Excerpt from ZOEY 101: THE CURSE OF PCA
by Jane Mason and Sara Hines Stephens
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Overhead, the sound of thunder grew louder. The sky grew darker with surprising speed and a gusty wind began to blow, stirring up dust and making it hard for Zoey and her friends to see. Zoey’s hair whipped her face.
“Wow!” Michael shouted between gusts. “That storm is coming in pretty fast.” Only moments before it had been a hot, calm, clear afternoon.
“Yeah,” Logan agreed, looking around nervously. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Let’s go.” Together the five kids headed up the wall of Red Stone Gulch, leaving Charles Galloway’s grave behind.
Lightning crackled, making the hikers jump. Though it was hard to see the trail, they began to run. Branches scraped against their arms and legs.
Suddenly there was a horrible flash and the loudest rumble of thunder Zoey had ever heard echoed through the hills. Somebody screamed. Before Zoey knew it, they were all screaming – Michael loudest of all.
The group stumbled into a clearing and paused to catch their breath.
“I’ve never seen a storm come in this fast!” Quinn said, gasping. “The barometric conditions must be —”
At that moment a bold of lightning touched the ground in the middle of the clearing, blowing everyone off their feet.
“That lightning almost hit us!” Logan yelled.
“I don’t like lightning!” Michael shouted. His voice was filled with panic. “I don’t like it at all!”
“It’s just weather,” Quinn shouted back, trying to calm him down.
The wind kept blowing in all directions, howling and kicking up more dust. Zoey looked at Chase. Then she heard something else. A new sound . . . a deep, groaning moan! As Chase and Zoey watched, a strange green fog began to form over the bush behind Quinn, Michael, and Logan.
“What is that?” Chase demanded, pointing at the strange apparition. “Green weather?”
The others turned to see what Chase was pointing at. The green mist swirled, becoming a larger and larger cloud as it made its way closer. The fog was lit from behind by a fork of lightning, but even after the lightning faded, the mist appeared to glow on its own.
“Would somebody please tell me what that is?” Zoey pleaded, unable to take her eyes off of it.
For once Quinn did not have an answer. “I don’t know!” she screamed, throwing up her hands.
Lightning struck the ground again, dangerously close to Logan’s foot. Everyone screamed.
“What do we do?” Logan shouted.
Chase was on his feet with the answer. “Run!” he shouted. “Run!”
From Zoey 101: The Curse of PCA. Copyright © 2007 by Duo Entertainment Vertriebs GmbH. All rights reserved.
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