Stanley Pines, Our Hero (TEOC series #1)

The Rescue

"There he is," I hissed to Bella, pointing out Ford.

"He's out cold," she observed. "But he must still be alive if he's in here." She walked forward through the swarm of blue pixies, which were now biting us anywhere they could reach. "Ugh! I wish these cornish pixies would leave us alone!"

"Corn what pixies?" I asked, startled, turning to face Bella.

"Cornish pixies," she replied, shaking a few of them off of her head. "I'm pretty sure that's what these guys are. It seems weird that these are the new minions Chrysalis found, though; I mean sure, they can be incredibly destructive and annoying - " As she spoke she wrapped a tight fist around a pixie attempting to steal her glasses and threw it to the opposite wall. " - but they aren't really dangerous, compared to some of the monsters we've had to deal with."

"Yeah, I see what you mean," I replied, swinging my arm widely through the air and scattering at least ten pixies. "But let's just get Sixer and scram, in case these pixies are just a taster of what the Cosplay Queen has in store for us."

"Stan, shape-shifting into someone so you can weaken all the people who love that person to make yourself stronger isn't the same as cosplaying," Bella commented as we fought off more pixies with increased vigor.

"It's the same general idea," I retorted. We were now standing directly underneath Ford's cocoon, dangling so high above us.

"Reeeally could use Mabel's grappling hook right now," I muttered.

"Grappling hook?" Bella frowned up at my brother's prison. "Hm. That might work. But surely there's something else we can use to free him."

The cornish pixies were still buzzing around our heads, chittering loud as ever and biting the bare skin on our hands and face. I flapped my hands at them, but for every one I beat back, five more seemed to take its place.

I pulled my gun out of my jacket - nothing too dangerous, just a small piston. I aimed the barrel at the top of the cave, the tiny strand of goo that connected Ford's slimy cage to the ceiling.

"Stan, what the hell are you doing?" Bella cried, shocked when she saw what I was doing. "You're trying to kill your brother?!"

"No, of course not," I said quickly. "I'm gonna try to disconnect the cocoon thing so it'll fall."

"What - you do realize that you'll collapse the entire cave if you do that?" Bella exclaimed, eyes wide with disbelief.

"You got any better ideas?" I asked through gritted teeth, trying to steady my shaking hand. If the bullet was off even by a little . . .

Bella grabbed my arm and dragged it down so the barrel pointed to the ground instead. "No, Stan. There's gotta be another way. Put that away." She glared at me sternly.

I stared back, wanting to argue, but after a few moments I sighed and put the pistol back in my inner pocket.

"Well, whaddaya expect to do, climb the rock wall?" I questioned, scanning the cave.

"Well, I don't see any other way up there, unless you can fly," Bella answered matter-of-factly. "Can you climb rock walls?"

I studied the far wall closest to where Ford hung from the ceiling. There were a lot more footholds here than on that carving of the deceased mayor I had to climb to save the kids, and it wasn't quite as steep.

"Sure I could climb that, but the question is how we're gonna get that cocoon down." I glanced at Bella. "You got like, a knife or dagger or somethin'?"

"No," she replied, glancing around. "But there must be something else we can use."

A gaggle of pixies lifted my hat off my head. I yelled and grabbed it before it was carried too high, and then an idea occurred to me.