The River of No Return by J & P Voelkel

Author:J & P Voelkel [Voelkel, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60684-270-6
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Published: 2012-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

The World’s Biggest Pizza Buffet on the seventh floor was like a huge, poorly lit diner. The booths were arranged around a long central table that groaned under wooden platters of pizza, each one as big as a cart wheel. There must have been fifty different kinds.

“Eat all you like—it’s on the house,” said the concierge, showing them to a booth. “I must leave you for a moment to finalize some details for the big show tonight. Bon appétit!”

“It’s good to get him off our backs,” said Lola when he’d gone. “He’s so creepy. There’s something about his eyes and the way he twitches his nose—”

“You’re acting pretty weird yourself today. It’s not exactly normal to go around pulling out jaguar whiskers.”

Lola took the long white bristle out of her pocket and held it up to the light. Her eyes were shining. “See how beautiful it is? So now I have a jaguar to be my animal guide.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he’ll protect me.”

“He’s stuck in a cage.”

“It’s deeper than that. It’s like a bond between us. And anyway, we’re going to rescue him.”

“Yeah … about that. How exactly?”

“I’m not sure yet. I know we’re deep underground, but there must be staircases and emergency exits, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely,” said Max. “Because this hotel’s priority is obviously the safety of its guests.”

Lola sighed. “There’s no need to be sarcastic.”

“I just don’t think you’ve thought this through. I mean, assuming you did spring the jaguar, what would you do with him? You can’t set him loose in Limón. And it’s not like he can get the bus with us to Puerto Muerto.”

“I’ll take him back to wherever they caught him.”

Max put his head in his hands. “Don’t do this, Monkey Girl. We promised Uncle Ted we’d go straight back to the villa.”

“You think you’ll be safe if you can get to your uncle’s house? You must know by now that it doesn’t work like that. As long as we have a Jaguar Stone, the Death Lords will come after us. It doesn’t matter where we are, or what we’re doing.”

“That doesn’t mean we should act like crazy people.”

“It’s not crazy, Hoop. You’re the one who convinced me that two kids can save the world. Maybe we can start right now by saving these animals.”

“Animals? I thought it was just the jaguar?”

She made a sad face at him.

“Are you out of your mind?” he said. “You seriously think we’re going to walk out of here with a performing jaguar, an incontinent tapir, a flock of parrots, and an army of monkeys?”

“Don’t forget the snakes.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Come on, Hoop. You know it’s the right thing to do.”

“I can’t think straight. I need food.”

Lola smiled at him. “Let’s have some pizza. And then we’ll work out a plan.”

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