47 - Legend of the Lost Legend (7 page)

But then I realized the bobbing shapes were too dark to be clouds. Too dark
and too solid.

And then I saw the twin pairs of yellow eyes.

And I recognized the shapes of the heads. And I knew I was staring at cats.

Cats!

Black cats. Huge heads rising over the trees. Tails curling up like smoke
from chimneys.

Two giant black cats, their paws thundering over the forest, shaking the
ground and the trees. Their yellow eyes locked on Marissa and me.

“They’re… not real!” Marissa murmured. “Not real… not real.” She had
stopped thrashing the water and stood now perfectly still, staring back at the
enormous cats, repeating the words like a chant.

Trees crunched and fell. The two cats thundered their way to the shore.

“Noooo…” A low wail escaped Marissa’s throat.

I struggled to breathe. My chest ached. My head started to spin.

The cats pulled back their lips in a terrifying hiss.

I saw rows of sharp teeth. I saw their yellow eyes narrow menacingly.

Tossing back their heads in another hiss, the creatures arched their backs.
The black fur on their backs stood straight up.

“Wh-what are they going to do?” Marissa stammered.

I opened my mouth to answer her, but only a tiny squeak escaped.

The water flowed past my shoulders. I raised my hands out of the water,
trying to keep from sinking under.

“Justin—what are they going to do?” she repeated in a shriek.

We didn’t have to wait long to find out.

Before we could even cry out, the cat heads came swooping down at us. The
jaws opened wide. The curled and jagged teeth slid apart.

I turned and tried to squirm and wriggle away. But I couldn’t move. Water
splashed over my face. Then I felt teeth clamp shut on the back of my
sweatshirt.

Sputtering, gasping for breath, I felt myself lifted up. My boots made a popping sound as they were pulled from the mud.

I felt the cat’s hot breath on my neck and the back of my head. The teeth
held me firmly, plucking me up, up out of the stream.

“Whoooooa!” I finally found my voice.

The cat dangled me high in the air.

My arms and legs thrashed wildly. The cat tossed its head, swinging me from
side to side.

“Helllp! Ohhh, help!” I heard my sister’s cry from nearby. I turned and saw
her hoisted up by the other cat, hoisted high in the air, the cat’s jaws clamped
tightly on the back of Marissa’s sweatshirt.

I tried to call out to Marissa. But a burst of hot cat breath nearly
suffocated me.

I felt myself being lifted even higher as the cat rose up on its hind legs. A
paw swung up and batted my side. The other paw batted me the other way.

Does it think I’m a cat toy? I wondered.

I didn’t have time to think about it.

I twisted dizzily as the cat played with me, batting me from side to side.
Then, suddenly, I found myself being lowered.

The jaws opened.

I was falling now.

Into the water?

No. I landed hard on my back on the shore. So hard, I bounced. Pain shot
through my body.

I ignored it and scrambled to my feet. My heart pounding, my whole body
shaking, I tried to run.

But the cat grabbed me up again, its jaws closing around my right shoulder.

As I sailed back up into the air, I saw Marissa falling through the air. I
heard her cry out as she hit the ground. And then I saw the other black cat bend
its head, open its jaws, and drag Marissa up in the air again.

Up—and then down. My body slammed hard on the shore. I gasped and struggled
to my hands and knees. In time to be picked up again and dangled over the water.

Marissa and I both hung over the stream.

Then once more, we were dropped to the shore.

“Oww!” I bounced hard. Stared up as the cat lowered its massive head to pick
me up again.

“What are they
doing
?” Marissa screeched. “Why are they
doing
this?”

“I know what they’re doing. They’re doing what cats always do!” I cried,
feeling cold horror run down my body. “They’re playing with their food.”

“Whooooaaa!”

My stomach lurched as I felt myself being swooped up into the air again. A
black cat’s paw swiped at me and sent me swinging.

“They-they’re going to
eat
us?” Marissa called.

“We must look like mice to them!” I shouted back.

And then I had an idea.

The cat tossed its head and sent me flying. It caught me between its enormous
paws. The paws squeezed my middle so hard, I thought my head might pop off!

But as I struggled to breathe, my idea gave me hope.

Do I have time?
I wondered.
Can I do it—before this cat swallows me
whole?

The cat tossed me up again, then caught me between its teeth. Pain shot down
my back. My whole body tingled and ached.

With a groan, I twisted my body. I reached behind me and struggled to grab
the backpack.

If I can unzip it, I thought, maybe I can reach the mechanical mice I stuffed
inside. And maybe I can switch one or two of them on. And maybe the mice will
distract the two cats. And maybe Marissa and I can escape.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But I
had
to try something. Or else, in a few seconds, Marissa and I
would be cat chow.

The cat’s tongue swept over the back of my neck. I cried out in pain. The
tongue felt as rough as sandpaper! Hot cat breath stung my neck.

I grabbed the backpack with one hand and started to tug it around to my
chest.

But the cat opened its jaws. The rough tongue bumped me from behind. And I
went flying back to the ground.

I landed hard on my hands and knees. Pain shot through me once again. I felt
like collapsing in the dirt.

But I knew I couldn’t give up.

The cat leaned over me, hissing each breath. Yellow eyes gleamed down at me
hungrily.

Ignoring the pain, I grabbed the backpack. I pulled the straps off my
shoulder. Then I swung the pack around to my chest and gripped it tightly with
both hands.

“Got to get the mice,” I murmured out loud. “Got to get the kitty cat some
mice to play with.”

My hands were trembling so hard, I couldn’t work the zipper.

“Aaaaagh!” I let out a frustrated cry—just as the cat swooped me up in its
jaws again.

I tried to call out to Marissa. I wanted to tell her to hold on. That I had a
plan.

High in the air, I gripped the backpack with my right hand. Reached for the
zipper with my left.

Please. Please! I prayed silently. Let me get the mice out. Let me click them
on.

“My only chance,” I muttered, struggling with the backpack zipper. “My only
chance…”

A burst of hot cat breath made me shudder. Once again I felt the dry,
scratchy tongue scrape the back of my neck.

“Yessss!” I shouted as I finally pulled the zipper and opened the backpack.

“Yessss!”

I shot my hand excitedly into the backpack. I felt the furry mechanical
creatures inside.

I started to wrap my fingers around one…

But the cat swung me hard. Tossed back its head and flung me into the air.

“Noooooo!” I let out a long wail—and felt the backpack fly out of my hands.

“Noooooo!” I frantically grabbed at it. Grabbed with both hands. Missed. Then
I tried to snare it on my foot.

“Noooooo!” I watched the backpack sail to the ground.

It bounced once. Twice. Then lay in the dirt near the shore.

The cat caught me in its teeth. I felt the sharp points dig into my skin.

Then the jaws opened. And I started to slide. Down the scratchy tongue. Down,
down into the cat’s cavern of a mouth.

“Sorry, Marissa,” I murmured in my panic. “We are doomed.”

The ground disappeared from view as I slid further down the cat’s rough
tongue. On my stomach, I reached out with both hands.

And grabbed the two curved eyeteeth. They felt warm and sticky in my hands.

With a hard tug, I pulled myself part of the way up. I crawled a little way
on the tongue. Then I gave another tug, and my head poked out from the cat’s
open mouth.

I searched for Marissa, but I couldn’t see her.

Had she already been swallowed?

Beneath me, the tongue bucked and curled. The cat was trying to force me
down.

But I held tightly onto the eyeteeth. And glimpsed the ground far below.

And saw three or four gray mice scampering out of the backpack, onto the
dirt.

They must have clicked on when the backpack hit the ground!

Would the cats see them? Would they care?

The cat chomped its teeth together. I cried out in pain, and my hands slid
off the eyeteeth.

The tongue rolled beneath me. I started to slide again.

The mouth closed over me, shutting me in darkness. “Ohhhh.” So hot and wet
inside. So hard to breathe.

I heard low gurgling and growling below me in the cat’s stomach.

“No!” I cried. “No no no no!” My voice sounded tiny and muffled inside the
cat’s mouth.

And then, to my shock, the sunlight poured back in as the jaws popped open.

The tongue pushed me forward. Past the teeth. Past the lips.

I sucked in a deep breath of cool, fresh air.

And then I went flying from the cat’s mouth.

I landed on my back on the ground next to Marissa. She gaped at me in
surprise, her eyes wild, her red hair tangled and matted wetly to her head.

We both scrambled to our feet—in time to see both giant black cats pounce.

They both leaped at the same mechanical mouse.

Hissing and clawing at each other, they began to fight over it.

“Marissa—let’s go!” I choked out.

She stared in amazement as the giant cats wrestled, hissing and scratching,
rolling into the stream, then out again.

“Hurry! Let’s go!” I shouted. I grabbed Marissa with both hands and tugged.
“If they figure out the mice aren’t real, they’ll come back after us!”

“But are the
cats
real?” Marissa demanded, still gazing at them in
amazement. “Are the cats real? Or fake?”

“Who cares?”
I shrieked. “Let’s get
out
of here!”

Once again, we started running through the forest. Which way were we headed?
We didn’t pay any attention. We just wanted to get as far away from those cats
as we could.

My clothes felt wet and sticky from the inside of the cat’s mouth. But the
cool, fresh air felt good against my skin and helped to dry me off.

Our shadows leaned ahead of us, as if leading the way. I heard strange animal
calls that sounded like shrill laughter. And I heard the flapping of wings above
the trees.

But Marissa and I ignored all the sounds. We kept running, pushing tall weeds
and shrubs out of our way, making our own path.

We didn’t speak. We didn’t even look at each other. We ran side by side,
keeping each other in sight, helping each other through the tangled forest.

We were both breathless when we reached a round, grassy clearing. White and
yellow moths floated silently over the swaying grass.

“Marissa—look!” I gasped, pointing to the other side of the clearing.

A small cabin stood under the trees where the grass ended. A very familiar
cabin.

“It’s Ivanna’s!” Marissa exclaimed happily. “Justin—we made it! We’re
back!”

I sucked in a deep breath and scrambled across the grass. Marissa ran right
behind me.

“Ivanna! Ivanna!” We both called her name as we hurried to the cabin.

She didn’t come out. So I grabbed the door and pushed it open. “Ivanna—we’re back!” I cried happily. I glanced quickly around the room, waiting for my
eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Marissa pushed me aside as she burst into the small kitchen. “We survived!”
she exclaimed. “Ivanna—is the test over? Did we pass it? Justin and I—”

We both saw Ivanna seated at the small wooden table. She sat stooped over,
her head on the table.

Her horned helmet had fallen off. It lay on its side on the table. Her long
blond braids had come undone and fallen over her face.

“Ivanna? Ivanna?” I called. I turned to my sister. “She must be asleep.”

“Ivanna?” Marissa called. “We’re back!”

The woman didn’t stir.

I heard a whimper from the back of the room. Squinting into the shadows, I
saw Silverdog. He was huddled sadly against the wall, his head on the floor between his paws.
He let out another whimper.

“Justin—something is wrong here,” Marissa whispered.

“Ivanna! Ivanna!” I shouted her name. But she still didn’t move.

The big white dog whimpered sadly.

“Is she asleep?” Marissa demanded. “What’s
wrong
with her?”

“Let’s see,” I murmured.

I took a deep breath and made my way across the kitchen to the table. Marissa
raised her hands to her cheeks and stared at me. She didn’t budge.

I was nearly to the table when I stopped with a gasp.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” Marissa stammered.

“Look what’s sticking out of her back!” I choked out.

“Huh?” Marissa’s mouth dropped open in horror. “Justin—what?”

I swallowed hard. My legs started to tremble. I grabbed the back of a chair
to steady myself.

“Marissa—look,” I instructed, still pointing.

She came a couple of steps closer, her eyes bulging wide with fear.

We both stared at the metal object poking out from the back of Ivanna’s
dress.

A large metal key.

I worked up my courage and crept up behind Ivanna. My heart pounding, I
leaned down and examined the big key.

“It-it’s a
windup
key!” I stammered.

Marissa opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

I took the key in both hands and turned it one click.