Chasing Butterflies (Anomaly Saga #3)

[11]

Water filled my ears and nose, but only for a second. Then I was falling through the air, landing on a tiled floor made of gold.

I looked around me and gasped.

The room was like some kind of ancient palace-made entirely of shining gold, and adorned with innumerable precious gems. Large pillars made a hallway up to an elevated platform at the back of the grand room. Chaps and Jenna stood just a little ahead of me.

"I knew it!" Chaps exclaimed. "I knew there was more to all this! I knew it would be you." He pointed at the elevated platform.

It was then that I noticed the intricate altar at the top of the platform, and the man standing next to it. Copernicus stared down at us in his whole 90s getup and shrugged.

"Yeah. Y'know how I wanted you guys to kill the statues? Well, I'm glad you did. I couldn't do it myself. And now that you're here, you can give me the Destroyer, and I will awaken it to its ultimate form. Give me the phonograph, too, and I will destroy it. I can't have you ruining my life's work."

"What?!" Jenna exclaimed. "I thought we were done! I thought we did it!"

"You did," said Copernicus. "You helped me complete my plans. Now let me use the Destroyer to remake the world into my own image . . . a 90's paradise."

The Destroyer fluttered slightly in my net, but then fell back to sleep.

Chaps shook his head. "It's all over now, Copernicus," he said, pulling out a lime green squirt gun.

Copernicus' eyes widened for a moment, then, upon realizing what Chaps was holding, began to laugh. "Ah! Ah-ha-ha! You really got me there for a second, dude! Oh, good one, good one." He wiped a tear from his eye, then became serious again. "Now, seriously. Hand it over."

"I would have liked to have avoided this, old friend," Chaps said. "You give me no choice." He pulled the trigger on the plastic gun, and it yielded a jet of some brownish liquid, which hit and stained Copernicus' T-shirt.

Copernicus sniffed the spot, then grimaced. "Agh! New Coke! That's so 'eighties! Not cool, man! Not cool!" He grit his teeth and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping down his shirt angrily.

Chaps clicked his jaw in satisfaction. "I do not intend to harm anything other than your ego," he said calmly.

Copernicus's face contorted into a scowl and he subconsciously scratched at the stain again. "Oh, dear," he said, and within his hands I saw another gun, much like the one Chaps held. His eyes narrowed. "I wish I could say the same."

Chaps looked at me. "Quick!" he shouted. "Release the Destroyer!"

I jumped in surprise. "What?! But-"

"Just do it!"

I released the butterfly at the exact same moment that Copernicus shot a sparkling, black liquid out of his gun. The Destroyer woke up, and its proboscis drank the liquid in mid-air before it could reach Chaps.

Copernicus raised his eyebrows in amazement, and then broke into a laugh. "You're hilarious, Chaps! My dude, you just sacrificed the entire world to save yourself from a single blast of Anti-Skeleton Juice. Now, I'm free to use the Destroyer myself."

Suddenly, the Destroyer grew to more than ten times its size, with wings as wide as an eagle's and patterns much more intricate than before, glowing with bright light.

Copernicus grinned. "Oh, yeah! Awesome! It's finally going to happen!"

Jenna looked back at Chaps. "Shouldn't we do something?!" she exclaimed.

Chaps shook his head. "We don't have to do a thing. As far as I see it, we've won."

Copernicus' smile dropped. "Uh, dude? What are you talking about?"

Chaps pulled a teacup out of nowhere and took a sip. "You know, Copernicus, you were always ever so impulsive. I venture to think you should have done more research on the Destroyer. Every time it awakens, it can only destroy up to one world at a time. Or, if so desired, one living being that it particularly hates. Did you know that the Destroyer's species particularly hates all of the ingredients in New Coke? Well, it does. I daresay that in a few minutes, the Destroyer will have done its work and will be asleep for another million years or so. Goodbye, Copernicus. We're going home."

Copernicus shuddered as the Destroyer slowly fluttered towards him. "You're bluffing, right? You're bluffing!"

Chaps ignored him. "Follow me, you two," he said, gesturing to Jenna and I. "We're headed back." We followed him out of the hall just as the whole room was consumed with light. And then, everything was silent.