by Ali Sparkes
If Victor hadn’t stolen her work and burnt out her memory so he could not be caught, she wouldn’t be sitting here now, worrying about Josh and Danny. She would have carried on with developing the REPTOSWITCH spray, as well as the BUGSWITCH spray. She would be the most famous scientist in the world.
“Still—Victor isn’t the most famous scientist in the world either, is he?” muttered Petty to herself, with a smile. “No, Victor! You messed up! What you didn’t know was that I always suspected someone would try to steal my work. So I faked all my paper codes and put the real codes into my cubes. My wonderful cubes!”
But Petty frowned now. She had all the BUGSWITCH cubes, and she could make her sprays using the code hidden inside them. But the REPTOSWITCH code was not yet complete. She had only five cubes, each with a beautiful hologram of a reptile twinkling in its glass center. Josh and Danny had not yet found the sixth. With parts of her memory burnt out, Petty just could not remember where she’d hidden the cubes. Josh and Danny had managed to find most of them. But without the last one, she would never be able to make any REPTOSWITCH spray.
“Oooooh!” Petty slapped her forehead. “Why did you have to get your memory burnt out, you fool?” she hissed at herself.
A man standing in the bush behind her scratched his chin with a pointed black fingernail. He grinned to himself before moving silently back to the pond dippers in the learning room. Josh flew into the wildlife center learning room, aghast at the amount of noise his wings were making. They were whirring and buzzing, the way beetles’ wings often do. He just had to hope that it wasn’t very loud to human ears. The last thing he needed was for some fascinated Wild Thing to spot him and try to catch him.
He could see his fellow Wild Things dotted around the room. Huge lumps of colorful human, ambling about and making a lot of noise. Good! The noise would hopefully disguise the sound his wings were making. The pond dippers had all come back into the learning room now. They had put their jars in a row along an orange shelf, ready to be inspected. Poppy’s grandfather was already peering into them. He was holding a notebook and pencil and tapping against the jars with one peculiar pointed black fingernail. Josh flew high over his head. He wished the old man would move away so he could inspect the jars for signs of Danny.
Then Poppy ran up to her grandfather and grabbed his hand. The old man turned away. Josh flew down to the jars and began to work his way along them all. Most of them had lots of weeds, a couple of water snails, and not much else. Most of the pond creatures were way too quick to get caught by pond dippers. The third jar, with the pink string on it, had a bone-crunchingly ugly face peering out of it through a drift of green weeds. A dragonfly nymph. It saw Josh peering in at it. It mouthed “Watchoo lookin’ at?” Josh was just about to move on when another face suddenly bloomed through the weed. A great diving beetle.
“Josh! Is that you?!” mouthed the beetle. Josh could just about hear Danny’s voice behind the glass.
“Yes! It’s me!” he called back. “Danny! You’ve got to get out of there!”
“Tell me about it!” yelled Danny. “It’s no fun being stuck in here with nymphy boy!”
“Hey! Is youz dissin’ me?” demanded Nymphy Boy.
“I can’t get out!” yelled Danny. “I’ve tried to fly up, but the lid’s on!”
Josh landed on the lid. It had a couple of air holes punched through the tin. They were too small to get through. And there was no way he could twist off the lid.
“Come on, Josh! Think of something!” begged Danny. “A few more minutes and there’s going to be some very nasty jam in this jar!”
“I’ll have to get help!” cried Josh, through the air holes. “Scratch and Sniff are out by the pond. And Petty—somehow I’ll have to get them to help. Just … hold on and don’t go anywhere… ”
“Oh, all right. As you’ve asked so nicely, I’ll just cancel my plans and stay here then!” snapped Danny.
Nymphy Boy loomed up at him, looking even uglier, and spat: “Yo, Beetle Boy. I iz not a boy. I iz a girl.”
“Yeah,” muttered Danny, with a wince. “Me too, sister.”
“Scratch! Sniff! I’ve found Danny!” gasped Josh. He landed under the picnic table in a spray of dust and grass seeds.
“Good!” said Sniff.
“Not good!” said Josh. “He’s in a jam! Worse … he’s in a jam jar. He’s stuck inside it with the lid on. I can’t get it off. And he could change back into being a boy at any moment and then … and then …”
“Squelch,” shuddered Scratch. Sniff elbowed him in his furry chest. She glared at him.
“How can we get it open?” asked Josh.
“Well,” said Scratch. “I don’t know if we can open it. But we can certainly knock it off the shelf and smash it. Would that help?”
Josh stared at them. “It’s not the best way out,” he said. “But it’s better than nothing.” He just hoped that Danny wouldn’t get cut in half by shattered glass.
“No time to lose then,” said Scratch. He and Sniff ran toward the learning room.
“Be careful!” Josh yelled after them. He knew what they were doing was very dangerous for them. The wildlife center staff could try to trap them if they saw them. Rats might be wildlife too, but the people at the center said there were too many and numbers had to be kept down. Rising up in the air, Josh scouted around for the root of all these disasters—Petty Potts. He saw her sitting on a bench by the pond. Without her usual hat, her silvery hair was blowing around her head.
He buzzed down in front of her face. She didn’t flap him away but sat up straight. “Danny? Josh? Is that you?” she said, in a voice that came out loud, deep, and boomy to Josh’s beetle ears.
“Follow me!” shouted Josh, although he knew Petty would only hear a buzzing noise. Her giant human ears weren’t set up to hear such tiny creatures. If only he could just switch back to human now and explain, life would be much easier. But it was never possible to predict exactly when the change back would happen. And he didn’t know how much S.W.I.T.C.H. pellet he had eaten compared to Danny. It could be either one of them first …
He turned and flew back to the learning room after Scratch and Sniff. It looked as if the rats were Danny’s only chance.
“Where’th Danny gone?” said Poppy to the other Wild Things. “And where’th Josh?”
“I reckon they both went off around the back,” said Milo, busy writing notes on his worksheet.
“Well, they thould be back now!” said Poppy, looking annoyed. “I wanted to thow Danny my pond life, Grandad!” she said to the man in the hat. He took his hat off and rubbed around where his eyebrows should have been. Then he put the hat back on again.
“Yes, Poppy,” he smiled. “And I really wanted to meet Danny too. And Josh. Don’t they live over on Chestnut Lane?”
“Yeth,” said Poppy. She led Granddad over to the rows of jars. Then she let out a little shriek. Two furry shapes had just shot up the wall and onto the shelf.
“UGH!” shrieked one of the ladies handing out worksheets. “RATS!”
There were more screams. Then a crash as the rats bashed one of the jars off the shelf and onto the floor, spilling pond water, weeds, and three water snails across the tiles. Then another jar toppled over. This one had pink string on it.
“Oh help! That’th my jar!” squeaked Poppy.
“Oh help!” gurgled Danny as he tumbled through a twisting vortex of water, weed, and madness. The jar was falling. He was a second away from being in a broken glass and pondweed stew. Maybe he’d make it though. Maybe he’d be able to fly away.
WHOMP! SLOOSH!
Suddenly the jam jar stopped falling. A storm of water churned up, down, and around, and then Danny realized the glass was still intact. A hand grasped it firmly, pale long fingers wrapping around. One black, pointy fingernail tapped against the glass.
“Thank you, Granddad!” squeaked Poppy.
Just outside the window, Josh saw the old man in the hat stop
Danny’s jar from falling. “Oh no!” he moaned, hovering up and down with his wings in a frenzy. “How will we get Danny out now?”
Then he crashed onto the decking below with a loud thud. Everyone in the learning room ran to the window and the door to see what had just fallen. An eight-year-old boy lay on his back, his arms and legs flapping, looking dazed and confused.
“Josh?” said Poppy.
“You all right?” said Milo.
Josh saw Poppy’s grandfather lean out behind her, the jam jar still swinging in his hand. He knew it was now or never, while he still had them all surprised and confused. He leaped to his feet. He snatched the jam jar from the old man and ran across the wildflower meadow before anyone could stop him.
For Danny, it was like being in the spin cycle of a washing machine. He no longer knew which way was up. Every so often he would collide with the nymph, who was too dazed herself to say anything. There wasn’t time to breathe, let alone menace anyone.
“HEY! COME BACK HERE!” yelled the old man, chasing after Josh. “Come back here with that jar!”
Gosh, thought Josh. He knew it was Poppy’s jar, and the old man was her granddad. But he couldn’t believe there was a chase going on over a bit of pondweed! Only he knew how special the stuff in the jar was. He needed to get it open now—before Danny changed back. He had to stop running, even if Poppy’s granddad caught up.
Josh ducked behind a tree and undid the lid. He tipped the frothy green mess out onto the grass. Danny slid out, landing on his back. His legs were not wiggling. He was quite still.
“DANNY! DANNY!” yelled Josh. He wanted to pick the beetle up and shake it—make it come alive. But he might just squash it in all his panic. “DANNY!” sobbed Josh. “DANNY—PLEASE DON’T BE DEAD!”
“Let me see,” said a voice. And Petty Potts knelt down beside him. She put her face close to the soggy beetle. Then she blew on it. The legs waved. But that might just have been in the breeze. Petty looked up at Josh, who was holding his hands over his mouth and blinking with shock. She blew on Danny again. This time a feeler twitched. Then a leg.
Then Danny thumped Petty in the face.
“Ow!” said Petty, holding her nose. “That’s the second time you’ve lumped me on the nose this month!” But she was grinning with relief. Getting whacked in the face as Danny bounced back to boy shape was a price she was willing to pay.
Danny sat up, his clothes soggy and covered with pondweed. He looked at the jar, which lay at an angle with just a little weed left in it. “Oh,” he said. “What happened to Nymphy Girl?”
“What?” gasped Josh.
“There was one of those dragonfly nymphs in there with me. Is she all right?” Danny peered into the sludgy weed. He could just make out a tiny, angry face. He chuckled. “We have to put her back,” he said.
“Are you telling me that you care about a dragonfly nymph?” said Josh.
“Well—you don’t have to make a big thing of it,” said Danny, emptying the jar into a nearby watery ditch. “She wasn’t my girlfriend. Not really my type. No need to get excited.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” came a strange voice. “I think there’s a lot to get excited about.”
Everyone stared up into the pale face of the man in the hat. He was smiling down at the scene around the spilled pond water. He scratched the area where his eyebrows should have been with one black, pointed fingernail.
Petty gasped and stood up. “YOU!” she said “YOU! VICTOR CROUCH!”
Josh and Danny gaped at each other. They had never really believed that Victor Crouch existed. They had thought he was all part of Petty’s crazy imagination. But here he stood, large as life.
“Hello, Petty,” smiled Victor. “You remember me, then.”
“Remember you? Why, of course I do, you snake!” she spat. “Victor Crouch—my old friend—the one who tried to steal my work and burn out my memory!”
Victor sighed. “Aaaah, Petty! Still so lovely when you’re angry. But you’ve got it all wrong. Somebody did burn out your memory, that’s true. And that’s why you can’t remember who. It wasn’t me. I am your friend.”
Petty narrowed her eyes at him.
“Your friend,” repeated Victor. “And I’ve come to take you back with me! The government wants you back. We all missed you and your genius brain so much. It’s all been a big mistake.”
Petty tilted her head to one side, thinking about Victor Crouch’s words. She rummaged around in her pockets absentmindedly.
“We’re still trying to find out who did burn out your memory,” said Victor. “And what he did with your work … the cubes … Petty? The BUGSWITCH cubes and the REPTOSWITCH cubes? Remember? You told me all about them. Where did you find them in the end? Obviously you’ve got the spray working… ” He waved his pointy fingernail at Danny and Josh. “Your little friends have been having creepy-crawly adventures with you, haven’t they? What brilliant work!”
Petty stared at him. Then she smiled. “Oh, Victor! How could I have been so wrong about you?”
Josh and Danny made faces at each other. Surely Petty wasn’t falling for this? Victor Crouch was so creepy he made a slug look good.
“You’re not the man I thought you were,” sighed Petty. “You’re not that at all! You’re a COCKROACH! THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE!”
Victor’s charming smile vanished. “All right—have it your way, you crazy old witch!” and he pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket. “I have agents everywhere! All I have to do is call them. You’ll be locked away forever!” He went to press the button on the radio.
There was a short sharp hiss. Petty stood with a spray bottle in her hands. Victor froze as a pale yellow mist of S.W.I.T.C.H. landed on him.
“What? What have you done?” he gasped.
“I told you,” said Petty. “You’re a cockroach.”
Victor vanished. There was a shimmy of a shiny black wing case in the grass. Petty lifted her foot above it.
“Well,” she said. “Nice to catch up on old times, Victor. Bye-bye!”
But before her foot could stamp down, Danny leapt forward and pushed her sideways. “PETTY! NO!”
“He’s EVIL!” insisted Petty, peering in alarm at the grass. “He’ll have us all kidnapped and tortured for the S.W.I.T.C.H. secrets! He cannot be allowed to escape!”
“But that would be murder!” said Danny. “You can’t kill people! Not deliberately!”
“Probably wouldn’t have worked anyway,” said Josh. “Have you ever tried to kill a cockroach? They’re armor-plated. They’d survive nuclear fallout. They can live for three months without their heads. And you’ll never splat them on a soft surface.”
Petty dropped to her knees and rummaged in the grass. “He’s gone! He’s gone already! How could you let him escape? How could you?”
“Well … at least he’s not going to bother us for a while,” said Josh, staring into the grass. “And maybe he’ll get eaten anyway…”
“I certainly hope so,” grumbled Petty, putting the spray bottle back in her pocket. “Good thing I had some spare spray with me. You never know when you might need it.” She picked up the walkie-talkie radio that Victor Crouch must have dropped as he turned into a cockroach. “Don’t look at me like that! You heard what he said. If he’d pressed the button on this radio and called all his agents, we’d be on our way to a deep, dark prison by now.”
“What? Us?” said Danny. “But we’re just kids. Nobody would lock us up!”
“Don’t you believe it,” said Petty. “They would know that you know what I know, don’t you now? And if you know, they would want to know what you know and there’s no knowing what they’d do to know you know!”
Danny and Josh edged away from her.
“You’re crazy,” said Danny. “We don’t want to play with you anymore! No more helping you out. No more hunting for REPTOSWITCH cubes. You’re nuts and you’ve just tried to kill a man.”
“A cockroach,” said Petty. “I tried
to kill a cockroach. I’m sorry you’re upset. Come and see me tomorrow. We’ll all have some cake and feel much better.”
“I don’t like your cake anymore,” said Danny.
“Me neither,” said Josh.
They turned and ran.
“I always knew this would end in trouble!” puffed Josh as they arrived back at the wildlife center. “And what are we going to say to Poppy? How will we explain what happened to her granddad?”
Poppy was happily doing a drawing of a dragonfly when they got back to the learning room.
“Oh, there you are!” she beamed as they came in.
“What happened to you? Did you fall in the pond and get thoaked?”
“Yes,” said Josh.
“Er … Poppy,” said Danny. “About your granddad … um … did you see where he went?”
Poppy looked up from her drawing. “My grandad? He’th at home with my gran, thilly!”
“But—but he was just here,” said Danny, confused. “He caught your jam jar, remember!”
“Oh, that wasn’t my granddad!” said Poppy.
“What?” gasped Josh and Danny, together.
“I never met him until today,” she said, going back to her drawing. “He just said he was helping out and that everyone called him Granddad. Why? Is he your granddad?”
“No—no, never saw him before…” murmured Danny. He and Josh sank down into the chairs next to Poppy, feeling tired and confused.
“Do you like my drawing?” she said to Danny, holding up the paper proudly. It was a good drawing.