by Adam Cece
The vial flew up and up, spinning over and over in the air. Cymphany, Kipp and Tobias gasped, and all three of them ran to catch it.
Within seconds the glass vial reached the top of its arc and started to fall—downwards—towards the hard metal platform, where it would surely smash into a million pieces and the weirdness-cure antidote would be lost forever.
Kipp and Tobias had no hope of reaching the falling vial in time. But Cymphany was a number of steps closer, and she sprinted towards it, keeping her eyes locked on it.
Kipp screamed. ‘She’s not going to make it.’
And for a moment Cymphany didn’t think she would make it either. But, at the last second, she dived and lunged. She hit the ground and slid on her tummy across the wet platform, catching the vial in her outstretched hand a centimetre above the ground.
‘Got it,’ she yelled triumphantly. But, unfortunately, she was still sliding, straight towards the edge of the platform, and straight towards the piranha-infested water.
‘Oh, no,’ Cymphany hollered—she had no time to do anything—and she slid straight over the edge.
Cymphany squeezed her eyes shut and prepared to hit the water. She waited for the splash and for the razor-sharp teeth of a thousand piranhas to bite into her poor doomed flesh.
But nothing happened.
She opened her eyes again and saw her own surprised reflection in the water just centimetres from her nose.
Cymphany looked up to see the smiling faces of Kipp and Tobias, each one holding onto one of her ankles.
‘Good work, Cym,’ said Kipp, as they hoisted her back onto the platform. ‘You got the vial.’
‘Great catch,’ said Tobias.
‘Thanks for catching me,’ Cymphany said.
Tobias nodded. ‘We couldn’t get to the vial in time, but we got to you in time.’
‘Help me, help me.’ The creepy scientist shouted as she flailed about on the ground. She’d got the piranha off her nose, but she was still trying frantically to pull snapping piranhas off her now-shredded lab coat.
‘You go tip the cure into the pipes, Cym,’ Kipp said. ‘Tobias and I will use those coils of rope to tie up the creepy scientist, the henchmen and Mr Dark.’
‘Sorry, children, but I have no intention of getting tied up, thank you,’ a voice called out.
Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany turned around to see Felonious Dark leaping into their boat. He flung aside the rope that had moored the boat to the bollard on the platform and grabbed the oars. ‘You may have won this battle,’ he sneered, ‘but one day we will meet again, and next time you won’t be so lucky.’
Kipp jumped up. ‘Quick! We might still be able to catch him.’
‘Wait,’ said Tobias. ‘Leave him, there’s no time. Let’s just get this weirdness-cure antidote into the pipes and tie up the others.’
Felonious Dark smiled. ‘Yes, yes, let me get away. Listen to your friend. He’s very smart. He’s always been my favourite out of the three of you.’
And Kipp and Cymphany did listen to their friend, although it pained them to watch Felonious Dark row away.
But there was no time to just stand there and watch. Cymphany ran up the metal stairs at the end of the platform and, checking the blueprint in her satchel, she quickly found the inlet valve for the town’s water supply pipe. She opened the valve, gave the vial a quick kiss for luck, and tipped all the weirdness-cure antidote in.
‘I just hope we’re not too late,’ she said, crossing her fingers.
When Cymphany came back down the metal stairs Kipp and Tobias had finished tying up the two henchmen and were busy helping the creepy scientist detach the last of the snapping piranhas from her shredded lab coat and throwing them back into the water.
The creepy scientist looked wet and exhausted, and was covered in hundreds of little piranha bites. ‘This is all too much for me,’ she sobbed. ‘First thing tomorrow I’m handing in my resignation.’
‘First thing tomorrow you’ll be in jail,’ said Cymphany. ‘For tampering with the Huggabie Falls water supply.’ She noticed the creepy scientist’s shifty eyes darting from side to side. ‘If you’re thinking of trying to escape like Mr Dark,’ she warned, ‘then you’d better stop quick smart, because I’ve got another pocket full of crushed chocolate-chip cookies here and if I throw them over you those piranhas will be back out of the water in no time.’
That seemed to keep the creepy scientist quiet, and Kipp and Tobias quickly went about tying her up with the leftover rope.
The funny thing about water plants that are built in the middle of lakes is that you can quite easily get stuck on them if you don’t have a boat. This isn’t usually a problem as you need to boat to get out to the water plant in the first place so you would usually have one with you.
But if you rowed out to the water plant, and then encountered a creepy scientist, a couple of henchmen and a thin nasty man, and you were able to defeat them, but then the thin nasty man got away and stole your boat, then you’d have a severe boat-shortage problem.
‘It’s not a problem,’ said Cymphany. ‘We can use the boat the creepy scientist, Mr Dark and the henchmen used to get out here.’
But after an exhaustive search of the water plant, they couldn’t find that boat anywhere.
When they asked the creepy scientist about it she shrugged. ‘I don’t know, that twit Dark must have stolen both boats, so we’d be trapped here,’ she said.
Kipp frowned. ‘He really isn’t very nice, is he.’
The creepy scientist, Cymphany and Tobias all gave Kipp a look, as if to say, no, of course he isn’t very nice, that much we’ve already established.
Five minutes later, the henchmen woke up and complained of thumping headaches.
Cymphany felt sorry for them. ‘I suppose we could get them some water.’
Tobias raised his eyebrows. ‘Get them water? Cymphany, they tried to kill us!’
But it turned out the henchmen weren’t really such terrible guys. They appreciated the glasses of water Cymphany brought them, and they told the children they would never have hurt them, and they didn’t much like their employer, the creepy scientist, especially after they’d found out what she was up to, and they were considering a change of career. Kipp untied their hands just enough to play snap with them, which made the henchmen very happy. ‘Playing snap will occupy us till morning,’ Kipp said. ‘When hopefully someone will come to rescue us.’
‘Then we’ll be able to see if the weirdness-cure antidote has worked,’ said Tobias nervously.
Kipp and Cymphany were nervous too. The three children just hoped they’d poured the antidote into the water supply in time, and that everyone in town would drink the water in time.
Doctors generally advise people to drink at least eight glasses of water a day, but that doesn’t mean everyone does it, especially not when there are all sorts of other things to drink, like soft drinks and hot chocolate, and especially when the hot chocolate hasn’t been mixed in properly so you get lots of yummy crunchy chocolate bits on top.
The creepy scientist absolutely refused to play snap. She was still quite irritated at having her master plan foiled by three pesky children, plus, she was covered in painful piranha bites.
During the card game, which was not working as well as Kipp had hoped, as far as passing the time goes—the henchmen only knew how to play snap, and one game of snap is great, but four-hundred-and-ninety-seven games of snap in a row becomes slightly less great—Kipp said, ‘Cymphany, how did you know the piranhas would jump at those chocolate-chip cookies like that?’
‘Snap.’ The other henchmen slammed his hand down on the table. ‘No…sorry.’ He frowned. ‘That’s a seven and an upside down two. My mistake.’
‘I don’t get it,’ Kipp continued. ‘I thought the piranhas weren’t weird anymore. Choc-chip-cookie-eating piranhas sounds pretty weird to me.’
‘I worked out the piranhas were still weird,’ Cymphany said. ‘Because they never dran
k the weirdness cure.’
Tobias shook his head. ‘But they live in Misty Lake. How could they not drink the water?’
Cymphany smiled. ‘Think about it. The Huggabie Falls water plant takes water from Misty Lake, treats it, and pipes it into town. The weirdness cure wasn’t being put into the water until after it had been pumped from Misty Lake. Hence the Misty Lake water is still fine, and hence the piranhas are still weird.’
Kipp, Tobias and the henchmen all stared at Cymphany with their jaws hanging open. Even the creepy scientist looked impressed. ‘You’re a genius,’ she said.
‘When Tobias had his back pocket bitten off by that piranha,’ Cymphany continued, ‘I noticed he had lots of cookie crumbs in it. And I had more cookies in my satchel. It wasn’t till tonight that I worked out that that was what the piranhas were after all along. So, I sprinkled some chocolate-chip-cookie crumbs in the water to get the piranhas into a feeding frenzy. After that I just hoped they’d jump at the creepy scientist when I threw the crumbs all over her.’ Cymphany grinned. ‘And, of course, my plan worked.’
The creepy scientist furrowed her brow. ‘Wait. You guys call me the creepy scientist?’
Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany nodded.
‘I always thought my nickname would be the stylishly glamorous scientist,’ said the creepy scientist.
Kipp, Tobias and the henchmen agreed Cymphany’s plan was an outstanding one, and they continued playing snap till morning, when they finally fell asleep.
‘Ahoy there, landlubbers.’
The children were woken by a familiar voice.
‘Is that…’ Cymphany rubbed her sleepy eyes.
‘It sounds like Mr Haurik.’ Tobias yawned. An ace of hearts was stuck to his forehead.
‘It is Mr Haurik,’ Kipp said, pointing.
From out of the mist emerged a ship, with three masts, all rigged with billowing black sails. In the prow, with a telescope to his eye and a foot on the figurehead, was Mr Haurik. He was back in pirate clothing, complete with an eye patch, a wooden peg leg, and his trusty, yet somewhat annoying, parrot on his shoulder.
‘Ahoy there, ahoy there,’ the parrot shrieked as Mr Haurik pulled his ship alongside the water-plant platform, and set down a wooden plank to disembark.
‘Mr Haurik, are we ever glad to see you,’ Cymphany said and she ran to Mr Haurik and gave him a big bear hug.
Mr Haurik looked about. ‘What are you children doing out ’ere, then?’
All speaking at once, Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany told Mr Haurik the whole story as quickly as they could.
‘That be an incredible story,’ said Mr Haurik. ‘The ’ole town turned to scurvy normalness. It’s a good thing ye children put a stop to it.’
‘Well, hopefully we have,’ said Cymphany. ‘We’ve got to get back to town as quickly as possible. You seem to be okay, but we don’t know about everyone else.’
‘I like your new ship, Mr Haurik,’ said Tobias.
‘Aye,’ said Mr Haurik, adjusting his eye patch. ‘She be a wonderful little vessel for transportin’ me caravan.’
Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany saw now that Mr Haurik’s caravan had actually been built into the ship, in the spot where cabins would usually be.
‘You got your caravan back.’ Kipp cheered.
‘Aye,’ said Mr Haurik. ‘I love me caravan, and me spa baths, even if they do make the old peg go a bit mouldy. And now I got this ship I can sail Misty Lake and enjoy me hot tubs at the same time.’
‘Pirate ship, pirate ship,’ squawked the parrot.
‘Quiet, ye scoundrel,’ scolded Mr Haurik. ‘Curse those damn murderous scavengers o’ th’ seas. I don’t want anybody associating me with one of those.’
Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany smiled at each other. ‘Well then, buying this ship was a wonderful idea,’ Tobias said, giggling. ‘Especially with that black flag you’ve got up there with the white skull and crossbones on it.’
‘You like it?’ Mr Haurik beamed. ‘I designed it meself. Just came up with the idea out of nowhere.’ Mr Haurik seemed oblivious to the fact that his design was the international symbol for pirates.
‘It’s great, Mr Haurik,’ said Cymphany, as if to say, Mr Haurik we don’t know why you can’t see that you act, talk and look exactly like a pirate, but we love you for it and it’s great to have you back to your normal weirdness.
‘Anyway,’ said Mr Haurik, gesturing towards his ship. ‘Let’s get you children back to shore. Leave this scurvy bad lot tied up ’ere and I’ll get in touch with the local authorities to come and pick ’em up, and look for that fiend Felonious.’
‘Actually, Mr Haurik,’ Cymphany whispered to Mr Haurik, ‘the two henchmen are quite nice, and they’re looking for a job.’
Mr Haurik smiled. ‘Is that so? I could use a couple of strong deckhands for me crew.’
‘Crew, crew,’ the parrot squawked.
‘What do ye say, lads?’ Mr Haurik called out. ‘Would ye join a crew that has nothing to do with pirates?’
The henchmen glanced at each other. ‘Do you play snap?’ one asked.
Mr Haurik threw his head back. ‘Only every day and twice on Sundays. Arrrr.’
And that seemed to be all the convincing the henchmen needed.
Mr Haurik’s new crew helped escort the creepy scientist onto the boat, and Mr Haurik sailed the children back to shore in his new pirate ship, complete with its inbuilt four-storey caravan. It was a much more enjoyable voyage on Misty Lake than the one the children had endured in Felonious Dark’s boat only yesterday.
Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany returned to town, feeling nervous. Even though they’d seen that Mr Haurik was back to normal weirdness, they didn’t know about everyone else.
There were some encouraging signs when they passed Tim the council worker, who was busily painting the Tim Street sign back to Digmont Drive.
When the children asked about it, Tim just shrugged. ‘Oh well,’ he said. ‘I had a street named after me for a day. That’s more than most people ever have.’
Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany smiled at each other, as that was good to see, but it didn’t mean they could be sure that their families were back to normal.
With the aid of Tobias’s egg timer, Kipp, Tobias and Cymphany ran all the way back to Tobias’s house in exactly three minutes. They were very relieved to see wooden boards back over the windows of the Treachery house and an angry mob assembled on the front lawn.
Cymphany approached one man on the outskirts of the mob. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked.
‘It was all a lie,’ the angry man said.
‘Yes,’ said a nearby angry woman, swinging a shopping bag full of rocks above her head. ‘The Treachery family never won the lottery. They fooled us all.’
‘That’s too bad,’ said Kipp, without meaning it one little bit.
Tobias hid behind his two friends. ‘Well, it looks like things are back to normal here at least,’ he whispered to Kipp and Cymphany. ‘I’d better sneak around to our secret family entrance in the back and go inside. See you at school.’
A grinning Tobias gave Kipp and Cymphany a big hug and he snuck away from the angry mob and slipped down the side of the house.
Kipp turned to Cymphany. ‘Well, at least the weirdness-cure antidote worked for Tobias’s family.’
‘That’s good,’ said Cymphany, as if to say, let’s hope that isn’t the only family it worked on.
Three egg-timer minutes later they were at Cymphany’s house.
‘I hope the weirdness-cure antidote has worked on my parents,’ said Cymphany as they approached. ‘The weirdness cure had the opposite effect on my family, so who knows what the antidote will do?’
Kipp shrugged. ‘We’ll find out soon enough.’
And they did, when they saw Mr Chan out the front dumping a box of jam in the rubbish bin.
‘Hi Dad,’ Cymphany shouted. ‘Aren’t we having jam for breakfast?’
‘Yuck!’ Mr Chan screwed up his face in exactly t
he same way Cymphany had screwed hers up earlier—screwing up faces obviously ran in the Chan family. ‘Don’t even mention the word jam. I’m so sick of jam that I had to quit my job at the jam factory. But in a stroke of luck my old boss rang up just now and offered me my old job back.’
Kipp and Cymphany exchanged a knowing look.
‘That’s good news, Mr Chan,’ said Kipp.
‘Are you staying for brekkie, Kipp?’ Mr Chan said. ‘I promise we won’t be eating jam.’
‘No thanks,’ said Kipp anxiously. ‘I’ve got to get home.’
Cymphany smiled, as if to say, I know how desperately you want to get home to see if your family is once again the weirdest family in all of Huggabie Falls. ‘Well, go on then,’ she said, after giving him a hug. But she didn’t even have time to give Kipp the egg timer, as he was already halfway down the street.
Kipp had never run as fast as he did on the way to his house. He didn’t even need the egg timer. By the time he arrived on his front porch his heart was thumping so hard, and so fast, that one of Kipp’s neighbours actually went to the window because she thought there was a helicopter flying overhead.
Kipp almost didn’t want to open the door. Sure, the weirdness-cure antidote had worked for Cymphany’s family, Tobias’s family and Mr Haurik, and the street signs were back to Digmont Drive, but there was still a chance his parents hadn’t drunk the antidote water in time.
With a big breath, Kipp pushed open the Kindle household’s front door and stepped inside.
The front room of the Kindle house was empty. The television in the corner was on and Kipp’s sister was watching a cartoon duck with a big mallet in its hand chase a cartoon rabbit.
‘Hello,’ Kipp said timidly.
Kaedy’s head snapped in his direction. ‘You’re in big trouble,’ she said, grinning.
Then Kipp caught a whiff of coffee, and a wonky pottery mug with steam wafting out the top floated across the room. Kipp instantly knew things were back to normal. He could tell from the height of the mug that it was his mother carrying it. Kipp then noticed a newspaper hovering above his father’s favourite armchair, and a bottom-shaped indentation in the cushion of the chair. The hovering paper folded to one side. ‘Kipp, my boy,’ said his father’s voice. ‘Where in heaven’s name have you been?’