The Rightful Heir (38 page)

The
raccoons picked up the Trojan Pig and started to leave.

“What in a frog's fat fanny is that?” Marlon asked. His beady eyes tried to focus on the foreign object.

“I'm gonna kill that snake with it,” Malcolm replied as they disappeared into the bushes.

Stunned, the fat raccoon fell out of his tree and hit the ground, rubbing his hurt head tenderly. “Oh, geez. I gotta stop feeding those boys bad mushrooms.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

T
OM AND CAROL KNEW SOMETHING
other than an upset stomach was troubling Benjamin, but they decided not to bring it up. They went to the drive-in to get ice cream, hoping that would cheer him. It didn't. Benjamin sat in the car the whole time and stared at the soft serve as it slowly fell off his spoon and back into the cup.

Tom finished his cone quickly. “Wow! That was some ice cream, huh, Ben?”

He sounded so phony even his wife gave him a look. Benjamin didn't answer. They drove home in silence.

In the driveway Benjamin had one thing on his mind, besides the horrible vision of Jessica and Derek holding hands and laughing. He needed to go to the kingdom and hand over the crown. He grew more miserable by the minute.
First Jessica doesn't want me, now the kingdom won't need me anymore
. He was alone and didn't like it one bit.

T
HE RACCOONS HURRIED
as fast as their little legs would carry them through the eastern half of the forest. Jonah trailed them. They were now far from the spot where they had stopped to talk to Marlon.

“Okay, Malcolm. My arms are about to fall off!” Zeke said, exhausted.

“Mine too!” another raccoon added.

“Keep your ears open, guys. The forest's edge can't be much
farther.” They grunted and heaved as they continued on.

B
ENJAMIN STAYED UPSTAIRS
and watched TV with his parents. Unlike his dad, he really wasn't interested in the show about fishing hooks. He just sat on the couch by his mom trying to stall before the inevitable would happen and he'd no longer be King Benjamin. The show finally ended and he stood up.
Whoosh!
A cool breeze blew up the stairs and into the living room.

Tom looked at his wife and son. “Did you feel that?”

“Yeah, Ben, why did you have the window down this morning?” Carol asked.

“I didn't,” he said in his defense.

“Hmm, maybe it fell down again. Sweetie, would you go check?”

“Sure.” He walked down the cool, drafty stairs. A thought tried to intrude as he touched the bottom step, but he brushed it off. He walked around the corner and flipped on the light. He gasped! Thousands of shards of glass were scattered all over the brown carpet.
Whoosh!
Another breeze blew in his stunned face.

“Oh, my gosh!” He slowly walked to the window, glass crunching under his shoe, and looked out the open sill at the harvest moon, almost completely over the hedge row across the road. His heart beat rapidly.
Our house was broken into!
He stood for a second trying to take it all in, unable to say anything.
My room!
He ran into his bedroom and turned on the light. Everything looked normal, except—the Trojan Pig was gone!

“Who would take that?!” It hit him like a ton of bricks.
“…Malcolm!”
He gritted his teeth in anger. It all made sense to him, yet it didn't. He stomped out of his room and up the stairs. The phone upstairs in the kitchen rang. His mom answered.

“Hi, Mrs. Howell, how are you? …You can't find her? …Well, I don't know. Let me ask Tom.” She covered the speaker. “Tom?
Did you see Jessica anywhere before we left?” He shook his head. “No, Mrs. Howell, we didn't see her. Let me ask Ben.”

Benjamin stood at the top of the stairs, his attention now on the phone call.

Carol handed him the phone. “Here, sweetie, you need to talk to Mrs. Howell.”

“Hello?”

“Ben, honey, this is Jessica's mom. Did you see her anywhere when you were leaving with your parents?” A crowd of people talked loudly in the background.

“Uh, no, Mrs. Howell, I didn't. The last I saw of her was when she went to play games with that
Derek
guy.” He started to feel lightheaded.

Mrs. Howell started to hyperventilate. “Oh, no! She was supposed to meet us two hours ago!”

Benjamin heard Mr. Howell yell in the background, “They found her watermelon crown but nothing else!”

Mrs. Howell started to panic. She took a deep breath. “Okay…well, we'll keep looking and calling people.”

“I'll keep my eyes open for her, Mrs. Howell.” Benjamin knew that didn't sound very reassuring, but she appreciated it.

“Okay. Thank you.” She hung up the phone and Benjamin stood there in a daze. His mind was trying not to think about the worst thing possible. The possibilities were endless, though most involved that jerk Derek.

“What's going on?” Tom walked up to them. “Jessica is missing?”

“Yes, hon. Her mom said they've been looking for her for over two hours.”

“Oh, boy!” Tom ran his fingers through his sandy-blonde hair.

“Benjamin, sweetie, don't worry. She'll come home. It's only been a couple hours.” Carol wrapped her arm around him.
“Her watermelon crown was found, but that's it.” Then Benjamin remembered the other horrible thing that happened. “Uh…our house was broken into.”

“What?!” Tom exclaimed.

“Yeah…the basement window is shattered all over the floor.” Tom ran downstairs.

“Was anything stolen??” his mom asked.

“Yeah…
my pig!”
Benjamin grew angry at the double-crossing raccoon he'd put his trust in, even after the debacle at Farangis's barn.

Tom came back upstairs, shaking his head in anger and frustration. “There's glass all over the floor, but I don't think they took anything.”

“They took Ben's pig.” Carol said, wiping the tears in her eyes.

“They what? His pig?” Tom couldn't make any sense of that.

“What should we do, Tom?”

“Call the police. We got broken into!”

Carol called to report the break-in. She had to repeat to the dispatcher that the lone item stolen was a pig made out of a barrel. The dispatcher said they'd send an officer in the morning to investigate. Carol thought she heard laughing in the background as the dispatcher hung up. “They said a police officer will be coming by in the morning.”

Tom sighed. “Okay, well…I'll put some plastic wrap over it for now.”

Benjamin had had enough.
I might as well end this horrible night now
. He headed downstairs to his closet, grabbed the collar from behind a shoebox, and left the bedroom. Not once did he notice the red “on” light glowing brightly from the walkie-talkie laying on his desk.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE