Rocky and Nova Don't Need Doors #3

CHAPTER ONE

Ready for Action

Rocky woke up inches from the wall. He yelped reflexively, even though walls weren’t much of an obstacle for him. Thanks to his puppy superpower, solid objects were things he could simply move through as if they didn’t exist. Still, he was annoyed. He wasn’t sure if he was upset with himself for not yet growing out of this whole puppy pile thing or with his brother, Moose, for flinging him across the room while he was asleep. Moose never seemed to remember that his superpower was superstrength, which meant Rocky and his siblings were often on the flinging end of those powers. Rocky whirled around and glowered. “Not okay, Moose!” he barked.

Moose blinked at him in confusion, clearly not getting that it wasn’t all right to just wake up and shake your siblings off like they weren’t even sleeping on top of you. Rocky punctuated his irritation by lowering his head and running at his brother. When the top of Rocky’s head smashed into Moose’s side, he belatedly realized that this was going to hurt him more than Moose. The one object he couldn’t go through was another living creature, and the headbutt was an unpleasant reminder. As they slid across the floor and slammed into the wall, Rocky hoped that Moose at least felt the wall.

Rocky, of course, didn’t feel the wall. Instead, he was instantly in the next room. It was empty, which was strange. Rocky lifted his nose and sniffed the air. Something was off. Instead of the familiar dog smells of his pack, there was something new. Something foreign and unrecognizable. Something he didn’t like. He growled as the fur on his spine stood up. He jumped back through the wall to tell the others.

The other puppies were too busy with Moose to notice him. He watched as Sparkle, his tiny sister with flying superpowers, sailed across the room and slammed furiously into Moose’s neck. “I’m so totally telling! No bones for you tonight!” she exclaimed.

Rocky heard Moose claim to be sorry, but he didn’t want to get involved in this spat. He wanted to tell the others that there was something wrong. He wanted to warn them of this bad feeling he had even though he didn’t quite know what it was yet. Rocky opened his mouth, ready to share, when his other sister, Tobey, whose superpower allowed her to appear and disappear wherever she wanted, appeared next to Moose and nipped him on the leg.

Rocky shut his mouth and sighed. He knew no one was going to hear him over what was coming next, the inevitable Moose-­tantrum. And, sure enough, Moose let loose with a massive howl. Tobey called him a big baby right before she disappeared again, and Rocky knew he had to get control of the room. He had something important to say!

He circled Moose, trying to get his attention, but Moose didn’t understand. He thought it was time to play. “I’m so gonna get you!” Moose said as he wagged his tail and began to chase him. Rocky quickly pivoted and ran in the other direction. Rocky ran through a table as though it wasn’t there. Moose didn’t fare as well. Behind him, Rocky heard the table splinter. “Oops!” Moose said, and Rocky spun around just in time to see him wag his tail through a bookshelf. As the books crashed to the floor, Rocky growled with irritation. He really didn’t like chaos, noise, and messes, the three things that defined life with his siblings.

“Cat!” Moose yelled, and everyone froze. Although Rocky would never say this out loud, cats made him nervous, especially the one who had just appeared on top of the bookshelf. It was Shadow, their superpower instructor. She wrapped her tail around her body and observed the mess. Even though Moose was the one who made it, Rocky was worried he’d be blamed, and he didn’t like that. He took pride in doing everything perfectly . . . or, at least, as close as he could get to perfect. He tried harder than any of the other puppies and took it hard when things didn’t go well. That’s why Shadow made him so nervous. She seemed to expect as much from him as he did himself.

When Shadow’s eyes rested on Moose, Rocky breathed a sigh of relief and resisted the urge to point out the obvious. The mess was all Moose’s fault! Shadow closed her eyes in what a less observant dog would call a long blink. But Rocky paid attention and understood that she was worried, and this made him worry. It confirmed what he already knew. Something was very wrong here. He took a deep breath to fortify himself. This was it. He was sure this was the moment he and the other puppies had been preparing for. They were the newest litter of puppies in a superpack of dogs whose job was to keep the people in the Earth realm safe. And if the big dogs weren’t there, then it was their time to be heroes, and he was ready!

Sparkle interrupted his big moment by flying to the back of the couch and shrieking, “Moose had an accident! He has pee feet!”

Rocky could see a yellow puddle inching his way, but he didn’t want to be the first one to run. He needed to show Shadow that she could count on him. He was ready to be a superpuppy! He was so excited that he almost wagged his tail into Moose’s oncoming pee but caught himself just in time.

“What’s happening, Shadow?” he asked in his most serious voice, hoping that he sounded as brave and confident as his parents or one of the other big dogs.

Shadow made eye contact, and Rocky stared back. He wanted her to know that he wasn’t like the others. He wasn’t going to pee or squabble or do any of those puppy things she didn’t need. He was going to save the day!

“It’s time for you to meet your first humans,” Shadow said, and Rocky felt a flash of disappointment. Humans?! Why did he have to meet one of those things? They weren’t heroes. They were the things that superdogs and superpuppies were supposed to protect. Couldn’t he just bypass the whole human thing and get on with being a hero?

Shadow answered his question. “The rest of the pack has disappeared. I believe they’re in the human world, and you need to find them.”

Rocky nodded. Okay, that explained why he needed to meet a human, and he vowed to find the best human out there, one who was as heroic, strong, and capable as he was!

Shadow continued, “One of them left this behind.” She used her paw to pull a bright, sparkly, obviously magic ball out of thin air. “I’ve seen this kind of magic before . . . This ball is one piece of a lock. When we get all of the pieces together, we will, hopefully, unlock whatever it is that’s keeping the rest of the pack from coming back home.”

Rocky stood up straight and took a deep breath. “Leave it to me, Shadow! I’ll retrieve all of the balls and save the day!” he said as he lowered his voice to sound older. He thought he caught a slight curl at the corner of Shadow’s mouth, and his stomach dropped. Was she laughing at him? Before he could roll that thought through his brain a few more times, Shadow flicked her tail, and the room filled with sparkles and colors. The strength of the magic almost bowled him over. This was a big deal! Four portals to the human world suddenly opened, one in front of each puppy, and Rocky was ready to make it a moment. He was going to walk heroically through the first portal to take on the task . . . but Moose galloped past him first, flinging spittle and stepping on his paw in the process. Right behind him, Sparkle flew through her portal as if she’d been launched from a cannon. Rocky sighed, lifted his head, and marched through the third portal. He assumed Tobey was behind him, but there was no time to look back.