The Search for Artemis - By P. D. Griffith Page 0,45

to Landon’s surprise, was a girl. Her body and face were silhouetted in shadow, but Landon could see her tight ponytail and feminine shape. He knew she was staring directly into his eyes.

As if realizing she could be caught, the girl continued on her path, losing some of her stealth on the way. Landon heard her footsteps loudly on the hardwood and curiously pursued, darting down the ramp as fast as he could in hope of catching up.

“Wait! Where are you going? What are you doing?” Landon exclaimed as he reached the first floor of the Library and headed down the South Hall, but he received no response from the girl he pursued.

Landon fought to stay focused, relying on his abilities to guide him through the dark. He never tried using them while so actively engaging in something else.

When he reached the south entrance, Landon saw the gold door ajar and got a glimpse of his ninja friend as she disappeared behind it. He sprinted toward it and hurried out into the valley. Upon reaching the end of the portico, Landon found the girl standing with her back to him in the middle of the gravel path. She was looking up into the dark, moonless sky. What was she looking for?

“Who are you?” Landon asked.

“They didn’t tell me I’d have to deal with things like this.” A stern voice resounded in Landon’s head. Her voice was familiar, but Landon couldn’t place it. It was like hearing a friend speak over the telephone for the first time.

A bit surprised by her telepathic response, he replied, “Deal with what?”

She suddenly turned her head down from the sky and tensed her shoulders.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she said, still keeping her back turned to him.

“Why not?”

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this.” Her words echoed through Landon’s mind again, and then he felt his body jerk backwards, slide across the marble floor, and collide with the door.

Shocked, he stared down at his body. He was pinned to the golden entryway, unable to move.

“Hey! Let me go!”

She didn’t reply.

Landon deduced that this mystery girl was not just a fellow student of the Gymnasium, and he had inadvertently stumbled into a precarious situation. Thinking on all the movies and television shows he’d watched and books he’d read, he realized she must be a thief who’d just stolen something from his home. At once frightened and aware of the gravity of his lonely situation, he knew he needed to stop her.

He tried to concentrate, but couldn’t focus enough to access his abilities. He only managed to stare at her as she stood stoically on the gravel path.

“Come on!” Landon yelled, and unexpectedly, she turned and looked at him. Landon squinted to see her face, but the moonless night made it impossible to see anything save her figure against the mountainous backdrop.

Then her voice reentered Landon’s mind, “If only you knew what was going on here, you wouldn’t want to stop me.”

In the distance, Landon started to hear a whop-whop sound growing louder and louder overhead.

“What do you mean?” Landon pleaded. “Come on, let me go!”

“Haven’t you wondered what they’re training you for? Or what they’re hiding in the Restricted Tower?” she telepathically returned. Before Landon responded, the sound above grew to a deafening volume.

He watched the girl rise into the air, and a moment later, a helicopter came into view. As it flew toward the southern barrier of the valley, Landon’s body released from the door. He stood on the marble portico floor for a while, staring in amazement as the vehicle disappeared into the darkness of the night.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE SECRET GARDEN

“So, how’s the eye?” Landon asked Riley as he sat down to breakfast the next morning.

Riley was across from him, and around his left eye was a softball-sized, purplish-black bruise. When Riley looked up, Landon wondered if he could even see out of it. His eyelid was almost swollen shut. Landon couldn’t help but laugh as Riley, unaware that Landon was staring at him, continuously drew his hand to his face and gently felt the area around his eye, noticeably wincing with every touch.

“Wonderful,” Riley replied sarcastically.

“Well, I think it’s a good look for you,” Katie Leigh interjected as she sat down beside Landon.

“Thanks,” Riley groaned.

“No, seriously,” she chuckled. “It makes you look macho. Almost like you spent yesterday doing something other than playing video games. Maybe something in the real world.”

“You’re one to talk. You spend all your time holed up in your room doing God