WARNING!!!
SOMNE ACTION VIOLENCE AND BLOOD IS INCLUDED
K.I.D.S. #2
THE MYSTERY FILES
BY BRANDON ALLEN
CHAPTER 1
The wind was particularly breezy, which was altogether fine, all except for the fact that most mysteries took place outdoors, but, little did I, Brandon Allen, know that, some, though very few, mysteries take place indoors. I am part of K.I.D.S., witch is Kids Investigations Detectives Spies, and, no, we do not work for the government, but, yes, we are a group of kids who solve mysteries, including, Me, Colin Morris, and Rad Judson.
Well, I was trying as best I could to find a mystery, but, the only place I could think of was the attic and, last I checked, not one was found in that old dusty room. It’s floors were made of wood and, in the dark, anyone was sure to fall through the fiber glass and, if they’re lucky, would never be able to walk again. If not, they would never see the light of day again. All the good that place does is bring back memories from the past years, mostly holidays. Anyways, as the sky got darker and darker, I found it useless to ask my mom if I could look for mysteries outside, because I knew what her response would be to that sort of question,
“Try and find one elsewhere” she would say.
“But what if I can’t find one “elsewhere?” I would ask. “I would do anything to occupy my time”
“You would, would you?” mom asked with a skeptical look in her eye. I hated that look. It meant there was work to be done, and, what’s worse, I’m almost always the one doing it.
“Here, put these chocolates in dad’s office” Mom said. “I want to surprise him when he gets home”
So I ran downstairs hurriedly. When I reached dad’s office, something caught my eye. It was a file that told of a cabin that used to be owned by someone. Someone had hired a couple named William and Marry to help rent the cabin. The mysterious thing was that the person who had owned the cabin had not met William and Marry in person at all.
Apparently, William had gotten sued, though I did not know why. Apparently, William and Marry had a debt to pay, but they did not pay it back and haven’t for all these years.
“Hmm…” I wondered. Whoever owned the place must have been pretty angry with them”
I ran up to mom to tell her what I had found, and, yes, I had delivered the chocolates.
But I never noticed a shadow crouching behind the backyard window, listening in on my every word.
“What is it?” mom asked.
I told mom everything the files had said.
“Oh, yes, William and Marry Cornet” Mom said.
“What, do you know them?”
“Yes” mom said. “yes, I do”
“Although,” mom said, thoughtfully. “We never saw them in person at all”
“That’s just what the file said” I whispered, under my breath.
“Excuse me?” mom asked.
CHAPTER 2
“Nothing” I said.
Mom could tell I did not mean for anyone to hear that.
“See?” Mom said. “You’ve already found a mystery “elsewhere”
“Ya, sure” I said. “I need to call Rad”
I ran to pick up the phone.
I quickly dialed his number and spoke into the receiver,
“Hey, is Rad Judson on the line?” I asked.
“Ya, sure, whatever” Rad groaned.
“Bad day?” I asked.
“Ya” He said.
“Hey, hold on, I’m going to hook us up to a three-way call with Colin Morris”
“Ya, sure, whatever” Rad said, this time enthusiastically.
Once we were hooked up, Cyle spoke into the receiver, “Hey, hi, whatch’a doing?” Cyle said, not jokingly at all.
“Sounds like you both had a bad day” I said, concerned.
“You can say that again” Cyle said, depressed.
“Sounds like you both had a-“I started.
“Not literally!” Cyle said, a little cheered up.
I soon related everything the file said.
“Sounds like a mystery to me” Rad said. “In fact…I have a hunch…huh, I think…I’m losing you…I can’t…bad connection”
All was silent on the other lines until someone spoke up,
“Stop sleuthing! This private information is none of your business! I repeat, STOP SLEUTHING! PS. your life depends on it!”
There was a moment of shrill laughter then all was silent…for good. I shouted excitedly.
“I knew it!” I shouted. “There really is a mystery!”
Mom turned,
“I guess it could be…” she started
“…William and Marry Cornet?” I guessed. I tried to call up Rad and Cyle again, but to no avail. It was the last time I was going to try. I went down to the home-school room. I tried looking on the shelves, hoping to find some more files about the cabin, but, again, to no avail. A feeling, a chill, was going up my spine. I was sort of discouraged. I tried convincing myself that a clue would turn up soon enough, and one would, but I didn’t know it.
One day, I finally got in touch with Cyle
“No clue has turned up so far” I reported.
“Mmm…” Cyle said.
“That’s it, what happened?!?!” I asked, concerned.
“We were chasing a criminal for two days strait! No luck and no brakes whatsoever!” Cyle replied. “Ever tried checking the file cabinets?”
“No, I never thought of that!?!?” I exclaimed.
“Well start thinking” Cyle said.
I hung up and ran to check the file cabinets. I found a file that said CABIN SALE:
COLDWELL BANKER/SHIELD HERITAGE.
CHAPTER 3
I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Who’s the head of Coldwell Banker/Shield Heritage?” I asked myself. I read the note about the cabin all the way down until I saw the name, Carl. Something was up, and I knew it.
“Maybe Coldwell Banker/Shield Heritage are in league with the…Vacation Rentals?” I asked myself confused. I soon learned that Vacation Rentals was a name of a home renting company that was controlled by…William and Marry Cornet!
I soon reached over, put the file away, closed the cabinet, and left the room. ________________________________________________________________________
“You mind cluing me in on this whole, “Stop Sleuthing or else” thing?” Cyle asked.
“Oh, well, I don’t know who, but, I have a feeling that Rad’s got a good hunch on his mind right about now” I pointed out.
“Ya, I think I’ll phone him” Cyle said.
Cyle ran to check his voice mail before he phoned Rad.
“No voice-mail” he reported. “Try yours”
“OK, I’ll try mine” I told him.
“Mmhhmm” he replied.
I looked over my voice-mail.
“I got some” I reported. I hit the middle button on my cell-phone and shrill laughter filled the air.
“You just don’t know when to quit? Do you?” A voice boomed followed by more shrill
laughter. “Well, enough playing hide and seek…I know where you are, so give it up!”
“What’s up?” Cyle asked.
“Whoever’s behind all this knows where I am!” I exclaimed.
“Uh-Oh” Cyle said, worriedly.
“What’da we do?” I asked.
“For starters, ONE OF US should tell Rad your being threatened, and I’ll tell you what, that someone is not going to be me” Cyle declared.
“Alright! Alright! I’ll call him!” I exclaimed, defeated. Once I had dialed his number I spoke into the receiver,
“Hello, is Rad Judson on the line?”
“Yep, that’s me” Rad spoke into the receiver. “What’s up?”
“Someone’s threatening me!” I blurted out.
“Funny you say that” Rad said. “Someone was threatening me too!”
“Someone knows we’re friends” I guessed.
“Most likely” Rad agreed.
“But, I need to find out who’s threatening me!” I told him.
“Then start gathering information about your suspects” Rad suggested.
“You’re right!” I said. “But I do have a hunch…”
“What?” Rad asked.
“There’s only one couple who is involved with the cabin mystery and knows who my parents are” I said, “William and Marry Cornet.
“Ya, sure, but remember what I said, GATHER INFO” Rad reminded me. He paused then added,
“You know, you have found a lot of notes during this case. Maybe it’s an MM”
“Oh-no…It couldn’t…well, then again…maybe it could”
CHAPTER 4
I tried to reassure myself that it couldn’t be an MM, but half of me was voting for the opposite. When I remembered the first MM, I shook my head in disgust. It was the first mystery I had had during my currier at K.I.D.S. If you’ve read the first book, K.I.D.S. #1
THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD CELLER, You would know exactly what happened, but, for those of you who have not, I had a flashback. Having Phil to work with me just made it worse. I’ll tell you everything about him and my first mystery.
________________________________________________________________________
The first time I met Phil, We didn’t get along right off the bat. I didn’t like him, he didn’t like me. The best word to describe us was rivals. And the reason I use the word WAS is because he moved to a company called P.E.R.I.L. But before then, he was just trying to steal my place in the spotlight. He almost tried to kill me by pushing me down the stone stairs that led to the cellar, but, luckily, I had the good sense to grab onto the railing. Then he did something that was really low, he tried to lock me in the seller, and it worked. Now, excuse me for changing the subject, but, an MM is a Message Mystery, which is a type of mystery in which you follow clues on notes, kind of like a treasure hunt, which is exactly what I did while looking for a will in THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD CELLER. I remember what Rad had said when he had permitted Phil to be a graduate at the K.I.D.S. UNIVERSITY,
“We’re permitting Phil to be a graduate, that won’t change the world”
“But what if it does?” I questioned him.
“Well, it won’t change MY world, and that’s all that matters” he replied.
I could see the darkness closing in on Phil’s future. I knew Rad was wrong about Phil.
“You’re making a mistake!” I told him.
“What he does is of no concern to me” Rad retorted. This wasn’t like Rad.
“Is something wrong, Rad” I asked.
“More then ever” he breathed.
I heard that, but pretended not to have.
“Just you wait!” I shouted, angrily. “Phil will do something terrible to K.I.D.S. and you’ll be held responsible for it! you’re the boss!”
Rad glared at me, but in a low tone of voice he said sadly, “I know”
________________________________________________________________________
“Hello…HELLOOOO…ANYONE THERE?”
I awoke from my flashback,
“Uh, Ya, I’m here, what’s up?” I asked.
“Try asking your parents about your suspects” Rad suggested.
“Right, that’s a great idea! I’ll ask mom about William and Marry Cornet!” I exclaimed.
Now you’re talkin” Rad said. So I went to gather more information.
______________________________________________________
Rad quickly made sure I was off the line, dialed another number, then spoke into the receiver, “Hey, Phil, this is Rad…I’ve got an important job for you”
______________________________________________________
I was doing quite a bit of snooping around that night. I had been awakened by the sound of footsteps. I had tackled the “intruder”
“Phil?” I asked in surprise. “But, why? How?”
“Dude, this isn’t my fault” The shadow of Phil declared.
“Phil!” A voice whispered from upstairs. “what are you doing?!”
“Rad?” I asked.
“Ya! Rad! As in Rad!” Phil said. “Now will you get off?”
“Not until you be quiet” I declared.
“Fine” Phil whispered. I rolled off of him.
“Go home, Phil. I want to talk to Brandon alone” Rad ordered. Phil obeyed.
“Are you insane?” I asked Rad. “How could you ask PHIL, of all people, to be my K.I.D. sitter for the night? What world do you live in?”
“Apparently, not yours” Rad shot back.
“Do you have some kind of secret alliance with Phil?”
Rad glanced at the clock. Changing the subject, He handed me something. A note.
“This was sent to me the other day” he said.
“You sure like to change the subject don’t you?” I asked him. I glared at him, but, took the note any way.
“Hmm…interesting” I said aloud, once I had torn the envelope enough to read the letter: Most Wanted Friend of Brandon Allen, I am very impressed by you and your friends’ skills at detective work, but now your lucky break is over. It’s time for you to know the meaning of the words: STOP SLEUTHING!!! P.S. We will be meeting with your friend, Brandon Allen at 12:00PM, Monday. SHARP!!!
Signed, Guess Who I paused.
“Monday is today!” I exclaimed. I glanced at the clock, worriedly. It read: 11:55PM.
“Five minutes!” I gasped.
“What do we do?” Rad asked, worriedly. Rad flinched.
“What?” I asked. Someone opened the door. We braced ourselves.
“Rad?” A voice from outside asked. We both sighed with relief as Cyle trudged in.
“Rad?” He asked again. “About that note…”
Rad noticed that Cyle was standing right next to the window. We heard footsteps outside. A chill went up my Spine.
11:55…11:56…11:57…11:58…11:59…
Rad lunged at Colin M, knocking him out of the way of a shattering window. 12:00!!!
CHAPTER 5
Five ninjas broke through the windows.
“Ding, Ding, Ding! Room service!!!” One of them chuckled.
“Not in my room, you don’t!” I shouted kicking one of them in the side of the head. Rad flipped and twisted between two of the ninjas, knocking them off their feet.
Cyle did two rolling kicks to down his attackers. That left one for me. He delivered a barrage of super-speedy punches that left me with multiple scars on my face.
“Do you give up?” The ninja asked, now delivering multiple kicks. “How about now?”
“No, no, no, and NO!” I shouted, kicking his legs and making him stumble. CRASH!!!
A vase was sent to the floor, shattering into a-million pieces.
“That’ll come out of my allowance” I murmured, gruffly.
“What was that?” We heard Mom say.
“No, witnesses” The lead ninja growled. The ninjas fled…and got away just in time. My face hurt on the side where the scar was. I grumbled in pain. That was a scar I would never forget.
“They got away” Rad reported.
“Crud” I mumbled under my breath. We all talked about the break in.
“I’ll bet William and Marry Cornet are behind this!”
“No!”
“Probably Carl”
“It’s probably just William”
Footsteps. No. Laughter! We all jumped!
“Someone is outside!” We all crept up on the intruder. A woman’s shriek filled the night air. A terrible sight met my eyes. A floating hood shrieked menacingly. Under it was the face of a horrible looking woman. Her face was blue streaked with anger. She looked so hideous. She shrieked at the sight of us. She was floating. Her hair was red and streaked with the heat of rage. As my eyes were glued to the hideous sight, a fist struck my head sending me into a whirl of pitch blackness.
________________________________________________________________________
More laughter, but not hideous like the ghost was, what Ghost? The woman. What woman? My mind raced.
CHAPTER 6
All the memory of the night before seemed to have been drained from me, and it was. I could remember nothing. The chill of the frosty air from the night before was gone.
I was warm. When I awakened, I expected to be in some kind of prison.
I was far from it, in bed.
I must have gotten hit pretty hard, I couldn’t remember anything.
The scar!
I felt my face. It was bleeding. I felt the scar.
“Uggg…” I murmured, gruffly.
Where had the scar come from?
As my mind raced, images floated through my mind.
The note, Rad, Colin M, 12:00PM, Monday. SHARP!!!
“Rad! Colin M!” I shouted.
No answer, they were gone. I looked up.
My clock read: 3:00AM. Tuesday! The window was shattered. A broken vase lay on the ground. The words in the note echoed in my mind again,
12:00PM, Monday. SHARP!!!
“That couldn’t have been too long ago” I said aloud, half to myself.
I got up. I decided to call Cyle Once I had dialed the number, I spoke into the receiver.
“Hello?” I asked, uncertainly.
“YOU’RE ALIVE!” was the reply of Cyle on the other line.
“Something happened last night!” I blurted out.
“Oh, ya” Cyle said, surprised. “you were there too, don’t you remember?”
“I…don’t remember anything” I admitted.
Cyle soon related the whole story of the night before.
It all came back to me.
“But who wrote the letter that Rad gave me?” I asked.
“Guess Who” Cyle answered.
“But who?” I asked.
“Who what?” Cyle asked.
“Who’s Guess Who?” I asked.
A sudden BEEP sounded through the telephone.
Then a woman’s shriek filled the air.
“What was that?” I asked. “Well, we’ve got three choices” Cyle pointed out. “William Cornet, Marry Cornet and Spencer Crombach”
“Spencer who?” I asked.
“Spencer Crombach” Cyle said.
“How do you know his last name?” I asked.
CHAPTER 7
“I snuck around the house outside, went through the back door and read the file I suggested in the file cabinet.
“I didn’t notice that, I only had time to read the first page. Great detective work!” I congratulated. “Where’s Phil?”
“Thank you, and…he went home, remember?”
“Oh, ya” I said, sheepishly.
The woman!
The ghost!
“Hold on” I said.
I hung up and ran onto the porch.
“The ghost of that woman was hideous” I thought.
I stopped short.
I could almost feel a chill going up my spine.
I could feel myself being drawn toward something…or someone.
I rounded a corner.
I gasped.
Before me was a hideous sight,
The dead body of a hideous looking woman.
The ghost!
“Impossible” I breathed, utterly terrified. “What in the world?”
I reached for the woman’s hand.
She was alive, while at the same, she wasn’t.
Her whole body remained motionless.
“How could this be possible?” I wondered. “how could she possibly be alive…while dead at the same time?”
I hesitated.
When I touched the woman’s hand she disappeared.
A light was being shone from the woods, like our projector on Friday nights.
A projector!
“Think you’re smart?” I breathed.
I looked into the woods.
“Not smart enough” I breathed once again.
I ran down to the woods.
I peered in.
I didn’t realize that the phone was still in my hand.
“Have you caught your ghost yet?!?!” Cyle shouted with excitement on the other line.
“Shh” I whispered. “I won’t if you keep shouting”
“Sorry” Cyle said, apologetically, cupping his hands over his mouth.
I hurried into the woods.
“What are we looking for again?” Cyle asked.
I sighed “A ghost” I replied.
“Ohhhhhhhh…good cause I was going blank for a few seconds” Cyle replied, too loudly.
“Zip it” I whispered, harshly.
“SORRY” He whispered.
There!
A projector!
No owner or culprit in sight.
“From the looks of it” I reported into the receiver. “This projector was most definitely projecting the ghost woman”
My eyes followed the stream of light from the projector to the porch.
CRUNCH!!!
I whirled.
BAM!!!
A fist hit the side of my head.
I struggled to focus my vision on the attacker, but to no avail.
“Not…again” I groaned.
I blacked out.
CHAPTER 8
“Hey…hey…you, wake up” A voice said, concerned.
“Who, Me?” I asked, groggily.
“Yes, you”
I opened one eye. My head hurt.
“Where am I?” I murmured, gruffly. “And why don’t the bad guys…or bad girl…just…kill me?”
“Because” The familiar voice of Rad said. “They know we’re friend’s, and that means…more witnesses”
“So I’m in YOUR house?” I asked.
“Yup, yep” Rad replied.
“The bad…uh…people…” The familiar voice of Cyle started.
“…don’t like witnesses” Rad finished.
“I was just about to say that…right after the whole, “Yup, yep” thing” Cyle glared at Rad.
His eyebrows slumped to a look of curiosity,
“What is with that, “Yup, yep” thing?” Cyle asked. “And why don’t they just kill him?”
“Because the bad…people know we’re-“
“No, no, no! WHY?”
“This is why: Let me start again…The bad people-“
“I KNOW THAT!!!” “I’m asking why”
“And I am telling you “WHY!” I’m giving you the answer!”
“THE RIGHT ANSWER!!!”
“WHAT IS THE RIGHT ANSWER?!?!”
“I don’t know, I expected you to know”
“I don’t have a clue”
“YOU TWO BE QUITE AND DON’T MAKE MY HEADACHE WORSE THEN IT ALREADY IS!!!” I shouted.
Both arguers froze in mid-quarrel.
“Get…a…grip” I demanded.
The two looked at each other.
“Well…” Cyle said, shaking Rad’s hand. “I guess we both know what the answer to this argument is”
Rad nodded.
“I’m sorry”
With a flick of his wrist, Cyle threw Rad over his shoulder, sending him hurling into a wall.
“Oh, you better be” He said.
I couldn’t help but force a laugh.
Then Cyle started laughing.
“Well, I’ve had my fun” He said, extending a hand to Rad.
Rad grabbed his hand and threw him across the room.
“Now it’s MY turn to have MY fun” He said.
This time they shook hands for real.
______________________________________________________
It was a long time before we got to Cyle’s house so we could hear a message he had
gotten right before I blacked out. It was a corded phone, so he couldn’t have brought it to Rad’s house.
“Finally we got there”
“Listen to this” Cyle said.
He pressed the voice-mail button on the corded phone.
“He…He’s…DEAD…William Cornet…My husband…is DEAD”
BEEP!!!
CHAPTER 9
More shrill laughter filled the air.
It was the woman: the ghost!
“The ghost!” Rad exclaimed.
“I don’t think the evil laugh was part of the message” Cyle said, worriedly.
“Nevertheless” I said. “We have to find out who’s behind this…NOW!”
________________________________________________________________________
A tall figure scanned the area.
“Hmm…?” He said. “Where is she?”
There.
She was standing on the side of the road, waiting for someone.
Spencer Crombach, the tall figure, pulled over.
“I wasn’t waiting for you” Marry Cornet, the woman, said.
Her face turned from a look of annoyance to question.
“You’re alive?” She asked. “But how did you…Carl, I thought you were…I mean…It’s been so long…how could you possibly-?“
“Need a ride?” Spencer asked with a smirk.
“Well…”
It started to pour.
“You’d better get in before I drive off without you” Spencer warned with a teasing smirk.
“Yes…but where are we going?” Marry asked.
“We’re taking a stroll down Memory Lane”
“Memory Lane?” Marry asked herself. “Well…there’s only one way to find out”
She got into the car.
“Where on Memory Lane are we going?” Marry asked.
“You’ll find out once we get where we’re going” Spencer said with a smirk.
Under his breath, Spencer laughed evilly.
“And that’s when the fun begins” He chuckled.
“We aren’t going back to the cabin, are we?” Marry asked. “We don’t have permission” “On the contrary, I have the keys to the front door”
Marry was utterly speechless.
“I’m holding you hostage there” Spencer said with a smirk.
He paused.
Then, under his breath he said,
“And it’s way past too late to escape”
I looked over at Cyle
“What?” he asked.
“What are you looking at him for?” Rad asked.
“Colin M?” I asked, not replying. “Do you know who’s behind this?”
Cyle thought hard for a moment.
“I think I do”
“Really?”
“Ya, Back to Brandon’s house”
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, the dark shadow of a man ran across a long room.
He paused at something.
He smirked.
“There you are” He snickered.
_______________________________________________________________________
“I don’t understand” I shouted over the roar of the engine of a high-tech motorcycle Me, Colin M, and Rad had just boarded.
ZOOM!
We shot off.
“You don’t need to understand!” Cyle said. “JUST C’MON!”
We gunned the engine to 100%.
But none of us noticed, someone was following in hot pursuit.
________________________________________________________________________
Once we had gotten to my house Cyle motioned toward the downstairs.
“This way, this way!”
We followed his lead.
“I told you to find the file in the file cabinet, right?” Cyle asked me.
I had no idea where he was going with this, but I replied,
“Um, yes”
We followed him to the file cabinet.
The file was gone!
“The CABIN SALE file, it’s gone!” I exclaimed.
“WHAT, IT’S GONE?!?!” A voice from behind exclaimed.
We all whirled.
CHAPTER 10
“What the…?” I asked myself.
“What the what?” Cyle asked.
I did a swinging kick to the side of the head and the stranger fell into the light.
“The lead ninja” Cyle exclaimed.
“And…Who’s the one who knew exactly where to go to attack?” I asked.
“Phil?” Cyle asked.
“Bingo!” I replied. “after having to be Rad’s “spy”, he knew exactly where to go!”
I removed his mask.
“Fine!” he exclaimed angrily. “But that’s my only part in this mystery business! I swear, I didn’t do anything else!”
C’mon, be honest!”
“Fine, I made the threat on your cell-phone!” Phil admitted.
“Good, that’s all you could’ve done” I said, satisfied.
I looked over Phil’s shoulder.
“This theft couldn’t have taken place too long ago” I stated.
Rad glanced at the file cabinet.
“Wait!” He said. “The file isn’t in its correct folder, but, at least, it’s in this one!”
He gestured toward a BIRTHDAY: 1198-2008. I picked up the file.
“Well, here’s the file” I said.
“But, guys, we have to pursue the culprit”
We all ran off.
“Wait…I won’t forgive you for this” Phil cursed.
________________________________________________________________________
“Here we are” Spencer said.
“You don’t know what you’re doing!” Marry exclaimed. “William!”
“He is not here” Spencer said. “Besides, I just need something”
“What are you doing?” Marry exclaimed.
“I know exactly what I’m doing!” He said in a low tone. “William didn’t…but he will”
________________________________________________________________________
“Phil” I asked. “Who do you work for?”
Phil sent a punch to my neck and a kick to my feet, twisting my ankle and sending me
flying over his shoulder.
I was too mad and perplexed to be impressed.
“Who do you work?” I asked.
He hesitated.
“I work for W…W…W…William and Marry Cornet!”
“Well, well, well, someone’s fearful” I remarked, smirking slyly. “It’s always that way
when someone’s admitting their faults…from the way I see it, you’ve got a LOT of
explaining to do”
I pointed toward Phil.
Phil laughed, smirking.
“Crossing the line, huh?” He asked, hatred in his eyes, but a smirk still crossing his face.
“It’s amazing how quickly you can raise my temper…and tonight, you’ll sleep in a world
of hurt…and you will know the true meaning of the word FEAR”
The last thing I saw was a shadow running into the woods then turned for a split second
Then the world went black.
_______________________________________________________________________
“Good work, Phil” A voice said.
It was far off.
I rubbed my head.
“Owwww” I moaned.
“Are you all right?” Cyle asked.
“That voice: “Good job Phil”, did you hear it?” I asked.
“Ya, Phil’s getting away…and he runs with a MEAN crowd” Rad remarked, uneasily.
I checked the file cabinet.
The CABIN SALE file was not there!
“Bad news” I remarked. “REALLY bad, someone’s been here recently”
“Ya, tell us something we don’t know” Cyle remarked, exasperated. “Phil’s been
here, he stole the file”
“No, I’m thinking someone else” I stated. “Besides, he couldn’t have stole the file, let
alone put it in the wrong folder, I had my eyes on him the whole time!”
“He could’ve switched it, or even stolen it, on Monday night!” Rad put in.
“No”
“Yes”
“Switched it”
“Stole it”
“Neither!!!”
The door creaked open.
“Who’s there?” I hollered.
“Guess who” was the spine-chilling, bone-shaking answer.
CHAPTER 11
“Gladly” I remarked, smirking. “William Cornet?”
“Guess again, guess again, guess again”
“It’s like an echo” Cyle remarked.
“It…is an echo” I said, uneasily.
“What’s the cause of it? It never dies down!” Rad asked, sounding concerned.
Glass shattered, a woman screamed, and, for a split second, I felt the wind being knocked
out of me.
“Who…Who…Who are you?” I asked.
“You disrupted our entire plan, and we will NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!” a woman
shrieked hideously.
Her voice sounded snake-like and menacing.
Mixtures of screams and shrieks and “Guess again” and “We will NEVER FORGIVE
YOU!!!”
I soon found myself screaming. I felt myself reeling.
SMASH!!!
I crashed into a shelf and glass tupperware poured down upon me, shattering into a-
million pieces.
“stay awake” I moaned to myself.
My cut arm reached out to clutch something. There was nothing. All was silent. My
friends were gone.
I was alone…to face oblivion and horror.
Alone…ALL alone.
I soon fell asleep.
________________________________________________________________________
When I awoke, I was sprawled out on a couch in Cyle’s house.
“Owwww” I moaned.
“Hey, how did you sleep?” The voice of Rad asked, concerned.
“Uh…fine” I fibbed.
I hadn’t slept well at all. I just didn’t want them to worry, in case they insist I stay in bed
while they have all the fun solving this mystery.
“You sure?” asked the voice of Cyle
“Not really” I heard myself saying, reluctantly.
We were back at Cyle’s house.
“Let’s listen to that message” Cyle suggested.
Me and Rad both turned our attention to Cyle
We both groaned tiredly.
Honestly, we were both just as eager as he was, at least, I was.
I didn’t know about Rad.
While we were listening to the message again, we heard rustling in the background and a
man’s voice.
“Why didn’t we hear that last time?” I wondered aloud. “Check what number message
this is!”
It was number 2. the other one we heard earlier was number 1.
“Someone left another message” Rad said.
“But who?” I asked.
“Spencer Crombach” Cyle declared.
“Not necessarily” Rad remarked. “That could have been William’s voice for all we
know!”
“He could be right!” I remarked. “But, then again, Marry could have been telling the
truth”
During the message, we heard someone talking to Marry.
“Marry, my dear…” Said the voice.
“Marry, my dear?” I asked, confused.
“WILLIAM!!!” We heard someone scream from outside the house. “YOU FOOL!!!”
We ran outside to see what was going on, only to see a horrific sight, A woman was
backing a man up against the mail-box. The woman reached out and pulled out a letter.
When the man read it, he fainted.
CHAPTER 12
“I expected that reaction” The woman laughed, menacingly.
“how ‘bout this one?” Cyle asked, sarcastically.
He threw a wooden crate at the woman. She hissed at him but it went right through her.
“What?” I breathed.
“The…the…the…the…GHOST!” Cyle exclaimed.
“You think…I’m…ghostly?” The woman hissed.
She floated into the air. She was hideous, just like before, but, worse…much worse.
A snake like tongue, green, savage, eyes, and a face too hideous to describe. Her hair
was far from beautiful. It was red with rage. Her dress was worn and ragged.
“Wow!” Cyle exclaimed. “You haven’t changed in the last…?”
Cyle began to count on his fingers.
“Cyle” Rad exclaimed.
“Yes”
“NOT NOW!!!”
The woman launched at Cyle, sending him reeling into a brick wall.
“AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!!!” Cyle cried in pain.
“Ghostly?” The woman asked, hissing. “Fine, ghostly I will be!”
She slammed into Rad, sending him flying across the sidewalk.
“Owwww” he moaned.
His arm skidded across the sidewalk and it soon bled.
I ran at the woman. She was too high up to reach.
She launched at me.
“Akkkkkkkkkkk!” I grunted roughly.
I landed on the hard ground, skinning my back.
The woman hissed,
“Fools, I shall show you how ghostly I am!”
She screamed. Ninjas came. There came a blow to my face. I reeled.
“Brandon!” Cyle exclaimed. “Oh, my gosh! What happened?”
My scar had cut open.
“Get away from me!” I moaned.
Cyle was taken aback, only to be faced with two ninjas.
One of them flipped, rolled, then sent a blow to his throat.
BAM!!!
He was thrown against the garage door and rolled down the steep driveway. He went
face-first into the street. Two ninjas ran at him. This was his chance. He grabbed one
ninjas legs. It took all his strength to throw him into a nearby car. He smashed through
the glass and fell unconscious in the drivers seat. The car swerved into the other ninja,
pining him to the ground. When the car swerved away, the ninja was dead motionless.
Cyle flexed his muscles.
“Good work” I applauded.
“ABOVE YOU!!!” Cyle said.
I whirled. The woman shot at me, sending me crashing into the side door of a moving
car…with no one at the wheel.
I closed my eyes, bracing myself for impact.
CHAPTER 13
Phil stood on a steep embankment that sloped down to the woods.
“Hmmm” he thought.
A man walked up to him.
“Where is the ghost?” The man asked.
“I don’t know for sure” Phil answered.
“And where’s Carl?”
“I’m not sure of that either”
The man sent a blow to Phil’s chest, sending him tumbling down the steep embankment.
He crashed into a pile of thorns and twigs. He took out a tiny thorn from his hand and
dropped it. The rest of the thorns had jabbed strait through his shirt and just barely missed
the skin. Phil got up. A tiny cut on his hand appeared. It bled slightly.
“What are you doing this for?” Phil asked.
“I want to know where he is!”
“Who?”
“Him!”
“Who’s him?”
“Carl!”
“Who’s Carl?”
The man did a swinging kick to Phil’s thy, sending him crashing into a large oak tree.
“Akkkkkkkkkkk!” Phil cried in pain. “I don’t know where or who Spencer is!”
“Crud! YOU’RE USELESS!!!” The man roared. “He beat you to the file didn’t he?”
“I told you…I DON’T KNOW!!!”
I need to find him!” The man roared.
He paused.
“No…you find him!” He roared. “And find the ghost!”
“As you wish…William” Phil nodded.
________________________________________________________________________
I didn’t want to look. I opened my eyes for a split second then closed them once again.
I heard an abrupt slam. I was swerving out of control.
I was trying to control the car as best I could. Someone was groaning. He lay in the back
seat, unconscious. I turned to examined him. He had a gun. I was taken aback. He looked
like a mugger. He wore a dark green jacket and worn jeans. He had blood on his forehead
and a few bruises scattered about his body. H was covered in ashes and ruble. He moaned
once again. To my complete alarm, he shot up and looked at me.
He looked up. The car was still moving. It was very windy outside.
Storm clouds formed. Rain came pouring down.
“Who…who are you” The man asked.
“Brandon Allen” I replied, reluctantly. “K.I.D.S.”
“My name is Riel Mar” The man replied.
“So you’re not a mugger?” I asked.
“Of course not!” Riel said, looking hurt.
He paused then added thoughtfully,
“Though, I was…mugged”
CHAPTER 14
“Why? How? When?” I asked.
“Well…I was the builder of the cabin on 4121 Alec Mt. Rd., Clarksville 30523” Riel
explained.
“You mean…my cabin…their cabin…our cabin?” I asked.
Riel laughed and smiled.
“Yes…your parents’” Riel replied, still smiling.
“You built my parents’ cabin?!?!” I asked in surprise. “I didn’t even know it was my parents’!”
“Yes…but later I was being threatened by two men to sell the property” Riel went on.
“When I refused, the men began to do horrible things to me”
“Like what?” I asked, eager to hear more.
Riel paused and shook his head,
“They mugged me…and that’s all you need to know” He said.
I nodded.
“Who were these men?” I asked.
“I…I don’t know” Riel replied. “They looked almost like…ninjas”
“Ninjas, eh…well, well, well, I believe WE qualify”
Me and Riel whirled.
________________________________________________________________________
Spencer stood at the base of a small embankment that led down to a curving road.
“Hahahahahahahahaha” He laughed menacingly. “they’ll never find us here!”
“They’ll?” Marry asked.
She was tied up in a secret chamber hidden underneath the grounds of the estate.
Spencer bent over into the chamber.
“Oh, be quiet” He said, harshly. “I’d rather die then hold you hostage here, but…now that
you’re husband is dead…I have an engagement to plan”
“Not with me!” Marry found herself saying.
“Oh, yes” Spencer said, calmly. “With you”
He paused then added,
“You know what to do, right, “When they come to untie you, lock them inside, Then you
and I will make our escape”
Marry nodded, nervously.
“William will come, right?” Marry inquired.
Oh, yes” Spencer cackled. “he will”
________________________________________________________________________
“Why YOU hired ME to do THIS I’ll never know” Phil remarked, staring at the mission \
he had just been assigned.
“Yes, I’m sure I won’t either…NOW GET MOVING!” William ordered Phil.
“I take orders from no-“ Phil started.
William did a punch to his gut, sending him flying into a stone wall. The back of his head
hurt like the devil. Phil still had the assignment in his hand. He read aloud:
CAPTURE RIEL MAR! HE IS WITH BRANDON ALLEN AND HIS FRIENDS!
URGENT!
P.S. FAILURE COMES WITH CONCIQUENCE!
“In other words-” Phil started.
“Don’t fail me!” William interrupted. “Or, I assure you, this WILL be the LAST sunrise
you will EVER see in your USELESS, PATHETIC life!”
CHAPTER 15
Riel looked up.
“You!” He growled.
“Ya…us” The “lead” ninja said, laughing. “We expected this reaction”
The “lead” ninja was a replacement of Phil named, Zahakas.
“You…get away from me!” Riel said, backing up against the back of the car.
“We’d like our property now…don’t make us hurt you again, Riel” Zahakas threatened.
“Never!” Riel found himself saying.
“Well then-“Zahakas started.
Then he and the two backup ninjas he had brought along froze stock-still. There was dead
silence. The three ninjas looked as if they were throwing themselves onto the ground.
Behind them stood Cyle and Rad. They both had guns in their hands. I grimaced.
“You…shot them?” Riel asked.
Rad and Cyle nodded and introduced themselves. Riel introduced himself once he
found out they were friends of mine. They shook hands. I smiled.
“Thank you…for saving me and my friend” Riel said, gratefully. He gestured over to me.
“Let’s get out of here!” Cyle suggested.
He led the way out of the car once the car had stopped moving.
Riel was just about to step out, but, before his foot touched the ground, he froze stock still
and fell to the ground.
“No, Riel!” I shouted.
Behind Riel, Phil was smirking triumphantly…with a gun in his hand.
“What…did you do?!?!” I asked Phil, utterly petrified.
Phil smirked.
“You dirty, rotten, disgusting-” Cyle started.
Phil threw back his head and laughed heavily.
“Save your breath” he laughed.
He paused then added,
“You’ll need it”
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬________________________________________________________________________
I was awakened by the sting of a bad cut on my forehead. It was bleeding.
I couldn’t feel my legs. They were numbed with bitter cold. As were my hands.
Frostbite stung my neck. I was lying on my driveway . Rad and Cyle
were not there….but Riel was.
“How…how did you get here”
“That…that doesn’t matter now” Riel replied, hesitantly.
He took me inside and insisted that I get some shut eye.
“Yes…of course” I agreed, reluctantly.
I wanted to get back on the case as soon as possible.
I closed my eyes…
______________________________________________________________________
I awoke with a start. It was the middle of the night. I got up from my bed. I crept down to
The basement. First, I checked the file cabinet. The file was gone still gone.
I sighed, hopelessly.
“Looking for this?” A voice boomed from behind.
I whirled.
CHAPTER 16
“Phil?” I asked.
I saw Riel tied up and gagged and a bloody lip.
Phil stood beside him.
“How could you have gotten the file?” I asked. I thought Spencer or the Cornets beat you
to it!”
To my complete astonishment, Phil answered,
“They did”
________________________________________________________________________
“When are our adversaries going to come to us?” Spencer asked, impatiently.
“Ever thought of coming to them?” Marry asked.
Spencer looked thoughtful.
“Hmm…” He said. “Not a bad plan…I’ll go!”
“And me?”
“I have no use for you anymore” Spencer said, smirking and tearing of a fake wall.
Behind it was a button that read: WATER DESPENCER. Marry gasped as
Water poured into the little room.
There was no escape!
________________________________________________________________________
William sat, waiting for Phil.
“What is taking that little brat so long?” He asked himself. “I’d better go look for him”
So William went trudging up the path that led from the woods to my house.
He heard the commotion.
“Sounds like a party” He said. “Well, I’ll just have to crash it!”
________________________________________________________________________
Carl was driving along until he saw William crouching behind my backyard window.
“William!” He exclaimed.
He ran across the lawn and into the back yard.
“Well, well, well” Spencer said. “William Cornet!”
William stared in surprise.
“How…how did you find me here?” He stammered.
“That’s not important right now” Spencer said. What’s important is the debt, your debt,
William”
“What debt, you never owned the cabin!” William exclaimed in surprise.
Spencer threw back his head and laughed.
“You act like you don’t know!?!?” he laughed. “I’m smarter then you think William!”
He lunged at William, pinning him to the ground. They wrestled violently for quite some
Time, until I noticed them.
“William…Spencer?!?!” I asked in surprise.
CHAPTER 17
From then on, battle erupted in the basement.
“You debtor!” Spencer growled, in rage. “I paid you money to take my place as a real-
estate agent for a year and you never paid it back!”
“What debt?!?!” William asked, in rage. “I still don’t understand!”
Me and Phil tussled on the ground.
“What gave you the right to take that file?!?!” I asked, angrily.
“I don’t need a right, I just need that file!” Phil exclaimed, in rage.
He got up, calmed himself, and pulled out a machine gun.
“NOBODY MOVE!!!”
Everyone froze.
“I will shoot on the count of three, 1…” Phil started.
It’s over…
“2…”
We’re done for…
Riel had untied himself from his waist to his feet. He did a spinning kick, hitting Phil in
the jaw. Phil reeled. As he did so, he pulled the trigger. The blow loosened his grip on
the machine gun and it went wild, shooting again and again. I t hit Phil in the leg.
Already weak from the fall, Phil could barely stand. William was trying desperately to
escape. Spencer ran after him. Phil dragged after William. Cyle and Rad had heard the
commotion and were just in time for William and Spencer’s escape.
“What now?” Rad asked.
“We follow them” I answered.
We got in the car and sped of after our “criminal runaways.”
________________________________________________________________________
We were gaining on them.
“They’re heading to the train station” Cyle said.
“Follow them!” Rad ordered.
CHAPTER 18
We parked at the train station.
“Tickets” the driver demanded.
“What?”
“Tickets!”
“Um…Right here” Rad said, shuffling in his wallet.
“How’d you get those?” Cyle asked. “I had insisted on getting them myself!”
He gasped in surprise.
“So you weren’t getting that Lovely Bunny plush for your sister!” Cyle exclaimed.
“Get this, I don’t have one!” Rad shot back.
“You were just lying so you could get the tickets instead of me!”
“They are for long-distance travel”
“Hello, ‘could care less!”
“ENOUGH!”
We soon boarded.
“Thanks to you two and your “ticket squabble”, we lost ‘em”
“He started it” Cyle grumbled.
I heard a crash behind me.
“what now?” I breathed, slowly.
CHAPTER 19
William tackled me from behind. I was able to kick him in the jaw, sending him reeling
off of me. I climbed up to the hatch on the roof of the train. Soon, I was on the top of the
train. The wind blew at me, violently. William followed and was on his hands and knees,
smashing holes through the roof of the train with his rock-hard fists as he scurried after
me.
“Why do you want me?” I asked.
“Spencer paid me to become the Real-estate agent in his place, though, I haven’t paid
him back” William explained. “Anyway, your parents owned that cabin and decided they
didn’t want me around anymore”
“What do you mean?”
“I called your parents to tell them about what Spencer had done for me, and you know
what they said, “Go”
“Go?”
“Go…” William started, clenching his fists. “…Away”
I was taken aback.
“It tore me to pieces” William said, angrily. And, now, I’m goanna tear you to pieces.
Finally, he lunged at me, but, his collar got caught on a wooden pole, jerking him,
violently, off the train, almost choking him.
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Cyle tried desperately to find a way to stop William. Soon, he saw it, the
answer to his question. The emergency brake. He saw William stuck on the pole. The
pole was attached to the train, though. It was a giant horn.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Cyle asked, smirking.
“I Sure hope not” Rad replied, frowning.
CHAPTER 20
Meanwhile, William was stuck to the pole, scratching at me and blurting out angrily,
“Do you want to know what it is to be thrown away like trash, do you want to know
what it is to be in pain, to be betrayed by your only friends?!?!”
“It’s your own fault William” I persisted. “You’re blind, William…you’re blind”
Suddenly, the whole train stopped and William was thrown forward. He landed on the
tracks. He looked up. The train was coming toward him at top speed.
“Now you’re eyes will be open, and you’ll see what hurt…really feels like” I persisted,
smirking.
William really saw hurt.
He was there, but, when the train went by, he wasn’t.
“So blind” I repeated.
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Cyle and Rad were being cornered by Spencer.
“Where’s William?” Spencer asked, in rage.
“He just got his butt kicked” Cyle replied.
“Shut up” Rad whispered, harshly.
“Sorry” Cyle apologized.
I was just in time to see Spencer lunge, Cyle and Rad jump, and Spencer fall down the
garbage disposer. His shirt was being sucked down. His nails were like claws as he tried
desperately to climb back up. The suction was too powerful. Spencer fell and was gone.
But, just before he was COMPLETELY gone, his ragged, beat-up, slimy hand shot out
and clawed at us.
_______________________________________________________________________
We soon arrived at the cabin.
“This must be where William was heading” I guessed. “But why?”
We were just in time to save Marry. I was pacing around the room.
Suddenly, I stepped on something hard. It pressed down. It was a button.
I t opened a secret staircase that led underground.
________________________________________________________________________
“This is amazing” I remarked as we descended the stairs.
We saw a golden treasure box.
“So that’s why William and Carl wanted this place!” I exclaimed.
“Talk about paying through the nose” Cyle remarked. “This could go down in history”
He reached for the box.
“No, wait, don’t!” Rad warned. “This is too easy, it’s not guarded or anything”
“NOBODY MOVE!!!”
We all whirled.
Phil stood there.
“Give me the treasure!” He demanded.
“No way!” I exclaimed, blocking his path.
“Let him have it!” Rad ordered.
“No!”
“I said let him have it!”
I backed away.
“Whose side are you on?” I asked Rad
“Shh…watch” Rad ordered.
Phil reached out and touched the treasure. The treasure formed into dark ooze that
Enclosed around Phil. Phil disappeared…and would never return…ever.
“I think I dozed off” Cyle said. “Can someone clue me in on what just happened?”
Me and Rad laughed.
________________________________________________________________________
We had to take another train ride to get back to our car and drive home. We dropped
each other off.
________________________________________________________________________
When I got home, mom saw how dirty I was.
“So, any luck on that mystery?” She asked.
“Um…”
Suddenly, Spencer’s shredded-up shirt floated through the open door and into my hands.
I smiled.
“ya” I replied, gazing down at Spencer’s shirt. “ya”
THE END
SOMNE ACTION VIOLENCE AND BLOOD IS INCLUDED
K.I.D.S. #2
THE MYSTERY FILES
BY BRANDON ALLEN
CHAPTER 1
The wind was particularly breezy, which was altogether fine, all except for the fact that most mysteries took place outdoors, but, little did I, Brandon Allen, know that, some, though very few, mysteries take place indoors. I am part of K.I.D.S., witch is Kids Investigations Detectives Spies, and, no, we do not work for the government, but, yes, we are a group of kids who solve mysteries, including, Me, Colin Morris, and Rad Judson.
Well, I was trying as best I could to find a mystery, but, the only place I could think of was the attic and, last I checked, not one was found in that old dusty room. It’s floors were made of wood and, in the dark, anyone was sure to fall through the fiber glass and, if they’re lucky, would never be able to walk again. If not, they would never see the light of day again. All the good that place does is bring back memories from the past years, mostly holidays. Anyways, as the sky got darker and darker, I found it useless to ask my mom if I could look for mysteries outside, because I knew what her response would be to that sort of question,
“Try and find one elsewhere” she would say.
“But what if I can’t find one “elsewhere?” I would ask. “I would do anything to occupy my time”
“You would, would you?” mom asked with a skeptical look in her eye. I hated that look. It meant there was work to be done, and, what’s worse, I’m almost always the one doing it.
“Here, put these chocolates in dad’s office” Mom said. “I want to surprise him when he gets home”
So I ran downstairs hurriedly. When I reached dad’s office, something caught my eye. It was a file that told of a cabin that used to be owned by someone. Someone had hired a couple named William and Marry to help rent the cabin. The mysterious thing was that the person who had owned the cabin had not met William and Marry in person at all.
Apparently, William had gotten sued, though I did not know why. Apparently, William and Marry had a debt to pay, but they did not pay it back and haven’t for all these years.
“Hmm…” I wondered. Whoever owned the place must have been pretty angry with them”
I ran up to mom to tell her what I had found, and, yes, I had delivered the chocolates.
But I never noticed a shadow crouching behind the backyard window, listening in on my every word.
“What is it?” mom asked.
I told mom everything the files had said.
“Oh, yes, William and Marry Cornet” Mom said.
“What, do you know them?”
“Yes” mom said. “yes, I do”
“Although,” mom said, thoughtfully. “We never saw them in person at all”
“That’s just what the file said” I whispered, under my breath.
“Excuse me?” mom asked.
CHAPTER 2
“Nothing” I said.
Mom could tell I did not mean for anyone to hear that.
“See?” Mom said. “You’ve already found a mystery “elsewhere”
“Ya, sure” I said. “I need to call Rad”
I ran to pick up the phone.
I quickly dialed his number and spoke into the receiver,
“Hey, is Rad Judson on the line?” I asked.
“Ya, sure, whatever” Rad groaned.
“Bad day?” I asked.
“Ya” He said.
“Hey, hold on, I’m going to hook us up to a three-way call with Colin Morris”
“Ya, sure, whatever” Rad said, this time enthusiastically.
Once we were hooked up, Cyle spoke into the receiver, “Hey, hi, whatch’a doing?” Cyle said, not jokingly at all.
“Sounds like you both had a bad day” I said, concerned.
“You can say that again” Cyle said, depressed.
“Sounds like you both had a-“I started.
“Not literally!” Cyle said, a little cheered up.
I soon related everything the file said.
“Sounds like a mystery to me” Rad said. “In fact…I have a hunch…huh, I think…I’m losing you…I can’t…bad connection”
All was silent on the other lines until someone spoke up,
“Stop sleuthing! This private information is none of your business! I repeat, STOP SLEUTHING! PS. your life depends on it!”
There was a moment of shrill laughter then all was silent…for good. I shouted excitedly.
“I knew it!” I shouted. “There really is a mystery!”
Mom turned,
“I guess it could be…” she started
“…William and Marry Cornet?” I guessed. I tried to call up Rad and Cyle again, but to no avail. It was the last time I was going to try. I went down to the home-school room. I tried looking on the shelves, hoping to find some more files about the cabin, but, again, to no avail. A feeling, a chill, was going up my spine. I was sort of discouraged. I tried convincing myself that a clue would turn up soon enough, and one would, but I didn’t know it.
One day, I finally got in touch with Cyle
“No clue has turned up so far” I reported.
“Mmm…” Cyle said.
“That’s it, what happened?!?!” I asked, concerned.
“We were chasing a criminal for two days strait! No luck and no brakes whatsoever!” Cyle replied. “Ever tried checking the file cabinets?”
“No, I never thought of that!?!?” I exclaimed.
“Well start thinking” Cyle said.
I hung up and ran to check the file cabinets. I found a file that said CABIN SALE:
COLDWELL BANKER/SHIELD HERITAGE.
CHAPTER 3
I couldn’t believe my eyes. “Who’s the head of Coldwell Banker/Shield Heritage?” I asked myself. I read the note about the cabin all the way down until I saw the name, Carl. Something was up, and I knew it.
“Maybe Coldwell Banker/Shield Heritage are in league with the…Vacation Rentals?” I asked myself confused. I soon learned that Vacation Rentals was a name of a home renting company that was controlled by…William and Marry Cornet!
I soon reached over, put the file away, closed the cabinet, and left the room. ________________________________________________________________________
“You mind cluing me in on this whole, “Stop Sleuthing or else” thing?” Cyle asked.
“Oh, well, I don’t know who, but, I have a feeling that Rad’s got a good hunch on his mind right about now” I pointed out.
“Ya, I think I’ll phone him” Cyle said.
Cyle ran to check his voice mail before he phoned Rad.
“No voice-mail” he reported. “Try yours”
“OK, I’ll try mine” I told him.
“Mmhhmm” he replied.
I looked over my voice-mail.
“I got some” I reported. I hit the middle button on my cell-phone and shrill laughter filled the air.
“You just don’t know when to quit? Do you?” A voice boomed followed by more shrill
laughter. “Well, enough playing hide and seek…I know where you are, so give it up!”
“What’s up?” Cyle asked.
“Whoever’s behind all this knows where I am!” I exclaimed.
“Uh-Oh” Cyle said, worriedly.
“What’da we do?” I asked.
“For starters, ONE OF US should tell Rad your being threatened, and I’ll tell you what, that someone is not going to be me” Cyle declared.
“Alright! Alright! I’ll call him!” I exclaimed, defeated. Once I had dialed his number I spoke into the receiver,
“Hello, is Rad Judson on the line?”
“Yep, that’s me” Rad spoke into the receiver. “What’s up?”
“Someone’s threatening me!” I blurted out.
“Funny you say that” Rad said. “Someone was threatening me too!”
“Someone knows we’re friends” I guessed.
“Most likely” Rad agreed.
“But, I need to find out who’s threatening me!” I told him.
“Then start gathering information about your suspects” Rad suggested.
“You’re right!” I said. “But I do have a hunch…”
“What?” Rad asked.
“There’s only one couple who is involved with the cabin mystery and knows who my parents are” I said, “William and Marry Cornet.
“Ya, sure, but remember what I said, GATHER INFO” Rad reminded me. He paused then added,
“You know, you have found a lot of notes during this case. Maybe it’s an MM”
“Oh-no…It couldn’t…well, then again…maybe it could”
CHAPTER 4
I tried to reassure myself that it couldn’t be an MM, but half of me was voting for the opposite. When I remembered the first MM, I shook my head in disgust. It was the first mystery I had had during my currier at K.I.D.S. If you’ve read the first book, K.I.D.S. #1
THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD CELLER, You would know exactly what happened, but, for those of you who have not, I had a flashback. Having Phil to work with me just made it worse. I’ll tell you everything about him and my first mystery.
________________________________________________________________________
The first time I met Phil, We didn’t get along right off the bat. I didn’t like him, he didn’t like me. The best word to describe us was rivals. And the reason I use the word WAS is because he moved to a company called P.E.R.I.L. But before then, he was just trying to steal my place in the spotlight. He almost tried to kill me by pushing me down the stone stairs that led to the cellar, but, luckily, I had the good sense to grab onto the railing. Then he did something that was really low, he tried to lock me in the seller, and it worked. Now, excuse me for changing the subject, but, an MM is a Message Mystery, which is a type of mystery in which you follow clues on notes, kind of like a treasure hunt, which is exactly what I did while looking for a will in THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD CELLER. I remember what Rad had said when he had permitted Phil to be a graduate at the K.I.D.S. UNIVERSITY,
“We’re permitting Phil to be a graduate, that won’t change the world”
“But what if it does?” I questioned him.
“Well, it won’t change MY world, and that’s all that matters” he replied.
I could see the darkness closing in on Phil’s future. I knew Rad was wrong about Phil.
“You’re making a mistake!” I told him.
“What he does is of no concern to me” Rad retorted. This wasn’t like Rad.
“Is something wrong, Rad” I asked.
“More then ever” he breathed.
I heard that, but pretended not to have.
“Just you wait!” I shouted, angrily. “Phil will do something terrible to K.I.D.S. and you’ll be held responsible for it! you’re the boss!”
Rad glared at me, but in a low tone of voice he said sadly, “I know”
________________________________________________________________________
“Hello…HELLOOOO…ANYONE THERE?”
I awoke from my flashback,
“Uh, Ya, I’m here, what’s up?” I asked.
“Try asking your parents about your suspects” Rad suggested.
“Right, that’s a great idea! I’ll ask mom about William and Marry Cornet!” I exclaimed.
Now you’re talkin” Rad said. So I went to gather more information.
______________________________________________________
Rad quickly made sure I was off the line, dialed another number, then spoke into the receiver, “Hey, Phil, this is Rad…I’ve got an important job for you”
______________________________________________________
I was doing quite a bit of snooping around that night. I had been awakened by the sound of footsteps. I had tackled the “intruder”
“Phil?” I asked in surprise. “But, why? How?”
“Dude, this isn’t my fault” The shadow of Phil declared.
“Phil!” A voice whispered from upstairs. “what are you doing?!”
“Rad?” I asked.
“Ya! Rad! As in Rad!” Phil said. “Now will you get off?”
“Not until you be quiet” I declared.
“Fine” Phil whispered. I rolled off of him.
“Go home, Phil. I want to talk to Brandon alone” Rad ordered. Phil obeyed.
“Are you insane?” I asked Rad. “How could you ask PHIL, of all people, to be my K.I.D. sitter for the night? What world do you live in?”
“Apparently, not yours” Rad shot back.
“Do you have some kind of secret alliance with Phil?”
Rad glanced at the clock. Changing the subject, He handed me something. A note.
“This was sent to me the other day” he said.
“You sure like to change the subject don’t you?” I asked him. I glared at him, but, took the note any way.
“Hmm…interesting” I said aloud, once I had torn the envelope enough to read the letter: Most Wanted Friend of Brandon Allen, I am very impressed by you and your friends’ skills at detective work, but now your lucky break is over. It’s time for you to know the meaning of the words: STOP SLEUTHING!!! P.S. We will be meeting with your friend, Brandon Allen at 12:00PM, Monday. SHARP!!!
Signed, Guess Who I paused.
“Monday is today!” I exclaimed. I glanced at the clock, worriedly. It read: 11:55PM.
“Five minutes!” I gasped.
“What do we do?” Rad asked, worriedly. Rad flinched.
“What?” I asked. Someone opened the door. We braced ourselves.
“Rad?” A voice from outside asked. We both sighed with relief as Cyle trudged in.
“Rad?” He asked again. “About that note…”
Rad noticed that Cyle was standing right next to the window. We heard footsteps outside. A chill went up my Spine.
11:55…11:56…11:57…11:58…11:59…
Rad lunged at Colin M, knocking him out of the way of a shattering window. 12:00!!!
CHAPTER 5
Five ninjas broke through the windows.
“Ding, Ding, Ding! Room service!!!” One of them chuckled.
“Not in my room, you don’t!” I shouted kicking one of them in the side of the head. Rad flipped and twisted between two of the ninjas, knocking them off their feet.
Cyle did two rolling kicks to down his attackers. That left one for me. He delivered a barrage of super-speedy punches that left me with multiple scars on my face.
“Do you give up?” The ninja asked, now delivering multiple kicks. “How about now?”
“No, no, no, and NO!” I shouted, kicking his legs and making him stumble. CRASH!!!
A vase was sent to the floor, shattering into a-million pieces.
“That’ll come out of my allowance” I murmured, gruffly.
“What was that?” We heard Mom say.
“No, witnesses” The lead ninja growled. The ninjas fled…and got away just in time. My face hurt on the side where the scar was. I grumbled in pain. That was a scar I would never forget.
“They got away” Rad reported.
“Crud” I mumbled under my breath. We all talked about the break in.
“I’ll bet William and Marry Cornet are behind this!”
“No!”
“Probably Carl”
“It’s probably just William”
Footsteps. No. Laughter! We all jumped!
“Someone is outside!” We all crept up on the intruder. A woman’s shriek filled the night air. A terrible sight met my eyes. A floating hood shrieked menacingly. Under it was the face of a horrible looking woman. Her face was blue streaked with anger. She looked so hideous. She shrieked at the sight of us. She was floating. Her hair was red and streaked with the heat of rage. As my eyes were glued to the hideous sight, a fist struck my head sending me into a whirl of pitch blackness.
________________________________________________________________________
More laughter, but not hideous like the ghost was, what Ghost? The woman. What woman? My mind raced.
CHAPTER 6
All the memory of the night before seemed to have been drained from me, and it was. I could remember nothing. The chill of the frosty air from the night before was gone.
I was warm. When I awakened, I expected to be in some kind of prison.
I was far from it, in bed.
I must have gotten hit pretty hard, I couldn’t remember anything.
The scar!
I felt my face. It was bleeding. I felt the scar.
“Uggg…” I murmured, gruffly.
Where had the scar come from?
As my mind raced, images floated through my mind.
The note, Rad, Colin M, 12:00PM, Monday. SHARP!!!
“Rad! Colin M!” I shouted.
No answer, they were gone. I looked up.
My clock read: 3:00AM. Tuesday! The window was shattered. A broken vase lay on the ground. The words in the note echoed in my mind again,
12:00PM, Monday. SHARP!!!
“That couldn’t have been too long ago” I said aloud, half to myself.
I got up. I decided to call Cyle Once I had dialed the number, I spoke into the receiver.
“Hello?” I asked, uncertainly.
“YOU’RE ALIVE!” was the reply of Cyle on the other line.
“Something happened last night!” I blurted out.
“Oh, ya” Cyle said, surprised. “you were there too, don’t you remember?”
“I…don’t remember anything” I admitted.
Cyle soon related the whole story of the night before.
It all came back to me.
“But who wrote the letter that Rad gave me?” I asked.
“Guess Who” Cyle answered.
“But who?” I asked.
“Who what?” Cyle asked.
“Who’s Guess Who?” I asked.
A sudden BEEP sounded through the telephone.
Then a woman’s shriek filled the air.
“What was that?” I asked. “Well, we’ve got three choices” Cyle pointed out. “William Cornet, Marry Cornet and Spencer Crombach”
“Spencer who?” I asked.
“Spencer Crombach” Cyle said.
“How do you know his last name?” I asked.
CHAPTER 7
“I snuck around the house outside, went through the back door and read the file I suggested in the file cabinet.
“I didn’t notice that, I only had time to read the first page. Great detective work!” I congratulated. “Where’s Phil?”
“Thank you, and…he went home, remember?”
“Oh, ya” I said, sheepishly.
The woman!
The ghost!
“Hold on” I said.
I hung up and ran onto the porch.
“The ghost of that woman was hideous” I thought.
I stopped short.
I could almost feel a chill going up my spine.
I could feel myself being drawn toward something…or someone.
I rounded a corner.
I gasped.
Before me was a hideous sight,
The dead body of a hideous looking woman.
The ghost!
“Impossible” I breathed, utterly terrified. “What in the world?”
I reached for the woman’s hand.
She was alive, while at the same, she wasn’t.
Her whole body remained motionless.
“How could this be possible?” I wondered. “how could she possibly be alive…while dead at the same time?”
I hesitated.
When I touched the woman’s hand she disappeared.
A light was being shone from the woods, like our projector on Friday nights.
A projector!
“Think you’re smart?” I breathed.
I looked into the woods.
“Not smart enough” I breathed once again.
I ran down to the woods.
I peered in.
I didn’t realize that the phone was still in my hand.
“Have you caught your ghost yet?!?!” Cyle shouted with excitement on the other line.
“Shh” I whispered. “I won’t if you keep shouting”
“Sorry” Cyle said, apologetically, cupping his hands over his mouth.
I hurried into the woods.
“What are we looking for again?” Cyle asked.
I sighed “A ghost” I replied.
“Ohhhhhhhh…good cause I was going blank for a few seconds” Cyle replied, too loudly.
“Zip it” I whispered, harshly.
“SORRY” He whispered.
There!
A projector!
No owner or culprit in sight.
“From the looks of it” I reported into the receiver. “This projector was most definitely projecting the ghost woman”
My eyes followed the stream of light from the projector to the porch.
CRUNCH!!!
I whirled.
BAM!!!
A fist hit the side of my head.
I struggled to focus my vision on the attacker, but to no avail.
“Not…again” I groaned.
I blacked out.
CHAPTER 8
“Hey…hey…you, wake up” A voice said, concerned.
“Who, Me?” I asked, groggily.
“Yes, you”
I opened one eye. My head hurt.
“Where am I?” I murmured, gruffly. “And why don’t the bad guys…or bad girl…just…kill me?”
“Because” The familiar voice of Rad said. “They know we’re friend’s, and that means…more witnesses”
“So I’m in YOUR house?” I asked.
“Yup, yep” Rad replied.
“The bad…uh…people…” The familiar voice of Cyle started.
“…don’t like witnesses” Rad finished.
“I was just about to say that…right after the whole, “Yup, yep” thing” Cyle glared at Rad.
His eyebrows slumped to a look of curiosity,
“What is with that, “Yup, yep” thing?” Cyle asked. “And why don’t they just kill him?”
“Because the bad…people know we’re-“
“No, no, no! WHY?”
“This is why: Let me start again…The bad people-“
“I KNOW THAT!!!” “I’m asking why”
“And I am telling you “WHY!” I’m giving you the answer!”
“THE RIGHT ANSWER!!!”
“WHAT IS THE RIGHT ANSWER?!?!”
“I don’t know, I expected you to know”
“I don’t have a clue”
“YOU TWO BE QUITE AND DON’T MAKE MY HEADACHE WORSE THEN IT ALREADY IS!!!” I shouted.
Both arguers froze in mid-quarrel.
“Get…a…grip” I demanded.
The two looked at each other.
“Well…” Cyle said, shaking Rad’s hand. “I guess we both know what the answer to this argument is”
Rad nodded.
“I’m sorry”
With a flick of his wrist, Cyle threw Rad over his shoulder, sending him hurling into a wall.
“Oh, you better be” He said.
I couldn’t help but force a laugh.
Then Cyle started laughing.
“Well, I’ve had my fun” He said, extending a hand to Rad.
Rad grabbed his hand and threw him across the room.
“Now it’s MY turn to have MY fun” He said.
This time they shook hands for real.
______________________________________________________
It was a long time before we got to Cyle’s house so we could hear a message he had
gotten right before I blacked out. It was a corded phone, so he couldn’t have brought it to Rad’s house.
“Finally we got there”
“Listen to this” Cyle said.
He pressed the voice-mail button on the corded phone.
“He…He’s…DEAD…William Cornet…My husband…is DEAD”
BEEP!!!
CHAPTER 9
More shrill laughter filled the air.
It was the woman: the ghost!
“The ghost!” Rad exclaimed.
“I don’t think the evil laugh was part of the message” Cyle said, worriedly.
“Nevertheless” I said. “We have to find out who’s behind this…NOW!”
________________________________________________________________________
A tall figure scanned the area.
“Hmm…?” He said. “Where is she?”
There.
She was standing on the side of the road, waiting for someone.
Spencer Crombach, the tall figure, pulled over.
“I wasn’t waiting for you” Marry Cornet, the woman, said.
Her face turned from a look of annoyance to question.
“You’re alive?” She asked. “But how did you…Carl, I thought you were…I mean…It’s been so long…how could you possibly-?“
“Need a ride?” Spencer asked with a smirk.
“Well…”
It started to pour.
“You’d better get in before I drive off without you” Spencer warned with a teasing smirk.
“Yes…but where are we going?” Marry asked.
“We’re taking a stroll down Memory Lane”
“Memory Lane?” Marry asked herself. “Well…there’s only one way to find out”
She got into the car.
“Where on Memory Lane are we going?” Marry asked.
“You’ll find out once we get where we’re going” Spencer said with a smirk.
Under his breath, Spencer laughed evilly.
“And that’s when the fun begins” He chuckled.
“We aren’t going back to the cabin, are we?” Marry asked. “We don’t have permission” “On the contrary, I have the keys to the front door”
Marry was utterly speechless.
“I’m holding you hostage there” Spencer said with a smirk.
He paused.
Then, under his breath he said,
“And it’s way past too late to escape”
I looked over at Cyle
“What?” he asked.
“What are you looking at him for?” Rad asked.
“Colin M?” I asked, not replying. “Do you know who’s behind this?”
Cyle thought hard for a moment.
“I think I do”
“Really?”
“Ya, Back to Brandon’s house”
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, the dark shadow of a man ran across a long room.
He paused at something.
He smirked.
“There you are” He snickered.
_______________________________________________________________________
“I don’t understand” I shouted over the roar of the engine of a high-tech motorcycle Me, Colin M, and Rad had just boarded.
ZOOM!
We shot off.
“You don’t need to understand!” Cyle said. “JUST C’MON!”
We gunned the engine to 100%.
But none of us noticed, someone was following in hot pursuit.
________________________________________________________________________
Once we had gotten to my house Cyle motioned toward the downstairs.
“This way, this way!”
We followed his lead.
“I told you to find the file in the file cabinet, right?” Cyle asked me.
I had no idea where he was going with this, but I replied,
“Um, yes”
We followed him to the file cabinet.
The file was gone!
“The CABIN SALE file, it’s gone!” I exclaimed.
“WHAT, IT’S GONE?!?!” A voice from behind exclaimed.
We all whirled.
CHAPTER 10
“What the…?” I asked myself.
“What the what?” Cyle asked.
I did a swinging kick to the side of the head and the stranger fell into the light.
“The lead ninja” Cyle exclaimed.
“And…Who’s the one who knew exactly where to go to attack?” I asked.
“Phil?” Cyle asked.
“Bingo!” I replied. “after having to be Rad’s “spy”, he knew exactly where to go!”
I removed his mask.
“Fine!” he exclaimed angrily. “But that’s my only part in this mystery business! I swear, I didn’t do anything else!”
C’mon, be honest!”
“Fine, I made the threat on your cell-phone!” Phil admitted.
“Good, that’s all you could’ve done” I said, satisfied.
I looked over Phil’s shoulder.
“This theft couldn’t have taken place too long ago” I stated.
Rad glanced at the file cabinet.
“Wait!” He said. “The file isn’t in its correct folder, but, at least, it’s in this one!”
He gestured toward a BIRTHDAY: 1198-2008. I picked up the file.
“Well, here’s the file” I said.
“But, guys, we have to pursue the culprit”
We all ran off.
“Wait…I won’t forgive you for this” Phil cursed.
________________________________________________________________________
“Here we are” Spencer said.
“You don’t know what you’re doing!” Marry exclaimed. “William!”
“He is not here” Spencer said. “Besides, I just need something”
“What are you doing?” Marry exclaimed.
“I know exactly what I’m doing!” He said in a low tone. “William didn’t…but he will”
________________________________________________________________________
“Phil” I asked. “Who do you work for?”
Phil sent a punch to my neck and a kick to my feet, twisting my ankle and sending me
flying over his shoulder.
I was too mad and perplexed to be impressed.
“Who do you work?” I asked.
He hesitated.
“I work for W…W…W…William and Marry Cornet!”
“Well, well, well, someone’s fearful” I remarked, smirking slyly. “It’s always that way
when someone’s admitting their faults…from the way I see it, you’ve got a LOT of
explaining to do”
I pointed toward Phil.
Phil laughed, smirking.
“Crossing the line, huh?” He asked, hatred in his eyes, but a smirk still crossing his face.
“It’s amazing how quickly you can raise my temper…and tonight, you’ll sleep in a world
of hurt…and you will know the true meaning of the word FEAR”
The last thing I saw was a shadow running into the woods then turned for a split second
Then the world went black.
_______________________________________________________________________
“Good work, Phil” A voice said.
It was far off.
I rubbed my head.
“Owwww” I moaned.
“Are you all right?” Cyle asked.
“That voice: “Good job Phil”, did you hear it?” I asked.
“Ya, Phil’s getting away…and he runs with a MEAN crowd” Rad remarked, uneasily.
I checked the file cabinet.
The CABIN SALE file was not there!
“Bad news” I remarked. “REALLY bad, someone’s been here recently”
“Ya, tell us something we don’t know” Cyle remarked, exasperated. “Phil’s been
here, he stole the file”
“No, I’m thinking someone else” I stated. “Besides, he couldn’t have stole the file, let
alone put it in the wrong folder, I had my eyes on him the whole time!”
“He could’ve switched it, or even stolen it, on Monday night!” Rad put in.
“No”
“Yes”
“Switched it”
“Stole it”
“Neither!!!”
The door creaked open.
“Who’s there?” I hollered.
“Guess who” was the spine-chilling, bone-shaking answer.
CHAPTER 11
“Gladly” I remarked, smirking. “William Cornet?”
“Guess again, guess again, guess again”
“It’s like an echo” Cyle remarked.
“It…is an echo” I said, uneasily.
“What’s the cause of it? It never dies down!” Rad asked, sounding concerned.
Glass shattered, a woman screamed, and, for a split second, I felt the wind being knocked
out of me.
“Who…Who…Who are you?” I asked.
“You disrupted our entire plan, and we will NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!!” a woman
shrieked hideously.
Her voice sounded snake-like and menacing.
Mixtures of screams and shrieks and “Guess again” and “We will NEVER FORGIVE
YOU!!!”
I soon found myself screaming. I felt myself reeling.
SMASH!!!
I crashed into a shelf and glass tupperware poured down upon me, shattering into a-
million pieces.
“stay awake” I moaned to myself.
My cut arm reached out to clutch something. There was nothing. All was silent. My
friends were gone.
I was alone…to face oblivion and horror.
Alone…ALL alone.
I soon fell asleep.
________________________________________________________________________
When I awoke, I was sprawled out on a couch in Cyle’s house.
“Owwww” I moaned.
“Hey, how did you sleep?” The voice of Rad asked, concerned.
“Uh…fine” I fibbed.
I hadn’t slept well at all. I just didn’t want them to worry, in case they insist I stay in bed
while they have all the fun solving this mystery.
“You sure?” asked the voice of Cyle
“Not really” I heard myself saying, reluctantly.
We were back at Cyle’s house.
“Let’s listen to that message” Cyle suggested.
Me and Rad both turned our attention to Cyle
We both groaned tiredly.
Honestly, we were both just as eager as he was, at least, I was.
I didn’t know about Rad.
While we were listening to the message again, we heard rustling in the background and a
man’s voice.
“Why didn’t we hear that last time?” I wondered aloud. “Check what number message
this is!”
It was number 2. the other one we heard earlier was number 1.
“Someone left another message” Rad said.
“But who?” I asked.
“Spencer Crombach” Cyle declared.
“Not necessarily” Rad remarked. “That could have been William’s voice for all we
know!”
“He could be right!” I remarked. “But, then again, Marry could have been telling the
truth”
During the message, we heard someone talking to Marry.
“Marry, my dear…” Said the voice.
“Marry, my dear?” I asked, confused.
“WILLIAM!!!” We heard someone scream from outside the house. “YOU FOOL!!!”
We ran outside to see what was going on, only to see a horrific sight, A woman was
backing a man up against the mail-box. The woman reached out and pulled out a letter.
When the man read it, he fainted.
CHAPTER 12
“I expected that reaction” The woman laughed, menacingly.
“how ‘bout this one?” Cyle asked, sarcastically.
He threw a wooden crate at the woman. She hissed at him but it went right through her.
“What?” I breathed.
“The…the…the…the…GHOST!” Cyle exclaimed.
“You think…I’m…ghostly?” The woman hissed.
She floated into the air. She was hideous, just like before, but, worse…much worse.
A snake like tongue, green, savage, eyes, and a face too hideous to describe. Her hair
was far from beautiful. It was red with rage. Her dress was worn and ragged.
“Wow!” Cyle exclaimed. “You haven’t changed in the last…?”
Cyle began to count on his fingers.
“Cyle” Rad exclaimed.
“Yes”
“NOT NOW!!!”
The woman launched at Cyle, sending him reeling into a brick wall.
“AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!!!” Cyle cried in pain.
“Ghostly?” The woman asked, hissing. “Fine, ghostly I will be!”
She slammed into Rad, sending him flying across the sidewalk.
“Owwww” he moaned.
His arm skidded across the sidewalk and it soon bled.
I ran at the woman. She was too high up to reach.
She launched at me.
“Akkkkkkkkkkk!” I grunted roughly.
I landed on the hard ground, skinning my back.
The woman hissed,
“Fools, I shall show you how ghostly I am!”
She screamed. Ninjas came. There came a blow to my face. I reeled.
“Brandon!” Cyle exclaimed. “Oh, my gosh! What happened?”
My scar had cut open.
“Get away from me!” I moaned.
Cyle was taken aback, only to be faced with two ninjas.
One of them flipped, rolled, then sent a blow to his throat.
BAM!!!
He was thrown against the garage door and rolled down the steep driveway. He went
face-first into the street. Two ninjas ran at him. This was his chance. He grabbed one
ninjas legs. It took all his strength to throw him into a nearby car. He smashed through
the glass and fell unconscious in the drivers seat. The car swerved into the other ninja,
pining him to the ground. When the car swerved away, the ninja was dead motionless.
Cyle flexed his muscles.
“Good work” I applauded.
“ABOVE YOU!!!” Cyle said.
I whirled. The woman shot at me, sending me crashing into the side door of a moving
car…with no one at the wheel.
I closed my eyes, bracing myself for impact.
CHAPTER 13
Phil stood on a steep embankment that sloped down to the woods.
“Hmmm” he thought.
A man walked up to him.
“Where is the ghost?” The man asked.
“I don’t know for sure” Phil answered.
“And where’s Carl?”
“I’m not sure of that either”
The man sent a blow to Phil’s chest, sending him tumbling down the steep embankment.
He crashed into a pile of thorns and twigs. He took out a tiny thorn from his hand and
dropped it. The rest of the thorns had jabbed strait through his shirt and just barely missed
the skin. Phil got up. A tiny cut on his hand appeared. It bled slightly.
“What are you doing this for?” Phil asked.
“I want to know where he is!”
“Who?”
“Him!”
“Who’s him?”
“Carl!”
“Who’s Carl?”
The man did a swinging kick to Phil’s thy, sending him crashing into a large oak tree.
“Akkkkkkkkkkk!” Phil cried in pain. “I don’t know where or who Spencer is!”
“Crud! YOU’RE USELESS!!!” The man roared. “He beat you to the file didn’t he?”
“I told you…I DON’T KNOW!!!”
I need to find him!” The man roared.
He paused.
“No…you find him!” He roared. “And find the ghost!”
“As you wish…William” Phil nodded.
________________________________________________________________________
I didn’t want to look. I opened my eyes for a split second then closed them once again.
I heard an abrupt slam. I was swerving out of control.
I was trying to control the car as best I could. Someone was groaning. He lay in the back
seat, unconscious. I turned to examined him. He had a gun. I was taken aback. He looked
like a mugger. He wore a dark green jacket and worn jeans. He had blood on his forehead
and a few bruises scattered about his body. H was covered in ashes and ruble. He moaned
once again. To my complete alarm, he shot up and looked at me.
He looked up. The car was still moving. It was very windy outside.
Storm clouds formed. Rain came pouring down.
“Who…who are you” The man asked.
“Brandon Allen” I replied, reluctantly. “K.I.D.S.”
“My name is Riel Mar” The man replied.
“So you’re not a mugger?” I asked.
“Of course not!” Riel said, looking hurt.
He paused then added thoughtfully,
“Though, I was…mugged”
CHAPTER 14
“Why? How? When?” I asked.
“Well…I was the builder of the cabin on 4121 Alec Mt. Rd., Clarksville 30523” Riel
explained.
“You mean…my cabin…their cabin…our cabin?” I asked.
Riel laughed and smiled.
“Yes…your parents’” Riel replied, still smiling.
“You built my parents’ cabin?!?!” I asked in surprise. “I didn’t even know it was my parents’!”
“Yes…but later I was being threatened by two men to sell the property” Riel went on.
“When I refused, the men began to do horrible things to me”
“Like what?” I asked, eager to hear more.
Riel paused and shook his head,
“They mugged me…and that’s all you need to know” He said.
I nodded.
“Who were these men?” I asked.
“I…I don’t know” Riel replied. “They looked almost like…ninjas”
“Ninjas, eh…well, well, well, I believe WE qualify”
Me and Riel whirled.
________________________________________________________________________
Spencer stood at the base of a small embankment that led down to a curving road.
“Hahahahahahahahaha” He laughed menacingly. “they’ll never find us here!”
“They’ll?” Marry asked.
She was tied up in a secret chamber hidden underneath the grounds of the estate.
Spencer bent over into the chamber.
“Oh, be quiet” He said, harshly. “I’d rather die then hold you hostage here, but…now that
you’re husband is dead…I have an engagement to plan”
“Not with me!” Marry found herself saying.
“Oh, yes” Spencer said, calmly. “With you”
He paused then added,
“You know what to do, right, “When they come to untie you, lock them inside, Then you
and I will make our escape”
Marry nodded, nervously.
“William will come, right?” Marry inquired.
Oh, yes” Spencer cackled. “he will”
________________________________________________________________________
“Why YOU hired ME to do THIS I’ll never know” Phil remarked, staring at the mission \
he had just been assigned.
“Yes, I’m sure I won’t either…NOW GET MOVING!” William ordered Phil.
“I take orders from no-“ Phil started.
William did a punch to his gut, sending him flying into a stone wall. The back of his head
hurt like the devil. Phil still had the assignment in his hand. He read aloud:
CAPTURE RIEL MAR! HE IS WITH BRANDON ALLEN AND HIS FRIENDS!
URGENT!
P.S. FAILURE COMES WITH CONCIQUENCE!
“In other words-” Phil started.
“Don’t fail me!” William interrupted. “Or, I assure you, this WILL be the LAST sunrise
you will EVER see in your USELESS, PATHETIC life!”
CHAPTER 15
Riel looked up.
“You!” He growled.
“Ya…us” The “lead” ninja said, laughing. “We expected this reaction”
The “lead” ninja was a replacement of Phil named, Zahakas.
“You…get away from me!” Riel said, backing up against the back of the car.
“We’d like our property now…don’t make us hurt you again, Riel” Zahakas threatened.
“Never!” Riel found himself saying.
“Well then-“Zahakas started.
Then he and the two backup ninjas he had brought along froze stock-still. There was dead
silence. The three ninjas looked as if they were throwing themselves onto the ground.
Behind them stood Cyle and Rad. They both had guns in their hands. I grimaced.
“You…shot them?” Riel asked.
Rad and Cyle nodded and introduced themselves. Riel introduced himself once he
found out they were friends of mine. They shook hands. I smiled.
“Thank you…for saving me and my friend” Riel said, gratefully. He gestured over to me.
“Let’s get out of here!” Cyle suggested.
He led the way out of the car once the car had stopped moving.
Riel was just about to step out, but, before his foot touched the ground, he froze stock still
and fell to the ground.
“No, Riel!” I shouted.
Behind Riel, Phil was smirking triumphantly…with a gun in his hand.
“What…did you do?!?!” I asked Phil, utterly petrified.
Phil smirked.
“You dirty, rotten, disgusting-” Cyle started.
Phil threw back his head and laughed heavily.
“Save your breath” he laughed.
He paused then added,
“You’ll need it”
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬________________________________________________________________________
I was awakened by the sting of a bad cut on my forehead. It was bleeding.
I couldn’t feel my legs. They were numbed with bitter cold. As were my hands.
Frostbite stung my neck. I was lying on my driveway . Rad and Cyle
were not there….but Riel was.
“How…how did you get here”
“That…that doesn’t matter now” Riel replied, hesitantly.
He took me inside and insisted that I get some shut eye.
“Yes…of course” I agreed, reluctantly.
I wanted to get back on the case as soon as possible.
I closed my eyes…
______________________________________________________________________
I awoke with a start. It was the middle of the night. I got up from my bed. I crept down to
The basement. First, I checked the file cabinet. The file was gone still gone.
I sighed, hopelessly.
“Looking for this?” A voice boomed from behind.
I whirled.
CHAPTER 16
“Phil?” I asked.
I saw Riel tied up and gagged and a bloody lip.
Phil stood beside him.
“How could you have gotten the file?” I asked. I thought Spencer or the Cornets beat you
to it!”
To my complete astonishment, Phil answered,
“They did”
________________________________________________________________________
“When are our adversaries going to come to us?” Spencer asked, impatiently.
“Ever thought of coming to them?” Marry asked.
Spencer looked thoughtful.
“Hmm…” He said. “Not a bad plan…I’ll go!”
“And me?”
“I have no use for you anymore” Spencer said, smirking and tearing of a fake wall.
Behind it was a button that read: WATER DESPENCER. Marry gasped as
Water poured into the little room.
There was no escape!
________________________________________________________________________
William sat, waiting for Phil.
“What is taking that little brat so long?” He asked himself. “I’d better go look for him”
So William went trudging up the path that led from the woods to my house.
He heard the commotion.
“Sounds like a party” He said. “Well, I’ll just have to crash it!”
________________________________________________________________________
Carl was driving along until he saw William crouching behind my backyard window.
“William!” He exclaimed.
He ran across the lawn and into the back yard.
“Well, well, well” Spencer said. “William Cornet!”
William stared in surprise.
“How…how did you find me here?” He stammered.
“That’s not important right now” Spencer said. What’s important is the debt, your debt,
William”
“What debt, you never owned the cabin!” William exclaimed in surprise.
Spencer threw back his head and laughed.
“You act like you don’t know!?!?” he laughed. “I’m smarter then you think William!”
He lunged at William, pinning him to the ground. They wrestled violently for quite some
Time, until I noticed them.
“William…Spencer?!?!” I asked in surprise.
CHAPTER 17
From then on, battle erupted in the basement.
“You debtor!” Spencer growled, in rage. “I paid you money to take my place as a real-
estate agent for a year and you never paid it back!”
“What debt?!?!” William asked, in rage. “I still don’t understand!”
Me and Phil tussled on the ground.
“What gave you the right to take that file?!?!” I asked, angrily.
“I don’t need a right, I just need that file!” Phil exclaimed, in rage.
He got up, calmed himself, and pulled out a machine gun.
“NOBODY MOVE!!!”
Everyone froze.
“I will shoot on the count of three, 1…” Phil started.
It’s over…
“2…”
We’re done for…
Riel had untied himself from his waist to his feet. He did a spinning kick, hitting Phil in
the jaw. Phil reeled. As he did so, he pulled the trigger. The blow loosened his grip on
the machine gun and it went wild, shooting again and again. I t hit Phil in the leg.
Already weak from the fall, Phil could barely stand. William was trying desperately to
escape. Spencer ran after him. Phil dragged after William. Cyle and Rad had heard the
commotion and were just in time for William and Spencer’s escape.
“What now?” Rad asked.
“We follow them” I answered.
We got in the car and sped of after our “criminal runaways.”
________________________________________________________________________
We were gaining on them.
“They’re heading to the train station” Cyle said.
“Follow them!” Rad ordered.
CHAPTER 18
We parked at the train station.
“Tickets” the driver demanded.
“What?”
“Tickets!”
“Um…Right here” Rad said, shuffling in his wallet.
“How’d you get those?” Cyle asked. “I had insisted on getting them myself!”
He gasped in surprise.
“So you weren’t getting that Lovely Bunny plush for your sister!” Cyle exclaimed.
“Get this, I don’t have one!” Rad shot back.
“You were just lying so you could get the tickets instead of me!”
“They are for long-distance travel”
“Hello, ‘could care less!”
“ENOUGH!”
We soon boarded.
“Thanks to you two and your “ticket squabble”, we lost ‘em”
“He started it” Cyle grumbled.
I heard a crash behind me.
“what now?” I breathed, slowly.
CHAPTER 19
William tackled me from behind. I was able to kick him in the jaw, sending him reeling
off of me. I climbed up to the hatch on the roof of the train. Soon, I was on the top of the
train. The wind blew at me, violently. William followed and was on his hands and knees,
smashing holes through the roof of the train with his rock-hard fists as he scurried after
me.
“Why do you want me?” I asked.
“Spencer paid me to become the Real-estate agent in his place, though, I haven’t paid
him back” William explained. “Anyway, your parents owned that cabin and decided they
didn’t want me around anymore”
“What do you mean?”
“I called your parents to tell them about what Spencer had done for me, and you know
what they said, “Go”
“Go?”
“Go…” William started, clenching his fists. “…Away”
I was taken aback.
“It tore me to pieces” William said, angrily. And, now, I’m goanna tear you to pieces.
Finally, he lunged at me, but, his collar got caught on a wooden pole, jerking him,
violently, off the train, almost choking him.
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Cyle tried desperately to find a way to stop William. Soon, he saw it, the
answer to his question. The emergency brake. He saw William stuck on the pole. The
pole was attached to the train, though. It was a giant horn.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Cyle asked, smirking.
“I Sure hope not” Rad replied, frowning.
CHAPTER 20
Meanwhile, William was stuck to the pole, scratching at me and blurting out angrily,
“Do you want to know what it is to be thrown away like trash, do you want to know
what it is to be in pain, to be betrayed by your only friends?!?!”
“It’s your own fault William” I persisted. “You’re blind, William…you’re blind”
Suddenly, the whole train stopped and William was thrown forward. He landed on the
tracks. He looked up. The train was coming toward him at top speed.
“Now you’re eyes will be open, and you’ll see what hurt…really feels like” I persisted,
smirking.
William really saw hurt.
He was there, but, when the train went by, he wasn’t.
“So blind” I repeated.
________________________________________________________________________
Meanwhile, Cyle and Rad were being cornered by Spencer.
“Where’s William?” Spencer asked, in rage.
“He just got his butt kicked” Cyle replied.
“Shut up” Rad whispered, harshly.
“Sorry” Cyle apologized.
I was just in time to see Spencer lunge, Cyle and Rad jump, and Spencer fall down the
garbage disposer. His shirt was being sucked down. His nails were like claws as he tried
desperately to climb back up. The suction was too powerful. Spencer fell and was gone.
But, just before he was COMPLETELY gone, his ragged, beat-up, slimy hand shot out
and clawed at us.
_______________________________________________________________________
We soon arrived at the cabin.
“This must be where William was heading” I guessed. “But why?”
We were just in time to save Marry. I was pacing around the room.
Suddenly, I stepped on something hard. It pressed down. It was a button.
I t opened a secret staircase that led underground.
________________________________________________________________________
“This is amazing” I remarked as we descended the stairs.
We saw a golden treasure box.
“So that’s why William and Carl wanted this place!” I exclaimed.
“Talk about paying through the nose” Cyle remarked. “This could go down in history”
He reached for the box.
“No, wait, don’t!” Rad warned. “This is too easy, it’s not guarded or anything”
“NOBODY MOVE!!!”
We all whirled.
Phil stood there.
“Give me the treasure!” He demanded.
“No way!” I exclaimed, blocking his path.
“Let him have it!” Rad ordered.
“No!”
“I said let him have it!”
I backed away.
“Whose side are you on?” I asked Rad
“Shh…watch” Rad ordered.
Phil reached out and touched the treasure. The treasure formed into dark ooze that
Enclosed around Phil. Phil disappeared…and would never return…ever.
“I think I dozed off” Cyle said. “Can someone clue me in on what just happened?”
Me and Rad laughed.
________________________________________________________________________
We had to take another train ride to get back to our car and drive home. We dropped
each other off.
________________________________________________________________________
When I got home, mom saw how dirty I was.
“So, any luck on that mystery?” She asked.
“Um…”
Suddenly, Spencer’s shredded-up shirt floated through the open door and into my hands.
I smiled.
“ya” I replied, gazing down at Spencer’s shirt. “ya”
THE END
