Anaconda Adventure (8 page)

JOSH & DANNY PHILLIPS … AND THEIR

GENIUS FRIEND.

“It seems the Mystery Marble Sender now wants me in the game too,” Petty said. They all stared at each other, and Josh felt his heartbeat, not for the first time that day, skip along a little faster.

Inside was a note:

DEAR JOSH, DANNY, & PETTY

YOU'VE DONE SO WELL YOU SHOULD HAVE

NO TROUBLE FINDING THIS MARBLE BEFORE YOU GO.

IT'S A LITTLE STICKY.

REMEMBER, DESTINY AWAITS!

“Is that it?” Danny said. “The clues are usually better than that!”

“A little sticky?” Josh murmured. “That could be anything!”

“Wait—there's more,” Petty said. At the bottom was a PS:

DANNY ONLY. OR ELSE THE CLUES—AND

YOUR JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY—END HERE.

“Me? Just me?” Danny looked worried. “But … I don't have any idea what the clue means. Why me?”

“Wait—there's more still,” Petty said. She had flipped over the paper and now read from the back:

FISH FINGERS, PEAS, POTATOES, WART

REMOVER, GET BEST YELLOW JACKET DRY

CLEANED.

“Oh, that's just a bit of shopping list,” Danny said. “We've had that before.”

“Looks like the warts haven't cleared up yet, then,” added Josh.

“OK, everyone!” Danny said. “What about the clue? What does it mean? What's sticky? And why is it just for me? What am I good at?”

Josh and Petty looked at each other and then back at the zoo. They both had the same expression on their faces. And it was not a good expression.

“Erm …” Josh said. “Maybe it's not to do with what you're good at, Danny.”

“Well … why else would the Mystery Marble Sender want me to find this marble?” shrugged Danny.

“Maybe it's something you're really scared of,” Josh said. “So it's more of a challenge.”

Danny gulped. And then he shook his head and lifted his chin. “Nothing can be scarier than what we've had to face since we met Petty!” he declared.

“No—of course not!” Josh said with a weak grin. “Now … something … a little sticky. I have an idea.”

Petty nodded. “So have I,” she said. “Let's go.”

They reentered the zoo for the third time that day, waving their day pass tickets at the person on the gate. Josh and Petty immediately headed for a wooden building to their left, ignoring the large pond and the wildfowl area. Danny followed them, puzzled. Something sticky, he thought, might be
frog spawn in the pond or something. But no … it was autumn and you didn't get frog spawn in the autumn. Maybe something in the visitor centre sweet shop, then … but no, this was not a sweet shop. This was … this was …

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” wailed Danny. “NOT THE INSECT HOUSE!”

Josh and Petty each grabbed an arm and dragged Danny inside. They knew he was scared stiff of creepy-crawlies and would never go in on his own. It didn't matter that he'd
been
an insect several times; they still freaked him out. It didn't matter that he'd even eaten quite a few insects while he'd been S.W.I.T.C.H.ed into a reptile or amphibian; he'd blocked that out.

“Why are we here?” whimpered Danny, trying hard not to look at all the many-legged creepy-crawlies in their little glass displays. “There's nothing sticky about insects, is there? They're all dry and crispy and … eurgh!”

“Well, there's nothing sticky about most insects, true,” Josh said, firmly tugging Danny along to a tall, well-lit display filled with branches and vegetation. “Except … these.”

Danny looked through the glass and saw branches and vegetation. And twigs. And sticks. Sticks with legs. Sticks … with faces.

“NOOOOOOO!” he wailed. “I HATE STICK INSECTS. They're so CREEPY! NOOOO! This
can't be right! It's another kind of sticky! Toffee! Yes! Toffee! That's sticky, isn't it? You could hide a marble in a toffee, couldn't you? You could definitely—”

Petty tapped him on the shoulder and pointed into the stick insect display. In the far corner was a small glass orb with a ribbon of purple running through it.

It was the latest S.W.I.T.C.H. marble. Number five.

Six or seven enormous stick insects were wiggling about, completely surrounding the marble.

And only Danny could get it.

To one side of the stick insect display, there was a small black door with a sign that read STAFF ONLY. This door should certainly have been locked—but it was ajar. Petty opened it and pulled Josh and Danny through with her before any other visitors or staff could come in and see them. It was gloomy behind the door. It smelled of warm, damp vegetation. The hairs on Danny's arms and neck stood up. His heart was racing. He was here in the inner sanctum of the INSECT HOUSE! It was horrific.

Petty had found the back of the stick insect chamber and was turning a stout plastic peg which held the access panel in place. Now she was tilting the panel, allowing a shaft of light and the smell of warm greenery up through it.

“Come on,” Josh said. “Breathe in. You can do this.”

“Look,” whispered Danny, standing rigid with his fists clenched at his sides. “We're twins. Who's going to know the difference if it's you that gets the marble? The Mystery Marble Sender can't see us in here!”

Josh pointed to a little red light in the ceiling. “Security camera,” he said. “I think they're watching. But you don't have to. I can get the marble. Even if the Mystery Marble Sender does see us and not send us any more clues, five marbles might be enough for Petty to carry on with creating MAMMALSWITCH.”

“Yes,” Petty said, peering around from the back of the stick insect display. “I might be able to work it out. After all, there were only six insect and reptile S.W.I.T.C.H. cubes. Most likely there are only six marbles, too. I might not need the last one …”

“But … if we're wrong …” Danny said. He took a big lungful of air and then let it out in a long, shaky breath. “No,” he said. “If we don't get any more clues and you can't work out the formula,
I'll always know it was my fault. I'll get it.”

Josh clapped his back. “I
knew
you would!”

Shaking, Danny put his hand through the open panel. In front of him was a network of branches and twigs and leaves. And some of them would be twigs and leaves. And some wouldn't …

“I think you're going to have to put your head through,” Josh said, close behind him.

Another whimper escaped. Danny knew Josh was right. Without seeing what was below him he could be blindly swiping at stick insects.

“They're quite fragile,” Josh said. “You'll hurt them—snap their legs off or something—if you grab them.” He was, of course, far more worried about the stick insects than his brother.

Danny slowly pushed his head through the opening, not daring to look up in case of dangling horrors. Below him at least twenty stick insects of all sizes were clambering about. “Ooooh—they are so hoooorrible!” he moaned.

“They're fantastic!” Josh said, just behind him.

“Their proper name is phasmids. They're even better at camouflage than chameleons. They live
on plants. Apart from the praying mantis variety—that's a vicious hunter, that is. And the American walkingstick insects can spray stuff out of their glands that can turn you temporarily blind—I'm
going
to
shut up
now …” tailed off Josh, realizing how very unhelpful he was being.

“I'm still going with hoooorrible,” breathed Danny. If he could reach down through the display without the tickle-tickle touch of one of those hideous things against his skin, he might just have enough courage left to knock away the thick green one that was crouched right across the marble.

Sweat dripped off his nose.

Slowly he moved his hand down, feeling as if he was trapped in a nightmare. Then he felt a tickle. On his left ear. He froze. “Jo-oo-oosh …” he squeaked. “What's on my ear?”

“Erm …” Josh said. “Nothing. Just a bit of leaf.”

Danny didn't believe him. He started shaking badly—and then his hand bumped into a chain of three stick insects, apparently attempting a very slow trapeze act, and they tumbled right across his wrist, waggling their legs and feelers and trying to get a grip.

“Eeeeaaargh!” Danny was ready to freak out … but he couldn't give up! He just couldn't! He plunged his hand down and flicked the big green one off the marble. He scrabbled, moving the marble three times while yet more stick insects dropped onto his arm. And a leaf was moving down his shoulder. Only it wasn't a leaf. It was a LEAF INSECT—looking all green and leaf-shaped and innocent but with LEGS!

“Gaaaaaaaah!” Danny shot back out of the display, desperate to get the creepy-crawlies off him.