The Vanishing Stone Read Free

your payback from punching me today. You may be suspended, but I'm not done with you!” She ran towards Nikoleta. Nikoleta grabbed Mandy by both of her upper-arms and slung her to the sand. Mandy got up grabbed Nikoleta's hair while Nikoleta punched her in her shoulder, missing her face. Nikoleta grabbed Mandy's wrist and twisted her arm away from her hair, she then pushed her against a rock. Just then, there was a distant voice coming from the ground by the lighthouse, “Hey, you kids better knock it off or I'm calling the cops!” Mandy and her crew ran in the opposite direction, Nikoleta looked baffled but she looked to her right and and saw a path in the tall grass and headed for it.                       
                     She ran and ran until she came to a clear field. Luckily, the others weren’t following her. She hoped she wasn't headed somewhere crazy on the path that she had never taken.  
                     She wasn't sure where she was, but she could now see a house. She ran across the field towards it. On the side of the house was a huge oak tree. She sat down next to it to rest for a few minutes. She kept asking herself where Mandy and her friends came from and why she has never seen them at the beach any other night she had been there. Suddenly, she felt something under her hand. It was a necklace.

 
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    C uriosity got the best of her as she tried to examine the necklace, but it was far too dark to be able to see any details of it. She wondered who it belonged to. After a moment, she decided she was keeping the necklace. After all, she found it and clearly no one else was around to claim it, so she slipped it into the pocket of her jeans.
                     She lifted her head and looked up to the sky. It was a clear night and there were several stars shining above. She wondered if her parents were up there watching her. If they actually were up there, were they proud of her? Lately, it was bothering her more than ever that she didn't even know their names. What did they look like? There were always questions to ponder.
                  Today had been a long day, between two fights with Mandy and dealing with Jena's ignorant teacher, she suddenly felt exhausted. She had no clue what time it was but decided to head home.
                     The path she originally came down kept going and seemed to end by a small road. Walking on, she felt colder and she pulled her hood over her head to keep her ears and neck warm. When she got to the end of the path she saw the road and walked onto it. She knew where she was now. Only four blocks from the orphanage. She jogged the rest of the way back. Creeping around the building, she pulled down the fire escape ladder and climbed back up onto the roof and back to her window. Inside her attic room, it was dark and silent other than her creaking footsteps. Her alarm clock was glowing red and it was 3:30am. She guessed it didn’t matter too much what time it was since she didn’t have to go to school for the next three days. She took off her sweater and jeans and emptied the pocket containing the necklace. She placed it in her night stand drawer. She put a pair of pajamas on and she climbed into bed. Although she was disappointed that her beach walk hadn’t quite turned out how she originally planned, she drifted off rather quickly.
                     She dreamed about the necklace, there was someone telling her to use it to come save them. But who were they? They looked oddly familiar and also looked terrified. The two people were tied to cement posts with chains in a dark room. They were screaming her name.... “ Nikoleta, Nikoleta ...”
     
                  “Nikoleta!” Nikoleta was awakened by someone shaking her. It was Helga waking her for breakfast. “Good grief girly, you are the hardest person in this house to