LEGO Legends of Chima: Attack of the Crocodiles (Chapter Book #1) Read online

  Crug dunked Crawley’s head in the swamp. Crawley

  came up, spitting swamp water. “Done, boss,” said Crug.

  Later, the two Crocs were at their posts along the

  shores of the swamp when Rizzo came into sight. The

  one-eyed Raven didn’t seem to be carrying a bottle of

  anything. That wasn’t good news.

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  “Hey, boys, is Cragger around?” asked Rizzo.

  “He’s getting his teeth cleaned,” said Crawley.

  “Good,” said Rizzo. “See, there’s been a little, um . . .

  problem. I got the potion, sure thing, best quality it can

  be—just don’t ask where I got it, right? Anyway, this

  stuff’s so good that the

  bottle

  turned invisible, too. So

  don’t drop it or you’ll never find it, got me?”

  Crawley nodded and reached out. Sure enough, he

  could feel a bottle in Rizzo’s claws, but not see one.

  Rizzo flew off. The two Crocodiles headed for Cragger’s

  room. Just as they walked in the door, Crawley stumbled

  and dropped the bottle. They could both hear it rolling

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  across the floor, but of course they could not see it.

  “Oh, that’s just great,” said Crawley. “We had better

  find it fast!”

  They both started searching the floor, holding out their

  hands hoping to touch the invisible bottle. But before they

  could find it, they heard Cragger bellow, “Who’s there? Is

  that you, Crawley? Where’s my potion?”

  “You know what’s going to happen when he finds out

  the bottle is lost?” Crawley whispered.

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  “Something bad,” answered Crug. “What do we do?”

  “I don’t—wait a minute, I’ve got an idea,” said

  Crawley. He snatched up an empty bottle from Cragger’s

  shelves and poured swamp berry juice from another jug

  into it. “See? We’ll just tell him this is the potion. When

  he drinks it and nothing happens, he’ll just figure the

  potion didn’t work.”

  Just then, Cragger stomped into the room with Plovar

  behind him. The little bird flew off, mumbling something

  about their appointment being cut short.

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  When Cragger saw the bottle in Crawley’s hand, he

  brightened up.

  “Give it to me!” Cragger exclaimed. He took the bottle

  and drank it right down. “

  Mmmm

  . It even tastes good!”

  Cragger stood still for a few seconds. Then he smiled

  broadly, showing his sharp teeth. “It worked! I’m invisible!”

  “It did?” said Crug, puzzled because, of course, he

  could still see Cragger.

  “Sure, it did!” Crawley said loudly. He knew better

  than to disagree with Cragger about anything. “We

  can’t

  see him, can we?”

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  “Huh? But—” said Crug. Crawley elbowed him in the

  side. Crug got the message. “I mean, yeah, right . . . can’t

  see a thing.”

  Cragger’s expression turned suspicious. “If you can’t

  see me, why are you two looking right at me?”

  “Um, it’s your voice, boss,” Crawley said quickly.

  “We’re just following your voice. But we can’t see you,

  no, sir.”

  Cragger’s smile returned. “Excellent! First, I have a

  few surprises for Crooler. Won’t my sister be shocked to

  find out I’m invisible?”

  Crawley thought fast. If Cragger went to Crooler, she

  would be sure to tell him he wasn’t invisible.

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  “Hey, you don’t want to do that, boss. Why, if your

  sister finds out about this, she might get Rizzo to get her

  a potion, too. You don’t want to have an invisible Crooler

  running around, do you?”

  “No!” agreed Cragger. “She’s bad enough when you

  can see her. All right, then . . . I will go straight for Laval.

  That foolish Lion will never know what hit him!”

  Oh, no,

  thought Crawley.

  If he goes and confronts the

  Lions thinking he’s invisible . . . well, Crug and I had

  better find a good place to hide while he’s gone.

  While Crawley was thinking this, Cragger had moved

  behind Crug. The king picked up a pitcher of swamp

  water. He snickered and lifted it to pour right on top of

  Crug’s head!

  Crug started to turn around to see what Cragger was

  doing, but Crawley stopped him in time.

  “You don’t know where he is!” Crawley reminded him

  in a harsh whisper.

  “Sure, I do,” Crug whispered back. Then, looking

  confused, he said, “Don’t I?”

  “No, you don’t. He’s invisible!”

  “Okay,” said Crug. “But does ‘invisible’ mean everyone

  can see you?”

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  “No,” whispered Crawley, just as Cragger dumped the

  pitcher of swamp water all over Crug’s head. “It means

  you think nobody can.”

  Cragger couldn’t wait to get started for the Lions’

  territory. But Crawley convinced him to wait a little while,

  just to make sure the potion would “keep working.”

  That gave Crug time to spread the word. “Boss thinks

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  he’s invisible,” he told every Crocodile he came across.

  “So don’t tell him he’s not!”

  This got Crug a lot of strange looks from some of the

  younger Crocodiles. But the older ones had been around

  Crocodile Kings long enough to know you

  never

  tell them

  they are wrong.

  By midafternoon, Crawley had stalled for as long as he

  could. Cragger started for the Lion Compound. He smiled

  as he went, noticing that absolutely no one was paying

  attention to him.

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  Suddenly, the sound of running feet behind him made

  Cragger turn around. Crawley was hurrying down the

  muddy path, carrying the king’s spear. Just before he

  would have collided with Cragger, Crawley pulled up short

  and looked all around.

  “Boss? Are you here?” Crawley called.

  “I’m right in front of you,” said Cragger.

  Crawley jumped, pretending he was surprised. “Wow!

  Couldn’t see you at all! Hey, you forgot your spear, boss.”

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  “I didn’t forget it,” Cragger snapped. “My spear

  wouldn’t be invisible. Laval would see it floating in the air

  and know something was up. Besides, I won’t need it to

  beat him—I’m invisible!”

  “Yeah. Right,” said Crawley. He was feeling a little

  sick. It was bad enough Cragger was going to walk right

  into Laval’s hands. But he was going to do it unarmed,

  too! “Uh, are you sure you don’t want to bring your

  spear? Maybe leave it behind a tree or something when

  you reach the Lions, you know, in case you need it?”

  But one look from Cragger was enough to send

  Crawley running back to the swamp.

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  Cragger marched for a long time. He didn’t see any

  other animals—and no one saw him, of that he was very

&
nbsp; certain.

  When he reached the outskirts of the Lion Compound,

  he saw a guard posted.

  This will be fun,

  he thought.

  I’ll

  march right past that guard and he’ll never know it.

  Cragger not only walked right up to the Lion Guard,

  but he did it while making all kinds of funny faces. At

  first, the Lion was just shocked to see the king of the

  Crocodiles heading his way. Then he decided that it must

  all be a practical joke, because the real Cragger would

  never do such a thing. One of the other Lions must have

  disguised himself as a Crocodile.

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  I’ll show him,

  thought the Lion Guard.

  I will completely

  ignore this fake Cragger

  .

  And that’s just what he did, not even looking in

  Cragger’s direction as the Crocodile went right past him.

  He didn’t see me! Invisibility is great!

  thought Cragger.

  Now to find Laval

  .

  For his part, Laval was

  not

  having a very good day.

  He had wanted to practice his stalking and fighting skills

  with his friends in case the Crocodiles ever made trouble.

  But instead, his father had insisted that he spend the

  day studying Lion History and traditions. So here he was,

  sitting on a rock reading an old parchment instead of

  doing something fun. He was

  annoyed.

  Cragger approached the

  seated Lion very quietly. He

  didn’t want any noise to give

  away where he was after all

  the trouble he had gone to

  in order to become invisible.

  But all of the sudden, Laval

  turned to look in his direction.

  Instinctively, Cragger darted

  behind a nearby column.

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  Cragger smacked his head.

  What am I doing?

  he

  thought.

  Laval can’t see me while I’m invisible. There’s

  no reason to hide

  .

  “Hello?” called Laval. “Is anyone there?”

  Cragger chuckled.

  No one that you can see,

  he thought

  to himself. Quietly, Cragger stepped out from behind the

  column.

  But the moment he did, Laval leaped up. “Cragger!

  What are you doing here?” He reached for his sword.

  Impossible,

  thought Cragger.

  He can’t see me. It must

  be a trick!

  Cragger took a few steps to the left. Laval’s head

  turned right along with him.

  Maybe it’s those Lion Senses of his,

  Cragger grumbled

  to himself.

  He probably smells me or something. Not sure

  how; I just bathed three weeks ago!

  Cragger went back to his right. Again, Laval’s gaze

  followed him. Slowly, Laval lowered his sword. “Cragger,

  what in Chima are you doing?” he asked.

  Cragger snarled. “How can you

  see

  me?” he demanded.

  “I’m invisible!”

  “Huh? No, you’re not.” Laval shook his head. “You’re

  standing right there.”

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  Cragger muttered under his breath. “When I get my

  claws on Rizzo . . .” he grumbled. “His potion must have

  worn off!”

  “What potion is that, exactly?” Laval asked.

  “The one that made me invisible,” answered Cragger.

  “I’ve been invisible all day.”

  “And now you’re not,” said Laval.

  “No,” Cragger said, with a shrug. “Apparently not.”

  “Okay, let’s review then,” said Laval. “You’re the leader

  of the Crocodiles, and you’re surrounded by Lions. You

  don’t have your spear, and you’re

  not

  invisible.”

  “That’s right,” said Cragger.

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  “I think you should run,” offered Laval.

  Cragger’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized just

  where he was and what was likely to happen next. He

  took off running back to the swamp as fast as his legs

  could carry him.

  The sun was setting when Cragger finally reached

  his home. Tired and irritated, he stomped into his

  chambers . . . and promptly tripped on an invisible

  bottle! He got to his feet, took a step, and tripped on the

  bottle again.

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  Lying on the floor, Cragger looked over at the spot

  where he had tripped. There was nothing there. Angrily,

  he reached around and scrapped his claws along the floor

  feeling for whatever he had stumbled on. But each time

  he came up empty-handed, only to trip over the invisible

  object a few minutes later as he was stomping around the

  room.

  Cragger would spend all night trying to find the invisible

  object. But as he already knew, it’s hard to get your claws

  on something you can’t see.

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