by Kara West
I had no idea what was going on.
“Hey, guys!” I yelled, waving. “Stop goofing around!”
But the next second, they were both completely frozen in place.
I thought I had stopped time again by mistake. So I touched Allie on the shoulder to restart things . . . but nothing happened.
I tried again.
And again.
Nothing.
Uh-oh. Did my powers stop working?
I looked around in a panic and realized it wasn’t just my friends. Everyone else was on pause too!
I tried to calm down. There had to be a way to fix this.
And if there was anyone who could help, it was Dr. Perb. I checked Dr. Perb’s office, the gym, and everywhere in between. But she was nowhere to be found!
Was I really the only unstuck superhero in this entire school?
What was I going to do?
Tired, sweaty, and out of ideas, I headed back to where my friends were.
When I opened my locker, that’s when I saw it. There was a box with a label that read: ONLY OPEN IN AN EMERGENCY.
Emergency? Yeah, I was definitely in the middle of one.
I opened the box. Inside, there was a top secret device with a video message—from Dr. Perb!
“Hello, Mia,” she began. “If you’re watching this, then my suspicions are correct—you are a Time Controller and your powers have gotten you into trouble. Not only have you frozen everyone inside the PITS, but I’m afraid the whole town needs your help.”
Did she just say the whole town?
“Yes, that is correct. The entire town is now on pause,” she went on as if she had heard me. “But don’t panic. The good news is that when the gears of time get stuck, they can be undone by a Time Controller, like you!”
“But how?” I asked.
“That’s a good question!” Dr. Perb cried, without missing a beat. “There is a special clock grease that time itself protects. You will need to coat the gears of time, located at the center of everything, to bring things back to normal again.”
Oh boy. That was a lot of responsibility. And it didn’t help that I had no idea what she was talking about.
But Dr. Perb wasn’t done, so I listened as carefully as I could.
“One last thing before I go: Enclosed are two watches. When worn, they will unfreeze two people. Choose wisely because the fate of the PITS—and our town—rests with you.”
I shook the box. Two high-tech watches that looked like the one that Dr. Perb always wore fell out.
Thankfully, I knew exactly who I was going to give them to.
CHAPTER 8
THE SEARCH
I turned and strapped the watches onto Allie and Penn. And just like that, they immediately became unstuck.
“Whoa!” said Penn, shaking his head.
“What just happened?” asked Allie.
“Are we in danger?” asked Penn.
“Is the PITS under attack?” asked Allie.
“No, everything is okay,” I said. “Well, it’s not okay yet, but it will be. We’re going to fix it.”
“Fix what?” asked Allie.
“It’s my fault,” I said. Then I took a deep breath and told them everything,
I waited quietly. I knew they would be mad.
But Allie broke into a huge smile.
“Mia, that’s so cool!” she cried. “I mean, except for freezing everybody, obviously. But we can fix that! What do we do first?”
“We need to find a special clock grease,” I said. “The problem is that I don’t know where it is. All Dr. Perb said was that time protected it.”
None of us knew what that meant. But if there was anything super-important hidden anywhere, it had to be somewhere inside this building, right? After all, we were in the most high-tech, top secret building in town.
So we looked everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.
But as we ran around, I started to get worried. I realized we didn’t even know what we were looking for!
“What if we can’t get time unstuck?” I asked, turning to Allie.
“We’ll figure it out,” Allie reassured me.
“Yeah,” said Penn. “We’ll solve it. Remember what Dr. Perb said. We just need to be in the right place at the right time.”
I supposed they were right. The only problem was that we had no idea where that place was. We were standing in the Compass, in the middle of a bunch of frozen superheroes.
I looked down at the floor as I let out a sigh.
And that’s when it happened.
The big compass on the floor suddenly lit up! And it was pointing to the exit.
In that exact moment, I just remembered something Dr. Perb had told me on my very first day at the PITS. She had said that if I ever got lost, all I would need to do was go to the heart of the PITS.
And this was it! The compass was telling us where to go.
“Guys!” I yelled. “Look!”
I pointed at the compass, and Allie and Penn gasped.
Then I thought hard.
What had Dr. Perb meant by the center of everything? Was it the town hall? The park? The post office?
None of them felt right.
All these were common places to go, but there was only one thing at the center of town.
And just like that, everything clicked into place.
CHAPTER 9
THE HANDS OF TIME
I knew exactly where we needed to go, so Penn and Allie followed my lead. As we flew through the air, I finally had a moment to look down.
Dr. Perb was right. The whole town really was frozen. Cars were stuck on the road, and people on the sidewalk were on pause too. There was even a dog that was frozen on his hind legs!
Oh boy. I have definitely gotten myself in some mayhem before. But pausing the entire town? This one definitely tops it all.
Moments later, we were finally in front of a tall stone clock tower in the center of town.
The hands of the clock had stopped moving.
So I did the most obvious thing first. I flew over and tried to push them.
But it didn’t work. Even though I was using all my strength!
“How about if all three of us push?” suggested Penn.
“Good idea! Three superheroes are stronger than one!” agreed Allie.
The three of us pushed together. And Allie even turned on her rocket blades! But it was no use. The hands didn’t move one bit.
Right then, Penn flew up and called over.
“Hey, guys! There’s a window up here!” he said, swooping through it.
When Allie and I got inside, my jaw dropped to the floor.
There were metal gears on every wall. Some gears were teeny tiny and some were enormous. Yet, somehow, they all fit together perfectly. I had never seen anything like it.
Right in the middle of the room, there was a set of steps that went up to a small platform.
I walked up to the top. At the center of the stage, there was a small round glass case.
I knew immediately that this was what I was looking for. The clock grease has been inside and guarded by the clock this whole time.
I blew the dust off and carefully lifted it up.
Inside, there was a big blue glass bottle with a set of oil containers.
“Hmm, what are we supposed to do with that?” Allie asked.
“We need to put oil on the clock hands and the gears, too,” I said confidently.
In that moment, I realized that as a Time Controller there were things I knew without being told. I poured a little of the grease into Allie and Penn’s containers. There was just enough for the three of us.
“Okay, guys. I’m going to pour this directly onto the clock hands,” I said. “You both stay inside and grease the gears from here.”
Again, my friends took my lead, and then I flew out the window.
After every inch of the clock was covered, I counted to three.
And then we all pushed the gear le
ver as hard as we could.
But still, nothing changed.
So I pushed even more as beads of sweat trickled down my face.
Just when I wanted to give up, a loud screeching noise began. Then soon the cold metal hands of the clock lifted up and started ticking.
And in an instant, the entire town came back to life.
CHAPTER 10
IN DUE TIME
Wow!
Do you hear that?
Until now, I hadn’t realized how quiet everything had been. When time was on hold, the entire outside world had been quiet.
But now that things were back to normal, the noise of car horns, laughter, and people talking filled the air.
Mission accomplished!
Well, almost accomplished. Before we celebrated, there was one more place we needed to check. We flew back to the PITS building and scanned ourselves in.
We walked inside the Compass, and that’s when I finally let out a sigh of relief. The place was bustling with busy superheroes, just like always!
Penn, Allie, and I gave one another a high five. We really did it!
I carefully unlocked the watches from their wrists. It was time to return these devices back to their rightful owner, so we said good-bye, and I made my way to Dr. Perb’s office.
I was so relieved that everything seemed to be back to normal. But I was nervous to see Dr. Perb face-to-face. At the door, I took a deep breath and knocked three times.
“Yes, come in, Mia,” she called.
Then I walked in and put the two watches on her desk. “Thank you for these,” I said quietly.
She had a serious, concerned look on her face.
So for a moment, I braced myself for the worst.
But instead, her eyes softened as she broke into a huge smile.
“Well done, Mia!” she cried. “I knew you would figure out where to go. Fixing time-control glitches is all about being at the right place at the right time. Take it from one Time Controller to another.”
I looked at her with wide eyes.
“You mean, you’re a—”
“Yes, I’m a Time Controller too. That’s how I recognized what was going on with you during class. It’s a very special power, and one I’m quite fond of using.”
I smiled, finally relaxing a bit.
“Now, of course, we’ll just have to set up some makeup sessions starting on Monday,” she continued.
“Makeup sessions?” I asked.
“You were late to class yesterday,” she replied matter-of-factly. “You didn’t think I missed that, did you?”
What? No way!
Well, lesson learned! Never try to fool Dr. Perb, that’s for sure!
I have no idea what a PITS makeup session will be like. But there’s no use worrying about that. For now, I’m going to slow down and think about one of the coolest takeaways from this whole adventure: I, Mia Mayhem, am a Time Controller! While there are definitely some kinks I need to work out, can you believe it?
Now, I don’t know what the future holds . . . but once I get a handle of things, I have a good feeling I’ll find out . . . in due time.
Keep reading for a preview of
Mia Mayhem vs. The Mighty Robot
by
Kara West
Saturdays are my favorite. Whether it’s watching cartoons or playing games, the weekends usually begin at my best friend Eddie’s house.
I said hello to his parents, and then I walked into Eddie’s room like I have done a hundred times before. This time, though, I was in for the biggest surprise.
There was a robot as tall as me, standing in the middle of the room!
“Oh, hi, Mia!” Eddie cried. “You’re right on time. I’m almost done with my latest invention!”
I circled the robot to get a better look. It was exactly our height, and on its front panel, there were big metal letters that spelled JR.
“Wow! You made a life-size robot!” I said, and my jaw dropped to the floor.
My best friend was really smart, and he loved robots.
“Yup! I named him Junior, and he’s going to be my new helper. When I’m done, he should be able to help me with, well, everything!”
I leaned in to touch the robot’s metal hand. And as soon as my grip tightened, his entire arm snapped off!
“Oh, sorry, Eddie! Sometimes I still can’t control my strength,” I said with a shrug.
“Don’t worry about it. The arm was already loose,” he replied.
I gave Eddie a little smile. I knew he was used to my mayhem by now.
Continue Reading…
Mia Mayhem vs. The Mighty Robot
Kara West
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
KARA WEST would love to be a superhero, mostly so she could ask squirrels what they’re so nervous about. She lives in Chicago with her own cats, who, unlike Chaos, spend more time sleeping than causing trouble. Thank goodness.
LEEZA HERNANDEZ has illustrated several books for young readers including New York Times bestselling author John Lithgow’s Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo. Mia Mayhem is her first chapter book series. When Leeza isn’t causing her own mayhem, she’s hiding in her art lair and drawing. Her tabby sidekick, Jaspurrpurr, is usually supernapping close by. If Leeza were granted a superpower, she’d speak and understand any language in the galaxy.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Kara-West
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Leeza-Hernandez
Little Simon
Simon & Schuster, New York
IntheMiddleBooks.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Little Simon hardcover edition September 2019
Copyright © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Also available in a Little Simon paperback edition
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Designed by Laura Roode
Jacket design by Laura Roode
Jacket illustrations by Leeza Hernandez
Jacket illustrations copyright
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: West, Kara, author. | Title: Mia Mayhem stops time! / Kara West ; illustrated by Leeza Hernandez. | Description: New York : Little Simon, 2019. | Series: Mia Mayhem ; 5 | Summary: “When Mia first learned she had superpowers, there was one ability that always came rather naturally: freezing time and people! So when she finally learns the secret to controlling it, she’s excited to put her new skills to the test. But when she ends up accidentally freezing the entire town, will she find a way to make the clock start ticking again?”—Provided by publisher. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019022086 | ISBN 9781534449428 (paperback) | ISBN 9781534449435 (hc) | ISBN 9781534449442 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Superheroes—Fiction. | Time—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books.
Classification: L
CC PZ7.1.W43684 Mo 2019 | DDC [E]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019022086