The Shade Riders and the Dreadful Ghosts (9 page)

“Ewwww.” Nova squirmed and covered her eyes.
Two seconds later, she looked into Max Kim’s mirror again. The
small man had stopped the winds, grabbed the white-haired man’s
body, tilted the basin back up, and both men peered inside. It
startled her. Could they see her?

The small man shoved the white-haired man
aside and leered into the basin/mirror so close that Nova saw every
hair and zit on his face. He yelled something to Nova about sending
the ghosts after her.

Then the mirror went back to reflecting
Nova’s and Takeesha’s faces, with trees in the background.

“Holy chaos,” Nova said, “I think I just had
a remote viewing.”

“I didn’t see anything in the mirror,”
Takeesha said.

“That’s impossible, Nova,” Benny said. “Maybe
you were hallucinating.”

“I don’t do drugs.”

“No, but you could be mentally unstable.”

“Thanks.”

“Well… it’s possible.”

The wind picked up and started howling
through the trees.

Max Kim’s eyes widened. “Do you think the
ghosts can hear us out here?”

“Maybe,” Benny said.

Nova looked around anticipating the arrival
of a ghost or two.

That’s when they heard moaning.

“Was that just the wind in the trees?”
Takeesha asked.

“No, I think it’s something else.” Benny
whirled around in his wheelchair. In the shade of the trees to the
north, they could make out ghostly images floating closer and
closer-- skeletons dressed in flowing gray robes. Their mouths
screamed gibberish, and their hands stretched out to grab them.

Suddenly, the gibberish began to make sense.
“We have your father, Nova. We have him, and he will be ours,
forever.” An evil laugh sent chills up Nova’s spine. She shivered.
What did they mean by that?

“Run!” Max Kim pointed toward the farmhouse.
Nova heard herself swear as she stumbled to get away. The kids took
off headed for the tractor trail, then turned left and ran toward
the catch pen. Nova was in the lead, then Max Kim and Takeesha then
Benny. The commotion spooked the horses, and they took off after
them. The two excited dogs chased after the horses.

The Shade Riders made it into the large catch
pen still ahead of the ghosts. Breathless, they headed toward the
farm house. Even though Boomer was trampled underfoot, he acted
like nothing happened. He kept in pursuit except a little farther
behind. Some of the horses ran around the kids, and the ones behind
were breathing down the kid’s necks. The gang was soon enveloped
within the herd of fifty horses.

The horses and kids skidded to a halt right
in front of the metal gate. The kids opened the gate and left the
catch pen and headed up the tractor trail toward the house. Nova
looked back and noticed the horses grunting with displeasure and
breathing out relief. Nova and her friends Max Kim and Takeesha
were pale and breathing hard, grinning and coughing periodically
from the dust.

The ghosts were nowhere to be seen.

“That was a close one.” Nova laughed. Max Kim
and Takeesha nodded. Benny laughed and did some coughing too.

“What was that all about, that they had your
father, Nova?”

Takeesha asked.

“You heard that too?” Nova said. “I have no
idea. I just hope I’m not next.”

“Maybe your dad is still alive?” Max Kim
asked.

Nova shrugged. “How?” Tears came to Nova’s
eyes. She looked back in the dust of the catch pen for the ghosts.
They seemed to have vanished.

“I don’t know, but I’m just glad they’re
gone.”

Benny wheeled toward the house, and everyone
followed.

When they entered the kitchen, they stared
out the window into the catch pen. “No, ghosts. I wonder where they
went.” Nova said. Now that the panic had died down, she wanted to
ask them about her father. Could her father really still be
alive?

And if so, how could she find him?

Benny reached back inside the bag on his
chair and brought out his ESP Zener cards.

“I’m going to prove to you girls; you don’t
have any magick powers.” Benny explained what the cards did. The
tests involved five signs on twenty-five cards-- either: a square,
a perfect circle, three vertical wavy lines, a five pointed star or
a plus sign.

“I’m going to hold the cards in front of my
face so you can’t see them,” Benny said, “You have to guess what
each one is. If you can read my mind, then you’ll score higher than
20%, which is what you’d get from just guessing.”

The kids slid out the wooden chairs and sat
around the dining room table.

“Okay, here we go,” Benny said.

The others all scored right around 20%. Nova
was right nine times out of ten.

“Nova, I need to retest you,” Benny said. “I
can’t believe the score you got. You must have cheated.”

“Benny, I don’t think she was cheating--,”
Max Kim said.

“I never cheated. I can’t believe you said
that.” Nova pounded on the tabletop.

“I need to be retested too,” Takeesha said.
“I think I’m having an off day.” She scored 22%.

“Nova had her eyes down most of the time,”
Max Kim said.

“Let’s do this later.” Benny sighed, put the
autogyro onto his lap, and started toward the door.

“Hey, where are you going?” Nova asked.

“I’m going to see if my autogyro can fly as
fast as a galloping horse.” Benny winked.

Out in the catch pen, a few
horses still roamed around. Benny tried to chase the horses with
the autogyro, but they refused to budge. Then Buttercup, a palomino
horse being boarded at the farm kicked it back over the fence in a
spray of small parts. The biggest piece bounced into the nearby
bushes. Benny’s jaw dropped. No one moved or said anything for a
few seconds.

“Oops. I didn’t think they would kick.” Benny
rolled over humps, to the bushes, and began to back up a few times.
“Stupid chair get in there.”

His hand just managed to snag the main body
of the autogyro.

“How’s it look Benny?” Nova was picking parts
out of the loose dirt on the ground. Max Kim hurried over and
examined the toy in Benny’s lap. “That’s messed up.”

But Benny popped on some of the parts-
apparently much of it snapped together-- and placed it on the
ground to try another takeoff.

It wouldn’t start. Benny pressed the start
buttons over and over, but the autogyro just sat there. He scowled,
raising the control pad above his head like he was going to smash
it onto the ground when he heard a noise and looked up the
driveway. Benny’s family’s van was just pulling into the drive.
Behind it was a tandem bicycle with Max Kim’s father in the front
seat.

“Well, there’s my ride,” he said. “I’ll see
you at school.”

Benny got into an elevator that came out of
his Mom’s van. The door closed, and they drive away up the
driveway.

“There’s my ride too.” Max Kim got onto the
tandem bicycle with his father, and they rode up the steep
driveway. Every once and a while Max Kim would wave to Nova and
Takeesha.

Nova turned to Takeesha, “We’re going to let
Shade out into the pasture tomorrow. Do you want to stay the night
and help?”

Takeesha nodded, smiled, and rushed to the
phone. Since, Takeesha was going to need some things to stay over,
her mom showed up about half an hour later on their family’s
motorcycle, which was towing a large dog crate on a wagon. They put
a reluctant Boomer inside.

“Karen, we’ll meet here in an hour after I
pick up a few items at the grocery store.” Mom said.

“Alrighty then. See you in an hour.”
Takeesha’s mom said.

Boomer whined and clawed at the door as they
slowly drove up the driveway.

Nova and her mom hopped into the vet truck
and drove up the driveway following Takeesha and her mom part of
the way. Then they separated and drove in different directions.

While driving Mom brought up again the idea
that Nova would detassel corn this summer.

"Why do I have to work so much?" Nova
said.

"We’ve got to pay for school supplies and
clothes somehow.”

“Yeah, but Mom, parents are supposed to do
that.”

“Years ago, maybe. But things have changed
since then."

"But, I'm going to train Shade as soon as
she’s weaned. That will take up most of my time."

"Oh, Honey, you can work on her in the
afternoon after you detassel the corn."

"Mom, usually I'm too tired to do anything
but airbrushing or lying around reading comics.”

"I bet you will be surprised how much energy
you still have. I need you, Wilha, and Scott to help out money-wise
around the farm."

Nova sighed. “I guess I could take it easier
this year and just let people continually bail me out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t need to go down the corn rows
picking tassels really fast. Usually, I end up done first. Then I
have to help out other people by going up their rows from the
bottom and work my way to them. See I bail them out. But if I go
slow someone will always have to bail me out.”

“Oh, Yes, that just might work. Then you
won’t be so tired. It’s not your responsibility to do more than you
are supposed to do. Why don’t you give it a try, okay?”

Nova laughed. “Okay, Mom whatever you say.”
She couldn’t believe her mother wanted her to be a slacker.

When they got to the market, they drove
through a flock of seagulls that were looking for scraps on the
blacktop. The gulls scattered screaming in protest. Nova left the
truck and felt that maybe there was some hope after all with her
job. Besides, most of the detasseling workers picked slowly anyway.
Why should she show off and pretend it was a race to get down to
the end of the rows every year?

Nova strolled to the cat food aisle to get a
couple of things for her kitten, Hazel. She checked to see how much
money she had — enough for a catnip-stuffed mouse along with a bag
of cat treats.

Suddenly, the lights in the store blinked
out. Nova looked around. The store’s windows were on the south
side, so they didn’t help brighten up the place. Everything was in
shadows and silhouettes.

A tall woman strolled up to her. "Hello Nova,
our paths cross again."

That voice-

"Dear Vulcan,” Nova Whispered, “You're the
lady from my … dreams."

"Hum? Yes, you could say that I suppose. My
name is Leandra Contrast. Here this is for you." She handed Nova a
small brown lunch bag.

“What is it?” Nova said, taking the bag and
giving it a shake.

No response beyond a suspicious glance.

Nova put her dollars back into her pocket and
watched the lady's silhouette as she moved about in front of her.
Suddenly, a red light appeared in her hand. Nova suspected it
wasn’t a flashlight. Leandra shined it onto the various cat and dog
food bags. Moments later, she said, “Ah, chicken, fish, and beef.”
She took a bag of cat food off the shelf, then carried it to what
looked like a green star floating in space to Nova’s left. It
hadn’t been there just a moment ago, but now it was bathing the pet
aisle in a pale green light like a glow stick.

Leandra stepped up to the star, set the cat
food at her feet, and waved her hands in front of it. It wasn’t
just waving, though. She was making shapes and symbols with her
hands, like the sign language those two men used when Nova was
looking in Max Kim’s mirror. Then the green star began to grow,
stretching from side to side until it looked like a half-melted
doorway. The light was now so bright Nova had to shield her
eyes.

Leandra picked up the cat food, waved to
Nova, then stepped into the green light and disappeared. Seconds
later, the green light flashed out like a blown light bulb. The
store’s fluorescent fixtures turned back on. Everything looked
normal again.

Then Nova's mother trotted around the corner
with her grocery cart.

"Nova is everything all right?"

Nova stepped up to where the doorway had been
and reached past it to touch a display of fuzzy catnip mice. “Um…
yeah, Mom, I guess.” Mouth dry, Nova swallowed.

Her mom touched her shoulder.

“Are you all right?”

She couldn’t tell her mom what she’d seen.
Her mom would think she was crazy.

“Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out if I
should buy Hazel a toy and a can of cat food."

"Did you buy something already? What’s in the
bag?"

"Umm, Leandra -- a friend, stopped by and
gave this to me. Let me see…" Nova opened the bag and found a brand
new wrist watch with a brown leather band. There was also a receipt
for the bag of cat food Leandra walked out with.

"Wow! That's nice of her.” Her mother started
walking

toward the registers, and Nova fell in along
side of her, slipping the watch onto her wrist. “Is this Leandra a
new friend? I don’t recognize the name."

"Um hmm," Nova said.

On the drive home, Nova took a closer look at
the watch. It was a seriously high-tech device, the sort of thing
Benny would love. She didn't show it to her mother for close
inspection and Mom didn’t show any interest. In addition to the
usual watch stuff – time and date - the watch had a compass and
apparently did other things. Nova thought it might be a
walkie-talkie. She would have to ask Benny. This was so clash!

That night, Nova’s sister took her sleeping
bag over to her friend Jarva’s house, which meant that Nova and
Takeesha could actually get some sleep.

In the quiet bedroom, Nova finally told
Takeesha everything. Even if Takeesha thought she was crazy, she
just couldn’t hold it in anymore. She told her about the vivid
dream/memory she had and that the watch she was wearing on her
wrist was from the mysterious Leandra Contrast. Takeesha sat up in
the queen size bed listening to every word.