Magic Tales

Ryan then listened quietly for the sound again with the intensity of a cougar waiting in the brush for dinner. His ears were sure they detected a low humming sound coming from inside the room. Listening intensely, he then quietly tiptoed toward the area where the bookcase had just been a few minutes earlier. As he looked down, his eyes were suddenly drawn to an outline on the floorboards right where the bookcase used to be. He reached down to the floorboard and ran his fingers slowly along the ridge of the outline. His excitement was surpassed at this point only by his curiosity. He decided to use his thumbnail to pry at the wood to see if there really was something there. It was not budging at all, but that did not quell his determination. His mind was racing so fast and it was so quiet in the room, that he could hear his heart banging like a bongo in his head. He tried again, using the same thumbnail and the same intensity. He could feel his nail bend as the stubborn floorboard started to give way a little bit. Ryan could now clench the floorboard outline with the edges of his sweaty fingers. He pulled with less power than he thought he needed to, and suddenly, a small 6 x 6 inch section of floorboard jumped into his hand, revealing a secret hole. In his mind, Ryan yelled, “I knew something was there!” He slowly brought his head closer to the hole to see if he could see inside, but it was dark and he couldn’t see anything. With much apprehension, Ryan reached out and slipped his shaking hand ever so slowly into the floorboards. His overactive mind suddenly pictured a rattlesnake just sitting there in the hole waiting for his hand as it sunk in. Unrealistic as that thought was, it still put a fright into him as his hand grappled around. Finally, Ryan’s fingers met a cold, hard object. His eyes widened as his fingers then slid along the object until they found the edges. Ryan’s hand then grasped it quickly and pulled it out of the hole. He silently wished he hadn’t pulled it out so quickly, as an army of dust attacked him as soon as he did; making him sneeze uncontrollably. After gaining his senses again, he examined the item. It appeared to be a solid stone, black in color and rectangular in shape. For a moment, he likened it to a black brick, only a little wider. He held it up over his head and shook it. His first impression was that this was very light for a rock. Secondly, Ryan couldn’t help but notice a shuffling sound within the rock, leading him to believe that something was loose inside. The eighth grader looked back at the hole and wondered if there was anything else in there. He crouched down with his open hand and reached out to the hole once again. This time there was no trepidation in his hand. It went directly into the hole and quickly found a cold, metallic object. He took hold of it and pulled it from its secret hiding place. Ryan opened his hand and in it was a knife. Ryan put the rock down and opened the knife. The blade of the knife was different than any Ryan had ever seen before. Instead of tapering down to a point, the blade actually got wider and bore three points that looked like needles on steroids. The knife had some intricate carvings on each side and looked like it had never been used before, yet Ryan knew that there was something special about it. “What is this thing?” he wondered.