Epic (7 page)

Ronin looked down below and saw Boggans pouring out of every hole, getting closer and closer. He pursued Mandrake as the Boggan leader went after Nod and M.K. Ronin leaped in and grabbed Mandrake by the neck. They tumbled down together, hitting a ledge. Mandrake was knocked off into a pit of Boggans. Ronin held onto the ledge with one hand.

“Ronin! Hang on!” shouted Nod.

Ronin climbed up on the ledge, just as the Boggan swarm arrived. The Leafman began hand-to-hand combat, launching punches left and right.

“Go! Take the pod to Moonhaven!” Ronin ordered Nod.

“I'm not leaving without you!” Nod insisted.

“Now you sound like a Leafman!” Ronin said proudly. Then he was swallowed up in the teeming mass of Boggans below.

“Ronin!” exclaimed Nod.

M.K. touched Nod's arm and motioned to the exit. “Come on.”

Nod took one last look at Ronin. He didn't want to leave him, but he knew they didn't have much time. The Boggans wouldn't be far behind, and they needed to get the pod back to Moonhaven before the moon reached its highest peak. Along with Mub and Grub, M.K. and Nod hopped onto Nod's waiting sparrow and flew off, worrying and wondering how Ronin was going to fight off all those Boggans—and knowing that he probably wouldn't.

A
s the group flew closer to Moonhaven, a squadron of Leafmen came out to meet them.

“We've been waiting for you,” said the squadron leader. “Where's Ronin?”

Nod hesitated. “He . . . uh . . . gave us a head start.”

All the Leafmen understood what that meant. Immediately, they escorted Nod and the others through a gap in the trees, revealing Moonhaven, glowing in the moonlight.

M.K.'s eyes went wide. She had seen many new and amazing things that day, but Moonhaven took her breath away. It was unlike anything she could have predicted or imagined. In the center, she could see a crowd of Jinn. M.K. held up the pod for them to see, and the Jinn cheered.

Nim greeted them, arms open, delighted to see them and the pod. “You guys made it!” He led them inside to the royal chamber and placed the pod on a pedestal where the moonlight would shine on it through a window.

Mub and Grub pushed through the crowd to get front-row seats.

“Do you know what this means?” Grub excitedly asked Mub.

“We single-handedly saved the forest!” answered Mub. “Eye-five!”

Nod shook his head, then noticed that M.K. was hanging back a bit. Cautiously, he approached her and said, “So when the pod opens . . .”

M.K. nodded. “I think the power of it will . . .”

“Send you home,” Nod finished, realizing the gravity of what that would mean.

M.K. looked up at Nod and could see that he didn't want her to go. She sighed, not knowing how she could say good-bye.

The pod began to glow, reacting to the moonlight. Everyone gathered close, with hopes and futures all dependent on the successful blooming of the pod.

Suddenly, the moonlight started to flicker. Then it went out! The pod started to wilt. What was happening?

A screeching sound could be heard, and the Leafmen looked up to see Mandrake's bats blocking the moonlight from entering the window.

Mandrake himself flew on a black grackle, watching and insuring that the pod would bloom in darkness. But strangely, the bats weren't descending.

“I don't think they're attacking,” said M.K. “They're blocking out the moon!”

Nod and the Leafmen took to the sky, heading directly for the bats. He looked at the Leafmen on both sides of him, realizing they were flying together as a team. He knew this was what Ronin would have wanted. Lifted by the feeling, Nod spurred his bird higher.

Down below in the royal chamber, M.K. anxiously watched the sky as the Leafmen pushed a hole through the blanket of bats. For a moment, the moonlight returned . . . but it immediately closed back up.

M.K. wanted to help. She spotted a sword and tried picking it up. But it was so heavy, she could only drag it.

Nim chuckled. “What are you doing?”

“I'm going to help,” M.K. said to Nim.

“Whoa, whoa, you heard the queen. If you want to get home, you have to be here with the pod when it blooms. Isn't that what you want?” said Nim.

“So I should just sit here?” M.K. responded.

“I didn't say that,” replied Nim.

“So I should go up there?” M.K. was starting to get frustrated.

“Didn't say that either,” replied Nim.

Now completely frustrated, M.K. said, “Just tell me what you ARE saying!”

“I'm saying, who gives up everything for a world that's not even theirs?”

M.K. had a moment of realization. “My dad does. I have to get my dad.” She headed for the exit.

Nim called after her, “Where do you think you're going?”

M.K. exclaimed, “The queen said I was here for a reason. This must be it!”

She hopped aboard a sparrow and zoomed away under the shadow of the bats. She just hoped her plan would work.

N
od and the Leafmen continuously attacked the bats, while Boggans swirled all around, their warrior cries mingling with the shrieks of the bats.

It was apparent that the Leafmen were losing. The swarm of bats was just too massive. Other bats immediately closed every hole the Leafmen opened.

Back inside the royal chamber, Mub stood next to the pod. Suddenly, the wilted pod began to open.

“The pod!” he exclaimed. “It's blooming in darkness.” He looked up to watch the battle above, hoping for a miracle.

But the bats continued to fly above Moonhaven, blocking out the moon.

Then a new fighter rose, careening wildly through the air, bobbing and weaving. He wore a Leafman helmet and cried, “Upward, brave steed! Into the fray!”

It was Grub!

At the same time, Nod was continuing to fight his way through the swarm of bats, and he was in trouble: one of the Boggans was about to take out Nod. Suddenly, a surprise guest took the Boggan out for him: Bufo!

Nod was shocked to see the shady, toadlike Jinn again. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Hey, it's my forest, too,” replied Bufo. “Plus I have money on the Leafmen—and I hate to lose!”

He motioned behind him, and Nod turned to see the jockeys from the bird race. They were following Bufo into battle. Nod grinned. They were all on the same side now.

As Mandrake headed toward the pod, Nod and the racers fought back, flying circles around him, dizzying his grackle, blocking its every path.

But a squadron of Boggans swooped down, knocking the jockeys out of the sky.

Grub came to the rescue—accidentally—as the jockeys all landed on Grub's flailing bird. The racers thanked Grub for saving their lives.

“A Leafman finds a way!” Grub proudly answered.

Meanwhile, trying to get closer to Mandrake, Nod leaped off his bird and onto a bat. Mandrake swung his club at him.

“Missed me!” Nod said tauntingly.

“I wasn't aiming for you,” Mandrake replied.

Nod looked down to see his bat aging quickly and horribly—shriveling, molting, and finally reduced to only bones. Nod rode the bones as they plummeted to the forest floor.

He survived the impact, but he was a long distance away now. He looked up to see Mandrake entering Moonhaven. Nod ran as fast as he could. He had to defeat Mandrake before the pod bloomed!

Inside his house, a shaft of moonlight hit Bomba in the eye, waking him up from where he had fainted on the floor. He sat up, bleary-eyed, and looked at the shattered collection jar, then at all his equipment, specimens, and sketches.

“They're all right about me,” Bomba said sadly to Ozzy. “All these years, chasing things that aren't there. I actually thought I saw my daughter, two inches tall, stuck in a bug jar. I've lost my mind.” Then he shook his head. “And I'm talking to a dog.”

Ozzy barked, sneezed, and drooled in response.

Meanwhile, out in the dark forest, M.K. flew from Moonhaven, fearless and focused. She spotted a red light. It was one of Bomba's cameras. She flew to it, and the camera turned itself on from her movement.

“Dad! Hey! Dad! I need your help!” she yelled, waving her arms.

But then the light on the camera went out.

M.K. wasn't sure what happened, so she spurred the bird on and flew to another camera. “Dad, look at me! I'm right here. Just check your cameras!”

That camera shut down, as well.

When the last camera turned off, M.K. was distraught. “Dad, please! I need you!”

But Bomba was shutting down all of his equipment, giving up his life's work. He shoved stuff into boxes, only stopping when something caught his eye. A red pushpin on his forest map had been moved. Now it was stuck in the actual location of Moonhaven. Bomba looked hard, trying to make sense of it.

Meanwhile, out in the darkness, M.K. felt very alone. She looked back at the moon, seeing the swarming bats, feeling like she failed.

Thwack!

Apparently she wasn't alone! A Boggan and his arrows bore down on her. She took off through the woods aboard her bird.

“I am
so
over Boggans,” she muttered. She ripped an acorn from a tree and hurled it at him. It whacked him across the face, but it didn't deter him. It just made him angrier.

The Boggan hovered over her and drew his bow. M.K. winced, preparing for the kill shot when—

Chomp!
The Boggan was gone!

M.K. turned to see Ozzy shaking the Boggan in his mouth. “Ozzy!” Then she looked up and happily yelled, “Dad!”

In full expedition gear, Bomba headed through the woods, clutching the map. Ozzy ran circles around him, barking excitedly. When Bomba stopped to get his bearings, a bird stopped in front of his face, startling him. He reached for it, and M.K. jumped off the bird and landed in his hand.

“Don't faint!” M.K. said slowly and loudly.

“I won't,” Bomba replied.

“How did you find me?” asked M.K.

Bomba held up the red pushpin and smiled. “I got your message!”

“You were right. They're real,” M.K. told him.

The bats shrieked overhead, reminding M.K. of the important business at hand.

“And they need your help!” called M.K. “Follow me!”

She jumped back on her bird and led Bomba to Moonhaven. Hopefully, they weren't too late!

B
omba stood outside Moonhaven, his eyes wide with wonder.

“It's all real,” he said, amazed. “It's really here.”

M.K. hovered in front of him, trying to get his attention. “Dad! The bats—we have to get them away from the moon!”

But Bomba was too captivated by Moonhaven. “It's so beautiful.”

M.K. knew time was running out. She jumped into Bomba's pocket and pulled out his mp3 player. She scrolled through his playlist until she found what she was looking for: “bat calls.”

“Oh, you want me to play the frequencies that attract the bats?” he asked.