Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort - Chad Stewart (best ereader for students TXT) 📗
- Author: Chad Stewart
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Book online «Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort - Chad Stewart (best ereader for students TXT) 📗». Author Chad Stewart
As they approached, Jordan gave Dillon a quick shot in the arm before they sat down.
“What took you guys so long?” Dad asked.
“Oh nothing,” Jordan responded. “Just trying to get sleeping beauty here out of bed. That’s all.”
Claire laughed.
“So what do you guys think of this place so far?” asked Mom from behind an upraised menu.
That comment started a barrage of discussion from the Hunt kids, particularly from Gwen, who was always hard pressed to keep quiet. As the others talked, Dillon absently traced the symbol he had seen in his dreams on the table with his finger. The words of the others washed over him, but he couldn’t concentrate.
“Dillon, are you okay?” his Mom asked.
Dillon looked up in surprise and blinked. “Uh, yeah. Sure.” He dropped his gaze back to the table and frowned. He’d even drawn the symbol in his syrup. He scribbled it out with his fork, heart pounding.
When he looked up, he saw his mom still watching him. He winced and looked away.
“What’s going on Dillon?” his mom asked, concern etched on her face.
Dillon shifted uneasily. “Nothing,” he said. “I just … didn’t have a very good night sleep.”
Jordan snorted. “Please! I could barely wake you this morning.”
Dillon shrugged, not willing to be goaded into another useless argument with his brother.
Mom did not look convinced but didn’t press the matter further.
To him, playing a character in an adventure was one thing, but trying to fake being okay when, in fact, his mind was a mile away was another. He was disturbed by the events of the last couple days, especially by the dreams he was having and the mysterious symbol that kept showing up. He knew that he couldn’t tell anyone about the dreams and the symbol because he would just sound crazy. He felt that no one would believe him; especially given the fact that he always made up all sorts of crazy stories that he played out in his adventures. The problem with this one is that it was real.
“So what’s the plan today then?” Claire interjected, after she saw that Dillon’s and Jordan’s conversation was going nowhere.
“Oh I don’t know,” responded Dad. “What do you guys want to do today? I for one would like some relaxation by the pool.”
Gwen perked up at that. She loved swimming. Jordan and Claire both nodded in ascent at the idea.
“Sure. Sounds good to me,” Dillon put it, not wanting to be the “odd-man out.”
“Okay, kids, so we’re doing pool time and then maybe a tour of the area, right?” Mom asked, whipping out her phone. Her fingers typed on the keyboard. The kids all noticed how Mom took Dad’s suggestion of pool-time and then added a tour. That’s how Mom operated. She was always trying to cram as much activity as she could into their vacations. It was never enough for her to just relax and take it easy. The kids were used to it by now and just kind of rolled with it.
Dad rolled his eyes and put an arm around her shoulder. “Honey, we’re on vacation. We don’t need to plan every minute.”
Mom scowled at Dad. “But we do need to know where everyone is going to be. What if something happens?”
“Uh-oh, Mom’s going full CSS on us!” Dillon said with a grin.
“CSS?” Gwen asked.
“Constant Surveillance System,” Dillon explained.
Mom rolled her eyes while Jordan and Claire snickered. “Better safe than sorry. Now, everyone’s phones out. Let’s get this calendar synched!”
Dillon wasn’t keen about spending time on a tour of the town. He wanted to explore more of the resort instead. He was sure that there would be more potential clues to the mystery of the symbol and he couldn’t wait to start hunting for them.
He looked over to Dad. “If you don’t mind, Dad, I’d just like to hang out here for a bit today,” he said. “Can I pass on the trip to town?”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “It’s gonna be pretty cool exploring the town.”
“Ya, I’m sure,” Dillon responded. “Besides we’re going to be here for a while anyway. I’ll have lots of time to explore.”
“What do you think babe?” Dad turned and asked Mom.
“Well, I’m concerned that you’ll be here all alone.” She paused for a moment before continuing. “But … I guess if you stay on the resort property, keep your phone close, and stay in populated areas it should be okay as long as you promise to stay out of trouble.”
Dillon smiled. “Come on. What could possibly happen?”
“If you’re really concerned about it, I’ll stay here and keep an eye on him,” Jordan piped in.
Mom smiled. “Thanks Jordan. That would ease my concern.”
“No problem. Always trying to help.”
“Ya right,” Claire said under her breath.
“What was that?” Jordan snapped at her angrily.
“Oh nothing,” she replied innocently. “Enjoy your time here with Dillon.” She gave him one of those sarcastic smiles.
Dillon just shook his head and let his brother and sister go at it. He knew when not to get in the middle of one of their tiffs.
Instead, he looked down, about to cut into his pancakes, when he saw it again. There, in front of him was the symbol he had drawn into his syrup again, which shocked him more than he thought it should have. He had a feeling that he was losing control of himself and it scared him. He had no idea what was happening to him, but he knew he needed to find out. He needed to find out fast.
After breakfast was done, and the family enjoyed a couple hours by the pool the Hunts, with the exception of Dillon and Jordan, packed their day-trip gear and boarded the small shuttle bus that headed to town.
“Don’t forget to keep an eye on your brother,” Mom instructed Jordan before they left.
“Ya ya … I got this,” Jordan replied as he settled back down in his deck chair.
After they left Dillon turned to his brother. “Mom just said you had to keep an eye on me.”
Jordan rolled his eyes. “Sure, I’ll keep an eye on you every time you come to the pool. And when you do you gotta make sure you stay away from me so you don’t ruin my game!”
“Game?” Dillon asked with a snort. “I kept track of your ‘game’ on the way down here. Trust me, you’re better off with me.” He danced out of the way as Jordan aimed a punch for his shoulder.
“Just don’t tell mom and you can do what you want,” Jordan said.
Dillon shrugged. “Sure thing.”
In truth, Dillon didn’t want Jordan anywhere near him while he was researching the symbol. But any opportunity he had in order to get a “dig” in at his brother he would take.
Dillon was determined to use every possible resource he could in order to find out about this symbol. He was actually really tempted to relax with Jordan by the pool as he did have a sleepless night, but the fear of seeing the symbol again in his dreams pushed him to pursue its meaning instead.
The most likely place he could think of to start looking was in his book about John Taylor Sebastian. If anyone knew what this meant it would definitely be him, he reasoned to himself. If that didn’t have anything then he would look in every book, brochure, and on-line literature that he could find on the place.
After gathering up all the resources he could find about Desert Oasis Resort he parked himself in the business center which was by the lobby. It was nice and quiet in that room and there were computer terminals he could access to do his research. It was perfect! The best part about it was that there were free cookies, muffins, and fruit which were laid out in the room for those who needed a snack while they worked on whatever it was that they were doing.
Dillon walked over and grabbed a few nice big chocolate chip cookies from under the tray lid and marched back to where he had set up “camp.” He began flipping through the book on John Taylor Sebastian. As he thumbed through the pages he scanned the text for anything that would remotely describe the symbol. While looking at
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