“Whoa! Kid with a dress is sprung!” said the gangster, and raised his gun.
Lily ducked—
—which would not have saved her from flying bullets—
—but did save her from being whacked by the monastery tiger leaping through the air and onto the gangster.
The gangster was knocked backward. His gun fell to the floor. Lily, Katie, Jasper, and Drgnan backed away, appalled. The gangster and the tiger wrestled on the air-hockey table.
I would hate to have to report that the tiger ate the gangster, even if the gangster was a very bad person.
So let’s jump three minutes ahead.
Plans! Plans! Jasper and Lily ran one way, to try to warn the other monks that an uprising was afoot. Katie and Drgnan Pghlik ran the other way to try to stop the Stare-Eyes team from gaining secret powers from the sacred flame deep in the catacombs beneath the monastery.
The tiger went his own way, looking for more gangster meat.
Through the temple Katie and Drgnan sprinted, pillars fluttering past as they dashed. On all of the pedestals were dark places where statues of gold and silver had stood—statues now dragged away and sold to make money for the World-Wide Lootery. Drgnan reached a huge stone ogre and pressed a series of warts. A secret door slid open.
Meanwhile Lily and Jasper took steps two by two. They ran up toward the dormitories. Jasper slid the batteries from the robot into his gun. He snapped the grip shut. Jasper and Lily scampered across a landing.
Jasper and Lily crouched at the turn in the stairs. Jasper shot bolts of light from his ray gun—there was an angry curse from above—and he and Lily smelled the scent of burning polyester. He had hit one of the mobsters smack in the cheap suit.
Katie and Drgnan now rushed through halls buried deep within the mountain. Candles and torches lit the way.
“Where are the sacred flames?” asked Katie.
“In the heart of the mountain,” said Drgnan Pghlik. “They are the source of all our power. These Stare-Eyes children and their mobster parents do not understand the power of the flames. There is much danger there.”
There was much danger everywhere.