SECONDRA
THE SUPREME SECOND SELECTOR
“Is this the Floating Factory?” Joshua asked after they moved into the center of the great circle of purple.
“Oh no," replied Hiccup who seemed to be looking for something. “This is still the lobby space.”
“Then why did you say this is it?”
“What I meant was, this is where we get the transport that will take us to the Floating Factory.”
“How much further is the Floating Factory?” Joshua asked. His legs were tired from all the bouncing and running he had done.
“Exactly 186,283 miles further.” Replied Hiccup.
“186,283 miles!” exclaimed Joshua. “Why, that would take forever to drive that far!”
“I suppose it would.” agreed Hiccup. “However, we are not going to drive. We will ride.”
“Ride? In what?”
“In a lightbeam buggy.”
“How long will it take us to ride 186,283 miles?” Joshua asked.
“Exactly one Second.” Hiccup replied.
“That’s impossible!”
“Here it is now.” replied Hiccup.
Joshua jumped back in alarm as a blue-white star of brilliant light flashed in front of where he and Hiccup stood in the great, purple circle.
“What—what is that?” Joshua cried out.
“Oh dear! I am sorry.” apologized Hiccup. “They sent us one of the old model light beam buggies. They aren’t nearly as comfortable as the newer ones.”
“Is this a light beam buggy?” Joshua asked, blinking into the blue-white brilliance of its light.
Hiccup nodded with embarrassment. “Itis one those old, junky light beam buggies.
“It doesn’t look junky to me.” replied Joshua.
“It doesn’t?”
“No.”Joshua assured Hiccup. “I think it looks beautiful.”
“Thank you. Thank you.” Hiccup smiled gratefully for those kind words. “Oh well, light is light and an old, junky light beam buggy will go just as fast as one of those flashy, new models. We had better get in.”
Cautiously, Joshua followed Hiccup into the light beam buggy. It seemed to Joshua that it was even brighter on the inside then it was on the outside. He was just about to make himself comfortable when Hiccup announced that they had arrived.
Joshua followed Hiccup out of the lightbeam buggy. He had to blink his eyes, in disbelief, at the sights they beheld. Balls of blue-white light streaked about like comets, trailing tails that flashed in a thousand, dazzling colors.
“Please hurry!” Hiccup urged, anxiously.
Joshua glanced down and could not see his feet. Soft, billowy, pink clouds flowed about his ankles.
“Where are we?”
“This is the entrance to the Floating Factory.” replied Hiccup as he turned and hopped off. “Hurry!”
Joshua ran and caught up with Hiccup.
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
“Secondra, the Supreme Second Selector.”
“At the very top of the production line.” puffed Hiccup.
All at once, Joshua became aware of the most lovely music his ears had ever heard. It seemed to come from everywhere.
“Do you hear that?” asked Joshua as he ran along side of Hiccup.
“What?”
"The music.”
“Oh that is just Floating Factory noises.” Hiccup answered between hopping and puffing.
They hurried through an archway that glowed in rapidly changing colors.Thousands of small creatures appeared—all about Hiccup’s size—scurrying about, too busy to pay any attention to their human visitor. Joshua stopped in his tracks, staring in disbelief at their unimaginable shapes and colors.
“What are they?” Joshua called after Hiccup who had stopped just ahead of him.
Seconds-Past.” answered Hiccup between huffs and puffs.
“But—they all look so different!” replied Joshua, catching up to his friend.
“All Seconds-Before look the same until their moment comes.”
“When their moment comes?”
“Their moment to be used.” Hiccup answered. All Seconds-Before have their moment to be used. After they are used they become Seconds-Past.
“Then, you were used too.” said Joshua.
“Oh yes.” sighed Hiccup. “All Seconds-Past get their shapes from the way they were used. When my moment came to be used, the human being I was lent to hiccupped. At that very moment in time I was changed from the soft, round, silvery Second-Before that I was to the odd looking Second-Past I am now.”
“What about Sniff?” questioned Joshua? “Do you mean that when her moment came the human she belonged to sniffed?”
“Lent to, not belonged to.” corrected Hiccup. “Seconds-Before are part of time and time never, ever belongs to anyone or anything. As for Sniff—The answer is yes.”
“Is that why Sniff is shaped the way she is?”
“If you don’t mind, I would rather not talk about her.” Replied Hiccup, wistfully. Having caught his breath, he began hopping again. “Hurry! The Supreme Second Selector is waiting.”
They hurried on through the Floating Factory. New sights would appear and disappear. Seconds-Past, in such a variety of shapes and colors that they boggled Joshua’s brain, rushed, busily about them.
They stopped before a huge, golden triangle that stood, balanced on one of its points. It changed, before Joshua’s unbelieving eyes, into a glittering, silver, six-pointed star. The music was much louder now and very different than before. Joshua just wanted to sit down and listen.
“This way!”Hiccup called out to Joshua.
They stepped through the glittering, silver, six-pointed star just as it changed into a sparkling, blue-white diamond.
They found themselves in another space; so different than the one they had just left. It appeared to be snowing round, silvery marshmallows that shimmered and twinkled as they gently floated down in countless numbers. Swarms of Seconds-Past were catching them in gossamer nets and hurrying away as soon as their nets were filled.
“What’s going on?” Joshua whispered in astonishment.
“Seconds-Before are coming down from the Supreme Second Selector’s production line. They are bing collected by the Seconds-Past who take them to be packaged.”
“Packaged?”
“Of course. Seconds-Before are put into time packages that are lent to all, newly created, living things.”
“You mean—”
“Sshhh! You must be quiet!” Hiccup whispered nervously. They were suddenly enclosed in a globe of shimmering, golden light. “We are in a lightlift.” Hiccup replied in a nervous whisper.
“What’s a lightlift?”
“It is something like an elevator on your side of time. We are about to go up.”
“Up? Up—where?”
“We are going up to see Secondra, the Supreme Second Selector as soon as it is our turn.”
“Are we going very high?” asked Joshua, anxiously. He did not like very high places.
“Not very. Just one million, one hundred seventeen thousand, six hundred and ninety-eight miles. That is all.”
Joshua could not believe his ears. Was he really in some kind of a strange elevator that was going up more than one million miles? Impossible! Then again—that was what he said to Hiccup when they got into the lightbeam buggy on their way to the Floating Factory from the lobby space. This was different! They only had to travel 186,283 miles before. Now, they were going up over one million miles. That was more than four times further than the moon was from earth at its furthermost point of orbit!
Joshua broke out into a cold sweat. “I can’t go with you!” he cried out.
“Oh dear! Oh dear!” exclaimed Hiccup, showing his disappointment. “I was so depending on you to speak to the Supreme Second Selector on my behalf. Now, what shall I do?”
Joshua felt terribly guilty for wanting to leave his little friend but the very thought of going up, four times higher than the moon was just too frightening. Desperately, he tried to think of an excuse.
“I really don’t have time to go up over one million miles. I have to get back and clean up my bedroom.”
“You do? Oh dear. When must you clean up your bedroom?”
“Later.”Joshua replied, without even thinking.
“Why you will have plenty of time to be back and clean up you room later.”
Joshua wished he had said now. “How long will it take us to go up in the lightlift? I’m sure it will take too long a time to travel up over one million miles.”
“Six seconds.” replied Hiccup.
“Six seconds?”
“Exactly!”Hiccup answered. He was so relieved that Joshua would now be assured that he had enough time to go with him to see Secondra, the Supreme Second Selector.There would be plenty of time for him to clean up his bedroom—later.
“How can that be?” asked Joshua.
“Lightis light. The lightlift is light and light travels at the speed of 186,283 miles a second. You are the one who told me that you can’t do very much with a second.” Hiccup chuckled.
The globe of shimmering, golden light that enclosed them grew brighter and brighter.
“It is our turn.” Whispered Hiccup, his cheeriness melting away. “We are going up!”
“When?”Joshua cried out in sudden panic. He had made up his mind. There was no way that he was about to go up over a million miles. Friendship or not, he decided to get off the lightlift.
“We arrived.” Hiccup announced in a nervous whisper. The globe of shimmering, golden light was gone.
Joshua did not dare to move. He forced himself to look down, expecting to have that sick-to-the–stomach feeling he got whenever he looked down from a high place. Instead, he found himself standing on a floor of—he bent over to touch it—solid light. Impossible! Then, again, Joshua was beginning to think that nothing was impossible on this side of time.
When Joshua looked up he saw Hiccup trembling. There, dangling before them was a great, silver bell. It appeared to him to be bigger than his house and yet it hung from a slender thread of blue light no thicker than the strand from a spider’s web. Behind the bell was vast curtain of misty light that slowly changed from one muted color to another. It stretched in two directions without beginning or end.
As Joshua and Hiccup watched, the bell began to swing from side to side. With each swing it rang out with a deep, resonant bong. Each bong caused the endless, misty curtain of light to change colors more rapidly. It rang out thirteen times. When it had finished, the great, silver bell was slowly drawn up by its slender strand of blue light. Joshua watched it go higher and higher until it was nothing but a speck. Then—it was gone.
“Oh dear! Oh dear!” whispered Hiccup, anxiously. “Now we shall see Secondra, the Supreme Second Selector.”
A ghost-like form began to take shape before the misty curtain, just in front of Joshua and Hiccup.
“There she is!” whispered Hiccup.
Joshua squinted his eyes trying to figure out what it was he was seeing. It was like looking at a badly, out-of-focus image through the viewfinder of a camera. Slowly, the image became sharper and sharper until—
“She’s beautiful!” Joshua blurted out.
“Sshhh! She will hear you!” Hiccup whispered, more nervous than before.
The Supreme Second Selector floated in front of the misty curtain dressed in a flowing gown, woven from delicate strands of brightly tinted light.
“She’s wearing a crown!”Joshua whispered, excitedly.
“That is time dust. Please, be still.” pleaded Hiccup.
The time dust formed a glowing tiara, reflecting the soft silver of the Supreme Second Selector’s shoulder-length hair.
“Welcome to this side of time Joshua.” spoke Secondra with a voice that sounded like the music of a harp.
“How do you know my name?”
“Sniff has told me of your coming. She told me about you as well Hiccup.”
“I tried to find the Inspector. I really did.”
“It was not your fault that you did not find him.” replied Secondra, sadly.
“It wasn’t?” Hiccup was so relieved that he nearly fainted.
The threads of light that formed the Supreme Second Selector’s gown changed from bright, happy colors to dark, somber tones, reflecting the shifting of her mood.
“The Wicked~Witch~Watch found him first and turned him into glue!”
“Glue?”gasped Joshua.
“Yes.”answered Secondra. “I cannot leave the Floating Factory unprotected. I had hoped that the Inspector might, somehow find a way to get the key to the Timelock Door away from the Evil One before—before it is too late.”
“Who is—I mean, who was the Inspector?” Joshua asked.
“The Inspector,” replied Secondra, “was head of Time-Traffic-Team. He is the tenth one in the last 5000 years to be caught by the Wicked~Witch~Watch and turned into glue.”
“Excuse me for being so curious, Joshua apologized, “but what is theTime-Traffic-Team?”
“Everyone knows that.” chuckled Hiccup. He was now in a lighthearted mood (despite the news of the Inspector) since he had been forgiven by Secondra.
“Everyone on this side of time knows that.” replied the Supreme Second Selector.
“I forgot.” said Hiccup, apologetically.
“The Time-Traffic-Team directs time on your side of time.” Secondra replied, answering Joshua’s question.
“On my side of time?”
Secondra nodded her head causing the long, silver strands of her hair to glow like neonlights about her beautiful face.
“The Time-Traffic-Team tries to keep time from going too fast or too slow. They are not always successful, not with those terrible-time-triplets on the loose.” explained Secondra.
“Terrible-time-triplets?”
“The terrible-time-triplets are Time Killer, Time Waster and Time Stealer. They work for the Wicked~Witch~Watch.” volunteered Hiccup.
At the very mention of their names, the threads of light that formed The Supreme Second Selector’s gown flashed in bright, angry hues.
“The Wicked~Witch~Watch cannot pass over to your side of time so she uses the Terrible-Time-Triplets to do her evil work there.” explained Secondra.
“They probably helped the Wicked~Witch~Watch to capture the Inspector.” said Hiccup, grimly.
“Yes.” agreed Secondra. “It was probably our last chance to get the key back from the Evil One before my supply of time dust is gone.”
“Isn’t there some way you could get the key back from the Wicked~Witch~Watch?” Joshua asked.
“No.” answered Secondra. So long as I remain in the Floating Factory it is protected from the Evil One. I can only hope that some stroke of good fortune might result in my getting the key to the Timelock Door before—”
“Before what?”
“Before my supply of time dust is depleted.”
“What would happen then?”
“Then, I will be helpless and the Wicked~Witch~Watch will destroy the FloatingFactory.”
“All Seconds-Past will be turned into glue by the Evil One.” Hiccup added, forlornly.
“It isn’t ourselves that we worry about.” said the Supreme Second Selector, grimly. “If the Wicked~Witch~Watch succeeds in destroying the Floating Factory there will be no new life, of any kind, on your side of time.”
“I don’t understand. All of this is so confusing.” Joshua replied.
“Secondra creates the Seconds-Before which are placed in time packages that are lent to all new life on your side of time.” explained Hiccup with nodding agreement from the Supreme Second Selector.
“All new life?”
“Every human being, animal, bird, fish, insect and even the germ receives a time package filled with its share of Seconds-Before.” Secondra added.
“Even a germ? But germs are so small and Seconds are so big.”
Hiccup laughed. “You once told me a Second was so little.”
“Time packages are not actually held by living things. They are deposited in the timebank. As each Second is used it is withdrawn from the time package.” explained Secondra.
“When we are withdrawn we come out as Seconds-Past.” added Hiccup.
"What about deposits?” asked Joshua?
“There are no new deposits made into time packages, only withdrawals.” answered Secondra. “Of all lifeforms, only humans have never learned not to waste the Seconds-Before in their time packages.
“You joked about a Second being just about useless.” Hiccup teased Joshua.
“How easy it is for humans to think of a Second as being such a small part of time that is has no value.” said the Supreme Second Selector, sadly.
Joshua was embarrassed.
“Well, there isn’t very much I could do with a Second. I mean there is no way I could travel 186,283 miles in one second the way you do here.”
“That is perfectly true.” agreed the Supreme Second Selector. “Yet, each second is more valuable than the purest grain of gold that you humans prize so dearly. If you don’t understand that, the Wicked~Witch~Watch does.”
Hiccup shuddered at the very mention of her name.
What has the Wicked~Witch~Watch have to do with me?” Joshua asked, nervously.
“Everything!” exclaimed the Supreme Second Selector, her gown glowing in a hundred different colors. “Especially since you are on this side of time. The Evil One cannot travel to your side of time and so must send her Terrible Time Triplets to do her evilwork.”
“What evil work?”
“Why, to encourage humans to kill time, to waste time and to steal time. Then, the Wicked~Witch~Watch can withdraw those ill-used seconds from the time bank.”
“What would the Wicked~Witch~Watch want with a bunch of seconds that have been killed or wasted or stolen?” Joshua asked.
“More than a bunch. Billions upon billions of seconds are killed, wasted and stolen every day. They never return to the Floating Factory as Seconds-Past. The Wicked~Witch~Watch has her own plans for them.” replied Secondra.
“What does she do with them?”
Hiccup just shivered.
“She glues them together to make frightful time monsters.Then the Evil one breathes her evil breath of life into them and they rise to do her bidding.” answered Secondra.
“Do you know where the Wicked~Witch~Watch gets the glue from?” Hiccup asked Joshua with a shudder.
“Well, the Supreme Second Selector did say that the Inspector was caught by—” Joshua, suddenly, remembered Sniff’s scolding. He let out his breath and took a new one. “...the Wicked~Witch~Watch and turned into glue.”
“Not just him. The Evil One catches Seconds-Past and turns them into glue too!”Hiccup answered angrily.
“Why am I in danger?” Joshua asked Secondra. “If that old Wicked~Witch~Watch stops me and wants some of these seconds in my time package, I’ll just let her have them and be on my way, back through the hole in the grandfather clock.”
“You cannot get away with giving up just some of your Seconds to the Wicked~Witch~Watch. Should she catch you, the Evil One will take your entire time package. Without your time package you could never return to your side of time alive!”
Now it was Joshua’s turn to shudder.
“Can’t you stop the Wicked~Witch~Watch?”
“Not outside the Floating Factory. So far we have been equal in power but now that she has stolen my key to the Timelock Door it will soon change.”
“How?”
“Without my key I cannot open the Timelock Door to reach my source of time dust within the Universe of Time. Without time dust to renew myself I will soon be powerless to prevent the Wicked~Witch~Watch from destroying the FloatingFactory and taking full control of this side of time.”
“We will all be made into glue.” moaned Hiccup.
“Do not give up yet.” encouraged the Supreme Second Selector in a display of defiantly dazzling colors. “ I still have a supply of time dust that will last us ten million, three hundred and sixty eight thousand Seconds.”
“That sounds like a very long time.” replied Joshua with relief.
“On your side of time that would be two days.” the Supreme Second Selector replied grimly. “You must return to your side of time before those two days have passed. Whatever you do—watch out for the Wicked~Witch~Watch!”
“How do I get back to the hole in the grandfather clock?” Joshua asked, anxiously.
“I will take you.” volunteered Hiccup. “That is, if it is all right withSecondra.”
“It will be a very dangerous journey this time.” warned the Supreme Second Selector. “I sense that the Wicked~Witch~Watch is not very far from the Floating Factory.”
“Joshua has helped me, now I must help him.” replied Hiccup, bravely.
“Thank you Hiccup.” said Joshua, gratefully. All he wanted to do was get back to his side of time and his bedroom.
“You must leave at once! There is still much I must do before the last of my time dust is used. Good-bye Joshua. I wish you a safe journey.” The Supreme Second Selector began to fade and in a moment she was gone.
“Hurry Joshua!” shouted Hiccup. “The lightlift is here!”
Joshua worried on the entire trip back to the near side of the Sea of Time where they waited for the ferry to take them across.
“Where is that ferry? It never comes when you want it!” muttered Hiccup, impatiently. It was obvious that he was nervous for his cap was quivering. He was hopping back and forth, peering about in all directions.
“Is there something wrong?”Joshua asked, sensing all was not well.
“I hope nothing is wrong. I really do.” sighed Hiccup as he continued looking all about, especially up.
“Are you worried that the ferry might not come?”
“Partly.”
“Partly? Is there something else you are worried about?” Joshua asked as he began to worry.
“I don’t mean to worry you but—”
“But? But what?” questioned Joshua who was very worried now.
“To be perfectly honest with you,” replied Hiccup. “I am worried about being discovered by the Wicked~Witch~Watch.”
“Can the Wicked~Witch~Watch get us here?”
“Not usually but all the defenses have been drawn into the Floating Factory to conserve energy. Now, there is nothing to protect us from the Evil One. Oh dear! Where can that ferry be?”
Now Joshua was pacing back and forth trying to keep up with Hiccup’s nervous hopping.
“What if the ferry doesn’t come? Is there another way to get across the Sea of Time?”
“Well, there is the arclight bridge.”
“Arclight bridge?”
“It isn’t exactly a bridge. It has to do with space and time.” explained Hiccup. “When light has to travel a very long distance through space, it is bent in space-time. Since the Sea of Time separates us from the far side by ever so much space, the light from here to there, forms an arc like a bright, white rainbow. Do you understand?”
“I’m not sure I do.” answered Joshua. “The important thing is, can we cross over it to the far side?”
“I hope so.”
“What do you mean, you hope so?”
“Well,I have never crossed over on it. As a matter-of-fact, I have never seen it. All I know is that it exists and is supposed to be a very dangerous way to cross the Sea of Time. No Seconds-Past dares use it.”
“Do you see the ferry yet? asked Joshua as a feeling of panic began to take hold of him.
“No! I feel something is very wrong!”
“What shall we do?”
“We will look for the arclight bridge. I would rather take my chances with it than the Wicked~Witch~Watch.” answered Hiccup, nervously.
Joshua and Hiccup traveled a great distance, through pools of colored lights; some of them quite deep. After some time of searching they found the place where the arclight bridge began. It was a narrow beam of pure, white light that curved up through a dense fog, formed by patterns of vivid colors. The fog was so thick that the arclight bridge disappeared within it.
Hiccup hopped and Joshua stepped on to it at the same time. Like some fantastic conveyor belt it bore them up and up, with blinding speed, into the swirling masses of electric colors. Higher and higher they went, holding on to each other for dear life. All they could see of the arclight bridge through the dense fog of color was a bit of glowing, white light beneath them. It was conveying them through time and space so thick with tints and hues that it appeared as if thousands of paintpots had been spilled.
“Oh dear! Oh dear” cried out Hiccup. “I don’t like this at all!”
Joshua held on to Hiccup with both hands, not daring to let go. We seem to be very high up but I can’t see anything but blues and oranges and greens and—”
“It is rather colorful!” interrupted Hiccup, trying to act bravely.
“It’s such a narrow bridge.That is, what we can see of it. I’m just afraid we might fall off!” shouted Joshua. There was no need to shout for the only sound they could hear was an eerie whistling that had begun just a few moments before.
“Do you hear that?” whisperedHiccup.
“The whistling?”
“The whistling!”
A great, black shadow loomed up out of the swirling, multi-colored fog that engulfed Joshua and Hiccup as they were being swept along upon the arclight bridge. It move along with them, swallowing up colors within its blackness. For some time it remained at a far distance from Joshua and Hiccup. Now it, slowly, moved towards them.
“Do you feel what I feel?”Hiccup’s voice betrayed his unease.
“What do you feel?”
“Strange. Very strange! I remember having this same feeling once before when—”
“When—what?”
“It was 9,776,160,000 seconds ago; 310 years in human time. That was when I was almost caught by the EvilOne.”
“The Wicked~Witch~Watch?”
“None other.” I have that very same feeling now!”
The great, black shadow floated closer now and stopped, hovering in space and gulping in the delicate hews of light that dared to intrude upon it. Two eyes—narrowed slits of fiendish fury—bore through the maze of colors and watched the two, small figures being borne across the arclight bridge.
“You don’t think the Wicked~Witch~Watch is around here do you?” Joshua asked as icy shivers ran up and down his spine.
“Oh dear! I hope not!” Hiccup replied, weakly. “But that feeling I have says that the Evil One is nearby.”
“What shall we do?” Joshua cried out in alarm.
“Sshhh! We must be very quiet. If the Wicked~Witch~Watch discovers us there will be nothing we can do. I will be turned into glue and you will lose your time package and never, ever be able to return to you side of time again.”
It was the pure, white light of the arclight bridge that kept the black, shadowy form from moving closer.The black cloaked, specter that was the Wicked~Witch~Watch remained at a distance, unseen but whose presence was felt by Hiccup. The Evil one followed along, waiting for them to step off on the farside of the Sea of Time and away from the intense, white light of the arclight bridge.
“I think we are coming down!”Joshua whispered, nervously.
“I hope so! I really do!”Hiccup whispered back. “The important thing is to get you through the same time/space slot and safely back to your side of time.”
“What about you, Hiccup? What will happen to you?”
“There is no hope for me or any other Second-Past. That includes the Supreme Second Selector. Without the key to the Timelock Door all is lost.”
“Can’t something be done?”
“I do not know. I just do not know!” replied Hiccup, helplessly. “If we could figure out a way to get the key to the Timelock Door away from the Wicked~Witch~Watch—”
“I think I see the end to the arclight bridge!” shouted Joshua, forgetting to whisper in his excitement.
They hurried off the arclight bridge onto the far shore of the Sea of Time. Beneath them were changing patterns of changing colors that rose up in colorful vapors to form misty fountains of gem-like droplets. Countless, miniature gems flashed and sparkled as Joshua and Hiccup moved further away the protection of the arclight bridge’s brilliant, white light.
The ominous, black shadow flew, swiftly towards them as Joshua and Hiccup searched for the time/space slot that led into the place with the pink, glittering floor. In an instant it was over them, casting its sinister blackness upon them like the darkness of a terrible storm that was about to be unleashed.
Joshua turned and looked up just as Hiccup was being carried upward within the dark, inky folds of the Wicked~Witch~Watch.
“Run! Save yourself!” Hiccup cried out to Joshua.
Joshua wanted to run. He had never been more frightened in his entire life. All he could do was stand there, frozen in place as his little friend was about to disappear within those jet, black folds. He had to do something to help Hiccup! What! If only he had a stick or a club! Joshua’s hands, frantically, searched his pockets. There was a long, lumpy thing in his back pocket. In sheer desperation he pulled it out ,discovering it to be his flashlight that he had taken into the grandfather clock. It wasn’t a club but it would have to do!
Joshua struck out at the dark, shadowy form of the Wicked~Witch~Watch just as she was coming down for him. As he swung at the Evil one with his flashlight his thumb accidentally pushed the button that turned it on. The flashlight’s powerful beam of light shot out like a white, hot stream of fire. It pierced the blackness of the Wicked~Witch~Watch, leaving a gaping hole through which streams of multi-colored mist flowed through. The Evil One screamed out in pain as she fled, dropping Hiccup, safely at Joshua’s feet.
“Oh thank you! Thank you! ”Hiccup cried out in gratitude. “You saved me again!”
“That was the Wicked~Witch~Watch!” Joshua exclaimed, numb with fright.
“Yes! You defeated her with your magical weapon!”
“This is not a magical weapon. It’s just a flashlight.” answered Joshua. His handshook as he shut it off.
“Well, it certainly worked like a magical weapon.” replied the gleeful Hiccup.
“Did I kill the Wicked~Witch~Watch?”
“No, but you hurt her. I don’t think we have to worry about being attacked again as long as you have your flashlight.”
“You mean, the Evil One is afraid of the beam of light from my flashlight?”
“That is just what I mean. Now, you will be able to slip through the time/space slot—if we can ever find it—and get you safely back to your side of time.”
“If the Wicked~Witch~Watch is really afraid of my flashlight—”
“Oh, she really is. She really is!” Hiccup assured Joshua.
“That gives me an idea.” said Joshua as a faint smile crept across his mouth.
“What kind of an idea?”
“An idea about getting the key for the Timelock Door.”
Joshua sat down on an odd shaped pattern that was partly red and partly green. It changed shapes and colors ten times but Joshua was too busy thinking to notice. At last he lookedup at Hiccup.
“Do you know where to find the Wicked~Witch~Watch?
“EverySecond-Past knows where the Wicked~Witch~Watch lives.” replied Hiccup with a shudder. “Of course, I have never been there. If I had I wouldn’t be here talking with you now. You may go in but you will never come out.”
“Where?”
“Where—what?”
“Where does the Wicked~Witch~Watch live?”
“In the Valley of Dead Clocks. Why do you ask?” questioned Hiccup, nervously.
“I was wondering.” saidJoshua.
“Wondering—what?”
“Would you know how to get to the Valley of Dead Clocks?”
"I suppose you have a very good reason for asking me that question.” said Hiccup, suspiciously.
“A very good reason.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“Well ,do you?” Joshua asked, impatiently.
“Do I what?”
“Know how to get to the Valleyof Dead Clocks?”
Hiccup began hopping back and forth trying to decide how he would answer that question. If Joshua wanted to do what he thought Joshua was hinting at—Well, that was very frightening. Did Joshua mean that he wanted to travel to the Valley of Dead Clocks so that he could find the Wicked~Witch~Watch? If they found the Wicked~Witch~Watch, how would they manage to get the key to the Timelock Door away from her?
But—suppose they, somehow, managed to do it! They did have a weapon; Joshua’s flashlight. It was worth the risk! The Supreme Second Selector and all the Seconds-Past (including himself) and the Floating Factory would be saved. So would all new forms of life on Joshua’s side of time. It had to be tried!
“I will do it!” exclaimed Hiccup.
“You will do what?” Joshua asked, still deep in thought.
“Lead us to the Valley of Dead Clocks!”
“If you have never been there, how will you lead us to the Valley of Dead Clocks?”
“There is a rhyme called AWANDERING that all Seconds-Past must learn.”
“What has that got to do with finding the Valley of Dead Clocks?”
“Listen to it and you will understand:
If you should go awandering
across the Sea of Time,
Look up and down and all around.
Beware the Swamp of Slime!
For there it lures all Seconds-Past
to catch them in its muck.
And once into that sticky mire,
they can never come unstuck!
And should they meet this dismal fate
there is nothing they can do.
The Wicked~Witch~Watch comes for them
and turns them into glue!
But—if by chance that swamp you cross,
new dangers there await.
The Cave of Darkness bars your way
and there’n seals your fate!
Within its dark and dripping walls
unseen creatures creep’n crawl.
With hateful eyes they wait to snare—
timely feasts of Sec’nds all!
If through this cave you make your way—
Behold!The Gate of Rocks!
It hides that terrible, dark place—
TheValley of Dead Clocks!
Stop!Go no further! Turn about!
TimeMonsters wait for you!
They’ll drag you to the Evil One
who’ll turn you into glue!”
Joshua could not help but shiver as Hiccup repeated the rhyme. He loved rhymes but this was the scariest one he had ever heard. Joshua gripped his flashlight and gathered up his courage.
“Do you think that you could find the way to the Valley of Dead Clocks by using the rhyme?”
“Well ,I suppose the first thing we should do is locate the Swamp of Slime.” suggested Hiccup, showing very little enthusiasm.
“I suppose that would be a logical place to start from.” Joshua agreed with even less enthusiasm. “How do we find it?”
“Oh dear.” It seems to me that the best way would be to follow the instructions in the rhyme. We have to look up and down and all around.”
Joshua and Hiccup began their search.They looked up. There was no sign of the Swamp of Slime. They did no better when they looked down. That left the part that went: “...all around.”
Joshua stayed very close to Hiccup as they busied themselves—not without a great deal of anxiety—looking all around. It took them some time before they found their first clue.
It had to do with all those colorful patterns and shapes that kept changing all around them. As they searched in one particular direction they noticed that the colors began to fade into tones of gray. The further they went the grayer everything became. Even the sparkling, gemstone mist seemed to sputter out and fade away, changing into a bleak blanket of fog.
It was then that they discovered their second clue. There—there was the eerie whistling that they heard on the arclight bridge. The deeper they went into the ever-thickening fog, the louder it became. It gave Joshua goose bumps. Hiccup quaked from stem to cap.
“I have that feeling again!” whispered Hiccup through chattering teeth.
“What—feeling?”
“The one I get when the Wicked~Witch~Watch is close by. Do you have your flashlight ready?”Joshua held it up.
As they continued to press forward, the last traces of color disappeared, replaced by a leaden grayness that left them feeling very uneasy.
Now, came the third clue that convinced them that the Swamp of Slime was not far away. A strong smell of sulfur, like an ocean of rotten eggs, caused Joshua to wrinkle up his nose and Hiccup to curl up the edge of his cap.
“Oh dear! Oh dear! That awful smell can mean only one thing!”
“The Swamp of Slime?”
“The Swamp of Slime!” replied Hiccup.
“It must be very close by.” Joshua said, in a low voice.
“Very close! Very, very close by.” came Hiccup’s hushed response. There seemed to be an echo bouncing off that thick, gray fog.
Joshua was more frightened than ever. Speaking aloud, Joshua said, “I—I guess there’s no turning back!”
BACK! BACK! BACK! came Joshua’s echo.
“I—I guess not.” answered Hiccup in a slightly loud and nervous voice. “I can almost smell danger!”
DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! came Hiccup’s echo.
Joshua placed his face close to Hiccup’s cap and whispered as softly as he knew how. “I feel like we are about to begin a very scary adventure!”
“Oh dear! Oh dear! So do I!” exclaimed Hiccup, forgetting to whisper. “I am scared to death!”
DEATH! DEATH! DEATH! answered the echo as the fog closed about Joshua and Hiccup.