Chapter 23

chapter twenty-three Take it, take it, NO. Dirk inches backward, still cradling Drooler. June has her non-Blasty arm on Dirk's wrist, stopping him from handing the creature to the looming Gargantulax. "Guys!" I shout. "Behind you!" They spin around, expecting danger. "Sorry! I meant 'behind you' in a good way!"

"WHAT?" Dirk barks. But June sees what I see. The mouth of Double Trouble Dynamo: the slide is their only possible escape route. I grip the Slicer tight, about to rush forward and slam it into the Gargantulax. It should be distraction enough to allow for a daring Dirk and June getaway. But then there is an unmistakable roar, so loud that it rattles my bones. A screech so awful that it twists my insides: Thrull. I whirl around. Thrull's roar comes from the mouth of Blargus, atop the Bone Colossus— and they are nearly upon us....

We should have stayed home With the next step, skeletons begin leaping off—hurling themselves toward the slide's deck. They're like rats abandoning a sinking ship— only they are the ship. Many of them miss, smacking into the railing or the stairs and then falling. Others land on the deck but quickly collapse as the Ultra-Slime melts their vines. But they keep coming, tumbling lifeless to the deck and sinking into the slime. More and more follow, until the deck is carpeted in bone.

"Uh-oh," I say as I realize what they're doing. "Yep," Quint says. "Next wave will be able to march right over the backs of their bone- buddies." More fling off the pyramid. This wave marches directly across the backs of their fallen comrades. "Up and at 'em, guys!" I shout. "We got company!" I swing the Slicer, and the nearest skeleton dunks into the Ultra-Slime like a fry in a milk shake. Quint snaps his staff out—two skeleton soldiers drop to their knee bones. The air soon reeks of burning plant. "DIRK! JUNE!" I holler. "WE GOTTA GO BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!" Then I hear it—and I realize it may be too late already. It's Thrull, whispering my name: "Jaaaaaaaack..." I spin around. Blargus's massive, spindly hand is there, reaching for the railing. Skeletons sprint along his wrist, then bound onto the deck. But they stream past Quint and me.

"They're trying to kill Drooler!" Quint says, but I barely hear him. Blargus's bony hand opens. He reaches for me. I watch the swirling vines behind his eye sockets tighten, forming two gnarled neon globes. They almost seem to exhibit life, flickering with something like triumph. Our eyes are locked for a sustained, seemingly endless second—and then those same eyes flash with surprise. And then fury. His bone-fingertips scrape the railing. Wood cracks. Splinters fill the air and splash the slimy ground. He didn't make it.... He won't reach us.... He's falling, falling, falling....

SCREW I don't get to see him plummet down. Don't get to see him splash into the slime. Because the clang of steel clashing against bone spins me around. Dirk swings the Dagger, deflecting blow after blow from skeletons—all the while cradling Drooler. June is knocked back, back, back— then finally unleashes a furious boom from Blasty's barrel: a dozen skeletons are exploded off the deck.