Lizard Loopy (8 page)

“Yep,” Josh said. “Whoever sent this knew what they were doing . . . and they knew us too. Knew we would go and search . . . even knew where we would look. And I think we can rule out Scott and Zac now.”

“The question is,” Danny said, holding up the blue marble, “why? If someone else has code for a S.W.I.T.C.H. formula, why give it to us?”

Josh stared at the marble too. Then he nodded firmly. “It's time to tell Petty.”

Somebody was replacing the glass in the kitchen window when they went round to Petty's house. A man in brown overalls stood in the side passage, pressing a new pane into the soft putty all around the frame.

“Careful now, young man!” Petty's voice rang out from the kitchen. “That's very expensive glass!”

“It's all right, love,” the man said. “I know what I'm doing.”

“Josh! Danny!” Petty called, spotting them loitering in the side passage. “Come through. I need to talk to you both!”

“Yeah—we need to talk to you too,” Danny said. They squeezed past the glazier and went into Petty's wild back garden.

“First,” Josh said, as they walked toward the
shed, “we're sorry, but we borrowed some of this.” He handed back the S.W.I.T.C.H. spray bottles.

Petty stared at them, surprised. “You stole them from my lab?!”

“No—we borrowed them,” Josh said.

Petty glared at them both and then shook her head. “It doesn't matter,” she said. “I'm going to have to pack up the lab and move away anyhow.”

“What?!” Josh and Danny said, coming to a shocked halt.

“I'm being spied on here—I know it,” Petty said, lowering her voice and looking around the garden suspiciously. “And it's just a matter of time before my secret lab is discovered. I'm going to have to find a new location.”

“But . . . what about us?” Danny was appalled. Just when things had started to get less scary and more exciting! Just when he could be a snake or a crocodile or something . . . Petty Potts was leaving?

“You can't go!” Josh said. “You can't!”

“And why not?” sniffed Petty. “Most of the time you think I'm just trying to kill you anyway. Surely it will be a relief to have a normal life again, without me around.”

Danny was just about to protest and show her the marble, when Josh grabbed his arm and gave him a sideways look, warning him to keep quiet.

“Well . . . if that's what you're really going to do, we can't stop you,” he said. “We're just kids, aren't we? What do we know?”

“Now don't be petulant, Joshua,” Petty said. “It doesn't suit you. I didn't say I would never write—or phone. I might even be able to invite you to my new lab as soon as I've built it. But it would be dangerous . . .”

“Petty—wherever you are is dangerous,” Danny said.

“True,” nodded Petty. “With great genius comes great peril. Anyway—I'm not going immediately. I need to find a new place first—and in the meantime I must set up more traps and tripwires all around the house. So you won't be able to pop in just like that—not unless you want to get burnt to a crisp in my hallway. I'll give you a secret knock so I know it's you. You mark my words . . .” She glared around again, and her top lip twitched three times. “They're after me! They're after me and my genius brain and they'll never stop trying to get it! Never! NEVER!” She froze, peering away into the distance, pointing and twitching occasionally.

“OK—see you later, you mad muppet,” Josh muttered, dragging Danny away by the arm. “She's gone off to Bonkersville again,” he muttered to his brother. “I don't think we should tell her about Mystery Marble Man right now—she'll be even worse!”

Back in their house, there was no chance to relax. Mom saw the state of their faces and bare arms and freaked out. “What happened to you
both? Did you get in a fight with a bunch of rabid cats?!” she asked, staring at them in horror. There was also the dried blood in Danny's nose and the big green bruise on Josh's forehead from the headbutting incident back in Petty's lab earlier that day.

“No—we just fell into some brambles over in the woods,” Josh said, quite truthfully.

“I see,” Mom said. She sat them both down in the front room and dabbed at Danny's forehead with antiseptic on a cotton ball, making him wince.

“We nearly had our entrails ripped out by two giant tawny owls,” added Danny, equally truthfully.

“Yes, dear, of course you did,” Mom said, raising an eyebrow.

“Josh only got away because his tail snapped off,” went on Danny.

Mom laughed. “You two! Such imaginations!”

Piddle came running in, his own little tail at full wag. He ran around Josh's and Danny's legs as if he was trying to round them up. He seemed rather excited.

“What is it, Piddle?” asked Josh, dropping to his knees and rubbing the little dog's black and white head.

Mom went off to get some more cotton balls. Danny knelt down next to Piddle too. He and Josh were very fond of Piddle, even if he
had
tried to eat them several times now.

“Danny!” hissed Josh. “Look!” There was something tucked into Piddle's red leather collar. A small, rolled-up bit of paper. Josh shoved it into his pocket as Mom came back, brandishing more cotton balls.

They had to wait until their wounds had been thoroughly and painfully dabbed, and then they went out into the garden, Piddle dancing excitedly at their heels, to see what was in the rolled-up bit of paper. They ran back into the rhododendron bush to be sure they weren't seen.

“Piddle! Sit!” Danny commanded, and Piddle did . . . mostly. His tail was wagging so hard it was making his shaggy bottom slide from side to side.

Josh unrolled the bit of paper and saw the same spidery writing on it. A few words had been written in pencil:

I AM IMPRESSED. THE FULL MAMMAL CODE . . . AND YOUR DESTINY . . . MOVES CLOSER. AWAIT YOUR NEXT CLUE.

The brothers let out identical long breaths and stared at each other.

“Hang on—there's more . . .” Danny said, unfolding the bottom of the paper,
BREAD. COFFEE. WART REMOVER. DENTAL FLOSS.

“Um . . . that's probably just a shopping list,” Danny said. “But we're on another S.W.I.T.C.H. mission, aren't we?” His eyes sparkled with excitement. “Like when we hunted for the code hidden in the REPTOSWITCH cubes. We found all the cubes for Petty for that—but now there's a brand new MAMMALSWITCH code. Someone wants us to find it.”

“But who?” murmured Josh.

“Someone with warts and good dental hygiene,” guessed Danny.

“Well that's the answer! We must check the bare feet and gums of every stranger we meet!” Josh said. “But, seriously, Danny—they must be watching us. That's creepy. And maybe dangerous . . .”

“More dangerous than the last few months with Petty?” Danny asked.

Josh shrugged. “Um . . . actually, no. I
was
nearly eaten by a toad, wasn't I?”

“And I was nearly eaten by Piddle!” Danny grinned. Piddle grinned too and wagged his tail.