Jacob started running toward the door they’d come in, but Catalina grabbed him and whispered, “No. There has to be another way out.”

They heard a crash and the sound of boots echoing from the entryway. Jacob felt a shove from behind, and Blankwell went running past them, up a nearby stairwell, and down a hallway.

Jacob and Catalina looked at each other and then went running after him.

“Target spotted!” someone shouted from behind them.

Jacob glanced over his shoulder and saw a blond-haired kid in a uniform aiming a blaster at him. Jacob dove to the ground as the wall cracked behind him, leaving a smoking spot where it hit.

“I said no lethal force!” a deeper voice said.

“Oh. Sorry, Dad.”

“That’s all right, son. It’s not your fault the Earther deserves it.”

Catalina grabbed a gold vase from the wall and threw it in the direction of the soldiers, and then helped Jacob up, pulling him down a white marble hallway. “The Gravys,” she whispered. “General Gravy is the leader of the Valkyrians, and Patrick is his son. This is very bad.”

“Why are they chasing us?”

“I don’t know, but we need to hurry.”

They rounded a corner and found yet another white marble hallway, but this time Blankwell was waiting for them. He stood with his arms crossed and a mischievous look on his face.

“Blankwell, you have to help us,” Catalina said.

He smiled cryptically. “Any last words for the viewers, Princess?”

Jacob glanced quickly at Catalina and knew that Blankwell had infuriated her with the mere inflection of his voice. At any other time Blankwell would have had to follow her orders and bow to her every whim, knowing she might be the future queen. He wouldn’t have dared make fun of her directly. But now she was just the running mate on a losing presidential campaign, and he could sneer at her and get away with it. Jacob had a feeling she’d never been treated that way in her entire life.

“I’ll remember this,” she said quietly.

Blankwell punched a button on the wall and Jacob felt the ground give way. He and Catalina were sliding through a dark tunnel, twisting and turning as they gained speed. Jacob saw light ahead, and before he could brace himself he was thrown onto the ground. Catalina fell on top of him. He strained to breathe and did a mental inventory of his limbs, and though he was definitely bruised, he was pretty sure he hadn’t broken anything.

Catalina hopped to her feet, and Jacob stood up gingerly. They were on a small ledge atop a sheer cliff, and Jacob turned to look around just as the door to the slide slammed shut. Catalina stared at her Telly, but shook her head. “Praiseworthy isn’t answering.”

“What do we do now?” he asked.

Jacob was suddenly thrown back to the ground and he felt the heat of an explosion. As the ringing of his ears died down he heard loud cheers, and he saw a group of Valkyrian soldiers readying another grenade launch on a distant cliff.

“We have to get out of here!” Jacob shouted.

He stared down into the chasm at the edge of the cliff, where some of the massive birds that he’d seen earlier were flying. They looked like falcons the size of whales and each one was a different color, bright green and red and yellow. One of the birds swooped high near him, and he stood back from the cliff as it passed them, so close he could feel the air stir around him.

Jacob had an idea. If he could just time it right, he could leap off the cliff onto one of their backs and fly to safety.

“We can do this. We can jump onto the birds,” Jacob said. “I’ll go first.”

He took a few steps back, just far enough so he could see the birds swirling around, and prepared to launch himself off the cliff.

“Jake…” Catalina sighed. “Don’t jump!” She pointed at the corner of the ledge, where he saw the top of a ladder.

“Oh.”

They scrambled over to the ladder and began climbing down, holding on as best they could. He clung tightly to the ladder whenever the Valkyrians launched grenades into the ravine. The birds squawked angrily, but they managed to dodge the blasts.

After it seemed as if they had climbed for an eternity, Catalina suddenly stopped.

“Um. Jake?”

Jacob moved his left leg so he could look down at her, and then felt a stab of panic. They had reached the end of the ladder, but they were still hundreds of feet in the air. There was nothing but clouds beneath them, and there was surely no way they could climb back up without being killed or captured by the Valkyrians.

Jacob wondered if his leaping-onto-birds idea was now a bit more viable.

He heard a buzzing sound growing closer, and a small vehicle rose up through the clouds. The smaller Gravy was riding a flying motorcycle, and he swung up alongside Jacob and Catalina. He hovered there for a moment with a dumb grin.

“Hi,” Gravy said. “Just hanging out? Ha-ha! Get it? Hanging out? Because you’re hanging on to that ladder there? Holy stars I’m funny sometimes.”

Jacob’s fingers were beginning to ache from holding on to the ladder, and he hadn’t noticed the strength of the wind, which was tugging at his suit and sending a shiver down his spine.

“Gravy, darling, cutie-pie,” Catalina said sweetly, in a voice Jacob realized had been directed at him many times. “What might I be able to offer your hilarious bad self to rescue us and let us get back to our campaign? Hmm?”

Gravy laughed, which Jacob thought sounded a bit like an old car honking. “Oh, it’s too late for that, Princess Catalina. Your brother has already given us exactly what we want.”

Catalina gasped. “He did what?!”

“This election is over. All I have to do is kidnap you and—”

Jacob clenched his jaw. “Mick Cracken sent you to kidnap us?” he said angrily.

The grin on Patrick’s face evaporated, and he pointed his blaster at Jacob. “I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, you did.”

Patrick clenched his jaw, and Jacob noted that his hand was shaking.

Jacob heard a strange noise that he thought sounded like a proper “Yee-haw” echoing around the ravine, and he saw a flash of orange out of the corner of his eye. Jacob turned and saw Praiseworthy speeding toward them. Patrick’s eyes went wide in fear and he fired some shots at Praiseworthy, but when the ship didn’t alter course Patrick tipped up his motorcycle and fled. Praiseworthy was going so fast Jacob thought he was going to crash into the mountain, but just before he reached the cliff face he came to a sudden, perfect stop.

They were saved.