Oh boy! An excellent chapter! It got me really, really glued to the computer screen. Nice work. I can’t wait to read more.
I hope you guys don’t mind this story still not being finished after Halloween. My timing’s kinda off.
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Back on the jet, Violet had a look of disgust as she brushed off dirt on her suit. “That wasn’t very fun. Nothing but filthy environment and scorching temperature. I was expecting more.”
Dash just went into his room on the private jet without a word. Usually, he should have been bragging about every exciting thing and describing every detail of the things he saw. But this time he didn’t. His mind was busy wondering about what Cody was being so secretive about.
He pulled out the disc-like card and examined the code. It must have meant something important, something top-secret. Maybe even superstitious.
While the jet flew in the air, his parents were sharing details of events on their missions. Dash took a while to realize that Cody, who had stowed away on the plane earlier, wasn’t with him. So, how the heck was Cody supposed to get back?
He waited, expecting Cody to jump out of nowhere like he did previously. But nothing happened. No sudden whisper of his name, no bat in the corners, no boy jumping down to meet him. Dash was alone in the silence of the room, along with the loud hum of the plane in motion and the indistinct conversations the rest of his family was having behind the door.
Cody must have been left behind.
After taking a nice, refreshing bath at home, Dash, in his pajamas, moved his finger along the fogged up mirror to draw pictures, as he liked to do. But something stopped him. There was something written on the fogged-up mirror, and Dash took a step back to read it.
WHERE IS OUR CODY?
Dash, dumbfounded at what he saw, watched as the fog cleared by itself, taking the message away with it.
“‘Our Cody’? What does that mean? Who or what could Cody belong to?” Dash said to himself. “And, not to mention, he said he couldn’t be around computers. But…wasn’t it him who typed up that message days ago?”
He threw himself on his bed, exhausted in his mind, trying to make some sense of it all. Trying to figure it out.
If it had been Cody that typed up that message, how did he do it without being seen? Did he have some other weird superpower besides shapeshifting?
All of a sudden, more memories came back to Dash, but they only made it more confusing.
Cody looked a lot like the child in the book. And it must have been Cody who wrote secret messages. And Cody’s voice was crying Dash had heard in the night.
Cody’s probably got some other superpower, too. And it maybe was too dangerous for people to like him for it. Is that why people try to avoid him?
Yeah, Dash had to admit, he had been freaking out at first, too. But now he knew that Cody was an innocent kid, just misunderstood, and maybe mysterious, but that wasn’t bad, was it?
He remembered Cody had said he didn’t even live with his parents anymore. Even his parents didn’t want him. Maybe Cody was a runaway…or maybe he was kidnapped, and people gave him those dangerous powers for some reason…no that wasn’t it. It couldn’t be.
Dash was full of guesses, but didn’t have a single, solid clue.
Another thing he remembered was how Cody was really good at sneaking in places without a sound. He was also good at disappearing and reappearing later somewhere else. But that probably had nothing to do with anything.
By the time Dash was too mind-boggled, he borrowed Violet’s computer to do research on it. Maybe the code would give him some ideas.
So far, no new anonymus messages. It would have relieved Dash that another message appeared- to tell him Cody was all right. Maybe Cody finally returned home or something.
He typed in the code, and the second he pressed Enter on the search engine, he was taken to another website, and couldn’t get out of it.
Dash had nothing to do except read the words on the page. As he scrolled down, the headline of a news report snapped his attention to it. He couldn’t tear himself away from the screen.
SUPERS MYSTERIOUSLY MURDERED
The superhero couple Flamelight and Edgewarrior (now discovered to be Amelia and Steven Samson in secret identity by investigators) mysteriously disappeared. Later, the police found them dead, but according to evidence, their death was planned by another person. “They were shot by a powerful gun, with sharp ammo unlike any other we’ve seen.,” says Officer Taylor Rogers. “And parts of their body were crushed by something unknown. This should be a new warning to all supers. Someone out there doesn’t want them to live.” The murderer remains a mystery. Not a single trace of his or her identity is uncovered.
Also, it turns out that this couple had a son, apparently left in their vehicle at first, but found far outside of it, dead as well. There was a trace of blood and footprints, but after that, nothing. A few miles deeper into the woods, his body was found lying perfectly still.
“It’s unbelievable,” says Officer Tarry Grey, “We found him looking as if he were just sleeping or something. Not a single scratch or sign of even the slightest injury was on his body. But he was certainly not alive. No heartbeats, no breathing, nothing. We would have concluded that he committed suicide from not being paid attention to so much, but he looked so peaceful, we could have sworn he’d pop back to life any minute.”
Rumors have went around that people could still hear his sobbing in the night. “However, I say they’re all imagining it,” states Jonathan O’Neal. “The idea of ghosts is perposterous. We are still searching for the logical answer to this strange and disturbing murder. Those two and their son Cody Samson left their lives with no clue to exactly how it all happened.”
Instead of providing answers, it only gave more puzzlement. Dash’s eyes went wide and his heart skipped a beat as he reread the last line. And the two words in it that stood out the most.
Cody Samson.
(end of chapter 6) Feel free to share your predictions!
wow…so Cody is a ghost and whenever he gets to close to electronics he dissaears??
I don’t know what to expect…i’m rather dumbfounded.
Maybe after another chapter i can recognize the scheme or the plot behind Cody. But for now…i know nothing.
Review-8.5/10
Oh my goodness! Such an exciting chapter. After reading it, I now have more questions than predictions. I guess I will have to keep reading to find out. Keep it up.
Thanks for the review, Al-Bob. I’m aiming for a bit higher rating.
Thanks also for the comments, TSS. Leaving the readers with questions is what I’m supposed to do- glad that was a success.
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It couldn’t be. Dash was completely shocked at what he had just found out.
A voice cut through the ongoing silence, “Dash! I need my computer back!”
“Please not now, Vi!” Dash shouted back. He suddenly remembered that he was online to do research on the code, not read Cody’s secret history. The boy tried clicking his way out of the page- it worked.
But he couldn’t really find a single clue on the code, until he read a perfect match.
The random code was like an ancient abstract language, though it really was a computer code. He interpreted as much as he could by comparing the markings to the most identical letters. And it unlocked words and documents. But before Dash could read them, an annoying pop-up advertisement flashed on the screen.
Or maybe it wasn’t. He was sure he had saw some informative print, but it blinked away into a blank box that slowly spelled out: scroll over.
He did, and the box practically burst with words. He scrolled down and skipped a lot of seemingly useless stuff until something interesting came up.
The Month of Ghost Sightings
The amount of reported ghost sightings and experiences have increased rapidly throughout the decade, reported mostly on October. However, many of these ghost stories were turned down as rumors, pranks, or cases of wild imagination. Many unsolved stories were just forgotton. Those who couldn’t let go of the ghost tales eventually had to be forced to lose their memory. Still, not everyone has really forgotten.
There was also an online discussion going on on this page.
“If ghosts were real, why were they coincidencially reported mostly on October?”
“People like to scare people, I guess. It’s the spirit of October.”
“But I mean if the ghosts were real, why would they mostly choose to haunt people only on October?”
“At least people get stories to tell.”
“Maybe the ghosts want to fit in.”
Dash noticed that he was reading astray, so he tried to X out the page. It wouldn’t budge. Instead, a message popped up and said: “H5L4L3W2N1=CKDKYS.S.@wEi”. It was just like the code, only it was removed of its Roman numerals and random circles and extra spaces.
He tried to X it out again, and this time it worked.
“Dash, what are you doing on there?” Violet demanded from down the hall.
Dash couldn’t take it anymore. He immediatlely shut down the computer completely. What was with that stupid code? Why was it so important? Why by Halloween?
Violet entered the room. “I’ll take that.” She picked up the laptop and left just as quickly as she came in.
Dash didn’t like this. Was Cody just using him to figure something out? And what else could still be hidden from him now? Dash felt like screaming into a pillow, with all his frustration. His anger and confusion about Cody. Not that he hated him, but he was irritated by what Cody was telling him to do.
That night, he dreamt of soaring through fog in the dark. Even the moon was blocked by moving clouds. He hovered straight through them, able to see what’s ahead, as if there were personal headlights implanted into his head.
The flight through clouds, as enjoyable as it seemed, passed by like a blur, and he was suddenly in a room that looked nothing familiar to him. But he walked around casually as if he knew where everything was. It was as if in the dream he was automatically given new info.
He slumped in the corner of the room, and without any control over any action made, said, “I’ve got to run away…” The voice echoed and faded dramatcally. The scary thing was, it wasn’t even Dash’s voice.
He just let his dream self do whatever he was going to do. His dream self- even if it wasn’t actually himself- began to overhear a conversation behind the wall.
“Well what’re we going to do about that boy? He’s gone off all the time playing around with those freaky powers of his, fooling around with them. Imagine what horrible things could happen!”
“Well at least he accepts his gifts,” reasoned another voice. “After all, he’s just a boy. Powers make him hyper, is all.”
“Those powers, they are a curse. He was given a terrible ability and he can’t refrain from using it all the time. Why, such powers are just…sickening. Horrifying. It just isn’t right, for our child to possess such…such…crazy powers.”
Dash’s dream self jumped out the window and floated through the chilly air again, far away, not turning back. He felt tears race down his dream self’s cheek as he flew into the unknown.
Dash got up and tried to figure it all out. He felt like these painful dream sequences were more like vivid memories, and they definitely weren’t his.
This was just another piece to the puzzle, just nagging to be solved.
Every chapter keeps puzzling me about Cody. I always seem to have more questions after reading the chapter than before. Really nice chapter. Keep it up BDD. I wish I could figure out whats going on right now, but keeping the suspense up is a sweet idea.
Wow…i found the last part rather hard to understand but i think that is what makes it rather suspencful…
9/10
Well done…i’m really starting to fear for Dash.
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Dash couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. He just stared at the ceiling until his eyes adjusted to the dark. With his unclear night vision, he noticed little movement in his mess of clothes on the ground. The pile was being dissected, and the pockets being searched.
“Hey,” he mumbled. “Cody, forget it. I’m not gonna crack a dumb code for you, unless you have a good explanation what it’s really for. I know about your secret, so don’t even try to hide anything. I already know you’re a ghost.”
“Huh? Dash?” It was Violet’s voice. She reappeared and gave her little brother a baffled look.
“Oh, sorry, Vi. I…I must’ve talked in my sleep, I think,” said Dash. He had thought Cody was sneaking back.
“What’s this talk about Cody? Who’s Cody?” Vi asked.
“Um…nobody. What’re you doing here?”
“First of all, you need to clean up your mess,” Vi muttered.
“Okay, I’ll just shove it under the bed or throw it in the closet,” Dash shrugged. “But…why are you in your supersuit?”
“That’s the second thing. You also need to get your supersuit. We’re going out.”
“In the middle of the night?” Dash complained.
“I’m not happy about it either, okay? Especially since it’s just us.”
“Mom and Dad’s not going?” Dash asked anxiously.
“Shhh! No, they’re not. You know how they said one day we’ll have to fight without them?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that day- I mean, night- is now. A little earlier, but just deal with it.”
“Why?”
“I got a call on my cell phone. The NSA apparently wants us to go out alone. We’ll get picked up on our rooftop.”
“Our roof?” Dash repeated in disbelief. “How are you sure that’s really the NSA?”
“Never doubt the NSA. It’s on the caller I.D., even though I’ve never heard that voice before. Plus, they won’t tell us details yet. Mom and Dad will approve. Now less questioning, more changing.” She handed Dash his supersuit out of the pile of clothes. As she did, a tangled, wrinkled jacket in the pile let something out of its pocket. It was the card.
“What’s this?” Vi questioned.
“It’s…it’s a business card,” Dash fibbed.
“Yeah, right.” Vi flicked on a night light and read the code under it. “Dash, this is really interesting. Since when do you like to play with spy codes?”
“That’s not it, exactly. I’ve been told I have to find out what the code means before Halloween,” he mumbled.
“By who?”
“Someone I met while we were on our last trip,” he answered, changing under his blanket. “Well, actually earlier, but whatever.”
“Who was this ‘somebody’?”
“Cody. He’s about my age,maybe older,” Dash replied while struggling to get on his sleeve. “Darn, wrong sleeve.”
“Who was he with? Was he kidnapped or something?” Vi wanted to know.
“He’s alone,” Dash said. Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t want to keep this a secret. Somebody else had to know, to tell him what to do. “Cody hasn’t seen his family in a long time, because he thinks they don’t even like him. He’s a superhero just like you and me, and his powers are shiftshaping into a vampire bat. He’s the son of Flamelight and Edgewarrior, but they were murdered. But, Vi-” he crawled out of under the covers, ready to go. “-the creepy part is I just found out that Cody also died. The police report says he looked like he just committed suicide peacefully, but I don’t think so. I think he was killed, too.”
Vi nodded quietly but confusely, trying to understand it all, as well as believe her brother.
“And now, Cody wants me to crack this silly code before Halloween, without telling me why! That’s why I needed the computer. He’s still hiding something,” he contined as they headed outside.
“You sure?”
“Come on, you have to believe me. Who else is going to help me get through this?”
“What do you want me to do- figure out the code in less than 30 seconds for a world record?” said Vi. “Wait a second…didn’t you say Cody was dead?”
“Yeah.”
“So how could he have asked you to decode something after losing his life?”
“Cody’s a ghost,” Dash whispered.
The moment those words left his mouth, the wind blew harshly and moaned slightly. “Okay, that was kinda creepy,” Vi shivered.
“And now I’m getting these weird dreams, and I think they were Cody’s memories.”
“What?”
“I think he’s sending me his memories because he’s too ashamed to tell my in person,” Dash guessed.
“Dash, were you just reading ghost stories late at night?” Vi said as she rolled her eyes. “There are no such thing as ghosts. If there were, there’d be a whole bunch of them haunting us 24/7 at will.”
“But there HAS to be!” Dash argued. “And Cody can’t just figure stuff out himself.”
Vi just ignored him as they went up to their rooftop.
“Don’t you find it even the slightest bit weird that the NSA wants us here on the roof at night all alone?” Dash questioned. “I find it lame we’re falling for this.”
Before Violet could reply, a strong gust of wind blew, with that haunting sound carried in it. Dash saw a vampirelike figure land on the roof. “Cody!” he exclaimed. He didn’t know what to say to him first, with all those questions crowding in his head.
Vi looked taken aback, her eyes wide. “Dash…why is there a vampire on our roof?”
At hearing this, a slightly embarassed Cody shapeshifted back to human form. “Hello, you wouldn’t happen to be…?”
“I’m Dash’s sister,” Vi said plainly.
“He’s not a vampire; he’s a ghost,” Dash corrected. He turned to Cody. “Yep, I know your secret.”
“Well, did you decode the-?”
“Why should I?” Dash snapped. “You went on the computer before, why can’t you now?”
“I wasn’t supposed to. I broke a rule just to communicate. The last time I went on the internet, I was in the middle of the code.”
“What was it about?” Dash asked.
“It’s about some threat on Halloween, because Halloween’s the perfect time for those kind of things. No one would suspect a thing,” Cody replied. “I had to find out because I wanted to complete the mission before I died. And…well, now, I couldn’t leave just yet without it being solved. It bothered me too much.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Could someone please explain to me what’s going on?” Vi blurted out.
“I just did, but you probably didn’t listen,” Dash answered.
“He’s not a ghost,” Vi scoffed. “But he is scaring me. Go back where you came from. Dash and I are in the middle of something important.” As the teenager said this, she swung out her hand to make him leave.
Her hand just passed right through, Cody’s appearance distorting for a second then returning to normal.
Violet gasped.
“Why’d you do that? If I were alive, you could have knocked me right off the roof!” Cody cried.
“I don’t trust dark figures,” she hissed.
“Oh, so just because my powers are similar to a vampire, I must be evil,” he grumbled. “That’s what everyone thinks. Even my parents.”
“How’d you die?” Vi and Dash inquired in unison.
“I don’t remember,” Cody sighed. “But I didn’t kill myself, that’s for sure.” Then he looked up again. “Wait, Dash, you didn’t solve the code?”
“When I used it, I just found another version of the code and a news article about your family. Oh, and I’m sorry no one found the murderer yet.”
“What was the other version?” Cody said anxiously.
“Same thing just without the Roman numerals, circles, extra spaces, and different letters were capitalized,” said Dash.
“I still don’t believe this,” Vi interrupted. “Besides, the NSA will be here soon to pick us up for our secret night mission, and Dash wouldn’t have time to go check out haunted houses or whatever door that code’s gonna open.”
Another gust of wind tumbled across the air. Cody glanced out, then said to Violet, “You actually got a call from the NSA?”
“Yeah, it was on the caller I.D.”
“It worked,” Cody mumbled. “Sorry, it wasn’t really from them. I…found a way to hack into it.” He gripped Dash’s hand tightly. “We’re going for a little flight, hope you don’t mind. How do you feel about running on air?”
“Isn’t that useless?” DAsh said puzzedly.
“Not with me.” The next moment the wind brushed past, they took off into the sky.
“Hey! Let go of my brother!” screamed Vi, only managing to snatch Cody’s arm and get pulled off the roof. She screamed as she found herself rushing by in the air.
“Why- are- we- going- so- fast?! Where- are -we- going?!” she demanded, half screaming.
“It’s thanks to Dash’s super speed,” Cody replied. “You’ll see where we’re going.”
“I still don’t trust you!” Violet yelled fiercely. “You may be just a kid, but who knows what being a ghost could make you do!”
Violet couldn’t stand the rush, but Dash really seemed to enjoy it.
Later, they stopped in a park. “Here, get down the slide,” Cody commanded, going first.
“A slide?” the siblings repeated doubtingly. As the obeyed, the slide somehow transported them to an old room.
“Impossible,” Vi whispered.
“Cool,” Dash marveled.
The room looked like it was abandoned and falling apart, but it looked strongly like something Dash had seen before.
Cody’s batlike pointed ears pricked up in alarm at something. “You guys hide in here,” he ordered. “Don’t come out until the coast is clear.”
“You brought us all the way here to play hide-and-seek?” Vi said boredly.
“Just do it, I’m warning you!” Cody hissed.
He walked through the wall, disappearing from their sight. It was all walls, no doors, but the two could still hear what was going on on the other side. It was a conversation between Cody and another voice that was painfully familar, but they couldn’t remember who.
“Have you brought them?” the dark voice asked.
“Yes,” Cody’s voice said, “but not to turn them in. To keep me company. I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“But you did say you were going to bring them here and finish them off, if you want you parents to live again,” the dark voice growled. “Didn’t you?”
There was a while of what seemed like uneasy silence. “Didn’t you?!” the voice repeated. “Didn’t you promise the Incredibles children in exchange for your family’s life back?”
“Yeah, I did,” Cody mumbled with a hint of guilt in his voice. “I don’t like it, but I did.”
Dash couldn’t believe his ears.
ooohhh…a familier voice concealing a plot of destrucion to the Parr family. It could be Syndrome but i don’t know. Cody needs to make a tough decision.
Review-9.5/10
Well written…loving it.
I like the dialogue between Violet and Dash. Really nicely written. Now you have got both Incredikids involved in this. And I love the twist in the end. It seems that almost all of my questions have been answered except one. What will happen next? Kind of psychopathic trade, the children of the Incredibles for return of the parents. I hope you update ASAP. I really want to know what happens next.
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Violet was trying to escape by banging the walls, but it did no use. “That boy was trouble,” she muttered. “Dash, he’s led us to a trap.”
“Shhh!” said Dash, still listening to the conversation on the other side.
Cody objected, “Well, what if I changed my mind?”
The dark voice snapped, “Are you saying that your parents are not worth turning in three little brats?”
“No! I- three?” Cody said confusedly.
“Oh, yeah,” Dash whispered to himself. “Psst. Vi, he can’t turn us in if he doesn’t have Jack-Jack!”
“Cody’s still a traitor,” Vi snarled.
“He is not!” Dash disagreed. “He’s been separated from his family so long, and he’s really lonely- canya blame him?”
“Uh, yeah. Doesn’t it matter to you that after we’re turned in, we’ll be held for ransom for the rest of our family? Dash, by trusting him, you let this happen!”
“Or fine, two,” the dark voice grumbled. “Besides, three would be a handful. The two older ones are the ones you’ve gotten, correct?”
“I’m not answering,” Cody said persistantly. “You can’t take them. They deserve to be with their family.”
“Just like you,” the dark voice responded. “You’ve gone for quite a long time without anybody that cares about you. You want your family back or what?”
“Since when were you in charge of keeping them from me, anyway,” Cody fumed boldly. “I should’ve realized it before, but what would you do to my family if I don’t do as you say? Or what would you want with the Incredibles anyway?”
“You nosy little brat. Flamelight and Edgewarrior are the closest I can get to The Incredibles. But if I get my main target, then that’s all I’ll ever need.”
“Well, I’m not going to give them to you! Someday my family will be rid of you, I’m sure. I’ve made up my mind, you got a problem with that?” Cody yelled.
Dash heard enough to assume that Cody was about to walk away when he heard the dark voice throw a fit and grasp him violently by the arm.
I thought ghosts could escape anything, Dash mused. But then again, what do I know about that.
Cody tried to wriggle free, until the dark figure viciously heaved him to the ground.
“Did you really think you could get away with that?” the villain said. “When you make a deal, you keep it, whether you like it or not. You mentioned that you brought the children of the Incredibles with you- WHERE?” he thundered.
Cody refused to answer.
“Do you want to cease existing except in darkness? Tell me where they are now or you will suffer as so.”
“What do you want from the supers?” Cody questioned.
“Enough with your questions,” the villain snapped. Cody got up, turned, and ran, becoming a blur. He thought he had finally gotten away, until he stopped at a dead end- where stairs should have been now was a deep drop of what seemed like a bottomless pit. It was gloomy, creepy, and in the dark he couldn’t see what was in it.
He turned and gasped frightfully. The dark spirit was right behind him.
“Is this what you’ve done to my family? And is this what you’re going to do to the Incredibles?!”
“Scary, isn’t it?” the villain laughed evilly. “That way they can’t do anything again- no more supers doing anonymus life-saving deeds even when dead. It sickens me how it’s all about the supers. Everything according to plan- it’s like killing the supers twice. Until you had to corrupt it and just make things difficult.”
“Why would I let you take their lives if I know you’re gonna do such a horrible thing to them?” Cody said, eyes narrowing.
“You already know- it’s if you want your family alive again.”
“How do I know you’re gonna even give 'em back? You took them from me once too much,” Cody hissed. Then, he gathered up enough courage to ask something that was strongly bothering him for ages. “How did I die? It has something to do with you, doesn’t it?”
The sinister villlain could take no more and yanked Cody roughly with some kind of force and hung him over the dark dead end.
Cody whimpered helplessly looking down at it.
“Oh don’t worry, it does have an end. But you’re gonna stay here alone in the dark until you are ready to start pulling a few things for me. If you won’t tell me where the Incredi-pests are, I’ll find them myself!” the wicked person roared.
“Alone?” Cody repeated dumbfoundedly. “Alone? I thought other supers are trapped there too.” After a few seconds, he screamed angrily, “Alone?! I’ve had enough of being alone! Nobody took the time to know me when I was alive, and almost nobody enjoyed my visits as a ghost. My parents always complained about my powers ever since I received them. And unless I turn in the family of the only one who accepted me, I have to rot alone?!”
“Too much for you? I thought so,” the shadowy spirit grinned sinisterly. “But that’s how it’s gonna be unless you change your mind.”
“Why should I work for someone who’s probably murdered supers including my family? You’re just upset because you haven’t gotten everyone.”
“I’ve had it with you, you stubborn little brat!” the voice growled.
The next thing Cody knew, he was falling down…down…down.
But he managed to pull himself through the wall to escape. He didn’t know what to do. All he did was slump in a corner and cry. He was careful not to lean to far back, otherwise he’d pass right through. Being a ghost, he couldn’t cry actual tears, but he could still weep all the same.
What am I going to do? First, I’m a freak, then I’m a traitor.
Dash and Violet could do nothing except try to ram the walls, which, of course, was a failure.
“We gotta get outta here, and save Cody, too!” Dash said.
“What? No, once we escape, we’re leaving forever. We’re not gonna rescue someone who’s betrayed us. Plus, he’s a ghost!”
“So? It’s not his fault he was murdered as a kid. He was forced into this.”
Vi ignored Dash’s defense for Cody.
After a while, Violet found herself snapping out of unconsciousness. “I’ve fallen asleep,” she panicked. “This is not good, this is not good…I have to stay awake, we could be found any second…oh, what are we gonna do?”
Dash mumbled, half-awake, “Violet…I don’t like to admit it, but…I’m scared.”
“I am, too,” Vi replied. Then she sat up. “But, think about this. What would Mom and Dad do?”
“Smash through the walls and escape out by reaching for buildings?” Dash asked puzzledly.
“No, I mean, besides that. They wouldn’t just get out; they’d get to the bottom of the evil plan going on.”
“See, so we shouldn’t just run away,” Dash indicated. “We have to help Cody. Remember how Syndrome killed off other supers?”
Vi nodded.
“That included Cody’s parents.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“I read about it. Come on, he’s just a kid. He’s had a tough life, and I’m his only friend. Can’t we help him, Vi? Isn’t that what supers are supposed to do?”
Violet sighed and nodded again. “Okay…so…you tired?”
“Yeah,” Dash mumbled.
“Go ahead and sleep,” his sister advised. “That’s all we can do now, I guess.”
Vi lay down exhaustedly and thought to herself, What are we gonna tell Mom and Dad when we get back? That we’ve gone up to the roof in our supersuits only to be kidnapped by a boy that’s only about Dash’s age- oh, and did I mention he died? Oh, sure, like that’s believable.
She was just about to sleep when her hand ran across the floor felt something cold, dusty, and solid. She curiously got up and found that it was a rectangular box, blanketed with dust and an old, worn-out sheet. She cautiously opened it to peek inside, a little afraid of what might be in there…
“OH, GOD!” she gasped as she shut it. She backed away from it and shuddered. “Dash, how good is your night vision right now?”
“What is it?” Dash asked as he crept next to her.
“See for yourself,” Vi told him, parting the hair that hid her face to tuck it behind her ear.
They opened it slowly, the cover dragging a “creeeeaaaaaaakk”.
Dash drew in a deep breath when he saw it.
It was a corpse.
The body was one of a boy, who looked like he was a little taller than Dash was now when he was alive. The body was lying perfectly still, and the face looked indeed peaceful. The boy’s eyes were now forever closed, and the body pale and lifeless. His short, spiky hair was a dark brown that looked close to black.
But the ears looked slightly…pointy? It could have just been an illusion from Dash being so sleepy, but something about the corpse seemed abnormal. The fingers were longer than a normal kid’s, and thinner, too. The fingers remained outstretched.
Then, when seeing his face again, Dash immediately knew who this boy was- and he must have been killed in the middle of powering up.
Oh my goodness, a really exciting chapter. Part of me feels so sorry for Cody. You really had me glued to my computer. I wanted to know what will happen next. Keep it up. You are doing a really excellent job.
Review-9.5/10
Great job with Cody…i really feel sorry for him. The adventure is taking turns for the worse. Lets hope it all comes out okay with Cody and The Parr family.
I’m going to finish this up soon. This took longer than I planned.
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“Get it away from me!” Violet yelped. “Dash, close it right now!”
“It’s Cody…” Dash explained. “He’s…”
“I know , I know!” Vi interjected. “He’s dead; I get it Just close it, please! I can’t stand thinking about dead people now!”
“He was murdered,” Dash said, more to himself.
The lighting in the room, which was already dim to a creepy level, quickly faded into pitch black.
“Dash, stop touching my hair. You’re freaking me out.”
“I’m not. I’m all the way over here,” Dash said, in a table’s distance from his sister.
“You mean you sped all the way there,” Vi mutterd. “Now’s not the time for games.
“Then you’re not the one pushing the box, are you?” Dash asked, mostly fearful.
The box with Cody’s corpse was moving. It was inching across the room.
By this time, his night vision had developed to the point where he could see the shadowe outlines of objects.
But nothing was with the box.
“I’ve had it with your invisible tricks,” Dash complained. “It’s not funny.”
“First of all,” Violet said as she got up. “I’m not even into Halloween spirit. Second…” Another hand held Dash’s as Violet whispered into his ear. “How can I be moving it if I’m over here???”
A light seemed to glow for a split second, as Dash and Violet got ready to defend themselves.
Then there was a very slight whispering…
'Who’s there?!” Violet demanded, her voice kind of shaky.
“Um…hi?” began a small voice.
“Shh!” shushed another.
“Who…?” Dash started.
“Whoever it is, you better tell us what’s going on right now! I mean it,” Violet spoke up.
“Sorry to startle you…but…” said the voice of a little girl.
“We haven’t had anyone see or hear us for years,” finished the voice of a little boy.
Then four spirits started to appear, getting more and more detailed. They were a little transparent, but visible enough.
“Oh, no, not more ghosts!” Violet groaned. “After this, no more spooks, please!”
Dash, however, was really curious. “Did Syndrome kill you guys, too?” It was kind of a shocking question, but he had to know.
“Who?” asked the girl’s ghost. She had golden blonde braided hair and an ankle-long dress, and was moving her fingers along the edges of the box.
“Bad guy that kills supers for revenge on our dad, Mr. Incredible. Well, at least, how did you die?” Dash wanted to know.
The little boy ghost (who had matted light caramal-colored hair and seemed to look like his life had been innocent and normal) and spoke up first. “I’m not even a super. I was just the only the witness there at a murder- it was so scary! It would have given me nightmares for weeks. I wanted to see the superhero fight up close, and…it was dark at night. No one else was there…and I tried to scream for help. Then this really scary guy came up and took me away…and to make sure I wouldn’t tell anyone…he…” the kid gulped and looked ready to cry.
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that…” Violet replied.
“Me, too. That must have been really freaky for a normal kid…or any kid,” Dash said.
“I was so mad that the newspaper just said this super just went missing. I KNEW he was killed. I saw it with my own eyes!” cried the little boy.
“And, for me, I wanted to fight back- for my cousins,” piped in a teenage or young adult girl with dyed dark red, long, smooth hair with a fistful of strands being naturally brown, and a slender figure but a toughened spirit. “They were supers, and they came back severely injured. I ran away to get back at the guys who did it. I thought I could handle it, but it I was wrong. Their techonology is more powerful than I thought against my extreme shock immunity. And…here I am.”
“I died drowning,” said the golden blonde with braids. “I wasn’t even a super. I stowed away on my best friend, a super, 's plane. On her way across an indoor pool, she accidentally unleashed these traps. I saved her, and she got away, but there were these nets that caught my foot and pulled me down. Then, after getting up from everything going black, and could get out of the water, but it felt so weird. The water didn’t stir when I got out, and I felt too light. Then I reached out to grab this pole to help me up, and that did it. I went right through. That’s how I knew I was dead. I tried to revisit my friend, but she was actually trying to forget me. And my family didn’t know I was there.”
“I am really, really sorry,” Violet said sympathetically. “If we had known when it was going on…if there was anything we could do…”
“Why did you stay here, though?” Dash asked.
“Couldn’t bear to leave,” said the oldest, teenage redhead ghost. “We died too young.”
The youngest of them, about six, maybe, looked absolutely terrified. “No! I’m not dead! I’m NOT dead!” he screamed in denial.
“Still freaking out about it, so he couldn’t stand it being reminded that he died,” explained the little matted caramal-color-haired boy.
“I would do the same,” said Dash. Then he turned to Violet. “We’re not dead yet, are we? How can we see them?”
“Very few people could see us,” said the blonde ghost.
“And if we’ve been scarred severely, for some strange reason, only the few supers that saw our bodies could see it. And everyone else- all the citizens, would think they were insane,” said redhead teenager ghost. “I hate when they get so clever.”
“So, Cody’s not the only kid that died because of Syndrome,” mused Dash.
“Looks not,” Violet said.
“Speaking of which, what about Cody? Cody Samson?” Dash asked the other kids.
“Oh, the one whose corpse is in the box?” said the blonde. “I think he got poisoned. Hey, it was either that or starve to death. Or suck blood, which frankly, I think no human being can stand. Oh, and he was the only one of us that keeps on trying to communicate with the living.”
Cody, in the dark, empty room, decided to try to send memories to Dash again. He couldn’t find courage to tell him straight. “Okay, concentrate…I learned this trick before, I can do it again…” He focused hard, straining in his mind to picture flashbacks as vivid as possible. The only thing he couldn’t send was how he died. That he couldn’t recall.
Suddenly, Dash felt some kind of pull bugging his brain. He felt it as shock. If he were dreaming, it wouldn’t feel as weird.
Dash groaned heavily as he shut his eyes tight and held his head with his hands, as if having a headache or fever.
“Dash, are you all right? What’s going on?” Violet asked worriedly.
“I-I feel something,” he mumbled.
“It’s probably a vision from that vampire boy,” said the redhead teen. “He’s been trying that trick on some people for a while.”
“He’s not a vampire. He hates that sterotype,” Dash indicated.
“Just relax your mind,” suggested the caramal-color haired boy. “Clear your mind. Place your own thoughts on hold. Focus on the vision from Cody.”
“Okay,” Dash said as he tried to obey. He placed his hands down slowly and calmly closed his eyes again.
The blonde girl eagerly asked, “Now, what do you see?”
Cody had actually run away one night when his family was discussing what just to do with him. He felt that they hated him and judged him for his powers. It wasn’t like they hated him enough to reject him, but they sure had a hard time with his ‘savage powers’.
Cody wanted to get out to prove himself. It didn’t occur to him that he could actually get lost. He abandoned his room out in flight to think things over. What was so wrong with his powers, anyway? It was just shapeshifting into a bat. What was so wrong with bats?
The scene fast-fowarded to when Cody was on a plane, joining his parents on a mission. After traveling time, they got in a car and went to a forest. Cody had thought of it as an insult as first, as if being in the wild would make someone like him more comfortable.
Then, they got in the car. His parents hadn’t said much to him. He finally asked, “Mom, Dad, you don’t hate me, do you?”
“Oh, it’s not like that,” assured his mother. “It’s just…well, your powers weren’t what we exactly expected…”
Cody didn’t dare mention that he had heard what they said about him last night.
“If you can be a hero with your powers, then it’s absolutely all right with us,” added his father.
But Cody knew it was more than that.
Soon, he was told to stay in the car while his parents, Flamelight and Edgewarrior, exploreed the woods. He realized that they didn’t even tell him what they were doing.
Both enraged and determined to prove himself, Cody took off into the forest. He didn’t stop. He kept running, his anger making him forget how out of breath he felt. He didn’t care about getting lost.
He didn’t even know if he planned to find his parents or go on his own. But soon enough, he heard something horrid. With his sharp ears, he heard an uneasy conversation. By the time he had tracked down the voices’ origin, he heard a horrid rifle.
He screamed and tried to see who got killed. But then the murderer there turned his head, and Cody took off in flight immediately.
He went really far, without turning back. Finally, exhausted, he rested. He was not only tired, but starving. He didn’t know where he was.
He could drink something, though, but it was way too vile for him. Drinking blood. For as long as he had shapeshifting powers, he hadn’t actually drank blood. In fact, it shouldn’t even be part of his creature side either. But what else was there to do? He could die of hunger.
He hesitated a lot, nervous to try something so savage. But there was a little normal animal, right there, full of warm blood.
“Okay, it’ll be quick. So quick no one will get hurt and I won’t taste a thing…no, no, I can’t! It’s too horrible…” he said to himself.
“Perhaps I can help,” said a voice behind him, which was startling because Cody hadn’t heard another voice for hours.
He twirled around to see a thin, platinum blonde woman.
“You’re hungry, tired, and thirsty, aren’t you, little child?” she said with a smile.
“Yes,” he answered thankfully. Normally he wouldn’t talk to strangers, but he was desperate for something.
“Come on, then. I’ll get you something- and a hot refreshment,” guarenteed the woman. “We have it back at this building.”
Cody followed her obediently and gratefully. The boy was offered some fresh, tropical fruit and herbs. “This is really good, thank you,” he complimented.
“Don’t mention it,” grinned the woman slyly. “Would you like to rest for a while?”
Then the memory ended. Dash snapped back to reality, in the present, to find Violet and the four children staring at him.
“Well?” asked Violet.
“I never got how he died. It just cut off,” Dash murmured. “It was useless, pretty much.”
“It ended with him eating something offered to him from a stranger?” the braided blonde girl asked. When Dash nodded, she said, “See? He definitely was poisoned. From what I saw and heard, after being killed, they tried to take his powers, but it didn’t work, because it was too deeply rooted in him. So they disposed of his corpse in the forest at first, but then we took him back safe in this box and hid him.”
“Don’t forget he stood up to the shadowy guy and offered to do anything for his family back,” said the little six-seven-year old.
“Didn’t know what he was setting himself up for,” said the redhead, shaking her head.
“You guys are the Incredibles, aren’t you?” said the caramel-color-haired one. “You had better get outta here. The evil ghost won’t keep his side of the deal.”
“We’ve got something to do, first,” Violet said. “We’re not only gonna get out, but we’re going to make sure that Syndrome’s ghost doesn’t interfere with any of you kids, including Cody, 's afterlife again. He won’t bother anyone, living or dead, super or normal, again.”
Dash turned to look at her. “You mean it?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Yep,” Violet nodded. “That’s what supers do, right? It would be much to selfish to leave just like that, after hearing what the ghosts have been through.”
Great chapter. Now we add more characters to the story. Thins are really getting intresting. Really nice work. Keep it up. I hope the Incredibles can find a way to make it all work out.
Wow…the new characters make the story seem like new all over again…unfortunitly since its Christmas i’m getting freaked out about it more and more…
Review 9/10
I liked how you played on Cody’s mind about sucking blood…unfortunitly i hope he isn’t a vampire…that would be sick.
Al-Bob: xD Oh, don’t worry, he isn’t. It was a misconception from everyone he knew. He couldn’t actually do such things. And I’ll handle making the story over soon. I took a lot longer than I thought I would on this. It was supposed to be for October, but I must’ve dragged my time. 
Oh, well.
Thanx for your review and comments. You, too, TSS. Glad you both enjoyed it.
It just gets harder and harder to stick to the “haunting” when your singing “Jingle Bells”.
Its still great for Halloween…
So…I was working a long time on this to finish it. Huh, started before Halloween, aimed for Halloween, and yet I finished it right before Christmas. Go figure.
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“…They won’t exercise restraint because you’re children. They will kill you if they get the chance. Do NOT give them that chance… "
Their mother’s words flashed through Dash’s mind. It was already too late for Cody and the other kids. But it wasn’t too late to stop things from getting worse.
“We just need to get out somehow, or we’ll be killed, too,” he said, turning to the spirits. “Can you guys help us?”
“There’s not much we could do,” said the caramal-color-haired one. “Except…”
“Yeah?” Dash said anxiously.
“Are you in possession of, say, a card with a bizarre code on it?” inquired the blonde with braids.
“You mean this?” asked Violet, showing them the old card that read, “H5L4L3W2N1=CKDKYS.S.@wEi”.
“Yes, that’s the one!” exclaimed the same girl ghost. “So Cody did find someone to have it after all.”
“What’s it do?” Dash interrogated.
“Didn’t he tell you?” said the redhead teenage ghost. " It was all he could find out on his last secret case before he died. It was a villainous plan on who would disappear next and when. Decoding it looks simple to me, too. Just take away those numbers…”
…HLLWN=CKDKYS.S.@wEi…
“…and the Ks in between each letter there…”
…HLLWN=CDYS.S@wEi…
“…add in between each letter the needed vowels as follows: between the H and L should be an A…”
HALLWN=CDYS.S@wEi…
“…and between the C and D should be an O…”
…HALLWN=CODYS.S@wEi…
“…and I’m sure anyone can from there tell that ‘HALLWN’ stands for ‘Halloween’. And the period between the S and the other S should be an apostrophe. Also, if you pronounse ‘@wEi’ as ‘away’, it should make plenty more sense. Go on, say it, then it’s all solved.”
Dash obeyed. “So it means…'Halloween…equals Cody’s…away?”
The redhead nodded. “Yep. He was the supposed next victim. They caught him earlier than planned, and so now Halloween’s supposed to be actually the killing of another…” Then she worriedly turned to see a slightly frightened Violet and Dash.
“But not if we can help it,” she said, facing the other ghosts. “Guys, we’re not going to let them get away with another murder. We’re gonna help them escape. We’re going to do something other than haunt an abandoned house. We’re going to fight back the bad guys. We can be heroes even after death!”
The other children nodded vigorously and excitedly.
Then she tried the little mind-connecting trick Cody had invented, and tried to summon Cody over.
Cody got up from the corner of the room as he recieved the telepathic message. He nodded boldly in response and was about to get out of the room quickly when he stopped himself just in time. What were the chances that he accidentally found the way down the creepy dark pit? He tested it by holding his hand out through the wall and feeling if there was any solid platform.
Luckily, there was. He slid through the wall cautiously then rushed to find the same room he left Dash and Vi in.
The minute Cody leaped into the room, everyone asked where he had been. He warned everyone to stay low and be quiet, because he heard something.
There was a faint barking muffled by the walls as barriers. Then the barking grew louder.
“Those were the same dogs I heard earlier, at your house, remember?” Cody whispered to Dash.
Dash nodded.
“They’re dogs that are addicted to hunting down anyone or anything. Someone gave them that addiction, and used it to track me down and make sure I wasn’t fooling around.”
“What do they do once they found what they’ve been looking for?” asked Dash quietly.
Cody didn’t answer. The vicious animal growls became really clear and then their paws and jaws appeared through the walls for a second. The dogs snarled and snapped but didn’t come any closer.
“They’re not used to passing through walls,” Cody explained.
The dogs threateningly snapped.
“All right, you win!” Cody yelled back. “Just listen, I’m gonna do it real fast!” He shakily opened a thin case on a bookshelf, and pulled out a sharp, horrible blade.
Violet and Dash stared at the blade in horror and shock.
“Just listen to me and you’ll be fine,” Cody assured them. “Use your powers against me, and pretend to be killed, okay?”
'Oh, yeah, it’s always been a dream come true for me to play dead!" Violet hissed.
Cody tapped the blade against the walls. “Hear how sharp the knife is?” he said to the supernatural dogs on the other side.
The dogs panted impatiently.
Cody held the blade up high…
“Cody, what are you doing?!” cried the six-or-seven-year-old ghost. “You wouldn’t…”
“Cody, don’t!” said the other three in unison.
“Don’t worry,” he whispered through clenched teeth.
Violet and Dash got ready…
“I’m gonna do it…” he warned, after hesitating for a while.
At the last second, the two Incredibles were worried. What if their powers failed them because of their lack of energy?
The caramal-colored-haired-boy ghost quickly took the card, zapped toward them, and fell right through them.
When Cody lowered the blade nervously, eyes closed, Violet put up a full force field, right on time. She was amazed at her newly used energy.
“How did…never mind.”
Cody sighed with relief silently and dropped the blade. He signaled them to act deathly injured, and Dash was the first to do it. They screamed enough to fool the dogs on the other side into thinking Cody had actually finished them off.
“You hear that?” Cody called to the other side. The dogs quit barking and listened. “See? I’ve done it. Now tell Syndrome that I deserve my family back now!”
When he was sure the scary hunting dogs were gone, he put the blade away.
“I don’t ever want to see a stunt like that pulled for the rest of my life,” Violet gasped.
“You know, Cody, how about you re-posess your body again? Then wouldn’t you come back to life?”
“If I did, I’d feel the pain forever,” Cody said. He pointed at the box. “And I never want to see myself dead. It’s horrifying. Keep my corpse out of my sight. Come on, it’s time to get you guys outta here.” He took Dash by the hand and tried to lead the way out…
“Cody, wait!”
Cody made it through, but Dash only hit the wall and fell. “Uhhhh…”
“Oh, sorry. I forgot.”
“No, that’s great,” Dash said, half moaning but half laughing. “That means I’m still alive.”
“How do we get out of here?” questioned Violet.
“Through the vents, most likely,” the blonde girl ghost suggested.
“The vents? With no light?” shuddered Violet.
“Don’t worry, we’ll guide you,” volunteered the redhead girl ghost.
“We’ll make it Vi. I trust them,” Dash said encouragingly.
“Fine,” Vi grumbled. She levitated over the ground a little bit by her force field, and was supported up to the top by the spirits. Dash followed.
They were lucky to have gotten in just in time, because by then the dark spirit (now revealed to be Syndrome and his thirst for vengence on supers) had entered the room to find only Cody there.
“So my family will be brought to life again, correct?” Cody asked.
“No,” Syndrome said sharply.
“Why? You promised! I used the blade myself!”
“I’m still not done with my part of the plan,” Syndrome said. “First of all…where are they, the Incredible children?”
“Uh…um…” Cody mumbled.
In the vents, Violet and Dash were making their way through when Dash heard that Cody was in trouble.
“Come on, Dash,” Violet said. “Keep up.”
Dash looked down worriedly and shook his head. Then he speedily made his way down backwards.
“Dash, where are you going?! Cody can handle it- what’s the worst that could happen? Dash!”
Dash fell through the vents and faced Syndrome boldly. “Here I am. What do you want with us supers?”
Syndrome approached the little super and was about to hit him to test if he was really dead, but Dash dodged quickly and dashed all over the place. “Na na na na na!” he taunted. “Just save yourself the trouble and give Cody what he promised, why doncha.”
Syndrome growled then snapped his fingers. The supernatural dogs got in entirely. Cody gasped.
The savage creatures were quick enough to catch Dash. Cody was forcefully restrained by Syndrome.
However, the dogs were under attack by some kind of invisible force. Soon enough, the dogs fell weak.
Violet, without thinking, appeared and hugged Dash tight.
That was when Dash saw that his shadow wasn’t following his movements. Neither was Violet’s. Two of the ghost children were hiding in their shadows, literally.
The blonde girl ghost, with a long braid like a lion’s tail, and the boy ghost with the color of caramal in his hair jumped out of their shadows, their transparency fading so they looked bright and alive.
Syndrome didn’t see that. All he knew was that there were more children there now, standing in front of the Incredikids.
He let go of Cody to reach for the blade on the bookshelf, and approached them threateningly. “I swear I’ll kill you children!” he yelled at the two in front of Vi and Dash.
But the children had a sly look on their faces when the blade did not affect them at all.
“So, you’re going to kill us…again?” laughed the blonde. “Been there, done that.”
“Recognize me?” said the boy spirit. “You can’t get rid of me forever.”
Violet still panicked. Her force field most likely couldn’t protect them from being strangled to death by a ghost.
Then the redhead teenager came into view, holding close to her the six-or-seven-year-old because he was so frightened of everything. “Don’t forget us.”
It was all a blur from then, because it all happened so fast. But one thing was for sure, thanks to the ghost kids, Dash and Violet were saved. Syndrome was gone…for now. He wouldn’t bother anyone for a long time. The kids cheered.
“But what about you and your family?” Dash inquired.
"Oh, I’ll find them sometime in the afterlife,’ Cody reassured. “I should have known Syndrome never had them in the first place. I’m sorry I brought you into this. But I can’t thank you enough for being my friend when no one else would. Now, get under the bed.”
As they crawled under the old bed, the darkness and floors dragged on and on until Vi and Dash came out into Dash’s room again.
“Finally, we’re home!” Dash threw himself on his old bed and snuggled happily in the soft, warm blankets. “Vi, what do you think will happen once Cody joins his family again?”
“I’m sure they’ll be so happy together. It will turn out that his parents don’t hate him after all, and they’ll be a great family.”
“Just like us?”
“Just like us. Anyway, finally, we can rest,” Violet sighed with relief as she slept next to her brother because she was too tired to go to her own room. But they only got ten minutes of sleep when the alarm clock rang. “Nice while it lasted,” she yawned exhaustedly.
But as they got up, Dash found a bag of candy already on his desk. He puzzledly picked it up and read the note:
“Hey, Dash.
Here, I can’t eat treats like this. Enjoy.
-Cody”
He smiled and took one, and gave another to his sister. The candy gave them a surprising burst of energy and exterminated their drowsiness.
Another thing he discovered was that, to his amazement, even the slightest injuries he had gotten were all gone, as if he had never gotten hurt in the first place.
When walking outside in a garden with the family that afternoon, Dash could have sworn he had seen a flash. Then he saw it again, a transparent glitter…
“Hey, look at that!”
But no one else saw it.
“He’s daydreaming,” concluded Violet.
Yet Dash heard a voice come from it, a simple message from it before it disappeared.
“Thank you, Dash. Thank you. Happy Halloween. See ya.”
Then it disappeared, but Dash heard a faint high shriek, and figured only he could hear it. He turned to catch something flying away. It could’ve just been an ordinary bird, or on the other hand…
The little super just grinned as he saw it so carefree in the sky.
Great ending BDD. I think you have made the last battle scene really intense. I thought for a second Violet and Dash were going to die. But you really delievered. I am so happy for Cody and I wish him happiness with his family in the afterlife.
Great job. I loved this story just as much as your SUper Spy Wizard story. You really are a great story writer. I hope to read more from you.