The Shade Riders and the Dreadful Ghosts (22 page)

Leandra leaped to the hole in the wall and
grabbed the worm

that was slowly crawling out of Shade. Nova
noticed the arrow was gone, and the wound looked smaller. Leandra
ran over to her father.

The room began to get colder.

“Going to freeze…” her father said.

“Give me a minute.” Leandra put the worm to
Ralf’s injury. He growled.

Nova looked up. Ahlon was doing the sign of
shivering with his arms across his chest; then he threw it at
Leandra and Ralf. Nova jumped to the left and under the guard’s
legs. Ralf and Leandra were instantly encased in a block of
ice.

“Noooo.” Nova hoped the worm got inside. Now
Nova was alone with this man. She felt scared and gritted her
teeth.

“Looks like just Nova and Ahlon now.” He
laughed.

An idea started to form in her mind. Nova ran
to the pool, plunged her hand in, and felt around until she caught
an invisible fish. The smell was definitely fishy, and it was a
triangle shape. She taunted the two big cats then threw it at
Ahlon. The two cats pounced on the man and knocked him down. He hit
his head on the floor with another resounding crack. Was his head
made of rock?

While Ahlon growled and wrestled the hungry
cats,

Nova caught another fish and grabbed a
fishing pole that was leaning up against the pool. She fed the hook
through the fish’s mouth; then she hung it up in the hole in the
wall on another hook that was used for a potted plant. The sunlight
passed through the fish, and it acted like a prism. It created a
rainbow portal in the waterfall. Good thing it was moving water, or
it might have froze too.

An ugly troll with a big club stalked out of
the orange light swung the club down with an enormous slam, then
turned and swaggered back in. A ghost dressed in a train
conductor’s clothing sauntered out of the ultraviolet color. Nova
heard Ahlon and changed her thought toward him. She grunted. She
had to hurry.

Suddenly there was a RRRRIIIIPPP sound, and
the train ghost disappeared. A frightened woman ghost in a long
puffed out dress from the sixteen hundreds immediately took its
place and said, “What-so-ever do you want?”

“I want you to take over Ahlon’s body. Now,”
Nova said. Ahlon was so busy fighting off the cats he didn’t know
what Nova was doing. Ahlon finally ripped the fish in two and threw
it into two opposite corners of the room. The cats bounded after
them and Ahlon stood up. When he did, his body was instantly
invaded by the woman ghost. It pushed his bones out of his hands
and feet like a ghost had done to Ralf. Alhon lay on the floor and
stared straight ahead, stunned. “Lordy, Do I ever need a bath,”
said the woman ghost inside Ahlon.

Nova ran to the window. Shade was still
hovering there, but she was getting smaller.

What was more important was that she had to
get her father and Leandra out of the ice. She wanted to ask for
help from the guard who had been standing in the doorway, but he
was already gone. She looked around the room for a sharp chisel or
something. Could she drag the block over to the fireplace? Nova
started pushing the ice, but it was frozen to the ground.

Nova saw a flash of light. Leandra had her
hand out, palm up, inside the ice. Nova could see a bright orange
color on top. It looked like she was trying to form a fireball in
her hand.

“Come on, Leandra. Oh wait, Ahlon get over
here and thaw this ice out too.” Nova dragged his arm and body over
to the ice.

“Form a fireball and release them.”

Ahlon did not respond.

“Ghost, form a fireball.”

Ahlon’s body created a fireball and with the
two of them creating heat eventually the ice was melted off. Ralf
and Leandra were released from their bondage.

They breathed easier and shivered
violently.

Nova led them over to the fireplace to warm
up.

“How are you two?” Nova said.

“Cold, but all right.” Ralf sat on the hot
stoop in front of the fireplace.

“Freezing.” Leandra sat next to him. She
talked with a slur so heavy Nova almost couldn’t make out what she
said.

Ralf pointed to himself. “Miss Nova and Mom,
Melanie, very much.”

Nova gave him a hug. “Well… worm… stopped…
blood… you will live.” Leandra breathed hard and shivered.

“Thanks, Leandra for helping,” Ralf said.

It was over. Ahlon was
gone, or may as well be gone.

Leandra thawed out. After half and hour or
so, the worm crawled back out of her father, leaving a tiny wound
behind that would heal quickly. When they ventured outside, they
found that Floret, one of the Seven Sages, ordered her people to
catch Shade and that Captain Palherd was taking good care of
Takeesha, Max Kim, and Benny. And she found her father.

He gave Nova a tour around the fortress. Nova
knew the Legislative Chambers, of course. Next, she was shown the
Seven Sage council room, with a large table and chairs all around.
Nova was shown a few VIP bedrooms with one for the Speaker and one
for the Prime Minister, and a large kitchen with dining area. But
other than that there was nothing else.

Nova was treated to a four-course lunch with
her dad, Leandra, Ahlon and The Seven Sages. –Benny, Max Kim, and
Takeesha stayed with Captain Palherd. They served up a salad of
fresh greens with homemade dressing, then venison and vegetable
stew with chunks of bread and butter. Then they had an invisible
fish casserole, which Nova found so delicious she couldn’t stop
eating it. Nova was going to ask for more on her plate but decided
to try the special desserts instead. If she still had room she was
going to get more fish casserole, definitely. When she was done
eating the chocolate truffles she skipped to get more of the fish
dish, but it was all gone. The plate she was holding drooped and
she frowned. “I hate when that happens.”

Ralf came over and wrapped an arm around her
shoulders.

“Do you know if my friends are doing all
right?” she said.

“If with Captain Palherd, then friends are in
good hands. Trust with life. Want to show Nova something.”

Nova started to follow Ralf out of the dining
area and took a look at Leandra still seated at the table. She was
in a heated conversation with her Neanderthal friends. She saw Nova
and waved but didn’t bother to get up and follow along.

Ralf took her to the Legislative Chamber. He
showed her the pool of water he always watched her through. Nova
grinned, realizing that he had been keeping an eye on her all of
her life. “That’s so clash.”

“Clash? What does that mean?”

“It means ‘great’.”

“Oh, Here, watch this.” Her father changed
the picture to a new place in the viewing pool. Nova recognized the
school library. He pointed at himself then and said, “Pulled Nova
through library.”

“Oh, so it wasn’t a ghost?”

“No.” Her father shook his head. “Nova is
Dad’s project to save Idealites and the Lower Echelon people. Only
dated Mom to make Nova-a hybrid vigor. Nova is so powerful, even
more than Neanderthal gods. Didn’t mean to fall in love with Mom
and Nova.”

Nova hugged him again.

“Why did Ahlon have our socks on? How did he
get them?”

“Idealites are known to steal from the Lower
Echelon people. Took my favorite fishing pole from Mom’s
garage.”

Then changed the location of the viewing pool
again. “Look at this.”

And there was Ned, dressed in a suit, going
to a church office.

“Ned was looking in a drawer for a butter
knife to make a peanut butter sandwich when accidently cut finger,
then Ahlon sent an evil sprite into Ned’s body to take control.
After that, Ned did mischievous things—turning into a green hulk,
having huge strength --and the worst part-- communication with
Shade, but good thing Ned didn’t know or use it much. What Ahlon
did opened Ned up for Ahlon to use to get to The Shade Riders.”

Nova and her father spied on Ned for a while.
He traveled from church office to church office dressed like an
anthropologist trying to sell a skull he said was the only one in
existence that would prove evolution. If the church bought it from
him, they could destroy it, and no one would be the wiser. He
received five thousand dollars each time. She and her father
laughed at this.

“I want to check on Shade, Dad. I think she
needs some vetting.”

“If anyone can do it, Nova can.”

“Yeah, I watched and helped Mom so much. I’ll
see you later.”

Nova left the fortress, climbed down a long
ladder, followed a dirt path and spent time with Shade, who was
eating grass. Her horse nickered when she saw Nova. “Sorry, girl I
don’t have anymore carrots. See?” Nova held out her hand. She
stroked Shade’s nose and ruffled her mane. Nova gave her a hug
around her neck and the horse seemed to give one right back by
pressing her lower jaw up against Nova’s back. Nova checked her
wing where she was hit, but it was already cleaned and bandaged.
She wondered if Leandra did it.

The army men who had been outside fighting
had split up

and had now gone their separate ways.
Civilian Neanderthal people were picking up the dead and injured
off the battlefield. Nova saw a rainbow portal nearby under another
waterfall.

She watched the various monsters and beasts
come forth. A werewolf jumped out of the indigo color and showed
its fangs and growled at her. Then it trotted back inside. A group
of six fairies flying in the air and doing stunts came out of the
infrared color, stuck their tongues out at Nova and flew back
inside. Nova remembered that a sprite entered Ned’s body. She
imagined how they would feel forced into a finger. She
grimaced.

A Kraken came out of the blue color and
smashed the waves down with his huge fist, stared at Nova and then
turned around and dove back inside. But She’d had enough and
strolled back to Shade.

Leandra came down the ladder and approached
Nova. She petted Shade and looked at the wounds.

“Looks like someone did a great job on
healing her, Leandra.”

“Yeah, I applied some herbs after the worms
did their job.”

“How did you even find me?”

“Your watch was able to give me feedback of
where you were located before it died. I’ll get you a new one,
later. I’d like to stay in touch.”

“Me too. Though, I wonder how my friends are.
I hope they’re safe.”

“Here, you can use my watch to call Takeesha
on her Walkie Talkie and find out how everything is going.”

Leandra showed Nova what buttons to push to
talk into it.

“Hello, Takeesha are you there? Over.”

“Hi, Nova, we are on our way. How are you?
Over.”

“Leandra and I are doing really good. Ahlon’s
body has been taken over by a ghost, so he’s not a problem anymore.
Over.”

“Clash! We will be at the government fortress
in a couple of days. Captain Palherd and her army are keeping us
company. Max Kim is entertaining with magic tricks. They love it.
Weird, they can create fireballs, but he pulls a flower of their
ear, and they can’t figure it out. Over.”

“Sounds good. Can’t wait to see you all
again. Over and out.”

“See you then. Out.”

That night, Nova was given a big fluffy bed
to sleep in. And over the next couple of days, while they were
waiting for the others, she spent as much time as she could with
her father. They ate meals together, and he taught her how the
society worked. The Seven Sages were going to have to have a
consensus and decide who was going to take Ahlon’s Prime Ministers
place. Nova was nominated but was too young. She also wanted to
finish school. “Can I take a rain check?” Nova asked. The Seven
Sages laughed.

It was the third day and just starting to get
dark outside. Nova was playing with Shade then thought about going
to bed-- when suddenly she heard a noise in the forest. She turned
to look. A huge crowd of rowdy Neanderthals came toward her. Nova
began backing up into the forest. Then she saw Benny in his
wheelchair clamped onto and driving the cart. Max Kim stood in
front of the seat holding a long rope, which held the long poles in
the front up. They zoomed by constantly pulling toward the left,
forcing laughing Neanderthals to jump out of the way. Takeesha ran
around, whooping and yelling.

Nova ran out into the crowd and gave them
hugs and high fives.

“Hey Benny, to cancel out infrasound we need
to use another obnoxious sound.”

“I kind of thought as much,” Benny said.

Ralf, Leandra, the Seven Sages, other
Idealites and Ahlon-- who curtsied in a rather awkward way-- came
out to see everyone.

“Let Idealites and friends have a hero’s
homecoming welcome and a huge feast,” Ralf said. “Cooks, another
round for everyone.”

People cheered.

After the feast and a good night’s rest in
the VIP bedrooms, it was announced that Captain Palherd would show
The Shade Riders how to travel in the time/space continuum. Part of
Nova didn’t want to leave her father, but another part couldn’t
wait to finally go home, especially when she learned they would
arrive at the same time they left.

When they started to pack up, a group of
about fifty Neanderthals came over and grabbed Max Kim and said,
“Nova, Benny, and Takeesha can go. Max Kim will stay because like
magic tricks.” The rest of the group of Neanderthals nodded in
agreement.

“No… He must come with us…” Nova said.
Captain Palherd put a hand on Nova’s shoulder to calm her and said:
“This man doesn’t belong here. Can visit to do tricks.”

“No! Max Kim will stay.” They pulled out
spears.

Max Kim tried to get to the Shade Riders, but
the fifty men and women caught him and took him back. Nova couldn’t
hear what a Neanderthal with long light brown hair said to Max Kim,
but he stopped trying to come over. Max Kim’s eyes showed fear.