Xavier marched up the short
staircase in front of Dr. Stine’s office. He slammed the boot of
his left foot through the door, causing wood to splinter and a
burglar alarm to blare. A nurse ducked behind the front desk and
screamed for help. Xavier pushed his way into the back of the
building, where more nurses fled into examination rooms and slammed
doors shut. Xavier stepped toward a storage chest. When he realized
it was locked, he used his brute strength to pry it open with his
dirty, sharp fingernails. After he ripped the lid off of the chest,
he seized a gold and silver box. A large label, written in bold
script, was fastened to the front of the box. It read:
Do NOT
release battery packs without a signed and dated authorization form
from Dr. Stine. No exceptions!
“
Oh, I hope I’m not
breaking the rules!” Xavier said. Then he fled from the building,
hopped on Polinus’ back, and fled toward the towering peaks of
Mount Zahn.
***
Dr. Stine’s hovercraft was
a circular platform made of gold and steel. Six rocket boosters on
the bottom of the platform enable it to rise horizontally into the
air. Dr. Stine used a large lever, which he’d read was created from
the blueprints of ancient “joysticks” of arcade machines, which
were popular during The Old Times. Angelique held Razor in her arms
and felt the wind blow through her air while she stood behind Dr.
Stine. He steered the hovercraft toward his office and landed it
near the front door. Dr. Stine noticed that the door had been
kicked in and that the burglar alarm was blaring.
“
It’s too late, child. It
looks like Xavier or Lysette got here before us,” Dr. Stine
said.
Angelique pulled her dress
and bra away from her breast and examined the stainless steel
compartment. A small, digital clock on the compartment ticked away
the hours, minutes, and seconds until she’d go into cardiac arrest.
It read: 45 Hours, 48 minutes, and 15 seconds. Angelique and Razor
followed Dr. Stine when he sprinted through the busted door and
stumbled into the lobby. He approached the front desk, where an
elderly, silver-haired nurse named Gertrude waited for
him.
“
What happened, Gertrude?
Who did this?” Dr. Stine asked.
“
It was Sir Xavier Thames.
He took the battery packs! I’m so sorry, but there was nothing we
could do to stop him. He took the entire cache!” she
said.
Dr. Stine turned to face
Angelique. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her against
his chest. She sobbed as he embraced her. Razor licked Angelique’s
ankles while Dr. Stine whispered a promise in Angelique’s ear:
“It’s time for us to go to Xavier’s castle. There might be enough
time to steal a battery pack from him. I’ll do whatever it takes to
save you.”
They departed from the
doctor’s office and raced to the hovercraft. They fled from the
City of Thyme while Eye-Bots terrorized citizens in the streets.
Lysette emerged from a dark alley and grinned while she watched the
hovercraft fly away. She knew they would never reach Xavier’s
castle, because she sabotaged the hovercraft while Dr. Stine
investigated the theft of the battery packs.
Angelique held Razor
against her left shoulder while Dr. Stine steered the hovercraft
high above the City of Thyme. The dog whimpered and licked
Angelique’s face as the hovercraft cast its shadow across the
cobblestone streets and burning huts near the brick building that
served as Dr. Stine’s office. The residents of Thyme scrambled like
ants, fleeing from the laser-powered death rays of the Eye-Bots.
The robotic beasts swarmed between buildings, incinerated people,
and set buildings on fire.
“
Is this the last time I’ll
see my home, Dr. Stine?” Angelique asked. Salty tears crept from
the corners of her eyes and flowed across her cheeks.
“
Our top priority is to
replace your battery pack. Then we’ll come back and stop the
invasion. We don’t have enough time to fight the Eye-Bots now,” he
said.
Dr. Stine steered the
hovercraft between the massive, glass towers of central Thyme.
Angelique wept as she stared at their reflections on the shiny
surface of the skyscrapers. The buildings towered high above
slow-moving cirrus clouds, which swirled above them. She glanced
down and noticed that her father, King Reginald Bosc, had mobilized
his Android Army of the Royal Guard in response to the Eye-Bots’
invasion. The androids, dressed in dark blue uniforms, wielded fire
swords and nuke guns as they emerged from The King’s Armory and
charged toward the main infestation of Eye-Bots. Angelique smiled
and stroked Razor’s head with the fingers of her left hand. She
gasped and Razor whimpered when they heard a loud screech in the
air behind them.
She glanced over her
shoulder and realized that Sorrow, the queen of pterodactyls, was
soaring behind the hovercraft. Its sharp talons clicked and
twitched as it tried to latch onto Angelique’s shoulders. Razor
bared his teeth and growled when Sorrow’s mouth opened wide,
revealing two rows of dagger-like teeth. Razor exhaled a blast of
fire at Sorrow, scorching the pterodactyl’s left eye and a large
section of its face. The beast recoiled, stopped pursuing them, and
soared toward the forest’s largest tree.
“
Good boy, Razor! You saved
us!” Angelique said. She scratched his tiny ears.
The hovercraft tilted to
the right side when a series of explosions spread across the bottom
of the vehicle. Dr. Stine used all of his strength to tug on the
joystick-like controller and correct the problem, but he was unable
to do so. Angelique slid toward the edge of the hovercraft and
stared at the fast-moving cirrus clouds. She remembered when she
was younger and one of the Eye-Bots knocked her off of a hovercraft
and sent her tumbling toward the peaks of Mount Zahn. She was
reminded of her last encounter with the Eye-Bots, an event that
changed her life forever. Dr. Stine’s hand wrapped around her
forearm and pulled her back onto the hovercraft. She snapped out of
her flashback, kissed Razor on his forehead, and thanked Dr. Stine
for aiding her.
“
What’s wrong with the
hovercraft?” she said.
Dr. Stine scanned the
control panel and frowned. He realized that half of the
hovercraft’s rocket boosters had somehow been disabled and were no
longer functioning. As a result, the hovercraft’s altitude dropped
gradually. Thick smoke poured from the underside of the vehicle and
formed a black trail in the sky behind them. A rumbling sensation
caused the vehicle to vibrate under their feet. The remaining
rocket boosters produced a high-pitched, whining noise as they
struggled to keep the hovercraft afloat.
“
Someone must’ve sabotaged
the rocket boosters!” he said.
Angelique glanced at the
ground and ogled the treetops and thick foliage of The Enchanted
Forest of Sorrow. On the eastern edge of the forest, the white
sands of a narrow beach bordered a bluish-green lagoon. In the
center of the forest, an enormous tree rose from a green canvas of
vegetation and scraped the sky. Angelique ogled several nests full
of eggs on the large limbs of the tree. She gasped when Sorrow’s
silhouette flew away from the tree and approached them quickly. The
dark outline of the huge pterodactyl transitioned to green-and-blue
scales, yellow eyes, enormous wings, and a long snout. As Sorrow
approached, another explosion spread across the bottom of the
hovercraft, causing the vehicle to tip to the side. Angelique
placed Razor on the floor next to Dr. Stine’s feet as she slid down
the sudden slope. This time, Dr. Stine couldn’t grab her arm. Her
fingernails scraped the floor before she slid into the
air.
“
Angelique! No!” he
screamed. He picked up Razor, held him close to his chest, and
watched Angelique plunge into the white, puffy clouds.
Angelique tumbled through
the blue sky. She watched the treetops become clear and defined as
she fell toward the ground at a high rate of speed. She closed her
eyes and prayed. She screamed when sharp talons dug into the flesh
of her shoulders. A loud screech caused her to open her eyes. Her
mechanical heart skipped a beat when she realized that Sorrow had
captured her. Moments later, she cringed when the pterodactyl
dropped her into an enormous nest filled with giant, olive-colored
eggs. She peered over the brittle, interconnected tree branches
that formed the outer rim of the nest. From the top of the forest’s
tallest tree, she could see the glass skyscrapers of downtown
Thyme.
“
This can’t be happening.
This must be a dream,” she said.
Angelique peeled the cloth
of her dress away from her mechanical heart. After she glanced at
the digital numbers of the heart’s timer, realized that time was
running out. The red, flashing numbers revealed that she’d go into
cardiac arrest in 43 hours, 15 minutes, and 32 seconds. She noticed
thick vines that draped from the top of the tree to the ground. If
she could overcome her fear of heights, she might be able to climb
down…
Loud popping sounds echoed
throughout the nest as cracks and fissures formed on the surface of
the eggs. Angelique rose to her feet and approached one of the
vines as sharp beaks pecked through the eggs’ shells. Baby
pterodactyls, all of which were twice the size of a grown man,
pushed and shoved. Their talons clicked and their jaws chomped as
they spread their infant wings. Angelique tripped and fell onto her
stomach. The impact forced air from her lungs. As she struggled to
breathe, she rolled over onto her back and watched the newborn
beasts stumble away from their empty eggshells. Then she screamed
until her throat was so sore that she couldn’t utter a
sound.
***
Dr. Stine’s left hand
gripped the joystick controller of the hovercraft while his right
hand held Razor against his chest. He peered over the edge of the
hovercraft and watched Angelique plunge through cirrus clouds
toward the treetops of The Enchanted Forest of Sorrow. Phlegm
clogged his throat, snot bubbled around his nostrils, and tears
flowed from his eyes while he watched her fall. Combined emotions
of hope and fear raced through his mind when he witnessed Sorrow
pluck her from the air. Dr. Stine watched Angelique’s arms flail
and her legs kick while the pterodactyl transported her to the top
of the forest’s tallest tree.
The hovercraft plunged
toward the western side of the forest, which bordered the rocky
cliffs of a small mountain range. As the hovercraft descended at an
alarming rate of speed, Dr. Stine realized that fuel in the
vehicle’s large tank would explode on impact. He decided to jump
off of the hovercraft with Razor before the vehicle
crashed.
Dr. Stine gasped when a
compartment opened on Razor’s back. A blue-and-white parachute
emerged from the dog’s innards and blossomed in the air. Dr. Stine
held onto Razor with both hands after he let go of the hovercraft’s
joystick controller. He watched the hovercraft crash near the dark
opening of a cave and burst into flames. The fire spread from the
base of the rocky cliffs and engulfed the adjacent trees and
foliage.
Dr. Stine and Razor dangled
above the forest floor after the parachute got tangled in the limbs
of three trees. Squirrels frolicked and scurried on adjacent limbs
while Dr. Stine enjoyed the scent of pine. He noticed a release
mechanism on Razor’s back, which would separate him from the
parachute. He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and braced for
impact with the ground after he tugged the lever. Moments later,
Razor and Dr. Stine tumbled into a huge mound of moist soil and wet
leaves.
“
That wasn’t so bad,” Dr.
Stine said. He patted Razor on his head while the dog
panted.
Dr. Stine remembered that
the pterodactyl had carried Angelique to the tallest tree in the
forest, which stood to the east of where the Hovercraft crashed.
Razor trotted at his heels while they strolled beneath a canopy of
intertwined tree limbs and dangling moss. In the shadows and gloom,
fireflies glowed, producing dim light in short intervals. Brittle
branches and dead leaves crunched beneath their feet as they shoved
through a tangle of thorny, thick foliage. Dr. Stine frowned when
green stowaways clung to his white robe.
Boom, boom, boom
!
The ground shook beneath their feet. Startled birds took flight
from the tree limbs above them. A family of centaur, who’d been
watching Dr. Stine and Razor from the bank of a clear, flowing
stream, galloped deep into the forest. Dr. Stine and Razor turned
to face the source of the loud noise. Medium-sized trees and
saplings tumbled to the ground as a hairy, three-eyed giant plowed
through the forest. He wielded a massive club in his left hand.
Torn, dirty rags covered his groin and upper torso. Patches of
thick, black hair bulged through rips and gaps in his clothes.
Dried mud, congealed blood, and yellow mucus covered his scarred,
lesion-covered skin.
“
You woke me up! You caused
fire! Now you’ll suffer!” the giant roared.
The giant kicked Razor with
his left foot. The dog tumbled and landed against the side of a
termite-ravaged tree. The dog yelped, rolled over, and got to his
feet. He growled and snarled at the giant while he rocked on his
haunches. The giant stumbled toward him.
Dr. Stine thrust his
scepter at the giant. The tip of the weapon emitted a vibrant,
white light, which caused a large section of the forest to become
illuminated. Spirals of energy flowed from the tip of the scepter
and surrounded the giant in an electric coil. The giant exhaled a
deafening scream as the scent of scorched hair and burnt flesh
flowed off of him and filled the air. When Dr. Stine succumbed to
exhaustion and the scepter went dormant, the giant snarled and
charged him. Before Razor or Dr. Stine could react, the giant’s
left hand wrapped around Dr. Stine’s abdomen and lower
back.