The Acolytes of Crane "Updated Edition" Read Online Free Page A

teachers had snapped at me to
pay attention. At the back of the bus sat Jason and Travis, laughing out loud
together every thirty seconds during their frenzied, non-stop jabbering. If it
weren’t for the new strange object that was now mine, I would have felt a
strong pang of jealousy. The bus halted at our regular stop, and we three
stepped off.
    Still
in a trance, I headed to the park to play by myself. I didn’t have confidence
that Jason could tear himself away from Travis to be with me.
    ‘Hey,
Theodore! You want to come to our fort?’ someone asked. I turned, curious. It
was Jason, with the widest grin on his face. Jason, with Travis eagerly looking
on, invited me to his fort, which was nice, but today was different. The
astonishing discovery last night still captivated me, and I wanted to be alone
with my amulet. I had the fleeting thought that just this once, I should play
hard to get. It would serve Jason right.
    ‘Nah,
I have something I need to do. You guys go on without me,’ I said.
    ‘Come
on Jason, let’s go! I have to go ask my dad if I can go,’ Travis said.
    Leaving
behind my stunned friends, I ran to the park. It was a sweltering day. The sky
was vast and blue. Gazing at the Red Bricks, which bordered the park, I felt
that the dilapidated complex could have devoured me whole or crushed me
completely just because of its huge size. Its monolithic presence was slightly
creepy, casting a huge shadow over the park.
    Shuddering
at how even my home could cause trepidation inside myself, I just had to climb
a tree to achieve a better vantage point and fiddle with my amulet in private.
I was now focused on a particular tree just down from the courtyard in the Red
Bricks. Even though it was awfully close to my residence, it had those awesome
thick limbs that stuck out sideways and enabled me to climb like a squirrel.
     I
arrived at the base of the desired tree, and there was no one in sight. There
were cars in the lot, a few of which lacked working engines or were up on
concrete blocks due to having their rims jacked.
    As
I ascended the formidable tree, I felt like I was entering a different realm.
The theme music to a weird mystery show was blaring from someone’s living room
window on the first floor. Safely ensconced on a thick branch, I squeezed my
eyes shut, mentally blocking out the music.
    As
if awakened by the beat, the amulet glowed through my shirt. I was spellbound,
staring at it. There were noisy laundry rooms in use on two floors. I briefly
jived to the rhythm of the washer’s rotation and the percussion of a pair of
shoes in the dryer. Excited, I discovered that the amulet was glowing in tandem
with the intricate melody of background sounds! Eager to start climbing the
more narrow branches toward the thinning canopy of the tree, I ditched my
shoes, and they rolled away on the ground.
    “The
bark felt rough against my feet. My clumsy forearms scraped from the trunk,
adding to a collection of wounds that symbolized my childhood fun. The tree was
covered in green lichen.”
    Lichen . I am reminded of my training in
the Valeon Galaxy—the planet Tritillia. That place was covered in lichen. 
    I
need more water, and this time I should bargain some more out of them. I pace
across the room, trying to muster up the moxie to make the request. My feet
pass over a couple of loose pebbles. I pick them up, polish them off with my
damp shirt, and swallow them. They barely make it to my stomach.
    Today
I would rather spend energy trying to pass stones, than go hungry. Some of the
guards are starving me, and the warden is kept in the dark of these misdeeds
perpetuated on me.
    “Guard,
I need some water in here. If you want me to go on through the day, I will need
more than yesterday! Guard!”
    “Prisoner,
number eight-six-seven-five, open request, guns at the ready—over,” he says,
mimicking the trained request protocol. “Get in the static position, prisoner.”
    With
the absence of the warden,