CHAPTER
ONE
SHADOW
PUPPETS
Conner Dell didn’t
mean to blow up the school bus.
Or the bathrooms.
In fact, he only
wanted to go to sleep and possibly dream about Melanie Stephens.
But explosions had
a funny way of happening when Conner and his friends were around.
It all started on
the annual seventh grade science trip to the Sea Lab at Dauphin Island,
Alabama. Fifty-four thirteen-year-olds on a five-day field trip. What could go
wrong?
Especially when
three of them happened to be Magi.
#
For a fraction of
a second, Conner thought he saw shadows slithering along the base of the
cinderblock walls. Tensing, he blinked and looked again.
Nothing. He was
alone in the darkness of his dorm room.
Well, except for
his friend and fieldtrip roommate, Pilaf.
Across
the room, Pilaf disturbed the darkness by turning his flashlight on and digging
through a giant floral print suitcase. Fishing a book out, Pilaf hunched over,
tucked the flashlight under his chin, and read.
“What
are you reading?” Conner asked.
“Sorry. Did I wake you up?” Pilaf squeaked. “I
couldn’t sleep. I guess I slept too much on the bus.”
“No
worries.” Conner burrowed into his sleeping bag. He didn’t like messing with
sheets on these trips. The springs of the ancient bed creaked beneath him. “I’m
not sleepy either.” Lexa? Can you hear
me? Conner reached out in his thoughts, wondering if his twin sister was
awake in her room on the girls’s floor. Head-talking was a cool benefit of
being one of the Magi—a secret group of warriors who used the power of Light to
battle evil.
No answer from
Lexa. Her allergy medicine must have knocked her out.
Melanie? He tried Lexa’s best friend,
Melanie Stephens—also one of the Magi-in-training. Conner listened for her
response, trying to ignore the backflip in his chest that came when he thought
of her. No answer. Melanie had taken something for motion sickness on the bus.
She must be knocked out too.
Conner
jerked up as something skittered across the ceiling right above him. No doubt
this time. He grabbed his own flashlight, raking the beam across the ceiling
tiles as someone whispered his name.
Coooonnerrrrrr.
“What?”
Conner pointed his flashlight at Pilaf, who looked up from his book, blinking
behind his thick glasses. Pilaf’s blinks always reminded Conner of the way a
light on a computer blinked when it processed data.
“What?”
Pilaf squinted back at him.
“Why
did you call me?” Conner asked.
“I
didn’t.” Pilaf looked down at his book.
On edge now, Conner lay
back down, scanning the room for more shadowy movement, his fingers ready to
snap his flashlight back on at any second.
Co-n-n-e-r-r-r-r-r-r D-e-l-l-l-l-l.
A
whispered, hissing sort of growl sounded in his head as a flicker of movement
caught his eye. He whipped his head around in time to see a shadowy tail vanish
under Pilaf’s bed. Flipping his flashlight on, he investigated the space under
the metal frame.
Nothing there.
“What
are you doing, Conner?” Pilaf managed to blink and stare at the same time.
Trying to protect you from slithery shadow
monsters that could slurp your soul like a slushie, Conner thought. How
could he keep the flashlight on without alarming Pilaf? Out loud, he said, “Uh,
it’s a game. Flashlight tag. You’re it.” He shined the flashlight at Pilaf.
“How
do you play?”
“Well
. . . one person’s it and he shines a flashlight all over the room.”
“That’s
all?” Pilaf blinked until Conner wondered if he was broadcasting the telephone
book in Morse code. “It seems kind of pointless.”
“Uh,
yeah.” Conner said. “You’re right. Lame. How about shadow puppets?” He slipped
his hand in front of the flashlight, wiggling his fingers until the shadow
resembled a horse.
“Cool!”
Pilaf shouted.
A
knock at the door interrupted them and a tired-looking science teacher poked
his head in, glaring beneath tousled red hair. “What’s going on in here?”
“Sorry,
Mr. Keller,” Pilaf said. “We slept on the bus ride, so we’re not tired.
Conner’s making shadows with his hands. Look, a horse!”
“Neeeiiiiggghhh.”
Conner threw in sound effects as a special feature.
Apparently
unimpressed with great art, Mr. Keller frowned. “Get some sleep. We have a full
day tomorrow.”
“Yes,
sir.” Conner swallowed his depression at the thought of a five-day science
class. Five days of plankton, ocean salinity, salt marshes, and beach ecology.
Five days of science, 24/7. At least they were close to the beach. That might
be fun.
“Do
another one,” Pilaf whispered as the sound of Mr. Keller’s footsteps retreated
down the hall.
“Okay,
but be quiet this time.” Conner opened his fingers, making a snake’s mouth,
complete with a flickering tongue.
It seemed so real
that Conner thought he heard a hiss. Unsettled, he dropped his hands, but the
hissing noise continued, twisting into words.
Co-n-n-e-r-r-r-r-r-r D-e-l-l-l-l-l—
Trying to squash
the sound, Conner raised his voice. “Here’s another one.” He cupped his hands
on top of each other, stuck his thumb up, and opened his fingers slightly.
“Wow!” Pilaf
yelled. “A wolf!” He giggled as Conner opened the mouth and growled. “Little
pig, little pig let me come in.” Conner prayed that none of the other
seventh-grade boys heard he’d been doing Three Little Pigs shadow plays. That
would not be cool.
Co-n-n-e-r-r-r-r-r-r D-e-l-l-l-l-l—
The weird voice
came louder. Conner dropped his hands away from the flashlight.
The wolf head
stayed there.
Fighting panic,
Conner switched the flashlight off, but the wolf head remained, darker than the
darkest shadows on the wall.
It stretched and
grew bigger, becoming life-sized within seconds. It turned and stared at
Conner, a three-dimensional head sticking out of the wall like some kind of
freaky hunting souvenir.
The wolf growled,
then jumped off the wall, and sailed across the room toward Conner.
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