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.