Lucas Warbuck, Tattooey, Book 3

LUCAS

WARBUCK

Tattooey

ARIEL ROMA

LUCAS WARBUCK

Tattooey

Characters, names, places, incidents and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to situations, or real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author or publisher.

Copyright © 2019 Ariel Roma

All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

without written permission from the author.

Cover design by R’tor John Maghuyop

First Edition

ISBN-13: 978-1-7753403-3-1

Published by Moody Mountain Publishing,

Port Moody, BC, Canada

For Richard, who always believes.

CONTENTS

Hope

THE BIG SNOOP

A SCREAMING MESS

LIKE A SUPER HERO

OH RATS!

TAKE ME TO THE KING

TATTOOEY

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?

SCARE THIS KID

THE LAST DROP OF POISON

WICKED WILD

GONE!

ARE YOU NUTS?

THE SPELL

THE LETTER

MORNING STAR KINGDOM

HERO

Ariel Roma Books

LUCAS WARBUCK

Book One: The Prophet’s Call

Book Two: Darkotika

Book Three: Tattooey

Book Four: The Blood-Spot Ring

Book Five: Catchinga

"Hope whispered in my ear ---don’t give up."

1

THE BIG SNOOP

IT WOULD HAVE been a good night if it wasn’t for the crazy frogs squatting around the house and what I saw moving in the shadows in the back yard.

Those dumb frogs are never going to quit croaking burps so I can sleep. The clock on my nightstand screamed, it’s after midnight! Okay, okay. I’ll get up and give ‘em one of my flaming burrito glares. It won’t scare ‘em, but hey, it’ll make me feel better.

Under the window, my old toy chest is cold against my legs. I was sweatin’ anyway. No. I don’t play with toys anymore. But I still wanna’ keep ‘em.

The basketball moon is playing war-games tonight, poking light through the oak tree’s branches, throwing light-swords and laser beams all over the backyard. Cool. I’d love to be in the fight!

It’s the time of year when the days are blazing hot and the night air makes your teeth chatter. Moon sparked dew-drops splatter the lawn. Crickets sizzling in the grass are backup singers for the frogs. Everything’s still. There’s not even a leaf twitching on the old oak tree.

I was at my bedroom window scanning the yard, hunting for frogs, when an electric bolt lit up my spine. My eyes bulged out of their sockets! Hey. What’s that?

I hunted through the shadows to see more and managed to catch a glimpse of a dull figure moving under the oak tree. It appeared and disappeared again. Were my eyes playing tricks? I didn’t know for sure.

What you should know about me is that I’m not the kinda’ guy to say, I gotta check this out. I can’t explain it, but that’s exactly what I did. The floor boards under my feet squeaked, no don’t! No don’t! I didn’t hear it. Neither did lazy-bones Felix curled in a tight knot on my bed. He didn’t move an inch.

I tip toed out of my room and snuck past my parent’s door. Nope ---not waking them up.

The staircase was a dark tunnel. I skipped steps all the way down and by the time I landed at the bottom, my heart was hammering. I didn’t know why. Maybe it was because I didn’t normally do this kind of thing. I raced down the hall like a fireball was after me.

When I opened the screen door at the back of the house it screeched like I was killin’ it. I helped it to close behind me just to shut-it-up.

Wet grass stuck to my bare feet. A sharp twig just stabbed my toe. Whose dog is that howling a few streets over? He sounds lonely.

A whack-load of fear slammed my gut. Maybe it’s just the spicy pizza I ate last night but something isn’t right. Unless those are shadows under the tree, there are monsters everywhere! (C’mon, you’d be thinkin’ the same thing!) The hum of the freight train rolling slowly over the trestle bridge at the river gorge rattled my nerves. The hum? Ah… now it’s a growl.

The frogs… they’re close. Goose bumps popping like pop-corn prickle my neck. Can frogs morph into crocodiles?

Look out! It’s a snake! Oh. Ha. Never mind. It’s the garden hose.

So, yeah. Haha. I’m jumpy. But you would be too if you just nuked a boa-constrictor.

Creeeek. The wise old oak tree groaned. A limb shifted near the top of the tree. It didn’t sway much, but it was enough. An eye-aching beam of light blazed through the tree branches. Aaaaah! It speared me to the ground. Here’s where it gets weird. I’m pretty sure by now some of you must think I’m a wimp, but suddenly, after that light flash, I feel like ---a super-hero? Instantly, it’s like nothing can touch me!

The shadow monsters faded to nothing. The train growling down the track, suddenly whistled happy. The frogs? I took care of ‘em. Hey. Be quiet why don’t ya’! I yelled. I’m the boss around here. A guy needs his sleep ya’ know. It worked. After that, all I heard was ---crickets.

I pried squinty eyed into the shadows. All still. Not sure what I saw from my bedroom window. Must have been nuthin’.

When I got back to my room I was too wired to sleep. I’m not sure why, but that book Uncle Henry left me was on my mind. It was still somewhere in my old toy chest. The lid squeaked open. I dug around until I found it.

I still hadn’t figured out that the ravens were really Darkotika spies. So, you got one-up on me. Ravens don’t usually work at night, but this guy Radger is always on. He was perched on a branch outside my window. "Squawk! Bad news. Bad news," Radger reported.

Shut up bird, I whispered at him, you’re gonna’ wake everybody up! It worked. He dive-bombed away.

Morning came in a blink. Downstairs in the kitchen, eggs cracked, bacon sizzled and bread toasted. Coffee perked, juice slurped, and breakfast dishes soaked in the sudsy kitchen sink. The lazy sun dipped in and out of cotton candy clouds.

The slam-bang of the back door snapped Felix out of his dreamy sleep. I was already ratcheting myself up the fort ladder by the time his eyes peeked open and he wondered what I was up to. A half yawn and a rushed stretch was all he had time for. He wanted to catch up with me. He dove off the back porch, scampered across the grass, climbed the tree, performed his latest balance beam routine across the ledge, and jumped to the fort floor.

He couldn’t resist poking his head into the coconut cup tipped over under a swing-chair. He licked the rim, sniffed and looked up. A twiggy leaf whirled down from the skylight window. After a flying leap, a brisk mountain-climb up the rafters and a kerfuffle with the bottom of my tennis shoe, he caught up with me. Merrow.

I hear you Felix. It’s about time you hauled your lazy carcass out of bed. Don’t you follow me up! I’ll be right back. Was I surprised Felix followed me? Nope. He almost always did.

The rest of the climb to the top of the treehouse was easy, but I couldn’t believe this. The skylight window was already open. Did I forget to close it last time?

I peeked through the window. The air was crisp and breezy. The tiki grass on the roof fluttered and slapped my ears. I shoved it aside and hoisted myself up onto the roof. My breath frosted into marshmallow puffs. It’s c-c-cold up here.

It’s so crazy. It’s hard to take in. What could be weirder than star wars on top of my fort? That’s what I want to know. The very first time I came up here I saw something really weird. My head was buzzin’, my brain was tangled, and no one else saw it but me. Sloane and Maxx were glued to the cosmos sky, and then there was Nunzio. I need to know more. The stuff I saw--- it’s a ball of confusion inside my head.

I should have known Felix wouldn’t listen. So, he’s rubbing my leg, swatting at the tiki-grass, and pin-wheeling for the perfect spot to lay.

Felix. I told you not to come. Don’t you go jumping off!

Suddenly, a black shadow sheeted across the sky, cutting off beams of light poking through the galaxy. It gave me a jolt. An electric wire lit up my insides. I ducked.

Mmmm, mmm, mmm, Felix hummed a growl. He crouched low and turkey-sat with his eyes rounded wide. His tail twitched and flipped in wild swings.

What was that!

Felix. What do you see? I whispered.

I followed Felix’s gaze. My throat clamped like a steel trap and my mouth tasted like a hot pepper. Goosebumps popped like popcorn all over my skin. My feet cemented to the roof, which was good ‘cause it kept me from leaping to my death when I felt a mob of spiders scramble up my back. That was creepy. My fingers combed the back of my hair. Okay. Cool it, I told myself. Your mind’s just messing with you.

Was it just gunk in my eyes distorting my view? I blinked hard. My mom’s always telling me my imagination’s going to get me in trouble. Maybe she’s right. But does this look like something I could come up with? Ah… nope.

So, yeah. Suddenly, I was in a sci-fi movie! It was the same as the first time I came up here. It was just like I saw before.

I glanced over my shoulder. "Felix. Do you see what I see?" Felix didn’t answer. His eyes flickered golden. His tail was flipping. He hummed a low growl. I could tell he was ready to fight. Yeah. Felix saw it too.

Shocks tingled my spine. I tried hard not to spaz out. A fire-sparking freeway zoomed like electrons through a high voltage cable. It stretched between Darkotika and Target and I could see different types of creatures zip-lining in and out. On the ground, dirty gray creepy guys moved in the streets like Middlings. Some gathered in huddles around certain houses. Others marched in groups like armies. The armies held banners and flags but I couldn’t see what was on them from here.

My head was on a swivel. Wh-a-a-t? I’m not into architecture or any of that kind of junk, but there are these guys ---gargoyles perched on the corners of Target City Hall? I’ve seen ‘um before but I always thought they were statues. But, they’re real? Steam snorting gargoyles with gassy, blue flamed eyes? I wonder what my mother would think about this.

I turned away but I had to look back. Yup. I knew it. One of those gargoyles was torching me with a hot glare. It felt like a sucker-punch, worse than the one Lenny gutted me with.

Felix growled louder. His tail flipped like a switchblade.

About now, some of you may be wondering why I didn’t just make a run for it. Why didn’t I just duck back inside the fort and forget the whole thing? That’s a good question. I can only blame my sense of adventure, and insanely inquisitive nature. I had to figure this out. Besides,