by Mo O'Hara
‘Find Toby,’ snuffled Sami through a mouthful of carrot.
Geeky Girl, Pradeep and I ran to the doorway while Boris picked up the top of the plastic bag with Frankie in it and headed for the window.
There was no sign of Fang but there was something odd. There was lettuce all over the floor.
‘Toby loves lettuce,’ Pradeep said.
‘Fang must have lured Toby in here with the lettuce leaves and then pounced!’ Geeky Girl added.
‘The leaves look nibbled until you get to the steps,’ Pradeep said, inspecting a leaf like he was Sherlock Holmes in The Case of the Missing Tortoise. ‘But Fang couldn’t carry Toby up the steps on her own. She obviously had help.’
‘Mark!’ we all said together.
‘My Evil Scientist big brother strikes again,’ I sighed.
‘This “saying words at the same time” thing is starting to get seriously annoying,’ Geeky Girl mumbled.
‘Sorry,’ Pradeep and I said together.
Then I said, ‘Anyway, that means Mark is upstairs with Toby.’
‘And Frankie and Boris,’ Pradeep added. ‘Come on!’
We all ran up the stairs at full pelt. It was only when we reached the top that we heard the creepy laugh echo through the stairwell.
‘Mwhhaaa, haa, haa, haa, haa! Well done, Fang. Who’s an evil kitteny-witteny? So tortoise, go on . . . do your thing!’
There was a noise like something sparking and buzzing.
We tiptoed to the open doorway and peered through. It was one of the science classrooms. The lab tables were pushed back against the walls and two box-shaped machines stood in the centre of the room. Both machines had strong lids made of metal with some kind of keypad attached and clear sides. Boris and Frankie were nowhere to be seen, but Toby was inside one of the boxes and Fang was in the other, purring and sharpening her teeth. Wires ran from Toby’s machine to a junction box, and then to the machine that Fang was in.
‘Well then?’ said Mark’s voice.
Toby just sat there chewing a lettuce leaf.
‘That’s it?’ Mark huffed. ‘That’s your talent? You eat lettuce? Man, standards are low for this year’s show.’
‘We’ve got to get Toby out of there,’ I whispered to the others. ‘I don’t trust Mark.’
‘There’s no way he’s scanning the pets for contagious diseases,’ Geeky Girl muttered.
‘At least whatever he’s doing doesn’t seem to hurt the pets,’ Pradeep said.
While Mark’s back was turned we snuck into the room and hid behind a big cabinet. As soon as the buzzing stopped, Mark walked over to Toby, opened the lid using a secret code and took the last bit of lettuce out of his mouth.
Then Mark walked over to Fang and opened her box. He handed her the lettuce and she chomped it down in one.
‘Did that kitten just eat lettuce?’ Geeky Girl whispered.
‘Yup,’ I replied.
‘You know what this means . . . ?’ Pradeep said. ‘That scanning machine just transferred Toby’s lettuce-eating talent to Fang!’
‘Mark must have done the same thing with all the other pets too!’ Geeky Girl whispered.
‘But why?’ I asked.
Suddenly, we heard, ‘Caaaw, caaaw, caw-caw-caw-caaw-caaw . . .’
‘Star Wars?’ Pradeep and I said in looks.
Boris swooped down over our heads towards the machine containing Toby. He was still carrying Frankie in his bag of water.
Mark dashed over and blocked their way.
‘You’re too late!’ he cried. ‘Or maybe . . . you’re right on time!’ He swung around and picked up Toby like he was a cricket ball. ‘Hey, fish, catch!’ – and he hurled Toby at Boris and Frankie. Boris swerved, but the edge of Toby’s shell just caught him. He flapped and let go of Frankie’s bag.
‘Frankie!’ I screamed.
‘Boris!’ Geeky Girl screamed.
‘Toby!’ Pradeep screamed.
‘Morons?’ Mark screamed.
I guess he was a bit surprised to see us.
Pradeep flung himself across the room towards the back wall just as Toby landed in a basket of sponges.
Geeky Girl lunged for Boris as he flopped down inside Toby’s now empty box, but Mark got to him first and slammed down the lid.
I was heading for Frankie. His bag had.splatted as it hit the ground and he was flapping around in the puddle of spilt water. While I was looking for something to put him in, Fang pounced! In a flash she had picked up Frankie by the tail and was over at the box with Boris inside. Before Geeky Girl even realized what was happening, Mark flipped open the lid and Fang dropped Frankie inside.
‘Hypnotize him, Frankie!’ I shouted, as Mark banged down the lid.
Frankie’s eyes glowed green as he thrashed around, unable to get free.
‘No chance.’ Mark smirked. He tapped the glass. ‘Hypno-proof. My own little addition to this model of scanner.’ He laughed a really scary evil laugh.
Geeky Girl pulled on the lid. ‘It’s locked! What’s the code? Let them out!’ she shouted.
By now Pradeep had rescued Toby, and together we raced towards the box.
‘That’s it!’ Geeky Girl rolled up her sleeves and slammed her fist into her palm. ‘No one messes with Boris.’ Just as she was about to knock Mark’s block off, or at least give him a good punch in the arm to think about, Fang jumped towards us with lightning speed. She had some kind of cable in her mouth.
‘Look out!’ I cried. But it was too late. Fang ran around us until Pradeep, Geeky Girl and I were completely tangled up in the cable. Then she leaped across the room and into the other scanner.
‘We know what you’re up to and you can’t get away with it!’ Pradeep yelled.
‘Mwhaaa, haa, haa, haa, haa!’ Mark laughed. ‘I think I just did. Ready, kitty?’ he asked Fang.
‘Mew, mew, mew, mew, mew, mew,’ said Fang. If I didn’t know better, I could have sworn that was an evil kitten laugh.
Mark threw a switch on the junction box between the scanners.
‘Please! Frankie needs water. Let them out!’ I shouted over the buzzing, crackling noise.
‘Let them go!’ Geeky Girl yelled. ‘You were nice last time we met! I even made you tea!’
The buzzing seemed to hit a peak, and then faded out.
Fang smoothed down her static-charged fur while Mark walked over to the scanner with Boris and Frankie inside and unlocked the lid. Boris flew out, clutching Frankie in his claws.
‘He needs water, Boris, find some!’ I shouted to the budgie.
‘Go, Boris,’ Geeky Girl said as we pulled at the cable around us. Boris took one look back and then headed for the window.
‘Meeeeeew?’ said Fang.
‘It’s OK, kitty,’ said Mark, walking over to Fang’s scanner and letting her jump on to his shoulder. ‘We don’t need them any more. There’s nothing they can do to stop us now. I’ll make sure you get to eat the fish . . . and the bird later!’
‘That’s especially evil. Even for you!’ yelled Pradeep, still pulling at the cable.
‘Thank you,’ said Mark. ‘You know, I totally didn’t plan to get the budgie, let alone the stupid fish, into my Mega-Evil Talent-Transfer scanner.’ He flicked his white Evil Scientist coat out behind him. ‘I’ve already transferred plenty of pet talents to Fang. Definitely enough to get her on tonight’s My Pet’s Got Talent live TV show and win. Then, when I get to meet all the national finalists, and scan their pets too, there will be no stopping me. I’ll win the prize money fair and square. Well, fair and square for me.’ He couldn’t resist throwing in an evil laugh at that point.
‘I’ll finally have enough money to build a proper evil lair, order anything I want from Evil Scientist magazine, and go to Wicked Wally’s Evil Adventure World next summer. But now you guys have made this soooo easy. Fang is going to sail through today’s auditions . . . but I’m going to save her most special talent of all until the live TV show tonight. Then we can use it on ever
yone that tunes in to watch the show – can’t we, evil kitty-witty?’ he cooed. ‘As well as winning the prize money in the grand finals, I’ll have an audience of evil minions to do my bidding. Result! Mwhaaa, haa, haa, haa, haa!’
It was then that we noticed that Fang wasn’t sitting on Mark’s shoulder any more; she was levitating just above it.
And her eyes were a hypnotic zombie green!
‘You took their powers as well as their talents!’ I gasped. ‘Quick, everyone, close your eyes so Fang can’t hypnotize you!’
We all screwed our eyes up tight.
‘You won’t get away with this!’ Geeky Girl said.
‘Hey, you morons interrupted me and now I forgot what I was saying,’ snapped Mark.
‘You were explaining your evil plan in a long-winded way which will probably help us to come up with an idea of how we can try and stop you,’ Pradeep answered.
‘Oh, yeah, thanks!’ said Mark. ‘Anyway, Sanj and I made these scanners out of some old CAT scan machines that the hospital was throwing away. It was the name “CAT scan” that gave me the idea. I could scan stuff into my cat!’ He flicked up the collar of his white coat and smiled. ‘You can tell me how much of an Evil Scientist genius I am now.’
‘You’re an evil genius who can’t spell “contagious”, “diseases” or “mandatory”,’ muttered Pradeep.
‘Sanj usually does the spelling stuff,’ Mark huffed. He punched his fist into his palm.
‘I knew my Evil Computer Genius big brother would be involved somehow,’ Pradeep sighed.
‘Shame he actually ended up catching something contagious from the building where we swiped the scanner,’ said Mark. ‘But they say he’ll only be in quarantine for another two weeks. I told him I’d take a selfie with Solomon Caldwell when we win and send it to him.’
‘So that’s why Sanj has been video-calling wearing a Hazardous Chemical suit from boarding school! He said it was because he was in a play and that was his costume!’ Pradeep said.
Mark looked at his watch. ‘I’ve got to get this kitten to her audition.’ He smiled. ‘You guys just hang out for as long as you want. I’ll put a “Scanning Room Closed” sign out front so you don’t get disturbed.’ Mark picked up the ‘Closed’ sign from a table and walked through the door, with Fang still hovering slightly above his left shoulder. We heard the lock click shut and then footsteps going down the stairs.
‘I really hope Boris found some water for Frankie!’ I said. ‘He didn’t look good!’
‘I’m sure Boris will have saved him. He’s a very smart bird,’ said Geeky Girl. ‘Now let’s concentrate on getting out of here. We are locked in and tied up. Any ideas on how to get out of this?’
‘We could shuffle over to the window, attach one end of the cable to the curtain pole and then push ourselves out. The cable would slowly unroll as we fell so that we would only have to drop the last couple of feet to the ground,’ Pradeep said.
‘Good plan,’ I said. ‘Except for the throwing-ourselves-out-of-the-window bit.’
‘Or we could . . .’ Geeky Girl began, ‘just wait here for Boris to fly in through the window carrying Frankie in the little yellow bucket from Sami’s scooter, which is cunningly filled with water and rabbit fur conditioner. Boris would then dump the bucket on top of us and we could use the slippery conditioner to slide out of the cables.’
‘Like that’s gonna happen . . .’ I started to say, when I noticed that Geeky Girl was looking at Boris flying towards us across the room, holding Sami’s small yellow bucket in his claws. Frankie was peeking out of the top and waving.
‘Whaaa—’ I began, just as Boris dropped the bucket. The water splashed all over us, making us slippery enough to wriggle free of the cables.
‘OK, I get that you saw Boris coming with the bucket,’ Pradeep said as he attempted to pick up an equally slippery Frankie. ‘But how did you know that there was conditioner in the water?’
‘I have an extremely developed sense of smell.’ Geeky Girl shrugged. There was a slightly awkward silence.
‘Let’s get Frankie back in some fresh water and get out of here,’ I said, changing the subject. ‘Are you feeling OK now, Frankie?’ I asked as I filled up the bucket from a sink on one of the lab tables. ‘I mean, after the whole scanning thing?’
Frankie squelched out of Pradeep’s hands and into the bucket with a splash, then shrugged and nodded.
‘We need to get downstairs and stop Fang from getting into the auditions,’ Pradeep said as he dried Toby’s shell with some paper towels.
‘Before it’s too late,’ Geeky Girl added as she shook the door handle. ‘It’s no good. Mark definitely locked it from the outside.’
Pradeep had already tucked Toby into his jacket and picked up the roll of cable that had been wrapped around us. He carried it over to the window. ‘No one will see us if we go out this way,’ he said.
‘Pradeep, I thought we vetoed the throwing-ourselves-out-of-the-window plan as, you know, I would like to get through the day with most of my bones in one piece?’ I said.
‘Don’t worry. This is Plan B,’ Pradeep nodded. He handed one end of the cable to Boris, who clutched it in his claws. ‘OK, Boris, fly over there and hook your end on to the metal loop on that fence post,’ he said.
Boris flapped away carrying the cable and managed to hook it on the post. Pradeep pulled until the cable was taut. Then he tied it to the curtain pole using one of the really complicated knots he knows from camping all the time.
‘Now all we have to do is slide down,’ he said.
I looked at the distance from the window to the car park below. ‘All the way down there?’ I gulped.
‘Cool plan, Braniac,’ Geeky Girl said. ‘I’ll go first.’ She grabbed the cable. ‘It’s really slippery from the conditioner!’
‘Exactly,’ Pradeep replied. ‘That means less friction for sliding down the wire.’
‘Yeah, but it also means we can’t get a grip on it properly,’ she said.
‘That’s what these are for,’ Pradeep said, and pulled out three wooden coat hangers from behind his back. ‘They were in the cabinet by the door.’ Pradeep smiled.
Geeky Girl grabbed a hanger and hung it on the slippery cable. ‘See you on the other side!’ she shouted as she pushed off.
‘Wait! I forgot to say,’ Pradeep shouted. ‘Let go before you hit the post!’
‘Awesome ride!’ shouted Geeky Girl, letting go just before the hanger crashed into the fence post. ‘Come on down!’
‘OK, Pradeep,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you go next with Toby, then I’ll send Frankie in the bucket. I’ll come down last.’
Pradeep grabbed a coat hanger, hooked it on to the cable and climbed on to the windowsill. ‘Here I go!’ he yelled, but stayed sitting on the window ledge, not moving an inch.
‘You’ve gotta actually push off, Pradeep,’ I whispered.
‘I know.’ Pradeep’s voice quivered a bit. ‘It all looked fine from inside. From out here, I’m not as convinced about this plan.’
‘Geeky Girl was fine,’ I said. ‘Come on. One . . .’ I counted.
‘Two,’ Pradeep and I said together.
‘Three,’ I said on my own, and Pradeep stayed perched on the windowsill.
Pradeep gripped the hanger tightly. ‘I just can’t.’
‘Sure you can,’ I said. ‘Let’s count again and you’ll go on Three.’
‘One,’ I said as Frankie leaned out of his bucket and nipped Pradeep on the bum.
‘Ooooowwwwcccccchhhhh!’ Pradeep yelled as he slid down the cable, letting go safely at the bottom.
‘You’re not very patient, are you, Frankie?’ I shook my head. I unclipped the handle of his bucket, hooked it over the cable and slid Frankie down to Pradeep.
‘Come on, Tom!’ Pradeep yelled as he unclipped Frankie’s bucket.
I grabbed my hanger and pushed off. ‘Geronimooooooo!’ I shouted as I shot down the cable. I remember seeing the post coming up v
ery fast and thinking, ‘There’s something I was supposed to do right about now . . . ?’
Below me I heard Pradeep and Geeky Girl shouting, ‘Let go! Tom, LET GO!’
With a second to spare I remembered that ‘letting go’ was exactly what I was supposed to do. I dropped to the ground and the hanger clattered into the fence post ahead.
‘Now we’ve got to get to Mark!’ I said, standing up.
We all took off. I carried the sloshing bucket with Frankie inside and Boris clung on Geeky Girl’s shoulder as she ran.
We got to the audition trailer just as the girl with the rabbits was coming out. Sami was with her, wearing the rabbits’ top hat. Pradeep took Toby out of his jacket and handed him to Sami.
‘Toby back!’ Sami cried, snuggling him close.
‘Sorry it took us so long,’ I panted to Rabbit Girl.
‘Yeah, we got kinda tied up!’ Geeky Girl added.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Rabbit Girl with a sniffle. ‘We totally blew the audition anyway. It’s like my bunnies didn’t remember any of their act! They couldn’t do one magic trick.’
The kid with the roller-skating beagle was sitting outside the trailer too, putting plasters on his dog’s legs. ‘Yeah,’ he added. ‘It’s like my dog couldn’t balance at all any more.’
‘Tell me about it!’ said a voice from behind us. The boy who owned Tugger, the beret-wearing painting ferret, pulled out a canvas with a stick figure drawn on it. ‘I tried telling the judges he’s going through a minimalist period, but they just said it wasn’t very good.’ The boy scratched his disappointed-looking ferret behind the ears. ‘Earlier he was painting French Impressionist sunsets!’
Pradeep, Geeky Girl and I all exchanged a look that said, ‘The scanner!’
‘I’m really sorry to hear about that,’ Pradeep said. ‘But we’ve got to go in for our audition now.’
‘You’d better hurry,’ Rabbit Girl said. ‘They looked like they were starting to close up.’