Tag: mystery books

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WAKE UP THE ECHOES OF THE SILENT NIGHT

Black clouds powered across the late dark afternoon sky. The student with short sandy hair rising up in rows, shifting out left and right, gazed up at the high grand blue stained glass window in the shape of a towering spear with several ridges at the top. His solemn, intense gaze drifted slowly down the dark blue marble wall, his blazing eyes searching, searching across the smooth, glossy surface where only shadows of students reflected. Pale blue criss crossing lights turned dark blue fading into falling shadows over the wide silent classroom. When the reflections disappeared instantly, the student sharply looked away. He sighed before turning back to his game hidden by his math book propped up open on his desk. He flicked a small paper ball across the paper. Another sigh slipped out as the paper ball just missed the small circle drawn in the corner. He glanced up nervously at his teacher droning on at the chalkboard about some kind of math puzzle. The student turned back to his game, his eyes dancing as he energetically scanned the paper. He set up the “ball,” then did a curving flick. It spun, moving right, then slowly, slowly spinning back left, landing right in the center of a small blue circle. “Yes,” he whispered. More dark shadows fell across the silent classroom. He gazed up at the empty blue wall under the window, and his smile quickly faded. That’s when he heard singing coming from the street outside.

It’s Christmas time in the Kingdom of Cadendas, City of Heyvas Caradames. Something dark and mysterious is happening in the schools. The aliens’ power has grown strong, and a final sinister plan is in motion. But the DadeStar Revolution is on the move as well, and Casey Cardade is working on something secret. Can you figure out what it is? Can you figure out what it will do? Leave a comment below if you have a guess. Tell us if you figured it out. The clues will be there. Click on the link if you want to check out the author’s facebook page and read the top pinned post of a bible study showing the mysterious story of Christmas:

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

Now, let’s get back to Cadendas on a cold, dark night before Christmas Eve.

Down below, on the dark blue marble street under the deep gold lamps holding out in the darkness of the late December afternoon, a small crowd of citizens stood at the edge, under the shadows of massive deep blue shimmering glass towers with grand blue stained-glass windows casting soft gold flickering lights from candles set across the bottoms. Dressed in all black, holding small dim gold lit candles, the citizens began to sing slowly and solemnly, the song, Ring Christmas Bells. They sang the eerie song slowly, with the melody rocking back and forth, but falling sharply. Their angelic voices echoed between the gloomy dark towers lit only with small candle clusters in the windows. The song had a somber mood, a haunting sadness about relentless loss. But deep within, was a strong sense of urgency, as they sang it faster and faster, their voices rising between the towers, echoing throughout the City of Heyvas Caradames in the Kingdom of Cadendas. Their voices sounded a warning, yet deep within, the song had a mysterious hope, waiting, waiting for someone to arrive, waiting for a light to appear out of the deepest dark…

Dim gold light flickered to the rhythm of Ring Christmas Bells outside in the far corner. “Ready for this Josh? Ready…” The light suddenly went out, crushed by a flying soccer ball. Josiah looked sharply away as the light crashed to the glossy blue floor.

Josh ran a hand through his sweaty sandy flattened rows flashing a concerned look that rolled over ending with a casual shrug. “Oh well.” He sprinted past Josiah appearing and disappearing in the dark orange filtered lights moving right and kicked the soccer ball around the long black marble table, cutting around Casey sitting at the corner. Josiah flashed around the other corner.

“That’s the third light we’ve broken in the last thirty minutes,” said Josiah.

“We just have to be more careful.” Josh dribbled over to the shimmering right corner of the table by the window. Gloomy dark orange moonlight splashed through the three towering grand blue stained glass windows as the solemn mysterious singing continued outside. Josh faked left, cut right, slid, then shot back left and kicked it up past Josiah. The ball flew across the table knocking over the blue flower pot holding several bright red roses. Josiah buried his head in his hands. Josh watched as the ball bounced off the table and just missed the space under the far left window. Then he hung his head. “We just have to find a way to avoid breaking things,” said Josh.

“There has to be a way,” Josiah echoed solemnly.

“You could just stop playing soccer in the room,” said Casey, still staring down at the project he was making.

Josiah and Josh exchanged sharply confused looks.

“What’s he mean?” asked Josh.

“I have no idea,” answered Josiah. Just then, David and Callie entered the room. They stopped for a moment, shaking their heads at the broken glass at various corners of the room, now dimly lit by two clusters of dark gold candle lights.

The four of them sat down at the table joining Casey. Josiah greeted them brightly, but his smile faded as he took in their grave expressions. “We’re going to lose more of them aren’t we?”

“I’d like to say a prayer,” David began, “before we get ready for the show. Join in if you want to.”

The mysterious angelic singing continued rising outside the dark blue windows casting stretched dark orange moonlight into the cold room. The gold candle clusters in the windows barely lit the city falling under heavy cold darkness.

“Dear God,” David began, “our students are struggling more than ever. They feel so much pressure to succeed, but when they do, no one notices. They sit quietly in the darkness while their friends just pass by. They succeed, but then their teachers and their parents just want more and more and more. They don’t know where to turn so they reach out, but they are turning to the bright promises of the aliens, to the secret paths to find great prestige. We ask you to be with us here in Cadendas, to be with us tonight. We also ask you to be with Cade, Blake, and Drew on their mission. We ask you to give us the power to show them the light. Help them to find hope. Help them to see their true worth, like the shepherd watching over his flock in the field at night, away from the city lights, taking care of his field, in the heavy darkness, the only place where a light can really shine, to be seen by a great, dedicated witness. Help them to have the vision they need to see the way in front of them, instead of going for the secret paths. Help them to see the light. Thank you for this night. Thank you for bringing us together.”

Later that night, Josiah, Casey, Josh, David, and Callie stood out on the balcony, gazing across the stadium-shaped city of dark blue towers lit only by dark gold candles in the deep blue windows. Josiah glanced at his pocketwatch: 11:59. “It’s almost time,” he said quietly, shuffling his shoes up and down, then out sideways, dancing under the fiery dark orange moonlight. Fiery gold lights reflected in the deep blue river running down the center of the city far below. Casey sighed as Josh kicked the soccer ball over and over against the balcony wall. The five of them gazed up solemnly. A slim triangular neon blue alien ship blazed across the sky. Intense dazzling gold dust spread out across the dark orange haze. Josiah’s bright eyes shot left and right. His gaze fell as he noticed the many students standing out at various balconies, staring up intensely at the alien lights.

He sighed heavily, turning to David and Callie. “There are even more of them than before.”

“What we do now?” asked Josh. The dazzling gold lights across the sky formed brilliant stars. All the students stared directly at them.

“How do we get them to stop staring?” asked Josiah.

“With this,” Casey answered, pulling out the finished project. He put up a large dark blue shimmering stained-glass window.

“What will that do?” asked Josh.

Josiah smiled. “It will magnify our voices so they will hear us.”

As the chaotic lights blazed across the night sky, David began singing Silent Night in a strong yet still voice. As he sang, the intense rush of the alien ships flying over began to fade out. In the second verse, Callie started singing with him, but in an echo. He sang the words Silent Night followed by her angelic, calm voice singing the word Silent in three higher notes, each one falling slightly, then one note lower with the word Night. Her echoing gave a mysterious power to the song, driving the hope within the stillness. Later on, David nodded to Josiah who sang with them, adding a strong, bright vibrance, combining youthful hope and faith with the strong determination holding out strong through the darkness, with a slow burning fire that glows bright through the deepest dark. Josiah smiled when he saw all the students turn away from the intense overpowering lights and turn to their song, listening to their voices, and seeing the gold streaks of light reflected across Casey’s window as Josh kicked the ball back and forth in front of it, creating the visual of a single strong shooting star. Their singing rang out through the cold, dark night, as a strong fire that burns brighter shaped and sharpened by the heavy darkness, and like shooting stars, they lit up the dark corners that had not been seen before. Their shooting stars showed a new way through the cold darkness, blazing a trail of stars not putting on a show, but showing the way…

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WHAT HAPPENED AT THE GHOST SCHOOL?

“Last night, I was playing around in my room, studying for my test, when I took my seventh break. I had been studying for a good thirty minutes. I went back outside and looked up at a dark orange October sky. Dead leaves started falling, spiraling around me when I heard the insanely loud thunder boom. It shot like a single, but massive cannon rippling across the sky. The dark orange clouds split apart like curtains. Some kind of intensely bright light shined from behind the curtains. It was kind of white and gold at the same time. I heard this low humming coming from the fast-vibrating light, but it was strange because it sounded really close while being so far away. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The dark orange clouds kept passing by fast across the sky, fading as they passed into the light. I just kept staring directly at it. I stared for a really long time until all the sudden I heard a sonic rush. I looked up and saw three slim triangular blue alien ships blaze across the dark sky to the left away from the pulsating light. I tracked them fading out over the horizon. Then I turned back to the pulsating light, but it was gone. It was like a door was opened and closed in the sky. I had no idea what it meant or that I was right…

We can’t really see their faces. They’re blurry, kind of dark flashing. We can kind of see their eyes, especially when they’re watching us. They’re sunken and blank. They don’t have much of a nose. I see lines for a mouth, sort of, but there’s something else, something really mysterious. They don’t show any emotion. They don’t smile but they don’t frown either. No, I’m not talking about the teachers, well, maybe some of them. I’m talking about those who rule our school. But if you look deep into their eyes, you can see something. It’s not emptiness. In fact, there is a deep emotion, a deep desire, greater and more mysterious than any you see otherwise.

My school is really dark. We sit in the shadows. They don’t allow much light, only small dark orange candle clusters in the corners, but never too close, never too bright. They watch us all the time, but I don’t know how they see us. The shadows are everywhere and they’re all really long. They have to be to hide so many secrets. Our school is different. Is your school really dark? I’ll bet other schools have cool, bright lights everywhere. They make ours overpowering dark, all the time, in every room. Our school is run by ghosts. Most of them are almost as tall as us. Some of them wear black robes and some wear black suits. We see them go to our teachers many times, whispering to them, or watching us and whispering to each other from dark corners of the class. There are secret whispers in every corner of this school, and they always go quiet the minute you begin to hear them…”

The DadeStar Revolution continues. In fact, it’s about to really heat up. There are all kinds of alien activities happening. They seem to be planning something, something big. It all starts here. It’s time for the next mystery challenge. Something incredibly bizarre is going to happen in this school. Can you figure out what it will be? Follow the clues. Leave a comment below if you have a guess. Do you think you’ll figure it out? Or will you be shocked?

“My name is Mason Doorvas. I like going from place to place just to see what’s happening, what’s starting up, and I like starting things. Some say I like starting trouble, but I don’t call it that. I call it fun. When your school is as dark as ours, you need some fun at least to light it up. I’m from the Kingdom of Daymardon, City of Heyvas Cadamar. It’s on the map right in the center, where the massive river comes to an end, also right in the center but not the exact same place as our city. Our city is built all together, mostly one massive curved black tower that glows dark orange. It’s like a castle. You can’t see out our dark orange glass windows, but the candles flash to the rhythm of the storms and the alien ships that always pass slowly by. When they fly close you can feel the vibrations through the black marble floor. Our castle stretches between a bunch of wide flat bluffs where we have gardens and pools with waterfalls that fall down our walls into pools inside. The pools reflect the dark orange lights that flash when the dark ghosts move fast. We are known for having wide open floors inside that reflect the dark orange stringed lights we have all over the walls. Sometimes you barely see the ghosts fly by, then quickly disappear. Then they hide. I know because I try to follow them, see where they are going so urgently. One time I followed a ghost, and it led to seeing something I still can’t explain…

It was another dark, dreary day in class, listening to our teacher drone on about graph charts and pairs of rams or something like that when it happened. I don’t know what any of that has to do with math or why should I care, but whatever. As the rains poured on outside and the dark orange lights danced into the cascading shadows, I kept drifting off. I decided I needed to stay awake for more important things, so I brought out my game. It’s a really simple game. I have a wide open board, and flick a small ball around, and the goal is to try the best trick shots-off the four corners, hit the ceiling and back down, off the back of the student in front of me…anyway, I was playing that when I saw the student in front of me suddenly get up and leave. I was worried he was going to report me for hitting him with my ball a few times but he walked straight for the stairs. That’s when I saw the flash…

I slipped away and followed the fast-moving shadow. Down below some well-dressed students kept passing by fast across the hall, fading as they passed into the dark orange falling lights. I saw a black flash disappear down the staircase. I sprinted after it. Dark orange lights flickered fast all around. The lights blurred past me blending in dark orange streaks on both sides as I took the steps the usual way, surfing down the side railing. I’ve actually never taken the actual steps down. I heard ghosts singing from the upper balconies. They sang a high-pitched bouncing melody that kept rising slightly but falling sharply. I saw a dark flash down to the left on the third floor. I sprinted down the wide dark gold shimmering steps. The ghosts kept singing a fast-paced slow falling melody, drifting, searching on and on and on, but fading into the heavy darkness. I reached down to the second floor. A heavy cluster of dark orange lights set on one of the round tables in the study area. It was a wide-open floor with tables set around a dark blue pool reflecting the dancing dark orange lights. That’s when I saw him…

Coby Dooray was sitting at the table with all the candles. He was studying a book really intensely. I walked down the last steps toward him. He was just staring at it, with a deep, empty gaze. Dark candle clusters reflected in the still dark pool from the balcony above. The massive black clock on the wall ticked slowly. The hour hand dragged across the clockface hidden in the shadows reaching, groaning as it dragged across the clockface. A bright light flashed past the grand dark orange crystal window just above the balcony. I saw two ghosts standing there, gazing over the edge with slow searching dead eyes surrounded by clusters of dark orange candles with dead shine. The ghosts’ singing suddenly dropped to a low tone, sounding more hollow and distant. As I reached the study area, I saw Coby suddenly get up. I followed him. He walked straight toward the high rising dark orange shimmering wall directly under the balcony. I glanced up. The two ghosts stood completely still among clusters of dark orange candles. I called after Coby, but he didn’t answer. He just walked slowly toward the wall, like he was marching down the aisle in a wedding, gazing directly ahead. I gazed around at the empty dark orange wall under falling shadows, trying to see what he was looking at. I got past the tables and began to see Coby’s reflection in the marble wall. He just stared directly ahead with a deep, empty gaze. I saw a tear stream down his face. I started to say something, but I stopped. He just kept walking, straight toward the wall. I stood there and watched, searching over the glossy dark orange marble. But I couldn’t see whatever he was seeing. Then, I couldn’t see him. He walked into the wall, and disappeared…“

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IT’S TIME FOR THE GHOST STRIKERS’ NEXT MISSION

“I call it the mountain of secrets. The aliens are keeping a dark secret. But it’s not just them. I’m convinced your parents were keeping a dark secret after their expedition to Izmad Peak.”

“That’s what the old man in Dascade Iris told me. It’s the part I keep replaying in my mind over and over again. I have to find it.”

The next book in the Cashes Dade Ghost Strikers series is out now. Read below to prepare yourself for your next adventure. Click on the links at the end to buy the book now.

The aliens are on the move. Now they have a new weapon attacking the BlackStar Students with a mysterious light at the top of Izmad Peak. It breaks them down, messes with their minds, and they begin to believe they really are losers. The more they stare at the light, the stronger the belief, the worse their vision becomes, and that’s when they fall…

People try not to stare at the light, but they study it constantly, because from all distances, the light never moves. Yet, every time climbers reach the final push to the top, the light completely disappears, and it’s too dark to reach the top. How does it disappear for them, but not for anyone else? The key question is, what object is shining from the distant summit?

Cade, Blake, Drew, Josiah, and Casey are on a mission to figure out how to reach the top to destroy the light. But the aliens aren’t the only ones keeping a dark secret. Cade is keeping one as well. Not only is it holding him back, it could take him down…

They stare up at the top trying so hard to see what glows
Yet the only way to reveal the light is to wake up the echoes

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6BYW14C

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6H7CF1G

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MYSTERY OF THE FLASH KIDS’ DARING ESCAPE PLAN: CHAPTER FIVE

Stale light filtered in through the high-set maroon and blue stained-glass arched windows of the wide circular classroom. Aliens stood on the high grand blue balconies, staring down with their crescent moon eyes at the students sitting in the lower shadows far under the streaming lights striking the bare blue marble walls. The teacher stood still at the blackboard writing long math equations. The kids stared at their math books, all propped up on their desks, open wide across the back of their desks. One student gazed up at the high windows where black clouds fired past. He stared intently at the colourful glass panels forged together, lit up by the passing stale flickering lights. The other kids stared down at their desk tops in the gloomy chill of the late afternoon, a few of them starting to nod off, waiting for the lights to pass, for the shadows to fall heavier over the dreary classroom, waiting for the darker clouds to pass by outside…

It’s time for the final chapter of the Flash Kids’ Daring Escape Plan, a story about the DadeStar Revolution lighting up in the schools, leading up to Book Four. Have you figured out where the aliens have the key hidden? Check out the school description below to see if you can figure it out. But that’s only part of it. How will they escape? What is their secret plan? Once Cameron adds his final clues to the message, read it, really study it, and see if you can figure out what their secret plan is. You have to really look. Leave a comment below if you think you figured it out. Then read what happens. After that, get ready for Book Four called:

MYSTERY OF THE IZMAD PEAK LIGHT

Check out the author’s facebook page to follow the mystery series even closer. You can get inside information about what’s happening. You can see posts about his mountain climbs and bible studies, where he gets his inspiration for this book series. Check it out here:

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

Get ready to go on an epic adventure to take on the aliens and show them there is nowhere they can go that the DadeStar kids can’t reach. It’s time to take the fight to them.

My name is Cameron Darshia. I’m from Camden Saze, City of Cadensiah. I learned about what was going on in Canderras, and wanted to figure out how those students could escape. Where would the aliens hide the key? I looked over the description of the school:

SCHOOL OF CANDERRAS:

DOME TOP BALLROOM:

*DANCING STARLIGHTS ON CEILING

*GROOVES IN THE FLOOR REACHING OUT IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS

WIDE CIRCULAR CLASSROOMS:

*SHIMMERING BLUE WAVY CEILING

*GLOSSY BLUE MARBLE FLOOR LIKE OCEAN

GREAT READING ROOM:

*MASSIVE GRAND WINDOWS WITH TREES JUST OUTSIDE

*TOWERING BOOKCASES MADE OF BLACK MARBLE

GRAND STUDY ROOM:

*FANCY GOLD CHANDELIER LIGHTS HANGING DOWN LOW

*DEEP DARK BLUE POOLS WITH COLOURED LIGHTS UNDERNEATH SURFACE

GRAND ROTUNDA:

*WIDE BLUE MARBLE STAIRCASES WITH FANCY RAILINGS

*BLACK GLOSSY MARBLE FLOOR WITH BIZARRE REFLECTIONS

Where would they hide it? It would probably be somewhere they figure the students either wouldn’t look or wouldn’t see. Where would the students not look? Where are they not allowed to look? My head was spinning. I had to get outside and move around, maybe do some surfing down the mountain slopes. But what really helps me think is dancing. When I study, I take breaks and dance. I once had to write a three page report. It was supposed to take about an hour, but with all my dance breaks, it took me ten hours. This time though, it didn’t take that long. I live in Cashes Dade now, and they’re building a small city at the top of the mountain peak so they don’t really have a dance hall. I don’t need one anyway. I found a wide, flat meadow and started dancing. I did my back sliding move, fast spins, launch jumps, and lightning flashes. You’re probably wondering what lightning flashes are, well not what they actually are, but what they mean as my dance moves. I slide one way, then switch back diving across the floor or grass in this case, and show up on the opposite side. I fly around. When I was done I looked around at all the black dirt I kicked up among the grass. I even saw a few weeds I didn’t know were there before. The last part of my dance is when it all clicked. That’s when I figured it out, when I launched to the top of the rock cluster, and in one smooth flash, I spun back and gazed down at the soggy meadow from high up. Then I sent this message to the students of Canderras with my final addition:

The climber must be determined to see

By flying to find your way is the key

Sometimes dance your way to be free

The way up, you will go step by step

Let your heart lead, blind you to prep

What you feel deep shows them how to rep

Music is the key to find the way while you fly

The songs we sing are the true ways you go high

There is a hidden message you must now take to see

Take the staircase one step at a time down to the tree

In the grand rotunda follow the steps to steal the key

Darker shadows fell over the wide circular classroom in the silence of the late afternoon. The students stared at their copies of the final message on their desks, hidden by their open math books. One student stared at the dark maroon and blue stained-glass arched windows when a neon blue light flashed across the glass. He slammed his book down hard on his desk. At that moment, all the students in the classroom slammed their books down on their desks. The teacher slowly turned around. One student began rhythmically drumming on her desk. In an instant, all the others drummed on their desks, and tapping on the glossy blue marble floor. Deep reflections shot out under their shoes. The aliens stared down intensely from their high grand blue balconies. Then one student jumped up on his desk, shifting fast back and forth across the surface. The others instantly jumped up on their desk tops, sliding fast with their slick shoes. The teacher started protesting. The aliens signaled to each other, gesturing down to the students. Several aliens emerged from small, grand doors when the noise of students dancing in the Great Reading Room and the Grand Study Room echoed out rhythmically throughout the gloomy school. The students started shouting out, sliding and jumping on the desks. Teachers gathered outside the various rooms in the winding circular halls, shouting at the students. In an instant, all the students spread out, spilling out into the halls, dancing to a fast, energetic rhythm. They slid incredibly fast across the floor, cutting in and out, switching places in a dizzying pattern. The aliens began directing the teachers to block the students when intense pounding from the Dome Top Ballroom above boomed out over them. They gazed up as the students danced and shouted in a high flying melody, rattling the black glossy marble floor. That’s when they saw the key bouncing up out of the grooves in the floor branching out in various directions. One student picked up the key in one swift move. The kids went sliding down the fancy railings one after another after another. Some kids sang out in loud shouting, a high flying song getting louder and louder, echoing all through the dark gloomy school. The fast moving dance took over the school as the kids spilled into the Grand Rotunda. The teachers and aliens struggled to contain them. The kids sliding fast in opposite directions, jumping high, flying across the shimmering black floor. Just then, brighter blue and red lights spilled into the school, crossing at various points. The kids shouted out their high flying song even louder and incredibly fast. The student with the key opened the grand door and all the students danced their way out of the dark school in a brilliant flash and into freedom as they sang out the hidden message in the secret message put together by students around the kingdoms:

The flying dance will blind them while you take the key.

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MYSTERY OF THE FLASH KIDS’ DARING ESCAPE PLAN: CHAPTER FOUR

To the students of Canderras, this is my message. My name is Ryan Sayvas. I’m from the Kingdom of Carsenevas, City of Dayas Cadenmay. We are called the water city. Our city basically floats on a massive lake. It’s awesome. I’m a piano player and soon you’ll hear the music filling out every hall. (The aliens will hear it too, and feel it hitting them from all sides, knocking them to the floor) I got a letter from a friend back in my school. He was in trouble. So, I raced there. I took the fastest boat in the west, and flew down the river. The aliens saw me leave Cashes Dade, but they couldn’t stop me because all they would have seen was a fiery blue streak shooting across the glittering waters…

Have you noticed something bizarre about the aliens? I mean, I know they’re aliens, but what’s missing? We know they talk, kind of, just in a really odd way. We don’t see much of how they live, but they seem pretty similar. I think they have parties. But I don’t see baloons. You can’t have parties without baloons. When I get older and I open my new business called The Place, there will be tons of baloons. They’ll be everywhere, bouncing up and down, coming out of secret doors. But anyway, have you noticed what’s missing? I’ll tell you. They never sing. Have you ever heard them sing? No. They do kind of dance, but not really. They float up and down. They kind of play music, but it has no rhythm, no melody, it’s just searching noise. In fact, there is something they really seem to hate: music. It’s like it hurts them…

My friend plays the piano. He loves putting on shows. It’s not just the songs he writes or how good he plays, it’s the way he plays. He pretty much dances as he plays, like even on the piano. He truly puts on a show. The aliens even allowed it, until he played Bloody, Bloody Friday. If you know the song, it’s a protest song, you can figure why the aliens would shut it down. But that’s not the reason they shut it down. The real reason they shut it down is because of how the students reacted when he played it. His playing lit the place on fire…

But the aliens would not allow him to play anymore shows. He was devastated, and really wanted to take it to the aliens. I met with him at his home. He had a really nice home built with bright gold long bricks and gold crystal windows. He had tons of paintings on every wall, showing all kinds of cool landscapes with crazy storms. I promised him we would find a way. First, we had to find a new place he could play in secret. I decided the old cellar in the school could work. It was a really big, wide empty room with cracks all over the bare dark gold dusty walls. It muffled sound really well. The aliens wouldn’t hear the music, but they would feel it, feel the vibrations but not know where it was coming from. But I had to find a way to tell all the students without the aliens figuring it out. Watch what I do, and see if you can figure out the secret, how I pull it off.

I sent out this invitation to all the students:

You have all been invited to Brendan Cayvers’ birthday party. Get ready, ready to celebrate and jump. The time, time for this party will be on Friday at Seven O’clock. Let’s make sure we fill the big room with presents and bring streamers to put on the empty walls so the room is bright and cheerful when we start the party. Hopefully we won’t get too loud when we sing, sing to Brendan when he gets the cake. Remember, it’s all going down on Friday, at the place where I’m sure we’ll learn a lot when we all share our gifts. All the students are invited to join and rock the place.

Did you figure it out? When the students read this, they might just realize the true location of this party, since they all know Brendan’s home doesn’t have empty walls like the cellar at the school does. There are other clues, especially if you check out The Cashes Dade Beacon and read about the song Bloody, Bloody Friday. Then you should definitely see, see the clues for what is going to happen.

Students of Canderras, let me tell you what I told my friend. I told him, what really counts is staying true to who you are and what you can do. Don’t let the aliens take that away from you. Keep playing your music and playing the way that makes you really shine, and light places on fire. Dancing is the way to become free, to lift off the ground, and reach for the skies. Then, the aliens will hear the rhythms, the booming from the deep, and they will feel the power of all of us singing and dancing in the best ways we can. Soon enough, this strong, energetic music powering on and on and on will shake the floors, rattle the walls, and even open locked doors…

The climber must be determined to see

By flying to find your way is the key

Sometimes dance your way to be free

The way up, you will go step by step

Let your heart lead, blind you to prep

What you feel deep shows them how to rep

Music is the key to find the way while you fly

The songs we sing are the true ways you go high

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MYSTERY OF THE FLASH KIDS’ DARING ESCAPE PLAN: CHAPTER THREE

To the students of Canderras, this is my message. My name is Casen Cavoray. I’m from the Kingdom of Devonmay, City of Heyvas Ivydames. We are called the star gazers. We have a seven-tiered city of dark towers that have a kind of gold dust all over them so they glow at night. We sit up high on the rooftops under the bright coloured palms where sharp coloured birds sing, and study the stars. The stars can show the way. (That’s because they dance in the dark) They shine deep in the dark sky, yet from a great distance we see them. We like studying the stars and planets, especially now, you know? I wonder where they came from, what disgusting planet they call home. It has to be somewhere up there. It probably has tons of creepy bugs all over it. What I really wonder is why did they come here? What do they really want?

I get in trouble in school a lot. We have these teachers called Carmores. They’re supposed to be the elite teachers and they demand that we excel in the high subjects. They wear these stupid blue robes and funny square hats. They’re also as boring as grass. They demand that we sit still and listen quietly. I hate quiet. I hate silence. Sometimes, when it’s way too quiet, I just burst out singing really loud, usually a song about farm animals. But that’s not why I get in trouble. Well, I do sometimes get in trouble for that too, but that’s not the big reason. I get in trouble because I care.

The aliens say I’m stupid because of how I act. That’s why they rank me BlackStar. When I get upset, sometimes I just lose it. I just feel this like exploding inside and it’s really hard to contain. They say I’m stupid because I yell out and hit things, because they say that doesn’t solve anything. I’m not trying to solve it, just trying to somehow deal with the pain inside…

Yesterday, I got in trouble again, but it wasn’t for getting mad. I didn’t turn any tables over or break any mirrors, or a throw a shoe at the chandelier knocking it down to the ground and shattering (I only did that once). Yesterday, I got in trouble because I couldn’t stop crying…

Yesterday, the teacher was teaching a really boring lesson. I almost fell asleep several times. I don’t know if she was teaching about math or gardening, she kept talking about square roots. I don’t know. It’s another mystery I guess, but we can solve that one another time. During the lesson, my classmate Maddie was drawing a picture. The alien saw it, stood up, and just pointed directly at her. The teacher found it. She had drawn a really colourful picture of Casenmay Candy Shop. It showed the small shop with all the rows of candy. There was dust on the floor and on all the candy jars. Dark shadows stretched from the dark blue glass windows, down the rows. The small, square pool in the center of the room was completely still, no ripples, and the front desk was empty. The teacher took the picture, barely looked at it, and without saying anything, burned it.

Maddie left the room after that, and I followed. I sat with her for awhile. They told me to go back to class, but I wouldn’t. I stayed with her, crying with her. That’s when they pulled me into the office, but I wouldn’t stop crying. They lectured me about the importance of the subjects and getting high grades. They lectured me about the importance of listening and paying attention to the teachers in class, not getting distracted drawing pictures. But they didn’t understand. They just didn’t get it. Maybe you do.

I knew her grandma had just died. She didn’t tell me. I knew it from her picture. Her grandma owned Casenmay Candy Shop. I went there all the time, a lot of us did. I did the same thing every time. I would go through every row, lift up a lid, look at the candy, then put it down. After about an hour I would finally pick one, the same one I always did. Anyway, we joked about how clean it was. She was always dusting, cleaning every chance she got. She also sang. You could hear her singing when you came up the channel toward the shop. I saw Maddie’s picture, and I knew what must have happened, and it broke my heart.

There’s something the aliens want from us, but they seem to be afraid of something, something we’re capable of. So they keep trying to shut us down. But there’s a way we can all be free, a way we can fly. You have to really look, really listen, not follow some already written plan. What you really care about will show the way for all the students. Then when the aliens see them, they’ll see who we really are. But they seem more afraid of us finding out who they are…

The climber must be determined to see

By flying to find your way is the key

Sometimes dance your way to be free

The way up, you will go step by step

Let your heart lead, blind you to prep

What you feel deep shows them how to rep

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MYSTERY OF THE FLASH KIDS’ DARING ESCAPE PLAN: CHAPTER TWO

“To the students of Canderras, this is my message. I’ll never forget the day me and my friends were talking about the day of the alien invasion. It was the scariest moment I’ve ever experienced. I was out on top of a mesa, looking for rocks. Well, I was looking for one rock, a special one, a slick ruby red arrow shaped rock. It’s really cool. You should see it. It’s in my room now. Imagine looking up at the sky and it instantly turns neon green. There is this eerie silence, but you can hear this whistling like it’s in your head, like you can’t actually hear it. But it’s there, somewhere. Imagine seeing alien ships covering the sky. They just wait there. You have no idea who they are, what they are, or what they want. You have no idea what they’re capable of, or what they’re about to do…”

“Remember what I said in the beginning? Do you? It wasn’t that long ago. I mean, if you can’t remember then you must have a mind that wanders a lot, like maybe you space out, just staring out at a field wondering how many rocks might be hidden. You’d be surprised how many rocks you can find deep in the grass or in the flowers, well, not in the flowers, but kind of hidden by the flowers, you know? Oh yeah, so do you remember? I didn’t say I’ll never forget the day of the invasion, although I won’t forget that day either, (and we won’t let them forget what they’ve done, we’ll play the song louder and louder until they can’t forget) it’s the day my friends were talking about it. We asked a critical question, a question that changed everything. Can you figure out what that was? You see, we discovered something, a secret, a secret about them…”

“I live in the Kingdom of Daymardon, City of Heyvas Cadamar. Our city is built around a bunch of small flat top peaks with a river winding through. We have several really large, wide complexes that curve outward in both directions. Inside them is our city. Everything is really open. We don’t have many walls. It’s all coloured dark orange. We have really lush gardens and dark blue pools on the tops of the peaks, with waterfalls going down the sides. Instead of walls, we have tons of stringed lights that glow dark orange. We love open spaces, because we love dance. We dance all the time in fact, mostly in secret though, because the aliens hate it, and now you can be punished for it…”

“Music is what we really care about. Dancing is what we live for. We have come up with all kinds of dances-maybe you can figure out what they look like by the names, here they are-The Galaxy Dance, The Falling Stars Dance, The Great Orange Pumpkin Flying Coat Dance, The Happy Crazy Flat Hat Ghost Dance, The Big Fat Cat Dance, and The Flying Horse Chess Player Dance. You think you can do any of them? You have to be creative and fast with your feet, that’s all. We didn’t plan any of them. We don’t plan at all. We hate plans. We start dancing when we feel the music, when we feel the energy and we play off each other, we respond to how we all dance in our own ways. But dancing isn’t just about being in the music, it’s about flying. You get to be free, and see everything from high above, because when you dance the way you want, the way you feel, everything comes alive…“

“The aliens overwhelmed us with their lights, their ships blazing across the sky, and their fires raining down to show how easily they could destroy us. That’s how they took power over all our kingdoms, over all our schools. They took so much from us. They want so much from us. They want us to be perfect students and punish us if we aren’t. But that leads to the big question. Do you know what it is yet? Have you figured it out? It was when we were dancing one day in school. One kid slid down the railing on the staircase and started dancing. Soon, we all were dancing. The aliens just watched, standing still, as usual. That’s when we figured it out…”

“I have clues for you, to help you in your mission, and they will be written at the end of my report. Study them close to see the way. The aliens don’t dance. In fact, they don’t even use the word. You see, they don’t call us dancers. They call us troublemakers. But we don’t care, because we know how awesome our dancing is, and they can’t really stop us. You see, we realized something really intriguing, and also revealing. This is the question we raised: If they are so superior, so much more powerful, and want all the power over our kingdoms and schools, then why didn’t they just destroy us completely?“

The climber must be determined to see

By flying to find your way is the key

Sometimes dance your way to be free

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MYSTERY OF THE FLASH KIDS’ DARING ESCAPE PLAN: CHAPTER ONE

“WHEN YOU’RE BURIED IN THE DARK, OPEN YOUR EYES”

March 22, Year 53, will never be forgotten (We won’t let it, we’ll sing it so loud they can’t forget). For those of us in Cashes Dade, it’s because we can’t stop seeing it. To the students of Canderras, this is my report. The aliens claim seven of our citizens attacked them unjustly, and tried to destroy something incredibly important. Like they could even build something important, like my castle. You really should see it. It has three surrounding water channels, seven levels, each further in, a drawbridge, and grand stained-glass windows that open surprisingly fast where the soldiers shoot out cannons suddenly. It took me four months, working on it late every night after getting my schoolwork done, to build it, and I keep adding to it, drawing really cool pictures that go inside that you can see through the windows, and look different at different times of day. Anyway, they say our people are dangerous, our students are lazy, and our kingdom is a cancer that must be destroyed for the good of the world. I’ll never forget that day, but not for the reason you would think. It’s not because of what the aliens did or what I had to see, but for how I felt on my way to school…

Are you ready to solve another mystery? The DadeStar Revolution is heating up. There’s a movement in the schools. In the last book, we were introduced to Austin Candor (and his always changing coloured hair), Cameron Darshia, and Ryan Sayvas. These students have joined the movement and are working in the schools to spread the DadeStar message. But there is a school in the Kingdom of Canderras, City of Caras Maradimes, where the students are really struggling. There is a student who has written a letter to the students of Cashes Dade, asking for help. He says the aliens have shut down all forms of music-singing, playing, and dancing. Music and creativity are what drive these students, and what they enjoy the most. He has written a report to the Cashes Dade Ghost Strikers to ask for their help to figure out how the kids can escape this dark, gloomy school. They are locked in, and there is only one large door at the front that can only be opened with the key. The aliens also guard the door closely.

If you want to join the movement, you can help as well, by solving this mystery. In this case, the mystery will come from the students. It’s a puzzle. Can you put the pieces together? But you’ll have to look deeper to find the hidden key within the puzzle. This will be the first of six posts with reports written by different students who will each offer a clue for how the students can escape this school so they can go to Cashes Dade where they can be free.

Do you want to really join the DadeStar Revolution? Check out the author’s facebook page to follow the mystery series even closer. You can get inside information about what’s happening. You can see posts about his mountain climbs and bible studies, where he gets his inspiration for this book series. Check it out here:

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

Read carefully to see if you can find the clue within each report. Check out the description of the school to see if you can figure out how they can escape. The school is locked down. The key is hidden somewhere. Can you find the way out?

SCHOOL OF CANDERRAS:

DOME TOP BALLROOM:

*DANCING STARLIGHTS ON CEILING

*GROOVES IN THE FLOOR REACHING OUT IN VARIOUS DIRECTIONS

WIDE CIRCULAR CLASSROOMS:

*SHIMMERING BLUE WAVY CEILING

*GLOSSY BLUE MARBLE FLOOR LIKE OCEAN

GREAT READING ROOM:

*MASSIVE GRAND WINDOWS WITH TREES JUST OUTSIDE

*TOWERING BOOKCASES MADE OF BLACK MARBLE

GRAND STUDY ROOM:

*FANCY GOLD CHANDELIER LIGHTS HANGING DOWN LOW

*DEEP DARK BLUE POOLS WITH COLOURED LIGHTS UNDERNEATH SURFACE

GRAND ROTUNDA:

*WIDE BLUE MARBLE STAIRCASES WITH FANCY RAILINGS

*BLACK GLOSSY MARBLE FLOOR WITH BIZARRE REFLECTIONS

I missed three days of school. Although, I wouldn’t say I missed school. I threw up once for every day missed. I felt so dizzy, so sick, trying to move anywhere felt impossible. But then I got a letter from the alien leaders at school. They said I was close to failing out and would have to be sent to The Dathmore, the prison for failed students. They claim those of us getting sick from their fountain light are getting sick because we’re lazy students. Walking to school that day was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, even harder than those stupid math story problems. At first, I could barely see where I was going, my vision was so blurry, and I felt so sick. I had to keep stopping. But then, I realized the key to keep moving. I just had to focus on one thing, just ahead, and take it one step at a time going down, and just blur out the rest. In fact, the way I made it was by dancing. You see, I could barely look up, but I remembered how the blue crystal sidewalk looked on my path to school where I did my dance steps, zigzagging back and forth as fast as I could. So, I didn’t see the Dadeluce Fountain, the alien light, the aliens, or the protesters, except one…

I couldn’t see their face. To this day, I don’t know which protester he or she was. All I could see was their hands, held up like a shield, blocking the light I guess. They were bare, not holding anything, but trying to hold back the alien powers. Then, I saw a brilliant flash from the side, and I saw the hands fall…

The aliens claim they were only defending themselves and the fountain from destruction. They claim they just struck out at them once just to stop them, not to murder them. They claim they only struck them once with the fire light, which was blinding. You see, it blinded everyone who was around so they couldn’t see what happened next, but because I wasn’t looking up, but focused on one thing, I wasn’t blinded. I saw movement, and I heard sounds. What I heard was some kind of pounding…I can’t completely describe it because it haunts me. Have you heard our protest song called Bloody, Bloody Friday? It reveals the secret, the real reason why we know the aliens lied. It’s because the next thing I saw after the hands fell was blood in the streets…

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MYSTERY OF THE CHRISTMAS GHOST EXPRESS PART TWO

“THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY THROUGH”

The heavy dark clouds built up more and more across the December night sky. Massive wide triangular alien ships hovered just within the clouds, shimmering deep blue, with pale green lights shone through the dark crystal windows. A deep hum cut across the silence of the night. The ships formed a wide circle. Several aliens appeared in the front windows of one ship. They were slightly taller than the tallest humans, with slender arms pointing out. Their half moon shaped eyes burned bright white, staring down. Deep humming grew louder, sending shockwaves through the blood red sky. Waves pumped out through the dark red clouds. In an instant, the ships lit up bright flashing blue. Intense, white lights shot out, down to the ground, lighting up the three kids…

The kids believe they have found the location where the Christmas Ghost Express will begin. Which one do you think it is? That answer is about to be revealed. If you haven’t yet, go back and check out the previous post titled: The Christmas Ghost Express Part One to see the clues. Also, if you want to see the real magic of Christmas, a story from the bible, check out the top post on my facebook page at:

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

Cade, Blake, and Josiah still have to find the exact point where the Christmas Ghost Express will appear, but they have a bigger problem, the aliens found them…

The intense white alien light crossed the other alien light over the narrow valley cutting to the right between the spiraling mass of towering mountains. Several towering evergreens with cone shaped tops called Mayers lit up intensely blue, glowing bright in the chilling night. The two narrow, triangular alien ships in burning blue shine hovered just under the fast flowing red clouds, one on each side of the valley.

A slim shadow powered ahead through the dead bushes and flattened grass sliding to a stop at a high rising Mayer in lush red leaves. He turned back, and gave an impatient wave. Another shadow flew straight up, barely missing several Mayers, didn’t flinch and slid fast to a stop. Faint, energetic singing started up, singing a sad song, sounding distant. His bright eyes almost glowed in the dark under the glittering red star shaped leaves.

Deep humming grew louder from the two ships. A few bright stars appeared momentarily through the fiery red passing clouds. The two kids stared across the lower shadow covered valley.

“What’s he waiting for?”

“Who knows.”

“They’re going to light up any minute.”

“I know.”

“Did you try waving for him?”

“Like ten times already,” he said with a long sigh. Chilling wind rushed down through the pass between the massive peaks touching the rough clouds. Several more alien ships lit up past them. They dropped down low over the lush blue, red, and green evergreens. Chilling winds rushed through the forest, blurring the glowing colours in a bright mass. Their stale lights splashed down through the tall spiraling branches. Shadows spread out left and right.

“Come on, Cade,” Blake said, agitated.

“They have us surrounded,” said Josiah, gazing up at the hovering deep blue ships. He got down low, staring across the bright green forest floor covered in golden flowers barely lit under the roaming alien lights. “When’s he going to get here?”

“Knowing Cade, he’s probably standing right near us right now, waiting for just the right moment.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, he does it all the time.”

“Not all the time.” Josiah jumped. Cade appeared between them with an amused smile. Blake just rolled his eyes.

“How we getting out of this?” Blake asked, gazing up at the hovering ships. Search lights shot out into the forest. “Get down.” The kids got down low.

“We need to get through unseen,” said Cade staring at the bright colourful masses lit up in the roaming lights.

“Really?” Blake said, shaking his head. “Thanks for that brilliant idea.”

“What I meeaannnn, is we need them to only see the trees, not us.”

“I don’t get it.”

“I think he means we need to look like trees so they think we’re trees and not us,” said Josiah, nodding energetically. “Yeah, I don’t get it either.”

“I think you do,” said Cade, with a smile.

“We’re going to dress up like trees?” asked Josiah. “These aliens figured out how to build ships and fly across the universe only to be fooled by three kids dressed up like trees?”

“No,” said Cade, digging into his pack, “we don’t have to dress up. We wait for the wind, carry these coloured lights, I think I have the ones we need in here, hold on…” Josiah watched the crossing shadows anxiously.

“I think there are dark spirits out there, too,” he said quietly.

“We just have to go fast,” said Blake.

“When the winds hit, we light up, and fly past them,” said Cade with intense eyes. Blake checked his pocketwatch: 11:30.

“We’re almost out of time,” he said, “and we still haven’t found the exact spot.” Several dark figures appeared momentarily in the crossing alien lights. Josiah gazed out at the rising mountain on their left, leaning to the right with a misty circular peak.

Light rain started falling, sounding like quiet applause through the forest.

“We’ll have to hold out until the winds pick up,” said Josiah, gazing up at the nine hovering ships in a wide circle.

“I don’t know if we’re close enough to where they start,” said Blake, looking down the valley to where various creeks shimmered under the breaking moonlight. They spread out in various directions, spiraling down the mountainsides. Light gray mist curtains fell over them in the soft rains.

A massive sonic boom rocked the sky just overhead. The ships hummed loud, with shrill whistling overpowering the valley. The lights grew more intense, like fires, roaming fast in all directions. The kids watched anxiously as the ships started dropping, rising, flying fast from one side to the other.

“We need to go now,” said Josiah. Blake shook his head. “They’ll find us any minute now.”

“No, they won’t,” he answered calmly. “They don’t know where we are. That’s why they’re searching. Look at them. They’re just trying to overwhelm us, get us to panic. We need to hold down, wait this out.” Then he checked his watch: 11:40. “But we don’t have long to wait.”

“We’ll get our chance,” said Josiah. Cade stared out at the distant pool at the top of the valley surrounded by rough, dry rocks rising up on all sides. Dark mists fell over the valley peak, creating small ripples that turned to strong waves reaching further and further out.

“Where are they going to appear?” asked Cade. “What makes the most sense?”

“Somewhere dark and secret,” said Blake. “The song was hidden in the four letters, hidden in dark feelings.

“I mean, the song is about being like Israel,” said Josiah, “small, surrounded by enemies, but standing strong anyway, holding out in the storm.”

“Just like Cashes Dade,” Blake said quietly, looking up at the swarming alien lights.

“I GOT IT!” Cade jumped up. Blake pulled him back down.

“How about you tell us instead of them, okay?” said Josiah.

“Sorry. So, it’s about how they appear deep in the storm, the darkest terrain, right? Get it?” Cade was met with two blank stares. “The terrain? Terrraiinn. RAIN.”

“Where though,” said Blake, “it’s raining all over.”

Cade looked up in the falling light gray mists, then pointed to the distant pool under the heavy dark mists. “That’s it, right there.”

Blake checked his watch: 11:50. “We need the winds.”

“No, we don’t,” said Cade. “They only appear in the hard rains which means the more we go up the valley, the harder it will rain.”

“It’ll work,” said Josiah.

“Let’s go then,” said Blake, cracking a smile.

“You mean let’s roll,” said Josiah, nodding confidently.

“No, you’re both wrong,” said Cade. With eyes lit, he whispered, “Showtime.”

Blake lit up three sparkling candles shooting out blue, red, and green lights. The three of them did the ghost striker handshake, bumping fists, then drawing their hands back flat and fast going, “Shhhhh.”

Josiah blazed through the forest. Dark ghosts closed in on him. They reached for him. But he sped up faster right past them. Alien lights flew around. The rains fell harder in the cold night. Blake got down low charging up the valley toward the pool. Several dark spirits crossed his path. He faked left, faked right, then sprinted right for them. They got in position. He sprinted faster, launched off a rock and kicked out his feet as he landed on them, knocking them flat.

Blake smiled and waved goodbye charging up the last slope. Cade swerved right, then shot out left, slid to a stop, then shot back right, slanting up the slope. Blake checked his watch: 11:58.

The alien lights fell away behind them. Dark rain curtains fell hard over them, in strong waves, pushing them back. Their lights went out. Then the singing began, but not from above, from ahead. Cade and Blake heard a single, bright teenage voice singing in a slow rising melody:

“Sometimes the darkness falls down in waves.

But I wait until the silence of the night.

We are surrounded by our enemies digging our graves.

But like Israel we have a mysterious power to fight.

We have suffered so much rejection and pain.

But I find peace and truth in continuing to do what’s right.

It’s hard to see hope in the deepest dark terrain.

But that’s when I hear their singing, glowing bright.”

The kids drove hard up the final slope. Glittering moonlight splashed across the creamy blue waters. A mysterious bluish-gold light appeared. Blake looked at his watch as he and Josiah reached the pool: Midnight. They turned to see a line of dark spirits blocking Cade’s way up the slick slope.

“He can’t get past him,” said Josiah.

“You want to bet?” asked Blake, pointing. Cade broke a wry smile. Then he started slowly up the slope, through the hard driving rains. Water splashed with every heavy step. He slanted right, then turned left, faked right, then started running harder left. The dark ghosts linked arms, held their position strong. Cade moved up left, then turned directly toward them. He sprinted right at them, gave them a wink, then kicked up tons of water at them.

They looked around confused as he dove right under their grasp, sliding far on the slick, watery grass. Then he heard it, deep humming in a fast driving rhythm. The voices, all different types, sang out:

Christmas lights are here, Christmas lights are here, Christmas lights are here.

Cade joined them just as the ghosts appeared, singing, with bright faces, glowing gold riding a long, blue carriage with all kinds of pictures and designs painted on it. The kids got on board. Alien lights blurred and faded fast into heavy darkness behind them. They flew above the first massive peak, staring out across several more peaks shimmering blue under the breaking moonlight of the Christmas night.

The clouds turned blue around them, breaking around them, their glowing lights shimmering under the bright moon above them. Cade, Blake, and Josiah just stared up in wonder at the bright, glittering star cluster shaped like a massive spiral above them. After a few hours they turned their intense gazed down at the dark, empty, frozen landscape below them as the singing continued:

Christmas lights are here, Christmas lights are here, Christmas lights are here.

A small village appeared in a wide spiral. Candles glowed in the windows. Citizens stood out on their balconies.

“I wonder which home is that kid’s,” said Josiah, “You know, the one into all the stars and planets?” They looked down at the various homes. One was full of numerous bright candles, flashing to the rhythm of the ghost song. Another large home had multi-coloured candles forming shapes of the mountains as seen from above, stacked up on the roof. Another home had many colourful candles showing all kinds of spiraling clusters in the windows, strung out across the outside and through the trees all around. Another home had bright, glittering candles in every window, forming a person in some kind of action: one showed a baker, another showed a singer, another showed a miner, while another showed a play actor, and another showed someone building a set, while yet another showed someone drawing.

The express slowly drifted down while kids danced energetically, in different ways, cool ways not seen before to the ghosts’ singing:

Christmas lights are here. Christmas lights are here. Christmas lights are here.

“This is such a lonely place,” said Josiah.

“Yeah, but who else gets to experience this?” asked Cade. The other two nodded.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Blake as they landed. Loud cheers broke out, filling out the village. Then they began singing Silent Night as they swayed their candles, in all kinds of shapes and colours. They swayed them in cool waves, and as the second verse started, some sang a higher echo of the chorus, like angels. After the kids made their deliveries there, the people of the village all jumped on board, riding to Carolmire, the Christmas city.

They arrived into the gold glowing city of small old time shops and homes made of bricks with candles glowing in the windows.

“There’s something going on with the aliens,” said Blake. “They’re building something massive.”

“Austin said the DadeStar Revolution is starting to catch on in the schools,” said Josiah.

“We just need to stay focused on the next mission,” Cade said quietly. The students and their families, all the people of the northern village and Carolmire stood together, sang, and danced to the song, Joy to the World. Their bright voices began in the small town of Carolmire, in the cold darkness, but then rang out in slow rising waves reaching far out through the silent night.

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MYSTERY OF THE CHRISTMAS GHOST EXPRESS PART ONE

“EVEN IN THE DEEP DARK, THE WAY OUT BEGINS WITH A SPARK”

The December sky flows like blood close overhead. The aliens called me a loser, a lazy student. But I’m smart enough to know exactly when the Christmas Ghost Express will arrive. I’m always the first one to see them. I can see the sky through my dark blue glass window dusted with ice crystals, especially at night when all my gold dust stars in my room glow bright. I have them all over my walls…and ceiling…and door…oh yeah, and on some my clothes. Okay, all of my clothes. I have planet stickers all over too. My room is a galaxy. When they start glowing bright, that’s when I know it’s time, to check out the sky.

I keep track of all the stars’ movements and planets, but mostly, I keep track of all the alien movements. I know way more about them and what they’re doing than they realize. I wonder what other civilizations are out there, far away, maybe completely isolated and alone, and no one knows they exist, just like me…

Outside the fields are flat, gray, and dead, until the snow falls. On this cold, snowing night, I gaze out at the vast, white empty landscape. The shrill winds constantly change the shapes, making all kinds of hills and spiraling designs over the fields. As darkness falls I can still see the three neon blue ice bluffs among the never ending hills and valleys of snow.

I just finished designing a new galaxy. I like how the lights cross over the planets from different directions, making really awesome colours at different times of the day. You should see it. It’s the best looking galaxy in the universe. What was I saying? Oh yeah, I get distracted sometimes…all the time.

I look to my left and then to my right at the fading candle lights in the windows of the other small homes and shops on our single street. Our village is surrounded by cold emptiness. I look up at the wet, falling snow, falling like sheets so much that all the dark, hazy distance disappears and that’s when it happens, that’s when I hear it…

Deep humming starts up in a fast, driving rhythm. Then they start singing in low, quiet voices: “Christmas lights are here, Christmas lights are here, Christmas lights are here.”

Have you ever seen the Christmas Ghost Express? Cade, Blake, and Josiah are about to go on an adventure into the frozen north in the darkest time of the year to find it. No one knows where the ghosts first appear. But they aren’t just trying to find it for themselves, they’re hoping to help out some people who have been forgotten. There are some kids who live far in the north, a place no one ever visits. They live isolated and alone in a vast, empty place. But now, the aliens have made it so no one can reach them…

In the Kingdom of Carolmire, the land where it’s always Christmas, the people are in serious trouble. The citizens of Cashes Dade, who now live on the top of a high mountain since their kingdom was destroyed by the aliens, have seen a ton of alien activity and alien lights. The aliens clearly have them surrounded and blocked in so that no one can visit them, nothing can be sent to them. They must be running out of key supplies, important medicines. They have to work long hours in the mines, so many of them are probably getting sick. Also, friends and family can’t send letters and gifts to them. But there is one way through that even the aliens can’t stop…

If Cade, Blake, and Josiah can find the exact place where the Christmas Ghost Express begins, they can jump on board and take all kinds of medicines, supplies, letters, and gifts to the people of Carolmire. They know this happens somewhere along the northwest river between where the river turns up to Caden Ivys and the dead end into the river flowing north to Dascade Iris. No one knows exactly where they first appear, and when they do, they leave immediately and fast for the secret path up north ending here in Carolmire. But they start at one of the following four places on the south side of the northwest ice flow river. Can you solve the mystery? Can you figure out which one it is?

*AT THE FAR WEST IS A ROW OF FOUR SLOW RISING MOUNTAINS, ALL CONNECTED, EACH ONE HIGHER TO THE RIGHT. THE PEAK OF THE FIRST THREE IS RELATIVELY ROUND AND WIDE, BUT THE LAST ONE IS MORE NARROW, SHOOTING STRAIGHT UP. THEY HAVE TOWERING RISING EVERGREENS WITH CONE SHAPED TOPS THAT GLITTER GOLD AT NIGHT.

*AT THE CENTER LEFT ARE TWO ROWS OF MOUNTAINS RISING UP FROM LEFT AND RIGHT LIKE A STAIRCASE LEADING UP TO A WIDE LEVEL MOUNTAIN TOP. THEY ARE DOTTED WITH ONLY A FEW SMALL WIDE EVERGREENS AMONG DARK GREEN FIELDS AND COLOURFUL FLOWERS THAT GLOW AT NIGHT.

*AT THE CENTER RIGHT IS A SPIRALING MASS OF TOWERING MOUNTAINS WITH A NARROW VALLEY CUTTING DOWN TO THE RIGHT COVERED WITH LUSH BLUE RED AND GREEN EVERGREENS WITH REALLY TALL SPIRALING BRANCHES RISING FROM THE BRIGHT GREEN FOREST FLOOR COVERED IN GOLDEN FLOWERS.

*AT THE FAR EAST EDGE, THERE IS A SPIRALING CLUSTER OF SMALLER MOUNTAINS WITH ONE MASSIVE AND TALL ONE IN THE CENTER. THEY ARE COVERED WITH NEON BLUE EVERGREENS IN A REALLY HEAVY FOREST THAT GLOW BRIGHTLY AT NIGHT.

One of these places is where they begin, but you have to be there right when they appear. The key clue is the song, Silent Night. When you see the bright, intense gold-lit trail of ghosts flying fast across the ice, you will know you’ve found the Christmas Ghost Express and you can reach Carolmire. The key clue for which place it is, can be found in these four letters written by students from Carolmire several years ago. Can you figure it out?

Winter has been rough this year. Sometimes the darkness falls down in waves. But I wait until the silence of the night. Even though I feel alone, and it gets so quiet, that’s when I feel at peace. I can see a lot more when all goes still, when the winds die down through the empty hills.

We are surrounded by our enemies digging our graves. But like Israel we have a mysterious power to fight. The alien lights are like a massive fence all around us, but the more I see them, the more hope I have, because I realize they can’t destroy us. Our strength is renewed by fire.

There have been so many students like me who get rejected. Nothing is ever good enough for them. They don’t notice how hard we try. They only see what they think is important. We have suffered so much rejection and pain. But I find peace and truth in continuing to do what’s right.

It’s such a long, hard journey through the heavy snow drifts. When the snow is falling in sheets, the cold winds are stinging my face, I know all I have to do is just keep moving forward, one step at a time, and I’ll get there. It’s hard to see hope in the deepest dark terrain. But that’s when I hear their singing, glowing bright.

The Kingdom of Carolmire is in trouble and they need help. They will look to Cashes Dade, looking for kids who are courageous enough and crazy enough to break through the alien defenses to follow ghosts in the night. They need Cade Mayson’s ghost like running skills, Blake Candade’s intense determination and strength, and Josiah Mardade’s creative vision and ideas. Will they find the way through to reach Carolmire? Soon, we will find out and the answer to the mystery will be revealed. But there’s another danger. The kids aren’t the only ones trying to find the Christmas Ghost Express…