Chapter 29: The First Flood
Every day after that, Sarah had to go to the office when she came in. It wasn't fair. Gary had cheated; he just wouldn't admit it. It was just like him. She should have expected it.
Anakin went to school the next day, but he didn't do anything except sit there. The sixth graders had to take a test, but Anakin took his and sat with his head down on the desk. Later, he complained he didn't feel good.
That day, when they came home, it was a little more windy than usual. There was always a little breeze, but never did the winds get this powerful. Then huge, black, clouds rolled in and it began to pour. It wasn't just a lot of rain; it was as if someone was pouring buckets of water on them. The forest began to flood as it had after the snow.
Sarah was sitting in her cave when she heard a dripping sound. She looked around and saw a small puddle on the ground. She quickly got a few things and went out of the cave. She went over to the other cave, because it was the second largest home.
Damien looked confused when she walked in. "What…?"
"Our house is flooding," explained Sarah. She walked in and put her stuff down. All the boys were in here, playing.
Soon, Cathy heard a similar dripping noise. She got out of her cabin as fast as she could, gathering just her bed and Turtle's. She was going to bring them over to the cave where Turtle was to tell him to come to Sarah' cave, but she saw that Sarah was there, meaning her cave was flooded, too.
After a while, everyone heard the dripping sound again. They had to get out of there. They all floated across the forest to Lee's cabin. It had stopped raining. There was barely enough room for them, so they left their stuff to float outside.
When it came time to eat, Jacen retrieved a few big fish that Sarah and Cathy cooked over the fire in the middle of the cabin. Then they put out the fire and went to sleep.
When they were still asleep, the roof of the cabin caved in, splashing water over everyone except Ryan, who was sleeping in a bathtub outside, and Anakin, who was sleeping on a floating chair.
They couldn't stay in Lee's cabin anymore. Tim swam over to his cabin to get something, but when he went inside, it was dry. There was only a small puddle on the floor, and no dripping. What had happened was that Sarah had heard water dripping off the cave door. It had created a puddle.
They all settled themselves in Sarah's cabin. Ryan cleaned up the water. Everyone else set up beds for themselves. Sarah shared Tim's bed (much to his disgust), Ryan had his own bed, Lee had Sarah's bed, Hannah and Damien had folding chairs, Cathy and Turtle had their own beds, Ben slept on the floor, Jacen slept on a basket of food, Jaina slept on four chairs pulled together, and Anakin slept on the bench near the fire. No one could leave the forest.
Everyone depended on Ryan to do their chores for them. He woke up first the next morning, rowed out to the food storage, and picked up a large hunk of meat. He brought it back to his cabin and put it on the fire. Then he got some milk from the goat and out it in a pitcher on the table.
Cathy woke up. "What are you doing, Ryan?"
"Cooking," Ryan replied.
People began to wake up after that. Soon, everyone was awake except Anakin.
"Am I the only one who's not sick?" asked Ryan. Everyone answered yes.
"I'm not," came a sleepy voice from the bench. Ryan was the only one who heard.
"What?" Ryan asked.
"I'm not sick," answered Anakin.
"Oh," said Ryan. "Two people aren't sick. Anni's not sick."
Anakin woke up with a jolt. "What?" he asked.
"You're not sick."
"Ryan! Why'd you tell them all!" Anakin picked up Ryan and flung him out the door. He landed in the water. Pikablu brought him back in. Ryan stumbled into bed and fell asleep.
No one seemed to notice. They had all fallen back asleep. Damien and Cathy were still half-awake, but didn't care enough to do anything about it.
Anakin was mad. Ryan had told everyone his secret and now he would have to do work. Well, first, he would mess up Ryan's work. He took the meat on the stove and threw it to the dogs huddled by the door. They ate it hungrily. Then Anakin poured the pitcher of milk all over the floor. He pushed some chairs over.
Togepi was sitting on the table. It chattered in its own language at Anakin. "Shut up," said Anakin, pushing it to the floor with his arm and kicking the poor egg across the room.
Damien sat up in his "bed." Togepi was lying on the floor, crying. Anakin threw the pitcher at it to try to get it to shut up, but missed. Damien got up and sneaked carefully across the room.
Anakin didn't hear Damien sneaking up on him. Damien grabbed him before he could run. "Why did you do that?"
"What?"
"Don't play that game with me. You know what you did. Why'd you kick Togepi?"
"He was in my way."
"Should I kick you if you're in the way?"
"No."
"Then you shouldn't kick it. It's not your property to destroy."
Anakin struggled, and since Damien was not at full strength, he managed to get loose. Damien was fast, though, and grabbed his wrist. Anakin twisted and squirmed, but Damien was holding really tight. He pulled Anakin closer to him to get his grip again, but Anakin pulled his arm and twisted it. There was a loud crack and Anakin stopped struggling immediately. Damien let him go and he fell to the floor, holding his wrist.
Cathy had seen the whole thing. She sat up in bed and glared at Damien. "What did you do that for?" she asked angrily.
"He deserved it. He kicked Togepi."
"That's no reason to hurt him."
"What I do is none of your business."
"You shouldn't have done that."
"And what are you gonna do about it?"
"Well, I think you should at least apologize."
"I'd rather leave then apologize!"
"Then go."
"Fine, I will!" Damien grabbed Togepi off the floor, picked up his backpack and stormed out of the forest. He could walk across easily, now that the water was frozen.