Page 77 of The Accidental Dragon Baby

Ace dropped him close to the ground, on the grassy road shoulder.

Then he threw himself into the driver’s seat and floored the gas, so the Sausage Mobile surged forward with a roar.

Watsonator’s men looked over in horror. Ace laughed low in his throat. They were still accelerating.

We’re going to crash!Ivo thought desperately.

Raptor threw himself sideways, glowing net and all, bowling over Watsonator’s mage.

“Rap,” Ace roared.

Raptor leaped away. Ace flung himself out of the driver’s seat, shifting in midair before grabbing the sausage.

Hehurledthe Sausage Mobile at Watsonator.

Almost in slow motion, Watsonator’s men began to scatter.

The Sausage Mobile tipped over onto its side and skidded toward the group, knocking them all down like bowling pins.

“STRIKE,” Raptor roared.

Ace swooped in after the carnage, examining the smears on the road.

Tygibble Watsonator was there in his dirty lab coat, but he had been reduced to a paste and was no longer recognizable.

“Double strike!” Ace roared, spitting on Watsonator’s corpse. “I have avenged you, sweetheart.”

Now that the mage was dead, Raptor’s magical bindings faded away. Ace landed in front of his twin and they did a mirrored, synchronized victory dance.

“Status?” Duke asked over the wire.

“We stopped them in their tracks. Pity about the Sausage Mobile, though,” Ace said. “It’s too trashed to be driven again, but too much of a hero to scrap.”

“You could arrange to bring it home,” Raptor said slyly.

“Hmmm,” Ace said thoughtfully.

Ivo breathed out all the anxiety in his chest, his entire body going boneless.

Watsonator was dead. He was no longer around somewhere in the world, and he couldn’t hurt Ivo anymore.

“Sweetheart.” Ace shifted back into a human and loosened Ivo’s basket from around his neck. He undid its straps and lifted away its lid, peering into the basket. “Are you okay?”

Ivo slid out like a lump of jelly when Ace tipped the basket forward. Ace gathered Ivo into his arms, brushing his fingers through Ivo’s fur—from the top of his head down to the tip of his tail, over and over until Ivo calmed down and he wasn’t shaking anymore.

Ivo pulled himself together and shifted back into a human. “’M okay,” he mumbled. “Are you okay?”

Ace arranged Ivo against his chest, carrying him with one arm. “Very okay. What about you, Rap?”

Raptor shook himself out with a wince. “Gonna feel that for days. But I’ll recover.”

“If—If you need any help, my friends and I can do it,” Ivo said guiltily.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Raptor grinned.

Ace brushed his fingers through Ivo’s hair, turning to the smoking wreck of the Sausage Mobile. “You know, I think we might have space to fit the Sausage.”

Raptor snickered. “No one turns down a ride on the Sausage.”

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