When last we met: Summer, Dejah and I stood on the deck facing the oncoming hurricane and the giant green face. Between us and the storm were a dozen determined white-tailed deer, 29 warrior eagles, five dragons and several dozen [unpronounceable] elfin beings, including the 17 wizards and wizardesses who stood along the fence. I have to admit, as the wind whipped fallen leaves in circles around the yard and rain started falling sideways in the wind, I began to suspect it wasn’t going to be enough.
As leaves were ripped off the trees and swirled around us, Dejah lay down on the deck at the top of the stairs. Summer faltered against the wind but remained standing.
“They said we should stand up as long as we can,” Summer told her older sister.
“And I did, Sum, but now I must lie down,” Dejah said. “When you’re 11 years old yourself, you’ll understand.”
“Just stay out here on the deck, girls,” I said. “I’m proud of you both. And I’m with you all the way.
The wind howled. And so did the Evil One.
“YOU CURSED DOGS,” the giant face shrieked from the middle of the hurricane. “YOU HUMILIATED MY MINIONS. YOU OBSTRUCTED MY WONDERFUL SORDID PLANS AT EVERY TURN. NO MORE! NO MORE!”
It was mid-morning. It was dark as midnight except for the nanoseconds when lightning flash and the ground shook.
The great buck and his companions galloped out to meet the storm in the big field beyond the willow trees.
Two or three great lightning flashes were followed by two or three great booms of thunder.
As if on cue, the deer broke ranks and bolted into the comparative shelter of the woods.
The Evil One chuckled and pressed on, his eyes fixed on the two dogs on the deck 100 yards away.
Next came the great array of eagles swooping from the trees even as they bent from the wind. In crisp formation 29 warrior eagles dove into the eye of the storm. Just before they reached the giant green face, they dispersed in all directions — almost as if the chaotic retreat had been choreographed.
The Evil One cackled and pushed closer, his eyes focused on the dogs that refused to leave the deck.
Five dragons lifted from the ground, their nostrils steaming, their great tails flicking in anger, their wings catching the wind so they could soar high and dive-bomb the evil force in the center of the tempest — and just before their mighty claws wrapped around the Evil One, they toppled away as if flung by the wind, and even I couldn’t tell if they had dropped back on purpose.
Only the five dozen [unpronounceable] elfin warriors stood between us and the storm, with the 17 wizards and wizardesses along the backyard fence frantically waving their hands and arms and chanting the chants that no human could repeat.
Now laughing monstrously and uncontrollably, the Evil One swept the tiny warriors aside and focused his deadly eyes on the human and his canine companions on the deck.
Just before the storm crossed over the backyard fence and slammed into the house, the Evil One could have sworn the dogs and I disappeared. He had no time to register that inkling, because he and his storm slammed into the little blue house and shattered it into 10,000 splinters, flattening the apple trees in the front yard and leveling the forest for miles around.
“AND SO WE SEE THAT ALL I TOUCH WITH MY BEAUTIFUL WICKEDNESS,” the Evil One shouted with a triumphant guffaw.
He turned back to survey the havoc he had wrought, but instead he saw the little blue house still standing, untouched on the other side of the huge inter-dimensional portal that the little mystics had generated for the storm to pass through.
And just as the monster cried, “WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?!” the 17 little [unpronounceables] performed the special gestures and incantations that closed the portal again with a rather unpleasant zipping sound.
