Chapter 3
Amy awoke with a start. But it wasn't as if she heard a noise. Other than the soft pounding of her heart, she heard nothing else. It was because she had suddenly remembered within her subconscious what had gone on just before everything went black. Of course at first Amy thought it all to be a dream, at least that's what she kept telling herself. She struggled to remember when she had fallen asleep, but it was to no avail. It was only until her eyes adjusted to the dark that she realized the truth.
She was in Spooksville.
Amy quickly sat up and stared at the gigantic map on the wall to her left which bore the name 'Springville, California.' It looked a lot like how she had pictured Spooksville: with the reservoir and oil wells to the South, the mountains to the East, Pacific Ocean to the West and the hills to the North. She reasoned that no one except someone who lived in Spooksville would have a map to it - it was such a small town.
The map had many details on it, including buildings and such which had been marked and labeled with felt pen. Because it was still so dark, Amy couldn't read the finer hand-written print but it was apparent that whoever had created the map was interested in the town's layout.
Getting out of the strange bed, Amy decided to leave where ever she was. She felt odd being in a stranger's bed, especially one she had never seen. This was Spooksville after all.
Amy opened the bedroom door and exited the room into the hall. Heading toward the front door which she could see from where she stood, Amy walked into an area which was split into a kitchen and family room. It was walking through there that Amy noticed a cute boy sleeping on the couch in the front of the television. As she went to open the front door to leave, Amy paused and turned back. Grabbing the pad of paper and a pen from beside the phone on the kitchen counter, she scribbled 'Thanks' and put the paper on the coffee table. She also took the blanket off the back of the couch and placed it on top of the boy - it was the least she could do. It was then she exited the house in an attempt to get her bearings.
Amy ended up at the ocean. She had never actually seen one before and didn't know how to tell them apart, but Amy assumed what lay before her was the Pacific ocean, just as she had come to terms that she really was in Spooksville. With that thought Amy felt a feeling of intense joy.
Along the way of her journey to the ocean side Amy had also passed a few undisputable Spooksville locations like the Frozen Cow, the chapel, and now she stood beside the very pier that the robotic crabs attacked – or rather the new pier in place of the other, which had been torched by Adam. Plus she could see Ann Templeton's castle on top the high rock cliff to the North. Though it was hard to comprehend how she could have possibly traveled transdimensionally to Spooksville, it was even harder to write off what she had clearly witnessed not only the night before, but now as well.
Because it was Saturday morning, Amy reasoned that she could find the gang at the local bakery. She didn't want to meet them, not just yet; she didn't have the nerve to. Besides, she didn't know what to tell them. Instead she wanted to see them casually around town and meet them at a later date, maybe pretend to have just moved into town with family.
'What else am I supposed to do?' Amy asked herself. 'Walk up to them and say: "you don't know me, but I know a tonne about you from a twenty four book series in another dimension. By the way, your town witch made me immortal."'
Amy wondered if she really was immortal.
As she approached the bakery, which she had stumbled upon, she was disappointed to find the gang was not there. It was still early in the morning, however – eight perhaps. Thankfully the bakery was open though because Amy was hungry and she went in to buy something to eat. It was on her way out and down the street that she was stopped. The handsome, dark-haired boy from the house came up from behind.
It was funny how Amy didn't make the connection as to who he was - perhaps it was because of grogginess or the awe of entering a fairy tale dream. Though who else could the dark, handsome boy be but Bryce Poole?
Amy was surprised by the hand which touched her shoulder and even more surprised when she turned and came face to face with the boy from the house that she had awoken in.
"Hi," Bryce greeted.
Dumbfounded, Amy was unable to greet him back. Instead he went on to introduce himself.
He held out his hand. "The name's Poole," he said. "Bryce Poole."
Amy shook from her paralysis and found it in herself to respond this time. "Amy Carter," she said, shaking his hand.
He was just as she had pictured: tall, intense-looking, dark haired and eyed and incredibly cute. Amy's heart leapt from her chest in anxiety. But she really didn't want to have met him yet, what was she supposed to tell him?
"My friends and I found you last night in the graveyard," Bryce explained. "What were you doing there and why did you suddenly leave this morning?"
Right, Madeline Templeton's tombstone. "I-," started Amy, trying to decide what to tell him.
She didn't want to lie, that was for sure.
Amy sighed. "I'm from a place called Sarnia, I'm not from here." She paused. "Actually, I don't know if that's true. I know I've been here before, at least that's what Ann Templeton told me."
"Wait a sec: when did you meet Ann Templeton?"
Amy took a deep breath.
"Let me start from the beginning," she decided. "Prior to traveling here last night, I was in Sarnia, a city. When I was little I used to read a lot and one day I came across a series called Spooksville…"
And so Amy explained it all to him from the books to Ann's appearance to the explanation as to why she just up and left in the early of the morning. When she finished Bryce remained silent, thinking over what she had said. The silence was awfully awkward.
"Funny how the gang was talking about how they wanted to be published when all along they were," Amy spoke up, trying to kill the awkwardness.
Bryce broke his train of thought and looked over at Amy. Unexpectedly, he broke into a rare smile.
"Sally's going to get a kick out of it – that's all she ever talks about," he mentioned. "Of course she'll want to know where her share of the money is, but at least she's got fame and recognition."
Bryce looked down at his watch. "We've got a little over an hour to kill before breakfast," he told her. "Is there anything you'd like to see?"
Amy thought. "The cemetery," she suggested.
Although curious as to why she wanted to go there, Bryce nevertheless led her. They never got to the graveyard though. Instead they ran into Watch; or rather saw him from across the street. He seemed lost in thought and so they had to cross the road to get his attention. Bryce introduced them and immediately went about explaining the situation to Watch.
After he was finished, Watch stood there contemplating the matter. "Why wouldn't Ann come see us…?" he shook his head. "I don't suppose you've seen flowers like this before in your dimension, have you?" he questioned as he pulled the flowers out of his cargo's pocket. He had put them in separate Ziploc bags.
"No," Amy answered, studying the flowers. "But that one looks kind of like a Bleeding Heart and Lily."
Watch separated the flower that Amy picked out. "This flower has an amazing regeneration rate; it re-grew its roots over night," he went on, "Not only that, but when I got home last night I cut off a piece of a petal, just to figure out more about the flower, and when I got up this morning it also re-grew the petal." Watch held the flower up again to show them.
"Why are all the flowers red?" Bryce asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," Watch said, "I was thinking about heading over to the gift shop after breakfast to ask Mrs. Crank to have a look though. She sells them and knows a lot about them. After that I'm heading over to the hospital to see if Dr. Paine is in - I'm sure he would be willing to take a look at them."
"But there's still a question unanswered: Why are there flowers and grass growing on the most dangerous creature ever to live in Spooksville's grave, where there has been no living plants to grow since she was buried?" Bryce asked, referring to Madeline Templeton.
"And where do these flowers come from? Why now?" Watch asked. "And what else is coming through the Secret Path?"