Treasure Trove (9781743583548) (2 page)

Buddy leaned over to have a closer look. When he saw the letter
N
, he shivered.

‘
N
stands for
Nevercalm
, Lola,' he said, looking very worried.

‘Does this mean the Almost Toys have been here?' Lola asked.

‘Indeed it does,' said Buddy. ‘By my buttons, it also means we should leave!'

Lola knew there was a battle going on in the Kingdom.

On one side was the Great High Bear, the leader of the Kingdom. On the other side was the Plastic Prince from Nevercalm, who
wanted
to be the leader of the Kingdom.

The Plastic Prince lived in Nevercalm with his army of Almost Toys. It was the scariest part of the Kingdom.

Knock, knock, knock!

There was that knocking sound again! But now it was much louder. It was coming from the other side of the fallen rocks.

It didn't sound
scary
to Lola, though. Instead, it sounded like someone was trying to get their attention.

But first, Lola and Buddy had to figure out what was going on with these foot prints.

It didn't make sense that some of them looked like
teddy-bear
prints.

Why would teddies be here with the Almost Toys? They were enemies!

Lola could tell Buddy was wondering the same thing.

Then it hit her.

‘Maybe there was a battle here!' she said suddenly.

‘Twist my toggle, Lola,' gasped Buddy. ‘If you're right, the Plastic Prince and his army might still be near. We should get away!'

Knock, knock, knock!

There was that noise again.

‘We can't go yet, Buddy,' said Lola. ‘I think someone is
trapped
. They need our help!'

Lola paced up and down. That's what she did when she was thinking.

Buddy juggled. That's what he did when
he
was thinking. He was very, very good at it, too. After all, he was a clown.

How could Lola and Buddy move all these rocks, and get to whoever was stuck on the other side?

Knock, knock, knock!

‘It's OK!' shouted Lola. ‘We're going to find a way to get you out!'

She looked around.

There were no tools to dig with. No other toys to help.

There was nothing but rocks and train tracks.

Train tracks?
Of course!

‘I've got it!' said Lola. ‘We'll use the train. Come on. It's perfect for pulling away rocks!'

Buddy's buttons seemed to glow brighter. ‘Pop my popper, Lola. You're super
brainy
today.'

Lola grabbed Buddy by his long soft arm and ran back to the train.

She jumped on board and started pushing buttons and pulling levers.

Lola had never driven a train before, and wasn't quite sure what to do. But all of a sudden, the wheels started turning. The train began to move along the tracks.

Soon they reached the fallen rocks. Lola pulled on the brakes and jumped out of the train.

Then she grabbed some rope and tied it to the biggest rock.

‘If we can pull out one big rock from the bottom, then everything else should fall,' she called to Buddy. ‘Just like pulling down a palace made of blocks!' ‘Pulling down a palace?' asked Buddy. ‘What in the Kingdom are you talking about?'

‘Doesn't matter,' Lola said with a grin. ‘Can you help?'

‘Get out of my way, Super-Brainy Lola,' Buddy said. ‘If there's rope to tie, then count this clown in!'

Buddy jumped over the puddles and started tying the rope. He was
very
good with knots.

Lola stood back and watched as he worked his magic. In a matter of moments, they were ready.

Lola climbed back onto the train.

She pulled more levers and pushed more buttons. Then the train started to creep back along the track.

The rope got tighter and tighter as they pulled away.

‘Just a little bit more power,' said Lola, concentrating hard. ‘Just a little bit more …'

Suddenly, there was a …

Crack!

They had pulled the large rock right out from the bottom of the pile.

The wall of rocks wobbled, then shook, then wobbled some more. And then …

BOOM!

Everything fell! Rocks rolled and tumbled with a tremendous bumping and banging.

Then everything was still.

But when the dust settled … all Lola and Buddy could see were
more rocks!

They had just made a
different
pile of rocks.

Buddy turned to Lola. ‘Hmm. Do we have another plan?'

‘No,' Lola said, as she jumped down from the train. She marched over to have a look. ‘But we're going to need one!'

Lola started pacing again. Buddy took out his juggling balls and started juggling.

You've pulled out a great big rock and it didn't work,
Lola said to herself.
What next?

Think, Lola, think!

Knock, knock, knock!

‘It's OK,' Lola called out, ‘we're still here! We'll rescue you really soon.'

Then she added very quietly, ‘I hope.'

She walked slowly back to the train, still deep in thought.

Instead of trying to pull the rocks down,
Lola wondered,
maybe we could smash right through them?

Whenever she had a risky idea, she always felt a sudden burst of energy.

Lola jumped back onto the train.

‘What are you thinking?' asked Buddy nervously.

He knew that look in her eyes.

‘We can't go under it,' said Lola brightly. ‘We can't go over it. So we'll have to go through it!'

If Buddy's face hadn't been painted on, he would have gone pale. ‘Lola, this is
not
a bear hunt!' he stammered.

‘It
might
be a bear hunt,' she said. ‘We don't know who's trapped behind these rocks.

It could be the Great High Bear himself!'

Lola started to drive the train back along the track. They would need a big run up.

Lola wasn't sure if this was a good idea. Could she really drive the train straight through the wall of rocks?

But they absolutely had to do
something
.

How else could a little girl and her toy clown rescue someone who was trapped?

Besides, she'd climbed out of that train – which meant it was also her magical toy box. Her toy box had
never
let her down before.

Come on, Lola,
she said to herself.
Someone needs you.

They were now quite far away.

She stopped the train.

She pushed some buttons and pulled some levers. The train started rolling forwards now.

Come on, come on!

They were picking up speed.

‘Hold onto your buttons, Buddy,' Lola cried. ‘We're going through!'

Buddy didn't answer. He was too busy shaking.

His laces were
shaking
.

His toggle was
shaking
.

And his zipper was making a
ting, ting, ting
sound, because that was
shaking
too!

There wasn't much time, but Lola reached over and put her arm around Buddy. She hugged him close.

The train was heading straight for the solid wall of rock.

Faster and faster …

Closer and closer …

No time to change her mind …

‘Hold on, Buddy!' she called.

CRASH!

The train screeched to a stop.

Lola took a deep breath.

Phew!

But then she had three terrible thoughts, all in a row.

One: What if the toy box is broken and we can't get home?

Two: What if we hurt the trapped toy when we crashed?

Three: What if the knocking sound wasn't a trapped toy at all?

Lola slowly opened her eyes.

There was a great big hole in the rock wall. They had smashed all the way through! The train looked fine, if a little scratched.

And luckily, she couldn't see any smashed toys anywhere.