Crug dunked Crawley’s head in the swamp. Crawley
came up, spitting swamp water. “Done, boss,” said Crug.
Later, the two Crocs were at their posts along the
shores of the swamp when Rizzo came into sight. The
one-eyed Raven didn’t seem to be carrying a bottle of
anything. That wasn’t good news.
47
“Hey, boys, is Cragger around?” asked Rizzo.
“He’s getting his teeth cleaned,” said Crawley.
“Good,” said Rizzo. “See, there’s been a little, um . . .
problem. I got the potion, sure thing, best quality it can
be—just don’t ask where I got it, right? Anyway, this
stuff’s so good that the
bottle
turned invisible, too. So
don’t drop it or you’ll never find it, got me?”
Crawley nodded and reached out. Sure enough, he
could feel a bottle in Rizzo’s claws, but not see one.
Rizzo flew off. The two Crocodiles headed for Cragger’s
room. Just as they walked in the door, Crawley stumbled
and dropped the bottle. They could both hear it rolling
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across the floor, but of course they could not see it.
“Oh, that’s just great,” said Crawley. “We had better
find it fast!”
They both started searching the floor, holding out their
hands hoping to touch the invisible bottle. But before they
could find it, they heard Cragger bellow, “Who’s there? Is
that you, Crawley? Where’s my potion?”
“You know what’s going to happen when he finds out
the bottle is lost?” Crawley whispered.
49
“Something bad,” answered Crug. “What do we do?”
“I don’t—wait a minute, I’ve got an idea,” said
Crawley. He snatched up an empty bottle from Cragger’s
shelves and poured swamp berry juice from another jug
into it. “See? We’ll just tell him this is the potion. When
he drinks it and nothing happens, he’ll just figure the
potion didn’t work.”
Just then, Cragger stomped into the room with Plovar
behind him. The little bird flew off, mumbling something
about their appointment being cut short.
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When Cragger saw the bottle in Crawley’s hand, he
brightened up.
“Give it to me!” Cragger exclaimed. He took the bottle
and drank it right down. “
Mmmm
. It even tastes good!”
Cragger stood still for a few seconds. Then he smiled
broadly, showing his sharp teeth. “It worked! I’m invisible!”
“It did?” said Crug, puzzled because, of course, he
could still see Cragger.
“Sure, it did!” Crawley said loudly. He knew better
than to disagree with Cragger about anything. “We
can’t
see him, can we?”
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“Huh? But—” said Crug. Crawley elbowed him in the
side. Crug got the message. “I mean, yeah, right . . . can’t
see a thing.”
Cragger’s expression turned suspicious. “If you can’t
see me, why are you two looking right at me?”
“Um, it’s your voice, boss,” Crawley said quickly.
“We’re just following your voice. But we can’t see you,
no, sir.”
Cragger’s smile returned. “Excellent! First, I have a
few surprises for Crooler. Won’t my sister be shocked to
find out I’m invisible?”
Crawley thought fast. If Cragger went to Crooler, she
would be sure to tell him he wasn’t invisible.
52
“Hey, you don’t want to do that, boss. Why, if your
sister finds out about this, she might get Rizzo to get her
a potion, too. You don’t want to have an invisible Crooler
running around, do you?”
“No!” agreed Cragger. “She’s bad enough when you
can see her. All right, then . . . I will go straight for Laval.
That foolish Lion will never know what hit him!”
Oh, no,
thought Crawley.
If he goes and confronts the
Lions thinking he’s invisible . . . well, Crug and I had
better find a good place to hide while he’s gone.
While Crawley was thinking this, Cragger had moved
behind Crug. The king picked up a pitcher of swamp
water. He snickered and lifted it to pour right on top of
Crug’s head!
Crug started to turn around to see what Cragger was
doing, but Crawley stopped him in time.
“You don’t know where he is!” Crawley reminded him
in a harsh whisper.
“Sure, I do,” Crug whispered back. Then, looking
confused, he said, “Don’t I?”
“No, you don’t. He’s invisible!”
“Okay,” said Crug. “But does ‘invisible’ mean everyone
can see you?”
53
“No,” whispered Crawley, just as Cragger dumped the
pitcher of swamp water all over Crug’s head. “It means
you think nobody can.”
Cragger couldn’t wait to get started for the Lions’
territory. But Crawley convinced him to wait a little while,
just to make sure the potion would “keep working.”
That gave Crug time to spread the word. “Boss thinks
54
he’s invisible,” he told every Crocodile he came across.
“So don’t tell him he’s not!”
This got Crug a lot of strange looks from some of the
younger Crocodiles. But the older ones had been around
Crocodile Kings long enough to know you
never
tell them
they are wrong.
By midafternoon, Crawley had stalled for as long as he
could. Cragger started for the Lion Compound. He smiled
as he went, noticing that absolutely no one was paying
attention to him.
55
Suddenly, the sound of running feet behind him made
Cragger turn around. Crawley was hurrying down the
muddy path, carrying the king’s spear. Just before he
would have collided with Cragger, Crawley pulled up short
and looked all around.
“Boss? Are you here?” Crawley called.
“I’m right in front of you,” said Cragger.
Crawley jumped, pretending he was surprised. “Wow!
Couldn’t see you at all! Hey, you forgot your spear, boss.”
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“I didn’t forget it,” Cragger snapped. “My spear
wouldn’t be invisible. Laval would see it floating in the air
and know something was up. Besides, I won’t need it to
beat him—I’m invisible!”
“Yeah. Right,” said Crawley. He was feeling a little
sick. It was bad enough Cragger was going to walk right
into Laval’s hands. But he was going to do it unarmed,
too! “Uh, are you sure you don’t want to bring your
spear? Maybe leave it behind a tree or something when
you reach the Lions, you know, in case you need it?”
But one look from Cragger was enough to send
Crawley running back to the swamp.
57
Cragger marched for a long time. He didn’t see any
other animals—and no one saw him, of that he was very
&
nbsp; certain.
When he reached the outskirts of the Lion Compound,
he saw a guard posted.
This will be fun,
he thought.
I’ll
march right past that guard and he’ll never know it.
Cragger not only walked right up to the Lion Guard,
but he did it while making all kinds of funny faces. At
first, the Lion was just shocked to see the king of the
Crocodiles heading his way. Then he decided that it must
all be a practical joke, because the real Cragger would
never do such a thing. One of the other Lions must have
disguised himself as a Crocodile.
58
I’ll show him,
thought the Lion Guard.
I will completely
ignore this fake Cragger
.
And that’s just what he did, not even looking in
Cragger’s direction as the Crocodile went right past him.
He didn’t see me! Invisibility is great!
thought Cragger.
Now to find Laval
.
For his part, Laval was
not
having a very good day.
He had wanted to practice his stalking and fighting skills
with his friends in case the Crocodiles ever made trouble.
But instead, his father had insisted that he spend the
day studying Lion History and traditions. So here he was,
sitting on a rock reading an old parchment instead of
doing something fun. He was
annoyed.
Cragger approached the
seated Lion very quietly. He
didn’t want any noise to give
away where he was after all
the trouble he had gone to
in order to become invisible.
But all of the sudden, Laval
turned to look in his direction.
Instinctively, Cragger darted
behind a nearby column.
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Cragger smacked his head.
What am I doing?
he
thought.
Laval can’t see me while I’m invisible. There’s
no reason to hide
.
“Hello?” called Laval. “Is anyone there?”
Cragger chuckled.
No one that you can see,
he thought
to himself. Quietly, Cragger stepped out from behind the
column.
But the moment he did, Laval leaped up. “Cragger!
What are you doing here?” He reached for his sword.
Impossible,
thought Cragger.
He can’t see me. It must
be a trick!
Cragger took a few steps to the left. Laval’s head
turned right along with him.
Maybe it’s those Lion Senses of his,
Cragger grumbled
to himself.
He probably smells me or something. Not sure
how; I just bathed three weeks ago!
Cragger went back to his right. Again, Laval’s gaze
followed him. Slowly, Laval lowered his sword. “Cragger,
what in Chima are you doing?” he asked.
Cragger snarled. “How can you
see
me?” he demanded.
“I’m invisible!”
“Huh? No, you’re not.” Laval shook his head. “You’re
standing right there.”
60
Cragger muttered under his breath. “When I get my
claws on Rizzo . . .” he grumbled. “His potion must have
worn off!”
“What potion is that, exactly?” Laval asked.
“The one that made me invisible,” answered Cragger.
“I’ve been invisible all day.”
“And now you’re not,” said Laval.
“No,” Cragger said, with a shrug. “Apparently not.”
“Okay, let’s review then,” said Laval. “You’re the leader
of the Crocodiles, and you’re surrounded by Lions. You
don’t have your spear, and you’re
not
invisible.”
“That’s right,” said Cragger.
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“I think you should run,” offered Laval.
Cragger’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized just
where he was and what was likely to happen next. He
took off running back to the swamp as fast as his legs
could carry him.
The sun was setting when Cragger finally reached
his home. Tired and irritated, he stomped into his
chambers . . . and promptly tripped on an invisible
bottle! He got to his feet, took a step, and tripped on the
bottle again.
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Lying on the floor, Cragger looked over at the spot
where he had tripped. There was nothing there. Angrily,
he reached around and scrapped his claws along the floor
feeling for whatever he had stumbled on. But each time
he came up empty-handed, only to trip over the invisible
object a few minutes later as he was stomping around the
room.
Cragger would spend all night trying to find the invisible
object. But as he already knew, it’s hard to get your claws
on something you can’t see.
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LEGO Legends of Chima: Attack of the Crocodiles (Chapter Book #1) Page 3
