by H. I. Larry
‘You mean the trees and flowers that were like stone?’ asked Zac.
‘Yes,’ nodded Big Wig. ‘We’ve discovered that if you capture lightning correctly, you can concentrate the electrons to fuse molecules together. It’s sort of like drying glue really quickly. I’ve been testing it on all our plants, but you will have the honour of being the first person we test it on.’
‘What a cool gadget!’ Leonie marvelled.
Zac glared at her. She was becoming more evil like Caz every second!
‘Come on, Gadget Girl,’ said Big Wig. ‘We’re leaving. Rock Star will stay locked in this tower. I can control the Statue-Maker from outside with my remote. When the storm hits, Zac will be turned into a statue!’
Rain began to patter on the windows. Lightning rumbled in the sky.
‘There’s that storm now,’ smirked Big Wig, flicking a switch. The Statue-Maker began to buzz. ‘Goodbye, Rock Star.’
Big Wig and Leonie marched towards the door.
‘Bye, Choir Boy,’ said Leonie. ‘I’ll say hi to Caz for you.’
Then she pulled the door shut behind them, and Zac heard a key turning in the lock.
Once the door was shut, Zac swung into action. He’d left the skeleton key in the lock, so he knew he couldn’t get out through the door. And the lightning strikes were getting closer. There wasn’t a second to waste!
Zac raced to the window and tried opening it. Luckily, it was unlocked.
Zac looked outside. The ground was a long way down – definitely too far to jump. But Zac had an idea. He pulled out the lollybag from Agent Hammer’s party and rifled through it.
It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. A mini bungy cord! It was ultra lightweight, but also ultra strong.
Zac quickly hooked one end of the bungy cord onto the window frame. Outside, the clouds were growing darker.
OK, here goes, he thought, knotting the other end of the bungy cord to his belt buckle. He climbed out the window frame, took a big breath, and then jumped.
Zac fell through the air. Just before he hit the ground, the bungy tightened and tossed him back up.
Zac bounced up and down a few times before finally coming to a stop.
Dangling just a metre from the ground, Zac untied the bungy cord and dropped down. Then he dashed towards the front gate. He had to get out of there!
The sky turned silver as a massive bolt of lightning hit the house. There was a creaking, groaning noise. Zac looked over his shoulder as he ran.
Whoah! he thought, almost tripping over his own feet.
The lightning had split the house apart. The whole mansion was collapsing! Sparks flew everywhere, like fireworks.
Then Zac noticed two dusty figures running from the rubble. It was Commander Big Wig and Leonie. He was relieved they were OK, even though they worked for BIG. Zac didn’t like to see people get hurt.
‘What happened?’ he heard Leonie whimper. Suddenly she didn’t seem quite so brave.
‘The controls on the Statue-Maker must have been up too high!’ growled the Commander. ‘It short-circuited the entire house and blew it up. That’s two years of research ruined! But at least we’ve got rid of that pesky Zac Power.’
‘Help!’ Leonie squealed suddenly.
Zac laughed as he watched from behind the front gate. The knight had survived the collapse, too. It was chasing Leonie around, waving its sword in the air.
‘Show some guts, Agent Gadget Girl,’ snapped Big Wig.
‘I can’t,’ cried Leonie. ‘I’ve swallowed my No-Fear Gum!’
Zac turned away from the house and caught sight of the Dragonfly Commuter-Scooter parked across the street.
Cool, he thought. Looks like I’ve got my ride home!
There was one final burst of sparks from the rubble of the haunted house, and then everything went quiet. The storm clouds were fading away.
Zac’s SpyPad beeped to show it had finally picked up a signal. As Zac climbed onto the scooter, he called Leon to tell him he was on his way home.
‘Glad to hear you’re safe, Zac,’ said Leon. ‘Nice work, too.’
Zac nodded. It was only 9.30 a.m., so he still had heaps of time to relax before he went and saw the movie Ghost Fighter with his friends.
Awesome, thought Zac. He suddenly felt hungry. And I want breakfast, too.
‘Oh, one more thing,’ added Leon through the SpyPad. ‘I haven’t finished installing all those energy-saving light bulbs. You’ve got to help me before you go see your movie!’
Zac groaned. He really didn’t feel like dealing with light bulbs right now. But a promise was a promise. He said goodbye to Leon and hung up.
Oh well, at least I can scare Leon with that fake huntsman spider I found, Zac grinned to himself as he revved the Dragonfly scooter. Should make changing light bulbs a bit more interesting!
Horror House
published in 2014 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
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A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN: 9781743582329
Text copyright © 2014 H.I. Larry
Illustration and design copyright © 2014 Hardie Grant Egmont
Illustrations by Craig Phillips
Illustrations inked by Latifah Cornelius
Design by Simon Swingler
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