Gargoylz Get Up to Mischief (11 page)

“Don’t know what he’s going on about,” said Max, chucking some water on their patch. “Let’s just find those worms!”

“Do we have to say
hey presto!
sir?” asked Ben.

“That will not be necessary,” sighed Mr Widget. “When you have finished counting, you may each catch one worm and place it carefully in this pot of earth I’ve brought along. These will be the worms for the new wormery.”

All the kids in Science Club poured the water over their squares of grass and eagerly knelt down to wait. Max and Ben stared at their bubbly patch of earth. At first nothing happened. Then suddenly a little pink worm popped up behind a dandelion. There were squeals of horror from Lucinda and Tiffany as worms appeared on their patch of grass as well.

“Cool!” exclaimed Ben, watching all the worms wriggle to the surface. “It’s working. Let’s put some more water down and see if we can break the World Record for Worms in a Square.” He turned to pick up the bucket, but it wasn’t there.

“Someone’s taken our water!” he declared indignantly.

The boys looked round. Max could just make out something red and plastic hidden in the hedge. “It’s over there.”

They hurried over. Sure enough, the bucket was hidden amongst the thickest leaves.

“How did it get in here?” Ben wondered.

“Afternoon,” said a gurgly voice and a grumpy stone face appeared from behind the bucket.

“It’s Bart!” cried Ben in delight as the round-bellied gargoyle waddled out.

“Have you come to join Science Club?” asked Max. “It’s great. It’s all about worms.”

“Certainly not!” declared Bart grouchily. “Trying to get rid of Science Club.”

Theo’s cat-like head appeared from the other side of the bucket. “We want to get our pawz on the sports things,” he explained, pointing a claw at the equipment at the other end of the field.

“Been looking at it all day from the church tower,” grumbled Bart. “Thought now school’s finished we’d get our chance. Then Science Club came out.”

“I can’t wait to play with the balls,” said Theo.

POP!
Zack appeared out of thin air. “Beanbagz and bats! Beanbagz and bats!” he chanted, jumping up and down and shaking the whole hedge.

“I wanted to explore those tubez” said a shy voice.

Max peered deeper into the hedge. Barney was hiding there, the spikes on his back quivering with excitement.

“But why did you take our bucket?” asked Ben.

“If we collect all the buckets,” said Bart, “Science Club won’t be able to do any more science. Everyone will go away and leave us alone.”

“Toby’s doing it,” added Barney. “It should have been Zack because he can make himself invisible but he kept reappearing by accident. He was nearly seen by the humanz.”

There was a wheezy panting noise behind them and the boys turned to see Toby trying to haul a heavy bucket across the grass, water slopping everywhere. He wasn’t getting
very
far. Suddenly he spotted the boys. He let go and flew back to the hedge.

“Greetingz.” He grinned. “You’re here just at the right time. I need you to collect all the buckets.”

“It won’t work,” Max told him. “Everyone will just come looking for them like we did. You’ll be keeping them here, not driving them away.”

Toby scratched his stone chin. “Hmm,” he said. “You may be right.” He turned to his friends. “Listen, gargoylz, Trick One isn’t working. We need Trick Two.”

“What’s Trick Two?” asked Max. “Can we help? Finding worms was fun but counting them will be boring.”

“Max and Ben,” came their teacher’s voice. “What are you doing?”

Mr Widget was staring at them suspiciously.

“Er . . . some buckets rolled away, sir,” called Ben. “We’re just getting them back.”

“Got to go,” Max whispered to the gargoylz. “We don’t want Mr Widget coming over here and finding you.”

The boys grabbed the buckets and ran back to their square of ground. Suddenly a terrible stink filled the air and a wheezy laugh could be heard from the hedge.

“I think we’ve found out what Trick Two was.” Ben grinned as the kids yelled in horror and dashed for the gate.

“Barney’s made one of his special pongs! I hope the gargoylz have a good time on the sports stuff.”

The boys held their noses and slowly walked after the rest of the fleeing Science Club. But the terrible smell didn’t last long. Mr Widget headed the kids off at the gate and herded them all back to their task.

“Can’t be put off by a silly little smell!” he exclaimed, picking up his pot. “Now start counting. And I’ll come and collect your chosen worms.”

“He’s too busy to notice us for a moment,” whispered Max. “And counting’s boring. Let’s go and find out if there’s a Trick Three.”

The two boys crept back to the hedge where the gargoylz were gathered in a circle, muttering to each other. Just then a stone head emerged from the leaves. It was a gargoyle that the boys hadn’t seen before. It had plump cheeks and a wide grinning mouth, but instead of hair, stone snakes wriggled all round its head. The snakes writhed as if they were fighting.

“Wow!” breathed Max. “Who are you?”

“This is Eli,” explained Toby. “Say hello to Max and Ben, Eli.”

Eli looked horrified – and his snakes stood on end in shock. “Humansssssss!” he hissed.

“These are our friends,” said Toby patiently. “They play tricks like us.” Eli’s look of horror turned to a slow smile and the snakes on his head bobbed merrily at the boys.

“Eli is Trick Three,” Toby went on. “He’s going to use his special power to scare everyone off the field. Ready, Eli?”

To the boys’ surprise, the snaky gargoyle suddenly vanished.

“Where’s he gone?” asked Max, puzzled. “Can he make himself invisible like Zack?”

“Not exactly invisible . . .” said Toby mysteriously.

The next minute there was a yell from one of the kids counting worms.

“I’ve found a snake, sir!”

Toby grinned. “That’s Eli,” he said proudly. “He can turn into a snake.”

They watched as Mr Widget rushed over to take a look, with the rest of Science Club following curiously behind him. Even Lucinda and Tiffany were edging cautiously forwards.

Toby gave a growly chuckle. “This is going to be more fun than the time I put earwigz in the vicar’s wellies. Any minute now all those humanz will be screaming and running for their lives and we can have the sports things to ourselves!”

There was a muffled “Hurray!” from the hedge, and several pairs of eager stone eyes peeped through the leaves.