Free The Stolen Chapters by James Riley

Tell me how this all started. From the beginning.”
    â€œI don’t know!” Owen said, dropping his head into his hands. “I don’t—”
    But just like that, a memory hit him like a hammer, and he did know.

MISSING CHAPTER 2
    One month ago . . .
    T he library was silent, with just one light left on in the back by the study tables, which were all covered in books. As if by itself, one of the books opened, and a cartoon hand pushed its way out, followed by two lines for an arm and a doodle of a head.

    â€œSo weird!” Bethany said as she emerged, her mouth in the shape of a large O, while her ponytail lines bounced behind her. She used her cartoon hands to pull herself all the way out of the book, then reached in to pull out two more life-size doodles.
    â€œBut so fun !” Owen said, a smile line stretching from one side of his round head to the other. “Look at this!” He yanked on the lines that made his body, then released them, letting them twang back into place. “It’s like they’re rubber bands!”
    â€œI know I agreed to this,” said Kiel, “but when you said ‘diary,’ I can’t say I was expecting that. ” He held one cartoon hand up to his circle mouth as if he might vomit.

    â€œTurn us back already, will you?” Bethany told Kiel, gesturing with her four pudgy fingers for him to hurry. “The last thing I want to do is figure out how to go to the bathroom like this.”
    â€œWait!” Owen said as Kiel raised his cartoon hands into the air, holding two straight lines that were his wands. “Just give me, like, five more minutes. I want to see how far I can pull my arms out before they snap back.”
    Bethany sighed and shook her head. “That is the last time we go into an Owen book,” she whispered to Kiel. “The last time.”
    Kiel waved his wands, and he and Bethany both immediately turned back into their normal selves, Bethany in jeans and a T-shirt, her red hair in a ponytail, Kiel wearing all black, with his cape and wand-knife holsters.
    Owen, still a cartoon, grinned widely as he began tying one arm to the table leg.
    â€œSo?” Kiel said to Bethany as he took deep breaths, thankfully not looking quite so sick anymore. “Are you ready now? You said we should all pick one adventure to have before we do this, and we’ve done that. Some were . . . odder than others, but . . .”
    Bethany couldn’t help smiling at Owen slowly pulling his body away from the table, grunting as the arm tied to the table began stretching. “Everyone has their own idea of fun.”
    â€œAt least mine didn’t almost get us eaten,” Owen said, then returned to his pulling.
    â€œBy fake dragons, no less,” Kiel pointed out.
    â€œThey’re called dinosaurs ,” Bethany said with a sigh. “And unlike dragons, they actually were real here. But now they only exist in stories, so I wanted to see them. I still feel like you two missed the entire point of that.”
    â€œMy arm’s taller than I am!” Owen said, and turned to show them, only to have his arm snap back, yanking him with it right into the table. Owen hit hard enough for little stars to pop out above his head as his pupils turned around and around in his eye circles. “Owwww,” he moaned as Bethany and Kiel just lost it.

    It took a few minutes before Bethany could even speak, and even then she had to wipe tears from her eyes. “Please do that again?” she said, her voice still high-pitched from all her laughing. “I vote you stay in cartoon form for the rest of the night, and just do that over and over.”
    â€œMean,” Owen said, his frown filling up his face. “ Fine , turn me back.”
    â€œYou don’t want to try using your body as a bow and arrow first?” Bethany asked.
    â€œI mean, yes , but not if you’re going to make