The Shade Riders and the Dreadful Ghosts (17 page)

August— the sweat poured
off the three Shade Rider kids as they continued to work on the
bubble guns. Nova, Max Kim, and Benny pooled a little money
together and bought a steel drum from an old man. They threw some
ripped up newspaper in the bottom, lit it, then tried to extinguish
the fire. The guns leaked, and soap and baking soda got on
everything inside the barrel, making a huge mess. They all peered
down inside. No smoke just lots of bubbles.

“Was that a success or not?” Nova pushed away
from the barrel.

“How can we tell if the gun extinguished the
fire or the leak did?” Max Kim said, then laughed.

“If we can take care of the leaks we will be
clash. I’ll check my desk drawers for some rubber o- rings. We can
put them on the inside of the bottles on the guns to seal them,”
Benny said.

A week later, Benny was back with the revised
versions of the guns. That turned out to be the solution they were
looking for. The barrel though didn’t work, so they strolled and
wheeled to the picnic site that had a campfire pit. They lit a fire
and fed it with sticks until the fire with sticks until it was two
feet tall and wide. Benny, five feet back, aimed the bubble gun at
the fire.

“Wait. Why should Benny put out this fire? I
say we take a vote,” Nova said.

“What? No way. I bought the… or my Mom bought
the supplies. I should get to do it.”

“No, we need to be fair,” Max Kim began to
gather twigs. “We can draw straws.”

The fire burned on as Nova continued to feed
it.

“I think we need to gather more wood.”

“My wood gathering is minimal, so you guys
get more wood and I’ll put out the fire.” Benny took aim again.

Nova came over near Benny reached out and
grabbed the gun. She tried to wrestle it out of his hands. Max Kim
jumped over Benny’s shoulder and chair and tried to push Nova’s
hands off Benny’s. The gun shot up into the air and bubbles
descended onto the two boys heads.

“Nova! Don’t hurt him.”

At Max Kim’s words, Nova noticed how Benny’s
shoulders slumped and his passion for holding onto the gun
dissolved. Nova ended up with the weapon, but she didn’t want to
shoot it anymore.

“Here, take it,” Nova said to Benny.

“I don’t want it.”

“Won’t anyone shoot it?” Max Kim asked, “We
won’t have a fire for much longer.”

He got off of Benny and put his sticks into
the fire.

“Fine give it to me. Max Kim move,” Benny
said.

Max Kim jumped out of the way. Benny took aim
and fired. The gun spat out bubbles full of carbon dioxide that
floated toward the fire and burst. The flames struggled to stay
alive. He moved back and forth as he shot. The fire heaved a final
farewell as it died. Nova and Max Kim jumped for joy, and Benny
whooped and hollered.

“Well, you guys, I think it is ready to be
taken over to Leandra's house and tried on some real flying
fireballs.” Nova grabbed the matches and leftover newspaper and
they started to head for the house.

Before they entered the catch pen, Benny
said, “Huddle up. I need to say something.”

They stopped walking and surrounded Benny.
Nova watched as the breeze tickled the blob of bubbles on Benny’s
and Max Kim’s head. She giggled.

“What? Why are you laughing?” Benny swiped at
a drip rolling down his face, and he looked at his hand. He rubbed
his thumb over his fingers. He looked over and saw Max Kim shaking
bubbles out of his hair. “Do I have bubbles on MY head?”

“Yes!” Nova said, and Max Kim laughed.

Benny wiped his hair with his hand. “I wanted
to say that we need a secret place to call Leandra now that the
weapon is ready.”

“I know,” Nova said, “How about we build a
hay fort?”

“It can be a maze,” Max Kim said, “with
hidden doors.”

“Let’s get some paper and design something,”
Benny said.

The three kids entered the farmhouse and Max
Kim and Benny sat at the dining table. Nova left the room to get
some paper and pencils. After they had jotted some ideas down amid
excited talking, they passed the papers around and discussed what
they would like to add.

“Unexpected trapdoors,” Max Kim said.

“Dead ends to confuse intruders,” Nova
said.

“Look, I don’t think either one of you has
considered that I’m in a wheelchair. I need to be able to get into
this.”

“Sorry, Benny,” Nova said, “Sometimes we
forget. I’ll go back to the drawing board and come up with an idea
we can all use.”

Max Kim sighed. He looked at his drawing and
then at Benny’s. “You know we might be able to use a little of
everyone’s ideas to make a much better hide out.”

“Okay, I guess we can try,” Benny said
shoving his hair away from his eyes. Nova nodded. They all set to
work drawing up new plans.

When they were satisfied, they climbed to the
haymow and started removing the stairs and all the bales underneath
to get to the wooden floor, which they swept off the loose hay.
They scanned the drawings, then started working, stacking the hay
two bales high. They put boards on top to hold up a huge old heavy
rug that they found under all the bales of hay.

They beat the dusty rug with sticks until
they were covered with a fine gray dust. When they were satisfied
that they couldn’t get more dust off-- and their arms were sore--
they lay the rug across the boards on top of the meeting room part
of the maze. For the rest of the fort, they just covered the top
with bales. After the maze was complete, they stacked the bales up
as though the stairs were never taken down. The interior became
dark, quiet, and secret.

Nova ran down the grassy hill ramp next to
the barn and into the front. She found Benny working on an elevator
that would lift him into the hay maze.

“Okay, the meeting room is ready for you.”
Nova ran back up in the haymow and crawled through the maze into
the meeting room, where Max Kim was and waited for Benny to come
up. Below the platform was a stall that couldn’t be used because it
didn’t have a door. Benny rolled onto the platform in the barn
stall. He reached down, and placed a rubber belt on the special
metal wheel on the wheelchair motor. The motor lifted him through
the chute and up into the hay fort. The platform covered up the hay
chute opening so no one could see above their heads into the fort.
It was secure from any spies, who might try to listen in. The
meeting room in the fort was spacious. Inside were hay benches and
a table. Sometimes they had to open a big window to let fresh air
in because inside it was stifling hot. Also, the lookout had to be
on alert for any unwanted ears.

The three kids put the digital watch on the
hay table and called for Leandra. A beautiful blue eye looked out
from the red glowing crystal.

“Hi Leandra, that’s you, right?” Nova
said.

"Yes, hello sprogs, do you have the weapon
done?" Leandra said.

"Yeah, and it works great!" Benny said, "Now
I want to try it on some real fireballs."

"Bring it down. I want to have a look,"
Leandra said.

“All of them?” Nova said.

“You have more than one? Sure, bring them
all, Ta ta.”

It was late afternoon, early evening, by the
time the three Shade Riders arrived at Leandra’s house. She met
them out in the garden.

She looked over the guns and nodded. “They
look impressive enough. Let’s try them out.”

She called up a fireball in the palm of her
hand. The fractals inside leaped angrily. Leandra tossed it in her
hand a couple times then threw it down her driveway. Nova, Max Kim,
and Benny chased after it and put it out. “Too easy.” Benny grinned
as he trundled, and they skipped back, though Nova’s confidence
screamed, You’re not ready.

The kids entered Leandra’s house. "Did you
find Nocturnal Ned yet?" Nova asked.

"I've not seen hide or hair of him for a
while, but… well, his timing couldn’t be any better," Leandra said
with a touch of laughter in her voice.

Nova took a deep breath and swallowed hard.
Nocturnal Ned came down the driveway, and he didn’t look like a
harmless fraud.

Nova and everyone else
watched through Leandra’s window as Ned rode down the driveway on a
Harley. He was dressed in black leather his chap's fringe flapping
in the wind. Then without warning, Ned transformed into iridescent
pink, and then grew into the iridescent green glowing monster.
Benny and Max Kim gasped. Ned’s black leather creaked and tore
asunder, flapping in the breeze.

“Crap!” Ned yelled. “Ahlon, that was my good
leather. Why did you do that?” Ned stopped the bike, which now look
like a toy, at the end of the driveway and looked around. “Damn,
damn, damn,” Ned yelled punching his now exposed muscular green leg
over and over.

“Stay here and keep your eyes open,” Leandra
said. Then left her house by the back way and made her way around
Ned. Less than a minute later, she crept out of the bushes behind
him, got her arm around his thick neck, and slapped a sticky patch
to his shoulder. Ned struggled, but his pink color and size were
returning to normal.

“All right, kids,” Leandra said, “you can
come out now.” They gathered around; Nova stood in front of the
bike.

“Hey Hulk, looks like you’re Bruce Banner
again,” Nova said.

Ned stared her in the eyes. His face was so
close she could smell his garlic breath.

Leandra pulled him back by his shoulder. “So
Ned, just how do you contact your master, Ahlon?”

--Just then, Nova heard a tiny voice coming
from Ned’s left index finger. “Dear Vulcan, what do we have here?”
She lifted Ned’s hand and showed everyone. “There’s a voice coming
from the cut on his finger.”

Ned yanked his hand away. “Don’t touch me,
girl. I cut myself. Your stupid mother still owes me respect and
money,” Ned pointed at Nova’s chest. “I know now you don’t belong
here. You’re half Neanderthal and need to go back where you came
from.”

Nova put her hands on her hips. Her brows
furrowed, and her eyes narrowed.

“So, that cut is how you throw fireballs and
change into a monster?” Leandra said.

But it was beginning to make sense to
Nova.“He must have got a message from Ahlon when my mom and I went
in for a séance. He threw half of the message he scribbled under
his chair and wouldn’t let us see it.”

They saw a slight nod from Ned.

“And he wants you to pay for that?” Leandra
said. “Okay, What are you here for, Ned? What do you want?”

The tiny voice coming from his finger was
beginning to sound like a rant.

“Ahlon is watching, and you will all die,”
Ned said.

“Yeah, so what,” Benny said. “Anything can
kill you, what of it?”

With a quick move that caught them all off
guard, Ned reached for the patch and ripped it off. He burst into
an even bigger green monster. “So be it.” He tried to grab Leandra
before she could apply another patch.

Leandra ducked and burned his hand with a
fireball.

“Take cover now!”

The Shade Riders with their bubble gun
scattered into the trees.

Nova, Max Kim, and Benny ducked behind big oak trees
that ran along the driveway. Nova never took her eyes off the green
glowing monster standing next to the skull painted motorcycle.
Oddly, Nova could hear the birds singing as she waited.

Leandra moved so she was blocking the
driveway. "Do your worst, Ned!"

"If that's how you want it.” Ned flung a
fireball the size of a basketball at Leandra's head. She moved out
of the way. The fireball flew down the driveway, flaming out near
the road on the gravel leaving a pile of black ash.

Leandra lobbed another one at Ned and leaped
over bushes in the woods. Ned threw one right toward her head, and
shrubbery caught on fire. Max Kim jumped out in time and began
shooting bubbles at it. The gun put the fire out completely.

Leandra threw one at Ned, and it bounced off
and hit the motorcycle seat. Whoosh! It burst into flame.

Ned cried and began to bat the seat with his
big green hands. Finally, he fell onto the seat to put it out.

He stood up like a ramrod. His chest was
charred black, blistered. He began to throw fireballs again. Nova
saw tears running down his face. She would have felt some
compassion for him if a fireball hadn’t come straight for her
head.

She dodged to the left, but the fireball
clobbered her hand. She didn’t feel anything, but it knocked her
weapon out of reach in the thistles in front of her. As she reached
for the gun, she noticed Max Kim catch and magically levitate a
fireball right in front of his face. Then he made some dramatic
moves with his hands like he was petting the fireball. Then he
reached for his bubble gun like a cowboy, and the flame dropped to
bubbly black ash on the ground before him at his feet.

“Clash!” Nova whispered. She had no idea Max
Kim could do such amazing magic tricks.

Leandra threw another fireball that hit the
back of Ned’s head. It oozed down his shoulders and back like lava
down the side of a volcano. Ned turned around and erupted with a
roar. He whipped a fireball at Leandra, who ducked, then moved to a
better position behind a tree. Nova grabbed her gun and ran to put
out the fireball on the tree where Leandra had been standing a
moment ago.

Nova watched a fireball light a fire near
Benny. He wheeled over to it a little too close. One of his wheels
caught on fire. He franticly rolled back and forth putting it out,
but Nova heard the pop when the tire blew. “Damn it. One of my
wheels is gone.”

Leandra threw another fireball at Ned, who
blocked it with his forearm and threw one back. Nova put out one
near an apple tree. Leandra had the kids putting out fireballs
everywhere as she ducked and weaved and threw fireballs from behind
trees.