Chapter 15

Are We There Yet?

It had been about two hours since we left Orodon's cabin. We were finally leaving Elmwood Forest. I spotted a sign that said, "Thanks For Visiting!" as the trees grew more and more sparse. I was going to ask Spindler something, but I wasn't quite sure what.

Suddenly, I remembered. "Spindler, you said something about facing a monster at Yang Yang Restaurant, right?"

"Indeed, I did," Spindler said.

"What exactly is this monster like?"

"I have no idea. The prophecy didn't say much."

I thought about this for a second. So nobody knew anything about the monster? This wasn't very helpful, considering I was the one who had to defeat it. I briefly considered telling Spindler about the wand, but decided against it. I wanted to impress Spindler when I surprised him with my magical abilities.

A few moments later, I heard Theodore mumbled something. He appeared to be talking into a walkie-talkie. "Hello...we just left the forest...yes, we'll arrive soon...yes...no...mostly just the Reflektors...yeah, thanks...you too...bye."

"Who were you talking to, Theodore?" Raven asked.

"Just one of my friends," Theodore replied.

We continued walking for another fifteen minutes or so. By that time, it was lunchtime and I was hungry. Luckily, we were almost at the restaurant. It was so close that I could see the Yang a Yang Restaurant sign in the distance.

"Are we there yet?" Theodore asked.

"We're almost there, Theodore," Spindler said.

We approached the restaurant within a few minutes. "Are we there yet?" Theodore asked again.

"Actually, we are here," Spindler replied.

We were standing in the middle of a half-empty parking lot. The sun beat on the asphalt and reflected off of the cars. A red minivan began to back out of a parking spot nearby. I ran away so I wouldn't get hit by the car.

"So all we have to do is just walk in there, right?" I asked Spindler.

"That is correct. And once we enter the restaurant, we have to defeat the monster and find the Azurro."

"Seems easy enough," I said, chuckling.

We stood around for a moment too long. The second I said that, our path was blocked by a bunch of poodles.

"A puppy blockade," I mumbled. "This is just getting weirder by the second."