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"Awesome!" shouted Sean from the middle of the crater.
The Arth-Creatures who had been charging behind crashed into the frozen ones and tumbled to the ground. They nosed and pawed at their frozen friends before climbing to their feet, stomping the ground, and fixing furious eyes on Tyler.
"Everybody change the settings on your grenades!" called out Nicola.
"Run,Tyler!" cried Shimlara.
Tyler smeared his fingers across his muddy glasses and staggered one way and then the other, like he was balancing on a seesaw.
"They're going to get him!" screamed Katie. Nicola squinted, trying to see through the smoke. Greta was in the best position to help Tyler.
"Greta, grenade, now!"
"Calm down, I've got it all under control!" Greta fiddled with the setting on the back of her grenade. Suddenly it slipped straight through her muddy fingers and exploded directly in front of her. Greta froze on the spot, with her fingers outstretched and her face a mask of frantic horror at her mistake. Obviously she hadn't managed to change the setting from "Bossy, bad-tempered types."
Three Arth-Creatures were now just the length of a supermarket aisle away from Tyler.
"Ohhhhhh noooooo!"Tyler sounded demented with fear. He was on his hands and knees trying to scramble up the side of the crater, creating an avalanche of rocks and pebbles.
"Kat-ie!" shrieked Nicola. She was the only one close enough to have a hope of throwing a grenade.
Katie had already adjusted her grenade. Now she lifted it high above her head as if she were shooting a basketball. Nicola's breath came out in half sobs, half gasps. Please don't drop it, please don't drop it, please don't drop it.
The grenade shot cleanly and sharply across the air and landed right in the middle of the three Arth-Creatures, freezing them instantly.
"Oh, fantastic aim, Katie!" Nicola felt so weak with relief she nearly dropped her own grenade. She took a firm grip and looked around her. Frozen Arth-Creatures were dotted across the landscape like stuffed prehistoric animals in a museum. She thought she could only count about three unfrozen Arth-Creatures left, although it was difficult to be sure, because they were standing still, too. Only their umbrella-shaped heads were sweeping back and forth as they took stock of the situation.
Sean was using the cover of the frozen Arth-Creatures to slosh his way stealthily through the mud away from the center of the crater.Tyler was climbing unsteadily to his feet, while Katie had slumped over, her elbows resting on her knees, her hands covering her face. Shimlara was running back toward them around the rim of the crater. Greta, of course, wasn't moving. She looked like a shop mannequin.
But Petronella was nowhere in sight. Nicola hadn't seen her since they disembarked from the spaceship.Was the princess fleeing? Where would she go?
Three creatures.Two grenades. Nicola had one.The princess, who Nicola couldn't find or trust, had the other. They had less than ten minutes before the frozen Arth-Creatures would start to thaw. If they weren't safely in the spaceship by then, none of them would make it off this terrible planet alive.
Nicola watched the remaining creatures carefully, her mind racing. Should they all make a run for the spaceship now? How would they carry Greta? Should she try to throw her grenade and get them all? The distance between them was about the width of Nicola's school yard. She'd never be able to throw it that far.
I don't know what to do, she thought. For a moment her mind seemed to shut down completely.Then she had a realization. I need to get all the unarmed people together in one spot.
"Everyone run to Greta!" yelled Nicola. "Now!"
Nicola and Tyler got to Greta first. Nicola touched Greta's shoulder and found it was ice cold. She looked over to Sean. He was making good progress, sort of vaulting through the mud, as if he were leaping over hurdles, but then he slipped and fell. Shimlara ran out and dragged him to his feet with her good arm, and they stumbled together to join Greta, Nicola, and Tyler.
None of the Arth-Creatures seemed to be following them. Had they given up?
"Nicola!" yelled Tyler, pointing over her shoulder. Nicola swung around and saw an Arth-Creature looming directly over Katie.With a casual swipe of its paw, it knocked her to the ground, lowered its head, and opened its mouth wide.
There was no time even to think, I'd better throw it and I'd better not miss. Nicola flung her arm back, aimed, and threw the grenade.
It exploded directly in front of Katie.
The Arth-Creature froze with its mouth stretched wide around Katie's head. Its vicious teeth were only millimeters away from crunching into her skull.
The purple smoke cleared. Katie carefully maneuvered her head out of the Arth-Creature's mouth, stood up, and ran toward them.
"You ... it ... I ..." Katie, her eyes huge and panic-stricken, couldn't get the words out.
Nicola couldn't speak, either. She felt her knees almost give way. If she'd thrown the freeze-grenade a second later, Katie would be dead.
"How many left? How many left?" Shimlara was in a frenzy.
