CHAPTER TEN

I froze. The entire area froze.

Ratmeat even froze. His hands were outstretched, about to grab Dewey who was all alone.

Dewey was down on one knee, tying his shoe. He was just looking up, surprised.

Why wasn't he running?!

This was definitely Ratmeat. He shouldn't even be here, but here he was...and Dewey...Dewey was in trouble...

Why couldn't I move?

Suddenly, Uncle Donald shouted and time unfroze. All of a sudden he was standing next to Dewey. He must have jumped ten feet in a split-second. Actually, how'd he do that?

"HANDS OFF!" Uncle Donald yelled, just as Ratmeat grabbed Dewey by the collar. "I SAID, HANDS OFF!" Uncle Donald repeated, before he punched Ratmeat in the face.

Wait. Did I see that right? He punched Ratmeat? Ratmeat?

This gave Dewey the chance to jump up from the ground, so he ran up to me and hid behind my back.

His shoe was still untied.

"Dewey! Donald!" Uncle Scrooge shouted, running up to us.

Ratmeat growled. "You're going to pay for that." He said to Uncle Donald.

"Stay away from MY BOYS!" Uncle Donald shouted, and then suddenly his face got all red. Then, just like that time in the houseboat, he got very upset. There weren't any dishes to break, but suddenly he was moving insanely fast. Like a tornado.

Ratmeat threw a punch, but missed. Uncle Donald's punches kept landing, but Ratmeat couldn't touch him!

I had no idea Uncle Donald was so amazing! Ratmeat couldn't hit him! Ratmeat!

"NEVER! TOUCH! MY! BOYS! AGAIN!" Uncle Donald shouted, and for the first time in my life Ratmeat ran away from a fight, beaten and bruised.

Uncle Donald breathed heavily as Ratmeat got away.

Someone touched my shoulder, and I almost jumped out of my shoes.

"-hear me? Huey." Oh, it was just Uncle Scrooge. He had one hand on Dewey's shoulder, and the other on mine. "Are you alright, lad?"

"What the heck was up with that guy?" Louie shouted. When did Louie get here? I didn't even notice that he was behind me.

"Dewey, are you alright?" Louie asked.

"Dewey!" Uncle Donald said, coming up to us and kneeling at eye level. He grabbed Dewey by the shoulders.

"I-I'm ok," Dewey said, "But that creep was scary!"

And then, to my surprise, Dewey started crying.

"That whole thing was just so...weird." Louie said.

"It's ok, Dewey. It's ok. Let it allllll out." Uncle Donald said, comforting Dewey.

Was Ratmeat really that scary to him?

"Huey," Uncle Scrooge said softly, "Are you alright?"

"I-I think so," I said.

I mean, Ratmeat was probably after me the whole time, not Dewey. That whole grabbing thing was supposed to be for me. But that was pretty normal.

"That-that was just so...not normal!" Dewey shouted.

Wait. What?

"Uncle Donald, that weird guy was going to kidnap me! I think he's the same creepy guy I saw back in the alley by the hotel. He must've followed us out here!" Dewey shouted.

Uncle Scrooge's arm on my shoulder tightened.

"You saw him by the hotel?" He questioned.

"Y-yes." Dewey sniffled.

"Donald, I've met that creepy guy before." Uncle Scrooge said.

"Oh?" Uncle Donald said, "One of your enemies? Why was he after Dewey?"

"Donald." Uncle Scrooge said, very slowly, "That was Ratmeat."

Uncle Donald stopped.

"What?" He asked. "Huey, is this true?"

I don't know why he turned to look at me, but I just nodded.

Suddenly, Uncle Donald went ballistic. He yelled, screamed, and kicked a giant rock next to the path. It actually split in two.

For some reason, this time I wasn't afraid of Uncle Donald when he screamed.

"I'M GOING AFTER HIM!" I heard Uncle Donald say, "HE'S GOT TEN YEARS OF A BEATING COMING, AND I'M GOING TO GIVE IT TO HIM!"

"Not now, Donald! Not in front of the boys!" Uncle Scrooge said, letting go of me and Dewey. He rushed up Uncle Donald and yanked him back just as he started off down the path, "Come on! Ratmeat isn't here anymore. We're almost at the secret entrance, and he won't be able to follow us inside. I'm going to give the police here a call, and by the time we get to Duckburg he'll be back in jail. So CALM DOWN ALREADY!"

"I've never seen Uncle Donald so upset." Dewey whispered. He actually looked relieved when he said that.

"Will someone please explain what's going on?" Louie said.

Uncle Scrooge was still trying to stop Uncle Donald from leaving, so I decided to answer the question instead.

"Ratmeat tried to grab you." I explained. "He's not very nice."

"You know him?" Louie asked.

"Yeah." I said. I don't know why, but I was shaking. "I really don't want to go back there."

"Is he-" Dewey said softly, "Is he the guy who kidnapped you?"

I nodded.

"That explains why Uncle Donald is so mad." Louie said.

Just then, Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald both came back.

"Lads, are ya alright?" Uncle Scrooge asked.

"Uncle Scrooge, can we go back to the hotel?" Dewey asked, "Huey's crying."

I was crying? I touched my face, and sure enough it was wet.

"Alright lads," Uncle Scrooge said, sounding a little sad, "Let's shelter in the secret entrance. I'll call a helicopter from there, and we'll head on home to Duckburg."

"But, the treasure..." Uncle Donald said slowly.

"It's not going anywhere." Uncle Scrooge said. "We'll come back for it later."

"What?" Dewey and Louie said, sounding very surprised.

"We're not even going back to the hotel?" Louie said.

"Can we keep going?" I asked.

Suddenly, I froze. I shouldn't have asked that. I shouldn't have asked that. I shouldn't have-

"If the rest of you are ok with it," Uncle Scrooge said, pushing at the cliff wall for some reason.

All of a sudden, the cliff wall moved inward and a path opened up in front of us.

"Come on in." Uncle Scrooge said, "We'll decide once we're inside."

We all walked into the cave, and the wall closed up behind us. We were in a cave that was attached to a long tunnel. It was very dark until Uncle Scrooge turned on a flashlight.

"Alright now." He said, "We have a couple options to consider. We could go back to Duckburg, or we could keep going. You all think very carefully what you want to do. I'm going to make an important call, and we'll decide when I'm finished."

Uncle Scrooge then opened up a cell phone, and walked down the tunnel a little. I think he started calling the police.

"How does he even have service in here?" Louie mumbled.

"Alright, boys." Uncle Donald said slowly, "What do you want to do?"

"Can...can we find the treasure before leaving?" Louie asked, looking at me and Dewey. "I mean, if you guys are ok with that."

"I think," Dewey said, wiping his face with his shirt, "I think I want to finish what we started. But Huey, are you ok?"

I nodded. I might have frozen when Ratmeat showed up, and I might have cried, but things were already a whole lot better."

"Right." Uncle Scrooge said, pocketing his cell phone and coming back to the circle, "So, what have you all decided?"

"We want to keep going." Dewey said.

"Huey, are you alright with that?" Uncle Scrooge said.

I nodded.

"Right then, let's get going." Uncle Scrooge said.

I grabbed onto the back of Uncle Scrooge's shirt.

"Yes? What is it?" He asked.

"I saw him by the hotel too," I whispered, "But I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me."

I looked at Uncle Scrooge directly in the eye.

"Why didn't you tell me he was out of jail?" I whispered, "If you did, I would have known that was him, and he wouldn't have made Dewey cry."

I think I let go of the back of his shirt, but for some reason I was a lot closer to Uncle Scrooge now. Was he kneeling on the ground? Or did I push him over?

"He almost took Dewey because he thought that was me," I said, "That would have been my fault if he got hurt. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

Suddenly, I realized what I was doing. I was holding Uncle Scrooge by the collar of his shirt, and yelling at his face.

What have I done?!

Quickly I let go, and took several steps back.

"Huey." Uncle Scrooge said, speaking very slowly, "I'm sorry."

I don't understand.

Behind us was a long pathway, hidden in the dark.

"Huey-"

I know the dark. I don't need light.

So, I ran.