Alright everyone, time to find out what will happen next. Where did that mysterious tunnel come from, and where does it lead? Let us find out…
Golias's Promise
The sudden appearance of that underground tunnel was indeed very strange. For Effie, it was simply a terrible and terrifying case of bad luck. For Bongo, Matt, Yuri, and Lili, it was a sign that one of those magical, scenery-altering adventures they had together every day was about to begin. For Golias, however, it was not only that, but also something else. None of his friends knew it yet, but this wasn't the first time he'd gone through this particular tunnel.
The first time Golias had gone through this tunnel was back before he'd first met Yuri and their friends. And what was at the end of it was a special place that only he had ever known about. Mainly because after he'd discovered what lay ahead, the special friends there (the ones he'd briefly mentioned before they'd gone underground) had asked him to promise never to tell anyone specific details he had learned from them—not even Yuri, or Bongo and Nessa.
But despite the promise he'd made, the details Golias had vowed to keep a secret might be revealed once they got to the end of the tunnel; he knew that for sure. They were possibly the answer to Bongo's question about how the body switch had made them visible too, and the elephant knew he couldn't just ignore that question. Bongo was very rebellious and never let things go that easily, plus Yuri, Matt, and Lili were curious about the answer too. So that outvoted Effie, who was too focused on returning to her body before 10:00 to wonder what the others were wondering, and himself. Oh, he felt so bad about maybe having to break that promise…but for Bongo and the kids to be able to cooperate while they were asking the friends down here for help with undoing the body switch, he had no choice.
Golias wasn't only nervous about the promise-breaking thing either—he didn't admit it to anyone, but he was also worried about Nessa. He didn't know much about Effie's life besides what Lili had said about it (and like Lili, he wasn't sure what an escort was either), but he could only imagine how confused and overwhelmed the giraffe might be now that she had to live it in her place. If Nessa could get extremely sad and anxious just from being separated from Lili, who knew how she felt about being separated from all her friends?
The group suddenly reached the end of the tunnel and screeched to a stop, just a few feet away from something you didn't usually see in underground tunnels like this: a sparkly purple and light green door. Effie perked up when she saw it. "Well this is a festive door. Even the president of Panem doesn't have furniture quite like it!"
Golias giggled, then stepped forward and happily used his trunk to play a song; the fun kind of song that was usually only played at carnivals. As he performed it, Yuri laughed, and Bongo stomped his feet and swayed in tune to the music. Matt, Lili, and Effie just watched, confused but pleased by the spectacle. This went on for a few minutes, until the sparkly door swung open by itself, revealing an absolutely stunning and beautiful room behind it. It was a relaxing area with highlights of magenta, pink, lavender, sky blue, and gold all around, endless shelves of books, and a shiny, smooth, vanilla-ice-cream-coloured floor that looked as though it had been freshly polished.
"Come on," Golias told his friends, already stepping into the room with an amazed Yuri right behind him.
"Wow," breathed Lili, following the duo in. "This is the prettiest place we've been to so far!"
"Yeah," Matt agreed, running after her.
Bongo started to follow them as well, but stopped when Effie sighed wearily and asked, "Um, could you please carry me in? I haven't exactly mastered walking in this form yet…"
"Sure," replied Bongo. He then lifted her onto his back and bounced into the magnificent room, where he set her into a very beautiful and comfortable turquoise armchair.
The gang spent a few seconds admiring the room, until Yuri asked Golias, "But where are the friends you brought us to see?"
Before Golias could answer, a melodic, young woman's voice from somewhere above them exclaimed, "Golias! Welcome back to our home!"
"Indeed!" chimed another melodic young woman's voice, this one slightly more high-pitched than the first. "Welcome back to our secret base!"
Golias chuckled as two fairies he recognized right away emerged from between the book shelves and playfully flew toward him. One of the fairies had very pale skin, dark purple hair tied into a stylish tree-like ponytail, bright purple wings, a dark blue shirt with short pale blue sleeves and a lavender W printed in the middle, an ocean blue skirt, pale blue tights, and navy shoes. The other fairy had skin the colour of copper, long golden yellow hair tied up in three big buns, light green wings, a bright magenta shirt with long grass-green sleeves and a light blue O in the middle, a pale blue skirt, bright green tights, and light blue shoes. Both of them looked very happy to see him, but a little confused to see Bongo, Effie, and the kids.
"Golias? These fairies know you?" Yuri asked. Usually when they embarked on extraordinary adventures like this, the magical new friends they met had never even seen them before.
Golias nodded and gestured to the purple-haired fairy. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Wish-Trish," he then gestured to the golden-haired one, "and Objectiva. I um…I met them a few days before I met you, Yuri." He then frowned and turned back towards the fairies. "Hey, where's Starpoint?"
Objectiva, apparently the fairy with the lower-pitched voice, quickly shook her head. "We will discuss that matter later. Right now I must ask…why have you brought your friends here? You remember the promise you made to us!"
"Oh come now, my cousin," Wish-Trish told Objectiva. "He has no intention of breaking that promise. He is just here because Effie desperately wants to return to her original body, like some of our previous clients did!"
Effie stared at Wish-Trish, stunned. "How do you know my name? And about the body swap?"
"Um…uh…" Golias stuttered. He nervously tooted his trunk, and then admitted the truth. "Effie…these fairies were the ones who made the switch happen."
"What?!" Effie, Bongo, and the kids all exclaimed in unison.
"Why would you do such a thing?!" Lili bellowed angrily. "Nessa's my best friend! You can't make her switch places with…with…her!" She pointed at Effie, who simply nodded in agreement.
"Well, truth be told, there's more to the story than just that," said Wish-Trish. "I will start from the beginning. You see, Objectiva and I are among a very rare group of fairies, each born with the ability to grant a specific wish many people make nowadays: the wish to switch places with others. We can also switch them back once they wish to return to their own bodies. But we can only use our powers if two souls have made that same wish, at the same time."
Effie nodded. "I admit it, I did wish for myself to swap places with someone shortly before it happened for real. I didn't think it was possible…but apparently it is." She narrowed her eyes. "But that doesn't mean I want to stay in this body a second longer! I have to return to the Capitol so I can gather more sponsors!"
"Maybe Effie made that wish," retorted Lili, "but why would Nessa do it? She always wants to stay with me!"
"It is clear why she did it," Wish-Trish replied, a glare manifesting on her face. "It was all because you—"
Objectiva quickly placed her hand over Wish-Trish's mouth and whispered, "Quiet! We must let her learn the reason for Nessa's wish on her own! Then she can learn from it."
Wish-Trish backed away from Objectiva and gave her a look that read, alright. I won't get into it. Then she turned towards Effie, Golias, Bongo, and the kids and said, "Believe me, I did not want to go through with the body switch. It was for two reasons. First of all, Objectiva and I…well…we have some um…horrible history with Panem, the place Effie comes from."
"Really?" Effie asked.
"Indeed," replied Objectiva. "Starpoint—my cousin and the twin sister of Wish-Trish—went there two months ago and was…placed under an unbreakable spell…by a girl from one of the districts. It is honestly the reason why she's not here with us. But that is not the point."
"And the second reason," Wish-Trish admitted, "ties into the promise you made to us, Golias."
"It does?" Golias asked in surprise. He'd had a feeling that topic would come up while they were here, but he hadn't thought it would happen this way.
Objectiva gasped. "Wish-Trish, everything about that promise is only supposed to remain between you, me, and him!"
"What promise?" Matt asked her.
Golias sighed. "I think we should probably tell them, Objectiva. It might be good, 'cause uh…'cause the body switch made Bongo, Ness—I mean, Effie—and me visible. Visible to um…everyone?"
Hearing this, both fairies gasped in fear. "Alright," Bongo suspiciously declared, "Bongo wants to know what secret you three are hiding from us. And why Matt, Yuri, and Lili's families couldn't see us until now, even though Nessa was the only one out of us who switched bodies with someone!"
"Yeah," agreed Matt. "What don't you want us to know about?"
Objectiva shivered, but said, "Alright…I guess you had to find out sometime as well. Wish-Trish?"
Wish-Trish smiled and turned to the kids. "Yuri, Lili, Matt, do you remember when you each first met your Big Big Friends?"
"Yeah," replied Yuri. "It was the first day of school, but I was so nervous that I didn't wanna go. I didn't know if I was gonna make new friends, or if my teacher was gonna like me…and then Golias popped up out of nowhere and helped me feel better! Thanks to him, I knew exactly what to say when I got to class…and I found out that Matt and Lili had Big Big Friends who helped them too!"
Matt nodded. "Yeah. Before I left for school, I didn't think I'd meet anyone who liked the things I liked. So I got kind of sad and kicked my soccer ball across the grass. Then suddenly Bongo was standing in front of it, and he kicked it back to me!"
Bongo happily nodded. "Yup! We played with Matt's ball all the way to school. Best friends for-ever!"
As Matt smiled at Bongo in agreement, Lili proudly stated, "I met Nessa on the first day of school too. My crayon box broke when I was putting my stuff in my backpack, and all my crayons fell out and rolled under my bed! They were too far for me to reach by myself, and my mommy and daddy couldn't help me get them because my brothers had to have their diapers changed. I thought I was gonna be late for school, but when I turned around to think of what to do, there was Nessa! She used her long neck to help me get my crayons, so I wasn't late for school after all."
Effie beamed. "It seems that I've swapped places with such a helpful animal."
"Yeah," Lili told her. "You'd like Nessa. She's my best friend." Then her smile disappeared, and she added, "I miss her."
Yuri comfortingly put his arm around her, before asking the fairies, "But what does that have to do with Golias's secret promise?"
"Oh right," Golias said. "See uh…before Nessa, Bongo, and I met you guys, the three of us used to live in this really magical kingdom together! It was so beautiful and fun, but only really magical creatures lived there."
"Oh yeah!" Bongo exclaimed. "It was very different from Brasília. Very really very different! So many things here like toy cranes and the kinds of games you taught us weren't there, so we always had fun by exploring magic places and changing our outfits and hairstyles."
"Kind of like when we turned into hairy cavemen for the day!" Matt said, remembering the time he'd been nervous about going to get his hair cut and decided to instead travel into the Stone Age with Bongo. Their hair had gotten so long so fast, branches and leaves had gotten tangled up in it!
"Just like that!" replied Bongo. "Anyway, one day Oonette, the queen of where we lived, decided to start doing something special each year. Every time August the seventeenth came, she would let three animals from our kingdom move to places around the world to see what it was like! Forever and ever, thanks to a magic swirling tunnel that could make us suddenly appear in any kind of human city! In America, Australia, Africa, Europe, or Asia! And the first three animals that got to do that were me, Golias, and Nessa."
"And that's where the secret promise comes in," explained Golias. "Before I went to the tunnel, Oonette took me into her castle and told me something important: she wasn't just letting us go to Brasília to see what it was like. She was also doing it because she thought it would be a good way to um…'bring more goodness into the world.' Then I got to meet her daughters and niece, Wish-Trish, Starpoint, and Objectiva, and they told me what she meant."
"Indeed we did," chimed Objectiva. "You see, as sad as it is, not all of the humans in the world are as friendly as all of you. There are some humans, especially in Panem—do not deny it, Effie—who are completely unfriendly, and I hope none of you will ever have to meet them. It happens to be my job, Wish-Trish's job, and until two months ago, Starpoint's job, to help as many people as we can stay on the path of goodness, and the way we do that is by making them switch bodies with others. That way, if they're very angry at someone, they will receive a better understanding about that person's life and be able to forgive them more easily."
Wish-Trish giggled. "Most of the people we made switch bodies were mothers and teenage daughters, who all happened to get into arguments with each other on a Friday. So it wasn't long before my mother gave our fairy species the nickname, Freaky Friday Fairies. Even though we don't always use our magic on Fridays."
"Like now," chuckled Yuri. "'Cause it was Saturday night when you made Nessa and Effie switch places."
"It was," said Objectiva. "But not everyone who gets upset with others makes the only kind of wish our fairy species can grant. So Aunt Oonette decided to start the special event every August 17, which would secretly give any three animals who left our kingdom the right to be called Big Big Friends."
"They would not only get to learn about other areas in the world," continued Wish-Trish. "It would also be their job to move in with someone who needed help staying on the path of goodness. Someone who was very friendly and sweet, but would almost always get into situations where their power of forgiveness would have to fight against the rest of their qualities. Like pride, bits of selfishness, or bossiness. It would be the Big Big Friend's job to use their power to change nearby scenery to help that someone learn from their mistakes and make things right. But they would have to do that without forcing them to do it. Just by being there for them, and letting them take their time."
"But Oonette told me that I couldn't tell anyone that part," Golias confessed, tooting his trunk. "She said anyone who didn't have a Big Big Friend wouldn't be able to see and hear them, and if they did, they might lock us up in the zoo forever and ever. Which almost happened for real a few minutes ago."
Bongo stared at Golias in surprise. "Wait a minute. You knew no one except Matt, Yuri, and Lili could see us? The whole time?!"
"That was the only part I thought you and Nessa would know about," admitted Golias. "So I never told you they couldn't see us."
"Eh, I guess you're right. Now I feel kind of weird for not knowing that. I always thought you called us Big Big Friends because we were, well, BIG! And friendly! I didn't know about all the other stuff." Bongo suddenly gasped in realization. "Hey, maybe that's why all three of us became visible! Because we're all Big Big Friends, and we took the magic swirling tunnel to Brasília at the same time!"
"But Golias," Yuri said, "why didn't you tell me all those things?"
"Or me," added Lili. "I know we're not best friends, but you could have told Nessa so that she could have told me!"
Golias sighed. "You weren't supposed to know either, which was the hardest part about learning about it. Yuri, Matt, Lili, the fairies just didn't want you to think we were only your best friends because it was our job. Because we really do like being your best friends! I love being your Big Big Friend, Yuri, because you're the sweetest person ever! It's always fun playing with you, and I love your hugs."
"Aww, I love being your best friend too, Golias," replied Yuri. He gave the elephant a a very affectionate hug, which made everyone smile in adoration. Even Effie smiled, despite her increasing fears that they were running out of time to get her back to the Capitol.
"And I loved you right away too, Matt," Bongo said. "All the things we do together are so much fun, and you're very very nice! And everything about the sports you like is so much fun, even the baseball commentary!"
As Matt laughed in agreement and gave his own Big Big Friend an affectionate hug, Lili sighed sadly. She felt left out without Nessa here to say nice things to her like Golias and Bongo were to Yuri and Matt; and being left out was no fun. It would have been wonderful to hear what her Big Big Friend had always thought about her job and best friend…she had to do something! So, doing her best to stay calm, she asked, "But why weren't Nessa and Bongo supposed to know what Golias knew?"
Wish-Trish grew nervous, obviously not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings. "She let Golias know about it because he um…she thought he was more, um…"
"Mature?" Objectiva put in.
"Yes, which you could say means 'slightly more grown-up on the inside,' or more likely to understand why only Yuri, Lili, and Matt needed to know of their existence. No offence, Bongo, but your habits of getting into hyperactive mischief had my mother a little nervous about trusting you with such a big secret."
Bongo shrugged. "I don't blame you. You should have seen how much candy I tried to eat when Matt and I got our own gingerbread house!"
"And Nessa," continued Objectiva, "well…she isn't really mischievous, but she can still get overexcited about various things and hasn't exactly matured as much either. So only Golias was allowed to know about the job part."
Golias nodded reluctantly. "Every time we had to put visible things down so Yuri, Lili, and Matt's families wouldn't know we were there, Nessa thought we were just 'cleaning up first.'"
"I thought we were just following that rule Lili's mom gave her," said Bongo. "The one where you have to put toys back where you found them. It was either that, or that we had to put our toys away before we could eat any snacks."
Effie shuddered in discomfort. "I'm relieved that Nessa knows how important proper manners are, but…is she really so childish?"
"Childish?" Lili asked in surprise.
"The point is," Wish-Trish quickly told Effie, "there were reasons why we did not want to go through with the body switch between you and Nessa. But both of the wishes you made were sincere, and unlike most wishes for body swaps, yours were not exactly triggered by anger at someone else. Just by the longing to have a break. Those more peaceful wishes do not come to us very often, and well…we just had to grant them."
"Why would Nessa want a break from me?" Lili demanded. "Like I said, she's my best friend!"
Objectiva shrugged furtively. "You'll have to ask her that when we undo the switch."
"Which we unfortunately cannot do just yet," Wish-Trish admitted.
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Why not?" Effie asked. "I've made it very clear to you that I want to be swapped back!"
Wish-Trish sighed. "I'm sorry. We can only undo the switch if you and Nessa both wish to be switched back, and you may be wishing for it now, but she isn't. It is the usual situation where a client of ours wants to be swapped back, but doesn't know they just have to wish for it. Instead they look for clues about how the switch happened and look for either the person they swapped bodies with, or someone else who can switch them back. They never make the wish until everything else they try fails!"
"But there's gotta be a way we can undo the switch," said Golias. "You said there were unfriendly people in Panem! What if Nessa meets them? What if she meets the girl who cast that spell on Starpoint?"
Objectiva bit her tongue hard. Golias had a point, but there was a secret of hers and Wish-Trish's that even he didn't know, and that neither fairy dared to reveal: it wasn't a magic spell that Starpoint had undergone. It had been a girl from one of the districts who had ambushed her—a Career, to be precise—but the truth about what exactly she'd done to the poor fairy, not to mention why she had done it, was a detail that had to remain secret. Even though the very mention of that monster (whom Wish-Trish, never having found out the cruel girl's name, had nicknamed the Knife Witch) gave the Freaky Friday Fairies the shivers…
"Maybe if we go to Panem and tell Nessa to wish for the switch to be undone," suggested Matt, "then she and Effie can be switched back."
At this, Wish-Trish let out a loud gasp of horror. "No! Panem is absolutely no place for children as young and innocent as yourselves. Matt, you and your friends are much better off staying in Brasília while Objectiva and I search for Nessa by ourselves."
"By yourselves?!" Effie exclaimed. "Do you know your way around the Capitol?"
"Actually we do not," Wish-Trish admitted, before her cousin could stop her. "When Starpoint and I went to Panem the day…the spell was cast upon her…we were trying to go to the Capitol. But instead we ended up in one of the districts."
"Then I'd better go with you so you won't end up in the wrong place again," declared Effie. She then tried to get off the armchair she was in, but because she still hadn't learned how to correctly use Nessa's body, she simply rolled off and landed back-first on the floor.
Golias tooted his trunk and then said, "Uh, maybe I should go too. I can teach you how to walk on four legs…"
"If you're going, then I'm also going," Bongo told him.
Objectiva thought hard. "Do you promise not to let food or mischief distract you from the task at hand?"
"Well, uh…I can, if you help me do that."
"Alright then," replied Wish-Trish, "I guess you and Golias can come with us."
"And me too," decided Lili. "Because Nessa's my best friend, and I wanna make sure she's okay."
Wish-Trish shook her head. "Sorry Lili, but like it or not, you, Matt, and Yuri have to stay in Brasília. The three of you are just too young for an adventure to a place as scary as Panem!"
"No we're not," said Matt.
"Yeah, we wanna help Nessa too," agreed Yuri.
"No," insisted Effie. "The fairies are right. You're even younger than Katniss's sister! Clearly, this adventure is not suitable for you."
"But why do Bongo and Golias get to go and we don't?" Lili asked.
"That's just the way it is," concluded Wish-Trish. "I'm sorry, but that is all we can tell you."
And then suddenly, Bongo, Golias, Effie, the kids, and even the Freaky Friday Fairies were no longer in the latter two's secret base. They were now back in Lili's backyard, standing on the grass, which looked exactly like it had before everyone had tumbled down the secret tunnel.
A tense, sad silence filled the area at that moment, as it became clear to everyone that a plan had been made. Effie, Bongo, Golias, and the fairies would be going to Panem to search for Nessa and undo the switch, and Matt, Yuri, and Lili would not be coming with them. For the first time ever, the boys would have to be separated from their Big Big Friends—not something anyone was happy about. Yet Lili soon decided that, at least in one way, that was fair, since Nessa already had been separated from her. At least she didn't have to worry about being left out in that way; but it still would have been nice to see what Panem was like and learn more about what Effie did there.
Lili's father came back outside, now looking more calm than he had minutes ago, and was confused when he saw Wish-Trish and Objectiva. "Um…where did these fairies come from?"
"Oh," said Lili. "Dad, this is Wish-Trish, and that's Objectiva. They were the ones who made Nessa and Effie switch places, and they're gonna help them switch back." She then explained the plan her friends had come up with to her dad.
He looked really relieved when he learned that his daughter, along with Matt and Yuri, would be staying in Brasília. "Sounds like a good plan. I just came out here to tell all of you…Matt, Yuri, I called your parents, and they're not going to put anyone in the zoo. But they are coming over here to make sure you're both safe."
"Good," said Matt.
Bongo gasped. "Uh, that actually brings up a good point. How are we gonna go to Panem without anyone else trying to lock us in the zoo?"
"I know!" Yuri announced. "Golias, remember the day I needed help flying my kite?"
"Oh yeah," the elephant said, shivering a little as the memory came back to him. "We tried to fly a plane after that, and we couldn't land!"
"Not until Nessa and I helped you land," clarified Lili.
Yuri nodded, noticeably embarrassed by that last part. "So maybe you can use the plane to fly to Panem!"
Golias gulped nervously. "Uh…I don't know, Yuri. What if we can't land it? Again?"
"Then we'll fly next to you and help you land," said Objectiva, motioning to herself and Wish-Trish. "We're fairies, remember?"
"Good," said Effie, sighing with relief. "So…where is this plane?"
"It's in the park," said Yuri. "Come on, let's go find it!"
Lili's father chuckled, and after feeding everyone breakfast (and bringing Lili's baby brothers to their next-door neighbour so they wouldn't have to be all alone while they were gone), he led the group to the kids' favourite playground. Although he once again had to carry Effie, since she didn't want to take Golias's walking-on-all-fours lessons until after they arrived in Panem. "We need to save as much time as possible," she insisted. "So I'll become accustomed to this body while we're in the Capitol, searching for Nessa."
"Whatever works," said Lili's dad.
They eventually got to the park, where Yuri and Golias quickly led everyone to a bench at the top of a hill. When they didn't notice a plane, Lili's father and Effie frowned in confusion.
"Just wait," said Yuri, "you'll see it."
"Alright," said Effie, "but it had better arrive before—ah!" Suddenly, before she even finished her sentence, the bench had disappeared. In its place stood a bright yellow airplane with a pattern resembling the bench's wood, and bench stands instead of wheels; but to her chagrin, there were no windows or even a roof. There were wings, a propeller, three spaces where passengers and a pilot could sit, and a control panel in front of the first seat, but that was it.
An uneasy feeling came over Effie. Was she really supposed to ride…in that? There weren't even any seatbelts! What if she fell out while they were flying? What if the fairies couldn't help them land after all? Surely there had to another kind of flying vehicle they could use, like a blimp…right?
Golias quickly settled into the seat in the middle of the plane. Bongo simultaneously leapt into the pilot's seat, saying, "Wow-wee! I've always wanted to drive a plane!"
Effie swallowed hard as Lili's dad walked over and gently placed her into the back seat of the plane. That settled it; they really were using a roofless plane to travel to Panem. Without any seatbelts. This wasn't safe at all! Why couldn't there at least have been safety bars, like the ones on roller coasters?!
Oh well…at least I won't have to worry about losing any wigs… the tribute escort tried to reassure herself. Then the realization that Nessa might lose a few of her wigs came to her, and her determination to return to her own body overpowered her fears regarding the airplane's layout. She was going to get back to the Capitol and make sure the switch was undone, seatbelts or not.
Tears of sadness filled Yuri's eyes, and he went over to give Golias one last hug. "Be careful, Golias."
"I will, Yuri," reassured his Big Big Friend. "We all will."
"I'll miss you, Bongo," an equally-tearful Matt said, holding the kangaroo's hand.
"Everything'll be fine, Matt," stated Bongo, although he was clearly just as sad about having to leave his best friend as the other boys were. "We'll be back with the real Nessa before you even know it."
"And we won't have to meet all those unfriendly people," added Golias, although he knew deep down that he couldn't promise that.
"I hope you won't have to," whimpered Yuri. He sighed, and then he and Matt stepped away from the plane and back towards Lili, who was getting teary-eyed just by watching her friends' sadness, and her father. It was their way of reluctantly telling the plane's passengers that now, it was time to leave.
"Okay," Golias whispered. "Hey Bongo…want me to help you start the plane?"
Bongo did his best to smile. "A little help would be nice. But uh…shouldn't we put on some pilot goggles first?"
Golias jumped. "That's right! We still need to put on goggles! Comin' right up!" He lowered his trunk into an area under his seat, and when it came out again, three pairs of pilot goggles were attached to it. He put on the green pair and tossed the red pair to Bongo, then helped Effie put on the lavender pair.
"Alright," announced Bongo, once everyone's goggles were on, "hold on tight! We're going to Panem! Uh, wait…how do you make the plane fly?"
"I think you just pull on those red knobs," Golias said, peering over his friend so he could see the control panel.
"Oh okay."
And with that, Bongo placed his hands on the knobs and pulled. The plane took off into the sky at once, and Matt, Yuri, and Lili watched as it flew further and further away—tears silently rolling down their cheeks—until it disappeared from view. Effie screamed in fright the whole time, while Bongo focussed on the pleasures of driving and Golias spread his ears out, as though they were airplane wings. As for Wish-Trish and Objectiva, they simply focused on their own flying, and making sure they didn't fall behind.
Lili's dad scooped his daughter up into his arms and comfortingly hugged her. "It's okay," he said. "They'll be back real soon."
"I know, but it would have been so nice to go with them," insisted Lili. "Now I'll never find out what a mutt is, or what a tribute is, or what an escort is."
Yuri wiped a tear from his cheek. "Maybe it's good that we didn't go. I don't wanna have bad dreams if I meet the bad people in Panem…"
As he continued comforting Lili and watched Matt put his arm around Yuri, Lili's dad silently agreed with Yuri's comment. He wasn't about to discuss it, but there was a reason why, unlike the kids, he'd known about Panem and its cities from the very beginning…
Whoa, several revelations here! Will Effie and her new friends manage to get to the Capitol before the Hunger Games begin? And what secret could Lili's father be hiding? Find out what happens next in the next chapter of this fanfic, which is coming soon…