Snake Escape

by Justin D'Ath

  ‘Do something, Agent J,’ gasped Harry. ‘I can’t hold Bella off much longer!’

  Jordan felt helpless. Charlie was hanging from the ceiling nearly two metres above his head. How could he reach him?

  ‘Shoo! Shoo!’ he cried, waving his hands at the terrified bird.

  It didn’t work. Charlie’s claws were locked onto the fan’s plastic cover. He was too scared to move.

  ‘Pet Whisperer!’ yelled his brother.

  Jordan was surprised to hear his old superhero name. When they were little, he used to think he could send messages to pets. It started when Myrtle was a puppy. If he closed his eyes and really concentrated, sometimes Jordan could make Myrtle do things without talking. It was like speaking in thoughts. Sometimes it seemed to work with their guinea pigs too.

  That was years ago. Jordan was too old for pretend games now.

  But it was Charlie’s only chance.

  Jordan put his arms down and closed his eyes. Think like a cockatoo, he told himself.

  But something bumped into him, spoiling his concentration. It was Mrs Seabert, waving a broom. She poked the bristly end up towards the cockatoo.

  ‘Jump on this, Charlie,’ she said.

  Charlie didn’t move. He was frozen in fear.

  Just then, Bella made an extra powerful lunge, and nearly got past the bent FoxNet.

  ‘Jordan, hurry!’ yelped Harry.

  They weren’t supposed to say each other’s real names in front of people, but this was an emergency.

  Jordan closed his eyes and tried to make himself calm inside.

  Come to me! he whispered in his mind, holding out his hands.

  6

  WHUMP, THUNK AND CRASH

  WHUMP!

  Something landed in Jordan’s arms. It didn’t feel like a cockatoo – it had fur, not feathers. He opened his eyes.

  It was Mrs Seabert’s cat! It must have jumped down off the fridge because it saw him holding out his hands.

  Or had the cat heard his mind-whisper?

  There was no time to wonder because next moment…

  THUNK!

  Something else came crashing down. It wasn’t a cockatoo, either. It was the cover from the fan. The one Charlie had been clinging to.

  Uh-oh!

  Jordan looked up. There was a round hole where the fan had been. The broken fan dangled on some green and red wires above Jordan’s head.

  Charlie was flying around the room screeching.

  Mrs Seabert went after him, trying to get him to land on the broom. But she was just making things worse. The cockatoo thought the big bristly broom was chasing him. He nearly flew straight into Bella.

  Snap! went the python’s jaws.

  This time she didn’t get just one feather, she got a whole mouthful. But Harry beat her back with the FoxNet’s handle before she could take another bite.

  Screech! Charlie flew one more lap around the kitchen, scattering loose feathers behind him like large snowflakes. Then he flapped up through the hole and disappeared into the ceiling.

  ‘Oh my goodness!’ wailed Mrs Seabert. ‘My poor boy!’

  ‘It’s okay, Mrs Seabert,’ said Harry, jumping down off the stove. ‘At least he’s safe from Bella up there.’

  But Harry was wrong.

  ‘Agent H, look!’ Jordan cried.

  Bella had stretched across from the top of the cupboards to the hole where Charlie had disappeared. Some of her was already in the ceiling.

  Now that he was back on the floor, Harry could no longer reach her with the bent FoxNet. But as more of Bella’s long scaly body slid into the hole, her tail slipped off the cupboards and swung down like a jungle vine.

  Harry jumped up and grabbed her tail. His feet were off the ground. Swinging back and forward, he tried to pull her down. But Bella was very strong.

  Slowly, Harry started going up towards the hole!

  ‘Help me, Agent J!’ he cried.

  Jordan passed the cat to Mrs Seabert. ’You’d better take it out of here,’ he said. ‘Agent M’s getting a bit excited.’

  It was true. Myrtle was watching the cat and drooling.

  Mrs Seabert raced away with the cat while Jordan turned to help his brother. He wrapped his hands around Harry’s leg and pulled.

  It was a tug-of-war, and Mission Fox was winning! The snake started to come backwards out of the ceiling, like toothpaste coming out of a tube.

  But Bella’s tail wasn’t soft and squishy like toothpaste. It was hard and slippery and difficult to hang onto. Harry’s fingers began to lose their grip.

  Then they let go …

  CRASH!

  7

  CAPTAIN AMAZING

  Harry and Jordan landed in a tangle of legs and arms in the middle of Mrs Seabert’s kitchen floor.

  ‘Shishkebab!’ cried Harry, watching the skinny end of Bella’s tail disappear into the hole.

  Jordan sat up and rubbed his eyes. They were starting to itch. And there was a tight feeling in his throat. He was allergic to cats. They made his eyes sore and gave him asthma. It was a bit of a problem for an animal rescuer.

  ‘Where’s the FoxPack?’ he asked. ‘I need my inhaler.’

  Harry found the inhaler and gave him a puff. Myrtle gave his face a good licking.

  ‘Thanks guys,’ Jordan said. ‘I’m feeling better now.’

  Mrs Seabert came back into the kitchen without the cat.

  ‘Where’s Bella?’ she asked.

  Harry pointed at the hole. ‘Up there,’ he said.

  There was a terrified screech from somewhere in the roof, followed by the sound of flapping wings.

  ‘Poor Charlie!’ Mrs Seabert said.

  They all looked up at the hole. It was too small for a person to fit through – even a little one. Jordan was relieved.

  ‘Is there another way to get into the roof, Mrs Seabert?’ Harry asked.

  ‘There’s a trapdoor in the laundry,’ she said. ‘But I really don’t think it’s safe for you boys to go up there.’

  Harry thrust his chest out. When he was little, he used to play made-up games, too. He pretended to be a superhero called Captain Amazing. Captain Amazing wasn’t scared of anything – a bit like Harry, really.

  ‘It’s our job to go up there, Mrs Seabert,’ he said in a deep superhero voice.

  8

  SCALES

  Mrs Seabert led them to the laundry. The trapdoor was in the middle of the ceiling. It had a ladder that pulled down on a string. Harry went up first. He stuck his head through the opening.

  ‘It sure is dark up here,’ he said.

  Jordan rummaged in the FoxPack until he found the FoxTorch. He climbed up the ladder and gave it to his brother. Harry shone it around inside the roof.

  ‘I can see eyes,’ he said.

  The ladder had twelve steps. Harry was standing on step number eight. His head and shoulders were inside the roof. Jordan clung tightly to the ladder below him. He was only on step three, but that felt high enough. His knuckles were white from holding on so hard. He wanted to go back down.

  ‘Do they look like cockatoo eyes?’ he asked hopefully.

  ‘Can’t tell,’ said Harry. ‘I’ll have to go and look.’

  His GoFaster sneakers went further up the ladder – step nine, step ten, step eleven, step twelve. Then they disappeared.

  Now it was Jordan’s turn. He climbed up slowly until his head was inside the roof. It was dark and spooky. He could see his brother crawling away from him. The dull light of the FoxTorch made long shadows on all the wooden beams, which looked like the bars of a jungle gym. There were sagging spider webs with sawdust on them. Everything seemed to wobble and change shape as the FoxTorch moved.

  ‘Where are the eyes?’ Jordan asked.

  ‘Right in front of me,’ Harry said. ‘Can’t you see them?’

  ‘You must be in the way.’

  Jordan stayed on the ladder. He was backup. If Harry needed anything from the FoxPack, Jordan could climb dow
n and get it.

  Just then there was a scuffling noise. A huge black shape came flying towards Jordan.

  It looked like a giant bat!

  ‘Grab him!’ yelled Harry, swinging the FoxTorch around.

  Caught in the light, the flying thing changed from black to white. It no longer looked like a bat.

  It looked like a cockatoo!

  Jordan made a wild grab for it and nearly fell off the ladder.

  Missed!

  The big white shape flew off into the darkness on the other side of him.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Mrs Seabert called up from below.

  ‘It was Charlie,’ Jordan called. ‘I nearly got him.’

  ‘We need something to catch him in,’ said Harry.

  That gave Jordan an idea. ‘Mrs Seabert, can I have an old towel or something?’

  She fetched one and passed it up.

  ‘Agent H!’ Jordan called. ‘Here’s a towel. Throw it over Charlie next time you get close to him.’

  ‘You were the one who got close to him.’ Harry’s voice came out of the darkness.

  Jordan could no longer see his brother. ‘Why did you turn the FoxTorch off?’ he asked.

  ‘I didn’t,’ Harry said. ‘I bumped it on something and it stopped working.’

  ‘Can you fix it?’ asked Jordan.

  ‘I’m trying,’ said Harry. There was a clicking sound. ‘I think it’s broken.’

  Jordan looked down the ladder. ‘Do you have a torch we could borrow please, Mrs Seabert?’

  She brought him another torch. It was a big old-fashioned one, as bright as a laser.

  ‘Look what I’ve got!’ Jordan said, shining it through the shadowy roof space towards his brother.

  Harry covered his eyes. ‘Turn it the other way!’ he growled. ‘You’re blinding me!’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Jordan. He swung the torch away from Harry, and his heart gave a big jump in his chest, like a wallaby was in there.

  There was a large wooden beam right next to him with something coiled around it. Something that looked like one of those huge ropes they use to tie up ships.

  Except it had scales.

  9

  PETRIFIED!

  Jordan couldn’t move. Well, actually he was moving – his arms and legs were jittering, his teeth were rattling, and butterflies were zooming around in his stomach. Now he knew how Charlie must have felt when he was hanging from Mrs Seabert’s ceiling and Bella was coming after him.

  Petrified!

  Luckily Bella wasn’t coming after Jordan. The python’s long body was winding slowly around the beam like a fire hose uncurling. Her other end – the end with the head on it – was slithering off into the darkness away from him.

  It was going the same way Charlie had gone.

  Uh-oh!

  Jordan took a big breath and shone the torch past Bella. It lit up something white.

  ‘Come quickly, Agent H!’ Jordan called over his shoulder. ‘Bella’s here. And she’s going after Charlie!’

  ‘I’m on my way,’ Harry said.

  Jordan was still standing on the ladder, half in the roof and half out. He kept the torch trained on the cockatoo.

  Move, Charlie! he mind-whispered. Fly away! Bella’s coming to get you!

  But Charlie didn’t move. He was frozen in fear. And the python was getting closer and closer every second.

  ‘You’d better hurry, Agent H!’ Jordan called nervously.

  ‘I’m trying!’ cried his brother. ‘But my shirt’s stuck on something!’

  Jordan swung the torch. Harry was about four metres away, stuck in a small gap between three beams. He was trying to unhook his MF T-shirt from a big rusty nail.

  ‘Harry, you’ve got to do something!’ Jordan cried. ‘Bella’s nearly there!’

  ‘You do something!’ his twin brother said. ‘You’re not stuck on a nail. And you’re much closer than me, anyway’.

  Jordan took another big breath. Harry was right. The only person who could rescue Charlie was Jordan.

  Or the Pet Whisperer.

  Can I talk to snakes? he thought.

  But it was too late to find out. He couldn’t become the Pet Whisperer in only a few seconds.

  It took lots of concentration. He had to be calm. But his heart was racing. His thoughts were jumbled. He wasn’t calm!

  The Pet Whisperer couldn’t help Charlie. Jordan had to do it himself.

  Gulp!

  10

  A BITE OF COCKATOO

  Jordan crawled all the way up into the ceiling. As soon as his feet left the ladder, he started shaking again. He couldn’t help it. The tight feeling in his throat and chest was coming back. But there wasn’t time to worry about it.

  ‘Mission Fox to the rescue!’ Jordan muttered to himself.

  But who’s going to rescue me? he wondered.

  Bella stretched ahead of him in a long, wavy line. Her body slid away like a slow, scaly train.

  Jordan crawled after her on his hands and knees. He tried not to think about the spider webs that brushed across his face. He tried not to think about his asthma, which was getting much worse.

  He had to save Charlie.

  Finally he caught up with Bella’s tail. Then he didn’t know what to do.

  Should he grab it?

  Jordan reached for the python’s tail, but he couldn’t make himself touch it.

  Suddenly there was a blood-curdling SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!

  Oh no! Jordan thought.

  He flashed the torch beam along Bella’s body until it got to the other end.

  And there was Charlie – still alive … but not for long.

  The python’s head was raised. It was about to take a bite of cockatoo.

  Unless Jordan did something fast.

  Here goes nothing! he thought.

  He grabbed Bella’s tail and gave it a pull.

  11

  SNAP! SNAP!

  Snap! went Bella’s jaws.

  Missed!

  Jordan had pulled her tail just as she snapped at Charlie. Bella’s tail was joined to her body, which was joined to her head. So when Jordan pulled her tail, all of Bella went backwards. Away from Charlie – who was still frozen in terror – and towards Jordan.

  Bella was a pet snake. She had probably been around humans all her life. She wouldn’t usually bite them. But it was dark inside the roof. Something had grabbed her tail and pulled her away from a very nice breakfast. Bella was hungry. When she turned to see what was holding her back, all Bella saw was a dazzling round light. It must have looked like a huge bright eye.

  The huge eye seemed to be getting in the way of her breakfast, so Bella opened her jaws lightning fast and attacked it.

  Snap!

  12

  REALLY ALLERGIC

  Jordan didn’t see what happened next. It happened very fast.

  And there was another reason he didn’t see it. Just when Bella shot towards him with her mouth wide open, something slammed into Jordan from behind. He dropped the torch.

  Then there were lots of gasping and bumping and scuffling noises. It sounded like a fight. Jordan couldn’t see anything because the torch had landed with its shiny end on the ground. He grabbed it and pointed it at the noise.

  ‘Agent H!’ he cried.

  Harry had got himself off the nail and come to help. But now he was in trouble!

  Harry was lying on his back, holding Bella’s neck with both hands to keep her under control. But the rest of her was out of control. The enormous snake was coiled around Harry in a big knot. It seemed to be getting tighter.

  Jordan paused. His asthma had come back and his throat was getting so swollen it was hard to breathe. His eyes were sore, and there was a strange buzzing sound in his ears.

  ‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked.

  ‘Wrap the towel around her head!’ gasped Harry. ‘It might calm her down.’

  Jordan moved the torch beam. Mrs Seabert’s towel lay next to his brother.
Jordan tried to wrap it around Bella’s big scaly head, but it kept falling off.

  ‘Use both hands!’ cried Harry.

  ‘But I’m holding the torch.’

  ‘Put the torch down!’

  Jordan tried to balance the torch on a beam so its light would shine on them. But the torch wobbled and fell off. Jordan felt wobbly, too. He picked up the torch and tried again. His asthma was getting worse and the strange buzzing was growing louder.

  Finally Jordan got the torch to balance. But he was shaking so badly it took him three tries to get the towel around Bella’s head. Harry changed his grip on the python’s neck to hold the towel in place.

  ‘Now try to unwind me,’ he gasped.

  Gripping Bella’s tail, Jordan tried to unwrap the huge snake from around his brother. It was nearly impossible. Bella was so strong! And Jordan hardly had any strength left. He needed his inhaler. But where was it?

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Harry asked.

  ‘Asthma attack,’ Jordan croaked, still trying to free his brother.

  The buzzing in his ears had become really loud. It was weird – he’d had lots of asthma attacks, but the buzzing noise was new. So were the yellow-and-black spots whizzing around his head.

  ‘Yeeeow!’ yelped Harry.

  Jordan had to take a big wheezy breath before he could talk. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Something stung my leg!’

  Jordon looked down and saw a large yellow-and-black insect crawling across Harry’s ankle.

  ‘Yikes!’ he wailed. ‘It’s a wasp!’

  ‘They’re all around us!’ cried Harry.

  The buzzing Jordan had been hearing wasn’t just in his head! It was real. Hundreds of yellow-and-black wasps buzzed all around them. They were European wasps – the very worst kind.

  Uh-oh! thought Jordan. There was a European wasps’ nest in Mrs Seabert’s roof, and the boys’ fight with the snake had disturbed them. The big buzzing insects looked really mad.

  One landed on Jordan’s sneaker and tried to sting him through the sole.