Justin guides Bonny’s Revenge into complete darkness.
One huge planet hides the suns and in its shadow, somewhere, is the Night Planet, a planet of perpetual night.
Joy holds Charlie’s hand.
Suzy stands next to me. But when darkness comes, I can’t see her or anything else.
There is silence, now. Not a yelp. Not a scream. Not a whisper.
“Joy?” Justin says after a few seconds. “Are you all right?”
“Mmmm-hmmmm,” she says. But her tone is forced. She is not all right.
“Last time you were here… Oh, shoot,” Justin says. “I just realized what happened. I was able to maneuver between objects and land on the planet because it was my dream. I left you alone on the planet because I woke up.”
“Mmmmm-hmmmm!”
“And you saved yourself by putting yourself in a small dark box.”
“Mmmmm-hmmmm!” her voice becomes higher and higher each time. She is really scared and she is trying very hard to brave through it.
“I can’t take it!” a child suddenly yells and I realize it’s not Joy, but Charlie. “I can’t! It’s too dark! I never sleep in the dark! There are monsters in the dark!”
“Charlie, it’s okay…” Joy begins, when a frightening ‘Sssssssss’ is heard.
Master Mind shouts, “Pirate! Charlie is a Dreamer! Put on some light! Now!”
Damn. I get his meaning. And so does Justin. A ball of light appears above us. A huge spider with the head of a human woman is right outside the ship, and it is the size of Bonny’s Revenge.
“Mommy!” Charlie takes his hand back and hides his face in his hands.
“Aw! Shoot!” Justin says simultaneously. “Ah…” he seems to be thinking about something. “Bigger monster!”
A giant lizard - a space lizard? - appears behind the spider woman. It’s bigger than the spider woman and is about to bite into her head, when Joy says, “No, dad! Wait!”
The lizard freezes. The spider woman is not moving in on Bonny’s Revenge, just looks at us from the outside with its huge scary eyes.
“Charlie,” Joy talks to him calmly. “It’s just a monster. It’s just the dark. Of course it has monsters.”
He looks at her. “I hate monsters!”
“Hold my hand,” she offers it.
He does. “It’s just a monster,” she says. “And you’re a Dreamer, right? You can make her go away.”
Charlie appears to calm down, holding her hand. He looks at the space monster he created.
“Oh,” he says. “It’s not a monster. My mom told me stories about her. It’s the spider grandmother. She’s good. She created humans. Joy’s Dad,” he calls to Justin. “I think she wants to lead us to the planet. Can you make it dark again? She’ll protect us.”
Justin thinks for a second. His monster disappears. Then the light disappears and we are shrouded in complete darkness. Again.
The ship shakes for a second like something huge hit it. Then again.
“Charlie?” Justin says.
“It’s okay,” Charlie says. “You don’t need to drive. Kokyangwuti will guide us.”
There is a third big shake. Then Bonny’s Revenge begins to move again.
“I’m not moving it,” Justin says.
The movement is smooth and suddenly we land in water and come to a rest.
“Let’s go slowpokes!” Joy yells. “Everybody off the ship!”
“Joy, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, Dad. It’s just the dark. All it has is monsters. I have me and two dreamers to protect me and Master Mind. Let’s go on adventure!”
—Told by Grampa Walt