Book 2: Revenge of the Giant Grasshoppers

Chapter 13: Branch (Mervince)

"Clamron, I've just had a realization." I can't believe that I haven't realized this before.

"Me too! There are no foods colored purple." He says.

"Umm, eggplant?"

"And grapes," adds Clam.

"Then why did you tell me there are no purple foods?"

Clam stands there, speechless.

"Anyway, what happened to the other people that came with us on the field-trip?"

"The Field Lord ate them?" Clam raises an eyebrow.

"Meh." I kick a pebble to the side. It is now 7:00 p.m. The sun is finally setting. I look up in the sky, and I see a floating arena-like structure.

"Clam, what's that?" I say as I point my finger to it.

"I dunno." He says while shrugging. "Wait, there is a light-beam coming out of the bottom."

"Should we go there? It looks like it's about three-fourths of a mile away."

"Why not?"

_ _ _

"Touch it," Clamron says. We stand about two feet away from the beam of light.

"Why can't we throw a stick at it first to see if anything happens?" I ask.

"You do it then."

"Fine." I pick up a branch--it was three feet long, and it had a sharpened end--and threw it at the beam. It skyrockets up into the arena, and soon, it disappears.

"Okay," I say. "Let's walk in together. In one, two, thr--"

"HA!" yells Clam. He shoves me forward, and I get sucked into the beam of light.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" I yell. In a flash, Clam disappears. I am in a middle of an arena.

Lillia is on the ground. Zach is abover her, and blue particles seem to be flowing out of Lillia's head to Zach's hands. But Lillia found the branch. Lillia's eyes are still closed--she must've been blinded--and her hands wrap around the stick. Lillia picks it up, and swings it around. Zach, who's unprepared, gets struck in the head.

"NO!" yells Zach. "My knowledge storage!" He falls on the ground, and he slowly disappears. He is still not dead.

Clam, who just arrived, congratulates Lillia. Meg, Emeelia, Deshay, and Jadda exit the seats around the arena. They hug and cheer for Lillia.

"So, wait, where is Mya?" I ask.

"Um, dead, again," says Deshay.

"Oh, well."

Lillia explains what happened while we were gone, then Clam and I explain what happened to us.

"So, Zach is evil, and so is Markus." Meg looks down.

"Come on, let's just leave this place," says Clam.

"Not so fast," says a hooded man.

"Who are you?" asks Emeelia. Emeelia slowly pulls out her pistol.

He--or it-- takes of its hood. A grasshopper. Shady-hoppers.

Three more jump out of the sky. And slowly, Markus floats down.

"Hello, 'friends,' miss me?" says Markus. He is wearing a blue dress with yellow flower designs on it.

"Come on!" I say.

"Now, Mervince, where is your dad?"

"Why would I tell you?"

"Only he knows the only way to completely revive Shreiberious. And if you won't help me, I guess your friends will have to die." The ground of the arena falls, and we plummet to our deaths.

I look down. Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five feet. Then everything stops. I look around, and everything is frozen.

"Mervince!" yells Markus, who is also able to move. He stands on what remains of the arena. "If you won't tell me, time will unfreeze, and you will all die."

I look at the frozen. Everyone's face is frozen. Their mouths still open from screaming.

"Fine. He's at Arizona." I smirk.

"No!" Markus clenches his fist. "If I go to Arizona, my powers will leave me. My weakness! No! You're lying! LIAR! Prepare to DIE!"

Markus snaps his fingers. The screams continue again, and we all fall on the ground.

THUMP

And black surrounds my vision.