The Case of Firebane's Folly

by Liam O'Donnell

  Text copyright © 2018 Liam O’Donnell

  Illustrations copyright © 2018 Mike Deas

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  O’Donnell, Liam, 1970–, author

  Tank & Fizz : the case of firebane's folly / by Liam O'Donnell;

  illustrated by Mike Deas.

  Issued in print and electronic formats.

  ISBN 978-1-4598-1261-1 (softcover).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1262-8 (pdf).—ISBN 978-1-4598-1263-5 (epub)

  I. Deas, Mike, 1982-, illustrator II. Title. III. Title: Tank and Fizz. IV. Title: Case of firebane's folly.

  PS8579.D646T33 2018 jC813'.6 C2017-904526-1

  C2017-904527-X

  First published in the United States, 2018

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949716

  Summary: In this illustrated middle-grade novel and fourth book in the Tank & Fizz series, a goblin detective and technology-tinkering troll get wrapped up in a scheme from the Dark Depths to take control of Slick City using the infamous Crown of Peace.

  Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Edited by Liz Kemp

  Design by Jenn Playford

  Illustrations and cover image by Mike Deas

  ORCA BOOK PUBLISHERS

  www.orcabook.com

  Printed and bound in Canada.

  21 20 19 18 • 4 3 2 1

  For all the little monsters with big ideas.

  — Liam O’Donnell

  For Faye, Annie and Nancy. Love you.

  — Mike Deas

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE Field Trip Foul-Up

  CHAPTER TWO Dark Depths Disaster

  CHAPTER THREE Caught in the Spider Queen's Web

  CHAPTER FOUR Swampy Sabotage

  CHAPTER FIVE Fish Heads and New Friends

  CHAPTER SIX Strangers in the Swamp

  CHAPTER SEVEN Showdown in Lava Falls

  CHAPTER EIGHT Snatched by the Scales

  CHAPTER NINE A Dragon's Deal

  CHAPTER TEN Above the Abyss

  CHAPTER ELEVEN Diving Deep in a Leaky Bucket

  CHAPTER TWELVE Beneath the Flames

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN Fiery Escape

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN Return of the Queen

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN Reunions and Revenge

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN Secrets in the Stone

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Rise of the Fallen

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN How NOT to Ride a Dragon

  CHAPTER NINETEEN Into the Abyss

  CHAPTER TWENTY Dancing in the Dark Depths

  CHAPTER ONE

  Field Trip Foul-Up

  Principal Weaver was ready to burst a silk gland.

  “Fizz Marlow!” she barked through her megaphone. “You. Are. Late!”

  I hated to admit it, but the old web-head was right. My spider-principal swung alongside the little yellow bus pulling away from the school gates. A bus I was supposed to be on.

  The name’s Fizz Marlow. I’m in the fourth grade, and I solve mysteries. It’s a living. I’m a goblin. I’m also very late for the bus taking me on my first overnight field trip.

  Tank helped me to my feet.

  “Take it easy, Henelle,” she said. “He’s just a little late.”

  Henelle glared at me with her one large eye. A shiver ran down my scales. The octoclops was student captain of our field-trip group. She might be half cyclops and half octopus, but she was all bossy pants to her classmates.

  “Late will get you killed in the Dark Depths,” she growled.

  “We’re not going to the Dark Depths,” I said. “We’re visiting the Glowshroom Glades, remember?”

  “The glades are on the farthest edge of the Shallows,” Henelle said with a sigh. “One wrong turn and you’re in the Dark Depths, home to the deadliest monsters in Rockfall Mountain. You would know all this if you read the field-trip information package I created for the class. But I guess reading is a little too much to ask for some of us.”

  Henelle gave a final whip of her arms and stomped to the front of the bus.

  I let my backpack fall to the bus floor. It landed with a thud. At the front, the driver looked back at me through the rearview mirror. The reflection of the ogre’s stare cut into me like a hatchet and made me want to jump out the back door again. Instead, I slunk into my seat beside Tank.

  “You’re welcome, by the way.” My best friend was focused on her phone. She had taken off the back and was poking at the wires inside with a tiny spinning-screwdriver thingy. Tank was always poking at technology. When you’re a troll, tinkering with technology is what you do. And Tank was the best tinkering-troll detective partner a sleuth like me could ask for.

  “Thank you for getting me scooped up and tossed onto the bus,” I grumbled.

  “I told you not to be late for school today. It’s a long drive to the glades.”

  “I wasn’t late,” I snapped. “The driver left early!” Hatchet-Eyes looked back at me again. Had he heard me? I lowered my voice. “What’s the deal with the driver? Where’s Ms. Yallo? I thought she was taking us on this trip.”

  “Ms. Yallo is sick. This guy said his name was Mr. Ravel or something. Anyway, it doesn’t matter who drives us.” Tank’s ears wiggled. “For the next few days, our classroom will be the majestic forests of illuminated fungi known as the Glowshroom Glades.”

  “You sound like a tourist brochure,” I said.

  “That’s because it is from a brochure.” She pulled a folded paper from the pocket of her tool belt and handed it to me. “The glades are the only place in Rockfall Mountain where you can find over three hundred varieties of glowshrooms.”

  “Fascinating.” I yawned. Spending the week in Principal Weaver’s office was sounding more exciting every second. “Wake me up when we get there.”

  A buzzing came from the front of the bus. A blaze fairy the size of an ogre’s tooth flew up the aisle.

  “Fizz Marlow!” the fairy barked.

  “Now you’re in trouble,” Tank muttered and doubled her focus on her phone’s circuit board.

  Miss Blinx, Gravelmuck Elementary gym teacher and three-time Slick City weightlifting champion, zipped closer.

  “Henelle tells me you were late, Marlow,” she sneered. “I will not have any students go missing or get eaten on this trip. That would create far too much paperwork. This is your only warning.”

  Miss Blinx buzzed back to the front of the bus before I could think up one of my amazing comebacks. It was probably for the best. For the next few days Miss Blinx was in charge. She might be small enough to fit in a troll’s pocket, but you did not want to make that fairy mad.

  Near the middle of the bus Mr. Mantle hovered above his seat, flipping through the pages of a book. He is my math teacher, and he looks like a floating brain with a mustache and wispy tentacles for arms. When your teacher is all brain and loves numbers, you know you’re in trouble. Mr. Mantle and Miss Blinx were our chaperones for this field trip. Our whole class had been planning it for months. We had held bake sales and raffles to raise enough money, and now we were on our way. I wasn’t a huge fan of spending a week looking at glowshrooms, but anything was better than looking at the walls of a cla
ssroom.

  Beside me, Tank quietly tinkered with her phone. The other kids around us laughed and chatted excitedly, bouncing in their seats with each bump in the road as the bus rolled through the outskirts of Slick City. Outside the window my hometown whizzed by as the driver steered us deeper into Rockfall Mountain. From mystery-loving goblins like me to fire-breathing dragons, Rockfall Mountain was home to a vast underground world of scales, tails, fangs and fur.

  I had never been this far outside of Slick City, so you’d think I’d be excited. Instead, it felt like something was missing. It had been weeks since Tank and I had solved a mystery. And even then, it had only been finding Mr. Mantle’s missing monocle. Excitement overload on that case. There wasn’t much chance of finding a new mystery in a field of glowshrooms, so there was nothing I could do about it now. I guess even scaly detectives need a holiday from crime solving every now and then. I closed my eyes and tried to have a nap. It had been a busy morning, what with me rushing to get to school on time and all.

  I must have drifted off to sleep, because when I opened my eyes the bus had stopped. Monsters were getting out of their seats and grabbing their things.

  “Restroom break,” Tank said. “We’re at the Sparkling Falls rest area. Mr. Mantle says the falls are a sight to behold. Whatever that means.”

  “Let’s see what makes them sparkle.” I climbed out of my seat and shook the sleep from my tail.

  “Nice comeback.” Rizzo Rawlins chuckled and headed to the washrooms. The kobold had been handing out wedgies and dishing insults since he was in diapers. Rizzo got under my scales just by showing up to school each day.

  “Hopefully, Rizzo will get locked in the bathroom and we’ll leave without him.”

  “Forget about him.” Tank sighed. “Just enjoy the field trip, Fizz.”

  My friend was right. I couldn’t let bullies like Rizzo Rawlins get to me. I watched the sparkling water of the falls rush from the rock walls and plummet into the blackness below. The roar of the water soothed my frustration. Pretty soon I had forgotten all about Rizzo Rawlins. I stopped worrying about Hatchet-Eyes the driver too. I even felt okay about not having a mystery to solve.

  After a while Miss Blinx ordered us all back on the bus, and then we were rolling once again. The rest of the ride was pretty quiet. Most kids put on headphones and listened to music or read their books. Seeing water sparkle really takes it out of you, I guess. The scenery now was just rock, rock and more rock.

  Suddenly Tank jabbed me with her elbow. “You’ve got to see this.” Her eyes were glued to her phone’s screen. “Something is not right.” There was a map on the screen. A flashing dot moved across the map. Tank pointed to the dot. “That’s our bus traveling along the road.”

  “So what’s the problem?” I said. “You think we’re lost?”

  Tank shook her head. “No, but we’re taking an interesting route to the glades.” She moved the map with her finger. It sent our little flashing dot off the screen. It was replaced by a large splotch of yellow. “Those are the Glowshroom Glades.”

  “We’re driving away from it,” I said. “We’re totally lost.”

  “We’re not lost.” Tank’s fingers dragged the map back down again. The flashing dot returned and slid to the bottom of the screen.

  “The Dark Depths,” I gasped.

  Tank’s ears were trembling. Our bus driver’s shortcut was taking us into the most dangerous place in all of Rockfall Mountain.

  Suddenly I wished I had missed the bus that morning after all.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dark Depths Disaster

  The region known as the Dark Depths was bad news.

  The massive cavern lay deep underground, at the very bottom of Rockfall Mountain, and was crawling with monsters too wild to be allowed in Slick City. The Dark Depths was divided into three lands. Each land was ruled by a different group of monsters.

  One land was home to deadly spiders who lived in a city made of web. Dwarves controlled another vast region rich in gems. The dwarves did not trust other monsters and only ventured out of their mines to trade the precious jewels they mined from the rock. The third region was the land of the dragonkin, ruled by the ancient dragon Firebane Drakeclaw. With dangerous spiders, mysterious dwarves and a dragon as old as the mountain, the Dark Depths was definitely not a parent-approved destination for a fourth-grade field trip.

  “We have to tell Mr. Mantle,” I hissed.

  At the front of the bus, Mr. Ravel’s hatchet eyes locked onto me in the rearview mirror. My body went as cold as a rockslipper fish. I slunk down in my seat.

  “The driver knows we’re on to him,” I whispered.

  Tank slunk too. “How do you know?”

  “He keeps looking back here.”

  Tank sighed. “He could just be keeping an eye on all of us, not just you. Relax.”

  “Relax?” I hissed. “He’s taking us toward the Dark Depths. They eat goblins for breakfast down there! We have to tell Mr. Mantle.”

  I wriggled out of my seat.

  The ogre’s gaze returned to the road. I scrambled to my feet and rubbed my eyes. Mr. Ravel was still very much an ogre driving our bus. I stumbled back to Tank, still not sure what I had just seen.

  Tank was showing Mr. Mantle the map on her phone.

  “There must be some mistake.” Tentacle-Head’s mustache twitched. He looked toward Mr. Ravel. “Come with me.”

  He rose up out of his seat and rushed toward the driver. Tank and I hurried after him.

  “Excuse me, Mr…um…” Mr. Mantle paused. For a guy who was all brain and homework, he often forgot stuff. Like the driver’s name.

  “Mr. Ravel,” I blurted out.

  “Mr. Ravel, we seem to be off course.” Mr. Mantle looked out the window. His tentacles stood straight. “Oh dear! Is that Coppe’s Bridge? That means we’re entering the Dark Depths.”

  We were now driving toward a crumbling bridge spanning a white landscape. No rocks jutted out from the whiteness below the bridge. No creatures moved along the ground. I realized it wasn’t solid ground below the bridge at all. It was something else.

  Mr. Mantle stared out the front window. His one eye was open wide. “Mr. Ravel, you are taking us into the Dark Depths. Turn the bus around this instant!”

  The ogre shrugged. “Sorry, boss. That’s not part of the plan.”

  The bus picked up speed. My brain picked up speed too.

  “You have a plan?” I said. “You’re not alone, are you?”

  Mr. Ravel looked at me and growled before turning back to the road. “I knew you were a smart one, kid.”

  “What’s the commotion up here?” It was Miss Blinx. She buzzed behind Tank’s shoulder. Her wings skipped a beat when she looked out the window. “Where in the tar pits of Tanamoor are we?”

  Mr. Ravel stared straight ahead. “We are right where we need to be. And we’re on schedule.”

  Inside the bus, everyone was thrown from their seats. I flew forward and crunched my snout against the dashboard before falling onto the sticky floor. Tank crash-landed beside me. Her phone tumbled from her hand and clattered to the floor. Mr. Ravel got up from the driver’s seat. Without a word, the ogre stepped over Tank and me, pushed open the door of the bus and hurried outside.

  Tank scrambled to her feet and picked up her phone. “Where’s he going?”

  “Let’s find out.”

  I stumbled out the door. The white ground trembled as I stepped off the bus. It grabbed at my feet with every step.

  “It feels like a spiderweb,” I said.

  The sticky white web stretched from one side of the valley to the other. Below us, a web mesh plunged deep into the valley. Strands of spidery silk crisscrossed the valley walls, creating a network of pathways. I didn’t want to think about who, or what, used those webby walkways.

  Tank arrived beside me, her troll feet covered in spiderweb silk.

  “This is like visiting Principal Weaver’s office,” she grumbled. �
��Miss Blinx wants you back on the bus, Fizz. It’s too dangerous out here.”

  “Tell that to Mr. Ravel,” I said.

  The ogre was on the roof of the bus, untying the straps that held our luggage in place. The bus was buried up to its wheels in the sticky web. I could hear Mr. Mantle inside the bus, telling the other students that everything was all right. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that everything was all wrong.

  Mr. Ravel pulled a long crate out from the pile of suitcases and tossed it over the side of the bus. It landed on the web not far away. The ground rippled like the surface of a lake. I stumbled backward. Tank caught my arm before I fell on my tail.

  “Careful, Fizz,” she said. “The ground is so sticky, one fall and you’re not getting back up.”

  The crate burst open. The sides fell away to reveal a pile of twisted metal pipes. The metal hummed. Then it moved. Metal pipes unfolded and snapped into place one after the other, until it didn’t look like a pile anymore.

  “It’s a self-assembling dual-drive rocket bike!” Tank’s ears wiggled with tech-loving glee. “I’ve never seen one up close before.”

  Mr. Ravel jumped off the roof of the bus and landed beside the rocket bike, sending another tremor across the webby ground.

  The rocket bike blasted off the sea of webs and back onto the bridge. It roared down the road before being swallowed by the shadows of the Dark Depths.

  Tank’s eyes were as big as a pair of glowshrooms as she watched the rocket bike disappear. “That was awesome!” My friend was in a total tech-trance. “Did you see those twin boosters auto-synch their blast capacity?”

  “No,” I snapped. “What I saw was our bus driver ditching our entire class in the Dark Depths!”

  Tank’s ears flopped. “Oh yeah, that part doesn’t sound good.”

  “Fizz Marlow!” Miss Blinx zipped out of the bus and buzzed over to us. Her tiny wings carried her safely above the sticky web. “Get back on the bus this minute! I’m sure our driver is working on a way to get us out of this mess.”