Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s escape jet flew through the air. Perry still trailed after it, clutching the string of Christmas lights. As they passed Phineas and Ferb’s haunted house, the end of the string of lights wrapped around the structure’s lightning rod!
Candace heard her mom’s car pull up in front of their house. She gasped with excitement. “Mom’s home. Perfect!” she exclaimed. Now Phineas was really going to get it. There was no way he could explain away this one!
Her mom got out of the car with a bag of groceries and closed the door behind her.
Candace ran to the car. “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom! Wait till you see what Phineas and Ferb have done!” she yelled.
As Buford and some of the other kids watched in disbelief, the jet started to pull the haunted house off its foundation. The Fireside Girls ran out of the house in a panic, followed by Ferb and Isabella. The house began to lift off the ground! Phineas poked his head out of a gaping wall. “What’s happening?” he cried. “Uh, guys? A little help!”
“Phineas!” cried Isabella.
“Aaaah!” shouted Phineas. He leaned forward, and the wall broke. He fell out of the house, tumbling toward the ground.
Isabella rallied the Fireside Girls. “Quick, everyone, sashes!” she ordered. The girls gathered their sashes, and with a snap, wove them together, forming a fireman’s net, of sorts. The girls each held a corner. Phineas fell into the net, bounced in the air, and landed safely in Isabella’s arms.
“Now, that was scary,” said Isabella. Then she realized something. “Hey, my hiccups are gone!”
Ferb gave her a thumbs-up.
Candace had dragged her mom into the backyard. They watched as the Fireside Girls filed past them. “See?” said Candace. “Absolute terror. These little creeps have destroyed our backyard, leaving this ugly mess in its place.” She pointed to the place where the haunted house used to be. But instead she was pointing at Baljeet. He waved.
“Hi, Baljeet,” called Candace’s mom. She looked disapprovingly at her daughter. “That wasn’t very nice, Candace.” Shaking her head, she turned and went inside.
* * *
Perry wound his way down the string of lights to the top of the haunted house, which was now flying through the air. Dr. Doofenshmirtz threw the Disintevaporator out of the plane and toward Perry. “There you go, Perry the Platypus!” the evil scientist shouted. “Enjoy your disintevaporation!” It hit the roof of the house with a bang, breaking the string of lights which had held it to the jet. Perry flew through the air, coolly snapping a belt around his waist and deploying a parachute.
The haunted house smashed to the ground right behind Candace. Aha! Candace thought. Now I’ve got them! She laughed in delight and then ran to the house and threw open the door. “It’s back! Mom, it’s back!” she cried breathlessly.
And as the Disintevaporator counted down, five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . . one, the haunted house disappeared in a flash of light! Candace came out of the house, yanking her mother by the hand. “It’s back! I told you! It’s returned!” Her eyes on her mother, Candace pointed to where the house had been just a few seconds ago. But all her mom saw was Baljeet, holding his book bag.
“Oh, excuse me,” he said. “I forgot my satchel.”
Candace’s mom had had enough. “Goodbye, Candace,” she said with a sigh. She slammed the door shut.
Candace stood there, blinking in disbelief.
Isabella looked over at her. “What’s the matter?” she asked.
“Phineas and Ferb are the matter,” Candace complained. “This day was ruined, and I didn’t even get to hang out with Jeremy.”
Isabella gave her a sympathetic look. “Sorry, but you know, it was the best day for me! Due to my incurable case of the hiccups, I spent an entire day showered with undivided attention from Phineas. It was wonderful,” she finished happily.
“Hiccups?” Candace said excitedly. She clasped her hands together and smiled.
“Hey, Candace,” a voice said, “you ran away so quickly, we didn’t get a chance to—” Candace turned around. It was Jeremy!
Candace said nothing. She merely . . . hiccupped.
Jeremy looked concerned. “Sounds like you got a bad case of the hiccups.” He put his hand on her shoulder.
Candace hiccupped again.
“Here, come on,” Jeremy said. “Let’s see what we can do about that.” He put his arm around her, and they walked off together. “I’ve got a glass of water with your name on it.”
As they left, they passed Jeremy’s sister, Suzy. Candace hissed at her.
“What? What did I do?” Suzy asked Buford innocently.
Buford chuckled nervously. “Um, I-I’ll just, uh . . . go,” he said.
Phineas and Ferb were relaxing in the backyard. Phineas was leaning against a tree trunk, his arms behind his head. Ferb was lying in the grass next to Perry.
“That was a great day, Ferb,” Phineas said. “What do you think the scariest thing was?”
Ferb spoke for the first time that day. He didn’t need to think twice. “Definitely the giant floating baby head,” he said.
Phineas turned to him. “Yeah,” he said in agreement. He thought for a minute. “Yeah, where did that come from?”
Ferb shrugged.
Phineas furrowed his brow. “Hmm,” he wondered aloud.
Just then in the distance, he heard Isabella hiccup. “Darn,” she said.
But Phineas just laughed to himself. Oh well, he thought. I guess we didn’t cure Isabella’s hiccups after all. But at least we had a blast trying!
Part Two
Chapter 1
Phineas and Ferb lived by one rule and one rule only: “Summer is short, you’ve got to make every day count!” And so the two stepbrothers somehow managed to turn even the most boring day into an incredible adventure. Today, they stood in line at the Pharaoh Theater with Ferb’s dad (who was also Phineas’s stepdad) and Candace, Phineas’s older sister (who was also Ferb’s stepsister). They were waiting to buy tickets to the classic mummy movie, The Mummy with Two Tombs. The theater was awesome—made up of a big golden sphinx, a temple complete with columns, and a giant pyramid.
As usual, Phineas was awaiting his and Ferb’s next adventure, and Candace had a scowl on her face. She knew, she just knew, that her redheaded little brother was up to something. And Ferb, wearing his favorite pair of super–high-waisted pants, had their pet platypus, Perry, tucked under his arm. Ferb was Phineas’s right-hand man and was ready to assist in whatever way he could.
“You know, kids,” their dad said as he purchased the tickets, “this theater was built over seventy years ago in this Neo-Egyptian style, and apparently there used to be a whole display of a pharaoh’s tomb with a mummy in his sarcophagus.” They headed into the theater, filing past a Bones of Doom movie poster picturing a flaming skull. “I mean, you couldn’t pick a better place to watch a classic old mummy movie.”
Phineas grinned at Ferb. A mummy in a tomb made out of stone? Things were starting to get interesting!
They settled into their seats, and the movie began. The Mummy with Two Tombs was an old black-and-white film. As they watched, a short archaeologist with a rather large black mustache and a helmet held a flaming torch up to an inscription carved in stone. Nearby stood an ancient mummy, its arms crossed, inside a stone tomb covered in cobwebs. His fellow archaeologist, who was tall and thin, leaned over the shorter one’s shoulder to see the hieroglyphics.
“There’s an inscription here,” the short archaeologist said. “An incantation of some sort.” He began to read it aloud: “Oh, wah ta goo siam.” Unbeknownst to the two men, the mummy’s bloodshot eyes snapped open.
In the audience, Phineas’s and Ferb’s eyes widened in surprise.
Phineas turned to his father. “Dad, where do you find a mummy?” he asked eagerly.
“Hidden deep in the bowels of the pyramids,” his dad whispered. Just then, his cell phone rang. “Whoops. Better put this on vib
rate.”
Onscreen, the short archaeologist explained to his companion, “The incantation will make the mummy come to life and obey your commands!” He put his finger to his lips, deep in thought. He didn’t realize that his partner was already inside the coffin with his arms folded across his chest, just like a mummy. He also didn’t know that the mummy was standing behind him with its arms raised in a very menacing way. The mummy reached down, about to grab his helmet. It was alive!
“Well, beat me with a chicken!” the short archaeologist exclaimed.
Obeying his command, the mummy proceeded to beat him about the head and shoulders with a live chicken!
“Ow!” cried the archaeologist. “What? Ooh! Hey! Stop! It’s a—Ooh! Hey!”
“Cool,” Phineas said. “Dad, is it hard to get into a pyramid?” he asked.
“Yes, indeed,” his dad answered. “Often you had to negotiate various booby traps that were set centuries before.” He and Phineas both turned their attention back to the screen.
The mummy had just stepped on a large button on the tomb floor. “You ridiculous mummy!” cried the archaeologist. “You’ve just tripped one of your own booby traps!” Instantly, rocks began to fall from above, and water poured out of the eyes of the stone bull sculptures in the tomb.
They took off, running past enormous columns, which began to crumble and fall. “She’s going to blow!” the archaeologist shouted. “Whoa!” Just as they reached the entrance to the tomb, there was an enormous explosion. The mummy and the archaeologist leaped to safety. They made it—but just barely.
“Awesome booby trap!” Phineas cried. He turned to his brother. “Ferb, we should get our own mummy.”
He began to daydream about how much better life would be if he and Ferb had an ancient Egyptian mummy to pal around with. There were so many cool things they could do together—like sharing a strawberry shake at the ice-cream parlor; lying in the grass and watching the clouds float by; helping the mummy knit the world’s longest scarf; swinging at the playground; doing simultaneous flips off the diving board at the town pool; going for long walks on the beach; scaring away Buford the bully; always having a handkerchief for you when you needed one; playing checkers; going fishing; riding bikes; showing off to the kids at school—no one else would have a three-thousand-year-old mummy, that was for sure. The possibilities were endless!
“That would be awesome!” Phineas exclaimed. He turned to his father. “Dad, can we—”
But his father was sound asleep. He began to snore loudly.
“Come on, Ferb,” Phineas said. “We’ll be back before he wakes up.” The two brothers took off running. They were going on a mummy hunt!
Chapter 2
Candace’s eyes narrowed as she watched the boys head out of the theater. They were always getting into some sort of trouble. Well, this time things were going to be different. “Oh . . . those bozos aren’t pulling anything on my watch,” she said. She climbed over her father, who was still fast asleep.
Phineas, Ferb, and Perry walked up the aisle, through the swinging doors, and out into the theater lobby, almost knocking over a large bubble-gum machine. Candace was right behind them. Unfortunately, her head got caught between the swinging doors. Ouch!
“Hey, Ferb. Where’s Perry?” Phineas asked. It was so weird. The platypus was there just seconds ago!
What the brothers didn’t know was that Ferb’s unassuming pet was actually a government secret agent for the OWCA (Organization Without a Cool Anagram). Perry had one mission: to foil the evil scientist Dr. Heinrich Doofenshmirtz and his elaborate, though inept, plans for world domination. Wearing his trademark secret-agent hat, Perry stood in front of a large plastic ape display for a movie called Big Ape. The ape’s stomach opened, and Perry quickly jumped inside and straight into an open car, which began speeding down a track. A white-haired man with a mustache appeared on the car’s video screen. It was Major Monogram.
“Morning,” said the major. He got right down to business. “Agent P, Doofenshmirtz is at it again,” he reported. “It appears that he’s purchased a string of odd items.” He began reading from a piece of paper in his hand. “One pound of blood sausage—” He stopped reading and put his hand to his mouth, looking embarrassed. “Eh, that’s my grocery list.” He pulled out another sheet of paper. “Here it is. One magnet, one map of the city’s drainage pipes, and two tons of scrap metal.” Perry listened carefully and took notes. “It’s in your hands now, Agent P,” he said, pointing to Perry. “Over and out!”
The communication complete, the car Perry was riding in reached the end of the track and flew into the air. Perry expertly flipped out of it and landed behind the controls inside a submarine. There were three buttons on the dashboard—DIVE, DON’T DIVE, and DESCEND. Perry chose DIVE. The top of the submarine banged shut. “Dive, dive, dive,” the submarine computer droned. But the vehicle immediately hit bottom, only halfway underwater. Apparently, the water wasn’t too deep. With a loud scraping noise, it dragged across the floor.
* * *
Back in the theater lobby, Phineas approached a young man wearing what looked like authentic ancient Egyptian dress—sandals, a loincloth, a headdress, and wrist cuffs. There was a name tag stuck to his chest.
“Mister employee, sir, where’s the mummy exhibit?” Phineas asked politely.
The employee reached over and pushed the button on the wall intercom. “Manager assistance requested,” he said in a bored tone.
An older man dressed in a similar costume walked over to them. “Yes?” he asked.
“These boys want to know where the mummy exhibit is,” the other employee said.
“It’s in storage,” replied the manager. “In the basement.” He walked off.
Phineas grinned. Now they were getting somewhere! “Guess who’s going to the basement!” he exclaimed, rushing off. Ferb followed right behind him.
A woman wearing purple cat’s-eye glasses approached the young employee. “Uh, excuse me,” she said. “Where are the restrooms?”
He pressed the intercom again. “Manager assistance requested,” he repeated.
The manager appeared again. “Yes?” he said. Now that the employees were distracted, Phineas and Ferb were in the clear!
Meanwhile, Candace, who was crouched down behind some plants in the lobby, had been spying on her brothers. She pushed the leaves aside to get a better look as they entered through a door marked STAIRWELL.
“There they go!” Candace muttered between gritted teeth. She knew they had been planning another one of their crazy schemes. She just knew it! And this time, they were not going to get away with it!
Chapter 3
Phineas and Ferb found themselves in a dusty room. Inside were a janitor’s bucket, old boxes, and some Egyptian objects, including a large SEE THE MUMMY sign on the wall. Phineas spotted an old box filled with explorers’ gear.
“Look! Pith helmets!” he said excitedly. “We must be going the right way! Say something pithy!” The brothers each grabbed a helmet, blew off the dust, and put them on their heads.
Back in the lobby, Candace was seething with anger. “That’s it!” she shouted. “I’m calling Dad!” She sat down on the carpet and pulled out a pink cell phone. She punched in her father’s number and waited for him to answer. But he was still sleeping soundly, and his phone was on vibrate. The phone buzzed away in Mr. Flynn’s pocket, tickling him. He giggled and shifted position, curling up in the theater chair. “Ahh,” he said, falling back asleep.
When Candace didn’t get an answer, she snapped her phone shut. “Oh, forget it,” she said disgustedly. “I’m going in myself.” She ran for the door that her brothers had just walked through. On the way in, she knocked into the velvet ropes, and their stands went down like a row of dominoes. The last one hit the gigantic bubble-gum machine. The glass top, filled with multicolored gumballs, fell off its base, and landed on the lobby floor with a loud crash.
Candace ran through the door and s
tepped right into the janitor’s bucket. She then proceeded to bounce down the stairs. “Aaah!” she screamed.
Phineas and Ferb opened the door on the landing. “Did you hear that?” asked Phineas. “Maybe it’s the mummy!” he added hopefully.
Candace came to a crashing stop at the bottom of the stairs. She looked down at her soggy feet and winced. “Ew!” she groaned. “My shoe is all squishy!”
Back in the lobby, the top of the bubble-gum machine rolled across the floor and through the doorway. It began to bounce down the stairs. Phineas and Ferb heard the noise and turned to see the big glass ball heading right toward them! They took off running down the stairs as fast as they could. At the bottom, they ran down a hallway, the top of the gum-ball machine in hot pursuit. To Phineas’s shock, Ferb swung himself up and jumped onto Phineas’ shoulders.
“Uh . . . Ferb?” said Phineas. “What are you doing?”
Ferb grabbed a pipe and expertly swung himself and his brother through the air. They did a flip and landed on top of the gumball machine. “Whoa!” cried Phineas.
Phineas was having a great time during this latest adventure. “Who knew looking for mummies would be so much fun!” he exclaimed. “Watch this!” He did a handstand on the ball. Ferb quickly sat on the ball and then jumped back up. They took off their helmets and started doing a dance as the ball rolled faster and faster. And then the ball rolled through a low entryway, and Phineas and Ferb’s fun ride came to a sudden end. They hit the wall with a bang. Miraculously, when they landed on the hard floor, their hats wound up right in place on their heads.
“Hey, Ferb!” cried Phineas, sitting on the floor. “This was our first booby trap!” They gave each other a high-five. “Whoo!” This day was turning out even better than they had expected. Suddenly, Phineas spotted what they had been searching for. He pointed to a nearby door. “Hey, look! Storage! We’re here!” he exclaimed.
Thrill-o-rama! Page 3
