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Moon Child, Ready Or Not Plot: Charlie, the twelve-year-old Savior of the Magic Worlds and Jasper, a Plain World detective, get lost in the wild woods of Pixiterra: with friends and foes, wizards and witches and peasants and torch-bearing religious fanatics all looking to find him first. If only they had a clue as to who were their friends and who their foes. Jasper, the cop, begins wonder if Charlie's friends are his worst foes. Excerpt: Charlie is crawling around the floor of an abandoned factory in Michigan, desperately looking for his pendant--the one that is supposed to help him save the Universe one day. Outside there are cops, investigating the damage done by a demon Charlie accidentally brought to the Plain World. If only Charlie can find the pendant, maybe he can escape detection.... He crawled around the counter, looking at the edge for any sign of the chain or pendant. When he came to the front, he saw the pendant first. He saw the feet second, and only registered them as he reached for the chain, and a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him to his feet. Charlie found himself between two plainclothes cops. The shorter one had curly black hair, glasses, and a pointy, pinched face like a fox. "All right, kid. You weren't here when I searched the place a minute ago. How'd you get in here?" He had a quick nasal New York voice, like Bugs Bunny, and an intensity that made Charlie back away from him. The other cop, however, was behind him and blocked the way. "I...I don't know," Charlie stammered, not sure what to say. "What do you mean you don't know! You got amnesia or something?" Charlie pressed back into the other cop, who put his big hands on his shoulders. Charlie wasn't sure if it was meant as reassurance or as the Hand of the Law. He started to squirm away. "S'all right, son," said the taller cop. "He won't bite." "Don't be too sure of that, kid. If you don't answer, I'll be picking bits of you out of my teeth in a few minutes. So what are you doing here?" Charlie looked at the ground. He had no idea what to do. At least they hadn't noticed the pendant yet. If he could only get his mind working. "Who are you? What's your name?" "I don't know." Charlie felt his face turn red. Why were such idiotic words coming out of his mouth? He didn't know what to say. Maybe that's what it meant. I don't know what to say. He glanced at the pendant, wondering how he could get at it without drawing their attention to it. "Look, we're police officers," said the tall one. He had a soft southwestern drawl. Charlie turned to look at him. He reached inside his dark raincoat and Charlie could see his shoulder holster. Not that Charlie expected the guy to pull a gun on him, but there is something intimidating about a shoulder holster. Charlie started to sidle away, closer to the pendant. "Hold on, there," the cop said, and he pulled out his identification, and squatted down so that he was looking up at Charlie. He was older than Bugs Bunny, and a lot more frazzled looking, with fine, wispy gray brown hair and bags under his eyes. Even so, he was clearly the one in charge. "I'm Sergeant Wardell. This is Detective Stone," he said. "Now, what is your name?" "I don't know," Charlie repeated. It was at least a way to stall while he thought of a story that would get his pendant back. "Third base," said Wardell. Charlie gaped at him. "What?" he said in unison with Detective Stone. Wardell looked from one to the other. "Who's on first," he said as if they ought to understand him. "What is the fella's name on second and I Don't Know plays third. Abbott and Costello." "And you wonder why you never get to play Bad Cop," said Stone. Wardell shook his head and looked up at him. "The ignorance of today's youth is astounding." "I've heard of Abbott and Costello, J.J." Charlie eased closer to the pendant while they were distracted. He slowly reached down, but Wardell, without even looking at him, reached out and stopped him. The cop turned toward him slowly. "What is that?" he asked. "It's mine." "How'd it get there?" "I dropped it." "When?" "Just now." "When just now?" Charlie paused. He had to convince them that the pendant had nothing to do with the crime. Then they'd let him keep it. "When I heard the screaming outside," he said carefully. They looked at each other. "You were here when it happened?" "I was right here," said Charlie, pointing to the floor. "Did you see what happened?" "No, I was in here, and they were outside." "They? How many?" "I don't know. I just heard some sounds and voices in the alley, so I came in here to be alone, and then I heard screams, so I dropped my amulet, which I was looking at." "Amulet?" Wardell's eyebrows came together with worry, and he looked down at the pendant. Stone, who had been taking notes, crossed his arms and leaned toward Charlie. "What were you doing in here, kid?" "Hiding." "From who?" "From you." Stone looked annoyed. "No, I mean before that. Before you heard the voices in the alley." "I told you, I wanted to be alone. That's all. I didn't see anything, and I didn't hear much." "How many voices...." Just then Wardell looked up from his contemplation of the pendant. The way he shifted his weight made Stone shut his mouth. "What is that?" asked Wardell. He looked very closely and seriously at Charlie, and Charlie knew that he had no hope at all of convincing him that the pendant wasn't important. "It's mine," said Charlie quietly. "You say that like somebody tried to take it away from you." "No," said Charlie, surprised. How could they guess that the kid had taken it from him? They didn't, of course. Charlie was just so worried they would take it, that it showed. But that was okay. "You might take it." "If we have to, we'll take good care of it and give it back to you...if it belongs to you." Wardell cocked his head. "Does it belong to you? Or does somebody else have a claim on it?" "It's mine," said Charlie again, this time with confidence. "Okay," said Wardell. "We'll let that go for a minute. Now, what's your name?" "Charlie." "So, Charlie, what is that thing that belongs to you?" All right, thought Charlie, if they were going to make him explain, maybe he'd give them something to explain. Back to Current Projects, or Home Page.   Last updated July 5, 2003