Chapter Eighteen: Dam

Several weeks passed, bringing summer and the end
of the year upon Pleasantville. Belle had easily passed all of her
subjects, and was ready for her final year of high school.

“I do love summer. If it's not hot days off to
the beach or at the creek, it's the rainy days watching the
lightening and listening to the thunder.” She sat in the tree one
day watching the rain hit the creek.

“Budge over, I'm getting wet.” Charlie shoved
her gently, trying to get under the thick cover of the leaves and the
tarp that had been erected many years ago. “So, any idea what
you're going to do after school?”

“I want to get a start at the new University
that opened up last year and study law. They're going to let me in
next year even though I'll only be in year twelve.” Belle replied
smugly.

“You're kidding me!” Charlie grinned. “Good
for you Belle!”

Belle grinned back. Charlie couldn't help but be
proud of his best friend, even though she was blessed with genius she
was still hard-working. She had earned this opportunity, and he knew
she'd make the most of it.

“What about you Charlie?” Belle asked.

“I'm finishing year twelve and then heading into
the family business. Dad wants me to do an apprenticeship as a metal
worker.” Charlie replied. “I can't wait to learn all of the
little family secrets and expand the family empire.”

“Expand?” Belle asked.

“Dad's been mainly concerned with building
supplies and the like. I want to start servicing the rural towns
around the area, I know a lot of farmers head this way to stock up on
things and I'd like to be leading the way in this particular market.”
Charlie began talking very seriously, which made Belle giggle a
little.

“You're certainly starting to sound grown-up
Charlie! Maybe you should do some marketing at the university with
me?” She suddenly had an idea.

“Yeah! We can go to uni together!” Charlie
jumped up, knocking down the tarp and drenching the pair of them.

“You complete and utter idiot.” Belle
deadpanned.

–

Demons latest trick had been trying to poison the
city water supply (and on a Saturday too!). That particular plan had
ended when he and four of his goons had nearly drowned in Lake
Pleasant, requiring Giggles to rescue them.

“That was pretty stupid don't you think?”
Giggles asked as she flew Demon back to dry land.

“Shut up. My dignity is already in tatters,
there's no need to rub it in.” Demon glowered.

“Given you're a murdering narcissist, maybe you
need taking down a few pegs.” Giggles tossed him unkindly onto the
bank.

“You're very blunt. But I'm afraid my plan
hasn't been entirely unsuccessful.” Demon picked himself up out of
the mud. “The glass jar in which the poison resides is still out
there somewhere on the banks of Pleasant Creek.”

“You WHAT?!” Giggles was furious.

“Happy searching cherub!” Demon bowed before
letting off another one of his smoke bombs.

“DARN you Demon!” Giggles flew above the big
smoke cloud, hoping to see where Demon had escaped to.
Unfortunately, she couldn't find him.

She flew back to where Sir Hyper, Lady Courage and
Chuckles were watching the action.

“The vial of poison is still out there near the
creek. All it takes is some wild animal to get a hold of it and
there could be serious trouble.” Giggles told them.

“I'll get Lady Silent on to it. She can find
anything in Pleasantville!” Sir Hyper grabbed out his phone.

“You start looking by air, Lady Courage and I
will check out the ground level.” Chuckles told Giggles.

“Right.” Giggles nodded. “Someone better
get the others too.”

“I'll take care of it.” Lady Courage pushed
the face of her watch in.

“First one to find it gets a chocolate bar off
the others!” Chuckles ran off.

“No way!” Giggles flew after him.

The group of heroes combed the banks for a few
hours, trying to find the poison. As much as Sir Hyper begged, the
local police force were no help (usually the case on a Saturday).

“Where could it be?!” Sir Lionheart surfaced
after swimming around trying to find the vial.

“It could be anywhere. Hopefully still sealed.”
Lady Luck was wading on the other bank. “Of course, the current is
so fast.”

“That's how Demon got swept away.” Sir
Lionheart prepared to dive in again.

“Get in the water Sammy.” Sir Dark frowned at
Sir Hyper, who was refusing to get into the water.

“No.”

“Mate-,”

“NO.”

“We need your help!”

“NO!”

“Sam-,”

“NO NO NO!”

Giggles meanwhile was continuing her flight up the
creek, stopping every so often for a brief recharge so she didn't go
flying into the creek a la Demon. She wondered to herself what on
earth possessed him to try and poison the city water supply –
surely he couldn't be that embittered by whatever had happened
between him and the Pleasantville City Council that the deaths of
many of its citizens was worth it?

The rain that had let off for most of the day
suddenly came back with a vengeance. Giggles cursed under her breath
– their task had just gotten harder.

Her watch beeped. She took a quick look at it.

“Meeting up at the dam.” Was the message from
Sir Dark.

Shrugging, Giggles gave up and soared towards the
dam. She managed to get there just as the others arrived.

The dam was in a dire state. It wouldn't take
much longer for it to fall apart. Then Giggles saw it.

“Oh NO! The vial of poison! It's been stuck
into one of the cracks in the dam!” Giggles dived down to where the
blue bottle was sticking out.

“Drat! There's no way we can get that out
without bringing the dam down!” Chuckles groaned.

“There has to be SOME way of doing it!” Sir
Hyper looked at the bottle, which was just above his head.

Lady Silent shoved past him holding a toolbox.
She tugged at Lady Luck and Lady Courage, motioning them to help.
She set down the toolbox and pulled out a pair of pliers. She
motioned for Lady Luck to stand on one side and Lady Courage on the
other, both of them holding the fragile rocks either side of the
vial.

Carefully as the rain beat down on them, Lady
Silent worked on getting that vial loose. It took about ten minutes,
but finally she managed to pry it free.

“Well done Lady Silent!” Sir Dark cheered as
the others celebrated. Giggles turned cartwheels in the air while
Chuckles punched the air.

Lady Silent smiled proudly as she put the vial
away into her bag.

“I bet that was Demons plan, to try and make us
trigger a flood!” Sir Hyper growled.

“But we won and he lost!” Lady Courage thumped
his back, making him cough.

“We'd better get away from here before something
goes wrong.” Giggles said. She swooped down and landed next to
Chuckles.

“I think we earned a hot chocolate.” Chuckles
said, wiping the rain out of his eyes.

“And a hot shower.” Sir Dark shivered.

“I reckon we should have a movie night. It's
the weather for it!” Sir Lionheart proposed.

This suggestion was met with cheers, and the group
headed off.

Then they heard the creaking.

“What was that?” Sir Dark asked.

One of the rocks near where the vial had sat had
popped out, spewing water out.

“Oh no…RUN FOR IT!” Sir Lionheart cried as
more rocks began to pop out.

The group bolted back towards the city, hoping
that they would make it in time.

Pleasant Creek and Lake Pleasant were about to
return to their former glory.