“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.”
