The Colossal Fossil Freakout #3

Then, from out of nowhere, the Priscilla Prim field hockey team appeared. They climbed up the wings and elbowed the boys aside, crawling into the overcrowded passenger bay.

“No way!” Cody yelled. He tried to block Virginia from crawling into the cockpit beside him. “This is our plane. We stole it fair and square!”

Without a word, Virginia leaned into her turn and executed a neat barrel roll and loop, flying low enough to clip Rover’s thick skull with her landing gear. He growled and snapped at the air.

Cody was relieved not to have to pilot the plane. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

Cody caught sight of Farley, still talking into his walkie-talkie and grinning like the mayhem was a Sunday picnic. His mother, Madame Desdemona Chartricia Sackville-Smack, snoozed in her wheelchair, oblivious. Priscilla ran over to Farley, shouting and pointing at the plane. She walloped him with her purse.

That second, Rover stopped fighting with Princess and looked at Farley and Priscilla. He dove for the would-be headmistress of Splurch Academy and clutched her between his two clawed, reptilian hands.

“He’s got Miss Prim, Virginia!” The girls seated behind Cody shrieked. “The big monster’s got Miss Prim!”

Princess was out of her mind with rage. She seemed unsure of who needed protection more: Miss Prim or the girls. She chose her mistress. While Virginia circled around the Academy and swung back for another attack, the monkey dismantled Rover’s tailbones and kicked a leg out from under him. But he only snapped back together again. Virginia swooped low and knocked him in the skull once more.

“Plow right into him,” Cody suggested. “Chop him up with your propellers.”

Cody looked at Rover’s gigantic teeth. “If you don’t try, she’ll get eaten for sure.”

Virginia nodded, then did a loop-de-loop over the field. “Hold on tight,” she yelled, gritting her teeth and clutching the control column tightly.

They swung low, flying right over the grass. “Stay on target,” Virginia chanted. “Stay on target!”

Rover looked up just in time to see them coming. He hopped to one side. The plane’s wing struck Princess in the chest. The gigantic monkey bodyguard fell to the earth with a thud. The plane screeched to a halt on the turf.

“No, we didn’t,” Virginia said. “We hit Princess!” She watched the fallen monster-monkey with eyes filled with tears. “She’s not getting up! Princess! I can’t believe I killed Princess!” Roxanne put an arm around her, too sad to speak.

The dinosaur’s head shook up and down. The evil beast was actually laughing! It wagged its bony dino-tail.

Then the dinosaur held Priscilla Prim where it could get a better look at her. She kicked and screamed at it. It roared back in return, nearly blasting off Miss Prim’s wig.

“Carlos, did you see that?” Cody said. “What on earth was Uncle Rastus doing?”

Virginia sniffed. “He found Miss Prim’s lost treasure,” she said. “She’s a witch. I never knew we were searching for a stolen broom.”

“Look at Uncle Rastus,” Carlos said. “He’s running back into the school. I thought he wanted to escape from there.”

“Um, Cody,” Sully said. “Can we fly? Rover’s back for another game of fetch.”

“Get your mitts off my students!” Priscilla shrieked. She sat on her broom, holding an enchanted fireball.

She flung the fireball. Rover exploded like he’d swallowed a bomb, with bones flying every which way. When the dust settled, there was a huge hole in the ground, like a meteor’s crater, with Rover’s bones at the bottom. “That’s for Princess!”

But the dinosaur couldn’t be beaten so easily. His bones began reassembling just as before.

Then a skeleton appeared by the side of the crater. Uncle Rastus held a lab beaker in his hand. He held it up high.

Uncle Rastus flung the liquid, beaker and all, onto Rover’s reassembled body. The glass shattered, and the liquid fizzed and smoked. Slowly, slowly, Rover began to sway from side to side like a skyscraper in a hurricane. Back. Forth. Back. Forth.