The Silent Girl (Chapter 24)
*Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up.
“Well,” Cora said, “When I went up to avoid the helicopters, a radio in my helicopter came to life and a voice said, ‘Code Yellow. Report that someone snuck into the dungeon to Code Black and Code Blue’. I didn’t know what to do, so I just walked out of my helicopter and jumped onto yours.” I nodded, but I was a little annoyed. Someone could have seen Cora and what would they do?
“Umm, okay.” I said, “Did anyone see you?” Cora scrunched up her nose, wiggled it, and then did a funny hula dance. Finally, she started racing around the helicopter and making funny faces. “Umm, Cora, why are you doing those funny things?” I asked, laughing.
Cora smiled and stopped making funny faces. “I don’t know why, but it helps me think.” I nodded. “Anyways,” Cora said. “I don’t think anyone did, but, I mean, it’s possible. I am, after all, brightly colored”, she said, looking down at her red hair, bright pink T-shirt, and bright yellow shorts.
Wait a sec, if Cora and I are going to try to get to the dungeon, we probably need some kind of camouflage. How would I get any camouflage clothes here? My eyes scanned the helicopter. Suddenly, I had a good idea. I should just ask the helicopter. “Helicopter, give us good camouflage clothes that blend into our every background.” Poof! A ball of green, brown, and black clothes appeared in my helicopter. Okay? Those clothes looked weird. I hoped they were comfortable.
“What just happened?,” Cora asked. “I mean, what are those things anyways?”
I paused. My plan seemed good, but the way Cora put it, it seemed really weird. “Umm…”, I said. “Well, I thought that we might need some camouflage when we get in the dungeons. You know, when we save Samuel.”
“Ohh.. right,” Cora said. She looked away. Then, her face bursting bright red, she said, “I just wish I could know Samuel!”
“Oh, you’ll know him soon enough,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “After we get him out of the dungeons… oh.” At that moment, I realized Cora was scared that she would never meet Samuel. “It’s okay, hey, it’s okay, ‘cause I know we’ll rescue Samuel and get him back his throne!”
Cora nodded, putting her hands around my waist, and we shrugged on our camouflage, which, as soon as we put it on, switched to match the colors of the airplane. “Cool!” she said. The helicopter we were in surged forward, June’s helicopter hovering in place. The helicopter darted with my mind, gliding down when my mind whispered to glide down, swooshing up when my mind wished for it to swoosh up. Soon, we were in front of the glittering white palace, and flying over the crystal-clear moat, the white and gold pillars towering above us. The guards in the front had long, pointed, crystal-encrusted spears that looked all the sharper in the light. I gulped. Cora gulped.
One of the real helicopters zoomed near them and someone inside said, “Zoom in.” The two men in the silver armor (the guards) looked startled for a moment, then quickly asked, “Where do you want to go?”
The person inside the helicopter hesitated a little and then said, “The Flower Chamber. They need more flowers for the banquet tonight. All of the guards and everybody’s going.” The two men in silver armor nodded and pressed a button. The door opened like a garage and the helicopter went in.
I gulped again and said, “Well, I guess we have three options. We can either do the same thing they did, think of something else to say, or try to pass the guards without saying anything. What do you think we should do?”
Cora, like before, scrunched up her nose, wiggled her nose and then did a funny hula dance. Finally, she started racing around the helicopter and making funny faces at the helicopter. “Umm,” she said. “I think we should just say ‘Zoom in’ like the other helicopter. It could be a special code word for going in.” I nodded and I moved the helicopter forward, towards the two guards.
I said, “Zoom in.” The two guards nodded and like before, they asked where we were going. I answered, “The dungeon. We’re needed there. The king alerted us and told us two people snuck in.” The two guards nodded in unison again and pressed the button. So far, so good.
We zoomed past them, and into the palace. I felt great about our mission so far. But then, when I looked around I saw so many different helicopters leading to so many different places! I was just so confused! “This calls for some sleuthing,” I said to Cora in the most excited voice I could find inside my terrified thoughts. “Cover your face with the hoodie and the mesh, and we’ll be winding our way through the palace like pros!”
Cora looked confused. “What does pro mean?” “Oh, it means, like, your super good at it,” I said. And then we were up and out of the helicopter! Except, the only problem was, now that the door was open, all the helicopters had stopped. “Follow me, and run,” I whispered to Cora. “Okay,” She said all too loudly. Everyone got out of their helicopters and started running around the room wildly. Oh, what would I do, what would I do?
Finally, I grabbed Cora’s hand and climbed up a ladder propped next to a tunnel. We still had our camouflage on, which was useful, but really scratchy and scratching would definitely slow us down.
My hands soon gripped the edge of the tunnel, and I climbed onto the second to tallest step of the ladder and heaved myself up onto the tunnel floor. It was dusty and sprinkled with cobwebs.
Clora stretched out her fingers from the ladder, and I pulled her up and onto the floor. “What’s the plan,” she whispered nervously. “Umm…,” I said, thinking hard. I couldn’t let the cute and confident Cora know that I didn’t have a plan. “Let’s….. er…. run along the passage and see where it leads!”
Cora nodded. We hurried along the tunnel, hands over our hood to keep it from flying off. We ran like the wind blowing fiercely against me, except we were going in the opposite direction. I tried to ignore the constant urge to itch, as Cora wasn’t complaining, and I certainly didn’t want to be the immature one here.
Our legs speedily pumping, the two of us didn’t notice a white and gold blob becoming bigger and bigger until it was about seven feet away from us!
“Um, May,” Cora said nervously. I was sweating and breathing hard. “Yes, Cora,” I said, a slight tinge of annoyance in my words. Was she seriously going to complain now!?
“A helicopter is literally about to crash into us,” she said, and there was rising panic in her tone.
I looked up. “Uh, oh,” I said, and grabbing Cora’s hand, I dived to the sides of the tunnel and flattened my body against the curved wall until I was a pancake. Cora did the same, and we both pulled our hoods tighter around us.
After a long break, Chapter 24 has arrived!!!
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