“Unbelievable,” Aaron murmured. He piled the spiders inside the tube, stepped in, and looked at Panther. “Looks like it’s just you and me and the spiders now,” he said. “Can I trust you?”
Panther was ridiculously still, appearing to be frozen. For a horrible second, Aaron wondered if Alex had been killed and Artimé was gone, all the statues and creatures freezing in their tracks as they’d done before. But then Aaron remembered who was head mage. And Panther opened her mouth and screamed in his face.
When Aaron got over the shock of it, he called her to join him in the tube. Panther rose on her hind legs and put her front paws on Aaron’s shoulders, and when she had squeezed fully inside the tube, Aaron pushed the button. Soon Panther was in Artimé once more.
Jungle Unleashed
Aaron and Panther nearly fell out of the tube into the kitchenette. It had been a tight squeeze. Aaron gathered up the spiders, and then he led Panther down the hallway to Alex’s living quarters.
Florence stood outside the hole looking in at them. Her eyes widened when she saw the panther. “You’re either brilliant or a total idiot, Aaron Stowe,” she said brusquely. “I’m hoping for brilliant, but quite honestly we’ll take anything right now.” Florence eyed the killer panther warily. “Which ship does she go on?”
“I want to keep her here on land,” said Aaron, trying to sound more confident than he was.
Florence looked at him. “Won’t she kill randomly like she did Eva Fathom?”
Aaron hesitated. “I’m confident that she will follow my commands. I’ve been training her for quite some time now.”
“Ah, so that’s where you go off to when you head down the mage’s hallway,” said Florence. “Simber and I have a bet going, and neither one of us is right. I’m kind of mad about it.”
“Yes,” said Aaron. “That’s where. Alex doesn’t know . . . I still have to tell him, so if you could maybe not mention it . . .”
“There will be time for you to tell him after we win this war,” said Florence. She reached up and stroked Panther’s head. “Okay,” she said with a sigh. “I guess I trust you.”
She was looking at Panther but talking to Aaron. Or at least that’s what Aaron thought. “I’ll try not to let you down,” Aaron said.
“Even if she kills randomly,” muttered Florence, “she’s got an eighty percent chance of getting a pirate.” Florence helped Aaron down with his bundle of vine creations, then picked up Panther and set her beside him. “I’ll go with you. We could really use a big distraction to give our people a minute to breathe.”
They went around the mansion. Panther began to shake with excitement at the activity on the lawn. She clearly recognized this place.
“Stay with me, Panther,” said Aaron, and he began talking softly to her as they entered the fight scene. People moved out of the way when they saw them coming. Aaron dropped all the spiders at his feet except for one, and stroked Panther’s neck at the same time. And then he started singling out the biggest, meanest pirates. He wound his arm back and let the first spider soar through the air, hitting a startled pirate in the shoulder with it.
“Attack!” he cried.
Panther needed no further urging. She took three powerful bounds and leaped at the pirate, shoving him to the ground. Her giant jaws opened wide, and her gleaming teeth dripped with saliva. It was lights out forever for the man.
“Panther!” Aaron commanded. Panther came bounding back with the spider daintily in her mouth and set it at Aaron’s feet. He threw another spider at a pirate, commanding Panther to attack her. And another, and another, and another. With no one daring to come near him, Aaron realized he could probably play this game for as long as his arm held out.
By the time Alex noticed what was happening, Panther had taken down nine pirates, the little dog had terrorized the entire top deck of one of the Warbler ships and had headed belowdecks, and the dropbears were having a terrific lunch on board Queen Eagala’s ship. By the time the enormous rock burst out of the jungle and rolled into Artimé, Alex was dashing into the mansion with an idea of his own.
The rock moved over the lawn toward Aaron and Panther, and several pirates ran in the other direction, holding their fighting to see what was happening this time.
“Aaron,” said the rock, barely opening his mouth, “I brought a jungle friend to help.”
Aaron’s eyes widened. He tried to think of other creatures he’d met in the jungle, but his brain was fuzzy from lack of sleep. He shook his head dumbly. “Who is it?”