Stonebrook High School

Chapter 34 + Chapter 34 1/2

An explosion went off in the distance and Jesse stumbled back up to his feet, brushing the dust off while leaning on his crutch.

Both Axel and he hid behind an already dilapidated house and they carefully stepped across the sand.

"Just be careful, okay?" jerked Jesse. "One wrong step..." Axel nodded and followed behind Jesse.

Their feet slowly slid through the grains of sand underneath them and they hugged the side of the house. The brown-haired twin looked ahead and determined that no one could see them so he crept ahead.

A click under his foot. Crap! A tripwire! He tried to run and warn Axel but a large explosion behind them sent them flying forward and they screamed in surprise.

He caught himself with his crutch but accidentally whacked Axel in the stomach with it, winding the larger male. "Sorry, Axel!" he apologized frantically. "We gotta go, though, this place is dangerous!"

Another explosion in front of him and Jesse felt his face burning. Turning a sharp left, he staggered away from the buildings to an open area.

"This place is awesome!" exclaimed Axel, smiling widely with excitement.

Jesse turned to look at him. He huffed, "Places like these are awesome in books but not in real life!"

"What are you talking about?" laughed Axel as they dodged an egg flying at them from the side. "They're always awesome!"

"It would be cooler if my leg wasn't broken!" joked Jesse as he tuck-and-rolled. "It's harder to dodge things when you have to carry a crutch!"

"Then I'll just carry you!"

"No thanks!"

They found themselves laughing as they weaved through traps and crazy people with organic grade-A eggs. Eventually, they came to a quiet spot between a group of buildings and stopped to catch a breather.

"How much do you think it would cost to buy a house here?"

Jesse looked over his shoulder to the kleptomaniac. "Why buy a house when you can destroy other ones? Have you seen the place?" He cracked a smile and Axel guffawed. "Heck, I'm surprised the government hasn't closed down Boomtown! There are safety issues everywhere!"

"No one cares about safety rules," Axel brushed off, "since ya can't live life stuck inside a small house in the middle of nowhere."

"Screw OSHA, I guess."

They looked at their current surroundings and something large caught Jesse's eye. He hobbled up to it and gasped. "Hey, look! A banner with the amulet on it!"

Axel walked up to him and looked at it over the smaller boy's shoulder. "It is the amulet! Pull it out, pull it out!"

Jesse took out the amulet and held it up in front of the banner. He expected them to look the same, but what Axel and he weren't expecting was the bright glow coming from the green tube.

Axel's jaw dropped and he spoke for the both of them. "Dude, it's freaking glowing."

Jesse squinted at the amulet and nodded. "This... glow. I think we both know what it means."

"Now we just have to point it in the right direction and it'll glow brighter, right?"

"Yeah!"

For a few minutes, the two boys held up the amulet and swung it around, pointing it in different directions, carefully watching the glow. They even had a bet over whether it glowed brighter in this or that direction.