Free Hercules and the Geek of Greece by Hunter Kennedy

Geekus went on. “His means of propulsion is his wings. He only has to flap them a few times, that’s all he needs.”
    Hercules was laughing again.
    â€œOkay,” he said. “So what do we do? We fly out there on this thing and start flapping our arms?”
    Now it was Geekus’s turn to laugh. That
did
conjure up a funny vision.
    â€œNo, we won’t have to do that,” he said. “I’ve already installed our means of propulsion. And it is quite artificial.”
    He brought Hercules around to the rear of the invention. Here he’d installed a makeshift wooden pot. Inside Hercules could see the same combustible mixture of dust and herbs that Geekus had used to blow up the roadblock.
    â€œYou intend to blow us up? Is that it?” he exclaimed.
    â€œNot blow us up,” Geekus corrected him. “Blow us
across
.”

Chapter 14
Learning to Fly
    Hercules decided he had to get away from Geekus.
    What he wanted to do to get across the chasm was so stupid, Hercules just couldn’t stand to be around him anymore.
    So he left the clearing and began making plans for himself. He would make sure XL was properly fed and watered. Then he was going to pack up his things and start back for Zim. He figured he could get at least six good hours of riding in before night fell.
    But when he got back to where he had left XL, the mighty steed was not there.
    Hercules called to him—but he did not come.
    Hercules felt his chest tighten. Where was he?
    He’s gone,
he heard Brooma say.
    â€œGone?” Hercules demanded. “Gone where?”
    I sent him home. . . .
    â€œYou did
what
?”
Hercules thundered. “
Why?
”
    Because it is the way to success,
Brooma answered.
    â€œAnd what way is that?” Hercules cried out—he was furious. “That I
walk
back to Zim?”
    It is time to believe, Hercules,
he heard, before the wind blew again.
    â€œBelieve what?” Hercules called out.
    But there was no reply.
    Hercules heard Geekus cry out a second later.
    â€œWhoa! Whoa . . .”
    Hercules spun around and ran back to where Geekus had been working on his invention.
    He found the boy, his helmet on, holding a long stick with a flame at one end. He was trying to ignite the explosive pack at the rear end of his invention.
    Hercules couldn’t believe it. Geekus was trying to cross over the chasm himself?
    Hercules began running toward him, reaching the invention just as Geekus finally lit the fuse on his explosive. There was a great
boom!
then a flash of fire. And then the wooden plane started slowly moving toward the edge of the cliff.
    Hercules had to think quick. In the blink of an eye, he leapt forward and landed on the invention right in back of Geekus. His intention was to stop the boy from this foolish action—but it was too late for that. As soon as Hercules landed in the seat behind Geekus, the winged invention started to move very fast.
    An instant later, it went right over the side of the cliff.
    Suddenly Hercules felt very strange. He was floating. He was weightless. The wind was blowing fiercely in his face, whipping his long hair behind him in a torrent. How strange was this?
    He was flying.
    â€œWow!” Geekus was yelling. “It actually works!”
    Next thing Hercules knew, they were heading right for the Castletop wall, trailing a long plume of fire and smoke behind them.
    The flight from the chasm’s edge to Castletop only took a few seconds, but to Hercules it seemed to last forever. It wasn’t scary—that wasn’t the right word for it. Terrifying. Frightening. But also awesome. And beautiful. And very, very cool.
    But it was a short trip. And Hercules was glad of that.
    The landing was something else, though. It was rough and bumpy. Worse, the flying machine crashed on impact. One wing ripped off, and the body split in two. Geekus went headfirst off the front of the machine, tumbled once, and came to a stop