JI BURST FROM the eucalyptus trees, with Chibo’s skinny arms wrapped around his neck. He ran behind Sally and Roz to a round door in the outer wall of the Forbidden Palace. A handful of sentries lurked in a nearby watchtower, but they were looking toward the fire higher on the mountain.
Roz eyed the bars crisscrossing the door, then gritted her teeth and opened them like a beaded curtain—without even asking for privacy.
On the other side of the wall, a lawn sloped to a boulevard dotted with lamplit town houses. Two horses pulled a carriage past cherry trees and fences. The clattering wheels and clip-clopping hooves covered the sound of Roz straightening the bars to slow flowerface down.
“There.” Ji pointed to an alley between two houses. “Sal, check that out.”
Sally loped across the boulevard, peered into the alley, then waved for them to join her. With Chibo on his back, Ji jogged down the lawn. Roz clomped beside him, hugging Nin’s urn, then thundered across the boulevard.
“There they are!” a soldier shouted from the wall. “The monsters! Sound the trumpets!”
Chibo groaned. “Oh, bad. Very bad.”
“Don’t worry,” Ji told him, sprinting into the alley. “Things are about to get much worse.”
“What? Why?”
“Because we’re ringing a loud bell in a city where every soldier is hunting for us.”
“When you put it that way,” Chibo fluted, “it doesn’t sound so smart.”
“We’re actually ringing it twice,” Ji said, trotting between adobe walls. “To stop the terra-cotta warriors.”
“And attract every other kind of warrior?”
“We’ll be okay as long as nobody sees us sneak into Ti-Lin-Su’s place.”
“There’s more alleys over here!” Sally darted around a corner; then her fuzzy head reappeared. “And, um, isn’t the queen the only one who can ring the bells?”
“We’re about to find out,” Ji told her as trumpets blared from the outer wall. “Now, does anyone know where to find a bell tower?”
Sally landed on a wooden sign outside a pastry shop. “Duck through there! There’s guards ahead.”
Ji dragged Chibo toward an archway, with Roz shambling behind them. Her footsteps thudded as heavily as clay. Which made him wonder if they were running out of time.
“How much longer till the terra-cotta warriors reach the goblins?” he called to Sally.
She peered into the night. “They’re pretty slow, but they’re pretty close. And there’s more soldiers coming from the palace.”
“Here we are!” Roz rumbled from the other side of the archway. “Ti-Lin-Su’s estate isn’t far!”
“You’re sure there’s a bell tower near her place?”
“Of course I’m sure!” She shifted her bulk. “I’m almost entirely certain. I’m very nearly completely positive.”
She lumbered onto a wide avenue that followed a tree-lined canal. Despite the flames and chaos higher on the mountain, this neighborhood was calm and peaceful. After a few blocks, Roz crossed toward a tile wall that rose two stories overhead. Iron spikes lined the top, above elaborate mosaics depicting coral reefs, colorful fish, and flowering seaweed.
“Ti-Li-Su lives on the other side,” Roz said. “The entrance is down the street.”
“Pretty walls for a fortress,” Sally said. “But where’s the bell?”
“I’m certain I saw one nearby.”
“You want me to fly around?” Chibo asked. “Because it’s no problem if you do.”
“There!” Ji pointed to a white tower peeking over a roof. “But, um . . . ”
“What’s wrong?” Sally growled.
“Once we ring this bell,” he told her, jogging closer, “they’ll know exactly where we are.”
“If we ring the bell,” Sally said, loping beside him. “I still say only the queen can do it.”
“Roz is better than any queen,” Ji said.
“That’s your plan?” Sally said. “That Roz is better, so she can ring a bell?”
“I’m not stupid,” Ji said, even though Sally was pretty much right. If anyone could match the queen, it was Roz. “She’s strong, that’s why.”
“And Roz only needs to ring one bell,” Chibo said. “Not all of them.”
Ji took a breath. “Whatever happens after the bell sounds, we scamper like bunny rabbits into Ti-Lin-Su’s estate immediately. Agreed?”
Roz nodded. “Agreed.”
“I won’t scamper,” Sally said, looking up at the bell tower. “But I’ll honorably retreat.”
Bunnyscamper! Nin babbled. Ring the bell! You are stonefriend, Sneakyji!
Chibo spread his emerald-glowing wings. “I won’t scamper either, but I’ll fly like a bunny rabbit!”
“Chibo!” Ji barked at him, crossing to the tower’s front doors. “Wings!”
The glow dimmed. “Oops.”
“Now fly to the top. Unlock any doors from the inside. Sally, keep your eyes peeled. Nin, you stay—”
“Soldiers!” Sally growled.
“How close?”
Sally pointed, and sword-wielding soldiers raced into sight from a side street. “That close. There’s only four, though. I can hold them off.”
“You sure?” Ji asked, scratching his arm nervously.
“I’m sure.”
“Okay.” He took a calming breath. “You’re a hobgoblin—do some hobbing.”
We stayfight too. A trail of ant lions jumped off the urn in Roz’s arms. Keep them from catching you.
“You’re tiny! What can you do?”
Buttsting! Nin’s voices sang out.
“Just be careful. And if you see flowerface, run.” Ji looked at the bell tower doors. “C’mon, Roz—break these down.”
“I would rather not damage city property,” Roz murmured primly as she demolished the doors with a single strike from her shoulder.
“Nice,” Ji said.
“According to the rules of honorable combat,” Sally called to the soldiers on the avenue, “we should— Hey! You cheater!”
Ji glanced over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Sally leaping over a swinging sword. Then he followed Roz into the tower and up a flight of spiral stairs. He ran higher until his lungs burned and his knees felt weak—then Roz gathered him into her arms and kept thundering upward.
“If you tell Sally that you carried me,” he warned her, wrapping his arms around her neck, “I’ll paint your horn white and call you a unicorn.”
She sniffed. “My dress is entirely unsuitable for this sort of activity.”
At the top of the stairs, Ji slid from Roz’s arms and pushed through an unlocked hatch into an open chamber with a massive black-glazed bell. Fresh air swirled around him, and moons-light shimmered on the shiny blackness. When Roz followed, an emerald glow reflected in crazy patterns on the bell and Chibo landed beside them.
“Ring it, ring it!” Chibo said. “Flowerface is here! He’s here!”
Roz punched the bell. It made a soft, disappointing thunnn.
“Harder!” Ji said.
She punched it harder. It made a slightly louder, equally disappointing thonnn.
“Roz! Flowerface is going to—” Ji gave a frightened cry and looked toward the palace. “No!”
“What?” Roz asked, in a worried rumble. “What’s wrong?”
“Keep hitting that bell!” he snapped, his voice trembling. “And I’ll tell you what’s wrong.”
Thunnn, the bell said. Chunnn.
“The fire’s spreading in the palace. There’s flames everywhere. Do you see that, Chibo?”
“Of course I don’t see it!” Chibo said, peering into the darkness.
Ji drew in his breath in horror. “It’s a library. Those flames are books. There’s a hundred books on fire, Roz. All those pages are turning into ash and—”
With an earsplitting roar, Roz lashed her head forward and smashed the black-glazed bell with her horn. Once, twice, and—