CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
Abe hurried to the edge of the palace roof, wondering if Munch had actually picked “Goodbye” as his final one-liner. That would really have sucked for an ending to such a promising hero and villain.
When he arrived at the edge, his stomach flipped.
Munch was not dead; instead, he was riding on the roof of a large Slig jet-copter powered by belly rockets. The Gabbit was wearing his eerie smile, as he said, “No, I’m not dead, Abe…but you soon will be.” Munch waved a hand down at the ground. “Look down.”
Much as Abe knew better than to trust an enemy who had repeatedly tried to kill him, he looked down.
On the ground below, stoically marching up the side of the building as if they were impervious to the laws of gravity, were hundreds of Snoozers. The mechanical menaces had their laser turrets and stun guns pointed up at the rooftop, and showed no signs of stopping.
“It’s time for you all to die,” the Gabbit growled, and the jet-copter lifted up past the rooftop, hovering several meters above them. “It’s time we got rid of the opposition.”
Jake turned to Abe. “What do we do?”
Abe motioned at the trapdoor they had come up through. “We go inside. Now.”
He hurried toward the trapdoor with all speed. A blast of lightning came from Munch’s fingertips, scorching the rooftop beside him, but Abe didn’t slow. He threw himself down the staircase, bowling over an incredulous King Fragg, who had been coming up at that very moment.
Abe thought about it for a moment, then pressed himself against the wall of the hallway, allowing Jake and Stranger to run past him. Then he turned to Fragg. “How about we settle this?” he asked.
The Glukkon king looked sick to his stomach, but he slowly held up his fists. One of them was holding a pistol. “You took everything from me…now I’ll take your life!”
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