Ghost Girl - Episode 1
The Introduction to Book 3, THE GHOST GIRL
Our deepest thanks to all of you from around the earth following our story of a group of misfit teenagers who save the world from climate change. In Books 1 and 2 we saw the action from the point of view of Phoebe, an eighteen-year old girl who returns from college to find her hometown suddenly in the grip of mystery and danger.
From Book 3, The Ghost Girl
Episode 1
A NIGHT UNDER THE STARS
Later that night – after the state police and the reporters and the television crew had all gone – Reverend Tuck told Abby she’d better make herself a decent place to sleep in the gardener’s cottage. That small, flimsy two-room structure had not been lived in for a decade, and needed work and supplies. Tuck gathered sheets and blankets and a pillow, a broom and dustpan, light bulbs, sponges, two kinds of soap, toilette paper, some dishes and cups, a small pot, and a frying pan. “But don’t sleep yet,” he added. “I must have another word with you before tomorrow.” Then he turned to Middletown Police Chief Santiago and Dr. Geraldine Bear to continue their conversation.
Abby took five trips from Reverend Tuck’s living quarters near the sanctuary to the cottage in the churchyard, taking all the above items as well as her duffel bag, striped red blanket, a handful of tea bags, and some leftovers from their excellent dinner. Long after midnight she finished cleaning and organizing part of the kitchen and a place to sleep. Then she rewarded herself by taking an old folding chair outside and sitting under the amazing night sky. A breeze blew through the leaves of the giant maple trees. The world was blissfully empty of people. She scanned the tumultuous events of the day, and their happy ending.
“This happened to me!” Abby thought. “Something special happened for me!”
She leaned back and took a deep breath of the fresh air that had blown into Middletown some hours before, sweeping out the enormous thunderheads and drenching rain, and leaving a crystal clear sky and a sense of a new world beginning. The stars were unusually bright and colorful, and dazzling in their swirling multitudes, going on forever. Abby began to sense a strange shift in her awareness, a sense of another world she had experienced since childhood. She normally avoided these feelings whenever possible, and quickly tried to snap her attention back to the mundane objects close at hand. But it was too late. The stars had triggered her most powerful memory…
Already she saw the stars coming closer, and felt the eerie sensation that she was rising to meet them. The small gray shape of Wendy was walking ahead of her through the dark forest. Abby could hear an uncanny melody, with a high voice singing. Her memory of the song obsessed her as the years went by.
Through heaven and earth a tree is growing
Around the world a river is flowing
We can travel by secret ways
Like a shadow through our days
Follow me, come and see
We’re climbing the world tree
As the ages have gone by
The abyss has grown so wide
Heaven and earth are separate now
A journey no one know how
Follow me, come and see
We’re climbing the world tree
Do you see how we come closer
We’re on the pathway to the stars
Reach out your hand and touch the heavens
It’s not far, it’s not far!
Follow me, come and see
We’re climbing the world tree
PHOEBE COMES HOME (Book I)
PHOEBE BREAKS THROUGH (Book II)
THE GHOST GIRL (Book III)
by John KixMiller
A NIGHT UNDER THE STARS
by Carlos Uribe
Learn more about Abby and Phoebe and the players In Middletown!
www.protectorsofthewood.com