Chapter 7
Back at the Castle, the other Defenders had been looking for Thorne and Shaiden for what had seemed like an eternity. Most of them were getting fully involved, but two out of the Notorious Nine seemed to be distancing themselves.
Kook was checking every crevice, nook and cranny. He knew it would be no use, but Shaiden had to somewhere in the Castle. But, what if she wasn't in the Castle at all…?
No, he thought. He had to stay optimistic. If he found her, then maybe, just maybe…
His thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like crying. Very quiet crying. It sounded almost like… no, it couldn't be, she never cries…
"No crocodile tears, no crocodile tears…" came a quiet chant.
He crept around the corner, to see a figure with her back against the outside moat wall, and her head in her hands. Kook recognized it immediately.
"Croc?" he asked in his gentlest voice.
She stopped chanting and replied, her words muffled by sniffles. "Kook? What are you doing down here, shouldn't you be helping the others?"
Kook shook his head. "Not until I know why you're crying." he answered, kneeling down beside her.
Crocness lifted her head slowly. "It's Albert." she said sadly. "He's run away."
Albert was Crocness' pet crocodile. They'd been friends since her first day of training, hardly ever apart. Kook knew she'd be distraught.
"It's OK," he said, trying to reassure her. "There are plenty more reptiles in the moat."
"I see what you did there." she said, smiling. "But none of them are like Albert. I know, I've seen every single one of them."
She paused, and looked over at the moat, that was just beyond where she was sitting. "And I know he's not coming back." she continued. "Reptiles, once they leave their owners, they never return."
Kook's face was now completely out of character. Instead of the chirpy smile everyone was used to, it was fixed into a frown.
"What matters now is finding Thorne and Shaiden." he said, looking her in the eyes. "If we don't find them, the Castle will be vulnerable. And then, you might lose your relatives, your closest friends…"
"My life." Crocness said.
"Well, I wouldn't go that far." Kook said, surprised at Croc's sudden sense of hopelessness.
"No," she corrected, "my job here at the Castle, you guys- all of it, it's my life. If I hadn't got into doing all this, then I'd just be a strange half-crocodile, half human girl, with no place in the world."
"Which is why you need to find Thorne and Shaiden." Kook said, the trademark smile returning to his face. "Go on Croc- do it for Albert."
Crocness got up, and smiled. She put her hand on her heart. "This one's for you, buddy." she whispered happily.
The two of them ran off to rejoin the others.