The Demon Card Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1: EPIC WARRIORS

  CHAPTER 2: SPECIAL ABILITY

  CHAPTER 3: JUST A CARD

  CHAPTER 4: CASCADE OF FIRE

  CHAPTER 5: ANGERHEART

  CHAPTER 6: THE DEMON CARD

  CHAPTER 7: THE BATTLE BEGINS

  CHAPTER 8: STABBED IN THE BACK

  The Crazy Cat Lady Case

  Glossary

  Discussion Questions

  Writing Prompts

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  Chapter 1

  Epic Warriors

  Mark Gannon had a smile on his face as he walked down the street with his friend Alex. Mark held an unopened pack of Epic Warriors cards in his hands. He rubbed the cellophane wrapper.

  Mark and Alex had just left the local comics and gaming shop. While there, they’d each bought a new deck of playing cards. Alex had already opened his. He flipped through his new cards as they walked.

  “Score,” Alex said, grinning. He held a card up in Mark’s face. “This armor card is going to boost my Warrior’s defense to the max,” he boasted. “AngerHeart will be unbeatable now.”

  AngerHeart was the Warrior Card Alex always played. He was the best warrior that Alex or Mark knew of. Mark was tired of getting smashed whenever they played.

  Mark tapped the unopened deck in his hand. “We’ll see about that,” he said.

  “Then let’s see what you got this time!” Alex said, pointing at Mark’s deck.

  “I never open mine until we get home,” Mark said. “You know that.”

  Alex shook his head and grinned. “Whatever, man,” he said. “Doesn’t matter — you’re not going to get a new Warrior Card good enough to beat AngerHeart.”

  Alex’s apartment was just ahead. He lived above Ravens Pass Grocery on Main Street. When they reached the door, Mark and Alex sprinted up the three flights of stairs, into the apartment, and to Alex’s bedroom. As soon as they were inside, Mark tore open his new pack of cards.

  Slowly and carefully, Mark flipped over his first card to reveal an armored shield. “Garbage,” Alex announced.

  Mark’s next card was a pair of leather gloves. “Hmph,” Alex grunted. “Useless.” Mark rolled his eyes.

  Mark lifted another card to reveal a wooden battle-axe. Alex shook his head. “My hero’s war mace is ten times better than that weapon,” he bragged. He jabbed Mark with his elbow. “This is a terrible deck — so much for good luck, huh?”

  Mark sighed. He flipped several more cards, with Alex ridiculing each card after each flip. When there was only one more card left, Mark turned it over very slowly.

  Mark’s eyes went wide. “What — what is this?” he whispered. The card looked different from the others. Its edges were adorned with gold, making the borders dance with light. Along the top, the words that Mark had been hoping to see were written in silver letters: Epic Warrior!

  This one’s name was DeathBringer, and he was no ordinary Warrior. The monstrous figure stood in a blazing inferno, swinging a wicked morning star over his head. Dark steel armor — the strongest armor type in the entire game — covered his body. Red, burning eyes seemed to be smoldering right through the card itself.

  And the best thing? DeathBringer wielded a Skull Shield that doubled his Armor Class.

  “I guess it’s a new Epic Warrior,” Alex said. “But look at that.” He pointed at the bottom of the card, where the hero’s faction was written: Demon.

  “I’ve never heard of a demon faction,” Mark said. “AngerHeart is human, and my other warrior, GraceBlood, is an elf. But a demon? There’s no such thing.”

  Alex shrugged. “How are his stats?” he asked.

  Mark flipped the card over and read through DeathBringer’s stats and special abilities. “Wow,” he said. “His Armor Class is twice as high as AngerHeart’s.”

  “What?” Alex said. He snatched the metallic card and looked for himself. “Thirty-nine AC?!” Alex cried.

  “Yup,” Mark said. He nodded. “And look at his special abilities.”

  Alex read, “Cascade of Fire. Armor Decay. Coma Blow. Presence.” Then he handed the card back to Mark. Mark took it, smiling, and gazed at the demon figure on the front.

  “AngerHeart has the Presence ability too,” Alex said. “I don’t even know what Presence does.”

  Mark shrugged. “Me either,” he said. “Probably has something to do with an expansion pack. That would also explain why DeathBringer is the only demon I’ve ever seen. Maybe the new expansion will come out next year?”

  “Maybe,” Alex said. “Either way, you’re going to be unbeatable with that Warrior — even without using his special abilities.”

  Mark’s smile got even bigger.

  “I’m going to challenge Greg tomorrow,” Mark said.

  There was a knock on the door. Alex’s mom called out, “Mark, your father’s on the phone. You’re late for dinner.”

  Mark pulled his phone from his pocket. The battery was dead. “Oops,” he said. “I’d better get home.”

  “Hold on a sec,” Alex said. He sat at his desk and turned on his computer. “Let’s check the forums to see if anyone’s heard of this card or a demon faction.”

  Mark sat on the edge of the bed and handed Alex the card. “All right,” he said, glancing at the clock. “But make it fast.”

  “I will, I will,” Alex said. He quickly scanned the card, and then posted the image to a discussion board about the game.

  In the subject line, Alex wrote the word “DeathBringer.” In the post itself, he attached the image of the card and wrote, “Does anyone have this card? Since when is there a demon faction?”

  Alex handed the card back to Mark. “There you go,” he said. “Hopefully someone will reply.”

  Mark scooped up the rest of his deck and grabbed his bag. “Okay, tell me tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll see you at school.”

  “See ya,” Alex called out. As he turned back to his computer, he saw that a reply had already popped up on the forum. In bold, red letters, it read, “THAT CARD MUST BE DESTROYED.”

  Chapter 2

  Special Ability

  Early the next morning, Mark and Alex met on their walk to Ravens Pass Middle School. Alex filled Mark in on the forum post. “That’s it?” Mark asked. “He just said to destroy the card?”

  “Nope,” Alex said, chuckling. “His second message said we should send it to him because he has to recite a certain spell while burning the card.”

  “Yeah, right,” Mark said. “He just wants the card for himself.”

  “Agreed,” Alex said. “It must be pretty valuable.”

  “Must be,” Mark said. “So, nobody said anything about the demon faction?”

  Alex shook his head. “Nothing worth repeating,” he said. “A few people said we made it up, that it was fake, stuff like that.”

  Mark pulled open the double doors to their school. “Figures,” he said. “See you at lunch.”

  “Later,” Alex said.

  * * *

  The school day went by slowly. Mark couldn’t keep his eyes off the clock. He was counting down the minutes until lunch, because he was planning to challenge Greg at Epic Warriors.

  Greg had the best deck in school, and he always knew what card to play. He had never lost a single match.

  When lunch finally came, Mark sat down at the corner circular table in the cafeteria. Greg was already there. His coat was over the chair next to him. He had a big smirk on his face as he shuffled his deck.

  “So,” Greg said as Mark took out his own deck, “you looking to get embarrassed by me again, Mark?”

  Mark glanced at Alex and returned his smirk. He pulled out DeathBringer and slid the card across the tabl
e to Greg.

  Greg scooped it up smoothly. He whistled. “DeathBringer, huh?” he said. “Nice stats.”

  He read the abilities out loud. “Demon Dagger: ‘Plus 100 attack power against demons,’” he said.

  “That’s kinda useless until there are some other demon cards in the game,” Greg said.

  Mark smirked. “Just check out the other special abilities,” he said.

  Greg glanced at DeathBringer’s other attacks. “Four special abilities?” he said. “Most only have one or two. That should come in pretty handy.”

  Greg handed the card back to Mark. “Then again, if you can’t get through my warriors,” Greg said, “none of that will do you much good.”

  “We’ll see,” Mark said. “You ready?”

  “Always,” Greg replied. He passed his deck to Mark, and Mark shuffled it. Then Greg shuffled Mark’s deck. The battle began.

  Mark’s first few attacks did no damage. Whatever he tried, Greg’s warriors blocked.

  “Thought so,” Greg said. “I’ll wear down your warrior eventually.”

  Almost all of Greg’s attacks were landing, since most of Mark’s equipment cards weren’t very good. Then Mark came up with an idea. He decided to use one of DeathBringer’s special abilities. He said, “I cast Armor Decay.” Then he turned his warrior card to show that one of the warrior’s abilities was being used.

  Greg had to remove all his equipment cards from the game. Now only his warriors and their allies could protect him.

  “Now you’re in trouble,” Alex said from over Mark’s shoulder. “Mark will definitely land his next —”

  “Actually,” said a voice above them, “now you’re all in trouble.”

  It was Mr. Snyder, their gym teacher. “You boys have been told you’re not allowed to play this game in school,” he said. “Now put the cards away before I take them.”

  Greg nodded and smiled. “Yes sir, Mr. Snyder,” he said. He scooped up his cards and put them back in his deck case.

  Mr. Snyder grunted and walked away. “You’re lucky,” Mark said to Greg. “If Mr. Snyder hadn’t ended that battle, I would’ve beaten you.”

  Greg shrugged as he got up from the table. “Not likely,” he said. “But Armor Decay is a great ability. I’ll be sure to wait until the next expansion before I face you again.”

  “Chicken,” Alex said.

  Greg chuckled and walked away.

  As Greg passed the lunch line, three big guys wearing letter jackets bumped into him. Greg stumbled into the garbage bins against the wall. His books and his bag fell to the ground, spilling papers and books everywhere. Even worse, Greg’s deck case slammed into the tiled wall. The case sprang open on impact, sending his cards flying into the garbage bin.

  The guys in the letter jackets laughed as Greg jumped to his feet and ran to the bin. As Greg lifted a handful of cards from the garbage, Mark saw that the cards were covered in tomato sauce and warm milk.

  The cards were ruined — every single one of them.

  Chapter 3

  Just a Card

  After school, Alex and Mark walked along Main Street toward Alex’s apartment. “That was hilarious!” Alex said. “Poor Greg, he’ll need to spend a fortune to rebuild his deck now.”

  Mark was staring at his DeathBringer card as they walked. “You don’t think it’s a little weird?” Mark asked. “I mean, I cast Armor Decay — an equipment-destroying spell. Then, seconds later, all of Greg’s cards were ruined by those bullies!”

  “Yeah,” Alex said, chuckling. “Pretty funny coincidence.”

  “I don’t know if it was just a coincidence,“ Mark said softly.

  Alex rolled his eyes. “Oh, give me a break,” he said. “Next you’re gonna tell me that you believe in magic.”

  Alex’s constant teasing was starting to get on Mark’s nerves. He pulled out his deck of cards and tossed his bag onto the bench at a bus stop. “Let’s play,” Mark said.

  “Right here?” Alex said, pointing at the bus bench.

  Mark grinned. “Why not?” he asked. “You scared?”

  Alex sighed. “Fine,” he said. He took out his own cards. “But this is really silly.”

  Alex’s hero, AngerHeart, did not have the stellar equipment Greg had. But AngerHeart attacked faster, and every three turns he got a free bonus attack. This meant the best way to beat him was to slow him down.

  Mark looked at DeathBringer’s special abilities. If he used Coma Blow, AngerHeart would be powerless for three turns. It would give DeathBringer a chance to land a couple of big attacks before Alex could counter.

  Mark looked into Alex’s eyes and said, “Coma Blow.” He tapped the card.

  Alex frowned. Now he couldn’t call upon his allies or attack. AngerHeart was a sitting duck.

  Over the next three turns, Mark landed three powerful attacks. By the time AngerHeart came out of his coma, he had lost nearly all of his health points.

  Two turns later, AngerHeart died. “Well, you won,” Alex said, packing up his cards. “But nothing bad happened to me. AngerHeart was in a coma for three rounds, and I’m not in a coma.” Alex chuckled. “So I still get the last laugh, dork.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Mark said, feeling kind of foolish. “So I got a little carried away.”

  “You think?” Alex said, smirking. He stood up from the bus stop bench. “Anyway, I gotta head home.”

  “See you later,” Mark said.

  Alex stepped off the curb to cross the street. He didn’t see the bus pulling in to the bus stop. It hit him, and Alex flew across the pavement. He landed in the intersection with a sickening thud.

  Mark screamed.

  Chapter 4

  Cascade of Fire

  The next morning, Mark sat next to Alex’s parents in the hospital. They were all waiting to hear how Alex was doing. Mark had been at the hospital all night, ever since Alex had been hit by the bus.

  The bus had been about to stop, so it hadn’t been going very fast. Still, Alex had been knocked out and hadn’t woken up during the ambulance ride.

  Mark looked up to see a doctor walking toward them.

  “Alex has a broken rib and possibly a concussion,” the doctor said. “He’s asleep now, but he should wake up soon.”

  Alex’s parents sighed with relief. Mark cleared his throat. “Can I see him?” he asked the doctor. Then he glanced at Alex’s parents. They nodded.

  The doctor put a hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Go ahead,” he said. “But please be quiet.”

  “Okay,” Mark said. He slowly walked down the hall toward Alex’s room.

  As he gently opened the door, he saw that Alex was lying in his hospital bed with his eyes closed. A couple of machines were hooked up to him. He had bandages on his head and one hand, and his ribs were covered in white gauze.

  Mark sat down in a chair next to the bed. Oh, man, he thought. Alex is in bad shape.

  He took out his DeathBringer card and flipped it over in his hands. “I knew it,” Mark whispered. “I knew this card was cursed.”

  “Dork,” a voice said. Mark lifted his head and smiled. Alex was staring and smirking at him.

  Mark leaned forward. “You’re awake?!” he said.

  Alex nodded slowly. He let out a raspy chuckle.

  “So, do you believe me now?” Mark asked.

  Alex shrugged and shook his head. “Coincidence,” he said hoarsely.

  Mark frowned. He took out his deck and began to set up a game on the table next to the bed.

  Mark placed DeathBringer across from his other Warrior card, GraceBlood.

  “What are you doing?” Alex asked.

  “I’m going to prove that this card is cursed by playing against myself,” Mark said. He tapped GraceBlood. “And no one is in any danger this time — except me.”

  Alex narrowed his eyes. “Stop,” he said. He started to sit up, but he let out a groan and cradled his ribs with his hands.

  “I’m playing DeathBringer’s special abilit
y now,” Mark said. “Cascade of Fire.”

  Alex sat up a little. “Well?” he asked. “Did it kill your other warrior?”

  “GraceBlood is down to . . . ten health points,” Mark said.

  “Then finish her off,” Alex said.

  Mark nodded. He attacked once more with DeathBringer, killing GraceBlood. “Done,” Mark said.

  The two boys sat in silence. A few moments later, Alex spoke up. “See?” he said. “Nothing bad happened to you.” He grinned. “You’re just a dork.”

  Mark packed up his cards. “Maybe,” he said uncertainly. “Anyway, I’m going to get the doctor and tell him you’re awake.”

  Alex nodded and laid back onto his bed. As Mark opened the door, an orderly zipped past him with a cart of oxygen tanks. The room door scraped against the metal cart and created a tiny spark. It was just enough to light the leaking oxygen from one of the tanks. A wide plume of fire blasted out from the tanks, sending Mark flying back into Alex’s room.

  The door slammed closed, trapping the fire in the hall. Alarms began to sound and the sprinkler system clicked on. The fire continued to rage outside the room. Inside, Mark climbed to his feet. His hair and clothes were singed, but he wasn’t injured.

  “Now do you believe it?” Mark said between coughs.

  Alex’s eyes were wide. “What should we do?” he asked nervously.

  Mark gently removed the IV from his friend’s arm. “We have to get out of here,” he said. “Let’s get you dressed.”

  Mark helped Alex climb out of bed. He pulled on his jeans and sweatshirt over his hospital gown.

  “Think you can handle climbing out?” Mark asked.

  Alex cradled his ribs with his left arm and walked to the window. With his other hand, Alex grabbed the latch on the window and threw it open. He looked over his shoulder at Mark with a determined look on his face. “Let’s go,” he said.

  * * *

  Moments later, Alex and Mark reached the other side of the huge hospital parking lot. Alex sat down carefully on the grass. He was out of breath and wheezing. “I need to stop,” he said.