Cody hung his head. “I doubt Mugsy and his brother survived their encounter with the Frankensquid.”
“It’s a miracle that we did,” Sully said. He turned away.
Cody felt something tickle his ear. Another pesky squid! Without thinking, he slapped the curious tentacle away.
“Don’t do that,” Carlos cried. “It’s Mugsy!”
“It’s both of them!” Ratface squeaked. “They’re alive!”
Nurse Bilgewater woke from her stupor and pointed a shaky finger at the Mugsys. “It was them,” she told Miss Threadbare.
Sully pulled something off the apparatus he’d been carrying around and tossed it to where the Mugsy squids still bobbed and thrashed in the water.
“What’s Sully doing?” Ratface asked.
Cody thought hard. “Trying to bring Mugsy back,” he said. “It’s radioactive rock. Radiation reversed Fronk’s procedure. It’s our only chance for Mugsy. Maybe it’ll transform them back.”
But the radioactive rocks didn’t help Mugsy at all. He and his squid brother still bobbed together in the water, with happy, vacant, small-brained expressions on their faces.
“What else do we need?” Victor asked. “It’s not fair that that lug nut Fronk gets back to normal and not our Mugs!”
Sully shook his head. For once, apparently, his big brain wasn’t big enough to fix things. Dr. Farley, who looked like he’d been hit by a truck, crawled to the edge of the pool. Just then a shark heaved itself out of the water and tried to slide onto the deck, but somehow it seemed too exhausted. The creature transformed itself back into Professor Eelpot.
She looked like she’d seen better days. In fact, she seemed like she could barely swim. She reached for something dangling over the edge of the pool—Farley’s hand, in fact. She gave it a tug, but instead of using it to help her out of the water, she pulled the headmaster in.
Cody and the boys burst out laughing.
“Serves them right,” Cody said.
“Should we help them?” Carlos whispered to Cody.
“No way,” Cody said. “Farley looks nastier than ever when he’s wet.”
“I wouldn’t have thought it was possible,” Ratface said.
Professor Eelpot bobbed to the surface, stuck her fingers between her teeth, and blew a feeble whistle.
As if in answer, something long and gray streaked toward the water, straight to Professor Eelpot.
“It’s Ethel!” Carlos cried, pointing to the electric eel.
It wriggled like a shot back to its master, passing in between the two Mugsys on its way to Professor Eelpot and Dr. Farley.
“Watch out, Mugsy!” Cody cried. “She’ll zap you!”
And sure enough, Ethel did zap them. A jolt of electricity fizzed between the squid brothers. Their squiddy eyes rolled back in their heads, and they both sank to the bottom of the pool.
“Help them!” Ratface cried. “They’ve been stunned! They’ll drown!”
Smoke rose from Farley’s and Eelpot’s wet hair. Mugsy and his brother weren’t the only ones stunned.
Cody staggered to his feet, getting ready to dive in to save Mugsy, but before he could, Mugsy’s wet, curly head broke the surface of the pool. He swam easily to the ladder and climbed out.
Not the least bit squiddy.
Mugsy sank onto a pile of life jackets and closed his eyes like a baby ready for a nap.
“He saved us,” Cody said. “Mugsy’s the real hero. Both of him!”
“Electricity!” Carlos said. “That’s what the mutation needed. A jump start! That’s how it worked for Fronk. All that electricity and radiation from the exploding sub. It makes perfect sense!”
“Riiiight,” Victor said, rolling his eyes. “Perfect sense.”
“Yeah,” Sully said. “The uranium would create the mutation, but you’d still need electricity to accelerate the transformation. Radioactivity plus electricity. It makes perfect sense. Of course!”
Mugsy opened his eyes. “What happened?” he said. “Where am I? I . . . I dreamed there were two of me. And that I liked to eat fish.” He searched the surface of the pool. “Was it a dream? Where’s the other me?”
“Heading off to sea, I think,” Cody said, watching the water. “Like happy squids do. Adios, Other Mugsy.”
“Ooh, did they mutate with each other?” Nurse Bilgewater, who seemed to be feeling much better, rose to her feet and reached out a hook to grab the soggy villains. “Wouldn’t that be a lovely combination. We could call them both ‘Sharkula.’ Or ‘VampFish.’ Or ‘The Great White Undead.’”
“No such luck, Beulah,” Threadbare said. “They both seem to be themselves. But they look like they’re going to need long-term medical care to restore them to normal.”
Nurse Bilgewater rubbed her hands together. Just for fun, she flicked Farley’s nose. He didn’t even flinch. She giggled. “Why should we restore them to normal?” she said happily. “Normal for them wasn’t so hot. I could also make a few surgical improvements.”
“Whatever you think is best.” Miss Threadbare patted her on the shoulder. “They’re your patients now. Come on. Let’s get them to the infirmary.” Together they dragged Farley and Eelpot away, none too gently.
“How long do you think Farley will have mush for brains?” Ratface asked.
“Probably not long enough,” Cody said. “Maybe long enough for us to find a way to escape.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Carlos said. “It wouldn’t be hard to rig a telephone wire from the roof . . .”
“So, what’d I miss, guys?” Mugsy said. “I’m starving. Is there anything good to eat? I feel like I haven’t had ketchup in a thousand years.”
Cody and the other boys hoisted Mugsy up on their shoulders and carried him out of the pool room, hero-style. It wasn’t easy to do.
“Welcome home, Mugs,” Cody said. “It’s great to have you back. Let’s go steal you some ketchup. And a whole box of doughnuts to go with it.”
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to our sister Beth,
without whom Eelpot might
not smell as sweet.
About the Authors
Sally Faye Gardner and Julie Gardner Berry are sisters, both originally from upstate New York. Sally, who now lives in New York City with a smallish black dog named Dottie, has, at various times, worked as a gas pumper, janitor, sign painter, meeting attendee, and e-mail sender. Julie, who now lives near Boston with her husband, four smallish sons, and tiger cat named Coco, has worked as a restaurant busboy, volleyball referee, cleaning lady, and seller of tight leather pants. Today she, too, attends meetings and sends e-mail. Julie is the author of The Amaranth Enchantment and Secondhand Charm, while this is Sally’s first series.
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