Smallfoot Movie Novelization
Page 8
“Horrible. They think we’re monsters,” Meechee realized. “But we would never do anything like this.”
Then she and Migo gazed at the huge hole that Gwangi had punched in the wall. Outside stretched a path of broken cars, smashed satellite dishes, and pieces of buildings, all destroyed in their race to escape the police and the angry mob.
“Oh,” they both said.
Lights flashed through the museum windows.
“They’re gonna find us!” Kolka said.
Meechee still hated the idea of running from them. “Are they really all bad?”
Migo looked down at his toe, which still had the bandage Percy had placed there. “I don’t know,” he replied. “But we’ve got to get out of here.”
“But how? They’re everywhere,” she reminded him.
Gwangi gazed up toward the roof, where the moon shone through a skylight.
• • •
The police weren’t the only ones looking for the Yetis. Percy and Brenda zipped through the streets on her snowmobile, following the police vehicles and the crowd.
Brenda came to a stop, and they jumped off. “I swear they came this way,” she said. “Where could they have gone.”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Their eyes followed the sound. Five Yetis jumped right over their heads, from rooftop to rooftop!
“That’s where!” Percy cried.
Four police cars whizzed past. They saw the Yetis too.
“Oh no. They’re going to get caught!” Brenda said.
Percy jumped back onto the snowmobile. “Not if I get there first.”
“No, Percy, don’t!” Brenda cried.
“They’re not gonna get them before I do!” he called behind him as he zipped away.
The Yetis swiftly reached the outskirts of the village and ran across a field of snow. The police cars couldn’t follow. Relieved, the Yetis forged ahead into a forest of trees.
Thwap! Thwap! Thwap!
A strange sound filled the air, and then lights shone on them from overhead.
“What are those things?” Gwangi asked, squinting in the bright light. They looked like giant, metal birds, with a spinning blade on top.
Three helicopters surrounded the Yetis, cutting them off from the mountain.
“We’re trapped!” Kolka wailed.
Then . . . Ting! Pling! Ting!
The Stonekeeper stood on the mountainside, hurling the stones from his robe at the helicopters!
Meechee was stunned. “Dad?”
“I told you the stones were here to protect us!” he said.
The stones bent the propeller blades, and one by one the helicopters dropped down. Their pilots emerged, unhurt, and ran away.
“Dude, yes!” Gwangi cheered, slapping the Stonekeeper’s hand.
More lights approached them. Down the slope, six snowmobiles sped toward them. There were five SWAT team members, all following Percy.
Without warning, the SWAT team fired tranquilizer darts at the Yetis.
“Ow!” Gwangi cried as one hit him in the leg, knocking him down.
Kolka gasped. “Gwangi!”
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” he said, getting to his feet. But his one leg had gone limp. “Not okay!”
His friends supported him as they continued up the mountain. Gwangi had to painstakingly push his leg forward with each step.
Zip! Zip! Zip! Another wave of darts flew toward them, and Meechee ducked.
“Migo, are you all right?” she asked.
“Just go!” Migo yelled. He followed close behind.
Down below them, one snowmobile suddenly stopped. A Smallfoot got out and looked around. It was Percy. He smiled.
“They want a Yeti, and that’s what I’m going to give them,” Percy said. He dove into a huge snowbank.
The SWAT team—followed by the press—rushed to the fallen Yeti.
“Over here!” one of the reporters yelled. There was a burst of flashbulbs as one of the SWAT team members went to gently lift the Yeti’s head up.
The head came off in his hands.
“This head is fake!” a reporter yelled.
Beneath the fake Yeti head, Percy’s face popped up with a grin.
“Oh darn, you got me,” Percy said.
“Is this some kind of joke?” a policeman yelled.
“That depends,” Percy answered. “Did you think it was funny?”
Meanwhile, the Stonekeeper, Migo, Gwangi, Fleem, Kolka, and Meechee were watching this exchange from behind a tree.
“He saved us!” Meechee whispered. “He put on a fake Yeti costume so they would capture him and not us. He let us get away!”
They watched as Percy, now in the headless Yeti suit, was taken away by the SWAT team, surrounded by reporters and police. Suddenly Brenda was by his side.
Percy looked at her and shrugged. “Well, there goes my fame,” he said.
“Yeah, but you have something better. Integrity,” Brenda replied.
Percy gave a little nod and looked toward the hills, wondering about his friends. He hoped they were safe, and that they realized, somehow, that he had helped them.
• • •
Migo watched as Percy was led away. His heart was filled with gratitude. “Good-bye, friend,” he whispered. He wondered what was going to happen when the Yetis returned home. The stones were gone, but the village was safe. And the future . . . well, the future, for the first time, was wide open.
In the old days every day had been exactly like the one before. Now every day was new, exciting, and different.
And Migo wouldn’t want it any other way.
Chapter Seventeen
A New Normal
A few days passed after Percy returned to his home. Migo invited all the Yetis in the village to the Cave of Secrets, where he gave a speech. The Yetis all stared at a wall behind him filled with carved images, which he pointed to as he told his story.
“This is our history,” he began. “These are our ancestors. There was a time when Yetis lived below the clouds. But then we moved up here, where we knew the Smallfoot couldn’t survive.”
The Yetis were silent as Migo continued. They were hanging on his every word.
“I thought the Smallfoot was my enemy, but then one saved me,” Migo said. “I know I said it wasn’t a Smallfoot, but that wasn’t true. And I’m sorry I lied to all of you.” Migo snuck a quick glance in Meechee’s direction. She nodded her head slightly, as if in forgiveness.
Migo went on. “The Smallfoot is real. And they live below the clouds. Clouds we make. And that’s the truth. The truth is sometimes complicated, and it can be scary, but it’s better than living a lie. Like, way better.”
Thorp cleared his throat and spoke up. “So, we didn’t fall out of the butt of the Great Sky Yak?”
“Probably not,” Migo answered.
“Whose butt did we fall out of?” Thorp asked.
“You know what? We’ll circle back to that question later,” Migo replied.
Migo turned back to all the Yetis still staring at the wall. He went on.
“So now you know. They think we’re monsters, and we think they are. And that’s not going to change by hiding. We have to communicate, so it’s up to us to decide what we want to do.”
The Yetis all looked at one another, then back to Migo, and smiled.
Migo turned to the Stonekeeper and nodded. Together, they approached a glass-sealed lever. The Stonekeeper handed Migo his staff and patted him on the back. Migo took a deep breath, smashed the glass, and pulled the lever.
The pistons stopped pumping.
The ice balls stopped falling.
The giant fans whirred to a stop.
And the clouds of steam disappeared.
The Yetis looked out in awe for the first time at the Himalayas.
“It’s a new day,” Migo said to the crowd.
The Stonekeeper smiled and nodded in agreement. “Indeed it is, Migo,” he said. “Indeed it is. Let’s make it a perfect one.
”
Copyright © 2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment
SMALLFOOT and all related characters and elements © & ™ WBEI.
WB SHIELD: ™ & © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s18)
SISC41036
smallfootmovie.com
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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First Simon Spotlight paperback edition August 2018
Also available in a Simon Spotlight hardcover edition titled Smallfoot The Deluxe Movie Novelization. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.
Book designed by Nick Sciacca
ISBN 978-1-5344-3226-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-3227-7 (Smallfoot The Deluxe Movie Novelization hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-3228-4 (eBook)