Authors: Christopher Pike

Pan's Realm (7 page)

BOOK: Pan's Realm

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Epilogue

P
an was unable to escort
them back to the interdimensional portal. He said he had too much work to do to get his kingdom in order so that he could invite the elementals to come home. Pan wished them his best as they said goodbye, however, and promised that their bikes and other stuff would be returned to them soon.

But cute little fairy Sarshi came along to keep them company. She walked between them as Watch explained his plan to Adam and Sally, who were still scratching at feathers that were no longer there.

“First I reversed the order of the stones in the crystal necklace,” Watch said. “I discovered that when I did that, it didn't work at all.”

“Then why did you insist Klandor wear it?” Adam asked.

“To confuse him. He expected to see everything the reverse of what he wanted. When that didn't happen during the coin tosses, he lost all his sense of balance.”

“But why was that important?” Sally asked.

Watch explained. “To keep him distracted so that he wouldn't notice Sarshi hanging invisible in the air between us, tipping the coin at the last second so that it would always land the opposite of what he called out. I had him throw the coin for that same reason. The more he had to do, the less likely he was to notice what Sarshi was doing.”

Sally patted Watch on the back. “You're a genius.”

Watch was gracious. “Cindy contributed at least half the plan.”

“No,” Cindy said. “Ten percent, at most.”

Adam patted Cindy on the back. “You're still a genius.”

Cindy blushed. “Sarshi deserves most of the credit. After all, she was the one who had to stay invisible right in the face of a powerful wizard, and keep altering the coin as it fell on the pillow. I'm sure that was no easy trick. Isn't that right, Sarshi?”

The little fairy was embarrassed. “I have a confession to make.”

“What?” Watch asked.

She hesitated. “I wasn't there.”

Watch chuckled. “You're kidding.”

“No,” Sarshi said in a tiny voice. “I couldn't get my invisible web to work. I tried again and again but the spell kept failing.” She added, “When you were gambling with the wizard, I was sitting in the back with the dwarfs, watching.”

They were all shocked.

“But how could you have failed me?” Watch asked.

“Maybe I was too nervous.” She added quietly, “To tell you the truth, I'm only nine years old.”

Cindy burst out laughing. But Watch was still confused.

“But how did I win on every toss of the coin?” he asked.

“I don't know.” Sarshi smiled sweetly. “Sometimes you just get lucky.”

Turn the page for a sneak peek at

Spooksville #9: The Wishing Stone

S
ally Wilcox saw the Wishing
Stone first. For that reason she felt it belonged mainly to her. That was probably the same reason she suffered more than the others from the stone. The more that was asked of it, the more it demanded in return. Of course no one knew that at first. But even if Sally had known, she probably would have made the same wishes anyway. She was a strong-willed girl, and rather impulsive.

She and her three friendsâCindy Makey, Adam Freeman, and Watchâwere not far outside of Spooksville, their hometown, when they first spotted the stone. Since dealing with Pan's leprechauns and fairies in the thick forest high in the hills overlooking the town, they
had been staying closer to Spooksville, not wandering too deep into dangerous places that were hard to leave. However, no place in or around Spooksville was really safe. The gang was only hiking in the foothills when Sally stopped and pointed toward a sparkle in the trees, maybe a quarter of a mile off the path they were taking through a gully.

“What's that?” she asked, brushing aside her dark bangs.

“I don't see anything,” Adam, who was shorter than the others, said.

“Neither do I,” Watch said, removing his thick glasses and cleaning them on his shirtsleeve. “Did you see an animal?”

“No,” Sally said, thoughtful. “It was a flash of light.”

“It could have just been a reflection,” Cindy said, standing behind them.

“Obviously,” Sally said, leading the group. “But a reflection of what?” She paused. “I think we should look.”

“I don't know,” Cindy said, fingering her long blond hair. “If we go off the path, we'll get all dirty.”

“And we might run into a strange animal and have our internal organs ripped from our bodies,” Watch added.

Sally frowned at Watch. “And you used to be so adventurous,” she said.

“I was younger then,” Watch said.

“You're only twelve now,” Adam observed. He nodded to Sally. “I'll go with you to check it out. It shouldn't take long to hike over there.” Sally had pointed to the far side of the gully they were presently hiking through.

“We should probably all go together,” Cindy said. “It's not safe to separate out here.”

“It's not safe to be alive out here,” Sally said.

“But it's better than being dead,” Watch said.

They hiked in the direction of the supposed flash Sally had seen. When they reached the spot, they searched the area without seeing anything unusual.

“It was probably just a trick of light,” Adam said.

“Perhaps some debris from a crashed flying saucer,” Watch added.

But Sally was unconvinced. “It was a bright flash. There must be something strange out here.”

“But strange is not necessarily good,” Cindy said.

Sally looked at her. “Are you getting scared again?”

“Yes,” Cindy said, and added sarcastically, “just being out in the wilderness with you makes me tremble in my shoes.”

“Let's continue our hike,” said Adam. “Then we can go and get some ice cream.”

But Sally was unconvinced. “I want to search the
area one more time. I can do it myself. You guys rest here if you're tired.”

In fact, they were all tired. The summer was almost over but obviously the sun didn't know. It was another hot, cloudless day. Adam, Cindy, and Watch plopped down on some boulders in the shade while Sally went off on her own. Cindy had brought a bottle of apple raspberry juice and passed it around.

“Another ten days and school starts,” Watch said, taking a deep gulp of the juice and letting out a satisfied sigh. “We won't have many more days like this.”

“We'll have the weekends free,” Adam, who was new in town, said. “We'll have plenty of time to hang out and have fun.”

Watch shook his head as he passed the juice to Adam. “You don't know the teachers in this town. They give you so much homework, you have to work all weekend.”

“Why do they do that?” Cindy, who was also new, asked. “We don't all want to grow up to be rocket scientists.”

“They just want to give us a chance to complete our studies,” Watch said.

“But what's the hurry?” Adam asked.

Watch shrugged. “You've been here long enough to know the answer to that. Not that many kids live
long enough to graduate. Last year only about a dozen Âpeople graduated from junior high, and half of them were missing body parts.”

“What about the other half?” Adam asked reluctantly.

“Most of them were insane,” Watch said.

Cindy grimaced. “That's horrible!”

“I don't know,” Watch said. “They had a great all-night graduation party.”

“I hope we get to be in a lot of classes together,” Adam said.

Watch shook his head. “It might be better to separate. Then, if there is an explosion or something, at least one of us will survive.”

“You have explosions at school?” Cindy asked. “I don't believe it.”

“We had a half-dozen explosions last year. Most of them were in chemistry class. The teacher used to work for the CIA.” Watch added, “But I think they got rid of him.”

Suddenly they heard Sally shouting.

“I've found something! I've found something!”

About the Author

Christopher Pike
is the author of more than forty teen thrillers, including the Thirst, Remember Me, and Chain Letter series. Pike currently lives in Santa Barbara, where it is rumored he never leaves his house. But he can be found online at ChristopherPikeBooks.com.

MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

authors.simonandschuster.com/Christopher-Pike

Don't miss any of the chilling adventures!

Spooksville #1:
The Secret Path

Spooksville #2:
The Howling Ghost

Spooksville #3:
The Haunted Cave

Spooksville #4:
Aliens in the Sky

Spooksville #5:
The Cold People

Spooksville #6:
The Witch's Revenge

Spooksville #7:
The Dark Corner

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.