by Tracey Hecht
Tobin stared at the glowing creatures and the faint shapes he could see through their blue light. Were those tails? Antennae? Claws? Were those pointy things long rows of legs? Or were they layers of fangs? And what were those bulbous bumps? Did the star creatures have multiple heads?
The pangolin gulped and squinted again at the aliens, hoping to see more. But the invaders were too far away and their glow was too bright. He could see nothing for certain, except for the aye-aye, waving one long finger, beckoning the invaders closer. Immediately, they obliged, gathering before her like a constellation of blue stars.
“Good.…Yes.…Gooooood,” Iris hissed. “You’ve done well, my beauties. Aye-Aye Iris has nearly all the flowers now!”
“Quoi!? She’s the one with the flowers!?” Bismark sputtered.
“Oh my, she said she would protect us from the star creatures…but she’s working with them!” cried Tobin. “She doesn’t have a helpful secret—she has an evil one!”
Dawn let out a low, angry growl.
“And now, the final phase of the plan!” Iris cackled. “Aye-Aye Iris must have all the flowers. Then everyone will depend on her! Then everyone will need her! So go! Bring them to her! Harvest them! Cull the last blue flower field at the western plateau!” The aye-aye threw her ragged head back, her stringy fur whipping behind her, and howled.
As Iris let out her horrible shriek, the glowing creatures scrambled over the cave’s stony exterior and into the forest depths. In their wake, they left a trail of millions of tiny footprints, as if together they were a single, luminescent centipede slithering through the undergrowth.
“Oh goodness, the glowers are going to get the flowers…again!” wailed the pangolin. He cradled his stomach, wincing at the hot, searing pain. “Why are they doing this?” he sputtered. “Why are the invaders listening to Iris and stealing all of the flowers? What do they want?”
Dawn shook her head, unable to answer.
“Go! Go, my beauties!” Iris cooed. The aye-aye watched with satisfaction as the last of the glowing creatures disappeared over the rocky ground. Then she turned and started to slink back into the cave, her bushy, knotted tail swishing behind her in the freshly churned dirt.
“Mon dieu, this is our chance!” Bismark cried. “That aye-aye’s a terror, a trickster, a traitor! Let’s go get her while the glowers are gone and the going’s good!”
The fox stared hard after the vanishing aye-aye, but then she shook her head. “We need to save the flowers,” she said. Her tone was firm. “We must cure Tobin and the poisoned animals before we do anything else.”
“But how?” Tobin asked, his brow furrowed. Even if he had felt well, the pangolin could not imagine keeping up with the glowers. “We’ll never catch up if we follow them—they’re moving too fast!”
“We’re not going to follow them,” said the fox, with a small smile. “I know where that plateau is…and better yet, I know a shortcut. We’re not going to let those star creatures beat us again. This time, we’re getting there first.”
Chapter Sixteen
THE RACE
“Come on, amigo! Quit stallin’ and keep clawin’!” Bismark shouted. “We need to get there before those glowers destroy all our precious flowers!”
Dawn led the way while the glider sailed through the overcast sky above. Tobin, however, was struggling once again. The ground was quickly growing rough, and a sharp rock scratched his paw, piercing a layer of skin. Bismark turned to see the pangolin stumble and drop.
“Ouch! Oh, Bismark, it’s not so easy when you have to walk! I’ve never felt earth this crunchy and hard!” Tobin cried. The burning poison in his stomach was now accompanied by a sharp pain in his foot. Could he continue? he wondered. Would he make it? What if they didn’t reach the flowers in time? The pangolin’s thoughts turned to the woylies. Would he end up like their friend Dewey? Tobin paused, breathless and panicked. But then, Bismark’s familiar cry rang through the air.
“Mon dieu, what is this terrible terrain?” he exclaimed, settling to the ground with a flap of his flaps. “My lady, my light, my love—where the heavens are you taking us?”
Jarred from his thoughts and fears, Tobin took a deep breath. Then he scanned his surroundings.
The Brigade had entered an unfamiliar region of gravel and sand. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but hard, dry earth and a few prickly cactus. Tangles of dried, gray grass whispered and tumbled through a cold wind.
Dawn’s red fur stood on end, shielding her skin from the chill. This was a far cry from the rich land and humid forest of their valley, but she knew it was the right way. It had to be. “Come on,” she urged. “Just a little bit farther.”
Dawn picked her way across the stony landscape, sniffing at the dry earth. A ball of pale, hairy tumbleweed bounced past her and then disappeared into the darkness. The fox took a sudden step after it, further into the desert. Then she hesitated—and took a step back.
Bismark and Tobin looked at one another, their glance clouded with uncertainty.
“Um, ‘just a little bit farther,’ you said, correctomundo?” asked the sugar glider. “You’re…you’re not lost, are you, my lovely leader, my tawny trailblazer, my bella guide?”
“I’m not lost,” said Dawn. But her voice did not carry its usual confidence. The dim, clouded light and the chilly breeze were warping her sense of direction, and she began to wonder if she remembered the shortcut correctly. Had she taken the wrong path? Did she just destroy their chance to reach the blue flowers first? What if the flower field atop the plateau held the last of the flowers?
The fox swallowed hard, attempting to loosen the knot in her chest.
But then, the wind began to die down, and the full moon burst through the clouds. The landscape grew brighter. More familiar.
Dawn turned to take in her surroundings again in the new light.
Then she saw it: in the distance was a small slope …that led up to a flat plain of land.
Tobin followed his leader’s gaze. “The plateau!” he breathed.
The corners of Dawn’s mouth curled up. “Yes.” She nodded.
With renewed energy, the pangolin ran along the path toward the plateau, scrambling up its sloped side. When he reached the top, he was so excited, he nearly leaped into the air. “Dawn, Bismark—hurry!” he called. “You have to see this!”
His two friends raced up the slope behind him. And then, side-by-side, the trio took in the magnificent sight before them.
The plateau’s flat surface was completely covered in blue flowers. Each one was healthy and beautiful, fluttering in the breeze, leaves glinting like opals, blue petals shimmering beneath the light of the full moon.
“Oh goodness, we did it!” Tobin said. “We beat the star creatures! I’ll finally be okay! Everyone will be healed!”
“You’re right, Tobin,” said Dawn. The fox inhaled, taking in the fresh, sweet scent of the blossoms. “There are enough flowers here to save the whole valley!”
Their faces brightened in the moonlight as they watched the flowers sway in the night air.
And then…
Thunk.
The Brigade blinked. One of the flowers had vanished, just like the ones in the last field.
Thunk.
Then another.
Thunk.
And another. As each one disappeared, a shining beam of blue light shone up from underground.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Three more flowers vanished into the earth, causing the ground to glow brighter.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
“Oh mon dieu!” exclaimed Bismark. “The invaders—they’re here!”
Dawn shot forward into the field. “Hurry!” she yelled. “Save as many flowers as you can!”
Chapter Seventeen
THE FINAL FLOWER
“This is it, amigos! Time to beat those blossom-banditos once and for all! En garde!” Bismark shouted.
&nb
sp; The sugar glider raced into the field. With each step he took, more flowers vanished underground. They disappeared with alarming speed—leaving nothing behind but holes. And with each new opening formed in the earth’s surface, a new beam of eerie blue light shot toward the sky.
“Hiii-ya! Let’s see you take this one from my unbreakable grasp, moonies!” Bismark cried, lunging toward one of the plants and gripping it tightly around the stalk.
Thunk!
With a sudden jerk, the flower whistled through Bismark’s paws and into the earth. The force of its pull rocketed him to the ground and gave him a faceful of dirt.
“Ach!” the glider spat. He scrambled to brush off his flaps and reach for another bloom. “Why don’t you try this one instead, you wretched flower-filchers!” But just as he wrapped his fingers around a different plant, it, too, was yanked from his clutches.
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk!
All across the field, the flowers were disappearing faster than the three friends could react. The plateau was starting to look as barren as the surrounding desert.
“Oh goodness! They’re getting them all!” Tobin said in a panic. He tore across the ground, snatching about here and there with his long, blade-like claws. But when he finally managed to get a hold of a flower, he unwittingly snipped its petaled head right off. It tumbled into one of the holes, briefly blocking out the blue light glowing underneath. Then it, too, disappeared from sight.
“Mon dieu! It’s a melee, a massacre, a moon-slaughter!” Bismark cried. The glider was racing deeper into the field, bolting from flower to flower, but they were slithering into the ground faster than worms down a kiwi bird’s gullet.
“Try to keep up with them!” Dawn shouted, but even she, the strongest and swiftest of the trio, could not manage to catch a single blossom before it slipped away. With all the beams of blue light shining from underground, it was getting harder and harder to see clearly and to keep track of the remaining flowers.
“They’re everywhere, mes amis! We’re surrounded and we can’t even see our surrounders!” cried Bismark, stomping his small paws on the ground. “We’ll never catch up with these crazy critters while they’re down there!”
“Bismark, that’s it! We need to stop them at the source!” shouted Dawn. With a quick pivot and dive, she lunged at the beam of light shooting up from one of the mounds and began to dig furiously. The pangolin immediately followed, digging with his long, curved claws, but their efforts were too late. The beams of light faded from sight, and the two friends came up with nothing but paws filled with dirt.
“What are we going to do?” Tobin cried. The pangolin gazed up from the pile of freshly dug earth and watched in dismay as the few remaining flowers began to shoot underground.
Thunk!
Thunk!
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
The beams of light were coming up faster now. Before Tobin and Dawn could even straighten their backs, the last line of flowers had already been zipped away. Only one last blossom remained. It was set slightly apart from the rest, right on the edge of the plateau.
“Pangolino! We need that flower for you!” Bismark cried, raising his flaps in the air.
“Oh my, we’ll never get there in time!” Tobin cried, his legs and feet wobbling as he tried to regain his balance.
Dawn took a sudden leap but then stopped. She knew she would never be fast enough to reach the blossom before the star creatures. Her amber eyes flickered desperately across the field, searching for a solution. And then she saw the Brigade’s final hope.
“Bismark!” she cried.
The sugar glider was standing, his flaps still raised in the air.
“It’s up to you now!” Dawn shouted. “You know what this calls for!”
“By all that glides! How long I’ve yearned to hear those words from your fine, foxy lips!” Bismark cried. Then, with a dramatic swivel, the glider took off running, his tiny fists beating against his chest. “This calls for the…!” But suddenly, something slipped from under his flaps and bounced down in front of him. The sugar glider skidded to an abrupt halt.
“Mon dieu!” he gasped. “The magic berry I snagged from those lemurs! If I eat this, I’d be sure to zip to that final flower in no time.” His eyes flickered as he imagined his unworldly speed. “But uno momento…” he murmured. Slowly, the glider’s face fell and his brow crumpled with disappointment. “I wanted to use this fantastical fruit for fun, not fighting! For my own personal pleasure! To glorify my already glorious self!” Bismark stared at the berry in one paw and scratched at his scalp with the other, overcome with conflict. “What should I do?”
Tobin gaped at his frozen friend. “Oh goodness, Dawn, we have to do something!” he cried. And then, without another word—without even thinking—the pangolin curled into a ball and rolled in front of the fox’s paws. The fox knew exactly what Tobin had in mind. She reeled back her leg and gave him a mighty kick.
Through the air, in the safety of his armored ball, Tobin flew: past Bismark, over the mounds, and toward the plateau’s sharp edge. Then, with a bounce and a leap, the pangolin landed, uncurled his body, and dug his claws into the ground so he wouldn’t fall off the edge.
For a moment, he paused, getting his bearings. Then he spotted it: the final flower. At once, he shot out his long, sticky tongue, and wrapped it around the flower’s long stem.
But when he yanked it, he felt a strong force pulling the flower back underground.
“Hehp!” Tobin lisped. “The sthar creathures! They’ve got the fwower by the rooth!” The pangolin dug his heels into the earth, but the strength of the glower’s pull dragged the stem into the ground bit by bit.
“I’ve got you!” It was Dawn. She had clambered up behind her friend and wrapped her paws around his scaly body. Then she, too, dug her heels in the dirt, transforming herself into an anchor. But still, the flower’s head was inching closer and closer to the ground.
“Oh mon dieu, what a shame.…” Bismark sighed, his mouth forming a mischievous grin. “It appears there’s no time to eat the berry after all!” Quickly, he tucked the red fruit back in his flap before scurrying behind his companions and pulling with all his miniscule might.
The flower’s stem was stretching under the stress of all the tugging. Back and forth. Back and forth. And neither side seemed to show signs of defeat. At one moment, the Brigade was dragged almost to the earth themselves. And at the next, they nearly succeeded in pulling the flower out to its roots.
“Mon dieu, I don’t know how much more of this terrible tug-of-war I can take!” Bismark said. “Even my massive muscles have their limit!”
Through clenched teeth, Dawn growled her instructions. “Hold fast, both of you! One last pull, on my mark!” she said. She took a deep breath. “One…two …three!”
With a mighty, unified heave, Tobin rolled his body, Bismark beat his flaps, and Dawn wrenched her head.
Plink!
Suddenly, the plant felt weightless in their grasp. The three friends tumbled down together in a heap, the flower coming up and falling before them. Bismark bumped his head as he landed face-first in the dirt.
“Oh goodneth, we did it!” cried Tobin. The pangolin uncurled himself and reeled the blue flower in with his tongue, prepared to eat it at last.
“Uno momento, pangolino!” called Bismark, scrambling to his feet. “Perhaps we should share that final blossom. Might help with my swelling, as well.” Bismark rubbed at the small bump that was forming right on his bald spot.
“Bismark!” Dawn scolded. “Eat the flower, Tobin,” she instructed. “All of it.”
The pangolin obeyed at once.
“Right, si, it’s—it’s for you,” Bismark stammered, brushing the dirt off his coat. “I was kidding, of course. What’s a bumpy noggin compared to a poisoned belly?” Bismark flapped toward Dawn. “Plus,” he added, “even with my wound, I am still horribly handsome. Isn’t that right, my love?”
Dawn looked at the pangolin. Already, his gaze seemed more steady. “You’ll be all right now,” she said.
“Yes,” agreed Bismark. He threw his arm around his scaly friend, and the three friends stood in a huddle, catching their breath and letting the moment sink in.
Dawn smiled at Tobin. With the pangolin cured, the Brigade felt strong and complete. And they were capable of accomplishing anything together: curing the animals, defeating the star creatures, and confronting Iris. No matter how long, difficult, and dangerous their mission, they would succeed. Everything would be okay.
“Oh mon dieu!” Bismark’s high-pitched yelp rang through the night.
Startled, Tobin and Dawn jumped. Then they followed the line of the sugar glider’s bulging eyes and his shaky flap pointing over the plateau’s edge.
A crowd was approaching, climbing over the field’s edges from all sides. A swarm of creatures…their movements stiff yet quick, their pupils wild and wide.
“It’s the lemurs!” cried Tobin.
“How did they find us?” asked Bismark, clutching Dawn’s tawny leg.
Dawn narrowed her eyes. “Iris must have sent them here to make sure all the flowers had been taken,” she said.
“Aye, aye, aye-aye,” the lemurs were chanting again.
The lemurs caught sight of the Brigade and a wave of excitement rolled through the crowd. Their fur stood on edge as they closed in on the trio.
“Mon dieu!” Bismark cried. “Looks like our brilliant Brigade was in the wrong place at the right time. I mean, the right place at the wrong time. I mean…”
“Aye, aye, aye-aye! Aye, aye, aye-aye!”
The lemurs were in a frenzy now, moving faster and faster, arms extended toward the Brigade.
“D-Dawn?” Tobin yelped. “What do we do!?”
Dawn’s eyes darted across the landscape, searching for some sort of escape route. But there was nowhere to go—the lemurs had stretched their pack into a circle around the Brigade. Dawn, Tobin, and Bismark were completely surrounded by the chanting, menacing crowd.