CHAPTER 28

Both of our captors let out a howl as Geoffrey doused them thoroughly.

“That’s disgusting!” cried the pudgy man behind the wheel.

Wait until you see this, I thought as I took a deep breath and launched into the first thing that popped into my mind—a rousing chorus of the national anthem.

“‘Oh, say, can you SEE by the DAWN’S early LIGHT!’” I sang at the top of my lungs, leaning forward and unleashing a torrent of toads over the back of the seat. “‘What so PROUDLY we HAILED at the twilight’s last GLEAMING!’”

I bellowed my way through the anthem’s first stanza, toads gushing from me like water from Old Faithful on one of Great-Aunt Aby’s Yellowstone postcards. By the time I reached the end, there were amphibians everywhere.

Our captors didn’t stand a chance against toad power.

The SUV swerved wildly as the pudgy man lost control of the wheel. We twisted this way and that, then lurched off the road and into a ditch, hissing to a stop. Our captors sat there for a moment, dazed. They were covered in barf—and toads. The man in the zoo janitor’s uniform was whimpering.

“Run for it!” I told Olivia.

Unbuckling Geoffrey, I popped my bound hands over his head and scooped him off the seat. Somehow I managed to get the door open and the two of us outside. Several cars had pulled over behind us, and concerned passersby were starting to get out and make their way in our direction. I saw one woman on a cell phone and hoped she was calling 911. I didn’t wait to find out, though. Intent only on reaching the barn—and safety—I started across the field.

Behind me, Olivia gave a cry of frustration.

“Oh, no you don’t,” said the pudgy man, and I turned to see that he was leaning over the back of his seat, holding on to the sleeve of her hoodie.

I hesitated. “Olivia?”

“Forget it, Cat!” she called back, waving me on. “Get Geoffrey out of here!”

I thought fleetingly of her diorama back home, the one of Geoffrey’s room with the gem-covered arrow that led to her door. She was going to sacrifice herself to try to put things right.

My little brother stirred in my arms. He was covered in barf and smelled almost as bad as I did, thanks to my ride in the Penguinarium lunch cart. Should I just cut my losses and try and get him to safety?

Geoffrey looked up at me, his greenish blue eyes huge in his pale face. “Livy,” he said.

I sighed. “You’re right, G-Man,” I told him. “We can’t leave Livy. You wait here.” I set him down at the edge of the field, then I ran back to the SUV. “Let her go, pipsqueak!” I hollered at the pudgy man. And taking hold of both of my stepsister’s hands, I pulled with all my might.

The silver ring on my right hand gleamed in the sunlight, its aquamarines sparkling between the words “Sisters are forever friends.” Maybe, I thought. Or maybe not. But one thing was for sure: There were some things worth holding fast to, and family was one of them. I knew that now. Olivia and I might be as different as night and day, and we might never like the same things or even the same people. But deep down we were family. And it was time for me to accept her, warts and all. I braced my feet against the doorjamb of the SUV and hung on stubbornly.

“Hold fast, Olivia!” I shouted, popping out a particularly large toad.

Croak.

I looked at it, startled. Had it just winked at me?

As it hopped away, Olivia’s hoodie sleeve tore loose and the two of us popped out of the car like a cork out of a bottle. We scrambled to our feet, ignoring the pudgy man’s angry shouts. I scooped Geoffrey up again and the three of us started to run. Across the field we flew, never once looking back until we reached the safety of the barn. We rounded its corner, breathless.

The Red Rocket was parked on the other side. The top was down and Pearl was in the driver’s seat, her bright pink fingernails drumming on the steering wheel. Bald Elvis was beside her, fiddling with the radio. I could hear the strains of “Jailhouse Rock.”

“There you are,” said Great-Aunt Abyssinia, who was lounging against the hood. Her orange hair flashed in the sun as she stood up and opened the door for us. “Right on time.”