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We Lost Him | Shook Chapter 7 Part 3
Azure's Gone. Store's Emptying. The crew better think fast!...
Once they made it to the clothing department, Dyan took a deep breath, and looked around the aisle.
No Azure.
“Wow. He’s not here,” said Wild Yonder. “It’s like he disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Earth. For some reason, that word made Dyan think of her book. And then it all made sense. Azure. The over-energetic alien. Azure got lost in the store. The over-energetic alien got lost on Earth, and before the rest of the aliens and Spirit could go on their adventure, they had to find the energetic alien. But Dyan hadn’t yet written how they found the little alien. So how would they find Azure!?
“Oh no!” Dyan shouted aloud. Her brain was off on a tangent. It’s my fault Azure is lost! All because I wanted to test if my writing powers were real! They’re very real alright, and now we can’t find Azure!
“I feel so guilty.” Dyan said sadly.
“It’s not your fault.” said Wild Yonder. “Azure is the one who ran off like an idiot.
If you only knew, Wild Yonder. Azure wouldn’t have gotten lost if I didn’t write that he did in my book, Dyan thought, but didn’t say. And I don’t even have my notebook to write how they WOULD find him!
Even though Dyan couldn’t write at this moment, she could still think out how Spirit would find him. Maybe it wasn’t just writing out the story that held the magic to making things happen. Maybe what Dyan thought would happen as well! After all, that day when she brainstormed what Spirit would wear, not a moment later Maya came in wearing it! Maybe thought was key!
Dayn squeezed her eyes shut and began thinking. 'Spirit found the little alien! She found him in the most obvious spot you could find him! It was so obvious, Spirit wondered why she hadn’t looked there earlier!'
She opened her eyes.
Azure didn’t magically appear.
Dyan’s vision became blurry with tears. Poor Azure, because of me he’s lost forever! All he wanted was a bike!
Wait. All he wanted was a bike. Dyan’s eyes widened.
“Wild Yonder, I have an idea where Azure could be.”
“But he’s not here, so we should just go back to Mom-”
“Let's go to one more aisle. I’ve got a really good feeling he’s there.”
Wild Yonder put his hands up. “Okay, but if we get in trouble, you're taking the blame.”
Dyan ran to the aisle with the bikes. The place was nearly empty, but some bikes were still there.
“Vrrrrrroooooooom, Vroooooooom,”
Dyan heard stomping, and wouldn’t you know it? Down the aisle a boy with plain blue hair ran by, pushing a cart at rapid speed.
“Azure!” Dyan pointed and yelled. And together, she and Wild Yonder ran after him.
They ran down the bike aisle and made a sharp turn left, where Azure was still flying down the aisle.
People were staring at them like they were crazy. The bug sprays and air fresheners were colorful blurs on the shelves as Dyan ran past them.
Wild Yonder separated from Dyan and ran up another aile. Maybe he was off to tell Mrs. Blue they’d found Azure. Somewhere in the mix Dyan started to smile. She had never been able to freely run down the aisles of a Supercenter store, but now she was, and it felt great. All Dyan cared about right then was not losing Azure.
She soon caught up to where she was right behind him and grabbed one side of the cart.
At that moment, Wild Yonder appeared from behind one of the aisles and stood in front of the cart, body spread out wide. Dyan slowed to a stop and with her, she stopped Azure and the cart.
Azure looked at Dyan and then Wild Yonder as if they were weirdos. “What are y’all doing? I was gaining some good speed!”
“We were catching you!” said Dyan, breathing hard. She took the cart out of Azure's grasp. “What were you doing over here?”
“I couldn’t find the eggs. I did find the bikes though. There are some really cool ones that have 10 gears!”
Wild Yonder smacked his teeth. “Of course you found the bikes, this is where you really wanted to go!”
“We’ve been looking for you for like, 30 minutes! You didn’t hear us calling your name or anything?” Dyan asked him.
“No.”
Dyan felt relieved, but she also felt angry. She had spent half an hour feeling guilty and sick to the stomach looking for someone who was just running around the bike aisle having a good time, oblivious to the worried calls that echoed through the store. They had looked down every aisle, calling his name. There was no way Azure didn’t hear them. He just hadn’t come. Dyan thought they had passed the bike aisle before, but maybe they hadn’t seen Azure because he was running around with the cart. That was just so…stupid! Dyan felt like screaming at Azure.
“Dyan, Wild Yonder, and Azure Blue please come to the customer assistance desk, I repeat Dyan, Wild Yonder, and Azure Blue to the customer assistance desk,” The store intercom blared.
“Oh no!” Dyan’s heart beat fast. “Mrs. Blue must have called us because we took too long! Let’s hurry!” Dyan started to speed walk with the cart, Azure and Wild Yonder running ahead of her. Dyan tried her hardest to ignore everyone’s stares as they made it to the customer assistance desk.
“Azure! There you are! Oh my goodness I thought I lost you!” Mrs. Blue kneeled down and squeezed her son.
“Woah! They’ve actually got blue hair! That is shocking!” laughed the lady at the intercom. “Well, except your daughter. She’s got black hair like you I guess.”
“Oh, Dyan’s not my daughter, she’s one of my daughter’s friends." Mrs. Blue told the cashier. Then she addressed Dyan and Wild Yonder. "How did you two find him?”
“He wasn’t at the clothing department, so Dyan suggested we go look for him by the bikes, and guess who was joy-riding the cart near all the bikes?” Wild Yonder did a deadpan face.
“I should slap you!” Mrs. Blue looked at Azure angrily.
“But I couldn’t find the eggs-”
“Not an excuse! I’m never letting you drive the cart again, in fact, I don’t know if I'll ever send you out to get anything at the store by yourself again!”
Mrs. Blue continued to scold Azure all the way to the register, where she began to pay for everything.
“-and you’re lucky Dyan knew where to find you! Thank you, Dyan.” Mrs. Blue smiled at the girl. “You don’t know how much you’ve helped me today. I could have lost Azure.”
“Uh, yeah,” Dyan smiled awkwardly. She was thinking, 'If I didn’t hurry up and think out how Spirit found him, he probably would still be lost.'
All Dyan said out loud was.“ Aren’t you forgetting to buy eggs?”
“Oh! The eggs!” Mrs. Blue remembered. She turned and smiled at the cashier. “One moment please. Can one of you get the eggs really quick!? Not you, Azure.”
“I can!” Wild Yonder raised a hand, and before being told he ran off, disappearing behind one of the store aisles. It was a moment before he came running back, eggs in hand. He was almost back when he tripped and the eggs container flew out of his hands.
CLACK!
Find out what happens next in the next part!
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