Chapter 4

chapter four the brain poker call me Kimmy. Radical eyes that hold many secrets. Proof that secret secrets can be fun. Camera for capturing those special moments. Carol, the cutest carapace you ever did see attributes? Telepathic abilities more than most, But pretend you don't know that yet. Spunkiness maximum spunky strength fourteen on a scale of thirteen to fifteen, A big, bright smile shines on Kimmy's face as she vaults over the Wrangler's door and to the ground. "I mean, sure, I could tell you—but showing is more fun, right?" With that, Kimmy's ears bend forward. Her eyes go cloudy, turning a creamy pink color, like Froot

Loop cereal milk. And then— "WHOA!" Quint cries out. A horrifyingly ferocious beast rises behind Kimmy! Its shadowy body, hovering in the air, seems to have appeared outta nowhere—plucked from the ether. The monster is big and growing bigger—first the size of a VW Bug, then a school bus, then a jumbo jet. who the sort of see through dragon thing. Quint braces himself as the monster crashes into him—but, oddly, he doesn't feel anything. He whirls around, confused, as— POOF! The monster disappears in a puff. A few monsters chuckle.

"Quint?" Dirk asks, cracking open one eye and peering up. "Did we just die?" "No. It wasn't real," Quint answers, reaching down to help Dirk to his feet. Dirk dusts himself off while scowling at the giggling monsters. But then he sees that Drooler is also giggling and he can't help but grin. "How did that—" Quint starts, before Kimmy cuts him off. "Brain poker," she says, tapping the side of her head. "Projections instead of yakity-yak-yak. Like I said: show, don't tell. It's always, like, whoa, more effective." "Brain poker..." Quint repeats. Then suddenly, "You're a telepath!" Dirk slowly massages the bridge of his nose. "So. Much. Magic," he grumbles. Kimmy boosts herself up onto the Jeep's hubcap. "The monster I just showed you is..." Kimmy pauses and clicks her tongue. "Y'know what, you probably just ought to hear the whole story from the start. The story of Fleeghaven and the Drakkor..."

our dimension. We were pharmacists. The Razo happened. The portals opened and we were dumped in this town like yesterday's recyclables

We survived. The only way we knew how we farmed for doughballs. Fluffy, chewy, extra spicy doughballs. It's a good home. Despite the strangely thin walls and hollow, inedible food, the farming was not easy. There was no water, but then at last rain it fell from the sky in bucketfuls, and we were like celebration time. P-A-R-T-Y

but farm first. After we finished farming, we turned up with a blowout bash, Super lit, lots of splashing in the fountain and needle buzz, energy juice flowing. Y'all should've been there, but I didn't know you then. So sorry. Not sorry, but our shindig caught the attention of a guest, a guest who did not R.s.v.p. a guest who could not have R.s.v.p. because that guest was a notinvited guest. That guest was