Who Needs Therapy when You Can Break Stuff?

“I hate this place so much.”

Randolph glared at Rebecca, willing himself to not snap at her. “You were the one who wanted to come here in the first place, remember?”

They were, of course, talking about Atlantis.

“That was because this is where Papa and Aunt Fainel were going,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It was mysterious! Enigmatic!”

Randolph was surprised she knew words that big.

“But now that we’re here,” she continued, “it just… it sucks! It’s awful, and too humid, and there’s nothing good to eat, and we haven’t even seen Papa anywhere!”

“It’s not like we’ve seen the whole place.” Roxanne was keeping watch outside the tangle of massive tree roots they’d sought shelter in. “He could be anywhere.”

“Maybe he left already. Or died.”

“Don’t say that, Randolph!”

Randolph didn’t really think their papa was in mortal peril, but he wasn’t concerned for him either way. Rebecca’s attachment to him was completely juvenile and unearned. And besides, Kyrien had a way of getting himself out of scraps.

“Maybe,” Roxanne cut in, coming in from outside, “We should think of something to do other than hunting for people we already know.”

“Like what?” Rebecca snapped.

“There’s plenty of iguanodons around. Maybe one of them could use our help.”

“Help.” She scoffed.

“Our brand of help, naturally.” Randolph got to his feet, and nudged Rebecca to encourage her to do the same. “All of those fancy tapestries and baubles—I wonder if they’d notice a few things out of place?”

Rebecca leapt to her feet. “Or everything out of place!”

“Now we’re talking!” He gave Roxanne a grateful nod. It could be so hard to get their big sister out of her moods, at times, but a bit of destructive fun was a sure way to lift her spirits. Roxanne didn’t look especially proud; just tired. He’d have to make sure she had some fun, too.

“Let’s find something to tear up!” Rebecca cried as she emerged into the artificial sunlight. “Or mess up, or gobble up…”

“I got her all excited now,” Roxanne murmured.

“Let’s try not to disappoint her. Or we’ll be the things she’ll tear up.”

“Right.” She sighed, deeply, and the two of them went up and followed after Rebecca.

She led them through the dense jungle, so excited she hardly watched where she put her feet.

“The flytraps, Rebecca,” Roxanne warned.

“I know, I know,” she said, narrowly avoiding the meter-wide carnivorous plants littering the ground. Navigating the jungle never got any less unpleasant. At least the city was tamer.

If nothing else, they were lucky enough to avoid running into any euoplos. Not that Randolph didn’t think the three of them could handle it, but because it would be too much trouble, even for him. He wasn’t in the mood for a fight, and he doubted Roxanne was, either. Rebecca would be all too eager.

He sincerely hoped she didn’t try to pick a fight with the iguanodons. Sure, they were planning on destroying all of their valuables, but that was a far cry from a real, physical confrontation. The hulking herbivores would be tricky to take down three-on-one, but in Atlantis, there were so many of them, their city as densely-packed as a beehive, like they were allergic to loneliness.

Randolph glanced around, at his brutish older sister and his melancholy little sister. Both terribly annoying, yet he shadowed them everywhere.

Maybe the iguanodons had a point.

He buried those thoughts as the grass under their feet gave way to paved roads, and the canopy of trees became obnoxious villas and mansions. The three snuck into the alleyways, careful to stay out of sight, especially with Roxanne’s glowing stripes; she kept to the back with Randolph and Rebecca in front.

Randolph mostly kept his eyes on Rebecca. When she found something to ruin, she’d let them know. He just needed to make sure she didn’t blow their cover in the process.

Right on cue, she froze and sniffed the air. “Smell that?”

“Flowers?”

“Yeah.”

Roxanne crawled up next to Randolph. “Haven’t we had enough of plants out in the jungle?”

“Those are the hungry plants. The ones in the city are the docile, sit-around-and-be-pretty kind of plants.” Rebecca grinned, a wicked light in her eyes. “We have a better chance against them than anything out in the jungle. What better way to take revenge?”

Randolph wasn’t going to argue with her surprisingly sound logic, so they followed her lead.

Eventually, they found the source of the smell: a huge, sprawling garden filled every every kind of (non-carnivorous) flower Randolph could think of. The air was so rich with floral scents he felt that if he stuck out his tongue, he could taste them. The garden was contained by a tall iron fence, and the area near the ground was obscured by bushes and fronds, giving them perfect cover for spying and eavesdropping on their quarry.

“Thank you again for coming over, Pepper,” came a voice from within. Randolph caught glimpses of a tawny iguanodon walking among the flowerbeds. “It’s always such a pleasure to see you.”

Pepper, another iguanodon, black and white, spoke too quietly for any of the cryos to hear. She followed the tawny one around the garden.

“It’s beautiful,” Roxanne whispered.

“It’ll be even more beautiful with all those pretty flowers scattered everywhere!”

Roxanne rolled her eyes, though Rebecca didn’t see.

“Let’s wait for them to get a little farther away, at least?” Randolph suggested.

The trio went silent, watching the two iguanodons. They still couldn’t catch the tawny one’s name, on account of Pepper mostly staying quiet, but she filled the empty air just fine on her own. She walked Pepper through every flower in the garden—roses, bellflowers, peonies—in painstaking detail. It seemed like she was never going to shut up.

Restless and bored, Randolph looked over at Rebecca, who was clearly itching for a chance to run in and wreck everything. Then he looked over at Roxanne. Her eyes were locked on the figures on the other side of the fence, her eyes alight with genuine interest.

Randolph would have to find a way to sneak a few flowers out safely.

Then Rebecca yawned. Loudly. Randolph, once again, found himself holding in the urge to shout at her.

Pepper’s eyes snapped to the fence. “Jonquil, did you hear something?” It was first clear sentence they’d heard from her.

Randolph sank so low to the ground that his legs began to ache, his belly brushing the cool ground. Roxanne inched behind him, trying to keep her stripes out of sight. Rebecca herself didn’t have a sense of urgency at all, but at least she was already crouched low, hopefully obscured from sight thanks to the nearby rosebushes.

“Hm?” Jonquil lifted her head from the flowers she’d been examining, but she didn’t sound especially concerned. “It was probably just a bird, Pepper. All sorts of things have been flying down from the surface lately!”

“Are you sure that-”

Jonquil gave her a playful bump on the hips. “You worry too much! With all of the euoplos in the jungle, you don’t really think anything dangerous could get in here, do you?”

Randolph bit back laughter.

Pepper stared towards them for a moment longer, then shook her head and sighed. “Why don’t we go inside for a while? You said one of the courtiers brought you fresh mangoes…”

“They did! Let’s have a quick bite, then, I’m sure you’ll love them.”

Finally, the pair made their way out of the garden—the cryos were even lucky enough that the gate was on the far end, so they didn’t need to worry about being spotted.

“They’re gone,” Randolph whispered once their footsteps had fully faded.

Rebecca sprang to her full height (which was still significantly shorter than the iguanodon-built fence). “Now’s our chance!”

Without waiting for an answer, she sank her teeth into an iron bar. These iguanodons were used to them being for show, not for protection, and had never had to fend off a cryo’s teeth before. With a grunt, she managed to dislodge it, and with her siblings helping her, they made a big enough gap in the bars for them all to slip through.

Rebecca cackled maniacally. “Finally! Let’s have some fun!” She dug her teeth into a clump of chrysanthemums, splattering petals and leaves everywhere. Still laughing, she ran off to look for her next victim.

“Save a few peonies if you can,” Roxanne whispered to Randolph.

“No problem.” With the two of them working together, he was sure he’d be able to keep Rebecca distracted. There were plenty of other flowers to choose from. “Just make sure you have some fun, too.”

She grinned. “Oh, I will!” Roxanne tore across the garden ade ripped a clump of roses out of the ground. She shook them around like felled prey, sending up a spray of dirt rather than blood.

Randolph wasn’t going to let himself miss all of the fun. Soon all three of them were laughing and snarling playfully as they made the biggest mess they could, the towering fence that had kept them out now serving to keep them safe from any nosy onlookers. It almost felt like they were hatchlings again, wild and carefree.

It wasn’t long before the garden looked more like the result of a mudslide. All the plants had been uprooted and trampled, some had been completely buried in loose dirt.

Except, of course, for a cluster of bright red peonies, tucked behind a bend in the fence.