A/N: Sorry I'm a day late with this chapter! Again, the book this is meshed with is called "Showdown" and it's by Ted Dekker (the greatest author EVER!). Everything's supposed to be a bit confusing right now, more will be explained when the investigations start! And, I must apologize, but from now on the chapters are going to be a little shorter, but, on the plus side, very action packed! :)

Thanks to kimi-lee22, Ozma, iluvjoe, BlueEyes444, and MCR-1993 for their amazing reviews for chapter 2! Enjoy chapter three, and please REVIEW! :D

Paradise Broken

Chapter Three

Paradise, Colorado

June 3, 2010

"Dad was right," Frank Hardy said as he glanced around the Drake household, waiting for Johnny to return, "something is very weird around here."

The boys had arrived in Paradise the morning after their father had called. They had gone straight to the Drake home and were relieved that Sally had agreed to let them stay for a few days as they said they had heard about what was happening in Paradise from their father and they wanted to learn more about Black's grace and power. Sally had just gone to the bar and the boys had let Johnny Drake know the actual reason they were there. Johnny had been relieved and had gone to get something for the boys to drink.

When he returned, he had three glasses of lemonade. "No one is acting the same," Johnny said as he took his seat. "Steve Smithers won't even leave his house to go to work anymore; Mom said that Katie Bowers is in charge of it now—and trust me, the last thing you want is to put Katie behind a bar in charge of an unlimited supply of liquor." He sighed. "I went to see Steve last night, you know, to see if I could help him with anything. But his wife, Paula, wouldn't let me in and I kept hearing these strange thumping noises from the backyard. I'm telling you: Marsuvees Black is behind it all."

"We believe you," Joe said. His mind was feeling a little foggy, just like Fenton had said his had been when he had visited Paradise. "And we're going to do our best to figure out what exactly he has up his sleeve."

"Do you believe me about Cecil, too?" Johnny asked, and Frank hesitated.

"We believe that he killed Cecil, no doubt," Frank said, "but the way the murder was committed, at least, the way you said it was committed, seems very unlikely, especially since Joe and I visited the morgue before we came here—his eyes were intact."

Johnny banged a fist against the coffee table. "I'm telling you—Black is not your normal villain! It wouldn't shock me at all if he had some sort of magical powers! He's not normal. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't witnessed it with my own two eyes!"

"Hey, we're not the enemy here, remember?" Joe said soothingly. "And for what it's worth, I believe you. Frank is just a big stick in the mud. He doesn't believe in anything cool or unusual, like Superman or Garfield."

Johnny gave Joe a strange look. "Superman and Garfield are cartoons. I'm not three; I'm thirteen. Please don't patronize me."

Frank snorted. "Joe's just trying to be funny. And not succeeding." Johnny smirked. "So what's our plan?"

Joe, still looking rather mopey, said, "I'll follow Black—you said he's staying in the basement of the church?" Johnny nodded. "Frank, why don't you and Johnny go to the Smithers' and try to find out what that Steve dude is doing in his backyard. We'll meet back here in, say, an hour or so."

The other two agreed, and the group split up.

Not a wise thing to do when Marsuvees Black is on the loose.

Ten minutes later, Joe was peering through the church's basement window. He had followed Black from the saloon—a strange place for a preacher to be, he decided—to the church. From what Joe could see, Black was simply brushing his teeth, looking in the wide mirror that lined the wall of the bathroom. The windows were frosted over, but the one at the bathroom where Black was primping was conveniently broken. Perhaps too conveniently.

Joe was about to turn away, bored, to try to find a way to sneak into the church, when something Black did caught his eye.

The black-clad man roared at the mirror, and when he did, his skin flapped back over his skull as if a wind had just blown his face right off. Joe lay on the ground, staring in the window, frozen with shock and disbelief as the bare, ivory skull turned its head and the black, calculating eyes swiveled in their sockets and locked on his face. Joe let out a cry of alarm.

He blinked.

Black was gone. So was the skull. Maybe his father was right. Maybe Paradise did strange things to a person's head.

Then Joe heard a chuckle behind him. Black. But how could he have possibly gotten here so fast, especially when he had no time to have left the church to be suddenly standing over Joe Hardy? Joe struggled to his feet and faced Black. When he did, he only got a small glimpse of the man's face—skin and all—before Marsuvees Black pulled back a black gloved fist and slammed it into Joe's jaw.

Joe was unconscious before he hit the ground.

A/N: Told you things would get crazy and exciting! Please review and I'll update soon-promise! :D

~Emachinescat ^..^