by Susan Korman
“Wow,” Peaches said, looking around. “This is so cool! Echo!” She laughed when she heard her voice bounce back at her.
Steffie narrowed her eyes. “Too bad your molehog friend isn’t here, huh?” she said suddenly to Peaches.
“You’re not really friends with him, are you?” asked Ethan.
“Yeah!” Katie put in. “Come clean, Peaches.”
Steffie leaned into Peaches’s face. “Are you friends with that awkward little rodent or not?”
Peaches flushed. “I mean, Louis and I, we’ve hung out or whatever . . .” She could feel Ethan staring at her. “But no, we’re not really friends,” she blurted out.
“We’re not friends?” a familiar voice echoed.
As Louis burrowed up from the canyon floor, Peaches felt the blood rush to her face. “Louis, I . . .” Her voice faltered. “I . . . It’s—”
“Busted!” Steffie mocked her.
“Good to know,” Louis said coldly to Peaches. Then he disappeared underground again.
“Louis, wait!” Peaches yelled. Just then Louis bumped into a rock.
“He even runs away like a loser!” one of the girls said.
Peaches tried to go after him, but Ethan stopped her. “Don’t stress, Peaches,” he said. “You’re with us now.”
“Yeah,” said Katie. “Stress is so stressful.”
“If you’re going to stress about something, stress about your hair,” Steffie added.
Peaches didn’t say a word. She just stared at the spot where she’d last seen her best friend.
Inside the canyon, a shadow moved over Peaches and the others. The teenagers looked up—and saw that the enormous rock wall had crept closer. Now it was rising up over the canyon.
“Whoa . . . ,” everyone murmured.
“Uh, guys!” Peaches was alarmed. “We should get out of here!”
“Are you kidding?” another mammoth said. “This is epic!”
Just then, the canyon began to buckle. Behind them, the walls were caving in!
“Go! Go! Go!” shouted Peaches.
A massive wave of debris and soot from the collapsing wall swept toward them. The teenagers bolted toward the opposite end of the canyon.
They’d barely made it out of the canyon when . . . Whoosh! A huge plume of debris shot out from where they’d just been standing. The spiraling cloud hung in the air over them, slowly clearing. In front of them lay a sheer drop to the ocean.
Ethan and the other mammoths burst into hysterical laughter.
“How sick was that?” said somebody.
“Yo, that was insane!” Ethan chimed in.
They all high-fived with their trunks while Peaches just stood there watching them.
“Hey, Peach! Loosen up! Have some fun!” Ethan coaxed her.
“Fun?” Peaches echoed. “You call that fun? I’m out of here.”
“Come on,” Steffie snapped at her. “Do you really want to go back to hanging with a weird molehog freak and give all this up?”
“I mean, it’s bad enough that your family is half possum,” Ethan added.
“Bad enough?” Peaches shot back. “There is nothing ‘bad’ about being part of my family. I like hanging by my tail. And if you geniuses are normal, the species is going to end up extinct!” With that, she stormed off.
“Uh, yeah?” Katie muttered after Peaches. “Well, your species is going to be extinct first.”
“We’re the same species, genius,” Ethan snapped at her.
Chapter 14
Manny was listening to water lap against the pirate boat as they sailed across the ocean. Overhead the stars were out, and the sky was clear. Luckily, Sid was no longer paralyzed. But he was making up for lost time by talking nonstop now.
“Hey!” he said. “I can wiggle my toes again. The important one—the little piggy who went to market. And I’m talking again,” Sid went on. “I had so many things trapped inside me that I couldn’t say! Like, hey, I’m not dead. And why does a hurricane have an eye, but not an ear . . . ?”
“I’ll push him overboard,” Granny muttered as Sid rambled on. “You guys say it was an accident.”
“I’m in,” Manny said. “How about you, Diego?” Glancing over at his friend, he realized that Diego was pacing back and forth, looking distressed.
“Relax, buddy,” Manny said. “Captain Crazy and his floating petting zoo are history. Come on! We’re finally heading home!”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Diego fretted. “I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. Maybe I’m coming down with something.”
Manny chuckled knowingly. “I know what you’ve got. The l-word.”
Sid nodded. “Right. Leprosy.”
“No, Sid,” Manny corrected him. “It’s four letters. It starts with an ‘l’ and ends with an ‘e.’”
“Ah,” said Sid. “Diego has lice.”
“No,” Manny told him. “Diego, my friend, is in love.”
Diego blinked at Manny. “You mean with the pirate?” he said. “No.”
“Shira’s gotten under your skin,” said Sid. “Just admit it.”
“A rugged saber like you . . . ,” Manny began.
“And a more rugged saber like her!” Sid finished.
“No, no, no.” Diego kept denying it. “You guys are dead wrong.”
Manny and Sid looked at each other, and then burst out laughing as they high-fived.
“Denial is the clincher!” Manny declared. “You’re in love, pussycat!” he told Diego.
Then Manny and Sid started singing together, “Diego and Shira sitting in a tree . . . K-i-s-s-i-n-g . . .”
“Real mature, guys,” snarled Diego. “Real mature.”
Later, while the others slept, Diego moved to the bow of the ship to look at the stars and think things over. It had been an intense few days. As he stared out at the dark horizon, he realized that the ship was drifting toward a patch of thick, mysterious fog. And soon he could hear a beautiful female voice singing. She was calling his name in a dreamy tone.
“Diego . . . Diego . . . .”
Peering into the mist, he spotted the silhouette of a saber-toothed tiger. “Shira?” he called back, confused.
“I wanted to come with you,” the voice said.
Is that really Shira? he thought. What’s going on?
“She’s beautiful,” Sid said suddenly.
Ahead of them on a rock was a female sloth mermaid. She was beckoning Sid and calling his name. “Sid. I adore a sloth who cares nothing about personal hygiene.”
“That’s me!” Sid replied.
Next Granny approached, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She could see a handsome, muscular sloth holding a trident. “Granny! Come to me, Granny . . . ,” he called.
The ship drew closer and closer to the fog and the mysterious singing voices. Sid, Diego, and Granny stood at the bow, completely entranced.
Soon the voices woke Manny, too. When he got up, he saw that the ship was moving steadily toward some dangerous-looking rocks.
“Guys!” he called. “Aren’t you paying . . .”
“Manny?” called Ellie’s voice. “Are you there?”
Manny stepped forward, a lump in his throat. “Ellie?”
“We’re over here, Manny.”
Manny squinted into the misty night. Dimly, he could see two mammoths on the rocks ahead. “This way, Daddy!” he heard Peaches’s voice say. “I really need you!”
“I know, honey! Stay there! I’m coming!” He steered the boat closer to the rocks.
Ellie’s voice floated through the fog again. “You were right, Manny. You’re always right.”
“No, no. Look, Ellie, I was—wait a minute!” he realized. “Ellie would never say that to me!”
Now Manny knew that something was wrong, and he snapped out of his trance. But Sid, Diego, and Granny were still under the spell, staring straight ahead, oblivious to what was going on.
“The voices aren’t real,” Manny told himself. “
The voices must belong to sirens—mermaids known for luring sailors to their death!” He had to tune them out. Quickly, he stuffed bits of kelp and ice into his ears to block out the sirens’ voices. Then he sang as loudly as he could.
Thump! The ship struck a rock.
Oh no, Manny thought. “Don’t listen to the voices!” he yelled to the others. “They’re monsters! They’re going to destroy the ship!”
The mermaid-like figure in front of Diego looked and sounded like Shira.
“Come on, tiger,” she said. “Swim with me.”
Meanwhile Sid was leaning toward the sloth siren, ready to kiss her.
“No, Sid!” Manny cried. He grabbed the rudder, frantically trying to steer the ship away from the sirens. As the ship lurched, Sid fell forward, still under the spell, falling onto Diego and kissing him on the lips instead.
“Why are we kissing?” asked Diego.
“Um . . . because cruises are romantic?” replied Sid.
As Manny finally turned the ship around, the sirens let out a furious wail. Manny heaved a sigh of relief. “Five more seconds, and we’d have been goners,” he muttered.
Sid looked back over his shoulder. “Call me,” he said to the sloth siren.
Chapter 15
Granny was tossing fruit off the back of the ship and talking to the ocean. “Here, girl! Here, Precious.”
“She thinks she finally found her pet,” whispered Sid.
“Good girl,” cooed Granny. “Here you go!”
Manny went over to her. “Look, Granny,” he reminded her. “We don’t have much food. Can you throw imaginary food to your imaginary pet?”
“Ignore them, Precious,” muttered Granny. “I do.”
“Oh man,” Manny said, going back to his friends. “You can’t take your eyes off her for one minute.”
“It’s like having a child,” agreed Diego. “Only without any of the joy.”
“Hey, Brain Trust! Brace for impact!” Granny hollered.
Manny quickly grabbed the rudder to steer them out of the way of dangerous pieces of debris. Suddenly, he realized that a familiar landscape loomed in front of them. “Guys!” he said excitedly. “We’re almost home!”
Diego went over to him. “I never doubted you, buddy.”
“Me either,” piped up Sid. “Well, except for the six or seven times when I was sure we were going to die.”
* * *
Ellie was at the front of the line of animals making their way to the land bridge. Peaches headed toward her, alone and looking distraught.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Ellie asked.
Peaches glanced at Louis, who was walking by himself, apart from the group. “Did you ever say something you knew you couldn’t take back?” she asked.
Ellie glanced at the lonely looking molehog. “Is this about Louis?” she asked.
“I messed up so bad, Mom,” Peaches blurted out.
“It’s okay,” Ellie said gently. “It happens. Cute boys can whiplash your brain. No doubt about that.”
“But Ethan was the wrong guy,” said Peaches.
“And you figured it out,” Ellie reminded her. “You’ll figure out what to say to Louis, too.”
Peaches nodded gratefully. Just then she noticed that everyone had stopped walking. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Ellie pushed her way to the front of the line to see. “The land bridge!” she gasped. “It’s gone. Oh no . . .” As Ellie stood there wondering what to do, she realized something else—the huge tower of rock was right in front of them!
“We’re trapped!” one of the mammals yelled.
Peaches was in a panic. “But we were supposed to meet Dad here! What are we going to do?”
Looking around the water, Manny realized there was more debris—rocks and chunks of ice—scattered everywhere. In the distance, he could see the huge rock wall hanging over the bay. “Ellie! Peaches!” he shouted.
Diego gasped as he spotted something too. “Oh no! The land bridge!”
Sid gulped. “If it’s gone, then how are we going to—”
“Sid!” Diego cut the sloth off before he could finish the ominous thought.
Manny felt a huge lump forming in his throat. Ellie and Peaches survived, he told himself. Somehow, they survived.
“They have to be on the other side,” he told his friends firmly.
“Manny, there is no other side,” said Diego softly.
“They have to be here,” said Manny. And with that, he began calling their names. “Ellie! Peaches! I’m here!”
Diego and Sid exchanged worried looks. Manny didn’t seem to understand what had happened. Nothing was left. The bridge—and their home—had collapsed and fallen into the sea.
Manny kept calling Ellie and Peaches. But only his own voice echoed back at him. His hopes began to falter. “Please . . . ,” he murmured. “She has to be here. Then suddenly he looked at his friends. “Did you hear that?”
“No,” they replied, shaking their heads.
“Manny,” Diego began gently. “I think—”
“I heard something,” Manny cut him off. He looked around, certain of himself. “I hear it!” Now, through the fog, he could see a silhouette moving toward them.
Diego saw it, too. “Is that—”
Manny’s eyes brightened. “Peaches!” he yelled.
“Dad!” came a faint reply.
“We’re coming, sweetie! Don’t move!” Manny cried.
Manny grabbed the rudder and guided the ship toward his daughter.
“Daddy!”
“Peaches!”
As they drew closer, another shape emerged from the fog, and then a new voice rang out, “Welcome home, Daddy!” It was Captain Gutt, and he was holding a dagger over Peaches’s head.
Chapter 16
Manny was frozen with fear as he stared at the knife Captain Gutt held near Peaches. Now he could see that other mammals from home were tied up around the pirates’ ship. Gutt had lured Manny and his friends into a trap!
“Let go of me!” Peaches cried.
Captain Gutt smirked at Manny as his crew moored the two ships together. “We were just talking about you!” the pirate declared. “What are the odds of meeting here like this?” Gutt gestured to the iceberg he was standing on. “Do you like my new ship? I call her Sweet Revenge.”
Manny just shuddered in response.
“And look here,” Silas chimed in. “We’ve got the catch du jour, the catch of the day.” The bird gestured toward a mammoth tied up with vines.
“Ellie!” Manny called.
“I’m alright,” Ellie called back. Then she glared at Captain Gutt. “Let my daughter go!”
“It’s okay,” Manny told Ellie. “He wants me. And he’s going to get me!”
The pirates tossed their grappling hooks, pulling Manny’s boat toward them. Diego snarled angrily and spotted Shira standing weakly off to the side. As she limped forward, he gulped. He could see that she’d been paying the price for their escape.
Captain Gutt grinned at Manny. “Sacrificing yourself for your daughter?” he said. “How touching. How predictable.” He tightened his grip on Peaches. “Come and get her!”
Manny stopped in front of Gutt and Peaches. “Alright,” he said. “Let them go.”
“I don’t think so,” Gutt retorted. “You destroyed everything I had. I’m just returning the favor.”
Abruptly Manny charged at the pirate captain. But Gutt’s crew quickly lassoed him and tied him down.
“I warned you,” said Captain Gutt.
“Stop!” a tiny voice yelled suddenly. Everyone whirled around as Crash and Eddie climbed aboard. But it wasn’t the two possums who had spoken up, Manny quickly realized. It was . . .
“Louis?” said Manny in astonishment.
“Let the mammoth go!” Louis shouted at Captain Gutt.
“Uh-oh,” Captain Gutt said, amused. “Who brought the muscle to the party?”
“Louis, don’
t do this!” yelled Peaches.
“What’s he doing?” murmured Ethan. “He’s going to get himself killed.”
“It’s okay,” Louis replied. “I can handle him!”
“How cute,” said Captain Gutt. “A hero. Let’s see what bravery gets you.” He turned to the badger pirate. “Gupta, give the lad your weapon,” he ordered.
“Nice knowing you, kid,” Gupta said, tossing Louis a knife.
The knife fell, embedding in the ice near Louis. He tried to grab it, but he wasn’t strong enough. At last, he managed to grip the handle and yank it out.
Bravely, Louis faced the pirate captain. Gutt held one of Peaches’s tusks while his other paw twitched at his side.
“Let’s dance, hero,” growled Captain Gutt.
To everyone’s surprise, Louis tossed his knife high into the sky. It twirled in the air for a second before coming back down. By the time the knife landed in the ice, Louis had burrowed into the ground.
Confused, Gutt looked around. Then Louis suddenly popped up near Gutt’s feet. Louis swiftly grabbed a block of ice and plunged it into the orangutan’s foot!
As Captain Gutt howled in pain, Peaches and Louis raced away from him.
“Run, Peaches!” cried Ellie.
“Get to the other ship!” Manny yelled to Peaches and Louis. He burst free of his vines.
“Don’t stand there like barnacles! Get him!” Gutt called furiously to his crew. He made a move for Manny himself, but Diego stepped in his path.
“Not so fast, sea monkey.” The saber-toothed tiger snarled. He lunged for Gutt and the two of them began battling furiously.
Sid and Granny swung across to the pirates’ ship. They slammed into Flynn’s belly, getting bounced to the ground. When the sloths got up, Gupta and Flynn chased them to the ship’s edge.
“Any last words?” growled Gupta as he pointed his sword at them.
“Precious!” Granny cried.
“Would you stop with the ‘Precious’?” Sid muttered to her.
Just then, a huge shadow rose over them. Sid saw the pirates’ faces change to a look of terror.
“Well, I guess we showed them, huh?” said Sid.
