Page 77 of Crossing Quinn

Clio blasted them with her dragon’s breath.

Whoosh!Fire danced over the stormtroopers’ armor. The goons jumped in a small lagoon and flailed about in a desperate attempt to put the flames out.

Huh? The armor wasn’t armor at all. It was plastic. The charred pieces fell off in large chunks, revealing scorched Tai-Kok warriors. They honked crazily and made another run at Mami.

Backing away, my mother quickly lifted the tubes on her necklace and started blowing. Tranquilizer darts peppered the exposed Tai-Kok warriors’ skin. They squawked furiously and yanked them out.

Adan morphed into a large purple tyrannosaurus and roared.

Whoa! He had a set of lungs on him and some nasty-looking fangs.

The crowd gasped and backed up.

The Tai-Kok drew their laser pistols and pulled the triggers, but nothing happened.

Papa laughed. “The fools don’t realize those are props, not weapons.”

I took a closer look. Yep, they were plastic, but I had to admit they looked like the real thing. I’d bet a hundred credits Dolon was behind the screw-up.

The idiot Tai-Kok warriors hurled the useless weapons at Adan and ran for it.

People got out of their way.

Adan thundered after them. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. The buildings shook and the ground shuddered. He quickly caught up with the terrified warriors, and chomp, chomp, chomp; they disappeared down his gullet.

The crowd stared in awed disbelief.

“Ladies, gentlemen, and little ones, I hope you enjoyed our show,” Quinn called and bowed dramatically.

Everyone started clapping.

Clio changed into the big, bad wolf and howled.

“More!” the crowd shouted.

Mami watched proudly as Clio transformed into princess, a cartoonish robot, her true form, and back into a toddler.

Papa walked over to Mami and whispered in her ear. She nodded and clapped her hands loudly. “We are continuing our show at the front entrance. Please come with us.”

The crowd obediently followed.

A little girl walked up to Quinn and gave him a gap-tooth smile. “Are you a real Coletti warrior?”

“I am.”

The little girl hugged his left leg. “Thanks for saving my mommy.”

Quinn kneeled and hugged her back. “You are very welcome.”

Giggling, the little girl ran off.

“You’ll make a good daddy.” My psychic senses suddenly went on red alert. “Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of a Tai-Kok.”

Papa sighed. “I wish your mother hadn’t read you those fairy tales.”

“I smell him too,” Quinn said.

Wulf tapped his tracking scanner. “Got him. Komodo is ten feet below us in a tunnel. He has to be after the Shebu.”

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