Mr. Peabody & Sherman Junior Novelization (Mr. Peabody & Sherman) (8 page)

Inside the wooden horse, King Agamemnon of Greece was secretly hiding with an entire army of Greek soldiers. As soon as the Trojans opened the city gates and took the horse inside, the army would climb out and attack.

Agamemnon rallied his troops as they prepared for battle. “How we doing, heroes of Greece? Feeling good? Feeling strong?” the king asked cheerfully. He walked down the line of soldiers, patting each one on the back and slapping them high fives. At the end of the line, he reached the smallest soldier, a new recruit. They had had to give him a new name to make him sound a little more Greek. “Ready to get to the field, Shermanus?” Agamemnon asked.

“Sure thing, Mr. Agamemnon,” Sherman replied. He liked his new name, and he liked the Greek soldiers. They treated him like a grown-up, like one of the gang. They’d even given him his own set of armor so he could join them in battle. The armor was a little too big for him, but he didn’t mind. He could handle it.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the side of the wooden horse. King Agamemnon opened the hatch and looked down to see one of his soldiers, Odysseus, standing beside a small statue of a wooden horse. It looked just like the horse they were hiding inside.

“Someone left this for us,” Odysseus explained.

“A present. Nice!” Agamemnon whispered excitedly. He motioned to Odysseus to bring the gift horse inside. As soon as the horse came through the hatch, the head popped off and Mr. Peabody and Penny climbed out. Shocked, the Greeks soldiers drew their swords. “Whoa! I did not see that coming!” the king admitted.

Mr. Peabody stepped forward bravely. “I’ve come for Sherman,” he declared.

Sherman folded his arms across his chest and sulked. He was still upset with Mr. Peabody for not telling him about Miss Grunion. He didn’t want to go anywhere with his dad. “Sorry, Mr. Peabody, I’ve joined the Greek army,” he said.

“Shermanus is one of us now,” the Greek general announced. “He took an oath.”

“He’s seven!” Mr. Peabody pointed out.

Agamemnon looked Sherman straight in the eye. “Your dad may not think you’re ready to become a man,
Shermanus, but we do,” the king said earnestly.

“Yeah!” the soldiers hollered in support. They hooted loudly and stomped their feet.

Sherman stood proudly in his oversized Greek armor and pushed his helmet back off his forehead. The helmet was way too big for him and kept sliding down over his glasses. “Yeah, Mr. Peabody, now I’ll show you what I can handle,” he said boldly.

“Sherman, I’m concerned that you haven’t thought this through. This is war. Do you realize what is about to happen?” Mr. Peabody asked.

Just then, the wooden horse began to roll forward. The Trojans were pulling it inside the gates of the city. Agamemnon and the other soldiers gathered their weapons and lined up in front of the hatch, ready to begin the invasion.

Sherman took his place beside the soldiers. He squared his shoulders, determined to prove himself.

Mr. Peabody’s brow furrowed with concern. “Sherman, I absolutely forbid you to fight in the Trojan War!” he said firmly.

“That’s not fair! All my friends are fighting in the Trojan War!” Sherman complained.

“Sherman, it’s dangerous!” Mr. Peabody protested.

“I’m wearing a helmet!” Sherman yelled.

Suddenly, King Agamemnon let out a fierce battle cry. The Greek soldiers charged through the hatch and climbed down into the streets of the city. Sherman took one last look at Mr. Peabody and dashed after them.

T
he battle raged through the streets of Troy, with the Greek soldiers squaring off against the Trojans. Swords clashed, fists flew, and arrows zipped through the air as the men grappled with each other. Sherman ran straight into the heart of the battle.

“Eat my bronze, you Trojan dogs!” he shouted, striking a threatening pose.

A burly Trojan soldier spun around and growled fiercely at him. Sherman gulped, frightened. He knew he had two options: stay and fight or run away. In this case, faced with a towering solder nearly three times his size, he chose to run away. As the son of a canine supergenius, he thought it was the smarter choice.

Sherman dropped his sword and ran screaming across the battlefield. He picked a path through the
crowd of Greeks and Trojans busy huffing, puffing, and knocking each other to the ground. He glanced swiftly over his shoulder and saw the Trojan soldier close on his heels, snorting and bellowing like an enraged bull. As Sherman scrambled through the streets of Troy, he realized that Mr. Peabody was right—war was dangerous even if you were wearing a helmet!

In fact, one helmet did more harm than good. Sherman tripped over a stray helmet and fell to his knees. The angry soldier saw his advantage and leapt forward, drawing his sword. Sherman knew that if he didn’t think of something quickly, he was finished.

Suddenly, he got a brilliant idea. He fished around beneath his armor and found the whistle Mr. Peabody had given him on his first day of school. Sherman blew into the whistle frantically. It was his only hope.

Just as the Trojan soldier lifted his sword to deliver a mighty blow, Mr. Peabody emerged from the fighting. With a well-timed karate chop, he knocked the sword from the soldier’s hand and then conked him on the head. The Trojan fell to the ground.

Sherman exhaled in relief. He knew now that he wasn’t cut out for battle. Like his dad, he was more of a thinker than a fighter. Mr. Peabody took him by the arm
and led him carefully through the fighting back to the wooden horse.

“This is why I ask you to obey me, Sherman—because I’m your father, and it’s my job to keep you safe!” Mr. Peabody explained.

“But how can you keep me safe if Miss Grunion is trying to take me away from you?” Sherman asked.

Mr. Peabody turned to look Sherman directly in the eye. “That’s not your problem, Sherman. Let me worry about that,” he said.

At the foot of the wooden horse, Sherman and Mr. Peabody began to climb toward the hatch. Penny was waiting for them inside, ready to return to the WABAC. Just as Sherman reached the top, the wall of a nearby temple collapsed. The crumbling stone smashed against the side of the wooden horse, causing the horse to begin rolling. Mr. Peabody and Sherman were thrown off balance. As the horse gained momentum, they slipped and tumbled to the ground.

“Penny!” Sherman yelled, alarmed, as the horse rumbled through the city. He jumped to his feet, ready to dash after Penny, but Mr. Peabody stopped him with a look that said he had a plan.

Mr. Peabody’s
eyes darted across the battlefield, rapidly examining the scene. He noticed two very important things that would go a long way toward rescuing Penny: a horse grazing casually at the edge of the battlefield, and a grappling hook. After a brief calculation determining the speed and velocity of the wooden horse, Mr. Peabody leapt into action.

He grabbed Sherman and raced to the grazing horse. Father and son scrambled onto the horse’s back and took off at a gallop. In the distance, they could see the Trojan horse as it trundled across the battlefield toward the steep cliffs just outside the city.

Mr. Peabody guided his horse through the fighting with Sherman seated behind him. They galloped alongside a pair of Trojan soldiers, and when they were close enough, Mr. Peabody deftly plucked the grappling hook from their grasp.

“I’ll take that!” he said, winking. He spurred his horse away from the shocked soldiers, heading straight for a flight of stairs that led to the top of the city walls.

The wooden horse rapidly picked up speed. Fighting soldiers dove out of its path as it barreled through the streets. Mr. Peabody urged his horse up the flight of
stairs and galloped along the top of the city walls in pursuit. He fastened the claw end of the grappling hook to the sturdy stone barrier, gathering the attached rope in his paws. Sherman held his breath. He watched Mr. Peabody tie a giant loop in the end of the rope and swing it above his head like a cowboy at a rodeo.

As the Trojan horse bowled through the gates beneath the city walls, Mr. Peabody hurled the rope through the air and lassoed the horse’s tail. Within seconds, the rope tightened and the huge statue ground to a stop, teetering unsteadily over the edge of the cliffs.

Sherman breathed a sigh of relief. He and Mr. Peabody jumped off the horse and slid down the rope as if they were on a zip line. They landed on the back of the Trojan horse with a loud thud.

“You did it, Mr. Peabody!” Penny exclaimed gratefully.

“Indeed, Penny. Now come along. We must get to the WABAC,” said Mr. Peabody.

Penny pulled herself up through the hatch, but her dress got caught on a nail in the wooden boards. She was stuck! Eager to help, Sherman lunged toward her.

“Sherman, no!” Mr. Peabody shouted. He reached out to stop his son, but he wasn’t quick enough. As Sherman rushed to Penny’s side, his weight tipped the
delicate balance of the wooden horse. The horse tilted in the wrong direction and leaned heavily over the cliff’s edge.

With seconds to spare, Mr. Peabody jumped hard on a loose plank in the floor. The opposite end of the plank sprang up beneath Penny and Sherman and launched them both clear of the horse. They landed on the ground and rolled to their feet just in time to see the horse slide over the cliff with Mr. Peabody still inside! It plummeted into the ocean, crashing against the rocks below.

“Mr. Peabody! Mr. Peabody!” Sherman called desperately. He peered over the edge of the cliff in horror. All he could see were the shattered pieces of the horse drifting lazily against the rocks in the ocean.

Penny stared down beside him. “Nobody could have survived that. Not even Mr. Peabody,” she said sadly.

“Oh, Mr. Peabody! What should I do?” Sherman heaved a heavy sigh. He covered his face with his hands.

“There’s nothing you can do, Sherman,” Penny whispered gently. “I just want to go home.”

“Home?” Sherman asked. He dropped his hands from his face and snapped to attention. “That’s it!” he said eagerly, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “I have an idea! Come on!” He took Penny’s hand and ran
back to the spot where the WABAC had landed.

“What are we gonna do?” Penny asked.

“We’re going home,” Sherman said confidently. “There’s only one person who can help us, and that’s Mr. Peabody.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Penny skeptically. “How is that even possible?”

“We’ve got a time machine, Penny,” Sherman explained with a grin. “I can set it so that we’ll get home when Mr. Peabody is still there!”

“But I thought you’re not supposed to go back to a time when you existed?” Penny said warily.

“What choice do we have?” Sherman replied. They climbed on board the WABAC, and he expertly programmed the machine to take them back to Mr. Peabody’s dinner party.

As Sherman pressed the red launch button, Penny considered the possibility that where they were going there could be two Shermans. She shook her head—the world definitely wasn’t ready for that!

W
hen Penny and Sherman arrived back at the penthouse, Mr. Peabody’s dinner party was in full swing. They climbed out of the WABAC and tiptoed down the hallway to the living room. Sounds of laughter and witty conversation drifted out into the hall. Sherman and Penny peeked inside to see Mr. Peabody entertaining the Petersons.

Sherman smiled, happy to see that his plan had worked. Mr. Peabody was still there—only this Mr. Peabody was from the past. He didn’t know anything about their recent travels in the WABAC. It was up to Sherman and Penny to tell him.

“Mr. Peabody, can we talk to you for a second?” Sherman whispered.

Mr. Peabody nodded and excused himself from the Petersons, stepping into the hall. “I’ve really hit it off with Penny’s parents! I think we can file this night under Unqualified Success!” he said enthusiastically.

“I’d hold off on filing it just yet,” Sherman and Penny said in unison. “What do you mean?” Mr. Peabody asked, studying the kids closely. They were both covered in dust and looked as though they had tumbled from the pages of a history book. Sherman was wrapped in a ragged toga, wearing Greek armor that was much too big for him, and Penny was also dressed in Grecian garb. Mr. Peabody frowned as he put the pieces together. “You used the WABAC.”