The Noble Mr. Prickles

  * * *

  The morning was spent playing out the weird scenarios that Tabby thought up, pitting the wizard and prince against each other again and putting the poor princesses in all sorts of dangerous situations. Finally, just before she had to go to lunch, Advan asked her if the others could go with the two of them to the throne room that afternoon. She told them that she could not take them all because there was no place to hide them and she would be caught with them. Then she went off to eat.

  "If I see that rose," Advan told the others, "I'll try to get to it."

  "It'll be difficult, if you're stuck in that child's pocket," Lazarah said. "At least try to locate the flower so we can get to it once we escape."

  "If we escape," Jack said.

  "And try to memorize the route to the throne room," Javan told him. "See how long it will take us to get there."

  When Tabby got back, she again sent them into the doll house while she got dressed in her fanciest royal attire. Then she put Advan into a pocket on the front of her dress and went out of the room.

  While she was gone, the three humans again tried to think of a way to escape the table. Jack was pacing along the edge of the table when something caught his eye and gave him an excellent idea. Next to Tabby's bed was a thirty foot circular pillow about five feet high on which the puppy slept at night. If that pillow could somehow be moved to a spot under the table, they could jump down onto it. But how would they move it, and how would they deal with the dog if it was in the room at the time?

  "We'll figure that out," Javan told him, "but at least now we have a working plan. When Advan gets back, we'll work out the details."