Rescue Princesses #3: The Moonlight Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

“There’s nothing here, Lulu. Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?”
    “Totally sure!” Lulu walked right up to the shed. “There used to be a huge pile of things here.” She pointed at the ground on one side of the shed. “There were wheelbarrows, shovels, and sacks of dirt. But everything’s been moved.”
    She stepped forward and her foot made a dull thud against the ground. She stopped, surprised.
    “What was that?” said Clarabel nervously.
    Lulu moved her other foot, which made a thudding noise, too.
    “That’s strange. It sounds really hollow,” said Emily.
    Kneeling down, Lulu swept her hand across the ground and found that the loose earth moved aside easily beneath her fingers. She continued brushing it away until she reached a solid rectangle of wood set into the ground.
    “I didn’t know there was anything under here,” she cried. “It’s always been covered up with gardening tools before.”
    “Not so loud,” breathed Clarabel. “You’ll wake the palace.”
    Jaminta knelt down beside her and tapped gently on the wooden rectangle. “It’s like a door lying in the ground.” She brushed more earth aside to reveal a ring-shaped handle made of metal and a small hole for a key. “Look! Here’s the door handle and the lock.”
    “If it is a door, then let’s open it,” exclaimed Lulu.
    “Shouldn’t we figure out what it is first?” asked Clarabel.
    Lulu was already yanking on the handle. The door gave a huge creak but held firmly shut.
    “Let’s all try pulling together!” said Emily.

    So all the princesses grabbed the handle and heaved as hard as they could. But the door still wouldn’t budge.
    “We need the key,” said Lulu. “But who would have it? No one knows this door is here.”
    “Someone must know,” replied Jaminta. “I bet the person with the key is the same person you saw with a light.”
    Lulu looked around the garden. There was no sign of the light anymore. “I don’t know who that could be. No one’s ever talked about this.”
    She broke off suddenly. A strange noise came from below the wooden rectangle, making them jump.
    “What was that?” said Emily.
    Lulu crouched down and put her ear against the door. The other princesses did the same.
    They waited for a moment, silent in the darkness. Then the noise came again from deep down, making the door shake.
    The princesses jumped to their feet.
    “There’s an animal down there!” Clarabel gasped.
    “It’s a lion,” said Lulu, her eyes wide. “That’s the sound of a lion’s roar.”

The princesses looked at one another excitedly.
    “Maybe it’s our missing lions!” cried Emily. “But why would they be underground?”
    “We’ll have to go down there and find out!” Lulu tugged on the handle again, but it wouldn’t budge.
    “I know something we can use to unlock it,” said Jaminta. “Come on!”
    The four girls raced back through the moonlit courtyard into the palace. Jaminta stopped in the kitchen, searching through the silverware drawer. “It looks like an old lock. Maybe we can open it with a long piece of metal without needing the right key.” She pulled out a fork with wide prongs. “This might do it.”
    The other princesses crowded around to look.
    With a sudden click , the light went on, dazzling their eyes. They turned around in shock to find Prince Olaf standing in the kitchen doorway. He was wearing striped pajamas that were so big the sleeves hung over his hands.
    “Hello,” he said, beaming. “What’s going on?”
    “It’s a … it’s a …” stuttered Emily.
    “It’s a midnight feast,” snapped Lulu.
    “Yummy!” said Olaf, sitting down at the kitchen table. “Can I join you?”
    Lulu watched him in horror. There, right in front of him, was the baby bottle with milk in it for Tufty. She’d left it there when she went out in the garden to search for the strange light.
    Olaf picked it up. “What’s this?”
    The princesses exchanged glances.
    “It’s mine!”