Chapter 28

chapter twenty-eight "Double distraction, still happenin'!" Cannonhead Johnson barks as the Goon Platoon, along with the entire creature-brigade, charges into the theater! And in a flash, they're scooping us up for a getaway. What took you so long? Dave couldn't find his keys. They were on my key chain the whole time. "Think it's time to go, Rover," I say, hopping up onto his back. Everything is quaking, breaking, toppling—and then being yanked toward the sky. Theater benches

are torn loose. Operating equipment flashes as it spins and sails skyward. "That way!" Quint shouts as an entire wall is torn in two like it's nothing but a cardboard diorama. But the Mega-Sentinel blocks the way... One of its long legs is still ensnared, preventing it —for the moment—from being sucked into the portal. Its body glows with rage, like little supernovas of anger are exploding inside it. Light flashes over us, its cannons bobbing and jerking as the Mega-Sentinel struggles to resist the pull of the portal. The triple-cannon bulges like it's about to cough up something—and I'm guessing that whatever it hocks up is gonna be served with a side of smoldering death. But still, we speed toward it. I wince, about to shut my eyes. "Whatsa matter?" Cannonhead Johnson asks. "You guys couldn't handle that thing? Well..."

BOOM! thanks for leaving me. Your Leftovers.

Ooze-soaked chunks splatter the floor as we speed beneath the smoking Mega-Sentinel, toward the Operating Theater's gaping exit. "Just so you don't misunderstand—I don't like leftovers when it's food," Cannonhead says. "Just when it's stuff that needs exploding." As we speed through the exit, I throw one final glance back at Ghazt. His body lies still. What did you do to me, Ghazt? "HEADS UP!" Dirk shouts. "Everything's comin' apart at the seams!" Dirk's voice snaps me back to our speeding escape. Ahead of us, the fortress is opening up, wide, as entire chunks of other-dimensional drywall are pulled up into the portal. We race through the rapidly disintegrating fortress. Some walls close around us, others open. The path beneath our feet is crumbling—but Rover's paws somehow manage to find solid ground. Even if that ground doesn't stay solid for long. The only thing keeping us all from being plucked upward is our steady, speedy movement forward. "Oh yay, back in that weirdo hall of statues," I say as we burst into the chamber we passed through during our Mind Cart ride. The creature-brigade leaps from horrible statue to horrible statue, crossing the ghastly room.

I see the same statue I noticed before—the one that reminded me of myself—with the awful tendril arms reaching up. With an ear-shattering CRACK, the statue's arms snap off—shooting up and smashing into the fleshy ceiling. Then the entire ceiling explodes, suctioned up by the portal's centripetal pull. I look away... We burst out into some new, awful chamber, and gravity flips—we're suddenly flung sky-high. I crane my neck down so that I can look up and see the prison tower we descended. It has broken in two— leaving one long section of it wedged between two jutting, unmoving crags of fortress. The creatures slam into it, feetfirst, and we're suddenly speeding across it—upside down. The Directarium flashes in front of my face as it ricochets off the prison. See ya later, evil directory. We already got what we need out of you. I think...

the map is changing moment to moment. All exits appear to be hundreds of feet off the ground. We need to find a way out now. Last, if only we hadn't lost the human hamster ball quick. Does anyone have eyes on a laundry cart At that very moment—