📖 The Mystery in the Basement

CLICK!

The box beeped three times.

The light turned purple.

And something inside the box started to move.

It was sliding out. Slowly. Really slowly.

Ssssssssshhhhhhh.

"What is that?" Marcus whispered.

You didn't know.

But you were about to find out.

The thing came all the way out. It fell into your hands.

Your eyes got huge.

It was a disc. Like a DVD, but not. It was metallic. Silver. And it was WARM. Your hands were cold and it was warm.

The disc had symbols on it. The same symbols from the box. Triangle. Circle. Square.

And something else. A number.

007

"Dude," Marcus said. "It's like a spy movie!"

"It's not a spy movie," you said. But you thought it was cool too.

The disc started to glow. Green light came from it. Then blue. Then red.

Red was bad. You felt like red was bad.

Click-click-click.

BUZZZZZZZ.

"Why is everything beeping?" Marcus asked. "Can't it just... not beep?"

You had no idea.

Then you heard it.

A sound from upstairs.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP.

Footsteps.

Your mom.

"Oh no," Marcus said.

"Oh no is right," you said.

Your mom was coming down the stairs.

You could hear her shoes. Clack-clack-clack.

"Hide it!" Marcus yelled.

"Where?" you yelled back.

"ANYWHERE!" Marcus said.

You looked around. There were boxes everywhere. But your mom was coming. She was almost here.

You did the first thing you could think of.

You put the disc in your back pocket.

It was still warm. It was STILL glowing. Green light was coming out of your butt. Literally. Your pants were glowing green.

"Why is the back of your pants glowing green?" Marcus asked.

"I DON'T KNOW!" you said.

You put your hands behind your back to cover it up.

The footsteps got closer.

Clack-clack-clack.

Your mom appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Hi, boys!" she said. She was smiling. She didn't know. She had no idea that there was a glowing disc in your back pocket.

"Hi, mom," you said. You tried to smile normal. But your hands were shaking.

"Marcus, honey, your mom is here to pick you up," your mom said.

"She is?" Marcus said.

He looked at you.

You looked at him.

"Already?" you said.

Time had gone FAST.

"Come on, you two. Say goodbye," your mom said.

You and Marcus looked at each other.

What could you do? Your friend was leaving. And you had a mystery disc in your back pocket that was glowing green and making beeping sounds.

"See you Monday," Marcus said.

"See you Monday," you said.

You gave him a hug. It was weird because you never hug. But you needed to tell him something without saying words.

The hug meant: "Don't tell anyone. This is crazy. I'll text you."

Marcus hugged you back. It meant: "I know. This is SO crazy. Please text me."

Hugs are weird like that.

Marcus left with his mom.

You went back to the basement.

You locked the basement door behind you. You had never locked it before. You didn't even know it had a lock.

It did.

You took the disc out of your back pocket.

It was still glowing. Still warm. The purple light was back.

You stared at it.

It stared at you. Well, a disc can't stare. But it felt like it was staring.

Click-click-click.

BUZZZZZZZ.

"Okay," you said out loud. "What are you? And why me?"

The disc beeped. Three times. Just three times. Like it understood you.

But then something happened.

A picture appeared on the disc. Like a hologram. You'd seen holograms in movies. This was like that. But real.

A face appeared above the disc. It was green and glowing. It was the face of something. Something NOT human.

The thing's mouth moved. But no sound came out at first.

Then a voice. A weird voice. Not English, but also... kind of English?

"GREETINGS, CHOSEN ONE. I AM SENTINEL-7. YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE TRIAL SEQUENCE."

Your heart went BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.

"Who... who are you?" you asked.

"I AM SENTINEL-7. GUARDIAN OF THE ANCIENT TECHNOLOGY. YOU HAVE SEVEN DAYS TO COMPLETE THREE TRIALS."

"Three trials?" you said. "What kind of trials?"

"THE TRIALS WILL TEST YOUR COURAGE. YOUR INTELLIGENCE. AND YOUR HEART."

"My heart?" you asked. "Like... my feelings?"

The hologram thing made a sound. It might have been laughing.

"YOU WILL UNDERSTAND WHEN THE TIME COMES. NOW. DO YOU ACCEPT?"

You looked at the disc. You looked at the hologram. You looked at the metal box.

This was crazy.

This was INSANE.

This was the coolest thing that had ever happened to you.

"Yeah," you said. "I accept."

"EXCELLENT. YOUR FIRST TRIAL BEGINS TOMORROW AT NOON. GATHER YOUR CHOSEN COMPANION."

"My chosen companion?" you asked. "Marcus?"

"YES. MARCUS. HE HAS BEEN SELECTED AS WELL."

"Wait, WHAT?" you yelled. "I thought I was the chosen one!"

"YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE. HE IS THE CHOSEN COMPANION. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE."

The hologram was getting smaller. It was fading away.

"DO NOT SHOW THIS TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR FAMILY. DO NOT SPEAK OF THIS TO OTHERS. IF YOU DO, THE TRIALS WILL BE CANCELLED. FOREVER."

"Forever?" you said.

But the hologram was gone.

The disc went dark.

No more green light. No more purple light. No more beeping.

It was just a regular disc now. Like it was sleeping.

You couldn't sleep.

You went to bed at 9 o'clock. Your mom made you. But you didn't sleep.

You laid in your bed. You thought about:

At 2 AM, you texted Marcus.

Marcus texted back right away. He was awake too.

You smiled. Marcus always made jokes when he was nervous.

You woke up at 8 AM.

You had slept like two hours. You were tired. Your brain was fuzzy.

But you also felt something else.

Excited.

You went down to breakfast. Your mom made pancakes. You loved pancakes. But today you could barely eat them.

"You okay?" your mom asked. "You look tired."

"I'm fine," you said. "Just didn't sleep much."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Uh... I had a really good dream and I didn't want to forget it," you lied.

Your mom bought it.

"What was the dream about?" she asked.

"Fortnite," you said. That wasn't a lie. You'd thought about Fortnite too. You thought about everything.

Your mom rolled her eyes. "Of course it was."

The hours went SO SLOW.

9 AM. Slow.

10 AM. REALLY slow.

11 AM. THE SLOWEST.

You went to the basement. You looked at the box. It was still there. Still silver. Still weird.

The disc was in your desk drawer upstairs. Wrapped in a sock. Like that would hide it.

At 11:45, Marcus texted.

Marcus showed up at 11:58. He was out of breath. He must have run.

"Dude," he said. "This is it. This is really happening."

"Yeah," you said. "It is."

You went to the basement.

You got the disc out of the sock.

You put it on the floor in front of the metal box.

Nothing happened.

"Um," Marcus said. "Did it work?"

Then the disc started to glow. Blue light.

The box started to beep.

Click-click-click.

BUZZZZZZZ.

A new hologram appeared.

Sentinel-7 was back.

"GREETINGS, CHOSEN ONE AND CHOSEN COMPANION. THE TRIALS BEGIN NOW."

"Now?" you said. "Like, right now?"

"YES. THE FIRST TRIAL IS SIMPLE."

"Simple is good," Marcus said.

"YOU MUST FIND THREE OBJECTS HIDDEN IN YOUR HOUSE. YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT. IF YOU FAIL... YOU WILL NEVER BE CHOSEN AGAIN."

Your stomach felt funny.

"Three objects?" you asked. "What objects?"

The hologram showed pictures. Three pictures appeared. Three things.

The first was a KEY. A golden key with symbols on it.

The second was a CRYSTAL. It was purple and glowing.

The third was... you had no idea. It looked like a weird shape. Like a star, but also like something else.

"YOU MUST FIND THESE OBJECTS SOMEWHERE IN YOUR HOME. THEY ARE HIDDEN. YOU MUST SEARCH. YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT."

"But I don't know what that last one is!" you said, pointing at the weird shape.

"YOU WILL KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT."

"That's not helpful!" Marcus yelled.

"DO NOT FAIL. THE FATE OF EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON IT."

The hologram faded.

The disc went dark again.

You looked at Marcus.

Marcus looked at you.

"We have to search the whole house," Marcus said.

"In twelve hours," you said.

"This is impossible," Marcus said.

"Yeah," you said.

But you didn't mean it.

You felt alive. Your brain was moving fast. Your heart was pumping. This wasn't impossible.

This was an adventure.

"Come on," you said. "Let's start in my room."

You and Marcus ran upstairs.

The hunt was on.