trying to overwhelm us,” David responded calmly. “If we use up all our weapons, then we will be over run.”

“What about the gap?” another soldier asked. Powerful explosions boomed out in sonic waves all across the upper slopes.

“WE HAVE A RESERVE,” David shouted over the noise, “TAKE THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE DOWN, THROUGH THE SUNDAY TUNNEL, THIRD ENTRANCE ON THE RIGHT.” The soldier nodded and hurried off. David stood firm, holding out one still lantern light.

The soldiers remained still, down in their bunkers and behind hidden fort walls. The four kids peered over the fort wall. Fires and intense blue lights flashed all over the lower mountain. The clusters of small bulb shaped leaves on the Sunday Evergreens flashed in a fast rhythm, glowing bright blue.

“What we going to do?” asked Blake, turning to the others.

“They can drive off the ships,” said Josiah, “but we need to get the ghosts out of there, or they’ll find nearly all of our key reserves.”

“The maze is close to there,” said Drew, “if we can get them in there, they’ll get lost, end up way in another mountain when they finally find their way out.”

“We need to make them believe we’re trying to move out the key supplies,” said Blake.

“How?” asked Drew, flinching with every boom shaking the fort.

“We could grab some things, make them look important or something like that?” said Josiah.

“What, like make them shiny?” asked Blake.

“Yeah, that was stupid, I don’t know…”

“I wasn’t saying…”

“Aaaauuggghhhh, maybe we could make it seem like a secret place, or…”

“That’s it, that’s it,” said Cade. Exploding lights reflected in his intense eyes as he continued, “the dark spirits were doing something secret down there. I think they set up the glittering stones they found today. That’s where they would expect us to be working, where we might have our most important tools.”

“Sounds good enough to me,” said Blake.

“We need to get there fast,” said Drew.

“Then we lead them away to the maze,” said Cade.

“Cool, let’s go,” said Josiah.

“We can’t go across the slopes,” said Drew, as the assault raged on around them.

“Take the spiral staircase down like David said, let’s go, let’s go,” Blake said strongly, clapping several times.

Dusty, dark orange lights blurred past. Booms crashed down over the dark underground staircase. The kids raced down the steps. Booms struck one after another after another in a relentless assault. Drew’s hands shook at his sides. Cade glanced back at him.

“Hang in there, Drew, the fort will hold.” With a simple smile, Josiah nodded and flashed a thumbs up. The booming became more and more muffled as they moved deeper into the underground. Dead whistles echoed out from nearby tunnels.

“They’re closing in,” said Blake in a low tone.

“We need to pick it up,” said Cade, “super sonic speed.”

“Race to the end,” said Blake with a smile. The kids moved fast down the dimly lit tunnel. Blake ran down three to four steps at a time, biting his lower lip. Cade ran low to the staircase, almost gliding down. Drew lagged behind, shaking his head.

Cade and Blake exchanged intense glances. After rounding another corner, they exchanged another intense round, stepping up their intimidating gazes. As they began to see the dim blue light at the end, they exchanged stronger looks.

“This is turning into a staring contest instead of a race,” Drew muttered. Just as Cade and Blake turned to eachother for an even more intense round of looks, Josiah flew past them, right down the center, practically dancing down the steps. They powered ahead, but Josiah reached the blue shining entrance first.

Cade and Blake slid to a stop at the same time. Drew reached them a few moments later and collapsed on the floor.

“I think…Josiah won,” said Cade between breaths.

“How…did you…”

“I’m a miner,” Josiah answered with a shrug. “You have to be ready to move at a moment’s notice.”

“That’s encouraging.” The three kids turned to see Drew sprawled out on the dusty floor in an awkward position.

“Are you okay?” asked Cade as Blake peered down the wide massive tunnel.

“Can I just take a nap?”

“No time,” said Blake. “They’re getting close.” The kids gazed down the long steep dropping slope of thick, heavy soil with two longer, smooth paths on each side along the dark rough walls dimly lit by widely spaced dark blue lanterns.

“The glittering stones are down at the end,” said Cade. Blake pressed his ear to the wall. Dead whistles and ghostly whispers echoed lower down.

“They’re way ahead,” said Blake.

“Let’s go,” said Josiah.

“Wait,” said Cade, “not the paths. I have a faster way. Follow me.” He flashed a half-crazed smile before jumping down the steep slope.

“What’s he doing?” asked Drew.

“Surfing,” said Blake with a smile, before jumping down after him. Turning back he called out, “Just dig your feet in.”

“He’s right,” said Josiah, “turn sideways, like this.” Josiah jumped down. Drew closed his eyes, whispered something to himself, and followed after. The kids half jogged, half surfed down the steep slope, digging their feet into the heavy soil, all the way down.

Chilling silence fell over the underground as the kids reached the glittering stones.

Cade pulled out a small candle and lit it up, sparking a dim blue flickering light. “Pick up a tool, any tool,” he said, pointing to the various shovels and pick axes strewn across the ground in the large cavern. “Focus on the wall.”

“How do we lose them?” asked Blake.

“We have three ways we can take,” said Josiah. “We can take the really dark, winding tunnel on the left, or the Sunday tunnel with the flashing blue lights David mentioned, or the slide down fast tunnel, just like the one we just did.” Drew just shook his head.

“We need to get them thinking they’re chasing us somewhere else,” said Blake, “so they think we took one of the side entrances into the maze.” Ghostly whispers went quiet. A strong chill overtook the cavern.

“The first and third we would just outrun them,” said Cade, “but they’d catch up.”

Drew looked at Cade’s blue flickering light, then said, “The Sunday tunnel, the Sunday tunnel. That’s the one. Do you have any more candles?”

“I do,” said Josiah, quickly pulling them out. The kids whispered their plan and waited. They took their positions along the wall, under the glittering stones above. Dark shadows fell fast. The glittering stones burned brighter. Silence filled the place. Sunken ghostly eyes moved in fast.

“Showtime,” Cade whispered. Shrill winds whipped around them. Blue lights flashed on and off, shooting out in various directions.

“Light them up. Light them up,” said Blake. Strong chilling mist rolled past the kids over their shoes. The kids began to struggle forward. The dark ghosts gained on them.

“Move it, move it, move it,” Blake urged. Several ghosts grabbed at Drew. He wiggled away. Blake pulled out several stones. He threw them hard knocking several ghosts back. The kids pushed hard through the heavy mist pulling them back. Josiah stared intensely at the thick mist flowing past them. More ghosts started pulling Cade back. Blake turned back. Cade went under.

“They got him, they got him,” he yelled out to the other two. Blake stopped and threw several stones hard and fast. A few ghosts fell back. Josiah glanced up at the dusty roof. He threw several stones at it. Heavy dust fell down over the ghosts.

The other ghosts slid to a stop.

“CADE!” Drew called out. Small ripples shot out within the mist. Blake threw another stone hard at the ghost behind it, knocking him flat into the mist. Just then, Cade exploded out.

“Go, go, go,” he called out.

“Pick up your feet,” said Josiah, speeding ahead, “high steps.” The kids began moving fast, with the mist pushing them ahead.

“Get ahead, get ahead,” said Cade. Flickering blue lights blurred past. The kids started gaining distance as the tunnel curved sharp right. Cade angled toward the wall. “Get ready.” As they rounded another corner, Cade slowed down, feeling along the wall. Blake and Josiah turned back. “Keep going, keep going,” he urged.

He reached down into the mist. Then he raced ahead. As he rounded the next corner, three dark spirits stood blocking the way. He glanced back. The crowd of ghosts moved in on him fast. Cade sprinted ahead.

As he drew near to the waiting ghosts, he faked left, faked right, then started to jump up. They reached for him. In a flash, Cade slid down past them. He got back up, then dropped the rock hard into the mist. A strong mist wall blocked the dark spirits behind him.

Cade sprinted ahead. He caught up the others as dead whistles and whispers died out.

“We did it,” said Blake, turning back at the empty blue flashing hall.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Josiah. Empty silence fell over the mountain when the four kids came back out to the higher slopes.

Later that night, inside the fort, Josiah worked his way up the steps to David and Callie’s room, humming quietly, bobbing his head to his own tune. He stopped just outside the door when he heard muffled shouting.

“Three soldiers died, that’s on you. This fort is falling apart. That’s on you. It’s about time we went in a new direction. We’re going to mine the glittering stones and rebuild the entire fort with them.”

“We can’t do that,” David answered. “Those stones will crumble fast under pressure.” Two small dark orange candle clusters on each side of the door whipped around in the still, dead air.

“You’re afraid. It’s because you’re not smart enough to see their potential. You don’t care enough to take the risks necessary to win.”

“What do you guys want?” asked David.

“We want you to do the honorable thing. Step down.”

Their eyes glittered in the distant slow rising lights. They just stared up at the sky. David looked away, turning his concerned gaze back to the dark night sky over the mountains. Perfect circular gold lights rose up over the distant rounded mountain tops, one after another, slowly rising, burning, leaving a blazing gold trail.

The brilliant gold lights just hung silently at various points in the sky. David stood at the fort top balcony, leaning over the edge. Callie slowly walked up to him.

“What are they?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he answered. Cade leaned over the edge to their right. Josiah paced behind them, singing quietly about singing lights. Just then three neon green arrows rolled across the sky overhead. David quickly struck a match. He lit up a burning dark orange torch and waved it slowly back and forth.

Various soldiers yelled out across the lower and upper slopes. Shadows moved frantically in and through the neon blue glowing Sunday Evergreens.

“Are those ships?” asked Cade.

“They don’t look like it,” said Josiah appearing next to him, for a moment. The arrows just passed over, before fading away. Cade turned his intense gaze back to the bright gold circular lights. Just then, a blood red teapot appeared in the sky, lighting up the black waves rolling slowly across the sky.

The DadeStar flag set between David, Callie and Cade remained completely still, the gold colour softly glowing in the night. The massive flag hung from a large black marble pole rising up high, angled slightly to the left away from them. A pile of large marble oval shaped stones held the flag in place.

The teapot poured gold liguid into the gold spheres. They began flashing in a brilliant rhythm.

“Why are they doing this?” Cade asked David.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be looking at it,” said Cade. David nodded, still gazing out across the lower slopes. Many people stood staring directly at the fast flashing lights. Several more green arrows blazed across the sky overhead. A single boom from the lights shook the mountain.

David waved the light back and forth again. Soldiers took their positions across the lower slopes. Just then, the circular lights began flying around the sky in all directions. They each turned a different colour, glowing bright in the dark night.

“This is crazy,” said Blake, stepping up to Cade.

“They’re up to something,” Drew said in a low voice behind them.

“Casey’s ready down there,” said Blake pointing down to where Casey laid flat and still behind several rocks, holding a small cylinder shooter. He wasn’t watching the sky, but was staring out with calm intensity over the lower mountain.

The lights flew faster and faster through the sky. Green arrows slowly passed over. As everyone watched, the lights changed shape. They stopped cold, scattered all across the sky. They formed large ovals, looking like shimmering glass in various sharp colours.

David waved the lights back and forth again.

“What does that mean?” asked Cade, turning to him.

“It’s a signal to be prepared for a major, all out attack,” he answered. Josiah stopped for a moment, staring curiously at David waving the lights, then started pacing again, singing faster.

After awhile, intense neon green fires began exploding out in the large ovals in the sky. The miners and the soldiers just kept staring intently at the oval lights just hovering in the sky. The silent explosions raged on, while everyone watched, for awhile longer, until finally the fires burned out. The bright, colourful ovals remained for a few more minutes, then faded into the black, flowing sky.

The next morning, Josiah raced Blake to the rock cluster called, “The Point.” Blake jumped from rock to rock, angling left and right under the Sunday Evergreens. Gray light rays flickered past him. Fast paced, energetic singing blended with the whistling birds just ahead.

Blake gazed up at the upper dark green mossy slope littered with random sleek black stones under the trees. The gray lights spiraled down through the numerous clusters of bright blue leaves each in unique shapes. He caught a momentary flash.

Josiah sang out louder and louder, faster and faster as he shot straight up the slope in a direct line to The Point. The three large flat black rocks with a small one on top holding a long, thin rock jutting far out from the cluster, pointing toward the white and gray hazy rolling mountains stretching far off below.

Blake dove for the cluster. Breathing hard, he struggled up to the flat top of The point. He sighed heavily as he turned to see Josiah sprawled out flat next to him, eyes closed, looking like a dying fish. After awhile, the two kids sat up, and gazed out toward the mountain tops directly in front of them.

A sleek blue alien ship dropped fast from behind one mountain to another. The kids watched the fast rolling gray sky closely. Blake kept shifting position on the rough, powdery black stone. Josiah slid back and forth, humming a fast constantly changing tune. Another sleek, triangular alien ship appeared momentarily, dropping diagonally from right to left.

“They’re going to attack tonight,” Josiah said in a low voice, “and they’re planning something big.”

Glittering small jewels embedded in the slick blue walls reflected across the dark blue water. Cade, Blake, Drew, and Josiah stared out at the long water channel flowing through the multi-coloured rocks in the upper caverns.

“You see anything?” asked Blake.

“Nothing’s happening,” Cade answered.

“Keep watching,” said Josiah, pacing behind them.

“How long are we supposed to watch them?” asked Cade.

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” answered Josiah. “But some kind of light is supposed to appear in them if they’re the ones. They should light up like puzzle pieces.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Blake. Faint singing drifted into the cavern.

“I don’t know, they’re supposed to light up and look like puzzle pieces.” Cade turned away with a long sigh while the others kept staring at the reflections.

“What about when the tide goes down?” asked Drew. Cade ran his hands over the slick blue wall, touching the small bright jewels in different colours.

“That’s another possibility,” said Josiah, “if we time it right, maybe it’s one of these rocks along the channel, changed by the waters.” Just then, Cade looked over to see an intense, gold flashing light spilling out from a nearby tunnel entrance.

“You guys keep watching, I’m going to check this out,” said Cade. The kids just kept staring quietly. “Cool,” he added with a quick nod. Cade entered a long, slick blue staircase dimly lit by widely spaced dark orange lanterns. The gold light flashed at a slow rhythm from high around the corner.

The lantern lights grew dimmer and dimmer as he jogged up the long staircase. Chilling green mist rolled down the steps. Cade got down low. The cold mist silently spilled down the steps for several minutes. Strong, but peaceful singing cut the silence.

Cade crept up the steps reaching a wide, dark tunnel where the lady’s singing came through clear. Glittering gold light flashed from the top of the steps. Cade got down low, and peered into the long tunnel. Still, distant gold lights flickered momentarily in the distance.

Cade smiled, then jogged down the empty tunnel. His shoes scraped across the dusty black rocky ground. He followed the lady’s sweet, pure singing, not growing louder, but coming in more clear. She sang a bouncy, fun song about going to different beaches.

Dim, gold lights began to appear ahead. Miners came into focus, hammering away and cutting into the rough rocky walls. Many of them were old, a few were middle aged, and a few were kids. Cade stared intrigued at the glittering small gold glowing marbles showing up in the wall.

“I haven’t seen these before.”

Cade jumped, then turned around fast. “Cows and beans, how did you…have you been behind me this whole time?”

Josiah flashed him a confused look. “Cows and beans?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I got bored,” Josiah answered with a shrug, before walking fast up the tunnel, humming to Callie’s song. Cade sighed, following him up the slope, turning slowly to the right.

“Trying to give me a heart attack,” Cade muttered. He passed a long line of miners working hard and fast, then stopped cold.

David grabbed a large stone and walked it fast dumping it into a large wheelbarrow. He quickly grabbed another one from the rubble along the crumbled left wall and took it to the wheelbarrow. Once it was full, he quickly wheeled it up the tunnel to another entrance.

“What are you looking at?” asked Cade.

Josiah just stood watching David quickly take another stone to another wheelbarrow. In the background, Callie worked her way quickly up the rubble, digging through and picking out small, smooth black stones and dropping them into buckets while singing her fun, energetic song.

Cade gazed over at the kids working close to Callie, helping find small stones. The chilling, green mist rolled into the active tunnel, quickly covering the floor. He glanced over at Josiah. He kept standing there, standing still, watching David with a solemn, intrigued gaze.

“What are you looking at?”

“He works just like my dad did,” Josiah answered in a still tone. Josiah walked over to David as he filled the wheelbarrow. “Can I help?”

“Sure,” David answered, wiping sweat across his forehead. “We need to fill as many of these as possible.”

“For the attack tonight?” David just nodded.

“Cool, let’s roll.” Just then, Cade noticed the gold flashing light high around the bend.

“Catch you later, Josiah,” he said before taking off up the slope. Green mist rolled faster and faster, pumping out in fast crashing waves. The gold lights flashed stronger and brighter. A small cavern opened up. Cade slid to a stop, gazing up at the glittering gold rocks embedded high in the slick black stone wall with various narrow ledges.

Several young adults were setting up ladders, preparing to mine the brilliantly flashing gold lights. “This is it, this is it.”

“I believe we just found what David couldn’t.”

Glittering gold ships hovered in the dark blue evening sky between the mountains directly across from Ghost Peak. David stood calm at the fort top. Josiah paced behind him, humming nervously. Cade stood next to the DadeStar flag, holding completely still in the chilly breeze.

“What are they waiting for?” asked Cade. David just stared out at the lower slopes. Blake and Drew gazed at the intensely shining ships, intrigued. The four ships moved slowly across the sky, blazing gold trails, creating small ripples through the dark blue streaming clouds. They disappeared behind the mountains.

David raised one dim blue lantern light, shaking it slightly. Cade watched below as several cannons were set in place. He looked over to where Casey sat low behind a hidden fort wall, just staring straight ahead calmly, but intensely. Eerie waves of gold lights began pulsating from behind the mountains.

They crashed and collided from various directions. Sour horns blared out. Josiah glanced up at the rippling night sky directly overhead, then walked up to David.

“I think they’re preparing something big behind those mountains,” he said.

“Possibly,” answered David.

“Where’s Callie?” David pointed to the back of the deck where a staircase led down into a lower part of the mountain wall.

“She stays with the young kids during the battles, to help them stay calm.”

“That’s why she was singing during the last battle?” David nodded. Josiah nervously watched the exploding glittering gold lights behind the mountains. “What if they have a new, massive weapon back there that can wipe us out?”

“We can’t control what they have,” David answered in a quiet tone, “only what we have, and how we respond.” Just then a massive explosion rocked the mountain from a short distance behind.

They all turned to see a large fire break out across the upper slope to the far left.

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 25^th 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?

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:

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.sanborn.100/

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.