Chapter 7: Into the Peach
Later that night after all the visitors left for home, Sponge and Spiker were in the living room counting their earned money. The aunts were wearing their robes, while Spiker smoked from a cigarette, and Sponge was organizing the cash on the table.
"Yoo-hoo!" Sponge called to the children in a sing-song voice. "Come down here!"
"Yes, Auntie Sponge?" James asked as he came downstairs with Penelope and Jaelle following him. Both children were dressed their best clothes. James wore a white dress shirt, a bluish-black coat, tan pants that went to his knees, black knee dress socks and shoes, and a patchwork tie.
Penelope wore a white shirt with short, puffed sleeves, a black strapless sweetheart bodice laced in the back, a long dark purple skirt with a white petticoat underneath, and a purple sarong, with silver moons and golden stars with bangles hanging from the hem, was wrapped around her waist. For accessories, she wore silver jewelry, including dangling earrings, a necklace with an amethyst gem, two bracelets on her right wrist, a bangle on her left, an anklet on her left ankle, and a ring with an amethyst gem on her right ring finger. Her long hair was held back by a purple headband, her old bag was hung by her waist, her dagger wrapped around her right calf, and black sandals cladded her feet.
Jaelle appeared, with a golden hoop earring on her left ear and a purple collar wound around her neck.
"Oooh! You two are all spiffed up!" Sponge said, with fake amazement.
"I was hoping to play with the children," James said approaching his aunts.
"Even to entertain everyone by fortune telling and palm reading," Penelope added.
The sisters looked at each other, saying, "Awww!" Aunt Spiker told the children with mock sympathy, "The children have gone."
James and Penelope looked at each, feeling disappointed for not having a chance to have fun. "But you two can play with their garbage," the thin aunt said. She grabbed a broom and removed the bristles to form a pointy stick, handing it over to James. She did the same to a second broom and gave it to Penelope.
"Garbage, heh-heh-heh!" Sponge snickered.
After grabbing baskets, James, Penelope, and Jaelle were close to leaving the house until Spiker said, "And don't you two even THINK of going near our peach!"
" 'Cause if you do," Aunt Sponge said slyly. "Remember they never did catch that Rhino!" The sisters chuckled at each other and went back to counting their money.
Outside, James and Penelope collected the discarded trash and put it in their baskets. Jaelle followed behind eating orange peels, apple cores, and bread crusts. She made sure to see if she can look for any items that were edible. As James was picking up another piece of trash, he stabbed at it repeatedly, but couldn't get it stuck to the stick.
Penelope looked at what James was trying to pick up and recognized it as the bag that used to hold the crocodile tongues. James and Penelope put down their sticks, and the boy picked up the bag. As he opened it, three crocodile tongues, glowed bright green, hopped to the ground and bounced away towards the peach like springs.
"No!" James exclaimed, running after the tongue with Penelope and Jaelle following him. "Wait a moment! Wait!"
"Come back!" the gypsy girl added.
They chased after the tongues and tried to grab them, but they had disappeared. James and Penelope sighed with disappointment until they noticed the giant peach. The siblings stood up, touched the skin of the peach, and sniffed the sweet and fresh aroma. They looked around to see if Spiker and Sponge were watching; luckily for them, neither aunt was outside.
"Looks like the coast is clear," Penelope said. "Let's sneak in small pieces of fruit. I'm sure Sponge and Spiker won't notice. We'll make it our secret."
James, at first, was hesitant. But after hearing his stomach growl, he put aside his doubt and nodded, "Okay." Penelope took out her dagger and used it to cut a large handful of the slimy flesh of the fruit. She cut it into equal halves, one for her and the other for James. Then she cut a smaller piece and gave it to Jaelle. The two took big bites, and none of them noticed that two crocodile tongues hopped and burrowed into their peach bits as they ate. As Jaelle was about to finish the last bite of her peach, she noticed the third tongue hop into her bit, and she ended up swallowing the tongue along with her peach. The goat bleated in confusion, wondering if it was her imagination or not for swallowing that crocodile tongue.
As the children ate their peach bites, it tasted wet and delicious. After swallowing, James and Penelope began to feel strange. The feeling was forgotten when they heard a noise behind them. Looking back, they saw a large hole at the bottom of the inside, inside it led to a tunnel with fog and glowing green light. James and Penelope dropped their peach pieces, removed their baskets, and looked down at the opening with curiosity.
"Hmm, what could be in there?"Penelope asked.
"I don't know, but let's find out!"
James crawled into the hole first, Penelope followed in, and Jaelle came in last. As soon as the three were inside, the opening of the peach behind them closed as if it healed by itself.
As James, Penelope, and Jaelle continued crawling inside the peach, something strange happened to them. The three felt prickles on their skin as green sparkles shimmered around them, they did not realize that their heads were bigger, and their bodies were smaller. As they continued to crawl, the tunnel grew to a darker green and a large piece of paper was at the stone of the peach where the green light was coming from.
" 'Ere now! Where do you think you're goin', Yank?" A high-pitched female voice with a Mancunian accent demanded.
Penelope gave a quiet gasp, there were people inside the peach? How did they get in there, without being seen? James kept crawling, it snapped the gypsy girl back to reality and continued to follow the boy.
"I'm goin' stir crazy!" a tough voice with a Brooklyn accent answered. "I gotta take a look around. Plan our escape from Spiker and Sponge."
"Really laddie?" another male voice with a deep Scottish accent said. "What kind of plan are ye gonna do? I hope it'll get us outta that pickle!"
"Escape? To where?" another male voice with an English accent - that sounded worried – cried out. "We'll all be squashed, swatted, smooshed!"
As James, Penelope, and Jaelle came close to the voices and paper screen, they jumped back seeing silhouettes on the other side. One silhouette looked like a person, but it had the head and antennas of a grasshopper.
"No one's going to smoosh you, my dear boy," he said calmly in a deep formal British accent. "You're six feet long now."
His silhouette disappeared and another silhouette with big eyes, and long thin wings, appeared. "Too true, too true," he added.
Then another silhouette of what looked like a snake with glasses appeared. "Bigger target," he said in a worried tone.
"Let the biddies come!" said the silhouette with the Brooklyn accent. He was tall, had numerous arms, antennae, and hat appeared, spooking off the previous shadow and threw out some punches. "I'll take 'em both on! I'm 'indefeatable!' I'm 'indivisible!' I'm…"
James held out his hand to the shadow and leaned in closer. Penelope stood by him and attempted to protect him, but they ripped through the screen and fell into the room screaming.
"IN TROUBLE!" cried the tall multi-armed monster. The children landed on him, and then they bounced onto a monster that looked like a ladybug; then onto a tall monster with wings; and then a tall monster that looked like the grasshopper; and they slid on the snakelike monster and landed on the ground.
"IT'S SPIKER AND SPONGE!" screamed the snake. "They've found us!"
Jaelle bleated frantically and jumped straight into the stone to rescue her master and mistress. She regained her balance and looked frantically in each direction to find James and Penelope. Then she saw the tall monster with wings in front of her, she bleated fiercely and charged straight towards him and headbutted him in the gut.
"Ywouch!" the tall monster said, clutching his stomach. "Me guts hurt!"
When the goat saw her mistress and master hugging each other in fright, she hurried towards them bleating. When she encountered the multi-armed monster, she charged at his butt!
"Ow!" he yelped, jumping from the impact. "Hey, who kicked me?"
The goat charged through and reached her master and mistress. She stood in front of them, getting into a defensive position, ready to charge again. Penelope pulled out her dagger and held it in front of her to defend herself and James.
"Go away!" she yelled.
Then another monster in a lantern swung by, knocked the children to the ground, and yelled, "Helloo!"
James and Penelope yelped after landing, the gypsy girl pushed her little brother behind her and pointed her dagger at the monsters.
"No, no, no," the tall monster with the British accent said calmly. He used his monocle to see a little better. The children and goat couldn't see very well in the dark green light; they could only see the silhouettes of the monsters and their glowing eyes and mouths. "It's the lad, the gypsy girl, and the goat from the house. What were their names?"
"Miserable Ticks!" said the multi-armed monster, popping up, and held a lit cigar in the corner of his mouth.
"Wasn't it Lazy Little Bugs?" asked the tall monster with thin wings.
"I thought it was Rotten Little Grubs!" said the giant snake with glasses.
"No, that's what those horrible aunts call them," said a monster in the shape of a ladybug with the Mancunian accent. She flew by and landed in front of the siblings, frightening them. "Their real names are… Well, it's…eh…eh?"
The siblings and goat backed away towards a wall as the monsters were cornering them. Jaelle kept up her guard and continued to bleat, and Penelope continued to hold her dagger, ready to use it on those monsters.
Then a monster in the shape of a spider popper down from the ceiling and landed next to them. "It's James, Penelope, and Jaelle," it said in a female French accent. The children screamed in terror and fell back. Jaelle jumped up and lost her bravery to defend her master and mistress.
"Look what you've done now, miss," The round female monster chided the spider, and she came over, leaning over the children. "Scared them to death!"
"Please!" James cried, holding up his hands in fear. "Don't eat us!"
"Get away from us you monsters!" Penelope snapped angrily.
"Eat you?" the round female monster exclaimed in shock. "Us monsters?"
The other monsters, including the tallest with the monocle, the multi-armed with a cigar, and the muscular one began to laugh.
"Hey Glowworm!" the multi-armed monster said, clapping his hands. "Turn up your lights!"