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Nick looked at Penny. "Where is it?" he asked. Penny, tears in her eyes, could only shake her head. Suddenly Nick grabbed her by the shoulders. "Penny, do you know what this means? No Christmas! Remember Mother said when the star lights up it's Christmas? Without the clock, we won't know and we'll never have Christmas again. Do you hear me, Penny? No Christmas!" Tears dripping down her cheeks, Penny whispered, "What can we do?" "We've got to find the clock." "But how?" Nick was quiet for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. "It was stolen, Penny. And I know who took it… Snivvely Wivvels! You heard Mother say he was in town yesterday." Fresh tears ran down Penny's cheeks. "Now we'll never-ever get it back." "Oh, yes, we will so, too," Nick declared. "Penny, you and I are going to get our Star Clock back from Snivvely Wivvels today." Penny shook her head. "No way. He hates Wondernells, especially little ones like us. Remember what he did when the Muffins' boat came too near Cold and Dank Cove? Grammie Muffins still limps from where his whip snapped her knee out of joint, And Grampie Carmels is blind in one eye from Snivvely's slingshot. And Taddy Mintly's dog hasn't been seen since the last time Snivvely came to Sunrise Skies. And no one even talks about what he did to Sharly Pepper. We can't go after him, Nick. Think what he might do to us." "Penny, don't you see? Somebody has to stop him. If we don't fight back, we'll always be living in fear. He took our clock. Came right in here and stole it and nobody knew. Next time, he might take you or me or Mother or Father. We have to fight him." "Let's tell Mother. Maybe Father will go with us." "No, Penny. They'd forbid us to go. You know that. We must go alone. Now. Mother won't check on us until lunchtime. Go get your coat, and let's go. By the time she calls us, we'll be halfway to Rainbow Waterfalls." "What about the Gatekeeper of the Protected Forest? He won't let us in without an adult." "No, but there's a break in the wall just a few feet down the line from the entrance. We'll sneak in there." "I don't know, Nick. I'm still scared." "Don't be. We can do it, Penny. We have to. Go get your coat. And don't let Mother see you." Five minutes later, the two children, clad in snow-blue overcoats and winter-red tams and mittens, stole quietly from the house. And, just as Nick had predicted, by the time Mother Luvvins checked on them, they were half-way to Rainbow Waterfalls. |
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