“What about the hover-disk?” she suggested.
“Malfunctioned last time.”
“Plasma umbrella?”
“Only good for one person,” Jade replied.
Amber looked at the duffel bag. “Ride it down using the drone feature?”
Jade nodded. “Obviously. Though it’s only tested for jumps under ten feet.”
“We really need to run more tests after we build these things,” Amber groaned.
The words had no sooner left her mouth than the thread beneath them dissolved entirely into a gaping hole of purple and silver.
They dropped, screaming at first before their terror turned to laughter.
They clung to the duffel bag, riding it like a dragon-sized sled as they careened through a silver and violet tunnel that was just like the enclosed super slide their mom had created.
Miniature bolts of energy snapped around them, lighting up their hair and making it stand up. The tunnel corkscrewed, dipped, and launched them like cannonballs toward a round, pulsing exit.
“I REGRET NOTHINGGGGGG!” Amber shrieked.
“WE’RE SO GROUNDED IF DAD FINDS OUT, BUT MOM WOULD LOVE THIS!” Jade howled.
They burst through the exit in a blaze of light, twin comets riding an overstuffed bag of gadgets and chaos?—
—and slammed down the middle of a cobblestone street, scattering pedestrians like bowling pins.
Shrieks erupted. A pirate carrying a crate of mangoes tripped and fell flat. A merchant threatened them with a ladle as they flashed past. A brilliantly colored parrot took off, squawking, “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”
Amber shifted, trying to hold on to the duffel bag with one hand and her sister with the other as they spun in dizzying circles, bouncing along the stones until?—
THUD.
She jerked forward and then rocked for a second before she slid sideways onto the cobblestone, holding her head and laughing as the world spun crazily around her.
Her gaze locked on a black boot pressed against the front of the bag. A goofy grin tugged at her lips as her gaze followed the boot from its shiny tip upward.
She wheezed, sprawled on the ground, and stared into the bemused eyes of the man standing over them.
“Ten out of ten on the landing,” she said, clutching her head as she struggled to sit up. “Minus one for dignity.”
Jade lay flat on her back on the duffel bag, staring up at the towering figure in front of them.
“Oooooooh,” she said, blinking. “Nice outfit. You look like a royal purple banana—in a good way.”
Amber studied the man. “How much for those feathers, mister? I’ve already got three experiments that I could use them with! Check out how they spark, Jade. James would love one.”
“Yeah. Fascinating. I wonder what happens if you stick your tongue to the end of one,” Jade said.
“You don’t want to know. It is very unpleasant,” the man chuckled in response.
Amber tilted her head curiously as she studied the man’s clothing. His coat was deep purple with gold embroidery so fine it shimmered. His tricorn hat perched jauntily atop a head of raven-black hair, and a trio of long, glimmering feathers sparked faintly with electricity as they moved in the breeze.
He quirked one brow at them, and then, with a flourish, he swept the hat from his head and gave them a full courtly bow.
“Ashure Waves,” he introduced, his voice rich with humor and command. “King of the Pirates. And who might my unexpected guests be?”
