I’ve decided to try a little experiment. I’ve started a new children’s novel. It’s middle-grade – ages 9-12, so bear that in mind when reading. I’m going to post each chapter as I write it. It will be unedited at the moment and I’m not entirely sure where it will take me. I will gladly take comments on this and if I use your suggestion (not spelling or grammar suggestions though) then I’ll gladly acknowledge you in the book when it’s finished. (Maybe I’ll even name a character after you 
) Naturally, I reserve the right to post when I want (I’ll try to keep this up weekly) and I reserve the right to change anything I want in the book, at any time. And of course, everything written here is copyrighted. For those that want to read on an electronic reader, I’ll try to come up with various files you can download so you can read at your leisure. If you want to read this to children you know in that age category, that’s fine too. Sometimes they have great suggestions. So, without further ado, here is Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave (it’s just a working title for now – I might change it later). Earlier chapters : Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Warning: It’s rather morbid, so be warned. ——————— Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave Chapter Four 
It was difficult to focus on Dead Lessons while somebody else’s hand was in my pocket. It wasn’t like it was moving around or anything – it actually sat quite still. But the fact that it was there, balled up in a fist, was unnerving, to say the least. The small group of us sat in a huge old room with slate boards along the walls. An old woman stood up at the front – Mrs Shivers was her name. She was older than Stella and moved like a slug. I sat at the very back, by myself. And when no one was looking I kept trying to fish the hand out of my pocket. It was really hard because when the hand was balled up in a fist, it didn’t have enough room to come out. I kept bending and twisting, this way and that, in an effort to get the blasted thing out of there. In fact, I was so focused on it, I failed to notice Mrs Shivers staring at me. I think she’d asked me a question, but darned if I knew what it was. There was a hand in my pocket! The rest of the group were all turned around in their seats, staring at me. I straightened up in the chair and shrugged. “Sorry,” I said. “I have an itch.” Liz guffawed. “Glad it’s not in your nose!” The rest of them laughed. That was fine. I didn’t really mind. I had more important things to concern myself with. Mrs Shivers seemed to move on from there. I tried to pay attention. I really did, but it just wasn’t working. It’s not like she was teaching us how to do something interesting. It was all about what not to do. Don’t scare the living. Don’t stay in cemetaries. Don’t haunt old mansions. Don’t, don’t, don’t…. She kept yammering for hours and my mind drifted off. I couldn’t help but wonder about the strange man with the decayed face. What was so important about his hand? Unless he had something in it, which just made me want to get it out all the more. I sighed, looking up, and noticed that the rest of the group was just staring at me again, except they were all standing this time. Mrs Shivers was now asleep at her desk and it looked like they were all waiting on me. Liz shook her head. “Did you not get any sleep?” I shrugged. “Sort of. I opened the curtains once.” The rest of them groaned. “What did you do that for?” Miesha asked. “You must not be very smart.” “I dunno,” I responded. “I wanted to see what it looked like outside.” Liz didn’t look impressed and Kenji was holding his head like he knew exactly what I was talking about. I noticed he didn’t say anything. We left the building and I was relieved to learn that Dead Lessons were over. It was only one day of blah blah blah. What a relief that was. Liz went on to explain that we all had jobs in the Afterlife. It all depended on what we used to do before. “Before?” I asked. She gave me that look that said were you not listening at all to what Mrs Shivers said? I shrugged. “It’s in the Necronomicon. You know, the book you didn’t read.” I had to shrug again. “What’s in it?” “Our past lives,” Kenji said. “The book is unique for each person, detailing your history both in the Afterlife and the Livingworld.” That was a bit of a surprise. I would have very much like to have known who I was in my past lives. Liz continued to lead us into what appeared to be a central point in the city. The buildings here were even closer together and much older. The streetlamps were barely functioning, making it rather dark. And she kept leading us through some really dark alleys with very little room to manouver. “I suggest,” she said, “that you read the book as soon as you get back. You need to know what your purpose is here. And once you start reading, your memories will start to return. Just like in the Livingworld, we each have a purpose here.” “Aren’t I kind of young to be working?” I asked. “You’ll understand when you read the book,” she said. “Just because you died as a child in the Livingworld, it doesn’t mean you’re one in the Afterlife. Almost none of us are children here.” She then approached an old market square. There were all kinds of things for sale here, but nothing I would have expected, except on Hallowe’en. The merchants were kind of a shady lot – crooked and bent, warty noses, more hair than I thought would be considered normal, and some were more dead than they probably should have been. They were selling cauldrons, bones, black cats – some of which weren’t alive, and jars of substances that didn’t look proper. “Wait here,” she said, and walked over to chat with one of the merchants – an old crone selling some herbs and potions. Kenji and Miesha waited on the spot while Goliath chased off a couple of feral cats that were slinking in our direction. I took a moment to examine the place a little. I didn’t even get past two old, and I mean old, men selling creepy looking clowns, when a woman called me over. “You,” she said, motioning me over with a heavily ringed finger. “Over here.” I looked back to the others. Liz was bartering with the old woman and the other two were patiently waiting for her. I walked over. “That hand in your pocket,” the woman said. “I can help you.” My eyes opened pretty wide when she said it. “How did you know?” I asked. I probably should have played dumb, but the words were already out of my mouth. She didn’t answer my question. Instead she pointed to her own fist and tickled the lower part of her palm. Then she opened her fist. I reached into my pocket to try it, but she grabbed my hand. Her touch was cold. “Not here,” she said. “Too many eyes. Remember, it’s to be kept secret.” “What is it?” I asked. All this secret stuff was a little cryptic and getting kind of annoying. I wanted to know what the heck was in my pocket. She leaned over to whisper with breath that was as cold as her touch, but Goliath came around the corner. Upon seeing the size of him, the woman twirled on her heel. “I hate dogs,” she muttered and slipped into the market. Goliath sauntered over and sniffed my pants. “Thanks, dog. I was about to find out something useful and you scared her off.” He looked to where she had disappeared and then nudged me back to where Miesha and Kenji still waited like statues. I joined them, but said nothing. Not long after, Liz emerged from the small shop. “What did you get?” I asked. From a drawstring bag she pulled out a couple of vials and some herbs. They stunk. “Protection,” she said. “Protection from what?” Miesha asked. “We’re already dead.” Liz shook her frizzy head. “Read your book,” was all she said and then started to make her way back through the market. We followed her, and pretty close on her heels at one point as there was wailing and screaming behind us. “Banshees,” Liz said. “We should hurry. We don’t want to run into those.” Her already speedy pace quickened. It was all we could do to keep up. Even Goliath was moving along at a steady trot beside me. When we finally got back to Wayward Place, we all dropped onto the couches that waited in the front room. Jeeves was there, fidgeting and mumbling to himself. He looked at Liz apologetically. “We seem to have had some problems while you were away,” he said. Liz put her hands on her hips. “What problems, Jeeves?” He stuttered, trying to get the words out. “T-T-There was a break-in. Some things were stolen.” Liz didn’t look impressed. Her lips were pressed together pretty tight. “What was stolen, Jeeves?” “The Necronomicon,” he said. “Whose?” she asked. He pointed at Miesha, then Kenji, and finally me. “All three of them.”
) Naturally, I reserve the right to post when I want (I’ll try to keep this up weekly) and I reserve the right to change anything I want in the book, at any time. And of course, everything written here is copyrighted. For those that want to read on an electronic reader, I’ll try to come up with various files you can download so you can read at your leisure. If you want to read this to children you know in that age category, that’s fine too. Sometimes they have great suggestions. So, without further ado, here is Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave (it’s just a working title for now – I might change it later). Earlier chapters : Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Warning: It’s rather morbid, so be warned. ——————— Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave Chapter Four 
It was difficult to focus on Dead Lessons while somebody else’s hand was in my pocket. It wasn’t like it was moving around or anything – it actually sat quite still. But the fact that it was there, balled up in a fist, was unnerving, to say the least. The small group of us sat in a huge old room with slate boards along the walls. An old woman stood up at the front – Mrs Shivers was her name. She was older than Stella and moved like a slug. I sat at the very back, by myself. And when no one was looking I kept trying to fish the hand out of my pocket. It was really hard because when the hand was balled up in a fist, it didn’t have enough room to come out. I kept bending and twisting, this way and that, in an effort to get the blasted thing out of there. In fact, I was so focused on it, I failed to notice Mrs Shivers staring at me. I think she’d asked me a question, but darned if I knew what it was. There was a hand in my pocket! The rest of the group were all turned around in their seats, staring at me. I straightened up in the chair and shrugged. “Sorry,” I said. “I have an itch.” Liz guffawed. “Glad it’s not in your nose!” The rest of them laughed. That was fine. I didn’t really mind. I had more important things to concern myself with. Mrs Shivers seemed to move on from there. I tried to pay attention. I really did, but it just wasn’t working. It’s not like she was teaching us how to do something interesting. It was all about what not to do. Don’t scare the living. Don’t stay in cemetaries. Don’t haunt old mansions. Don’t, don’t, don’t…. She kept yammering for hours and my mind drifted off. I couldn’t help but wonder about the strange man with the decayed face. What was so important about his hand? Unless he had something in it, which just made me want to get it out all the more. I sighed, looking up, and noticed that the rest of the group was just staring at me again, except they were all standing this time. Mrs Shivers was now asleep at her desk and it looked like they were all waiting on me. Liz shook her head. “Did you not get any sleep?” I shrugged. “Sort of. I opened the curtains once.” The rest of them groaned. “What did you do that for?” Miesha asked. “You must not be very smart.” “I dunno,” I responded. “I wanted to see what it looked like outside.” Liz didn’t look impressed and Kenji was holding his head like he knew exactly what I was talking about. I noticed he didn’t say anything. We left the building and I was relieved to learn that Dead Lessons were over. It was only one day of blah blah blah. What a relief that was. Liz went on to explain that we all had jobs in the Afterlife. It all depended on what we used to do before. “Before?” I asked. She gave me that look that said were you not listening at all to what Mrs Shivers said? I shrugged. “It’s in the Necronomicon. You know, the book you didn’t read.” I had to shrug again. “What’s in it?” “Our past lives,” Kenji said. “The book is unique for each person, detailing your history both in the Afterlife and the Livingworld.” That was a bit of a surprise. I would have very much like to have known who I was in my past lives. Liz continued to lead us into what appeared to be a central point in the city. The buildings here were even closer together and much older. The streetlamps were barely functioning, making it rather dark. And she kept leading us through some really dark alleys with very little room to manouver. “I suggest,” she said, “that you read the book as soon as you get back. You need to know what your purpose is here. And once you start reading, your memories will start to return. Just like in the Livingworld, we each have a purpose here.” “Aren’t I kind of young to be working?” I asked. “You’ll understand when you read the book,” she said. “Just because you died as a child in the Livingworld, it doesn’t mean you’re one in the Afterlife. Almost none of us are children here.” She then approached an old market square. There were all kinds of things for sale here, but nothing I would have expected, except on Hallowe’en. The merchants were kind of a shady lot – crooked and bent, warty noses, more hair than I thought would be considered normal, and some were more dead than they probably should have been. They were selling cauldrons, bones, black cats – some of which weren’t alive, and jars of substances that didn’t look proper. “Wait here,” she said, and walked over to chat with one of the merchants – an old crone selling some herbs and potions. Kenji and Miesha waited on the spot while Goliath chased off a couple of feral cats that were slinking in our direction. I took a moment to examine the place a little. I didn’t even get past two old, and I mean old, men selling creepy looking clowns, when a woman called me over. “You,” she said, motioning me over with a heavily ringed finger. “Over here.” I looked back to the others. Liz was bartering with the old woman and the other two were patiently waiting for her. I walked over. “That hand in your pocket,” the woman said. “I can help you.” My eyes opened pretty wide when she said it. “How did you know?” I asked. I probably should have played dumb, but the words were already out of my mouth. She didn’t answer my question. Instead she pointed to her own fist and tickled the lower part of her palm. Then she opened her fist. I reached into my pocket to try it, but she grabbed my hand. Her touch was cold. “Not here,” she said. “Too many eyes. Remember, it’s to be kept secret.” “What is it?” I asked. All this secret stuff was a little cryptic and getting kind of annoying. I wanted to know what the heck was in my pocket. She leaned over to whisper with breath that was as cold as her touch, but Goliath came around the corner. Upon seeing the size of him, the woman twirled on her heel. “I hate dogs,” she muttered and slipped into the market. Goliath sauntered over and sniffed my pants. “Thanks, dog. I was about to find out something useful and you scared her off.” He looked to where she had disappeared and then nudged me back to where Miesha and Kenji still waited like statues. I joined them, but said nothing. Not long after, Liz emerged from the small shop. “What did you get?” I asked. From a drawstring bag she pulled out a couple of vials and some herbs. They stunk. “Protection,” she said. “Protection from what?” Miesha asked. “We’re already dead.” Liz shook her frizzy head. “Read your book,” was all she said and then started to make her way back through the market. We followed her, and pretty close on her heels at one point as there was wailing and screaming behind us. “Banshees,” Liz said. “We should hurry. We don’t want to run into those.” Her already speedy pace quickened. It was all we could do to keep up. Even Goliath was moving along at a steady trot beside me. When we finally got back to Wayward Place, we all dropped onto the couches that waited in the front room. Jeeves was there, fidgeting and mumbling to himself. He looked at Liz apologetically. “We seem to have had some problems while you were away,” he said. Liz put her hands on her hips. “What problems, Jeeves?” He stuttered, trying to get the words out. “T-T-There was a break-in. Some things were stolen.” Liz didn’t look impressed. Her lips were pressed together pretty tight. “What was stolen, Jeeves?” “The Necronomicon,” he said. “Whose?” she asked. He pointed at Miesha, then Kenji, and finally me. “All three of them.” 
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