Casaday Girls, Book 2: The Creature Returns. Michael Markey

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Casaday Girls, Book 2: The Creature Returns - Michael Markey


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      CASADAY GIRLS

      BOOK 2

      THE CREATURE RETURNS

      BY

      MICHAEL MARKEY

      Copyright 2013 Michael Markey,

      All rights reserved.

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2077-6

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

      CHAPTER 1

      ATTACK

      The sun peeked from behind dreary clouds at daybreak on that crisp November morning. Dense fog lay over Stamford Lake, a calm body of water nestled in the Dunbar Lakes development, near Voorhees, New Jersey.

      How serene for the moment.

      Two frisky grey squirrels scampered down one of the pines nearby, annoying each other with idle chatter until one of them ventured near the water’s edge. He paused a moment, letting down his guard as he took a refreshing sip.

      Huge mistake.

      The young tree dweller failed to see the ominous winged beast circling over him in the dense haze. Swiftly the creature bore down on its prey. A piercing scream echoed across the lake as the behemoth nosedived to snatch the unsuspecting little squirrel from the sandy beach. It leveled at a height of three feet above ground and then slashed down at the bushy-tailed rodent.

      Food. I need food, the creature thought. I shall not be denied this day.

      Could it be the attacker possessed the face of a horse? Perhaps a camel?

      That demon made brief contact with its hoof-like feet on the frosty beach and poised for the kill. The squirrel suddenly realized his imminent danger and made a frantic jackknife for safety. He landed alongside a rotting log partially buried in the sand. The clumsy hooves crunched on the rotting wood as they touched down--splinters exploding over the flabbergasted bushy-tailed critter. The beast attempted another flyby seconds later to snatch his seemingly helpless quarry. That little squirrel made a frantic dash toward the underbrush beneath the pines, shrewd enough to escape and elude his nemesis for another day.

      The flying predator then disappeared--rebuffed.

      No one knew what happened that morning except for those terrorized grey squirrels.

      A huge winged monster in the fog, this early on a frosty late October day?

      Unthinkable.

      CHAPTER 2

      CONVINCING GRANDPA

      “No, no, no! You are not going to drag your silly old grandfather into another one of your crazy adventures,” said Martin Maguire over the phone to his younger granddaughter, Rachael Casaday.

      “Grandpa...”

      “Rachael, I am not budging one inch this time. I just settled in to watch the news and wait until your grandmother gets home from work. Then, we will have a quiet dinner, a little beef entree I began earlier today. I know she will be ready to kick up her feet and relax, too.”

      “Please.”

      “Hey, I am totally sold on crock pots.” Grandpa ignored her appeal. “They do a great job with little work. Say, did I mention the fact that I am still saying no?”

      She thought a moment. “Would you rather talk to Alexa? Being older, she can convince you.”

      Grandpa sighed. “Do not play that game with me. After that last escapade, I would be an idiot to take you back to that abandoned factory building. We nearly got ourselves killed that day.”

      “It turned out fine in the end. Because of our magnificent superpowers, and the fact that you were with us...”

      In “Book 1: Super Kids,” sisters Alexa and Rachael Casaday starred as two young superheroes possessed with a multitude of special gifts passed down from previous generations. Twelve-year-old Alexa communicated with animals and directed four-legged creatures to do her bidding, powers transferred from their mother, Victoria. She manipulated objects (Again, like her mom.) a feat she magnified with various external touches, such as the grip of her fiery red hair braid. Sometimes she applied special cosmetics to assist, like enchanted nail polish. Alexa also possessed the gift of invisibility, a strength new to the Casaday family.

      Rachael, ten years old, possessed vastly different superpowers. At will, she could summon incredible speed and reasoning, uncanny physical strength, not to mention the ability (like her sister) to move physical objects with intense concentration.

      The result of their heroic exploits? Between the two, they managed to save the lives of each other, and their grandfather, in this first Casaday Girls story. They faced forces of evil and drove them from their neighborhood.

      Their first adventure began when the girls’ discovered an injured old man, Isaac Fromme, lying in the brush near Stanford Lake that foggy October night, a few blocks from their home. He later mysteriously disappeared. Authorities, and the general neighborhood, accused Rachael and Alexa of a Halloween prank to scare neighbors with this unnerving report. Through investigation on their own, they found there was another family of superpowered youths planted in their development, Dunbar Lakes. However, these super kids were destined to perform acts of evil, not good. The mastermind of this wicked plot was a scary old gentleman named Dunbro Lasnikov. He controlled their enemies, two older twin boys named Jeremy and Jeffrey. These kids possessed the powers of pyrokinesis, energy blasts, and shapeshifting skills. They were the ones who kidnapped Mr. Fromme, leaving him weakened in a dismal cavern beneath an abandoned factory not far from Grandpa Maguire’s home.

      The climax of their adventure of good versus evil took them to a lonely building for a fight to the finish against Lasnikov and the evil young brothers. The Casaday girls escaped in victory, but they never discovered the whereabouts of poor Isaac Fromme until Lasnikov revealed his location by email in his departing scene.

      “Yeah, you try explaining this absurd scheme to your mother. Not to mention your grandmother, too.”

      “I am serious, Grandpa. The bad guys are all gone because we made them go away. What could go wrong this time?”

      “Wrong? Let me begin the list, kids. First, if I drove you back there, and anything bad happened--again--your dear sweet mother would totally kill me. Then, when she is done killing me, your grandmother would kill me again! Do you now understand why I am a tad hesitant?”

      Rachael looked at her sister and shook her head. He’s not buying it, Lex, she thought.

      Alexa understood the body language from Rachael. She threw up her hands. Obviously they could not deceive their grandfather again.

      “What else can we tell him?” Alexa whispered.

      Rachael’s eyes lit with a devious idea as she continued, “Well, if that is the way you feel, Grandpa, Lex and I will figure out another way.”

      “Well, good luck with that, kid.”

      “We know of one mom who will take us out there, once we explain the situation. She is really cool about these kinds of things.”

      “She is. Well, let me know how it turns out, Rachael. After the adventure is over, naturally.”

      “Did you hear about this one time we got in big trouble? It was a party in another development. Something got broken in the basement. One of the parents--Pam--covered for us, though, and everything was okay. Mom never realized a thing because the truth never came out.” Rachael stopped,


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