by LL Helland
Granmama told Alastair, “I’ve done my best watching over the other three, but it’s good to have you back. Chris will see the bridge soon. Don’t you think there is another way we can convince Chris to go somewhere warm for college?”
Alastair said, “You know as well as I do that Chris has to start thinking about his options. We have six years to turn his thoughts around. Chris is stubborn, but once we’re through with him, he will run out of the frigid weather to attend a university down south.”
Great-Grandmother said, “I so wish we didn’t see that image where Chris was lost and frozen in a whiteout when he’s a junior in college.”
“We have to do it this way. We don’t have any other choice. I’m grateful for the powers we have. Just think if we had not seen that vision. We might have lost Chris.”
“Couldn’t we just tell Chris?”
“No! You know the rules. We can’t tell what we have seen.”
Great-Grandmother sighed, “I guess that’s why the children’s adventures have to give them a jolt into thinking about their futures.”
They watched as Chris finished up his power bar and Kaver and Quill dipped their last toenails into their ears. Kaver slurped loudly, enjoying every nibble, while Chris drank a small bottle of water left in his lacrosse bag. “Have some manners. You’re totally grossing me out,” he called out to Kaver.
Chris had seen a bridge when he was finishing his snack. He did not want to cross the rickety bridge that had seen better days. It was put together with thin copper wire and twine. “Hey guys, this might hold you, but I doubt if this flimsy wire is going to hold my weight.”
Tompack looked Chris up and down. “I see there is a problem.”
Quill whispered, “Why don’t we leave him behind? We can always come back for him.”
Chris glared at Quill. “I don’t have the huge ugly ears that you have, but I can still hear you.”
Quill shrugged his shoulders. “Those tiny things on the side of your head aren’t exactly receptors.”
“Maybe not, but I have perfected the ability to hear the tiniest of sounds, learned that when my mom thought I was studying. I could hear her coming and pretended to be deep in thought with my homework. So you see, I can hear you. I would watch what I said if I were you.”
Tompack pointed away from the unstable bridge. “Chris, you make a good point. We’ll travel that way for an hour or two.”
Exhausted from their trek, Chris pleaded with Tompack, “Let’s take a rest. I need to sleep for a while or at least take a nap.”
Tompack replied without hesitation, “We Bundlebobs don’t sleep. We don’t even take naps. We can stay awake and still be refreshed. Now let’s move on.”
“That’s excellent for you. I bet my brother who takes AP classes would think that was a great plan—like when he needs to pull an all-nighter—but me, I need my sleep.” Chris dug through his bag and made sure he had on every piece of clothing, including his lacrosse equipment.
The snow was coming down harder, and it felt like it must be ten degrees below zero. Chris said, “You guys have fur. I don’t. I need to find some shelter.”
Tompack reluctantly pointed to an overhang several hundred yards ahead. “Fine, Chris, but just until the storm passes.” Off to the right of one of the wobbly bridges, there was a rock shelter.
Chris said, “At least we don’t have to cross those dilapidated structures you call bridges.”
As they crossed the snow, with not another soul in sight, Chris suddenly heard the loud crack of ice fracturing. His lacrosse bag and stick still sat on top of the snow, but Chris was nowhere in sight. Bihydrant, thinking Chris must be playing another game, got excited, clapping his paws together and jumping up and down. Then another loud cracking sound stopped him in midjump.
Tompack yelled, “Bihydrant, stop jumping! You’re breaking the ice!”
Just then Quill pointed Chris out beneath the ice as the current carried him away from them. Kaver, completely overwhelmed by the situation, was no help at all. He just spun around in circles, twisting his hands.
Under the freezing ice, it was like Chris was looking at a circus above him. He could not imagine that this was how he was going to die.
Instantly Chris felt a shot of piercing pain from his feet to his head. Just as quickly as the pain came, it faded into numbness. Chris tried to yell for help, but nothing came out. He tried to tread water, but his arms and legs refused to move. His heavy clothes weighted his body down. As he began to sink, he tried to cry out again. Just as before, no words came out. The frigid water crept up his neck. He never imagined he would die in a river. Chris was an excellent swimmer. Nothing the Olympic team would be interested in, but he could out swim his sisters.
Tompack shouted, “We must save him! He is the answer to our problem. If he dies, we will never be found.”
That did not make much sense to Bihydrant, but he liked Chris and wanted to be his friend. The four Bundlebobs used their hard, long nails like picks. A lot of their nails broke off as they dug away at the hard ice. The nails grew back immediately, though, so they could keep trying to excavate Chris from his watery grave without interruption. The ice, only an inch or two thick in places, soon gave way. Quill quickly shot his arm through the small opening in the ice and snagged Chris’s sweatshirt.
Tompack shouted, “Hold on tight, Quill!” while the rest of the Bundlebobs chipped away at the ice until the hole grew big enough for Chris to fit through. Since he was deadweight and they had to be careful not to crack the ice further, it was almost impossible to lift Chris out. All of his layers of clothing now dragged him to his death. Kaver grabbed Chris’s stick and used it as a lever to lift him out.
Chris’s pale skin had a bluish tint to it, and his clothes began to freeze solid. The Bundlebobs quickly pulled him over to the overhang that Tompack had found earlier. Kaver removed Chris’s clothing, Quill made a fire, and Tompack built a makeshift bed, made from broken, giant Bundlebob toenails and ear jam.
Bihydrant kept rubbing Chris’s hand, saying, “You are my friend; you can’t leave us,” as tears rolled down his furry green face and onto Chris’s arm.
Quill said, “Stop crying, Bihydrant. Your tears are freezing on his arm.”
Chris was undressed with the exception of his pineapple boxers. He looked dead.
Bihydrant said, “What do we do now?”
Tompack said, “Put Chris on the bed, and find me some sticks and old wire. Take it from that old bridge if you have to. Hurry now.” Tompack started chanting in his native tongue. The snow stopped, and the weather took a turn. The wind blew, the trees bent, and rain began to fall in buckets.
Kaver said, “Now he is going to drown for sure.”
Tompack said, “No, he won’t. Please get me whatever wire you have found.”
Quill handed Tompack some wire, but it was not enough. Bihydrant came running with a whole strand of wire. As he handed the wire to Tompack he said, “We may have to fix the bridge later.”
Tompack quickly took the wire and cut it with his teeth into several long pieces of equal length. He put one on either side of Chris’s head and one in each of his lifeless hands. The wind picked up, and the lightning and thunder became overbearing. The deafening sound kept Tompack from telling the other Bundlebobs what to do. They could not possibly hear him, so he used his sign language to tell Kaver to climb one tree and tie the wire to an outstretched branch. He motioned for Quill to do the same thing in another tree. When they signaled back to Tompack that they had attached the wires to the trees, Tompack chanted again, louder this time. Fear filled the other three Bundlebobs; they had never seen Tompack like this before.
It looked like Tompack had gone insane.
Tompack reached his hand out and put it on Chris’s forehead. Bihydrant, thinking that they all should copy Tompack, put his paw on his arm, and a huge bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and pushed a strong electrical current through the copper wires in the trees.
To
mpack saw Bihydrant’s paw on Chris’s arm and yelled, “Clear!” but it was too late. The wires glowed with the energy pulsing through them. Tompack pulled his hand off of Chris’s head just as his body started to glow. Bihydrant failed to remove his paw, and it glowed as well, but since he was not in a vegetative state, he felt every bit of the lightning passing through his body.
Tompack was afraid to pull Bihydrant away. The energy would be too strong, and Tompack would die, just as surely as Bihydrant would.
The lightning strike only lasted a second, but it jolted Chris’s heart back to life. He made little movements, more like seizures than real motion.
Bihydrant lay on the ground, dazed, but not dead. “Is Chris alive?”
When they saw Bihydrant, the other two, Quill and Kaver, broke out into laughter. All the green hair on his body was fried at the ends. Little curls of smoke rose from his head, and his ears were bright pink. Chris came to, and Quill ran to see if his clothes were dry.
Quill said, “Chris, your clothes are nice and warm.”
Chris slowly sat up. “Did I get a nap?”
Tompack said, “Yes, Chris you got quite a nap. Now, if you feel like traveling, we will be going.”
Chris brought his clothes up to his face. “These clothes are warm, like when you take them out of the dryer. I think that was the best rest I have ever had.”
Bihydrant said, “I hope you don’t take too many of those naps, or I won’t have any fur left.”
Chris stood up and saw Bihydrant. “What happened to you?”
“I will tell you later.”
As he handed Chris his lacrosse stick, Tompack waved his hand for the four of them to follow him. Chris quickly put his clothes back on. He examined his hands, which had angry red burns on the palms. His sleeve rubbed his palm as he was careful not to irritate the red burns on the inner portion of his hands.
Chris touched his temples. “Did you try to roast and eat me while I was resting?” He pointed to Bihydrant.
Bihydrant avoided Chris’s eyes. “We don’t eat meat, especially cooked meat.”
Quill dug between his toes, pulling out some thick, brown, smelly substance. “Now, let me see your hands and head. I will smear this on, and the pain will go away.”
Chris started to protest, but Tompack said, “Chris, we don’t have time to argue. I guarantee this will help the pain.”
When Quill applied the dark substance, Chris felt immediate relief. The smell was not all that bad, either. It reminded Chris of the way his lacrosse bag smelled when he forgot to clean it out for a week.
“I need to tell my mom about this home remedy. She won’t believe it.”
Tompack said, “Let’s move quickly now.”
They traveled for hours, across rolling hills and flat terrain, past cliffs and valleys. Tompack tried not to show it, but he was getting worried. They had not come across another living thing.
When it seemed like they would never stop, Chris said, “I need to eat something.” Chris sat down and dug through his bag. He had several more power bars, but how long could they last?
Tompack said, “Chris, you are right. We must sit and refuel.”
Chris decided to save some of the power bars. As he put them back in his bag, he saw something move. He jumped back, startled. It was dark inside his bag. He spotted the dim light of the night sky reflected from two tiny spots. Then he could, just barely, see what was moving in his bag. It was a rat.
Chris called out to the rat, “Tommy, Tommy, is that you?”
Bihydrant said, “Who is Tommy, and why is he in your bag?” This time, Bihydrant did not think Chris was playing a game.
Tompack wondered if Chris was hallucinating, since he had been, essentially, fried a few hours earlier.
“I think that rat is a pet I had when I was ten. It got away when I was cleaning its cage and ran under the stove. It’s lived there for over a year. Our dog, Titan, can sit and look under the stove for hours, just staring at him.”
Kaver said, “How do you know this to be the same rat? There are millions of these ugly little beasts everywhere. They are the lowest of the food chain; we barely like to acknowledge them at all.”
Quill said, “They are quite a nuisance.”
Chris continued. “Tommy’s right ear was badly crumpled, and he had a white spot on his nose, see, just like this rat.” As Chris pointed into his bag, he grabbed another power bar. He could see the rat had already helped himself—there was a tiny hole in the wrapper. Chris broke off a piece and held out his hand. The sneaky rat jolted out of the bag and took the rest of the food from his hand. Just as the rat finished eating the tasty morsel, Chris picked him up by the tail and held him in the air. “Yep, this is Tommy.”
Quill said, “Get rid of the little pest. He will cause us trouble.”
“I will not get rid of him. He can stay in my bag, and you won’t even know he’s around.”
Kaver said, “You always know they are around. There is something evil about rats.”
Chris finished another power bar. He could hear the Bundlebobs breaking off their toenails and dipping them into their ears, but he paid no attention to them.
Tompack said, “We must go now.”
Chris had completely forgotten to ask why Bihydrant’s fur was singed and why he had those burns on his body. He placed Tommy back in his bag and zipped it up. They were headed off again. To where, Chris had no idea.
CHAPTER 22
Great-Grandmother put her arm on Alastair’s. “I hope we haven’t given Trisha more than she can handle. She’s just now getting to the age to go out on dates, and now we are going to scare the living daylights out of her.”
“We can always save this for another trip. Maybe when she’s sixteen or seventeen, but by then she will already have dated some worthless beasts. It’s your call, though.”
Granmama let out a long sigh. “All right. I know it has to be done, but I still have my reservations. You need to help me keep a close eye on Trisha’s adventure.”
Trisha followed the woman and the raccoon, Advarika, through the dark corridors. “May I ask you a question?”
“Certainly, child.”
“Where does this corridor lead, Mrs. Toddles?”
“This tunnel was dug many years ago, when this house was built. It goes between your house and Godfrey’s.”
Meanwhile, Advarika had pinched a fold of Trisha’s nightgown and rubbed the material between his fingers and thumb. He liked the feel of the satin gown.
Trisha pulled her nightgown away from Advarika and continued walking down the corridor. The farther they walked, the narrower the makeshift hallway became. Trisha started hearing noises, not voices, but clinks and clatters.
Mrs. Toddles said, “Trisha, don’t be frightened. I have come to help you, so please trust in me.”
Trisha rubbed her eyes. In the dim light, she was starting to see things that made her skin crawl. The walls seemed to be moving and squirming, full of insects and worms.
Mrs. Toddles stopped quickly in front of a large stainless steel object, and Advarika ran right into Trisha as she stopped. Embedded in the wall, the piece of metal reminded Trisha of Chris’s bed in the OR at her great-grandmother’s house. The woman turned Trisha toward the polished steel, where Advarika watched images of him and Trisha. Mrs. Toddles, the woman from the portrait, had no reflection.
Advarika gently pushed Trisha aside and started examining his physique. “Not a bad-looking raccoon, if I do say so myself.” He flexed his muscles a few times and then checked his teeth for any leftover worm guts that he had eaten earlier.
When the image changed and grew clearer, it no longer reflected reality. Trisha watched as Advarika peered closely at the surface. He was straining to make out…just a little bit clearer and he could see…
All at once, Advarika jumped three feet in the air and ran behind Trisha, pushing her toward the polished surface. The metal sheet showed a skinny image of a very old woman in
a wheelchair. By her appearance, time had taken its toll on her body. She was alone and looked very sad.
“Who is that?” Trisha asked. “She looks familiar.”
The woman answered sadly, “Trisha, that woman is you, and you are not as old as you think. You’ve had a hard life with Godfrey.”
“I didn’t dance at balls with my husband, laugh, and stay up having fun till early in the morning?”
The woman replied, “No, I’m afraid not. Concentrate on the background, and you will see more.”
Trisha did not have to strain her eyes. Her intended husband, Godfrey, danced with several young ladies, laughing and chatting as if Trisha did not exist. He appeared to be about the same age as he was now.
Trisha looked at the woman and said, “I don’t understand. Why is Godfrey dancing with other girls? Why am I so horribly old, while he looks so young?”
“Trisha, you are both the same age as you are now. Being married to Godfrey will do that to your soul in a very short period of time.”
“I will not marry that man! He has fooled me, and I will not be his wife.”
Mrs. Toddles replied softly, “You do have another choice.” As she continued to walk, Trisha eagerly waited to hear her second alternative. It had to be better than the one she had just seen. Mrs. Toddles stopped just a few feet away in front of a large boulder.
“If you choose not to go through with the wedding, your fate will rest on the other side of this boulder.”
Advarika tried to move the boulder. He put his skinny fingers between the rock and the wall, but the boulder would not budge. Mrs. Toddles rested her hand on the huge rock, and it slowly opened. Advarika examined his nails—all were still clean. He blew on them and then rubbed them on his chest, looking proud, as if he had just opened the entrance. The smug look on his face quickly changed to match Trisha’s horrified stare.
In the tomblike cavern, eight young women in torn and dirty clothes worked relentlessly at one side of the cave, digging holes and passageways. Trisha looked back at Mrs. Toddles.
“Each of these women turned down Godfrey’s proposal of marriage at some point in the last several years.”
Trisha glanced fearfully at the rest of the room. Several large glass jars, filled almost to the top with dirt, housed countless worms and roaches. Every now and then, the insects’ movement would shift the dirt and a human body part would appear, usually a hand or a foot.