Legend of the Book Keeper Read Free Page B

splashed on Cody’s shoe. “It’s getting dark, and a storm’s rolling in. Get some sleep, Cody, and I’ll see you at school tomorrow. I’ll walk myself home.” The two friends diverged toward their homes. After a few feet Jade paused, and turned around, calling, “Cody!”
    “Yeah, Jade?” Cody answered while fitting his jacket’s hood over his head.
    “Sometimes people’s secrets are just better off left alone. Forget about the door.”
    With those final words the sky flashed pure white and the rain began to pour.
    Cody rolled over in his bed. Noisy raindrops pelted against his window and the wind howled against the house. His bedroom seemed to sway like a pendulum against the unrelenting onslaught of the storm’s breath. He rolled over again, smothering his head underneath his thick pillow. The crackling of thunder erupted overhead. Cody squeezed the pillow tighter around his face. Blasted rain! Blasted wind! He was in the middle of turning over once again when something caused him to pause; he could have sworn he heard something. Straining his ears he heard it again. “Cody . . . Cody . . .” It sounded like someone whispering his name.
    It’s just the wind playing tricks on me. It’s been a long day . It wasn’t his mother calling. She was away in New York for business, a regular occurrence ever since Cody’s father abandoned them. He didn’t think Jade would be calling him from outside in the miserable weather. “Cody . . . Cody . . .” He could not deny it this time; someone, somewhere was calling his name. He felt a tingling sensation rush across his skin. Who? Who? Who? “Cody . . . Cody . . . ” He could hear a slow creaking sound. Is it coming from my closet? he thought, petrified. He could hear the faint sound of breath seeping through the door cracks—he was not alone. The creaking noise continued. Cody squinted open an eye; shadows were moving across the ceiling. He took a deep breath and tossed away his pillow. Sitting straight up he screamed at the top of his lungs, “What do you want from me!”
    There, standing unmoving before him in the open closet was a figure. Light from the window reflected off a ghostly white face as it stared back savagely: the pale face of Wesley. In his left hand was a serrated knife. Above the closet door, Restricted was written in fresh blood. “Cody! Cody!” The wraithlike man shrieked in an inhuman voice, lunging forward . . .
    With a jerk, Cody rose up in his bed, drenched in sweat. In front of him was his closet—both doors were fastened closed. The sound of Cody’s racing heart was the only noise audible above the fierce offensive of the outside storm. I’ve been dreaming.
    Cody glanced over at his clock, debating whether to call Jade and tell her about his nightmare, but he decided against it, knowing what he would get; another motherly lecture on the need to forget all about Wesley and that stupid door. No, it was too late now to simply forget that door. His nightmare had ensured that. For whatever reason, he and this door were now interconnected and there was only one way he was going to get it off his mind—he was going to have to go through that door . . . and he was going to have to do it tonight.

Opening the Door
     
    A n eerie fog settled in on the town of Havenwood like a hungry vulture following behind the passing rainstorm. Early remnants of frost seemed to proclaim the coming of the night’s nipping chill. No lights were shining; all of the town’s people lay nestled in their warm beds, shielded from the bitter night. All except for one . . .
    Cody pulled his jacket up to guard his face from the wind gusts careening against it. The idea to enter the mysterious doorway seemed a good one while Cody lay in the warmth of his house. Rushing, completely drenched down the alleyway toward Wesley’s, he began to realize the rashness of his plan. I’ve come too far to turn back now .
    Coming out of the alley, Cody saw the familiar