Robert heard the deafening explosion and felt the ground shake beneath him. The lions and tiger and the big brown bear retreated in alarm at the noise, cowering in the far corner of the cage.

The X-ray machine must’ve exploded. He hoped their plan to tweak the Lunk’s brain cogs had worked, and Lily had got away in time. But he didn’t have much time to contemplate that, for there were four hungry carnivorous animals stalking back towards him!

The tiger was the closest. It seemed to be the leader – the alpha of the pack. Its orange-and-black striped fur gleamed in the light thrown between the cage bars, and the bib of its belly was white, like a fresh dinner napkin.

Saliva dripped from its mouth as it ran a tongue hungrily over its teeth.

Robert could smell the hot sweaty stench and hear the rasp of its breathing. He tried to remember what Silva had told him to do in this situation. What was it?

Throw your arms up in the air and blow raspberries at them as loud as you can.

Robert tried it.

BBBBBBBBBUUUUOOOUPPPPPPPPFFFFTTTTT TTTT!

The tiger didn’t listen.

“HELP!” screamed Robert in a high screech instead.

The tiger flinched at that jarring noise, probably because it sound like the Lunk.

“SHOO!” he screeched, as loud as he could this time. “BE OFF WITH YOU!”

It had nearly reached him…but it was withholding the moment of attack, playing with him. He narrowed his eyes and shrank back.

Then something orange streaked through the bars and took up position in front of him, growling and baring its teeth. It was Malkin.

“GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU FILTHY FLAMING FLEABAGS!” Malkin shouted.

The tiger looked quizzically at the tiny orange mechanimal fur-ball, then shrank back in alarm. The other animals followed suit.

Malkin snapped his jaws together like a rabid dog. Between his screeches and grunts, Robert could hear the fox muttering to himself, to give himself courage: “They’re no bigger than the cats I chase from the garden. They’re no bigger than the cats I chase from the garden.”

It was working. The tiger, lions and bear were so discombobulated that they gave little moans and meows, and stepped back in retreat.

Malkin barked and brayed at them…but it couldn’t last for ever. Soon the animals began to realize the fox was no real threat; they regrouped and started stalking in from either side of the cage, the bear closing in down the middle.

Then, suddenly, Dimitri, Silva, Deedee and Luca arrived. The four of them began bashing at the metal bars beside Robert with sticks, creating a crazed rattling noise that made the wild animals dizzily shrink back once more.

“Thank goodness!” Robert cried. “How did you get out?”

“Malkin snatched the key to our cage in the panic,” Silva yelled above the din.

Luca grasped two metal bars between his claws and prised them apart, wide enough for Deedee to pull Robert through the gap.

Malkin hopped out after him.

“I heard an explosion; is everyone all right?” Robert asked.

Silva nodded.

“What about Lily and Angelique?” Robert said. “We have to find them.”

Dimitri led both the horses from the stalls at the back of the bay, then mounted the black horse, while Silva flipped up onto the white.

As they manoeuvred round the cage, she ducked and grasped Robert by the arm, yanking him up behind her. When he dared open his eyes, Deedee and Luca were already mounted behind Dimitri on the black horse, trotting down the cargo ramp.

“Malkin?” Robert called.

“I’m perfectly fine down here,” Malkin yapped. “Don’t expect me to ride on that animal too.” His brush up, he followed Silva’s horse towards the door.

Dimitri and the others waited outside the sky-ship on the black stallion. Robert felt the bones of the white horse’s back beneath him as Silva cantered it down the ramp to join its friend.

“Gee up!” Dimitri shouted to both horses and the pair galloped across the yard with the five children on their backs, barrelling into the tent and smashing their way through the backstage area towards the Big Top ring.

“This is fun!” Malkin barked, weaving along beside them. “I’ve never been in a horse race before!”

They ducked through the curtains and into the arena.

The rest of the circus troupe and some of the audience were hurrying the other way, but as they passed the two horses, they swerved and turned back.

Robert glanced over his shoulder to see that the lions and tiger had slunk through the narrow opening in the cage bars, and were now bounding into the backstage area, knocking over tables and mirrors and racks of clothes.

Then they spotted the horses and the trail of people heading back towards the Big Top, and began to chase them.

There was a scream as one of the roustabouts was taken down.

It was chaos. Smoke drifted everywhere, sharp and acrid in Robert’s lungs. It mixed with the sweaty smell of the panicked audience trying to get to the exits, and the lions and tiger stalking amongst them.

Silva swung her skittish horse around as Robert scanned the tent frantically for Lily and Angelique.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of Angelique perched on the wire above, and a figure beside her, who was sitting on the wire with her legs dangling, one foot bare. With relief, he noticed a flash of red hair and realized it was Lily.

He was about to yell to her when Slimwood stepped up beside them and yanked him from the back of the horse.

“I’ve not finished with you yet, boy!” he said, dragging him across the sawdust ring.

Malkin bit at Slimwood’s heels but it didn’t stop him from clutching Robert by the neck.

Silva’s horse whinnied and reared up, leaping away to one side.

“Look behind you,” Robert warned Slimwood, as outside the tent, police sirens chimed in the distance.

Slimwood chuckled. “Ha! I’m not falling for that cheap trick!”

But Robert wasn’t playing tricks. The tiger was stalking towards them, its body slinking low to the ground as it prowled the ring. Its tail dropped straight, following the line of its back, and each muscle moved in a synchronized, assured motion. It crouched lower, coiling into a tight, powerful shape. Its ears flattened against its head and its mouth was a wide black hole beneath its terrible, fearsome eyes.

Then the tiger leaped, bounding towards them, its tail flung out behind it. Its jaw was wide, displaying its sharp rows of teeth.

Slimwood’s mouth dropped open; his grip loosened from Robert’s throat.

Robert took his chance and scrambled free, vaulting over benches and ducking behind the front row of seats as the great cat ran towards them.

There was a roar and then Slimwood screamed.

Robert opened his eyes and peered over the rim of seats. The tiger was dragging the red-tailcoated form of the circus ringmaster away, vanishing into the smoky striped recesses of the tent.

Robert turned away. He couldn’t watch. But the tiger had finished with Slimwood; now it turned to come back towards him and Malkin.

It stalked closer, snarling at them. After being kept in that cage for all those years, it was finally free and ready to hunt…

It was nearly upon them when Robert heard the beating of wings.

Angelique dived down and nabbed him, sweeping him into the air. With a great flap of her wings, she made it to the platform beside the high wire and deposited Robert there, the sweat pouring off her as she breathed heavily. “Wait there,” she cried. “I’ll get Malkin.”

Robert and Lily watched as she plunged back into the fray to pluck up Malkin, who was already running as fast as he could, dashing away from the tiger.

“I could’ve faced it!” the fox blustered at Angelique as she swooped down over him and scooped him up in her arms. “But thanks anyway for the rescue! I appear to have become a flying fox.”

Angelique carried him high above the ring, and Malkin felt bilious. Foxes were not meant to fly – not in airships or with winged girls, or anyhow. He was glad when Angelique deposited him on the platform beside Lily and Robert.

The police sirens were closer now; they pierced the air right outside the tent.

Lily glanced down at the ground. Silva and the others had made their exit on horseback, along with the audience, circus folk, lions and the roustabouts. Madame and Slimwood both lay like rag dolls, abandoned in the ring.

The sirens outside had stopped, and the tent was eerily quiet, except for the growls and grunts of the tiger as it wrenched down the red curtains, overturned the make-up tables and props stand and ripped them apart. Lily could see Joey, Auggie and a few stranded rousties huddled behind a rack of clothes in the far corner, hoping it wouldn’t notice them.

Then, just as suddenly as it had arrived in the tent, the tiger turned and ran off into the night, disappearing through the exit of the backstage area as the first few gendarmes arrived through the audience entrance.

Lily glimpsed the tops of their helmets as they fought their way through the smoke, guns raised. Three plain-clothed figures were with them. Even from above and in the half-light, Lily could recognize each of them from their postures and gaits, and her heart leaped at the sight of them.

It was Papa, Tolly and Anna.

“Lily! Robert! Malkin!” Papa rushed around wildly in the smoke, peering beneath rows of chairs and behind poles. His suit was rumpled and his posture sharp and worried. He, Anna and Tolly splintered apart and began searching different areas, along with the police.

“PAPA!” Lily yelled down to him and he stopped beneath her. He’d heard her voice, but he couldn’t see her.

“Lily, where are you?” he called out.

“I’m up here, in the roof,” she shouted.

More police swarmed through the entrance to the tent as Papa turned and gazed upwards.

When he spotted Lily, then Malkin, Robert and Angelique on the high platform, his shoulders drooped in relief and he pointed them out to Anna and Tolly.

Lily climbed slowly down the ladder from the platform and ran over to meet Papa.

He scooped her up in his arms, wrapping a blanket around her sparkly but now tattered outfit and kissing her on the cheek. “Lily, my dear-heart, thank goodness you’re fine! We were so worried about you… And Robert,” he added, throwing an arm around Robert as, carrying Malkin, he reached them too. “I wish we’d arrived in time to stop this,” he said, gesturing with a nod of his head to the mess of the tent around them: the broken smoking X-ray machine and the remains of the big mechanical Lunk trapped inside it and scattered round the ring.

“What took you so long?” Lily asked, tears smarting in her eyes. She wiped them away, smearing the make-up and dust on her cheeks, then dropped her hand and felt a surprising tickle as Malkin licked at her fingers. She ruffled his ears and squeezed Papa and Robert closer in a grand hug. Her heart was filled with nothing but relief, and she hoped, deep in its ticking depths, that the four of them would never ever be parted again.