Rescue Princesses #3: The Moonlight Mystery by Paula Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

piece of rock jutting out of the wall near the cage. She scrambled up onto it and looked down on the metal bars below her.
    “Wait, Lulu! You aren’t going to jump, are you?” called Clarabel.
    “I have to,” replied Lulu. Keeping her eyes on the metal roof, she made an enormous leap off the rock to land on the top of the cage with a bang . The lioness below her opened her eyes, then shut them again.
    Holding her breath, Lulu crawled to the edge of the bars, stretched over, and flicked open the latch. Then she stood up, backflipped off the roof, and landed gracefully on the ground.
    Jaminta swung the cage door open. Clarabel handed Tufty back to Lulu, who kissed him one more time and placed him gently in the cage. He scampered up to his brothers and sisters and lay down next to them with a happy meow. Lulu left the cage door open and backed away.
    “Ready?” asked Jaminta, preparing to grab the amethyst.
    Lulu looked at Tufty. She didn’t want to leave him, but she knew she had to give him this chance to be a wild cub again. “Yes, ready!” she said.
    Jaminta grabbed the purple gem and they tiptoed out of the cavern. They crept around the corner into the narrow tunnel and broke into a run. Clarabel stumbled over a loose rock, but Lulu helped her up. Sprinting hard, they didn’t stop until they reached the bottom of the stone steps that led to the palace garden. A square of yellow light at the top told them that the sun would soon be rising.
    The princesses paused, trying to catch their breath.
    A deafening roar swept down the tunnel, making the floor and walls tremble.
    “The lioness!” cried Lulu. “She woke up.”
    They climbed as fast as they could and scrambled out of the hole at the top. Then together they heaved the old wooden door shut and pushed a wheelbarrow right on top of it, just to be sure that nothing could get out that way.
    “We did it!” Emily bounced up and down. “We freed all the lions!”
    “And Tufty got his family back again,” said Lulu.
    As Jaminta tucked the amethyst sleep jewel away in her pocket, Clarabel noticed something else in her hand. “What’s that you’re holding, Jaminta?” she asked.
    Jaminta held out one hand to show them dozens of sparkling stones. “I picked up some crystals inside the cave. I’m going to try making powerful jewels with them. If the Onica Heart Crystals were made from stones like these, they must be really special.”
    A golden sun peeked over the horizon, sending a warm glow across the palace garden. The princesses sat down on the ground, their legs aching.
    Lulu fumbled in her pocket and pulled out the chocolate that Olaf had given her. She broke off big pieces and handed them around. The chocolate tasted especially sweet after all that running down the tunnel.
    “What a strange mystery that was,” said Emily. “The lions were hidden under the mountain all this time.”
    “Not anymore.” Lulu smiled, her eyes sparkling. “I bet they’re already heading back to the grasslands, where they belong.”

The princesses stumbled, yawning, into breakfast that morning. They’d changed out of their dusty clothes into long silk dresses and their favorite tiaras, hoping that the kings and queens wouldn’t notice anything different.
    Lulu shook back her curly black hair as she sat down at the table. She felt so sleepy, but a large helping of pancakes and syrup began to make her feel better.
    “I hope the etiquette lessons aren’t tiring you out, Lulu,” said Queen Shani, looking at the dark circles under her daughter’s eyes.
    Lulu glanced at the other princesses and bit her lip to hide a smile. “Not really. But maybe I should take a break from them for a little while.”
    “Just for a little while.” The queen nodded and turned to her husband. “I’m just so disappointed with Lady Malika.”
    “Yes, dear,” replied the king, passing her the teapot. “I’m glad she was caught.”
    “Huh? What’s that?” Lulu’s lionlike eyes