I always used to admire the Olympic divers. I watched on TV how they stood at the edge of a gigantic diving board, then sprung and jumped, twisting and flipping all the way down. Their acrobatics were amazing. And right as they hit the water, they would be straight as a pencil, barely making a splash. I thought it was cool, and also extremely dangerous. Diving held such a fascination for me. I thought it would be neat, and a little scary to dive on such a board. But I found out pretty soon that diving isn't just dangerous when you're several feet up in the air.

WHAT! HE’S GONE!” THE Club said in the morning. The grown-ups and children crowded around Julius as he sat on a stump. He sat with his back bent over and the sides of his mouth seemed as if to hang off his face.

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry,” Mrs. Parker said sitting on a lawn chair next to him and giving him a hug. When he was younger, this made Julius feel comfortable; now, it just made him feel childish, for not being more responsible with his dog. He moved away from his mom, not wanting her to see his tears.

   It’s evening, and the sun is going down; whether you’re in the Deschutes River valley or up in the Cascades near Salmon La Sac, you will hear the chirps of crickets. If it is in the high desert near the Deschutes the beautiful chirping that you will hear will probably be made by true crickets -- field crickets to be precise. If you are not in the high desert, but up in the forested mountains of the Cascades, it will be a whole different picture. Instead of the lovely serenade of the field crickets that could lull anyone to sleep, a loud, obnoxious screech meets your ears. Eeeeeeeeeeee!

   Dominica awoke to crashes in the house that she shared with her parents and brother. Leaping out of bed, she grabbed the dagger that was on her bedside table and dove into her closet to hide.

  When the crashes stopped, she left her hiding place and crept downstairs. She peeked into her parents' room.

  Empty.

  She then checked her brother's room.

  Empty.

  Dominica ran to the living room and looked out the front window. She made out  shapes in the darkness, hurrying away from her house. She figured that her brother and parents had been kidnapped.

Their boat swiftly drifted toward an island that Napa called Metru Nui. Kryztan's new mask felt smooth as he ran his fingers down it. Laker had made it before Napa found him and dragged him off like he did to the others. In fact Tellix was the only one who never resisted when Napa came to "recruit" them. She was eager to explore and desperately needed friends. "It’s a  good thing you brought that mask with you, Laker." Ponick commented. Kryztan silently agreed and nodded his thanks. 

Chapter the Twenty-second