and grabbed the small gold box and opened it. It was filled with goldâgold flakes.
âGotchaâ said EJ.
But then she heard the footsteps again and this time they were really close. EJ hid behind the boxes, holding her breath. She waited for the door to open.
It didnât. The footsteps went straight past the storeroom.
EJ was relieved but knew it wouldnât be long before Madame Ombre checked the storeroom.EJ needed to get out quickly but she couldnât leave without the rabbits. She looked at the bunnies huddled in the cage and knew she couldnât abandon them to be put out with the rubbish. But how was EJ going to carry six rabbits? There had to be something in the room that she could use to carry the them. EJ scanned the room. Flour. Of course a bakery had flour and what did flour come in? Bags. Big bags and they were all stacked up in the corner next to the rabbit cage. There was only one problem, the bags were, not surprisingly, full of flour.
EJ didnât have much time. She quickly flicked through her charms for something that would open the bags. Crocodile repellent, no, penguin food, no. Maybe this, she thought as she saw the hook from CCâs rope charm. That might work. EJ quickly twisted the rope charm. Once it had enlarged, she grabbed the hook and thrust it into the corner of a flour bag and pulled it back towards her. The bag ripped open and flour spilled out. EJ shrunk the rope back to its charm size, then tipped the bag upside down and, as even more flour went everywhere, she openedthe rabbit cage and gently lifted each now rather white rabbit into the bag.
âDonât worry, little ones. You wonât be in there for long,â said EJ.
âNon, not long at all,â said a voice behind EJ. A French voice.
It was Madame Ombre.
EJ, with the box of gold flakes in one hand and a sack of rabbits in the other, froze in front of a very cross and now quite scary-looking Madame Ombre. âIâll take the gold box, Emma Sekac, or should that be EJ12?â snarled Madame Ombre. âYou wonât be going anywhere.â
âItâs too late, Madame Ombre. SHINE already knows about SHADOW and S6.â
âDo you think I care about SHADOW and their silly S6? Non, just give me my gold flakes. Now,â said Madame Ombre, glaring threateningly at EJ.
EJ looked straight at Madame Ombre and sawthe âFirst comes chocolateâ on her jacket. She will do anything for her chocolate cakes, realised EJ, and that gives me an idea. She put the rabbit bag down gently and opened the box of gold flakes. She held up some of the fragile flakes.
âYou mean these?â asked EJ.
âBe careful, you fool. They will fall out. Do you have any idea how rare edible 24-carat gold flakes are?â
EJ took out some more. She could see how much this was worrying Madame Ombre. She wanted her gold flakes a lot more than she wanted a pesky SHINE agent.
She blew some of the flakes out of her hand. Madame Ombre dropped to the floor and picked them up. âDonât do that again, you fool, you will ruin them. Now give them to me.â
âWhat, like this?â This time EJ turned away from Madame Ombre, then grabbed a whole handful of flakes and threw them high up into the air, hoping her plan would work.
It did. Madame Ombre moved like a shot fromthe door past EJ to where the flakes had fallen at the back of the room. She dropped to her knees to pick them up. As she did, EJ took another handful of gold, put the lid on the box, picked up her bag of bunnies and sprinted for the door.
But would she make it to the escape route?
âCome back with my gold!â yelled Madame Ombre.
EJ had never run so fast and, as she ran, she scattered more handfuls of gold flakes on the floor.
That should slow her down, she hoped.
EJ reached the toilets. She turned back and could see Madame Ombre behind her but the chef kept stopping to pick up the gold. EJ pushed open
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