Men’s voices drifted down the hill.
Isabella wound a lock of hair around one finger. “What should we do?”
“Can’t we just show your aunt the tiger cub and explain?” said Lottie. “Won’t she understand?”
Amina shook her head. “She’ll be mad that we came out here by ourselves, especially because it’s the night before the wedding. Anyway, the noise made by all the guards will scare the cub away before we get the chance to find him.” She rushed off along the riverbank, looking for the place where she’d seen the cub. She crouched down next to a rock to find a furry face looking up at her.
“Don’t be scared, little one,” she whispered, holding out her hand. “We’ve come to help you.”
The cub snuffled at her fingers for a moment. Then he backed away again.
“Amina, the guards are halfway down the hill!” said Isabella urgently. “If we don’t hurry, they’ll catch us.”
Being as gentle as she could, Amina reached out for the cub and lifted him into her arms. She could feel his little heart pounding and she stroked his soft fur to try to calm him down.
“Can you carry him?” asked Lottie, running up to her.
“Yes, I’m all right,” said Amina. “He’s not heavy at all.”
“Now we just need to get back inside that gate without being spotted,” said Isabella with a shiver.
“I can help with that!” said Rosalind. “It’s time for some ninja moves.” She used the binoculars to keep track of the guards. The men came down the slope one by one with flashlights in their hands.
“This way!” hissed Rosalind, leading the girls behind a clump of reeds. “Now everyone get down!”
The princesses all ducked down as beams of light swept over their heads. Even the tiger cub seemed to know it was important to stay quiet. The men’s voices and the lights moved on. Rosalind jumped up and motioned to the others.
“But there are only six of them. Where’s Prince Henry?” whispered Amina.
“He’s standing right next to the palace gate,” said Rosalind. “We’ll need a really good ninja move to get past him!”
The princesses edged closer to Prince Henry, who was pointing his light into the gloom. The closer they got, the more Amina began to worry. How were they ever going to get past him without being noticed? He must be blocking the way on purpose.
Just then Queen Keshi came striding through the gate with a large lantern. “Haven’t those guards found the princesses yet? Come on, Prince Henry! Show me where they went. You’re the one who saw them after all.”
The princesses hardly dared to breathe. The queen stood less than ten steps from where they were hiding.
Prince Henry bowed. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but I hurt my ankle, so I can’t go down there.”
“Never mind! I’ll go myself!” said Queen Keshi, marching away down the slope.
When she’d gone, Prince Henry put his hands in his pockets and whistled for a while. Then he started kicking stones down the hill as if they were soccer balls. “Goal!” he said, punching the air.
“His ankle doesn’t look hurt to me,” hissed Lottie. “Either he’s just lazy or he wants to stay here so we can’t get back through the gate.”
Henry stopped suddenly and peered in their direction, as if he was listening.
Amina bit her lip. He must have heard Lottie talking. Holding the cub firmly with one arm, she picked up a stick and threw it as far as she could. It landed silently on a patch of grass.
“Why don’t I try?” whispered Isabella, picking up a half-squashed fruit that was lying on the ground and throwing it.
Crash! It hit a bush farther down the path. Prince Henry swung around, shining his flashlight in that direction.
The princesses held their breath, hoping that he would follow the sound.
Prince Henry crept over to where the fruit had landed and started searching among the trees and bushes.
“Where are you?” he muttered. “I know you’re here!”
“Ready?” hissed Rosalind, and the others nodded.
“Ouch!” cried Henry as he fell over and dropped his light.
The princesses took their chance. They slipped through the palace gate as quietly as a night breeze. Then they ran across the garden and raced up the back stairs, not stopping until they’d reached the safety of Amina’s bedroom.
Lottie shut the bedroom door behind them and flung herself down on a chair. “That was close! I thought Prince Henry would never move!”
“He really thought he was going to find us hiding in those bushes!” giggled Isabella.
Amina carried the tiger cub over to where Sizzle was sleeping. Sizzle woke up and yawned, showing two rows of little white teeth. At once, the other cub leapt down from Amina’s arms and skipped over to him.
The two cubs snuffled at each other for a moment. Then they ran all around the room.
Amina smiled. “I think they’ve missed each other.”
“Let’s get some milk for the new cub,” said Isabella. “He must be hungry.”
There was a soft knock at the door. “It’s only me!” said Princess Samantha. “Can I come in? It’s really important!”
“Of course you can!” Amina opened the door.
Samantha was wearing blue pajamas, and her blond hair hung loosely over her shoulders. Her eyes widened as she saw the little cubs. “Now you have two cubs!” she cried. “They’re adorable!”
“This is Sizzle and this is his brother,” said Isabella, pointing to each cub.
“Their mother was injured and taken to the wildlife hospital,” explained Amina. “We knew they wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild without her.”
“Wow!” Samantha looked impressed. “And your clothes are really cool!” She stared at their black tops and leggings.
“What did you want to tell us, Samantha?” asked Lottie. “You said it was something important.”
“It’s about Queen Keshi!” said Samantha. “My brother, Henry, told the queen that he’d seen you go out through the gate, and she checked your rooms. So she knows you haven’t been in bed. They went to search for you, so I waited until I heard you coming back upstairs.”
“Samantha, why is your brother being so mean?” asked Rosalind.
Amina bit her lip, worried that Rosalind had been too blunt. But Samantha didn’t look annoyed.
“He has been terrible today. I’m really sorry about that!” she said. “I think I know why he’s being like this. You see, we have lots of animals back home in our castle and just before we left yesterday his favorite pet died. She was a big stripy ginger cat named Mrs. Tiddles and she was really old, but my brother loved her more than anything.”
Amina felt a lump in her throat. She hadn’t expected to feel sorry for Prince Henry after the way he’d been acting.
“I think he’s still very upset about it,” added Samantha.
“I don’t understand why that’s made him so mean,” said Rosalind.
“The cubs do look a little like stripy ginger cats,” said Amina. “Maybe they reminded him of his pet too much and that made him sad all over again.” She smiled at Samantha. “Don’t worry; I’ll try to talk to him.”
“But what should we do about the queen?” asked Lottie.
“Why don’t you tell her you were having a midnight feast with me?” Samantha said eagerly. “She didn’t look into my room at all, so she’ll never know that you weren’t there all the time. You could come over and have some treats now! Bring the cubs, too, if you like!”
Amina glanced through the window. The jogging beams of the flashlights seemed to be moving toward the palace again. The queen was coming back.
She couldn’t help thinking that everything would have been easier if she’d told her aunt about the little cubs in the first place, but she hadn’t wanted to interrupt the wedding preparations. She sighed. “All right, then. Thanks for helping us, Samantha. Let’s get into pajamas and go to your room right now.”
“We should think of a name for this cub,” said Lottie, scratching the little tiger between the ears. “We can’t keep calling him Sizzle’s brother all the time.”
“It should be something that matches Sizzle’s name,” said Amina, kissing Sizzle on the nose.
Samantha opened her nightstand drawer and pulled out a bag of candy. “Would you like some of these? I’ve got lollipops and chocolates and lemon drops, too. Oops!” Some of the candies tumbled out through a hole in the bottom of the bag.
Lottie put down her cub to help pick them up. The little tiger chased after a lemon drop that was rolling away and pounced on it.
“There you go!” laughed Isabella. “Just call him Lemon Drop!”
“Sizzle and Lemon Drop!” said Samantha. “That really fits both of them.”
There was a knock at the door.
“Amina!” said a stern voice. “Are you in there?”
Amina’s heart turned cold. She’d just been bending down to pick up a fallen lollipop. She’d expected to hear her aunt coming down the hallway. They must have been giggling too much to notice.
In the middle of the silence, Sizzle let out a long mew as if he was wondering what the matter was.
Amina leapt up, grabbed both tiger cubs, and hid them under the covers. Then she sat down in front of them to hide the huge lumps sticking out of the bed. “Come in, Aunt,” she called.
The door swung open and Queen Keshi’s eyes swept around the room. “What on earth is going on?”
“We were just eating candy, Your Majesty,” said Lottie.
“I can see that!” said Queen Keshi. “Amina, have you been in here all this time?”
Amina could feel the little cubs scrabbling around under the sheets behind her. She didn’t want to lie to her aunt. It was time to stop hiding the cubs and explain. She took a deep breath, stood up, and pulled back the sheets. “We were rescuing these tiger cubs, Aunt. They were all on their own by the river after their mother was taken to the wildlife hospital.”
Queen Keshi drew in her breath sharply. “You mean … you brought wild animals into the palace … while we have kings and queens visiting from all over the world? Did you even think about the wedding tomorrow?”
Amina’s cheeks flushed. “That’s why I didn’t tell you about them before. I didn’t want to make things harder. I was going to take them right over to the wildlife hospital to join their mom, but then we couldn’t find the second cub and I knew he’d be in danger all by himself.” She stopped and took a deep breath, tears coming to her eyes. “I’m really sorry I upset you.” Sizzle pawed at her knee, so she picked him up and hugged him.
Queen Keshi patted her shoulder. “You were brave to find them yourselves. I always knew you loved animals, Amina. I just didn’t expect you to go on a rescue mission in the middle of an important royal occasion!”
Someone coughed and Prince Henry looked around the edge of the door. Samantha jumped up. “Henry, the mother of these tiger cubs was hurt and that’s why the princesses were trying to help her cubs!”
“I know, I heard what she said just now,” he looked at Amina. “I’m really sorry about everything. It was all a big mistake…. I was sad about my cat, you see….” He broke off and sniffed.
He did look sorry, Amina thought. “It’s all right,” she said. “Would you like to meet Sizzle and Lemon Drop?”
Henry managed to smile a little. “Yes, please. Which one is which?”
Amina showed him the cubs and picked up Lemon Drop for him to hold.
“I’m glad that you’re all making friends at last,” said Queen Keshi. “Are you sure that these cubs belong with the tigress that was taken to the wildlife hospital?”
Amina nodded. “I saw them all together this morning.”
“Excellent!” said the queen. “You should take them down there immediately. I know the tigress is getting better. She’ll be happy to see her cubs again.”
“You mean we can take the cubs over there now?” asked Amina.
“Of course!” said the queen. “The best place for these cubs is with their mother. You’re not too tired to carry them, are you?”
“No, we’re not tired!” cried Amina. “We’ll take them right now!”
Amina, Isabella, Lottie, and Rosalind put long cloaks over their pajamas and carried the little tiger cubs carefully over to the wildlife hospital.
Even at night, the hospital was full of noise. Amina heard monkeys chattering and birds squawking, then the long low growl of a tigress. She rang the doorbell and a lady in a white coat answered it.
“Amina!” said Dr. Patel. “It’s a little late to be … goodness! Are those tiger cubs?”
Amina nodded. “They belong with the tigress that was brought in here.”
“Well!” Dr. Patel looked at the princesses’ faces. “You’ve obviously had a big adventure! You’d better come in.”
The tigress seemed to know right away that the cubs were nearby. She paced up and down her pen, her large ears twitching. Dr. Patel placed the little tigers carefully inside and they all stood back to watch. The tigress sniffed one cub and then the other. The cubs mewed and nestled against her tummy.
Dr. Patel made chocolate milk shakes for everyone and asked them to tell her all about how they had found the cubs. The girls explained what had happened but they left out the part about the tiger’s-eye jewel and the ninja moves. Those were Rescue Princess secrets after all!
“Look how happy they are now that they’re back together!” Rosalind said, looking at the cubs as they clambered happily over their mother.
The tigress had washed the cubs thoroughly with her tongue and was now lying down with her eyes half closed.
“The tigress’s leg is almost better, so the whole family will be able to return to the wild in a few days,” Dr. Patel told them. “These little cubs wouldn’t have survived for long out there without their mother. You did a wonderful thing by saving them.”
Lottie sucked up the last of her milk shake through her straw. “Can we see all the other animals now?” she asked eagerly.
“It’s very late!” Dr. Patel laughed. “Come back tomorrow after the wedding, and you can meet them all.”
Princess Rani got married the next day in a beautiful red-and-gold sari. She wore a necklace of sparkling rubies and a round diamond ring on her finger. It was a lovely ceremony, followed by the most enormous feast that Amina had ever seen!
“You look fantastic!” Amina told her newly married cousin as they danced together at the reception.
Rani hugged her. “Thank you! And you were the best bridesmaid a princess could ever have!”
Then Rani’s new husband came to dance with her and Amina went to find the other Rescue Princesses. She found Isabella and Lottie standing at the edge of the courtyard, whispering to each other.
“Amina!” Isabella said. “We need your help!”
“What’s wrong?” Amina combed back her long dark hair with her fingers. “Aren’t you enjoying the wedding?”
“It’s lovely!” said Isabella. “But we can’t find Rosalind. We’re worried that she snuck off and she’ll end up in trouble if anyone finds out.”
“She’s not in her room or the kitchen or the dining room,” said Lottie.
“Do you think she’s gone to the wildlife hospital to see the cubs?” asked Amina, who was longing to see the little tigers again herself.
“We didn’t see her go.” Lottie clutched her ruby tiara, which was slipping sideways off her head.
“Maybe she used ninja moves and that’s why we didn’t see her leave,” said Isabella.
“That’s it!” Amina’s face lit up. “Rosalind loves ninja moves so much! Remember how she was talking about finding The Book of Ninja? I think she’s gone to look for it.” She dashed down the corridor toward the library with the others running behind her.
The library seemed empty and all the towering bookcases made the princesses feel very small.
“Rosalind, are you in here?” called Lottie.
Rosalind’s blond head popped out from around the corner of a bookcase. “Of course I’m here!” she said. “I’m looking for the lost Book of Ninja.”
“I knew you would be!” Amina smiled.
“Did you find it?” asked Isabella.
“Not yet,” said Rosalind. “But I found a list of the different books that are kept here, and it says the oldest books are on shelf number three hundred and twenty-nine.”
The girls rushed to find the right shelf. The shelf numbers were small and hard to read, but at last they found it. Amina took a brown book with gold writing down from the shelf, and blew the dust off the cover.
“The Water Birds of Kamala,” she read. “That’s not the right one!”
The princesses checked every single book on the shelf but none of them said Book of Ninja on the cover.
“What about this space?” Isabella pointed at a gap between two books. “There’s a book missing here.”
Rosalind bent down to look at the empty space. “There’s something underneath the shelf….” She peered closer. “There’s something tied under here.” She fiddled with a piece of string and something fell into her hand. It was a folded piece of paper and a tarnished silver locket on a long chain.
“What a beautiful locket!” cried Amina. “Try opening it!”
Rosalind opened the locket and found a tiny key inside that was smaller than her thumbnail.
“Wow! That locket looks really old,” said Isabella. “I wonder what the key is for?”
Rosalind handed the locket and the key to Amina, and unfolded the paper.
“What does it say?” demanded Lottie.
“‘I am The Book of Ninja. I have been moved to keep my secrets safe from those who would not use them wisely,’” read Rosalind. “‘Follow me to the land of the soaring eagle. Spend time looking and I will open my pages.’”
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