friend. Mark would play Nintendo football and remember the times that Bobby kicked his butt at the very same game. Courtney would hear a comedian say something goofy on TV and she’d laugh because she knew it would have made Bobby laugh. One time Mark sat in the stands during gym watching the guys play basketball and it made him think of how great Bobby was at the game.
And that’s when it happened. The ring twitched.
At first Mark didn’t know what it was. But when he looked down, he saw the familiar glow coming from the stone. Mark nearly wet his pants with excitement. He ran out of the stands and right through the game. It didn’t matter to him that he totally disrupted play and was getting yelled at by every guy on the court. He had to get out of there fast and he had to find Courtney. He found her in the girls’ gym next door. She was taking a class on combatives and was in the middle of a judo match. With very little effort she picked up her opponent and threw her on her back with a loud, sickeningthud. Then just as she was helping her victim to her feet, Mark ran into the gym and yelled.
“Courtney!”
Everyone turned to look at the mad dweeb. Courtney locked eyes with him and instantly knew the deal. She quickly bowed to her opponent and ran to Mark. They didn’t have to say a word. They knew what to do. The two of them headed right for Mark’s fortress of solitude: the boys’ bathroom on the third floor. Courtney wasn’t shy, she barged in ahead of Mark. No sooner did they get inside than Mark took off the ring and put it on the ground. The ring twitched, the crystal lights flashed and the familiar process began. The little ring grew larger and with a final blinding flash, it was over.
On the floor was a roll of paper, but this one looked different than the others. It was a light green color, rather than the yellowed pages they were used to. There was a tie around the roll, but rather than a piece of brown leather, this looked like some kind of dark green plantlike material. Mark pulled it off and carefully unrolled the pages. They were roughly the same size as the others, but these were oddly shaped. There were no squared edges. Mark felt the texture-they didn’t appear to be paper at all. These pages were some sort of large, dried leaves that were sort of rubbery…and waterproof.
“You ready?” asked Courtney.
“My hands are shaking,” replied Mark.
Then the two of them looked at Bobby’s newest journal.
Journal #5
Cloral
Hi, guys. I gotta apologize for taking so long to write. So much has happened since I left you two, I’m not really sure of where to begin. First off, one mystery is solved. Remember the giant shark that nearly ate me down in that mine shaft on Denduron? Well, now I know where it came from. The territory I’m in now is called Cloral, and it’s entirely underwater. No kidding. Underwater. The quigs on Cloral are giant, flesh-eating sharks. Nice, huh?
Now let me tell you about some of the new trouble I’ve been getting into…
To Be Continued.
