Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner

Free Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner by Ann Hood Page B

Book: Queen Liliuokalani: Royal Prisoner by Ann Hood Read Free Book Online
Authors: Ann Hood
thousand dollars it is!” Gold Tooth said.
    “I already told you, I don’t have any money,” Maisie said. “And I already told you that it’s mine and you have to give it back.”
    “That ain’t the way it works,” the sailor with the earring said.
    “Where did you find it, anyway?” Maisie demanded.
    “In the sea,” Gold Tooth said.
    “That proves it’s mine,” Maisie told him. “I dropped it in the ocean when I had an accident.”
    “Poor thing.” Gold Tooth clucked with fake sympathy.
    “Poor thing,” the parrot repeated.
    “Be quiet!” Maisie snapped at the parrot.
    Then to Gold Tooth she added desperately, “If you don’t believe me, feel the lump on my head. I got hit there and was knocked out, and that’s how I lost the crown.”
    “And now ya’ve found it,” he grinned, showing off that tooth.
    “Exactly,” she said, relieved.
    “And ya’ve got to buy it if ya want it bad enough.”
    “That’s…that’s…preposterous!” Maisie stammered.
    Suddenly, someone shoved her aside and ran past her. In a flash, she saw that the someone was Felix, crouched low. He snatched the crown, and just as the crowd gasped in unison, he ran off with it, fast.
    “You little thug!” Gold Tooth shouted, scrambling to his feet.
    Stunned, Maisie took off after Felix, with GoldTooth pounding behind her.
    “Thief!” Gold Tooth yelled.
    But no one tried to catch Felix. Curious faces turned to watch the boy running with the crown, a girl with a tangle of hair flying in the breeze as she tried to catch up to him, and a dirty, big-bellied, unshaven, gold-toothed sailor shouting and huffing behind her.
    Felix ducked down an alley, and Maisie followed, glancing over her shoulder. Gold Tooth was still pretty far back.
    Panting, she caught up to Felix, who did not even slow when he saw her.
    “I. Can’t. Believe. You. Took. The. Crown,” Maisie sputtered between breaths.
    Felix ran alongside a building, then turned the corner to face its entrance.
    MONTGOMERY’S the sign above the door read.
    Felix pulled the door open and finally collapsed against the wall just inside, panting for breath, the crown nestled in his arms like a football. Maisie collapsed beside him, panting, too.
    “Felix!” a man said, a look of alarm on his face. “What happened?”
    Felix took a gulp of air.
    “Mr. Melville,” he gasped. “You’ve got to help us.”

    From Mr. Melville’s back office they could hear Gold Tooth banging on the now locked front door of Montgomery’s.
    “You little thief! You thug!” Gold Tooth shouted.
    Felix took a sip of the water Mr. Melville had brought to him and Maisie, and tried to explain.
    “That guy out there stole this crown. And it’s ours. And he wanted us to pay a thousand dollars to get it back.”
    Mr. Melville let out a low whistle.
    “You have to hide us,” Maisie pleaded.
    “Maybe we should call the police?” Felix asked, afraid that Gold Tooth might just break down the door.
    Mr. Melville shook his head. “They’ll take that crown,” he said, “and keep it until they unravel the story.”
    The sound of wood splintering filled the air, followed by the too-familiar, frightening sound of Gold Tooth’s heavy footsteps pounding toward them.
    “He broke down the door!” Felix gasped.
    Mr. Melville glanced around the office, then ran to the small window above his desk and opened it.
    “I’ll stall him,” he told Maisie and Felix as he held out his hand to pull them through the window.
    They could hear Gold Tooth opening one door after another, screaming in frustration when he found just storerooms or empty offices.
    “Run,” Mr. Melville hissed at them, seconds before Gold Tooth burst into his office.
    “May I help you, sir?” Maisie and Felix heard Mr. Melville ask as they scrambled to their feet and began to race down the alley.
    At the corner, they stopped to be sure the coast was clear. Felix thought his heart might actually pound through his ribs, it was beating

Similar Books

RETRACE

Sigal Ehrlich

Nocturnal Emissions

Jeffrey Thomas

A Lady's Guide to Rakes

Kathryn Caskie

Fever

Kimberly Dean

Evidence of Things Seen

Elizabeth Daly

Shem Creek

Dorothea Benton Frank