We Sled With Dragons Read Online Free PDF Page B

Dr. Navel said, smiling back, “the mob is going to tear us apart any minute.”
    â€œYes, honey.” Claire smiled back at her husband. “Don’t you think the kids would like to know
why
the mob is going to tear them apart?”
    â€œI don’t think they do, darling,” said Dr. Navel. “I think they’d prefer to escape without being torn apart.”
    â€œBut it’s a really good story, sweetheart,” she answered him.
    â€œI am sure they’d love to hear it later, dear.”
    â€œIt won’t be as interesting later, dear.”
    â€œI think it will be interesting later, dear.”
    â€œI think it won’t.”
    â€œIt will.”
    â€œIt won’t.”
    â€œIt will.”
    â€œIt won’t.”
    â€œIt will—oh, never mind.” Dr. Navel threw his hands in the air. “Finish the story then. If we’re still alive when this mob of goat herders tears us limb from limb, then we’ll make our escape.”
    â€œOgden!” Claire Navel shook her head. “You just ruined the end of the story. The goat herders were the best part. Now I don’t even want to tell it.”
    Just then, a large bottle with a flaming rag sticking out the top of it smashed through the window and crashed into the television, where it burst into flames.
    Outside, the mob roared.
    â€œThey seem really angry,” said Oliver. “I think we can go back to calling them an angry mob.”
    â€œYeah,” agreed Celia as she shoved the remote control back into their backpack and handed it to her brother, who put it on without complaint as the wall behind the television caught fire. “Now, can we please make our escape?”
    Her parents nodded. There was no arguing with an angry mob, a wall of fire, or Celia Navel.

6
WE HEAR HERDERS

    ONE BY ONE, the band of explorers, tweens, the celebrity, the imprisoned celebrity impersonator, and the odd assortment of animals squeezed through the tiny bathroom window at the back of the hotel. Clouds of black smoke belched out around them.
    One by one, they landed, coughing, in a dusty alleyway. Corey shoved Ernest, still tied up, ahead of him out the window, so his impersonator landed face first on the ground with a thump. Beverly scurried out along the wall, Patrick jumped, and Dennis flapped his useless wings, dropping through the air in a flurry of smoke and feathers.
    Lastly, Professor Rasmali-Greenberg squeezed his considerable bulk through the small opening, dropped to the ground, stumbled, dusted himself off, and smiled.
    â€œSo,” he said. “Shall we hail a taxi?”
    â€œI think, like, we better just run for it,” Corey suggested. “That mob is A-N-G-R-Y.”
    Celia narrowed her eyes at him but didn’t say anything.
    â€œWe can’t go that way.” She pointed toward the far end of the alley, where a few stragglers from the angry mob passed by. Everyone ducked behind some old crates. Dr. Navel peeked his head out to check if they had been noticed.
    â€œWhy did you guys make all these goat herders so angry?” Oliver whispered.
    â€œIt wasn’t on purpose,” Corey whispered back. “The professor tried to create a distraction by letting loose a herd of goats. The goat herder got angry and started shouting. The pirates weren’t far behind us, so we had to borrow the goat herder’s pickup truck.”
    â€œYou
stole
it?”
    â€œBorrowed,” Corey said. “We were being chased by angry pirates and an angry goat herder. Anyway, it turned out that the truck belonged to the goat herder’s brother, who also started chasing us, and he has a lot of sons, so they joined in, and pretty soon, they ran into the pirates. Pirates and goat herders don’t usually get along. The goat herders make an honest living and the pirates kidnap people. So they started fighting. That’s when your father made a wrong