Griffin Rock's Secret: A Cody Burns Fanfiction

Chapter 22

     Doc Green was staring outside into the early morning fog, his thoughts grim. Somewhere on Griffin Rock, his cloaking device was most likely being used for no good purposes. He hadn't even gotten everything done with the cube, a few crucial parts still missing. He hoped that nothing terrible would happen because of that.

     How long Doc Green stood staring through the window, he didn't know. The only thing keeping him from staring, lost in his thoughts forever, was the fact that his daughter was entering the room. The scientist turned around to find Frankie yawning in her pajamas, her demeanor tired and stressed.

     "What's wrong my little atom?" Doc asked, giving Frankie a hug as she stood next to him. She yawned again, looking outside the window to the foggy world outside.

     "Woke up from a bad dream," she stated, rubbing her eyes. "Don't remember what it was about." This was a lie. She could still see the body of her best friend lying in the forest in her dream, unresponsive to her frantic calls and panicked shaking as a giant shadow monster got closer and closer.

     Her father gave her another hug, which she gladly accepted, hugging back tightly. The outside started to show signs of light emerging through the fog, small rays of sunshine filtering through the grey clouds. The sound of birds chirping echoed through the unseen trees as the land outside began to wake up.

     As the two Green's started to make breakfast and get dressed for the day, Frankie couldn't help but think about the missing book. She really wanted to find it, read it, figure out what was happening on Griffin Rock with the Aed Mau.

     Her father set the sizzling eggs onto a plate, bacon and pancakes accompanying the delicious smell. As Frankie started to cut up her pancakes, she couldn't help but notice how her father kept nodding off briefly as he ate.

     "Daddy?" She asked, setting down her knife and fork. "Did you sleep badly last night?" Her father looked at her before nodding, taking a bite from his meal. For the rest of breakfast they ate in silence, neither knowing what to say to the other. The events of yesterday had shaken both of them, though neither one wanted to admit it to the other.

     As Frankie finished her bacon, which was still nice and hot, she glanced over her dad's shoulder to see what looked like a figure backing away into the woods. She blinked, trying to figure out if she imagined it or not. When nothing else happened, she put the event out of her mind and went to wash her plate.

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     Out on the street near Blossom Vale, Frankie and Cody were talking about what kind of things they knew about the Aed Mau. Kade and Heatwave were accompanying them, rather awkwardly because Kade couldn't talk to Heatwave while out in public. As the two kids started to have a heated discussion, Kade stepped forward to break up the argument.

     "What if it just doesn't want people to be on Griffin Rock?" Frankie was saying, trying to get her point across rather loudly.

     "That doesn't make sense with how it has been acting the last two times I saw it," Cody countered back. "If it didn't want people here, wouldn't it just come charging into town, breathing fire and everything?"

     "Maybe it hasn't done that yet because it just woke up!" Frankie said, throwing her hands into the air. "Come on Cody, it has nearly gotten you killed twice, along with Graham. His robot was nearly decommissioned because of that thing."

     "It could be trying to protect me," Cody immediately saw his mistake, but Frankie interrupted before he could fix it.

     "Protect you?!" Frankie nearly shouted the words. "Cody, both times you nearly died! How does that make the Aed Mau seem like it's trying to protect you?" She sounded very hurt and angry at the idea, her dream resurfacing in her mind.