Superpowers (4 page)

Finlay ducked to avoid a half plank of wood as it thudded into the ground beside him. ‘Which way?' he shouted to Max.

Max looked round. ‘Let's go through the courtyard!' he gasped.

But as they turned towards the courtyard, three birds charged through the hole in the fence and headed them off. The birds stopped by the courtyard entrance. They stretched out their heads and necks, their razor-sharp beaks opening.

The remaining birds spread out and began striding purposefully towards them, their beady eyes fixed on the two boys.

Max and Finlay looked round. Where could they go? The birds were closing in on all sides.

‘What are we going to do, Fin?' Max said.

Finlay looked around. ‘Let's go into the maze!'

He and Max ran towards the maze. The birds stalked after them; they walked together in a group, their red eyes gleaming. Max had a sudden, horrible feeling that he and Finlay were being made to go exactly where the birds wanted them to go. But what else could they do? The birds had them surrounded!

Reaching a sign that said
Entrance
, Max and Finlay ran into the maze. On either side of them the hedges grew up thick and strong.

‘So what now?' Max heard a screech behind him and knew with a
horrible sinking feeling in his stomach that the birds had entered the maze too.

‘We've got to lose them and then get out of here!' Finlay panted.

Max nodded. ‘What about killing them?'

‘Let's just stop them from killing us first!' said Finlay.

They reached a turning in the maze. ‘Let's go right!' Max decided.

They took the right but within seconds had run straight into a dead end.

‘Wrong way!' groaned Finlay. ‘We'll have to go back!'

‘But what about the birds?' Max demanded. ‘They might be there!'

As he spoke an evil shriek came from just the other side of the hedge. Max
and Finlay both jumped in alarm. ‘Argh!'

The bird gave another shriek and began slashing at the hedge with its beak. ‘We can't stay here!' Finlay gasped. ‘Come on!'

He and Max charged back down the path, their trainers kicking up gravel, their breath coming in ragged gasps. They came to a leafy crossroads. Birds ran towards them from both the right and the left.

‘Quick!' yelled Max. He led the way down the only possible route – straight ahead!

Another bird burst into view at the far end of the path. Its curved beak snapped open with triumph as it saw them.

‘Two behind us and one ahead,' Finlay panted as he and Max screeched to a halt.

Max's thoughts raced. What could they do? Which way should they go? He could hear the birds coming up behind them and he made a decision. ‘This way!' he exclaimed, charging straight
towards
the giant bird in front of them.

‘Max!' Finlay shouted in alarm.

‘Trust me! It's our only chance,' Max yelled back. His heart pounded. There
had
to be another path leading off along here; surely the hedged-in passage was too long for there
not
to be one? At the far end, the monster bird's eyes glowed a darker red and narrowed

as it began to stalk eagerly to meet them.

Max could hear Finlay's feet tearing over the gravel right behind him. Sweat prickled down Max's back. If he was wrong about this, then he was killing Fin as well as himself…

Suddenly, to his right, he saw the opening that he'd been hoping for – another route leading off deeper into the maze. ‘Here!' he exclaimed and, skidding to a halt, he grabbed hold of Finlay's arm and bundled him down the new path.

The monster birds were moving too fast to turn in time. They crashed into each other. Screeches of rage and feathers filled the air.

‘Yes!' Finlay shouted, punching the air in triumph.

‘Come on!' Max urged. He knew that any head start they could get on the birds was vital. The path forked off left and right, he chose right – just as another bird's beak smashed through the foliage, tearing for the flesh of their arms.

They both dodged out of the way just in time.

Ignoring the stitch blazing in his side, Max set off again at his fastest run. There were so many different pathways. He'd never been in such a thick maze and there seemed to be birds everywhere. Just one of them could kill both him and Fin!

He took a right. Left. Right again. Another left.

And then suddenly they were in a larger space, a perfect square boxed in by hedges. In the middle of it was a high wooden platform. Steps led up to the platform and there was a railing all the way round the edge. A round metal sign screwed on to a wooden post set in a heavy base said:
Centre of Maze
.

‘We've reached the middle!' Max gasped.

Finlay panted for breath and listened. ‘Where are the birds?' They could hear distant screeches further away in the maze passageways but no sound of birds nearby. ‘Maybe we've lost them. I know, let's get up on that platform. We'll be able to see over the hedges from there!' Finlay clambered up the steps. ‘Hey, Max! You can see the whole maze!' he hissed.

Max followed him. Finlay was right. Standing up on the wooden platform he could see out over the whole maze with its network of linked passageways, thick hedges and dead ends. The breath caught in his throat. Four birds were stalking along a pathway quite near to
the centre. Even worse, another four birds were approaching from the opposite direction. Their eyes gleamed and they cawed harshly as if they were talking to each other, planning and plotting. Shivers ran down Max's

spine. There was no way he and Finlay could get out past them, at least not if they wanted to stay alive.

‘Fin! What are we going to do?' he said. ‘We're trapped!'

‘Hang on!' Finlay exclaimed. ‘Look, Max!'

He pulled Max round and pointed at a narrow overgrown path on the other side of the centre of the maze that led between two hedges all the way to the outside. There was a green gate at the end with a large sign on it.

‘Escape Gate,' Max read out. Relief
surged through him. ‘It's an exit, so people don't have to get out by going all the way back through the maze! Come on, Fin. We can get out that way!' He began scrambling down the steps.

Finlay was about to follow him when he saw something that sent his heart plummeting into his trainers. A Man-Eating Bird was walking past the gate on the outside of the maze. As he watched, it turned round and walked back. It was obviously guarding the escape gate. ‘Wait, Max!' he hissed. ‘There's a bird there!'

Max climbed back up the steps and looked. The bird had the meanest eyes and the longest beak of all the birds he had seen. Glancing round, Max saw that
the other eight birds were stalking horribly near to the pathway that led into the centre of the maze now. They had their heads outstretched and kept stopping every few paces, as if listening to guess where the boys might be.

If they came into the centre he and Finlay wouldn't stand a chance.

If only there was some way I could use my superpower to stop the birds from coming into the centre
, Max thought desperately.
If I could just get them to go away from here then maybe we could figure out how to get past that one guard bird at the exit.
But how could he possibly do that? The only thing that would make the birds go away would be if they thought he and Finlay weren't there any more…

Max's eyes fell on the chunky gravel at the base of the platform and an idea exploded into his mind. He hurried down the steps and grabbed a huge handful of stones.

‘What are you doing?' Finlay demanded.

‘I've had an idea,' Max answered, climbing back up. He carefully chucked a large stone so that it landed on the gravel path next to the one the birds were walking along. It fell exactly where he wanted. Then he threw another slightly further along and then another and another so that it sounded like someone's feet creeping along the gravel. Every stone landed perfectly.

The birds' heads shot up and they looked towards the hedge.

The leading bird gave a screech and turned round. It headed towards the path where the gravel was landing.

‘It's working!' Finlay whispered in delight as all the birds began to stalk into the pathway that led away from the
centre. ‘They must think we're over there!'

Max threw some stones in the opposite direction. The birds stopped, looking confused. Half of them headed one way and half the other. But the important thing was that they weren't heading back to the centre!

‘Brilliant! If we can just get past the bird by the escape gate we'll be out!' Finlay said. ‘If only we had a weapon to help us.'

‘A sword or axe would be good,' Max agreed. ‘But we've got nothing.'

Finlay's eyes fell on the sign below them. It was made of two thin circles of metal screwed on to either side of the wooden post, which had been placed in a heavy metal base. His eyes
lit up. ‘Actually, maybe we have!' He scrambled down the steps and fished his penknife out of his pocket.

‘What are you doing?' Max asked in astonishment.

Finlay didn't answer. Flicking the screwdriver out of the penknife he began to unscrew one of the metal circles. Within seconds he had taken it off the post and was unscrewing the second one. ‘Here!' he said, holding up the flat metal discs in triumph. ‘I knew my screwdriver would come in useful! These are perfect! You can use them like throwing discs.' He pretended to throw one. ‘Bet you could easily cut the bird's head off with one of these and your super-accuracy.' He climbed back up the steps. ‘You can chuck it from here!'

Max took one of the discs from him and looked towards the escape gate. Would it work? The Man-Eating Bird was standing still now, just behind the gate. Its red eyes were gleaming evilly. Max's fingers felt the sharpness