Cody

"I can't believe I said that..." I groaned as laughter echoed throughout the room. "How could I possibly forget something like that?"

KrakenKid could barely breathe from laughing so hard that he nearly choked. "Oh m-my gosh." He wheezed, his whole body shaking. He tried to pound the ground but hit his tentacle instead, but still didn't stop. "I've called you a stupid penguin many times but this exceeds all of my expectations!"

I rubbed my temple and stayed silent as he started to regain control. "Can we let it drop now?" I asked him, pleadingly.

KrakenKid had to bite his beak to keep him from giggling anymore. "Oh, yeah sure. I'll just read this book you gave me-" He broke off and started snickering again and I was back to stage one.

"It was an honest mistake!" I attempted to protest but it only seem to increase it.

"Oh yeah, because everyone forgets that their enemy is blind and decide to give him a book, not even an audio book but a real, you-need-to-see-to-read-it book, as a present." He smirked.

"I panicked!" I threw my arms up in the air. "It's the thought that counts, right?"

The kraken only rolled his eyes playfully and put his head in his arms, raising his eyebrows and sort of looking at me. "If you thought a book was a good present for a blind man, you clearly didn't think."

I sighed and flopped on the ground. "There is no pleasing you, is there?"

KrakenKid stumped forward, using his many appendages to keep him upright while also making himself comfortable. His smug look never quite faded from his face as his useless eyes gazed forward. "Noooope. It's going to take a lot more than that to get me to like you, penguin."

Especially after what happened. KrakenKid didn't have to say it, but I could still hear it in his voice and read it from his actions. He might have been in a better mood than before, why was beyond me, but I could still see how hesitant he was with me. His words were still as guarded as usual, just subtle this time. KrakenKid still wasn't too fond of me, but at the same time, was a little bit? He always was a hard person to crack, but it felt like something changed.

I stayed silent before an idea popped into my head. "What if I read you the book?"

His eyebrows raised and he blinked, almost shocked by the request. "You'd do that?"

"It's the least I can do after-..." I froze and snatched the book off the ground as quickly as possible and avoiding his gaze. It didn't matter if he could see me or not, I was not making eye contact. "Let's just do this." I cleared my throat loudly and dramatically. "The Wise Wizard! One of my personal favorites as a child."

KrakenKid seemed relatively interested in the beginning, but then stopped me as I read the dialogue. "Wait... Are you doing voices for all the characters? What are you, a Dad?"

I waved him off. "I'm making it fun! You're a father, don't tell me you've never done this!"

He huffed. "Touché. Go on." He mumbled and I grinned.

Though as I cleared my throat and took in a breath, he stopped me, perking up. I gave him a look and opened my mouth to ask something, but before I could form the sounds into a word, he held up his arm to signal for silence. I obeyed and he paused for a long time. "Do you hear that?" He asked at last.

I knitted my eyebrows together, but I still couldn't understand it. Nothing struck me as out of the ordinary. "Hear what?"

"Ticking." He answered, struggling to get up. I quickly helped him and he started to lead us towards the wall. "I hear ticking..." I blinked as he pressed his ear against the wall and I found myself doing the same. Then, and only then, did I hear a faint ticking sound.

"Okay now I do but what is that?" I attempted to press my head closer to the wall. "Did somebody hide a clock or something?"

KrakenKid's eyes clouded even more than before. His head shook. "It can't be that... It kinda sounds like-" Then his eyes widened he reached out, attempting to grasp for something. "Cody!" I quickly came into his reach and he latched onto my shoulders and shook them frantically. "We gotta get out of here! GET EVERYONE OUT!"

I blinked in shock. "What? Why? What is it?"

"IT'S A PIPE BOMB, PENGUIN!"

I gasped and grabbed onto his arm and dragged him out the door. "Guards! GUARDS!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. My screaming caught the attention of around six of them and they all rushed to meet me. "There's a pipe bomb in the walls! Get all the prisoners out safely and make sure they're still contained! I got KrakenKid, the rest of you get the rest!"

All the guards seemed to nod but one, who looked skeptical. "Sir, I can take KrakenKid and you can rally the guards! You're our leader, you know how to do it!"

I shook my head, glancing at his name tag. "Damian, this isn't the time for arguing! I got him, you guys just get them out! Get everyone out of here and to safety, we don't know how badly this will affect us!" I put KrakenKid's arm around my shoulder and started to guide hi out. "Go! GO!" I yelled and all of them scattered.

KrakenKid didn't say anything as we got out of the building and certainly didn't when everyone started to crowd around us, asking what was going on. I just kept them at bay and managed to get all of them to stay behind me. It wasn't too long before the guards came out with prisoners in handcuffs. Many other people working there scattered out of the building soon after. "Is that everyone?" I called, making them murmur amongst each other. Soon, I would get a 'Yes' as an answer and I sighed in relief.

It didn't last long as the sound of an explosion filled my ears and the whole building began to crumble right before my eyes. Normally, this should have been stable enough to last it, but the force was so great that even the arena around the jail's walls fell before my eyes.

Nobody could say a word, it all happened so fast and suddenly, it was all just rumble. "Well..." KrakenKid clicked his tongue. "That certainly didn't sound good."

"Believe me," I replied back. "It doesn't look any better."

All of the prisoners were all put in makeshift cells as we tried to determine what happened, and much to my displeasure, even KrakenKid. Though, the kraken didn't mind much. "Don't tell me how small it is." He said when he was put inside. "I'm claustrophobic but since I can't tell, it's better this way."

Then, I had a million and one responsibilities on my plate. I had reports to get from witnesses and guards who were in the event, I had to manage where to put the prisoners in the first place now that the original place was gone and find out what happened in the first place.

Luckily, lots of those came easy. Guards and civilians were cooperative and getting reports wasn't hard and soon, PebbleTeen found a lead on what happened. "Come look at this." She told me and lead me closer to where it all happened. To my surprise, not everything was gone.

A good sized cell was still standing. Not perfectly and was missing the back wall, but much better than all of the rest of the building. "This was the only place that survived within the jail." She told me. "Just this one cell, in almost perfect condition. The bomb didn't hit it as much, and the only thing it truly damaged was the back wall."

I pondered for a minute before getting it. "The same wall the leads to the outside!" She nodded. "So, you think this was an escape attempt by a prisoner? How would they get the resources and everything?"

"No, not that." She told me and stared deep into my eyes. "I think that someone else planted the bomb to free someone on the inside. The bomb might have been close to this cell, but it was placed in a spot where it couldn't have affected it. This bomb was meant to set someone free." She explained.

I nodded slowly. "Any guesses as to who?"

PebbleTeen's eyes drifted around the room. "Take a look for yourself."

I turned around and began to shuffle through the rumble. There were standard things like a bed and such, but something bumped my foot when I tried to move around, and not a rock. Bending down, I cleared the dust off and three words greeted me.

The Wise Wizard. The very book I gave to KrakenKid.

"This was KrakenKid's room." I realized, whipping around to the general. "But he's the one who told us about it in the first place, I don't understand!"

PebbleTeen paused for a while. "Maybe he didn't know about it. Maybe-"

"This was an inside job." I suddenly understood in mid-sentence, getting a nod from her. "We have a mole among us!"

I weaved throughout the many people guarding or investigating around to get to the cell before calling out to him. "Oh, KrakenKid!" I grinned. "I have a surprise!"

KrakenKid was sitting against the wall and though his eyes lit up with interest, he didn't move. "Okay, shoot. What is it?"

"Well, so you know how most of the prisoners are going to the lab to live in those containers?" He nodded. "There isn't enough of them and since you helped us out, you get a different cell!"

"But still a cell?" His eyebrows raised.

I bit my lip and nodded solemnly. "Yeah... Sorry about that but rules are rules. However, you do get a very nice cell!" I told him, still smiling, though it occurred to me that that he wouldn't be able to tell if I was or not.

"Really?" He asked, leaning forward. "How so?"

"You're going to be nearby the palace!"

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FINALLY I WAS ABLE TO PUT THIS INTO WHAT I WANTED TO DO

For some reason "What We Lost"'s next chapter is taking FREAKING FOREVER TO MAKE so I naturally decided to take a break and made this! It's been a lot longer than I'm willing to admit but I just got really caught up in Sea Serpent that I forgot about this one. I should really stop making so many books...

The Tide Changers make a move, but that move fails... Won't be the first time they try something. ;) And finally, I found a good way to lead into what's going to happen!

Anyways, I hope all of you liked this at least a little! Be sure to comment what you thought of this chapter, and until we meet again!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter