by Ali Sparkes
“She’ll be fine—because I will have bitten YOUR head off!” snarled Danny, getting up onto all four feet and baring his teeth.
FFFFFFFFOOOFFF!
And then he was crouched on his hands and knees with his head poking up out of the bushes, still baring his teeth. Josh was doing the same. Fortunately, they were both boy-shaped again. Completely, this time.
“Phew!” sighed Josh. “That was close. Come on—let’s go home. I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
Danny nodded, getting to his feet and looking around, embarrassed.
They dusted themselves off, noticing that there was still bits of blood on their boy skin and some little bite marks. Then they set out for home.
“WAIT!”
They froze, getting ready to run. Someone was skipping out of Princessland after them.
“WAIT!”
It was Melissa, waving two party bags. “The lady in Princessland said you two were our dragons!” she puffed, as she reached them. “You were so COOL! She said you must have these spare party bags. Here you go! Thanks for the fight!”
And then she was gone, leaving them with the bags.
Danny and Josh turned and ran.
When they got home, they sank gratefully onto the grass in their front garden. Danny started foraging through his party bag. “Cake!” he announced, pulling out a large golden wedge of spongecake topped with thick, pink icing. Josh found one too, and they both stuffed the cake into their mouths, super hungry after all the excitement.
“What else?” murmured Danny, digging into the bag again. “Bracelet—eurgh!” He chucked a stretchy beaded bracelet onto the grass. “Diddly DeeDee! Oh no! I never want to see another Diddly DeeDee!” He chucked that on top of the bracelet. “Jelly beans! Woohoo! Kazoo … not bad. And …” Then he stopped, puzzled. At the bottom of the bag was a bit of wadded-up notepaper.
“Jo-osh …” he said.
Josh had been going through his bag too, finding all the same things … and now … he too had some wadded-up paper.
What made them both go very quiet and still was the familiar spiky writing. They opened up the notes and saw they were exactly the same. Each read:
HELLO AGAIN, JOSH AND DANNY.
AMAZING ESCAPE!
YOU ARE BOTH SO WORTHY
OF THE DESTINY THAT
AWAITS YOU …
DARE YOU SEEK IT?
Danny gulped and stared at Josh. “The Mystery Marble Sender!” he whispered. “They must have been right there in Princessland—watching us!”
“I know,” breathed Josh, glancing all around them. “They could be here now!” He shivered.
They read the next bit of their notes. The bit that always came next … the clue.
DON’T BLOW OR SUCK—HUM IF YOU CAN.
AND IF YOU CAN’T—YOU WIN!
“What?” Danny stared at the note. “What kind of a clue is that?”
But Josh was smiling. “An easy one. Which is just as well, because I’m not doing anything else good. No more adventures! I need a break!”
“You’ve just turned into your own granny,” observed Danny. But he knew what Josh meant. They needed a break from weirdness for a while.
Josh picked up both the kazoos. “Here you go,” he said, handing one to Danny. It was a good quality one, chunky and made of metal. “Blow in it, and it won’t work. Sucking on it won’t work either.”
“No! You have to hum!” cried Danny, and he stuck the kazoo in his mouth, closed his lips around it, and hummed a little tune. It came out as a lively buzz.
“You can hum,” Josh said. “So you don’t win. Now let’s see …”
He put the other kazoo to his lips and started humming. Nothing came out except a dull murmur. No buzzing. No humming. Josh grinned at Danny. “I win,” he said.
And he tugged at the little round porthole-style window on the top of the metal barrel until it came off. Underneath this should have been a piece of tissue paper. But instead, he found something small and round. A lump of glass.
He tipped it onto his palm.
One perfect glass marble with a ribbon of color running through it. Getting out his magnifying glass, Josh could just make out the code inside—and the hologram of what looked like … a whale. “Yup—it’s another S.W.I.T.C.H. marble,” he confirmed. “But I think this one must be for you,” he chuckled, handing it to Danny.
“Oh very funny,” Danny said.
The marble was pink.
amphibian: an animal that can live on land and in water
antidote: something that takes away the bad effects of a poison or disease
arachnid: A member of the group of animals that includes spiders and scorpions
cellular: made from cells
hijack: to take control of something by force
hologram: a type of photograph made by laser beams. A hologram appears to have depth as well as height and width.
laboratory: a room or building equipped for scientific work
mammal: any animal of which the female gives birth to live young and can feed them with her own milk
pigment: a substance that colors something
prosecute: to prosecute someone is to make them go to a court of law to be tried for a crime
reptile: a cold-blooded animal that creeps or crawls. Lizards and snakes are reptiles.
scales: the thin, overlapping parts on the outside of fish, snakes, and other animals
serum: a kind of fluid used in science and for medical purposes
setae: small hairlike pads responsible for the animal’s ability to cling to vertical surfaces
snout: the front part sticking out from an animal’s head, with its nose and mouth
territorial: an animal that guards and is defensive of an area of land it believes to be its own
transparent: something you can see through
BOOKS
Want to brush up on your reptile and amphibian knowledge? Here’s a list of books dedicated to slithering and hopping creatures.
Johnson, Jinny. Animal Planet™ Wild World: An Encyclopedia of Animals. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2013.
McCarthy, Colin. Reptile. DK Eyewitness Books. New York: DK Publishing, 2012.
Parker, Steve. Pond & River. DK Eyewitness Books. New York: DK Publishing, 2011.
WEBSITES
Find out more about nature and wildlife using the websites below.
National Geographic Kids
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/
Go to this website to watch videos and read facts about your favorite reptiles and amphibians.
San Diego Zoo Kids
http://kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals
Curious to learn more about some of the coolest-looking reptiles and amphibians? This website has lots of information and stunning pictures of some of Earth’s most interesting creatures.
US Fish & Wildlife Service
http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/amphibians-reptiles-and-fish.aspx
Want some tips to help you look for wildlife in your own neighborhood? Learn how to identify some slimy creatures and some scaly ones as well.
CHECK OUT ALL OF THE TITLES!
Ali Sparkes grew up in the wilds of the New Forest, raised by sand lizards who taught her the secret language of reptiles and how to lick her own eyes.
At least, that’s how Ali remembers it. Her family argues that she grew up in a house in Southampton, raised by her mom and dad, who taught her the not terribly secret language of English and wished she’d stop chewing her hair.
She once caught a slow worm. It flicked around like mad, and she was a bit scared and dropped it.
Ali still lives in Southampton, now with her husband and two sons. She likes to hang out in the nearby wildlife center, spying on common lizards. The lizards are considering legal action …
Ross Collins’s more than eighty picture books and books for young readers have appeared in print around the world. He lives in Scotland a
nd, in his spare time, enjoys leaning backward precariously in his chair.