Frankenweenie Page 7

  His mother leaned down and put her hands on his shoulders. “He went inside,” she said gently. “Victor, he’s…”

  Before she could finish her sentence, Victor shrugged her away and ran toward the windmill.

  “Victor! Get back from there!” his dad shouted. The windmill was moving, shifting to one side as its base started to collapse due to the fire.

  Victor soon reached the top, where the Vampire Cat had cornered Elsa and Persephone. The girl and her dog were out on the now-fully-ablaze sails of the windmill. Victor went to help them, but that only drew the attention of the Vampire Cat. The monster tried to attack young Victor—but Sparky launched through the windmill window and attacked the creature first. Sparky would not let Victor get hurt!

  With the Vampire Cat distracted, Victor bravely inched his way out onto the sails to save Elsa and Persephone. Elsa lost her footing, but Victor quickly reached out to her. He just barely caught Elsa and the frightened poodle. Victor looked around and grabbed a nearby rope. He tied it around the two and lowered them to safety.

  Victor turned his attention back to Sparky, who was still fighting off the fearsome Vampire Cat as they both clung to the sails of the burning windmill. “Sparky!” Victor cried. Sparky jumped into Victor’s arms, safely away from the Vampire Cat.

  Undeterred, the Vampire Cat made one final lunge toward them—knocking Victor off the side. The large crowd below gasped in horror as Victor and the Vampire Cat plummeted through the floorboards and disappeared into the bowels of the windmill.

  Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein tried to run in after their son but the firefighters wouldn’t let them through. “That’s my son in there!” Victor’s father protested.

  Inside the windmill, Sparky battled the flames and raced to the bottom to find both the Vampire Cat and Victor unconscious on the floor. Grabbing Victor by the collar, Sparky used all the strength in his little body to drag Victor out of the windmill and to safety.

  Victor’s parents and the rest of the crowd watched, waiting for some kind of life to emerge from the wreckage.…Suddenly, they burst into a cheerful roar! It was Victor and Sparky! They were safe! Sparky barked with joy. But just as Victor awoke, the Vampire Cat reared up from out of the flames and dragged Sparky back into the collapsing windmill!

  The Vampire Cat knocked Sparky backward and cornered him against the wall. He bared his fangs and moved in for the kill.

  Sparky steeled himself for the worst as a flaming shard of wood broke off the rafters above and plummeted to the ground. But at the last second, Sparky moved out of the way. The shard missed him—and drove right through the Vampire Cat, ending its rampage for good!

  Sparky tried to run for the door when the windmill finally collapsed, to the horror of Victor and the crowd outside.

  As the sun began to rise, Victor stared at the remains of the windmill. The fire was out, but all that was left of the town’s landmark was rubble and ash.

  Standing beside his parents and classmates, Victor wiped away a tear, leaving a smudge of ash on his cheek. Sparky was gone. After everything they had been through, he was really, truly gone. Victor sniffled. What was he going to do now?

  “I found him!”

  Victor’s head snapped up. One of the firefighters was emerging from the debris, holding Sparky. The little dog was singed, and he looked more black than white, but he was in one piece.

  The firefighter placed Sparky gently on the ground. Racing over, Victor kneeled down next to him. The dog wasn’t breathing. Everyone started to huddle around, trying to see but Bob held up a hand. “Give him room,” he said. Victor had done so much for the town, they owed him some respect.

  Victor put a hand on Sparky’s side. Well, at least now he could say good-bye. Again.

  Kneeling down next to his son, Mr. Frankenstein looked at Sparky. “Is there anything we can do for him?” he asked.

  Victor’s head shot up. Wait? Did his dad mean what he thought he meant? “But you said…”

  “Sometimes adults don’t know what they’re talking about,” Mr. Frankenstein said.

  Victor smiled. In that case, yes, there was something they could do.…

  As the sun continued rising over New Holland, a dozen cars pulled into a circle around Sparky. Lifting the hoods of their vehicles, the various townsfolk attached one end of their jumper cables to the batteries. The other ends were attached to two main lines. Victor attached those to Sparky.

  When everything was set up, Victor took a deep breath and nodded at his father. “Give it everything you got!” Mr. Frankenstein cried.

  In unison, all the drivers revved their engines. As the cars roared, Victor connected one last cable.

  As the electricity raced through the cable and into Sparky, his leg gave one violent twitch.

  “Okay!” Victor cried out. He disconnected the power as his dad waved for everyone to cut their engines.

  A hush fell over the circle as the citizens of New Holland waited. Sparky wasn’t moving. Leaning over, Victor touched his dog gently. “It’s okay, boy,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “You don’t have to come back. You’ll always be in my heart.”

  Victor continued to pet Sparky’s head. He had done everything he could. He would miss his dog so much but…

  Thump, thump.

  Victor looked back. Sparky’s tail was wagging! Then, as he watched, Sparky opened one eye. Then the other. And then, he sat right up and started licking Victor!

  As the crowd around them cheered and applauded, Victor pulled Sparky in for a big hug, happier than he had ever been. In the midst of the celebration, Persephone pushed through the crowd, her white-streaked hair glistening. She bounded up to Sparky, and in the joy of their reunion, they shared a sniff and a jolt. It seemed life was pretty good.…