Beast & Crown by Joel Ross

Author:Joel Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2017-06-16T04:00:00+00:00

23

THE FIRST HINT of dawn was touching the horizon when Ji and Chibo reached the footbridge near Proctor’s town house.

“Climb over the railing,” Ji said.

“Here?” Chibo asked, peering into the dim light.

“Yeah, but watch out. The grass is slippery on the other side, and there’s a canal at the bottom.”

“I know that,” Chibo said. “I can see a little.”

“Oh, right.”

“Plus, it smells totally canal-ish.”

Ji helped Chibo over the railing. As he led him across the grassy slope, a carriage rattled in the street and a frog croaked in the canal. They stopped outside the stone wall of Proctor’s town house and Ji rubbed his neck.

“You’ll have to stand on my shoulders and climb,” he said.

“Awesome!” Chibo said. “I love climbing.”

“There’s spikes on top of the wall. Don’t stab yourself.”

“Climbing good, stabbing bad.” Chibo nodded. “Got it. What happens once I’m up there? I mean, how do you get up?”

“I hid a coil of rope in the vines. Throw it down and—”

“I can see a canal, Ji. That doesn’t mean I can find a rope hidden in vines in the dark.”

“Oh. Well, there’s always my backup plan.”

“What’s that?”

“Cry like a baby,” Ji told him.

Chibo laughed, and a dark shape fluttered softly to the ground behind him, like a man-sized leaf falling from a tree.

“No babycrying, Sneakyji!” Nin said, his gravelly voice muffled by his weird mask.

Chibo yelped in surprise. He spun and slipped on the grass, tumbling toward the canal.

“Nin!” Ji yelped. “Quick!”

Nin swooped toward the canal, his cloak fluttering but his boots solid. He grabbed Chibo, tossed him across one broad shoulder, and gave a raspy giggle.

“Caught her!” he said.

“Wahoo!” Chibo yelled, raising his arms. “I’m flying!”

Ji clasped a hand to his heart. “First, you buttonhead, Chibo’s a boy. Second—”

“Sillybeets!” Nin stomped up the slope toward Ji. “Boy, girl. Too young to choose.”

“Okay.” Ji took a breath. “Stop being weird for five frothing seconds, would you?”

“Can’t stop,” Nin said. “Never started.”

“Very funny,” Ji said. “Are you going to help us over the wall?”

“And who are you?” Chibo asked, steadying himself against Nin’s cloaked head.

“This is Nin,” Ji said. “A friend of mine.”

Nin leaned closer to Ji’s face. His gruesome mask glinted faintly in the gloom of his hood. Then he lowered one red gauntlet from Chibo’s leg and made a fist in front of Ji. “Stonefriends,” he said solemnly. “Sneakyji and Nin.”

“You didn’t even last five frothing seconds,” Ji said.

Nin just stood there with his fist extended. “Stonefriends?”

“Stonefriends,” Ji agreed. He didn’t know what Nin meant, but he touched Nin’s fist with his own.

Nin made a sound like a two boulders colliding, then cocked his head toward Chibo. “So Chibald like swoopflying?”

“I love swoopflying,” Chibo told him.

“There’s no such thing!” Ji said. “And even if there was, you’ve never done it! And even if you had, there isn’t—”

With Chibo still on his shoulders, Nin swarmed up the stone fence, as fast as a blue-bat. When they reached the top of the fence, Chibo said, “I’m high as the treetops! I’m

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