What scares you the most? Vampires? Werewolves? Ghosts? Demons? Clowns? Leave a comment below and tell us why. In Cashes Dade, the students like Cade, Blake, and Drew have to fight the fear of the dark ghosts who haunt the land. They work for the aliens, spying on kids, looking to capture any who might be a threat to the aliens, any who might challenge their superiority and authority. Kids have to make sure they lock their windows and don’t stay out too late or they might get captured and dragged to an alien tower. But there’s a greater fear, a fate even worse than being taken to the aliens. You see, in many ways, one of the worst things that can happen to you is not getting captured by a ghost, but becoming one…
Cade Mayson has no sense of direction, at all. I mean, he knows what the directions are. A few weeks ago Cade became determined to explore the mountains where people believe the old Haunted Maysher House is hidden. Blake showed him a map of the area with the four directions written in bold giant letters. Cade nodded along and even passed Drew’s direction test when he covered up each one. But they knew what was going to happen once Cade ventured out. He was supposed to go straight north. As they watched, he started curving right, then drifted further right when he took forever to decide where to cross the raging, wild creek…that was about five feet wide. But it really went wrong when he saw a small, pointed mountain with a bare peak. It had really heavy soil. Cade smiled, knowing what he had to do. He climbed to the top. In the distance a murky neon green forest looked like twisted evergreens made of mist, shifting and turning like dancing ghosts. Cade then surfed down, on the other side. By that time, he was heading west, then he had to work his way through a thick forest. He thought he was getting close since the forest of dazzling neon green glowing evergreens called Crosser Evergreens was getting really dense. The branches from various trees connect and get tangled up. But Cade’s smile faded when he realized he had turned south, and had made it all the way back to Cashes Dade. Blake and Drew just shook their heads in disbelief.
Cade has an amazing talent for getting lost. The second time he went out to look for the haunted house, he did what he does best, he wandered. Blake gave him a really detailed map, but Cade has no sense of scale on a map. Blake drew a forest that was supposed to be about 3 miles long. Then Cade was supposed to climb up to where two bluffs meet, looking like two old ghosts shaking hands in the dark orange sunset light. But he felt like he had gone a long time. It felt like 3 miles. After all, it had been about 20 minutes. He was still deep in the forest, so he thought he was supposed to climb up the branches connected from two tall evergreens. When he got up high, he thought there would be a curving path leading toward the forest where the house might be, but all he saw was the sky. Did he realize he had made a mistake? No, he gazed up at the dark gray massive clouds streaming fast across the sky. He saw a curving path through the clouds and figured Blake meant for him to fly. At that point, he realized this would not be possible, so he turned back. Did he then realize his mistake? Oh no. He stormed back to Cashes Dade ready to ask Blake why he thought Cade could fly.
Cade can’t follow maps or directions, so it’s no surprise he always gets lost, but that’s not the biggest reason. Cade can get intensely focused on something, so focused, that he forgets where he is and what time it is. Blake and Drew thought they did it this time. They were so sure. Blake drew an incredibly detailed map. Drew drew a nice, simple map to make it easier to follow. He even wrote out directions at every single point, I mean, basically directions from tree to tree. So Cade set off, and made it to the top of the bluff, but it was the wrong one because he had the map backwards from the start. He gazed out, looking for the forest. He saw rolling hills, mostly bare spread out leading to a row of jagged, dark peaks casting long, dark shadows over a hidden valley far to the right. Neon green mist kicked up from the ground of the hills on the left, then drifted smoothly left. Cade wasted no time. He sprinted down the steep slope to the hills and followed the mist. As the neon green mist cloud swerved left, then right, then further left, Cade followed after it. He followed it crossing a wide river, over a small mountain, and through a long, narrow valley. He just kept running after it, watching it with a bright, half-crazed intense gaze. He didn’t look at his map once and he also didn’t realize that it was night. But he just had to follow it. He didn’t know why, but he felt it. He had to see where the mist was going, so he continued to follow it, keeping up with it’s fast pace and swift moves over rough terrain. Finally, he found out where it led, it led to the Haunted Maysher House.
Somewhere deep in the mountains outside of Cashes Dade, in a really dense misty forest, is an old abandoned haunted house. A family used to live there after discovering a secret mine that the aliens have been looking for, something that shines bright green. But something really tragic happened there. No one knows what happened. For years, no one was able to visit the family. They could see their sullen faces just staring through the dark blue glass windows, but they couldn’t see close enough to identify who was still alive and who wasn’t. They would just stare for hours, completely still, with an empty gaze looking far, far away. After many years, the rest of the family died, and now their ghosts haunt the house. It’s dangerous to enter, but that won’t stop Cade, Blake, and Drew from trying. Get ready for this:
MYSTERY OF THE GHOST IN THE MIRROR
However, the ghosts do not wish to keep people out. In fact, they want people to enter so they can understand their message. But if the kids fail to solve the mystery, they will be in grave danger, for the real danger, is if they feel ignored…
