Suns of Angels: Ghosts of Angels, #1

By Dave Birchbauer

Some people affect the ones around them while others affect the world. Yet even the most powerful of these people are seldom no more than a blip in the history of the Universe. Fourteen-year-old Jessie is unique, as every one of her practical jokes, and every 'D' in algebra changes the course of history. Maybe it's because of her talent of seeing electricity in colors, or maybe that talent is just a sign of her destiny.

Jessie just wanted to bum a ride on the world's first anti-gravity spaceship on its maiden flight around the moon.  She gets more than she bargains for when they are attacked by a waiting Kan-ji fleet and end up stranded on the Kan-ji's 30-mile-long super ship. With the crew captured, it is up to Jessie to rescue her friends and escape. On her journey, a series of events transform her; a gift from the tree-like alien Chander fills her mind with knowledge of the Kan-ji and their technology. A battle with the Kan-ji God, Loomius, leaves her reeling with his dark and ageless memories.  

Now even with knowledge beyond her years, she knows she is still just a little girl trapped on a giant alien ship with her friends' lives depending on her.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.O.Coder
• Release date: Nov 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201028510

Book preview

PROLOGUE – ANTI-GRAVITY 

It was just a wooden box, but Alec couldn't take his eyes off it. There was nothing special about it other than being suspended in midair with no visible means of support. It wasn't floating like a balloon, but was steadfast with no strings, propellers or jets... just a box hovering in midair.  

He didn’t know how long he’d been staring at it, but it was long enough for one of those transparent basement spiders to build a web between his belly and his beard. Wiping it away, he looked around the basement and was surprised to see his wife Jodi with her mouth half open, standing at the bottom of the stairs transfixed on the box. He thought she looked beautiful standing there, he always thought she looked beautiful.

Turning to his daughter Jessie sitting beside him, he noticed for the first time how much she resembled her mom. She too stared open-mouthed at the box with her finger suspended where she turned on the power before it floated away.

His thoughts drifted to their past year working together. It started with her helping him solder some simple components to a circuit board. Soon her eye for detail and rock steady hands found her doing most, well no, all of the intricate handiwork. Not only that, she absorbed technical knowledge like a sponge and before he knew it, she was helping design, or to be more accurate, designing most of the electronics.

What’s holding it up? Jodi’s voice broke the silence. Did I forget to mention there was no noise coming from that floating box?

Anti-gravity, I think. At least based on our theory of what gravity is, Alec smiled at her. His original ideas on gravity came in a dream. A dream about a fish tank with a round sponge suspended inside. A hole hidden in the center of the sponge let the tanks never-ending supply of water flow into and through it then out of the tank. That was it, a short dream, or more of an image than a dream. It stuck in his mind and at times dominated his thoughts. As time wore on, he began imagining people living on that sponge, like tiny inhabitants living on a small planet. He imagined how the force of the water pouring into the ball kept the people from floating away. Could that be how gravity holds things on Earth? Could it be that simple? He became determined to prove, one way or another, his dream.

Jodi looked seriously at him. Do you have any idea what this means? her soft voice broke the silence again.

Alec’s heart raced. He and Jessie had discussed how anti-gravity would change the world during their many hours working together. Now with their creation floating in front of them, his thoughts selfishly turned to his future, to be able to kick back and retire, and no more day job.

Now what do we do? Jodi spoke up a little louder not getting any answer.

Her tone made him look up. Huh? I'm not really sure. There’s no doubt we'll need lawyers, after a slight pause added, and some halfway decent engineers to figure out what we did. I don’t think we could build another. He was only half joking.

Where do we start? she walked to him.

For now, I think we should celebrate, he put his hand to his stomach as it rumbled. Let’s go out and have a nice dinner, spend some of the fortune we’re about to make. He stood, stretching.

How about that new French restaurant? Jodi suggested leading him to the stairs.

I was thinking more like pizza, one of the good ones, or maybe tacos, Alec countered, or that gourmet burger place, you know the one that puts the eggs on em.

Halfway up the stairs, they both realized Jessie was still sitting at the bench. Laughing they turned back just as a flash lit the basement. Afraid for his new invention, Alec rushed ahead, and to his relief found it still floating over the bench.

Jodi joined him as he scratched his head in confusion, then seeing Jessie typing on her phone Jodi instantly knew what made the flash.

No! Wait!

Alec caught on just in time to see her post a picture of the box. Their secret was out.

CHAPTER 1 – THE SCHOOL PROJECT

JESSIE SAT ON A STOOL, hunched over an old wooden workbench with a thin line of smoke snaking up from her soldering. As always, she was oblivious to the world, oblivious to the construction crews working on the third floor, oblivious to the buildings seventy-five employees and especially oblivious of Sofie who was about to storm in toss her backpack in the corner and throw herself into an old office chair.

He said to use the gravity blanket! Sofie’s smooth oriental features hardly reflected her frustration. She glared at Jessie’s back, the lanky fifteen-year-olds shoulder length reddish brown hair hung down around her face and over her work. Years of friendship told Sofie that a response wouldn’t be coming until Jessie finished.

Sofie sat in silence. The room was cool even though it was a warm fall day. The thick stone walls helped keep it that way with the only light coming from a glowing box hovering near the ceiling. On the far wall was the outline of a window, one bricked up ages ago when they converted the grain mill to a schoolhouse. After a few minutes of impatiently fidgeting in her chair, Sofie found herself leaning over Jessie’s shoulder.

I don’t see any colors, she said half to herself.

What colors?

Sofie’s eyebrows rose in surprise, I heard that you see colors in the circuit boards.

That’s not true, it’s just that, well, if I concentrate, I can imagine how the electricity flows. Why, did somebody say something? Jessie dabbed the soldering iron on a sponge before putting it back in its holder.

I overheard your dad tell mine that you can see electricity in colors.

You did? When was that? Jessie looked up.

The other day when you guys were over for that cookout, Sofie replied with a slight shrug. I never really thought much about it until now. So, can you really see it?

Well kind of, I don’t really see the electricity flowing, Jessie held up the board in front of them. "Even though there’s no power to this, I can see how electricity would flow through it," she turned to face her friend.

How? 

I can’t really explain it, Jessie hesitated. The only person she ever told was her dad. She wasn’t upset he told somebody else, she never told him not to, she just found it... well, awkward explaining it to people... to admit she really wasn’t that smart. She just thought of it as a weird talent like being able to touch your elbow with your tongue, which by the way, was another one of her talents.

Focusing on the board she continued. "When I look at this, I can see how electricity would flow. It’s white when everything is right. If I make it wrong, say like removing this capacitor, she pointed to a small round component, I can just think about it and see how the flow changes color. It’s blue here, red over here and yellow over there," she explained while pointing to different areas of the board.

The explanation reminded her of when she first discovered her talent. She was helping, or trying to help, her dad as he'd been struggling for weeks trying to make a 3D electromagnetic field detector. She mostly watched over his shoulder wishing she could do something. Then one day after school, finding her dad not home yet, she had picked up the circuit board and saw the colors for the first time and by the time he came home she had it working.

Sofie shook her head, I thought circuit boards were really complicated, built in layers with lots of tiny electronics stuff inside. She didn't know much about electronics and circuit boards, but by hanging around in a building full of engineers she had picked up a little.

I’ve seen the drawings, Jessie turned away setting the circuit board back down on the workbench.

You memorized them? You’ve never been able to memorize anything!

No, I mean yes... well, I’m not sure. If you asked me to draw a schematic of this board, I couldn’t. Somehow my mind remembers... I can’t explain, Jessie pushed her work aside hoping to avoid any more explanations. My dad tried teaching me circuits; inductance, resistance, V and I and R. None of it makes any sense to me.

So, all this time... that’s how you’ve been able to do all this?

Jessie watched Sofie’s expression go from angry, to confused to, well... happy.

So, you're not a genius after all, Sofie whispered.

I’m afraid you’re still the smart one, Jessie sighed correctly interpreting her thoughts.

So, what should we do about the gravity inductor? Sofie returned to their pending problem.

Jessie's green eyes flashed. He said to use the blanket? Aw... the drone can already fly. We need that gravity inductor. 

My dad wouldn’t budge, I tried everything... I even cried, Sofie kicked her foot dejectedly before stepping to the work bench to pick up their latest project, a toy drone. Its blades had already been replaced with small shimmery silver disks made of the gravity blanket material. It needed just one more piece and it would be complete, the gravity inductor.

It won’t be any fun without it, Jessie pouted as she leaned back in her stool, crossing her arms over her blue lab coat. 

Heyee kids, what’s with dee long faces, Eugene Landstroud, the building’s young handyman, poked his head in the door holding a large carved bug twice the size of a football under his arm. 

Jessie gave him a suspicious look. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him; there was just something about him she didn’t like. Sofie on the other hand, thought he was cute, with his mop top hair and crooked smile... if it wasn’t for his teeth and crooked nose.

Giving him a sullen look, Jessie answered, Nothing, really... er, what’s with the bug?

Bug? Eugene looked puzzled, Oh, dis ting. I guess eet does look like a bug, he held up his carving. I just think I make us some decent looking lights. Dee ones your dad make are too... ah, ugly, he pointed his chin at the floating light panel above their heads that looked like all the others floating about this oldest part of the building. They were needed as there wasn’t much electrical running through this part of the building which limited lighting and other modern conveniences. Jessie and Sofie had been relegated to this room where they couldn’t do too much damage.

I just wonder if you kids could add dee gravity blanket part, he set his carving on Jessie’s bench.

Examining the wooden bug, Jessie found it oddly beautiful like all of Eugene's work, in a weird sort of way. It was elegant but reminded her of something you would see hanging outside a haunted mansion. A bug shaped gargoyle, oval and about 2 feet long with a small head, body-sized wings, flat back and rounded belly. The intricate detailing made it look incredibly realistic as though it was ready to crawl off her workbench. Giving an inward shudder she reached below her bench to pull out a small roll of the gravity cloth.

I don’t get how you make dat blanket glow, Eugene watched over Jessie’s shoulder as she sized the material over the bug’s belly.

My dad explained it to me, but I don't quite understand it myself, Jessie answered while drawing a line around the blanket material. That’s good, she grabbed a pair of scissors satisfied with her tracing.

I can’t believe that doesn’t damage it, Sofie cringed at the uneven cut left by Jessie’s struggles with the scissors.

Jessie shrugged, I guess not, it’s just a mesh of really small wires.

So how does eet work? Eugene leaned in examining the blanket.

Well, you know the blanket is just a bunch of miniature boxes tied together, Jessie looked up from her work. You know, like the box me and dad made... the one floating in the conference room.

Oh, Eugene gave a puzzled look.

Well anyway, dad said the blanket can make things float because of the macro properties of all the miniature boxes, Jessie explained, then seeing his confusion added, I’m not sure what a macro property is either.

How do it light up? Eugene gave the floating light fixture above them a small push making it bounce off the far wall.

Oh, Jessie said realizing he was asking how it lit up and not how the anti-gravity works. I’m not really sure. I was messing around with it one day and accidentally inverted the power and the blanket started glowing, she answered as she reached under her bench again for some glue and a small black box.

Is dees a battery? Do dey need replacing? Eugene examined the small box, I didn’t know I should be replacing dem.

No, this is just the control box, the blankets won’t work without one. This one’s for the light, she opened the glue bottle brushing glue on the bug’s belly.

Examining it, Eugene asked, So you just need one of dees to make the blanket work?

"Well, not one of these. This is just for making the blanket work like a light. We have other boxes for doing other stuff. There are tons of them, Sofie’s dad said it’s cheaper to have them made by the thousands."

So, what powers the blanket? Sofie asked. I never thought about how they’re powered before?

Jessie looked up. Didn’t you know? The blankets make their own electricity, just a little bit, enough to power the control box. My dad said it has something to do with how space or gravity flows through em.

I thought dat the blanket blocks gravity, Eugene asked yet seemed uninterested in the coming answer.

No, it uses moving magnetic fields, Jessie answered as she finished spreading the glue.

You mean anteee-gravity is like magnets?

No, you see my dad said the universe is filled with something... a substance he calls ‘space’, and that gravity is created by the flow of it. The flow increases as space gets close to matter. Putting the cover back on the glue bottle she continued, he says there are holes in matter that space flows through or gets sucked through. The more matter there is, the more space flows into it, she spread the blanket on the bug’s belly, smoothing it out.

Holes? Eugene scratched his head.

Atoms are made of electrons, protons, and neutrons. My dad thinks neutrons are really holes into other universes that space flows into, Jessie said as she finished smoothing the blanket, looking at it approvingly.

Eugene’s normally confused look somehow looked even more confused. Uh? Dat’s reeely eenteresting, but what’s dat got to do wit magnets?

Oh, not magnets... magnetic fields. My dad thinks they’re made out of space, or gravity. Jessie almost laughed at his expression.

Let me, Sofie interrupted seeing the conversation going nowhere. What I learned is that gravity is space that flows like water and their invention is like a boat propeller

Oh, Eugene didn’t look convinced. But eet seems so simple, so why ees it not already been done?

The hard part was finding the right size and shape of the propellers, Jessie answered.

So how did your dad figure it ou... Sofie started asking then her face lit up. It’s the colors!

Trying to ignore her, Jessie returned her attention to smoothing the already smoothed blanket.

Tapping Jessie on the shoulder Sofie said again. You see them in colors, don’t you?

Yes, but don’t tell my dad! He just thinks we got lucky, Jessie pleaded.

I won’t. But do you actually see the propellers floating in space? she asked, staring up at the light floating above them.

Propellers? Eugene asked wonderingly while pulling the floating light down to run his hand around it. I do not feel anything move, he turned it over and let it float back up.

No Eugene, Sofie said, You can't feel anything other than gravity, then looking at Jessie she asked, But he does have a point. Why don’t we feel anything, even a little bit of pull or push?

Putting the bug down, Jessie turned to them, It only works when we point the propellers in the direction of the flow, kind of like a windmill.

I don’t geet it, Eugene frowned. You can’t use a windmill to fly a plane.

Shaking her head Jessie answered. Gravity seems to work differently, don’t ask me why.

Narrowing her eyes, Sofie stared at Jessie. But you can see it, can’t you?

Well... kind of. I can see when the electronics are right and when I look at the blankets just right, I can see.

See what? Eugene leaned in staring intently at her. The look was not normal for him and made Jessie nervous.  He always seemed to just accept all the weird floating and flying contraptions without question. Nothing really, just a little bit of a glow, she turned back to the bug and began working on it to release the tension.

Sofie and Eugene stood in awkward silence watching Jessie perform the delicate work of soldering the wires of the control box to the blanket’s microfibers. So, you guys seeem a leetle sad. Is dere anyting I can do? Another thing Sofie liked about Eugene was his accent. Jessie said he sounded like a bad actor from a bad sitcom, Sofie thought he sounded European. She often wondered about him, he looked young enough to be in high school, but worked all day and never talked about himself or his parents. She felt sorry for him thinking he was probably orphaned, or maybe abandoned and forced to live on his own.

With Jessie concentrating on her work, Sofie tried being coy with Eugene. We were just wondering where they were keeping those new gravity inductors. It kind of sounded coy.

Eugene raised a crooked eyebrow. You mean dose blue doodads dat look like spiders? I saw Mr. McCoughe carry a box of dem into dat storage area on dee second floor yesterday. Why what's up wit dem? 

Nothing really, we were just wondering, Sofie began hesitantly.

There you go. Jessie interrupted, letting go of the carved bug. They all watched the glowing insect float to a rest near the ceiling.

That is creepy, Sofie said.

Thankee Jessie, Eugene grinned reaching up to give it a nudge. It wobbled a bit but remained lit side down. He pushed pulled tapped and yanked until he was satisfied it was stable. It work perfect. Does you think you teach me how to add dee blanket myself?

Giving a sour look, Jessie nodded. You mean you’re going to make more of these?

Ya, I was worried dat dee size and shape would balance wrong. Well, now dat I know it OK; I can be making some more of dees lights. Stowing the bug under his arm he ran out the door.

Jess, he said he saw your dad put a box of gravity inductors in that empty room on the second floor, Sofie whispered after closing the door behind Eugene.

I heard. 

Sofie gave her a long look. You heard? For a whole year you really heard me when you were concentrating on your work, but ignoring me? For a whole year!

Shaking her head, Jessie quietly answered. I don’t know. It’s just that lately I’ve been getting better at doing things, I don’t seem to need to concentrate as hard anymore. She actually never realized she shut out the world when she worked, until recently. Now she was aware of everything, even more so, as though there were two separate parts of her mind.

I think we need a plan, Jessie changed the subject not liking to talk about herself.

For what?

To get an inductor out of that storeroom.

Well, why don’t we just go to the storeroom and take one?

Is that the plan? Just take one? Jessie expected more.

Sofie picked up her pack then headed to the door. Stopping, she turned to look at Jessie. The door might be locked.

With a grin, Jessie popped open a hidden panel on the side of her workbench and pulled out some odd-looking devices. After shoving the last one in her backpack she said, OK, I’m ready, but the room was empty, and she hurried out after Sofie.

The short corridor outside their lab ended in an open area to their left, which was once the heart of the building when it was an old mill. Faded lines on the floor hinted at its history as a school gym that was later used as a warehouse. Turning to their right, they entered the first of the building’s additions. It was made mostly of red brick as it was once a red brick schoolhouse. The corridor they followed stretched the length of the school section where they passed many locked wooden doors hiding unused and unexplored rooms. Open double doors led to the buildings third and newest addition. This section wasn’t much different from the others as it still looked and felt old, except it wasn’t made with stone or brick but of large wooden beams and thick pine planking. It always felt warm to Jessie, much warmer than their stone lab.

Hi kids. Stan Jansen, one of the companies’ engineers waved as he floated past in a chair suspended from a grid-work of PVC tubing and floating panels. A laptop and a mass of electronics sat on a table suspended in front of him.

Hi Stan, they curiously watched as his ‘vehicle’ slowed to a stop a short way past them.

Mind giving me a push? he asked over his shoulder. There seems to be something wrong with the drive control program, he mumbled as he leaned over his laptop.

Jessie and Sofie looked at each other then walked down the hall to help.

Program crashed, he muttered. Ahhh, single equal sign in an ‘if’ statement, it always gets me... there... just need to rebuild.

As the girls gave a push, his contraption slid forward and as his application restarted, the floating chair jerked to a stop, then after a few more seconds it sputtered forward making Stan and his table sway like a porch swing. Scratching his full head of gray hair, he stared at his laptop expectantly. Just finishing its initialization...

Then without warning, the chair, Stan, and his table shot down the hall, bouncing back and forth off the walls. Forgetting about his laptop Stan held on to his chair with both hands screaming like a little girl. The hallway stretched the length of the addition, and when Stan was halfway down it, his floating experiment began spinning wildly making his scream pitch a bit higher.

Before the girls could move, Eugene sprinted by seemingly coming out of nowhere. At the speed he ran it looked like he would easily catch Stan before running out of hallway, but unfortunately that wasn’t needed as Stan’s flying workstation decided to change direction and speed back in their direction. Sofie yelled a warning, but Jessie knew it was too late and she squeamishly covered her face with her hands waiting for the impact.

Instead of being hit, she felt herself being gently tackled. Falling backward, she looked up to see Stan's flying office pass inches above her face as she landed gently on the floor; her head cradled by Eugene’s hand. Before she could thank him, he was back on his feet running after Stan again, but this time he did run out of hallway. Sofie was halfway to the crash site by the time Jessie climbed to her feet as Eugene was already untangling Stan from the mess of cables and broken equipment.

Are you OK? Sofie asked as Eugene held a rag to a cut on Stan’s head.

It looks like my drive control was a little unstable. Fixing that programming error exposed a problem in my control box, Stan said mostly to himself as he pulled his still working laptop out of the tangle of electronics.

Do you need any help? Jessie gingerly reached out to help untangle some of the mess.

Don’t worree girls, I clean tings up, Eugene replied. Being the building’s handyman also meant he was the janitor and a part-time paramedic.

Jessie eyed Eugene. Say, where did you come from anyway? I thought you went back in your workshop to make more of those bugs.

Huh? Well, ah, I was jeest heading to catch up with you. I... ah... was ah... I find your school ID in my workshop. It must fall out of your backpack. I was jeest trying to return it. Eugene fumbled in his shirt pocket pulling out her plastic school ID card.

Oh!? Jessie exclaimed slipping off her backpack. It should be right here! She unzipped a small compartment on the side and stuck her hand in it. Confused and slightly embarrassed, she grabbed it and shoved it back in the pocket zipping it up tight. Um, thanks Eugene.

You are welcome... you guys go do what you do, I help here, he turned back to Stan.

Jessie didn’t move as something didn’t seem right about his answer. She wanted to ask more questions when Sofie grabbed her arm and pulled her through the stairwell door.

C’mon, we don’t have a lot of time. All that commotion will have created a distraction, Sofie urged after the door closed behind them.

I was just wondering how Eugene got my badge. Jessie followed Sofie up the stairs. I know I used it at the school library today, and I wasn’t in his workshop.

Oh, maybe he found it in the hallway. You know how he gets things confused, Sofie brushed off Jessie’s concern. After opening the door to the second floor she took a quick look, It’s all clear.

As they entered the corridor Jessie spied a maintenance closet. Wait a sec, she slipped inside. A few moments later she returned to Sofie’s questioning look. We’re good, she pointed at the security cameras hanging from the hallway walls and ceiling. Sofie pulled her down the hall by the front of her backpack strap.

Evenly spaced doors lined the left wall, but there was only one door on the right, midway down the hall, the door to the storage room. As expected, Sofie tried it and found it locked. OK Jess, your turn, she stepped away.

Like most of the doors in the building leading to ‘secure’ areas, this one also had a small black rectangular card reader next to it. Jessie fumbled in her backpack and pulled out one of the devices she took from her desk. In a few seconds, she had placed a small wire cage over the reader while holding a plastic box melded with an old iPod.

Who should we use? she asked sliding her finger up and down its screen.

We shouldn’t use our dads anymore. I think they’re getting on to us, Sofie replied. What about Olivia? She has access everywhere.

Aw, I don’t want to get her into trouble. She’s so nice to us and I like her, Jessie said already thumbing up her name on the screen. A second later, the door lock clicked, and they slipped in, not feeling too guilty about using her name.

Surprisingly, this was one of the few rooms they were never in, and it wasn’t what they expected. It was an ancient large stone and red brick room stretching the length of the school addition. Aisles of wooden shelves stretched away on both sides, lit only by scattered light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. A large metal door covered the stone wall at the room's back.

Wow... look at all this old junk, Sofie wrinkled her nose at the musty smell.

Where do we look? Jessie asked running down one of the poorly lit aisles. The shelves were full of old cartons, wooden boxes, bins, tools and other old stuff.

Not here, everything’s covered in dust. Nobody’s been in these aisles for ages, Sofie observed.

Oh, Jessie ran her finger over a dust-covered box feeling stupid she didn’t see that herself, half wishing her ability with electronics was real so she could be smarter than Sofie, or at least as smart.

Silently they walked the length of the room to the large metal door. It was big, bigger than they thought hanging from a metal track bolted to the ceiling. Sofie gave its oversized latch a pull Locked, no card scanner here, she stated the obvious. The ancient door still had its original key lock. OK Houdini, do you have anything in that bag of tricks of yours to open this thing?

Jessie gave a confused look, Houdini? What’s a Houdini?

Never mind, do you have any ideas?

Reaching into her backpack, Jessie pulled out another device. This one was larger, made up of a box with a high-definition video display and a video game controller attached at its bottom. Reaching into her pack again she pulled out a long cable ending in thin tassels made of the shiny silvery strips of the anti-gravity blanket. 

Handing the tasseled end to Sofie she connected the cable to the device and activated it. Immediately, the tassels sprang to life, sticking straight outward... quivering. To Jessie’s instructions, Sofie gently slipped them into the keyhole and held them in place. While chewing on her tongue, Jessie worked the controller as she concentrated on the view screen.

After some minutes of struggling with the controls, and Sofie wrestling with the wriggling cable end, Sofie couldn’t take it anymore. Here, give it to me, we don’t have all day.

Stubbornly, Jessie held on trying to ignore Sofie’s glare. After a few more moments she finally gave in and reluctantly handed it over while taking hold of the tasseled end. Before Jessie could complain about not being given enough time, the lock clicked.

With a self-satisfied smile, Sofie handed the device to an extremely annoyed Jessie. She had worked it so easily! Without ever seeing her lock picker before! While stuffing it in back her pack Sofie leaned into the door handle and slid the heavy door open exposing a pitch-dark room.

If Jessie would have thought about it, she would have wondered why the light from the bulb hanging above their heads didn’t penetrate the darkness. Instead, she flipped her backpack over her shoulder and stepped in.

Blackness swallowed her as the floor gave out and she fell into a dark pit. Her yells for help caught in her throat as her fall stopped short. Almost immediately, she felt her feet being pulled outward while she slowly twisted. Looking up she couldn’t see the storeroom anymore. Fear filled her along with a strange sense of dread. Taking a deep breath, her panic eased as she realized her backpack had hooked on something, keeping her from being pulled in any further.

Jessie! Where are you? Sofie’s voice came from the darkness above. It temporarily pushed back the feeling of dread as though the sound of her voice scared it away.

Don’t come in... HELP, Jessie yelled back while reaching behind for the strap of her backpack, without luck.

What’s going on? Sofie sounded frantic.

Before Jessie could respond she felt the sense of dread return, stronger this time. It felt like there was substance to it as it pulled her legs with more force.

Pull me out! Grab my backpack! Hurry! Jessie yelled hoping Sofie could hear.

I got it! Sofie’s