Читать книгу The Ominous Eye - Tracey Hecht - Страница 12
ОглавлениеTobin froze in surprise. Though the creature also stood still, the moonlight flickered off the top of her head, making it seem as if she were moving. As the clouds above shifted the shadows, the pangolin grew aware of his silence.
Make her feel welcome, he thought. He was usually quite good at that. But when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out. Unsure of what else to do, the pangolin stepped away from the creature, his jaw still hanging slack.
But while Tobin moved back toward the fox, Bismark bounded forward, mesmerized. The stranger remained still and calm.
Interpreting her silence as permission, the sugar glider eagerly stood on his toes, bent over the mysterious eye, and stared into its depths. It shone with a strange glow, as though lit from within. “Mon dieu! It’s like a moonstone,” he said, leaning closer, captivated by his milky reflection.
“Bismark,” snapped Dawn. With a sharp flick of her head, the fox gestured for him to back up.
The reptile smirked. “Don’t worry, fox,” she said smoothly. “This reaction is not unusual.”
The hair on Dawn’s neck pricked on end. With her gaze still fixed on the reptile, she extended a paw toward the sugar glider and pulled him back by his flap.
“What?” Bismark squealed, innocently shrugging his shoulders. “You heard the…uh, reptile. My reaction was not unusual!”
“But she is,” hissed Dawn.
The sugar glider shuddered at his friend’s steely tone and eyed her tight grip on his flap. “Don’t be jealous, amore,” he chuckled. “She has nothing on you! Well, besides that extra eye, I suppose.” The sugar glider paused and tilted his face up toward Dawn’s. “But look at us!” he exclaimed. “I have two eyes, you have two eyes—we were made for each other!”
The fox released her hold on the sugar glider and took a bold step toward the stranger. “You said you could help us.”
The reptile grinned, exposing three rows of teeth: two on top, one on bottom.
“Holy smokes!” Bismark gasped. His eyes ran the length of the creature. “Do you have three of everything?”
Eyeing the stranger’s fangs, Dawn bared her own, each as sharp as a needle.
“Let’s start over,” offered the reptile. Though her voice sounded kind and polite, her eyes remained hard and cold. “My name is Polyphema and I am a tuatara.”
“Tutu-what?” Bismark asked. “Tutu-who?”
The stranger released a warm laugh, exposing her teeth once again. Although she had many, there were gaps between them where some were missing. And a large number of those that remained appeared to be worn down to nubs. “A tuatara.”
“I’m sorry,” Tobin said bashfully, “but I’ve never heard of a tuatara.”
“That’s no surprise,” said the reptile. Her smile quickly turned down at the sides. “There are nearly none of us left.”
“Oh goodness,” gasped Tobin. “That’s awful.”
“Yes, it is,” replied Polyphema. “But I prefer not to dwell on all that.” She lifted her chin toward the moon.
“Why are you here?” demanded the fox. She took another step forward, stirring a small cloud of ash. The wind picked up a little, throwing a stinging wave of tiny rocks over them all.
Tobin drew in a breath. There was an obvious edge to Dawn’s voice, and it made his heart lurch in his chest. Why was she being so harsh?
He looked at his new acquaintance: nearly extinct, yet so strong. He smiled, admiring this strange tuatara. But then he saw his leader: determined, intense, and reliable. Suddenly, he was not sure what to think. Was he supposed to be taking sides?
“I told you, I am here to help,” said Polyphema. “Do you see that?” she asked, pointing at the gigantic hole in the earth. “Do you see what’s at the bottom of it?
The three Nocturnals turned back to face the crater. Tobin blinked. With the arrival of the strange, three-eyed creature before him, he had nearly forgotten about the large shape pressed into the earth below, the shape that had scared him so badly before.
“Bien sûr!” replied Bismark. “How could we miss it? Just because we have two eyes and not three does not make us blind.”
“Well, what do you see?” asked Polyphema.
The sugar glider scratched at his bald spot. “Isn’t it obvious, Tutu? I see the monstrous mark of a beast!”
“Yes,” the tuatara agreed, “but I see something more.” She paused, then dramatically closed all three eyes, as though searching for some sort of vision. “I see the beast itself.”
“Oh goodness!” gasped Tobin. Quickly, he coiled into a ball. “Where?” His voice echoed from deep beneath his scales. “What do we do? Is it close?”
“No, no,” Polyphema assured him. “It’s not here.”
The pangolin breathed a short sigh of relief and uncurled his body. Then he scrunched his long snout. “I don’t understand, though,” he murmured. “You said that you see it.” He surveyed the land. His eyesight was poor so he never relied much on his eyes. And with the tuatara having one extra? He certainly trusted her vision over his own.
“Yes,” said the tuatara, “I do.” She paused, and the scales on her speckled neck twitched. “I see it. I have only to concentrate and it comes to me, as if in a dream. I see you. I see everyone. I see the past, the present, the future. I see all with the power of my third eye. And there?” She nodded toward the menacing mark in the crater. “I see destruction to come. I see death.”
“Death?” gasped the pangolin. He drew his scales close to his body and fought the urge to curl into a ball again.
Polyphema leaned her head down low, revealing her third eye once more. “Yes, death.”
“Oh mon dieu!” Bismark cried. He flailed his flaps, creating a whirlwind of ash. “We are doomed! Done! Fini!”
Tobin took a deep breath. Then, suddenly, as if drawn by an invisible force, he gazed into the tuatara’s strange, milky orb. “What do you mean exactly?” he asked quietly. “Do you see this beast causing death?”
“Yes,” said Polyphema. “And my power of sight never fails.”
Dawn let out a skeptical grunt. She found Polyphema’s so-called visions difficult to believe.
But Polyphema pressed on, unbothered by the fox’s distrust. “Don’t worry,” she said to the pangolin. Her spikes gleamed under the stars as she spoke. “I see death, as I’ve said.” Her mouth spread into a sly, toothy grin. “But I also see how to escape it. I can tell you how to fight the beast.”
