“No,” Hedy said. “Ain’t no door anymore.”
“Jamal does protest” came Jamal’s weak, cracking voice from the ceiling.
We all looked up.
The shark was attached to the very top of the hangar, looking down. He was planted directly above us.
“Hi, Jamal!” Donut said. Mongo looked up and let out a delighted shriek and started waving his wings.
“Yeah, other than him,” Hedy said.
“What are you doing up there?” I called.
“Jamal was testing his legs. Jamal wished to see if he could walk upside down on the ceiling with the new and improved sticky feets Jamal has, and I do apologize, Mr. Carl, but now Jamal has found himself in quite the inverted conundrum.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Jamal is stuck!”
“What? Are your legs broken? How long have you been up there?”
“Jamal has been stuck for quite a bit, I fear. It is with great embarrassment that I admit this.”
“Jamal,” Donut said, “get down this instant! My goodness. Were you up there from before the race started?”
“Oh, yes, Miss Donut. Many hours before the race started. Jamal is feeling woozy.”
Donut grumbled under her breath. “Why didn’t you say anything? What’s wrong with your legs?”
“Nothing is wrong. Jamal is afraid of heights.”
“Afraid of heights?”Donut asked incredulously.
I sighed. “Jamal, I once watched you roll down a hill, flopping directly into a battle filled with giant soldiers in power armor. You have jumped higher than the ceiling dozens of times. You literally used to fly when you were a tattoo, for chrissakes.”
“When Jamal jumps, he doesn’t have time to see how high he is because he always falls down again.”
“Okay, Jar Jar, listen,” Donut started to say. “We don’t have time to?—”
But Jamal interrupted her, talking fast, his voice taking on a strange, sad tone. “Jamal is happy to have his legs, but he wishes he could just go back to the ocean. We aren’t at war like before, but everything is so much scarier all of a sudden. Miss Hedy says if you die, we die. We won’t even know. Everything will just stop. She says that’s what happened to the gremlin and all the people in the houses of the other races. So Jamal came up here so he could see everything all at once. It’s what Jamal used to do before when he was... when he was real. He was so brave, but he was not me. I know that, but I want to be brave. I want to be Jamal, but now I am up here and I can see it all, I am so scared of what I might lose. I’m scared to come down, because if I do, maybe I won’t ever see it again.”
Donut was suddenly floating in the hangar. She used her Hover ability. She floated up to the ceiling.
Donut started whispering quietly to the shark.
I didn’t know what she said to him, but a moment later, he hopped, flipping in midair and landing deftly on the floor of the garage right next to the truck.
Jamal made a circle and just sort of settled on the floor. Mongo curled up next to him as Donut landed on my shoulder.
“What did you say to him?” I asked.
She didn’t answer right away. She stared at Mongo and Jamal resting there on the floor of the garage for several moments, quietly kneading her paws into my shoulder. I gritted my teeth and tried not to react at her new strength.
“I said that he shouldn’t be scared about that sort of thing. Yes, it could happen at any moment, it’s true, but if we worry about things we can’t control, we start to ruin the things wecancontrol. And that even though he can be annoying, he’s part of the family now and that he shouldn’t be scared to tell us when he’s in trouble. Even if we’re frustrated with him, we’ll help him the best we can because that’s what family does.”
Before I could respond, she raised her voice. “Mongo, mind your mommy and stay here and guard Hedy along with Jamal. Finley, you... Finley?”
The back door to the truck opened, and Finley appeared, cradling the toad in his arms. The Grulke was technically conscious, but she gaped off into space, her long tongue lolling and dragging on the floor. He also had Quemada with him, draped over his shoulder. He had a patch of extra-thick scorched leather with a little strap on his jacket that I hadn’t even noticed. It seemed as if it had been made just for the purpose of carrying the fire fairy around while she was knocked out.