Part 13 (1/2)
Until the big huge drop!
”Ahhhhh!” I cried.
”I think Ca.s.sie just figured out where we're headed,” Marco said.
”Ahhhhh!” I confirmed.
Another sharp turn. b.u.mPb.u.mPb.u.mP! SQUUUUEEEEGEEE!
And then, just a few dozen feet ahead, just ahead of the log boat we had been in, I saw another boat suddenly disappear. And I heard screams. Happy screams. Totally different from my scream.
”Aaaaaahhhhhh!”
I was racing toward a waterfall. And there was nothing I could do to stop it!
”No! No! Noooooo!”
”Oh, man! No! No! Noooooo!”
”This is insaaaaane! Nooooo!”
”I'll get you kids for this! Nooooooo!”
And over the edge we went. I skidded on my b.u.t.t down a fifty-foot water slide. Which was bad enough. But just a few feet behind me were two guys and an angry man.
And just a few feet farther back was another log boat. A log boat that would squash us all like bugs if it hit us.
Down I fell, screaming the entire way!
BAH-LOOOOs.h.!.+.
I hit the lagoon and rolled to my left as fast as I could move my waterlogged body. Something hit me, but it wasn't a boat.
”Hah! Cindy Crawford! You think I don't remember your name? You are under arrest!” Captain Torrelli cried exultantly.
But then he slipped and his head went under the water and I was out of there.
We joined up just outside the exit from the log ride. Three extremely wet, barefoot kids in bike shorts and aerobics suits.
”You know, basically that was fun,” Marco said. ”If you set aside the whole could-have-been-crushed-by-a-log-boat thing.”
Jake squeegeed the water out of his hair. ”Okay, so it's not the log ride. No Yeerks there.”
”House of Horrors,” I agreed. ”Definitely the House of Horrors.”
We ran for the House of Horrors. But as we ran there came the sound of a not-too-distant voice crying, ”Po ice! Security! Police!”
So we ran faster.
Chapter 24.
We ran for the House of Horrors, bare wet feet SLAP-SLAP-SLAPPING all the way. It was halfway across the amus.e.m.e.nt park. I was panting and sweating and holding my sides from the pain by the time we got there.
”Now what?” Marco asked.
”Now we find the others,” Jake said.
”But they could be in morph. We don't even know what we're looking for,” I pointed out.
”Exactly. And then we have to figure out if the Yeerks are using the House of Horrors to kidnap and infest guys from Zone Ninety-one.”
”Even though we don't know if the Yeerks will be plain old human-Controllers or Hork-Bajir or whatever,” I said.
”Exactly.”
”And in the meantime,” I concluded, ”we have to avoid getting arrested by an Air Force captain who is frantically trying to protect the Most Secret Place On Earth, where they are hiding an old Andalite toilet.”
Marco laughed sardonically. ”Does anyone else ever think maybe we've all just lost our minds? You know, like maybe none of this is real and we're escaped lunatics from the local hospital for the hopelessly wacko?”
”Hey, we're saving the world here, Marco,” I said.
”That's what all lunatics say.”
”Come along, my wacko friends.” Jake led the way toward the House of Horrors entrance.
This ride involved cars on tracks as opposed to log boats in water. I was relieved that at least there wasn't any water.
The three of us piled into one of the cars. A fourth person was seated with us. He was a man, maybe thirty years old. He smiled at me.
”Sure this isn't too scary for you kids?”
”No, sir. We're pretty good at handling scary stuff,” I said.
”I don't see the others,” Jake muttered under his breath as the car lurched away down the track.
”Boo-ah-ah-hah-HAH!” a mechanical skeleton shrieked.
”Beware! Beware all ye who enter here!” a loud, booming recorded voice cried. ”Beware the horrors that lie within!”
Then, ”Aaaaaarrrggghh!” A mechanical pirate holding his own severed head jerkily waved a sword at us.
A huge snake turned and aimed its cobralike head at us, staring with glittering green eyes.
”Yeah, yeah, big deal,” Marco said. ”Could this get any faker?”