Chapter 22
The Rubes and Their Brilliant Plan
NorCandy was just a-floating and a-bobbing all about my room, but I was sweating me up a good old-fashioned storm trying to keep em here. My life-forces was so weak that I could barely hold the gold pencil straight. On the floor at my feet, the tablet timer ticked away. If I could last for just one more minute, I’d break my record.
My knees shook, and sweat crawled down my upper lip. Forty-five seconds. I bit my tongue. Thirty seconds. Twenty-five. Twenty.
Pop!
A white and green striped messenger squirrel tapped its foot on the tablet screen. I dropped the pencil and collapsed to the floor. Snakes alive, I’d only needed fifteen more seconds. The squirrel chirped at me.
“Fine, but you ain’t getting no acorns from me. I don’t like your atti
