The Ominous Eye. Tracey Hecht

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      As the trio left, Bismark turned for one last look at the reptile. With each step they took, she grew smaller and fainter, her scales fading into the ash. “Do not cry, darling Tutu!” he called over his tiny shoulder. “Though you will never meet another brigade like ours, nor another glider so handsome as myself, I am sure you and your magic eye shall survive well into the future!”

      Tobin edged alongside the crater. Timidly, he glanced over its rim at the monstrous print down below. His scales started to shudder. “I don’t know, Bismark,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like she needs us. It seems like we might need her.”

      The sugar glider threw back his head and placed a paw on his chest. “My silly amigo!” he chortled. “Everyone needs me. But I agree—I think we do need that triple-eyed Tutu.”

      Dawn let out a grunt of annoyance.

      “Don’t be jealous, princessa. I need you as well. It’s just—instead of your eyes, I desire your heart.”

      “I’m not jealous,” she said. “I am wary.” The fox surveyed the lifeless, gray landscape and the deep crater beside her. Her gaze hardened. “I admit that I do not know who or what this beast is. What I do know, however, is that the tuatara’s ‘solution’ is no solution at all.” She took a deep breath, calming her racing pulse. “In order to solve this problem, we must go to the source.”

      Tobin gulped. “B-b-but the source of this problem is the b-b-beast.”

      “Precisely,” said Dawn. She turned her gaze toward the looming, black mountain ahead. “And our best chance of spotting him is from that peak.”

      “Oh goodness,” groaned Tobin. The pangolin was not the best rock climber. Compared to his friends’ legs, Tobin’s legs were stumpy and stout, which often caused him to fall behind. Nevertheless, he followed Dawn’s lead, past the crater, trudging through the vast field of ash until they reached the foot of the mountain. As he surveyed the steep slope, Tobin’s chest tightened.

      From afar, the mountain appeared dark and eerie, but its face, at least, had looked smooth. Up close though, its surface was rocky and jagged. Large boulders had splintered into razor-sharp shards that threatened to cut his paws.

      Tentatively, the pangolin extended a foot and touched it to the dark stone.

      “It’s okay!” Dawn called out. The nimble fox was already several ledges above on the slope.

      “Si, si, cautious comrade! Come along, now! It’s really quite easy!” Bismark cheered.

      Tobin squinted up at him. Bismark was perched comfortably on the arch of Dawn’s back. The pangolin sighed and slowly, carefully, started to climb.

      By the time he reached the halfway point, he was huffing and puffing. For as the height increased so, too, did the number of loose rocks sliding down from the top. And with every step he took, a thick, suffocating cloud rose around him. He was exhausted, and breathing in all this ash made his lungs feel weak.

      “I don’t know…if this…is such a good…idea,” Tobin uttered between coughs. He stopped to catch his breath.

      “Just a little farther,” Dawn insisted.

      Tobin wiped his watery eyes and inspected his tired paws. They were rubbed raw. “Just follow the white of Dawn’s tail,” he said to himself.

      But this proved quite difficult. As Tobin climbed higher and higher, the wind grew stronger, whipping across his scales and stinging his face. Spirals of gray sand and dirt swirled through the air, blinding him. At times, his friends disappeared from view, completely lost in the shadowy wind, and the pangolin had to pause and wait for the flicker of Dawn’s white tail to re-emerge.

      Finally, the climbers stopped.

      “Over here,” called the fox. She was perched on a pointed ledge that stuck out over the slope.

      “Oh, thank goodness,” gasped Tobin. With a series of grunts, the pangolin clambered up the last stretch of stone and heaved himself up on the ledge, tumbling over its rim in a clumsy heap.

      “See?” said the fox. “From this height, we have a good view.”

      “Absolutamente,” agreed Bismark, batting his eyes at the fox.

      Tobin peered over the edge and grew dizzy. Quickly, he rose to all fours and scuttled as far back as possible. “I didn’t realize we’d climbed so high,” he gasped. The pangolin pressed his body against the stony gray wall of the mountain and attempted to steady his breath. His heart was pounding.

      “Don’t worry,” Dawn said. The fox was fearlessly perched at the rim of the ledge, and she squinted toward the horizon. “Just keep your eyes peeled for anything unusual or for a sign of the beast.”

      But Tobin’s chest remained tight. He had been concentrating so hard on walking up the steep mountain and keeping his balance that he had nearly forgotten why they were there. Yes, he had survived the treacherous climb, and he was beginning to feel steady on the ledge, but what was next? Would they spot this strange, evil creature? And what would СКАЧАТЬ