It was around two o'clock in the morning when Maria heard a hissing sound. She lay in her room, tucked comfortably in bed, her eyes closed. She ignored the noise and pulled the covers closer.
The hissing increased in volume and now sounded more like crackling.
Was she dreaming or was someone cooking a live snake in her room?
She blinked fast, fighting off drowsiness. There was a burning smell now.
Fire! she thought.
She bolted upright, breathing heavy. The room was dark. She turned to look out the window, but saw nothing except the calm vastness of space.
She heard voices now—loud, urgent voices.
Light flared from above.
She looked at the ceiling and saw a hole, a sizzling hole that grew bigger by the second.
She squinted and made out flurried movements in the room above, plus the sound of a high-pitched alarm and... rain. Rain? Inside the Ark?
The edges of the hole slowed their expansion. But before they stopped completely, it was too late.
A drop of bright green liquid fell and landed on her bedspread. It melted through the fabric, sprouting flames, and ate through her sock, searing her skin.
Maria shrieked! A scalding unlike any she ever experienced shot through her. The pain rivaled what one would expect from a drop of lava.
She leaped out of bed, clutching her heel, and stumbled back into her bookshelf. She dropped to the floor as the force knocked several books onto her head, neck, and back.
Smoke and fire curled about her bed. An ear-splitting beep sounded repeatedly and the ceiling sprinkler activated, showering the room in water. These sounds were the same as the ones coming from above.
Shaking violently, she cried. She'd never wailed so loud and desperately in her life.
Noises flooded the hall outside her room. Within seconds, someone forced their way in. Feet stampeded, voices called her name, and a set of arms cleared the books away, then lifted her bodily out of the room.
She attempted to open her eyes, but the tears made everything blurry. Her sobs and the smoke detector's alarm made everything too distorted to hear. The agonizing stinging sensation lingered in her foot.
She didn't know how long it took her to calm down, but when she did, tears still found the time to slide down her cheeks.
She sat on the floor, leaning against the wall outside her room. All was quiet now, save for the crowd of people tarrying about in pajamas and bathrobes. They whispered questions to each other or simply observed and rubbed their eyes from their disturbed sleep.
A doctor had brought her a towel to dry off the water from the sprinkler. Then she'd carefully helped her place her burned foot in a bucket of water. Now she was wrapping gauze around the wound and speaking to her reassuringly.
A few feet away, Professor Gerald Robotnik was throwing a fit.
Had the situation not been so scary, the sight of a red-faced old man dressed in polka-dot pajamas yelling his head off might have seemed funny.
Maria had never known him to get this angry.
He shouted at a tall, wiry man with glasses—the cause of the hole in her ceiling. He was the only one not dressed in nightclothes. This scientist lived in the room directly above hers. He'd been conducting an experiment there and spilled a dangerous, improperly tested chemical on the floor.
"Residential rooms are for resting and leisure only! Experiments are only to be conducted in authorized laboratories during work hours! Your carelessness nearly cost my granddaughter her life! My granddaughter!"
Several bystanders watched him in shocked silence while others frowned worriedly at Maria and the doctor.
Then a faraway voice called out, "Let me through! Move it!"
She recognized it as Shadow's. She turned her head and sure enough, Shadow the Hedgehog pushed his way out from the crowd and marched straight to her.
His voice, ditching the harshness it used moments ago, cracked with concern. "Maria, what happened?"
His eyes were wide and shiny. He reached out a hand to touch her, but pulled back upon noticing the bucket, the doctor, and the gauze.
He looked over at the professor and the cowering scientist.
"What if she'd stayed asleep? What if the whole concoction dripped onto her bed? What if it was her face instead of her foot? You'll be lucky if you ever work here or anyplace on Earth again!"
Shadow's hands twisted into fists as he walked toward them.
Maria tried to stop him, but her voice barely rose above a whisper. "No... Shadow... Grandfather... please..."
"What did you do to Maria?" Shadow demanded.
"I'll tell you what he—" his creator began, but interrupted himself with a series of rough coughs.
The doctor finished securing the gauze and rushed to Professor Gerald. "Please, Professor, don't overstress yourself..."
"Just—Just make sure Maria is alright."
"She's fine. It turns out that chemical cooled quickly, before it could cause serious damage. She's suffering more from shock right now than anything. A few nights of rest and her foot should fully heal."
"Good..." The professor bent over and coughed again.
The doctor supported him back into a standing position, urging him to return to bed.
As she watched her grandfather being led away, she reached out her arms. "Grandfather..."
"Don't be afraid, my dear. We'll have the repair services called over in a few hours. You'll be back and safe in your room in no time. And you..." He pointed a finger at the wiry scientist. "...can expect a permanent change in your living arrangement."
He coughed again and put a hand over his chest. "Shadow, please look after her for me."
Shadow nodded as the doctor also requested a favor. "And bring her to me around dinnertime so I can redress the gauze."
Maria felt embarrassed as the crowd's attention shifted from her grandfather and the doctor to herself again. Her clothes were still damp, her hair was messy, and her eyes were still puffy from crying.
Shadow brushed off a tear from her cheek with his thumb and tried to help her stand, but her knees wobbled too much.
He gently picked her up bridal style. She tried to hide her face by pressing it close to one of his quills. He raised his voice and brazenly ordered the crowd to disperse.
Still shaken by the whole ordeal, she focused on his breathing as he carried her.