chapter 12
It was still dark out when they got up. The only light was the one from above a shack with the words "Library" written on top. When Mr. Sir opened it, it was far from a library. There were shovels, lots and lots of shovels, hanging inside. They all got one and trudged out to the desert.
"You start here." Mr.Sir said, marking spots in the sand with his boot to show where they'd start digging. They began without a word and as the day went on, they hoped that something would come and put them out of their misery. They were actually praying for a heartless attack. Anything to make them stop digging. Suddenly, Stanley heard a strange sound, metal against metal. He kneeled down and dug through the sand with his hands and found a gold tube.
"I think I found something!" Stanley said. Everyone from D Tent were flocking around him to see what he found. It was a tube with a rounded bottom.
"Hey look, 'K. B'. K. B, who's K. B?" Nina asked. Zig-Zag took it and looked at the intitials.
"Yeah... Yeah that's Keith Barrenger." he said
"Who's he?" Squid asked
"He was in my math class." Zig-Zag replied laughing. Nina took it and looked at it.
"Maybe... It's my mom's. I don't know her last name, but her first name is Kairi." she said
"That's an interesting statement, but now I have to show it to Mom and get the rest of the day off." X-Ray said, taking it.
"Wait no, your hole is almost done, I'm barely finished." Stanley said
"Your point?" X-Ray said
"So... you should give it to Mom first thing tommorrow, so you get the whole day off." Stanley said
"That's a good idea." X-Ray said, pocketing the tube and heading back to his hole.
"Gawrsh, do you really think that tube belonged to your mother Nina?" Goofy asked from his hole.
"I don't think it's possible." Donald said
"Hey, if it means one less mystery to solve about my parents, I don't care." Nina said. They dug their holes, and stopped to watch Zero climb out of his hole when he was done.
"He finished already?" Donald asked
"Gawrsh, he's fast!" Goofy said
"He's a mole, I think he eats the dirt." Squid said
"Man, moles don't eat dirt, worms eat dirt." Magnet said. After four hours of digging, the quartet climbed out of their holes and sat back down on the hot sand, clutching their hands close to their chests.
"That was harder than expected." Nina said
"First hole is always the hardest." Mr. Sir said. He held out his hand for Nina to get up. The gloves she was wearing were off, revealing the large, pulsing blisters. She winced when her hand touched Mr. Sir's.
"Everything turns to callous eventually. That's life." he said. The others got up themselves and walked through the desert back to camp.
"I don't think we can do this guys." Nina said. "We have to get off this world."
"But we can't leave now!" Donald yelled
"Yeah, we still need to find the keyhole and seal it before heartless show up." Goofy said
"But there aren't any heartless at all! Maybe this world is safe from heartless." Nina said
"No world is safe from heartless." Donald said. Nina walked into the tent and grabbed a bundle of clothes and a couple of shower tokens.
"Where are you going?" Goofy asked
"I'm going to change into these and take a shower. It's a bit dark out, so no boys will look." Nina said
"Be careful!" Donald said. Nina waved before turning towards the bathrooms.
"Still can't understand him." she muttered to herself. When she came out of the bathroom, she was wearing a dark pink tank top and dark blue short shorts. She walked to the showers, put in her tokens, and felt the cold water rushing over her. She saw no one there, so while she was taking her shower, she was thinking.
Why haven't heartless attacked yet? she thought, By now, heartless would be all over the place! Every step would lead to a shadow heartless, every shady spot would have a soldier hidden. Where are the heartless? Where is the keyhole? Where are my parents?
"Nina?" she heard a voice. She made her keyblade appear and pointed it at who ever spoke, but lowered it when she saw Stanley.
"Stanley, what're you doing here?" she asked
"Taking a shower." he said. She looked at him and noticed he was only wearing swim trunks.
"Oh. Sorry about the keyblade thing. I was just thinking." Nina said
"Really?"
"Yeah." The water stopped and Nina walked out of the stall and grabbed a towel to wrap around herself.
"I gotta go change now." she said. She ran to the bathroom, clothes in her hand, and quickly changed back into them. She walked out and saw Stanley was putting his boots on.
"Lets go back to the tent." Nina said. They turned to leave, when they suddenly heard a gun cock behind them.
"Don't move!" Mr. Sir said. They both turned around, their arms in the air and faced the man. He fired a shot, but they discovered that he was aiming for something behind them. They turned to see a yellow spotted lizard on a pole hissing at them. It jumped off and began chasing Stanley. Nina brought out her keyblade, took careful aim and...
"Fire!" she yelled. A blast of fire shot out of the end and disintegrated the lizard.
"You two go to bed and sleep well." Mr. Sir said, patting Stanley on the shoulder. The two ran back to their tent and were panting when they reached it.
"Nina? What's wrong?" Goofy asked
"Yellow... Spotted... Lizard." Nina said between pants. Everyone gasped and began crowding around them.
"Were you the one that yelled fire?" Donald asked
"Did it attack?" Goofy asked
"It ran after us, but I hit it with a fire spell." Nina said
"That was a cool spell." Stanley said
"What color was its blood?" Zig-Zag asked
"Um..." Nina said
"W-We don't know. We couldn't tell." Stanley said
"I wish I'd a seen it." Zig-Zag said. "BAM!!" He yelled. Stanley flinched and most of the boys laughed.
"If Nina didn't shoot it, Stanley, you'd be in a hole." Magnet said
"Don't you know each one's got exactly eleven spots?" Zig-Zag remarked
"Yeah, man, but if you ever get close to count 'em, you're dead." Squid said
"Yeah, I kinda guessed." Nina said. "Look guys, I'm tired so, if you have any more questions, they'll have to be answered in the morning."
"Night!" Everyone said. Nina walked over to her cot and layed down, letting sleep take hold. But one thought remained in her head.
What if I don't find the keyhole in time?
