Newt Nemesis (5 page)

Petty was breathing in a rather odd way. “And what's badder than being bitten by an adder?” she went on, poetically. “Well . . . having an adder venom allergy, probably. And . . . we tested lots of stuff on each other back in my old government scientist days, and I learned two things. One, brazil nuts make me spew like a volcano . . . and two . . . I'm allergic to adder venom.”

Josh, Charlie, and Danny stared at one another. “What?” said Danny. “So she's going to get a rash? Well, bad luck, Petty, but I think we've got a bit more to worry about than you!”

“No!” Charlie's froggy features crumpled with concern. “You don't understand, Danny. She's—look at her—she's having a proper allergic reaction. My friend is allergic to bee stings. I was with her one day when she got stung, and she got all puffed up and had to go to the hospital. Look—Petty's going puffy!”

Petty was waving at them all now. “Listen!” she rasped. “Liiiiisten! I CAN'T MOVE! I can't get help because moving will pump the venom faster through my bloodstream. You have to get my EPIPEN! My EPIPEN! It's in my cabin. On the chest of drawers beside my be-e-ed.”

Charlie nodded vigorously to show she understood. “Danny—you come with me!” she said, suddenly taking charge. “Josh, you're too slow. You stay here with Petty. We'll be back with the EpiPen as soon as we've found it. I know what they look like. My friend carries one all the time now.”

She and Danny leapt away toward the staff cabins, flinging themselves through the long grass until Josh couldn't see them. He stood looking at Petty, who had put one thumb up and was now peering at him through narrow slits in her puffed-up eyes.

“Well . . . done!” she gasped. “Now . . . make sure . . . that brother of yours . . . saves my life, Josh. Don't forget . . . I'm a genius . . . the world . . . needs . . . geniuses . . . Or is that . . . geni-ii?”

“SHUT UP AND CONCENTRATE ON BREATHING!” yelled Josh, but he knew Petty couldn't hear him at all.

He climbed up on Petty's arm, wondering if it was in any way possible for a dangerously ill human to be comforted by one slightly damp newt. Petty's puffed-up eyes were shut now, and her face was looking swollen too.

“Huuurrry up, Danny and Charlie!” wailed Josh. “Before it's too late!”

“We'll get there in no time,” called out Charlie as she and Danny leapt along in rainbow arcs amid the cool, damp, long grass at the back of the cabins. “This is BRILLIANT! It's as good as swimming underwater.”

“You should try GrasshopperSWITCH then,” called back Danny. “A grasshopper can hop and sort of glide with little wings, about twenty times the length of its own body. Way more than a frog. Ooooh no. I just started to talk like a freaky little bug nerd!”

“No—it's cool! I love all this stuff,” shouted back Charlie as she leapt ahead of him.

“It was fantastic when me and Josh were grasshoppers,” went on Danny. “Apart from him nearly getting eaten by a cat . . . and me nearly
getting flattened with a math book . . . Ah! Is this the staff bedrooms cabin?”

Charlie landed on a low wooden windowsill. Danny arrived next to her a second later, and they both peered in through the glass, their hands sticking to it with a slight squelch.

“Is this the right room?” whispered Danny. He had no idea why he was whispering. Even if he talked normally, no human would hear him.

Charlie stuck her buggy eyes up close to the glass. “Naah. It's Amy's room,” she said. “And that means . . . Petty's room must be round the front.”

“How do you know?” asked Danny.

“Oh, I've had a look in all their rooms.” Charlie grinned.

“But—you're not allowed in their rooms!” Danny was shocked.
He
was usually the one being told to behave.

“Oh, I don't touch anything!” said Charlie. “I'm just curious! And you have to feed your curiosity, that's what my dad says . . .”

She hurled herself merrily off the windowsill. “Come on!” she yelled back to Danny. “Remember it's a matter of life and death!”

They sprang energetically around to the front of the building. Too energetically. As they jumped out from the narrow alleyway that ran between this and the neighboring cabin, Charlie hit the gravelly ground with a splat and then screamed. Really screamed! Loud enough for anyone to hear. Rolling straight for her was an ENORMOUS mud-spattered tire. Danny lurched across to Charlie, grabbed her left leg in his wide mouth, and pulled her out of the way half a second before the enormous tire rolled over where she'd been, sending up a spray of dust and small bits of gravel. It could so easily have been small bits of Charlie.

“It's OK! You're safe!” said Danny as Charlie stared up, her froggy mouth gaping open with horror and her eyes ready to pop out of their bulgy sockets. “It's OK!” repeated Danny. He'd tugged her into a clump of long grass, so they were safe for the moment from whatever it was that had gone past. But Charlie didn't look as if she felt safe. She was still gaping and staring, and her throat was quivering at top speed.

Danny glanced sideways and saw that the tire had rolled past now and come to a stop. It belonged to a car—a Beetle. A shiny black one. It seemed familiar. Its passenger door opened, and there was a flurry of movement. Of course—parents must be arriving for the show! It was Mom's car!

Charlie suddenly started screaming again.

“What is it?” said Danny, thinking he might have to slap her cheek.

“It's—THAAAAAAT!” screamed Charlie, and now Danny felt a blast of warm, meat-scented air just behind him. He looked around and saw something truly horrific.

It was a HUGE MOUTH. And that was familiar too. It belonged to his dog—Piddle. A small, scruffy black and white terrier who LOVED chasing things. And catching things. And Piddle was LOVING a new game he'd just thought up—called CATCH THE JUMPY THINGS.

“Piddle! PIDDLE! STAY!” bellowed Danny as a wobbly pink tongue and yellowy-white fangs in black gums suddenly plunged toward them.

One second later Charlie and Danny sprang high into the air. Two seconds later, Danny found himself in Piddle's mouth.

It was warm and soggy and bouncy inside Piddle's mouth—and very smelly.