“Please, now everyone calm down. Calm down!” shouted the mayor.
Through the curtain, Hoblkalf waved Cyrusover.
“You’re on,” Lars beamed.
“What?”
Cyrus tried to pull free from the mayor’s son. Lars took him by the armand handed him over to the guard. The burly man lifted Cyrus onto the stage.There, two more men dragged him towards the mayor. He tried to turn and run, but the mayor seized his right hand and shookit vigorously as he smiled wide for the crowd.
“If it weren’t for this young lad,none of us would be here today,” the mayor boomed, “He was the one that warnedme against building the Hoblkalf Crane, and he wasthe one that told me of the impending doom. Isn’t that right, m’lad?”
The mayor stank of soggy cigars, andhis teeth were crusted with brown plaque. After a long hesitation, Cyrus noddedyes. The crowd grew silent. What was going on, he wondered? Was the mayortrying to align himself with Cyrus to gain favor amongst the villagers?
“No more Hoblkalf Crane!” one old womanshouted from the crowd.
“This is all your fault, Hoblkalf!” anothershouted.
The mayor waved off stage. Lars waddled over and handed his father abook. It was the OddFoot journal! The mayor’s gripsqueezed tight on Cyrus’ hand. Cyrus felt ice run down his spine. He looked toLars. The fat man held the small turtle skeleton in his other hand.
“Yes, this young lad came to me with this book, and the strange skeletonthat my son holds, and told me that our island faced grave danger. He warned that if I built my HoblkalfCrane and tried to rescue his mother, the whole island would cave in on itselfand all would be lost.
And where did he find these two peculiar items, you ask? And who createdthem? Well, the boy claims one Jimothy OddFoot created them. He says he found the items in the oldabandoned OddFoot home. The journal speaks of Jimtrespassing over our Dead Fence and meeting with blue-eyed demons. It says thatJim collected this turtle skeleton from the sea and modeled a village similarto Virkelot on its back. See for yourself.”
The mayor flung the book into the crowd. Lars threw the skeleton.Several pages came loose from the journal and fluttered through the air. A manwith a bandaged eye caught the book. An old man attempted to catch the skeleton.It slipped through his fingers and struck the ground with a crack.
Cyrus tried to pull free from the mayor’s grip. His hand was trapped.His stomach began to swirl. He looked around for a place to escape. He saw themayor’s men watching him from dark corners off stage. He was a rabbit caught ina snare. He turned to the crowd. People were looking at him with frightened andconfused stares. He saw Sarah Heiler move towards thefront of the stage with a dirty blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
“But I ask you this,” the mayor continued, his hairless face squishedinto a wrinkly expression of doubt, “If Jim OddFootwrote that book, did he also build this boy a floating craft and tell him howto escape the pit?”
Villagers began to murmur and curse in terrified tones.
“It says our village was built onthe back of a giant, fossilized turtle,” the man with the journal yelled.
“Just like this monstrosity,” the older man said, holding up the smallskeleton.
There was a large hole broken in the turtle’s shell, and half the model village had fallen in.
“No,” the mayor shouted, his monocle falling from his face, “Our villagewas no more built on the back of some creature than that book was written by a man who vanished over fortyyears ago. This boy is a liar and a traitor. Clearly,he hastrespassed over the Dead Fence and joined forces with the Sea Zombie. Whereelse would he have gotten that book orhis strange floating craft? And how else could he have received secret knowledgeof the land beyond our wall? Everyone rescued in the cave-in claims it wasCyrus LongBones who showed them the one route of escape.How could he have known about it if he had never been beyond the Dead Fencebefore?”
“Look at the turtle shell,” Cyrus cried, pointing to the man holding theskeleton, “It’s old and fragile, just like our island. It’s caved in andhollow, just like our island. It’s not a lie. Jim’s journal tells the truth!”
The crowd stared at the strange object in the old man’s grasp. Then theylooked around at each other, as if unsure what to do next.
Cyrus turned to the mayor. He saw a single drop of sweat run down theold man’s wrinkled brow.
“Could it be true?” one young man asked.
“It would explain a lot,” another voice said.
Cyrus looked across the crowded square. For the first time, he was not invisible. The villagers werewatching him. They were listening to him. They were actually taking him seriously.
“You’re going to believe StrangeBones?” one ofthe guards shouted.
The crowd began to murmur low, allseeming to look down at their muddy shoes. Come on, Cyrus thought, youhave to believe me!
“You stupid little boy!” shouted an old woman, “This is all your fault.”
“Look for yourself,” Cyrus cried.
“Throw him in the pit,” yelled the man with the journal.
“No, the mayor’s wrong!” Cyrus continued.
“Do you deny handing me that book and giving me that warning?” Hoblkalf asked, his bald head swelling red.
“No,” Cyrus replied, “but…”
“And would you like to explain where your craft came from?”
Cyrus fell silent. He had walked into an ambush. The HoblkalfCrane had failed, and the mayor needed a scapegoat. Cyrus found Sarah’s faceagain in the crowd. Her eyes were full of sorrow.
The mayor began to shake his head slowly.
“It is clear that this young man has broken our most sacred of laws, andbrought the curse of the Sea Zombie down upon our village. He has exposedhimself to the devious ways of the enemy, and let himself be manipulated into deception and murder. It isclear that the book and turtle shell were meant to confuse us, divide us, stopus from building our Hoblkalf Crane and saving ourvillage. It is my unfortunate duty to demand that this boy be
