The Cave On Lake Loon: The Battle Within

By Cynthia Keirstead

Prejudices, Fear, Hate, Hopelessness, Trust, and Forgiveness, are some of the issues the characters struggle with, as they race against time to save both worlds.
I believe all readers can identify with the Zandarkians as well as the Chutzpahstonians, and find a hero or heroine in each character as they learn to overcome their preconceived ideas and take a leap of faith trusting the other races with their lives, and working side by side to fulfill the prophecy before it’s too late.
The Cave on Lake Loon is the story of a 500 year decline of Chutzpah, a world whose fate is linked to the planet Zandark. A Zandarkian Middle School student is presumed abducted and his friends set out to rescue him. Miss. Bliss, who everyone refers to as ‘The Looney Porch Lady’, reveals a prophecy to them. “Seven friends to rescue the one, who through time was told would come. When danger reaches its highest peak, help from a Zandarkian youth they will seek. The fate of both worlds remains unknown, it lies in the seven bringing the eighth home."
Most Zandarkians are starting to believe that Andy Johnson, the abducted youth is dead, but the fact that no body was recovered from Lake Loon, leads these Zandarkian youths to travel through the portal to Chutzpah. Determined to fulfill the prophecy and save their friend, the Zandarkians meet with the Gnome Zigriz who is in line to become King of all Chutzpah. They meet many races and magical creatures who must work together in order to defeat their enemy. The Chutzpahstonians and the Zandarkians become engaged in a battle for the fate of both worlds. With the aid of his companions Zurrock, the King of the Illuminphenix, and Sinder, the eldest son of the Elvin Queen Selereya, they gather reinforcements and plan for the battle to overtake the Dark One. The troops set out to attack from the West, North, East, and South. Zurrock’s group, which is heading out to attack from the South, contains all the Zandarkians who must be returned to Zandark alive or the prophecy cannot be fulfilled, and both worlds will be destroyed. However, as they emerge from the Sleeping Woods, they find out a traitor is now in their midst.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cynthia Keirstead
• Release date: Jul 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463402085

Cynthia Keirstead

I grew up in Amherst Nova Scotia Canada where I spent a lot of my time playing in the woods, swimming in the lakes, hiking to waterfalls and exploring caves. I also spent a lot of time fishing with my family and swimming in the Atlantic Ocean. Since childhood, I have always enjoyed a good fiction novel, and my imagination would take me on journeys to places alive with adventure.I have always loved reading and writing, and wrote part of a production that was performed at various locations in England in 1989 by myself and some fellow classmates from Amherst Regional High School. I have directed some productions as well that have been performed in ARHS, Federal Penitentiary, Churches and on our local cable channel.This is my first novel. Thank you for using your imagination and taking the journey with me.

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THE CAVE ON LAKE LOON THE BATTLE WITHIN

By Cynthia Keirstead

Published by Cynthia Keirstead at Smashwords

Copyright 2018 Cynthia Keirstead

This ebook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Book and Cover design by Cynthia Keirstead

ISBN: 9780463402085

First Edition: July 2018

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Chutzpah

CHAPTER ONE

SUMMER VACATION

Pick up the flashlight! Pick up the flashlight! I could hear Nikia screaming, but as I lunged forward and felt around in the dark water it was not the flashlight that was retrieved in my hand . . . something had a hold of me.

I want to share our adventure with you; I can't help but wonder if anyone else out there has experienced similar events, as this was a summer vacation we would never forget.

Let's just start by saying this, in 2035 when the Earthlings discovered Zandark, and our neighboring planet Rilou, my eyes were opened to the fact that this world we live in is a whole lot bigger than our minds can comprehend.

I remember my first trip to Earth was in 2037 and I was amazed at how similar Earthlings were to Zandarkians. Even your planet was comparable to ours. Your creatures, plant life, and even your infinite variety of food made one feel like they were home on Zandark. My dad thought it was important for me to experience just how vast our universe really was. Not to mention the fact that he worked for the Zandark Government as a Scientist. So it was his duty to learn and share as much information with you Earthlings as he could. Of course, that meant numerous trips to Earth, which was pretty cool considering just 2 years earlier we thought Zandark and Rilou were the only inhabited planets. Well, as I said, my eyes were opened.

My name is Dan Keegan, I live on the planet Zandark with my mother and father, and I’m enrolled at Blitzer Middle School. The adventure I want to share with you began in 2039. Allow me to relay our story to you and the events that took place during that summer vacation, so you can see for yourself, why we will never forget them.

There was one week remaining before we could close our books for the summer and Jimmy and Nelson were up to their usual end of year pranks. We had to keep our books on us at all times or they would be seen flying out a window, lying on the floor of a bathroom stall, or someone else would find them stashed in their locker.

Jimmy Banks! The exasperated voice we heard belonged to Ms. Pitts, our Eighth Grade history teacher, she taught Grade Nine history as well so we would have her again the following year. She was watching, as we all were, while Jimmy cautiously pulled his arm back in through the open window with Justin's book still in hand.

Ms. Pitts was younger than all our other teachers and most of the time she had a pleasant smile on her face, but if you were in trouble, and she gave you that look of disappointment, it made you feel like you just betrayed your best friend. She had a way of making you feel ashamed of your behavior, as if you hurt her because she had to raise her voice at you. This you could see clearly on Jimmy's face as he handed the book back to Justin and began to apologize.

He took his seat, and that's when we noticed the serious and worried look on her face. A hush fell over the class as every eye fixed on Ms. Pitts. She just sat there in her seat not saying anything for what seemed like an eternity. Then she cleared her throat and began to tell us the news that would change our lives forever.

Your summer break will be starting early this year.

Normally an announcement like that would receive ear-piercing cheers, but not on that particular day. Everyone remained motionless looking at Ms. Pitts.

There has been an abduction, she continued. One of your classmates is missing. There was a pause as she tried to collect herself. Andy Johnson never made it home after school on Friday. The police have been searching since Saturday, but there are no leads, except that Andy was seen getting into a brown sedan.

I remembered my parents asking me over the weekend if I knew where Andy was or might be, but they never said why. I just figured he was at the arcade, which is where he would hang out when his parents were fighting. That’s if our gang wasn't hanging out together. Even as close as we all were, sometimes Andy just felt like being alone. You see, Andy's parents fought sometimes; well actually, they fought a lot. It was mostly when Mr. Johnson came home drunk, so Andy never liked being home on the weekends.

That's all the information I have, Ms. Pitts said. Most of your parents are waiting outside to take you home. If you're walking home, I don't want anyone walking alone. I guess that's all then. Pack up your books, and I'll see you next year. Remember to keep Andy and his parents in your prayers.

Little by little, the class got up as we tried to absorb what we just heard.

Dan, could you stay after for a moment please?

I nodded yes, and waited for the rest of the class to leave. Andy Johnson was my best friend. Ms. Pitts really cared for Andy as well. She was always there when he needed someone to talk to. Really, she was there for all of us.

Dan, did you talk to Andy on Friday?

Um, yeah, I said.

Did he seem upset, or like there was something wrong? she asked.

No, not really. He just said he wasn't looking forward to the weekend, his parents were already fighting before he left for school.

Oh, I see, said Ms. Pitts in a soft voice. Did he say that he had any plans, or that he might be meeting anyone?

Well, we were supposed to go to the cave on Lake Loon Saturday. Andy said he wanted to show me something, but he never called. I figured he went to the arcade to be alone, so I went and watched the Spheriod Blitz game with the gang.

I'm not sure whose wheels started turning first, Ms. Pitts or mine, but I knew we were both wondering what Andy wanted to show me in the cave. I tried to think of an excuse to end the conversation so I could go and tell the gang what I was thinking, but I was blank until I saw my mom through the classroom window. Um, I have to go Ms. Pitts. My mom is waiting.

Dan . . . be careful.

I will, I replied, and I was out the door.

As soon as I got home, I called the gang to come over. Normally there would be Nikia, Jimmy, Nelson, Justin, Andy and myself. We were a pretty tight knit group, so losing Andy had everyone unraveled. I filled the gang in about Andy wanting to show me something in the cave. We all agreed we needed to go to Lake Loon and try to find out what Andy saw. Maybe it would be a clue to his disappearance. We also agreed that Ms. Pitts would tell the police the same information, and they would go to Lake Loon as well. So we made the decision, it would be best to let them search first; we would go the next day. They would only send us home anyway if we tried.

We knew it wouldn't ease our minds any, but we had a Spheriod Blitz game to play that night. Since Andy was the captain of our team, no one really felt like playing without him, but we all knew as captain he would be disappointed if we didn't play. There was no excuse as far as Andy was concerned for missing a game. No excuse. So that night we played for him.

For those who don’t know, let me explain the game of Spheriod Blitz. The game was invented on Zandark and has been played on my planet for hundreds of years. You have two teams that compete in an arena enclosed in a dome made of thick shatterproof glass. There are rows of bleachers lining the outside of the glass dome where the fans sit. This is because the atmosphere inside resembles weightlessness; kind of like if you were in outer space in orbit. I know, cool eh! Each player is required to wear nitrous boots, which have an equally controlled amount of nitrous oxide. The officials check the boots before each game to make sure they are the same. The players need them to move around in the weightless atmosphere. A wrist guard, placed over the padded uniform worn by each player, controls the boots. I know I said padded uniform, but in my opinion, they forgot to put the pad in padded, but in a full contact sport, you're thankful for any protection you have. Halfway up the glass on opposite ends of the dome is a secured net for each team. Its size is somewhere in-between the hockey and soccer nets that Earthlings use for those two sports. The object of the game is for a player on your team to hit or kick the sphere into your opponents net. There are two ten-minute periods, which can seem to go by a whole lot faster than ten minutes, or it can seem to last forever. At the end of the periods, the team with the most goals wins. Huh, as I'm writing this down it doesn't sound like it's that difficult at all; just get the sphere in your opponents' net. Well it's actually a little trickier than that. Each team has six players, and there isn't a player on either side, that doesn't love to send an opponent for a splat on the glass. After all, that's part of what the fans come to see. Each team consists of one Center, two Forwards, one Defender, one Goalie and one Substitute player, in case of injury. Now here comes the tricky part. The sphere changes size, and there are only four spots where you can legally make contact using your foot or hand. If contact is made by any player, anywhere other than the four spots, the sphere envelopes you, and you remain inside, and in play until a whistle is blown, a goal is scored, or another player makes illegal contact, and then the player inside the sphere is released, and the other player becomes enveloped, or sucked in, if you will. I think you can see how this could complicate things a little more. Well, this much I can tell you from experience, being inside the sphere, is like being on the wildest roller coaster ride you could ever imagine.

A valuable lesson I learned, is unless you know how to control the thrusters while inside the sphere, don't even try. Now Jimmy Banks, he could get inside the sphere and set it up perfectly for us to hit. One time he even controlled the sphere so the other teams' goalie was sucked in as he was released; he smiled, kicked the sphere in the net, goalie and all, for a score. Jimmy was a master at that.

I could've used his talent that night as we played the Stunner Middle School team. They were the Spheriod Blitz champions three years in a row. We really thought we had a chance of beating them that year. That is until Andy, our captain, went missing. Our chances didn't look as promising after that.

Centers to your positions the referee ordered.

The whistle blew and the sphere was in the air. Jimmy and the center for the Stunner team Byron, shot upwards both waiting until they could see the mark to strike. You could hear the sound 'pap' as Jimmy made contact with the sphere. Nikia and I had both moved forward on the play waiting to receive, and it was heading towards her. Just as she had the sphere lined up to kick with her foot, Lewis, a forward for the Stunner team, came from behind and shoved her forward. As she spun around her hand made illegal contact, and in the sphere she went. Now Lewis was in possession of the sphere. He kicked it forward to Julia, the other forward for the Stunner team, who smashed it ahead to Byron. Now they were in our zone. As Byron struck the sphere Justin dove underneath, made contact with an overhead kick sending the sphere towards Jimmy. You could hear the muffled sound through the glass as our fans let out a roaring cheer. It was a beautiful defensive move by our newest member. When the sphere reached Jimmy, he had already decided that poor Nikia, who had been spun and flung around this whole time inside the sphere, had had enough. He motioned for me to come forward to where he was, and then he made illegal contact freeing Nikia and trapping himself. She regained her balance and moved ahead of the play quickly.

Shoot me towards Nikia he shouted from inside.

Nikia was moving into scoring range as I smashed the sphere towards her. As it got closer Jimmy began to twist and turn inside using his thrusters until he had the sphere lined up perfectly for Nikia. She struck one of the spots with her fist and, Score! you could hear the fans shouting. Jimmy was released from the sphere; he turned to face Nikia and gave her a wink.

The fans cheered as they heard the announcement. One nothing for Blitzer Middle School. Four minutes left of play in the first period.

After four more minutes of play, the horn sounded and the first period was over with the score one nothing for our team, the good guys. We went to our assigned dressing rooms. This was a chance to plan our strategy for the last period, but that never happened. Instead, Andy's parents came into the room. They asked us if there was anything Andy said that might help the police find him, or if he had mentioned anyone new he’d met. I still remember seeing Andy's mother, pale and shaken. You could tell she'd been crying for a long time. Neither of them looked like they'd gotten any sleep over the last three days. No one knew what to say. We didn't know any more than they did. There was an uncomfortable silence as tears were swelling up in Mr. Johnson's eyes. Then he began to speak.

I know I haven't been the best father or husband. And I know Andy couldn't stand it when I was drinking because his mother and I would fight, he began rubbing his eyes as tears started falling, and then he covered them with the palm of his hand holding his head, but I want you to know I love my son, I love Andy and I want him back. His voice was sincere and almost pleading. I'm gonna quit drinking. Things are gonna change. I just want my boy back.

It sounded so cliché, like a scene from a movie, but we knew he really meant what he was saying.

Now Nikia was crying. The rest of us were trying to hold back the tears, but still no one knew what to say. Just then the horn blew. It was time to go back out. Jimmy broke the silence.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnson I'm sorry but we have to go back out now. If we think of anything, anything at all, we'll let you know.

What a sorry bunch we must have looked like. Jimmy tried to get our minds back in the game.

Let's do this for Andy.

We gave a couple of cheers for ourselves but it didn't help.

Centers to your mark, shouted the referee. The whistle blew, the sphere went up, and Byron made first contact. His two forwards were up near Justin. He smashed the sphere to Julia. Nikia had shot ahead to cover Lewis, and Byron was right behind her. As she stopped to guard Lewis, BAM! She was sandwiched by Byron and Lewis. Down she went. She was only floating for a few seconds, but that's all it took. Julia hit the sphere past Justin towards Lewis. Lewis kicked the sphere towards the net. Nelson dove, but it was too late.

Score! the Stunner fans shouted as their arms flew up in the air with excitement.

Then came the announcement, the score is tied at one a piece. Six minutes of play left.

We looked at each other in disbelief, our minds still unable to focus. Back to the center we went. The whistle blew, up went the sphere. Jimmy made first contact; he hit the sphere towards Nikia, she smashed the sphere towards me, but Clarence the defender for the Stunner team intercepted it. He dove under the sphere and kicked it towards Byron. Byron was heading towards our net, and right at Justin, he smashed the sphere hard thinking he might panic and miss. Justin dove under the sphere, did an axel twist back flip kicking the sphere towards me. That's when it happened. I was so impressed with the move Justin made, thinking to myself how Andy would be so pleased, that by the time I realized the sphere was coming towards me, it was too late to react. I tried to hit my thrusters but I was already in the sphere. So instead of getting out of the way I sent the sphere spinning out of control, with players on both teams dodging and diving to get out of my path. The sphere was going so fast, I had a hard time reaching the controls to stop my thrusters. I bounced off the glass and spun in the direction of the Stunner net. I could hear both the cheers and the gasps from the fans. I was running out of nitro. I could hardly see as the sphere was spinning wildly while I was trying to hit the right button. Then my boots shut off. I ended up spinning inches from the other teams' goalie and to my horror, I watched as a wide grin spread over Stanley's face. He lined up the sphere with his size thirteen's. I was helpless. I couldn't move. You could hear the BANG! as he kicked the sphere with all his might down towards our net. Our team was scampering to get back in position, as everyone had scattered when I sent the sphere out of control. I whizzed by Jimmy, then Nikia, and I was heading towards Justin. I couldn't help but hope Justin would miss and hit the wrong spot, I wanted out of that sphere. Justin missed alright. He missed completely. I was heading for Nelson. Nelson dove at the sphere, but made illegal contact. I was released, Nelson was sucked in, and Byron was right there to tap Nelson in the net to win the game. The horn sounded and the Stunner fans began to cheer. It was all over. I just hung there in the air. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Nelson and the rest of the team came over to where I was. He and Jimmy each took one of my arms and headed for the dressing room. On the way there Nelson began to laugh.

I don't know what that was Dan, but whatever you were doing in the sphere man, Andy would have laughed his head off.

We all started laughing. He was right, Andy wouldn't have gotten upset with me, and he would've found it quite funny.

I hardly slept that night. My mind was racing with dreadful thoughts of not being able to find Andy or worse, finding him too late and wishing we hadn't.

Dan breakfast is ready, came a shout from downstairs. I made my way to the table and saw that my mom had made me a big plate of panflats and dewberry sauce for breakfast. She knew this was my favorite, but I didn't have much of an appetite, especially since my dad was also at the table. Through the week dad would be gone to work by the time I was at breakfast. He was at the lab by 7:00AM every morning. It was 8:00AM and he was at the table. My breathing became shallow and I felt like I was going to be sick when my dad started speaking.

Dan, I've spoken with the police, and there is some new evidence about Andy's disappearance. They found the brown sedan in the woods near Lake Loon. They searched the island in the middle and they found a sunken canoe off the cave side.

I could feel my breathing getting more and more staggered. I looked down at my plate and saw my tears hitting the dewberry sauce as if in slow motion. My dad continued.

They have divers searching the lake now for Andy's body son. I'm sorry, but it doesn't look good.

I sat there staring at my plate feeling like my lungs were going to collapse. I felt numb all over. I couldn't move, I couldn't think, I felt like I couldn't breathe. My mom touched my shoulder and I turned my head to look at her. Tears were streaming down her face.

We are not giving up hope Dan. Andy is a very smart and strong boy. He may have gotten away. The police and a scouting team are checking the woods and all around the lake in case Andy got lost in them.

That was my mom, always hoping for the best in every situation, and trying to encourage others even when she herself needed encouraging. I had to force a smile for her, and then asked if I could be excused from the table. They both nodded, so I went out in the back yard. As I was leaving, I heard my mom ask dad how Andy's parents were holding up. Andy's parents. . . I didn't think I could hold myself together if I saw them right then. I sat on the back steps trying to absorb what I heard, and trying to make sense of everything. My thoughts were so far away, I didn't even notice Nikia come and sit on the steps beside me.

Andy is not dead, she blurted out, I know he's not.

Startled, I turned to see her sitting there, her eyes red and puffy like she had been crying for a very long time. Her nose was red from blowing it, and I noticed she had two different shoes on, more proof she was taking Andy's disappearance hard. The whole gang thought she had a thing for Andy, but knew the two of them were too shy to admit it. I had to pull myself together for her sake.

I believe you Nikia. I don't think Andy is dead either.

We agree, Jimmy said. I turned my head in the direction of his voice and saw Nelson and Justin were with him as they came up to us on the back step. They all carried backpacks and wore a look of determination on their faces.

I had almost forgotten we'd planned to go to Lake Loon. Nikia and I looked at each other and then back at them.

Are you sure we can go to the lake today? she asked. The police are still everywhere.

She's right, I piped up. They'll never let us near the place.

Jimmy, Nelson and Justin opened their packs and started pulling out bright orange vests, five in total.

They will if we're wearing these, Jimmy said.

Jimmy's dad was a police officer, so Jimmy knew what the scouting team was wearing, and he had grabbed the vests for us.

Be right back, I said

I ran into the house and headed for my bedroom. I had packed my bag the night before, so I was ready to go. On my way back outside, I shouted something to my parents about hanging out with the gang. We then hurried over to Nikia's to get her backpack. As we were walking I whispered to her that she should change her shoes. She looked down at her feet, then back at me and smiled.

Along the way we noticed Ms. Pitts coming out of the camping supply store with a backpack on. That's odd, I thought. She spotted us, paused for a second and had a look on her face between wanting to say something, and someone caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Then she got in her car and drove away. The five of us exchanged glances and continued toward Nikia's. She grabbed her backpack and within minutes, we were on our way to Lake Loon.

CHAPTER TWO

LAKE LOON

Lake Loon was one of our gangs favorite hangout spots. In the middle of the lake was an island with a long, deep dark cave. Which makes it perfect for glow hide and seek. We would gather yellow and orange glow beetles and place them inside plastic containers that we could clip to our belts. Then we would split into teams. The cave contained a lot of nooks and crannies, with winding and splitting passages. We would play for hours. But that wasn't the purpose of our journey that day.

As we got closer to the lake we could hear the rescue workers and the search teams communicating with each other. We all agreed upon the need to stay out of sight. We made our way to the far edge of the lake, which was behind the island. Using a canoe would be out of the question; this would make us to visible. Our only option was to swim across the back way. The distance was shorter here and the majority of the workers were on the front side near the cave opening. We each grabbed a leaf off a Sineaky Tree. This tree can grow up to 10 feet high and has very strong branches. Each branch is loaded with blueish green leaves. The leaves are like rubber and very buoyant. We wrapped the large leaves around our backpacks to keep them dry as we made our way across to the island. It made for slow swimming pushing our packs ahead, but it also gave us camouflage as the leaves blended in with the water. When we reached the island, we took cover among the willow trees and made our way to the side of the island where we could see the cave opening.

The entrance to the cave was a steady stream of workers going in and out and side to side. We decided to lay low until the entrance was more accessible. We would make our move when the mouth of the cave was at least free from police.

Our orange vests were in our packs, all we had to do was put them on at the right time, emerge from the weeping willow branches we had taken cover under, keep our heads down and head for the opening. Sounds simple enough, right? That's what we thought too.

Justin was at the edge of our hiding spot peeking out from where the willow branches reached the island floor, he was watching for our chance.

Okay gang this looks like our best opportunity, it's now or never.

We put our vests on and we were on our way. Nelson was leading the way with Justin, Nikia, then Jimmy and me bringing up the rear. Just as we rounded the corner, Nelson came to a complete stop. Of course we all had our heads down, so one after another we collided into each other making verbal ‘ouffs’ and ‘ughs’. Nelson turned around quickly so we followed suit and headed back towards the trees. With our backs to everyone, I asked Nelson what was going on.

It's Ms. Pitts! he exclaimed with a bewildered tone.

Did she see you? asked Nikia.

I'm not sure, was his reply.

What's she doing? Jimmy asked.

She's going into the cave.

Well than what are we doing? I blurted out. Turn around. We know the cave better than anyone. Once she's inside she won't see us, we know how to avoid everyone in there.

They agreed I was right and we headed back towards the cave. As we walked by the other people, no one paid much attention to us. We were simply five more orange vests looking for clues. Once inside the cave