It's time for another excerpt. This is taken from book 1, the Lost Colors.

This is the book that started the series. 

Rio sniffed the air. "I think we are getting close to something," he muttered. He could feel something different in the air, something electric.

Cautiously they followed the faint trail on their bikes. The alley opened up behind an old abandoned two story building. The place was deserted. There was no one about. The trail led directly to the middle of this building, and stopped before a rusted door.

"Do you think we should go inside?" Molly asked. 

"Is it open?" Trudie asked.

"Wait, what should we do about our bikes?" Caitlin asked.

Rio had jumped down and was gazing intently at the trail that ended in front of the rusted door. He could feel his whiskers tingling with alarm.  "I think we should go back home," he warned.

But Molly, Trudie and Caitlin were too excited to listen. It was so quiet and still. There was no one about. "Let's leave our bikes around the corner, by that old shed. They will be out of sight," Caitlin suggested. They took their bikes behind the old shed and left them there. "Rio, if you are scared, you could wait here?"

Rio was having none of that. He followed slinking low to the ground and his ears flat against his head.

The rusting door opened easily. The faint yellow trail led them inside. Caitlin, Molly and Trudie followed closely. Rio opened his mouth and sniffed. His whiskers tingled. The ground floor of the building was completely empty of human occupants. But Rio could sense rustling of tiny creatures. His ears pricked forward. He smelled the mustiness of mice. The girls left him to explore.

Inside the empty building, the yellow trail was easy to follow. It led them towards stairs. It was not completely dark in the building and in its stairwell. They followed the trail up the stairs to the second floor. As they exited the second floor stairwell, they entered a long passageway with closed doors on either side. At the end of the passageway a light of some kind streamed out of an open room. They walked as quietly as possible but their footsteps still sounded awfully loud in the silence.

"What's this?" Molly asked.

They finally reached the open door. The room was filled with the brightest silver light. It had long narrow tables covered with bottles and glass beakers. On one side of the room there was a bank of computers and computer monitors that hummed quietly. In the center of the room, raised on a platform was a large glass-like cauldron that was filled with mist. It made a faint popping sound.

"It looks like some kind of lab," Trudie whispered.

Caitlin nodded. She stared at the cauldron. The mist cleared. Inside the cauldron she could see colors. Reds, blues, oranges, pinks and greens all swirled and bubbled inside the cauldron.

"Look!"  Caitlin pointed at the cauldron. "Do you see it?"

 "I can see the colors!" Molly gasped.

 "I can't see any color. I see the mist, but the liquid inside is completely clear," Trudie observed.

"Where's Rio?" Molly asked, looking around for the cat.

Caitlin frowned. She looked around. Where was Rio?

"We had better get going," she said. "We need to find Rio!"

Meanwhile, Trudie had walked over to the wall of computer monitors, and was peering curiously at their screens. "You go, I just want to see what this is all about," she said.

"I don't think it is a very good idea to split up," Molly said.

 "She's right," Caitlin said. "Come on, Trudie, let's go!"       

Reluctantly Trudie followed Caitlin and Molly out of the room. They had just entered the passageway when they heard the sounds of voices in the building coming towards them from the floor below.

"Oh no!" Caitlin exclaimed. "We'd better hide!"