CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I woke up to cold water splashing on my face.
It was so normal that for a second I thought I was back in the trailer with Ratmeat and Crazyhair, but then I saw Uncle Donald splash Louie with a little water too. That's when I realized I was still in Duckburg, in the kitchen.
"Are you boys alright?!" Uncle Donald shouted, grabbing Louie's face in both hands and turning it side to side, "Are you hurt?"
"My head hurts," Dewey said next to me. His face was also wet.
"How hurt?" Uncle Donald zipped over to Dewey and was examining his hair for some reason, "Is it a bruise or a cut? Did you hit your head anywhere?"
"It's a headache, but I don't think I got hit anywhere. What happened?"
Yeah, what happ-
Wait, didn't everyone fall asleep?
"Where's Uncle Scrooge?" I asked. I know I was interrupting, but they would forgive me since he was important, right?
"He's okay, just fixing up things in the control room." Uncle Donald said, "Someone let in knock-out gas and tried to take over the mansion's security, but your Uncle Scrooge turned on the fan system."
"Do you think it was Ratmeat?" Louie asked.
"Not sure," Uncle Donald said, finally letting go of Dewey's head.
I guess the next thing he'd do is get a towel to clean the boys, so I grabbed a clean dish towel to hand to him.
"Do you think we're safe here?" Dewey asked.
"Thanks," Uncle Donald said as he took the towel, and to my surprise he dried my face first, "Now boys, your Uncle Scrooge is going to check to make sure the rest of the house is still secure. So, I want you all to stay together so we know where you are. Let's see, the theater room sounds good? No windows...Let's stop by your bedroom for some toys first and then I'll walk you to the theater room."
He started walking as he talked, so I followed the others into the bedroom. The boys started grabbing toys off the ground, and everyone had to carry something. I didn't have anything to carry, so Uncle Donald dug into the back of the closet and pulled out a shiny red robot toy. He handed it to me with a "here you go" and then grabbed an identical green robot that he handed to Louie.
I don't like carrying other people's toys, they can get pretty mad if I drop them, but my brothers didn't seem to mind that I was carrying their red toy. Dewey decided not to carry anything and put a bunch of toys into a suitcase instead.
"Ready? Then follow me," Uncle Donald said.
On the way downstairs, Dewey dragging the suitcase behind him, we passed by Uncle Scrooge in the hallway.
"When yer done settlin' them in, Donald, I want yer help in the control room." Uncle Scrooge said, "Oh, don't forget about the checkers set for Huey."
"On it," Uncle Donald said, ushering us to keep going, "Now you boys stay put and play nicely, okay? Be sure to share."
He pushed us into the theater room and closed the door.
"Here you go," I said to Louie, offering him the red robot.
"That's ok, I haven't played with my green one yet." Louie said.
"Before we fell asleep," I said, passing the red toy to Dewey, "I think I found out what Head of the Mighty means."
"What does it mean?" Dewey asked, placing the red robot on the ground and taking out toys from the suitcase to join it.
"I think it means the head of a river." I was kind of surprised that I said that. What if they disagreed?
My brothers looked up at me, pausing the actions of the toys they were now both setting up.
"Why do you think that?" Louie asked. It didn't sound like he was being sarcastic.
"Remember the directions?" I asked, then began speaking from memory: "Those Drakes who seek that which we have hidden, go to the head of the mighty. When you are at the head, remember your children. Then you will find the way to the Forgotten. The Forgotten is a place where they hid their robots. A river would have been really mighty to them, right? And a river lasts a long time, so it would be a landmark that wouldn't change."
"But there isn't a mighty river there, is there?" Dewey asked.
"But rivers can change over time," Louie said.
"But if you get to the head of the river, what does it mean to remember your children?" Dewey questioned.
"I think," I said, "That if someone is traveling, and really loves their family, that they would look back to where the family is."
At least, if they are part of a family like Uncle Donald's family. I've seen him look behind him at us all the time.
"So it means to look back to the city where they came from!" Louie said. "UNCLE DONALD! HUEY FOUND THE ANSWER!"
"QUIET!" Uncle Donald shouted from another room. A few footsteps later, and the movie theater door opened again. "Alright, what answer?" He asked, handing me the chess set.
After Louie and Dewey explained things to Uncle Donald, and after Uncle Donald walked away and explained things to Uncle Scrooge, Uncle Scrooge came into the room and announced that the house was secure and, because there really was an old dried up river, we now had a new destination for a treasure hunt.
"Huey, here's your robot toy." Dewey said, taking the red robot toy from his bag while we were on the airplane. "And I noticed that you forgot your marble too, you left it in the bag." He passed me the marble.
We were sitting three in a row, with me in the middle seat.
"Okay," I said, "How long would you like me to hold onto them for you?"
Dewey and Louie stopped, and looked at me.
"But that's yours, Huey." Louie said.
"We gave you that marble when we first met," Dewey said, "Louie got it from Webby."
"Keep it somewhere safe," Louie said, "You can leave it with the other marbles if you really want, but it belongs to you."
Wait. WHAT.
You mean that entire time, they weren't giving them to me to borrow?
"And the red robot?" I asked.
"That's yours too!" Dewey said, "The green one is Louie's, the blue one is mine."
"Anything red is yours," Louie said, "Your red shirt, the red blanket on your bed, stuff like that."
"Uncle Donald still likes it when we share," Dewey continued, "And we can play with things together. But when it's time to put things away, you have to put away your own toys."
This was...wow. MY shirt, MY blanket? I only had to put away my own toys and not the other toys?
What...what the heck?
"Uncle Scrooge!" I said, unbuckling the seat and jumping past Louie to get into the airplane aisle, "Uncle Scrooge!"
"Yes Lad, what is it?" Uncle Scrooge asked, sitting in his own seat. I think he had just been talking with Uncle Donald next to him, but since he didn't continue talking I took that as permission to speak.
"Is this really mine?" I asked, shoving the red robot almost in his face, "I'm not borrowing it, but really mine now and forever?"
"Yes Lad," Uncle Scrooge looked a very little surprised, glancing at Uncle Donald.
"And this one too?" I asked, showing him the marble, "They gave it to me."
"Yes Lad." Uncle Scrooge said.
"I can't believe it!" I said, hugging him and then jumping into the row to hug Uncle Donald, who was still seated. "This means the Marble is the Very First Thing of my very own!"
I was so excited that I hugged them both again, then hugged Dewey and Louie who had also unbuckled and had walked up behind me.
"What's the big deal? It's not like you haven't had other stuff before," Louie said.
I smiled, but didn't answer and hugged him again.
"Alright, settle down now." Uncle Scrooge said, "We've still got some time before we land, go ahead and play with yer toys while Uncle Donald and I talk and make a few phone calls."
I smiled and grabbed my brother's hands, yanking them towards the back of the plane. We had an entire plane ride with so many empty seats, and our very own toys to use!