"What about you?" I asked. I wanted to know what happened after that day. Why couldn't I come to the hospital? Why didn't she come back home for me? How did she end up in this book?

"Lukas." She looked down from the lock at me, but her eyes didn't reach mine.

"Mom?" My shaky eyes looked at her. I would see her eyes.

"Lukas...I'm a ghost." Our eyes reached.

I took a breath as I backed away. My reality crashed as the eight of her words hit my shoulders. "No." The word came from my mouth curtly. "You're not..." I refused to say the word. She was my life. My life-life, my bloodline, the heart of which I lived my life for. The reason I was me.

"Lu, It's true. Please look at me." The woman reached out, her hands making it through the bars.

"Don't!" I was a totally different person. Gone was the person who was patient and shy. "Don't even touch me." Her hands retreated.

A silence fell upon us. In my heart I knew that she was my mother; my mom, but my brain said otherwise. Maybe it was denial of grief, but it reasoned that she was an impossor. It was like I had Capgras Syndrome.

"I didn't die in the hospital..." she whispered. "I survived my first heart attack. Your father and I got a difovre. We were talking about it before that day. It was finalized soon after I went to the hospital. I don't think he told you and I'm sorry for not coming back to say goodbye. He got custody of you and didn't want me to come back. I can't even imagine what happened behind our front door."

I turned to face my mom.

"After my first heart attack I had more and I died from it. I always used to say my heart loved you too much. I guess it was true after all." Mom chuckled a laugh of pity. It wasn't funny at all, death, but at that moment I couldn't help but awkwardly laugh too.

Scene transition.

"I cannot unlock the lock. You have to call out for help, Lukas. You said there were other people here with you?" Mom discarded the unlockable lock and focused on me.

"That's right." I turned around and there on the top of the wall was a small barred window. I couldn;t escape, but my words could. I mustered all of my air and screamed for help. It was very unusual. First, I was screaming which was something I hadn't done in a long time. I was alway the timid little boy in the corner and Second, I was calling for help. I never asked for help. I was actually quite pitiful. I didn't want to bother other people, not even my teachers who were there to be asked questions.

I grew quiet as my throat became too dry to say much more than a horse whisper. I looked at my mom with a bright smile. She congratulated me with two thumb-ups.

Our small celebration was cut short as a wooden door slammed open, it hit the wall so hard I thought the walls might come crumbling down, but as boots stomped down the concrete I knew my fearful imagination was playing with me.

"Quit your yappin'!" he ordered. He shot me a death glare and at that moment I was glad I was protected from behind the cell bars. He then looked towards Mom. "What are you doin' here?" He spit at her and she quite went to the wall. "No, don't you run away, Orchid." He yanked her from the wall. A yelp of pain drawn from her lips. I almost covered my ears. I hated this. I hated how much this reminded me of my father.

I decided to stand up.

My legs pushed me to a standing potion. I stood as tall as my feet could hold me. I marched to the front of the cell and glared back at him. "Don't you dare treat her like that."

Hunter looked at me then at Mom. He opened his mouth and laughed right in my face, letting Mom go to do so. "You think I'll let her go just because you said so? Ha! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard--and I've traveled the entire world."

I gulped.

His hands grabbed me and pulled me to the bars, my face squished, spreading outward to try and not be crushed. "You are just a child. I thought you were good, but no, you ain't. You and your little friends followed me and dared to steal what is rightfully mine. You don't know how long I've waited for immortality!" Hunter threw me backwards and brought out the Mystic Moonstone, the white gemstone with black specks shined in his hands. "I only have to wait until the full moon rises..."

Exiting the basement a small object fell out of the adventurer's backpocket. Mom's and my eyes widened. It was the moonstone, right in our reach. I jumped from the wall and reached my hand out to grab my way out from this book. My fingers almost caressed the gemstone, but yet only an inch separates me from escaping.

"You can grab it," I voiced my realization. "Mom, can you please cover the gemstone with something, a cloth mayhaps, and pass it to me?" It felt weird making a request expectly to my Mom, but her smile was worth it.

"Of course." Mom scuttled forward, her legs drawing behind. One of them was bandaged which she turned to unwrap it. "Will this work?"

I wanted to say no. This was my own mom, but I couldn't leave my friends alone. "Yes."

Gently she wrapped the gemstone, herself not touching it with her hands. It seemed that she was afraid of touching the moonstone. "Here you go." She slipped it between the bars and I helped it, not a patch of the gem was visible.

Before I could get my hands on the gemstone the door opened. This time I didn't think the walls would come down, but I flinched backward and so did Mom successfully dropping the banfahed jewel.

"So that's where it went." Hunter made his way to the basement. His steps echoing on the concrete. He stopped down and picked up the gemstone, not removing the badges. He examined his prized jewel then looked to Mom. "How dare you try and give it to my prisoner." His tone wasn't angry, but annoyed. He sighed. "You're comin' with me. I don't want you near this... bad influence."

Mom was dragged off with Hunter Hunter.

***

It seemed only like an hour after Mom was removed from the basement. My hope was one an all time low. I laid in the prison cell with my fire ant bites and bruises from being thrown at a wall. My back was sore.

A door opened. It wasn't the basement door, that one remained closed. Someone must have entered the building.

Crashes and thuds were coming from upstairs. Did my friends hear my call? Are they fighting Hunter Hunter?

Footsteps were coming to the basement. "Lukas!" It was Sailor and behind her, my mom.

"Sailor, I'm here! I'm in the basement!" I yelled. My throat felt sore and dry.

The basement door opened letting in a saving grace. Her name was Sailor. A calmness surrounded me. It was what I thought people felt when angels came to their rescue.

Sailor scrambled down the steps slowly followed by Mom. The blonde started working on the lock. Her key was a bobby pin. She got it open with ease. "Lukas," she said, as she engulfed me in a hug. She didn't make a sentence, but for some reason I knew what she was trying to say. She pushed me away from her, but still held on. "Theo and Yasmin are fighting Hunter upstairs. Do you know where the gemstone is?"

"Hunter has it. It should be wrapped with a bandage," Mom answered for me.

Sailor replied with a curt nod and she ran upstairs. I tried to follow her, but Mom grabbed my arm. Her grip was weak, but I didn't dare disobey her obvious grab of attention. She suddenly looked old, like an amable grandmother. "That's your friend, isn't it?"

I understand what she was getting at. "Mom, can we not talk about this now?"

"If not now then when?" She asked.

"After? My friends need me." She let me go with a nod of understanding.

I chased Sailor up the stairs. I watched as Theo and Yasmin tried to beat up Hunter. The adventurer was skilled at fighting as they barely landed any punches, but thankfully they looked like they didn't receive any injuries either.

"Help me," cried Hunter. I looked for who he was crying out to and spotted Mr. Lowe in the corner. He was just like me watching the acne in front of us play out. He looked afraid. His eyes were wide and hands stayed near his chest as if he was protecting himself from an attack. He didn't make a move to get into the action.

We made eye contact.

It was as if something snapped inside Mr. Lowe's head for when he saw me, he decided to join the fight.

The asian man walked into the fight, though his hands were not into fists. Hunter Hutner smiled when he saw the librarian join. "I knew you'd help me. My dear Orchid is too weak to fight even these tiny children."

"Who are you calling tiny!" Yasmin retorted, her sentence distracting the adventurer. She managed to hit him in the leg.

The adventurer yelped in pain, throwing his hands into the air then reaching from his injured leg. A projectile flew through the air and Sailor jumped to catch it. "I got it!" she announced, holding the bandaged up moonstone in her hand.

Hunter Hunter frantically turned around. A firefly anger burned in his eyes and he got ready to lunge at the blonde, but a pair of arms were wrapped around him, not letting him get far. We turned to look at Mr. Lowe as he helped our enemy back.

Sailor gasped in surprise. Did Mr. Lowe just help us?

We couldn't celebrate just yet as Mr. Lowe was a weak man and couldn't hold Hunter for long. "Scatter!" Yasmin ordered and we flew away like birds and an incoming stone. We all escaped the building through the front door, even Mr. Lowe.

We hid behind thick brush and plants. Sailor was to my left and Mom was to my right. "Lukas, catch." Sailor threw the gemstone at me and I almost didn't catch it.

"Why did you do that?" I said, my voice frantic.

Sailor shrugged. "I don't know. To protect it from Mr. Lowe?"

"I don't think he is evil," I state.

Sailor's eyes widened. "What do you mean? He's the one who trapped Miss Adams in a book."

"If you did that, why would he help us just now?" I counter with this starting argument.

"I don't know." Her face changed. "Why are we fighting?" It was a look of confusion. I felt bad. She looked like she didn't know who I was; like I was a different person.

Maybe I was.

I slowly walked to my right where Mom was, making sure not to make a lot of noise. Maybe I had changed. Maybe my friends wouldn't like this new me. But what if they did accept me? If they didn't, they aren't true friends. True friends don't abandon one another. I would never adandme Sailor even if we just fought.

I blinked with relation. Hunter was still out there and he was looking for us. Sailor isn't that smart, no, she is but she makes sometimes stupid decisons. I slowly walk back to my blonde friend, quietly so I'm not heard by Hunter. I tapped her on her shoulder. "Lukas?" Her eyebrows raised in surprise and confusion. I feel a little hurt; she didn't think I would come back for her, but then again am I not the one who first left her?

"Come on," I said in a playful tone and grabbed her hand. "We have to find the others."

Sailor smiled. We went to the right pass my mom. I whispered, "Do you know where Mr. Lowe is? Hunter calls him Robin..." "The asian man," I added if she didn't know his name.

She nodded. It seemed that she was getting quieter and quieter. What happened? We followed her, not letting go of one another. I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't abandon her and she wouldn't abandon me. Mom gave me a knowing look. I mouth back the word discreetly, "It's not like that." Mom stifled a laugh which caught Sailor's attention. We calmed her down silently.

As we slowly made our way around the shack looking house, we met up with Yasmin and Theo. "We have everyone and we didn't find Miss Adams. Let's go home." Sailor looked annoyed and detached our hands to cross her arms. Girls...

"What about Mr. Lowe? We cannot just leave him here," I said.

"That is right." Yasmin stepped in to take my place in the spotlight. I was glad for it. I could never be like Sailor or Yasmin in that aspect. "Mr. Lowe helped us escape with the moonstone. If we leave the book without him he might be trapped in this book."

"Like you." I look at my mom. All my friends did too. They didn't know.