Once she was up, she pulled up the rabbit bag and the rope. Just as she lifted the bag into the shaft, she heard the toilet door crash open. Madame Ombre appeared in the cubicle. Now she looked very scary.
‘Give me my gold!’ she shrieked.
EJ poked her head through the opening. ‘Enough chitty chatty, must fly,’ said EJ. ‘Au revoir!’
With Madame Ombre’s furious screams ringing in her ears, EJ crawled along the ventilator shaft towards the roof, pushing the boxes in front of her and pulling the bunnies.
‘Not long to go now, guys,’ she said soothingly.
At the end of the ventilation shaft there was a door. EJ pushed it open and climbed onto the roof of the bakery. In the distance, she could see the lights of the SHINE chopper, waiting for her. EJ waved her arms and it sped towards her. As it hovered above the roof, a rope was lowered from the chopper. EJ first tied the gold box securely and gave the thumbs up. The rope was raised and then lowered again, this time for EJ. And her precious cargo.
‘Hold on,’ she said to the rabbits. ‘Going up!’
EJ was winched up to the chopper. At the door was CC, shouting at her.
‘Way to go EJ! Take my arm.’
EJ did and CC pulled her into the chopper. As she got her breath back, she smiled as she saw Agent LP30 was once again the pilot.
‘Good job, EJ12,’ said LP30. ‘It’s time to go home.’
With the chopper door shut, EJ opened the bag to let the rabbits have some air. Six little heads cautiously popped out, their noses twitching nervously.
‘EJ12, can’t you complete a mission without bringing home animals?’ exclaimed LP30.
‘It’s not my fault, I couldn’t leave them there,’ explained EJ. ‘Madame Ombre was going to throw them out with the rubbish.’
‘You did the right thing,’ said LP30. ‘I am sure we can find them good homes.’
EJ rather hoped one of those good homes would be hers.
‘EJ and CC, I have A1 on speakerphone,’ said LP30. ‘Go ahead A1.’
‘Hello there Agents EJ and CC, and well done. If you look at the screen in front of you, you will see the announcement of Junior Choc Chef on TV.’
The girls watched as a very angry-looking Madame Ombre declared Chloe the Junior Choc Chef winner: she had turned her cupcake into the Sydney Opera House, complete with a seagull on top. And, EJ wondered as she looked closely, was that a little bit of grated carrot on the white chocolate?
‘Bad luck that you didn’t win,’ said CC.
‘I think we did,’ said EJ. ‘Oh, and,’ she added as she passed a charm to CC, ‘thanks for the loan of the rope.’
‘You certainly did win,’ broke in A1. ‘Thanks to the cherry homing device, a SHINE team is following Madame Ombre’s delivery truck as we speak. Not only do we have S6 but we will soon have all the delivery addresses of the SHADOW agents. I call that having your cake and eating it!’
‘A1, could I ask a favour?’ said EJ. ‘You know the whisk-o-matic?’
‘Yes,’ said A1 guardedly.
‘Well, I know we are not supposed to use mission charms in normal life, but I was just wondering if you might make an exception just once, for a really good cause.’
‘I know about your fundraiser, EJ, and yes, I think just this once that might be possible.’
‘Thanks A1,’ said EJ. The fundraiser reminded her about Isi. She hadn’t really used her BESTie that much this mission but Isi had been there for her.
EJ took out her phone. As she went to text her friend she noticed the little heart charm. She hadn’t used that either. She gave it a twist and the inscription appeared
That could have been Isi’s motto. EJ texted her friend.
EJ showed CC the text and the two girls giggled for most of the ride home.
It was the afternoon before Chocolate Lovers’ Day and Emma was at Isi’s house again. This time Emma had enjoyed getting the cakes ready. The girls had laughed and joked as they cooked and the cakes were now baking in the oven. While they waited, they played with Isi’s new rabbit. Sadly, Emma hadn’t succeeded in convincing her mother that she should have one but she had not given up on her master plan for more animals. Meanwhile, Isi having one of the rabbits was nearly as fun and the animal shelter had helped Emma find good homes for the others.
‘I just know these cakes will be so much better than last time, Em,’ said Isi. ‘The mixture didn’t have a single lump in it. How did we do that?’
‘I have no idea,’ said Emma. And she really didn’t because she had accidentally left the whisko-matic in her bag at home. Maybe, she thought,
I have lightened up?
‘Hey,’ said Isi, ‘did you hear that Madame Ombre has moved back to France? I guess that means we can’t enter next year’s Junior Choc Chef—and just as we seem to have got the hang of it.’
They had indeed. The cupcakes were so light and fluffy they nearly bounced out of the oven. The girls had a ball decorating them with different sweets and sprinkles.
And the next day at school the cakes sold out in the first half hour. Emma needn’t have worried about not raising enough money for the shelter. Chocolate Lovers’ Day was a huge and delicious success.
Ms Tenga sent the money to the shelter and was thrilled to read out the email from the shelter director.
‘“Thank you to all the students who raised so much money. I am happy to tell you that with your support, and that of so many other kind people, the animal shelter can continue its work helping animals. You are all shining stars.”’
Emma could have sworn that Ms Tenga was looking at her when she said ‘shining stars’ but she was so happy about the shelter that she didn’t give it much thought.
‘We did it, Em!’ whispered Isi, grabbing her friend’s hand. ‘We helped save the shelter.’
‘Yes, we did,’ said Emma, beaming back at her friend.
With, she thought to herself, a little help from EJ12!
Emma Jacks and EJ12 will return in
BOOK 6
ON THE BALL
Read the first chapter at
ej12girlhero.com
Back Cover Material
CHOC SHOCK
SHADOW is cooking up a new invention which could put SHINE in a real jam. It's a recipe for disaster.
Special Agent EJ12 needs to be patient and keep her eyes peeled. She must get inside the chocolate cake factory, find out what is going on and stop SHADOW's plan.
That's the easy part. As EJ12, Emma Jacks can do anything.
So why is the school fund-raiser such a problem?
Perhaps it isn't after all...
Choc Shock Page 6
