The next day, Cassandra was supposed to go to Luna’s house, and she dragged Jay with her.

“Where are we going?” Jay asked as Cassandra pulled him down the sidewalk.

“We are going to Luna’s house,” Cassandra called over her shoulder.

“NO! NO! NO! I am not going! She is going to kill me!” Jay yelled tugging at Cassandra’s hand.

“You’re going to apologize!” Cassandra had to drag him the rest of the way.

Finally, they got to her house. Cassandra went up to the door. She was about to ring the doorbell when she saw what was pinned on the door. She started screaming.

Jay ran up to Cassandra and read the letter pinned on the door. It read:

Sorry if you have some kind of relationship with the girl called Luna, but now she is in the depths of my fortress and she can’t escape. I won’t tell you who I am or where my fortress is, but I will tell you this;

I am an assassin,

I won’t tell you why,

I speak some Latin,

And my favorite is Ty

Now I’ve told you enough,

The Assassin

Cassandra started to cry.

“Cassandra, stop crying!” She didn’t stop.

Jay started leading her somewhere. Since Cassandra had her face in her hands, she couldn’t see where he was taking her.

After a bit of walking, Jay said, “Ok, we are here!” Cassandra took her hands away from her face so she could see. Jay had taken her to Ty, the restaurant. Why didn’t she realize that Ty was part of this! How stupid had she been?

“Come on, Cassandra!” Jay yelled from the door of the restaurant.

“No, Jay. We go in from the back door,” she said and rooted herself to the spot.

“Why? I’m starving. I want to eat.” Jay cried. His belly rumbled so loud, that it could be heard from miles away.

“I know you’re hungry but we need information. So maybe, only maybe, we will be able to find out where Luna is being kept.” Cassandra said, swallowing hard at the sob that was building up in her throat.

“Fine, but you must buy me a banana smoothie after,” Jay said with a slight glimpse of a smile as he said “banana smoothie”.

And with that, they walked towards the back door.

As Jay and Cassandra walked closer to the back door there was a stench of molded corn. They walked on not daring to breathe. They could see the dark creaky door and run for it.

The door was old and rusted. Jay pulled at the door. The door didn’t yield. Jay pulled again. It didn’t budge. Cassandra and Jay both wrenched as hard as they could, and it looked like the door was getting tired of being wrenched because it finally opened.

“Yes! We got in.” Jay whispered and dusted the rust off his body. Cassandra wasn’t as excited. “Jay, look around,” she whispered.

Jay looked around. He let out a terrible scream, “Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” Around them were skeletons of children and young adults. Cassandra was breathing so hard that she was shaking from head to toe. Jay wasn’t getting any better.

“I know you’re scared. I am too. But we have to get information,” Cassandra said in a shaky voice. But Jay shook his head so hard that it could have fallen off.

“I’ll get you two banana smoothies,” Cassandra said. That did it because the two walked deeper into the gloom.

Suddenly a gust of wind blew in Jay and Cassandra’s face. Dust and small bones blew around like a smoothie getting blended. Jay got whipped off his feet. Cassandra grabbed Jay’s ankles but that didn’t help at all. Cassandra was soon whipped off her feet too.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!” they yelled. But of course, nobody could hear them. After that, everything went black.

When they woke, the first thing they saw was a giant eagle. On the eagle’s back was a dark figure. The dark figure was a man, a man in a black cloak.

“Hello,” croaked the man. His accent was slightly Latin.

“Hi...Mister,” Cassandra said with barely a whisper. Her body was shaking violently. She glanced over at Jay. He was pale white.

“Can I help you with anything?” the man asked with an evil smile.

“We were looking for...” Jay said, speaking for the first time since they got there.

“Well, you just found him.” Cassandra and Jay were both in shock.

“You...you’re... ?!” Cassandra gasped. She looked at Jay. Jay was in shock too. ignored their comment. Then he walked away as if Cassandra and Jay weren’t there.

“Wait! You can’t go! We need information about the assassin!” Jay blurted out. turned around, his eyes wide with shock.

“The assassin?” he asked, looking as if he had seen a ghost.

“Wait, you know about the assassin?” Cassandra asked. Yes! He knows about the assassin, Cassandra thought to herself. glared at her for a while. Then, he turned and ran.

Weird. Why did he run? Cassandra’s mind was burning up. The letter! It had said that he was Latin. was Latin, and he owns Ty! Could that mean that is the assassin?

As these thoughts burdened her mind she didn’t even notice a long curving blade in ’s belt. knew he couldn’t outrun these kids, so he turned around and slashed the blade at Cassandra. Time seemed to slow down as the blade slowly lowered. Would this be the end of Cassandra?

Jay, being the fastest runner, darted in and intercepted the blade as it slashed deep into his head.

“Jay!” Cassandra yelled and looked at him. He was fine except for the deep gash on his face.

Meanwhile (the assassin) hopped onto the giant eagle.

I can’t be caught almost killing a child, Ty thought.

“Fly home, my pet!” hollered. As the giant eagle took flight, Cassandra was able to grab on to one of its huge talons before it took off.

“Jay! I’ll be back for you!” Cassandra yelled down to him. Jay just raised his head and watched the eagle fly away into the darkness.

Jay’s face stung. But all he could do was sit there and watch the giant eagle fly away with Cassandra clinging on. Think good thoughts, Jay. He tried to think of good thoughts. But he only thought two things. First, that he was sitting in a room filled with bones. Second, Cassandra and Luna might die because he had been foolish. Jay shivered at the thoughts.

Cassandra was clinging on for dear life. If she fell, she would be falling about 50 feet. Her thoughts of doom were cut off by cackling.

“Ha, ha, ha! Those stupid kids. We’ll go back for their flesh later, my pet. Then, if that girl Luna is lucky, she might even get an arm.” After he said that, he chuckled. The giant eagle made a screeching that sounded like an evil laugh. Cassandra wanted to lash out, but she didn’t.

“We’re home, my pet.” said as the eagle landed on the roof of a giant building. jumped off his pet and went down the stairs. Cassandra began to panic. Should she follow and find Luna, or should she go back for Jay? Cassandra decided to follow.

Jay sat there, thinking. Cassandra will save Luna, then come for me. There was suddenly a growl off to his side.

“Come out you sneaky soul. I’m not afraid of you,” Jay croaked. The thing that made the growling sound, was crouching in a dark corner. He could see its dark red eyes penetrating into his own eyes. Jay’s jaw dropped open. It was a huge hound with red eyes and teeth as sharp as knives.

This one seems like a cub. Jay thought, Maybe I’ll be able to train him. “Good little dog,” Jay’s voice shook as he carefully spoke the words. This has got to work. Jay thought.

“Prr!” the hound replied. The red eyes peered out of the darkness, glaring. Jay was glad he wasn’t the only one here. Without Cassandra, it was pretty spooky.

“It’s okay. You can trust me.” Jay said. He was very confident now. The hound crawled out of the dark, with it’s eyes on Jay. It was gray from head to toe.

“Trust me. I’ll get you assassin meat.” Jay winked at it.

“Prr!” it replied and sat next to Jay. Even though this one was a cub, it was at least one and a half heads taller than him.

Maybe, only maybe I can fit on it’s back, Jay thought. “I’m going to name you, Porkchop. Do you mind giving me a lift?” Jay asked. In response, Porkchop slid Jay onto his back and sped off in the direction Jay pointed him in. This is great, Jay thought to himself as they sped off into the darkness.

How long does this staircase last? Cassandra thought to herself. Her question was soon resolved when stopped and unlocked an iron door. The door jerked open. walked through the open door. Cassandra quickly slipped through the door. She almost got her nose snapped.

“Ahh! Time to sleep.” said to himself. With that, he dragged himself upstairs.

Great! is out of the way. Now I can find Luna. The building was huge, with many twists and turns. She might never find Luna. I just wish that there was a map, Cassandra thought. As Cassandra climbed up the forever staircase she heard a slight tremble far below, then she heard a shriek that she recognized. It was Luna.

Cassandra raced down the stairs as fast as she could. Her head hurt just thinking about what would happen to Luna. She was relieved to find Luna all right, and that Jay was with her. Jay was with a gigantic, bloodthirsty hound! Cassandra’s jaw dropped wide open.

“Jay! That thing could be dangerous!”

“Yeah! I know, isn’t that awesome!” Jay grinned. The hound sat there, eyes shining in the dim moonlight.

“I mean, it’s going to eat you!” Cassandra yelled. Her face was burning. How could Jay put them in danger like that?

“PORKCHOP, ATTACK!” Jay screeched. Porkchop did what he was told and pounced on Cassandra. Cassandra screamed like she had when she read the letter from the assassin. Jay started laughing.

“Jay! You are so not getting your banana smoothies!” Jay made a cute puppy face as if he were begging for something.

“Hello? I’m not invisible!” Luna reminded them. Porkchop stopped attacking Cassandra and peered at Luna with his pure red eyes.

“Luna! Come on let's get out of this creepy mansion!” Cassandra whispered. She was shivering madly from head to toe.

“Not so fast,” a familiar voice called. They turned around to face (the assassin). cracked a cackle that sent goosebumps up their arms.

“My pet only wanted two bags of meat. But whatever. You’re foolish to travel with these kids.” Mr. Ty glared hard at Porkchop.

“Porkchop! Attack!” Jay yelled. The hound clawed at Ty. He easily avoided the attack, but Porkchop bit deep into his right calf. screamed with pain as the hound then bit into his left arm.

“Go Porkchop!” Jay whispered. Porkchop’s eyes gleamed with energy. He pounced on Ty. But instead of being able to bite into any parts, slipped his blade from his belt and lunged at Porkchop! The small hound was lucky that missed. It must have been because of his wounded arm.

“You’ll never get out alive!” yelled, as he tumbled down the stairs with the knife gripped tightly in his right hand.

Porkchop felt pride in what he had done to Ty. He was sure that Jay, Cassandra, and Luna were proud too! But, there was no time to think about pride right now, was catching up to Jay and Cassandra! Porkchop had to act fast. Even though people say that animals don’t understand humans, that was not true. Porkchop leaped down the stairs at full speed.

started to feel light headed.

Jay, Cassandra, and Luna ran down the twisting staircase. They didn’t dare to look back, for that might slow them down. Sweat dripped down each of their faces. Jay’s heart almost stopped. Porkchop wasn’t with them! Jay stopped. Then he fell as dug his knife into his right arm. Cassandra and Luna stopped and ran back towards Jay. Luna kneeled down beside him and started crying her heart out.

“It’s all my fault!” she cried. Luna dug her face into Jay’s T-shirt.

Ty stood in front of them with the knife in his hand. A small tear dripped down his face. had never heard such sympathy. He wiped away the tear and raised his knife.

Porkchop lunged at and dug his fangs deep into his back . fell over for he had lost too much blood.

Porkchop came over and licked Jay’s face with his tongue. Jay’s face was smeared with blood.

Cassandra and Luna lifted Jay onto Porkchop’s back. Then they went over to Ty.

“Take care of my pet!” he said, weakly. Then he took his last breath.

Luna got onto Porkchop’s back, and he took them up the stairs. Ty’s pet was perched on the edge of the roof. Porkchop looked at the eagle and made a loud eagle-like screeching sound. The eagle looked at us with a very sad look in his eyes. Tears started streaming down its beak. Then, it screeched back and crouched down for them to climb on. Jay was put on first, then everyone else. The eagle took off and flew up, up and up. Then, it started to fly towards the direction of their house. Jay’s eyes blinked open and he looked around curiously.

“Where am I?” He whispered. The color started to come back to his face. Luna squeezed him so tightly that he could barely breathe.

“Watch out! Crippled old man coming through!” Jay said. He was back to normal, except for the wound on his arm. Porkchop pawed at him. Jay laughed.

“Anyway, called this guy, ‘my pet’. Maybe we should name it Poio!” Jay suggested.

“Poio?” Cassandra and Luna both asked at the same time. They looked at Jay then at the eagle.

“Fine,” they said, as Poio flew them away from the creepy, old mansion. Far behind them, they could hear the mansion crumble down to the ground.

“Ha ha ha!” laughed Jay, as Porkchop tackled him again. How hard is it to persuade parents to keep a hound after it saved your life?

“Hey, Jay! Want to go to my house? You can bring Porkchop and Poio! Cassandra, you can come too,” Luna yelled through the fence and into the yard.

“Sure!” Cassandra and Jay yelled back.

“Can we go to Ty afterward?” Jay asked.

“Why not? Just no creepy assassins or skeletons for that matter!” Luna, Jay, and Cassandra laughed as they walked down the street.