Meechee, meanwhile, had stuffed Percy into a sack and had tied him to her with a rope, the way she’d seen Migo do. She traveled down the mountain carefully, checking on Percy every few minutes to make sure he was okay.
When she reached the bottom of the mountain, she followed sounds and lights until she reached the human city. She saw a human building with steam coming out of a vent on the side. She put some cardboard boxes together to make a crude bed for the Smallfoot and laid him down on them.
Very quickly he began to breathe more easily, and the pink color returned to his cheeks.
“Okay, little guy. You can breathe easy now. See? You’re home now,” Meechee said. “You can relax.”
She stared at Percy for a few moments, making sure he was okay.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The rhythmic beat of electronic music floated through the air. Curious, Meechee walked away, heading toward the sound of the music.
Percy’s eyes fluttered open. “Ahhh, I can breathe,” he said gratefully. A red neon sign blinking the word “Coffee” made him squint. “Where am I?”
He leaped up and saw that he was back in the human village.
“Wait. If I’m here, then where . . . ?”
He suddenly saw Meechee. She was strolling down the street, past the shops, curiously looking into windows.
“She saved my life,” Percy realized.
People started to poke their heads out of their doors, astonished by the site of the furry creature strolling through their village.
“Oh no, no, no!” Percy cried.
Meechee had reached the center of town, where a pretty tree grew next to a pagoda. She felt the leaves on the tree and knelt down to look inside the pagoda. A group of human legs came into her line of vision.
“Oh! Another Smallfoot . . . and another, and another!” she said happily. She stood up and looked around. The humans stared back at her, openmouthed.
“Hi,” Meechee said.
But the humans all heard: Groowwwwwl.
The crowd took a step back from her—everyone except a little girl. She ran gleefully toward Meechee, away from her terrified mother. She reached up to Meechee with a tiny hand.
“Awwwww,” Meechee said.
And the humans heard: Grrrrrrrr . . .
The little girl touched Meechee’s hand, bringing tears to the Yeti’s eyes. She had dreamed of discovering a Smallfoot, and here she was, surrounded by them! And they were so cute!
Migo, Gwangi, and Kolka reached the village in time to see the crowd surrounding Meechee.
“Oh no!” Migo cried. “We’ve got to get to her before she attracts too much attention.”
At his words, sirens began to sound, and swirling lights began to flash.
“Too late,” Kolka said.
The crowd, who had been enchanted by Meechee, burst into excited chatter. Percy pushed through them.
“Move! Please! For the love of Yeti!” he cried.
A voice came over a loudspeaker. “Everybody, do not panic. Remain calm and run for your lives.”
Police officers slammed barricades around Meechee, just as Percy made his way to the front of the crowd.
“No! Wait!” Percy yelled. “I know her!”
The officers ignored Percy. They aimed a bright spotlight at Meechee. Animal control officers opened cases containing tranquilizer guns, nets, and animal traps.
“Oh no, NO!” Percy wailed.
Thwoosh! One of the officers shot a net at Meechee. The hook that was attached to the net landed on her foot.
Meechee reacted with surprise. Grooowwwwwwlllll!
Her roar caused chaos, sending the crowd running in all directions. They bumped into the officers and their equipment.
“No! Come back! Please!” Meechee begged. She had no idea what kind of danger she was in.
The animal control officers reloaded their nets. The crowd ignored the orders to run and stayed behind the barricades, eager to see what was going to happen.
Meechee spotted Percy.
“Hi. What’s happening?” she asked. “I don’t understand!”
The humans heard: ROOOOOOOAAAAAAR!
“You have to get out of here!” Percy yelled, waving his arms. But the crowd, frightened by Meechee’s roar, finally began to run away, sweeping Percy along with them.
Animal control officers shot another net at Meechee. She roared and stumbled back to avoid it. A furry hand grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into an alleyway.
“Meechee, quickly, this way!” Kolka urged, and Gwangi spun Meechee around.
“Wait. You came for me?” Meechee asked.
“Of course!” Gwangi replied. “We couldn’t leave you in the hands of these brutes!”
“Why’d they turn all mean like that?” Meechee asked.
Migo stepped out of the darkness. “Because they’re terrible, violent creatures.”
“You!” Meechee cried. “Why are you here?”
“I’m rescuing you!” Migo replied.
“Me? Rescuing me? From what?” Meechee shot back. “You said there’s no such thing as a Smallfoot. Well, look around, liar!”
Gwangi and Kolka each grabbed her by an arm.
“Not the time!” Gwangi said.
“Or the place!” Kolka added.
• • •
Percy tried to make his way back to Meechee, but he nearly got trampled by the crowd. He ended up flat on his back in the middle of the street.
A man from the village leaned over him, his face gleaming with excitement. “Percy Patterson?” The man reached down to help Percy up. “It is! It’s Percy Patterson!”
“Wait, you know who I am?” Percy asked.
Another man ran up and quickly took Percy’s photo, and then the two ran off.
“Percy Patterson?”
He whipped around.
“Selfie?” asked a teenage girl holding up her phone.
“What?” Percy asked.
She leaned in, pursed her lips, snapped the picture, and walked away.
“What the blazes is going on?” Percy wondered.
All around him people were saying his name and pointing. He’d imagined this kind of fame before but had never experienced it.
“Percy?!”
Brenda zoomed up to him on a snowmobile. Unable to stop quickly enough, she plowed into him. Blam! He flew up into the air. She stopped the machine and hopped off to help him.
“Percy, you’re alive! You’re alive!” she cried, but at the moment he wasn’t moving. “Oh my gosh, you are alive, aren’t you? Please tell me that I didn’t just kill you.”
“Ow,” he said. “Brenda?”
Past her, a video played on a screen in an internet café. Percy whispering into the camera in a cave, with Migo behind him.
“My video,” he realized. “What’s going on?”
“I uploaded it, like you told me to,” Brenda replied. “It totally went viral.”
For the first time she looked at him with admiration. “It was real, right? I mean—I have the suit.” She pointed to the suitcase, strapped to her snowmobile.
“So, you found one,” Brenda continued, grinning. “You actually found one! My phone has been ringing like crazy. Everyone wants you!”
Percy stared at the video.
“Haven’t you checked your messages?” Brenda asked. “It’s everything you wanted.”
Percy’s phone screen showed forty-two voice mails. He clicked play.
“Percy, baby, it’s your agent. I want you back!”
“Percy, it’s your dad. I’m no longer ashamed of you!”
“Percy Patterson, this is Mark Burton from the National Geographic Society. Call me!”
The video in the internet café played on a loop. The likes kept coming. Thousands . . . then hundreds of thousands . . . then millions!
“Percy, it’s Gail at the network. I want you. And if you can actually get that Yeti live? In person? I want you bad. And I’ll pay.”
His wildest dreams were coming true, and it was all because of the Yetis. He was famous. Adored. Admired. Respected.
He knew that sound. Percy whipped around to see Migo far down the street, running after the Yeti who had helped him, and two others.
He took off after them.