“Well, I suppose you’d better come along, too. Bothersome as you are, we can’t leave you here.”
“We can’t?” Tim muttered under his breath. Oliver glared at Tim.
Maxine lifted her hand, and the animals started moving again. “Turn around and walk straight ahead,” she ordered.
Easy for her to be bossy, Tim thought. She has the entire animal kingdom as enforcers. And in this weird world, the animals even understand English.
“Suzy,” Tim whispered. He glanced behind him. The girl on the elephant was too far back to hear him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. “Suzy, you can make a break for it. Just fly away.”
“And leave you on your own? Never!”
“That’s very sweet of you, Suzy, but, really, you should get away.”
“I don’t want to. I was all alone before you came. I like it better to be with you. Besides, if I ran away they’d just chase me. And I still haven’t figured out how to get home.”
“I guess you’re right.” Tim’s brow furrowed as he tried to come up with a plan. “How about this: What if we all make a break for it? You distract them, I’ll grab Oliver, and we’ll run into those woods over there. You hide for a while, and once you think the coast is clear, come find us.”
“I have the smartest boyfriend in the whole wide world.” She flew down and kissed him on the cheek.
Tim knelt down beside Oliver. “Okay, kiddo, hop up. Time for a piggyback ride.”
Oliver’s chubby face brightened. “Goody. My feet hurt.”
Oliver clambered up onto Tim’s back and flung his arms around Tim’s neck.
“Yow! Not so tight.”
Oliver’s grip loosened a little.
“First rule,” Tim told Oliver. “Don’t strangle your ride.”
Oliver kicked Tim. “Go fast!” he ordered.
“Don’t worry,” Tim murmured. “We will.”
Tim looked up at Suzy and nodded. She winked back at him.
“Can’t catch me!” she trilled. She soared straight up above the treetops, then veered away from the thick woods.
“Stop her!” Maxine cried.
Perfect. Suzy had created a decent diversion. The whole herd was changing direction. “Hang on,” Tim hissed to Oliver. He raced as fast as he could into the woods.
Uh-oh. Tim heard howls and roars, and he knew the animals were after them. At least using Suzy as a decoy had bought them a little time. He put on speed. His chest felt tight and his muscles burned.
He heard strange cries overhead. He glanced up, and his heart sank. Eagles and hawks had flown after Suzy. He hadn’t noticed any birds in that menagerie. They must have been farther back.
Now his heart thudded for a different reason. Man, I just blew it big-time. I’ve probably managed to get us all killed. Killed and eaten.
Still, he kept going. He leaped over a downed tree limb, then dropped to his knees. Clutching one of Oliver’s hands to be sure he didn’t lose the kid, he crawled into a thick bramble bush.
He hunkered down in the thorns. Oliver clung to him, shrieking at the top of his lungs.
“Shut up!” Tim ordered.
“Don’t yell at me!” Oliver wailed. “I don’t like this. Not one bit.”
Tim took a deep breath. It wouldn’t help to shout at Oliver when he was trying to get the annoying kid to shut up. “Listen, Oliver,” he whispered. “We don’t want them to know where we are. We’re playing a serious game of hide-and-seek. Okay? And if you’re the quietest one of all you win.”
“A prize?” Oliver asked.
“Yes,” Tim replied, “a great prize. Fantastic. The very best.”
“Chocolate?”
“Sure.”
That seemed to work. Oliver was quieting down.
Tim could hear the animals getting closer. Tim held his breath as several creatures ran past them. He hoped none of them could hear his heart pounding. Or smell the sweat beading up on his forehead, his upper lip, his back.
Suddenly, hot, meaty, breath on the back of his neck alerted him that they’d been discovered. Tim slowly turned his head.
And stared into the yellow eyes of a tiger, who looked awfully hungry.
Chapter Ten
TIM PANTED HARD, trying to breathe through Oliver’s suffocating clutches.
Well, one side benefit of fear, Tim thought. It finally shut Oliver up.
A roar, and the tiger was joined by a leopard. And then a lion.
They each sniffed, coming so close that Tim could feel their whiskers, could smell their pungent animal scent.
Okay, if there ever was a time for magic, Tim told himself, that time is now. But what do I do? Make ourselves disappear? Make them disappear? Fear made Tim’s brain go a mile a minute; first one idea would occur to him, then another and another—all in the space of seconds.
“Uh, tiger, lion go away,” Tim began, trying to figure out some kind of chant or spell. “That is what I have to say.”
He shook his head. How lame can you get? he admonished himself. He could feel his own heart and Oliver’s thudding hard.
The lion and tiger seemed to be having a roaring competition. The leopard sat on its haunches and watched them for a moment. Then its intense focus shifted to Tim. It began to creep closer.
“Stop!” The girl who had been riding the elephant stood behind the animals. “Stop, I said. We must bring these three to the high council. We must not delay any longer.”
The tiger, the lion, and the leopard each gave Tim and Oliver a long hungry look, then turned. The tiger’s tail flicked Tim’s nose.
“Hey!” Tim yelped. He rubbed his nose. That tiger’s tail had a powerful swing.
“Is the game over now?” Oliver asked.
“Yes,” Tim said, dragging Oliver to his feet. “The game is over now.”
He spotted a familiar shadow on the ground. When he turned around, he saw Suzy floating above them. A long vine was tied around her wrists. Tim realized Maxine held the other end of the vine. She’d captured her.
“Come,” Maxine said. “They’re expecting us.”
Tim filed past her, defeated, Oliver clutching his hand.
“I’m sorry, Suzy,” Tim said.
“That’s okay, Timmy-wimmy. You tried your best. That’s all a girlfriend can expect of her boyfriend.”
He didn’t bother to correct her again about that boyfriend stuff. Not after he had blundered so badly and put her at such risk.
At length, they arrived at a clearing where an elaborate clubhouse sat in the enormous branches of a massive tree. The kids Tim had seen squabbling about his arrival stood there, waiting expectantly.
They must have heard us coming, Tim thought. His nose wrinkled at the powerful animal scent surrounding him. Or maybe they smelled us.
Maxine rode her elephant right up to Wat.
“Well done, Maxine,” one-handed Wat said. “Truly nobly done.”
“They weren’t that hard to find,” Maxine replied. “My friends got them pretty easy. So here they are. All yours.”
Tim could feel hot animal breath on the back of his neck again. He edged slowly and carefully away from the leopard behind him. If this was a cartoon, Tim thought, I’d look like a great big burger reflected in that cat’s eyes.
“Tim, Suzy. I’m Wat.”
“We already sort of met,” Tim said. “Where was it? Oh yes…you were trying to think of a nice way to welcome me. You hadn’t quite decided to have me hunted by wild animals back then.”
“We do what we must,” Wat replied.
“Timmy, are you going to turn them into toads now?” Suzy asked.
“Not yet, Suzy.”
“Pity.”
Tim thought it was a pity, too. But he guessed that the only chance they’d have of getting home would involve learning more from the inhabitants of Free Country. And they wouldn’t be able to help him at all if they were toads. Assuming he could even figure out how to transform them.
“Maxin
e.” Wat addressed the girl on her elephant. “Will you come with us to the high council meeting?”
“I don’t think so. I’m kind of tired. I’m going back with my friends for a while.”
Maxine handed Wat the vine that served as Suzy’s leash. The boy in the overcoat—Daniel, Tim remembered—wrapped a jump rope around Tim’s wrists. Daniel must have noticed Tim’s surprised expression. The boy shrugged.
“We only have toys in Free Country. No proper weapons.” He gave the jump rope a sharp tug, causing Tim to wince. “But we can improvise, can’t we?”
Daniel leaned in close. “What’ve you done with Marya?” he whispered.
“Nothing!” Tim exclaimed. “She got me to come here and I never saw her again. She’s got a lot of explaining to do, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t,” Daniel snapped.
“But you just did,” Tim argued. “You said”—Tim mimicked Daniel’s cockney accent—“‘What’ve you done with Marya?’”
Daniel shoved a bright blue handkerchief into Tim’s mouth.
Okay, Tim thought. I guess this conversation is over.
Maxine rode her elephant into the grove she had claimed as home. Here she lived with the bears, monkeys, giraffes, tigers, horses, birds, and cats she had as her chosen companions. If it flew, crawled, galloped, or climbed, it was welcome. As long as it wasn’t human.
Maxine slid down from the elephant and addressed her menagerie of friends.
“I thought I ought to wait until we got away from the others to scold you,” she declared. “I wasn’t about to do it in front of those kids. But Mr. Leopard, I know you were going to eat that Tim boy when he ran away.”
The leopard lowered its eyes, its spotted tail flicking.
“You would have,” Maxine insisted, “if I hadn’t made you stop. But you know how terrible it is to be hunted.”
“Like to run and chase,” said the leopard. “Like to sniff and follow.”
“What we do,” said the tiger.
“Rabbit thing tell us if we catch, we eat it,” added the lion.
Maxine stared at the animals. “He was lying to you,” she fumed. “I don’t think I trust Jack Rabbit anymore. He’s not a real rabbit, you know.”
“We know,” said the leopard. “Wrong smell.”
“Well, don’t trust people,” Maxine warned. “And Jack Rabbit is people. Don’t trust any human but me!”
“We eat Jack Rabbit?” the tiger asked hopefully.
“No,” Maxine said firmly. “I don’t like him—or trust him—but it’s not good to eat other animals. And a person is just a clothed animal, only less interesting.”
The tiger’s tail flicked back and forth. “All eat each other. Sometime alive. Sometime dead.”
“Eat deer when we catch,” explained the lion. “We die, buzzards eat us.”
“Would you eat me?” Maxine asked.
“No,” said the leopard.
“Yes,” said the tiger.
“Maybe,” said the lion.
Maxine knew she could not ask them to go against their true natures. Their essence was meat eating. She had been wrong in thinking she might change them. It was unfair that she kept them with her—so close to temptation. It was asking for trouble. She knew it, even if the animals did not.
“I think all you lions, tigers, leopards, and wolves and cheetahs better go away,” she said.
“We like to be near you,” the tiger protested.
“We want to stay,” said the lion.
Maxine shook her head. “Well, I’m sorry, but you can’t.” She stared down at the ground. She knew if she looked into their beautiful, deep eyes, she’d give in. And she couldn’t. She had the other animals to think of. In nature they wouldn’t all be living together, prey among their predators. It was only her power that allowed it. But she had to let the carnivores leave.
“I like you all, too,” she admitted, “but how can I live with someone who might want to eat me?” She looked up again. “You can still visit sometimes, if you want to.”
“Yes,” said the tiger.
“We come,” agreed the lion.
“Sometime,” added the leopard.
“Good-bye,” Maxine said, having trouble getting out the simple word. She cleared her throat. “And stay away from the other people,” she warned. “They’ll mix up your minds and try to make you work for them. Or maybe kill you and use your skins for rugs.”
The elephant wrapped its leathery trunk around her, lifted her up, and set her on its shoulders.
“We’ll go away, too,” she told the remaining animals. “Somewhere no one will find us.”
They moved forward as a herd—the gazelles and giraffes, the small cats and birds. The elephant’s ambling gait soothed her. “Maybe we can find a nice place,” she said dreamily, “with sweet grass and nuts and berries. Good stuff to eat. Better than eating animals or people. With a pool and a waterfall and trees to climb.”
As Maxine described her ideal home, Free Country provided it. The berries burst from bushes, the air sweetened with the fresh grasses, and nuts—already shelled—fell from the trees into the waiting mouths of squirrels and chipmunks.
“And no other people anymore,” she declared, “all arguing and scheming and telling stupid lies. These Free Country people are just as bad as grown-ups. Come on, let’s find a good place to sleep.”
The elephant came to a stop in front of a cave. Maxine slid down the elephant’s trunk and peered inside. “It’s cozy in here,” she declared. She went in, followed by many of her animal friends. A large black grizzly bear lay down and curled up on the floor of the cave.
Maxine crept over to the bear and snuggled into its soft fur. He was her favorite, all warm and cuddly. He reminded her of her daddy.
“You won’t eat me, will you?” she asked the bear.
The bear didn’t answer in words—he never spoke—but he made gentle, comforting, snuffly sounds.
“I know you eat meat sometimes,” Maxine said, “but you don’t have to. You’re clever—you can choose. I have to choose, too, you know. I have to choose whether to stay here or to go back home.
“I love Free Country. It’s the only place where I truly feel like I’m home,” she mused. “But sometimes I wish it was even more perfect than it is.”
She sighed. “When Jack Rabbit told me how bad I was needed here, I thought all the other kids would come and we’d learn how to save the world. But nobody knows what’s happening, and I’m confused again.”
One thing she did know, though. She did not trust Jack Rabbit. Not one bit.
Chapter Eleven
TIM SAT IN THE CORNER of the clubhouse. How did these kids go from treating me like an honored guest to treating me like a prisoner? The jump rope wrapped around his wrists chaffed and the gag in his mouth was really uncomfortable.
“You should not treat my boyfriend like that,” Suzy scolded. She hovered in the air. Daniel had tied her vine leash to the back of a chair. Oliver sat under the table, pouting.
“If we remove your gag,” Wat said, “you must promise, on your honor as a wizard, not to utter any kind of magical spell, invocation, or charm. Do you so swear?”
Ridiculous. They want me to swear while a handkerchief is rammed into my mouth. “Mmph. I pho pwhywe ooww aake viff off me.”
The kids exchanged puzzled glances. “I believe that was his attempt to satisfy the terms,” Kerwyn said.
“I believe you are right,” said Wat. “Daniel, remove the gag.”
Daniel untied the knot behind Tim’s head, and then Tim spat the handkerchief out of his mouth. Blech. His tongue felt all cottony.
He stretched his face muscles and wiggled his jaw a bit. “Are you going to let us go home, then?” Tim demanded, once his mouth was working.
“At this moment, Timothy Hunter,” a voice said behind him, “we could not send you home even if we wished to do so.”
Tim turned and saw that another kid had just climbed into the
tree house. He was dressed like Kerwyn and seemed to be about the same age.
“What news, Aiken Drum?” Wat asked.
“The gates out of Free Country have closed,” Aiken Drum said. “We have brought so many through in the last month, she cannot nurture all of them. She lacks the power.”
“Who’s she?” Tim asked. Was there yet another person for him to worry about?
“Free Country,” Wat explained. “She has a spirit, a soul, a heart like any being.”
“That explains why the branch tripped me!” Daniel exclaimed.
All turned to face him.
“I was running,” Daniel explained, “and for the first time ever, I tripped over a branch and fell. Usually Free Country keeps those things out of the way.”
“Is that why she wouldn’t fix my doll?” Suzy asked Tim.
“Maybe so,” Tim said. And that must be why I felt as if I’d slammed into an invisible door when I did that last hopscotch, he realized. Because I had jumped right into a closed gate.
“She has grown weak indeed,” Kerwyn said sadly.
Wat stepped up to Tim. “Can you not feel her pain, Tim Hunter? Her distress?”
Tim stared down at the short, one-armed boy and shrugged. “Not really. But I’m happy to take your word for it.”
The gigantic bunny lurched over to Tim and grabbed him by the front of his T-shirt with enormous pink paws. “Are you trying to make a joke of this council, boy?”
It was very hard to take a threat from an oversized bunny rabbit seriously. “Not particularly,” Tim replied. “Are you? I mean, dressed like that…?”
The rabbit raised a paw as if he were about to strike Tim.
“Jack Rabbit,” Wat said in a sharp tone, “back.”
The rabbit released Tim and hopped to the other side of the room.
“If it helps, I’ll believe you,” Tim said. “The world is dying and now you can’t send us back. So what’s your point here?”
“Free Country has been our home and our refuge for many, many years,” Aiken Drum explained. “But we knew that we were the privileged ones. We were saved and loved. Why we were selected to be rescued we did not know.”
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