Chapter 7

chapter seven I figured a day of leaping onto speeding trains and evil monster interrogations would earn me a little extra snooze time, but Drooler disagrees. My eyes flutter open and I see Drooler, perched on my chest, chirping, "MEEP! MEEP! MEEP!" Dirk stands over us, grinning. "You ready for a dudes-on-a-mission type mission, Jack? 'Cause we're doing a dudes-on-a-mission type mission! Quint and June and Skaelka have already been planning for hours." "What day is it?" I yawn. "The day after yesterday. That's how days work." I grumble. "Y'know," Dirk says, "when Quint and I were out on our just-the-two-of-us hero quest, we didn't have any trouble wakin' up when a big fight was awaitin'." "FINE, FINE, I'M UP!" I start—but it's a moment too late. Dirk has decided he will get me up. All the way up.

I said I'm up. Dirk and I follow a breadcrumb trail of Lego bricks through the mall—a green-and orange-and yellow- brick road to our friends. I've been living in this mall for more than a month now, and I have the layout memorized like a Mario Kart track—with all the shortcuts. Two turns, just past the giant Howler gash in the wall, we reach our destination: the Hobby Horse.

Morning friends. Guess what? We have the rough semblance of a plan. Emphasis on rough. When I see Quint, I wake up, fully. Because my friend is back. The past few weeks—not knowing where he and Dirk were or if they were OK—have been the longest weeks of my life. To think that my stupid Cosmic Hand could've led to my friends maybe being dead? To swallow my pride and admit to the mall citizens that I had messed up—that I was not a leader? It was a lot to handle for one kid. And it only got worse after I saw that smoldering hole in the ground—where Quint and Dirk had

vanished. After that, I felt even less capable of leading. And still do. How can I lead if so many of the choices I've made have been the wrong choices? If it weren't for my careless use of the Cosmic Hand, Thrull wouldn't have Ghazt—Thrull wouldn't be one step away from bringing rezzoch here. "Where we at?" Dirk says. He enters the Hobby Horse, glaring at the goofy mascot at the door like he's daring it to start something. Quint eagerly dives in. "We combined what little Skaelka remembers of the fortress, along with—" "All the rad recon Jack and I did, plus his photos," June says, jumping in. "To create—" "Drumroll, please!" Quint says. "How about a cinnamon roll, then a drumroll?" I ask. "Any food around here? Morning meetings require pastries or something, don't you think—" "THE FORTRESS!" they say together, as they step aside, revealing—

Quinn asks that you excuse the crudity of this model. He didn't have time to build it to scale. "OK, this is better than pastries," I say, circling the model. I whistle under my breath. It's too bad there aren't awards for Best Toy Replica of a Monster Torture Fortress, because this would definitely take the prize. "We will each have a specific role to fill," Quint announces. "I can guide us through once we're in," Skaelka says with certainty. "My memories of the fortress are

still hazy—but they will return once I see it again in the flesh." "One big problem remains, though," Quint says. Using a bubble wand, he points to the model's small- scale representation of the cliff. "Like Skaelka said, getting inside is nearly impossible." June asks, "How'd you get down, then?" "I jumped," Skaelka replies. "Only Quint's armor —and the ooze-swamp surrounding the base—saved me. But for you to attempt it, with your brittle human bones... would be ugly, wet, leaky death." "We're hoping to avoid death—ugly, wet, leaky, or otherwise," Quint says. With that, June, Dirk, and Quint begin hurling out ideas for how to get up that giant cliff and into the fortress... "Mega-Catapults!" Quint says. "Giant birds!" Dirk suggests. "Giant birds launched from Mega-Catapults!" June says. Now, usually, tossing around ideas—especially super lousy ones—is my jam. But not right now. I barely hear my friends. They're just background noise as my eyes focus on the model, practically zooming in on the cliff face. And then I feel it.