The Unusual Suspects
Page 15
“Look at that chair,” Daphne said. “It’s huge!”
Sabrina agreed.
“Look at that button!” Daphne said, running over to a monstrous white button that had fallen off of someone’s shirt. She tried to lift it, but it was too heavy for her in her shrunken state. “It’s huge!”
“We need to find you another word,” Sabrina muttered.
“Hey! I’m seven! I don’t know a lot of words,” the little girl said.
“All right, piggy,” Puck said to Wendell. “Where’s the entrance to the tunnel?”
“We need to eat the cakes and get big,” the boy detective said. “The lever that opens the entrance is in the old furnace.”
The children reached in their pockets for their Eat Me cakes when suddenly, the boiler room door opened.
“Someone’s coming!” Sabrina shouted. The door closed and a man walked over to the coal furnace. He opened a small trapdoor on its side and reached in. Sabrina guessed he had pushed the lever because a hum filled the room, and the coal furnace began to slide across the floor. That’s when Sabrina noticed it was Principal Hamelin.
The principal waited patiently, and when the coal furnace had slid away, he descended a flight of stairs hidden underneath the machine.
The children rushed to the center of the room.
“That was your dad,” Sabrina said to Wendell.
“What is he doing?” he said.
“We have to follow him,” Daphne insisted.
“We can’t! If we eat the cakes and get big, he’s sure to spot us, but at this size we’ll never make it down those steps,” her sister argued.
“No worries, girls. I have a brilliant plan,” Puck said, proudly. He spun around on his heels and transformed into an elephant, albeit a tiny elephant. He let out a mighty roar and charged off into the far corner of the room.
“Puck, we don’t have time for your stupidity,” Sabrina shouted after him, but the boy-elephant did not respond. Soon, she could hear the scraping of metal on the floor. When elephant Puck returned he was pushing a dustpan with his massive head, all the way to the edge of the steps. When the pan was on the edge of the top step, the elephant morphed back into the boy.
“Get in,” he said, beaming with pride.
Sabrina looked at the dustpan hanging precariously over the edge. “No way,” she said. “We’ll kill ourselves in that thing.”
Daphne was already climbing inside and had found a spot in the corner to sit down. “We survived Granny’s driving,” she said. “We’ll survive this, too.”
“You’ll be fine,” Puck assured Sabrina. “You’ll probably need someone to feed you for the rest of your life, but you’ll make it. Stop being a baby and get in.”
Sabrina looked at Wendell. He shrugged and the two of them climbed into the dustpan.
“You all need to stay in the back of this thing,” Puck explained. “Oh, and one more thing …”
“What?” Sabrina cried. She didn’t like the tone of his voice.
“Buckle up, kiddies,” Puck shouted as he walked to the front of the pan and leaped into the air. His body came down hard on the end of the pan and the back tilted high in the air, sending the whole thing rocketing down the steps before Sabrina could even scream. Each step it cleared just made the dustpan increase its speed, until finally they crashed at the bottom of the stairs.
After Sabrina checked everyone for broken bones, she punched Puck in the arm.
“Hey, I got us here, didn’t I?” he complained as he rubbed his sore shoulder.
The children climbed out of the dustpan, calmed themselves, and headed down a long, cavernous hall carved out of stone. Along the rocky path were pickaxes and dusty shovels, old buckets and miles and miles of rope.
What are they up to down here? Sabrina wondered, as everyone marched through the tunnel. The journey wouldn’t have taken long if they were their usual size, but the length of a normal step now required a dozen.
“This is as far as I went before,” Wendell said when they reached a place where the tunnels branched off into two directions. “Which way should we go?”
Sabrina heard voices arguing in the tunnel to the left.
“There’s someone else down here besides your father,” she said. “Let’s go find out who.”
The children followed the tunnel to the left, turned a corner, and crept as close as they could to the two men arguing in the dark. Sabrina couldn’t make out the other person’s face, but Hamelin was one of them for sure. The principal was wringing his hands.
“I’m telling you again. This has gone too far. No one was supposed to die,” Hamelin said.
“Piper, you worry too much,” a creaky voice said. To Sabrina, it sounded like the voice of a man who had been alive a thousand years without drinking a single sip of water. “Tonight we’re going to reach our goal. We would already be there if it weren’t for last night.”
“My son was missing!” Hamelin cried. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Of all people, I understand,” the voice crackled. “After all, I’m a father, too. The difference is that my children understand how important this is, while your child just gets in the way and puts this all at risk.”
“Don’t threaten me,” the principal growled. “My boy isn’t going to ruin our plans.”
“Then we understand each other,” the voice said. “Tonight we’ll push forward, if you can find the time.”
Hamelin’s voice was so angry it was shaking. “Don’t question my dedication. This was my idea after all.”
“I’m glad to see you still remember that.”
Hamelin spun around and rushed back up the tunnel, narrowly missing stepping on his own son, who just managed to leap out of the way.
“Are you OK?” Daphne asked, taking Wendell’s hand in her own.
“I can’t believe it,” the boy said.
“We should go farther into the tunnel,” Sabrina suggested. “We need to know where they are digging to.” Everyone agreed, but just then something crawled out from around a corner and stopped the group in their tracks. An enormous brown mouse as big as a semi truck lumbered toward them. The rodent’s pink nose and whiskers flicked and twitched as it sniffed at the children. Sabrina knew that at their current size they’d make a great snack for the hungry mouse.
“Eat the cakes,” Sabrina advised, eyeing the mouse.
The children unwrapped their cakes and were just about to eat them when the mouse barreled forward and knocked Sabrina down. Daphne screamed and Puck leaped forward and dragged Sabrina to her feet. Unfortunately, she had dropped her cake right in front of the beast. The mouse spotted it, sniffed it, and with a quick flick of its tongue, ate it.
“That was a bad thing, wasn’t it?” Sabrina said, sheepishly.
“Oh, man,” Puck said, quickly shoving his own little chocolate cake into his mouth. “This is going to be awesome.”
Daphne and Wendell were already munching their cakes, too, when Puck offered Sabrina his pinky.
“Hang on Sabrina,” Puck said, flashing his devilish grin. “This is about to get interesting.”
Sabrina grabbed his pinky finger and held it tightly just as the first changes affected the mouse’s body. It sounded as if someone were blowing up a balloon. A ripple rolled across the mouse’s skin and its eyes widened as its body inflated by a thousand times, yet its little legs and head stayed the exact same size, causing its massive body to plop to the ground. This was followed by a loud, squeaky rubber sound as the rodent’s feet, legs, and head expanded in size. The children dashed down the tunnel to avoid the quickly expanding mouse.
Puck, meanwhile, was growing in the same awkward manner. His legs got big first, pushing him to his normal height and sending Sabrina soaring high into the air. When his upper body and hands finally followed, his pinky got thicker. Sabrina held on with all her might. Luckily, Puck was paying attention. He quickly swung her into his shirt pocket, where she clung to the top, just as Puck’s head inflated.
“I don’t like this at all,” she groaned. No sooner had she complained than her legs sprouted up like over-eager cornstalks, followed by her upper body, and lastly her neck. Wendell experienced the same kind of disturbing growth.
“It’s all good,” the runny-nosed detective announced, checking for all ten fingers. But what he didn’t see was that it wasn’t “all good.” The mouse was also getting bigger and bigger until it was nearly as wide as the tunnel, and worse, it seemed very, very angry.
Puck grabbed Daphne and Daphne grabbed Wendell and they all rushed down the tunnel and up the stairs. When they got to the top, Daphne and Wendell raced across the room to the door, unlocked it, and hurried into the hall. Puck followed close behind, giggling like an idiot.
“Do you laugh every time we’re in trouble?” Sabrina shouted.
The boy looked down into his pocket. “What are you squeaking about?”
When he was safely in the hall, Puck slammed the door shut and the children leaned against the walls on either side to catch their breath.
“I don’t think we have to worry about him anymore,” Puck said.
Just then, the door flew off its hinges, slammed against the opposite wall, and fell heavily to the floor. The giant mouse lumbered into the hallway and roared angrily. It was as big as a stuffed buffalo Sabrina had seen at the Natural History Museum. It let out a deafening squeak and licked its gigantic front teeth. To make matters worse, the dismissal bell rang and every classroom door opened. The hallway was immediately flooded with a sea of noisy children, eager to get to their next class. The mouse stomped hard, creating a chasm in the shiny floor, and all conversation ended abruptly.
“Well, piglet, you wanted to do the dangerous stuff,” Puck laughed, as he turned to a stunned Wendell. “Be my guest!”
K, everyone, there’s no need to panic. We’re professionals and we know how to handle things like this,” Daphne assured the crowd of stunned students. She flashed her shiny badge to the crowd. A teacher fainted to the ground as the mouse let out an ear-shattering squeal and stomped its giant paws on the floor.
“Stay calm,” the little girl said. “It’s as afraid of you as you are of it.”
All at once, every kid at Ferryport Landing Elementary freaked out. They screamed and ran toward every available exit. Some raced into classrooms, barricaded the doors with desks, and climbed out windows.
Puck peered into his pocket and smiled at Sabrina.
“Hang on, I’ve got a plan,” he said, flashing her a grin. He spun around on his heels and transformed into an orange and white alley cat. Sabrina found herself clinging to the cat’s ear as it charged toward the giant mouse. Once he got up close, Puck the cat hissed aggressively, but the mouse only stared down at him. Suddenly, what Sabrina could only describe as a smile crept across the mouse’s face. It leaned its head down to the cat, opened its mouth, and roared angrily. Puck’s short tabby hair was blown back as if he were standing in a heavy wind and Sabrina nearly flew off his ear. The cat backed away and transformed into a boy again.
“It was worth a try,” Daphne shouted.
“Don’t worry,” Puck said, with Sabrina back inside his shirt pocket. “I’ve got a million more ideas where that one came from.” The boy spun around to face the mouse and his wings popped out of his back. Flapping strongly, he soared over the mouse, spun around, and landed on its back.
“Yee-haw!” he cried, jabbing the heels of his feet into the mouse’s side. The mouse squealed in pain, lifted itself on two legs, and kicked wildly, causing Puck to bounce around like a rodeo cowboy and Sabrina to be tossed around mercilessly inside the boy’s pocket.
The giant mouse slammed into walls, broke down doors, and put serious dents into a row of lockers. It shattered a trophy case, sending glass, brass track medals, and bowling prizes skittering down the hallway. It crashed into a banner announcing the library’s bake sale and ripped it off the wall.
Of course, Puck laughed at every effort the mouse made to buck him off. Sabrina suspected he’d ride the beast all day if it didn’t get tired first.
“Puck, cut it out!” she shouted, clutching the top of the pocket, but she knew the boy couldn’t hear her over the commotion he was making.
Daphne rushed across the hallway, avoiding the mouse’s wicked flapping tail. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her half-full Drink Me juice box and aimed it at the mouse’s mouth.
“Daphne, you’re a genius!” Sabrina cried.
Daphne reached back like a big-league pitcher, waited for the mouse to open its gaping mouth, and tossed the juice box as hard as she could. Unfortunately, instead of slipping down the mouse’s throat, the box bounced off one of the rodent’s gnarly yellow teeth and fell to the ground. The mouse stomped down on the box, spraying the contents all over the hallway.
“Uh, what’s plan B?” Wendell shouted, just as the mouse headed for the exit door. Unfortunately, Daphne was right in its path.
“Daphne, run!” Sabrina yelled, but there was no way the little girl could move that quickly. Luckily, Wendell raced across the hall and pushed Daphne to safety just as the enormous rodent lumbered past them like an out-of-control train. It slammed into the exit doors, knocking them off their hinges, and stomped outside.
Puck howled and laughed the whole way, until a low-hanging tree with a thick limb knocked him off the mouse. He fell hard on his back, sending his Drink Me box flying and launching Sabrina out of his pocket and onto the lawn several yards away. By the time Sabrina got her bearings, the mouse was already on top of the boy, doing what it could to sink its sharp teeth into him as Puck fought it off.
“Got any more of that juice?” he shouted, as Daphne and Wendell raced to his side. Puck snatched Wendell’s Drink Me box with a free hand and squeezed its contents into the mouse’s mouth until the box was crumpled and empty. Almost immediately, a ripple ran across the mouse’s skin. The rodent shrank rapidly until it was once again a little brown mouse, sitting on the boy’s chest.
Puck looked down at it and laughed. Then he ran his finger over the mouse’s coat. “Good try,” he told the rodent. “You almost had me.”
Daphne helped Puck to his feet.
“Where’s Sabrina?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, marshmallow, she’s right here in my pocket,” Puck said as he looked inside. “Uh-oh.”
“What’s uh-oh?” Daphne cried.
“She’s not in there,” Puck said.
The little girl’s eyes got as big as saucers.
“Don’t anyone move,” Wendell said. “She probably fell out here on the lawn and we could step on her.”
“Sabrina!” Daphne shouted.
“I’m here!” Sabrina yelled, waving her hands and jumping up and down, but none of the children could see or hear her.
“What if we’ve already stepped on her?” her sister cried, as tears streamed down her face.
“Let’s check,” Wendell said. He slowly lifted each of his shoes. “She’s not on mine.”
Puck slowly looked under his sneakers. “All clear!”
Daphne checked one foot and then the next. A big smile came to her face.
“See, we haven’t stepped on her,” Wendell said.
“I think we better get the old lady,” Puck said as his wings sprouted. “Best that I fly us out of here so we don’t squish her.”
In a few moments he had snatched the other children off the ground and they were all flying away.
“Don’t you dare leave me out here!” Sabrina screamed, but they were already gone.
She looked around. The school was only steps away for a normal-sized person, but for her it seemed like half a mile. Staying put was probably the best idea, but the air was freezing even with her coat on, so she shoved her hands into her pockets and marche
d toward the entrance to the school.
When she finally reached the school’s main doors, she found them in a heap—knocked off their hinges by the giant mouse—which left the hallway open to the bitter winter wind outside. Her walk had chilled her to the bone, and finding somewhere safe and warm to rest was now her main priority. She remembered that the heat in Mr. Sheepshank’s office was always on full blast. If she was going to get warm, that was the place to go, so she ran down the hall, dodging a giant mound of discarded bubble gum, and made her way to the main office door. She’d hoped it would be a safe place to hide until Puck could return with her grandmother, but as soon as she crawled underneath the door she knew she had even bigger problems to deal with.
“There’s another roach!” the secretary with the big glasses cried. She reached into a drawer and pulled out an aerosol spray can, shook it vigorously, and got up from her desk. One glance at the can told Sabrina all she needed to know about what was going to happen next. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what ROACH-BE-DEAD meant.
She ran along the rug frantically, racing under the secretary’s desk just as the gigantic woman rounded the other side. This was unbelievable. A giant mouse had just been rampaging through the school and these goofy secretaries were worried about roaches? When Sabrina came into the light, the other secretary was there, chomping on a sandwich. She mumbled loudly and pointed at tiny Sabrina, causing the first secretary to come back around. The girl dashed under the desk again, but this time the secretary got down on her knees, pointed the spray can at her, and pushed the nozzle. Sabrina was sure she would soon be covered in a horrible poison and die, but luckily the nozzle was pointed upward and the chemical death landed all over the desk.
“This one’s fast.” The first secretary scowled.
“Don’t send it running over here,” the second secretary cried. “Those things give me the heebie-jeebies.”
The first secretary raced around the desk just as Sabrina darted behind a file cabinet.
“Where did it go?” she groaned.
The second secretary had gone back to enjoying her sandwich and mumbled an “I don’t know” to her coworker.