Today would have been my Nan's 92nd birthday so I'm going to post the first proper story I ever finished - written when I was 12. Influences in this include The Demon Headmaster and Enid Blyton.
Chapter 1
"I love humbugs!" Gabriella Kent declared,
as she stuffed her fourth humbug into her mouth. Gabriella was 11 years old
with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She absolutely adored sweets and
usually spent most of her pocket money on them.
"Don't pig yourself on them!" Arthur said, watching Gabriella
stuff one humbug after the other into her mouth. Arthur was also 11 – he and
Gabriella were twins – but although he had dark brown hair, like Gabriella, his
eyes were light blue. Also, Arthur much preferred Football to sweets.
"Don’t tease her, Arthur!" said Sophie.
She was Gabriella and Arthur's older sister. Sophie was 13 and had shining
blonde hair that glistened like gold in the summer and bright blue eyes that
were slightly paler than Arthur’s. Sophie loved writing stories and she also
really loved animals, especially rabbits. That was why she had 6 of her own,
which she kept in her room. Her rabbits were called Bramley, Goldie, Lady,
Pippin, Granny and Cox.
"Will you two stop arguing?” said another voice. It was Stanley,
the eldest of the four children. He was 15 and had short, light brown hair,
which he was very proud of, and deep brown eyes. Stanley liked science,
especially anything to do with Space. He also loved reading Sophie’s stories.
(His favourite one was about a little girl who built her own spaceship. That
was what Stanley hoped to do one day, if he could ever work out how.)
"I wonder what mum has made for tea." said
Gabriella, having finished all of her humbugs "I hope it's
toad-in-the-hole. I love that soft, crispy batter and those succulent, juicy
sausages."
"You love any type of food.” said Arthur, making fun of Gabriella
as usual, “from `delicious` jelly and cream to `gorgeous` liver
casserole!" The thought of liver casserole made everyone shudder. The four
children lived with their rich mum and dad in a large and very grand house that
looked like a mansion. It was at the end of a posh road, in the most expensive
part of town. Their mum (Mrs. Kent) was a famous cook and had made a lot of
money from her cookery shows on television and from all the cookery books she
had written. Their dad (Mr. Kent) was the manager of a big company that made
computers and was called ‘Kent’s Computers’. It was a very successful company
and Mr. Kent enjoyed his job very much
"It is about time we went home.” said Stanley,
checking his watch, "We left 3 hours ago, promising to be back by 5:00.
It's 4:43 already and it takes us approximately quarter of an hour to walk
home."
"Do we have to?" Gabriella inquired,
"I was just thinking about buying some more sweets!"
"Yeah! A jumbo Sherbet Fountain and 6 boxes of
Quality Street!" said Arthur, unkindly. Gabriella scowled at him.
"Will you two stop arguing and keep up with our
pace!" said Sophie, turning round and staring at both of them. But, by the
time they got home, even Arthur had to admit that he felt like having that
jumbo Sherbet Fountain and the 6 boxes of Quality Street. Their hunger soon
ended when they found the feast that lay on the dining table before them. The
huge, oval-shaped table was covered with a cream-coloured lace cloth. On this
were a huge, mouth-watering turkey and lots of gorgeous steamed vegetables,
which were arranged in a beautiful silver dish. An enticing selection of juicy
tropical fruits was placed in an ornate glass bowl. Hot and crunchy roast
potatoes were just waiting to be speared from their silver plate and there was
also hot, steaming tomato soup in an elegant silver tureen.
The children fell upon the feast with delight. All
of them helping themselves to as much of their favourite things as they could
before they set about eating it all up. They ate very quickly and, half an hour
later the entire feast was gone.
"That was super!" said Stanley
"I couldn't eat another mouthful!" declared Gabriella, who
was finishing off the last roast potato.
"I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say
that" chuckled Arthur.
At that moment, their mum came in wheeling a huge
silver trolley, covered with silver dishes with silver lids on them.
"Oh no! Not more food, mum!" came the
children's exasperated cry.
"Are you sure?" asked their mum, kindly,
“Not even desert?” and she lifted the lid off one of the dishes. Underneath
were about a dozen lovely cupcakes with different coloured icing and a glacé
cherry on each one. When Mrs. Kent had laid the dish on the table there was a
mad scrabble for the tiny cakes.
“Now, now!” said their mum, “3 each!”
Finally, all the children were settled down with 3
cupcakes. But after only 5 minutes they were gone as well.
“Now I really couldn’t eat another mouthful!” said
Gabriella, licking her fingers.
Yet again, her mind was changed, as Mrs. Kent lifted
off another lid of another dish revealing 4 ice creams, one of each of the
children's favourite flavours. Gabriella reached for the toffee apple one,
Arthur reached for the chocolate one, Sophie reached for the strawberry one and
Stanley reached for the vanilla one.
Fifteen minutes later, the ice creams were finished.
"What's under the big lid, mum?" asked
Arthur, staring at a huge silver lid with angels and trumpets carved around the
side.
"You'll find out when your dad gets home."
replied their mum.
Chapter 2
The children waited in anxious silence until they
heard a knock at the front door.
"That'll be dad!" said Arthur, running to
open the door and, sure enough, it was. As soon as Mr. Kent entered the living
room, all four children dived on him with hugs and kisses.
"Careful!" said their dad. Everybody drew
back, wondering what he meant. Mr. Kent opened his coat and drew out a small,
fluffy object. When the children leaned closer to inspect it they found that it
was beautiful, tiny, Golden Labrador puppy.
"Oh Dad!" cried Sophie, "It's
lovely!"
"It's a he,” said their dad, "and he is
yours." Sophie picked the puppy up and gave him a little squeeze.
"What shall we call him?" asked Sophie
turning to the others.
"Custard." said Gabriella.
"We are not going to name him after a type of
food!" said Arthur and Stanley together.
"All right!" said Gabriella, "I was
just trying to help!"
"How about Footie?" asked Arthur.
"You're as bad as Gabriella!" said Sophie.
Arthur felt hurt.
"Err…how about…Blackie?" suggested
Stanley.
"But he's not black." Sophie pointed out.
"Oh I give up!" said Arthur.
"Me too!" said Gabriella.
"Why don't we let the expert do it?" said
Stanley, sarcastically, staring at Sophie.
"OK." said Sophie, "Just wait a
minute, please." Sophie dashed upstairs to her animal poster-filled room.
She was back 50 seconds later with a big cardboard box filled with pieces of
paper.
"This is my name box." Sophie told
everyone, "It's got every name in the world!" She rummaged about in
the box and pulled out a small piece of paper with a picture of a treasure
chest on it.
“How about Treasure?” she said. The others looked at
each other then back at Sophie.
“Nah.” They said. Sophie put the piece of paper back
in the box and tried again.
“How about…” she said delving further into the box
and pulling out a different piece of paper. This time it had a picture of a sun
on it. “…Sunshine.” She finished.
“No way!” said Arthur.
“Or Sonny?” Sophie suggested.
“Uh-uh.” Gabriella said. Sophie returned the piece
of paper to the box.
They went through at least half a dozen names before
Sophie eventually pulled out a piece of paper with a picture of a magician on
it.
"I've got the perfect name!" she declared,
"How about Magic! He appeared like magic!"
"Yeah!" said everyone, "Welcome to
the family, Magic!"
"I'm glad you like him." said Mr. Kent, "A
friend of mine’s dog has just had a litter of puppies and the owner couldn't
afford to keep them all so he sold them for £10 each."
"I hope he made sure that they went to good
homes." said Sophie, looking slightly worried.
"I’m sure he did." said their dad
reassuringly.
"That's okay then." Sophie said, relieved.
"Anyway," said Mrs. Kent, suddenly
appearing from the kitchen, "It's time for bed! But where is Magic going
to sleep?"
"In my room!" chorused the children
together.
"I think we had better draw lots for it."
said Mr. Kent, so they did.
All of the children wrote their names down on a
piece of paper and then they put these pieces of paper into one of Mr. Kent’s
old cloth caps. Mrs. Kent swirled them around to mix them up and then picked
out one of the pieces of paper at random and held it up to read it.
"The winner is," she said, everybody
leaned forward, eager to hear who had won.
"Gabriella!" Mrs. Kent concluded.
"Yippee!" cried Gabriella, "Come on
Magic, I’ll show you my room!" Gabriella ran upstairs and the puppy
followed her.
"They suit each other." said Arthur.
"It doesn't really matter.” said their mum,
"You'll all get to be with him at some point." There was a sudden
scrabbling noise and a tiny yelp of pain.
"I'll go and see what that is." said Sophie and up she went.
She was back about 5 minutes later with a small bundle in one arm and Cox
hanging from Sophie's other hand.
"Cox has been fighting again and this time he
picked on Granny. She's still suffering from the shock, poor thing." said
Sophie, "I’ll put Cox into an different cage to separate him from the
others and help Granny recover." She dashed upstairs.
"Do it quickly!" Mr. Kent shouted up the
stairs, "and bring Gabriella down with you! I've got two more
surprises!"
"What are they?" Stanley asked.
"Wait and see, nosy!" said Mrs. Kent, “All
I’m saying is that one of them is to do with what’s under the big silver lid!”
Chapter 3
Five minutes later, Sophie, Gabriella and Magic came
thundering back down the stairs.
"Can you tell us now?" asked the children.
"Very well." said their dad, "Sit
down and I’ll tell you one of them!" The children even had their own
chairs. Gabriella went and sat on her pink Candy Floss chair, Arthur went to
his black and white Football chair, Sophie sat on her ginger and white Rabbit
chair and Stanley went and sat on his black and white Space chair.
"Well?" said the children, leaning
forwards to hear better, "What are the surprises?"
"The first surprise..." Mr. Kent began,
"is that your mother and I have just bought a luxury family holiday home,
right by the beach! A place called Montague Bay. It’s a farmhouse and,
apparently, its got lovely scenery. We plan to take you away from school to go
and stay there for a week!"
"Oh, Dad!" cried the children,
"That's wonderful!"
"We leave on Wednesday." declared their
dad, "Today's Sunday so you've only got 3 days to wait. I’ll send a fax to
your schools tomorrow to let them know about our plans. We'll pack on Tuesday
evening and then, next morning, we're off!"
"Hooray!" cried all the children.
"However," Mr. Kent continued, "you
should get ready for school tomorrow!"
"We will!" called all the children from
the stairs, as they had rushed to prepare for school and to write their holiday
lists.
It should be said right now that the children also
had different schools so they had different things to do to prepare for the
school day tomorrow. Gabriella went to the Cooking Comprehensive so she could
learn how to cook all of the things that she loved to eat. She packed her
apron, her cookery books (one of them was written by her mother) and the
ingredients she would need for the next day’s task.
Arthur went to the Football Federation Foundation so
he could train to be a famous footballer some day. He rummaged around in his
room and eventually managed to find his training manual, his football boots and
his school football shirt and shorts.
Sophie went to the Animal Assistants Academy to help
her improve her knowledge of how to look after animals because she wanted to
become a vet. She gathered her creature care guidebook, her special padded
gloves (to protect her from the animals’ claws) and her homework that she had
completed over the weekend.
Stanley went to a special Science School and as the
project for this term was ‘The Periodic Table’ he collected his test tube
holder, his science textbook, his lab goggles and his copy of the periodic
table which had lots of information about all of the different elements.
As for their lists for their holiday, Gabriella
decided to take clothes (because otherwise she’d look pretty silly, wouldn’t
she?), her sweet supply (which she couldn’t travel without), her washing kit
(in case she got grubby), Magic (of course), a box of doggie treats (for Magic)
and her favourite books and videos (in case things got a bit boring).
Arthur chose his football (something he couldn’t
travel without), some clothes, including his football kit (also essential), his
football magazines (for entertainment) and his personal radio (so he could
listen to the latest football scores).
Sophie opted for 2 rabbits (she chose Bramley and
Pippin), some rabbit food and her creature comfort kit (for Bramley and
Pippin), her clothes (again for obvious reasons) and her sketchpad and pencils
(so she could draw some of the things by the sea or at least write about them).
Stanley packed his telescope, magnifying glass and
binoculars (all part of his Super Scientist Kit), some clothes, his model
spaceship (which he always took everywhere) and his shockproof, waterproof,
fireproof, incredible, unbreakable, totally indestructible super watch (very
handy in all kinds of situations).
When they had finished this they all ran downstairs
again and flumped into their chairs.
“I thought you might have gone to bed.” their mum
said.
“Not likely!” said Arthur.
"Now tell us what's under the big lid!"
They chorused. Their mum lifted the lid to reveal a beautifully decorated,
absolutely scrumptious looking farmhouse-shaped cake, which they immediately
set about eating.
Later that night when they had finished the cake,
the children lay in bed dreaming about what they thought the farmhouse would be
like. Gabriella imagined a big house made of gingerbread, just like the one in
the Hansel and Gretel story but without a wicked witch. The house had a chocolate
door, sugar windows, a candy cane chimney and lots of little gingerbread people
living inside.
Arthur thought it would be more like a huge sports
centre with changing rooms and a swimming pool and lots of space to play
football. Sophie saw a pretty little country cottage with flowers all around
the door and frilly curtains in the windows whereas Stanley wanted it to be
like an observatory with a big open space in the roof so he could look at the
stars all night long.
Chapter 4
Monday was as bright as could be and the children
felt sure it would be a brilliant holiday. Then along came horrible, dreary
Tuesday, which the children spent with sinking hearts watching the rain trickle
down the window.
"I hope it's not like this tomorrow." said
Gabriella, emptying her scone mixture onto the table instead of the tray.
Thankfully, it wasn't. Sophie woke up next morning
to see the sun streaming in through her open window. She jumped out of bed and
ran into Stanley's room.
"Wake up, Stanley!" She yelled, jumping on
the bed and shaking him. Eventually, Stanley opened his eyes to see Sophie
staring at him.
"Go back to bed!" He groaned.
"Have you forgotten already?" Sophie asked, " Today’s
the day we’re going on holiday to our lovely country farmhouse!" At that
moment, Gabriella, Arthur and Magic came running into Stanley's room at exactly
that same time.
"What are we waiting for?" yelled
Gabriella.
A few minutes later, when they had all packed their
bags (Sophie took a little longer because she had to get Bramley and Pippin
safely into their carry cages), they all raced downstairs and helped themselves
to breakfast, which was laid out on the dining room table. They were so excited
that they each had a bowlful of everything.
Soon afterwards, Mr. Kent and Mrs. Kent came
downstairs.
"Are you all packed?" their dad asked.
"Yes!" chorused the children, through a
mouthful of Coco Pops, Frosties, Rice Krispies and Crunchy Nut Corn flakes.
"Good." said Mr. Kent, "Well, when
you’ve washed your face, cleaned your teeth and got dressed, we can go!"
"Hooray!" chorused the children, as they
dropped their spoons into their bowls and rushed upstairs to do as they had
been told.
They were soon down again with their bags (Sophie had an extra cage
containing Bramley and Pippin). They all crowded into their gleaming silver
Mercedes Benz while their dad loaded the luggage into the boot.
Gabriella’s sweet supply was so big that it wouldn’t fit in and she had
to choose only a few things from it to take and leave the rest behind. Sophie
personally made sure that Bramley and Pippin were safe, secure and comfortable
on the shelf behind her Dad’s seat, which acted as a kind of table and had a
raised rim to prevent anything falling off the edge, and then they were off.
After about half an hour, they got caught in a mile
long traffic jam. Soon, all the children were tired and hungry. It was Sophie
who eventually told their mum. Mrs. Kent smiled and said,
"What would you like to eat, Gabriella?"
"Three toffee apples, a candy floss, 2 packets
of biscuits, a bag of sweets and a bottle of cola, please!" said
Gabriella. Their mum typed a few words out on the keypad that had appeared on
the inside of the glove compartment door in front of her. A trap door suddenly
opened in the back of Mrs. Kent's chair and Gabriella's order slid out on a
tray.
"Wow!" cried Gabriella. “Thanks!”
"I think dad's been busy on the car
again." said Stanley.
"How about you Arthur?" their mum asked.
"Three buckets of popcorn, a can of lemonade, 2
slices of chocolate cake, a big bag of humbugs and 6 packets of gobstoppers,
please!" said Arthur.
"That'll keep him busy for a while." said
Sophie. Seconds later, the trap door produced Arthur's request and he accepted
it with thanks.
"Stanley?" Mrs. Kent asked.
"I’d like 1 toffee apple, 1 biscuit, 1 bottle
of lemonade, 1 bucket of popcorn, 1 slice of chocolate cake and 1 packet of
gobstoppers, please." replied Stanley. After his order had been produced
their mum turned to Sophie and repeated the long awaited question.
"Could I have three apples, 2 carrots - for the
rabbits, a flask of apple juice, a Mars bar and, finally, a plate of chocolate
chip cookies, please" came the reply.
"Anyone would think you were in a diet!"
said Arthur, unkindly "If it weren't for the cookies."
"I like them!" said Sophie, pompously, as
she retrieved her meal from the chair.
"Don't be so rude, Arthur." said Mrs.
Kent, "Sophie's just eating healthily, unlike you."
"All right! All right!" said Arthur, and
he settled down to read his favourite magazine - Super Soccer Stars - for the
rest of the journey.
An hour later the food had all gone and Gabriella
started complaining, "Are we there yet?" "How far is it?"
"I'm bored."
"Yeah, Mum." said all the other children
together, "When are we going to get there?"
"I can answer that." said their dad.
"Well?" said the four children.
"The answer is," said Mr. Kent, as he
turned the car down a secluded country lane, "Now!" A beautiful
country farmhouse came into sight just over the hill ahead of them.
"WOW!" breathed all the children. And it
was wow. It was stunning. The house itself was very big and made of orange
bricks. It had a brown tiled roof. There were white net curtains in the windows
and strands of ivy climbing all over the place. It looked beautiful.
"It's wonderful!" said Sophie.
"It's small!" said Arthur.
"It's fantastic!" said Stanley.
"It's Magic!" said Gabriella, as the puppy
jumped up and licked her face.
Their sparkling Mercedes Benz turned into the drive that led to the
farmhouse and all the children, and Magic, jumped out and ran to the red wooden
door that was encased in the ivy-covered walls. Their dad locked up the car and
their mum walked towards them, the key swinging from her finger. At that
moment, Magic jumped up, snatched the key from Mrs. Kent, padded over to
Gabriella and dropped the key at her feet.
"Thanks, Magic" said Gabriella, as she
picked the key up and placed it in the keyhole. She began turning the key ever
so slowly and everyone else started to get annoyed.
“Hurry up!” they yelled. Finally, with a click, the
lock opened and, with a push, the door swung inwards.
Chapter 5
They found themselves facing an absolutely beautiful
place with a faint smell of honeysuckle in the air. The hall had a patterned
wooden floor, lovely pale wallpaper and there were doors leading off to all of
the downstairs rooms.
"Go and find your bedrooms." called their
mum and the children rushed upstairs. Sophie was first to open a door. The room
she found had been painted pastel pink as had the furniture. But before Sophie
had put a foot inside, Gabriella barged past, with Magic at her heels, yelling
“This room’s mine!” and jumping onto the big pink bed. Gabriella turned her
head to see Sophie slink out, miserably.
"Sorry, Soph." she said, apologetically,
"But finders keepers."
Sophie only had a chance to glance at the next room,
which was green, before Arthur dashed in and dropped his case on the grass
green bed. When he saw Sophie's disappointed face he shrugged and said,
"First come, first served." Sophie sighed, closed the door and moved
along to the next one. This room was painted a beautiful pastel blue and the
curtains were a blue and white checked pattern.
Suddenly, Stanley barged passed into the room.
“Mine, I think!" he said.
"Oh, come on, Stan" Sophie said, "I
did find this room first."
"There's bound to be one you'll like down the
landing." Stanley answered, without even looking at her.
Sophie opened the next door with a sinking feeling.
Her misery was lifted when she saw the beautiful pale yellow walls and above
the bed was a beautiful sun-shaped clock. There was even a door that opened
onto a private balcony (none of the others had this). There was a huge golden
yellow wardrobe on the right-hand side and an enormous amount of floor space,
perfect for two rabbits. She took Bramley and Pippin out from their carrying
cases and placed them on the floor. Then she set about unpacking her other
belongings, finding a precise place for everything.
A few minutes later she and the others raced
downstairs, their stomachs rumbling and ready for dinner.
The farmhouse had its own dining room, which was
joined, on one side, by the kitchen. This was a reasonably spacious room with a
cooker, a washing machine, a dishwasher, a sweet dispenser, a drink dispenser
and endless cupboards. The walls had been painted a beautiful star white and
the cupboards and so on were made of light brown wood. On the other side, there
was the living room.
This was another white room with a TV, a hi-fi, a
huge, soft, white sofa and armchairs and glass doors that opened out onto a
small patio.
The dining room itself was also painted white with
oak chairs and a table, which was draped in a beautifully clean white cloth.
At the bottom of the stairs, Sophie and the others
stopped. There was not a morsel of food on the table, not even a crumb. At that
moment, Mrs. Kent entered and saw their disappointed faces. She grinned.
"Your dad and I have finished unpacking our
stuff and the food," she said, "and we've decided to let you make
your own dinners and take them up to your rooms."
"Thanks, Mum!" The children yelled, as
they dived into the kitchen.
Quarter of an hour later, they emerged carrying
plates piled high with goodies and they carefully staggered upstairs lumbered
with their food.
Stanley spent the evening gazing at the stars
through his telescope out of his bedroom window. Sophie played with Bramley and
Pippin on her bedroom floor. Arthur lay on his bed, reading his football
magazines and dropping crumbs on his bed while Gabriella spent the evening
stuffing herself with sweets and teaching Magic new tricks.
The children spent the next few days getting used to all the things in
the farmhouse. Mr. Kent had been right about the lovely scenery and, on their
second day there, they had a chance to explore.
Sophie, hurrying downstairs for dinner, accidentally left her bedroom
door ajar and Bramley, spotting this, hopped over to it and escaped.
When Sophie discovered he was missing, a frantic rabbit hunt ensued all
over the farmhouse with all of the family joining in. They looked in the living
room, the dining room, the kitchen, the bathroom and all of the bedrooms until,
when Mr. Kent checked the utility room, he found that the side door in that
room, which lead round to the back garden, was open. He called out to the
others and charged outside to see if he could spot Bramley. Then, suddenly, on
the far wall of the garden, he saw the rabbit, sitting in his usual hunched up
position, twitching his nose and waggling his ears.
Mr. Kent had just started to creep up on Bramley when everyone else
came charging into the garden. Sophie, being much more used to Bramley’s
antics, quickly overtook the capture attempt while the others stood back and
watched. Bramley suddenly turned away from the garden as if he was about to
jump down to the opposite side of the wall. Sophie darted forward and grabbed
him, pulling him close to her to make sure that he couldn’t escape again.
The others came up behind her so they could all have a stroke of the
mischievous rabbit. Then, one by one,
they all lifted their heads to look out across the wide stretch of land, in
front of them that led, eventually, to the sea. The sun was just setting and
the deep orange light made it look so beautiful. Sophie had a brilliant idea.
"Hey,” she said, “why don’t we go for a country ramble after
breakfast, tomorrow." Magic pricked up his ears at this.
"Yeah." All the others said.
When they all went to bed that night, it wasn’t just
the children that were excited. Magic lay at the end of Gabriella’s bed,
tossing and turning, his nose and ears quivering with anticipation. He just
couldn’t wait.
Chapter 6
Next morning, they were all up bright and early,
with the sun streaming in through their windows. They quickly remembered the
plans they had made the day before and so, after an enormous family breakfast
of toast with plenty of butter and jam, bacon, fried eggs and cereal, they
stuffed their feet into their coats and trainers, Gabriella put on Magic's
lead, Arthur grabbed his football, Sophie her pocket sketchpad, Stanley his
magnifying glass and binoculars and then they opened the door and charged into
the countryside.
Magic jumped, skipped and chased every butterfly in sight.
He tugged on his lead as if to say, "Come on! Hurry up! Let's go this
way!" Gabriella had to dig her heels in to prevent herself from being
dragged away across the fields by the strong, little puppy. The others
followed, laughing and giggling at the funny sight. Gabriella got very angry.
"Here, Arthur, you try!" She said, holding
out the lead for Arthur to take. Arthur took it and was dragged 10 metres by
Magic. Just before they fell over the cliff edge, Arthur gathered all his
strength and managed to pull Magic to a standstill. The dog sat, tongue lolling
out, looking innocently up at the slightly flustered boy who was holding his
lead. Arthur tidied himself, casually, and handed the lead back to Gabriella.
At least, he attempted to give the lead back to Gabriella. But Gabriella was
standing with her eyes wide open, completely stiff.
"What is it now?" asked Arthur,
impatiently. Gabriella didn't speak. She just raised her hand to point at
something down on the beach. The others all turned to see what it was and
stared, incredulously, at a strange object that was half-buried in the sand.
What they saw was a piece of old and dented metal,
lying all on its own in the centre of the beach. Sophie nudged Stanley.
“What is it?” she whispered in his ear. Stanley
half-turned his head towards her and shrugged.
“Let’s go down and see what it is.” said Gabriella,
excitedly.
“Yes.” said Arthur, "You first." Gabriella
turned to him, angrily.
"No!" She said, "You first!"
"Ladies first." said Arthur.
"I insist!" retorted Gabriella. Sophie
interrupted.
"Oh, stop it, you two!" She said, crossly.
Magic wasn't going to wait around for that lot to finish arguing. He suddenly
darted forward over the cliff edge and ran down the side. Arthur, who was still
holding the puppy's lead, was dragged over the top and tumbled down to land in
a crumpled heap at the bottom. The others slid down after him and helped him to
his feet.
"Nice gymnastics!" Sophie said, grinning.
Arthur gave her a frosty look, dusted himself down and pulled his coat
straight.
"At least we're here now." Stanley said,
trying to keep the peace.
"Yeah." said Gabriella, "Come
on!" she lurched forward to seize the object with both hands and pulled it
free of the sand.
“Whoa.” She said, “It’s really heavy.” Stanley moved
closer to Gabriella to get a better look at the object.
“It’s very strange.” He said, slowly, “I can’t see
how it could have got here.” He turned back to the others and saw the bizarre
look on Arthur’s face. Arthur was standing open-mouthed, staring at something
further down the beach. Sophie and Gabriella both turned to look at Arthur.
“What is it?” Sophie asked. They all turned to see what Arthur was
looking at and, simultaneously, all their mouths dropped open in amazement.
Down in the corner of the beach, concealed in an alcove where the tide
never reached, there was a large metal door built into the cliff face.
“Goodness me!” Sophie said.
Gabriella grabbed the lead from Arthur and began to
run towards the mysterious building. Sophie, Stanley and Arthur ran after her.
Gabriella was standing in front of the big door with Magic at her feet when
they reached her.
"How are we meant to get through this?"
She asked, jerking her thumb at the imposing article.
“Why would you want to?” said Stanley, quietly.
"How thick do you think it is, Stanley?"
Sophie asked her older brother. Stanley whipped out a little pocket calculator
and began doing sums on it.
“I’d say approximately 6 feet.” He said, “Which is
the equivalent of 72 inches or 180 centimetres." He added with a flourish.
"Uh-huh" Gabriella said, even though she
had no idea what her elder brother was talking about. "And does your super
high-tech, know-all mini pocket calculator know how to get through a 6 foot
thick solid metal door?"
"Er...no." Stanley said, rather
sheepishly. At that point, there was a crackle and a voice echoed above them.
"Please state your business or the hounds will
be released!" the voice said, "You have five seconds!" it added.
The group looked around at each other with panicked
expressions. What were they supposed to do now? Then Gabriella had a brilliant
idea.
"Hygiene Inspectors." she said loudly and
seriously "Come to check on the cleanliness of your operation." There
was a click and a whirr and the metal door slid back in order to let them
through.
"We'd better leave Magic outside." Sophie
said "It'll be safer for him and we'll blow our cover as hygiene
inspectors if we're seen traipsing round with a dog." The others nodded
their heads in agreement. They tied Magic's lead to a rock that protruded from
the cliff just next to the opening and entered the cave. As soon as they did
the door slammed shut behind them. They were trapped.
Chapter 7
In front of them the children saw a long empty corridor, which had been
cut into the cliff. It was quite plain with no decoration or sign of what the
place was for. Slowly, they began to make their way down the corridor. Stanley
kept checking the walls to see if there was a hidden door but they seemed to be
made of the same solid metal as the door they had just come through.
When the children reached the end of the corridor, they found there was
a very small metal room with a wide metal bar running around the side at waist
height. It was separated from the corridor by the thin dark groove in the
floor. They stepped over this groove and, all of a sudden, two identical metal
doors shut behind them and they felt the uncomfortable feeling of their
stomachs going up into their throats.
"We're in a lift!" Stanley said, amazed.
"Blooming marvellous!" Gabriella said, "And how did you
work that one out, Mr. Boffin?"
"Well..." Stanley began and then stopped.
He turned to face Gabriella who was standing, angelically, while Arthur was
standing next to her giggling and he realised that Gabriella was being sarcastic.
Beside him, he heard Sophie giggling too.
Then, just as suddenly as the lift had started, it
stopped and their stomachs dropped into their shoes. The lift doors opened and
they found themselves looking down another corridor. But this one was light and
had a few pot plants placed along the sides. There was a wooden door right at
the end which drew their attention because it had a pane of glass in the top
half and there was label on it painted in gold.
Gabriella and Arthur hurried to get a closer look at
this door. Stanley followed them, drawn by his inquisitive nature, and Sophie
followed to keep an eye on them all.
When they got to this door, they found that the gold
paint spelt the word ‘DIRECTOR’
"Cool!" Gabriella said and she was just
about to open the door when Stanley grabbed her collar and yanked her back.
"Don't you remember!" he hissed, angrily,
"We are supposed to be 'hygiene inspectors! If the ‘Director’ sees a
couple of kids he'll probably call security!" They all hung their heads in
disappointment. Sophie raised hers slightly.
"Wait a minute." she said, "Arthur,
didn't you win that paper folding prize, in the craft show?"
"Origami." Arthur said, huffily.
"That’s it." Sophie said, "Do you
suppose, if you had some paper, you could make us some official-looking paper
hats and badges?" Arthur supposed that yes, he could.
"Here you are then." Sophie said, handing him a wad of paper
from her pocket sketchpad.
A few minutes later, Stanley, Sophie and Gabriella were equipped and
Arthur was putting the finishing touches to his own outfit. He put it on and
they all admired their new uniforms.
"Right.” said Stanley, “Forward!" And so
saying he reached forward and knocked on the door.
"Come in!" called a sharp-sounding voice.
Stanley pressed the handle down and pushed the door inwards. They stood in the
doorway looking in at the room. It had plain, grey walls, a plain, grey carpet,
and a smooth, pale, plastic desk. Behind the desk sat a strange figure. He
could easily have blended into the background with his plain grey suit, except
that his face was faintly pink and tufts of hair on his head had a tint of
colour. Suddenly, he spoke,
"Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen." he
said in a prickly voice, "I am the Director of this Business and I will be
happy to show around. If you would please follow me." He stood up and
walked towards them. The children parted to let him through as he walked
straight past him and over to another wooden door right by his office in the
left-hand side of the corridor. The children hadn’t noticed this, as they had
all been so eager to get to the Director’s office. The Director opened it to
reveal another identical corridor and began to walk briskly down it towards
another door at the end. The children followed him, though rather cautiously.
The Director stopped at the door and smiled icily at the children. They
didn’t react. He opened the door and they stepped inside.
Chapter 8
The first things they saw was a huge printing
machine, which was stood right in the centre of the room. It was churning out a
lot of paper very quickly. The paper had some writing on it but the machine was
working so fast that the children couldn’t work out what it said. They turned
their attention to the room itself. It was a perfectly clean room. The walls
were a dull grey, just like the walls in the Director's office, and there was a
metal scaffold running around the edge of the room with a rail to prevent
anyone from falling into the machine. They stepped out again to avoid the
noise.
"There you are." the Director said, as he shut the door.
"All perfectly spotless and totally hygienic.” He led them back the way
they had just come and at the door of his office he turned to speak to them
again. "See you in another six months." So saying, he turned, opened the
door to his office, went in and closed it behind him.
"Is that it?" Gabriella snorted,
"With the amount of security here you would think he was guarding the
crown jewels!" Luckily, the ‘Director’ did not seem to be able to hear
this from behind his door.
"There's something strange going on."
Sophie agreed, "And I’d be interested to find out what."
“Did you notice,” Arthur said, “that the door
blocked out all the noise that was coming from the printing machine.”
“That’s not strange.” Stanley said, “He must have
had the room sound-proofed.”
"Mmm" said Gabriella, lifting his nose in
the air. "Something smells good!"
"Yes.” Sophie said, “Something does smell
good.”
“It smells like…” Gabriella continued, “It smells like sweets.”
“Where’s it coming from?” Arthur asked.
“They looked about them in some confusion, trying to
find where the smell was coming from. Eventually, Sophie said,
“It seems to be coming from behind this wall."
"But that’s impossible!” Stanley said, “That’s
a wall! There’s probably solid earth behind there. There’s no way it could be
coming from behind there!” And to demonstrate his point he banged twice on the
wall. A door suddenly swung open in the wall to reveal yet another corridor
behind it.
“Oh, look,” said Sophie, “Isn’t that clever? The
door’s been painted to look like the wall.”
“I think we should go and investigate." Stanley
suggested.
"Yeah!" Gabriella and Arthur said
together.
"Well, I don't know" Sophie said,
doubtfully. The other three glared at her.
"But, why not?" she said, cheerfully.
"Let's get rid of this orrigummy stuff
first." Gabriella said.
"You mean Origami." Arthur corrected her.
They removed their paper costumes and crept into the
corridor. It was similar to the one that the Director had led them down, but
this one was dimly lit and much darker.
They reached the end and, just like in the other
corridors, there was a door. Stanley pulled the handle down and pushed.
Thankfully, it was well oiled and didn't make a sound. It slid effortlessly
inwards. The children stepped through and found themselves in some sort of
factory. They were on a raised platform or gantry at the top of a tall fire
escape. Down below, conveyor belts and machinery whirred. Mechanical robots
attended the equipment, all of them with completely blank faces.
Chapter 9
Slowly, the children made their way down the metal
stairs at the side of the gantry and went over to have a look at the biggest
machine, which seemed to be producing sweets.
"Cool!" said Gabriella, a little too
loudly, "It's a sweet factory!" The robot that was tending the
machine looked up. If it was possible for robots to frown, this one certainly
did.
"STATE CODENAME!" It said, sharply.
Stanley had to think quickly. He spotted a ray of light glinting off the
robot’s own nameplate which read ‘BFR-001’ and he had an idea. He stiffened.
"STA-123!" He replied, in an equally sharp voice. The robot
looked at Sophie.
"STATE CODENAME!" It repeated. Sophie
figured out what Stanley was doing. She straightened up to mimic him.
"SOP-456!" She snapped. It looked at
Gabriella.
"GAB-789!" She said.
"ART-007!" Arthur retorted when he was
asked. The robot looked satisfied. It turned back and continued with its work.
“007?” Stanley said to Arthur. Arthur shrugged.
The children continued to walk round the workspace.
Then Gabriella saw something really disgusting that was being poured into one
of the machines and she called out to the others.
"Ugh!" she shouted, "Hey, you lot,
look at this!" The others crowded round and their eyes widened because the
machine was being fed maggots! Horrible, slimy maggots! Gabriella climbed up on
top of the machine and watched as the maggots were fed into the machine through
a funnel. Then she watched as they filtered through and each one came out
encased in....
"A sweet!" she cried, unable to contain
her horror. "This machine is putting maggots in sweets!"
Sophie looked around at the other machines.
"The sweets are being packaged and put in boxes!" she cried.
"And then the boxes are being loaded onto
trolleys and stacked into huge lorries!" Arthur went on, following
Sophie’s gaze.
"The lorries have something written on the side
of them!" Stanley continued, "But I can't make out what it is."
He started walking in the direction of the lorries. The others followed.
Suddenly, Arthur slipped on the shiny, stone floor
and as he put his hand out to try to stop himself from falling, he hit a button
on one of the machines. Immediately, sirens sounded, klaxons hooted and lights
flashed. With a sudden, whirring and clanking sound, all of the nearby robots
came hurrying over to the machine to see what the fuss was about, blocking any
possible escape for the children. There was no way out. One of the robots went
over to the machine that Arthur had hit and pressed a few buttons to correct what
had gone wrong.
Suddenly, the door at the top of the gantry swung
open and the Manager/Managing Director
stood in the doorway. He stared down at the factory.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“Minor error.” The robot at the machine replied,
“Incorrect settings.”
“How did that happen?” the Manager/Managing Director asked.
“Unknown.” The Director looked about the factory and
instantly spotted the children. He looked stunned.
"You!" he said, as he hurried down the
stairs and made his way over to them. "You are not hygiene inspectors! You
are children! What are you doing here?" The children did not reply. They
looked back at him, unsure of what they could do or how they could get out of
this situation.
“What are you doing here?" the Director’s
repeated angrily. Suddenly Sophie spoke,
“What are we doing?” she asked, incredulously, “What
are you doing?” the Director looked confused.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“The maggots.” Gabriella said, “Why are you putting
them in sweets? That’s horrible!” the Director sneered at her.
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” He said, “How
could a simple child understand my grand plan.”
“Aren’t you going to tell us what it is?” Gabriella
asked.
“Very well.” The director said “I am doing this,” he
began, “for the good of mankind. I am doing this for the dental welfare of
everyone in the whole world. No longer will people suffer from the toothache
caused by sugar decay. No longer will there be the temptation for people to
stuff themselves with sugary things and come crying to me with the results. I
will make everyone in the world hate sweets. So that, never again, will
dentists like me have to look at a mouth filled with rotting molars. Children
and adults alike will rejoice at having perfect, shining white teeth and I will
be hailed as the greatest dentist in the world ever!” The Director regained his
composure and looked back at the children.
"Now,” he said, “I will ask you one more time –
what are you doing here?" Still they did not answer. The Director
gave up.
"Very well." He said, "If you’re not
going to tell me, we’ll just have to do something about that." Sophie
gulped but Gabriella stood defiantly.
"You can't do anything to us!" she yelled,
"If you do our mum and dad will come looking for us and then you'll be for
it!" The Director looked amused.
"I do not think so." he said, dangerously,
"There is a way around every situation except yours!" He drew a small
radio from his pocket and spoke into it, smiling as he did so.
"Attention robots SAU-374 and RNT-847!" he
said. The robots directly behind the children moved forward. "Of the
four…items in front of you, you will each grab two, securely, and take them to
the Security Room!" The Director lowered the radio and the robots moved
into action, reaching out with their metallic hands and arms. One robot grabbed
Sophie and Gabriella while the other grabbed Stanley and Arthur. They were
hoisted into the air and carried out of a side door screaming and kicking.
Sophie managed to jerk her head sideways and saw the Director watching his hostages,
smiling frostily, as the door shut behind them.
Chapter 10
They were being carried down a long, chilly corridor
with no decor and only an occasional door in the bare brick wall. They stopped
with a jerk by one of these doors. Sure enough, on it was printed `Security
Room`. The robot, which held the boys, spoke into the grille next to the door.
"Robot RNT-847. Requesting access to the
Security Room. Password `Humbug`.” The door slid open to reveal a bare stone
room, which the robots moved into and, with a thud, they dropped the children
on to the cold, hard floor. They then switched gear and retreated. One of the
robots said, “Toffee” and the door shut with a click as it locked.
Sophie sat up and felt herself for broken bones.
They all stared round. Eventually, Stanley spoke.
"Oh great! That's just great! I go on holiday
to get some peace and quiet and end up being locked in a horribly cold room
with no way out! Thanks so much, Arthur!"
"Me?" Arthur cried, indignantly.
"Yes, you!" replied Stanley, angrily
"It wasn’t me!" said Arthur," It was
Gabriella!"
"Yes!" Sophie said, "It was."
"Whatever!" Stanley said, "We haven’t
got time to sit here bickering. We've got to figure a way out of here!"
"Yeah!" Gabriella said, encouraging the
change in subject.
"How the heck are we supposed to do that,
Mastermind?" Sophie inquired, "Did anyone manage to hear the
password?" Gabriella, Arthur and Stanley all agreed that no, they hadn't
heard the password.
They spent the next twenty minutes trying to
entertain themselves in the room. They knew it was twenty minutes because of
Stanley’s super watch.
Stanley spent the time actively inspecting the walls
of the room, looking for a way out. Sophie sat on the floor, also trying to
figure a way out but one that didn’t involve searching for a secret exit.
Gabriella and Arthur didn’t think they had much hope of getting out of the room
so they were planning on waiting for someone to come and let them out. Arthur
started whistling to himself and Gabriella joined in, singing the words.
Stanley started to get annoyed as they weren’t very tuneful and he was trying
to concentrate.
“Will you please be quiet?” he said, fiercely.
Gabriella sighed.
"I'm hungry!" she complained, "I
could do with a humbug!" There was a clank and a rattle and the door
imprisoning them slid back. Their mouths dropped open. Stanley quickly gathered
his senses.
"Come on!" he said. They hurriedly tiptoed
out into the empty corridor as quietly as possible.
"Now to stop those lorries!" Stanley said.
"Oh yeah?" Gabriella said, casually
"Don't tell us you put a tracking device on one of those robots!"
"No, don't be stupid!" Stanley said. He
put his hand in his pocket and withdrew a small magnet, which shuddered and
shook but pointed very distinctly back up the corridor from where they had
come.
"It's a super magnet." Stanley explained,
"I studied my robot's back. I estimated it was made of steel and if it
isn't the lorries probably are." The magnet suddenly gave a sharp tug
pulling Stanley up the corridor.
"This way!" he called back.
Eventually, after turning some very tight corners
(and a few dead ends), the magnet brought them back to the side door that they
had been so harshly taken out of before.
Meanwhile, the Director had gone down another side
route to check on his hostages. Finding the door open, and them gone, he
immediately turned around and set off back the way he had come.
The children were now back in the factory,
marvelling, in silence, at the sheer size of the evil contraption.
"How are we supposed to stop that?"
Gabriella exclaimed, weakly. Arthur, Sophie and Stanley all stared up in
hopeless silence at the machine, none of them able to come up with any ideas.
Suddenly, Sophie heard heavy footsteps approaching.
She whirled round.
"It's the Director!” she cried. "He's
coming!" Gabriella, boosted by Sophie's squeal, suddenly leapt up and
grabbed a rope that was hanging from a sturdy pulley above them. Like Tarzan,
she swung across the room, over the machines and the robots, up and up until
her feet touched the gantry. Once there, she let go of the rope and stood
surveying the scene.
"Cool!" Arthur said. He caught the rope as
it came back and swung up to join Gabriella. The rope swung back for Sophie.
Sophie wasn’t very certain of the idea so Stanley grabbed it and pushed off
heading towards Gabriella and Arthur. But as he swung across, his heavier
weight caused the load on the other side of the pulley to give way, sending
Stanley downwards. He landed with a thud on a metal grating which was used as a
platform to survey the mechanisms of the machine below. This particular machine
was the one busily stuffing maggots in sweets.
"Sheesh!" Arthur said from his platform,
"How many tools do these machines need? There's a tool bag up here and
it's full of hammers, spanners, spare nuts and bolts, oil cans, wrenches, weird
things that I've never seen before..." An idea struck Stanley.
"Arthur!" He called out, "Throw me a
spanner, quickly!" Arthur picked one out of the large bag at his feet and
flung it towards Stanley. Stanley caught it with one hand and climbed up onto
the rim of the machine.
"Time to put a spanner in the works!" he
said.
"Don't you dare!" the Director's steely
voice replied. Stanley, Arthur and Gabriella all turned to see the Director
standing in the side doorway with one hand over Sophie's mouth and his other
arm twisting Sophie's behind her back.
Chapter 11
"Put your hands up!" the Director ordered.
Slowly, three pairs of hands floated up. Stanley's left hand was still
clutching the spanner. The Director spotted this.
"Drop that spanner!" the Director shouted.
"All right." Stanley said, and he let the
spanner fall straight into the funnel of the machine.
"No!" the Director
cried, helplessly, as the machine began to clog up. He pushed Sophie to the
ground and rushed hurriedly up the metal stairs that led to where Stanley was.
Stanley, his deed done, grabbed the rope, slid down it and rushed over to help
Sophie. The Director was staring powerlessly at his machine, which with a final
`phut` and a ‘clank’ collapsed into a pile of shattered alloy. The Director
spun round and stared in turn at all four children. His eyes red with fury.
"You!” he yelled, seething with rage. “You
destroyed my machine! You ruined my plans!" A sudden look of malice came
over him and he said, "But you will not live to tell the tale!" He
whipped the radio out of his pocket and spoke into it furiously.
"ROBOT BBU-667!" he yelled. The robot
nearest Sophie and Stanley stopped its work and looked up. An unpleasant smile
appeared on the Director’s face, "There are two rolls of sweet wrapping
paper next to you! As the machine is BROKEN!" He raised his voice,
threateningly. "They are no longer needed. TEAR THEM TO SHREDS!"
BBU-667 turned and began to move closer and closer towards Sophie and Stanley.
"ROBOT BTB-834!" the Director continued.
The robot at the bottom of the steps that led up to where Gabriella and Arthur
were looked up. "The same applies to you!" the Director said,
"Two rolls of unwanted paper await your destruction at the top of the
stairs next to you!" BTB-834 turned, looked up and began to ascend the
stairs, its caterpillar tracks running up the rim on either side of the steps.
Both robots had almost reached their targets when
Stanley yanked Sophie to one side out of the way and Arthur made Gabriella grab
the rope and they both jumped off and swung. The robots looked baffled at the
sudden disappearance of their prey. Sophie and Stanley dodged in and out of the
machines, heading in the same direction as their siblings, taking care all the
while to avoid any robots and the gaze of the Director. Gabriella and Arthur
dropped from the rope, which had been getting lower all the time, and landed
with a thud on the floor to join Stanley and Sophie on their hazardous run
around the factory. Up on his raised platform, the Director finally exploded.
"CALLING ALL ROBOTS!" he bellowed into the
speaker, "THERE ARE FOUR CHILDREN AMONG THE MACHINES! FIND THEM AND BRING
THEM TO ME!"
The robots dropped their various tools and stood
surveying the factory, trying to detect the children. Finally, with a sudden
lurch, the children dived into a small cavity that was built into the far wall
of the factory. As the others huffed and puffed, trying to get air into their
lungs Sophie broke the breathless silence.
"How..." she gasped, "are
we...supposed…to get out...of here?" Nobody replied as they were all too
busy trying to catch their breath after having dodged in and out of the various
nooks and crannies in a frantic attempt to lose their pursuers. Stanley was
desperately staring around for a way to escape from the chase. At last he
spotted it. A little red button right next to the door that they had originally
come through, beside the Director.
"Over there!" Stanley breathed, pointing
at the button. "Bet you anything that's the panic button! If only we could
get to it!"
"I can!" said Arthur, and to prove his
point he surged out from their hiding place and charged towards the left
staircase. He reached it but not before he had been spotted by hundreds of
pairs of robot eyes. The robots turned and began to rush towards him. Panic
stricken, Arthur began to climb up the metal steps, getting closer and closer
to his goal with each step. With a crow of triumph, he reached the top of the
gantry and found himself face to face with the Director. The Director seemed
stunned by Arthur’s daring. Arthur looked across at the panic button and the
Director looked too.
“Don’t you dare!” he warned. Arthur smiled craftily
and he banged his fist down hard, right on top of the button. Horns blew and
alarms sounded as the side wall, the part that was on the outside face of the
cliff, suddenly slid upwards. Light flooded inwards, dazzling the children and
driving the Director to despair. Suddenly, a strange metallic voice sounded
above all the honks and wails.
"WARNING! WARNING!" it shouted,
"DANGER! THE FACTORY IS UNSAFE! EVACUATE THE BUILDING! EVACUATE THE
BUILDING!" All the robots dropped what they were doing, stuck their metal
arms in the air, waved them about and made for the exit as quickly as their
caterpillar tracks could carry them. Arthur hurried down from the gantry before
the Director could get him and made his way back over to the others before they
all followed after the robots with the Director right behind them.
Gabriella darted back to wrench Magic's lead off the
rock it had been tied to and then ran to catch up with others.
As the robots had left the machinery, it began to
clog up. The machines shook and vibrated. The Director turned to look back but
it was too late to do anything. The children stopped and watched as he dropped
to his knees and with a tremendous explosion, the machines all blew up, causing
part of the cliff to collapse in on itself. The Director knelt in the sand, his
hands and arms were outstretched as if he was trying to catch the falling
rubble.
Finally, there was silence as the dust settled over
the ruins. Stanley nudged Gabriella, Arthur and Sophie and indicated up the
beach, away from the Director and the heap of rubble.
"Let's get out of here.” He said, “Before
he," he indicated the grovelling Director, "decides to take his
revenge."
“Ok.” Sophie said, “But quietly,” Cautiously, they
took one step away from the wreckage, then gave up on that idea, turned and ran
as fast and as hard as they could. The Director turned his head to see the
children running away. He seized the radio.
"BRING THOSE CHILDREN BACK HERE!" The robots metal heads
turned and then, as one, they began to move up the beach towards the children.
Chapter 12
It was Sophie who looked over her shoulder and saw them approaching
fast. She squealed and gathered speed. The others looked behind them, saw what
had alarmed Sophie and immediately gathered speed. Suddenly, Gabriella tripped
and fell flat in the sand.
“Gabriella!” Sophie screamed. Magic turned and, seeing Gabriella in
danger, doubled back to help her. As the robots got closer and closer, he let
out a fierce bark and a series of yaps as he leapt over Gabriella to fight off
her approaching attackers, giving Gabriella a chance to get up and get away,
which she did. She called out to Magic and he responded to her by disentangling
himself from the metal bodies trying to seize hold of him and hurrying after
the children. He overtook them all with ease as he bounded along in the sand.
They came to a part of the cliff face that looked easier to climb than
anywhere else. Stanley began to scramble up, followed by Sophie, then Arthur.
Magic bounded up to join them. As Gabriella started to climb the robot at the
head of the group drew level with them. It reached out and grabbed her ankle.
Gabriella shrieked and tried to kick the robot to make it let her go. But the
robot was holding on much too tightly for Gabriella to do much damage. Magic
barked down at it but that didn’t do much either. The robot simply turned its
head upwards to look with an evil grin at its captive and, with a sudden jerk,
pulled Gabriella part of the way back down the cliff. Gabriella looked up at
the others who were safely over the top of the cliff and she suddenly felt
immense anger and rage building up as a kind of fierce energy inside her. She
secured her hands against the ragged side of the cliff, lifted her foot off the
rock it was perched on and belted the robot, as hard as she could, right in its
smug metal face.
This stunned the robot so much that it released Gabriella and went
spinning backwards into the mass of robotic monsters at the foot of the cliff.
Gabriella continued to scramble up towards the top.
But she was only little and had trouble heaving herself up. Just as she
was nearing the top, her legs suddenly gave way beneath her, leaving her
clinging on to the rocky cliff face. Luckily, just before she fell, Stanley’s
hand reached down, grabbed her collar and heaved her up the remainder of the cliff,
with Magic joining in as soon as he could reach her, by seizing hold of her
sleeve with his teeth. She was hauled over the top and lay panting for breath
with the others next to her.
Finally, when she had got her breath back, she sat up and they all
looked down at the robots that were frantically trying to climb the cliff. But,
as they only had caterpillar tracks instead of legs and feet, they could not
get more than a metre or so off the ground before falling back. The children
smiled at each other, stood up, dusted themselves off and set off with Magic at
their heels back across the fields to their farmhouse, leaving the Director to
his failed scheme.
"Imagine what would have happened if the Director had got away
with it!" Gabriella said, with a disgusted face. "Ugh!"
Their mum looked at them oddly when they got in.
"You've been gone quite a long time" she
said, "I was beginning to worry. What have you been up to?"
The children looked at each other for a while and
then back at Mrs. Kent.
"Oh, you wouldn't believe us even if we told
you!" They replied, mysteriously.
