4 Chapter 4 Learning to Fly

Chapter 4 Learning to Fly The next day, Stanley pressed his back against the face of Mount Huashan. Slowly, he inched along the narrow walkway. "Come on!" called Yin from up ahead. Yang whizzed by Stanley's face doing a one-legged cartwheel. "Let's go, Turnip Cake!"

Stanley made the mistake of looking down. The bottom of the valley was nearly six thousand feet below. Terrified, he looked up again, only to find that he had come to the end of the walkway. Yin and Yang were nowhere to be seen. Stanley looked around in a panic. He found the twins overhead, swiftly climbing a thick iron chain that reached up the mountain. Stanley took a deep breath. With a grunt, he started pulling himself up. When he reached the top, Stanley flopped facedown on the ground with a slap. He'd finally

made it— "Hey, Stanley!" Yin's voice called. "Keep moving like that," echoed Yang, "and we'll never get to Beijing." Stanley peeled himself from the ground. In front of him stretched a staircase carved into the rock. I promised I'd do my best, thought Stanley. He forced himself to go on. At last, his whole body aching, Stanley reached the end of the staircase. Before him stood an ancient temple. Now where are Yin and Yang? he thought. Suddenly, Yang's upside-down face appeared before his eyes. Yin was dangling her brother by the foot from the roof of the temple. "You coming?" asked Yang, grabbing Stanley's hands. Stanley landed flat on his back on the roof with a thud. "Ow," Stanley groaned. Yin and Yang smiled down at him.

"Finally," said Yang. "We can begin your training at last!" said Yin. On the temple roof atop one of the five peaks of Mount Huashan, Yin twirled on one foot like a ballerina. With Stanley holding her wrists, she swung his body round and round over her head. He was getting dizzier and dizzier. He felt sick. His palms were sweaty... and then they started to slip. In an instant Stanley had lost his grip. "Stanley!" cried Yin, as Stanley soared off the mountain peak. He sensed a gust of wind and arched his back. The wind lifted him, and he did a backflip to land on the roof. "Ta-da!" he panted. Yin laughed. "You are crazier than a yak!" Yang turned down the corners of his mouth. "Again," he said, perched like a stork on his good foot. With only five days left, Stanley, Yin, and Yang stood in a narrow pit filled with row after row of

warriors made of clay. Some were taller than Stanley. Arthur would love this! he thought. "This is the Terracotta Army. They were buried with the first emperor of China in 210 B.C.," explained Yin. "Only a few foreigners, like Queen Elizabeth the Second, have been allowed to walk through the pits as you do now. These artifacts are priceless!" "I'll try not to break any," joked Stanley. "Good idea," replied Yang without smiling. Without warning, Yin dived headfirst into the army. She bounced and flipped, springing among the soldiers like a grasshopper. Without toppling a single one, she landed back beside Stanley.

"Now, Turnip Cake," Yang said. Stanley's mouth hung open. Yin and Yang raised their eyebrows at him. He shut his mouth. Shaking his head, Stanley took a deep breath and plunged into the army. He hit the ground with both hands and pushed back up, landing on his toes. He cartwheeled into a flip and— His right pinkie toe hit a clay horse. It somersaulted into the air. Stanley perched his fingers and toes on the heads of two soldiers. He arched his back. The horse