Chapter 17 - Page 259 - Trouble In Chicago

Jim could see the head of each bullet flatten out on impact with the blue bubble. It sounded like the bullets hit a steel plate. The loud sound vibrated the air in slow motion: Pang . . . pang . . . pang. Then each bullet fell slowly to the ground.

   "What's . . . going . . . on . . . here?" Clyde screamed, frustrated. He threw the pistol at Jim. The gun tumbled slowly through the air. The gun hit the blue bubble with a long, drawn-out thunk.

   Jim could see fear in Clyde's face. He was trying to run, but something held him in place. Slowly Clyde's body began to change. He appeared to be diced into small cubes. Dissected, he was still trying to move, but in slow motion. A spark ignited at the top of Clyde's head and burned like a fuse, burning its way toward his feet. Above the burning fuse, it was as if his body was being erased. When the fire reached his feet, Clyde had vanished. The gun and bullets were also gone.

   Somehow Jim knew that everyone who had ever known Clyde had no memory of him; all records of him had disappeared. Only Jim, Rhasha, and Shanha knew he'd ever existed. It was as if the incident with the gun had never happened.

   Jim, Rhasha, and Shanha heard the humming again, growing louder. Everything went back to normal motion. After a few flashes of lightning and grumbles of thunder, the clouds rolled back where they'd come from, and the sky brightened. The soft blue bubble set Jim, Rhasha, and Shanha on the ground and disappeared. They could hear sounds and feel the breeze. Jim looked at the people walking by and realized that nobody in the zoo remembered anything unusual happening.

   Everything was back to normal, except for Clyde.