“What?” said Sam, frowning.
But it was too late, the imp had heard! It hooked its arm through the bars, under the cloth and opened the cage. Letting itself out, it streaked across the tent towards Sophie.
“My squirrel’s escaped!” yelled Anthony.
Elderly ladies in their best hats squealed as the Icicle Imp darted around their stockinged legs. Mr Badgett tried to dive and grab it, but it leapt out of his way. It landed on the flower table and charged along it, knocking over vases and sending brightly coloured flowers flying in all directions, a wicked leer on its face. The flower exhibitors all yelled.
“My beautiful roses!”
“My perfect geraniums!”
Hands grabbed for the Icicle Imp, but it was too fast. It leapt off the table and landed on the Lady Mayoress’s hat!
“Ah!” she shrieked, her blonde curls wobbling. The Icicle Imp hung down and looked her straight in the eyes. The Lady Mayoress shrieked and fainted into the arms of the man beside her. Then the imp leapt down to the ground and galloped away.
“Stop that animal!” yelled everyone around her, as the imp darted through people’s legs towards Sophie and Sam.
Thoughts rushed through Sophie’s head. What could they do now? They had to get away and look for the gem, but they also had to stop anyone seeing the Icicle Imp’s fangs or hearing it talk. Suddenly she had an idea. “The gem’s here in the tent, Sam!” she yelled as loudly as she could. “Quick, find it!”
“What?” Sam gaped, as if she’d gone mad.
“Not really,” Sophie hissed directly into his ear. “It’s just we’ve got to get out of here without Snowy following us or showing anyone it’s a shadow creature. We need to distract it!” She looked to see if her plan had worked. It had! Instead of heading towards her the Icicle Imp had turned round and was now frantically whizzing across the tent, looking under tables, checking inside flower pots, jumping from cage to cage on the pet table and sending all the animals wild as it searched around them with its long fingers. The shouting and screaming grew louder.
“Let’s go!” Grabbing Sam’s hand, Sophie pulled him to the door. As they reached the entrance they collided with Grandpa who was striding inside. “What’s going on?” he demanded.
“Anthony’s Icicle Imp’s loose in there!” Sophie whispered. “It thinks the gem is in the tent. Sam and I think it’s back at home though. We need to get away.”
“And you need to catch the imp!” said Sam.
Grandpa looked at the bedlam in front of him and gave a nod. “No problem. I know how I can help with both those things.”
He strode back out of the tent. Sophie and Sam ran after him. “What are you doing, Grandpa?” Sophie demanded.
“This!” Taking a penknife out of his pocket, Grandpa cut through one of the ropes holding the tent up. Sophie and Sam watched open-mouthed as he ran around the tent and cut through the next rope and the next. The tent started to billow and then suddenly collapsed! Everyone inside shrieked and yelled.
Grandpa looked at Sam and Sophie. “Explain later! Go!”
They didn’t need telling twice. They turned and ran!
Sophie and Sam charged across the green. Sophie wondered about using her superspeed, but now they were away from the tent she could feel her powers fading. She let out a relieved breath. “I don’t think it’s following us,” she said to Sam.
When they reached her house, the main door at the back of the garage under the gable was locked, but the side door was open. They turned on the light and Sophie whispered the clue:
“Where ponies and horses slept for the night
Look in the gable, the gem is in sight.”
Her eyes went upwards to the round window in the gable. It had a wide window ledge. Maybe the gem was up there somewhere? But how was she going to get up there to search?
Sam dragged out an old stool and a chest. “Try climbing up these,” he said, putting the stool on top of the chest. But though it made Sophie higher, she still couldn’t get her hands anywhere near the ledge. “I need to get closer,” she exclaimed in frustration.
Suddenly she felt a tingling in her toes. She turned to Sam. “The Icicle Imp must be coming. I can feel my powers!”
“We’ve got to get the gem before it gets here,” Sam said frantically.
Sophie looked at the window and realised that with her Guardian powers it would be no problem at all! Bending her knees, she jumped, springing all the way up and grabbing the ledge with her fingers. She wriggled and pulled herself up on to it, sneezing as clouds of dust flew up. It was a squeeze, but she could just about fit on. She looked around. There! Nestling in one corner was a dusty gem. She grabbed it and rubbed it on her t-shirt. It sparkled like a big diamond!
“I’ve got it, Sam!” She jumped down all the way to the ground, landing nimbly. She showed him the gem in delight.
“Brilliant! Put it with the others!” he urged. “And then let’s get out of here before the Icicle Imps realise what we’re doing and where we are.”
Sophie tucked it into the pouch with the other gems. It clinked softly against them. “Five down, just one more to get!” she said in delight.
“Let’s go!” said Sam, eyeing the door nervously.
Sophie strode over. With her powers coursing through her she didn’t feel scared at all. So what if Snowy was out there. He was just one imp. She could fight him!
“Come on, Snowy – bring it on!” she muttered, as she flung open the door.
But what she saw took her breath away. Hundreds of Icicle Imps were marching down the driveway towards her, their eyes fixed on the garage, sharp icicles in their bony fingers and their pointed fangs gleaming…
Sophie slammed the door shut. “There’s a whole army of them out there! What are we going to do?” she yelled.
“Panic!” exclaimed Sam.
“Helpful – NOT!” groaned Sophie. She looked around wildly. “There must be something in here we can use to fight them with.”
There were the empty shelves where the crockery had been, old bikes, a few bits of furniture, a sink and a hosepipe. Nothing much else.
Sophie pushed a hand through her fringe. There was no way they’d be able to battle their way out past all those Icicle Imps. But they couldn’t just stay in the garage. She felt a shiver of horror as she imagined Mrs B coming back from the fête and seeing all the imps there. She’d have a heart attack!
Maybe there was some way she could fight her way through? Sophie cautiously opened the door.
“Get her!” shrieked a savage voice.
Two of the Icicle Imps leapt at her face, their fangs glinting. Sophie reacted instinctively, batting them down with her fists. They fell to her feet and she kicked them away, even though she knew they’d just be back again in a second. But to her amazement, instead of bouncing harmlessly, the imps screeched and started to fizzle and melt into puddles.
“Sophie! Watch out!” Sam yelled, as the other Icicle Imps all started to throw their icicles at her. He pulled her inside and slammed the door. A second later a hundred icicles battered against the wood like tiny frozen arrows.
“If you’d still been out there you’d have been really hurt!” Sam cried. “Don’t go out again!” The door started to move as the imps reached it and tried to push it open.
Sophie didn’t argue. She flung herself against the door, using all her strength to keep it shut.
“We heard you talking to your grandfather and saying the gem was back here,” squeaked the leader. “It’s ours now!”
“We want the gem! We want the gem!” the rest of the imps shrieked together like manic sabretoothed toddlers.
Sophie could feel the imps battering the door, pushing at it. “Sam, did you see what happened to those two imps I kicked?” she yelled above the row outside. “They melted! I kicked them and they started to dissolve. Why?”
Sam had thrown his weight against the door too. “I don’t know,” he panted. “It didn’t happen last
time you fought the imps, so there’s got to be something different today. Are you wearing different shoes?”
“No, I’ve just got my trainers on, same as always,” said Sophie.
They looked at her feet.
“There!” Sam yelled, making Sophie almost leap in the air.
“What? Where?”
Sam pointed at her trainers. The toes were encrusted with an orangey-brown grit. “You’ve got rock salt on them – it was on the paths at the fête and there’s some stuck on your shoes. Why didn’t I think of it before? Salt melts ice! I knew that! People put it on paths to melt ice and snow. It must work on Icicle Imps too!”
“Brilliant!” gasped Sophie and then her expression fell. “But how does that help us? We haven’t got much on our shoes. Not enough to fight all those imps out there.”
“Oh, if only we had some more,” groaned Sam.
“Wait – there’s some in the shed!” exclaimed Sophie, remembering how Mrs B had sent Grandpa to get a bag from there the day before.
“Brilliant. Pity there’s an army of Icicle Imps between us and it,” Sam said. “There’s no way we can fight our way through all of them to get there.”
“I wish we could just freeze them in place and run and get it,” Sophie said desperately. Outside, the imps were still howling loudly as they pushed at the door. At least they wouldn’t hear what was being said, thought Sophie. They were too busy shrieking for the gem!
“Hang on.” Sam looked at the sink and the hose, then back at her, his eyes suddenly shining. “Maybe that’s not such an impossible idea.”
“What do you mean?” she demanded. “How can we freeze them? They freeze everything they touch!”
“Exactly,” said Sam. “They’re so cold that if we put water on top of them it will freeze.” He ran to the hosepipe, excitement on his face. “Don’t you see what that means? If we spray loads of water on them with the hose, they’ll freeze it and then they’ll be stuck inside a wall of ice!”
Sophie blinked as she struggled to hold the door on her own. “You really think that will work?”
“It’s the only hope we’ve got,” said Sam.
Sophie lifted her chin. “Then let’s do it!”
“We’ll have to be quick,” Sam instructed. “You open the door and I’ll spray them.” He turned the tap on. Water jetted out of the hosepipe, bouncing around the garage. “Ready?” he cried.
“Ready!” said Sophie, taking hold of the door handle and bracing herself. “One, two, three…”
“It’s chill-out time!” yelled Sam, as Sophie opened the door. He shoved the nozzle of the hose out and sprayed water full blast over the front row of imps. They screeched in surprise and anger. They started leaping for the crack in the door, but as the water covered them, they froze it – and turned immediately into little blocks of ice! The imps could still be seen inside the blocks, their cute faces twisted into furious savage expressions, but they couldn’t move. They were stuck, like a row of ice cubes, sparkling in the sun.
The imps behind screamed in fury and threw their icicles straight at Sam and Sophie’s heads.
“Be careful, Sam!” Sophie gasped, yanking Sam down to the ground just in time. “Stay down!”
Grabbing the hosepipe from him, she darted towards the imps at the back. Using her superspeed, she jumped over the blocks of ice, dodging and ducking round the flying icicles at the same time. She charged at the imps at the back, the water spraying from the hose. “Watch out, ice balls. Here I come!” she yelled.
“Go, Sophie!” Sam whooped.
The water sprayed all over the back rows of imps. With shrieks they started to turn to ice too.
Silence suddenly fell. After all the screeching and screaming it sounded eerily quiet. Sophie looked around, tense, waiting for a surprise attack. But every single imp was now frozen in place.
“We did it!” she said, stunned.
Sam scrambled to his feet. “Quick, let’s get the rock salt! If Mrs B comes back and sees all the imps like this, she won’t believe for a second that they’re just squirrels!”
Sophie grinned. “I bet she’d scream loud enough to break the ice!”
They ran to the shed. There were ten bags of rock salt there. They were very heavy, but Sophie could pick them up easily – her superstrength hadn’t dimmed even though the imps were frozen. “You know, it feels a bit mean, just melting them while they’re all stuck,” she said, walking back to the garage and looking around at the imp ice cubes.
“Mean?” Sam echoed. “Sophie, these are Icicle Imps! They were trying to attack us and get the gem!”
Then there was a faint cracking sound, and then another and another.
“What’s that noise?” asked Sophie slowly.
Sam’s eyes widened and he glanced up. “The sun! It’s melting the ice!” The cracking grew louder. “Sophie, do something! They’re about to break free!”
As Sophie watched, the imps started to fight free of the blocks, their small hands clawing their way out, their fangs ripping through the ice. A tiny icicle hit Sam’s cheek leaving a bloody mark.
“Attack the humans!” screeched a voice. “Show no mercy!”
Sophie gave up trying to be nice. Ripping open the bag of salt, she raced towards the imps and chucked it all over them, as a shower of icicles fell around her. Sam had dragged another bag out of the shed and was flinging handfuls everywhere. The imps screeched, melting and dissolving or turning and running away.
“Noooooo!” howled the leader, as he shrank away to nothing. “The gem was ours, ours, ou—!” His voice became a glub as he turned to water.
In less than a minute, the driveway was clear, covered with pools of water and piles of brown grit. Breathing hard, Sophie and Sam looked around.
“We’ve done it,” said Sam in relief. “This time the imps really have gone!”
Sophie met his hand in a high five. “Way to go, us!”
“Yeah, defeating Icicle Imps – what’s the problem? It’s no big deal,” said Sam with a grin.
A thought struck Sophie. “The fête might be a big deal though, after Grandpa collapsed the tent! I wonder what’s happening there – and if anyone has found out that Snowy’s a shadow creature yet! Oh, I hope not!”
Sam gulped. “Guess we’d better go back and find out.”
Sophie and Sam raced back to the village green. When they got there they found the tent being put back up and the tables set out again. Mrs B was talking to Anthony and Grandpa. Anthony had the empty cage in his hands.
“Anthony, how could you have smuggled a strange animal in like that and cause so much chaos?” Mrs B was saying helplessly. “What were you thinking? It was clearly wild and shouldn’t have been in a cage!”
Anthony hung his head. “Sorry, Mrs B.”
“And I just can’t understand how the tent collapsed like that,” Mrs B went on to Grandpa. “So suddenly, with no warning!”
“I’ve got absolutely no idea,” Grandpa said, spotting Sophie and giving her a wink.
“I guess it was just one of those things,” Sophie put in.
Mrs B turned. “Sophie!” She looked relieved. “Where have you been? I was worried about you.”
“Sam and I just popped home to fetch something,” Sophie replied. This time it was her turn to wink at Grandpa.
“Did you get it?” he asked eagerly.
“Oh, yes. And we dealt with another problem while we were there, Grandpa.”
“A very icy problem,” Sam put in.
Grandpa looked delighted. “Excellent!”
“Well, there are plenty of problems here,” sighed Mrs B. “I need to set up all over again in order to be able to serve tea.”
“We’ll help,” Sophie offered. Sam nodded. Anthony still had his head down, staring glumly at the empty cage.
“Thank you, duckies,” Mrs B said.
“I’ll just go and put this cage by the car,” Anthony sighed. “It’s no use having a cage without a pet, an
d I saw Snowy run off into the trees. I guess he won’t ever come back.” He walked away slowly, his shoulders hunched over forlornly.
Sophie felt a rush of sympathy. Maybe she and Anthony didn’t usually get along, but he’d been almost OK the last two days… and he’d really seemed to like Snowy. She turned impulsively to Mrs B. “Mrs B, couldn’t Anthony have a pet? I don’t mind. I won’t ask for one. Just a hamster or a gerbil, nothing big.”
“It would be fine by me,” said Grandpa. “I’m sure their parents wouldn’t mind.”
Mrs B watched Anthony reach the car. “Well, a hamster would certainly be far less trouble than that squirrel creature he had today.” She hesitated and glanced around at them all. “Oh, all right,” she said, giving in. She hurried after Anthony. “Anthony! Wait!”
“Brilliant,” Sophie smiled. “Anthony’ll be happy now and hopefully it’ll stop him trying to catch any other shadow creatures to keep as pets!”
“So, what’s been going on? You found the gem then?” Grandpa said.
“Yes, it was in the garage and we also got rid of the Icicle Imps, Grandpa! Sam had a brilliant idea.” She quickly told him all about it.
“Excellent work, both of you!” Grandpa beamed. “You know, sometimes I think there’s hope for you yet.”
Sophie decided to take that as praise. “Thanks for letting down the tent and giving us a chance to escape.” Her eyes teased him. “Though maybe it wasn’t the most sensible thing to do, Grandpa.”
Grandpa’s gaze met hers. “You know, the more time I spend with you, the more I’m beginning to think that sometimes being sensible isn’t always the answer.” He grinned and for a moment looked about ten years old too. “And it was lots of fun! Did you hear them all shriek?”
Sophie and Sam giggled. “Oh, yes!” Sam said.
The Icicle Imps Page 4
