Cloud Riders (16 page)

The beast again tried to imitate Vicki's laugh. “Claude Nab. My name is a set, stupid girl! Claude Nab!"

"Over here,” a voice came from a painting of Napoleon, hand under his jacket over his heart. The canvas quivered and came to life, with animated shooting stars and trees bending in a swirling wind, Vincent Van Gogh's
Starry Night
.

A woman's voice sounded, like a marching song of authority, an entity full of governing power.

"Drop her, Claude! Drop her at once!"

A tiny doll-sized body Paul thought might be female, oozed through the wall. Paul wondered why people couldn't just come through the door.

Isno started to creep toward the small figure, but retreated as she quickly grew beyond a possible bounce-between-paws cat game.

"Why have you not done as I ordered?” The sound of her voice attacked Paul's eardrums on the way to her target, a physically shrinking Claude Nab. Her voice came in a noise crescendo worthy of a bomb blast. “What word did you not understand, Claude?
Drop
, meaning open your fingers!
Her
, meaning that girl you have in your possession!
At once
, meaning
NOW!
” She had grown to an adult-sized person. “I
own
you! Do you want me to fire you? With real fire!"

She wore her dress sideways, the buttons running along her right side. Her yellow hat with its ear-covering veil twisted to her left. On her right foot she wore a red pump and on her left a blue loafer. She wore a man's wide black leather belt with two words carved into an oversize chrome buckle:
Calamity Horrid
. Strapped to the outside of her chest she wore a steel brazier that expanded with her clothes as she grew.

Isno's head lowered as his front paws sprang protectively over his ear openings. “Ouch me."

Paul resisted the urge to jam a finger into each ear, trying to maintain his manliness for Fawn and Vicki. This showmanship came with a price; the bombastic voice boomed, torturing him beyond any eardrum abuse he'd ever experienced. He hoped the sound wouldn't crack the ice and send the castle crashing down upon them. Giving in, he rushed a finger into each ear opening, reasoning a man's duty lay in not having his eardrums ripped apart like some unwanted piece of junk mail.

Vicki plugged her ears, too, as did Will; and Fawn tried to seal out the sound with the palms of her hands.

Claude Nab's eyes opened wide, like a child caught stealing candy.

Reshape appeared unaffected by the sound as he continued to transform into various paintings, each with a different frame. Magnificent carved wood for the masters, golden brushed aluminum for the contemporaries.

Isno looked at the growing form of the gigantic-voiced woman, then at the gorilla holding Vicki captive. He removed his paws from his ears, his fur rising in a humped-back threat, his two fangs defiantly thrust forward. He charged the gorilla, leaped and flew upward, his feet outstretched for a gorilla head-top landing. His claws dug into Claude Nab's scalp.

Not expecting the surprise attack, Claude Nab automatically released Vicki.

She plummeted through the round hole, her golden hair flying upward. The ice trapdoor slammed shut, muffling her scream.

Fawn screamed.

The cracks around the trapdoor filled in, leaving no trace.

Will remained silent, pulling a face of horror and disbelief.

Paul pushed past the growing female figure and ran to where the hole's edge had been. “Open it!” he hollered at Claude Nab.

The great gorilla rubbed his head where Isno had left his claw marks.

Paul dove at a gorilla knee, throwing punches. His fists bounced off the leathery skin, his body's momentum smacking him against the animal's lower leg.

Will flew to Paul's side and swung his fists at the gorilla's other leg, his punches no more effective than Paul's.

A disinterested Claude Nab kicked off the boys’ attack. Paul and Will propelled backward as if attached to giant rubber bands connected to the wall and landed flat on their backs. Both stared at the cowering gorilla, and then at the increasing size of his Calamity Horrid owner.

"Sorry mate,” Will said.

"Vicki's gone. I have to find a way to get out of this place!” Paul called like someone awaking from a nightmare.

"Blimey, can I help?” Will offered.

"I can bring her back, Will. No one can help. Only I can do it. Let me think a minute.” He envisioned himself beside Vicki, but his parallel-imagined-life didn't extend beyond the thick ice floor. He jumped to his feet and attempted to run behind the beast, urgently searching for any signs of the ice door, purposely ignoring Calamity Horrid.

As Paul and Will crept behind the huge gorilla, Claude Nab glared at Isno. “Cat, you got to understand something. I'm bigger than you, and always will be. Next time you come near me I'm going to smack you into a fur ball and make you swallow yourself."

Isno looked up at his tormentor. “Catch first me."

The female grew larger and faster than Reshape changed into different paintings, the empty space in the room speedily disappearing until she had to bend over to clear the ceiling. The expansion slowly pushed Claude Nab out through the ice door, the gorilla's shoulders taking out chunks of ice around the opening, the walls shaking

Will squeezed against the wall. Space became hugely limited.

A painting of Leonardo da Vinci's
Mona Lisa
whispered through her mystical smile, “Parallel-imagined-life? Remember. Now."

Paul remembered the words of Maken Fairchild.
'Become one with your observation'.
Paul visualized Vicki fall slowing to less than parachute speed. There remained no choice but to trust his imagination. He envisioned his loyal cloud unicorn, catching her. The visual image seared into his mind, real as his next breath, and he knew she safely rode back toward them aboard Silk. This knowing assured him of its reality.

Drawn back to this side of his reality, Paul cringed as he viewed Calamity Horrid's smile-frown far above his head. It started high on her left cheek and twisted downward to below her right jowl. She continued to grow, becoming three times the size of Claude Nab. Her form slowly took over every inch of space, pressing Paul, Fawn and Will against the mirror, Paul and Fawn cheek to cheek. Calamity Horrid's girth caused Paul to exhale, her body pushed in on him with the effect of a constricting snake squeezing the breath out of him.

Fawn made a terrible sound as she tried to inhale with a snore-like noise in her desperate attempt to breathe.

"Mate—” came Will's exhale.

From a hidden corner came an Isno screech. “Here cat!"

Calamity Horrid's girth expanded until the walls of the ice palace began to buckle and crack.

"Remodel!” she commanded in a voice Paul felt could easily be heard in far away universes. The ceiling vibrated and pushed into the air, the walls moved outward until they produced a room of ice rink size. She exhibited a proud crooked smile-frown.

Paul, Fawn, Will and Isno sucked in air in life-saving gulps.

Reshape became a wall mural with creatures chasing each other. These were critters unlike Paul had ever seen. Small blue entities with huge heads without eyes or noses, sideways mouths smiling from forehead to chin. The yellow and purple background flickered like a florescent tube about to burn out.

A sour voice attacked Paul's mind and twisted his stomach. Considerably less loud than Calamity Horrid's bombastic voice assault, this articulation carried a cornered animal nasty quality.

Your choice! Now die! My son comes. Die! Die

Through the wall the rigid semi-transparent Kid Badd emerged, standing at military attention, his eyes blazing. Will ducked and pushed Paul aside with a jarring force as the green energy took its shot, missed, and bounced off the mirror and blazed its way toward the current Reshape painting. The picture became a paint tube squirting changing colors onto the ice wall, the Kid Badd blast turning the background into a brilliant, glowing green.

Isno leaped into retreat action, his black hairs stiff with the electrical static charge in the air. He screeched in panic. “Me-owww me!"

Calamity Horrid's eyes stared at Kid Badd as he disappeared back through the wall, staying upright, legs not moving. “You
dare
enter my domain!” her voice roared, causing those in the room want to take protective measures with their fingers and paws, impossible because of the cramped space. Calamity turned toward Paul, Fawn and Will, and lowered her voice. “Who was that?” She pressed her crooked lips together as she appeared to give the matter some thought. “Kind of admire that green shooting thing he did,” she said in a sing-song voice. Her tone immediately returned to its harsh snarl. “But not in my castle! Take it outside!” she demanded, as if Kid Badd were still there.

Paul thought maybe Kid Badd heard her anyway, as perhaps did all the clouds in the sky.

Reshape, the paint tube, stopped squirting color, developed a cap over its opening and spoke. “Hope you enjoyed your introduction to Kid Badd, Badd with two d's.” The cap tightened one last turn. “Kid Naughty will be the death of Paul and myself yet. Yes, and Fawn. Will. Isno. Wonder what consequences Claude Nab or yourself, Calamity Horrid, might suffer if struck by the eye ray? I do not see how he missed you. There are disadvantages connected with being as big as a room. Providing a tempting target is one."

"For a tube of paint, you sure manage to squeeze out a lot of words,” Calamity said in a haughty voice. “For your information, his ray cannot hurt me whatsoever. This is my kingdom, not his. Where did he go, paint tube?"

"He's recharging,” Paul said.

"Who asked you?” Calamity roared like a hungry lion. “I'm talking to that tube of paint. See you do not interrupt us again, little fellow."

"I don't mind being ignored at this particular time, don't you know,” Will whispered.

"You said his name was Kid Badd,” Calamity said. “Then he's Kid Naughty? Paint tube, you don't know who you're playing with!"

"Whatever,” the paint tube answered and sighed. “I thought maybe your brain grew with your body size, but apparently not."

"You
dare
—!"

"Paint tubes do not dare, Calamity Horrid. They hold—"

"Can you check on Vicki?” Paul interrupted Reshape the tube.

"She's on her way back,” the tube assured. “She is within the clutches of your parallel-imagined-life."

Paul pictured a happy Vicki riding Silk as she sped back toward the castle. “Okay."

A scream came from the far right hallway.

Fawn explained, “That's Carol. She's our 2:00 P.M. scream, except for Friday, when she's the three P.M scream."

A voice came softly from high above their heads, a whisper with the sweetness of a loving mother.

"Remember me?"

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Paul and Fawn looked up at the twisted smile-frown of the gigantic lady.

"I'm Calamity Horrid!” she said in a voluminous high-pitched shout, made all the more strident because of her previous whisper. “Look at my buckle. What does it say? Calamity Horrid!” she repeated in a voice best suited for the outdoors.

Vicki chose this moment to walk in, her body straining forward in her effort to pull a reluctant, shrunken Claude Nab behind her. “I have no idea how I got here, but here we are, and there's no need to yell at us.” She glared at Calamity. “I think you owe Claude Nab an apology, Madam Calamity Horrid."

"Don't call me that!” Calamity screamed. “Call me that again and I'll not remain nice and squish you like bugs."

"Call you what?” Vicki said, puzzled.

"
Madam
! I hate being called madam. You got that Vicki Sue Winsome 5:00 A.M.?"

The word
madam
ricocheted around the room, echoing, causing ear pain unlike any before. Paul bet not one of them would ever say
madam
in Calamity Horrid's presence ever again.

"You decided to come back, Claude?” Calamity taunted the gorilla, now a normal gorilla size. “Back to your Queen Mother? Speak up, my pet.” She sounded vicious.

The look on Claude Nab's face dropped to one of underling anger. “Leave me alone!” Claude Nab shouted. He turned, easily ripped himself out of Vicki's grasp and ran through the ice doorframe, his smaller size easily passing through the opening..

Calamity Horrid glided after her monkey, through the ice wall next to the doorway without harming it. Paul, Fawn, Will and Isno ran to the doorway in time to see her stop and look back. She growled, “Say goodbye to all your realities!"

The castle room exploded around them, the walls shattering into jagged ice particles flying outward into the clouds. Paul, Vicki, Fawn, Will and a screeching Isno hurtled through space. Their bodies flew involuntarily through the sky away from each other along with several hundred scattering ice chunks.

Paul, it is within your power. Save your friends.
The voice sounded suspiciously like Maken Fairchild's, but it came from inside Paul's head, trying to circumvent a mind refusing to cooperate. To his question of how, came the answer:
Use your imagination, boy!

Meanwhile, his companion's legs pumped as if running in space. They hurtled away from him. In seconds their communication difficulties would be absolute.

The last words Paul heard were shouted from Will. “Goodbye for sure, I'm thinking—"

Vicki and Fawn's screams soon faded.

Isno Gravity hissed and yowled, “No me owwww!” as he became an agitated speck and finely disappeared.

Paul shut his eyes and imaged Vicki, Fawn, Will and Isno staying with him and enjoying their flight. He held the image in his mind until it seemed real. Opening his eyes, he experienced pure joy. Vicki and Fawn had a hold of each other. Isno stretched his paws outward like shock absorbers ready for his eventual crash-landing on the blue-green Earth surface far below. Will flew beside him, talking.

"Blimey! Know what, mate? That's some trick, don't you know. Bringing us all together, I'm thinking.” He chuckled nervously as if trying to find a way to say his next words diplomatically. “Could you, like, rescue Holly? She might have got blown out of the castle with us lot, I'm thinking."