The Rightful Heir (39 page)

J
ONAH STOPPED SUDDENLY.
“Shhhh! Hold up a second.” His ears perked up. “Do you hear that?”

The raccoons set the barrel down and tilted their heads. Malcolm's eyes widened. “Yeah! It's sort of a faint, ringing noise.”

“It's coming from that way.” He pointed toward the sound of the spring.

“C'mon, guys! Almost there!” Malcolm picked up his end first. The others quickly hoisted the barrel up.

They had a burst of adrenaline. Jonah led the way with his ears. Soon they all heard the deafening ringing of cicadas and locusts.

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Snapper was right!” Zeke said, almost laughing at the noise level.

“There it is!” Jonah said with excitement. A stone's throw away was a clearing in the trees, moonlight shining down. They hurried to the clearing and walked in shallow water. A lone weeping willow occupied the center of a small pool. The tree dropped leaves left and right as hundreds and hundreds of cicadas and locusts scrambled among the branches. They set the barrel in a mound of clover and dead leaves around the tree.

All five raccoons freed their hands from the Trojan Pig and leaned back to have a relieving stretch. The insects made it impossible to hear each other talk. Malcolm waved them back into the trees from where they'd come. Once it was a bit quieter, he gave them all a big group hug. “Okay, fellas. Thanks a bunch!
Jonah and I can take it from here.”

“You're sure you can handle it without us?” Zeke asked, uncertain.

“Yeah, we'll be fine.” Malcolm smiled and slapped one of them on the hind end. “Now go on, you ‘coons! Git!” They laughed, patted Jonah on the back, and took off through the trees.

“Alright, Malcolm. You wanna tell me what we're doing?” Jonah gulped.

Malcolm smiled and took a deep breath. “Okay, when I was in Benjamin's house yesterday, he showed me that
thing
that we carried all the way over here.”

“Uh-huh.…” Jonah was skeptical but listened intently.

“Now, that
pig
—because that's what it's supposed to be: a pig—” He snickered, “was originally gonna be stuffed with these fireworks that Benjamin had used to blow up this snake's son a while back.”

“No kiddin'?”

“Yeah, his plan was for the snake to eat it and then he'd light it and make it blow up in the snake's stomach.”

“Wow…that's actually a great idea!”

“Right, but the plan changes here.” Malcolm waved his arms. “Benjamin told me an old story about some army building a large horse and hiding inside it.” He shrugged his shoulders and clasped his hands. “Well, their enemies took the gift horse, and without looking it in the mouth, brought it into their fortress. And at night the brave warriors that were hiding inside the wooden horse snuck out and killed them all in their sleep!” Malcolm leaned in to the pug's face with excitement.

“Uhhhh.…” Jonah didn't know what to think of all of it.

Malcolm whispered. “Remember what happened when the Snapper said he was swallowed by the snake??”

Jonah's eyes wandered in thought. “He said…he was…
thrown back up.” The pug gasped at Malcolm's crazy smile. “Y-you're not saying we—”

“That's right! We get inside and let her swallow us. She takes us back to her lair then pukes us back up!” Jonah gasped. “When she's asleep, we sneak out and kill her!” Malcolm smacked an open palm with his fist.
Wham!

Jonah paused as the thought kind of made sense. “This…this will work?”

“Mmm hmmm!” Malcolm nodded maniacally.

“How are we going to kill it?”

Malcolm put his hand on the pug's shoulder. “You leave that to me! You're gonna be a hero…unlike that
no-good
brother of yours.”

That appealed to the side of Jonah that wanted revenge. “Yeaaah.” Malcolm knew he had Jonah sold. “Let's do it!”

The two ran to the water and reached the Trojan Pig. Malcolm tinkered with it as he rolled it over. Malcolm shouted over the loud ringing. “Benjamin opened it somehow.” He found the latch and grabbed it. “Maybe something…like this!” The barrel opened and they jumped back in surprise.

Jonah looked inside and spotted the walkie-talkie. “What's that?”

“Oh, it's one of those weird, human things Benjamin was going to use to lure the snake. We don't need it, though. We can make pig noises ourselves!” Malcolm patted Jonah on the bottom. “Okay, let's get you in first.”

“Uh, how do I.…” Jonah shouted in uncertainty.

“Just jump in, silly!” Malcolm prompted. The pug hopped in and the barrel wobbled back and forth. The hatch swung stiffly but stayed up. “Alright, now my tur—”

Suddenly the locusts and cicadas stopped singing. It was dead quiet. Jonah gasped. “Malcolm,” he said quietly, “uh…what did
the Snapper say about when the bugs stop singing?”

Malcolm gulped. “He said the snake was close by!”

Jonah screamed and jumped up in the barrel, causing it to wobble backward and roll quickly forward. The hatch slammed shut on the scared pug inside.

“Hey! Let me out of here, Malcolm! I don't want to do this!” Jonah's muffled voice screamed from inside the Trojan Pig. Malcolm grabbed the latch but couldn't get it to unlock. “Heyyyyy!” The pug's paws franticly clawed the inside wall.

“Hang on a second! I'm trying to get it open!” Malcolm froze in his spot when he heard the trees and bushes being crushed and shaken. “Oh no!” he whispered in terror.

Reality settled over Malcolm. His perfect plan wasn't so perfect after all.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

B
ENJAMIN SNEAKED OUT
of the basement the way the conniving raccoon had earlier—through the window that his dad had covered in flimsy plastic wrap. Unlike the many times before when he'd considered sneaking through the window, he no longer had to worry about breaking the glass. With the collar around his wrist, he walked down the driveway. It was a beautiful evening, perfect for crowning the new king, he thought. His mood was completely different, though.

The
full harvest moon hung over the hole in the cave's ceiling. The tree row across the road was lit up beautifully and the strong light shone on the fox den. Benjamin hopped into it for perhaps the last time. His emotions ran wild, but he tried to control his tears. The farther he trekked, the more the tunnel's walls glowed vibrant blue. He remembered how beautiful the cave was the last time the full moon was directly above, with all of the lightning bugs scattered on the tunnel walls.
That was when we had Paco's funeral
. Benjamin didn't hear any loud talking, which he thought was strange. The closer he got to the last corner, the more he tried not to break down and cry. It had been a hard day for him. Malcolm had betrayed him and broken into his house, Jessica left him to go hang out with her boyfriend at the Harvest Home Festival and then never came home, and now, after saving the kingdom nearly a month ago, he was about to relinquish his crown to the rightful heir. He would go back to being
just Ben
.

“Where is he?” Roscoe asked Clementine as they stood next to the throne.

“Relax. He said he'd be here tonight. He'll be here.”

There was much anxiety in the air as Mac stood at the foot of the throne. His bodyguard, Zeus, smiled the whole time, watching the many faces admire his little friend.

Benjamin was at the final turn and stopped. He shuddered as he clutched the collar on his wrist. Knowing what he had to do, he took a deep breath and walked forward into the opening of the hall.

“M
ALCOLM, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!”
Jonah screamed.

“I-I can't. It's locked!” The bushes and trees across the spring quaked. The monster was very near. Malcolm panicked. “Juh… Jonah, listen to me!”

“Malcolm, I want out of here this instant!” The barrel rolled
back and forth.

“Jonah!” Malcolm whispered loudly, tears in his eyes. “I'll… I'll be right here! I'll be right here with you, Jonah!”

“MALCOLM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

The raccoon ran through the shallow water, away from the barrel. “I'll be right here, Jonah! I'll be right here!” he whispered to himself, fleeing the horrible scene about to take place. His heart had never beaten so rapidly. He dove into the bushes and crouched down to hide.

“MALCOLM! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

The raccoon heard his friend's muffled screams. The Trojan Pig was upside down, rocking gently. Out of the weeds and tall grass behind the tree, the head of a monstrous, black python emerged. Its foot-long tongue flickered out of its mouth and its massive body slithered into the still spring. The water rippled from side to side, distorting the reflected harvest moon.

“Oh…my…gosh!!!” Malcolm's mouth hung open in horror.

The monster's head jerked. It spotted the Trojan Pig through its ghastly, milky-white eyes.

“MALCOLM! GET ME OUTTA HERE!” The barrel wobbled back and forth.