by Ali Sparkes
They stopped near an arched stone bridge that spanned the river. Below, on the near side, the water tumbled over some rocks in a small, fast waterfall, and on the far side the current moved much faster as the river deepened and flowed on downstream. There were warning signs that nobody should swim in it.
“I haven’t got a small head—have I?” Isobella was demanding.
Her two best friends, Lucy and Jemima, chorused, “Of course not!”
“But that horrid, ugly old witch lady said I had!” pouted Isobella, taking off her straw hat and patting her hair anxiously. “She said I had an undersized brain!”
“She got that right,” muttered Charlie.
Isobella spun around and glared at her. “What would you know, Wexford?” she spat. Then she turned back to her friends. “It’s horrible! Our teachers should complain to the park staff. It’s not right for ugly old witch ladies to go around picking on well brought up young ladies!”
Charlie snorted as she climbed up onto the parapet of the bridge. “Oh, give it a rest, Isobella. Don’t be such a wuss.”
Isobella gasped again. “Who are you calling a wuss?” she hissed.
“Um … that would be you!” Charlie said, walking along the parapet, holding her arms out wide for balance.
“I suppose you think you’re so brave!” sneered Isobella. “Just because you can walk along the wall of a bridge!”
“Nope. Just very good at it,” Charlie said. “I do gymnastics, remember? I have a good sense of balance.” She stood on one leg to prove it.
“Oh you really think you’re it!” Isobella stared with her hands on her hips for a moment, and then she scrambled up on the parapet too.
“Whoa!” Charlie said. “Don’t do that! It’s dangerous.”
“But you’re doing it!” Isobella said.
“Yes! Because I’m good at this! You’re not!” Charlie said, alarmed. “You can’t even balance along the curb! Get off, Isobella! Look—I’m getting down now. It’s too dangerous for me.” And she hurriedly got back down onto the path. She glanced around, hoping for a chance that one of the teachers would turn and make Isobella get down—but neither did. They were studying tree bark.
“Izzy! Don’t!” whimpered Lucy.
“You’ll fall!” warned Jemima.
But Isobella was smirking and throwing her arms out wide and walking, rather shakily, along the top of the narrow stone wall. Ten feet below her, the river churned and flowed at high speed.
“Isobella! Please!” Charlie gave up trying to be cool as the girl wobbled along to the middle of the parapet.
“You think I can’t make it across, don’t you?” Isobella said, glancing defiantly at Charlie.
“No! I know you can. I’m sorry—I was just showing off,” gabbled Charlie. “You’re better than I am … just … get down!”
“I’ll get down when I’m good and ready!” snapped Isobella, waving her arms about.
And then she fell off.
Josh and Danny were just running up to Charlie to quietly get back the S.W.I.T.C.H. spray when something astonishing happened. One minute Charlie was walking along the top of the parapet (which did not surprise Josh and Danny one bit) and the next minute another girl had climbed up, wobbled along it, and then fallen off.
The girls watching her, Charlie included, were so shocked they didn’t even scream. They just gaped and then ran to the wall and peered over.
Josh and Danny arrived next to them in time to see a straw hat bob up on the surface and spin away downstream. Charlie turned to them, her eyes wide. “She fell!” she whispered. “She FELL!” The other girls had begun to react now. They ran to the teachers, screaming.
“I’m going after her!” Charlie said, hauling herself up on the parapet. “It’s my fault!”
“Charlie—no!” hissed Danny. “It’s too dangerous!” And as he said this he saw the blond-haired girl whizzing away downstream, her upturned face pink and shocked. “You’ll never catch up with her and save her! None of us could. We’d need to be superhuman!”
Josh caught his breath and then plunged his hand into Charlie’s blazer pocket. He brought out the S.W.I.T.C.H. bottle. It was different from the one Petty had used on them earlier—it had the letters G A on it. Josh knew exactly what those letters stood for.
He grabbed Charlie’s and Danny’s hands and dragged them around the far end of the bridge and down the steep woody slope to the river. Hidden by trees and bushes, Josh knew what they had to do. “Superhuman, no,” he said. “But super-reptile, yes!” And he sprayed Danny and Charlie and himself.
Seconds later, three enormous green anacondas slid into the river and began to swim downstream.
Josh couldn’t believe how fast he was moving. He seemed to have become part of the river—his long, muscular body rippling through the fast-flowing water. His eyes and nostrils were positioned on his head at just the right place to stay clear of the bubbling, churning surface. Water weed and bits of twig and leaf rafted along beside him. A low branch touched the surface, speeding towards his head, and he instinctively ducked under. At once his world went pale green, and a strange booming gurgle resounded through his head. Then—three seconds later—he was back on the surface.
“Where is she?” he heard Charlie shout.
“I can see her!” Josh called back, although he couldn’t see Isobella that well. He could, however, smell her—and sense her body heat. She was struggling along in the water, repeatedly going under and popping up again, about thirty feet ahead of them.
“There she is!” Danny called out, spotting a flash of white lacy sock. Although, Josh realized, Danny wasn’t really calling out. He was hissing a bit, yes, but like many of the creatures he and Danny had been S.W.I.T.C.H.ed into, there was other stuff going on which made up their communication: scent and body language and a bit of telepathy.
Charlie struck ahead and Josh marveled at what he saw in the water. She was bigger than he and Danny—in the wild, many female snakes were bigger than males. Charlie was at least twelve feet long! Her scales were green with black pebbly markings along the top. Josh was very glad Petty’s second S.W.I.T.C.H. spray had been for a green anaconda. There was nothing in the reptile world which could swim faster down a river than a green anaconda.
They were all closing in on Isobella now—but it wasn’t looking good. Just ahead of them was another waterfall. From where they were swimming, Danny couldn’t see the other side of the drop, but there was mist and spray rising up from it. He could hear, too, the sound of water dashing hard onto rocks.
“She’ll go over the waterfall!” cried out Charlie. “Come on!” She powered through the river, carving a deep wake in the water behind her. Josh and Danny shot after her. Working his body left and right in undulating pulses, Danny felt his reptilian heart pounding. At least he thought that was his reptilian heart. He had no idea where a snake kept its heart …
Up ahead, Isobella was waving one feeble hand out of the water. Her face was going under again. Charlie could see her eyes were shut. Probably just as well, she thought. It won’t help if she sees three huge snakes coming after her! But were they too late? With one immense effort, she lunged forward. Now Isobella was seconds away from the drop. How could Charlie save her? How was she going to grab her? Even as she thought this, Charlie opened up her powerful jaws, revealing not just fangs but two rows of needle-sharp white teeth, which pointed backward into her cavernous red mouth.
Upstream, Josh and Danny saw Charlie’s jaws open in an amazingly wide gape. Josh remembered that anacondas could literally unhinge their jaws to swallow their prey whole. It was the weirdest thing he’d ever seen. A second later, Charlie had grabbed Isobella’s foot in her jaws. The girl was barely conscious now as the giant snake snagged her shoe.
But the danger wasn’t over. Charlie had held Isobella back from the waterfall, but she was being dragged toward it herself. Her incredibly strong, scaly body was rippling hard against the current, desperately trying to p
ull Isobella back upriver, but she was losing the battle. Josh and Danny had to do something—NOW!
Danny flung himself across the powerful current to the nearest bank and whipped his tail across a low branch, wrapping it around and pulling tight. And even as he did this, Josh was wrapping his tail around Danny’s upper body, anchoring himself firmly with a tight coil of snake muscle.
“Behind you!” he yelled at Charlie, and she glanced back and flipped her own tail around his neck. She tightened it quickly, and the whole weight of her body—plus Isobella’s—plus the strong pull of the current—dragged against Josh’s neck.
“Eeeerm … could you just … loosen off a bit?” he gurgled. There was very little space left for air to get through.
“Sorry!” Charlie called back. “But we’ve got to get back to the bank!”
Danny was taking care of this. He wound his tail round and round the tree branch, steadily dragging himself—and Josh and Charlie and Isobella—back to the bank. A minute later they all flopped onto the ground, exhausted.
Charlie unlocked her jaws from Isobella’s soggy school shoe. The thick soles had a row of punctures in them. “Good job I didn’t grab her leg or her arm,” she said. “I’d have bitten right through it.”
“Is she alive?” Danny asked, slithering across to peer anxiously at the soaking wet schoolgirl. In response, Isobella coughed, spluttered, rolled over and spat water all over the bank. Then she slumped down again and let out a long sigh. Her eyes were closed. She seemed to be asleep.
The three anacondas looked at each other. What now?
“If she sees us she’ll freak out,” Charlie said. “Probably run right back into the river in panic. We’d better get away. Wow! You two look amazing!” Charlie lifted her head and swayed it from side to side, flickering a black forked tongue out toward Josh and Danny.
“So do you,” said Josh. This was truly the most magnificent creature he’d ever been S.W.I.T.C.H.ed into. He noticed the orangey-yellow stripes streaking out behind Charlie’s and Danny’s round dark brown eyes, and the beautiful black and yellow spots along their browny-green bodies. They were all perfect specimens. He and Danny were a little smaller and shorter than Charlie, but not by much. Josh wanted to climb up into a tree and see how strong he was. He wanted to swim some more too—a lot more! He wanted to unhinge his jaws like Charlie had and see how wide they went and what it felt like.
“We should change back any second now,” he sighed. “Probably just as well—listen!” Above the hiss and bubble of the waterfall, they could hear shrill cries as Isobella’s teachers rushed along the bank of the river.
“We’ve got to go!”
“Isobella! Charlie!” called the desperate teachers, getting closer. Any minute now they could spot the astonishing sight of one half-drowned pupil and three huge anacondas coiled on the opposite bank. Josh realized it would look suspiciously as if they were planning a feast of Riverwashed Schoolgirl on a Bed of Woodland Salad. It was time to go.
“Quick—over here!” Danny said, and they all slithered away from the river and made for the cover of the wood. Shady ferns helped to hide them from view as the rescuers came running along the bank.
Charlie lost no time in heading up a tree. She wound herself around the trunk and got above ground quickly, before looping her impressive twelve-foot length along a moss-covered branch.
“Isobella! Charlotte!” called more voices. Miss Biffle and Miss Butcher were bashing their way along the river bank.
At this moment, Charlie S.W.I.T.C.H.ed back. She fell out of the tree with a splash, right into the shallows of the river.
“Ugh!” She crawled out and back over to Isobella. “Isobella!” she said, shaking the girl by the shoulder. “Izzy! Wake up! Stop looking so drowned!”
Isobella spluttered again and opened her eyes. She fluttered her lashes and whimpered. “Don’t be so dramatic,” said Charlie. “You only fell in a river and got swept downstream and almost over the edge of a waterfall!” She grinned. “We’ve had scarier experiences in the school cafeteria!”
“Charlotte! Isobella!” Shouts of delight and relief could be heard as Miss Biffle and Miss Butcher fought their way along the bank toward them. “Oh! Thank heavens!” cried Miss Biffle. “Are you all right?”
“Fine!” Charlie said. “Just went for a little swim in the river.” She beamed and wrung out a soggy bunch of black curls. “Although Isobella tried to drink most of it.”
Isobella sat up, looking pale and filled with amazement. “Did you … just save my life?” she gasped.
Charlie shrugged. “Well, I suppose I did,” she said. She’d had help, of course, but nobody would believe she’d had a couple of superhero anaconda sidekicks, so she thought it best not to mention it.
“Charlotte dived in after me and saved my life!” squeaked Isobella as soon as the teachers got there. “She’s a hero! Charlotte! How can I ever thank you?”
“Ummmm … stop dissing my corn puffs?” suggested Charlie.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Petty Potts reached the ash tree and peered up at Josh and Danny in its branches.
“That’s a lot of top quality snakeskin you’re ruining with moss stains.” She waved the small, beeping, black torch-like thing at them. “At least a dozen handbags’ worth.” She turned off the S.W.I.T.C.H.ee detector. Its blue light went out and the beeping stopped. “Come on. Get down before you fall down. You’re not even a tree-climbing breed—you shouldn’t be up there! Now, I have some antidote here, but I’m not climbing up a tree with it.”
Josh and Danny reluctantly slithered back down. They had enjoyed being snakes immensely. They’d both had a go at making their jaws unhinge and found that they could probably swallow a small computer console each if they wanted to. Or possibly Piddle, their dog. They had also enjoyed watching, from a distance, as Charlie was hailed a hero by the two teachers for saving Isobella’s life. “Looks like she might not get expelled after all,” Danny had hissed.
Petty held up the spray but paused long enough to remark, “Well! That’s my best S.W.I.T.C.H. yet! I really have done wonders this time.” Then she squirted them with antidote.
“Here you go,” Josh said, pulling the green anaconda S.W.I.T.C.H. spray out of his pocket and handing it back to Petty. He was glad he’d shoved it into his pocket just in time, so it had safely S.W.I.T.C.H.ed too, along with all his clothes, into snakeskin, he guessed. “It was a good thing Charlie did borrow this,” he told Petty. “If she hadn’t had it in her pocket, we wouldn’t have been able to save that girl who fell in the river.”
“Really?” exclaimed Petty. “What’s happened to Charlie, then?”
“She’s S.W.I.T.C.H.ed back already and gone back with her teachers,” said Danny. “Ages ago—even though we all sprayed at the same time.”
“Hmmm,” Petty said. “Probably to do with mass. She’s female, so I’m guessing she was much larger.”
“Yeah—she was huge! Amazing!” Danny marveled. “She saved that girl from going over the waterfall.”
“Truly?” Petty said. “Tell me all about it!”
They told her while they made their way back to the parking lot.
“I have chocolate cake at home,” Petty said, walking to her ancient station wagon. “I think chocolate cake will be just the thing to celebrate your life-saving adventure.”
Petty was just about to get in when she spotted an envelope beneath one of the elderly windscreen wipers. Petty snatched it up and opened it. Then she paused, turned, and raised her shaggy gray eyebrows at Josh and Danny. Lifting the envelope, she showed them the spiky writing:
JOSH & DANNY PHILLIPS … AND THEIR
GENIUS FRIEND.
“It seems the Mystery Marble Sender now wants me in the game too,” Petty said. They all stared at each other, and Josh felt his heartbeat, not for the first time that day, skip along a little faster.
Inside was a note:
DEAR JOSH, DANNY, & PETTY
&nbs
p; YOU’VE DONE SO WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE
NO TROUBLE FINDING THIS MARBLE BEFORE YOU GO.
IT’S A LITTLE STICKY.
REMEMBER, DESTINY AWAITS!
“Is that it?” Danny said. “The clues are usually better than that!”
“A little sticky?” Josh murmured. “That could be anything!”
“Wait—there’s more,” Petty said. At the bottom was a PS:
DANNY ONLY. OR ELSE THE CLUES—AND
YOUR JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY—END HERE.
“Me? Just me?” Danny looked worried. “But … I don’t have any idea what the clue means. Why me?”
“Wait—there’s more still,” Petty said. She had flipped over the paper and now read from the back:
FISH FINGERS, PEAS, POTATOES, WART
REMOVER, GET BEST YELLOW JACKET DRY
CLEANED.
“Oh, that’s just a bit of shopping list,” Danny said. “We’ve had that before.”
“Looks like the warts haven’t cleared up yet, then,” added Josh.
“OK, everyone!” Danny said. “What about the clue? What does it mean? What’s sticky? And why is it just for me? What am I good at?”
Josh and Petty looked at each other and then back at the zoo. They both had the same expression on their faces. And it was not a good expression.
“Erm …” Josh said. “Maybe it’s not to do with what you’re good at, Danny.”
“Well … why else would the Mystery Marble Sender want me to find this marble?” shrugged Danny.
“Maybe it’s something you’re really scared of,” Josh said. “So it’s more of a challenge.”
Danny gulped. And then he shook his head and lifted his chin. “Nothing can be scarier than what we’ve had to face since we met Petty!” he declared.
