A Novel Nightmare: The Purloined Story

A Novel Nightmare: The Purloined Story — page 7 — on half-drowned and dropped down holes And I’ve been chased by murderers pirates ghosts and killer rabbits Killer rabbits They’re scarier than you think Carter insisted I still bet you wouldn’t want to miss any of them Matt sighed Carter had to admit that was true Even when the virtual reality suits were scaring him half to death it was still the most exciting thing he’d ever done He actually really missed it Uncle Dan took the suits to bookstores and malls now so Carter only wore the suit when they tested the connections He’d mostly turned into the guy who carried in the boxes of cables and stuff For the last two weeks he wasn’t even that He looked down at the closed cell phone in his hand At least Uncle Dan’s call meant Carter should be ﬁnding out what his uncle’s secret new project was I need to go he said Uncle Dan wants me 8

A Novel Nightmare: The Purloined Story — page 8 — at his house They started up the bank away from the water and onto the grassy lawn of Miller’s Park Well promise you’ll tell me about the new project as soon as you can Matt said Hey tell your uncle that I’d be happy to help too I’ll tell him Carter said They walked to the bike rack and unlocked their bikes Are you going back to your house Matt nodded I might as well I still haven’t ﬁnished reading our summer book My mom is on my case about it I don’t know why we have to read long books by guys who have been dead forever Carter didn’t say anything He had ﬁnished the book weeks ago He’d been just like Matt until Uncle Dan’s virtual reality suits Uncle Dan used classic books to create his virtual reality worlds because you didn’t have to get any special permission to work with them At least that’s how Isabelle had explained it Carter had only been half listening to his brainy 9

A Novel Nightmare: The Purloined Story — page 9 — cousin Carter ﬁrst started reading old books just to survive while they battled the hacker It helped to know what to expect so you could spot the places where the biggest dangers might lurk Now he actually liked reading some of those old books They just took a little while to get into It’s like you had to wrap your brain around all the weird ways the old writers talked Then suddenly they’d just click Carter watched his friend pedal off before he headed in the opposite direction He wondered what Uncle Dan could be up to now As he hopped on his own bike and raced away he grinned He hoped it was dangerous The streets between Miller’s Park and Uncle Dan’s house were fairly level so Carter made the whole trip without stopping He loved to ride that way leaning into corners and feeling the mild burn in his calves whenever the street tilted mildly uphill His favorite parts of any ride were the downhill slopes and the thrill of 10

A Novel Nightmare: The Purloined Story — page 10 — feeling as if the bike might run away with you When he ﬁnally cut sharply into Uncle Dan’s driveway he was only mildly winded He jumped the curb and rolled across the grass to the fenced in area built to hide the trash cans Uncle Dan insisted Carter and Isabelle leave their bikes behind the fence It’s no one’s business who comes to visit me Uncle Dan had insisted when Carter asked about it Who would care Uncle Dan had looked at him seriously Most people wouldn’t But you never know who is looking And I don’t want the wrong people taking too much interest in you and Isabelle Carter imagined the hacker Storm was one of those wrong people Storm had taken a lot of interest in Carter and Isabelle even staging a fake kidnapping of Uncle Dan to try to get them to wreck Uncle Dan’s invention Carter hopped off the bike and let it hit the grass He was surprised that he didn’t 11

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