by Justin D'Ath
‘Get out of here, Jordan!’ Harry cried. He was still tangled up with Bella and couldn’t move. ‘Save yourself!’
Jordan wasn’t just allergic to cats. He was also allergic to wasp stings.
REALLY ALLERGIC!
One sting and he’d be dead.
13
ALL OVER IN SECONDS
Jordan didn’t take his brother’s advice. He had read all about European wasps on BRAIN. If he tried to get away, they would see him moving and go after him. They would get him in seconds.
Instead, Jordan sank slowly down next to Harry and the big knotted-up snake. He lay completely still.
‘Try to… stay still,’ he wheezed softly in Harry’s ear. His asthma was so bad it was getting hard to talk. ‘They’re… going after … anything that … moves.’
Bella’s tail twitched. Three wasps landed on it and tried to sting her. Luckily for the snake, her scales were too thick.
‘What will we do?’ gasped Harry. He was having trouble breathing, too. Bella was wrapped around his chest, squeezing harder and harder. The towel had slipped loose and he couldn’t get it back in place.
Jordan looked towards the torch. If he could just turn it off, the wasps wouldn’t be able to see them and might leave them alone. Then he could help Harry escape from Bella’s coils. But the torch was too far away.
There’s one other thing that might work, Jordan thought. It was their only hope.
As the cloud of deadly insects came closer, he made his thoughts go calm.
Leave us alone, he whispered in his mind.
Then everything went black.
14
PET WHISPERER
Harry’s hand tugged at a loop of python tail that had been wrapped around the top half of Jordan’s head. It was covering his eyes. That’s why everything had gone black.
Then Harry’s other hand held Jordan’s inhaler to his mouth and gave him a puff.
‘Breathe deeply, Agent J.’
Jordan did. It felt soooo good to be able to breathe again!
‘Are you okay now?’ asked Harry.
Jordan nodded. He was beginning to feel better. ‘Where did you find my inhaler?’ he asked.
‘It was in my pocket,’ Harry said. ‘I must have put it there after we used it in Mrs Seabert’s kitchen’.
Jordan blinked up at him. ‘Thanks, Agent H.’
‘No worries, Agent J,’ said Harry. ‘Can you sit?’
Jordan slowly sat up.
‘Where are the wasps?’ he asked. ‘And what happened to Bella?’
‘A strange thing happened,’ Harry said, rubbing his leg where the wasp had stung him. ‘Suddenly the wasps just stopped attacking us and went zooming back into their nest. Then Bella just kind of relaxed and stopped squeezing me.’
‘Cool!’ said Jordan. ‘They must have heard me. I told them to leave us alone.’
Harry shrugged, as if he didn’t really believe Jordan could talk to animals.
‘Whatever!’ he said.
Harry started wriggling free from Bella’s coils. She was still wrapped around him, but she wasn’t squeezing any more.
‘If you really want to be useful, Agent J,’ Harry said, ‘give me a hand with this snake.’
15
FROZEN RATS
Harry was right about one thing. Once the towel was tied around Bella’s head, she calmed down and was easier to handle.
Or was it because she had heard the Pet Whisperer?
Half carrying her, half dragging her, the twins moved Bella slowly through the roof like she was a big floppy rubber tube. But when they reached the trapdoor, there was a problem.
How could they get her down the ladder? They couldn’t climb and carry her at the same time. She was too big and heavy. If they dragged her down, she might get hurt.
Jordan had an idea. ‘What does Bella eat, Mrs Seabert?’ he called.
The old lady was standing at the bottom of the ladder with Myrtle. ‘My husband feeds her rats,’ she said.
‘Wicked!’ said Harry.
Suddenly Jordan’s idea didn’t seem quite so good. Rats creeped him out -less than snakes, but more than bats and spiders.
‘Does Bella squash them first, or does she eat them alive?’ Harry asked.
‘They’re dead already’, Mrs Seabert explained. ‘My husband buys them frozen from the pet shop and keeps them in the freezer.’
Harry’s eyes lit up. ‘You’ve got frozen rats in your freezer, Mrs Seabert?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ she said, sounding sad.
‘Awesome!’
Jordan climbed down the ladder, leaving Harry to look after Bella. Jordan felt sorry for Mrs Seabert. Frozen rats in the freezer. Gross! But it was better than live rats in there.
‘Can you get one, please?’ he asked.
Mrs Seabert shuffled to the kitchen. She was gone a long time. Finally she came back carrying a plastic bag with a white rat inside. Myrtle wagged her tail.
‘It’s not for you, Agent M,’ Mrs Seabert said, handing the rat to Jordan.
‘But it’s not frozen,’ he said.
‘I defrosted it a bit in the microwave,’ she explained. ‘Bella doesn’t like them too cold.’
Eeew! thought Jordan. He had to take a couple of deep breaths before he could open the bag. Holding the dead rat by its long pink tail, he turned back to the ladder.
‘Take the towel off Bella’s head.’
Harry poked Bella’s head down the ladder, then removed the towel.
Come and get it! Jordan whispered in his mind.
The hungry python locked her eyes on the dead rat and came rippling down the ladder, much faster than Jordan expected.
‘Where’s her cage, Mrs Seabert?’ he asked, backing away quickly.
The old lady led him and Myrtle to a room at the back of the house. Bella played follow-the-leader, her eyes on the rat. It was a bit scary being followed by a huge, hungry snake. Jordan sighed with relief when he dropped the rat into the python’s cage and Bella slid in after it. He closed the door and pushed the bolt into place.
‘Mission accomplished, Mrs Seabert!’ he said proudly.
But Mrs Seabert still looked worried.
‘What about Charlie?’ she asked.
16
REAL LIVE SECRET AGENTS
Rescuing Charlie was easy. Jordan stood on the ladder holding the torch, while Harry crawled back into the roof. He scrambled over to Charlie, being careful not to go too near the wasps’ nest, and threw the towel over him. Charlie struggled a bit, but he settled down when Jordan closed his eyes and sent calming cockatoo thoughts in his direction.
Or maybe it was the towel that made him relax.
Two minutes later, Charlie was safely back in his cage. He’d lost a few feathers, but he looked okay.
‘WHO’S A PRETTY BOY?’ he shrieked loudly.
Mrs Seabert fed him a cracker. Then she turned to the twins.
‘What do I owe you, dears?’
‘You don’t owe us anything,’ Harry said.
‘But you saved Charlie’s life! And you got Bella back into her cage. I must give you something!’
‘We do it for the animals,’ he said in his Captain Amazing voice. ‘Not for money’.
‘You see, we really like pets and animals and stuff,’ Jordan explained, stroking Myrtle’s ears. ‘Someone’s got to look after them when they get into trouble.’
‘Well, if you won’t let me pay you, at least let me give you a cup of hot chocolate and a big piece of cake.’
Jordan’s mouth watered at the thought of it. He heard Harry’s stomach rumble. They both looked at the clock above Mrs Seabert’s fridge.
Even though it was Saturday, their mother would start to get suspicious if they hadn’t come down for breakfast by nine o’clock.
‘Actually, we’d better go, Mrs Seabert,’ Harry said politely. ‘Thanks anyway’.
It was Jordan’s turn to wear the FoxPack. Harry grabbed Myrtle’s lead. He was
limping a little because of the wasp sting, so Mrs Seabert got him an ice block to stop it itching. Then she walked them to the front door.
‘Thank you, Agent J and Agent H,’ she said. ‘You are the first real live secret agents I have ever met.’
Jordan looked at her to see if she was joking, but her face was serious.
‘I hope your husband gets better soon, Mrs Seabert,’ he said.
She seemed confused. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You said he was at the hospital.’
‘Oh my goodness!’ laughed the old lady. ‘My husband is at a hospital, but not because he’s sick! He’s a brain surgeon.’
Harry grinned. ‘What’s the difference between a brain surgeon and a chicken drumstick?’
‘Harry!’ hissed Jordan, nudging him in the ribs.
‘It’s all right,’ Mrs Seabert said with a smile. ‘I’ve heard all the brain surgeon jokes. Have you boys heard the one about the brain surgeon who donated his pet snake to the zoo?’
‘No,’ they said.
‘Neither has my husband,’ said the old lady. ‘But I’m going to tell him all about it when he comes home this afternoon.’
17
NOT SPIDERS
As soon as the door closed, the twins gave each other an MF high ten (that’s a high five when you count all the fingers).
‘Mission complete!’ they said together.
Myrtle barked.
‘You did well, too, Agent M,’ Harry said, giving her an MF high nine (five fingers and four dog toes).
She didn’t really, Jordan thought. He had been trying to teach her not to chase cats. But maybe she did it to protect him. Maybe she knew Jordan was allergic to cats and shouldn’t go near them.
Myrtle was always looking out for them. Even now she was giving Jordan a really worried look.
‘It’s okay, Myrtle,’ he laughed. ’I’m fine!’
The dog whimpered. She tipped her head to one side.
‘Stop looking at me like that!’ said Jordan. ‘You’re making me –’
Suddenly he wasn’t feeling fine. There was a creepy feeling on the back of his neck. It felt like … tarantula’s feet!
Jordan froze.
‘Harry!’ he whispered. ‘Something’s on me!’
His brother’s eyes grew big and he dropped the ice block Mrs Seabert had given him. ‘Max!’ he cried. ‘How did you get here?’
Then Jordan remembered something. He hadn’t closed the lid of Max’s tank after he’d answered the FoxPhone. Harry’s big, furry tarantula must have crawled out and got into the FoxPack.
Now it was on Jordan’s neck!
‘Help!’ he hissed.
‘Don’t worry,’ Harry laughed. ‘Max wouldn’t hurt a fly.’
That wasn’t true. Jordan had looked Max up on BRAIN.
‘Just get him off me!’
Jordan stood very still while Harry got a stick and got Max to crawl onto it. As soon as the spider was off, Jordan backed away. But Harry couldn’t help himself. He started following his brother, waving the spider on the stick.
It was a big mistake.
Myrtle thought Jordan was in danger. She snapped at Max. Harry jerked his hand away so Max wouldn’t be eaten. The spider flew through the air and landed on the trunk of a tree. He scurried quickly up out of reach.
‘Bummer!’ said Harry, looking up at Max. ‘Now we’ve got a Code Yellow rescue to do.’
Jordan thought it was a Code Red. ‘Not me,’ he said. ‘I’m not rescuing anything.’
‘But we’re Mission Fox!’ Harry’s voice rose. ‘We rescue pets, remember?’
Jordan folded his arms.
‘We don’t rescue spiders,’ he said.
FOR JACK, JULIETTE AND JAXON
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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2011
Text copyright © Justin D’Ath, 2011
Illustrations copyright © Heath McKenzie, 2011
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ISBN: 978-1-74-253211-0