Free Legend of the Book Keeper by Daniel Blackaby

the logical guess. “Just keep walking, we’ll lose him in the crowd.”
    Walking as calmly as they could manage, and fighting the overpowering urge to take off running, they briskly headed toward the noise and lights of the main strip. They could hear the soft patter of footsteps behind them. Neither of them dared to look back. Just keep moving .
    At last their road merged with the central hotel strip of the city. The street was an irritated hornet’s nest of people chattering and cars zipping past. As they stopped, the shadowing footsteps behind them froze as well. They could hear heavy breathing. Whoever’s following us is not far behind . The shadow of a body loomed over them. Its arms slowly extended out toward their shoulders. Jade caught Cody’s eye and nodded her head. Three . . . two . . . one . On the third nod they took off running, sprinting for their lives. The shadow’s footsteps drummed after them, but their unannounced burst had startled the stalker and given them a head start.
    They ran directly into the most populated gathering on the street and slipped through the mob by darting left and right. Cody clasped hold of Jade’s hand as they pushed their way through the labyrinth. Emerging from the crowd they came to the busy main street where taxis and limos bustled by. Without warning Jade yanked Cody’s arm and began to run. The next moment was a blur of lights as the sound of whooshing tires whizzed around him. “What do you think you’re doing?! Stay off the road!” screamed a furious cab driver, swerving sharply and narrowly avoiding them.
    Reaching the other side of the street, they paused only for a brief moment before Jade grabbed hold of Cody’s arm again. They dashed to their right, up a flight of stairs, and through the revolving doors of Caesars Palace hotel. Without looking back to see if they were still being tracked, they sprinted through the lobby. The desk attendant stood up to shout something, but they were already out of earshot.
    Sprinting down a long hallway, past several gift shops, they halted; they had come to a dead end. A crowded casino was their only escape; the sound of bells and hollering blasted through the doors from within. Standing directly in front, blocking the entrance was a bulky security guard.
    “What do we do now?!” Jade asked exasperated. “We aren’t old enough to enter and we surely can’t go back. Think! We don’t have any time!”
    The sound of agitated voices followed by hurried footsteps floated toward them from the lobby. Cody glanced around fervently for a solution, but they had nowhere to go. They were trapped.
    He clenched his hands tensely—and paused. The feeling of cold leather pressed against his fingertips. He peered down to his hands in surprise—he was holding the Book. He gazed at it in astonishment; he could not recall removing it from his backpack. Suddenly his fingers began to tingle and he felt his throat clot up, blocking his air path. He dropped to his knees, clutching his neck, as the lump scaled its way up his throat. As the bulge reached the top he wretched his head irrepressibly, “ Bauciva ! Gai di gasme! ” He heard himself utter the words as though a distant bystander to the scene.
    Jade cranked her head, “Shhh! We need to . . . oh, my gosh. How in the world?” Cody followed the trail of her wide eyes toward the empty wall—only it was no longer empty; directly across from them, made entirely out of fine polished wood—was a door.
    Cody shook his head disbelievingly. He was absolutely positive that there had been no door there a minute ago. He shoved the book back into his bag. What’s happening to me?
    Jade dragged him through the new door and he once again found he was breathing Las Vegas air. “Come on, let’s go.”
    They began to run. “Jade, what happened back there? That door just appeared . . . out of nowhere. How . . . ?” Cody’s voice trailed off.
    Jade tugged against his arm. “I . . . don’t