Megan reached over and touched his hand. “Austin? Are you awake?”
His eyelids flickered. He opened his eyes and sighed. “Yes. I was listening for clues, trying to follow the shell’s emanations.”
“It’s what? Speak English, Austin,” I said. “You’re getting more like Gramps every day.”
“Thank you.” Austin reached for his water bottle and took a drink. “I think I know why this thing reacts to Luke. It’s meant to glow like that when it’s near a Komodo dragon.”
“Explain, please,” said Megan.
“Did you ever play that game where you hide something and the person who hid it says that you’re getting ‘warmer’ when you’re getting nearer to the hidden item and ‘colder’ when you move away from it?”
He stood up, holding the necklace in front of him, and walked away from us. The pink light faded. Then he turned around and walked closer to me. The shell began to glow pink again. When I took it in my hand, it began to blink on and off.
“See what I mean?” said Austin. “It knows Luke has been a Komodo. That’s why you just noticed the necklace glowing this week, Megan. It’s because you’ve been wearing it when Luke is near.”
Megan held her hand out and Austin gave her the necklace. The light stopped blinking.
“I think it will help us find a Komodo,” he said. “I also think it can help us find a pink one, though I’m not sure how.”
“Take good care of that necklace, Megan,” I told her. “We may need it to find that special Komodo. Once we find it, we can break the curse. We’ll be able to go to school and get good jobs. You’re holding our future in your hands.”
“Put it under your pillow at night,” said Austin. “Don’t leave it in your suitcase or backpack.”
Megan pushed herself up from the log. “I still don’t understand why the curse affected Uncle Roy and me.”
“Do you have any other grandparents?” I asked.
Megan nodded. “I had another grandmother, named Helen. She and my grandfather were divorced when my mother and Uncle Roy were babies. He never came to see them, so they didn’t know their father at all. And of course I never met him. He’s probably dead and buried by now.” She walked a little way from us and stood looking into the woods. Her expression was sad.
I glanced at Austin and found him looking at me. We were thinking the same thing. Megan was right. Her grandfather was Dunn Nikowski. Dunn was dead. We’d seen him die in the zoo parking lot. Our grandfather had killed him during their last battle.
“She doesn’t get it,” whispered Austin. “We have to say it clearly. We have to say ‘Dunn Nikowski is your grandfather.’”
“I think she understands,” I whispered. “That’s why she’s upset. Maybe we should talk about something else.” I walked to the edge of the woods, where Megan was standing. I glanced at my watch. It was almost two PM.
“Don’t you have archery class at two o’clock?” I asked.
Megan blinked. “Oh, my gosh! I’m going to be late.” She started trotting back toward the baseball diamond and the archery range. Austin and I followed her.
“I don’t know why I’m hurrying,” said Megan. “My arm still hurts, so I can’t pull the bowstring. I should have signed up for swimming lessons instead.”
I jogged ahead so I could walk next to her. “You don’t have to take swimming lessons, Megan. I’ve thought of a way you can learn how to swim. Fast.”
Megan agreed to meet Austin and me down on the beach while everyone else was at supper. She waved goodbye and headed toward the archery range.
We’d given her the facts. She had changed into an animal, and only descendants of Gramps and Dunn Nikowski could do that. Dunn had provoked a rare pink Komodo. It bit off his leg, and Gramps had to shoot it. A medicine woman put a shell necklace around Dunn’s neck while he was ill. Megan was wearing that necklace now. Her grandmother, who lived on an island far away, had sent that necklace to her. We didn’t know who her grandmother was, but we knew the identity of her grandfather. Megan was a smart girl. She knew what we were trying to tell her. She had a hard truth to face and she wasn’t ready. Yet.
Chapter Seven—Swimming Lessons
The three of us met that evening on the beach. It was the supper hour so everyone else was busy. Megan and Austin were in swimsuits. They walked into the water until they were about chest deep. I sat on the pier to watch.
“Megan, have you changed into any other animals besides the death adder?” asked Austin.
Megan shivered slightly. “No. I was afraid to try.”
“You have two changes left, then. If you turn into an animal that swims, you can learn how at the same time. It will be fun.”
“What kind of an animal?” asked Megan.
“A frog, maybe,” said Austin. “Or a turtle.”
“Or an otter,” I added.
“An otter would be fun,” said Austin. “I wish I had a change left.”
“Maybe you do,” I said. “I think we were wrong about that. I think it’s the number of animals you change into, not the number of times you change.”
Austin frowned at me. “Um, I have to think about that.”
I knew why he was frowning. I’d only turned into three animals at the zoo; a Komodo dragon, a hippo, and an eagle. I still had animal traits from both the Komodo and the eagle. I nodded to Austin. “We’ll figure that out later. Meanwhile, Megan has to decide what kind of swimming animal she’d like to try.”
“It should be something that’s common around here,” said Austin. “That way no one will notice you when you’re practicing.”
Megan closed her eyes. “Let me see. I guess I’ll be a frog. They’re good swimmers. How do I change? We aren’t having a geomagnetic storm. Or even an ordinary storm.”
“We don’t need one because we’ve changed into animals before,” said Austin. “Just close your eyes and focus. Then get down under the water and picture yourself as a frog.”
Megan took a deep breath and sank into the water, letting her head go under. Austin stood in the water near her. Seconds went by. Then a minute. It was very quiet.
“Can you see her?” I called out. “Is she okay?” Austin gave me a “thumbs up” signal.
More seconds ticked by. After another minute I saw circles forming on the top of the water. The water churned and bubbled, swirling as if a giant hand had reached down and pulled the plug on the lake. The bubbling stopped, and the water turned green and cloudy.
“Uh oh,” said Austin. He hurried in to shore and waved for me to come with him. We ran toward the steps at the base of the hill together. “I was afraid of this,” said Austin. He was panting as he pointed back to the lake.
“What?” I cried. “What’s wrong?’
Up through the murky water rose two bulging eyes, about eight feet apart, on the sides of a curved mass of green skin. The skin stretched out to form a flat nose, covered with dark spots. A wide mouth stretched beyond the eyes on both sides. Beneath the mouth, a pulsing yellow throat blended into the fat, green body of an enormous frog. It was bigger than a Volkswagen Bug. It kept growing, stretching across the sand and expanding upwards until it was about the same size as my bedroom. I swallowed hard. This couldn’t be Megan. Something must have happened to her. The wide mouth opened and a pinkish yellow tongue unrolled, snapping up a passing bluegill.
“Grummpke. Grummpke.” The sound spilled from the frog’s mouth like a low roar. A bullfrog. Aggressive as a bull protecting a herd, it hopped toward us, propelling itself into the air with a mighty thrust of its back legs. It landed a few yards away from us with an earth-shaking crash. On one side of the pier, rowboats slammed into one another, forced sideways by giant waves.
Austin and I ran up the steps and stared at the creature from behind the tag board.
“Are you sure that’s Megan?” I whispered
“Megan,” Austin called out, his voice clear and calm. “I think this experiment has gone a little too far.”
As if it heard me, the bullfrog let out another bellowing sound. “Grummpke!” It moved one front leg forward, churning up the sand and throwing some of it on me. If it decided to jump again, we’d be flattened.
Austin didn’t seem worried. He stroked his chin, like he always did when he was thinking. “She’s really amazing. She turned our little swimming idea into that huge creature. We didn’t even talk about how to grow bigger.” He stared at the giant frog, his face shining with admiration. “Imagine what she’ll be able to do when she goes to college, Luke. What will she do with all that talent?”
All that talent was making me very nervous. “Right now I just hope she remembers that she could squash us like bugs,” I said. “Or eat us like bugs,” I added with a shudder. “Isn’t she supposed to be learning to swim?”
Austin leaned back against a nearby tree. He didn’t seem to be listening to me. “I don’t think it’s that hard to grow into a really huge animal. Remember Gramps and Dunn—how gigantic they grew during the fight in the zoo parking lot?”
“How did they do it?” I rasped, my throat suddenly dry. “We have to figure it out before we’re frog food.”
“She’s not going to eat us.” He walked back and forth, stroking his chin and nodding. If his hair was white he’d be a perfect miniature of Gramps.
The frog watched him as he walked, the tractor-tire-sized eyes swiveling right, then left then right again as Austin walked back and forth in front of her.
“Here’s what you do,” said Austin. “Focus on an image of the animal that’s the size you want to be. Large or small.”
I glanced nervously at the gigantic frog, then turned my attention to Austin. “Okay. Let’s see you do it.”
Austin set his water bottle on a nearby stump, then spread his feet apart, one slightly forward. He closed his eyes. He looked so calm and quiet I wasn’t sure anything was going to happen. Then, right before my eyes, he started to grow. His body grew taller and heavier, covered with a new layer of muscle. His head grew bigger and began to look like a bear, with a long snout and short rounded ears. His neck thickened and slanted into massive shoulders. Broad, flat paws replaced his hands and feet. He reached a height of ten feet. He kept growing until he reached twenty feet. My brother the bear was now two stories tall.
“Stop!” I yelled. “That’s enough.”
The bear stood quietly for a minute or so. Then it began to shrink. I glanced around, expecting to see campers and counselors screaming and running at us, but the beach was quiet. No one was tearing down the hill. Everyone was still in the mess hall, busy with dinner. I waited nervously for the bear to fade away and my brother to return. It didn’t take long. A few seconds later, Austin was back and in his human body.
“High five,” he called out to the frog. The frog held out its right digits and Austin reached up and slapped it carefully.
He sat down on the ground. “I’m beat. That took a lot of energy.” He glanced at the frog. “Apparently I didn’t scare her.”
“No. It seems to like us.” I sat down next to him. The frog scooted forward as if it was trying to listen. “I wonder if I could do it. Get that big, I mean.”
“You probably could, but I don’t think you should try,” said Austin. “You’ve already got feathers from becoming an eagle. We don’t know what getting larger or smaller would do to you.”
I nodded. As usual, Austin was right. If I experimented with changing size, I could end up looking like a Smurf.
He stood up. “Come on, Megan. You’re supposed to be learning how to swim.”
“Grummpke!” The frog jumped again, scattering sand and making the earth tremble. It hopped into the water, creating huge circles as it disappeared under the waves. A minute later, Megan surfaced. “Help!” she cried, waving her arms in the air. Austin took a floatation ring from the post and threw it into the water. “Thanks,” yelled Megan. She kicked her way in to shore, pushing the ring ahead of her. When she stood up, I handed her a towel.
Austin cleared his throat. “Good job, Megan. Maybe next time, go a little smaller. That way you won’t be so obvious. In case you don’t want to be seen,” he added. “And it will be easier for you to swim.”
Megan grinned. “Pretty good though, don’t you think? I hated being a tiny snake.”
“I feel like someone is watching us,” I said in a low voice.
Austin glanced toward the top of the long staircase. “Good call. Someone in a blue jacket just ducked behind a tree at the top of the hill. Jake was wearing a blue jacket earlier this afternoon.”
“Don’t worry about him,” said Megan. “He’ll keep his mouth shut. Or else.”
“Or else what?” I asked. Jake hadn’t kept his mouth shut about my feathers. Why would he keep silent about a bullfrog the size of a one-car garage?
Megan laughed. “I know a few things about him that he wouldn’t want revealed.”
“Let’s try again, Megan,” said Austin. “This time, keep the size down to a regular bullfrog. You need to do some actual swimming.”
Megan lowered herself into the water and disappeared. I couldn’t even see her from where I sat, but Austin was watching her closely. He walked around in the space enclosed by the sides of the pier, staying close in case she should need him. A large snapper or a big fish might want to eat her. After about fifteen minutes, Megan reappeared in human form.
“Okay,” said Austin. “Time to see if our experiment worked. Hold onto this float board and kick like a frog. I’ll demonstrate first.” He took the board and showed Megan how to do the frog kick.
Megan took the board and followed Austin’s directions. After a few tries she was doing the frog kick correctly. Then Austin showed her the arm stroke and how to combine it with the frog kick. Megan swam around him, propelling herself forward with the arm stroke and frog kicks.
I glanced at my watch. “We should get back upstairs before someone comes looking for us.” Austin and Megan got out of the water. “Good job, both of you!” I handed them each a towel.
“You did really well, Megan,” said Austin. “I think you’ll be able to swim now.”
“It makes me feel safer, anyway. Thanks for your help, Austin.” They gave each other a “high five” hand slap again. Then we began the long walk up the wooden stairs.
“What made you change into that monster frog, Megan?” I asked.
“I was tired of not being noticed,” said Megan.
“Not being noticed? I’m not sure what you mean.” It seemed to me that everybody noticed Megan.
“Was I in the dining room today at lunch?” She stopped on the stair and turned around. Even though I was two steps lower, we were nose to nose.
I frowned, uncertain whether Megan was at lunch or not. “Ummm, I don’t know.”
“Exactly.” She pivoted and continued climbing the stairs, gaining speed.
“What was that all about?” I asked.
Austin rolled his eyes to answer me. “The answer to the question she just asked you is ‘yes.’ She was at lunch. She went to your table to ask you something.”
“I don’t remember that.” I frowned, thinking back to lunch period. “I wonder what she asked me.”
“I’m guessing here, but she and her friends were talking about the dance Saturday night. She might have asked you if you were going.”
“Really? I don’t remember.”
“And that would be the problem,” said my brother, the love guru. “When she said she was tired of not being noticed, she was talking about you.”
He ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, until he caught up with Megan. I was several steps behind, but their voices carried in the quiet night.
“You don’t have to turn into a thousand-pound bullfrog to get somebody to notice you,” he told her.
She laughed. “Don’t I?”
“I notice you
anytime you’re near. Lots of times when you aren’t near.” His voice was sad. I stood still for a moment to let them get further ahead of me on the stairs. I didn’t want them to know I’d heard.
Megan reached out her hand. Austin took her hand in his, and they walked the rest of the way up the long stairway together.
Suddenly I felt empty, as if I’d just lost something I didn’t know I wanted.
Chapter Eight—Pig Toss
Time was running out. Austin and I agreed to stay for the Fish Island campout, but after that we had to leave. We’d have to miss the second roping clinic, but at least we’d learned the basics. We could keep practicing at home.
Before we left, we needed to talk to Megan again. We had to make sure she understood that Dunn was her grandfather, and the shell necklace was the same one the medicine woman had given Dunn fifty years ago. We needed Megan’s help. If we went back to Komodo Island, we’d need the shell necklace.
During free period the next day, Austin and I waited for her in in the same place we’d met before. There were trees all around us, and we couldn’t be seen from the camp or the road.
“Megan is a smart girl,” said Austin. “After everything we’ve told her, she must know she’s related to Dunn.”
“Knowing it and admitting it are two different things.” I felt nervous and my mouth was dry.
“Here she comes,” whispered Austin.
Megan came into the clearing. Austin patted the space next to him on a fallen tree and she sat down. “What’s going on?” She looked from one of us to the other.
I took a drink of my water. “Megan, we have to ask you something. It’s very important. It’s the only way we can find out why you and your uncle were affected by this curse.”
Megan huffed out a long breath, and her shoulders slumped. “I have a feeling I don’t want to hear this.”
“We told you about the curse that the medicine woman put on Gramps and Dunn Nikowski,” said Austin. “All their descendants would be cursed too, until one of them found a pink Komodo and returned it to the village.
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