Gus and Elliot Go Big #6

Chapter One
Listen, Listen, Listen
Gus saw the ball, smelled the bird’s feathers, and heard the butterfly’s wings. He couldn’t decide which of these things he wanted to chase the most, and as all the possibilities ran through his mind, his size-­shifting superpower went into overdrive. Ball! he thought, and grew to twice his size. Bird! came next as he became as big as a house and as high as the treetops. Butterfly! was his last thought before he shrank down to the size of a mouse.

“You know, it’s really hard to read your mind when it’s all over the place like that. Ahh-nnoying!!” Lulu said in a voice that sounded like a thunderclap in Gus’s mouse-­size ears. He looked up to see the enormous faces of his siblings, Lulu, Mouse, and Bandit, staring down at him.

Normally, Gus would have used his loud voice to remind Lulu how much he disliked it when she used her telepathy superpower to read his mind. But when he spoke, his voice sounded like a squeak. “If you want to read my mind so bad, then go ahead!” he said, and followed it with the thought, Your breath smells like grass. Groooosss!

Lulu gasped dramatically. “You know my stomach gets upset whenever I’m nervous.”

“Which is, like, all the time,” Mouse responded with an annoyed exhale that felt like a tropical storm blowing down on Gus. Normal, he thought, and grew to his regular size just in time to hear a summons vibrate across the yard.

“Superpower puppies to the gathering room,” a voice called out, amplified by magic. Lulu whimpered nervously as different thoughts tumbled through Gus’s mind: Trouble? Treats? Lessons? Before he could decide what was the most likely, his brother and sisters raced toward the front door of the home they shared with their parents and the rest of the superpower canines.

Gus thumped after them and easily caught up to little Mouse and her short legs. He grinned good-­naturedly as he passed her but could tell by her expression she wasn’t happy about it. “I’m NOT going to be last,” she yelled at his tail as he sprinted through the front door of the building they called home.

On his way down the hallway, Mouse flew by him riding the rug in the hallway like a magic carpet. It was hard to compete with her telekinesis superpower that could make objects move, but Gus didn’t want to be last either. He grew to the size of a pony and thundered after her. There was a crack of plaster, and the splintering of furniture as he ran, but he wasn’t stopping. Bandit and Lulu were way ahead, and he had a lot of ground to cover. “Here I come,” he bellowed.

“Not gonna be that easy,” Bandit said right before he used his shape-­shifting superpower to turn into a cheetah with the same brown and white markings as his fur. He slipped silently to the gathering room door.

“Uh-­oh!” Gus yelled as he tried to get a grip on the polished floor.

“He’s not going to stop!” Lulu shrieked, and she was right. Gus lowered his head as he slid into Mouse, who ended up perched on his head like a hat with the carpet flapping behind them like a bridal veil.

“Sooorrrrry!” Gus apologized as he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for impact. He hit Lulu first and then they all smacked into Bandit, who was pressed against the door. It held briefly before it flew open and sent them sailing into the middle of the gathering room.

Gus shrank back to normal and climbed out from under the pile of siblings. He didn’t know where to look first. There were so many things in the gathering room, and his mind jumped from object to object: chandelier, fancy rug, upholstered seats, portraits of the litter of superpuppies who came before them, Moose, Sparkle, Rocky, and Tobey . . . Finally, his eyes rested on their magic instructor, Shadow. The gray cat was staring at them from the top of a cabinet. He tried to focus on her. Cat, cat, cat, he repeated, and managed to concentrate long enough to hear her say, “It’s time for your first mission in the human realm.”

Gus’s heart thumped. It had always been hard for him to focus during their human studies classes, and at this moment, he couldn’t come up with a single detail about them except that they walked on two legs. He wondered if he could refuse to go.

“Gus doesn’t want to go because he can’t remember anything about the Earth realm or the humans who live there,” Lulu tattled.

Bandit morphed back into puppy form, licked Gus’s ears, and whispered, “It’ll be okay. Just remember the superpower puppy chant I taught you.”

“He doesn’t remember it!” Lulu announced. “His mind is almost empty right now.”

“Stay in your own head!” Gus responded, annoyed that his sister just let everyone know how unprepared he was to be a hero.

Shadow cleared her throat and said, “There is no option to stay behind. You’re all going.” Her eyes lingered on Gus for a beat longer than he would have liked, but when she spoke again, her voice was kinder and gentler. “But I’d be happy to remind you all what your jobs as superpower puppies are.” Gus breathed a sigh of relief.

“Gus says thank you . . . kind of,” Lulu said, and Gus wasn’t bothered this time. He really was grateful for the refresher.

“I’m assuming that you know you are all puppies with superpowers?” Shadow asked.

“Gus knows, but right now he’s thinking about going big and stepping on me,” Lulu said, and Gus couldn’t help but laugh because they both knew that was her idea, not his.

Shadow continued, “In that case, you also know that it is your job to protect those furless, two-­legged creatures called humans, who live in the Earth realm.” Gus nodded. It was coming back to him, and he felt a twinge of something that was either fear or excitement. He couldn’t be sure. “Well, you are needed now.”

As usual, Bandit already knew what questions he needed to ask. “But why us? Saving humans is a job for the big dogs.”

Shadow answered, “Moose, Sparkle, Rocky, and Tobey showed us something that I find . . .” She paused for a beat like she was confused. “That I find hard to imagine. Apparently, humans love puppies so much that they’ll let them go anywhere and get away with anything, and you . . . are . . . puppies.”

Shadow flicked her paw. The door to the cabinet flew open, and four spitting, sparkling, magic balls rolled across the floor.

“These are the magic balls the last litter of superpower puppies took from the Earth realm,” Shadow explained. “Each one contains a spark of magic from one of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The Earth Elementals created them a long time ago when humans were more connected to nature. Now that they’re all about cell phones, cars, pollution, and pavement, the Elementals want them back. They’re too powerful to be out and about.”

Bandit sounded confused when he asked, “So you want us to give the balls to the Elementals?”

Shadow shook her head before continuing, “I believe that there are some humans out there who will do good things for their planet with the magic in these balls. I want you to give them the balls.”

“That should be easy, then, right?” Mouse asked. “I mean, we’ll just take the balls to those people, drop them on their laps, and say goodbye.” Her tail wagged. “We’ll be home in time for dinner.”

Shadow sounded serious. “The Elementals will be coming for the balls, and if you’re in the way, they’ll be coming for you.”

Gus tucked his tail between his legs as Lulu inched closer. She didn’t need to read his mind to understand that neither of them felt ready for this task. He wondered if it was even possible that Bandit and Mouse were as excited as they looked.

Bandit wagged his tail and looked from one puppy to the other. “Who are we?”

Gus didn’t remember Bandit’s superpower puppy chant, but Lulu and Mouse did. “We’re superpower puppies!”

Bandit continued, “What do we do?”

Gus had no idea, but Lulu and Mouse were ready. “We protect the human realm!”

Bandit had one more question: “And why do we do it?”

Gus was tired of being the puppy without an answer. “Because we love them!” he said.

Bandit smiled. “You’re supposed to say ‘Because it’s our job,’ but that works.” Gus’s tail wiggled uncontrollably. He liked coming up with a good answer because it didn’t happen often.

“Time to go,” Shadow said as the room suddenly filled with sparkles and colors. Gus was transfixed. Red, yellow, sparkle, glitter, POP!   he thought. It was all so beautiful, he barely noticed when four magic doors opened up.

“What am I supposed to do?” he asked, and Bandit answered by shoving the nearest ball in Gus’s mouth and pushing him through a portal to the human realm.