Ant Attack

by Ali Sparkes

  Books in the

  S.W.I.T.C.H. series

  #1 Spider Stampede

  #2 Fly Frenzy

  #3 Grasshopper Glitch

  #4 Ant Attack

  #5 Crane Fly Crash

  #6 Beetle Blast

  Text © Ali Sparkes 2011

  Illustrations © Ross Collins 2011

  “SWITCH: Ant Attack” was originally published in English in 2011. This edition is published by an arrangement with Oxford University Press.

  Copyright © 2013 by Darby Creek

  All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

  Darby Creek

  A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

  241 First Avenue North

  Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.

  Website address: www.lernerbooks.com

  Main body text set in ITC Goudy Sans Std. 14/19.

  Typeface provided by Monotype Typography.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Sparkes, Ali.

  Ant attack / by Ali Sparkes ; illustrated by Ross Collins.

  p. cm. — (S.W.I.T.C.H. ; #04)

  Summary: During an unwelcome visit, neighbor Tarquin unwittingly uses SWITCH spray to turn twins Josh and Danny into ants, then sets out with a magnifying glass to fry some bugs.

  ISBN: 978–0–7613–9202–6 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)

  [1. Ants—Fiction. 2. Brothers—Fiction. 3. Twins—Fiction. 4. Science fiction.] I. Collins, Ross, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.S73712Ant 2013

  [Fic]—dc23

  2012026635

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  1 – SB – 12/31/12

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-1124-1 (pdf)

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-3110-2 (ePub)

  eISBN: 978-1-4677-3111-9 (mobi)

  For Katie Ann

  Entertaining Tarquin

  Nasty Little Squirt

  It’s a Girl Thing

  Fast Train to Munchville

  Pop

  Happy Ant Day

  Fries, Anyone?

  The Heat Is On/Off/On

  Oops

  Nest Quest

  Top Secret!

  Recommended Reading

  “Guess what, boys?” Mom peered around the bedroom door with a grin.

  Josh and Danny paused in their fight with rolled-up newspaper swords. They smiled innocently at her.

  “What?” urged Danny.

  The grin got stiffer. “Tarquin’s here to play!” Mom gulped. The looks on her twin sons’ faces were dark. It felt as if Halloween had arrived early.

  “Tarquin,” said Josh.

  “Here,” said Danny.

  Piddle the dog whined and shot under the bunk bed.

  Danny threw down his sword. He turned to Josh and opened out his arms. He commanded:

  “Through the heart. And make it quick.”

  “Oh, come on! It’ll be fun!” said Mom. “Sshhh! He’s coming up the stairs.”

  They could clearly hear Tarquin approaching. He appeared to be singing opera.

  “But we can’t stand Tarquin!” hissed Danny, pushing his messy blond hair off his furrowed forehead. “And you don’t even like his mom! Remember how snotty she was about you winning the best garden contest?”

  Mom sighed. She said in a low voice, “I’ve let bygones be bygones! His mom needed help today. She’s visiting a sick aunt. We have to look after each other. We’re a community! Oh—here he is now!”

  Tarquin trailed past her into Josh and Danny’s room. At seven and a half, he was nearly their age, but he looked about fifty-five. He was dressed in neatly ironed pants, a blue shirt, and a proper matching jacket. His hair was severely parted and combed flat to his head. His googly gray eyes narrowed as he examined their room. “It’s rather a mess, isn’t it?” he said, in his peculiar high-pitched voice.

  “Well, duh!” said Danny. “It’s a boys’ room!”

  “Yes,” said Tarquin. “And so is mine. But I still refrain from growing fungus in it.” He eyed a jar of something gooey on the windowsill. The jar had once been filled with tadpoles. Josh had set them free in the garden pond last week. It had gotten a little furry.

  “Have fun, boys,” called Mom, already halfway downstairs.

  Tarquin began to wander around, poking at their stuff. He prodded their comics and sniffed. “So childish.”

  Danny mouthed, “Childish? Spider-Man?” at Josh and picked up his sword again. Josh frowned at him and shook his head.

  “So what do you read then, Tarquin?” said Josh, trying hard to sound friendly.

  “Oh—Classical Music magazine. New Scientist. You wouldn’t know them. I don’t suppose you know anything about the arts or science.”

  “We know a lot about science!” burst out Danny. “We’ve had more science in the last six weeks than you’ve had in your life, you little—”

  “Shut up, Danny,” said Josh. He was worried about what his brother might say next. Maybe he would tell Tarquin that he and Josh had been involved with scientific experiments. They were so amazing that every scientist in the world would explode with astonishment if they knew. Maybe he’d boast that they’d been turned into spiders, then flies, and then grasshoppers over this year. This was after getting tangled up with the brilliant(but quite probably crazy) old lady scientist next door.

  Petty Potts seemed like a dotty old dear, but she was in fact a genius. She had created S.W.I.T.C.H. spray, which could turn any creature into a creepy-crawly. She’d made a drinkable version too, and that was even stronger. What’s more, if Josh and Danny managed to help her find the missing parts of her REPTOSWITCH formula, she could change them into alligators or giant pythons! It was a fantastic secret. Josh was determined that Danny wouldn’t blurt it out to Tarquin.

  “Oh—don’t be offended,” Tarquin was saying now. He picked up Josh’s magnifying glass from the top of their bookcase and turned it over in one hand. “My mother says you can’t help it that you’re not as clever as me. It’s not your fault.”

  THWACK! Danny brought down his sword. He aimed for the back of Tarquin’s neatly combed head. But Josh caught it with an upswing of his own sword. “Stop it!” he mouthed at Danny. Tarquin put down the magnifying glass and moved on.

  “We do know quite a lot about science—especially nature,” said Josh. “We know about creepy-crawlies. Let’s take my magnifying glass outside. I’ll show you some in the yard if you like.”

  Tarquin shuddered. “Ugh! If you show me a creepy-crawly, I’ll stamp on it.”

  Josh was shocked. He was a great nature lover. He had adored all kinds of creepy-crawlies long before he’d ever been one. Even Danny, who wasn’t fond of them at all, would never deliberately squash one.

  “You can’t step on them! That’s just stupid!”

  “No—sometimes I look at them first,” smirked Tarquin. “It’s quite fun to pull their legs off.”

  “It’s not fun for them!” said Josh, feeling quite hot in the face. He picked up his sword, ready to swing it into Tarquin’s head. But this time, Danny grabbed it, raised his eyebrows, and waggled his finger at his brother.

  Tarquin opened the door to their toy cupboard. Then he screamed.

  Danny and Josh knew to hop quickly out of the way whenever they opened the toy cupboard door. Tarquin was not trained to handle the danger. The avalanche that engulfed him took him completely by surprise.

  He squealed loudly. He struggled to sit up in a river o
f games, books, Legos, blocks, old stuffed animals, trading cards, Thunderbirds aircraft, Thomas the Tank Engine characters and bits of railroad, assorted guns and light sabers, action figures, and remote control cars. And quite a few cheesy socks. “I’LL GET YOU!” warned the talking Action Man.

  “Oops! Toy quake!” said Josh, with a delighted smile. The toy cupboard had done exactly what he and Danny had been longing to do. It had smacked Tarquin off his feet and wiped the smug look off his face.

  A couple of water pistols bounced out, and Danny picked them up. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go and play with these outside.” He and Josh ran downstairs without waiting to see if Tarquin was following. They shot through the front door. They ran around the side of the house to fill up their water pistols from the outside faucet.

  “Ah! Josh! Danny!” said a voice above them.

  They looked up to see Petty Potts leaning over the low brick wall. It separated their two houses. She clutched a large net on a pole. “How are you both since last week’s adventure? Any aftereffects?” She glanced around shiftily. Then she peered closely at them through her dusty spectacles.

  “We’re fine,” said Josh, putting the stopper into his filled-up water pistol. “Danny’s not rubbing his legs together anymore. We’ve both stopped spitting out brown goo and jumping all over the room when we get nervous.”

  “Good, good,” smiled Petty, placing a spray bottle on the wall. “I was a bit concerned. But you were splendid grasshoppers, I have to say! Still on the lookout for the REPTOSWITCH cubes too, are you? Haven’t given up the search, I hope.”

  “We’re always on the lookout, you know that,” said Josh.

  Danny looked warily at the spray bottle. “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Oh—another S.W.I.T.C.H. spray. Very fast acting. Going to try it on some ducks in the pond at the park,” said Petty, airily. She tugged at the net. “I haven’t S.W.I.T.C.H.ed any birds yet. I need a nice strong squirty jet to reach them before they fly off.”

  “You should be careful!” warned Josh. “One day someone’s going to catch you doing it!”

  “One day, everyone will know about my work!” said Petty. She puffed her chest out and patted her wavy gray hair. “I will have a grand exhibition as soon as it’s perfected. After we’ve found the last three REPTOSWITCH cubes to add to the BUGSWITCH cubes, of course. It’ll be much more impressive than you two morphing into grasshoppers. Don’t forget, you’ll be able to try out being an alligator or an anaconda!” She wiggled her eyebrows for effect, like a rather creepy children’s entertainer. “But for now, it has to stay our secret.”

  “Joshua! Daniel! Where are you?” came a shrill voice. Uh-oh. Tarquin was in the front yard, looking for them. “Come out, you oafs! If I have to join in your stupid game, I want a water pistol too! Get me one, or I’ll tell your mother you’re being mean to me!”

  Josh and Danny ran down the side passage and into the backyard, giggling.

  Petty Potts stared after them for a moment. Then she noticed a large pigeon on her driveway. “Hmmm … you might do,” she murmured. She edged toward it with her net. Needing both hands free, she left the spray bottle on the wall.

  Josh and Danny were ready with the water pistols as Tarquin came trotting around the side of the house into the backyard. As soon as he came into view, they let him have both barrels.

  “Ooooh! Ooooh! That’s not fair!” he whined. Then he ran toward them and squirted them both back.

  “Where did you get the water pistol?” spluttered Josh. He wiped away drips from his face, grinning. He was glad that Tarquin was at least joining in.

  “It’s not a pistol,” sniffed Tarquin. “You didn’t give me one, did you? But I got you both back anyway! I just used this spray bottle I found on the wall.”

  Josh and Danny stared, aghast, at the bottle in Tarquin’s hand. Then at each other.

  Tarquin, rubbing water out of his eyes, heard Josh wail, “Oh no—not again!” But when he opened his eyes, both twins had vanished.

  “Oh great. Just great,” said Josh. He lay on his back at the bottom of a deep, dark chasm. He did a quick leg count.

  “How many legs this time?” wailed a fearful voice behind him. “Please don’t say it’s eight. Please don’t say it’s eight. Please d—”

  “Six! It’s six!” called back Josh. “Relax.”

  Danny scrambled to his six feet. He looked around the shadowy gorge they had fallen into when they shrank to creepy-crawly size. Again. “Where are we?” he whispered. His voice echoed back quickly off the rocky walls on either side of him.

  “And what are we?”

  “I reckon we’re down in a crack in the sidewalk,” said Josh. “So we must be pretty small.” He turned around to peer at his brother. They both gave a little shout of shock.

  “Eeeww!”

  Each brother was staring at a glossy dark-brown head with small round black eyes and long twitching feelers. Their almost-black bodies were sleek and shiny. They were made up of three parts: a big oval head with small pincerlike jaws; a little bottle-shaped bit in the middle, from which their six muscular but elegant legs sprouted; and the biggest bit at the back, which tapered off into what looked like a stinger.

  “Wow! We’re ants!” breathed Josh. A rich scent wafted around him.

  “Could be worse,” gulped Danny. He didn’t much like any creepy-crawlies but definitely coped better with the little six-legged ones.

  “This is amazing,” marveled Josh. “I mean … we’re talking—right?”

  “Well, obviously,” said Danny. He shrugged and turned his feelers up like the palms of his hands.

  “But we’re not making any noise!”

  “Don’t be stupid! I can hear you,” said Danny.

  “No! You only think you can hear me. But I’m actually not talking out loud! Ants can’t do that. They talk to each other by making smells and prodding with their feelers!” squeaked Josh, excitedly. He prodded Danny with his feelers.

  “OK,” said Danny. “So—I’m not hearing a word you say …? I’m just smelling them.”

  “And feeling them!” added Josh with another prod.

  “All right,” said Danny, prodding Josh back sharply. “I get it. But all this sniffy, poky chatting isn’t getting us anywhere. We’re tiny insects—again! And you know that every time we turn into tiny insects, something tries to eat us.” He looked fearfully up and down the narrow dark gorge. It seemed to be deserted.

  “I’ll tell you what else is weird!” said Josh. He turned around in a circle, looking back down his new body.

  “What?” said Danny. “What could possibly be more weird than turning into an ant?”

  “Well … um …” Josh stared at Danny. His feelers shuddered. “We’re not just ants. We’ve changed a little bit more than that.”

  “What are you talking about?” Danny poked Josh between the eyes with one feeler. “Get to the point before something decides we’re its midmorning snack!”

  “We’re girls.”

  Danny staggered backward. “We’re what?”

  “You heard me. We’re not boys now. We’re girls. Check it out!” He pointed over his shoulder with his front right leg. “No wings!”

  “But we’re ants! Not flies.”

  “Ah—but if we were boy ants, we’d have wings. All the other ants are girls. Even soldier ants are girls.”

  “Oh great,” muttered Danny. He peered back over his own shoulder now. “Are you sure? I mean, couldn’t there be wings tucked inside somewhere?”

  “Nah—that’s beetles. Face it, Dan, we’re ants and we’re girl ants.”

  “I’m never going to forgive Petty Potts for this!” Danny spat. “And if you ever tell anyone…”

  He stopped dead, suddenly picking up a vibrating sensation. Josh was looking scared.

  “What’s that?” he whispered.

  He and Danny peered along the narrow chasm. They could feel warm air blowing against their feelers. There
was a strong smell. To Danny, it was a bit like the time when they’d gone on the subway. While waiting in the station, they’d noticed the weird warm wind coming out of the tunnel just before the train hurtled through.

  “Something’s coming!” squeaked Josh. “Something fast and big!”

  The vibrations seemed deafening—even if they couldn’t actually hear them. The smell was very strong. Danny scrambled up the wall into a small alcove. He reached down and grabbed Josh’s head with his strong jaws.

  “WHOO-AAH!” shrieked Josh. His legs flapped wildly as something hurtled along toward him like a runaway train. “It’s going to hit me! It’s going to hit me!” Then his screams were abruptly stopped.

  Josh’s breath was bashed out of him as he flipped up and over. Below him the thundering got even more intense and there was a blur of red. He found himself suddenly upsidedown next to Danny, who was still biting his brother’s head. Danny was scared to let go as the air around them rushed along and tried to suck them out of their alcove.

  “It’s a train! A subway train!” squawked Josh, even though he knew it couldn’t be.

  “No—it’s something worse,” said Danny. “Subway trains don’t ever try to eat you. But I bet that would!”

  “Danny! O-ow! Do you mind?” said Josh. Danny at last un-bit him. Josh looked down to see the blur of red slowing down. Now he could make out legs. Lots of legs, on either side of a long, glistening segmented body. “It’s a centipede!” he whispered.

  “Looks like a millipede to me!” replied Danny.

  “All those legs!”

  “I wish it was,” groaned Josh. “Millipedes are vegetarians. But that’s a centipede all right. You can tell by the way its legs are quite long and its body is in segments. And the long leggy things at the back.” As he said this, the long leggy things swept past below them. Josh heaved a sigh of relief.

  Then he sucked it all back in again as the centipede slowed to a halt. Its long back legs were twitching and then, slowly, began to creep backward.