“Run!” Eli shouted.
The wolf charged, knocking down men, women, and children. Two strollers nearly tipped over. Anything and everything in the wolf ’s path fell away.
“Ursula did this!” Blair shouted, running alongside Eli. She and Eli apologized as they forced their way through the crowd. The guests stepped back, some cheering the chase, some terrified.
Eli and Blair hurried through the tunnel beneath the Disneyland Railroad track. Following the path, they reached the promenade in front of It’s a Small World. Behind them, the drooling wolf followed, gaining on them.
“It’s closer!” Blair announced. She steered Eli toward the Matterhorn Bobsleds, turning in the direction of the King Arthur Carrousel. It was no use. Eli was slower than the more athletic Blair. The wolf was upon them. It nipped at Eli’s heels, its jaw clapping.
Eli skidded to a halt. He pivoted and thrust his open palm toward the wolf. “Stop!” he hollered.
To his great surprise, the wolf skidded, tripped, tumbled, and rolled. It came to standing on all fours, lowered its head, and snorted.
“Keep going!” Eli called out to Blair. His lungs ached from running. He gasped for air. “I’ll catch up.”
“As if!” Blair said. “We are not separating!”
Eli knew it was absurd, but he felt as if he had caused the wolf to halt. Is that possible? His mother possessed a supernatural ability to push. It was a family secret, like Aunt Jess’s dreaming the future. Unexplained abilities. His mom had been asking Eli for several years now if he had experienced anything unusual happening to him. His parents knew about his incredible hearing. They asked him about it constantly. But this? Eli tried it for a second time: He extended his arms, palms out. He did so slowly, and purposefully, as if he knew what he was doing.
The wolf was staring at him, head dipped lower, eyes angry yet suspicious.
As the wolf ’s head lifted, Eli closed his eyes and felt a powerful heat form in the center of his chest. It moved up his arms, into his shoulders, and out his fingertips. The stunned wolf lifted off the pavement. It flipped and landed squealing.
“Eli! What was that? Did you just do what I think you did?”
Eli twisted around to face the stone wall of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. He pushed. The energy bounced off the wall, driving Eli backward. It was like riding a skateboard. He skidded in reverse at a remarkable speed, sliding past Peter Pan’s Flight and the Sword in the Stone before it occurred to him lower his palms. He came to a stop in front of Snow White’s Enchanted Wish. He was maybe twenty yards behind Blair, who eyed him with both fear and excitement on her face. She ran to catch up.
“Sliding backward? How did you do that?” she called.
“It’s all in the genes,” he said.
The wolf was back to standing. His eyes glowed red.
Impossibly, he seemed to grow bigger.
“The moat!” Eli said breathlessly. “Wolves can swim, but they aren’t fast.”
“Swim?” Blair replied, clearly not liking the idea.
A bluebird flew between them, nearly striking Blair. Its wings blinded Eli. He leaned back to avoid it, and he fell.
Blair looked on as the angry, scuffed-up wolf opened its maw and rushed Eli.
But it wasn’t a wolf that landed on the boy. Instead, a butterfly struck Eli in the forehead and bounced off.
The wolf had transformed in front of Blair’s eyes. The butterfly fluttered off and skimmed the bushes.
Copyright © 2024 by Ridley Pearson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
