On The Ball (7 page)

‘I'll take your spy-talkers, thank you, children. We wouldn't want A1 to ruin our little tree party, would we?' said Caterina in a cold, clipped voice. ‘Give them to me.'

EJ, KM and CC stood still.

‘Give them to me now,' repeated Caterina, ‘or I will throw the dog out of the tree house.'

‘You wouldn't,' gasped CC.

‘She would,' said EJ, taking off her spy-talker.

‘Yes, I would indeed,' said Caterina taking the three spy-talkers. ‘What do I care about a puppy?
But since you have obeyed me, I will just throw these instead.' With a flourish Caterina threw the spy-talkers over the edge of the tree house.

Blackie broke loose and ran to EJ, who quickly scooped her up.

‘That makes four standing on the trap door,' laughed Caterina.

Trap door? EJ, KM and CC looked down at the floor.

Caterina took a remote control from her pocket. ‘One push of this remote,' she said ‘and you will all fall down, a long way down. I don't need you, I already have enough
SHINE
knick-knacks.'

And then CC nudged EJ and gave a tiny nod towards a table made out of a section of cut log. On it were some black boxes and a soccer ball and a little bottle. CC nudged EJ again and Caterina saw.

‘Oh so you noticed that did you, CC?' said Caterina. ‘Clever you. Yes, I have IQ400's precious charms. Well, they were IQ's but now they are mine. You see, I am an evil inventor and evil inventors must have inventions to sell, but thanks to little Miss
EJ Zero here I have been out of action for a while. So, I stole some of
SHINE'
s and now I will sell them instead.'

‘You can't do that,' said KM. ‘They are not yours, they belong to
SHINE.
'

‘Don't be so ridiculous, you silly girl,' laughed Caterina. ‘Finders, keepers. Anyway, I‘m not selling them all.'

‘You're not?' said EJ.

‘No, I am keeping this one all for myself,' said Caterina, picking up the little bottle from the table. ‘I am not sharing TD1000 with anyone. I am already cleverer than everyone but imagine how much cleverer I will be when I drink this. No one will be able to keep up with me. My plans will be so brilliant they will be unfathomable to mere ordinary people. I will rule the world!' And with that, Caterina pulled the stopper from the bottle.

‘I really wouldn't drink that if I were you, Dr Hill,' said EJ.

‘Oh wouldn't you, EJ Zero? Who's going to stop me?'

Caterina put the bottle to her lips. As the girls watched, she began to drink. First she closed her eyes then she wrinkled her nose, as if she were about to sneeze, then she looked as if she was going to spit the murky drink out. But she didn't. She drank the whole bottle.

Setting the bottle on the table, Caterina burped. Then she giggled and turned to the girls with an enormous grin on her face.

‘Hi, I'm Caty,' she said in a little girl's voice. ‘I wanna play! Will you big girls play with me?'

Caterina began to play with her hair, twisting it in her fingers. EJ, CC and KM watched, stunned. The TD1000 had turned Caterina's mind into that of a three-year-old, at least for now.

‘Want to play ball with me?' asked Caty, and she picked up the ball-cam and threw it at CC's feet.

‘Quick CC,' shouted KM moving off the trapdoor and towards Caterina, ‘the ball-cam, it's going to roll out of the tree house!'

CC managed to stick her foot out but rather
than stopping the ball she kicked it straight up in the air, above EJ.

‘EJ, use your head,' cried CC.

‘Watch the ball, EJ,' shouted KM.

EJ jumped, still holding on to Blackie and keeping her eyes locked on the ball. She arched her back and stretched her head up towards the ball. She met it perfectly and headed it across to KM, who caught it. Ball-cam was safe. And, EJ realised, she had done a perfect header.

‘That was fun!' said Caty, clapping her hands. ‘Will you take me home now please?' said Caty. ‘I want to go night-night.'

‘No problem,' said EJ. ‘I think we know somewhere where you can get plenty of rest.'

She passed Blackie to CC and took Caty's hand to help her climb down the ladder to the ground. She never imagined that she would be holding Caterina's hand!

CC and KM collected the stolen charms and they even found the spy-talkers in the bush below. One was still working. CC used it to call A1 and let
her know what had happened.

‘Will you be my friend?' said Caty, as they walked down the track.

‘Let's not push things,' said EJ.

It was late when EJ, CC, KM and Blackie arrived back at camp with their new ‘little friend', but the whole camp was there to greet them. People were a little surprised to see Caterina skipping along, but EJ quickly explained.

‘Interesting,' said IQ400, ‘a very interesting reaction. We have never seen what happens when someone drinks a whole bottle.' She took Caterina's hand. ‘Come with me. I've got some nice toys for you to play with in this van.'

‘Oh goodie,' squealed Caty, giggling as she took
IQ400's hand. ‘Bye-bye, EJ. See you later!'

‘Bye-bye, Caty!' cried EJ as she watched IQ put Caty into the van. ‘A lot later I hope,' she said quietly.

‘Here are the spy-charms, A1,' said CC, handing them over.

‘And the spy-talkers,' said KM.

‘Well done, girls,' said A1. ‘You kept your heads and saved the day. Who knows what we would have done if all those inventions fell into the wrong hands.'

‘We nearly lost the ball-cam,' said CC, ‘but EJ saved it.'

EJ blushed. ‘We all did it,' she said, ‘it was a team effort.'

‘Go on, say how you saved it,' said KM, who looked proudly at her spy-buddy.

‘It was nothing,' insisted EJ. ‘Just something off the top of my head.'

A1 looked puzzled but the girls all laughed.

‘Well, however you did it, we're proud of you, all of you,' said A1. ‘I don't think the older divisions will
mind when I tell you the winner of the Shining Star Camp points is the under-twelve division.'

The other agents began to cheer. EJ, KM and CC couldn't stop smiling.

‘And we have something else for you,' continued A1 holding three little charms. ‘I think you also deserve your dog-trainer charms. They aren't spy charms, they are more like a certificate, an award for achievement.
SHINE
awards them for exceptional results in different areas and I think you three qualify.'

‘Thanks, A1!' cried the girls in unison. They immediately put the charms on each of their bracelets. Now they would have something that reminded them of their mission together as well, almost like a friendship charm, a spy-buddy charm.

‘And now it is past everyone's bedtime,' said A1. ‘It's been a big day.'

The girls walked back to their cabin arm in arm.

‘We never did get to have our midnight feast,' said EJ.

‘I know,' said CC. ‘Maybe next time.'

‘Or maybe right now,' cried KM. ‘Look!'

On the table in their cabin was a cake, a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. There was writing in icing on the top.

‘How did A1 know about our feast?' cried CC.

‘I don't know but I'm pleased she did!' said EJ. ‘Let's eat!'

The three girls sat in their pyjamas, eating cake and talking about the mission.

‘Your header in the tree house was awesome, EJ,' said KM. ‘You did it perfectly.'

‘I couldn't have done it without your help, CC,' said EJ, serving her friend another slice of cake.

‘Hey, do you think A1 will let us go on missions together now?' asked CC.

‘I hope so,' said EJ.

‘Me too,' said KM.

‘She won't if you don't go to bed now,' said A1, poking her head around the door. But she was smiling. ‘Go to sleep now, Shining Stars.'

And the three girls did. Their heads had barely touched their pillows and they were fast asleep. EJ was so fast asleep that she didn't notice that Blackie had made one final night walk: the little puppy had again crawled out of the hole in the fence, but this time to their cabin and EJ's bed. The little puppy jumped up and snuggled into EJ, who turned over, smiling in her sleep.

With the unexpected mission over, the girls spent the last morning of the camp playing soccer with the
puppies and, much to their delight, riding through the bush on dirt bikes. Agent REV1 showed the girls how to work the gears and accelerator and, after a few wobbly starts and jolty gear changes, EJ, KM and CC were scooting around the camp and then out along the Mount Globe track. KM had a knack for finding puddles to ride through and the girls returned to the camp much muddier than when they had left.

‘That was so much fun,' said EJ as she took off her helmet and bike jacket. ‘Let's go round the track one more time!'

But there wasn't time as the train back to
SHINE
and home would soon be leaving. The girls barely had time to give the puppies one more cuddle before joining the other agents and heading back up the mountain to the railway platform.

The train ride home was denitely quieter than the one to camp but EJ, CC and KM still had lots of energy to chat and swap apps and phone numbers. They chose a special ring-tone so they would know when it was one of them calling.

‘I'm going to miss you guys,' said EJ.

‘Me too,' said CC.

‘Me three,' said KM.

‘Maybe A1 will send us all on a mission one time?' said EJ.

The girls all smiled at each other. How good would that be?

‘Good luck with the soccer try-outs, EJ,' said KM. ‘You will be great, I know you will.'

The soccer try-outs. Tomorrow. EJ had forgotten about them but now that she remembered, she wasn't worried at all.