Danger Guys and the Golden Lizard Page 4
One particular kind of food. Waffles.
I stepped from one little square room to another. Waffles. Waffles. Waffles.
All of a sudden, it came to me. Yes! The maze! It was laid out like the little squares on a waffle!
In an instant I knew which way I had to go. I knew it like I knew my own name!
It was a huge maze and pretty tricky, but once I figured it out, I was through to the other side in twenty minutes flat.
Bright sunlight flickered down through the trees. I stepped out into a beautiful garden.
“Zeek!” I yelled “It’s easy! All you do—”
And there was Zeek, coming out of the maze, smiling. “Pretty crazy, huh?”
“Yeah,” I said. “When I figured out the maze was a waffle, I tried running through like I pour the syrup. In a big N shape. N for Noodle. And it worked!”
“I did a different letter,” he said. “Z for Zeek.”
I thought about that. “Hey, N and Z are the same shape!”
“Yeah, it all depends on how you look at it.” We laughed. Then Zeek stared past me into the garden. I turned. I saw them.
Heads.
Huge heads.
Six-foot-tall heads.
With purple eyes the size of basketballs.
And slithery red tongues sticking out from mouths with long teeth in them.
Big painted lizard heads. They were hideous. They were moving toward us. Closer. Closer!
“Stay cool,” Zeek whispered, backing up.
Sweat ran down my neck. “I wish!”
Suddenly, the painted heads tumbled to the ground. And in their place were—kids! Dozens of kids.
Some were our age, some older and some younger. They all had big wildflowers in their hair, and they were jumping up and down and laughing. It was cool!
A girl stepped forward. “Welcome to the Kingdom of the Golden Lizard. My name is Kalla.”
“Terrific,” I said. “You speak English. I’m Noodle and this is my friend Zeek.”
“I’m Bota,” said a boy. “You must be very brave and clever to have come this far. No one knows about our secret kingdom.”
I shot a look at Zeek. “Sorry,” I said, “but it’s not a secret anymore. Some very bad guys are coming to steal the Golden Lizard. I think we’d better talk to your king and queen so that—”
Bota started laughing. Kalla did, too. “King and queen? You’ve already met us!”
I made a face. “You?”
“All of us,” said Bota. “In our kingdom, all the children rule.”
“As for the Golden Lizard,” Kalla said, “well, it would be difficult to steal.”
Suddenly—RRRRRRR! The ground began to shake.
“Earthquake!” I screamed.
I ducked. Zeek dived.
The children laughed and pointed behind us. We turned to look.
“Whoa!” cried Zeek. “The Golden Lizard!”
“Holy cow!” I gasped. “It’s so—so—big!”
It was the Golden Lizard. And it was big.
Cut into the side of a large hill, hidden under a thick canopy of trees, was the shape of a giant lizard.
And the whole thing was made of gold.
“We like it because it’s shiny,” Bota said. “You see why we keep it a secret.”
Sure, the gold.
But the best part was what happened next.
RRRRRR! The ground shook again.
The rumbling got louder and louder and louder, until—KA-FLOOOOOOM! A huge spray of water burst from the ground right at the top of the hill, at the very tip of the Lizard’s tail.
Wave after wave of water shot up like a fountain and then rushed down the tail, through the body, and into the head of the Golden Lizard, which made a giant swirling pool at the bottom.
“Every ten minutes, the water comes,” said Bota.
I checked my watch.
“Like magic,” said Kalla.
I couldn’t believe it. “Zeek, you know what the Golden Lizard is?”
“Of course.” He nodded slowly. “Every kid knows. It’s a giant, megasize, overlong, extraterrific, superfun WATER SLIDE!”
Some of the kids ran up and jumped on the top of the Lizard’s tail. SPLOOOSH!—they shot down the slide, laughing the whole way.
“I’m next!” I yelled.
Suddenly, I froze.
WOCKA-WOCKA-WOCKA!
“Choppers!” cried Zeek. “Closing in fast!”
TEN
Black shadows circled over the trees.
“They’re back, Noodle,” said Zeek. “Fingers and his ninja creeps! If they find the Lizard, they’ll wreck everything!”
“We need the Emersons,” I said.
“Ah,” said Bota. “That explains the people we found at the entrance to our maze!”
Some giant heads came rustling through the bushes. With them were Mr. and Mrs. Emerson. Their clothes were kind of dirty and messy.
“Fingers’ army came charging toward us,” said Mrs. E. “We were lucky to escape.”
“Okay,” I said. “There’s no time to lose. We need a plan, and I just happen to have—”
“A plan?” said Kalla with a smile. “That’s what I do best!”
I blinked. “But I’m—I usually—”
“We need muscle, too,” said Zeek. “I—”
“Ah! That’s what I’m good at,” said Bota, flexing his arms.
Zeek turned and gave me a blank look.
All the kids crowded around, and Kalla explained her plan.
“Wow!” I said. “I thought we were the ultimate Danger Guys. But you kids sure know your danger stuff.”
“Of course we do,” said Bota. “Our people have been defending the Golden Lizard for centuries.”
The plan was set. The Emersons and Bota ran up to the Lizard. Kalla and the other kids picked up their heads.
WOCKA-WOCKA-WOCKA! The choppers swooped in low. Long ropes dropped out and dozens of ninjas slithered to the ground outside the main wall.
“We’ll never make it!” Zeek cried.
I checked my watch again. “Four minutes, Zeek. We’ll make it.” I punched my thumb in the air. He started to smile. He gave me a thumbs-up, too.
BOOM! An explosion rocked the main wall.
“They’re getting into the maze!” Kalla yelled.
“It’s show time!” I called back.
The kids knew what to do. They put on their huge heads and ran down to the maze.
“Phase one,” I said to Zeek, reaching over to a nearby bush. “You wrap yourself in these nice big leaves. Then I put on one of those heads, and you hoist me up on your shoulders and—”
“Ah,” said Zeek. “I like phase one!”
A few seconds later, Fingers and his army of ninjas broke into the maze and came marching through the little rooms. They had all kinds of ugly-looking guns and bombs and stuff.
They turned a corner and froze at what they saw. A walking plant with a six-foot lizard head staring down at them!
It was excellent! The guys in the front stopped short. The guys in back bumped into the ones in front.
“Halt!” I boomed out. “I am the Great Noodle-Zeek-eek-eek!”
I made my voice really low. It bounced inside the huge head and echoed out the mouth hole.
“Oh!” sighed Dirty Lip. Then he went limp. One of the ninjas caught him as he fell.
“Begone-on-on, you evil creatures-eatures-eatures!” I yelled. “Or I will-ill-ill …”
“Will what?” snarled Fingers. He was trying to act tough. But I could see he was shaking.
“I will … will … do something so-o-o terrible, you won’t like it-it-it! At all-all!”
“Ha!” Fingers shouted. “Well, there’s a hundred of us and only one of you!”
“Oh, yeah?” I boomed. That’s when Fingers ran right into phase two of the incredible action plan—kids!
Kalla and dozens of her friends in oversize painted heads poured into the maze from eve
ry direction, hooting and hollering.
“Yikes!” yelled one of the ninjas. He and the others started to run. The painted heads chased them deeper into the maze.
“Hey!” cried Fingers as he ran. “This place is dangerous!”
I had to laugh. He didn’t know how right he was! “Time for phase three, Zeek!”
We jumped out of our head, set it on the ground, climbed up on top, and hoisted ourselves to the top of the maze walls.
“Now!” I shouted. We grabbed superlong vines hanging from the trees, leaped off the walls, and swooped low.
The bad guys were all bunched up in the center of the maze, trying to hide from the big painted heads.
Zeek and I swung right over to Fingers.
That’s when we really got dangerous.
Well, that’s when our sneakers got dangerous.
We bonked Fingers and his ninjas on their heads as we spun on the vines, faster and faster.
It was so cool! Big adventure music was playing in my head. Zeek and I and all the Lizard kids were amazing. Total danger. Total guys. Totally smooth moves.
Fingers was getting dizzy trying to keep away from our dangerous feet.
“But there’s more!” I yelled, glancing at my watch.
“Could it be?” Zeek cried.
“That’s right. Phase four!”
Kalla and the kids ran out of the maze, leaving Fingers and his men swatting at our sneakers.
Kalla waved to Bota and the Emersons at the top of the Golden Lizard. That was the signal. They quickly moved some stones over the mouth of the water spout.
I heard rumbling. I heard churning. The water was building up—fast.
Suddenly—SPLOOSH!—a huge spout of water burst out from under the stones and spilled right over the Lizard.
The water completely flooded the maze, crashing from room to room until it hit the center—right where Zeek and I were making the dizzy guys dizzier.
KA-WHOOOOOOOM!
We’re talking tidal wave! It blew the bad guys off their feet and blasted them through every room of the maze and back out the wall into the jungle!
The whole army of ninjas took off in a flash. Dirty Lip stumbled after them.
I heard Fingers screaming something about never coming back.
“We were incredible!” I shouted.
“A whole kingdom of Danger Guys,” said Zeek, swinging up next to me on the top of the maze. “Doing the old syrup on the waffle trick!”
I smiled. “Yeah, it’s the little things, you know. They come in handy.”
ELEVEN
A few minutes later, the choppers were gone and we stood at the entrance to the kingdom.
“The Golden Lizard of Maribo is safe again,” Mrs. Emerson said.
Bota smiled. “You helped us save it.”
I looked around at the kids. “I don’t think so. We just added a little danger.”
“Danger,” said Kalla. “I like that word.”
“It’s how we make our living,” Zeek said.
Suddenly, I shot a glance up to the vines hanging above us, then over to the Golden Lizard. I nudged Zeek in the arm. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
He followed my gaze and started to smile. “Of course I am! How could I not?”
All the kids laughed. They were thinking it, too.
Zeek and I grabbed the vines and took a running leap. We swooped slowly over the whole kingdom, looking down on the ancient stones, green trees, and wildflowers.
At the top of the Golden Lizard, we let go.
KA-FLOOOM! Perfect timing!
We flew down that megasize, extraterrific, superfun water slide! We slooshed and tumbled through turn after turn, until—SPLASH!—we hit the huge pool at the bottom. The head of the Golden Lizard.
It was the ride of our lives!
At the bottom, Zeek and I jabbed our thumbs up.
A hundred little thumbs went up, too.
“Wow!” Zeek gasped. “Does it get any better than this?” I knew the answer to that.
In ten minutes, we were hiking back through the jungle with the Emersons. Two parrots flapped by us, cawing. A family of spider monkeys swooped in the trees overhead. “Eeep! Eeep!” they chirped.
All of a sudden, Zeek stopped and held up his hand. We all froze and listened.
“The kids,” said Zeek. “They’re sliding down the Lizard.”
“Laughing,” I said.
It was amazing to think about it. A secret world in the jungle. A world where kids rule!
I think we all felt good that the Golden Lizard was going to be safe.
WHRRR! A sound came from overhead!
We looked up. Coming in slowly over the treetops was a huge white shape.
“The blimp!” I cried.
“You betcha!” called a voice from inside. A crusty old face leaned out and smiled.
“Montana Smith!” shouted Zeek.
“The one and only!” the old pilot said. “This here floating cigar scooped me up, and here I am. Come on up. They got food—and lots of it! Heh-heh!”
A moment later, Zeek and I were gliding over the treetops, climbing a ladder up to the blimp. As we swung there, I could see all the way across the green jungle to the coast in the distance. Ships dotted the water like tiny specks.
“Our folks are out there somewhere on their cruise,” said Zeek.
“Yeah,” I said. “Hey, Zeek?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve been thinking. It’s like, wherever we go, whatever we do, we find danger.”
“I know what you mean,” he said. He was quiet for a while. “Noodle, do you think it will always be like this? You and me, finding danger?”
I thought about that. The sunlight was turning orangey-red. A breeze swept quietly over the green treetops.
I breathed it all in. I had to smile.
“Yeah,” I said. “Always.”
About the Author
Over the last two decades, Tony Abbott has written dozens of mysteries, comics, and adventure books for young readers aged six to fourteen, with series including Danger Guys, the Time Surfers, the Weird Zone, Underworlds, Goofballs, and the long-running fantasy series the Secrets of Droon. He is also the author of the fantasy epic Kringle and the realistic novels Firegirl (winner of the 2006 Golden Kite Award for Fiction), The Postcard (winner of the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery), and Lunch-Box Dream. Among his latest novels is The Forbidden Stone, the first installment of the twelve-book saga the Copernicus Legacy. Tony has taught on the faculty of Lesley University’s MFA program in creative writing, is a frequent conference speaker and visitor to schools, and presents workshops to creative writers of all ages. His websites include www.tonyabbottbooks.com, www.thecopernicuslegacy.com, and the literary blog www.fridaybookreport.com.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1996 by Robert Abbott
Illustrations Copyright © 1996 by Joanne L. Scribner
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4804-8638-6
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10014
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