After a moment of silence, Lewis roared, "Golden thief!"
The little golden creature he pointed at planted its hands on its hips. For some reason, the pose reminded Stella of Alice.
Lewis scrambled up, eager to catch the golden thief.
He lunged, but the golden thief nimbly hopped over his head, stepping on it for good measure.
Lewis landed on the table and heard it groan like an old man. "Ow, my poor planks."
That scared him into scrambling off.
Seeing the golden thief about to escape, Stella threw caution to the wind and joined the chase.
"Alice, guard the door!"
Stella shouted and dashed forward.
Alice muttered, "I know what to do!"
With her blocking the door, the golden thief could only leap back and forth within the confined space.
One moment it hopped onto the table, the next onto a cabinet.
The clattering lost all sense of rhythm, and the fragile porcelain pieces screamed and scurried aside.
"I caught it!" Stella grabbed the golden thief, but before delight could register on her face, it slipped out of her hands.
Spotting the teapot on the table, Lewis reached for it, intending to trap the golden thief inside.
His hand closed on empty air. The teapot mocked him. "You can't catch Potty! Potty only pours tea for great wizards."
Potty bounced away.
Lewis flushed crimson. He had never expected to be humiliated by a teapot.
Stella, the silly girl, was doing her best, though she had no idea why they needed to catch the golden thief.
As if deliberately teasing Stella, the golden thief darted into a pile of tea utensils, forcing her to search through them one by one.
Sometimes her fingers hurt when she touched one. That was the tea utensil expressing its displeasure.
Lewis joined the search