Chapter 25

Looks are deceiving

6/3/02, 6/12/02

"We have to follow her." Master Tibo said as he watched her being flown to the other cliff.

"That would take days." Pointed the gray one. "Look."

"We will just have to find other way." The red one said. The yellow one went up to Peter who had his hands over his eyes crying.

"This…" he sniffed and took his hands from his eyes, but didn't look up. "Is all my fault."

"It sure is." shouted Master Tibo angrily. "I otta…"

"Stop it you two." the red one got between them. "We have to get her back. Come on." He tugged on Peter's sleeve.

" I have an idea, guys. There is a bridge that connects the two cliffs." Red one called as they started to walk. All of them stop to look over the edge at the bridge. "Over there." A bridge with ropes on both sides, made with planks of wood in the middle. The ropes were tied off at the ends near the cliffs with wooden stakes in the ground. Peter thought the bridge would be easy enough for the dogs and him to cross.

"But how are we going to get down there. It's too far to just jump." Master Tibo called. Peter wiped the tears from his eyes. Then peered over the side making sure that he didn't go to far this time. He swallowed he hated to mention this way but hee knew that it might be his only way. "There are small groves, only big enough for one at a time, in the rocks. We could go down the mountain side that way."

"What?" Master Tibo came out to look. Peter showed them to him.

"See," Peter pointed to one of them. "Those." Peter swallowed at the thought of being so far up on the rocks. "We have to do it this way. I…."

"Let's do it then." Master Tibo said. "Nice and slow." He looked at Peter. "I'm in charged. You…."

"I understand. You want me last." Master Tibo didn't answer him.

"He will get over it once we are on our way," said the red one. "I know how he gets." All the wolf dogs made it down the side of the mountain with ease.

"You can do this Peter. Just don't look down as you climb." The yellow encroughed him. The rest of the wolf dogs sat on the bridge cheering him on.

I've never had wolf dogs cheer at me before. It feels good. At least some of them have confidence in me. Cause sure I don't. What if something goes wrong? Peter shook his head, and then continued downwards.

"That's it Peter. A few more to go." Master Tibo already went across the bridge by the time that Peter made it there. Peter took one look at the bridge and then froze.

"Oh no, not again." said the red one. "I'll have to go back and get him." He turned back around and came back across the bridge to Peter. "What's the matter?"

"I can't do this." He stepped back from the bridge.

"We have too." The red one stepped forward towards Peter. "We have to save her." he noticed that that didn't faze Peter at all. "We have to save your friends."

Peter stepped forward some.

"That's it. Remember you are helping your friends." Peter snapped out of his trance.

"You're right my friends," he smiled. "They are counting on me."

"They are. Just like I'm."

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go." Peter hesitates one more time at the edge of the ropes. I have to do this, I have to do this. He said over and over. He took a deep breath. Then starts to enter the bridge. It starts to rock because of the weight. Oh great not this again. He held onto the sides of the rope. Calm down. He slowly took a few more steps. That was easy. He slowly mad his way about to the middle then stop again. This isn't so bad. He kept going.

"Duck." Peter duck just in time to see a purple Terror Wing swoop down at him. I have to turn on the jets if I want to make it to the other side alive. A Terror Wing landing right in front of him. The bridge bounced up and down. Peter had to hold on tight so he wouldn't fall. The red dog turned around when he heard Peter scream. I can't get around that bird. What are we going to do now? Out of the sky came his answer. A White Terror wing, the red dog had never seen a white one, flew down right in front of Peter between him and the purple one. Squawks were made and wings flapped in the air. The gust was so strong that it knocked Peter down.

"Hold on Peter." The birds fraught with each other. Peter saw his chance to crawl under them. And that's what he did. The birds scraped and clawed at each other, not apaying attention to Peter at all. The bird went over the side of the bridge and out of sight. Another Terror Wing, this one green, took over and snapped the ropes at the other end of the bridge.

"Peter hold on." Peter grabbed hold on to the ropes and pray they would snap all the way but they did. The bridge went flying. "Ahhh…." Peter scream. It slammed against the other side of the cliff. Peter stupidly looked down. He swallowed, straight down was a riverbed with rocks.

"Don't let go." He heard.

"Don't worry. I won't." Thee red wolf dog came to the edge of the now straight down ladder. "You will have to climb it now." Inch by inch Peter climbed the bridge like a ladder. He almost made it to the top until the green Terror Wing stood in his way. He swallowed at least I made it this far to find you Egon. He said as the Winged creature swiped at him. Peter let go with one hand.

"No." yelled. The red wolf dog from his safety spot. Peter held on. "I don't know how much longer. His fingers started to lose his grip. And then did. "Ahh.." he started a free fall and landed on something soft. "What the…" he was moving again. "How?" They stop and that's when he realized that he was on the back of the white Terror Wing. He stubble back and off of him. The bird just took off again. Two purple Terror Wings followed it. That thing, that white one he saved me. Why? Peter thought. I thought they were all bad creatures. The red wolf dog watched to make sure the coast was clear before giving up his hiding spot, went over to Peter.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he patted down his sides. "I think."

"What a ride that must have been."

"Yeah." He shook his head. Why didn't that one try to kill us like the rest of them? He stood up and almost fell back down. "I have to rest some."

"We have to get you out of the line of fire first. They might be back for us." Peter with all his strength got to his feet again and walked to the cave enterence.

NY:

Israel stared at the map a few minutes. A lady called out, "Hey, Dr. Spengler. It's funny to see you out here." Israel turned to face the woman as she walked up to him. She could tell that he looked confused about something. "Do you need help?"

"Well," he looked back down at the map that the sturdiest made for him.

"I can't seem to find my way to this so called "firehouse". I was looking for…."

"Oh, the Firehouse is on 42nd Street. That's about 20 miles from here. You should be familiar with where you live. I can drop you off if you want me too."

"Would you?" Israel looked at the woman with kindness in his eyes.

"Sure. I was just about to head that way myself. I'm Monica." She shook his hand. "I'm one of Janine's friends." Why was everyone so nice to me? Is my brother that big of a celebrity up here? I'm not complaining about the help though. I need it in this big city. He followed Monica to her car. He got in not giving it another thought. He sat staring out the window of the car. So I do have a brother and from the title she called he was a doctor of some short. Great, now the big question is how do I talk to him? What's the best way to approach this situation? Should I even go? I can't back out now, I've come too far.

"So why were you the only one to come back?" Monica asked, as they had to stop for a train to pass.

"Well," Israel didn't want to tell anyone about why he was out here. He didn't think that it would be the right time. He thought that his brother should be the first to know. "I went out of town for a few weeks by myself, to clear my head some. That wasn't lie, well not exactly. Right? The guys didn't come." He lied.

"Oh," Just then it dongged on Monica that that when Janine said that Joshua got her pregnant and left, she was really talking about Egon. Could it be that he was back in her life. That was great news. "You came back?" Monica questioned; it was more to herself than anything, for she was still in such disbelieve.

"Yeah, I miss this place so much." Israel was wanting, the train to hurry up. He was getting uncomfortable about lying to her. He really was not good at that kind of thing. They were just around the corner of 42nd St .

"Here we are."

"That's were I live?" Monica gave him a funny look. He has been gone too long if he has forgotten that that is where he lives.

"How long have you been gone?"

"I have no clue. I just needed to get way for some time to think." To Israel, that was a good way to explain himself.

"I bet Janine is going to be happy to see you. She has missed you so much. That is why I was going to visit her." Janine? Who was that? It was probably his brother's girlfriend and they got into some fight or something. She looked back over at Israel. "So are you excited about becoming a father or what?"

"Uh." He didn't know how to react to that one. What did his brother do? Was he married or did he have a one-night stand relationship with this Janine person? He was about to get an ear full. He just knew it.

"So you are speechless. Most men are. You'll do fine." She reached over and patted him on the shoulder. Just then a car pulled out in front of them. Monica slammed on the breaks. The tires screeched. Monica rolled down her window, "You stupid teenager. Learn how to drive in New York!" She made it to the back parking lot and parked. "Go on in! I'll let the two of you see each other first." She urged Israel. "Tell her that I'm in the car and making plans." Unseen by either one of them, Janine was watching from the upstairs window. She heard the tire screeching and wanted to see what the hell was going on outside. When she saw, what she believed to be Egon, she raced downstairs to meet him. She grabbed him around the neck. Israel didn't really know what to do. She kissed him on the lips thinking that it he Egon, as this was going on Suzzy and Cyrus came around the corner.

"Great she thinks that Israel is Egon. Now what? It's all your fault for telling him the truth." Cyrus yelled.

"It's not my fault!" Suzzy shouted back. "I was sick and tired of having to lie to him. His father is dead and will not come back to hurt either of them. I didn't think that there would be any harm in telling him." Her voice was slowly returning to a normal tone now. "I really didn't think that he was going to actually look his brother up." They noticed that Janine and Israel starting to head towards the door of the building. "Now what?"

"We have to follow them." They both got out of the car. "Just great, how do we explain all of this mess to all of them?" Cyrus argued. On the inside, Janine hollered for Ray and Winton to get downstairs.

"What is the big idea of yelling so much?" Winston questioned. Then he saw what he thought was Egon. "No way man, this can't be happening." He grabbed Israel and hugged him. "Good to have you back buddy." Ray approached. He looked around. "But where's Peter?" Israel was thinking of a lie that he could tell them. He wanted to tell them that he wasn't Egon but really didn't know how. Just then his answer came when there was a knock at the door. Someone to save me.

to be continued……