#3 Hypno Hounds! (Agent Amelia)

by Michael Broad

  American edition published in 2011 by Darby Creek, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  Copyright © 2008 by Michael Broad

  First published in 2008 by Andersen Press Limited,

  20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA

  www.andersenpress.co.uk

  www.michaelbroad.co.uk

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

  Darby Creek

  A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  241 First Avenue North

  Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.

  Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Broad, Michael.

  Hypno hounds! / written and illustrated by Michael Broad. — American ed.

  v. cm. — (Agent Amelia, #3)

  Summary: Young secret agent Amelia investigates three new cases, involving an evil genius who makes dogs howl, a sneaky science teacher who buys too much cereal, and a psychotic criminal picking the pockets of toy shoppers.

  Contents: The case of the hypno hounds — The case of the sneaky scientist — The case of the terrible teddies.

  ISBN: 978–0–7613–8058–0 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper) [1. Spies—Fiction. 2. Dogs— Fiction. 3. Scientists—Fiction. 4. Teachers—Fiction. 5. Pickpockets—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.B780834Hyp 2011

  [E]—dc22

  2011002268

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1 – BP – 7/15/11

  eISBN: 978-0-76138-063-4 (pdf)

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-6405-6 (ePub)

  eISBN: 978-1-46776-403-2 (mobi)

  The Case of the Hypno Hounds

  The Case of the Sneaky Scientist

  The Case of the Terrible Teddies

  I’M AMELIA KIDD and I’m a secret agent.

  Well, I’m not actually a secret agent. I don’t work for the government or anything. But I’ve saved the world loads of times from evil geniuses and criminal masterminds. There are loads of them around if you know what to look for.

  I’m really good at disguises. I make my own gadgets (which sometimes work), and I’m used to improvising in sticky situations—which you have to do all the time when you’re a secret agent.

  These are my Secret Agent Case Files.

  During the summer, Mom rented a cottage in the country for a whole week. I was really looking forward to the calm and quiet. I saw it as a secret-agent vacation. A break from saving the world.

  Well, that was the plan….

  As Mom drove along the winding country roads, I noticed that we hadn’t seen another person for miles. As we passed through the village, it seemed deserted. I frowned over my sunglasses. The countryside was a bit too calm and quiet.

  In the front yard of Bevil Cottage, I put down my suitcase and looked up at the sign.

  “Why is it called Bevil Cottage?” I wondered aloud.

  “Probably the name of the original owner or something,” Mom suggested and continued up the path.

  “Hmmm,” I said. “Bevil” didn’t sound like a real name to me. You have to be suspicious when you’re a secret agent—even when you’re on vacation.

  I whipped out my magnifying glass and held it up to the sign and found the B in Bevil was newly painted. I could still see the old paint beneath. The B had been a D. The real name of the place we were staying was Devil Cottage!

  When I caught Mom, she was at the cottage door speaking to a woman who seemed surprised to see us. She was wearing an apron, which made me think this was probably the housekeeper.

  “… and you didn’t get my letter?” she said. “The one telling you not to come?”

  Mom shook her head, and I narrowed my eyes over my sunglasses.

  “Then I think you’d better come in,” sighed the woman.

  The housekeeper, Ms. Bloom, explained that people were fleeing the village out of sheer terror. She’d sent a letter last week urging us not to come for our own safety.

  “Why?” Mom and I said together.

  “Because the DEVIL DOGS have returned!” she gasped dramatically.

  “What’s a devil dog?” I asked. Mom’s teacup rattled nervously in her saucer.

  “Legend tells of giant beasts who once roamed this area,” whispered Ms. Bloom. “They stood as tall as a man, with massive teeth and big yellow eyes the size of dinner plates!”

  Mom’s eyes were pretty wide too as she lapped up the story. I wasn’t convinced.

  “Have you actually seen one of these devil dogs?” I asked casually.

  “Well, not exactly,” said Ms. Bloom. “But I’ve heard them howling in the night and found their paw prints in the morning. They were HUGE!”

  “Then why do you stay here?” Mom asked. She seemed quite concerned.

  “Because I have nowhere else to go,” sighed the woman.

  “We’ll stay with you,” I said quickly, before Mom had a chance to rush us back into the car.

  Ms. Bloom seemed nice, and I wanted to get to the bottom of the devil dogs. “For the week anyway, eh, Mom?”

  “Um, yes, of course!” Mom smiled nervously, reluctant to abandon the poor woman. Ms. Bloom was obviously relieved. She reassured us that it was perfectly safe during the day. She said that the devil dogs only come out at midnight but that the locks on the doors were very strong.

  That night I checked the locks myself. Then I set up a surveillance station at my bedroom window.

  I had binoculars, a thermos of orange soda and a package of cookies—because nighttime surveillance can be hungry work.

  As the clock struck midnight, I scanned the surrounding area with my binoculars. The full moon was bright and low and offered some light, but I cursed myself for not pleading harder for night-vision goggles last Christmas.

  Then I heard a noise.

  The howl seemed quite far off and was answered by many more.

  As each howl grew nearer, I suddenly saw a pack of dark shapes charging across the neighboring field. With the moon behind them, it was impossible to see the creatures, but the shadows they cast were long and looked enormous!

  When the shadows reached the bushes on the near side of the field, there was a frenzied rustling mixed with ferocious growls and snarling. Then the moon disappeared behind the clouds. Everything went black.

  I couldn’t see anything through my non night-vision binoculars. I was pretty scared when I heard the creatures prowling in the yard below.

  But a secret agent can’t let fear get the better of her, so I guarded the cottage until the beasts had gone.

  In the morning, I got up early, crept downstairs, and searched the garden for clues. I found lots of trampled flowers and the same huge paw prints the housekeeper had mentioned. But there were no actual leads to go on.

  Back indoors, Ms. Bloom was making breakfast. Mom was still in bed, so I saw this as a chance for a bit of informal interrogation.

  “Why is this place called Devil Cottage?” I asked casually.

  “How did you know that?” gasped the housekeeper.

  “Oh, I just notice stuff,” I replied.

  “Devil Cottage was the old name,” said Ms. Bloom. “From the days of the legend. But it scared people off, so I changed it to Bevil. Although now that the beasts have returned, I should probably change it back….” She chuckled nervously and then burst into tears.

  At this point
, I was certain that Ms. Bloom had nothing to do with the devil dogs. You get a nose for these things when you’re a secret agent.

  And the distressed housekeeper made me even more determined to solve the midnight mystery.

  “Morning!” chirped Mom. She skipped cheerily into the kitchen. She’d obviously slept through the howling hounds last night. “Now, what would you like to do today?”

  “I’m afraid most of the local attractions have closed down,” said Ms. Bloom. “But there is a beautiful nature trail nearby. Just cut through the field, turn left at the animal shelter, and then—”

  “Animal shelter!” I gasped. This was the lead I was looking for.

  “Yes, Polly’s Pooches!” said Ms. Bloom. “Do you like doggies?”

  “Um, yeah!” I said. I turned to Mom. “Can we go and see the dogs?”

  “Only if you promise not to beg for one like last time,” Mom said firmly.

  We’d visited an animal shelter last year, and I’d pestered Mom to adopt a retired police dog. I thought he’d come in handy as a tracker and sniffer on secret-agent missions. Mom said no.

  As we walked across the field, I couldn’t help wondering why no one else had made the connection between the devil dogs and the animal shelter.

  It seemed pretty obvious to me. But this particular mystery was solved the moment we arrived.

  Polly’s Pooches were all teeny, tiny handbag dogs with ribbons in their hair!

  Mom didn’t have to worry about me begging for a handbag dog. They were all really adorable, but I couldn’t keep one in my backpack. It might chew my gadgets and ruin my disguises.

  The dinky dogs were definitely not devilish, but there could still be bigger dogs tucked somewhere out of sight. So I gave Mom the slip. While she was looking at a rosebush, I began snooping around. Eventually, I found a large barn that looked like the perfect place to hide a pack of huge hounds!

  As I approached, the barn door creaked open. A woman stepped out. This was obviously Polly of Polly’s Pooches. She had the exact same hairdo as her dogs. I quickly ducked behind the nearest kennel and watched as she locked the door with a padlock. Polly was looking around the whole time to make sure no one was watching. This made her my number one suspect.

  When the woman walked away, I slipped from my hiding place. I approached the barn door. There was no way I could get inside with the big padlock in place, but along the path leading to the barn, I found loads of paw prints dried in the mud!

  They were the same huge prints I’d seen in the cottage yard!

  I followed the tracks with my magnifying glass. I noticed one of the animals had veered off toward a nearby bush, probably to relieve itself. But when its tracks rejoined the pack there was a paw print missing, as though the creature had suddenly lost a leg!

  Animals don’t just lose legs willy-nilly. I pulled out my extendable grabber-hand gadget and began rummaging around in the bush. Then I caught a glimpse of something red and shiny. I tugged it from the branches.

  It was a rubber boot!

  Hmmm? I thought. Then I turned the boot over to find a large paw-shaped mold stuck to the bottom. I pressed the boot into a dried muddy paw print. It was an exact fit.

  “YOU THERE!” shrieked a high-pitched voice. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

  I turned to find Polly stomping toward me with a very angry look on her face.

  “Hello!” I said cheerily. I quickly booted the boot back into the bush.

  “Why are you snooping around here?” Polly demanded. “This is private property!”

  “Er, I got lost,” I sighed. I tried to look like a little girl lost—which is not easy to do in combat pants.

  I don’t think Polly was convinced. Luckily Mom appeared, providing a handy escape route.

  “I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” she sighed. “Are you ready to leave?”

  “Yes, Mom,” I smiled. I skipped past a furious Polly. “But I’ll be back!” I mumbled under my breath.

  I didn’t pack many disguises for the vacation, so that night I had to borrow Ms. Bloom’s cape and hat. Luckily they were both dark blue and cloaked my almost-midnight dash across the field.

  When I reached Polly’s barn, the door was unlocked. I poked my head inside and was relieved not to have it bitten off by a pack of massive dogs. The barn was completely empty except for a strange structure at one end. I slipped inside to take a closer look.

  It was a huge cardboard wheel with a whirly pattern painted on the front like a giant lollipop! I stepped up to the structure, turned the wheel a little, and then peered around the back.

  Behind the wheel, there was a table with a map of the whole village with areas colored in where people had moved out. Most of the map was colored. In fact, Devil Cottage seemed to be the only place left.

  Under the map was a blueprint for a giant animal shelter the exact size of the village and a diagram for a giant whirly wheel the size of a football field! None of this made much sense. Then I lifted the blueprint to find a picture of the world cut from an atlas.

  It had the words “I want to take this over!” scribbled above it.

  “Typical!” I thought.

  Suddenly I heard someone approaching the barn. I quickly crept into the hayloft and hid behind a bale of straw. Moments later, Polly barged through the door pushing a wheelbarrow full of rubber boots. Dozens of dinky dogs followed her.

  Polly whistled, and the animals lined up and waited patiently. Polly fixed the tall boots on their dinky legs. Then she stepped away and spun the giant whirly wheel.

  I watched from above as the cute fluffy pooches stared at the spinning pattern. They all tilted their heads as the wheel whizzed around. Then each dog twitched and began snarling, growling, and

  Polly smiled a wicked smile. She whistled through her fingers and then flung her arms in the air dramatically.

  “Run, my pretties! RUN!” she shrieked. The mini devil dogs hobbled around and bounded from the barn in their strange red boots. They looked scary and silly all at the same time.

  Evil geniuses and criminal masterminds often like to rant about their plans for world domination. I’ve heard loads of them. And they don’t always need an audience. Some are quite happy to rant to themselves!

  “When my hounds have cleared the village, I’ll take over the WHOLE WORLD with MILLIONS of devil dogs and a GIANT hypno wheel,” Polly hissed, pacing up and down like a lunatic.

  That explained the plans for a huge animal shelter. Then I remembered that Devil Cottage was the only place left on the map. I guessed the madwoman had probably sent the hounds there. Luckily Polly was too busy ranting to see me climb down from the hayloft and creep away.

  The dogs moved surprisingly fast across the field in their funky footwear. I managed to catch up with them as they neared the bushes near Devil Cottage. The only thing I could think to do was whistle through my fingers like Polly had done. Suddenly, the snarling pooches stopped and hobbled around.

  The hypno hounds suddenly bounded after me. I took off across the field.

  When I reached the barn, the dogs were snapping at my heels. I barged past Polly, who was still ranting and pacing. I spun the hypno wheel in the opposite direction.

  The dogs screeched to a halt and tilted their heads.

  Suddenly, they turned all cute again.

  “MY DEVIL DOGS!” yelled Polly, striding toward me.

  “They’re not DEVIL DOGS!” I yelled back. “They’re HANDBAG HOUNDS!”

  “We’ll see about that!” she growled, grabbing the other side of the wheel.

  Polly tugged the wheel one way. I tugged it back. This tug-of-wheel went on for a quite a long time. As the wheel spun back and forth, the poor dogs sat in the middle of the barn twitching from cute to crazed and crazed to cute.

  My arms were getting tired from all the tugging when Polly suddenly let go. She leaped around the wheel to grab me, but as she lunged, she happened to glance sideways. She froze like a statue. Polly gazed at the hypn
o wheel, tilted her head, and twitched. Then she began snarling, growling, and

  I wasn’t sure what to do, so I whistled through my fingers again.

  Polly immediately pulled on a pair of boots, fled the barn, and took off across the field like a human devil dog. I was about to race after her when I saw the poor pooches peering up at me. I decided to take care of them first.

  Luckily the dogs were in cute mode. To make sure they stayed that way, I pulled down the hypno wheel and broke it in half with a well-aimed karate kick.

  Then I released each of the bewildered beasts from their red rubber boots.

  By the time I reached the cottage, I found Ms. Bloom in the garden shooing Polly out of her flower beds with a broom. The housekeeper obviously had things under control. I hid behind the hedge until the police arrived to take Polly away.

  She was yelling, “I’m a DEVIL DOG!” and howling at the top of her lungs.

  You can’t take credit for saving the world when you’re a secret agent. When Ms. Bloom went back inside and turned out the lights, I crept through the garden and snuck back into my room.

  I tried to look surprised when the housekeeper told us the story the next morning.

  “… and Polly was sniffing around my rosebushes!” gasped Ms. Bloom. “So I gave her a good WALLOP with my broom and called the police. And it turned out that she was behind the devil dogs! Something to do with rubber boot paw prints or something?”