Leo started to round the corner and shot Marco a worried glance.
Nacho tripped on a piece of driftwood and fell to his knees.
“Oh, come on,” huffed Miss Blackstone. “This isn’t difficult.”
“Leave him alone!” snapped Sarah.
Miss Blackstone grabbed one of Sarah’s braids and yanked.
“OW!” Sarah tried to get away, but the woman had too good a grip.
“Get your hands off her!”
Yvonna stood on the top of the dune, eyes narrowed, hands on her hips. Her dark hair blew out behind her as the skirt of her pink dress fluttered in the breeze. She took one long step and leaped. She landed right on Miss Blackstone and knocked her to the sand.
They rolled over and then over again.
The gun slipped out of Miss Blackstone’s hand and slid down the bank.
Sarah ran over and picked it up.
Marco said, “Careful with—”
Sarah pitched it straight into the ocean and wiped her hands on her shorts. She raised her eyebrows at Marco.
The two women continued to struggle in the sand. Miss Blackstone’s sunglasses were askew, and red lipstick had smeared down her left cheek.
Nacho’s mouth fell open. “I guess Mom’s feeling better.”
Leo grabbed the white tube and aimed it at Miss Blackstone. But with the two women grappling, there was no clear shot.
With a grunt, Yvonna pinned Miss Blackstone to the ground. “Don’t you ever speak to my children like that. In fact, don’t even look at them.”
Marco and Sarah ran over to help Yvonna hold Miss Blackstone as she struggled. Marco asked Leo, “What was in that medicine anyway?”
Leo shrugged.
Marco said, “We need to let Leo shoot her.”
“What?” The women spoke in unison and noticed Leo for the first time. Both stared at him.
Nacho said, “Mom, meet Leo. He’s an alien.”
Yvonna raised her eyebrows. “I thought I’d dreamed that conversation about the spaceship.”
“It was true,” said Sarah. “Leo can help. And we can help him.”
Marco’s mom asked, “What do you want me to do?”
“Let her go on three.” Leo aimed the tube.
Sarah stepped away from Miss Blackstone, who cried out, “Wait!”
Leo said, “One. Two. Three!”
Marco and his mom jumped up.
Leo fired.
To her credit, Miss Blackstone struggled longer than Fox had. But she soon succumbed to the net and lay there, a heaving white lump on the sand.
“Good shot,” said Yvonna.
Sarah smiled. “She should be happy. It matches her outfit.”
“Now, where’s her dumb dog?” asked Marco.
“Bentley? He actually bit her and she tied him up.” Yvonna’s eyes widened. “Oh! Cash and Sarge!”
Nacho said, “I’ll get them loose! Come on, Leo.” They climbed the bank and disappeared.
Marco hugged his mom. “I’m so glad you’re better.”
“Me too.” She held him for a moment before she spread one arm out to Sarah. “Sweetie?”
With no hesitation, Sarah stepped in and hugged her stepmother’s waist. “I was so worried.”
“I know. Now,” she asked Sarah, “where is your father?”
Sarah shrugged. “Marco saw him last.”
Marco’s gaze drifted to the sailboat.
“He swam out there?” asked his mom.
“Yeah.” He didn’t add that the sharkodile was still out there and he hadn’t actually seen John make it.
Sarge and Cash jogged down the beach. Nacho and Leo followed, a small white lump tucked under one of Leo’s arms.
“Well.” Sarge stared down at Miss Blackstone. “She finally stopped talking.”
Leo said, “I have to leave.”
Sarge kept glancing at Leo’s gills. “So everything Cash told me is true?” He set an arm around her shoulders.
Cash nodded. “Here’s my proof.”
Marco said, “Leo has to get back to his ship.” He pointed at Miss Blackstone. “With her and the dog.”
“I’ll need help,” said Leo.
“I’ll go,” said Marco.
“No way,” said his mom. “None of you are leaving my sight again.”
Sarge stepped up. “I could go.”
Marco shook his head. “I think … I think you need to check the boat and make sure it’s ready to go.” Just in case they needed to make a quick exit. He faced his mom. “You have to let me go help Leo. I promised him.”
His mom said, “No.”
“I’ll go too,” said Sarah.
“Oh, come on, you two!” Marco’s mom threw up her hands. “You’ve been running around.” She gestured at Sarge and Cash. “They’ve been tied up.” She flopped a wrist toward the water. “John is who knows where.” She shook her head. “We’re going to the boat, now, all of us. That’s final.”
Marco held up a hand as she started to protest. “Mom, I made a deal with Leo. I promised to help him get home if he did something for me. And he did.”
His mom’s gaze drifted to Leo. “What did he do?”
“He gave us medicine,” said Sarah.
Marco said, “I gave it to you.”
“And you got better,” said Cash. “Like, right away.”
Marco raised his eyebrows at her. “Really?”
Cash said, “Right after you left. I watched her.”
His mom’s shoulders slumped. “Seriously?”
“Mom, please? We had a deal. You have to let me help him.”
“Fine.” She raised her palms. “But you better be back here—”
“We will!” Marco turned to Sarge. “Can you help us get her into the shuttle?”
“The what?” Sarge asked.
Nacho said, “It’s a spaceship!”
Cash raised her eyebrows at him.
“We can stand here talking about it,” said Marco. “Or we can just show you.”
“All right,” said Yvonna. “Show us.”
13
Sarah watched Sarge and Marco pick up Miss Blackstone. Leo carried the dog, and the rest walked behind them to the shuttle.
Sarge whistled when he saw it. “This is unbelievable.”
He lifted Miss Blackstone inside, then climbed into the seat behind the console.
“That’s my seat,” said Leo.
Sarge held up a finger. “Just give a man one minute here, okay?” He sat there, smiling and shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”
Cash ran a hand along the slick sides. Yvonna joined her for a moment and then frowned at Marco. “Are you sure this thing is safe?”
Sarah widened her eyes at Marco.
He ignored her. “Yep. We made it here, didn’t we?”
Yvonna slanted her eyes at him, looking a tad skeptical.
“Mom, it’s fine. Really.”
“We need to go,” said Leo.
Sarge sighed, patted the console, and then hopped down to the sand.
Leo took his place.
Then Marco hopped up and Sarah started to follow.
Yvonna said, “Sarah, you should stay here.”
“No way.” Sarah shook her head. “I’m going to help see this through.”
Ahab barked.
Sarah hugged him. “Boy, you have to stay.”
Cash walked over and grabbed his collar. “I’ll take care of him.”
Sarah asked her, “You promise?”
Cash smiled. “Of course.”
“Okay. Be back soon.” Sarah ran and jumped up, rolling over the side and onto the seat. She found herself face-to-face with the mummy-wrapped Miss Blackstone.
“Yikes.” Sarah quickly scooted over to the side.
“Wait for me!” Nacho yelled.
His mom grabbed his arm. “Oh, no way.”
“But, Mom!”
“I’m keeping at least one of you close.”
The top of the s
huttle closed over them, and the craft lifted steadily into the air. Leo circled back toward the cave.
Sarah looked down at the island. Were they almost free of it?
All they had to do was put Miss Blackstone and the dog in the modules and then Leo could leave.
And then so could the rest of them.
Home! Sarah smiled. She’d begun to think they’d never make it back.
The shuttle lurched.
“What’s wrong?” asked Marco.
Sarah dropped to her knees and leaned forward between the two front seats. A red light flashed on the console.
Leo set a hand over it, but it didn’t stop.
“Is there a problem?” Sarah crossed her fingers and hoped that there wasn’t.
“I don’t know.” Leo swiped his hand over the light again.
The craft began to buck and lost several dozen feet of altitude. “I think that it is low on power.”
“But we’re so close to your ship,” said Marco.
“I know,” said Leo. “But it hasn’t been used since my grandfather got back from his last trip. I don’t think he charged it back up.”
“Are you kidding me? A spaceship that has to be charged?” Sarah groaned. “What kind of aliens are you anyway?”
Marco pointed ahead. “We’re almost to the volcano.”
Leo shook his head. “I don’t think I can make it up there. We’ll have to land at the cave entrance.”
“Where we came in before?” asked Marco.
“No.” Leo pointed ahead. “The larger one I led you out of.” The shuttle slowed, bucking so much that Sarah had to hold on.
Leo steered the craft to the sand, where they landed with a bump.
Sarah sighed. At least the landing was smoother than the last time. “Are you sure this is where we came out?”
“Yes, it’s right there,” said Leo.
Sarah still couldn’t see the entrance. Obviously Leo kept this one cloaked much better than the other.
Marco glanced at Miss Blackstone and the dog. “We’ll have to carry them.”
The top of the shuttle slowly rose. “No,” said Leo. “Stay here and I’ll be right back with the skimmer.”
Sarah and Marco exchanged a glance. Skimmer?
The alien boy dropped to the ground and jogged into the cave.
Marco jumped down and Sarah moved to the front. She leaned over. “How are we going to get back?”
Marco tapped the side of the shuttle. “Hopefully he can give this thing enough of a charge to give us a ride.”
Sarah studied the western sky. Nothing but blue, no streaks of red in sight.
As if he’d read her mind, Marco said, “We’ve got plenty of time. Five minutes to get them into the modules, another five to run us back. That puts Leo back here and ready to go with fifteen to spare.”
Sarah bit her lip. She hoped it would all be that simple.
“Whoa!” Marco grinned. “Check it out.”
Leo sped out of the entrance on a floating silver-slatted platform about the size of a large picnic table. Leo held on to the silver control stick that jutted straight up from the front. The platform lowered until it hovered at Sarah’s eye level.
“So that’s a skimmer?” asked Marco.
“We use it for hauling things around the annex.” Leo pointed. “Let’s get them inside.”
Marco climbed back into the shuttle, and he and Sarah dragged Miss Blackstone onto the skimmer. Marco picked up the dog and set him on it too.
“Remember my weapon,” said Leo.
Marco tucked the tube under one arm.
Leo hopped into the shuttle and inserted a glowing blue tab into the console. “This will charge it. Let’s go.” Leo got back on the skimmer and held out a webbed hand. Sarah took it and stepped across the gap of space between the two.
The platform wobbled slightly as she stepped down.
Marco jumped on, and the entire thing tipped.
“Hey!” Sarah held out her hands, feeling like she was surfing.
“Careful,” said Leo. “You might want to sit.”
Sarah sat down in the middle. She tried not to touch Miss Blackstone and wished there was something to hang on to.
Marco plopped on the edge. His legs dangling as he held the tube. “This is awesome! How fast does it go?”
Leo didn’t answer. He pushed forward on the stick and they entered the passageway with the stone floors, lit by torches on the walls. The temperature dropped several degrees.
The corridor was wide enough to accommodate them at first, then grew smaller.
Leo nearly scraped one side. Marco yanked his legs up just in time.
In a few moments, they reached the cavern.
Leo lowered the skimmer to the floor right in front of the two empty modules. He carried Bentley to one and set him inside. “Marco, can you free him?”
Marco twisted the tube and freed Bentley, who began to yap.
Leo quickly locked the module. Mist filled the space.
All three of them carried Miss Blackstone to the one remaining module and dragged her inside.
Sarah took a moment to catch her breath. “What will happen to her? And Fox?”
Leo said, “Well, they’ll stay in here for now. Like all the animals.”
“But when you reach your planet?” Sarah didn’t want to see Fox or Miss Blackstone ever again. But she needed to know. “What will you do with them?”
Leo said, “They will be allowed to stay on my planet, of course. We’ll take care of them.”
“Really?” asked Marco. “Even though Fox stole your progenitor?”
Leo frowned. “Or maybe we’ll keep them frozen for a while.”
“Will that hurt them?” asked Sarah.
“No, it’s like they’re sleeping. Besides, it won’t be up to me. It’ll be up to the elders.”
“I don’t want anything bad to happen to them.” Sarah sighed. “But I think our planet will be better off without them.”
Leo asked Marco, “Ready?”
“Yeah.” Marco twisted the tube. The white net dissipated.
Miss Blackstone raised a red talon at them. “You little miscreants better get me out of here, now!” She gave them one last, cruel look before she froze.
Sarah watched the mist rise up around her, frost appearing on the glass door.
“Wow,” said Marco. “Is it really done?”
Leo glanced at the lights on the bottom of the modules, now an unblinking green. He grinned. “We did it!”
The three stood there in a circle.
Sarah realized this was the last time they’d be together. Leo had to go back to his ship and his family.
And she and Marco had to go back to theirs.
But it wasn’t easy to say good-bye to the alien boy.
Sarah looked away, but her gaze went straight to Nacho’s backpack. “Hey!”
Leo picked it up. “He’ll want this back, I think.”
Marco noticed the trunk, which was still where Sarah and Leo had dropped it. “What are you going to do with that?”
Leo frowned. “Wait here a moment.” He went around the divider.
Marco ran his fingers over the carvings on the trunk. “It would have been cool to have.”
“What if you hadn’t pulled it off the Moonflight?” asked Sarah.
Marco shrugged. “We’d be gaining an alien stepbrother about now, I guess.”
Sarah laughed.
Marco grinned.
Leo came back with the backpack. “I’ll trade you.”
Marco gave him the white tube and took the backpack. “Whoa!” He nearly dropped it. “It’s so heavy.”
Leo’s gaze drifted from Marco to Sarah. “I can’t take both parts of the progenitor with me.”
Sarah glanced at the trunk. “Weren’t they both in there?”
Leo shook his head. “I slipped half out while Fox wasn’t looking.”
“Wait.” Marco frowned. “Why do you want to leav
e it with us?”
“I trust you,” said Leo. “And we don’t need it anymore.”
Sarah took in the sweep of modules. “But what if you need to make something else?”
Leo sighed and looked around the cavern. “If we can’t rebuild our world with all of this, then we don’t deserve it. Plus, it’s too much of a risk to have both parts. The same thing that destroyed our world the first time…” He trailed off. “Better to remove that possibility.”
Sarah said, “You can always come back, you know. If you want to visit.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Leo smiled. “Now let me take you back. I have just enough time.” He tucked the tube under his arm.
Sarah took a last look around the cavern, knowing she would never see it again. Knowing that no one on the planet would ever see it again. All these modules, all these animals; she truly hoped that Leo and his people made it back to their planet to start again.
She had to smile.
They had done it.
They had survived; they’d helped Leo go home.
And now they had to go home.
“Oh no,” whispered Marco.
Sarah turned.
Mere steps in front of her, halfway to the entrance of the corridor, Leo and Marco stood motionless.
Blocking their way was the black panther with the red beard.
Sarah slapped a hand over her mouth.
The feline’s red tail swished slowly from side to side as it growled low in its throat and bared sharp white teeth. The animal crouched, like it was preparing to pounce.
14
Marco’s heartbeat raced. He glanced around, hoping for some brilliant escape plan. But modules lay behind them, the cavern walls were all around them, and the nearest escape was blocked by the panther.
The other passageway was too far; they’d never make it before the cat would be on them. Well, one of them—the others might make it.
But Marco wasn’t willing to risk either Leo or Sarah.
So he stood his ground. He’d have to come up with something else.
The panther growled louder.
“It’s going to attack,” whispered Sarah.
“Shoot it, Leo!” said Marco.
Leo stood there, eyes wide, mouth open.
Marco whispered as loudly as he could. “Leo! Shoot it.”
But Leo was still paralyzed.
“Marco,” whispered Sarah. “There’s an empty module back here.”