Star League 8 by H.J. Harper Page A

the world!’
    I frown, staring at the powerful seventh shard in their hands. I don’t want to see the bad guys restore the Shadow Stone, but how can I stop them myself? If it weren’t for me they wouldn’t even have the seventh shard. I’ve really messed up big this time.
    I stare miserably at the ground. As far as I can see, there’s only one thing I can do to save my friends.
    I take a step towards my parents.

One moment I’m staring down Jay’s evil parents, the next everything goes dark. And I’m not just talking about the regular kind of dark with a moon and stars. I’m talking pitch black. It’s so dark I can’t even see my hands when I wiggle them in front of my face. I reach out and feel rough stone walls on either side of me, so I know I’m not in the tower any more.
    â€˜Where do you guys think we are?’ My voice echoes around the stone walls. ‘Hey, do you hear THAT?’ There’s no answer other than my own voice bouncing back. ‘Guys?’
    I feel a stab of panic as I realise I’m alone somewhere in a dark cave. What if I’m stuck down here for the rest of my life? Or worse, what if I’mnot actually alone down here? I keep my ears open for the sound of monsters creeping up behind me, but the only thing I can hear is my own rapid breathing.
    â€˜Okay, Connor, calm down. Don’t freak yourself out. Just transform into a werewolf and you’ll be able to see in the dark.’ I close my eyes and try to make the Change, but nothing happens. Then I remember Mrs Casey’s threat just before we were teleported out of the tower. ‘I can’t believe it, they actually took our powers!’
    I need to find the others. Together we can figure out a way to get our powers back, but right now I’m totally exposed. I freeze at the sound of footsteps behind me – quiet ones, as though someone is trying to sneak up on me.
    â€˜Asuka?’ I ask, trying not to let my voice wobble. ‘Leigh? Sam?’ I frown. ‘Roger?’
    But there’s no answer. That’s when I really start to freak out. I spin around on the spot as I try tofind a way out. Everything feels way too close in here, as though the walls are closing in. ‘Calm down, Connor, you’re imagining things!’ But the more I say it the more freaked out I get. ‘I can get out of here. I just need to find a path!’
    I calm down enough to put one foot shakily out in front of me and take a step forward. Immediately I imagine stepping off a cliff in the middle of the darkness. ‘That’s not helping!’ I order my overactive imagination to be quiet as I take another step forward and another. Soon I’m following a path through the dark cave, trailing my hand along one wall to guide me.
    After a while the air seems to grow lighter and warmer, as though I’m climbing higher. I start to hope that maybe I’ll find an exit out of this place, and then I can teach both Professors Pestilence a lesson in not kidnapping kids and stealing their powers. I’m feeling so good about this plan that I start taking bigger steps and soon I’m practicallyrunning along in the dark.
    I’m doing so well that it comes as a big shock when I run face-first into a wall.
    â€˜Ouch,’ I mutter. ‘That hurt.’ I pause for a moment to rub my forehead and that’s when I hear a noise. It’s very quiet, but I definitely know I heard something. I stay as still as a statue as I try to pinpoint the sound – a kind of scuttling, like something scrabbling up a rock face. And it’s close. Very close.
    I stand in the spot where whatever is making that noise is about to pop out. Then I raise my hands to grab it. It climbs over the ledge and I leap forward, wrapping my arms around it.
    â€˜YARRR! GOT YOU!’

My arms ache from climbing up this cliff. Normally I could’ve climbed in seconds, but it feels like