LAURA AND MILLIE RAN through the tunnel as fast as they could, Reina carrying Quin behind them. When they reached the split in the tunnel, they could see at the other end that the throne room was empty.
“Bloato must already be at the feast,” said Laura.
“Let’s go!” said Millie urgently.
They turned down the tunnel that led to the main cavern. Donkeycorn was just up ahead. There was a rope tied around his horn, and one of Bloato’s servants was pulling him forward. Donkeycorn dug his hooves into the ground stubbornly and let out a nervous bray.
“Come on!” Bloato’s servant grunted, yanking the rope. “And get that stupid grin off your face, you’re about to be dinner!”
Laura turned to her mom. “How are we going to free him? Is there some kind of Lysor magic we can—”
But before she could finish her sentence, Millie was running at full speed toward the servant, shouting, “That’s my Donkeycorn!”
As the servant turned in surprise, Millie punched him square in the jaw so hard that black earwax flew out of his ears, and he fell to the ground in a heap.
“Millie!” Laura exclaimed, her mouth agape. “How did you do that?”
Millie rubbed her fist, wincing in pain. “I didn’t lug around thirty pounds of gray pears every week for nothing.”
Donkeycorn gave Millie the biggest grin he had ever grinned in his whole life. It looked ridiculous.
Laura and Millie hopped onto Donkeycorn’s back. Reina lifted Quin on, then climbed up behind him. It was a tight squeeze, but there was just enough room on Donkeycorn’s rotund rump for all of them.
There was a flash of white light, and Bloato’s voice echoed through the cave. “Let the goblin feast begin!”
Reina shuddered. “I’ve heard him say that six times a day for the last eleven years. I don’t want to hear it ever again.”
Laura turned back and said, “Then let’s make sure it’s the last time.”
Laura steered Donkeycorn a few steps forward so she could just see the goblins gathered around the tables, salivating at the massive piles of food. They were about to dig in when Bloato banged his fist on the table.
“Wait!” he bellowed. “We’ll start with our special first course…Donkeycorn!”
The goblins clapped and cheered as Bloato leaned back in his chair, smiling with satisfaction. But then they saw Laura riding Donkeycorn in a full gallop across the cavern straight toward Bloato, her eyes fixed on the Crystal Crown. Millie hung on to Laura’s back. Reina clung to Millie with one hand and held up Quin with the other. All the goblins gasped in utter shock as Laura snatched the crown right off Bloato’s head.
The goblins erupted in outrage. They sprang up from their chairs and chased after Donkeycorn, who was running at top speed. Bloato banged his fist on the table over and over again, wailing in anger, causing so many stalactites to crash down from the ceiling that Laura was afraid they’d be crushed. She could feel the power of the Crystal Crown surging through her body like a bolt of lightning. As Donkeycorn dodged the falling rocks and the mob of goblins, Laura was jolted from side to side, and she nearly lost her grip on the crown. She couldn’t risk dropping it. She stuck the crown on the safest place she could see—right on Donkeycorn’s head. As soon as the crown encircled his horn, there was a blinding flash of light. Donkeycorn took a mighty leap and soared up into the air.
“Donkeycorn!” Millie shouted. “You can fly!”
It was a bit of an overstatement—Donkeycorn was barely high enough to fly up onto the banquet table. He landed clumsily, his front hoof squashing a turkey to smithereens. He galloped across the table, smashing the potatoes and kicking over bowls of creamy soups. They were headed straight for Bloato, who managed to push himself up from his seat.
“Stop them!” Bloato shouted.
As Donkeycorn reached the edge of the table, he took flight again, just high enough that the bottom of his belly grazed the top of Bloato’s wrinkled, bald head. He flew around in lopsided loops like a confused baby bird, knocking over piles of gemstones and sending gold and silver coins skittering across the ground.
The goblins ran around beneath him trying to jump up and grab his hooves. But Donkeycorn gained control of his new power and flew even higher, heading toward the entrance of the cave. As Donkeycorn carried the crown farther and farther from Bloato’s reach, all the food on the table turned to dust. The goblins cried out in anguish as their once-bountiful feast blew away into nothing. Then the gold, the silver, and all the gems melted into shimmering liquid and oozed across the ground.
Bloato let out a tortured roar as he tried to scoop up the remnants of the treasures, but the melted metal slipped through his sausage-like fingers and disappeared through the cracks in the cave floor.
Donkeycorn sailed through the front tunnel. Laura could see the evening light of the outside world up ahead. At the sight of it, Reina let out a soft gasp of wonder. They flew out of the cave, then Laura turned back and shouted, “Goith’e!”
A great wind blew through the cave, extinguishing every last black candle and plunging the goblins into darkness. She smiled and nodded to her mom. “Your turn.”
“Talamh’e!” said Reina, making a fist. The cave entrance crumbled, sealing the goblins inside forever, as Donkeycorn soared up into the sky.
