Excerpt #1 – From
Chapter One
Outside, Elvis and Levi took refuge under the
massive jungle gym, sitting on semi-wet bark chips while all around them kids
played and screamed. Baseball games, dodge ball, handball, basketball,
tetherball, jump rope, tag; too many physical activities going on. But Elvis
wasn’t up to competing with kids who could outrun and out jump him. It never
worked out well.
Good at hitting the ball, he could even hold
his own in kick ball, which they often played against the teachers and staff. But
he couldn’t run or move fast. His talents were more the brainy and technical
type. He could hack the Pentagon, but he couldn’t get down court and throw a
decent three-pointer.
“We can’t hide all year, you know,” Levi said,
although somewhat halfheartedly.
“Why not? It worked last year,” Elvis mumbled
back.
Somebody ran by and kicked bark into Levi’s
face. He spit out a woodchip and gave Elvis a “See what I mean?” look.
Excerpt #2 – From
Chapter One
Elvis stopped and turned to see one of the
remaining school bullies—big Billy Bradshaw—standing there smirking. And next
to Billy was his evil sidekick, Joe Broadback. Joe didn’t talk much, just stood
there all meaty and mean looking, like Billy’s bodyguard. Both boys were in the
fourth grade but looked like sixth graders.
Elvis thought about saying something about
their odd and extreme size and asking whether they’d been held back a few
years, but he stopped himself before the first word squeaked out. He liked
living. He wanted to live longer.
So he yanked Levi through the classroom door
and pulled it shut.
Excerpt #3 – From
Chapter Three
Elvis closed his bedroom door once the gang had
been accounted for and handed each boy a black folder. On the cover were the
letters EKHO in large techno silver
lettering.
“Read these, and if you agree with the terms
and specifics, you can sign the last page and give them back to me,” Elvis
said, folding his arms proudly.
“Dude, are these like legal papers? We being
sued? You sound so formal,” Levi said as he flipped through the folder. “And
what is EKHO?”
“Evil Kid Hunting Organization. It’s our name.
Our spy agency. All spy agencies use acronyms.”
“Acro-huh?” Jordy piped up.
Elvis scowled. “Do you not pay attention in
Language Arts class? Jeez. Acronyms use letters to abbreviate words. Like the
CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency. Or like NFL, National Football League.
Duhhhh.”
“Or the YST, You Suck Turds,” Levi added with a
snort.
“Wow, cool.” Jordy’s eyes lit up. “EKHO, cool.”
“So this describes the various ranks, who is
responsible for what, and how we will train newbies—”
Levi cut Elvis off with a wave of his hand.
“Newbie’s? Why do we have to bring in any other kids?”
Elvis shook his head in disbelief. “You
honestly think the four of us can handle spying on all those bullies? I think
we need a little help, dude.”
The boys read through their files.
“I’m in,” Jackson said. “You goth a pen?”
Elvis found a pen and handed it to Jackson, who
promptly signed the form on the final page and handed it back to Elvis.
“Do I geth a copy for my fileth?”
Elvis looked at him, wide-eyed. “You have
files? Of what?”
Jackson shrugged and continued reading. The
other two boys promptly signed and turned in their forms.
Excerpt #4 – from Chapter
Thirteen
Back in class, Elvis sat down and returned to his book. He
felt Santana’s eyes boring through him again, and took out his spy pen, touched
the VIDEO ON button and pretended to scratch his back with it. When he was sure
Mr. Barleycorn wasn’t looking, he turned the volume down and watched the video.
It was a bit shaky from the movements up and down his back,
but what he saw almost made him jump out of his seat.
Maybe it was just the crappy spy pen camera or a trick of the
light, but Elvis could swear he saw a flash come out of Santana’s staring,
glaring eyes. No, it had to be a trick of the light, Elvis assured himself. After
all, it wasn’t like she was a reptilian alien from another planet, just a big
ugly girl who liked to pick on him and his friends. He would get another spy
pen.
Excerpt #5 – from
Chapter Fifteen
Elvis saw who the voice belonged to, and every hair stood on
end, including hairs he didn’t even know he had.
Billy Bradshaw stepped out from behind the hedges bordering
the golf course and stood twenty yards behind Elvis.
Elvis debated the distance. He could outrun him to the condo
entrance, but beyond that was anybody’s guess. Plenty of people were around to
witness it if Billy tried something stupid, which, knowing Billy, was entirely
possible. As Billy slowly walked towards him, Elvis decided to stand his
ground. He had to. He was an EKHO Elite and if Jordy could go down with a split
lip for the cause, he could certainly take some heat.
Billy stopped ten feet away from Elvis, sweating and pale.
Billy cast glances over each shoulder and seemed spooked. He spoke barely above
a whisper. “Dude … can we talk somewhere private?” He panted.
Either the walking had done Billy in, or he was scared
crapless about something. “About what?” Elvis asked.
Billy checked for watchers again.
If he had joined EKHO, Billy could have used the rear vision
sunglasses and could stop craning his neck every few seconds. Elvis held back a
snicker. Of course, Billy wouldn’t join EKHO because it had been started
because of kids like him.
The kids in the park, the golfers, and the runners were all
oblivious. Even the dogs couldn’t give a crap about the strange conversation
between bully and bullied going on just yards away.
“Dude, there is strange stuff going on, and I don’t like it.”
Billy moved a bit closer, and Elvis took a step back.
“What kind of strange
stuff?” Elvis asked, and his voice shook a little.
Billy closed his eyes, and bit his lip, as if trying to
decide whether he should continue. “With DEKE. Strange, just … strange. Joe …
Santana, something is up with them. I can’t explain it, but something is
strange.”
EKHO by Marie D. Jones
Author Marie D. Jones
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