THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

transfixed at the edge of the clearing.
    Who, or what, was making all that noise?
    “ Keep going! ” I leaned forward to punctuate my words with my body. I waved at Gabby and Tony, yelling, “Don’t stop. Run! ”
    Neither one moved, two bodies as rigid as trees.
    What was wrong with them?
    In a blink, twenty children varying in ages, sizes and looks exploded from the jungle on both sides of Gabby and Tony. The newcomers raced toward the monster, rather than away.
    There were others in this place. And they were crazy.
    None appeared younger than ten or older than me. All of them followed a tall male I’d call a boy, who appeared to be seventeen or eighteen. Hard muscle wrapped his body and he carried a rough-looking spear as a warrior would.
    Not a boy. And dangerous.
    He took two long strides on powerful legs and used his forward movement to throw his spear, stabbing the croco-monster between plating in its chest.
    The monster bounced back as if it had hit an invisible wall, then fell over on its side, writhing in pain. A couple of the kids levitated, hovering in the air over the beast, shouting taunts and waving sticks and fists.
    How’d they do that?
    Even from here, I could see the terror in Tony and Gabby’s faces.
    I pulled my leg free of the child’s grip and took a step toward them.
    Something sharp stuck me in the back, and felt like it broke the skin.
    Swinging around, I almost tripped on the little girl as I prepared to fight whatever had hit me...two boys maybe twelve or thirteen at the most. Both pointed lethal looking, if primitive, spears at my chest. Where had these boys come from? The jungle?
    Finding more people here would be good news if not for these two trying to skewer me.
    The boys wore ragged, mud-splattered tunics to their knees. One youngster had flame-red hair spiraling out from his head and his face was mottled in leaf-colored hues on one side of his forehead. Skin colors that shifted and changed to pale yellows. The other boy had brown hair to his shoulders and glowing purple eyes.   
    Was everything in this place weird? And deadly? Even little boys?
    That redhaired one was the shorter of the two and had a threatening look for someone that young. He ordered, “Get down on your knees. Hands on your head.”
    Good news? I understood their words. But I ignored his order, demanding, “Who are you?”
    They pointed the razor-sharp tips closer to my chest. “Move, and you die.”
    And I’d thought the school had been a trial.
    My back stung where one of them had already stabbed me. Nothing worse than a cut...as long as that stick had no poison on the tip.
    So I know what poison is?
    This was not the time to add a check mark to my ongoing list of what I did and didn’t know. What I knew for certain right now was that this little warrior meant what he said.
    But I didn’t care. “That thing.” I hitched my shoulder toward the still-roaring croco-monster. “Is going to kill...my friends.”  
    “They’re safe...from the croggle.”
    “A croggle?” I glanced over my shoulder. Ah, the monster. “If this is just my scrambled brain having a nightmare, I hope I wake up soon,” I muttered and gently untangled my foot again from the child at my ankles. When I did, both boys looked down.
    Not trained very well to lower their guard so easily.
    I twirled around, catching both spears at once and pitching them aside then spun back to check on Gabby and Tony. Same spot.
    What was that monster, the croggle, doing?
       Nothing, because that band of shrieking children were beating it for all they were worth. They used a net of woven vines, crude three-pronged weapons, clubs and spears like the two boys had held on me. Their mighty leader called out orders and took the lead in beating on the croggle.
    Why didn’t he just grab another spear and kill the thing?
    Did he want to kill it or was he only training his little warriors? The kids I’d seen floating before were no longer in the air, but had joined the others. Maybe their ability to remain airborne was limited.
    I took a step and heard from behind me, “Last warning. You move, you die, tek-nah-tee.” 
    What was a tek-nah-tee?
    When I turned around, both kids had their weapons again. How’d they manage that without my seeing them? I’d pitched the long sticks a good distance to my right, far enough I should have heard or seen them going for the spears.
    Didn’t matter. I had to get to Gabby and Tony. But if I ran toward my