Free The Stolen Chapters by James Riley Page B

straight.
    But then a small ball of light appeared right in front of Kiel’s wand, and Bethany stopped breathing completely.
    All three of them leaned forward, waiting to see where it’d go. The ball hung in place for just a moment, then jumped toward the mysteries section.
    Bethany’s heart leaped into her throat, and she took a step to follow it, only to stop as the light paused in midair. It seemed to shake just a bit, then move toward the romance books.
    Then it paused again and just quivered in midair, like it wasn’t sure where to go.
    â€œWhat’s it doing?” Owen whispered.
    â€œI don’t know, I’ve never seen this before,” Kiel whispered back.
    The ball trembled harder and harder and began to glow brighter as it did, the light soon becoming hard to look at. As it shook, smaller balls of light exploded out of the original, flying off in every direction. First dozens, then hundreds, maybe even thousands of balls filled the air, so bright that Bethany could barely see anything, as if the sun had just appeared in the middle of the room.
    â€œTurn it off!” Owen shouted. “Someone’s going to see!”
    Kiel shouted some magic words, but the balls of light kept popping out of the first one, then flying off into every corner of the library. Finally, the original ball flew off as well, and the three kids covered their eyes as best they could to see where the light balls had gone.
    They didn’t have to look far.
    Each and every book in the library had a ball of light directly in front of it.
    Every single book.
    Bethany’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Somewhere in the distance a siren began blaring, and Owen grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the door of the library. She stumbled after him as Kiel followed, behind them the location spells fading away into nothing.
    None of them said another word as they quietly made their way into the bushes beside the library while a police car slowly pulled up. The police officer shined his light into the now-dark building, then shrugged and got back into his car. A moment later he pulled away, and Kiel and Owen both turned to Bethany, their eyes filled with questions.
    â€œI knew it,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “ I knew it. It never works. Nothing does. This is my fault, and he’s never coming back.”
    â€œBethany,” Kiel started to say, but she shoved him away.
    â€œNO!” she shouted. “I’m done, do you hear me? I give up! I can’t do this anymore! I just . . . I can’t take this. He’s gone and he’s never coming back. And I’m done! Leave me alone!”
    And with that, she turned and ran, the cold wind whipping her face so hard she found it covered in tears by the time she got home. Once there, she snuck up to her room, locked the door, and screamed as loudly as she could right into her pillow, until her throat hurt and she saw spots in front of her eyes.
    Finally, she reached under her bed, grabbed a specific book, and dove right in, not wanting to spend another minute in the real world.

CHAPTER 16
    01:29:56
    W ith water reaching almost to her knees, Bethany rocked the chair left and right as hard as she could. Finally, momentum sent her over the edge, crashing the chair onto its side and spraying water in every direction.
    â€œAH!” she shouted as the cold water splashed over her from head to toe. Why did it have to be cold? Couldn’t this stupid death trap at least have had warm water?
    She bent forward in the chair, trying to see where the ropes were attached from her ankles to the chair. As far as she could tell, it looked like the ropes had been tied to the chair’s feet. She managed to slip the knots down off the chair legs, then pulled her legs up to her and untied the ropes, freeing her ankles.
    Unfortunately, the chains around her wrists were a different story. They looked to be bolted to the chair