3rd Prequel to The Shade Rider Series
Bardsville, Wisconsin 2045
Chapter 1 Critters
Nova Star Novak, a fourth grader, walked into the school doorway in December dripping wet from a cool shower outside. Nova had auburn curly hair and blue eyes. She wore jeans and a black t-shirt with a white horse on it with red sneakers. The school sounded loud, so something must have been going on. Suddenly, a bunch of three foot tall critters wearing golden ponchos with leaves, flowers, and fisherman netting with a black cape and hood and brown shorts got into the lockers eating lunches, breaking pencils, and just dumping stuff out.
“Oh come on,” Nova almost dropped her wet book bag, then kicked a critter out of the way. “This ain’t right.” The critter yelped and came back to bite her. Nova kicked it in the snout and it left her alone.
Carrying her book bag, Takeesha who was a shaman and knew folklore approached Nova. Takeesha was wearing a blue shaman t-shirt, blue jeans, and flip flops. Her hair was in a fro and cut short. She had chocolate-colored eyes. “I’m not going to put my lunch in my locker today.”
“Me either.”
Nova watched Benny and Max Kim get sprayed by water by a critter near a water fountain. Max Kim, a third grader, and a want to be magician in all black, who was an adopted boy from South Korea ran alongside Benny who was in a moto-cross accident in a beat up wheelchair. The boys approached Nova and Takeesha. Benny wore a black t-shirt with gray sweat pants and sneakers. His blond hair was long and combed over. He had greenish yellow eyes. He was a science nerd and proud of it. He loved to invent anything. A lot of times he would bring science stuff to school and the monsters that entered the school would harass him to the point of making him cry. Sometimes he would go home early with his mom.
“What would be good to get back at the little troublemakers?” Takeesha asked.
“How many do you think there are?” Nova asked cracking her knuckles. “Because I probably can take care of them.”
“No, you can’t, there’s too many,” Benny said.
“Well, Nova can help,” Takeesha said.
Nova and Max Kim nodded.
Benny shrugged. “Maybe.”
“The psychic and priest are here trying to get rid of them,” Takeesha said. “So what’s left, Nova can beat up so they’ll leave for good.”
A boy in fifth grade, down the hall, was bit on his leg. He fell on his butt and kicked the critter hard. It fell down on its back and changed into two more critters. These were furious. The boy jumped up screaming and ran down the hall.
“Holy Chaos!” Nova said, “Beating them up won’t do any good.”
The school bell rang.
“Oh no, I still have to go to my locker yet.”
“I’m going to gym,” Max Kim said.
Nova rushed to her locker and pulled out her history book, then slammed her locker shut and gave a critter a dirty look, before taking off for her class.
Takeesha caught up to her. “Hey Nova, Let’s go to the library to look at pictures to identify them.”
“Okay.”
Benny was silent as he followed them.
They went to their separate classes. Nova went to history and Takeesha went to art. At the last minute Benny gave a disgusted look, “Who cares.” before he entered the math room.
Nova sat down at her desk and Mr. Schultz went over the U.S.A. civil war. Eventually Nova asked the teacher for a bathroom pass. She saw down the hall Ms. Chilldress being pulled on a chair with wheels She struggled as she was tied up and gagged and put into a room. The door was soon locked. Nova looked into the door window. A grinning boggart peeked at her and ran to the others. The critters put the teacher in a spot in the room that was out of sight.
Nova went back to class and tried to tell the teacher.
“Ms. Chilldress has been napped!”
“Where?”
“Mrs. Bloom’s room.”
“I’ll go look,” Mr. Schultz said. “Students stay here.”
Mr. Schultz jogged to Mrs. Bloom’s room. He had a key. All the kids followed him anyway. But turned out the room was empty.
“She not here,” Mr. Schultz said shaking his head. “Let’s all go back to class.” He relocked the room.
The students were so edgy while they sat and whispered at their desks so Mr. Schultz just talked about the critters and their mischievous pranks.
“So what do you know about these critters? Anyone?”
“We know they bite,” a boy said.
“So far the bites aren’t deadly,” a girl said. “that we know of.”
“Well, we haven’t actually checked for rabies.” Mr Schultz said. “But they aren’t showing any symptoms either.”
“Have we even been able to catch one?” Nova asked.
“No, they out-smart us every time,” Mr. Schultz said. “They aren’t curious like animals. Well the bell is going to ring here any minute.”
The bell rang.
Nova told her friends in the hallway about Ms. Chilldress. But when they checked the locked room through the window the teacher was not there for them either.
“Where do you think she is?” Nova said. “I saw her brought here.”
“She’s not here now,” Benny said. “Anyone have a Bobby pin? We can get the door open and do a through search inside.”
“I do,” Takeesha said pulling a Bobby pin from her purse. “Here.”
“Max Kim,” Benny said. “Do your magic and get us in that door.”
Max Kim unlocked the door by pressing a button inside the lock. They searched inside the room, but Ms. Chilldress wasn’t there.
“Nova, were you imagining seeing Ms. Chilldress?”
Nova rubbed her brow ridge. “I don’t think so.”
A critter rode a bike with training wheels down the hall and slapped Nova’s face as it passed by.
“What the…?”
The bell rang.
“Let’s get to class.”
Nova went to math. Takeesha went to English. Max Kim went to history and Benny went to gym as a coach assistant.
Then Max Kim and Benny came up to Nova at her locker and told her Max Kim saw Ms. Chilldress tied up on a chair with wheels being pulled into a different room. And the door was locked again.
They quickly told Takeesha and then went to investigate by unlocking the door. But again Ms. Chilldress was not there.
“Holy chaos!” Max Kim said. “What’s going on?”
A critter ran by laughing twirling someone’s under pants on its finger.
“Ewwww.”
The bell rang.
Nova and Takeesha went to study hall and Benny went to Art. Max Kim went to history.
The girls grabbed a library pass and strolled down to the library. They didn’t have any critter problems for at that time. But there was a group huddled down the hall making all sorts of racket. Nova waited to see if they bothered her and her friend.
“Nope. Whew.”
They entered the library and closed the door.
“Hi, Mrs. Monroe,” Nova waved to the librarian.
She waved back.
“Okay,” Takeesha said grabbing Nova’s arm. They remind me of fairies like evil fairies.”
“Where are your fairy books?” Nova asked Mrs. Monroe.
Mrs. Monroe looked it up on the computer and strolled over to the shelves that had the fairy books.
“Here you are. Not too many here, sorry.” Mrs. Monroe walked back to the check out counter.
Nova grabbed a book and started paging through it. “How about this one?”
“Hmmm it talks about different kinds of good and evil fairies..”
“This fairy is the closest.”
“Boggarts? Yeah looks like them,” Takeesha said. “So they are evil brownies?”
“I guess since we have an Elf Scout meeting tonight and we are good. Our goodness will destroy them.” Nova crumpled up a sheet of paper with a pinched evil face.
“Yeah, about that? I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Well at least we know what they are.”
“A lot of good that will do,” Takeesha said closing the book and putting it back on the shelf. “They are evil.”
A boggart slammed hard into the library door window cracking it.
“Holy chaos!”
The bell rang.
“Lunch!” Nova and her friends went to the cafeteria to eat.
Chapter 2 There’s a Problem
The lights flickered in the old Bardsville Elementary School cafeteria. So far the boggarts weren’t here, though Nova knew they still occupied the school. The boggarts were around she could smell them– like old stinky socks. Nova wanted to get rid of the pesky monsters once and for all. They kept doing mischief like making the toilets overflow, or throwing tropical fish at people or ripping up homework. Nova was quickly getting irritated and could easily squash them given the chance. She had remarkable strength and could carry over three hundred pounds. But she hated showing off, it seemed to bother people.
Nova, brought her lunch over to the rickety table. She took a sip of milk and noticed Takeesha her best friend. Nova jerked into a stand and waved to get her attention.
“Takeesha over here,” She yelled.
Takeesha noticed Nova and came over, plopping down next to her. She brought over a full lunch tray. She grabbed the hot dog and began to munch.
Benny wheeled over and approached the girls with his lunch.“What? Not again,” Benny yelled.
Max Kim, Benny’s best friend marched over. The two boys were inseparable. Max Kim followed everything Benny did. He was dressed in his black magician’s outfit with many pockets and he wore a black top hat. He was from South Korea and had been adopted. He had black hair with bangs and chestnut colored eyes.
“This is our table! Now we have to spray it for cooties.”
He took his magician’s hat off and yanked a green scarf out of it. He placed the scarf over the top of the hat and when he removed the scarf a spray bottle was produced inside. He pulled out the spray bottle and proceeded to spray the ‘cooties’ away from the table. Then he tossed the bottle aside to a cat screaming Meeeeooooowwww!
“I don’t see your name anywhere,” Nova said giggling.
Benny scooted his wheelchair under the table and Max Kim plopped down opposite them.
“That’s because we used an invisible ink. You can only see it with a U.V. light.
The girls sprayed milk from their mouths across the table.
“Yeah right!” The girls said together, then laughed, wiping their mouths with their hands.
“You girls are going to have to vacate the premises,” Benny said.
Nova and Takeesha wiped up the milk on the table.
“Have you seen the lunch lady’s arms, Benny? Not only can she beat you up, but she could easily wash that off, you know what I mean?” Takeesha said.
“Yeah right,” Benny said. He searched his pack. He pulled out a magnifying glass, a small microscope, a tape measure, a flashlight, a mirror and a pulley, but couldn’t find his U.V. light.
“Max Kim, check your pockets for my U.V. light.”
As Benny put his science stuff away, Max Kim took off his magician top hat and checked inside a pocket. He checked his coat and pants pockets too. He pulled out magic scarves, cards, balls, a rubber dove, a sponge rabbit set, and a couple of linked metal rings.
“Where is it, Max Kim?” Benny shoved his hair over.
Max Kim took his scarf, showed his empty left palm and laid the scarf over his left palm. When he pulled the scarf off his hand, he produced a dollar coin. He put it behind Benny’s ear. The coin disappeared and Benny’s U. V. light was in Max Kim’s hand. He handed it to Benny and put his magic stuff away.
Benny grinned and scanned the table with the light. “See its right here.”
All the kids leaned in to look but nothing showed up.
“Where? I don’t see anything,” Nova said.
“Weird,” Benny said. “It must be another table. I swear it was this one.”
Nova and Takeesha looked at each other and gave each other a cat-eating-canary grin. Benny wheeled away from that table in disgust. “Stupid chair move! I can’t wait for me and my dad to engineer a better one.”
Benny checked the other table, the lights grew dim. The letters under the UV light could now be read on the tabletop. The lights came back on.
“Yep here it is,” Benny said challenging them with a look. Nova, Takeesha, Max Kim laughed. Max Kim took a bite of a fat Cheeto.
Benny noticed Max Kim stayed put at the girl’s table so his arched back collapsed and his head fell almost hitting the table. He pounded the top with his fist, sighed and trundled back over to the girl’s table as if he never left.
