Free The Magician's Tower by Shawn Thomas Odyssey Page A

she saw that it was not blood after all, but only purplish beet juice that blobbed down his nose.
    Realizing that he was going to be okay, Oona seized her chance to take the lead. The first platform jutted out about six feet from the wall and then stopped, where a three-foot gap opened between the platform’s edge and the arm of the hanging sofa. Knowing that a single hesitation might cause her to lose her nerve completely, Oona jumped. But not far enough. Her foot caught on the arm of the sofa, and she tumbled into Isadora’s lap.
    Isadora let out a sharp scream of surprise.
    The ropes creaked as the sofa swung from side to side like a boat caught in a storm.
    â€œGet off me!” Isadora shouted, swatting blindly at both Oona and the two apes that were presently tying bits of banana peel into her golden hair. Oona shoved a pile of fruit out of the way and sat up, careful not to lean too far forward.
    Suddenly, the sofa gave a jerk sideways as Roderick landed on the cushion beside her, and for one heart-stopping second Oona was sure that the ropes were about to break and the entire sofa was going to crash to the bottom floor. But the ropes held, creaking under the added weight as Oona pulled her feet up, meaning to crawl over Isadora. But Roderick grabbed hold of Oona’s skirt, pulling her back into her seat.
    Oona gasped. “Whatever happened to chivalry, Mr. Rutherford?” she chided.
    Roderick did not answer, but stepped impolitely over her and caught hold of one of the apes by the arm. He pulled the golden banana from its neck, and the chain snapped off quite easily. He then attempted to push the chimpanzee away, but the chimp was far stronger than Roderick. It picked him up by his arm, seemingly with no effort at all, and dangled him over the edge of the sofa.
    â€œBOYFRIEND!” Isadora shouted, attempting to swatthe second monkey away. “What are you doing? Get this beast off me!”
    â€œI’m a little busy, Isadora,” he called back, clinging precariously to the ape’s hairy arm.
    â€œWhoooooa!”
    The sound shot from his lips as the ape tossed him through the air toward a fellow chimp on the piano. Roderick somersaulted over the chandelier, and the piano ape caught him by the back of his cloak before fervently tossing him back to the ape on the sofa. This went on for several more throws before both apes became bored with the game, and Roderick came down with a resounding
GONG!
on top of the piano.
    Meanwhile, down below, Adler was having difficulty getting past the stripe-faced ape, which had descended to the bottom floor and was blocking his way to the stairs.
    â€œRoderick!” Isadora crooned. “Come back here and help me!”
    But Roderick was busy pushing himself to his feet on top of the piano lid. He glanced up toward the next level of furniture, and said: “I have an idea!”
    Oona pulled her feet back onto the sofa and began to crawl over Isadora. Roderick may have taken the lead, but she didn’t plan on letting him keep it.
    â€œWhere do you think you’re going?” Isadora asked.
    â€œIsadora, why don’t you—” but Oona was rudely cutshort when one of the apes grabbed her around the waist and tossed her in the direction of the piano. Skirts flying like a wind-filled flag, she cartwheeled through the air, completely out of control.
    To her dismay, the chimp on the piano was presently throwing a handful of dried prunes at Adler, and thus failed to catch her before she slammed down on the piano top. Her shoe clanged against the keyboard, and for one panicky instant her breath was knocked from her body, but a moment later she pushed herself to her knees and the pungent air filled her lungs. The fall had shaken her, to be sure, but, checking herself over, she seemed remarkably unharmed.
    Ahead of her, Roderick leapt from the piano to the hanging fireplace, but seemed to misjudge the distance. He only just managed to