"He's found us!"
That's not what eleven-year-old Trevor Tate expects his mom to say when she gets his third suspension noticed in three months. He doesn't expect a robotic tentacle to shoot out of the bathtub and drag her through an otherworldly por...
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"You two are very special to me," he continued. "That is why I have spent such a long, long time looking for you."
"You have?" I said.
Tab elbowed me in the side. "Ssh!"
"Before you can become my champions of honor and justice," Dr. Fixit went on, "you must be put to a series of tests to prove yourselves worthy."
"Honor and justice?" I blurted out.
Tab smacked my arm. "Stop interrupting!"
"I don't think he can hear you anyway," Emily said, inching back towards us from the stairs. "It looks like a movie."
"This is my command to you both," Dr. Fixit said. "Follow your mother to Nil. From there I will guide you until you have found her. You children like games, correct? Well, call this a treasure hunt then, with your mother as the treasure. Or hide and seek. It will be fun! But games have rules, and my game is no different. You must not break the rules or very bad things will happen. This is very, very important."
"Okay," I said. "What are the rules?"
"Here are the rules," Dr. Fixit said.
I smirked.
"He didn't actually answer you," Tab said. "I think Em's right. He's just talking."
Emily pushed against the back of Tab's head. "Ssh! I want to hear this."
"Do not talk to the wrong side," Dr. Fixit said. "And do not stray from the path."
The projector snapped off with a click.
"Okay, so that was weird," Emily said.
"I think Mom would call that an understatement," Tab said.She looked at the bug. "It's not moving anymore."
"It's probably all used up now," Emily said. "I think it's some kind of machine. No real bug could do that." She turned tome. "Trev, you said you saw where Mom went?"
I nodded, but my eyes were still glued to the wall, and my mind kept playing Dr. Fixit's words over and over again.
Champions of honor and justice.
"Trevor!" Emily snapped. She shook my shoulder hard."Where. Did. He. Take. Mom?"
I blinked and looked at her. "I... uh..." I pointed at the tub."Through there."
Emily glanced at it with a snort. "What, did Dr. Fixit make her teeny tiny and run her down the drain?"
"You saw the light," Tab reminded her. "It was coming from over there."
"There's got to be a way to make it do that again," I said,kneeling down to look under the tub. "Then we can follow Mom to... where did Dr. Fixit say he took her?"
