Part 20 (1/2)
The esophagus narrowed, and Jack and Jill were forced to crawl, their hands and knees sliding along his slimy throat. The growling grew louder. And then it was joined by a buzzing.
”What's that?”
Jill was slapped in the face by an enormous bug. She frantically swatted it away. Another one crashed into Jack's neck. Jack screamed and then shuddered.
They pushed on. The darkness became heavier.
”Look for treasure. Or a giant mirror,” Jack whispered. Jill nodded.
The two children slid out of the esophagus and into the stomach. This was a burbling swamp of acid that burned their skin when they touched it. Foul-smelling gloop dripped from the ceiling and coated their bodies and then began to sting. Jack and Jill winced in pain. They couldn't hear the frog any more. ”Hurry,” said Jill. They pushed deeper. Bugs slapped them in the face and got caught in the sticky, stinging gloop. The children pulled them off, and the bugs protested and stung at their hands. Jill thought she might cry. But she gasped, ”Deeper.”
On they pushed. They felt with their feet under the pool of acid for treasure chests or strings of pearls or golden mirrors. Anything that might be the Seeing Gla.s.s.
They found nothing.
”It's not here,” Jack said.
”Maybe Eddie got mixed up.”
”Maybe he digested it.”
”I can't believe it's not here.”
Sudden panic gripped the children. ”What are we going to do now?” Jack demanded.
They arrived at the back of Eddie's stomach. There, in the dim light that filtered from Eddie's mouth and down his throat, they could make out a round little hatch of muscle. It led, they figured, to his intestines.
”That's all there is,” said Jack. ”The end.”
But suddenly Jill was pointing at something.
It did not look like a bug, or like anything edible.
It was a round disc, about a foot in diameter.
”What's that?” Jill asked. They waded up to it. It was lodged in the hatch of muscle.
”Dunno,” said Jack.
”Pull it out.”
”If I do it I think I'm going to throw up.”
”Well, I know I will,” said Jill.
So Jack grabbed hold of the little disc that was lodged between Eddie's stomach and intestines and yanked at it. It came out easily, and Jack fell backward into the burbling stomach acid. The acid burned his skin. He shouted and scrambled to his feet.
Suddenly, everything went black. Eddie's entire stomach began to s.h.i.+ft, and Jack and Jill were thrown into the fleshy back wall. Eddie was rearing up. Stomach acid poured all over the children, burning their faces, their arms, their hands, submerging them utterly. Jill began swimming upward to get to air, but Jack, holding onto the little disc with one hand and the spear with the other, could not. Jill reached the surface, looked for Jack, and began to scream. Suddenly, Eddie slammed back to the ground, sending Jack cras.h.i.+ng into Jill, and both sprawling into the stomach acid again.
They got to their feet and groped frantically through the pitch darkness toward the throat.
”What's going on?” Jill asked, terrified.
”No idea. He forgot?”
”Or he's decided to eat us?”
”Was it a trap?”
And then the darkness was cut by an orange glow. Jack and Jill looked in the direction of Eddie's mouth. It was still tightly shut, and no light came through at all. Where was the glow coming from, then? They looked back into the stomach. A small fire was burning there at the back. A small fire. But growing.
”He's erupting!” Jill shouted, and though that wasn't exactly the word she was looking for at that moment, it was in fact exactly the right word. For the fire was blooming up the length of Eddie's stomach. Jack thrust the disc to Jill and gripped the spear with both hands.
”What are you going to do?” Jill screamed.
”I don't know!”
The fire boiled toward them.
”This way!” Jill shouted, and she grabbed Jack's arm and they crawled through the esophagus and into Eddie's mouth.
”Eddie, open up! Open up!” she cried. Something exploded in Eddie's stomach. The fire burst into Eddie's throat. Jack aimed the spear at the roof of Eddie's mouth.
”You're going to kill him!” Jill shouted.
”What else can I do?” Jack cried.
”EDDIE!” Jill screamed.
And Jack sent the spear straight up at the soft part of Eddie's palate.
And then, just before the point of Jack's spear hit Eddie's flesh, the giant mouth opened and the great tongue flung Jill and Jack and Jack's spear out of Eddie's mouth. They spun through the air and hit the ground hard as an arm of flame burst from Eddie's throat and cut a line through the air just above the children's bodies.
The flame died. Jack and Jill turned and looked at Eddie. He roared.
”Good G.o.d!” the frog cried.
Eddie kept roaring.
”What happened?” Jack and Jill shouted at the same moment.
”He had to burp,” said the frog. ”I kept telling him not to. Eventually he closed his mouth to keep the burp down.”
”Why didn't you call to us?” Jack demanded.
”I did! You didn't hear me?”