44 Secret Agent

TITLE: VIOLET RAY AND THE MAGNETIC POLE REVERSAL
GENRE: Middle Grade fiction, science mystery


Rain pelted the huge glass dome like beating fists. Violet Ray shifted nervously in her fuzzy orange chair, leaning in to peer cautiously through the enormous eyehole of her massive telescope. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, punching in coordinates with blurry speed until her hands stopped in mid-hover, her fingers trembling. She pulled back from the telescope, biting her lip to concentrate, for she knew what was coming next.

All at once, a bright flash exploded, streaked across the sky and splintered into a web of lightning. Great bolts of light refracted against the dome interior, casting giant spider shadows along the lab walls. Eerie green light appeared as if spilling from space and rolled over like ocean waves before skipping along the sky like a stone. The bright green faded, turning into a deep red cloud. Ruby red sheets spread across the horizon until vanishing into tiny red sparkles that settled back into the stars.

Violet Ray sat rigid, with her mouth open and her eyes wide with fear.

“One hippopotamus, two hippop-ppotamus,” her voice cracked as she counted the distance, hoping it wouldn’t be closer this time.

“…Three hippopotamus—“

Crrrrrrrack BOOM!

The air rumbled in deafening tones, like a dozen trains passing at once then the sea threw an enormous wave crashing against the far side of the dome, spraying seawater all over the telescope lens.

Violet Ray screamed, jumping out of her chair as her whole lab suddenly fell pitch black.