Free Through the Tiger's Eye by Kerrie O'Connor

Grandma went to sleep. When she heard the snoring, she would wake up Ricardo and they would sneak out. After that . . . maybe the Tiger-cat or Rahel would think of something. Because all Lucy could think of was peanuts.

15
Ninja Pants
in the Night

    ‘ Lucy! Wake up! ’
    Lucy gazed blankly at the spiky-haired Ninja by her bed, Rahel’s face still swimming before her eyes.
    ‘Get up! We’re late!’ urged Ricardo.
    Lucy looked at her watch: 2 a.m. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep. How could she have slept through Grandma’s snores? Now Rahel would think she’d chickened out. They only had a few hours before sunrise. She jumped out of bed and grabbed her torch. Then she got a good look at Ricardo. He had his Ninja pants on, and what looked suspiciously like a plastic sword stuck into the pouch Grandma had made. A scarf was tied around his forehead. He looked like a dork.
    Lucy bent to pick up T-Tongue, and paused. The rug had changed again. The snake coiled between the tiger’s front paws had distinct diamond patterns, pale yellow on grey scales. Her eyes followed the pattern, from the head resting between the tiger’s paws, to the tip of the tail, much too far away in the other corner of the rug.
    ‘Come on,’ hissed Ricardo. Lucy tore her eyes away and padded after him, with T-Tongue in her arms.
    They opened the creaky back door. Grandma stopped snoring. They froze. After a long pause she started again, and they crept outside. Lucy glanced up and saw the full moon marching towards the western cliffs. It gave the back yard an eerie glow, but petered out when the path met thicker rainforest. Then the Tiger-cat materialised in the torchlight, to lead them up the path to the stairs. It faced them at the top, eyes fierce and tail whipping and made a strange, throaty sound, halfway between an ordinary miaow and a growl, eyes blazing red in the torchlight.
    ‘Sorry we’re late,’ gulped Ricardo.
    Lucy shone the torch into the pit and caught her breath as, once again, the Tiger-cat sprang straight at the wall, its body forming a perfect arc in the torchlight. Just when Lucy was sure the Tiger-cat would smash against solid earth, the clay wall dissolved before her eyes and the Tiger-cat landed gracefully in the yawning mouth of the tunnel and turned to look at her, tail lashing. T-Tongue made an urgent growly whimper. Lucy put him down and he launched himself into the pit without hesitating, his lead sailing out behind him. Lucy and Ricardo flew down the rope and then stumbled to keep up, as T-Tongue disappeared with the Tiger-cat into the mountain.
    Lucy wished she had cats’ eyes and could throw the torch away. It seemed to take forever to reach the door. Lucy gave a warning knock this time and Rahel wrenched it open.
    ‘We believed you were not coming!’
    Lucy felt terrible.
    ‘Sorry. We slept in. We brought you some food.’
    ‘We will eat as we walk,’ said Rahel, taking a baked spud in one hand and a pie in the other.
    Her face was a mask. Lucy couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She didn’t look scared. She looked as if she did this all the time. Toro was up and ready for action too, looking much better than he had this morning. His limp wasn’t so bad. He checked out Ricardo’s sword and the two boys grinned at each other. Obviously they didn’t have a clue what they were in for.
    ‘We can’t take these guys with us,’ said Lucy. ‘What if something happens to them?’
    Rahel’s expression didn’t change.
    ‘Toro is required because he is small,’ she said simply.
    Lucy thought that was a great reason to leave him behind, but Rahel marched out the door after the Tiger-cat, already darting up the tunnel with T-Tongue in pursuit. Ricardo and Toro ran after her and Lucy found herself stumbling in the rear. It wasn’t a position she was used to. She caught up, shouldered past the mini-Ninjas, and asked, ‘What are we going to do when we get there?’
    Her voice was shaking and she knew she