The Shade Riders and the Dreadful Ghosts (8 page)

When she sat down in front of the TV, the
picture started flipping violently, so she turned it off. “Stupid
T.V.” She grabbed her latch hook rug kit of three running horses to
keep her hands busy as she waited.

A quick heavy knock on the door made her
jump. Nova ran to the window and looked out. There was no one
there. The wind danced in the tree branches casting weird shadows
on the lawn.

Was that a ghost? Had they started following
her home from school? Nova backed away from the door and reached
for the stair railing.

A loud knock shook the kitchen door. Then it
slammed open. Max Kim and Benny barreled in. Max Kim wore his
magician’s cloak and hat. Taking his top hat off, he waved his cape
and wand. Benny had his autogyro on his lap. They both giggled.

“Whoo, boy am I glad it’s you two. The knock
on the front door really scared me when I noticed no one
there.”

“Sorry, that was us. Did you like our magic
trick? Can you figure out how we managed to knock on both doors
almost at the same time? Was that your dad leaving the
driveway?”

“Max Kim, take a breath,” Nova said. “Hmm…
that was pretty amazing. Nope, I can’t say I can figure out how you
did it.”

Max Kim took a few deep breaths. “So was that
your Dad?”

"He's not my father, thank goodness. He is
Wilha’s and Scott’s though. My last name is Nowak from my mom. It’s
Polish and means “new one”. Scott and Wilha’s last name is Weckerly
from their dad."

“I see,” Benny said. “Um, wow. I brought some
soda. It’s in my pack.”

Nova took the two-liter bottle of Pepsi from
the backpack draped on the back of Benny’s chair. She filled up
sixteen ounce plastic Mason jars with handles in four colors: blue,
red, yellow, and green, with soda and ice.

“Thanks, Benny,” she said. “Speaking of names
what should we name our group?”

“I’m open to a cool group name.”

“Me too,” Max Kim said.

This time a small rap came on the front door.
Nova strolled into the living room and opened the door. Takeesha
was holding a skateboard and her dog Boomer’s leash.

“You skateboarded?” Nova asked.

“Boomer pulled me most of the way.” She bent
down to pat her black lab and scratched behind his ears. “You’re a
goooood dog. Aren’t you? Yeah, you are.”

“Here, I’ll take those chips from you.”

Takeesha pulled barbecue flavored chips out
of a cloth bag she had on her shoulder. The bag was deflated, and
the chips were all broken.

“What? I fell down.”

“Did you sit on them?” Benny asked. He
snickered.

“Heck no,” Takeesha said.

“Did you feed some to that fat dog of yours?”
Max Kim asked. Takeesha looked around surprised. Max Kim didn’t
usually joke along with the gang.

“No, but I let him lick the salt off my
fingers as I reached for more.”

“Ewwww,” Nova, Benny, and Max Kim said.

“You can eat those, Takeesha,” Benny
said.

“Uh uh, by the way, we were discussing a name
for our group,” Max Kim said, standing next to Nova at the
door.

“Sounds like a plan,” Takeesha said, coming
inside and munching on her potato chips, oblivious to her dog’s
involvement in the process.

“Well,” Nova said, “anyone have any
ideas?”

Takeesha, Max Kim, and Benny were quiet as
they looked around the living room.

“I guess Ghost Busters is already taken,”
Benny said.

“Okay, I have a suggestion,” Nova said. “I
really like the name: The Shade Riders.”

The kids were quiet as they mulled it
over.

“See, the word ‘Shade’ represents darkness or
secrecy. The word ‘Riders’ says that we pursue that.”

“I like it,” Max Kim said, grinning.

“Me too,” Takeesha sat on the couch and
scratched her dog.

“Okay, let’s go with it. We can always change
it later.” Benny wheeled into the kitchen. The rest followed.

"Anyway, who is your dad?" Max Kim grabbed a
handful of big cookies from his pocket and put them into the picnic
basket on the counter.

"I’ve never met him,” Nova said. “My father
is supposed to be a Native American. I wish I knew something about
him."

Benny opened the refrigerator and looked
around inside. Then he took a small bucket of strawberries and
added it to the picnic basket. Nova made sandwiches.

“I think we might need wipes to wash our
hands,” Benny said.

Takeesha added a packet of wipes to the
basket, then threw in her chips. Now they were set to go into the
back pasture where the horses were.

“Hey, Nova,” Takeesha said, “let’s look at
the filly.”

Nova looked at the two boys. Benny shrugged,
and Max Kim grinned.

“Follow me,” she said. They left the house
and moved quickly across the gravel driveway toward the barn. Blue
Belle, the Australian Shepherd, jumped up, sniffed, and wagged her
stub tail. “Hi, Belle,” Nova patted her on her head. The barn
smelled much cleaner from all the work Nova and her family did,
clean enough that she didn’t need to feel embarrassed. It smelled
like hay and straw now. Chocolate grumbled aloud when the kids
peeked into the stall. She pressed up against the door trying to
squeeze her nose through the bars on the upper half. Max Kim and
Takeesha jumped back.

Takeesha approached timidly, finally peaking
inside again. "The filly’s dark. I read that horses that color are
considered unlucky." Nova decided to ignore that comment.

"What are you going to name her?" Benny
said.

"I'm naming her Shade.”

"That's not a good name, you know what I
mean?” Takeesha said. “It’s not like we are going to use the horse
to chase ghosts, are we? How about Shiner?"

“Naw, I like Shade,” Nova said.

Takeesha snapped her gum.“But Shade sounds
evil.”

“But Shiner sounds like a black eye.”

"A name is just that,” Max Kim said, “Nothing
more nor less." Nova wanted to hug him, so she punched him in the
arm. They grinned.

Benny said, "I think it fits her nicely, even
though I can't see her yet."

"Oh yeah, we could use some bales of hay and
make a ramp for you. Okay? Let's do that." Nova jumped up. With
four bales of hay lined up side by side for a runway and a piece of
plywood for a ramp, Benny could wheel onto the top and see into the
stall. "She's a beauty," Benny said.

Chocolate stamped her foot angrily and huffed
out a massive breath. She tried to stick her nose through the bars
again. Benny gulped and slowly backed down the ramp.

"Anyone else besides Chocolate hungry?" Nova
said.

They strolled and wheeled through the catch
pen down the tractor path, leaving a dust cloud behind them. Nova
enjoyed the warm sun on her head and back and heard the warbling of
the Orioles and the plaintive calls of the catbirds. Once outside
the pen they traveled a ways to the woods on their right side. The
grass was short from too many visits from horses though it was
easier for Benny’s chair to handle. Among the tall trees in the
woods was a picnic space that was big enough for all four of them.
The slight breeze rustled the new leaves and sitting under the
shade felt inviting. Fallen logs were plentiful. Benny just locked
his chair in place on the path.

Takeesha looked at the various logs on the
ground that

surrounded a fire pit. “This one’s mine.” She
draped her cloth bag over it and sat down stretching her legs in
front of her.

Nova didn’t know what she did with her gum,
but it was now gone.

Max Kim examined the logs. “Ug, bugs.” He
kicked one over, and chunks of half-rotten wood flew into the
grass.

Blue Belle and Boomer ran into the distance
to explore the woods.

“Hey, there’s deer poop,” Max Kim pointed
near a young oak sapling.

“Do you see any tracks?” Benny asked.

“Yeah, do you want to follow them?”

“Guys, guys,” Nova said, “we need to figure
out what we can do about these ghosts. Every time someone talks
about science the ghosts always have something to say about
it.”

Benny sighed and scratched his hair out of
his eyes.

“I, for one, have no idea what we might do to
stop them,” Takeesha said.

“If they are threatened by science,” Nova
said, “then maybe that’s what we need to use to get rid of
them.”

“But what are their weaknesses?” Max Kim
asked.

“I don’t know,” Benny said. “Maybe we need to
find some ghosts and hold up different things in their presence
until we find their Kryptonite.”

Nova found a log, sat down, and opened the
picnic basket. “You have all the science stuff, Benny. Can you
bring some things to school?”

“You know, now that I think about it, that
could take forever,” Benny said. “There has got to be a better
way.”

Nova passed out the wipes, sandwiches and
soda pops. Takeesha offered the chips around, but there were no
takers. While they munched and swallowed, Nova watched the horses
out in the pasture. They would graze for a while, and then with no
apparent reason, all move to a new plot of land where they resumed
eating.

Blue Belle and Boomer scared out a rabbit and
chased it around until it dove into a burrow. The dogs dug the
ground and whined. “Belle, Boomer, come over here,” Nova
yelled.

As if forgetting the rabbit, the dogs trotted
over, nipping at each other.

“Benny your idea is so far the only way we
can do it. No one else has made any suggestions,” Nova said. Max
Kim and Takeesha nodded. Benny sighed and picked out a strawberry
from the picnic basket and ate it. “Max Kim has a surprise.”

“I’ve got to show you my new magic tricks
with this mirror.” Max Kim reached into the big backpack behind
Benny and pulled out a foot-long mirror in a brown wood frame. That
in itself seemed like a magic trick. He handed the mirror to Benny,
who held it up, so Nova and Takeesha were reflected in it. Then Max
Kim proceeded to pull scarves, branches, and rocks out of it.

But, after a moment, Nova was distracted as
another scene began to unfold inside the mirror. It was the man
with white hair, Nova had seen in the library, whom she now
recognized as another Neanderthal. He seemed to be standing over
her, with a fishing rod, dangling it over her head, although she
couldn’t see that it had a line on it. A strange rocky rim
surrounded the scene. Then she realized she was looking up through
the basin/mirror he had rotated his hands over when she saw him
last time. Nova almost called out, but she didn’t want to disturb
the…whatever was happening.

The white-haired man’s fishing rod bent over,
and he pulled out what appeared to be a huge invisible fish. His
rod and line jerked, even though there was apparently nothing on
it, and he watched the hook with a look on his face so hungry he
was practically drooling over it. He wore a shimmery white tunic.
Nova couldn’t figure out what it was made of. Maybe silk?

Then the white-haired man turned with
surprise toward something Nova couldn’t see. Suddenly he tipped the
basin up on its side. And that’s where it stayed. A little water
sloshed out, and Nova couldn’t see the floor, but for the most part
she could see what was going on.

The first thing that happened was a soldier
ghost marched into view and leaned up against the wall. A smaller
and dirtier man with black hair in long spikes came into the scene.
He also wore a tunic made out of spider web? Nova wasn’t sure. He
used sign language for laser beam and pretended to pull his eye out
in a straight line toward the white-haired man. Somehow, Nova knew
this was the sign language symbol for a laser beam. The beam was
red and filled with fractals changing inside.

The white-haired man managed to block the
laser beam by making a two-dimensional box with his fingers in
front of his own eyes- the mirror sign. The laser beam hit the
mirror, also full of fractals and ricocheted off, almost hitting
the small man, who rolled away just in time.

Nova couldn’t believe what she saw. What did
it mean?

The short man made three wavy lines with his
hands, and a giant “U” shaped magnet appeared in his hands. The
mirror

the other man was holding was yanked out of
his grasp, crashed into the magnet and shattered into a thousand
pieces. Two large

spotted cats that must have belonged to the
men were cut from the pieces. They huddled together and licked
their wounds.

That seemed to really tick off the
white-haired man, and he used a sign like liquid dripping from his
hand. He threw it at the small man who yelped as it instantly
burned the top of his head.

Go, white-haired man.

The small man ran behind a pipe organ
stalagmite and did some sign language opposite to the last one--
creating a base to the acid spell. Meanwhile, the white-haired man
pelted him with cylindrical gold weights. Then the short man
created a catapult with a fisted hand and flinging arm sign. The
catapult came with a handy set of rocks which the short man flung
at the white--haired man’s head. One of them hit, Nova could see
blood gushing out.

Nova had her hands over her face by then and
was peeking out of her fingers. She glanced at her friends. They
had stopped what they were doing and stared at her strangely.

In the mirror, the white-haired man created a
springboard by jumping in place five times. He jumped and headed
for the small man. The dark-haired man circled his hand creating a
hurricane spell. Everything started to blow around the room. The
small man grabbed onto a stalactite and held on. A chair hit the
white--haired man’s head knocking him unconscious. His body swirled
around the room. The small man called to the ghost something Nova
couldn’t make out. The ghost flew after the white-haired man and
pushed itself into his body, shoving all the man’s bones out
through his hands and feet.