Spike had been in jail (his bedroom, without any television or computer) for what seemed like forever with just a ball that he could throw at the wall to distract his boredom. He thought about his adventure and how great it felt to have friends. When he heard the knock on his front door he laid down and pressed his ear against the floor trying to hear what was going on, but he could only make out muffled sounds, that was, of course until he heard the giggle. He didn’t recognise it but he did recognise his mum’s laugh, followed by her footsteps coming up the stairs.
Spike panicked and jumped up and moved to his bed where he had been since he was captured by Old Lady Maud (well besides dinner and breakfast and toilet breaks of course).
Spike’s mum walked in “why didn’t you tell me what you were doing yesterday?”
‘Did someone just tell her about The Sleep Taker? I thought adults could not be trusted?’ thought Spike.
“Maria told me everything” she continued “she wandered into Maud’s garden looking for a ball and you helped her, you should have just said.”
“I didn’t think” said Spike confused.
“Well, she’s waiting for you outside, go and play.”
Back at the tree, the exhausted members of Operation Sleep Taker watched in amazement as Spike’s mum disappeared into the house to re-emerge with Spike. “Have fun,” she said before closing the door leaving Spike and Maria outside.
“She did it!” said Jorge in shock “I cannot believe she did it!”
Maria and Spike walked back to the group and everyone got up and hugged both Maria and Spike. Jack was the first to speak, “welcome back Spike, are you ok?”
“I’m fine” replied Spike, still confused, he was convinced that they did not care about him still.
“Maria, that was brilliant, how did you do it?” Jorge said, giving his kid sister a longer hug then everyone else.
“Well” she begun, “I told her that silly little me wandered into Old Lady Maud’s garden looking for my ball and Spike, knowing I would be scared if I got caught jumped in and rescued me, he hid me as he got caught and I was too frightened to confess yesterday. I giggled as I told her I thought she was scary until now.”
“That is the cleverest thing I have ever heard, I’m so proud of you!” Jorge said, hugging her again.
“Maria, you have made me out to be some sort of hero, that’s just nonsense,” said Spike confused still.
“Spike you are a hero, do you forget that I was stuck in a tree and you saved me?” said N.J.
“Woof.”
“Well you and Mars.”
“Yeah Spike, you are a hero” said Jorge.
“Is that why you rescued me? So you can use my strength again?”
“No Spike” Jack said “Maria rescued you because you are our friend and we missed you.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Spike was finding it hard to contain his joy, so he grabbed all of them in his massive arms hugging wildly “thank you guys!”
Quickly realising he was being soft, Spike let go of the gang and changed the subject.
“Right, well,” he said as he cleared his throat, “So, what have I missed?”
Chapter 20
Sat in the shade under the tree with the gang once again complete, Jack told Spike his simple yet brilliant idea which would stop The Sleep Taker’s evil plan. At first Spike reacted the same way as the other members, then as Jack explained his idea his expression changed and he too saw how easy it could be. It all went back to when they were looking in The Sleep Taker’s garden, when they all saw that it was well looked after, when they were all in Old Lady Maud’s which was the most untidy garden they had ever seen. It took all night to see it, but Jack finally did. On the previous day as Spike was being lead away by Old Lady Maud, Jack spotted The Sleep Taker looking out of the window, he assumed The Sleep Taker was looking out for competition but he was wrong.
Jack had seen that look before, he had seen his dad give his mum that look, and the look wasn’t competition, it was love! Jack had realised that The Sleep Taker was in love with Old Lady Maud and by making her love him back he would not want to conquer the world, for as we all know love has power over everything.
“Guys, it really is that easy!” said Jack getting to his feet, “we just have to play cupid for the day!”
“Alright” said Jorge, getting to his feet as well. “We know what must be done, but how do we do it? How do we get the two most powerful evil people on the planet to fall in love?”
“Oh no!” said N.J getting to her feet too.
“What?” asked Jack, “N.J what is it?”
“Imagine them kissing” replied N.J.
“Yuck!” said Spike looking at Jack who responded.
“That’s so gross! Imagine their false teeth falling out!”
With that they all fell about laughing on the floor. When they had finished laughing they all realised how long it had been since they had last laughed together, it felt good, it gave them all energy they so desperately needed.
“So Jack” asked Spike when they all calmed down “how do we do it?”
“It’s easy guys, we write them both a letter! And get some shopping!”
“Shopping?” said all of the team in unison.
“Shopping” replied Jack. “Spike and Maria, we need some food, a blanket and some kind of fizzy juice or lemonade, can you do it?”
“No sweat” said Spike.
“Good, take Mars, just in case either of them come looking for you, will you warn them Mars if they do?”
“Woof!”
“N.J, I’m going to need your talent for voices soon and Jorge we need to get some paper and a pen to write a letter pretending to be Old Lady Maud, and then The Sleep Taker”
“Oh!!!” said Jorge “I see where this is going, very clever Jack!”
“Is everyone clear on what we have to do?” asked Jack, looking around the team and they all nodded back.
“It’s now 11.30, and for this to work we have to be set for lunchtime. We can do this guys and when we do, we can all say that we have saved the world. I know we are all tired but get this done and I promise we will all sleep long and deep, dreaming of all the things we have missed over the last few days. We have an hour, are you ready?”
Jack put his hand out directly in front of him with his arm straight and one by one the group placed their hands on top of his until everyone, including a paw from Mars, was in the circle. They all looked around at each other, they were just a bunch of kids (and a dog), from very different backgrounds and yet they were about to take on the most dangerous man in the world.
“Good luck!” was all Jack said and the group went their separate ways to collect what was needed for the final two steps of Operation Sleep Taker, Step 11, use his weakness against him and step 12, take him out and save the world.
Chapter 21
Running as quick as they could (but not as quick as Mars) Spike and his new best friend Maria headed for his house. Spike knew that his mum would feel bad about grounding him for an entire day so he knew that the food, blanket, and lemonade would not be a problem to collect. When they reached Spike’s he opened the door for Maria and they both stepped inside leaving Mars sat on guard for anything suspicious.
Spike’s house was huge. Nothing like it looked from the outside, from the outside it looked just like any other house in Horse Shoe Close, but it was a completely different once inside.
It had a big spiral staircase leading in two directions upstairs and a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, which seemed to be almost as high as outer space. As Maria stepped into the front hallway she could see doors leading off in all kinds of directions. She would need a map to get around this place but not Spike. Grabbing her by the hand
he took her into the kitchen. As they stepped through the smell was amazing; Maria could smell herbs, spices, something sweet baking and the smell of fresh vegetables. She could hear things boiling and bubbling and she could hear the gentle humming of a cook who loved what they were doing, but she could not see anyone until Spike’s mum stepped out of another, smaller room full of food. She was walking backwards, still humming to herself and did not see that Spike and Maria were there.
“Mum” called Spike but she did not hear.
“Mum” called Spike a little louder but again, she did not hear.
“MUM!” shouted Spike and with that Spike’s mum screamed with shock.
“AAAHHHH!”
Maria screamed too, through the shock of Spikes mums shock.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”
Two girls screaming was too much for Spike so he joined in too!
“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
This lasted for a few seconds until Spike’s mum realised who was in her kitchen, and when she did she laughed.
“Oh Spike you gave me a shock, hello again Maria.”
“Hello, Mrs. Spike.”
“Oh no dear, call me Julie.”
“Hello Mrs Julie” replied Maria.
Spike’s mum laughed again.
“What are you 2 doing here?” she asked.
“Well...” began Spike.
As Spike began to tell a story about wanting a picnic, Jack, N.J and Jorge had made their way back to Jorge’s lab and before they could think about writing any letters Jack asked for a phone book. When Jorge gave it to him Jack began to frantically scan the pages.
“What are you looking for?” asked N.J.
“Got it!” said Jack jumping up for a phone, not hearing N.J, he dialled the number he had found in the phonebook and then thrust the phone into N.J hands.
“Jack, what are you doing?”
“Just listen N.J, don’t say anything.
After a few short rings, a voice picked up on the other end of the line.
“Hello? Hello?”
It was a man, and he sounded old.
“Hello, who’s there?? Hello?”
He sounded really old.
“Hello who’s there? Hello, hello?”
N.J realised who she was talking too and she gasped.
“Hello, I can hear you, what is your name?”
In a panic she hung up.
“Jack, was that?”
“Yes, can you impersonate his voice?”
“Jack, why would you make me talk to him?”
“You didn’t talk N.J, can you do the voice?”
“Yes, Jack that was so scary.”
“Who was on the phone N.J?” asked Jorge.
“The Sleep Taker!”
“What, Jack! That was dangerous!”
“It was necessary Jorge, besides he won’t know how to ring us back.”
With that the phone rang.
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
Nobody moved.
‘RING RING,. RING RING.’
Jack started to sweat, had he just made a big mistake. Had he become too confident and now ruined his plan? Had The Sleep Taker now got them in his grasp?
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
The thought suddenly hit Jack; he didn’t know how strong The Sleep Takers magic really was. If he can take everyone’s sleep and with Spike not even seeing him, what could he do over the phone? Had Jack just ruined their chances by making his best friend talk with him? Had he just put N.J in more danger?
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
Jorge and N.J looked to Jack for a way out, Jack didn’t have one.
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
His mind went blank.
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
Jack began to think of what The Sleep Taker was going to say to him on the phone.
“You lose little boy” or “because of your foolishness the world is now mine!”
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
Closing his eyes, Jack picked up the phone.
Chapter 22
“Come on Jorge, pick up the phone,” said Spike pacing around his room.
“What’s taking them so long” asked Maria.
“I don’t know” was all Spike could say.
“Maybe something’s happened. Mars is with us and couldn’t warn them if something went wrong.”
“I know Maria; I was just thinking the same thing.”
Finally the ringing stopped and a voice was on the other line.
“Hello” said the voice.
“Jorge?” asked Spike.
“No, my name is Jack” said Jack, still thinking it was The Sleep Taker he was talking too.
“Jack, its Spike”
With that came a sigh of relief “its ok guys, its Spike” Jack said to his group.
“Of course its Spike, who else would it be?”
“We thought it was The Sleep Taker” replied Jack.
“Why would you think it was The Sleep Taker?”
“Because we just called him.”
“You did WHAT?”
“I’ll explain later, what’s up Spike?”
“We are having an issue with getting the blanket for the picnic, I have another option, but we’re running a bit late!”
“Ok, how much later?”
“10 minutes, we have to go to the shops to buy one with my mum, tell Jorge we have called his mum and Maria is fine to come with me, Mars is coming too!”
“Ok Spike, we’ll delay by ten minutes our end.”
“Brilliant!” said Spike, “See you soon.”
“Good luck” said Jack then he hung up.
“Right Maria, we better move fast. Mum we’re ready.”
Back in Jorge’s lab, N.J was sat quietly on her own in the corner whispering to herself, she was practicing The Sleep Takers voice using the words Jack had given to her to learn. Jack and Jorge were at the other end of the room, sat at a table, with two pieces of paper and a pen; they had to write the letters but had no idea where to start.
“Ok Jorge, let’s start with the letter to Old Lady Maud.”
“So we’re pretending to be The Sleep Taker?”
“Absolutely” replied Jack. “So where do we begin? Oh, I know, how about dear old lady...”
“Jack, we cannot begin a letter by insulting her, a woman needs to feel special, she need to feel important.”
“OK, so no old lady talk?”
“Exactly. How about we start it with. To my dearest neighbour!”
“Oh Jorge that’s brilliant” continued Jack “my dearest neighbour, I will not start this letter by calling you old.”
“Jack!”
“Even though you are.”
“Jack! You cannot say she’s old at all!”
“I can’t?”
“NO!”
“But she is!”
“We want her to like him remember!”
“Jorge, this is hard!”
“Ok Jack, allow me.”
Jorge moved away from the table and furrowed his brow in concentration. He did this for a few minutes and finally he began to talk, Jack scrambled for a pen to write down what was being said.
“To my dearest neighbour...”
Jorge then went into detail of the content of the letter, pretending to be The Sleep Taker, he talked of moving to the area, he talked of her garden and how he wanted to help her manage it and then he talked of love.
“To conclude this letter I wish to state something that is so unbelievable and yet it is simply true, when I first saw you everything stopped, the world stopped on its axis and the bird
s stopped flying; the sun froze in the sky because of your beauty. I’m sorry if this is too forward, but I cannot help myself. If you would agree, I would like to talk to you and I would like to become your friend.
Your neighbour.”
“Jorge,” said N.J who had stopped what she was doing to listen, “that was beautiful.”
“One more thing, we must put that she cannot mention the letter, because he is shy” said Jack
“Perfect!” said N.J.
“Right, now let’s do the same but from her to him!” said Jack.
Jack and Jorge then wrote the second letter saying that Old Lady Maud liked The Sleep Taker, but was too shy to say. They wrote that she liked him but they couldn’t talk about it, if he liked her they had to talk about gardening. When they had finished N.J turned to Jorge. “Where did all of that come from?” she asked “not being funny but you don’t seem the type for romancy stuff.”
“I wasn’t” he replied.
“Eeewwww” said Jack, feeling a little sick at all the lovey dovey silliness.
“What?” was all N.J managed to say, blushing a little.
“N.J, the only reason I signed up to help with this plan was because I saw you. Those words I said for that letter are the words I thought when I met you.”
Speechless, both N.J and Jorge stood looking at one another gazing into each other’s eyes as their own feelings took over, Jack was sat back down, looking horrified, and then the phone rang, interrupting the moment.
‘RING RING, RING RING.’
Jack looked at the lovey dovey pair a little worried he picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“It’s Spike, I’m ringing from my mum’s phone” Jack breathed a sigh of relief again.
“Is everything ok Spike?”
“Fine, I’m just ringing to tell you we have the stuff needed and are about to pay and head back, is everything Ok your end?”
“Fine, I just feel a little sick.”
“Sick?”
“Long story, but all is ok Spike, I’ll see you soon.”
“Ok Jack, see you soon, hey Jack?”
“Yes?”
“Is this going to work?”
The Sleep Taker Page 6
