Brass Monkeys (38 page)

Losing Lilah was the final stroke of doom. When Jack saw her go down, he faltered badly and almost stopped. At that point, the rest of us began to fall apart. Ray was playing too fast and I simply lost my place. Harriet alone was still trying, and it was her playing that kept the

Stormies from charging.

Looking pale and lost, Jack made one last valiant effort to get us back together, but in his determination he forgot to crouch behind the piano. He was standing up defiantly when he was hit in the neck, then the forehead. He sank down slowly, then crashed sideways across the piano keys.

Ray panicked then. “Retreat!” he yelled. In a frenzy, he leaped over the side of the sleigh and started across the sand.

“Ray! Nooo!” I yelled out just as he was struck in the back and fell heavily, his sax skidding away in the sand. Harriet, who was the only one still playing, stopped now. We both sat, too stunned to do anything.

Ming held up her hand and signaled the Stormies to stop shooting. She came forward cautiously. I could see a thin trickle of blood from one of her ears.

“You ugly, imbecilic little boy …” she began. She reached down and ripped open my shirt. In one powerful motion she grasped the book and pulled it to her.

She raised the eraser gun. “Now we shall have one less coward in the world.”

When she said that, something snapped inside me. I raised my horn and blew the opening notes of a bullfight straight at her. She jumped as if she had been stung and screamed in pain.

Without thinking, I broke right into the first part of “Malagueña” and Ming stumbled backward. “You filthy little thing!” she cried out. “You’re hurting me!”

Strobe, Fundabore, and the other Stormies started for me, bellowing with rage, and I went totally bonkers. Anger swept through me, and I jumped out of the sleigh and blew some high notes that drove Ming and the whole crowd of them back. I pointed the bell of old Todd Lemons’s trumpet at them like a gun barrel and blew my lungs out. I hit some clunkers, but you could tell what I was playing in a heartbeat.
Spanish music
.

I sprayed them with notes, then did some made-up runs and went right back into the melody of “Malagueña.” And they were retreating. Ming was down on one knee holding her ears. I was totally out of my mind, and it took me a few seconds to realize Harriet was right beside me, playing just as loudly. Man, we were looking good for about a half-minute, and then a squad of Stormies began shooting at us from the rear.

Harriet and I faltered, and the next thing I knew, we were caught in a murderous crossfire. Something ricocheted off Harriet’s clarinet, sending it flying. Now Ming and the Stormies were charging us again.

“Back to the sleigh!” I shouted to Harriet, and we dodged back with erasers and chalk flying past us. When we reached the sleigh, we crouched briefly behind the goats and I tried feebly to play some more, but my concentration was gone.

I had one last glimpse of Ming’s contorted face as she led the Stormies on the run toward us. I closed my eyes, waiting for the fatal shot, but it didn’t come.

Instead, I heard a tremendous chord of music, a fantastic, earth-shaking roar of music. It was “The Young Shall Ride Unicorns” like I’ll never hear it again.

Harriet shook my arm. “Look!”

I snapped my eyes open and saw Ming, Fundabore, and Strobe scurrying toward the school doors. The crowd of Stormies had stopped and were staring off into the distance.

Coming across the desert was a humongous band—hundreds of kids and teachers from the Blue Grotto, led by Adjana, all playing that glorious music. I stared, speechless, but then I saw a sight that really made my eyes bug out. Alvin and Weeser were marching in the front row of the band and it looked like their fur and tails were gone.

Harriet yelled excitedly in my ear. “It’s them! They’re okay!”

Alvin was playing a big tuba while Weeser banged away on a snare drum. I could hardly believe my eyes. How had they managed to get away from Ming?

The Stormies, seeing Ming retreat, headed back toward the school, shooting as they went. The tide of battle was shifting.

I jumped to my feet with a yell. The Grotto band roared into the tango section of the song and, like a maniac, I began playing along with them, improvising from “Malagueña,” and it worked like the best moments of jazz. Stormies began tumbling to the ground, holding their ears.

“Yes!” cried Harriet. “Keep it up!”

She ran over and grabbed her clarinet and joined in. Before I knew what had happened, Alvin and Weeser had rushed over and joined us, and the four of us were wailing along with the Grotto kids. I’m telling you, if I live to be a hundred and ninety-two, I’ll never hear such music again. And Ming? She, Fundabore, and Strobe hadn’t made it to the doors but were down on their knees, hands over their ears as they crawled slowly along.

The huge Grotto band came to a halt near us and I could see Adjana directing it. She was being helped by Perkins and Toddwilly, who marched on either side of the huge group, trying to coordinate the beat.

Adjana led the band into the final section of “Unicorns” while Harriet, Alvin, Weeser, and I kept up the fantastic improv stuff right to the final climatic section. When we reached that part, I saw a sight that actually made me stop playing.

The front doors of Ming’s school began to shudder. With a great squealing racket, they came loose and crashed down with a thunderous roar. Now the roof began to shake and rumble. Ming’s school was beginning to come apart.

“Wait!” I shouted. “Hold it down! We’ve got to get the kids and teachers out!”

Adjana was ahead of me and already lowering the volume. She signaled to Perkins to take over the directing, then she hurried over to us. She had a sword on her belt, and I noticed the other Grotto teachers wore them also.

“We’ll keep repeating the chorus, Billy” she said. “Hurry up and get them out.”

I nodded. “Jack and the others are hurt bad.” I paused and then blurted out, “I think they’re dead.”

Adjana put out a sympathetic hand. “We’ll check them right away.”

“Also, Ming has the book,” I said.

Adjana’s blue-green eyes took on a wintry look. “Not for long. Now hurry—Alvin and Weeser, you can help. Let’s get everyone out!”

The four of us took off on a headlong run for the school. Harriet, Weeser, and I darted around Ming, who lay sprawled out, great tears of rage coursing down her cheeks. Alvin insisted on leaping over her, yelling out, “Not lookin’ so good,
Merci!.”

We raced up the steps and into the gloomy building. I could hear a distant moaning sound, like a great animal in pain.

“They’re in the gym,” I cried.

We pelted down the dim halls, hurtling over the writhing bodies of fallen Stormies. When we burst into the gym, we found the Grindsville kids and the teachers crying and groaning as they marched in place. It looked like the Stormies had just started giving them more Zorca before marching them to the basement for the Amberlight extraction. The wavy floor was covered with small paper cups, and a lot of the Zorca had been spilled.

“Well, this is a nice fardexy scene,” said Alvin with a grimace.

“It’s sickening,” said Weeser. “Let’s get them out of here.”

Yelling at the top of our lungs, we began herding the whole bunch toward the exits. While we were doing this, Principal Plumly, who obviously hadn’t gotten his Zorca and was well into withdrawal, rushed threateningly at me.

“What are you doing, Wise?” he bellowed. “You have no authority here!”

In answer, I raised the trumpet and popped out some crisp Spanish notes. He quickly covered his hairy orangutan ears and scuttled away. At that moment, the roof gave off some loud cracking sounds as if beams were snapping in two.

“Out everyone!” I yelled. “Hurry!”

The crowd began moving faster, and the next thing I knew the entire group stampeded for the exit. Alvin and Weeser went on with the first wave, but Harriet and I waited until the last monkey kid and orangutan teacher were out, then we left that dark, stinky room for good.

When we got outside, we found things had changed dramatically. Eddie and his buddies were in the process of tying up Ming, Strobe, and Fundabore. One of the Grotto teachers had taken over the band and had them repeating the tango section, which kept the Stormies helpless. Adjana, Perkins, Toddwilly, and others were over by the sleigh, but I turned away from that quickly.

“We’d better get back into the band,” cried Alvin. “I love this music!”

“We’ll talk later,” said Weeser. “Tell you about our big adventures!”

They rushed back, starting to play before they even got to their rank.

Harriet turned, and I knew she was looking at the activity around the sleigh.

“I can’t look at that,” I said to her. “Can’t.”

“Maybe you should,” she replied. There was a strange look on her face.

Reluctantly I turned back. For a moment I could only stare at the scene. The world seemed to slow and then come to a swift and silent halt. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Raymondo was on his feet, standing next to Adjana. She and Perkins were handing out glasses filled with blue water to Jack, Lilah, Teddy, and Haggerty, who were sitting up.

“They’re alive,” whispered Harriet in an awed voice. Those words seemed to set the world into motion again, and I saw Jack flash us a thumb’s up.

Harriet and I bolted for the sleigh. We got there just in time to see Perkins holding a glass of blue liquid up to Jack’s lips.

“Take it easy with the water!” Jack sputtered. “I’m not a duck!”

I stood there grinning like a fool while Harriet gave Ray a hug that nearly carried him off his feet.

“Holy Crow,” he said, “I don’t get hugs like that very often. I’m okay. An eraser just nicked me in the butt. Heck, I remember everything! But Adjana is giving the others a good old dose of Grotto water, ‘cause they were hurt bad.”

“Jeezo-peezo, Billy, we just had a huge battle,” Teddy mumbled. “You should have been here.” He gave me a bleary look.

“But he was here!” cried Haggerty. “He’s the lad of the hour.” His long grey hair was in his eyes and he appeared dazed. “By gadfreys,

Billy’s still on his trumpet and clutching his feet! Wait, I meant to say, still on his feet and—”

“No, you had it right,” said Jack, his blue eyes glinting. “Exactly the way I’d expect to find Bumpus after his latest lunatic idea.”

“Drink, Mr. Hastings!” snapped Adjana. Her voice had a commanding ring. “You complain too much, sir,” she went on, but I saw a tinge of amusement in her face. “And now that you’re wearing the white sport coat, you’ll have to reform.”

“I can’t reform,” Jack broke out. “I’ve tried and it’s too late. But I’m glad you brought up the coat thing because I need to talk to you about that.”

Adjana gave him a steely-eyed smile. “It’s too late,
Mr. McGinty.”
She tipped the glass so that Jack got a big mugful of water.

“Billy!” Lilah had been waving her arms at me, motioning me over. I leaned toward her and got a fierce hug. “I was so worried about you,” she whispered to me. “This would be no victory without you.”

I shook my head and drew back so she could read my lips. “You know who’s been important to this victory? You! You understood the music like no one else. It was your directing that pulled us together.” Then, clumsily, I tried to do the hand signs that I remembered so well:
“You’re the one
.” When I did that, she put a hand to her lips and I could see she was crying, but in a happy way.

Jack looked at us and I thought for sure he was going to make a crack like, “How about some eggs to go with all that ham?” Something like that. But all he did was reach over and rub Lilah on the neck. Ring-a-ding.

Adjana turned and gave me a brisk nod. “Billy we need to talk. Right now.” She rose to her feet. “Perkins, make sure they drink the Grotto water. Toddwilly, take the rest of our teachers and start handing out water to the Grindsville people. And hurry!”

Adjana led me to one side. “Did you have a chance to talk to your friends, Alvin and Weeser?” she asked.

“Just briefly,” I said. “Where on earth did you find them?”

“They were wandering around in the Sand Hills. Shortly after we came up, on your rope incidentally, we ran into them. They’ve had their Grotto water and are as good as new.”

“That’s fabulous, but wait a second. You guys came up on my rope?

I wondered how you got up here.”

Adjana smiled. “That was Eddie’s idea. Basically, he climbed up and attached a rope to your rope, and then he, O.D., and Fiddler rigged up a marvelous elevator. Brought everything up that way—instruments, water jugs, and us!”

“So you never did have a fight with the Stormies in the Grotto?”

She shook her head. “Eddie convinced me the rope thing would work. He’d already discovered a path that led around the Grotto right up to the bottom of the cliffs. So before the Stormies broke through, I took a chance and ordered an evacuation.”

“But why the heck didn’t we all take that route,” I asked, “rather than risk the Rumble Fish?”

“You had to get out quickly,” Adjana said, “because Mingley was about to graduate your friends. We had to move fast, and I wasn’t sure the rope thing would work. We had to chance the Rumble Fish. Also, I need to confess a couple of other things. I knew John Ashford was ill when he left and I thought he might die. So before we left the Grotto, I sent a carrier pigeon to Haggerty with the slip of paper.” She looked over at Jack. “I like your Mr. Hastings, in spite of himself. He has a certain … force of character.”

I grinned. “He’s a character all right, but he’ll make a great McGinty.” Then I thought of something else. “How’d you know what music to play? That was like incredible luck that you came along playing the same tune with us.”

Adjana smiled. “Not really. I knew all along what John Ashford’s secret weapon was. And I was also sure of your character, Billy. I knew you’d take that music and play it right on Ming’s doorstep. Never doubted it. Getting here in time was the luck.”

She paused and her eyes looked grave. “And now we’ve come to the last two parts of your mission. First, you must get your people into those big Stormie trucks in the parking lot, then back to the roller coaster before Mingley’s Stormies in the city get organized. Then all that remains is your last part of the mission.”