Free The Midnight Mercenary by Cerberus Jones Page B

a rag, and told her to get to work on Charlie’s bubble.
    One by one, everyone was set free – except for Dad, who was still stuck to the wall of the shed above ground. And Lady Naomi, who still had tar over her face …
    â€˜Kerosene and butter,’ said Tom, patting Lady Naomi on the shoulder. ‘Although apparently it will take a couple of hours to dissolve.’
    â€˜I can’t believe we won!’ Charlie shrieked. ‘I can’t believe Leaf Man was the hero! I can’t believe I’m alive! ’
    Charlie was so happy, he even romped around with Grawk. They raced each other from one end of the chamber to the other, weaving in and out of the pillars, Charlie whooping with joy. Amelia laughed, but rather than joining in, she looked around for Leaf Man.
    He’d disappeared.
    â€˜We didn’t even say thank you!’ said Amelia.
    Tom didn’t want to talk about it. ‘If he wanted to hang out and group hug with you all, he’d still be here, wouldn’t he?’
    Mum kissed the top of Amelia’s head. ‘You’ll see him again.’
    Amelia yawned and leaned into Mum. As the adrenalin faded away, she realised how exhausted she was. And how cold. She felt as though she could sleep for a week. No, scratch that – she felt as though she could eat an entire chocolate cake and then sleep for a week. Her stomach gurgled. Yeah, she was starving.
    But it wasn’t over yet: they still had to walk back along all those long, dark tunnels and up those stairs to get to the hotel. After everything they’d been through, they weren’t even home yet.

    To Amelia’s surprise, the walk home turned out to be fun. It was a much shorter journey when they were heading back to safety rather than down into danger, and when they could talk and laugh together. Mum hadn’t seen glowing lichens in the tunnel she’d followed Krskn along, and she was as delighted as Amelia by the pink grotto.
    James walked more slowly at the back of the group, keeping Len company as he inched along. The sandy ground was extremely hard work for his soft slug belly, especially as he’d already used up a lot of his slime, but James encouraged him with descriptions of all the lettuce and baby spinach they would give him in the hotel.
    Amelia looked over her shoulder at the two of them, and nudged Mum.
    Mum smiled. ‘I knew he’d get it in the end. It took longer than Dad and I thought, but he got there!’
    It also took Tom longer than he thought to free Dad from the binding tar in the meter shed. The sun was up and already getting hot before Tom finally limped back to the hotel with Dad half-draped over his shoulders. He was trying to walk by himself, but a whole night standing upright and immobile had left his legs rather wobbly. The tar still clung in chunks to his clothes, and he was white with fatigue, but he grinned when he saw Amelia running over the grass toward him.
    â€˜Cookie!’
    She wrapped her arms around him, at last giving him the hug she’d missed out on the night before.
    â€˜Tom has been telling me how amazing you were. You and Charlie. Even James!’
    Amelia looked sideways at Tom. She had her doubts that he’d said any such thing.
    Tom just grunted. ‘Can you make your own way back to the hotel from here? I’ve got things to do.’ And without waiting for an answer, he shrugged off Dad’s arm and turned to stump off down the hill again.
    Dad staggered a bit and Amelia rushed to put her arms around him. He just laughed. ‘Good old Tom. He was impressed, you know. And even if he didn’t say it quite like that, I’m saying it now. You were a star last night, kiddo.’
    The praise was warm and genuine, but Amelia didn’t feel like a star. What had happened last night was far too complicated for that. What she did feel, though, was happy. Truly and simply happy.
    A flock of cockatoos flew across the blue