CHAPTER SIX
"Huey?" One of the twins asked, and even though I couldn't see them I knew both of the twins had walked inside the room, "What happened? Are you ok?"
"Did Uncle Donald scare you?" The other twin asked, "He didn't mean anything, he just-Huey, are you in here?"
I could hear them walking around the room looking for me, and someone even opened the drawers. I really hoped they wouldn't find me; I was sure they'd tell Donald.
"Maybe he's not in here," one of them said, "He's not under the bunk bed."
"And he's not under this bed either."
"But if he's not here, where could he be?"
I kept my breath quiet. I didn't want to be found! Not by Donald!
"Quackywahkboys?" The shadows in the room flickered as the door was pushed further open.
Speaking of Donald, it sounded like he had walked in. Thankfully, he didn't sound mad anymore. But that doesn't really mean anything.
"No luck Uncle Donald," one of the boys answered.
"But we saw him go in here, right?" The other asked.
"Aye, that we did." I heard Uncle Scrooge say, and suddenly the bunk bed started shaking.
Someone was climbing the ladder. I felt my heart drop.
"Uncle Scrooge?" One of the twins asked.
I forced myself to look in the direction of the ladder, and I saw Uncle Scrooge's hat slowly bobbing up towards the ceiling before his face came into view.
Our eyes met, and I held the pillow tighter.
"Now then," Uncle Scrooge said, suddenly turning away from me, "Dewey and Louie, I want the both of ye ta go watch some television for a while."
"Is Huey up there?" They asked, almost exactly at the same time, and I felt the bed shake. But since Uncle Scrooge was on the ladder, I think they must have been trying to climb up the side.
"Get down!" He told them, although he didn't sound mad or anything, "Now run along, lads! Yer Uncle Donald and I have everything under control here. Go play for a while."
With some grumbling, the shaking of the bunk bed stopped and the boys left the room. One of them closed the door behind them, leaving us alone.
"Now Huey," Uncle Scrooge said, but I wasn't looking at him anymore. "Yer Uncle Donald isn't mad at you. He wants ta apologize for frightening you."
I remained quiet. Scrooge didn't budge an inch from where he was standing on the ladder, and Donald was still somewhere in the room.
"Huey," Uncle Scrooge said softly, "Donald would never hurt you. He doesn't ever hurt Dewey or Louie. He gets angry, aye, but he's never hurt anyone."
What was he talking about? That didn't make any sense.
Uncle Scrooge sighed. "I'm coming up," he announced, and with a few more shakes of the bunk bed, he crawled over to where I was curled up.
"There now," he said, sitting up next to me and dangling his feet over the edge. "Donald? Have you got anything to say?"
I followed where Uncle Scrooge was looking and peeked over the side of the bed. I didn't realize that Donald had been sitting on the bunk below us.
He looked up at us, but didn't say anything. Instead, he was crying silently.
Crying? Why was he crying?
"Why are you crying?"
Oops. I said it out loud. Quickly, I ducked back into the bed.
"Even grownups have ta cry every now and then," Uncle Scrooge said, quietly. "Go ahead, Donald. If ya speak slowly enough, he'll understand you."
I poked my head over the side again, and looked at the duck who was sitting below.
"I-" he began, "I'm very sorry for scaring you, Huey. I didn't mean to."
It was slow enough that I could make out every word.
"You're not mad?" I asked.
"Mad?" He asked loudly, and I ducked back into the bed again, "Why would I be MAD?!"
I was a little scared because it seemed like he was going to get mad while saying he wasn't, but when I looked over Uncle Scrooge was gently swaying both legs back and forth, unconcerned.
"I'm sorry Sir," I said, poking my head over again, "I thought you were mad, and I made you upset. Please forgive me."
Donald looked back up at me again. "There is nothing to forgive," he said slowly, "Huey, I love you. I promise not to hurt you."
What the heck was he talking about?
"Huey," Donald said slowly, "I missed you so much when you were lost. I wanted to raise you just like Dewey or Louie. I want you to eat good food, play games, and I wanted to be your Uncle Donald."
He started to cry again. "Can I-can I still be your Uncle Donald?" He asked, his face in his hands.
I didn't know what to say, so I just looked at Uncle Scrooge.
"There now," he said, rubbing my head, "Just say yes, lad."
"Y-yes, Donald. I mean, Uncle Donald." I said.
Uncle Scrooge rubbed my head even more. Uncle Donald looked up and smiled.
I really didn't get it, but it seemed like everyone was happy now and I wasn't in trouble after all.
"Huey," Uncle Donald said, continuing to speak slowly so I could understand him, "Soon we'll be going on a trip with Uncle Scrooge. So, if you ever think I'm scary, you can stick with him. And if-if you still think I'm scary, you can live with him instead of me."
"Okay." I said.
"Now then," Uncle Scrooge said, bringing his legs in and crawling to the ladder, "Why don't we all go back to the kitchen and get some more hot chocolate? Huey, how does that sound?"
What? I could get more hot chocolate?
I crawled over to the ladder. Uncle Scrooge landed at the bottom of it, and Uncle Donald had walked over to quietly stand next to him.
"But it's not lunch yet?" I asked.
"Of course not," Uncle Scrooge said, waving his hand as if tossing away a problem.
"It's not lunch yet, and I can have more?" I asked again, just to make sure.
Uncle Donald smiled, even though it was a little sad smile, and Uncle Scrooge nodded with a grin.
So naturally, I scrambled down the ladder. When I was a few rungs from the bottom, someone grabbed me by the sides and lifted me to the ground.
I froze as soon as I was grabbed, and for all of three seconds I thought for sure that I would be thrown against the bed or the ground. When my feet touched the floor, I could have cried for joy.
I turned around to see Uncle Donald behind me.
"Sorry," he said, looking embarrassed, "Force of habit."
What did he mean by that?
"Come on, lads." Uncle Scrooge said with a smile as he opened the bedroom door, "It's time for some more hot chocolate!"
I followed Uncle Donald and Uncle Scrooge out the door, letting them lead the way. As soon as we were in the kitchen, Uncle Donald sat down at the table. This time it was Uncle Scrooge who started rummaging through the cupboards.
"Huey? Are you alright?"
I turned around, and the twins were behind me.
"What happened?" Louie asked.
"I thought you boys were going ta watch television." Uncle Scrooge said, filling a pot with water and placing it on the stove.
"Uncle Scrooge, are you cooking?" Dewey asked.
"Aye," he said, turning on the gas, "I wouldna survived in the Yukon if I didn't know how ta cook."
"This again," Louie said, rolling his eyes, "We've heard your Yukon tales like, a million times already."
"Keep that up, and ya won't be getting any more hot chocolate." Uncle Scrooge said, grabbing three cups at once from the cupboard. He then grabbed two more, placing them all on the counter together.
Dewey and Louie sat down quickly at the table next to Uncle Donald.
"We'll be good, Uncle Scrooge!" They said together.
"Aye, that you will. Well, now that we're all back here, it's as good a time as any ta tell you boys why we're going on this trip." Uncle Scrooge said, turning around to look at everyone while he waited for the water to boil.
"Isn't it just to find more treasure?" Louie asked, rolling his eyes.
Treasure?
"Not quite," Uncle Scrooge said, pulling up the only remaining seat at the table. "Huey, sit down."
I sat down obediently.
"Not on the floor lad," Uncle Scrooge said, rolling his eyes and pointing to the chair he had just pulled up. "Get in the chair."
I don't know why Uncle Scrooge gave me the last chair at the table, but when I sat down there were no more seats. Now Uncle Scrooge was left standing, but he seemed to be okay with it.
"We're going to solve the mystery of the lost civilization of the Drakes." He began. "Legend has it, they invented giant mechanical beings that terrorized the ancient world. When the Drakes were conquered by the Romans, that technology was lost. Recently I discovered a lost scroll with a clue ta where they hid their invention, and we're going ta find it."
Dewey and Louie gasped. "So there's a lost civilization with robots?" Louie asked.
"Cool!" Dewey said.
"Robots? What are robots?" I asked.
Dewey and Louie looked at me, and for a second I thought I had said something wrong again.
Then Dewey ran out of his seat over to mine.
"We'll show you!" He said, grabbing my hand, "Come on!"
"But Uncle Scrooge said for me to sit-"
"Uncle Donald will call us when the hot chocolate's ready," Louie said, "Come on, come on! How can you not know about robots?"
As the boys pulled me out of my chair and into the other room, a phone rang. Naturally I stopped moving even though the twins were trying to pull me along, since phones ringing are hardly ever a good thing. But when Uncle Scrooge pulled a phone out of his pocket and answered it, I remembered that I was no longer in the trailer with Ratmeat and Crazyhair.
"Hello?" He asked, and I let the boys pull me out of the room.
"Donald, we've got a problem. We've got ta leave as soon as possible," I heard Uncle Scrooge say, but then Louie and Dewey dragged me into their bedroom and introduced me to some more of their cool toys.