“Katie and Lily?!?” you might say.
You might say, “I thought they fell to their deaths!”
Not exactly.
They were blown off the roof by the blast, yes. And yes, they fell—and they saw the rocky ground shooting up toward them—and screamed—and spread out their arms—and tumbled—
And felt the old, heavy force field scraping against them—
And grabbed onto it.
They grabbed onto the force field and clung, like mice digging their claws into a shower curtain.
Oh, come on. It’s totally scientific. This kind of thing happens with force fields all the time. If you can’t pierce them, then you must be able to grab onto big bunches of them like they’re an old canvas tarp thrown over someone’s motorboat for the winter.
It’s PHYSICS.
They didn’t move. They just hung there.
They waited for the Dirrillill to leave the roof.
Up above, he stood near the crumbled edge of the landing pad, smiling to himself lots of times.
Satisfied, he went inside to eat dinner off Jasper Dash.
“Okay, okay,” said Katie, panting. “We’ve got to . . . let ourselves . . . down . . . slowly. . . .”
She loosened her grip and slid down several feet.
Lily was still dangling up above her. “I can’t let go! I can’t make myself! I can’t!”
“Just take a deep breath,” said Katie. She listened for a second. Then she said, “Okay. Take fewer deep breaths. Lily? Fewer. Lily! No! If you keep taking that many deep breaths, you’re totally going to faint.”
Lily unclenched her hands a little from the fabric of electricity.I
She scraped downward.
Katie slid down after her.
They slid and skidded past windows and cannons, clutching the force field.
Thump!
They were both on the rocky ground.
“Now what?” muttered Katie.
“We have to save Jasper,” said Lily. “Who knows what’s going to happen to him?”
Katie nodded. “How are we going to get to him?”
Lily said, “We’ve got to get back in.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Look,” said Lily. “There’s the hatch the food went in. Maybe we can get in through there.”
Katie was not actually bigger than many of the things the Dirrillill often ate. I say that in a menacing kind of way.
There was not much room between the force field and the side of the building. They had to scrunch themselves up and slide along the wall.
But they were right near the hatch.
As they approached it, they heard a loud beep. The hatch had seen them.
I Remember: IT’S SCIENTIFIC. DON’T ASK QUESTIONS.