War on Whimsy (Space Brigade 3)

They scrambled over mossy rocks and ran along a wooden bridge that crossed a bubbling creek. Suddenly they were in a forest. Trees with creamy, papery bark and giant red leaves towered above them, and Nicola caught a glimpse of small, big-eyed animals scurrying through the branches.

Tyler came to an abrupt stop. "I don't know which way to go," he said.

They all stopped, breathing heavily and trying to listen for the voice. They had come to a small clearing. Numerous trails ran off the clearing in different directions. "I think I can hear children," said Katie, her face creased with worry.

Nicola could hear shouts and cries in the distance but she had no idea which direction they were coming from.

"Smoke!" said Shimlara suddenly. "This way!" She took off down one of the trails. They ran behind her.

Now Nicola could hear the distressed cries of very young children.

"I want my Mommy! "

"I can't see! "

"I hurt myself! "

The Space Brigade picked up their pace.

The trail ended in a small hollow.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here!" A young woman with a long, blond braid down her back came running out of the smoke toward them. She was clutching a wilting yellow flower and wearing a rose-colored dress with puffy sleeves and a big sash tied in a bow at the back. Even though her face was stained with tears and soot, and there was a bloody gash down one cheek, you could see she was very beautiful.

"They've attacked my preschool with a bubble-bomb!" she cried. "The

re are twenty children in there! Twenty of the most adorable small children! We were reading stories when little Camille noticed this yellow buttercup through the window. Well, she loves flowers! They all do! So naturally, I ran straight out to pick it for her and when I turned around--kaboom! Bubbles were everywhere! It was impossible to see a thing! It was so frightening! How could this happen?"

She clung to Tyler's arm.

"I--don't know," stammered Tyler. He seemed overcome by the woman's beauty and the strange scene in front of them.

Through the haze of smoke, Nicola could see an enormous mass of quivering, frothy, white soap bubbles. It was like a giant bubble bath or a washing machine had overflowed.

"My preschool is under all those bubbles!" babbled the woman. "We have to get the children out before those awful soldiers arrive! That's what the Volcomanian Army does! They drop a bubble-bomb from the air, and while everyone is trapped--confused, blinded, and sticky!--they send the soldiers in to capture them! It's pure evil!"

Without even looking at one another, as if they were responding to some unheard order, every member of the Space Brigade ran straight into the mass of bubbles.

Nicola was immediately disoriented. All she could see was white froth. It was like being trapped in the middle of a cloud.

"Where are you, kids?" she shouted, batting helplessly away at the bubbles. Her eyes were stinging, and her mouth was filled with the taste of soap.

"We're all still sitting on the story mat!"

"We can't see anything!"

Nicola turned toward the voices and slipped, painfully banging her knee against something.

"I think the entrance is this way!" Nicola heard Sean's voice in front of her.

Nicola got back up to her feet and followed his voice, up what seemed to be a small step and in through a doorway.

"My clothes are all bubbly!" The voice seemed to come from somewhere near Nicola's feet. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled slowly forward, calling out, "Where are you?" Suddenly her hand clutched a small foot.

"That tickles!"

Nicola pushed away the bubbles to reveal a cheekily grinning little girl scooping bubbles out of her hair. "This is a fun game!" she said. "Is it like hide-and-seek?"

"Sort of." Nicola stood up. "Come with me and I'll take you to your teacher."