About Daisy Malone and the Blue Glowing Stone

Someone has to save the world and that someone is DAISY MALONE.

It’s Daisy’s 12th birthday but she’s got more earth-shattering things on her mind. Her father is scared of everything, her mother has disappeared, and she and her dog Ben (a highly intelligent, talking dog – his words!) have just found a mysterious blue glowing stone in the attic.

But what is it, and why does everyone want it?

Contents

Cover

About Daisy Malone and the Blue Glowing Stone

Dedication

Chapter 1: A Walk in the Forest

Chapter 2: The Kid Down the Street

Chapter 3: A Brief Visit

Chapter 4: A Glow in the Attic

Chapter 5: An Unusual Present

Chapter 6: Lollies and a Phone Call

Chapter 7: The Truth About Running

Chapter 8: An Uncomfortable Ride

Chapter 9: Cream Buns

Chapter 10: Brian Malone

Chapter 11: Gloomy Gulch

Chapter 12: A Surprising Neck

Chapter 13: Into the Underground

Chapter 14: Evil is Fun

Chapter 15: Sad, Not Bad

Chapter 16: Deeper Down

Chapter 17: Difficult Decisions

Chapter 18: Alone in the Dark

Chapter 19: Unwanted Company

Chapter 20: More About the Stones

Chapter 21: Chasing Gamion

Chapter 22: Unexpected Help

Chapter 23: Out in the Open

Chapter 24: A Farewell

Acknowledgements

About James O’Loghlin

Also by James O’Loghlin

Copyright page

To Bibi, Nina and Lily

Chapter 1

A WALK IN THE FOREST

One Sunday afternoon at the start of the school holidays Daisy Malone was lying peacefully on her bed reading with her dog Ben when her father’s voice entered the room, turned left, paused for a moment to admire the view out the window and then continued across to Daisy.

‘I’m just popping down the street, darling,’ it said in a more uncertain and higher-pitched voice than you would normally expect from a dad. ‘Maybe you should come with me. I mean, what if something bad happens? What if there’s a fire, or an earthquake, or something else that I haven’t even thought of like giant coconuts falling out of the sky? Coconuts are very hard, you know. Will you be all right by yourself?’

‘No, I won’t be, because obviously I’m so little and helpless that you have to treat me like I’m a baby,’ Daisy replied not quite loudly enough for her voice to get all the way back to her father in the kitchen. She threw a glance at Ben, who rolled his eyes theatrically and very quietly did a dog fart.

‘I’ll be fine, Dad,’ Daisy said more loudly and sweetly.

‘Are you sure?’ returned Brian Malone’s anxious voice.

‘Yes I’m su– Orrrr! Gadzonks!’ exclaimed Daisy as the fart, having quietly sneaked across the bits of air between Ben’s bottom and herself, jumped into her nose.

‘What is it?!’ Brian Malone shouted. His footsteps pounded up the corridor, or possibly down it. It was hard to tell because the corridor was flat.

Daisy rolled desperately away from the fart, shaking her nose vigorously from side to side to try and dislodge the stink-bombed air from her nostrils, and then toppled off her bed.

‘Argh!’ she shrieked. She had just enough time to think, I hope I don’t land on that rollerskate I left on the floor, before she landed on that rollerskate she had left on the floor. ‘Oww!!’

‘Daisy!’ came the now fully panicked voice of her father, swiftly followed by her actual now fully panicked father. ‘What is it? Who did it? Was it the coconuts? Where are they?’

‘It’s fine, Dad,’ said Daisy, rubbing her hip. ‘I just fell off the bed.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Brian Malone, trying to look in every direction at once, but failing because the only way to do that would have been for him to have had at least four eyes spread out evenly around his head, whereas he actually just had the normal number of eyes in the normal positions.

‘Yes, I’m sure I fell off the bed, Dad,’ Daisy said, pulling herself up.

‘Yes, but are you sure you’re all right?!’

‘Yes, I’m sure.’

‘Are you sure you’re sure?!’

‘I’m sure.’

‘Are you sure you’re sure you’re sure?!’

‘I’m sure!’

‘Are you sure you’re –’

‘Dad! Stop it! You’re panicking.’

‘Am I?’ Brian Malone looked around in every direction again. ‘Oh no!! I’m panicking!! I’m panicking!!’

Daisy rolled her eyes and then gathered herself. ‘Dad! Stop!’ she commanded firmly.

Brian Malone stared wild-eyed at his daughter, and then, slowly, the tension left his body. He slumped onto the bed next to her. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I think I might have been panicking a bit there.’

‘Possibly a bit.’

He took a few deep breaths. ‘Better now. Are you all right?’

‘I just fell off the bed. I’m fine.’

‘And you’re sure you’re okay?’

‘Let’s not start that again.’

He gave her leg a pat. ‘Are you enjoying the school holidays, dear?’

Daisy considered this. Her dad was at work through the week and her mum, who was an archaeologist, was in the middle of a three-week dig just outside of Gloomy Gulch, about two hours drive north, where she was slowly uncovering a set of underground passages and caves. That meant that Daisy and Ben had the days mainly to themselves. Which, overall (although she missed her mum a bit), was good. ‘They’re stupendously great, Dad.’

‘Good.’ Brian Malone smiled uncertainly, as if checking to see whether doing so would break his face. Then his expression changed. ‘Oooh!’ he exclaimed, scrunching up his nose so it looked like his nostrils were trying to run away and hide inside it. ‘Darling, this room really does smell a bit funny. It’s a small issue now but we don’t want it to become a big issue, do we? How about a little tidy-up? Yes?’

Daisy nodded reluctantly.

‘Thank you. So, will you be all right if I pop out to do the shopping?’

Daisy patted her father’s knee. ‘Of course. Could you get stuff for spaghetti bolognese?’ Her father cooked the best spaghetti bolognese. It was one of the few things he could do without getting anxious.

‘Of course.’ Brian Malone kissed her cheek. ‘Back soon then.’

A few moments later Daisy heard the front door shut. She turned to Ben. ‘That was disgusting!’

‘Well, sorr-ee. Everyone farts,’ said Ben, who was a dog who could talk. Obviously, because he just talked.

‘Not like that.’

‘True enough. We all have our own scents. And, just between you and me, I quite like mine.’

Daisy sighed. She had badgered her parents for months about getting a dog. She had been quite dogged about it. (Ha! Get it? No? Oh. Well, then look up ‘dogged’. It means persistent. Now do you get it? Good.)

It had taken much pleading, a lot of reasoned arguments (‘They’re great company’, ‘A watchdog would keep us safe’, and ‘It’ll scare off those birds that come in through the back door and poo everywhere’) and the hint of a tantrum before they gave in. Eventually one Saturday morning her mum had driven her to the pound.

At the counter was a stern-looking man wearing a red poloneck jumper that came up so high it made him look like his neck had been stolen by some members of a little-known tribe that steals necks. He led them down a dark corridor to a room full of very large cages that contained dozens of dogs.

‘Let’s not get one too big, darling,’ said Daisy’s mum over the excited barks. She pointed to a little, white fluffy thing with hair so long it covered its face. ‘What about this one?’

‘Nah. No face. How would we feed it?’ replied Daisy. She looked about. Big dogs, small dogs, black dogs, white dogs, fat dogs, thin dogs. It was like a Dr Seuss story. How could she possibly choose? Then one of them, black and white and smallish, padded towards the front of its cage and stared at Daisy. Daisy stared back. They stared at each other for a few moments and then slowly, but very deliberately, the dog winked. Daisy’s mouth fell open.

She took a step back, never taking her eyes from the dog. ‘I want that one,’ she said, pointing at it. The dog smiled.

Back at the front desk they had to fill out some forms.

‘What type is he?’ Daisy’s mum asked.

‘Cross,’ said the poloneck man, who may or may not have had a neck.

‘He doesn’t look cross,’ said Daisy.

‘No, I mean he’s a cross between a –’

Daisy held up her hand. ‘I know what you meant. I was just trying to be funny.’

‘Oh,’ said the man.

On the trip home, Daisy sat with her arms around the dog, beaming. She stared at him, hoping for another wink or smile, but the dog just sat there looking cool.

‘I’m going to call him Monty,’ she announced.

At home she had taken Monty to her room, where he sniffed about a bit and then made himself comfortable in the middle of her bed. Daisy lay down next to him.

‘My name is actually Ben,’ said the dog.

‘Whaaaaa … huh?’ stuttered Daisy.

‘Ben. Not Monty. If that’s okay?’

‘Bu … huh?’

‘Yes, I can talk. I’m quite smart. For a dog, I mean. That’s all it is. I’m quite smart for a dog, so I learnt to speak. It’s no biggie.’

Daisy’s eyes were as wide as her mouth, which was very wide.

According to Ben, he was like the Einstein of dogs, a super-smart, one-in-a-million, brainiac dog prodigy, which meant that he was about as clever as the average person and so had enough brain capacity to learn to speak. His previous owners, a busy married couple, had talked enough at home for him to pick up the language by listening and imitating, and it hadn’t taken him long to work out how to use the television remote control with his paw, so when they were out he could watch TV and learn more. His favourite show was Behind the News. Once he had got the hang of spoken English, he had taught himself to read from the newspapers his owners left on their kitchen table when they went to work.

‘Can other dogs talk?’ asked Daisy.

Ben shrugged. ‘I’ve never met another one who could. But maybe.’

‘Did your old owners ever find out you could talk? Did you tell them?’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

‘They were okay. They fed me, they walked me, they picked up my poo, which is obviously a very nice thing to do, but we just didn’t really click, you know. They were good owners – well, until they left the country and dumped me at the pound – but we never really became close friends.’

‘Then why did you tell me you could talk so quickly?’

Ben looked a bit embarrassed. ‘Well, I just had a feeling that I could trust you.’

Now it was their secret.

Of course, Daisy had been tempted to tell her best friend Eliza that Ben could talk, but she knew that wasn’t a good idea because sooner or later Eliza would tell someone else, and that person would tell someone else and before you knew it the army would be at the front door wanting to take Ben away so they could carry out experiments on him, or use him to catch robbers or find missing bus drivers or sell him to the circus or make a TV show with him or something.

Ben unrolled himself and stretched. ‘How about a walk while your dad’s out?’

‘Sure,’ replied Daisy.

They slipped out the back door, across the garden and through the gate that led out into the bush that ran behind the house, and then set off up the hill, following what was usually a dirt track, except when it rained a bit and it became a mud track, or when it rained a lot and it became a stream.

Up ahead another trail cut across the one they were on. Without a word they both turned left so they were walking across the hill. It was the way they went most days. Daisy loved the fact that, even though they lived in a city, they could be somewhere that felt like the middle of nowhere within a couple of minutes. To their left, down the hill, they caught glimpses of back fences and houses, while up to the right the bush stretched away seemingly forever, but actually just to the top of the hill and then down the other side, to the back fences of more houses.

Suddenly Ben pricked up his ears and stopped.

‘What is it?’ asked Daisy.

‘You saying “What is it?” Shhh!’

‘Sorry,’ said Daisy.

‘Now I can hear you saying “Sorry”. Shhh!’

‘Sorry.’

‘Holy cupcakes! Shush!’

They stood still, both listening intently. Daisy heard nothing except the swish of wind bothering leaves and the faint background hum of cars. But dogs, as Ben never tired of telling her, have far better hearing than humans.

‘It’s a man and a kid talking over there,’ he said, pointing his nose into the bush. He sniffed. ‘And also a second man, I think, except …’

‘What?’

Ben raised his nose and sniffed hard. ‘The boy’s scared.’

‘You can smell his fear? That’s amazing.’

‘No, I just needed to sniff. His voice sounds scared.’

They didn’t often see other people on their walks. Maybe in the old days there would have been kids building cubby houses and getting splinters, but now everyone stayed safely indoors playing games on their mums’ iPhones and complaining they were bored.

Daisy crept through the bushes towards the voices. After a few steps she realised Ben wasn’t beside her. She turned. He was still on the path.

‘Come on,’ she hissed, beckoning him.

‘It’s none of our business, really.’

‘Don’t be like that,’ said Daisy. ‘Come on.’

Ben sighed and reluctantly trotted after her, muttering, ‘I wish I wasn’t so obedient,’ under his breath. They carefully made their way through the trees until Ben stopped again, his tail pointing straight up like a tiny hairy flagpole without a flag.

Daisy heard voices coming from over to her left where the ground, while still heavily treed, flattened out. (Yes, I know that ‘treed’ doesn’t look like a real word, but it is. Look it up if you like.)

The first voice was male, adult, deep and menacing, while the second was also male, but younger and vaguely familiar. Daisy couldn’t quite make out the words so she decided to forget all about it, mind her own business and continue on her way like a nice, polite little girl-person.

Not likely.

It wasn’t really Daisy who crept forward in the direction of the voices. It was her curiosity, the very same curiosity that every year, a week before Christmas, forced her to search the house from front to back until she found her presents; the same curiosity that made her cut her toothpaste tube open so that she could see what colour the inside of it was; and the same curiosity that made her ask her teacher why the plus sign and the minus sign didn’t swap jobs, because it was quicker and easier to write the minus sign than it was to write the plus sign, and there was usually a lot more plussing going on than there was minussing.

‘Should we be doing this?’ whispered Ben uncertainly.

‘No. Definitely not. We should be tidying our room, cleaning our teeth three times a day and doing extra homework. “Should” is boring! Come on.’

‘But dogs don’t clean their teeth,’ said Ben. ‘Or do homework.’ Daisy, however, was already tiptoeing ahead in a determined fashion (which is actually quite a tricky combination) through the trees. Ben reluctantly padded after her.

Ahead Daisy saw three figures. Two men faced a boy. One of the men was old enough to be a headmaster or a bus driver or something else important. He wore brown shoes, brown pants and a long flowing silky shirt that was either bluish-green or greenish-blue. He had shoulder-length almost-white hair that was parted in the middle, a pointy beard that came halfway down his neck and a face full of more pointy things; nose, chin, even his cheeks seemed to be pointy. His mouth was set in a not-very-happy-looking line.

Next to him was a slightly overweight younger man with a round face and lots of curly brown hair that wasn’t parted anywhere. In fact, his hair looked like it hadn’t been combed or brushed since the Palaeozoic Era, which ended 250 million years ago. He was standing half a step behind the older man and looked like he was trying very hard to keep up with what was happening, but not quite managing it.

The person they were talking to was the fat kid from school who lived down the street. What was his name again? Peter? Patrick? Doorhandle-Alooshan-Wonka-Wap-Hompy? No that wasn’t it. Paul! There it was.

Daisy couldn’t stand him. He was always talking about how great he was at everything. She looked more closely. ‘Fat’ was probably unfair. He was a bit plumpish. Another few ice-creams, though, and he’d be fat. Paul was wearing shorts, sneakers and a red t-shirt with the words ‘I’m Sooo Awesome’ written on it, a statement so clearly untrue that Daisy wished she could freeze time, run home, grab a black texta, run back, cross out the word ‘Sooo’ and replace it with ‘definitely not at all’ in very clear, but quite-a-bit-smaller letters (or else they wouldn’t fit).

But what was Paul doing in the middle of the bush talking to someone nearly old enough to be his grandfather, and some other bloke? Maybe it was his grandfather. And some other bloke.

Daisy moved slowly forward, using trees as cover, until she was as close as she dared. She hid behind a large tree and cautiously poked her head out.

Paul had been talking, but the first words Daisy was able to make out were from the older man with the beard. ‘So if you want any more, you need to do as I say.’

Paul looked torn. ‘Please, I just need a lolly. Just one more.’

White Beard smiled. ‘If you do as I say.’

Paul’s face twisted. ‘But … can’t I just have one now?’

‘If you want a lolly you need to do what I have told you. That’s clear, isn’t it?’

Paul nodded sullenly.

‘Good. We will meet again tomorrow and if you have the information that I need, I will give you not one lolly …’ He paused dramatically. ‘But two!’

‘Two? Really?’

‘Of course,’ said White Beard. ‘But if you don’t find out …’ White Beard’s smile was suddenly replaced by a stern expression that looked a lot like the one Daisy saw on her headmistress’s face whenever someone burped in assembly. ‘… then you won’t get any more lollies, and I will get a bit upset. Understand?’

There was something about the way he said the last part that made Daisy very glad that it wasn’t being said to her.

Paul gulped and slowly nodded. Even the younger man with curly hair looked a bit scared.

‘Good,’ said White Beard. ‘Now run along.’

If that’s Paul’s grandfather, he’s not a very nice one, thought Daisy. Paul turned and dashed off, straight towards the tree Ben and Daisy were hiding behind. When he had just about reached it the man called out, ‘Boy!’

Paul stopped as suddenly as if he had run into an invisible wall, and then slowly turned around. Not right around, obviously, or he would still have had his back to the man. Just halfway around. He was so close that Daisy could hear him breathing.

‘Y … yes, sir,’ Paul mumbled anxiously.

Daisy’s eyebrows shot up. She had never heard Paul speak that politely to anyone. Not to teachers at school, not to his parents, not even to the man who drove the Mister Whippy van when Paul didn’t have quite enough money for a choc-dipped cone.

‘You won’t mention our discussion to anyone. Will you,’ said White Beard slowly and sternly. It clearly wasn’t a question, which is why I didn’t put in a question mark.

‘N … no, sir,’ stammered Paul.

White Beard smiled in a not-at-all-friendly way. ‘Good,’ he said, and then flicked a finger at Paul. ‘Off you go.’

Paul gulped and then turned and raced past Daisy and Ben’s tree without so much as a sideways glance. Luckily.

White Beard stared after him for a few moments, then his eyes slowly swivelled around towards Daisy. She pulled her head back behind the tree, but had she been quick enough? She heard footsteps coming closer. Had he seen her? She hadn’t really done anything wrong, had she? She’d just been curious.

A cold feeling spread down her spine. She stayed as still as she could. Ben stood next to her, ears up. Daisy could hear her heart pounding and wished it would shut up. She held her breath, but after a while realised that if she kept doing that she’d die, so she exhaled as slowly and silently as she could, then sucked some more air in the same way.

The footsteps came closer. Two lots: one slow and deliberate, the other noisier. They stopped a few steps away from the tree.

‘What have we here, then?’ asked White Beard softly.

‘Looks like a forest to me, boss,’ said another voice, presumably belonging to the younger man with lots of curly brown hair. ‘I mean, I’m no expert on trees, but I do know that when there’s a whole lot of them clumped together, it’s usually called a forest. Unless it’s a wood. I wonder what the difference between a forest and a wood is. Do you know? Which one has more trees?’

‘Enough of that,’ hissed White Beard. ‘I sense something else. Very close.’

‘What? Like leaves?’ replied Lots-of-Curly-Brown-Hair. ‘You often find them in a forest. Or a wood. They’re usually attached to the trees, I think.’

‘No, not like leaves! Something else,’ replied White Beard tersely. Daisy heard his footsteps coming closer. He was just around the other side of the tree. She was going to be caught. She may as well get it over with. She was just about to step out when suddenly Ben dashed out, barking angrily.

‘Yikes!’ exclaimed Lots-of-Curly-Brown-Hair.

What was Ben doing? Daisy was about to follow him, but before she could move Ben turned and raced away down the hill. Daisy stayed still.

For a long moment, lots of nothing happened, and then Daisy heard White Beard chuckle. ‘Come on,’ he said, and Daisy heard more footsteps, this time going away down the other side of the hill.

‘You were right, boss,’ said Lots-of-Curly-Brown-Hair, ‘that definitely wasn’t a piece of forest. Bits of forest don’t bark. I actually think that might have been a dog.’

‘You don’t say.’

‘Or possibly a monster. A small monster. I’m just not sure.’

Their footsteps got softer and softer until Daisy couldn’t hear them, but still she stayed motionless, breathing as quietly as possible.

‘Are you okay?’

‘AHHH!’ she screamed, leaping into the air.

‘Calm down. It’s just me.’

‘Ben!’ He had crept up behind her.

‘Quick thinking me, hey! Dashing out like that. Saved your bacon … I mean, flesh.’

Daisy realised that he had. If Ben hadn’t done that, then … then what?

‘Thank you,’ she said, bending down and giving him a cuddle. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

They headed back down the hill until they found the path, and then turned for home. Instead of her usual strolling pace, Daisy found that she was walking as fast as she could.

‘What was all that about?’ she asked.

‘That man wants something from the boy,’ responded Ben.

‘But what?’

They walked on until they reached the turn that led down to their back gate. Daisy stopped and fixed Ben with a steely stare. ‘We have to find out what’s going on.’

‘No, we don’t,’ said Ben quickly. ‘We actually don’t have to at all.’

Daisy continued as if she hadn’t heard him. ‘But how?’

Ben tried again. ‘There’re lots of things we could do instead. What about tidying your room? That could be great fun. Boy, it really could be.’

‘I don’t like Paul,’ said Daisy, setting off again down the hill towards their back fence. ‘He’s stupid, smelly and nasty. But he looked terrified, and he doesn’t get scared easily. Remember that time he was on his skateboard and he went flying down his driveway onto the road and a car nearly hit him? Remember what he did?’

‘He laughed,’ said Ben. ‘He’s clearly very stupid.’

‘So if he laughs when he nearly gets killed, why was he so scared of that old man?’

‘Don’t know. Don’t care. None of our business really, is it? So we should probably just forget about it and go home and curl up in the sun and think nice thoughts about nice things in a nice way,’ suggested Ben hopefully.

‘But Ben, Paul needs our help.’

‘But we don’t even like Paul. In fact, we dislike him.’

‘That’s not the point.’

‘Isn’t it? It seems exactly like the point to me.’

Daisy’s eyes were glowing. ‘But this is exciting.’ She opened their back gate. ‘Do you know what the last exciting thing that happened to me was?’

‘Finding out I could talk?’

‘Apart from that.’

Ben frowned. ‘Well, what about that morning you had to go to school and there was no cereal left, and no bread. No cereal and no bread! I mean, wow, crisis or what?! And in the end you had to have a cold sausage for breakfast! Crazy! That was one exciting day. Seriously. I still think about it.’

Daisy pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked the back door. ‘Exactly. The most exciting thing that ever happens to me is eating cold sausage for breakfast. And now we’ve got a mystery to solve.’

‘But …’ said Ben, but then stopped. Being a very clever dog, he realised there was no talking her out of it. He padded inside.

‘We need a plan.’ Daisy rubbed her hands together. She seemed to have already forgotten how scared she had been just a few minutes ago. ‘I’ve got it. When Paul is outside his house on his skateboard, we can wander past and chat to him.’

‘I don’t think I should chat to him.’

‘Good point. But I could ask him how he is and be really friendly to him and then ask him if there’s something on his mind, and he might tell me what happened.’

‘I don’t think there’s ever much on Paul’s mind,’ replied Ben. ‘And wouldn’t that be a bit suspicious, given that last time you spoke to him he called you a “stupid, smelly girl” and you called him “an even stupider, smellier boy”? Which, by the way, wasn’t one of your wittiest comebacks.’

‘I can say I want to make up.’

Ben gave her a long look.

‘Well, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?’ Daisy said innocently.

Ben shrugged his shoulders, which on a dog looks very weird.

Daisy made them both a snack (two dog biscuits for Ben, and four chocolate biscuits for Daisy.)

Then they went into Daisy’s room and lay in bed reading. Eventually Ben pushed aside his copy of Spot Grows Up and Gets a Job Working in a Bank and looked thoughtful. Most people would have thought that he just looked like a dog lying on a bed, but Daisy knew him well enough by now to recognise his thoughtful look. Eventually he spoke.

‘Daisy, why did Paul want a lolly so much? I mean, I know you humans like lollies, but he sounded desperate.’

‘I guess he really likes them.’

‘But did you hear what he said? “I need it.” Not “I want it”. “I need it.”’

‘Kids say they need lollies all the time. Because we do!’

‘But why that lolly? He could have just gone to the shop and got some other kind of lolly.’

‘They must be really good lollies.’

‘Hmmm,’ said Ben.

Chapter 2

THE KID DOWN THE STREET

Around ten o’clock the next morning, Daisy stuck her head out the front door to see if Paul had emerged from his house, but all she could see outside it was a great big blank blob of air.

‘The only thing I can see outside his house is a great big blank blob of air,’ she said.

‘That’s the twenty-second time you’ve checked this morning,’ called Ben from the sofa. ‘Try to be more patient. Be more dog-like. We can sit still for hours without a single thought crossing our minds.’

‘That’s not something to be proud of,’ said Daisy, still hanging halfway out the door.

‘I don’t know about that. It feels nice. Just lots of nothing. Nothing … nothing … nothing. Ahhh. Perfect. My mind is completely blank and I love it.’ Ben stretched out his legs, then folded them back under his body. ‘I could do this all day. While you humans were off inventing cars and sofas and raspberry cheesecake, us dogs were sitting round just feeling happy and peaceful and thinking nothing, nothing, nothing. Which is better? Personally, I think –’

‘Wait! There’s a car coming. It’s turning into their driveway.’

‘How can a car turn into a driveway? That’s impossible. A car is a car and a driveway is a –’

‘No, it’s … never mind. Paul’s getting out. With his mum.’ Daisy pulled herself back behind the open front door, and then cautiously peeped her head round again.

‘Interesting idea, though,’ continued Ben. ‘If a car could turn into a driveway, you could just drive home, park on the grass in front of your house and then, shazam! The car’s gone and you have a driveway! Quite convenient, really.’

‘They’re going inside.’

‘But what if you forgot to get out of the car before you turned it into a driveway? Yikes. You’d get squished!’

‘Ben!’ said Daisy sharply. ‘You have to shut up about that now. It’s not helping. They’re going inside. What do we do? Wait! He’s coming out again. With his skateboard.’ Daisy pulled her head back inside the house. ‘Let’s go.’

‘What? You mean off the couch?’

‘Come on.’

Ben unfolded himself and trotted out the door. ‘If I must. Have you worked out what you’re going to say to him? I can’t really help, you know, unless you want me to bite him.’

‘It’ll be fine,’ Daisy replied, composing her face into what she hoped was a picture of ultra-friendliness.

Paul was in his driveway practising turns, jumps and spins on his skateboard.

‘Hi,’ said Daisy with a gigantic smile as they reached him. It was the friendliest word she had ever uttered to Paul or, in fact, to any boy, ever.

Paul looked at her. ‘Hi,’ he said in a tone Daisy had never heard him use before – friendly!

That’s odd, thought Daisy. ‘Lovely day,’ she said, smiling so hard it hurt her face. ‘Don’t you think?’

‘Yes. It is a lovely day, Daisy.’ Paul said her name slowly, as if it was a hard-to-pronounce word in a foreign language.

Daisy tried to hide her surprise. In the past Paul had addressed her as ‘Hey you’, ‘Girlfeatures’, ‘Idiotface’ and ‘Derrhead’, but never ‘Daisy’.

Then Paul smiled. It wasn’t a very good one. It was the sort of smile you do when someone points a gun at you and says, ‘Smile, or else.’

‘And what are you doing, Daisy?’ asked Paul sweetly.

‘Oh, just … um … taking Ben for a walk. He goes a bit crazy otherwise.’

I do not, thought Ben, but resisted the temptation to say it.

Daisy pressed on. ‘Paul, I’ve been thinking. We live so near to each other, we’re the same age, we go to the same school. We should try a bit harder to be friends. I mean, if you have a friend up the road, then when you have a problem, you’ve got someone to talk to, right?’

‘Sure, Daisy,’ said Paul, continuing to sound unusually nice. ‘Let’s be friends. Tell each other things. Great!’

Paul stepped on one end of his skateboard, causing the other end to rise up off the ground. Smoothly he grabbed it, and then spun it in the air. He went to catch it again but missed, and it fell on his foot.

‘Oww!’ he cried, hopping up and down. Daisy stifled a laugh. Ben let his laugh out, but it sounded almost exactly like a bark, so no one noticed.

‘Are you okay?’ asked Daisy. Maybe if Paul was in pain she could comfort him, and he would be feeling so weak and vulnerable that he would tell her about the men in the bush.

‘Sort of,’ replied Paul. He sat down on the grass next to the driveway and rubbed his foot.

Daisy sat next to him, still smiling. Paul examined her suspiciously, and then smiled back. It was like they were having a staring competition, but they were using smiles instead.

‘So, have you got much planned then … for the holidays?’ asked Paul.

‘Um, this and that. A few playdates.’

‘Great. When’s the next one?’

‘Um … tomorrow morning. With Eliza. Do you know her? She’s in my class.’

‘No. Tomorrow morning. Great. That’s really great!’ said Paul. ‘Because your parents both work, don’t they?’

Daisy nodded.

‘And you don’t have any brothers or sisters, do you?’

‘No, but I’ve got Ben,’ she said, gesturing to the dog, who only just resisted the temptation to say, ‘Wassup, dudeface.’

Paul was staring at Ben. ‘The dog.’

‘And he’s very excited about tomorrow because Eliza has a dog too, a female, and they sort of like each other.’

Ben felt the blood rush to his face. How dare she tell him about his feelings for Miranda!

‘So you’ll take him with you, then? When you go tomorrow morning,’ said Paul slowly, as if this was of great importance.

‘Paul,’ said Daisy delicately, ‘are you okay? Is there something bothering you?’ She slid a bit closer. ‘Something on your mind? Something you want to tell me?’

‘Actually, there is one thing.’

YES! thought Daisy.

‘I’ve got a sore tooth. But I don’t want to tell Mum ’cos I hate going to the dentist.’

Daisy sighed. So did Ben.

Chapter 3

A BRIEF VISIT

Back home, Daisy got herself a lemon cordial and Ben a bowl of water.

As they sat in the back garden sipping and lapping, Ben raised a paw. ‘That was weird.’

‘I know. I couldn’t get a single thing out of him.’

‘But he got lots out of you.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Don’t you think it’s strange that after years of not caring whether you live or die, suddenly Paul’s sooo interested in what you’re doing and when you’re doing it?’

Daisy gave Ben a long look. ‘Huh?’

‘Maybe you did get some information out of Paul,’ continued Ben.

‘What, that he’s got a sore tooth and hates dentists? Great!’

‘More than that. You wanted to find out what the old man had asked him to do, right?’

‘Yes, and he didn’t tell me.’

‘But he did show you.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘For the first time ever Paul wanted to know what you were doing. It was like he was trying to find out when you were going to be out. In fact, it was almost like someone had asked him to find out when you were going to be out.’

‘But … wait. Those men? Why … no, wait … huh?’

‘What if they’re thieves, and they’re getting Paul to find out when people who live in the street are going to be out?’

‘But why would they want to rob us? What have we got?’

‘Oh, I don’t think it’s us. At least, not just us. If you were a thief this street would be perfect because it backs onto the bush and it’s quiet. Not many passing cars or people. So I bet they picked this street, and then somehow found Paul, and then pressured him to find out as much information as he could about when people who live here are going to be out.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Daisy. She thought a moment. ‘But quite clever. Much better than stumbling into a house and finding there’s someone there.’ Suddenly Daisy put her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh no!’

‘What?’

‘I told Paul that tomorrow morning there’s not going to be anyone here. Not even you.’

‘I know.’

‘Does that mean we’re going to get robbed tomorrow morning?’

‘If Paul tells the old man what you just told him, then … I think there’s a pretty good chance.’

‘Yikes,’ said Daisy. ‘We’d better tell Dad.’

Ben’s eyes widened, which made him look like he was raising his eyebrows – but he wasn’t, because dogs don’t have eyebrows. They have fur.

‘You’re right,’ said Daisy, ‘bad idea.’

Daisy’s mum had told Daisy that her father was ‘highly strung’ and had ‘an anxious disposition’. Daisy wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but she did know that her dad broke out in a nervous sweat every time he had to go into a shop, usually hid at the back of the house when there was a knock at the door and drove so slowly that his car was regularly overtaken by cyclists and joggers.

Last week it had taken him an hour and a half to work up the courage to climb up on a chair and change a light bulb. Her father was kind, good-hearted and gentle, and Daisy loved him, but if you wanted a cool head in a crisis, you’d be better off with a lettuce. If she told him that their house was going to be robbed tomorrow, he would probably fall to his knees and start hitting his head against the floor and wailing, ‘Oonga! Oonga! Oonga!’ And that wouldn’t help much. ‘What about the police?’ asked Daisy. ‘They could ambush them and catch them red-handed.’

‘Why would they have red hands?’

‘No, it’s just an expression.’

‘Really? Weird,’ said Ben. ‘But if we went to the police, wouldn’t they just speak to your dad?’

‘You’re right. And he’d freak.’

‘Either that, or the police wouldn’t believe you. They’d probably think you were imagining it all. It’s not as if we have any evidence.’

‘What do we do then?’ asked Daisy.

‘How about we do my very favourite thing. Nothing. We go to Eliza and Miranda’s house as planned and if we get robbed, we get robbed. What are they going to get? An old TV? It’s not even a flat screen, which, frankly, in this day and age is disgraceful. A computer? My bowl?’

‘We can’t do that! We can’t just let them rob us.’

‘But the only way to stop them is to tell your dad.’

‘Not necessarily,’ said Daisy, a determined expression on her face.

‘Oh no,’ Ben groaned, covering his head with his paws. He knew that look. It was the one that meant trouble.

‘Now, darling, you have a lovely time,’ said Brian Malone as he very carefully brought the car to a stop outside Eliza’s house. It was in a quiet, suburban tree-lined street not far from Daisy’s own. ‘Be careful. If anything goes wrong, call me on the mobile. Do you know the number?’

‘Yes, Dad. You know I know the number,’ said Daisy.

‘Now, I have a meeting at half past ten.’

‘That’s great, Dad. I hope it’s exciting.’

‘That was sarcasm, wasn’t it, Daisy? I’m not mad on sarcasm, you know.’

Daisy smiled inwardly. She had been wanting to try sarcasm for a while and that had been her first attempt. It had worked!

‘During my meeting I’ll have to put my mobile on silent,’ continued Brian Malone, ‘but I’ll check it every few minutes to see if there is a missed call or a text message. And Eliza’s mother will drop you home at two o’clock. I will be home at the usual time, but you’ll be all right until then, won’t you?’

‘Dad, I’m always all right.’

‘What about that time we had to rush you to hospital and we only just got there in time?’

‘That was when I was being born.’

‘Yes, but it gave me a nasty shock. It took me weeks to recover.’

‘I’ll be fine, Dad.’ Daisy leant over and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Love ’oo.’

‘I love you too. I’ll wait until I see you go in.’

Daisy knew he would say that. This was going to be tricky, but she and Ben had a plan. They walked through Eliza’s large front garden and up three steps onto her porch. Her front door was at one end of the porch, but crucially, at that end of the porch a wall came around it at the front, which meant that from the street you couldn’t see the front door. If Brian Malone was looking – and Daisy knew that he would be – he would see Daisy and Ben vanish from sight, blocked by the wall, about three steps before they entered the front door.

Daisy stepped out of her dad’s view towards the door, raised her hand, but did not knock. Then, as if she was waiting for the door to open, she stepped back so that, once again, she could be seen by her dad.

‘On the count of three,’ she whispered to Ben out of the side of her mouth. ‘One. Two. Three.’

Daisy smiled, mimed saying ‘Hi’ and waved as if Eliza had just opened the door. Then she took two rapid steps forward and abruptly stopped, her nose pressed up against the front door. Ben squeezed next to her.

They had to stay there until they were sure Brian Malone had driven off and, of course, Brian Malone being Brian Malone, always took ages to start the car and get going.

Daisy heard voices inside the house. It was Eliza and her mother. Then she heard a dog barking, and light footsteps approaching the front door.

‘It’s Miranda!’ whispered Ben. ‘She’s smelt me!’ He couldn’t help but feel excited. Miranda was a hot dog!

Daisy heard the car’s engine splutter, and then start.

Miranda was pawing at the inside of the front door, still barking. Louder footsteps approached the door.

‘What is it, girl?’ said Eliza’s mother. ‘You’re excited about seeing Benny, aren’t you?’

Despite the circumstances, Ben felt a warm glow inside.

The car’s engine revved and drove off. Its noise faded into the distance. In another few seconds Brian Malone would be gone.

‘I don’t think Benny’s here yet, girl,’ said Eliza’s mother.

Daisy breathed a sigh of relief.

‘But let’s have a look, just to be sure.’

Her relief turned to horror. Daisy turned and fled from the porch into the garden, desperately hoping her dad’s car was out of sight, or at least that he was not looking in the rear-view mirror. She heard the door open, and dived behind a rosebush, Ben right behind her.

‘See. Not here yet,’ said Eliza’s mum.

Miranda padded into the garden and came around the rosebush, face to face with Ben and Daisy.

Ben gave Miranda a long look, and then pointed at Daisy with his front paw, wagged his tail three times and brought his paw up to his mouth and sniffed. Miranda stood still for a few moments, and then turned and padded back up the steps to the porch and through the front door.

As soon as they heard the door shut, Daisy and Ben scuttled out of the yard and down the street back towards Daisy’s house.

Chapter 4

A GLOW IN THE ATTIC

‘Well, it worked,’ said Daisy, slowing to a brisk walking pace as they turned a corner.

‘Thanks to me. Again,’ said Ben.

‘What did you say to Miranda to convince her not to bark when she saw us?’

‘It’s not “saying” exactly. It’s more a body language, vibe thing.’

‘… And?’

‘I just let her know not to worry, everything was fine and I would … umm … ’

‘Yes?’

‘I’d be back to smell her bottom soon.’

‘Yuck!’

‘Don’t be so judgemental. That’s just what we do. It’s a nice thing, like saying “hello”.’

When they reached their street, they walked cautiously along it until they could see their house. They hid behind a tree and looked about for any suspicious-looking people or cars, although what a suspicious car would look like Daisy didn’t know. Maybe one that was wearing sunglasses and a fake moustache. But not only were there not any suspicious-looking people in their street, there weren’t any people on the street at all. Just in case, they decided to stick to their plan and enter the back way. They slipped down a laneway between numbers 8 and 10 and onto the bush track behind the houses, and were soon standing at their back gate.

Given that they had only been away from the house for about fifteen minutes, Daisy thought it was unlikely that the robbers, if that was what the two men they had seen with Paul in fact were, were already inside. But it was possible. Ben had a good, strong sniff under the gate.

‘They definitely haven’t come in this way,’ he said. ‘But if they came in the front I wouldn’t be able to smell them.’

Daisy gulped. She could still back out, head back to Eliza’s and have a wonderful morning bouncing on the trampoline, making up a play, and stuffing as many pieces of the world’s best home-made coconut slice into herself as possible.

The other option was to sneak into their own house and spend the morning hiding in the attic waiting for thieves. Suddenly Ben spun around and stared along the bush track.

‘Someone’s coming!’

Daisy’s heart leapt into her mouth, but she quickly swallowed it again and hoped it would find its way back to where hearts are supposed to be. She only had a split second to make her decision. She opened the back gate and hurried in, Ben on her heels, then ran to the back porch and grabbed the spare key from under a flowerpot that was actually just a pot because it didn’t have any flowers in it. She unlocked the back door, and then locked it behind them.

‘Up to the attic,’ she said.

‘Not yet,’ replied Ben quickly. ‘You have to call Eliza’s mum and say you’re too sick to come, or else she’ll call your dad. If it’s the thieves, we’ve still got a minute or two. They’ll check the place out before they enter, then they’ll have to get through the back door. Quick.’

Daisy grabbed the phone. Luckily she knew Eliza’s number off by heart. Eliza’s mum answered on the third ring.

‘Hello, Mrs Dawson. It’s Daisy here. I’m so sorry but I’m sick and I won’t be able to come to play this morning.’

‘Whoa! Daisy, slow down. You’re speaking so fast I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Are you all right?’

‘Yes, I’m fine. Except I’m sick. But not too sick. So don’t worry. But too sick to play.’

Ben’s ears pricked up and he turned to face the back door. ‘They’re coming,’ he whispered.

‘All right, Daisy, well Eliza will be upset, but …’

‘I have to go, I’m going to vomit,’ said Daisy, and slammed down the phone. Footsteps approached the back door. It wasn’t the sturdiest door around. Daisy guessed that a few hefty shoulder charges would cave it in. She crept along the hallway towards the front of the house. The entrance to the attic was a few steps inside the front door. A ladder led up to it, but it only did that when it was unfolded, and right now it wasn’t. It lay folded in three pieces along the ceiling. A grabbing stick hung down, but it only really worked as a grabbing stick if you were adult-sized. For Daisy it was less of a grabbing stick and more of a stare-up-at-it-and-realise-that-the-brilliant-idea-you-had-of-hiding-in-the-attic-had-one-big-problem-namely-that-there-was-no-way-of-pulling-down-the-ladder stick. She jumped for it, but didn’t even get close. Even Brian Malone could only reach it on tippy toes. There was a rattling at the back door. Daisy picked Ben up, whispered ‘Grab it,’ and then, before he had time to say something unhelpful like, ‘Don’t throw me in the air!’ she threw him in the air. As Ben reached the top of his flight path, he grasped the grabbing stick in his teeth and, as he fell, pulled the ladder down. As Ben crashed into the polished floorboards, Daisy caught the ladder.

‘Why didn’t you catch me?’ hissed Ben.

‘Because the ladder hitting the ground would have made more noise than you hitting it,’ Daisy hissed back. ‘Come on!’

Not having arms, hands or even fingers, Ben wasn’t very good at climbing ladders, so Daisy scooped him up and started to pull herself up one-handed. On the third step she realised she had forgotten the phone. Damn! The plan had been to call the police from the attic.

She reached the top of the ladder. Normally she would now hold on to the ladder with one hand and push open the trapdoor above her head with the other, but this time one of her hands was full of dog. Daisy leant into the ladder, grabbed the top rung with her teeth, then let go of the hand holding the ladder and tried not to imagine what her dentist would think if he could see her. Then again, if he could see her, surely he could have held Ben for a few seconds whilst she opened the trapdoor in the normal way, so her teeth would have been fine.

She reached above her head and pushed the trapdoor open, then grabbed the edge of the hole and climbed up into the attic. As she pulled the ladder up after her, she heard footsteps coming from the back of the house. Quickly she lowered the trapdoor back into position.

They’d done it! But then she realised what they’d done: trapped themselves in the attic of their house as thieves prowled about downstairs.

Daisy and Ben sat next to the trapdoor, breathing softly and listening hard. Enough light filtered in through the roof to allow them to see the statues, boxes, wood carvings, sculptures and old toys that surrounded them. One of the good things about having a mum who was an archaeologist was that she was always bringing home interesting stuff. Of course, one of the bad things about having a mum who was an archaeologist was that she was away a lot and Daisy missed her. (But let’s not harp on about that or Daisy might get sad and right now she really needs to focus on what’s happening. And so do you, so stop thinking about all that homework you haven’t done and pay attention.)

‘Where do we start, boss?’ The voice came from what sounded like almost directly below them and definitely belonged to Lots-of-Curly-Brown-Hair who, from now on, even though we don’t know his name, we shall call Dennis, because it’s easier than calling him Lots-of-Curly-Brown-Hair, and it uses four fewer capital letters and no hyphens, and conserving capital letters and hyphens is good for the environment.

‘I know,’ continued Dennis. ‘Let’s start at the front and work our way to the bottom. I’ll …’

‘You mean the back.’ That was White Beard’s voice. Again, for simplicity’s sake, let’s give him a shorter name. Let’s also call him Dennis. No, wait. That might get confusing. For example:

‘Come here, Dennis,’ said Dennis.

‘Okay, Dennis,’ replied Dennis. Dennis got up and walked across the room towards Dennis.

See? Not at all clear. So let’s call him something else. How about Cardboard? No. Bad name. I know! Until we know the man with the white beard’s real name, we’ll call him Sinclair.

‘You mean the back,’ said Sinclair.

‘No. The front,’ replied Dennis.

‘Yes,’ explained Sinclair patiently. ‘We start at the front and work our way to the back. Not the bottom.’

There was a pause during which Daisy could almost hear Dennis’s brain attempting to think. Then he said, ‘Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, I’ll go out the front and start in their garden. I’ll dig it right up.’

Footsteps headed towards the front door.

‘Stop, you idiot,’ ordered Sinclair. ‘You can’t go out the front. People will see you!’

‘So?’

‘We’re intruders. Robbers!’

‘Robbers! Where?! I’m scared of robbers!’

‘We’re the robbers, you idiot!’

There was a pause. ‘Oh yeah. Sorry.’

Sinclair let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Come on. We’ll start searching in here.’ Daisy heard a door swing open and then their voices became muffled. She guessed they had gone into one of the two rooms at the front of the house, either her parents’ bedroom, or the office they shared.

Daisy decided to try to get further towards the front of the house so she could better hear what was going on below. The only problem was that it was a lot darker up that end of the attic, and there was only a proper floor in a small part of it, near the trapdoor. The rest of the floor looked solid enough, but Daisy remembered her mum warning her that it was made out of plasterboard, and that if she stepped on it she would go right through it. There were, however, four wooden beams that ran up and down the attic that looked just wide enough to crawl along.

Daisy could hear sounds coming from below, in front of her and to her left, which meant that the thieves were in her parents’ office. She was now at the edge of the attic floor. She slid her hands out along one of the beams and very gently eased her weight down onto it to decrease the chance of the beam creaking, groaning, shrieking or otherwise making a fuss. It was about as wide as her leg and seemed solid enough. She slid along the beam a bit further, trying not to fall off. If she did, she would probably crash through the plasterboard into the room below and she was pretty sure that Sinclair and Dennis would notice that. Well, maybe not Dennis, he seemed a bit dim, but definitely Sinclair. She kept sliding along the beam, Ben right behind her. Up ahead was an air vent. She got a bit closer to it and could hear voices below.

‘Search the cupboard,’ said Sinclair.

‘Um … you mean this cupboard, boss?’ asked Dennis.

‘There’s only one cupboard in this room, and when I said, “Search the cupboard”, I was pointing at it,’ said Sinclair, sounding like he was speaking through gritted teeth. ‘How could that not have been clear?’

‘I was just checking. You know, just in case when you said, “Search the cupboard”, you actually meant, “Have a look outside in the front garden”, or “Make me a cup of tea with a dash of milk but no sugar”, or something like that.’

‘But if I … Ahhh! Just do it!’

‘Sure, boss. I’m here to help.’

Daisy heard a door open followed by various cupboard-searching noises that are actually very hard to describe. Just use your imagination.

‘This is strange,’ whispered Ben.

‘Of course it’s strange,’ Daisy whispered back. ‘We’re sitting in our attic listening to people rob our house.’

‘No, I mean they’ve already gone past a TV and an iPod in the living room, and a microwave in the kitchen, and now they’re ignoring a computer in the office. Robbers like to get in and out quick. What are they looking for?’

‘I don’t know. Jewellery?’

‘In an office?’

Daisy shifted her weight and the beam let out a loud creak. She froze.

‘What was that?’ asked Dennis below.

‘It must be the kid who lives here spying on us from the attic. She’s probably got her dog up there with her and it’s probably a talking dog, so let’s pull out the guns we’ve got hidden in our pants and go up there and shoot them until they’re totally dead.’ That’s what Daisy was scared Sinclair was going to say, but what he actually said was, ‘Be quiet and keep looking.’

The two men spent several more minutes in the office, and then Daisy heard their footsteps pad across the hall to her parents’ bedroom. She and Ben cautiously moved over to the other side of the roof where there was another air vent. There was more scuffling about.

‘Presents, boss!’ exclaimed Dennis.

They must be searching at the back of her dad’s shoe cupboard. That’s where her parents always hid her presents. Daisy had almost forgotten it was her birthday tomorrow.

‘Leave them,’ ordered Sinclair.

‘They’re beautifully wrapped. The cards say, “To Daisy”. Wow! I wish I was Daisy. Hey, boss, do you remember what’s happening tomorrow? Do you remember that tomorrow is actually somebody’s birthday?’

‘Come on. Focus! Keep searching.’

‘But it’s someone a bit special who’s having a birthday tomorrow, boss. Someone a bit special who’s actually in this room … and who isn’t you. Any ideas? Or shall I give you another clue? Okay. It’s someone who is actually talking right now. To you. Like right now. Do you get it? Okay, I’ll tell you. Me!’

He has the same birthday as me, thought Daisy.

‘If you don’t shut up and keep searching,’ growled Sinclair, ‘your head will be having its birthday in a different part of the planet from the rest of your body!’

There was a pause and then Dennis said slowly, ‘I don’t really understand that, boss. I mean, my head is attached to my body so …’

Sinclair sounded as if he was about to explode. ‘Please! Be quiet and search!’

‘Okay, boss,’ said Dennis cheerfully, ‘why didn’t you say so? By the way, could I have a lolly?’

‘If you do some good searching, then you can have one when we’re finished.’

A few moments later Dennis called triumphantly, ‘Look, boss! Rings! Necklaces!’

Daisy realised that they must have found her mum’s jewellery at the back of her undies drawer. Maybe they were jewel thieves after all.

‘Put that back! We’re not here for trinkets.’

Or maybe they weren’t.

‘But they’re pretty! So pretty.’

Daisy heard a sharp slap followed quickly by an ‘Oww!’ from Dennis.

‘I said, put them back,’ said Sinclair. ‘And carefully. We don’t want anyone knowing we’ve been here.’

‘That hurt!’

‘I only slapped your hand.’

‘But I’m crying!’

‘It’s just sweat.’

‘Eyes don’t sweat,’ whined Dennis pitifully. ‘They cry.’ He sniffled for a while and then said, ‘Boss, can I ask you something?’

‘As long as it doesn’t stop you searching,’ replied Sinclair gruffly.

‘Are we evil? I mean we’ve broken into someone’s house and now we’re going through all their stuff. Isn’t that wrong?’

‘We’re only doing it because we have to. It’s not evil like, for example, Gamion is evil. He’s really evil. That’s why he’s in gaol.’

‘Would we go to gaol if we get caught, boss?’

‘No. Well, maybe. But we’re not going to get caught, so we don’t have to worry about it.’

A few seconds later, Sinclair’s stern voice came again. ‘Why have you stopped searching?’

‘Sorry, boss. I was worrying about it.’

‘About getting caught?’

‘Yeah. And about us being evil like Gamion.’

‘Look, we’re not like Gamion, and we won’t get caught. All right?’

‘Yes, boss, I suppose.’

‘So let’s keep searching. The sooner we find it the sooner we can get out of here.’

Listening above, Daisy wondered who Gamion was. Maybe he was some notorious criminal, but Daisy had never heard of him.

‘Come on, help me move the bed,’ said Sinclair

‘You want to steal a bed?’ replied Dennis, sounding confused. ‘Instead of jewellery?’

‘I want to move the bed,’ said Sinclair slowly, as if he were speaking to a simpleton, which, as far as Daisy could tell, he quite possibly was.

They heard the sliding and scraping of heavy furniture being pulled and pushed across floor, accompanied by the grunting and groaning of those doing the pulling and pushing. Then there was what sounded like someone carefully tapping the floorboards with their knuckles.

‘Curses!’ said Sinclair eventually. ‘No secret hidey-holes.’

There was a long pause. Daisy suspected that Sinclair was thinking, and that Dennis wasn’t.

‘Now could I have a lolly, boss?’ asked Dennis eventually.

‘No. Later.’

There was another, even longer, pause.

‘Is now later, boss?’ asked Dennis.

‘No, now is now,’ replied Sinclair crossly.

Another silence.

‘I suppose the attic’s too obvious,’ said Dennis eventually.

‘The what?’ replied Sinclair sharply.

‘Sorry, boss. I’ll shut up.’

‘Where’s the attic?’

‘Upstairs, of course. If it was downstairs it’d be a basement.’

‘I mean, how do you get up there?’

‘Oh. There’s a fold-away ladder. In the hall.’

Daisy’s blood ran cold. Actually not really, because humans are warm-blooded animals, but she felt as if she had a really powerful air conditioner inside her and someone had just switched it on to full. Below, footsteps left the bedroom. Daisy looked around. She motioned urgently for Ben to follow, and then quickly slid further along the beam towards the front of the house. She heard the ladder being pulled down. Daisy reached a junction where the beam she was on met another one that ran across the house and slowly – but quickly as well because she could hear them coming up the ladder – eased herself over it and down onto the plaster, lying down to spread her weight out as much as possible, hoping that it would hold her. She heard a slight crack beneath her and braced herself, but the plaster held. Ben laid himself down next to her.

Daisy heard the trapdoor swing up and a shaft of light shone into the attic from below. The two men pulled themselves up.

‘We’re close. I’m sure of it,’ declared Sinclair.

‘Where is it, then?’

‘Shhh. Let me concentrate.’

Silence descended. Then, after a few seconds, Daisy saw something odd. A blue glow. It pulsed on for a couple of seconds, then died, then pulsed again, on and off. It seemed to be coming from just over the other side of the beam she was hiding behind.

‘Aha!’ exclaimed Sinclair triumphantly. ‘This way.’

‘Okay, boss,’ said Dennis.

Rapid steps headed towards them.

Sinclair called, ‘Wait! It won’t hold y–’, but even before he had finished there was a splintering crash.

‘Ahhh!’ screamed Dennis. There was a thump below, the sort of thump a large human with lots of curly hair makes when it hits a floor after falling through a ceiling. Dennis let out a low moan and whimpered, ‘Boss. I think I’m dead.’

Despite the danger, and the fact that their ceiling now had a Dennis-shaped hole in it, Daisy felt an almost irresistible urge to laugh, proving that no matter where you are or what you are doing, someone falling though a ceiling is very funny.

‘Stay there,’ said Sinclair, probably unnecessarily as it didn’t sound like Dennis was going anywhere.

‘Oh, boss. Oww! I’m crying again.’

‘You’ll be all right. Can you move all your bits?’

‘I can’t move my little toe!’

‘No one can move their little toe.’

‘Or my liver. I can’t move my liver!’

‘Just shush now. You’re fine.’

‘Oh, I really need a lolly now. Pleeeaasse.’

‘I haven’t got any lollies. Just be patient. I won’t be long.’

It sounded as if Sinclair was crawling along the same beam that Daisy had, towards the front of the house and the still-pulsing blue light, which meant that soon he would surely see them. Daisy’s urge to laugh completely vanished and was replaced by an urge to be somewhere else, preferably somewhere that served chocolate milkshakes. Sinclair was now so close that Daisy could hear him breathing. Ben pawed her shoulder. She turned to face him and he bared his teeth. She knew what he was asking: ‘Should I attack?’

Daisy didn’t know what to do. If Ben attacked, would Sinclair hurt him?

Sinclair was on his hands and knees, just about at the junction of the beam that Daisy was hiding behind. He reached out his arm, stretching towards the blue glow.

Ben pawed her again, more insistently this time. Daisy looked at him, still unsure. Whether Ben thought he saw a ‘yes’ in that look, or he made the decision himself, Daisy didn’t know, but Ben leapt up onto the beam and barked ferociously at Sinclair.

‘Ahhhh!’ cried Sinclair, throwing himself backwards. He lost his balance and toppled off the beam onto the attic floor. The plaster cracked and then he too started to fall through the ceiling. This time it seemed to happen in slow motion. Sinclair sank gradually, unable to stop himself, as if he was sinking into quicksand. Ben barked angrily again. As Sinclair sank lower he thrust out a bony hand towards the blue glow, but his hand fell about half an arm’s length short.

Then something impossible happened. Sinclair’s arm stretched out as far as it could go, and then it stretched further. His arm was actually getting longer, until it was about one and a half times the length it had been. It now reached all the way to whatever the blue glowing thing was, and Sinclair’s hand closed around it. As he retracted his arm back to its normal length, a blue glow came from inside his closed fist. Sinclair’s mouth was set in a triumphant smile. As he slipped through the hole in the ceiling down to the hallway below he looked up and his gaze met Daisy’s. His eyes widened in surprise then narrowed again as if he was trying to make sure he remembered every detail of Daisy’s face. Then he was gone.

Below they heard another dull thud that sounded much more like a human landing on another human than a human landing on a wooden floor, followed immediately by Dennis squealing, ‘Oww! Right on my liver.’

‘Come on!’ said Sinclair.

They heard a scrambling, then a flurry of footsteps heading towards the back of the house, accompanied by Dennis’s voice. ‘Hey, boss, you know you wanted us to make sure we didn’t make a mess so they wouldn’t know we’d been here? I just wondered, do you think those two big holes in the ceiling might give it away?’

Then they heard the back door slam shut.

Daisy spent the next hour in a state of shock. After waiting to make sure that Sinclair and Dennis weren’t coming back, she and Ben had cautiously descended from the attic. Daisy got Ben some water and a dog treat because he deserved it, and made herself a big glass of lemon cordial because cordial always makes you feel better on days when two men break into your house, steal something you didn’t even know existed, and then fall through your ceiling.

They sat at the kitchen table and Daisy eventually calmed down enough to write out a list of questions that they didn’t know the answers to.

– Who the heck were those guys?

– What is the blue glowing thing?

– How did it get in our attic?

– How did the older man sense it was there as soon as he got into the attic?

– How the heck did he get his arm to stretch like it was made out of elastic?

– Why is the younger man so stupid?

– How can I explain the two holes in the ceiling to Dad?

– How did the two men get into the house?

Their back door had shown no sign of forced entry. And finally:

– What will happen if we run out of bread?

The last question wasn’t especially relevant, but Daisy wanted to have at least one on the list that she knew the answer to. Next to it she carefully wrote:

– Tell Dad to buy some more, and in the meantime eat corn crackers.

After answering the bread question, they both stared at the rest of the list for a long time, until Ben said: ‘Well at least now we know what we don’t know. I mean it’s only eight questions. That’s much better than if it was 18, or 88, or 8,888 or …’

Daisy raised her hand. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘Huh?’

‘We were up there because I wanted an adventure. But that was … that was scary. That man. The non-stupid one. Yikes.’

‘Yep. I was scared too.’

‘You? But you jumped up and barked at him. That was brave.’

Ben waved his paw dismissively. ‘That wasn’t brave.’

‘What was it then?’

‘Instinct.’

‘Instinct?’

‘When dogs get scared we have to act. We just have to. It’s impossible for us to lie still and hide. Instinct takes over.’

‘Well, it looked brave. Anyway, they’ve got what they wanted, they’ve gone and that should be the end of it.’

‘Really?’

Daisy nodded. ‘Definitely. It was too scary.’

‘Well, I think that’s a sensible decision, Daisy. Very sensible.’

‘Good. We’ll just put it all behind us, live our lives and soon it will all fade away.’

Which sounds all very nice and sensible, doesn’t it?

But that’s not what’s going to happen.

Chapter 5

AN UNUSUAL PRESENT

Brian Malone wasn’t very good with the unexpected. The unexpected upset him, worried him and sometimes even made him cry, as did the unpredictable, the surprising, the slightly unusual and even the nearly-but-not-quite normal. The previous year their fridge had broken and when they had bought a new one Brian Malone had spent days eyeing it suspiciously, unwilling to touch it because, ‘I don’t know how it works.’

‘Dad, you just open the door,’ Daisy had said.

‘It’s not that simple,’ he had sulked.

‘Actually it is,’ said Daisy, pulling the door open and getting out some cheese.

A few months ago Brian Malone had been driving home from work and had got a flat tyre. Rather than change it, he had sat sweating and swallowing, frozen into inaction until eventually the police had arrived and done it for him.

So Daisy knew that if her father arrived home and saw two large holes in the ceiling he would probably slowly back out of the house and then run away.

Which is why they met him outside the front door on his way in from the garage.

‘Dad, before you go in I have to tell you something.’

Brian Malone’s hand went to his forehead and his eyes darted around. ‘Oh no, it’s something bad, isn’t it? Are we all going to die? Is that it?’

‘No, Dad, calm down. We’re not all going to die.’

‘But some of us are. Is that what you’re saying? Me? Everyone else is okay, but I’m going to die from a horrible incurable illness? Probably one that involves lots of pus. Is that what you’re going to tell me? Oh no! Why me?’

‘Dad, stop it. You’re not going to die. There’s just been a little accident, that’s all.’

‘I knew it. The house has burnt down! Oh no! I can smell the ash. Oh my gosh, what a tragedy! How did it happen?’

‘Dad, the house is right in front of you. You’re looking at it.’

Brian Malone looked suspiciously at the front of their house. ‘Right. Good point. What is it then? Have we been robbed? Oh no. Don’t tell me they got my collection of rare nuts and bolts. They didn’t take the 1948 double-threaded twin self-drilling carriage bolt, did they?’

‘We haven’t been robbed, Dad,’ Daisy lied. ‘It’s just that up in the attic there were these two really heavy pots that Mum brought back from somewhere, and for some reason they weren’t put on the part of the attic that has a proper floor and they’ve crashed through the ceiling into the hall.’

‘Oh my goodness. There’s a big hole in the ceiling?’

‘No.’

‘Phew!’ Brian Malone looked relieved.

‘There are two big holes in the ceiling.’

Brian Malone’s hands went to his cheeks. ‘Are they dangerous? This isn’t a small issue. It’s a big issue, isn’t it? Oh, I hate big issues! Should we call the fire department?’

‘No. The fire department is actually more for fires than holes, Dad. And unfortunately there isn’t a holes-in-the-ceiling department.’

Brian Malone took a deep breath. ‘I suppose I’d better have a look. Wait. Is it safe?’

‘Yes, Dad, they’ve already fallen.’

It had taken Daisy and Ben a lot of time and effort to locate the two heaviest items in the attic, carry them over to the two holes in the attic floor and drop them through. The carpet had cushioned their impact so that the pots bounced rather than smashed, and there was only a slight dent in the floor. They hoped that Brian Malone wouldn’t remember that the pots had actually been stored up the other end of the attic, but figured that that was unlikely because Brian Malone never went up to the attic because:

1. He was scared of climbing ladders;

2. He was scared of trapdoors; and

3. He was scared of attics.

As Brian Malone entered the house his eyes flicked up and down between the two big pots lying on their sides and the two holes above them. Up and down went his eyes, up and down, up and down, up and down until they got bored with doing that and went down and up instead.

‘Someone could have been killed,’ he said eventually.

‘Kind of unlikely,’ said Daisy. ‘Anyway, someone wasn’t.’

Brian Malone rubbed his chin. ‘Hmmm. So both the pots fell separately then?’

‘Yes,’ replied Daisy innocently.

Brian Malone’s hand kept rubbing his chin. Daisy noticed it was shaking a little. The hand, that is. Not the chin.

‘And they fell down today?’ he continued. ‘They’d both been up there for years, and they both fell through the ceiling on the exact same day. How very peculiar.’

He looked searchingly at Daisy.

‘It is peculiar, isn’t it?’ she said, trying not very successfully to smile.

Daisy awoke the next morning, instantly remembered everything that had happened the previous day and frowned. Then she smiled. It was her birthday! She felt like she had been eleven for soooo long, for about six years at least, and now she was finally twelve.

Normally in the day or two leading up to her birthday all she thought about was the presents she was going to get, and the presents she was going to get, and the presents she was going to get, but since the moment she had seen the two men in the bush, her birthday had hardly entered her mind. But now it was here! She hurried to the kitchen.

‘Happy birthday, darling,’ said Brian Malone, giving her a hug. ‘May it be a very safe one. Your favourite breakfast is on the table.’

And so it was! Coco Pops and milk with Milo sprinkled on top – and of course the milk wasn’t boring normal milk, it was chocolate milk – followed by a chocolate croissant and a mug of hot chocolate and most importantly of all, no fruit at all, not one little bit of the stupid stuff! There was only one thing that stopped it from being perfect.

‘Dad, the hot chocolate is a bit, um, weak. Could you make it a bit stronger, please?’

‘I’m sorry, darling, but if I made it any stronger you might get all full of that crazy chocolate energy and go running around the house and then you might trip over a chair and fall and – oh no! – bang your head, and there might be – oh gosh! – blood, and then I’d have to drive you to the hospital and what if – yikes! – I got lost on the way and you were bleeding and I was lost and it was just bleediness and lostness, and then …’

‘It’s okay, Dad,’ Daisy interrupted, holding up her hand. ‘It’s fine as it is.’

‘I’m sorry, Daisy, but I just don’t think I could handle all that blood.’

After breakfast, Brian Malone presented Daisy with her presents. She got:

1. a skipping rope from her parents. Good! She liked skipping. She instantly decided that she would practise every single day forever, which of course really meant she would practise every single day forever for the next four days and then get bored with it or distracted by something else or she’d lose the rope.

2. from her Mum’s sister Maxine a blue t-shirt that had a picture of a cat sitting inside an open refrigerator wearing sunglasses, and underneath, printed in big icy writing, the words ‘Cool Cat’. Daisy decided she liked the t-shirt soooo much she would definitely for certain wear it the very next time she saw the toaster sprout legs, leap off the kitchen bench and run out of the house shouting, ‘I’m sick of torturing innocent bread. Let me out.’ Until then, however, it could rot in her bottom drawer along with all the other ridiculous pieces of clothing she had been given over the years by her Aunt Maxine, who was a very nice person, but a very bad present-giver; and

3. Twenty dollars from Uncle Tony, her dad’s brother. Nice! Zero out of ten for imagination, but ten out of ten for usefulness.

The final present came with a speech from Brian Malone.

‘Of course, you know that Mum would love to be here, but she is in the middle of some very important archaeological digging. I’m sure she’ll ring if she can.’

‘She’ll call,’ said Daisy confidently. ‘She always calls when she’s not here on my birthday.’

Daisy was disappointed that her mum was away – again – but she was kind of used to it. Jackie Malone had been disappearing for weeks at a time ever since Daisy could remember. Daisy did miss her, but she always got excellent presents when her mum returned, and it was pretty cool being able to tell the other kids at school that her mum was away discovering underground passages and caves, especially as their parents didn’t seem to do anything more interesting than go and sit in some building in the city all day.

‘You know how much she misses you,’ Brian Malone continued. ‘She sent you this.’ He handed over a rectangular parcel that looked exactly book shaped.

‘Just what I wanted! A pony!’ Daisy exclaimed to amuse herself, and then quickly set upon the wrapping as if it were a wounded antelope and she was a starving lioness. When the final scraps of paper were floating to the ground she saw that inside was a big, thick, glossy hardback book entitled, A Young Person’s Guide to Archaeology.

Daisy felt just like that lioness from the previous paragraph would have felt if, just as she was about to sink her teeth into the juicy rump of the antelope from the previous paragraph, the antelope had suddenly turned into a giant salad. What a let-down! Daisy expected sensible, boring presents from her sensible, boring dad, but her mum could usually be relied upon for something fun. Last birthday it had been a jar of lollies shaped like noses and ears, and the time before that a plastic dog poo that she had been able to use to freak out her father for weeks by secretly putting it on his desk, bed, car seat, shoes and breakfast.

But A Young Person’s Guide to Archaeology? What was Mum thinking? Was the time of fun presents over? Was there some law that from age twelve onwards all presents had to be sensible? What would she get next year? 1001 Interesting Facts About Multiplication? The Complete History of Carpet?

She thumbed through the book. Clearly, it was packed full of informative information and factual facts that were all probably true and which would provide a diligent reader with a thorough education on the entire subject of archaeology. The book might – might – even be slightly interesting in a there’s-nothing-better-to-do-on-a-rainy-Sunday-afternoon-now-that-I’ve-used-up-all-my-computer-time sort of way, but it wasn’t what she wanted as a birthday present from her only mother. When Jackie Malone rang to wish her a happy birthday, Daisy would have to have a stern word with her.

Daisy shut the book. As she did, she felt something under its dust jacket. It felt like an envelope had been stuck to the hardback cover of the book, and then covered by the outer cover. She was about to pull the cover off to investigate but then stopped. If it was going to be something unexpected, maybe she should wait until Brian Malone went to work.

Eventually, after asking her twenty-three times if she was sure she was going to be all right and reminding her not to do anything dangerous like juggle carving knives or jump off the roof or swallow poison, he did.

As soon as he was out the door, Daisy pulled the dust jacket off the boring book. Sticky-taped to the back cover was an envelope. On it, in what looked like her mum’s big messy handwriting, was written one word: DAISY.

Hmmm, thought Daisy with extreme cleverness. That might be me.

She sliced the envelope open. Inside was a piece of paper and also a slightly smaller envelope with the name of Mum’s sister, ‘Maxine Trotter’, written on it.

Daisy turned the envelope over. It was sealed with what looked like melted candle wax, which had the imprint of a leaf across it. Daisy had read about sealing letters this way. They used to do it in the olden days to prevent people steaming a letter open, taking a peak and then resealing it. But why would her mum need to do that?

Daisy turned her attention to the piece of paper, which was covered in her mum’s handwriting.

My darling Daisy,

Firstly a big sooo-rrrr-eee for missing your birthday. I know! Again!! Bad Mummy! Let me answer the question that I know you are asking. Why the super-serious extra-super-dull present? Has Mum turned boring?! I haven’t! I promise! I know you have much more important things to do than to read a fat book about archaeology!

Daisy had forgotten how in love her mum was with exclamation marks.

I sent you the book because it was a hardback and I could hide an envelope under the cover so that you would find it but your dad would not. I hope it worked! Daisy, I need your help! I wish I could ask your father, but if I did he’d start worrying and then he’d start panicking and … well, we don’t want that, do we! Especially not when I’m away!

So I’m asking you. All you have to do is this. Take the envelope addressed to Maxine and put it in a safe hiding place where no one will find it. That’s all! Ease-ee! Put it somewhere safe and then … do nothing. Then, when I come home, give it back to me. Simple!

The only situation where you may have to do something more is – and this is the bit that would upset your father – if something were to happen to me and I couldn’t come home for some reason. I’m sure this won’t happen, but if it does, don’t deliver the envelope to Maxine. Open it yourself and there will be some more information inside!

You may wonder why I am being so dramatic. Don’t worry! It’s just that I uncovered something fairly special on my last dig at Gloomy Gulch, and I thought I should leave a message telling someone where I put it, just in case I get hit by a bus or abducted by aliens or something. Of course that won’t happen, but I just wanted to make sure.

Finally, Daisy, you may have noticed that the other envelope is sealed with wax. That, my dear, is because I am very aware that, like me, you are extremely curious. Curiosity is a wonderful thing! It can take you to amazing places and show you extraordinary things! Those without curiosity miss out on a lot. But I thought that your curiosity might cause you to open the second envelope and read what’s inside, and then reseal it.

So to lessen that horrible temptation I have taken the precaution of sealing it! So now you know that if you did open it I would definitely find out, and then I would be DISAPPOINTED in you!

So I know you will resist!

All my love, darling, have a wonderful birthday and I promise that when I come home I will bring you something much more fun!

Your loving Uncle Gronkfonk,

Just joking,

Mum

P.S. I promise I will call you on your birthday! Early!

When she finished reading, Daisy stared at the letter, trying to work out what it all meant. So did Ben, who had been reading over her shoulder. After a while Daisy stopped thinking and just sat there. She wanted to keep sitting there forever, because that way she wouldn’t have to work out what to do with the letter, and life could just be nice and peaceful for a bit.

So she did.

And Ben, sensing her mood, because dogs are good at that, sat there too.

Eventually Daisy had to get up to go to the toilet, and when she came back she knew that the nice resty, peaceful bit was now over. (And that’s good for you, dear reader, because if the nice resty bit went on for too long, Daisy’s story would get a bit boring. Just imagine: ‘So Daisy rested. Then she rested some more. Then she looked at her fingernails. Then she did some more resting. Then she kept resting …’ Boring, right? Luckily for you [but not so luckily for Daisy] there will be no more nice resty bits for Daisy for quite some time.)

‘The thing is,’ she said slowly (but not so slowly that she sounded stupid, or like a robot whose batteries were running down), ‘there was that bit in the letter about Mum finding something on her last trip.’

‘Yes,’ said Ben. ‘There was that bit.’

Daisy picked up the letter again. ‘Here it is. It’s just that I uncovered something fairly special on my last trip to Gloomy Gulch. You see, Ben-dog, I’m wondering if that thing she says she found, maybe she brought it home with her and hid it in the attic.’

‘And are you also wondering if the thing she hid in the attic may have been blue …?’ asked Ben.

‘I was. And I was wondering if it glowed.’

‘Indeed.’

Daisy thought for a moment, then looked at Ben. ‘I think what we’re saying is that we think that Mum might have found that blue glowing thing somewhere in the caves at Gloomy Gulch, and then brought it home and hidden it in the attic.’

Ben nodded. ‘I think that’s definitely possible.’

‘And those men wanted it so much that they broke into our house to steal it.’

Ben nodded again.

‘Mum wouldn’t have written a letter like that unless she thought she was in danger. She tried to say that she wasn’t, but she must be. Why else would she think that she had to tell someone about the thing she found unless she was worried that something was going to happen to her?’

Ben would have spread his paws wide to indicate that he couldn’t think of any good reason why she would have done that, but if he had done so his head would have fallen onto the ground and that would have hurt, and it would have looked stupid, so he didn’t. Instead he said, ‘I don’t know.’

‘So we think that Mum is in some sort of danger, but we don’t know what sort.’ Daisy picked up the envelope with ‘Maxine Trotter’ written on it. ‘And there’s more information inside this sealed envelope.’

‘You’re going to open it, aren’t you?’ said Ben.

‘Are you going to try to talk me out of it?’

He shook his head. ‘No, but why don’t you at least try to call your mum first.’

‘Of course. Good idea.’ Daisy grabbed the phone and dialled Jackie Malone’s mobile number. It went to message bank. That wasn’t unusual. Jackie Malone’s phone didn’t usually ring when she was at Gloomy Gulch. The archaeological site was out of town and in the shadows of hills and rarely got reception. And there were no landlines there.

It was, however, slightly unusual that Jackie Malone hadn’t yet rung Daisy to wish her a happy birthday. Especially when, in her letter, she had promised to call Early!

Daisy picked up the envelope, looked once again at the words ‘Maxine Trotter’, and broke the seal.

Inside was another piece of paper covered in her mum’s handwriting, and yet another envelope.

‘It’s like those dolls,’ said Ben.

‘What dolls?’

‘You know, the ones that have smaller dolls inside them. What are they? Romanian dolls.’

‘Russian.’

‘Yes, I know you’re in a hurry, but I just –’

‘No. Russian dolls.’

‘Oh. Sorry.’

This envelope was sealed in the same way as the one addressed to Maxine. On it was written ‘Professor Trevor Blont’. She put the envelope to one side and picked up the sheet of paper.

Dear Daisy,

The fact that you are reading this means that either something has happened to me and I have not returned home, or everything is fine but you’ve opened the letter anyway. If it is the second, then you are a naughty thing! Stop reading at once, put this letter and the envelope back in the other envelope and leave them alone until I get home!

Daisy, of course, without even the merest split second of hesitation, kept reading.

So, you’re still reading, are you? That means something has happened to me. Oh well. Firstly, don’t worry, it’s bound to turn out fine in the end, and in the meantime things are probably not nearly as bad as you are imagining.

Enough of that! This is what you must do. Don’t take the envelope to Maxine. She’d be too busy adding up gigantic sums of money at the bank she works at to look at it anyway, and it contains far too many words and not nearly enough numbers to interest her. I only put Maxine’s name on the envelope so that if someone else stumbled upon it, a letter to my sister would be unlikely to attract any interest.

Daisy, please take the envelope with ‘Professor Trevor Blont’ written on it to – you guessed it – Professor Trevor Blont. He is my boss at the university and is in charge of the whole Gloomy Gulch operation and … to be honest, Daisy, it’s all quite complicated and it’s getting late and I’m dreadfully tired, and I have to do all this sealing business again which is actually a lot harder than it looks so I’ll explain it all later, but you really must deliver this envelope to Trevor as soon as you can. It’s very important! He works in the same building as me at the university. Same floor, room 316.

And don’t open the next envelope!!

I love you very much, darling, and if something has happened, don’t worry, it’s all going to be all right and I’ll be home cuddling you soon.

Love and bests, Mum

P.S. Not a word to your father! He must be panicking enough already, poor thing.

P.P.S. Give Ben a hug and a bone and a walk from me.

Of course, now Daisy had another dilemma: Should she open the third envelope, the one with ‘Professor Trevor Blont’ written on it? She thought about it for a half of a third of a fraction of a teensy tiny minutely small bit of a nanosecond, and then ripped it open.

Dear Trevor,

If my daughter Daisy has brought you this letter it is because I have disappeared or something else nasty has happened to me. Rats!

Let me explain. As you know we have been working on uncovering more of the underground rooms and passages at the Gloomy Gulch site. One morning during our most recent dig, Janelle and I were scraping and dusting away at the floor of one of the chambers, uncovering large square stones on the floor. It looked like a dead end, but just to be sure I tapped each stone with my pick. One of them made a hollow sound so I jammed a crowbar under it and managed to lever it up. Underneath was a narrow staircase leading downwards!

Janelle needed a toilet break, so I told her I’d wait until she got back and she headed to the surface.

So I waited. For about ten seconds! Trevor, I know exploring alone is against the rules but it was our last day and I just couldn’t bear to waste time! I grabbed the crowbar and my lantern and headed down the stairs. After about twenty steps I came to a stone door. It didn’t have a handle, so I prised it open with the crowbar.

Inside was another stone-walled room, about the size of a medium-sized bedroom. In the middle of it was a circular, waist-high stone platform, on top of which was a pile of smooth white stones the size of plums.

I picked up one of the stones and heard a tremendous crash behind me. A metal screen had fallen to cover the entire wall, including the door I had come through! Picking up the rock had triggered a booby trap!

I tried to lift the screen, but it wouldn’t budge. After a moment of panic I calmed down. I knew Janelle would soon return and find me. And she did. Soon I heard her outside. Luckily we could hear each other through the screen so I explained what had happened and she went to fetch help.

While I waited, I turned off my lantern to save batteries. Trevor, you know what it’s like underground without light: darkness so total that when you hold your hand right in front of your eyes you can’t even see its outline.

Well, it wasn’t like that. Coming from the pile of rocks was a blue glow. I turned the lantern back on and reached out to move the rocks to see what was underneath. Then I stopped. Moving one rock had caused the metal screen to fall. Would moving others trigger another booby trap? I had no way of knowing, but I thought it unlikely. Besides, I was burning with curiosity.

Quickly, I pulled a handful of stones away. In the middle of the pile was a blue glowing stone, the size and shape of an egg.

Some objects can glow in the dark. When I was little I had a glowing bear. It glowed because it was regularly exposed to light, and was able to store it. But this stone was in complete darkness all the time. Yet it still glowed.

I picked up the stone. As I did so I felt the most extraordinary thing. It was as if a surge of power was rushing through me. I don’t know how to explain this, but as I held the stone I knew – I knew – that it contained great power and that that power could be used to do extraordinary things. To test whether I was correct or was just going mad, I focused on my own strength, walked over to the rock wall and punched it. It didn’t hurt my hand at all, but my fist dented the rock!

Still holding the stone I took a step back, and jumped. The ceiling was at least twice my height and yet my head nearly hit it. I stared at the glowing stone. What?! How?!

Still holding it I walked over to the metal screen, slid the fingers of my other hand underneath it and pulled up. Nothing. I still couldn’t budge it.

Soon Janelle returned with some of the camp workers and as they cut through the door, I wondered if I should report my discovery. If I did, what would happen to the stone? Who would end up controlling it? What would it be used for? It was obviously an object of immense power, and there are so many ways power can be misused.

Wrongly or rightly, I decided that before I let it out of my hands I needed more time to think. I wrapped the stone in my handkerchief, then thrust it deep in my pocket. Shortly afterwards a hole was cut in the screen and I escaped. The next day we came home. I was tempted to conduct further experiments into what the stone could do, but I thought the safest thing would be to simply hide it for the moment. So I put it in our attic.

But of course there is more.

When I returned to the Gloomy Gulch site a few days ago, I went back to the chamber where I found the stone to look for some clue as to what it is. I am sure there was another fresh crowbar mark on the door, and that the pile of white stones on the platform was not as I had left it. Someone else had been in the chamber.

I searched the room, tapping on stones and prying into cracks, and found something that might be a clue. It’s some written information that I can’t quite work out, but I’m sure it’s relevant. I will show it to you when we meet!

Trevor, I think I am being watched and followed and I am sure that it is because I found the stone. Sometimes, I walk into the hills or into Gloomy Gulch, and I am certain – nearly certain – that I see someone behind me. Last night I woke up and I’m sure I could hear someone breathing just outside my tent. I coughed loudly and I heard them creep away.

I’m scared, so I want to make sure someone else knows where the stone is, which is why Trevor, my friend, I am telling you. It’s in our attic behind the cross beam nearest the front of the house in a canvas bag. Putting it there was a huge mistake! Because if someone is after it, the last thing I want is for them to trace it to where my family lives! So please, Trevor, I know you might have trouble getting up into our attic, but ask Daisy to help you get it and then please, please hide it somewhere safe.

Trevor, I’m so sorry to drag you into this but I know you will help. Maybe I am imagining everything and no one is after it or me but it’s better to be safe than sorry! And please don’t breathe a word of it to Brian. He wouldn’t cope.

Thanks and good luck,

Jackie

Daisy and Ben sat silently on the couch. This is what Daisy was thinking:

1. The blue stone is somehow very powerful and now that scary man, who doesn’t seem very nice, has it.

2. Mum is in danger.

3. I need to do something.

This is what Ben was thinking:

1. I’m hungry.

‘We have to try to find those horrible men who took the stone,’ Daisy said eventually.

‘Only one of them was horrible,’ said Ben. ‘The other one was just stupid. And no we don’t. We have to take that letter to Professor Blont. That’s what your mum wants us to do.’

‘Yes, but first we should at least try to find out where they went with the stone. You might still be able to pick up their scent, but the longer we leave it the harder that will be. So let’s just see if we can track them, and then we’ll go and tell Professor Blont.’

Ben sighed. ‘Can I have something to eat first?’

Chapter 6

LOLLIES AND A PHONE CALL

After Ben had gobbled some mince (and he really did gobble it. Dogs have no table manners. In fact they don’t even have tables.) they went out the back door and Ben started sniffing. A dog’s sense of smell is about a thousand times stronger than a person’s, which is why it’s very important never to fart anywhere near a dog’s nose.

When they were up in the attic, Ben had got a bit of a sniff of both Sinclair and Dennis. For him, smelling someone was similar to you or me seeing their face. Once you’ve done it, you remember it a long time.

Ben sniffed about outside the back fence, and then looked up at Daisy, frowning. ‘They have very strange scents. Like nothing I’ve never smelt before. It’s … weird.’

‘Never mind that,’ said Daisy. ‘Which way did they go?’

Ben set off up the hill.

‘Did they go this way?’ asked Daisy.

‘No they didn’t, but they’re controlling my brain and making me lead you away from them. Yes, of course they went this way. That’s why I’m going this way. If they had gone the other way, I’d be going the other way.’

‘All right. No need to get your knickers in a knot.’

‘I don’t wear knickers, thank you very much. Unlike you humans, I don’t feel the need to cover bits of myself up. I am nude and proud.’

‘That’s wonderful, Ben. Just don’t lose the scent, okay?’

‘Lose the scent! Coming from someone who can barely smell a burning sausage on a barbeque! Huh!’

They passed the track that ran across the hill and continued upwards. At the top of the hill they had a view that was only a bushfire away from being wonderful. As it was, there were trees on all sides but they could still catch glimpses of their street, their suburb, their city and even their ocean. But this was no time for sightseeing. There were thieves to catch, a stone to recover and a whatever-else-that-was-going-to-happen to happen.

Ben trotted over to a tree and lifted his leg. ‘Sorry, I just have a really strong urge to mark this tree.’

‘Why?’

‘I have no idea. Instinct again, probably. It just seems really important.’

When Ben had finished, he put his nose to the ground. ‘We’re lucky not many people use this track. Their trail is still pretty easy to follow.’

He led the way down the other side of the hill along a thin track. Daisy had been this way many times. At the bottom of the hill was a line of back fences and a lane that led through to a busy street. Without any hesitation, Ben trotted up the lane and soon they emerged onto the street.

Daisy looked down at Ben in a way that a twelve-year-old girl might look down at a talking dog when she was expecting it to say, ‘Follow me. They went thataway.’

But Ben just shrugged his shoulders, because he wasn’t sure whichaway they went. Hundreds of people walked along this street every day and he couldn’t pick up even a faint whiff of Sinclair or Dennis.

Daisy looked around and her eyes came to rest, as the eyes of any girl or boy would, on the lolly shop at the mouth of the lane. The existence of that fine establishment was of course the reason she climbed and descended the hill so often.

Suddenly Daisy remembered how Dennis had kept pestering Sinclair for lollies, and Sinclair had said that he didn’t have any but that he would get him some later. No doubt that pestering had continued as they walked up the hill and down the other side. And then they would have emerged right next to a lolly shop.

It was worth a try.

Daisy entered the shop, leaving Ben outside. It was like entering paradise. Gobstoppers, sherbets, licorice, freckles, toffees, chocolates of all kinds and lolly bananas, lolly raspberries, lolly peaches, lolly sausages, lolly bread rolls, lolly dining tables, lolly pianos, and lolly broccoli surrounded her. There were so many lollies in the shop there almost wasn’t room for anything else such as light, floor or air. Daisy squeezed herself down the ceiling-high aisles towards the back of the shop where Mrs Pearce sat behind the counter, munching on a chocolate carrot. Daisy had never seen Mrs Pearce without a lolly in her mouth. She was living proof that everything grown-ups said about lollies being bad for you was a lie. Mrs Pearce was eighty-six years old but looked twenty years younger. She was fit and healthy, and her teeth, which had been sucking on lollies for nearly a century, were big, white and gleaming. Maybe it was all the chocolate vegetables she ate.

‘Hello, Mrs Pearce.’

‘Hello, Derek,’ said Mrs Pearce in a friendly voice.

‘It’s Daisy, Mrs Pearce,’ said Daisy.

‘Yes of course! Sorry, Derek.’

‘Daisy.’

‘Sorry. Daisy. Silly me. Who was I thinking of? Oh yes. Derek Jacobi, the great English actor. You remind me of him.’

‘Why’s that, Mrs Pearce?’ asked Daisy.

‘Why? Because you both have two legs, of course.’ Mrs Pearce threw her head back and roared with laughter. ‘It’s true.’ She pointed at Daisy’s legs. ‘Look! There they are. Right there between your tummy and your feet. And just the other night I saw Derek Jacobi on the tele-visiony thingy and I noticed that, believe it or not, he had exactly the same number of legs in exactly the same position as yours! No wonder I get you two mixed up!’ She gave another cackle.

‘Yes, no wonder. Mrs Pearce, um, could I ask you something?’

‘Of course, Derek dear.’

‘Yesterday, late morning, I wonder if you noticed two men come in here. One would have been quite old with a white beard and the other would have been younger with curly brown hair, and sort of stupid looking.’

‘Let me think.’ Mrs Pearce crinkled up her brow. ‘Here we go, now.’ She closed her eyes, concentrating. ‘Ooh! It’s starting.’

‘What’s starting?’

‘The thinking, of course. Here it goes. Whoosh! Oh, yes, I’m thinking now, Derek. I really am!’

‘And …’

Mrs Pearce’s eyes snapped open. ‘Yes!’ she said definitely.

‘Yes?’

‘Yes!’

‘You remember them?’

‘Indeed I do. Do you know why?’

‘Um, because you have an excellent memory?’ hazarded Daisy.

‘No, dear. I have a terrible memory. Haven’t you noticed I keep calling you Derek? I mean, really, what’s that about? Not only is Derek not your name, you’re not even male! No, the reason I remember those two men is that there were two of them and neither of them was a child.’

‘Oh, I understand,’ said Daisy uncertainly, because actually she didn’t understand at all.

‘You see, Derek dear, adults don’t tend to come into lolly shops alone. They usually only come with children. In fact, there’s only one type of adult who comes into my lolly shop without children. Do you know what type that is?’

Daisy shook her head, but not so hard as to damage anything.

‘An aunt! See, parents only come in when they have their children with them, grandparents don’t come in at all because they can never remember where the shop is, and uncles always think it would be a nice idea to buy their nephews and nieces some lollies, but when it comes down to it, they’re always running late and they can’t find anywhere to park. So that leaves aunts. And those two men who came in yesterday definitely did not look like aunts.’

‘Do you remember anything they said or did?’

‘Well, they were breathing. I’m nearly sure of that.’

‘Anything else?’

‘They bought some lollies, of course. I mean that’s what you do in a lolly shop, isn’t it? If you’re after a toaster you’d be right out of luck!’ She threw her head back and cackled again. ‘The young one was very excited. And they were sweating. It was dripping off them. Disgusting! One of them nearly sweated on my foot!’

‘Can you remember if they said anything about where they were going, Mrs Pearce?’

‘That would be very unusual, dear. People don’t normally say, “Could I please have eight caramel butters, two jelly snakes and a chocolate iguana and by the way, when I leave here I’m going to go to the bread shop and then to my friend Eric’s house for lunch.” That sort of thing doesn’t happen much, Derek.’

‘Oh well. Thanks, Mrs –’

‘But wait!’ Mrs Pearce exclaimed dramatically, leaping to her feet and knocking over a jar of chocolate telephones. ‘I do remember something! I do! I do! I do! The older one with the beard said, “Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.”’ She smiled triumphantly down at Daisy.

‘Are you sure that’s what he said, Mrs Pearce?’

Mrs Pearce’s brow furrowed as she rubbed her chin. ‘Let me see. Am I sure? Am I? No! No, in fact actually I think the “Row your boat” thingy might be a nursery rhyme. Or the name of a type of soup. Or a small town in Greenland. Or something. No. I’ve got it now. As soon as they paid for the lollies the younger man started gobbling them, and the older one said something like, “Can’t you wait until we get to the hotel? It’s just round the corner.”’

‘Just around the corner? Are you sure that’s what he said?’

Mrs Pearce frowned. ‘Of course I’m sure, Derek. What do you think I am? A half-mad old woman who runs a lolly shop?’

‘Er, no, Mrs Pearce, not at all. Thank you so much.’ Daisy turned and raced outside the shop, becoming the first child ever in the fifty-five and a half years Mrs Pearce had been running the shop to leave without buying or stealing any lollies.

Daisy shared the news with Ben and then they started to look for corners they could go around to look for hotels. They walked up the street, looked around six corners and saw exactly zero hotels. Then they turned and trudged back down the street, past the lolly shop. Well, Daisy trudged. Ben just keep padding along in his usual way, but his tongue was hanging out, which meant he was getting tired.

The first cross street back past the lolly shop was called Cross Street. Ha! Who’d have thought! They turned right into it and found another dead end which contained three shops, eight houses and a three-storey building with a giant picture of a man’s face on it. The face looked very cross, and below the picture was a sign that read, ‘The Cross Hotel’.

‘That could be it!’ exclaimed Daisy.

Ben turned quickly, hissed, ‘Follow me,’ and started walking back out of Cross Street.

‘What are you doing? This might be it,’ Daisy said, following.

Ben kept walking. ‘I know,’ he said out of the corner of his mouth. ‘So we need to work out a plan. If we stand here staring at the building they might see us.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ said Daisy, feeling a bit dumb.

They retreated back past the lolly shop (again), and through the lane to the bottom of the hill they had recently descended and plonked themselves on a patch of grass.

‘Okay,’ said Ben. ‘Now that we know where they are we can go and tell Professor Blont what we know, give him the letter and he and the police can sort it out.’

‘But, Ben, now they’ve got the stone they’re probably about to leave the hotel and go back to wherever they’re from. By the time we find Professor Blont and convince him to do something, it’ll probably be too late. We’ve got to do something now.’

‘Yes, but …’ began Ben, but he stopped because he knew it was no use. ‘So what do we do?’

‘Easy. We work out a plan to get the blue glowing stone back from them.’

‘O-kay,’ said Ben uncertainly.

‘It shouldn’t be too hard,’ said Daisy.

‘Unless it is,’ responded Ben.

They tried to think. Daisy sat cross-legged, shut her eyes and held the bridge of her nose, because she had seen her teacher do that once when she was thinking. She waited for a brilliant idea to appear.

Nothing.

Come to think of it, when her teacher had closed her eyes and held the bridge of her nose, the only idea she had come up with was that they should open their maths books and complete unit 26. Hardly brilliant.

Daisy rearranged herself, resting her chin on her fist. That was how that guy in the famous sculpture, The Thinker, had sat.

Still nothing.

Of course it was never clear that The Thinker had actually come up with any ideas. In fact, Daisy suspected he hadn’t because if he had, surely there would have been a follow-up sculpture called The Thinker Acts on the Brilliant Idea He Had When He Was Thinking.

Daisy drummed her fingers on the ground. She did some humming and then stole a glance at Ben, who was staring blankly into the middle distance, or possibly the far distance, or maybe even the near distance.

Eventually she thought that she should probably say something, just to check that her voice was still working. ‘So …’

That seemed a bit feeble on its own, so after a bit she added, ‘… a plan, then.’

‘Yep,’ replied Ben slowly. ‘That’s what we need.’

There was another long pause, and then at the same time they both said, ‘Hmmm.’

Daisy waved her arms about in vague shapes above her head. Somehow, it seemed to help. ‘Okay! I’ve got it! We find out if they are staying at that hotel, then if they are, we find out what room they’re in, get a key, get them out of their room, sneak into their room, find the blue stone and take it.’

‘Great,’ said Ben unenthusiastically. ‘Perfectly worked out. There’s just one tiny detail you’ve missed. How?’

Daisy slipped into the public telephone box, picked up the receiver and dialled information. ‘What. Number. Do. You. Want?’ said the electronic, or robotic or something-else-not-at-all-human voice at the other end.

‘The Cross Hotel.’

‘Did. You. Say. “My. Dross. Photo. Bell”?’

‘No. The. Cross. Hotel.’

‘Did. You. Say. “The East. Albanian. Teaspoon. Trading. Company”?’

‘No. I –’

‘Did. You. Say. “Disturbing. Grumpy. Dwarf”?’

Eventually the robot put her through to a human and she got the number. Daisy inserted some coins and dialled.

‘Cross Hotel,’ said a human, elderly, female voice.

Daisy deepened her own voice, trying to make it sound as adult as she could. The hotel looked small, so she was hoping that the person at the front counter would have some idea of what most of the guests looked like.

‘Hello. I’m trying to get in touch with someone staying at your hotel, but – this is a bit embarrassing – I don’t actually know his name. See, we were introduced at a party last night, and I just didn’t take in his name, but he told me the name of his hotel and … Well, I simply must get in touch with him, it’s very important.’

‘Could you describe the man, madam? Perhaps I can help.’

‘Thank you. He was an older gentleman with a white beard, and he had a companion. A younger man with curly brown hair.’

‘Ah, yes, I think that would probably be Mister Sinclair, madam. And I believe his companion’s name is Dennis.’

Now how’s that for a coincidence. We were just calling them Sinclair and Dennis because we didn’t know what their real names were, and because ‘Sinclair’ seemed to be a better name than ‘Cardboard’, and Dennis seemed to be a better name than ‘Lots-of-Curly-Brown-Hair’, and guess what? It turns out that their names really are Sinclair and Dennis! Gadzonks!

‘Yes, that’s it! I remember now. Thank you so much! And he’s in room number …?’

‘I’m sorry, madam. We’re unable to give out that information.’

Rats! Time for plan B. ‘Of course, I understand,’ Daisy said, all sweet and innocent. ‘Perhaps you could put me through to his room?’

‘Yes, of course. Putting you through.’

A moment later the phone was ringing again. Daisy hardly had time to feel nervous, but somehow she managed to fit it in.

‘Hello,’ a sleepy male voice answered. Daisy was sure it was Sinclair/White Beard/the older man/the one we decided not to call ‘Cardboard’.

‘Hello, I’m sorry to disturb you. This is reception,’ said Daisy, trying to sound posh like a hotel receptionist. ‘We’ve been having some problems with our phone system. Calls seem to have been going to the wrong rooms. Can I just confirm that this is room one hundred and four?’

‘Sorry? No, it’s not. It’s … What is it? … Two hundred and six.’

‘Is it? I’m so sorry, sir. Thank you. And while I’ve got you, sir, are you in your room for the rest of the day? We just want to know when to send someone up to make the bed.’

‘You don’t need to worry about that. We’re checking out in an hour.’

‘Thank you, sir. Sorry to disturb you.’

Daisy hung up and turned to Ben. ‘I’ve got a room number, a name and a deadline. They’re leaving in an hour. Come on!’

‘Where are we going?’

‘To buy some matches, of course.’

Chapter 7

THE TRUTH ABOUT RUNNING

The next part of their plan had six simple parts:

1. Get the key to Sinclair and Dennis’s room.

2. Get Sinclair and Dennis out of their room.

3. Go into their room.

4. Find the blue glowing stone.

5. Run away very quickly.

6. Celebrate the success of the plan by shouting, ‘Woohoo! We did it! Our brilliant plan worked! All six parts!’

The hotel doors were big, wide and made of glass. As Daisy approached, they automatically slid open. Inside, the foyer was nearly as big as Daisy’s whole house, and much more elegantly decorated with lush carpet, expensive-looking wooden furniture and nice paintings on the walls. At one end was a café where people sipped mugs full of the sorts of things you drink out of mugs: tea, coffee, hot chocolate, more tea, string.

Okay, not string very often.

Next to the café was a wide carpeted staircase leading, Daisy guessed, up to the guest rooms. In the middle of the foyer were a few armchairs and at the far end was a wooden counter, behind which stood a grey-haired woman who looked like she might own the voice that Daisy had spoken to on the phone. Behind her were a series of wooden compartments containing room keys. Daisy walked up the foyer towards the counter as casually as she could. She spied a comfy chair that was tucked away in a corner and sat in it, trying to look exactly like a twelve-year-old hotel guest who was just filling in time while her parents went to the toilet or paid the bill at the café or did some other boring parent-like thing.

About a minute later the hotel doors opened again and in walked Ben. He trotted into the middle of the foyer, ignoring Daisy, and let out an angry flurry of barks. In a park no one would have cared, but in a smart hotel foyer people take a lot more notice of barking dogs. Everyone stared. Guests looked surprised, even alarmed. Hotel staff emerged from the café and, Daisy was happy to see, the woman behind the counter left her post to investigate. Ben, still barking, started running around in circles. The hotel staff chased after him. Everyone in the foyer now had their attention focused on the dog-created commotion, which was why no one noticed Daisy quietly slip behind the counter, calmly scan the pigeonholes and then pick out the key from the one that read ‘206’. Nor did anyone – except Ben – notice her stroll calmly across the foyer past the commotion and up the stairs.

Once she was out of sight, Ben, who was now being chased by seven shouting hotel staff, took off out the door. Slowly the shouting lessened in volume as everyone realised that the dog had gone so they didn’t have anything to shout about anymore. Twenty seconds later everything was back to normal, apart from the fact that there was one less key at reception.

Daisy walked up to the second floor, where there was a corridor with five or six doors on either side. She found room 206 near the end, and then walked back up the corridor until she was directly under the fire alarm. She checked to make sure the corridor was empty. It was (unless you count the carpet, which of course you don’t). She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket, rolled it into a cylinder and extracted the box of matches she had just bought. She struck one, lit the paper cylinder and held it above her head. For a few seconds all that happened was that her arm began to hurt. Then the fire alarm started hooting and water sprayed out from the ceiling.

Daisy dropped the paper, stamped out the flame and put the charred remains in her pocket. Then she began to scream.

Daisy had always been very good at screaming and had many different types in her repertoire. There was the ‘I dropped something on my toe’ scream, the ‘I bumped my head on something’ scream, the ‘I don’t want to get dressed and go to school today’ scream, the ‘I’ve lost the really good book I was reading’ scream and the ‘nothing is really wrong, I just need a really good scream’ scream. She decided that on this occasion the best one to use would be the ‘lost book’ scream. She hadn’t used it for a while, so she was a bit out of practice, but it had just the right mixture of panic, fear and desperation to be convincing.

Daisy let rip with three huge screams and then started shouting, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ as loudly as she could. She ran up the corridor banging on doors, making sure that she bashed especially hard on room 206’s.

As people began to emerge from their rooms, Daisy raced to the stairs and up to the third floor. There she peered over the railing and saw three people racing downstairs from floor two. Then she saw two more. Yes! It was Sinclair and Dennis! As soon as they were out of sight, Daisy raced back down to the now deserted second floor, unlocked room 206 and slipped inside. She figured it would be at least nine or ten minutes before the hotel staff realised it was a false alarm, managed to get the sprinkler and alarm shut off and let everyone back up into their rooms. With a bit of luck a fire engine would turn up and firefighters would delay things even more by striding around in their big uniforms trying to look important and shouting things like, ‘Stand back everybody!’, ‘Don’t panic!’ and ‘Where’s the best place to attach a very large hose?’

To be safe Daisy gave herself a strict time limit of seven minutes to search the room. She hoped Sinclair hadn’t taken the stone with him. He obviously thought it was important, but she had tried to make things seem as urgent and life-threatening as possible in the hope that he would just rush straight out.

The room was a normal, smartly set-up hotel room with two beds. It contained a desk, a comfy chair, a thin television, a bathroom, a very small fridge and two bedside tables that were … well, where do you think they were? Beside the beds of course! A few pieces of clothing were strewn about, and on the desk was a cake with several candles on it which looked and smelt like they had recently been blown out. Two pieces of cake were sitting, standing, or maybe even lying on plates. It’s hard to tell with pieces of cake.

Daisy remembered that Dennis had said it was his birthday today and realised that she must have interrupted his party. She felt a tiny weeny pang of guilt for three-quarters of a second, but then got over it.

She started searching for the stone. She looked under the pillow, under the other pillow, inside the pillow slips, under one bed, all through that bed, under and all through the other bed, in the very small fridge, under the very small fridge, in the drawers of the bedside tables, in all the drawers, in all the cupboards, in all the shelves, in all the bags, in all the clothes and shoes that were in all the drawers, cupboards, shelves, bags or otherwise strewn about, in the desk, on top of the wardrobe, underneath the wardrobe, in the bathroom cupboard, behind the toilet, inside the toilet, behind the curtains, under the desk, in all the desk drawers, and under the beds again. She found the stone twelve times, but unfortunately only in her imagination.

In the bathroom next to the sink she did, however, find two tiny toothbrushes, each smaller than her fingernail. They almost looked like miniature toothbrushes. ‘Huh? How extremely odd. What on earth would toothbrushes this tiny be used for, and why would they be in Sinclair and Dennis’s room?’ she might have asked herself if she’d had time, but because she was in a hurry she only got as far as, ‘Huh?’

Have you heard the expression, ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’? So what does time do when you’re not having fun? Walk? Ride a bicycle? Catch the train? Sit at home sulking on the sofa? Anyway, here is another very well-known saying that I just made up: ‘Time flies even faster than it does when you are having fun when you are searching a hotel room for something, and you can’t find it.’

It had been very clever of Daisy to give herself a time limit of seven minutes to search the room. It was a lot less clever of her not to be wearing a watch, and not to have noticed what time the clock that sat on one of the bedside tables (which was beside the bed) was showing when she entered the room. So when Daisy thought she had been searching the room for about five or six minutes she had in fact been in there for ten and a half minutes.

She had run out of places to search and was beginning to think that Sinclair must have taken the stone with him when she noticed a vase on the coffee table. Of course! She pulled out the flowers – plastic, so don’t feel sorry for them – and shoved her hand into the vase. It was a tight fit, and she had to push hard to get her hand to the bottom. As she felt about, she realised two things:

1. The stone was not in the vase; and

2. A much easier way to have found that out would have been to turn the vase upside down.

She tried to pull her arm out of the vase but it seemed to be slightly stuck.

Suddenly the door opened and before she had time to hide, panic or even think, Yikes! The door is opening! in walked Dennis and Sinclair.

‘Who would have thought that those tiny candles could create such a fuss,’ Dennis was saying.

Sinclair’s eyes widened as he saw Daisy. ‘What? You?’

Daisy backed away, the vase still on her arm. She saw another vase next to the television. She pointed to it with her vase arm. ‘It’s in there, isn’t it?’

‘Is it, boss?’ asked Dennis, sounding, as usual, confused. ‘I thought it was in your pocket?’

Sinclair’s eyes dropped to his right pocket which was full of his hand. His right hand obviously. You try putting your left hand in your right pocket. It’s very difficult. It looks weird, too.

‘Listen, little girl,’ said Sinclair. ‘None of this has anything to do with you. You have no idea what’s going on. So how about you promise not to tell anyone about us and just go. How does that sound?’

As Daisy pondered her options, none of which she would have described as ‘Excellent’, ‘Decent’, or even ‘Not too bad’, a ball of furry energy burst through the doorway and between Dennis’s legs. It came right at her, then abruptly stopped, turned around and snarled at Sinclair.

It was a giant rat who lived in the hotel and loved charging into rooms and terrorising guests.

No, it wasn’t. It was actually a hallucination brought on by the fact Daisy was having a really difficult day and hadn’t eaten enough fruit.

No, that’s not true either. Sorry for all the lies. Sometimes I’m a bit of an unreliable narrator. You should eat fruit, though.

It was Ben, of course.

Ben snarled at Sinclair again and then leapt at him. Sinclair instinctively covered his body with his hands, pulling his right hand out of his pocket. Ben bit Sinclair’s right arm. Sinclair shrieked, his fist opened, and a small canvas bag emitting a blue glow fell to the floor between Sinclair and Daisy. Ben landed and Sinclair kicked him. Daisy, her arm still stuck in the vase, dived for the bag and, on her knees, grabbed it with her vase-free hand. As her fingers closed around it she felt a jolt of power surge through her. A second later a hand grasped the back of her neck.

‘Drop it!’ yelled Sinclair above her. Daisy turned just in time to see Ben leap at Sinclair and bite him on the thigh. Sinclair yelled in pain and his grip on Daisy’s neck relaxed. She rolled away and jumped to her feet.

‘Come on!’ cried Daisy, and they ran for the doorway. Dennis stood in front of it.

‘Stop her!’ shouted Sinclair.

‘Hey, little girl,’ began Dennis. ‘How about you just stop and stuff and … yeah … Um, we could play a game. Yeah! Do you know, “Who Am I?”’

Ben leapt at Dennis who, with surprising agility, stepped neatly aside into the bathroom. Ben ended up outside in the corridor, and Daisy, clutching the bag in her free hand, followed him. They sprinted for the staircase and raced down. Daisy could hear heavy footsteps pounding behind them, indicating either that Sinclair and Dennis were chasing them, or that two other large adults had decided to go for a jog inside.

They ran across the hotel foyer, which now had about eight firefighters in it, all trying to look important and being randomly thanked by hotel staff and guests for doing, as far as Daisy could tell, exactly nothing.

As they ran out the doors, Daisy stuffed the canvas bag into her pocket. They raced down Cross Street and around the corner back into the main street, this time heading away from the lolly shop and dodging pedestrians, dogs and shopping bags.

‘Daisy,’ Ben panted, ‘that vase on your arm. It looks stupid.’

She tried to shake it off as she ran, but couldn’t. ‘My arm’s stuck.’

Despite the circumstances, Ben started to laugh as he ran.

‘Ben! Stop it!’

‘I’m sorry,’ he half-panted, half-giggled. ‘It just looks really silly.’

Daisy looked over her shoulder. Sinclair and Dennis were only about twenty paces behind them.

When someone is chasing someone else, it all boils down to who can run fastest, and keep running fastest for longest. Up until now the three humans involved in the chase had all been running as fast as they could. (Ben, on the other hand was only going at about half pace.) But the further humans run, the slower they get. Try it. Run as fast as you can and see what happens. After a while you’ll slow down. (If you don’t, that means you either started off really slow, or that one day, my friend, you’re going to the Olympics!)

Whether or not Sinclair and Dennis would catch Daisy and Ben depended on who slowed down first. Daisy was a pretty fit and healthy twelve-year-old. She went on lots of walks, she went to the park, and during term time she did yoga and swimming lessons every week. She didn’t play netball or softball or anything-else-ball because she had always been terrible at throwing things, but she was a good runner. She could already outrun both her parents and last year had come second to Tracey Adams in the 100-metres sprint at the athletics carnival (which was a pain because Tracey Adams luuuuved herself and wouldn’t shut up about it) and third in the cross-country race (Tracey Adams came fourth, so nerrr!).

However, Daisy was slowed somewhat by the vase stuck on her arm. But Sinclair looked old and Dennis was overweight, so she was sure they would slow down before she did.

The only problem was that they didn’t.

In fact they seemed to be gaining. They were both surprisingly fast and surprisingly good at ignoring the fact that they should be slowing down.

‘If … they catch … me,’ she panted to Ben, ‘you … take … the … stone … and … go.’

‘Yeah … that’s … going to happen,’ Ben panted back, proving that it’s possible to combine sarcasm and strenuous exercise. ‘I’m … a dog, you … idiot. Loyal to humans … not rocks … Forget it.’

‘But …’ began Daisy, but she didn’t have any breath left to argue with.

They came to some traffic lights at a cross street that wasn’t Cross Street. ‘Don’t Walk’ was flashing. Daisy looked up and down and then, with Ben at her heels, disobeyed and sprinted through a gap between cars. On the other side of the road, she glanced back. Sinclair and Dennis were delayed a few moments by the traffic, but then another break came and they ran across.

Daisy had an idea. ‘Follow me,’ she panted to Ben.

At the next cross street, she turned right. At first she thought it might be a dead end, but then she saw a little lane between two houses that must, she hoped, lead back to the bush. They sped to the lane, through it and out the other side.

In front of Daisy lay dense bush parted by a thin track that led up the same hill that they had earlier come down. Summoning all her remaining strength she sprinted up the track as fast as she could. She looked behind her. Sinclair and Dennis had fallen back a bit. She raced around a right-hand turn and for a few moments they were out of sight of their pursuers. Daisy abruptly turned left and charged off the track into the bush. She ran as fast as she could, pushing back branches and leaping over fallen logs, then stopped dead still behind a tree. Ben was, of course, by her side.

Sinclair and Dennis’s footsteps got louder as they approached, and then softer again. Yes! thought Daisy. They must have kept going past the spot where she and Ben had left the track.

She was just about to head back to the track and down the hill when Ben pricked up his ears. Soon Daisy heard it too: more footsteps coming down the hill. Two sets of them. The footsteps stopped at what sounded like a spot very close to where Daisy and Ben had left the track.

‘Why aren’t we still chasing them, boss?’ It was Dennis’s voice.

‘Shhh!’

‘But boss …’

‘Shhh! I’m trying to sense it.’

Involuntarily Daisy closed her hand tight around the bag containing the stone and thrust it as deep as she could into her pocket.

‘Sorry, boss,’ said Dennis. ‘Er, so this freshly broken branch at the edge of the track isn’t important then?’

‘What? Let me see! Aha. This way, dear boy.’

The sound of twigs snapping and branches being pushed aside told Daisy that the men were heading straight towards them.

‘Aha,’ said Sinclair again. ‘Over here. I’m sure of it.’

Daisy bent down to Ben. ‘Take the stone,’ she whispered.

‘I told you before. I’m not going to leave you.’

‘If you let them see you have it, they’ll follow you. You can outrun them and I’ll be safe.’

Ben stared up at her, thinking. He didn’t want to leave Daisy. Leaving your human was a very un-dog-like thing to do. It was almost like something that a – yuck! – cat might do. But her plan made sense.

‘Come on. Take it.’ She held the bag out towards him.

Sinclair was getting closer. Ben nodded. Daisy opened her hand and Ben grabbed the bag in his teeth.

‘Go slowly at first,’ whispered Daisy, ‘so they think they’ve got a chance of catching you. Then when you get back to the road, take off. Don’t go home, ’cos I’m sure they’ll go there to try to find us. Meet me … um … I know. Meet me outside school in an hour. Okay?’

Ben nodded again and then walked towards Sinclair. Daisy peeked around the tree. Ben approached to within a few steps and then stood in front of him, the bag dangling from his mouth and glowing faintly.

‘There it is, boss,’ yelled Dennis, pointing.

‘You don’t say,’ said Sinclair calmly, squatting on his haunches. He stared intently at Ben. ‘Here, dog,’ he said slowly and soothingly. ‘Come here. Good dog. Come here.’

Ben took a few wobbly steps forward, as if hypnotised. Sinclair stared even harder at him. Daisy felt a bit woozy herself … She shook her head, and then managed to tear her eyes away. At her feet was a fallen branch as long as her arm and as thick as a rolled-up newspaper or, if you think newspapers are a bit old-fashioned, a rolled-up iPad. She picked it up.

‘Come here,’ ordered Sinclair, still staring at Ben. Ben tottered forward, nearly close enough for Sinclair to grab the bag.

Daisy aimed the stick at Sinclair and threw it. It missed him and thumped uselessly into a tree. Rats! thought Daisy. But the noise of the stick hitting the tree distracted Sinclair. He looked around and that was enough, it seemed, to momentarily break the hold he had on Ben. Ben barked and ran off down the hill.

‘Get it!’ cried Sinclair, jumping to his feet.

Dennis rushed past Sinclair and picked up the stick Daisy had thrown. ‘I’ve got it, boss! I’ve got it!’ He looked closely at the stick. ‘I’ve got you, you … stick. You’re going to get it now, stick!’

‘Not that! The dog!’

Sinclair raced off through the trees after Ben, who ran back towards the track, looking over his shoulder every few steps to make sure they were following.

‘This is the most confusing birthday I’ve ever had,’ sighed Dennis as he ran after them. Daisy felt exactly the same way.

Soon Daisy lost sight of them but it sounded as if Ben was leading them back down the hill. She waited as the noise of the chase got softer and when it was so soft that you would only be able to hear it if you had ears the size of tractors, she cautiously made her way back to the track and set off up the hill.

After a few minutes she realised she still had a Cross Hotel vase stuck to her arm, so she sat down and after 1.16756189 minutes of grunting, twisting and pulling, managed to remove it. Soon after, she reached the top of the hill, and a few minutes later she was back inside her home sweet home.

Chapter 8

AN UNCOMFORTABLE RIDE

Daisy ran to her room, grabbed her rucksack and shoved a jacket and a hat into it, as well as the letter from her mum addressed to Professor Blont. Then she raided her bear-shaped-but-not-even-nearly-bear-sized money box. Eleven dollars and fifteen cents. Not enough. But there was also the twenty dollars she had got from Uncle Tony for her birthday. Daisy didn’t intend to be away for long, but weird things were happening and she figured she’d better be prepared.

She put the money in a zip-up pocket of her rucksack then went into her parents’ office. There was always an emergency stash kept in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. If what’s going down now doesn’t qualify as an emergency, Daisy thought, then I’m a blue piano eating fried rice on the moon while doing ballet. She found sixty dollars, and took it all.

She headed out of her room and then turned and ran back to her bedside table. From the bottom drawer she grabbed her pocket-knife. Just in case. (In case of what, she tried not to imagine.) She put the pocket-knife in her pocket (because it was a pocket-knife. If she had put it in her rucksack, then it would have been a rucksack-knife.).

Back in the kitchen she grabbed six containers of dog food, a soft plastic dog bowl that folded up, some peanuts, some cheese, a few apples and two energy bars. Then she remembered that apples were fruit so she put them back and instead found a packet of chocolate-chip biscuits and a packet of corn crackers. She filled two water bottles, and then rang her mum’s mobile number. Again it went to voicemail. As she heard her mum’s voice cheerfully tell her to leave a message, Daisy felt her heart lurch. It was the sort of day when you really wanted to have a mother to hug or, at the very least, talk to on the phone.

Finally she penned a note to her dad.

Dear Dad, have gone to play at Eliza’s. Her mum says I can stay the night so I have taken my bag. And Ben. Hope that’s okay.

She was about to write ‘Love Daisy’ when she had an idea.

By the way, Eliza’s mum says their phone isn’t working and she has lost her mobile, so don’t bother ringing but really I’m fine, so definitely no need to worry at all about anything. See you soon,

Love, Daisy

She put the message on the kitchen bench with an apple on top of it so it wouldn’t blow away. There, fruit was useful for something.

She knew her note wasn’t going to sort everything out on the home front, but it might at least buy her some time while she tried to work out what the ga-heckamany to do.

At least she knew what the next thing to do was: meet Ben outside school.

Daisy’s school was just five minutes’ walk from her house. Daisy loved her school, especially during the holidays when she didn’t have to go there. It was pretty enough, with lots of trees and grass surrounding old stone buildings. And it was big enough, not like some of those small schools near the middle of the city where kids spent their lunchtime bumping into each other and lining up to get a turn on the handball court.

The problem for Daisy was that her school just wasn’t quite fun enough. Especially this year. All her best friends were in the other year 6 class, her chair was uncomfortable, her teacher was strict and grumpy and worst of all, they had to do maths. She hoped you didn’t have to do maths in high school. She was pretty sure you didn’t, because once you knew your twelve times tables and how to add fractions, heck, what else could there be?

Daisy arrived at the school and circled around until she got to the front gate. Ben wasn’t there so she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

As the length of the wait increased, so did her worry. What if they had caught Ben? What if Sinclair had managed to make eye contact with him and hypnotise him again (and how the balonga-donky did Sinclair do that anyway)? Or what if Ben had been looking over his shoulder and had got hit by a car? Or what if the dog catcher had got him? Or what if one of the lions from the zoo had escaped and it was a particular type of lion that loved eating dogs, and the lion happened to be escaping down the same street that Ben was running up and …

‘Why are you at the front gate? I’ve been waiting at the back one for ages.’

‘Huh?’ Daisy spluttered, whirling around. It was Ben! And at his feet, the canvas bag. ‘You’re okay! But what about the lion?’ she demanded. ‘How did you escape?’

‘Have you had a knock on the head?’

Her brain slowly caught up with Ben’s words. ‘So you were round the back?’

‘At the gate we normally go to when I walk to school with you, yes.’

‘Right. Sorry. I was imagining all the bad things that could have happened to you. A bit like my dad does. Wow!’ She felt a wave of sympathy for her father. ‘Imagine thinking like that all the time! It must be horrible.’

‘It wouldn’t be fun,’ agreed Ben. ‘By the way, I do think it should be noted that if I hadn’t decided just to check around the front, just in case you had been stupid enough to come round here, we would have both stayed waiting forever, getting hungrier and hungrier and thirstier and thirstier and older and older and boreder and boreder until eventually we died, so well done, Ben, don’t you think?’

‘Well done, Ben.’

‘Thank you. Who’s a clever dog, hey?’

‘Yes, yes, whatever.’

‘By the way, you would have been the first to die because dogs are much better at surviving than humans. See, we can hunt, we can sleep in the wild, we know how to take complete care of ourselves without any help. So there. By the way, did you bring any dog food?’

Daisy smiled. ‘I thought you said you could hunt.’

‘I could, but what’s the point if you’ve got dog food? And a drink would be nice too.’

Daisy got him some water and dog food and then fixed herself some cheese and corn crackers. ‘How did you get away?’ she asked.

‘I just led them back down to Drain Street and then ran along it slowly enough for them to keep up with me until I thought you would have had plenty of time to get away, and then I acted like I was really tired and started to limp, and let them nearly catch up to me, and when they were really close I farted right at them and ran away.’

‘Brilliant. High paw!’

Ben lifted up a front paw and Daisy hit it lightly with her palm.

‘But what happened to you in the bush when Sinclair was staring at you?’ she asked.

‘I’m not sure exactly, I … I kind of just wanted to walk towards him and give him the bag.’ He hung his head. ‘Sorry. But then suddenly I was okay again.’

‘I threw a stick at him. It missed but I guess it broke his concentration.’ Daisy thought back to what had happened in the attic. ‘So he’s got some kind of hypnotism power thingy, and remember how he stretched his arm out in the attic? What sort of a person is he?’

‘And he smells weird too,’ said Ben. ‘It’s interesting, but let’s focus: what do we do now?’

Daisy picked up the canvas bag containing the stone and put it in her pocket. ‘I think it’s time we visited Mum’s friend Professor Blont at the university. We’ll explain everything, give him the stone and then he can take care of it.’

Ben nodded. ‘I think that’s a good idea.’

Daisy started to unzip her rucksack. ‘So. You know what that means.’

Ben swallowed. ‘Oh no. Not that.’

Daisy smiled at the bus driver as she paid her fare, trying not to show how much effort it took her to carry the rucksack. The bus was only half full but she went right to the back seat, eased the rucksack carefully off her shoulder and placed it on the seat beside her. The nearest passenger was a roundish man two seats in front who was reading an iPad, listening to an iPod, holding an iPhone and wearing an eye patch.

Daisy checked that the rucksack’s zip was a bit open at the top. From inside she heard Ben’s voice, whispering desperately, ‘I need a wee.’

‘You’re going to have to hold on,’ whispered Daisy. ‘Try not to think of trees.’

‘Oh no!’

‘What?’

‘Now I’m thinking of trees. I really want to go now.’

‘But I said not to think of trees.’

‘And I wasn’t. But then you mentioned them and now I am. Oh, how I love to wee on a tree!’

‘Shhh,’ Daisy hissed, just as the man in front turned around and stared at her. Daisy gave him her wide-eyed innocent look until he turned around again and buried his head back in his iThings.

Daisy could feel Ben fidgeting inside her bag, no doubt trying to cross his legs.

‘Only a few more stops,’ she whispered.

In reply she heard a muffled groan.

Eventually they arrived at the university. As soon as the bus pulled away, Daisy opened her rucksack and Ben dashed to the nearest tree, where he quickly turned pain into relief. Then they walked through an old stone archway into the university.

The city immediately melted away. Instead of cars, there were people riding bikes and walking; instead of telegraph poles, there were trees; instead of roads, long walkways flanked by grassy banks; and instead of people heading purposefully off to work, there were students sitting in the sun, chatting away and generally wasting time.

They walked along a pathway. On either side were three- or four-storey buildings, some old and made of stone, some new and made of metal, and some middle-aged and made of either stoneish metal or metallic stone.

The department of archaeology shared an older- looking building with the department of history, the department of pre-history, the department of pre-pre-history and the department of stuff-that-happened-even-before-pre-pre-history. And the mathematics department.

Daisy and Ben stopped at the front of the building. ‘Sorry,’ said Daisy.

‘I know. I can’t come in. That’s fine.’ Ben sighed. ‘I’ll just go and stare into the distance in my dog-like way. Won’t get bored. Could do it for hours.’

‘I won’t be long.’

‘Whatevs. I hope he can help.’

Daisy had been here several times with her mum. Inside was a large, unattractive foyer. It had blue tiles on the floor which made it look a bit like a giant bathroom. Daisy almost expected there to be a toilet in the corner with a towel rack next to it. On the far wall was a noticeboard with a list of all the occupants. It stated that ‘Associate Professor Jackie Malone’ was in room 312 (but Daisy knew that she actually wasn’t), and that ‘Professor Trevor Blont, Head of Archaeology’ was in room 316.

Daisy had had enough of walking so she took the lift. As the doors closed an electronic voice said, ‘Doors closing.’

‘Derrrr!’ thought Daisy. ‘What else would they be doing? Star jumps?’

At the third floor she emerged into a corridor she knew well. She turned left to her mum’s office and tried the wooden door. Locked, of course. A stab of worry hit her. Why hadn’t Mum been in contact?

She moved further along the corridor to room 316. The door was open, so Daisy walked in. The room contained a window, a large brown desk, a brown carpeted floor and about eight million billion books. Not a glimpse of wall was visible, just books on shelves from floor to ceiling. They overflowed onto piles on the floor and even the windowsill. The desk was covered with papers, a computer and more books, and sitting behind it she could see the top half of an overweight man. The man had thinning blond hair draped messily across his head, chubby cheeks, a short broad nose, bright twinkly eyes surrounded by round glasses and a mouth that was stretching as wide as it could, due to the fact that the man was trying to stuff a cream bun into it.

Chapter 9

CREAM BUNS

‘Thank goodness! A person!’ said the man in between chews of his bun, and in a much higher-pitched voice than Daisy had expected. He put down the book he had been looking at. ‘I beg you, please come in. I’m sooo bored that I was about to try to eat my book and read my cream bun, just to mix things up a bit. And who are y– Wait. Why, it’s Daisy, isn’t it?’

Daisy nodded.

The man pulled himself to his feet, proving that he did have a bottom half, and peered closely at her.

‘I’m Trevor Blont. You wouldn’t remember me, of course. For two reasons. One, the last time I met you, you were about the size of this cream bum, and second, years of experience have taught me that for some reason I’m not very memorable. But I recognise you, because your mother keeps a photo of you on her desk. Although you’re a lot bigger.’

‘Well, it was probably taken a year or two ago.’

‘No, I meant you’re a lot bigger than the photo. The photo’s quite small, about the size of a birthday card. Not that I ever get many of them.’ He frowned. ‘But why are you here? Your mother isn’t here. You know that, don’t you?’

Daisy nodded again. ‘I came to see you.’

‘Me? Goodness, how exciting! Well you’d better sit down and tell me.’ He gestured to the plain wooden chair on Daisy’s side of the desk. Daisy sat and couldn’t stop herself from casting a loving glance at Blont’s cream bun. Blont, seeing the look, grabbed the cream bun and tore it energetically in two. ‘Hah!’ he said triumphantly. ‘Lucky it wasn’t a rabbit, or there’d be blood everywhere!’ He handed half to Daisy. ‘Feel free to speak with your mouth full and spit bits of bun on me.’

Daisy took a huge bite of bun, stuffing her face so full she could hardly move her teeth, tongue or jaws. You know that feeling you get when you’ve spent the day stealing hotel keys, setting off fire alarms, sneaking into hotel rooms, stealing glowing stones, running away from bad guys and sitting round the wrong side of the school so that your talking dog can’t find you, and then you finally get to stuff the most delicious cream bun in the world in your mouth? You don’t? Well, it feels good. The icing had coconut flakes on top and was stickily, scrumptiously pink, while the bun itself was perfectly, meltingly soft and contained just the right number of raisins so that the flavours of bun, raisin and icing melted together in Daisy’s mouth so deliciously that she didn’t even mind that raisins were fruit. She kept stuffing it into her mouth and before she knew it, the bun was gone.

That made Daisy feel sad. She missed the bun. But then Blont said the most perfect thing ever in the history of the known universe. He said, ‘Would you like another bun? And perhaps a hot chocolate?’

‘Yes, please!’ said Daisy. She had a very good feeling about Professor Trevor Blont.

‘I don’t make hot chocolates very well, but I’ll do my best.’ He heaved himself to his feet and as he exited the room, Daisy noticed that he walked with a heavy limp and supported himself on a wooden cane.

As she waited Daisy started to worry again about her mother again. Why hadn’t she called? She always called on Daisy’s birthday. Had Sinclair and Dennis done something to her? But she was up at Gloomy Gulch and they were down here. And what about the stone? She fingered the bag containing it in her pocket. What the heck was it? And why was Sinclair so desperate to get it? She stared at the bookshelves as if they might hold the answer. They didn’t though. They held books. Obviously. Including one called The Complete History of Potatoes which had once gained third prize in a ‘Most Boring Book In The World’ competition.

(In case you’re interested [and even if you’re not] second prize had gone to The Innermost Thoughts of Jellyfish [to understand why this book is so boring, you probably need to know that jellyfish don’t have brains], while the winner of the ‘Most Boring Book In The World’ competition had been The Complete History of Potatoes, Volume 2 because all the most interesting stuff about potatoes [which was still very boring] was in Volume 1.)

Daisy stood up and wandered aimlessly around the room. She glanced at the mess covering Blont’s desk. There was a book called The Joy of Digging, and another entitled Archaeology’s Great Mysteries. Next to it was an electricity bill and several pieces of paper, including one with ‘Semester 1 Lecture Roster’ typed on it, and another with ‘Places to Look’ handwritten at the top.

Professor Blont soon returned carrying a tray with two mugs and a plate loaded with not two, not four, but six more cream buns! He placed his cane against the side of his desk, unloaded the tray then carefully lowered himself into his chair.

Daisy sipped the hot chocolate. It was sweet and very chocolatey. Much better than that watered down silliness her dad made. ‘Yum. It’s delicious!’ she said.

‘You’re very kind. Another bun?’

Daisy nodded, then after a few more sips thought she had better get down to business. ‘It’s about my mum. She … well, I can’t get in touch with her and she sent me a letter and she said I should talk to you.’

‘To me? Goodness. Whatever was she thinking? Well, you’d better tell me, then.’

Daisy hadn’t really had time to think about what bits she should tell Professor Blont and what bits she shouldn’t, so she just told him everything from the moment she saw Sinclair in the forest with Paul, to the theft of the stone from their house, to their own theft of the stone from Sinclair’s hotel. The only thing she left out was the bit about Ben being able to talk.

Blont listened intently, feeding bits of bun into his mouth. When the first bun was gone he reached for a second, and when the second was gone he had a third.

When Daisy had finished she handed over the letter that Jackie Malone had written to Professor Blont. He read it with a furrowed brow, looking like he was concentrating fiercely, because he was. When he’d finished he sat still for a few moments, then took a deep breath and focused on Daisy.

‘Well, well, how extraordinary. And Daisy, what an amazing girl you are,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t have done half the things you did. You must be exhausted.’

‘I am a bit.’

‘I am a bit too, and all I’ve done is sit here, listening to you, read a letter and scoff buns. I think you have done splendidly.’

The compliment tasted nearly as nice to Daisy as the cream buns.

‘You said you haven’t been able to get in touch with your mother. What about your father? Have you told him anything?’

Daisy shook her head. ‘No. It’s … well, it’s just that he isn’t very good with things like this.’

‘Yes, yes I quite understand, I know a bit about your poor father.’ Blont stroked his chin and then chewed a fingernail. ‘Well, I think the question we have to ask ourselves is obvious. What now?’

‘Eat another cream bun?’ suggested Daisy hopefully.

Blont clapped his hands together and chuckled. ‘Excellent advice, my dear.’ He opened his drawer and another cream bun appeared, which he again ripped in two.

Blont took a big bite, his twenty-second since Daisy had arrived, and then spoke. ‘So your mother found this stone underground, and those men seem to desperately want it. What does it mean?’

‘Did Mum tell you anything about this stone? I mean, you’re her boss, aren’t you?’

‘Yes. And no. I mean no and yes. Yes to boss – we call it “supervisor” now … or is it “manager”? Or “director”? I never pay much attention to those emails. And no, she didn’t tell me anything about the stone.’

‘Have you ever heard of a glowing blue stone before?’

‘I have. When one is uncovering the past one hears or reads stories about all sorts of things. Ghosts, objects that have mystical powers, flying bananas. But I pay no attention to them. None of it is ever true.’ He hesitated. ‘I mean, it can’t be, can it?’

Daisy wasn’t sure if he had meant the last sentence as a statement or a question.

‘So have you heard anything about this stone?’ she pressed.

‘We have come across some references to an object that sounds similar to it,’ Blont said cautiously. ‘In old letters and other documents that we have discovered in and around Gloomy Gulch. But as I say, I am sure they are nothing. You see –’

‘What do they say?’ interrupted Daisy.

‘Well, some of the references suggest that a person who has possession of the stone would have … well … er …’

‘Yes,’ prompted Daisy.

Blont swallowed. ‘Well, that they would be able to perform feats of great strength, that they would be able to heal the sick, and that they would even have the power to …’ Blont licked his lips nervously, ‘… make other people do whatever they wanted. But how could that be true? It’s ridiculous, surely. It must be a myth.’

Daisy put her hand in her pocket and felt the canvas bag containing the stone. She remembered the jolt of power that had surged through her when she had first touched it in Sinclair’s hotel room. And that was through a canvas bag.

‘Feats of great strength,’ repeated Daisy slowly. ‘That’s what my mum described. She said that when she picked up the stone she felt a surge of power, and then she hit the wall with her hand and it left a dent.’

Blont nodded. ‘She did say that, yes. It’s very … curious.’ Blont swallowed again. ‘Do you … do you have it with you, by any chance?’

Daisy nodded.

‘Should we perhaps take a look at it?’

Something about the way Blont said this made Daisy look up at him, but he was just smiling his friendly smile. Daisy suddenly felt desperately tired. Wouldn’t it be good to give the stone to someone else to worry about and take care of, and then to go home and lie on her bed and play with dolls for a few days? No it wouldn’t, because she hated playing with dolls, but she did very much want to do something simple and meaningless and forget all about this stone business. It was supposed to be the holidays. She wanted to go to her friend Eliza’s house and eat coconut slice. Although she’d have to digest all those cream buns first.

Daisy closed her hand around the canvas bag, but didn’t pull it out of her pocket. While part of her wanted to get rid of the stone and never see it again, there was another part that was reluctant to reveal it.

‘Let’s have a look, then,’ said Blont, leaning forward.

Slowly she pulled the bag out and put it on the table. She loosened the strings, and saw the stone glowing blue. She picked it up and immediately a surge of strength and energy surged through her.

‘May I see it?’ asked Blont tentatively. He stretched out his hand

Daisy reminded herself that, out of everyone her mum knew, the one person she had decided she could trust with the stone was Trevor Blont. Giving him the stone was what her mother wanted her to do. Daisy opened her hand. With great care Blont took the stone and, as he did, the sense of power and calm Daisy had felt vanished.

Blont held the stone up to the light and examined it closely. ‘Goodness,’ he said, a faint tremor in his voice. ‘Finally … goodness.’

Daisy noticed that the stone was shaking. Sweat beaded on Blont’s forehead. She heard a dog barking outside.

‘What do you think?’ she asked.

Blont didn’t reply. He was staring into the stone, which was still shaking. Then Daisy realised. It wasn’t the stone that was shaking. It was Blont’s hand.

Outside the dog barked louder. Something was gnawing at Daisy’s brain. Something Blont had said.

‘What do you think it is?’ she asked.

Blont was staring at it, smiling. ‘What …? It’s … a blue … stone …’ His voice trailed off.

The dog was still barking. Daisy walked over to the open window. It was Ben. He was directly below Blont’s room, looking up. Daisy realised what it was that had bothered her. She turned to Blont. ‘Why did you say “finally”?’

Blont ignored her. He appeared mesmerised by the stone. Daisy remembered something. She moved to his desk and picked up the piece of paper she had seen that had ‘Places to Look’ written on it. Underneath those words was written:

chamber 6

chamber 14

chamber 16

The passageways – under the floors? Loose rocks in walls?

Secret spaces underneath the floors or in the walls. Even in the roof?

What did that mean?

‘Excuse me,’ Daisy said more forcefully. ‘Why did you say “finally” when I gave you the stone?’

Blont looked up. ‘Er … no reason.’

‘There must be a reason. People don’t go around saying the word “finally” for no reason. They just don’t. Especially not clever university professors.’

‘I didn’t mean … anything,’ said Blont faintly.

‘Really?’ asked Daisy. ‘If someone handed me something, the only reason that I would say “finally” would be if I had been looking for it for a long time.’

‘No, no, no, my dear. I just said it because … er … we had been talking about the stone for some time and then finally you showed it to me. See?’ Blont smiled weakly.

‘Yeah, that sounds true,’ said Daisy, hoping it sounded as sarcastic as she meant it to.

‘It is true. You see –’

Daisy held up the piece of paper. ‘And what’s this?’

‘It’s, er … nothing. Just a … piece of paper.’

‘With “Places to Look” written on it. What is it you’re looking for?’

‘Well, for … um … archaeological … things,’ Blont stuttered.

‘What sort of things?’ demanded Daisy.

‘Just … things.’

‘Then tell me what they are. Because then I’ll stop thinking that maybe it’s a list of places where you thought the blue glowing stone might be. And that now you “finally” have it.’

Blont opened his mouth, but no words came out.

‘Well?’ demanded Daisy, staring hard at him.

‘Um … it’s just that …’ began Blont, but that was all he could manage.

‘Professor Blont,’ said Daisy, ‘I’m beginning to think that you haven’t been completely honest with me about what you know about that stone.’

She raised her eyebrows and left a pause so that Blont could explain things to her, but he didn’t.

‘Look, Professor, the cream buns were nice and so was the hot chocolate, but there’s something you’re not telling me. What?’

‘No, I promise. There’s not.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t believe you.’ Daisy held out her hand. ‘Give it back, please,’ she said firmly.

‘No! I … I couldn’t. It’s dangerous for whoever has the stone, and you’re just a child, so …’

‘Don’t you worry about me. I’m going to find my mum and give it back to her.’

Blont clutched the stone to his chest. ‘No! That wouldn’t be safe.’

Daisy walked around the desk, picked up Blont’s cane, and raised it above her head. ‘Give it back!’

Blont leant back in his chair, holding the stone behind his head in his right hand. ‘No, Daisy, that’s not sensible. See, I want to help. I …’

Daisy felt a surge of rage. She leant forward over the desk and whacked Blont’s right wrist with the cane.

‘Oww!’ he cried. The stone went flying across the room to the bookcase where it bounced off The Complete History of Potatoes and fell to the ground. Daisy picked it up.

‘Daisy!’ cried Blont. ‘You don’t understand. It’s not safe. Give it back!’

He reached out for her. Daisy dropped the cane and ran out of the room. She heard Blont lumbering after her. ‘Please! Come back! Daisy! You don’t understand! It’s too dangerous! He’s too powerful!’

She found the stairs and raced down them. This time she was in no danger of being caught. Ben was waiting outside the building and they sped away. They ran for five minutes until they were out of the university and then slowed to a walk.

‘Why were you barking?’ asked Daisy once she had her breath back.

‘I smelt trouble.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘I just smelt something that wasn’t quite right up there. It’s hard to explain. What happened?’

Daisy explained.

‘I was right, then!’ said Ben when she had finished. ‘Wow!’

‘Wow what?’

‘I was just wowing at how smart I am. It amazes even me sometimes. Wow! What a dog! Hmmm. So Blont wants the stone. Everybody wants that stone.’

‘We need to find Mum,’ said Daisy, with a serious look on her face. (Obviously it was on her face. Who ever has a serious look on their knee?)

Chapter 10

BRIAN MALONE

At the railway station Daisy found a payphone and rang her dad at work.

‘Hello, Brian Malone here. Is anything wrong?’ asked her father’s tentative, nervous voice.

‘Dad, it’s me.’

‘Daisy. What’s happened? Did a buffalo attack you? Or did a –’

‘Dad! Stop! Everything’s fine. Sort of. In fact, not really.’

‘Oh no! Did you hurt yourself?! Are you bleeding?! Daisy, did you break your arm? If you did, was it your left arm or your right arm? Because if it was your right arm you won’t be able to write and that will make school difficult and –’

‘Dad! Stop! I didn’t break my arm. Or anything else. It’s just that … Dad, it’s complicated,’ Daisy hesitated and then it all came out in a rush. ‘You see I found this blue glowing stone in our house and Mum sent me a letter saying she put it there and some people are trying to steal it and I went to the person at the university that Mum told me to give it to, and he started sweating and tried to get it from me and we don’t know where Mum is and I can’t get in contact with her and …’

Suddenly the very brave and fearless Daisy couldn’t talk anymore because she thought that if she did she would start to cry and maybe even sob.

‘Daisy, darling. I’m a bit confused but it’s going to be all right, sweetheart. I’m sure whatever it is, it’s only a small issue and not a big issue. Are you at home? I’ll come home right now and we’ll have some spaghetti bolognese and everything will be all right.’

‘No, it won’t be all right!’ snapped Daisy. ‘It won’t be all right because Mum has disappeared!’

There was a long pause at the other end of the line. In fact at both ends, and in the middle too.

‘Daisy, Mum’s often out of touch for a while when she is away. She’s underground a lot of the time, and you know that even when she isn’t, the mobile coverage up there isn’t very good. It’s nothing to worry about it. It’s a small issue.’

‘It’s not a small issue! She’s never missed calling me on my birthday ever before and you know it!’ stormed Daisy. ‘Last year she had to drive for ages to get phone coverage, but she did it. You’re just too scared to admit anything’s wrong. Well something is wrong! Mum’s missing and I’m going to look for her!’

‘No, Daisy, your mother is fine. She … she has to be. We just have to keep thinking that and everything will be all right, and it will be. I’m going to come home now and cook spaghetti bolognese, and we can have a game of chess and everything will be normal and soon your mother will come home.’

‘Dad, I’m at the train station. I’m about to get on the train to go to Gloomy Gulch.’

‘Daisy, no.’ Her father’s voice was shaky. ‘Please. Nothing is wrong. I can’t … nothing is wrong.’

‘I’m going. On the train. It leaves in ten minutes. Unless you say you’ll come and get me and we can drive up together?’

‘Daisy … don’t … I can’t go there … I just can’t … please … just come home and I’ll explain.’

Daisy slammed down the phone.

The train was practically deserted. They had a carriage to themselves, so Daisy could let Ben out of her rucksack.

They sat quietly. Daisy nibbled on chocolate biscuits and seethed with fury at her father’s cowardice. She was so angry with him that it was ‘father’ and not ‘dad’. The words ‘he’s hopeless’, ‘pathetic’, ‘useless’, ‘hopeless’, ‘pathetic’, ‘useless’ ‘I need to go to the toilet’, ‘hopeless’, ‘pathetic’, ‘useless’, ‘now I really need to go to the toilet’ kept whirling round her head like sausages in a spin dryer, although what sausages would be doing in a spin dryer I don’t know.

She went to the toilet but when she got back she was still so furious that she couldn’t think properly about anything. Ben sat silently next to her, looking out the window. In fact, because it was now dark outside, what he could mainly see in the window was his reflection, which he quite liked. I am one fine-looking piece of dog, he thought.

Eventually he turned to Daisy. ‘He wasn’t always like that, you know. Your dad.’

‘If I could play a musical instrument and I had it with me I would write a song about him right now called “Useless, Hopeless and Pathetic”,’ replied Daisy.

‘That doesn’t scan very well,’ replied Ben. ‘And it’s not his fault. Daisy, listen. I heard your mum and dad talking one night. Actually on a few nights and, because I’m very clever, I think I’ve worked out what happened.’

‘You know, continually telling people that you’re very clever is actually an indication that deep down you think you’re not very clever at all.’

Ben’s eyes widened. ‘Is it?’

Daisy nodded.

‘I didn’t know that. I’d better stop then.’

‘Good idea.’

‘Yes, well, I am very clever. Whoops! Rats!’

Daisy stared at the seat in front of her.

‘Can I tell you what happened with your dad?’ asked Ben.

‘I know what happened. I needed his help to find Mum and he was too scared to do anything.’

‘So you don’t want to know what I found out? Okay.’ Ben shrugged and went back to looking at himself in the window.

After eighteen and a half seconds Daisy sighed. ‘Yes, all right. What?’

‘Well, this archaeology site at Gloomy Gulch where your mum works. You know how your mum was in the first expedition that explored it?’

Daisy knew the story well. The year before she was born, a bushwalker had been exploring the hills outside Gloomy Gulch. Halfway up a hill he had stepped onto a piece of earth and plunged straight through it, ending up dangling by his shoulders, his legs swinging in the air below. He had accidentally discovered the entrance to a cave.

A week later he returned with friends and ropes to explore. They abseiled into the cave and were astounded to find both natural and human-made tunnels and caverns. They reported their find to the university’s archaeology department and when Jackie Malone and other archaeologists investigated, they found a complex web of underground caves, caverns and connecting tunnels.

It was very strange. Usually when old human-made underground tunnels and caverns were discovered, it was clear that they had been built for some form of mining. But here there was no sign of any mining having been done. In fact, there was no record of any mining ever being done anywhere in the Gloomy Gulch area.

Even more oddly, before the discovery of the underground tunnels, it was thought that the first humans to live in the Gloomy Gulch area had arrived about three hundred years earlier. Before that the area had been, it was thought, uninhabited. But from the analysis the archaeologists had done, it appeared that these tunnels had been dug at least six hundred years before.

And most oddly of all, no one had ever discovered an object that looked like a television remote control in any other network of ancient underground tunnels anywhere in the world because, of course, television remote controls had only been invented about sixty years ago. But this is precisely what had been found deep in one of these chambers.

And they were still uncovering more. Archaeology is slow work. You don’t just charge in with a bulldozer. You need to go gently so you don’t break anything. For the last ten years Jackie Malone, other archaeologists and some local workers had been spending several months a year patiently digging, sweeping and collecting, all the while looking for clues as to who had created the underground network and why.

Ben continued. ‘When the caves were first explored there were two archaeologists leading the way. Your mum was one. Do you know who the other one was?’

Daisy shook her head.

‘It was someone she used to work with.’

‘Blont?’

‘No. Your dad.’

‘My … what? He’s not an archaeologist … he’s a … whatever he is. An accountant. A boring guy who works in a boring office doing boring things.’

‘He is now, but back then he was apparently one of the world’s leading archaeologists. Your mum and he met on a site in Egypt.’

‘They told me they met in a fish shop!’

‘Maybe it was an Egyptian fish shop. They worked on the Gloomy Gulch caves together. Your dad was the leader. He was always the first to explore all the tunnels and passages, while your mum was slower and more cautious.’

‘Are you sure? That sounds like someone else’s dad. Not mine.’

‘It’s what they said. He explored tunnels and caves that no one had been in for hundreds of years. One day, without telling anyone where he was going, he went into a newly discovered part of the caves. He had been exploring for a couple of hours and was deep underground when a passage collapsed on top of him. It must have already been unstable and his footsteps caused it to cave in.

‘Your dad was trapped, squashed against the ground, barely able to move. He had a broken leg and several broken ribs and lay there terrified that at any moment there might be another cave-in. He was there a whole day and then another day, getting hungrier and thirstier and weaker, wondering if anyone would find him before he died. Eventually after two days your mother found him. It took another day to dig him out. Ever since then he’s been, well, the way he is now.’

‘A scaredy cat,’ said Daisy slowly.

‘And he stopped being an archaeologist. He couldn’t go underground anymore.’

‘Oh,’ said Daisy flatly, trying to take it all in and wondering if, in the circumstances, she had perhaps been a bit harsh in thinking her dad was hopeless, pathetic and useless. ‘Why didn’t you tell me this before?’

Ben shrugged. ‘I thought it was more a parent thing to tell you stuff like that. Not really a dog thing. My job is to chase sticks and bark at strangers.’

Daisy’s anger at her dad started to ebb away. She even went back to thinking of him as Dad. It wasn’t his fault he was the way he was. Of course he didn’t want to return to the site of his accident. Daisy wondered what her old dad had been like. She wished he was still around because right now he would have been a real help. But he wasn’t, which meant that she would have to do whatever had to be done without him.

And what did have to be done? Jackie Malone had written that she thought she was being followed, and for the first time ever she hadn’t called Daisy on her birthday. The fact that it had happened at the exact same time that Sinclair, Dennis and, it seemed, Blont were all trying to get the stone that Jackie had found must be more than a coincidence. The first thing that Daisy had to do was to find her mum and give her the stone back.

Hopefully Jackie Malone would be at the Gloomy Gulch site doing what she normally did, and there would be some innocent explanation for her failure to ring on Daisy’s birthday.

But somehow Daisy doubted it.

And what about Blont? He was her mum’s trusted work friend, the one person she thought she could tell about the stone. Had he really been trying to get the stone, or had Daisy been so on-edge that she had jumped to conclusions?

If Blont did know something about the stone, what did he know? And why hadn’t he told her? Was he on the same side as Sinclair and Dennis? Or a different one? Or none at all? And what about those delicious cream buns? Where did he get them? And did he get a discount for buying so many of them?

She remembered what Blont had shouted after her as she had run from his room: ‘You don’t understand! It’s too dangerous! He’s too powerful!’

Who was the ‘he’? Sinclair?

The key to it all, of course, was the stone. Daisy reached into her pocket, pulled out the canvas bag and carefully removed it. Again, as soon as she touched it, a wave of energy and strength surged through her. How did that work? She shut her eyes and allowed the power of the stone to flow through her.

Her thoughts turned again to her dad. What must it have been like being trapped underground for two days? Suddenly, a huge wave of terror broke over her. It was as if she was trapped in the cave. She could feel exactly what he must have felt; not knowing whether he would be found, the thirst, the loneliness, the pain of his broken bones and, dominating it all, the terrible, panicked fear of being stuck. Daisy’s heart raced. She was panting and sweat rolled down her face. Suddenly a paw knocked the stone out of her grasp onto the seat.

‘Daisy!’ called Ben sharply. ‘Are you okay?’

The panicked feeling quickly receded. ‘Um … yeah. Sorry. It’s the stone. It’s … It’s …’ She trailed off, and then added, ‘… weird.’ But ‘weird’ didn’t really describe it. What the stone had done to her was something entirely outside her experience.

She used the bag to scoop it up without touching it and put it back in her pocket.

Chapter 11

GLOOMY GULCH

Gloomy Gulch sat in a valley between two mountain ranges that were so steep the entire town was in shadow all day, every day.

The only way someone who lived in Gloomy Gulch got a suntan was if they painted it on with a brush. To try to combat the effects of sun deprivation, twice a week all of the children at the Gloomy Gulch school were bussed out of the valley to a big field so they could run around in the sunshine. However they all had such pale skin that first they had to be covered up in sunscreen, hats, long-sleeved tops, leggings, gloves, sunglasses, nose guards and scarves.

When Daisy and Ben arrived at Gloomy Gulch railway station it was especially non-sunny because it was eleven o’clock at night. They stepped onto a deserted platform and watched the train choof off to wherever it was going next.

‘Sleep would be good,’ said Ben. ‘I’m happy just to curl up here, but your species are a bit fussier.’

‘Not always,’ said Daisy, lying down on a wooden bench and resting her head on her rucksack. Sixteen seconds later she was asleep.

When she awoke she had a stiff back, a dry mouth, a slug crawling up her leg and not much idea of where, or even who, she was. She pulled herself up to a sitting position, brushed off the slug and rubbed her eyes. Then she realised that when she had tried to brush the slug off her leg it had somehow clung to her hand, and when she had rubbed her eyes it had crawled onto her face and was now trying to hide in one of her eyebrows.

‘Yuck,’ she said, peeling it off and dropping it into a pot plant.

She looked down at Ben sleeping peacefully at her feet, neatly folded up and looking as comfy as could be. Why, she wondered, if humans were supposed to be so clever, were they the only animal that needed a mattress to sleep comfortably? What did people do before mattresses were invented? Were they tougher back then, or did they just wake up every morning feeling like they had spent the night being kicked by an antelope?

The platform was still deserted, so they lingered for a bit while Ben ate dog food and Daisy ate corn crackers and a chocolate biscuit. Then they headed out of the station and crossed a wide, empty road to a park. In the middle of the park stood a statue of a giant cabbage.

Daisy sighed.

She had been to Gloomy Gulch once before with her mum. Jackie Malone had driven up to collect some things from the archaeological site, and had tried to turn it into a mother–daughter bonding holiday. But their room at the Gloomy Gulch Hotel was smelly and cramped, Daisy had vomited eleven times after eating the spaghetti bolognese from the hotel’s restaurant, she had missed the sun, and the most interesting thing they could find to do was to look at the statue of the giant cabbage (which, Jackie had explained, had been erected because cabbages are one of the few vegetables that can be cultivated without any sunlight and so they were, in fact, the perfect symbol of all that was great, or at least okay, about Gloomy Gulch).

‘Come on,’ said Daisy. The archaeologists’ campsite was about half an hour’s walk over a hill on the other side of town. Daisy and Ben set off across the park to the main street, which was so wide ten cars could have driven down it side by side, although they may have bumped into each other a bit. But definitely eight in complete safety.

Cars were parked diagonally to the curb, and people wandered up and down the streets and in and out of shops. They all seemed to be walking very slowly, and had blank looks on their faces.

Jackie Malone was well known in the town, so Daisy thought she may as well start asking if anyone had seen her recently. She knew that her mum was known in the fruit shop, because they had gone in there on their non-excellent ‘holiday’.

A large man with a blank expression stood behind the counter, hands by his sides. Daisy thought she recognised him from her previous visit. Back then he had been so friendly that Daisy had wondered if he was going to leap over the counter and hug them, but this time he just stood there.

‘Hello,’ said Daisy, ‘I’m Daisy, Jackie Malone’s daughter.’ She left a pause for the man to start being friendly in, but he didn’t.

‘Um, I’m just wondering if my mum has been in lately. Have you seen her around?’

The man slowly leant his head forward so that he was looking down at Daisy, and in a robotic voice utterly lacking in emotion, inflection or life, he said, ‘We sell apples. We sell fruit. We sell pineapples.’

‘Yes, but have you seen my mother, Jackie Malone? You know, the archaeologist.’

‘We do not sell archaeologists. We sell fruit,’ said the man tonelessly.

‘O-kay,’ said Daisy, backing away.

‘We sell pears. We sell grapes. We sell sausages,’ he continued in the same expressionless voice. ‘No. That is incorrect. We do not sell sausages. The newsagent sells sausages. No. That is incorrect. I do not know who sells sausages.’

Daisy carefully backed out of the shop. Perhaps the friendly fruit shop man had had a nasty fall and hit his head and had gone a bit odd.

She tried the newsagent next door. It, too, was empty apart from a tall, thin woman with dark curly hair and a tattoo on her arm that read ‘Rats’. It doesn’t really matter which arm, so I’m not going to tell you.

‘Hi,’ said Daisy.

The woman had the same blank expression as the man in the fruit shop.

‘I’m Daisy Malone and I’m looking for my mum, Jackie Malone. Do you know her?’

‘Yes,’ said the woman blankly, staring at a spot above Daisy’s head.

‘Great. Have you seen her about lately?’

‘We sell paper. We sell pens. We sell motorbikes,’ she said robotically, then added, ‘One of those statements is incorrect but I do not know which one.’

Daisy tried three other shops and then a few people on the street. Each time she got the same empty looks and peculiar speech.

‘This is so weird,’ said Daisy. ‘It’s like the whole town has been hypnotised.’

‘Yes, master,’ Ben said tonelessly, looking straight ahead.

Daisy stared down at him. Not Ben as well!

‘Only joking,’ Ben said normally. ‘Who’d bother to hypnotise a dog?’

Daisy wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or angry. ‘Come on,’ she said in a tone that was sort of a mixture between the two. ‘Let’s get to the campsite.’

They headed towards the outskirts of town. There weren’t many people on the streets, but everyone they saw seemed to be going about their business while half asleep. They all walked slowly, talked slowly, drove their cars slowly and, going by the expressions on their faces, thought slowly too. Is that what a life without sunlight does to you? wondered Daisy.

After a few minutes they reached the road that led to the camp. Daisy had just about given up hope of finding anyone who could hold a normal conversation when she saw a thin, pale teenager dressed in a t-shirt and jeans walk onto the large verandah of a house. He pushed his long, lank, dark hair away from his eyes and stood rubbing them and blinking as if he had just emerged into bright sunlight, which, of course, this being Gloomy Gulch, he hadn’t. On his face was an expression of either irritated confusion or confused irritation.

Whichever it was, Daisy was intrigued because everyone else she had seen in Gloomy Gulch so far had had an expression of exactly nothing on their face.

‘Hello,’ called Daisy, crossing to his side of the road all friendly-like.

‘Like, hi, like, whatever,’ the teenager replied in the sort of lazy drawl used by kids who were cool or, more often, by kids who weren’t cool but were trying to pretend that they were.

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ continued Daisy, ‘but have you noticed that everyone around here is acting a bit, well, strange?’

‘Hey, like, I haven’t really noticed anything, ’cos, like, I’ve just spent the last two or three days – or actually, maybe four – smashing orcs and zombies on Doomfinder 4, and it was soooo awesome and I just blitzed level 7 – like, level 7! – so I haven’t really been getting into much talking to people or hanging out or even, like, eating or sleeping or leaving my room. Although now that you mention it, my mum is acting kind of strange. Just, like, staring at things. She’s, like, watching TV, but the TV’s not even on!’

‘But you’re okay?’ asked Daisy.

‘I’m awesome!’ he exclaimed. ‘Level 7 of Doomfinder 4 – like, level 7!’ He punched his fist to the sky. ‘NICE ONE, COOL MACHINE-MAN!!!’

‘Who?’

‘No, I meant me. It’s just, like, a thing I say.’

‘Right. Do you know the archaeological site over the hill?’ Daisy asked, pointing in its direction. The teenager nodded, and then tossed his head to one side to get his hair out of his eyes again. For the duration of his appearance in this story, he will continue to do this about every eight seconds, except when he is asleep.

‘Have you seen anything unusual going towards it, or coming from it?’ asked Daisy.

‘Sorry, man. All I’ve seen recently is, like, them orcs, sister. Getting deee-stroyed. Yes, thank you! But I have kind of noticed that my, like, dad, who works up at that site, you know, as a helper or whatever, hasn’t been around for a few days, and that’s kind of weird because he usually comes home each night to do, like, you know, boring dad stuff.’

‘I’m looking for my mum. Jackie Malone. Do you know her?’

The teenager stared blankly at her and then shook his head. ‘Nah. Sorry.’

‘We’re going up to the archaeological site now,’ said Daisy.

‘Hey, like, can I come with you guys? ’Cos now I’m not playing my game – which, by the way, I am not, like, addicted to at all like my mum says – anyway, it kind of occurs to me that, like, maybe something anti-awesome has happened to my dad, so maybe I should come and, like, look for him.’

Daisy couldn’t think of any reason why not. ‘Sure.’

‘Cool. So I’m, like, Oscar, but dudes call me Prawn ’cos it’s, like, way cooler than Oscar. Don’t you think?’

Daisy didn’t, but she wanted to be polite. ‘It’s a nice name. I’m Daisy and this is Ben.’

They climbed the winding road that led out of town and after a few minutes reached the top of the hill, from where they could see down into another green valley, and to one of the world’s most intriguing recent archaeological discoveries.

Or at least to the ground which covered it. It lay under another hill, covered by rocky outcrops, bushes and trees. Between the two hills Daisy could see the archaeologists’ camp, comprising about a dozen small tents and two larger ones.

‘Oh no,’ said Prawn suddenly, looking back the way they had come. ‘I forgot Henry. Oh, man!’

‘Who’s Henry?’ asked Daisy. ‘Your brother?’

‘Yeah, like I care about my brother. No. Henry’s my phone. Oh, man. Like, man. Like, really, like, man! I need Henry.’ Prawn looked forlorn.

‘I don’t think you get a signal out here anyway.’

‘Yeah, I know, but, like, it’s not about getting a signal, I just like having him nearby. Like, Henry, you know. I’m not addicted or anything – Mum is, like, so wrong about that – I just like to have Henry with me at all times, like, always!’ He swallowed nervously. ‘Except, obviously, like, when I’m in the shower, when he can sit on the sink and just chill.’ Prawn sighed. ‘Oh, man.’

‘Come on,’ said Daisy, heading off down the hill. Prawn hesitated, looking anxiously back over his shoulder, then ahead to Daisy. Finally, he hurried after her.

They lost sight of the camp as the road wound down the hill through the trees. After a few minutes, Daisy could see the forest give way to a large open area at the bottom of the valley where the camp stood.

Suddenly, two figures stepped out from behind a tree. Daisy gasped. It was Sinclair and Dennis!

‘Hello, young lady,’ said Sinclair.

Daisy froze. Ben growled. Prawn waved and said, ‘Hey, dudes! Wassup?’

Dennis smiled and waved back. ‘Hi there!’

Sinclair shot him an irritated look.

‘Where did you come from?’ asked Daisy, still shocked.

Sinclair stared hard at Daisy. ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘No, you don’t. You just want to get that stone back. You don’t want to talk. You want to take.’

‘I need to explain what’s going on. You are meddling in things that you don’t understand,’ said Sinclair.

‘I don’t understand them much either,’ said Dennis with a smile.

Prawn was looking very confused. ‘Like, what … like … huh?’ he said, which didn’t really help at all, and in fact it was such a useless statement that I almost didn’t bother to write it down.

‘I understand just fine,’ said Daisy. ‘You want the stone because it’s powerful. I don’t know what you want it for, but if you’re sneaking round trying to steal it, then it can’t be anything good.’

Sinclair held his hands out. ‘Just let me explain.’

‘Have you got my mum?’

‘No.’

‘It’s true,’ added Dennis. ‘In fact, we don’t even have our own mums.’

‘Do you know where my mum is?’

‘No,’ replied Sinclair. ‘Daisy,’ he continued soothingly. ‘That’s your name, isn’t it?’ He stared intensely at her.

‘Oh no you don’t,’ said Daisy, looking away. ‘None of that hypnotism thing or whatever it is.’

‘All right,’ said Sinclair, holding up his hands. ‘But at least give me a few minutes to explain exactly what it is you have in your pocket there.’

Daisy’s hand shot to her pocket. How did he know it was there?

‘Then you can decide what to do,’ he went on. ‘That’s reasonable, isn’t it?’

Daisy looked at Ben, who slowly nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Off you go then.’

‘Not here,’ said Sinclair, ‘anyone could see us. When I explain you’ll understand. Come off the track into the forest.’

‘So you can grab me and steal the stone? Yeah, great idea.’ Daisy felt her sarcasm was definitely improving.

‘If you’re worried we’re going to steal it –’

‘You mean steal it again!’

Sinclair sighed. ‘Yes, granted. If you’re worried about that then leave it here with your dog.’

‘Ben comes with me. For protection.’

‘Will he protect me too?’ asked Dennis. ‘I’m a bit scared of forests. And woods. Is this a wood or a forest?’

Sinclair glanced over his shoulder. ‘I don’t want to stand out here in the open much longer.’

Daisy looked around, searching for inspiration. Her eyes found Prawn and she had an idea. ‘Prawn is going to mind the stone.’

‘Huh?’ said Prawn.

Daisy walked over to him. ‘Prawn, this is all very confusing, but can you do me a favour?’

‘Er, what?’

‘I just want to give you a little bag of mine to mind while I go and talk to these men for a bit.’

‘Um, sure. Why not?’

‘Good. And maybe just get off the track so no one can see you.’

Daisy pulled the bag out of her pocket and pressed it into Prawn’s hand.

‘So what is it, then?’ he asked

‘It’s just a stone, but it’s kind of an odd stone so just leave it in the bag and leave the bag in your pocket and leave your hand out of your pocket and everything will be fine.’ Daisy smiled what she hoped was her sweetest smile. ‘Okay?’

Prawn nodded. ‘Sure. Like, whatever.’

‘And if I’m not back in …’ She turned to Sinclair. ‘How long do you need?’

‘Twenty minutes.’

‘If I’m not back in twenty minutes, or you hear me scream or you hear Ben barking, then go back up the hill and then off the track and hide the stone somewhere where no one will find it. Then go home. Okay?’

Prawn looked reluctant. ‘Um …’

‘It’s really important. But we’re going to be back in a few minutes, so it’ll all be fine.’ Daisy patted him on the shoulder.

‘Young man,’ said Sinclair. ‘It really is very important that you don’t put your hand in the bag. And that you stay hidden, off the track. Come this way.’

Sinclair led them into the forest. Once he was out of sight of the track he motioned for Prawn to stop behind a very large tree. Daisy gave Prawn a last smile and then turned to follow Sinclair. Behind her she heard Prawn mutter, ‘Man, I wish Henry was here.’

Chapter 12

A SURPRISING NECK

Ben walked beside Daisy. ‘Are you sure that was a good idea?’ he whispered.

‘We didn’t have too many choices,’ replied Daisy. ‘I didn’t want to bring the stone into the forest with me. At least this means we have to come out again.’

Sinclair led the way through the trees. After a couple of minutes he stopped in a small clearing and sat down. Dennis plonked down next to him. Sinclair motioned for Daisy and Ben to sit opposite them. Daisy hesitated a moment, and then did so.

Sinclair turned to Dennis. ‘Why don’t you tell them?’

Dennis puffed up with pride. ‘Me? Really? Wow! Okay.’ He gathered himself. ‘Here’s the thing.’ He paused dramatically. ‘You two … are aliens.’

This is what Daisy thought: What the heck are you talking about? How could I possibly be an alien? I’m from this planet. I was born here, I grew up here, I’ve never even been to another country, let alone another planet. I look like a human, I am a human, and you’re an idiot.

This is what Daisy said: ‘Huh?’

Sinclair gave Dennis an irritated look. ‘What he meant was, we’re aliens.’

Dennis looked shocked. ‘No we’re not! We’re native Hankaranians. I was born in Hankarania, I grew up in Hankarania and whenever I’m not lost on the other side of the universe like I am now, I live in Hankarania, so I am not an alien. They are!’

Sinclair sighed. ‘I suppose it depends on how you look at it. To us, you two are aliens. But from your point of view, we’re aliens.’

Daisy was again thinking lots of things at the same time, but again the only sound she could manage was, ‘Huh?’

‘I’m a scientist,’ continued Sinclair. ‘From Hankarania. I study the way creatures live, both on my own planet and on other ones. We came here to study your planet’s dominant species.’

‘So what did you find out about us?’ asked Ben, trying to show that even when someone had just told him something extremely astonishing, he could still be witty.

‘Not much, until now. You can talk? We weren’t aware that dogs on this planet could talk.’

‘They can’t, mainly. It’s just me, because I’m very clev–’ Ben shot a sidelong glance at Daisy. ‘Er, well, just because I can. Anyway, enough about me. So what did you find out about the so-called dominant species?’

‘Well,’ said Sinclair, ‘ants are amazing creatures. They –’

‘Wait! Ants? Not us?’ interrupted Daisy.

‘No. Sorry.’

Daisy felt quite offended. ‘Why not us? Why do you think ants are Earth’s dominant species?’

‘Because there’re so many of them,’ said Sinclair enthusiastically, his normally stern expression gone. ‘There are seven billion humans in the world, but about ten billion billion ants. That means that for every human, there are at least a million ants.’

‘Don’t get him started. He can talk about them for weeks,’ said Dennis.

‘What about us?’ interjected Ben.

‘Dogs?’ Sinclair shook his head. ‘Sorry. Just 500 million of you. For every dog there are fourteen humans.’

‘Rats,’ Ben muttered.

‘About five billion of them. Ten rats for every dog,’ said Sinclair. ‘But back to ants. They’ve been around since you had dinosaurs, they live almost everywhere, they work together in very complex ways and, most importantly, they don’t destroy their environment. They live in harmony with it. And we think …’ He lowered his voice dramatically, ‘… that they may be able to communicate using just their minds!’

‘It’s amazing,’ said Dennis.

‘I know,’ replied Sinclair.

‘No, I mean you. You’re grumpy all the time, but as soon as you start talking about ants you get all excited.’

‘I’m only grumpy because we’re stuck on this planet. Thanks to you.’

‘Wait, wait, wait,’ said Daisy. ‘You’re aliens? And you’re here to study the ants? Of course. I should have guessed. By the way, did I tell you that I’m actually made out of ice-cream and Ben here is a door handle?’

‘I know it sounds odd,’ said Sinclair.

‘Odd!’ exclaimed Daisy. ‘No, it doesn’t sound odd. When you go out for a walk on a clear, sunny day and all of a sudden it clouds over and starts raining, that’s odd. This is beyond odd. This is unbelievable.’

‘I understand that –’ began Sinclair.

Daisy held up her hand. ‘But let’s forget how unbelievable it is. What about the stone? Why do you want it?’

Sinclair looked at Dennis and raised his eyebrows.

Dennis looked at the ground ‘Er, well, you see, I sort of … um … lost our spaceship.’

‘How do you lose a spaceship?’ asked Ben. ‘Aren’t they supposed to be sort of big?’

‘Yes, tell them how you lost it, Dennis,’ said Sinclair through gritted teeth, all the enthusiasm he had shown when talking about the ants now gone.

‘I … er … dropped it in a river,’ said Dennis sheepishly.

‘You dropped a spaceship in a river?’ said Daisy. ‘This is getting really silly now.’

‘Let me explain,’ said Sinclair. ‘The blue glowing stone you have is much more than a stone. About one hundred years ago we Hankaranians explored a planet called Dextra. At the bottom of a deep cave we found many glowing stones. Most were yellow, some were blue and a very few were red. We discovered these stones had certain powers. If you had one and you learnt how to channel its power, you could travel vast distances, and even control the minds of other creatures. The yellow ones had some power, the blue ones were stronger and the red ones were extraordinarily powerful. We immediately made sure that all the stones were heavily guarded so that their great powers could only be used in approved ways. Now we use the yellow and blue stones for many things – for transport, to generate power, even to catch and control criminals. The red ones, however, are so powerful that they are only used rarely and under strict conditions.’

‘We used a stone as our spaceship,’ said Dennis cheerfully. ‘A blue one.’

‘But how do you fit inside it?’ asked Daisy, trying to stop her overloaded and confused brain from going, Argh! I quit! From now on I’m just going to sit here and make a big, silly whooping sound.

Dennis laughed uproariously. ‘That’s a good one! How do we fit inside it? Ha!’

‘Well, how do you?’ repeated Ben.

‘You don’t,’ said Sinclair. ‘You just hold it and concentrate on where you want to go, and it takes you there.’

‘And when you want to go home, it takes you home,’ added Dennis. ‘That is, unless you drop it in a river and lose it.’

Suddenly Daisy had had enough. ‘You really expect me to believe that I should give you the stone back because you’re aliens and it’s your spaceship? I may not be as smart as an ant, but I’m not that dumb. It’s not a spaceship. It’s a stone. Come on, Ben. We’ve wasted enough time. We need to find Mum.’

She stood up and turned to go.

‘Wait!’ exclaimed Sinclair. ‘Remember what happened in your attic? My arm stretched out to grab the stone. You saw, didn’t you?’

Daisy nodded.

‘How did I do it?’

‘It was … some sort of trick. I don’t know and I don’t care. I need to find my mum.’

Sinclair turned to Dennis. ‘We’re going to have to show her.’

‘Isn’t that against the rules?’ replied Dennis.

Sinclair shrugged. ‘We have to.’ He looked at Daisy. ‘I think you should sit down.’

‘I’m fine like this, thanks,’ Daisy said, crossing her arms. ‘You’ve got fifteen seconds and then I’m going.’

‘I really think you should sit,’ said Sinclair.

Daisy didn’t move. ‘Ten seconds,’ she said (which wasn’t really fair because only three and a half seconds had passed since she had told them that they had fifteen seconds).

‘All right,’ said Sinclair. ‘You may find this slightly surprising.’

Sinclair and Dennis started to lean their heads back. As they did so their necks opened, sort of like their bodies were toothpaste tubes, and their heads were the lids. It was as if their heads had been chopped off from the front of their necks but the cut hadn’t quite gone all the way through to the back. Their heads kept tilting back until their eyes were staring directly up into the sky. Inside their necks, instead of there being veins, arteries, muscles, the top of their spines and lots of spurting blood, Daisy saw something entirely unexpected: their heads were hollow and at the top of each of their bodies was a platform. On the platform was a plain white floor on which sat a miniature bed, a miniature armchair and a miniature table. At the front of each neck-platform was a miniature desk with what looked like a tiny control panel with lots of buttons and little lights on it, and at the back of the platform were tiny cupboards and what looked like a miniature fridge. Nothing was more than a few centimetres high. At the front of each neck-platform a small blue creature sat in a chair behind the desk.

Daisy was finding it difficult to keep breathing. She felt her knees dissolve and she started to fall.

The next thing she felt was a tongue licking her face. She really hoped it was Ben’s. She opened her eyes. It was.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

She slowly sat up. Yep, there they were. Two tiny blue creatures sitting in chairs at the top of Sinclair and Dennis’s necks. She reached for her rucksack, extracted her water bottle, took a few sips and then pointed at Sinclair and Dennis and said, ‘The toothbrushes!’

‘Oh dear, she’s gone mad,’ said Ben sadly.

‘They had tiny little toothbrushes in their hotel room.’

‘Indeed. We do have teeth and dental hygiene is very important, especially when you are six billion light years away from the nearest dentist.’ The voice came from the blue creature in Sinclair’s body and sounded exactly like Sinclair’s voice. He was about as tall as Daisy’s index finger, and had three little blue legs, two little blue arms, and a head that was big when compared to the rest of his body and which appeared to have the same number of eyes, ears and mouths as Daisy and Ben. Where noses usually go he had two slits. His ears were huge. Actually they were tiny, but compared to the rest of him they were huge. Dennis looked pretty much the same. Their heads were covered in what looked like a glass or plastic bowl, and a tube ran from the bowl down to the desk. They were both dressed in green robes.

‘That’s why you smell funny!’ exclaimed Ben. ‘Because they’re not real bodies!’

‘What do you mean, funny?’ said the little blue man inside Dennis, sounding hurt.

‘Unusual. Not like other animals.’

‘We’ll have to tell the manufacturer about that,’ said Sinclair. ‘Maybe they can improve it in the next model. Anyway, I’m sorry about the shock.’

‘But it’s pretty good, isn’t it?’ said Dennis.

Daisy was more amazed than you would be if you walked into the kitchen one morning and found that your mother had grown an extra head and was playing cards with a giant block of pink cheese carved into the shape of a tiger.

‘My real name is Foznip,’ said Sinclair. ‘And Dennis is Dangfar. These human-shaped bodies are just carriers that we use here, so that we don’t attract attention. They are each powered by a yellow stone – we call them heartstones – and they operate just like normal bodies. They breathe, they grow hair, they even feel pain. And they can do a few extra things, as you saw in your attic when my arm stretched out to get the stone.’

‘Now do you believe that you really are aliens?’ asked Dennis-who-was-really-Dangfar.

Daisy tried to keep thinking rationally. It wasn’t easy. ‘So you lost your spaceship. Then what?’

‘When we lost our stone, I remembered that our people had visited your planet before and had come to this area,’ said Sinclair-who-was-really-Foznip, ‘and I wondered if they may have left some means of getting in contact with our home planet. We were on our way up here, and as we travelled through your home city, I sensed a stone nearby. I couldn’t understand why, unless there was another expedition here on your planet, but I tracked it to your house. We were on the hill behind your house when that unpleasant boy came along and I persuaded him to find out when you were going to be out.’

‘What was in those lollies you were offering him?’ asked Daisy. ‘He seemed so desperate to get more.’

Sinclair-who-was-really-Foznip smiled. ‘We always carry them with us when we go to another planet. They have a little something in them that makes some creatures want them so badly that they will do almost anything to get another one. But they only work on those who are not too clever or strong willed, so I doubt we could have used them on you. But don’t worry. They won’t have done the boy any harm.’

‘That’s a shame,’ said Daisy.

Sinclair raised his eyebrows, but Daisy couldn’t see it because his face was too small. (By the way, from now on I’m just going to call them ‘Sinclair’ and ‘Dennis’ because if I started calling them ‘Foznip’ and ‘Dangfar’ it might get confusing, and if I keep calling them ‘Sinclair-who-was-really-Foznip’ and ‘Dennis-who-was-really-Dangfar’ it would get really irritating and use up too many letters, and then we might run out of letters before we got to the end of the story, and that would be really irritating.)

‘And then you broke into our house and stole the stone.’

‘Well … yes,’ admitted Sinclair. ‘We had to. Without a stone we can’t get back to our planet.’

‘How did you get into our house?’ asked Daisy. ‘The back door wasn’t damaged at all.’

Sinclair held out his human index finger (as opposed to his tiny little blue alien index finger). ‘This finger can deal with most locks.’

‘So,’ said Daisy slowly, ‘if I give you the stone then you can go home?’

‘Indeed.’

‘But if you were able to sense and then find the stone in our attic,’ asked Ben, ‘why couldn’t you track the one you lost?’

Sinclair rubbed his chin. ‘I did track it,’ he said unhappily.

‘And …?’ prompted Daisy.

‘It’s inside a fish. Quite a large fish that swims very quickly.’

‘These stones sound very impressive,’ said Ben dryly, ‘but it does occur to me that if you’d had a real proper-sized spaceship, it would have been a lot harder for a fish to swallow it.’

‘If the blue stone you had was your only way of getting back home, why weren’t you more careful with it?’ asked Daisy.

Sinclair looked at Dennis in a less-than-friendly fashion. Dennis looked at the ground again. The ground didn’t look anywhere, because it didn’t have any eyes.

‘See, Uncle Foz never let me touch the spaceship ’cos it was so important,’ began Dennis.

‘Wait!’ interrupted Daisy. ‘He’s your uncle?’

Dennis nodded.

‘You didn’t think he was another scientist, did you?’ Sinclair snorted. ‘His mother begged me to let him come. It was supposed to be a short trip.’

‘But if he’s your nephew … why are you so mean to him?’

‘Yeah,’ said Dennis in a puzzled voice. ‘Why are you so mean to me?’

‘Because you lost our spaceship! And, to be perfectly honest, you can be quite irritating. Sorry.’

‘Is being irritating a good thing?’ asked Dennis.

Nobody answered.

Daisy turned to Sinclair. ‘If he’s your nephew, why does he call you “boss”?’

‘In our language it means “uncle”.’

Dennis continued. ‘Anyway, we were heading through the bush to find a really big ants’ nest, but I wasn’t used to this big body yet, and the track went right next to a river and I slipped and began to fall so I grabbed onto something to stop me, but it didn’t stop me because –’

‘Because the thing you grabbed was me,’ growled Sinclair.

‘Um, yeah, and I fell in the river, and so did the thing I was holding on to. You know, him.’ Dennis pointed at Sinclair.

‘And the river was flowing very fast,’ continued Sinclair none-too-happily. ‘We got washed down it and bashed against rocks and turned upside down and when we finally managed to get to the side and pull ourselves out … the stone was gone.’

‘How did you know I was coming up here?’ asked Daisy. ‘How did you find me just then?’

‘I didn’t know,’ said Dennis. ‘I had no idea. I mean, I hardly know anything.’

‘Again, I sensed the stone,’ explained Sinclair.

‘But if these glowing blue stones are so powerful, why would there have been one hidden underground where my mum found it?’ asked Daisy.

‘As I said,’ explained Sinclair, ‘a few hundred years ago others from our planet visited your planet. I don’t know why they came here but they probably left the stone in case anyone else from our planet visited and needed emergency help.’

‘But the room where my mum found it was booby-trapped. As soon as she touched the stone a metal door crashed down.’

‘Yes, of course. We need to safeguard the stones because they are so powerful. Only a Hankaranian would know how to use the stone to lift the door.’

‘What about everyone in the town? They’re walking around like zombies. Did you do that?’

‘No!’ said Sinclair. ‘We saw them too. I don’t know what happened to them, but the only thing that is powerful enough to do that to so many people is a blue stone. Or a red one, of course, but there wouldn’t be any red ones on this planet.’

‘So who would have done it?’ asked Daisy.

Sinclair shrugged. ‘I wish I knew.’

Daisy had another question. ‘How does Professor Blont fit in? Was he helping you?’

Sinclair gave Daisy a blank look. ‘I don’t know a Professor Blont. No one was helping us.’

Daisy remembered Blont’s words. It’s too dangerous! He’s too powerful! If Blont hadn’t been referring to Sinclair, who had he been referring to?

‘We mustn’t leave that boy with the stone for too long,’ said Sinclair. ‘Will you help us?’

Are they telling the truth? Daisy wondered. If they were, she should help them. But what if they weren’t? They didn’t seem to be lying, but maybe they were just very good at it. Then again, while she could imagine Sinclair being a good liar, surely Dennis would be terrible at it. And Dennis had sounded like he was telling the truth. Daisy made up her mind.

‘I … I think so. Yes,’ she said.

‘Thank you,’ said the little blue man who was Sinclair, looking relieved. ‘Let’s go, then.’

‘You should probably put your heads back on first,’ said Daisy.

‘Good idea,’ replied Sinclair.

Their heads gradually came forward and settled back onto their necks, hiding the little blue men from view. They all hurried back to the road where they found Prawn curled up under a tree where they had left him, asleep.

‘Ohhh,’ said Dennis, ‘Sweet. Little sleepy bye-byes.’

‘Prawn,’ said Daisy gently, shaking him by the shoulder.

Prawn rolled onto his side. ‘Henry, like, Henry,’ he groaned.

Daisy shook him a bit harder, the way you might shake a can of lemonade you were about to give to your sister so that when she opened it, the lemonade would spray all over her nice new shirt. ‘Prawn! Wake up!’

‘Oh, man,’ groaned Prawn. ‘Is he gone?’

‘Who?’ asked Daisy.

‘Like, the dude.’

‘What dude?’ demanded Sinclair urgently. Daisy started to get a funny feeling in her stomach.

‘Like, this dude came up the track. I hid but it was like he could see through the trees. He’s coming towards me and I’m, like, “Oh no, this is bad. Why did I forget Henry?”’

‘What could your phone have done?’ asked Daisy.

‘He could have, like, provided me with companionship and emotional support. Or I could have thrown him at the dude.’

‘Then what happened?’ prompted Daisy.

‘Then the dude came around the tree and just, like, stared at me. I tried to shout out, but I couldn’t.’

There was silence for several seconds as everyone waited for Prawn to tell them what had happened next, and Prawn didn’t.

‘Then what?!’ demanded everyone except Prawn at the same time.

‘Then you guys woke me up. That’s all I remember.’

‘The stone!’ exclaimed Sinclair. ‘Check your pocket.’

They all held their breath as Prawn patted his jeans pockets, then dug around inside them, then turned them inside out twice and then looked around on the ground near where he had been lying.

But, of course, the stone was gone.

Chapter 13

INTO THE UNDERGROUND

‘Boss,’ said Dennis, ‘I know that you sometimes think I’m not all that clever, but this is a bad thing, isn’t it?’

Sinclair put his hand on Dennis’s shoulder. ‘It’s very bad.’ He focused on Prawn. ‘What did the man look like?’

‘He was kind of, like, normal looking. Like, brown hair I think, sort of normal length, and, I don’t know, like a normal face and stuff.’

‘Very helpful,’ said Sinclair. Clearly, thought Daisy, the Hankaranians were also familiar with sarcasm.

‘What was he wearing?’ pressed Sinclair.

‘Like, pants, um … obviously. Um … and a shirt. Maybe brown … or blue. Could have been green.’

Sinclair clenched his fists and turned away.

‘Come on,’ said Daisy to Sinclair. ‘What’s the worst that can happen? If you don’t get the stone back, so what? You’re just stuck here for a while. There’re lots of ants to study. It can just be like a holiday until they send someone to rescue you.’

‘You don’t understand,’ said Sinclair, frowning. ‘These bodies that we are in protect us. They filter and treat the air so we can breathe it. But we have already been here longer than we expected and they’re running out of power. When they stop working, your air will kill us.’

‘Oh,’ said Daisy. That did rather change things. ‘How long have you got before they run out of power?’

‘I would guess about one more day,’ said Sinclair slowly.

Dennis gulped.

‘Oh,’ repeated Daisy, which she thought sounded a bit inadequate, given that Sinclair had just told her that he and Dennis might only have a day to live. But what else do you say?

‘We need to get that stone back. It can recharge our bodies and take us home,’ added Sinclair.

‘Well, we’d better find the person who took it,’ said Daisy. ‘Ben, can you pick up his scent?’

‘I can try,’ replied Ben, starting to sniff about.

‘Whoa!!’ exclaimed Prawn. ‘Did that dog really, like, talk?’

‘I did,’ said Ben.

‘He’s a talking dog,’ said Daisy calmly. ‘Accept it and move on.’

‘Wow!’ Prawn cried.

‘Hi,’ said Ben.

‘That is so awesome!’ said Prawn. ‘I love you, talking dog dude!’ He held out an open hand.

Ben reluctantly raised a paw, and Prawn slapped it with his hand.

Ben kept sniffing about and after a few moments he looked up. ‘He went thataway,’ he said, pointing a paw down the track towards the camp.

Sinclair squatted down in front of him. ‘Given that the boy has been so unhelpful with his description, is there anything you can learn about the man who took the stone from his scent?’

Ben sniffed harder at the ground. ‘One hundred and seventy-eight centimetres tall,’ he said. ‘Male, dark hair, wearing a blue cap, has a large nose, brown eyes and a six-centimetre-long scar on the outside of his left thigh. He likes windsurfing, meeting people and experimenting with chemicals that can cause explosions. Three and a half years ago a piece of tomato fell out of a sandwich that he was eating and left a faint stain on his shirt. He is the youngest of three brothers, he hates lettuce and –’

‘How can you tell all this?’ interrupted Sinclair, astonished.

‘I can’t. I was just making it up. But I am pretty sure he went thataway.’ Ben pointed a paw down the hill. ‘And he also has a really unusual scent. Kind of like yours.’

Sinclair frowned.

‘Before we go,’ said Daisy to Sinclair, ‘let’s make a deal. Ben and I will help you get the stone back, if you help us find my mum.’

Sinclair nodded. ‘Agreed.’

Ben sniffed his way back to the road and down the hill. On the way down Daisy tried to explain to Prawn what was going on and Prawn said, ‘Wow!’, ‘Awesome!’ and ‘Wow! Awesome!’ a number of times. After a few minutes they reached the bottom of the hill where the forest opened out and the road continued towards the archaeologists’ campsite. To the left was the hill under which lay the archaeological site. Just ahead of them a thin walking track diverted off the road and headed directly up the hill towards the entrance to the caves.

Ben had another sniff and then left the road and started along the track. Heading diagonally up and across the hill, they soon entered thick trees. After a few minutes the forest opened out a little, and Daisy caught glimpses of a hole in the side of the hill that was about the size of a green truck. (Actually the truck could be any colour, but I like green trucks. If you prefer red trucks, feel free to imagine that the hole was about the size of a red truck.)

The track continued up to the whatever-colour-you-like-truck-sized hole and then disappeared into it. This, Daisy knew, was the main entrance to the cave system.

‘He must have gone in there,’ she said.

‘Then we must follow,’ replied Sinclair.

‘One problem,’ said Daisy. ‘Look.’ Standing on either side of the cave entrance was a man. Each wore a vacant expression and held a lump of wood that looked like it could be used to hit someone very hard in the head.

‘They’re guarding the entrance,’ whispered Sinclair.

‘Really?’ replied Daisy, cranking up the sarcasm again, ‘I thought they were buying a fridge.’ She felt she was really getting the hang of it now. ‘Come on, follow me. There’s another way in.’

Daisy headed off the track straight uphill through some trees. The best bit of her not-very-good holiday in Gloomy Gulch had been when her mum had taken her to the archaeological site. They had gone a little way inside the main entrance of the caves, but not too far because people under eighteen weren’t allowed in. Her mum had then taken her on a tour of the camp and the hillside, and pointed out another entrance to the caves that hardly anybody else knew about. That was where Daisy was now heading.

After she had taken just a few steps, she heard a car. She ducked down behind the trees and motioned for everyone to do the same. The noise got louder and then a white car whizzed along the road towards the campsite. Daisy got a fleeting glimpse of the driver. He was large, had thinning blond hair and looked a lot like Professor Trevor Blont. What was he doing here?!

‘Come on,’ she said, and continued up the hill. There were still enough trees to give them cover. Soon they passed a big clump of rocks and above it Daisy turned right. They were quite a bit higher than the cave’s main entrance now. Several bushes and rocks were between them and the entry, which meant that even if they were looking, the guards wouldn’t have been able to see them. And of course, if they weren’t looking, they wouldn’t have been able to see them either.

Ahead lay another rocky outcrop, almost directly above the cave’s main entrance. Daisy pulled herself through a narrow gap between two tall rocks onto a long flat rock that, if found by the side of a river, would have been just the right shape to skim across the water. It was not, however, the right size to skim across the water, being about five hundred times too big.

Standing on the rock, Daisy would have had a magnificent view back over the valley if she had been looking that way. However she was staring at a narrow hole at the level of her feet between the rock she stood on and the one that rose vertically behind it.

She turned back to the others. ‘I’ve found the entrance.’

They all clambered onto the large flat rock.

Sinclair took Daisy’s elbow. ‘I suppose there’s no point telling you that it could be dangerous down there, and that you should stay up here.’

Daisy shook her head. ‘You could try telling Dennis that. I think he’s more likely to get hurt than me. And I’ll try to persuade Prawn.’

She went over to him. ‘Prawn, I’m looking for my mum. These guys are looking for their stone. You don’t have to come. Maybe it’d be better if you went home … to Henry.’

‘Dude, do you, like, know what happens in Doomfinder 4?’

‘You shoot orcs?’

‘Duh! And do you know where you shoot them? Underground! It’s an underground adventure that is, like, so brutally awesome. And now, we’re going on a real underground adventure.’ His eyes blazed with excitement. ‘I am, like, so in! Plus, you know, I should try to find my dad. And also it’s kind of my fault that they, like, lost their rock thing.’

‘Okay,’ said Daisy. She’d tried to warn him, so at least now if something horrible did happen to him, it wasn’t her fault.

‘I’ll go first,’ said Sinclair. He eased himself down into the hole, and then ducked his head through and disappeared.

‘It’s all right,’ he called up. ‘You come next, Dennis.’

‘Yes, boss.’

Dennis let himself down into the hole until only his head was visible.

‘Be careful,’ called Sinclair. ‘Mind you don’t bump your he–’

‘Oww!’ cried Dennis. ‘I bumped my head!’

‘Be quiet!’ hissed Daisy.

‘But my head got ouched! Oww! I should have worn a bicycle helmet! But I don’t even have a bicycle.’ He looked down into the hole. ‘Why didn’t you warn me?’

‘I did,’ said Sinclair from inside the hole.

‘No, you didn’t. You said “Mind you don’t bump your he–”. I don’t know what a “he–” is. You should have said “head”.’

‘Just get in the hole,’ said Sinclair.

Dennis rubbed his head vigorously and then slowly disappeared into the hole. Prawn was next, and then Ben went feet first as far as he could and then leapt into the darkness. Finally, Daisy eased her legs down, ducked her head and entered the underground world.

She could see the others clustered together looking up at her. She found a foothold and eased herself down onto the ground. They were in a small, muddy chamber about the size of her bedroom. All Daisy could see were her companions and dried mud. Muddy walls, muddy ceiling, muddy floor, muddy mud.

Except that it wasn’t mud. Her mother had told her it was bat poo that had built up over hundreds of years. But it felt, and more importantly smelt, like mud.

Daisy saw a narrow, low passage leading out of one corner of the cave. ‘If we follow this it should link up with the rest of the cave,’ she said. ‘Oh no! Problem. No light.’

There was a click and suddenly a blue light glowed out of Sinclair’s forehead. A second later Dennis’s forehead started to glow too.

‘Whoa!’ exclaimed Prawn. ‘I so wish I could do that!’

‘Nice feature, isn’t it?’ said Dennis proudly. ‘Well done, my body!’

The lights didn’t exactly flood the chamber, but if they stuck close to each other they would be able to see where they were going. Sinclair knelt down and crawled into the passage followed by Ben, Daisy, Prawn and finally Dennis. The passage sloped gently downwards, and the bat poo was soft and easy to crawl on. Soon the roof got higher and they were able to stand, but the passage remained narrow enough to force them to stay in single file.

‘Hey, like, Daisy,’ whispered Prawn nervously.

‘What?’

‘I’m, er, like, not scared at all. Like, definitely not,’ he said, his voice quivering slightly. ‘Just wanted to say.’

‘That’s good, Prawn,’ said Daisy.

‘Yeah, but, like, I was wondering if maybe, like, you are? ’Cos you’re, like, younger than me and all.’

‘I’m fine, thanks.’

‘Oh. Okay then.’

Actually, Daisy was scared. She just didn’t want to admit it. Up ahead, Sinclair stopped. Ben and Daisy stopped just behind him. Prawn bumped into Daisy. Dennis bumped into Prawn.

‘There’s light ahead,’ whispered Sinclair. ‘Stay here. I’ll investigate.’

‘Wait!’ whispered Daisy. ‘Let me and Ben go. I’m the smallest, so I’m less likely to be seen. And Ben might smell something.’

Sinclair looked hard at her and then nodded.

Chapter 14

EVIL IS FUN

Daisy edged past Sinclair and crept forward, Ben behind her. There was a dull glow up ahead that provided just enough light for her to make out where she was going. She rounded a corner and a little way ahead she could see that the passage opened out into a bigger chamber, from where she could hear voices.

She knelt down and crawled forward cautiously along the passage, until she could spy into the larger chamber. The passage was about halfway up the chamber’s wall, about three metres above the ground. The chamber was about twice as big as a school classroom, and had four passages leading off it. Below, the wall sloped down to ground level, gently enough to allow Daisy to climb down. But that might not be a good idea. The chamber contained two folding chairs, eight blow-up mattresses, several piles of bags and what looked like several people sitting on the floor around its edges, but it was hard to tell because the only light came from a single lantern that stood in the middle of the floor.

The only person Daisy could see clearly sat on one of the chairs next to the lantern. He had shoulder-length brown wavy hair, a purple shirt and grey pants, but that was all Daisy could see of him because he had his back to her. However, she could see that he was holding a glowing blue stone out in front of him.

‘All right, my vacant, glassy-eyed friends,’ said the man to the others, ‘and when I say “friends”, I really mean “slaves”, of course. Chop, chop, we must get back to work. And when I say “we”, I really mean “you”. There’s a red stone down here somewhere and you need to find it and bring it to me.’

Daisy’s ears pricked up at the mention of the words ‘red’ and ‘stone’. That was the type Sinclair had said was super-rare and super-powerful.

‘So,’ continued the man, ‘when you hear the words “Evil is fun”, you will go and search for it! All right! Evil is … wait!’ The man cocked his head as if listening, and then closed his hand around the stone and put it in his pocket.

Daisy heard footsteps approaching and a moment later a large-in-a-round-way-not-in-a-tall-way figure supporting himself with a cane limped into the chamber from the right-hand tunnel. Daisy recognised him immediately. Blont!

‘Mister Gamion, I have news,’ Blont panted.

‘Couldn’t you have texted?’ said the-man-who-Daisy-now-realised-was-called-Gamion coldly.

‘I … I thought it best to come in person,’ wheezed Blont. ‘Someone brought me a stone!’

Gamion turned and peered closely at Blont, allowing Daisy to get a better look at him. Gamion had a long sharp nose, a thin face and lips that looked more like lines than lips. His eyes were small, sharp and intense.

‘You? How? What colour?’ he demanded.

‘Yes, me. A girl came to see me at the university. Blue,’ replied Blont, managing to answer all three questions in the right order.

Daisy realised that the girl Blont was referring to was, of course, her.

Gamion jumped to his feet, suddenly friendly. ‘Well, my very good friend, have a seat.’ He helped Blont sit down in the folding chair next to him and then sat beside him. He gave a little giggle and held out his hand. ‘Let’s have it then.’

‘The thing is, um, the girl … I had it but … she got it back.’

‘She got it …?! How old was this girl?’

‘Nearly grown up, and quite big.’

You fibber, thought Daisy.

Gamion stared hard at Blont, who quickly looked at the ground. ‘Maybe she’s only about twelve,’ he said. Blont gestured at his right leg. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t move properly. But I think she’s coming here.’

‘Here?! With the stone?’

‘Yes. She said she wanted to find her mum and give it back to her, and her mum is Jackie Malone, one of the archaeologists.’

‘Ah. Then I think I already have it,’ said Gamion. ‘I sensed a stone approaching, and did a bit of spying. The girl gave the stone to a boy and left him sitting in the forest with it. It was almost too easy for me! Here it is!’

Gamion held the stone up in front of Blont, who stared at it as if mesmerised.

Daisy, listening intently from her hiding place, remembered what Blont had called out as she fled his room: He’s too powerful. Was this the ‘he’ Blont had been referring to?

After a few moments Blont shook his head from side to side and continued. ‘But there is other news. Not so good. The girl told me that there are two other men looking for the stone. They call themselves Sinclair and Dennis.’

‘I see,’ said Gamion, putting the blue stone back in his pocket. ‘We’d better watch out, then. But soon I’ll have the red stone and then I won’t have to worry about them or the people who want to put me back in gaol or anything ever again.’

‘And if you get the red one, will you be able to … you know?’ Blont gulped and gestured at his leg again.

‘… teleport myself to the intergalactic council meeting, punish them all for cruelly and unjustly imprisoning me, and then replace them and become the ruler of the universe? Yes, I will! Is that what you were going to ask?’

Blont looked confused.

‘No, it wasn’t, was it? You were going to ask me something else,’ continued Gamion in the sort of slow, superior, patronising tone that adults who aren’t very good at talking to children use when they say things like, ‘Would you like a little chippy-whippy? Would that be nicey-wicey?’

‘You were going to ask me if I could fix your poor leg, weren’t you?’ continued Gamion. ‘You want to know if, when I get the red stone and become the most powerful being in the entire universe, I will spend some of my precious time fixing your leg.’

‘Well, that was what we agreed …’ Blont began nervously.

Gamion brightened. ‘Indeed it was! We did agree that, didn’t we? And of course I will do it.’

‘In fact,’ continued Blont, ‘I was wondering if perhaps now that you have two of those blue stones, perhaps you might be able to do it now?’ Blont smiled hopefully.

‘Yes, you’re right. I do have two blue stones. The one I got from the boy, and the one I stole when I escaped from gaol. So I bet I could fix your leg now! Of course I could! I could do it eeeeeasily. It would just take a few seconds. It would be simple!’

Blont’s eyes widened. ‘I can’t believe it. I’ve waited so long.’

Gamion’s expression suddenly changed into one of great seriousness. ‘But, alas, no.’

‘No? Why?’ Blont sounded like a child who’d just been told that he couldn’t have the lolly his parents had been promising him all day.

‘I just don’t feel like it.’ Gamion shrugged and smiled hugely, and then looked pretend-sad. ‘What a shame.’

Blont’s face fell into his boots. Daisy thought he might start to cry. ‘But please …’

‘Oh, don’t get all sad and pathetic!’ snapped Gamion. ‘That would be so irritating. I’m changing the subject now because we seem to have spent the last few seconds talking about you and not me, and that’s boring.’

Blont started to say something but Gamion held up his hand. ‘Silence! Or I’ll use the stones to turn you into a zucchini. I need to focus on finding the red one.’

Daisy decided that of all the people she had come across in the last few days, Gamion was definitely the most unpleasant.

Gamion stared off into the distance for a few seconds and then held up his hand again and whirled around to face Blont. ‘Don’t say it. I know what you’re thinking. “If Gamion’s such a genius, why doesn’t he know exactly where the red stone is?” Good question. No wonder you’re a professor! Here’s the answer. Something about being underground makes it hard for me to hone in on the stone’s exact location. Remember, even Einstein didn’t know everything. Why, he only discovered what a sausage was when he was forty-five and a half years old.’

‘Is that true?’

‘No, but you can see the point I’m trying to make.’

‘Can I?’

‘Yes. The point is that we’re always learning. I don’t know exactly where the stone is, but I know it’s close. And, with the help of my nice obedient friends here …’

‘They’re only nice and obedient because you’ve hypnotised them,’ said Blont sulkily.

‘True, but that makes it sound like I’m a cruel and mean person, and you don’t think that.’ Gamion stared so hard at him that Daisy thought Blont’s head might bruise. ‘Do you?’

‘N … no,’ said Blont slowly, in a way that made Daisy sure that what he really wanted to say was ‘Y … yes’.

‘So how do we find that stone?’ asked Gamion, still staring intently at Blont.

‘Well, perhaps we could …’ began Blont.

Gamion raised his index finger and waved it from side to side. ‘Uh-uh. I’m the genius, remember, not you! My job is to have ideas and yours is to sit there and be impressed by how clever they are. We must just keep searching. Or at least,’ he gestured at the others in the chamber, ‘they must.’

‘By the way, your … er, helpers.’ Blont gestured at the six people who continued to sit on the floor. Not one of them had moved or reacted in any way during the conversation. ‘When you get the red stone, you will let them go, won’t you? Like you said you would.’

There was a long pause and then Gamion smiled, but it was a dangerous smile. ‘My friend, do you think I would lie to you? Is that what you think?’

‘No … no, of course not.’

Gamion looked hard at Blont. ‘That’s good, because if you did think that, then I would be very upset.’ He held the look a few moments longer and then turned back to the six others. ‘Let’s get them going again.’ He pulled a glowing blue stone from his pocket and held it up. ‘Up! Up! Up! Go searching, my pretties! Into those tunnels and look, look, look for the red stone. Remember, evil is fun! Go!’

Slowly the six hypnotised people climbed to their feet and began to shuffle towards the corridors that led out of the chamber with the same slow-motion walk Daisy had seen in the people of Gloomy Gulch. As one of them passed close to the lantern Daisy put her hand to her mouth to stop herself crying out.

It was her mum!

Chapter 15

SAD, NOT BAD

Daisy returned to the others and they all retreated back to the small chamber where they had first entered the cave system. Daisy, still in shock at seeing her mother, shared what she had seen and heard.

‘Gamion!’ exclaimed Sinclair when she had finished.

‘You know him?’ asked Daisy.

Sinclair shook his head. ‘I don’t know him, but everyone in the universe knows who he is.’

‘Even I know,’ added Dennis. ‘He’s a super big, bad criminal guy.’

‘He’s from the planet Landania,’ explained Sinclair. ‘A few years ago he stood for election to the intergalactic council. Basically, they run the universe. He lost. Soon after, he stole an intergalactic trading ship and became a space pirate, and gradually amassed weapons and wealth. Then he tried to take over the council by force. Eventually he was defeated, captured and sent to gaol. He must have escaped and from the sounds of it, he somehow got hold of a blue stone. They would have had one at the gaol to control the prisoners. Maybe it’s that one, or maybe he somehow had one smuggled into him. Anyway, once Gamion had one, he could have used it to travel here.’

‘Why would he want to come here?’ asked Dennis. ‘Is he interested in ants, too?’

‘I very much doubt it. It seems that he thinks there is a red stone somewhere in this cave system. Let me try and find out if he is right. Everyone be quiet for a moment.’ Sinclair closed his eyes.

‘What are you doing, boss?’ asked Dennis. ‘This is no time for a nap. Even I know that. And even if it was time for a nap, shouldn’t you at least lie down first? Sleeping standing up is hard. I think only cows can sleep standing up, boss, and you’re definitely not a cow. I thought you’d know that, being a scientist and all.’

‘Shhh. I’m concentrating!’

‘What’s “concentrating”?’ asked Dennis.

‘Be quiet!’ hissed Sinclair.

Sinclair kept doing nothing as the others watched him. Then his eyes jumped open. ‘I can sense another stone down here, perhaps a red one. But, like Gamion, I am not sure exactly where it is.’ He pushed his hands together as if he had started to clap but had only got as far as the first one.

‘What will happen if Gamion gets it?’ asked Daisy.

‘Red stones are incredibly powerful,’ said Sinclair solemnly. ‘We use them to provide power to a whole planet, or to heal the sick. No individual is ever allowed to have one unsupervised. It’s too dangerous. If Gamion gets hold of one, he will be able to do almost anything he wants.’

‘He said he wanted to take over the intergalactic council,’ said Daisy.

‘With a red stone, he could,’ replied Sinclair. ‘And if he does, then the entire universe will be in danger.’

‘Which means, I’m guessing, that someone is about to say something dramatic like, “We must stop him”,’ said Ben softly.

Sinclair rubbed his chin. ‘But why would there be a red stone here?’

‘Are you asking me that?’ asked Dennis uncertainly. ‘’Cos if you are, my answer is “Dunno”. And I’m pretty sure Daisy and Ben and Prawn don’t know either.’

‘What about my mum?’ asked Daisy. ‘How did she and all the others get hypnotised?’

‘Gamion must have done that with the blue stone,’ explained Sinclair.

‘So, how do we un-hypnotise them?’ asked Daisy.

‘If they have been hypnotised by a blue stone, then they can only be released by either a blue or a red stone,’ said Sinclair.

Dennis rubbed his head. ‘Why do people like Gamion do bad things, boss?’

‘It’s a complex question. But we must stop him,’ said Sinclair.

‘Bingo,’ said Ben.

Sinclair ignored him. ‘Our heartstones are running down, so we have to do it fast. Before …’ He looked at Dennis and trailed off.

‘Oh, yeah. Before we die,’ said Dennis.

‘Then let’s do it!’ exclaimed Prawn, leaping to his feet. ‘Let’s blast ’em! Let’s smash ’em! Where’s my doom gun and my laser grenades?’

‘Prawn,’ said Daisy gently. ‘They’re things from your game, aren’t they?’

Prawn looked at Daisy. ‘Oh, yeah, like, that’s right. Sorry, it’s just sometimes I, like, get a bit mixed up.’

‘We need a plan,’ said Sinclair. ‘We need to be clever in working it out, and courageous and skilful in implementing it.’

Dennis gulped. ‘I should leave then.’

‘No,’ said Daisy. ‘We need everyone.’

‘Even me?’ asked Dennis.

Daisy smiled. ‘Especially you.’

They approached the main chamber quietly. Daisy crawled forward to the end of the passage and looked over the edge. The only person in the chamber was Professor Blont. He was sitting in one of the chairs, dozing. Daisy retraced her steps to the others.

‘It’s just Blont. He’s half asleep. Go get him, Dennis.’

Dennis licked his lips and then moved forward. He had practised the shuffling walk of the hypnotised until he was quite good at it, and of course the vacant facial expression came naturally to him. Making no attempt to hide himself, he emerged from the passage and climbed down the wall into the chamber. As Dennis reached the floor Blont stirred and twisted his neck to look at him. ‘Huh? Who are you? Oh, one of them. Well, off you go then, keep searching. Wait a minute. You couldn’t find me a few cream buns from somewhere, could you?’

Dennis kept walking towards Blont.

‘Er, all right, no need to get too close.’ Blont, still sitting down, grabbed his cane and tried to fend Dennis off, but it was too late. Dennis leant forward and grabbed Blont’s shoulders from behind, pinning him to the chair.

Blont squirmed. ‘Let me go!’

As usual when someone says that, the person holding them did not let them go.

‘Make as much noise as you can,’ said Dennis sternly to Blont.

‘No, Dennis,’ called Daisy from the passage above. ‘Tell him not to make any noise. Remember?’

‘Oh, rats!’ exclaimed Dennis. ‘I was going so well until then. Like she said. No noise!’

Daisy hurried down to the floor of the chamber, followed by Ben and the others. They surrounded Blont.

‘Daisy! You are here,’ said Blont, stating the extremely obvious.

‘Where’s Gamion?’ demanded Daisy.

Blont gestured towards the passages leading off the chamber. ‘Down there somewhere. By the way, you don’t happen to have a cream b–’

‘No, we don’t,’ interrupted Daisy. ‘We want you to tell us what’s going on.’

Blont swallowed. ‘Going on? What do you mean?’ he said innocently, but in that way that sounds really guilty (like when you’re playing a computer game and your mum asks you if you have done all your homework and you say, ‘Yes, of course,’ even though the true answer is ‘No, none of it.’ That voice.)

Daisy noticed that even though it was quite cool, Blont was sweating. She suspected Blont was about as brave as a mouse (no offence, mice, but you do run away every time a leaf falls off a tree) and that a little pressure may cause him to tell a bit more of the truth.

Dennis was still standing behind Blont with his hands on his shoulders. ‘Dennis, why don’t you give Professor Blont’s ears a little tug?’ suggested Daisy.

Dennis looked confused. ‘Why would I do that, Daisy?’

‘Because Professor Blont didn’t give a very good answer to the question I asked him. Maybe he didn’t hear it very well. So maybe if you grab his ears and pull them out from his head quite hard, he might hear it a bit better.’

‘But wouldn’t that hurt him?’

‘Yes,’ said Daisy, looking Blont in the eye. ‘It might hurt him quite a bit. Someone pulled my ears once and it hurt quite a bit.’

It is important to understand at this point that Daisy was by no means a cruel person. In normal circumstances she would never willingly torture another living creature. But her mother was hypnotised, it was clear Gamion was up to something evil, and Daisy was hungry, tired, anxious and very eager to get whatever information Blont had out of him as quickly as possible. And she was pretty sure it wouldn’t take much for Blont to crack.

Dennis looked questioningly at Sinclair, who nodded. Dennis grabbed Blont’s ears and began to pull them up and out from his body so that Blont started to look like a large, overweight elf.

‘Oww! Stop!’ cried Blont. ‘All right! I’ll tell you!’

Daisy put her hand up. Dennis released Blont’s ears.

‘I’m not a cruel man,’ Dennis said, ‘but that was quite fun. Does that make me evil?’

Daisy didn’t think there was time to get into a complicated discussion about the nature of evil, so she didn’t. Luckily, Dennis didn’t have the type of mind that would get stuck on the question of whether he was evil or not and have it whirl round and round his head for hours, days and weeks. In fact, it only took six and a half seconds for him to forget about it entirely and to instead start wondering about what they were going to have for lunch and when they were going to have it.

‘So, what’s going on?’ repeated Daisy.

Blont swallowed. ‘You won’t tell him I told you?’

Daisy shook her head, without thinking about whether she really meant it or not.

‘He came to my office a few weeks ago,’ said Blont. ‘He said he was looking for a red glowing stone and thought there might be one at our Gloomy Gulch archaeological site.’

‘And you’re helping him find it?’ accused Daisy angrily. ‘Why? My mum trusted you!’

Blont looked at the ground. ‘He said he would fix my leg,’ he said softly.

There was silence, and then Dennis said, ‘Huh?’

Blont let out a long breath. ‘One evening when I was fourteen I was running home from soccer practice in the rain. A car sped around the corner and hit me.’ He gestured down at his right leg. ‘I’ve had seven operations on it, and it still doesn’t work properly.’

‘That’s so sad,’ said Dennis. ‘I’m sorry I pulled your ears.’

Blont sighed. ‘Don’t be. He offered me all the usuals as well.’

‘What do you mean, “the usuals”?’ asked Daisy.

‘You know, power, money, space travel, unlimited cream buns … all that stuff. He said all I had to do was help him find the red stone and he would give me whatever I wanted.’ Blont looked at the ground. ‘I said yes.’

‘I feel a bit better about pulling your ears now,’ said Dennis.

Blont balled his hands into fists. ‘I knew Gamion was up to no good, but I helped him. I told him all about this site and gave him maps and lots of other information. And when you came to me for help, Daisy, despite the fact that your mother has been a good and true friend to me for a long time, I … I tried to take the blue stone from you. I thought I might be able to use it myself to fix my leg. I’m sorry.’

There was a pause as everyone except Dennis wondered whether they were supposed to feel sorry for Blont.

‘What’s for lunch?’ asked Dennis.

They all stared at him.

‘What?’ he asked innocently, rubbing his tummy.

‘I still don’t understand why there’s a red stone down here,’ said Sinclair.

‘We mightn’t know the answers to all the “whys”,’ said Daisy, ‘but we know what we have to do if we want to help my mum and recharge your heartstones: we have to get at least one of the blue stones back from Gamion, or get the red stone before he does, or both. So, Professor Blont, which passage did Gamion go down?’

Blont pointed towards the left-hand passage.

‘Let’s go,’ said Daisy. She turned to Blont. ‘As for you …’ Daisy paused. She had been about to tell him that he was a no-good dirty-tricking rotten-egg double-crossing meany, but he looked so wretchedly pitiful already that she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Blont wasn’t really bad. He was just sad.

‘Look, I’m sorry about your leg,’ she said, ‘but you did the wrong thing and now my mum is in trouble, and we have to help her. I think you should just get out of here as quickly as you can.’

Blont looked down. ‘I’m sorry.’ He took a deep breath and heaved himself to his feet. ‘I really am.’

‘Good,’ said Daisy. ‘Now go.’

‘Wait!’ said Dennis. ‘Could I just pull his ears one more time? Pleeassse?’

Chapter 16

DEEPER DOWN

Daisy, Ben, Sinclair, Dennis and Prawn made their way cautiously down the left-hand passage in search of Gamion. Daisy noticed that even though they were not walking fast, both Dennis and Sinclair were breathing heavily and struggling to keep up. Their bodies must be running out of energy. She wondered how long they had left.

Daisy was pretty sure that Blont had told them everything he knew, and that now he just wanted to go home, lie in the bath and stuff himself full of as many cream buns as he could. (And that’s one reason baths are so much better than showers. You can’t stuff yourself full of cream buns in the shower. They go all soggy.)

Soon they reached a junction where the passage divided into two. Ben sniffed about.

‘Gamion’s scent is down both passages. I’m not sure which is more recent.’

‘We’ll have to split up,’ said Sinclair.

‘You mean we should cut ourselves in half, boss?’ asked Dennis. ‘How’s that going to help?’

Sinclair rolled his eyes. ‘No. We have to split into two groups.’

Daisy didn’t like the idea. ‘If there are fewer of us, it’ll be more dangerous for whoever finds him.’

‘It’s already dangerous,’ replied Sinclair. ‘And we need to find him as fast as we can.’ He glanced at Dennis. ‘Our power is diminishing. I won’t be able to think clearly for too much longer, and I don’t think Dennis ever does.’

He looked around the group. ‘Dennis and I have lights so, Prawn, you come with me. Ben and Daisy, you go with Dennis.’

Without anyone needing to say it, they all realised that it would not have been a good idea to team Dennis and Prawn up together. Even Prawn and Dennis realised that.

‘Good luck,’ said Sinclair, and without any further ado (because there had been far too much adoing already) he trudged off slowly down the right-hand passage, Prawn close behind him.

Daisy, Ben and Dennis crept cautiously along the left-hand passage. It wound to the left and then back to the right, sloping gently downwards.

After they had been going a few minutes Ben froze. ‘Shhh,’ he hissed, staring down the passageway, ears bent forward. ‘Footsteps coming this way.’

‘Let’s go back,’ said Daisy.

‘Wait,’ said Ben. ‘The footsteps are slow. It’s one of the hypnotised.’

They pressed themselves against the side of the passage. Daisy turned to Dennis and patted her forehead, meaning for Dennis to turn off his head light.

‘Do you have a sore head, Daisy?’ asked Dennis loudly.

‘Shh!’ said Daisy. ‘Turn your light off. Something’s up ahead.’

‘Oh. Why didn’t you say so?’ Dennis turned off the light.

A few moments later, a big man holding a torch walked slowly past, his eyes staring straight ahead.

Soon, they came to a chamber that was about twice the size of Daisy’s bedroom. It also looked almost exactly like Daisy’s bedroom, except with all the furniture removed and the walls, ceiling and roof covered with bat poo. And with four hypnotised people with picks and shovels digging up the floor.

The hypnotised people ignored them so, after checking to see that none of them had actually found the red stone, Daisy ignored them back and continued on. After a few minutes Ben again motioned them to be quiet, and pointed a paw ahead. Daisy motioned to Dennis to turn off his light, and this time he understood.

They crept on slowly until they saw the passage open out into yet another chamber. Daisy heard a male voice. Gamion!

They approached as near to the entrance as they dared. Inside the chamber were two figures. A woman was on her knees near the far wall, pulling up stones from the floor. A torch lay by her side, lighting the area where she worked. She was turned three-quarters away from Daisy, but Daisy could see enough to know that it was her mother. Gamion stood over her menacingly.

‘It just occurred to me,’ Gamion was saying, ‘that if, as Blont said, your daughter had a blue stone, then surely she must have got it from you. So if you managed to find a blue stone, perhaps you know something about where the red one is.’ He looked hard at her.

Jackie Malone continued digging, expressionless.

Gamion pulled a blue stone from his pocket and held it in front of him.

‘Look at me,’ he commanded. Jackie Malone slowly turned to face him. He stared into her eyes. ‘Tell me what you know about the stones.’

Jackie Malone’s eyes flickered and her jaw clenched. Her mouth opened and then snapped shut again. She looked as if one half of her wanted to speak, while the other half was trying to stop herself from doing so.

‘My goodness, you have a strong will!’ said Gamion. ‘You know something, but you’re stopping yourself from telling me. Well done, you!’

Gamion put the stone back in his pocket and pulled a knife from his belt. ‘But I shall win. Sometimes the old methods are best, yes? You see, everyone has a pain threshold. Some can bear a lot of pain, some can only bear a little. But whatever a person’s pain threshold is, if you take them beyond it, they will do anything to make the pain stop. Now, I don’t know if your pain threshold is low or high, but sooner or later we will reach it, and when we do, you will tell me what you know.’

Gamion raised the knife.

Instinctively Daisy jumped forward into the chamber. ‘Stop!’ she shouted.

Gamion whirled around, still holding the knife threateningly close to Jackie Malone. ‘Aha,’ he said. ‘I think I know who you are. You’re the girl who had the stone, aren’t you?’ He pointed the knife at Jackie Malone. ‘Her daughter.’

He brought the knife closer to Jackie Malone’s neck. ‘You stay there, little girl. See, if you come any closer you might give me a shock and the knife might slip, and that might be bad for your mother.’ He turned his attention to Jackie Malone. ‘Let me ask you again. What do you know about the stone?’

Jackie Malone stared at the knife, saying nothing.

‘Hmmm,’ said Gamion. ‘A very strong will. Let’s try another way.’ He turned back to Daisy. ‘Come here!’

Daisy hesitated. Gamion brought the knife closer to her mother. ‘I think I might be about to slip.’

‘All right!’ Daisy walked across the chamber to Gamion. He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her towards him and brought the knife close to her chest. Ben started forward, barking ferociously.

‘Call him off!’ demanded Gamion, raising the knife.

‘Ben! Down!’ called Daisy. Ben fell silent and pawed the ground in frustration.

Gamion peered closely at Daisy. In all the stories Daisy had read where something like this happened, the bad guy’s breath always smelt stinky. Surprisingly Gamion’s didn’t, but Daisy was still pretty sure that he was a bad guy.

Gamion brought the knife close to Daisy’s face. ‘It’s sharp, you know.’

‘Obviously. It’s a knife, not a pancake,’ replied Daisy, who, despite her fear, was still able to feel a flicker of pride at her ability to be a smart alec under pressure.

Gamion turned back to Jackie Malone. ‘Again! Where is the red stone?’ he demanded.

Gamion tightened his grip on Daisy’s arm and slowly brought the knife closer to her chest. Daisy swallowed. Very serious pain might be only seconds away.

Jackie Malone’s jaw clenched and unclenched and then she raised her arm and pointed down the passage that led out of the far end of the chamber.

‘That way,’ she said tonelessly. She spoke as if in a kind of trance (because she was in a kind of trance). ‘The passage goes deep and ends at a natural cave. Another passage leads out of the left-hand side of the cave. It goes to the stone.’

‘Thank you,’ said Gamion. ‘But how do you know?’

‘When I found the blue stone, it drew me that way,’ continued Jackie Malone tonelessly. ‘I didn’t go all the way but I’m sure it’s that way.’

Keeping the knife close to Daisy, Gamion let go of her arm and again pulled out a blue stone. He held it in front of Jackie Malone’s eyes and stared deeply into them for several moments. ‘You’re telling the truth!’ he said. ‘Just as well!’

He continued to stare intently at Jackie Malone. The stone seemed to glow brighter. Jackie Malone took a step backwards and then her knees gave way. She crumpled to the ground.

Daisy cried out. Gamion grabbed her firmly by the upper arm again and pointed the stone at Ben. ‘Goodnight, dog,’ he said. Ben, too, collapsed onto his side. ‘That’s better,’ said Gamion happily. ‘I hate dogs. They’re so friendly!’

He turned to Daisy and pointed the stone at her. ‘I’m getting quite good at this, aren’t I? Before I put you to sleep, there’s something I need to know.’

Suddenly, Daisy felt very heavy, as if she had spent the last few hours continuously stuffing herself with Blont’s cream buns. She tried to back away but found she couldn’t move.

‘Who are those two men?’ asked Gamion. ‘Sinclair and Dennis. Are they Hankaranians? Are they after the red stone? Or are they after me?’

Daisy felt an overwhelming desire to tell Gamion everything she knew about Sinclair and Dennis, but she tried to fight it and stop the words from coming out her mouth. Gamion held the stone in one hand and his knife in the other and looked back and forth from one to the other. ‘Let’s see. Which should I use to persuade you to tell me: the knife or the stone? Or both? I’m good with the stone – we all know that – but let’s see if I’ve worked out how to use this knife properly. Will you do me a favour? Tell me if this hurts. You don’t have to use words. A scream will do.’

He pricked Daisy’s upper arm. Daisy felt a stab of pain. She wanted to cry out but bit her lip to stop herself. A thin trickle of blood wormed its way down her arm.

‘Is that a yes or a no?’ asked Gamion. ‘Or shall I just have another go?’

He raised the knife. Its blade caught the light and glittered the way only very sharp blades do. He moved it towards her arm. Daisy tried to pull away but she was frozen in place.

Suddenly a noise came from behind her, and a human-shaped blur leapt past her at Gamion. The blur and Gamion fell to the ground in a tangle of arms, legs, necks and livers, although you couldn’t see much of the necks and nothing at all of the livers.

The stone Gamion had been holding went flying across the chamber. Suddenly Daisy could move again. Gamion unleashed a furious right hook – a punch, that is, not a pirate hand – catching whoever the other person was in the face.

As the person flew backwards, Daisy saw their face and got the biggest shock of her life. It was her dad! Gamion scrambled to his feet, looking around wildly for the stone. Daisy dived across the room towards it. She landed on her front, stretched out her hand and grabbed it. A second later, Gamion’s hand closed around her wrist. ‘Give that to me!’ he hissed. ‘Or. I. Will. Kill. You. All.’

He crushed Daisy’s wrist until her fingers opened and the stone fell to the ground. Gamion picked it up and backed towards the passageway.

‘Very good,’ he panted, staring at Brian Malone. ‘Great effort, whoever you are. We’ve only just met, and already I don’t like you. But after all that, I still have two blue stones and I know where the red one is. And you have … what exactly? Oh, that’s right. Nothing. So who do you think is winning?’

At that moment there was a noise from the passage behind them and Trevor Blont ran-limped into the chamber. He stopped in the middle of the cave, a few steps from Gamion, and shouted, ‘You leave her alone, Gamion! Or I’ll … I’ll do something bad to you!’

Gamion stared at Blont and then burst out laughing. Blont looked around furiously, not sure what to do. Gamion stopped laughing and looked Blont up and down. ‘Oh, for goodness sake, Blont, what are you going to do? Bore me to death? Throw a cream bun at me? Anyway, must dash. Gotta get that red stone and then enslave the entire universe. I mean, I’ll have the power, so why not? I can’t think of one good reason. Bye!’

He turned and raced off down the passageway.

Chapter 17

DIFFICULT DECISIONS

Daisy turned to Brian Malone. He was on his knees, one hand holding his jaw.

‘Oh dear,’ he muttered. ‘Oh dear.’

‘Dad? How …?’

Brian Malone’s hands were shaking. He looked exhausted and terrified.

‘I … I had to come,’ said Brian Malone. ‘I couldn’t just … leave you. I drove up and I’ve been searching the tunnels.’ He gulped. ‘I don’t like it underground, Daisy. I don’t know what’s happening.’

‘You did great, Dad,’ said Daisy, giving him a big hug. She heard a weak, low moan behind her. Jackie Malone lay crumpled against the cave wall. They rushed to her. She moaned again and her eyes flickered open, but she still had the vacant gaze of the hypnotised.

They helped Jackie Malone sit up and then Daisy turned to Ben. He, too, was coming around. Daisy whispered into his ear. ‘Don’t speak. Mum and Dad are here.’

Ben nodded weakly. He shook various bits of himself, testing to see if they still worked properly. Daisy heard a spluttering cough behind her. Dennis was sitting cross-legged behind Ben, his head in his hands. But unlike the others, Dennis hadn’t been zapped by the stone. Daisy realised that his time was running out. She moved to him and touched his shoulder. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘All weak. Got any lollies?’

‘I don’t, but we’ll find a stone soon. I promise.’

Daisy turned to Blont. He was standing in the middle of the chamber, panting heavily and seemingly not quite sure what to do.

‘I had to come back to help,’ he wheezed.

Daisy could have told him that he hadn’t actually helped at all, and that if he hadn’t sided with Gamion in the first place, then perhaps they wouldn’t have needed any help, but she didn’t want to be cruel. At least he had tried. She gave him a pat on the shoulder and moved back to her parents. Jackie Malone sat with her back against the wall. Brian Malone, who still seemed dazed, had his arm around her. Daisy found her father’s torch on the cave floor and handed it to him.

She looked at her mum, staring vacantly into space. Daisy had finally found her, but this wasn’t anything like the warm, fuzzy, huggy, smiley, teary reunion she had imagined. Jackie Malone was effectively a zombie.

Daisy knew what she had to do – she had to fix her mum and, if she could, save Dennis and Sinclair. To do that, she needed one of the blue stones that Gamion had, or the red one that was supposedly hidden somewhere in the caves.

‘Dad, you need to get Mum out of the cave. I’m going to find a way to make her better.’

Brian Malone nodded, looking even less capable than usual of making his own decisions.

‘Off you go, Dad,’ said Daisy. ‘Just follow the passage.’

Jackie Malone’s jaw was working again, as if she was struggling to say something. Daisy knelt down next to her.

‘What is it, Mum?’

Jackie Malone opened her mouth several times, but nothing came out except air. Then she managed to croak two words.

‘Short … cut.’

With great effort, Jackie Malone lifted her arm and pointed down the passageway Gamion had disappeared into.

Daisy looked down the passage, but that told her nothing because all she could see was darkness. ‘Is there a short cut down there that might get me to the red stone before Gamion?’ she asked.

Neck muscles straining, every movement an effort, Jackie Malone nodded. Then she raised her arm and pointed down the passage again, and then swung her arm up and to the left.

‘It’s off the left-hand side of the passage, and goes up? Is that it?’ asked Daisy.

Sweat ran down Jackie Malone’s forehead. Straining, she slowly brought her head down in a nod. Then her right hand, trembling, made its way slowly to her jacket. It had just about got there when Jackie Malone collapsed.

‘Mum!’ cried Daisy.

Jackie Malone’s eyes were shut and her breathing was shallow. Daisy shook her shoulder, but she was unconscious. What had she been trying to do? Daisy reached into her mum’s jacket and found a pocket. Inside it was something. She pulled it out. It was a resealable plastic bag and inside it was what looked to be a very old and very yellow piece of parchment.

Daisy gently pulled it out of the bag and unfolded it. On it was written:

Replacement instructions. Replacement must be done quickly.

Underneath the screens are three buttons of different sizes. Tap them in this order:

Big, small, big, middle, big, small, middle, middle, middle, small, big, big, small, middle, middle.

Cross to the opposite side of the room where, at about the same height as the screens, you will find a small knob of rock. Pull it to the left and then down.

Return to the three buttons and repeat the pattern.

Replacement may now be effected. Once replacement is complete, re-lock by repeating the above steps, but this time, instead of pulling the rock to the left and down, raise it up and then push it right, back into its original position.

And have a very nice day.

Huh?

Daisy had no idea what it meant but something gnawed at her brain. She hoped it wasn’t some sort of brain-eating worm that had crawled into her ear when she was asleep at that train station. That was all she needed.

No! It wasn’t! She had it! In her letter, Jackie Malone had described how she had returned to the underground chamber where she had found the glowing blue stone and searched it, and had found some written information. This must be it!

But what did it mean?

Daisy slipped the parchment back into the plastic bag, resealed it, slipped it into her jacket pocket and zipped the pocket up. She turned to her father.

‘Dad, I have to go. I’m going to find a way to fix Mum. You look after her. I’ll join you soon.’ She beckoned Blont over. ‘Professor Blont will help you. And he can explain what’s going on.’ Daisy turned to Blont. ‘You’ll tell them everything. Won’t you!’

Blont gulped and nodded. Daisy had the feeling that he might be a bit scared of her. Daisy turned back to her father.

‘Dad! You just did something great. You came down here and you saved me and Mum from that guy. You, Dad! You!’

Brian Malone’s face slowly spread into a shy smile. ‘Yes. Yes, I did.’

‘Now this is the easy bit. Just take Mum outside.’

He nodded but didn’t move. ‘Daisy –’

Daisy held up her hand. ‘I know. Yes, I’ll be careful. I promise. And I’ve got Ben.’

‘No, I was just going to offer you my torch. We can use Mum’s.’

‘Oh,’ said Daisy. ‘Thanks.’

She gave her dad a hug and then they helped Jackie Malone to her feet. She was groggy and barely conscious, but she seemed to be able to stand. Daisy gave her a big hug too. Even though Jackie Malone’s arms hung limply by her sides as Daisy hugged her, for a moment she felt safe and warm. She wished she could just stay hugging her mum until everything was all right again. But then she realised that if she did stay there hugging her mum, everything wouldn’t be all right again because her mum was hypnotised, Sinclair and Dennis were about to die, and Gamion was about to get a red glowing stone and use it to enslave the entire universe. So she kept the hug brief.

Blont took Jackie’s torch and led the way back towards the exit. Brian Malone put his arms around his wife and then they headed up the passage, exactly the way that Daisy wished she was going.

She watched them disappear and then turned to Ben, who was slowly stretching. ‘Are you well enough to come?’

Ben nodded. ‘Of course,’ he said, and then his legs gave way and he fell on his face. ‘More or less.’

‘Ben?’

Ben shook himself. ‘I feel much better after that. It woke me up. Really.’

Daisy gave him a doubtful look. She helped Dennis to his feet. It wasn’t easy. He could hardly stand. ‘Put your head light on,’ said Daisy.

Dennis screwed his face up and his forehead began to glow, but much less brightly than before.

‘Come on,’ urged Daisy, leading him gently – but not too gently, because they were in a hurry – down the passage. ‘We’re looking for a short cut that leads off the main passage upwards to the left.’

Daisy keep her torch and her eyes on the left-hand wall, and after a few minutes she saw a rubbish-bin-lid-sized hole at about the height of Dennis’s head leading off to the left. Was this it? There was only one way to find out.

She picked Ben up and handed him to Dennis. ‘Can you lift him up there? I can’t reach.’

Dennis shuddered, but tried to lift Ben. Dennis panted with the effort, but managed to get Ben into the hole. Dennis knelt down on his haunches, gasping for breath. ‘Lucky … he wasn’t … any heavier,’ he panted.

‘Um, I’m heavier,’ said Daisy.

Dennis looked devastated. ‘Oh.’

‘You can do it, Dennis. Can you stand up?’

Dennis heaved himself reluctantly to his feet.

‘Cup your hands together,’ said Daisy. She placed her foot in his cupped hands and stepped up. Dennis staggered but kept his hands clasped. Daisy grabbed the ledge and pulled herself into the hole.

She turned around to face Dennis. ‘Can you get up?’

‘I’ll try,’ he muttered weakly. He made a feeble attempt to pull himself up into the hole, but he didn’t even get close. He slumped down with his back against the passage wall.

‘Can’t,’ he panted. His face was pale and drawn and his breathing laboured.

Daisy considered her options. It didn’t take long because she didn’t really have any. If Dennis couldn’t go any further, they would have to go on without him.

‘You stay here,’ she said. ‘We’ll be back with the stone soon. Everything will be fine, Dennis.’ She gave him what she hoped was an inspiring, confident and calm look.

‘Why do you look so worried then?’ said Dennis.

I’ll have to work on that look, thought Daisy.

Chapter 18

ALONE IN THE DARK

The passage Daisy and Ben now found themselves in was too low to stand up in unless you were a dog, and Daisy wasn’t, so she crawled along on her hands and knees.

It twisted and turned and sloped gradually downwards. Rocks jutted out at odd angles, forcing her to contort her body to get past them. Soon the passage tightened even further, forcing her to lie on her stomach. The rock was just centimetres above her head. She held her torch in her mouth and squirmed forward on her elbows, dragging the rest of her body along. Behind her, it sounded like Ben was picking his way through with not much trouble at all.

She wondered if the passage would get narrower and narrower until eventually it would be so tight that she wouldn’t be able to even turn around or go backwards and she’d be stuck and would die horribly of starvation and then cave rats – if there were such things – would eat her body.

She tried to stop thinking about that.

Soon the passage began to slope more steeply downwards. Daisy wanted to go feet first, but there wasn’t enough room for her to turn around. A trickle of water seeped down the passage and the ground was becoming muddier and slipperier.

Soon the slope was so steep that Daisy had to put her hands out in front of her to stop herself from falling forward. She came to a spot where the passage widened and decided to again try to turn around. She grabbed a knob of mud with her left hand to steady herself, and then reached out with her right to grab a rock. As she did so the knob of mud she was holding broke off and she began to slide.

She reached out, trying to grab something, but there was only mud (actually bat poo) and she couldn’t get a grip on anything. She picked up speed, unable to stop herself sliding faster and faster down the muddy, slippery slope until suddenly there was no longer a muddy, slippery slope beneath her.

There was just air.

Usually when you fall off something – a tree branch, a staircase, a roof, an elephant – you know how far you are going to fall, and roughly how long it will be until you hit the ground. So, as the ground approaches, you can brace yourself for impact.

But if you were to fall into darkness, and have only a small torch clutched between your teeth for light, you would have no idea whether you were going to hit whatever lay below in one second, in five seconds, in fifteen seconds or in thirty-three minutes. If you knew it was going to be thirty-three minutes you could, of course, use the time productively and pull out a book and read (whenever you go anywhere, you should always take a book, for precisely these types of situations).

There were two reasons why Daisy didn’t pull out a book and start reading during her journey through the air. Firstly, she (foolishly, in my opinion) didn’t have a book in her rucksack, and secondly, after 1.632 seconds, she hit water.

Freezing!!!! she thought. But it was also soft, which meant it didn’t hurt.

The impact forced her underwater, then she splashed to the surface. The torch had been knocked out of her mouth by the impact and she saw it sinking fast. She dived towards it, kicking herself deeper, but the torch was falling too quickly, and soon she had to return to the surface. A light source was important, but breathing was even more so.

She trod water. Her rucksack was weighing her down. She shrugged free of it and let it sink and then looked around, but there was nothing to see. It was now darker than the darkest pitch-black super-duper ultra-triple-dark-darkest dark ever.

‘Daisy!’ Ben called from above.

‘I’m in water,’ Daisy shouted back. ‘Stay there. I’ll get ashore.’

Shivering, she swam back towards where she thought the cliff she had just fallen off was. After a few strokes her hand hit rock. She felt around, hoping to find somewhere to get out, but the rock rose straight up. She searched around for foot or handholds but couldn’t find any. The wall was completely smooth, and she couldn’t touch the bottom, even when she pushed herself under.

She started to swim again, feeling her way along the rock wall, and then suddenly something wrapped around her ankle and pulled her down. If she had had time to think about what the thing felt like, she would eventually have decided that the word ‘tentacle’ fitted it best, but she was in such a state of shock that all she thought was, AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Luckily she had been breathing in at the moment she was yanked under, so she had a mouthful of air. That wasn’t going to last long though, and every second she was being dragged deeper. She kicked out with her legs, but whatever it was stayed wrapped around her ankle. She grasped around, searching for the rock wall, or anything to hold on to, but there was nothing except water, and that’s not good for grabbing. (If you don’t believe me, next time you are lying in the bath grab a handful of water and try to pull yourself upright.)

Another tentacle wrapped itself around Daisy’s other leg. She realised she was drowning, and that if she drowned she would be dead forever, or at least for a while. She kicked out with renewed vigour as her lungs started to moan and beg for air, but the tentacles just gripped her more tightly.

She remembered her pocket-knife. Of course! She reached into her pocket, hoping, hoping, hoping, hoping, HOPING that it hadn’t fallen out.

Her lungs were getting really angry with her now. At some point soon they were going to burst her mouth open, and if that happened and all there was outside was water, things would get very bad, very quickly.

Her hand reached the knife. It was there! She pulled it out and tore the blade open, and then stretched her hand down towards her feet, slipped it between her ankle and the tentacle and ripped the knife through it. She found the other tentacle, and cut again. She was free, and kicked hard, her lungs throbbing. As she broke the surface she took a huge gulp of air.

‘Daisy!’ Ben shouted from above. He had probably been doing that all the while she was below. She had no breath to reply. She realised that the whatever-it-was would probably come back for her. Unless another whatever-it-was did first. There might be dozens of them.

She sucked more air into her lungs and had an idea. If she could work out where Ben was, she might be able to get her bearings.

‘Ben!’ she yelled.

‘Daisy!’ replied Ben, from above and behind her. That told her there was no point going that way. That would just lead her back to the cliff.

‘I’m okay,’ she shouted. ‘I’m trying to find the shore.’

She swam into the darkness away from where Ben’s voice had come from, fearing that at any second another tentacle would grab her and pull her under.

‘Daisy! I’m going to jump down to you,’ shouted Ben.

‘Ben, no!’ If Ben jumped into the water the creature would surely get him, and in the darkness she wouldn’t be able to find and help him. And Ben didn’t have a knife to cut himself loose. Or hands to use it. She couldn’t let him jump.

‘Ben! Don’t!’ she shouted.

‘I’m coming, Daisy. Loyalty. It’s what we do, remember?’

If he followed her, he was dead. She had to stop him.

‘I can see light,’ she lied. ‘There’s a way out. It’s fine. You go back and we’ll meet outside.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes!’ she shouted as confidently as she could. ‘I can see the stone! It’s on the shore. I’m going to grab it. There’s a passage that leads straight outside. I can see daylight. I’m fine, Ben. You go back to Dennis and help him get outside. If you don’t do that, he’ll die. He needs you. We’ll meet outside, near the entrance where we came in. Try and get Sinclair out too.’

There was a pause. ‘Are you sure, Daisy?’

Daisy felt a lump in her throat. She tried to keep her voice light. ‘I’m sure. I’ll be out in a minute or two. Go, Ben!’

There was silence. Daisy imagined Ben hesitating, torn between doing what he was told and his desire to be with his human. ‘All right. Be careful, Daisy.’

‘Of course,’ she said. ‘Ben?’

‘Yes, Daisy?’

She swallowed hard, struggling to keep her voice even. ‘You’re a good dog.’

‘And you’re a good human, Daisy.’

Up above she heard him trot away, and wondered if she would ever see him again.

Chapter 19

UNWANTED COMPANY

Daisy kept swimming, hoping she wasn’t going around in circles. After about twenty strokes her hand hit sand. She put her feet down and walked out of the water, hands outstretched in front of her like a zombie from one of those old movies she and her mum loved to watch while her dad, terrified, hid in the bedroom. She was on a beach. She felt her way slowly up it until, after about ten steps, her outstretched hands met a rock wall. Again it went straight up.

She heard a slow shuffling sound behind her. Something was emerging from the water. Whatever it was, it sounded big. She imagined it as a big, soft blobby thing, a bit like an octopus but bigger, but who knew if that was right? The creature might look like a shark with tentacles, or a fridge with legs or a giant pink pineapple.

Daisy felt her way along the wall as quickly as she could. Soon it began to curve gradually back towards the water. She could hear the creature shuffling along behind her.

Thinking of it as ‘the creature’ was too terrifying so Daisy decided to give whatever-it-was a nice, non-scary, peaceful kind of name. Something like … Fiona. That was it! There was a Fiona in her class and she was meek and shy and small and kind.

Daisy’s foot felt water. She blundered on a few steps, hoping it was just a puddle and that the beach would re-emerge, but instead the sand sloped steeply away and the water got rapidly deeper. And colder. Her teeth started to chatter.

She pulled out her knife and turned back to face Fiona. The knife had helped her escape before, but cutting off a couple of Fiona’s tentacles hadn’t exactly stopped her. Still, it was all she had. Knee-deep in water and knife outstretched, she braced herself against the wall, then realised that she could feel something on the rock behind her. It was a knob of stone: a handhold.

A tentacle flicked her ankle and quickly Daisy turned to the wall and reached up, searching for another handhold. She found one off to the left and pulled herself out of the water, then reached up for another. Soon she was several steps above the water.

Below, it sounded like Fiona was following her somehow, pulling herself up the cliff. Daisy redoubled her efforts, climbing higher and to her left, further out over the water. For a while she found plenty of foot and handholds, and then suddenly there were no more. Fiona was close now, just below her. Daisy reached out sideways with her left foot. Her toe scraped a bump, but she couldn’t quite reach far enough to rest her foot on it.

A tentacle flicked her leg. Daisy held on tight and threw her left leg as far across to her left as it would go. This time it made it to the bump. Hanging on with her right hand, she pushed her left hand out to search for something to grab. She groped around, found a muddy crack and desperately clung to it. She pushed off with her right foot and swung to her left. As she did, her left hand slipped. She fell, and after 1.267 seconds again hit the freezing water.

The impact and the cold knocked the wind out of her but as she sank she saw something. That in itself was unexpected, because ever since she had lost her torch she had been in total darkness. A bit below the surface was a hole in the wall, about two paces across. The reason Daisy could see it was that a dim red glow emerged from the hole. She pushed up towards the surface, took a few huge breaths, and then dived again. Kicking hard, and without hesitating to think about how dangerous it was, she swam into the hole.

She found herself in a narrow underwater passage. Her lungs were already eager for air, so she pulled and kicked herself through the water as quickly as she could. The red glow was getting brighter. A few metres ahead there was a bend in the passage. Daisy’s lungs hammered for air. She decided to see what was around the bend and turn around if it was a dead end. But what if Fiona was waiting for her at the mouth of the passage? Well, at least this time she’d be able to see her. And she had her knife. She reached the bend. Around it the passage turned abruptly upwards. Surely it must lead up into fresh air.

Unless, of course, it didn’t.

Impulsively, Daisy grabbed the side of the passage and pulled herself around the bend and up. Her lungs were about to burst, but above she saw the surface. With a last surge, she kicked herself up out of the water and sucked in air.

When she had recovered enough, she hauled herself out of the water and looked around. She was in a cave the size of a large living room. She had emerged into a corner, and across on the opposite side were two passages a few metres away from each other. The room was filled with a red glow that came from a rock shelf that stood out from the wall. The shelf was at the height of Daisy’s shoulders and on it lay what looked like a black circle, the size and shape of a dinner plate.

Sticking straight up out of the middle of the plate was a red glowing stone. She had found it!

Daisy got up and walked over to it. Behind the plate, attached to the wall, was something entirely unexpected. Two computer screens. No keyboard, no mouse, no computer. Just two screens. Between each screen and the black plate ran a thin black cable.

The right-hand screen was blank. The left-hand screen had a straight yellow line moving slowly across it. Daisy wondered how long it had been doing that for, and whether the yellow line was getting bored of doing it. She stared at the screens, trying to make sense of them, but didn’t even get close.

Daisy considered her options. She had found the stone, but Gamion was surely on his way here. She could hide next to the entrance and whack him over the head as he entered. But there were two entrances a few steps apart, and even if she picked the right one to stand beside, she couldn’t see any loose rocks, which meant that she had nothing to whack him with other than her shoe, and it was just a sneaker. If only she’d worn high heels. Although that would have made the rock climbing tricky. She did have a knife, but would she really be able to bring herself to stab Gamion?

The other option was to take the red stone and get out. Then she could use it to de-hypnotise her mum and re-charge Sinclair and Dennis’s heartstones. Then maybe they could ambush Gamion as he emerged from the cave. That made more sense.

And then after they had done all that maybe she and her mum and her dad and her dog could all go home and order Thai takeaway with lots of chicken sticks and no yucky sauce and watch some movie about someone who gets in an awful pickle, but then it all turns out just fine in the end.

Daisy decided on the second option. But how would she get out of the cave? She couldn’t go back the way she had come. Even if she managed to swim back across the lake without getting drowned by Fiona, there was probably no way back up the cliff she had fallen down. She would have to try one of the passages, and risk running into Gamion coming the other way.

She moved over to the stone and put her hand around it. It was faintly warm and she could feel, or sense, or something, its power. She tried to lift it out of its holder, but it wouldn’t budge. She pulled harder, and then tried wiggling it from side to side. It was no use. She looked behind and around the black plate for a switch or a lever or a catch or a lock or a handle or a button or a sign that read, ‘Hey you! Yes, you, the little girl who is looking for the way to release the stone. There’s a button here! Push it!’ or a something else that might release the stone.

Nothing.

Then Daisy remembered the parchment that her mum had given her. Did it contain information that might help? She unzipped her pocket and pulled out the plastic bag. Had the parchment survived the fall, the swim, the climb, the second fall, the second swim and everything else? The bag was still sealed and didn’t have any water in it. She peeled the sides back, extracted the parchment, carefully unfolded it and brought it close to the stone so that she could reread it.

Replacement instructions. Replacement must be done quickly.

Underneath the screens are three buttons of different sizes. Tap them in this order:

Big, small, big, middle, big, small, middle, middle, middle, small, big, big, small, middle, middle.

Cross to the opposite side of the room where, at about the same height as the screens, you will find a small knob of rock. Pull it to the left and then down.

Return to the three buttons and repeat the pattern.

Replacement may now be effected. Once replacement is complete, re-lock by repeating the above steps, but this time, instead of pulling the rock to the left and down, raise it up and then push it right, back into its original position.

And have a very nice day.

Were they instructions for removing the stone? There was only one way to find out.

Daisy heard something splash behind her and turned around. A tentacle was snaking its way out of the water.

‘Oh no, not you again,’ she said out loud, just because she hadn’t used her voice for a while and wanted to check that it still worked.

She could easily outrun Fiona now, but she needed the stone. If she hurried, maybe she could get it before Fiona got her. She looked at the parchment:

Underneath the screens are three buttons of different sizes.

Daisy looked behind the plate at the rock shelf beneath the screens. There weren’t any buttons there. She looked harder, as if that would make them magically appear. Oddly, it did. The buttons were the same colour as the rock, and built into the rock shelf so as to be nearly invisible, but she could just see the outlines of three different-sized circles at the base of the screens. She threw a glance over her shoulder. Fiona now had three tentacles out of the water, as well as part of a big rubbery-looking blob that might be her head or her body, or both.

Daisy looked back to the parchment.

Tap them in this order: Big, small, big, middle, big, small, middle, middle, middle, small, big, big, small, middle, middle.

She pushed the buttons in that order and then looked at the next instruction.

Cross to the opposite side of the room where, at about the same height as the screens, you will find a small knob of rock. Pull it to the left and then down.

She ran to the other side of the room and looked for the rock knob. She found one at about the right height and tried to pull it to the left. It didn’t move. Fiona now had about a dozen tentacles and a lot of body out of the water, and as she slid across the floor towards her, for the first time Daisy could see what she looked like.

And it wasn’t pretty.

Fiona was nearly as tall as a grown-up, and circular in shape with soft-looking pinky flesh. Basically, she was a blob with tentacles. She had no head, but near the top of her body were the two biggest eyes Daisy had ever seen, each nearly as big as Daisy’s own head. Beneath them was a wide mouth full of big, sharp teeth. Daisy could see about fifteen tentacles, a few of which were noticeably shorter than the rest. She realised that they must be the ones she had cut through.

Daisy dragged her eyes away. She had to hurry. She spied another, smaller rock knob just below the first one she had tried. She grabbed it and pulled. To her relief it moved to the left and then down. She looked at the parchment again.

Return to the three buttons and repeat the pattern.

She rushed back across the room to the buttons.

Quickly she tapped out the code again, put the parchment back into her pocket and reached for the stone. As she did a tentacle wrapped around her leg. Then another. And another. She grasped the stone and tried to lift it. This time it slid out easily. Immediately she felt a wave of power flow through her. There were now six or seven tentacles wrapped around her legs. She tried to pull away but couldn’t move.

Daisy looked at the stone. She could feel its power, but could she work out how to use it? Fiona’s tentacles pulled harder at her leg, forcing Daisy to take an involuntary step forward. She pointed the stone at Fiona and tried to concentrate on aiming its power at her. Fiona continued to pull at Daisy with her tentacles, but then her grip weakened. Daisy focused even harder, concentrating on pushing the creature away. Fiona unwound her tentacles, slid back across the cave floor and then into the water.

It had worked!

Daisy heaved a sigh of relief. Now she just had to get out. She turned to face the two passages that led from the chamber. Which one would get her out of the cave fastest? And where was Gamion?

Suddenly, the earth began to tremble under her feet. She looked around. The whole room was shaking. The yellow line on the left-hand computer screen was now jerking wildly up and down. The right-hand computer screen was flashing red, on and off, over and over.

What was happening?

She stared at the stone. She had removed it and then a minute later the earth had begun to tremble. Was there some connection? She gently rested the stone back in its holder. After a moment the earthquake slowed and then stopped.

She pulled the stone out again and waited. Nothing. Maybe it had just been a coincidence. She could have just been feeling a minor earth tremor. They happened sometimes.

Then the earth began to shake again. Daisy placed the stone back in its holder and it stopped.

Daisy stared at the stone, trying to figure it out.

Somehow, when the stone was in its holder, it seemed to be stopping some pretty big earth-shaking. So, if she took the stone and left the chamber, what would happen? Would the earthquake get worse? Could it cause a cave-in? Would the thousands of tonnes of rock above her head come crashing down on her and squish her into something thinner than paper? Was there anything thinner than paper?

Daisy wondered what to do. She needed the stone to release her mum and to save Sinclair and Dennis, but what if by taking it she caused something really bad to happen? She remembered all the other people Gamion had hypnotised, still searching underground for the stone. If there was a cave-in, they could all be killed. She stood there, uncertain, for several seconds, knowing that each one surely brought Gamion closer. Finally, she decided. She would leave the red stone where it was, and re-lock it into place so Gamion couldn’t get it. Then she would wait and ambush him as he entered the chamber, and somehow get the two blue stones he had. Daisy gulped. Maybe she would have to use her knife.

It wasn’t a perfect plan, but it was the best she could manage. She reached into her pocket for the parchment and turned to the buttons.

‘Well, hello, my dear! What an unpleasant surprise.’

Daisy whirled around. In front of one of the passages stood Gamion, holding a blue glowing stone out in front of him like a torch.

‘Congratulations. You beat me here,’ he continued. ‘Very clever! But still, you lose. I shall take it now.’

‘No you can’t, because –’

‘Because then I’ll have unimaginable power and be able to do anything I want anywhere in the entire universe? Oh no! How terrible! What a tragedy!’

‘You don’t understand. If you take the stone, something bad is going to happen. I took it out and the earth started shaking.’

‘How marvellously interesting,’ said Gamion. ‘Guess what? I don’t care.’

‘But the stone is stopping some sort of earthquake.’

‘I still don’t care.’

‘But –’

Gamion waved his hand in front of his chest. ‘Don’t even bother finishing the sentence because I. Don’t. Care. At. All.’ He smiled. ‘Clear enough for you?’

‘Look, you have two blue stones. That means you can hypnotise people and travel through space. Isn’t that enough?’

Gamion cocked his head. ‘Is it? It is a lot of power, but is it enough power? Hmmm.’ He bowed his head for a moment and then looked up. ‘No, it’s not. You see, there are other people who also have blue stones, and they could gang up on me and be really mean and send me back to gaol. And I really don’t want to go back to gaol. But if I have a red stone … You see, it’s the most powerful type, and no one else has one. No one. So if I get one, I’m safe. More than safe. With a red stone I can take over the universe. And I will. Little girl, let me ask you: if you had the choice of either going to gaol or ruling the universe, which one would you pick?’ He raised the stone and pointed it at Daisy. ‘Don’t bother answering. It’s a rhetorical question.’

Daisy felt herself being pushed backwards, as if by an invisible wall, until her back hit the wall of the cave, next to the water she had emerged from, squashing her against the rock.

Gamion stepped over to the rock shelf and pulled the red stone out of its casing. He stared into it and a broad smile filled his face. ‘Oh, yes,’ he said.

Daisy wished she had had just one more minute. Then she would have had time to lock the stone back in place.

‘By the way,’ said Gamion. ‘You’re going to be trapped here for a while, I’m afraid, so I’ll give you something to think about, because I’m feeling kind. You know that these stones come from another planet, yes? So that means that someone from another planet went to all the trouble of travelling to your planet, digging all these tunnels, placing this stone just here and attaching these computers to it. Am I right?’

Daisy nodded slowly (because to do so she had to scrape her nose up and down the invisible wall in front of her).

‘So here’s my question. Why would they do that just to stop an earthquake? This planet has lots of earthquakes. Earthquakes aren’t that big a deal. You see, I think the only reason they would have gone to all that trouble would be to prevent something that was a lot worse than an earthquake. So we should both get out of here as fast as we can.’

Daisy felt a glimmer of hope. Was Gamion going to let her out?

‘But … oh no. I forgot!’ Gamion slapped his forehead with his palm. ‘You can’t come because you’re trapped behind an invisible wall. What a pity. But wait! I created the invisible wall with my stone, so I could make it disappear again. I could, couldn’t I? Would you like me to do that?’

Daisy nodded. And hoped.

‘You would? Great! But sadly I’m not going to because …’ Gamion shrugged. ‘No reason, really. I just don’t feel like it.’ He smiled hugely. ‘I love being mean! I really do love it, just like some people love ice-cream or chocolate or riding a horse.’ He held up his hand. ‘So, goodbye! I won’t say, see you later, because I won’t. I have to go to a very important meeting of very important people. I’m not actually invited, but I think this …’ he held up the red stone, ‘… will get me in, don’t you? There’s so much to do. I have to travel to the other side of the universe, take control of the intergalactic council and perform much unnecessary cruelty, and all before bedtime! It’s not easy being bad. Bye!’ Gamion turned to go and then turned back. ‘Oh, and remember. Evil is fun!’

Gamion backed away, then turned and dashed down the left-hand passageway.

Daisy thought about shouting ‘Stop!’, but she had seen far too many movies in which a thief stole something and, as they ran away, the victim shouted, ‘Stop!’. And the bad guy never stopped.

So she saved her breath.

In a moment Gamion was gone, leaving Daisy trapped behind an invisible wall and once again in complete darkness.

Then, as she expected, the earth began to shake.

Chapter 20

MORE ABOUT THE STONES

Daisy waited for the invisible wall that was pressing her hard against the cave to disappear as the power of the stone got further away.

Unfortunately it didn’t.

The earth shook more violently. What had Gamion meant when he had said that no one would put a stone down here just to stop an earthquake? What was worse than an earthquake? And would it be powerful enough to cause the cave to collapse? If that happened, she was history.

She pushed against the invisible wall as hard as she could. It wouldn’t budge. She tried to squirm sideways, but she was jammed so tightly between the invisible wall and the cave wall that she couldn’t move. If only there was something to grab hold of. Then she would be able to pull herself along between the two walls. But both the walls were smooth.

She heard a splash, and then a slow slurping sound. Oh no, thought Daisy. Fiona! Great! That was all she needed: a freaky, tentacled psycho monster intent on killing her. Could today get any worse? She heard Fiona coming closer. Daisy redoubled her efforts to move sideways, but with no success.

She felt a tentacle whip at her and wrap itself around her forearm. She realised Fiona was flicking her tentacles down the thin corridor between the invisible wall and the cave wall, trying to get her.

Suddenly Daisy had an idea. As another tentacle flicked at her she reached down and grabbed it and then pulled it around her waist. Two more tentacles reached her and she wrapped them around her legs. She grabbed another and placed it around her shoulders. Just as she’d hoped, Fiona began to pull Daisy towards her, reeling her in like a fish (or a boot or a big clump of seaweed) on a line. Slowly and painfully Daisy was dragged along the narrow passageway between the two walls. Then, suddenly, the invisible wall ended and Daisy popped out.

She was free! Except for the four tentacles wrapped around her. It was pitch-dark again now that the stone was gone, but she remembered Fiona’s big mouth and sharp teeth. Daisy tried to grab her knife, but more tentacles enfolded her, pinning her arms to her sides.

Her right arm was close to the pocket that held her knife. She stretched her fingertips out and was just able to grab it. She flicked at the blade, trying to open it one-handed. It was awkward but she was just able to lever it open with her thumbnail. She pulled her right arm upwards, sawing through a tentacle. That freed up her right arm, and she cut through another tentacle. As she did so, other tentacles reached around her.

With a burst of energy Daisy hacked and sliced and cut and slashed and pulled and pushed and struggled and fought and cut again and then she was free. Hands outstretched, she stumbled through the dark after Gamion.

The earth was trembling harder now. She reached the far wall of the chamber and then felt along it until she found the left-hand passage. With a hand on the wall to guide her, she walked along it as quickly as she dared. She hoped it didn’t end in a cliff, because if it did she wouldn’t be able to see it and would surely just walk straight off the edge.

She found that if she stretched out her arms she could walk with one hand touching each wall of the passage. That was good because it meant that if the passage split in two, she would know about it. If she was just touching one wall, she might miss it.

Soon the walls veered apart, and she felt around to try to work out what was going on. The main passage sloped downwards, while to her left felt like a steep scramble up mud and rocks. Daisy had no idea where it led, but upwards was more likely to get her to the surface than downwards. She felt around for handholds and pulled herself up.

She had been scrambling up the slope for a couple of minutes when suddenly her head hit rock. ‘Oww!’ she cried to no one in particular.

She felt along the roof. There was a space between it and the ground that was just wide enough for her to fit through. It was too tight to crawl, but if she lay down she could pull herself along on her elbows and push with her feet. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t fast, it wasn’t easy, and it definitely wasn’t fun, but slowly she made progress at a pace Daisy estimated at somewhere between that of a hurrying snail and a tired tortoise.

After a few minutes of crawling her elbows were stinging and she was panting with exhaustion. Then, up ahead, she glimpsed light! A small crack opened up to what she hoped was the outside world. With a final surge of energy she pulled herself along as fast as she could. Now she was nearly going as fast as a tortoise in a hurry!

Still going.

Not there yet.

Made it!

The crack was tight, but she pushed herself through and emerged into what felt like a bush. After hours in the dark, the light was so overwhelmingly bright that she had to screw her eyes shut. Sheesh, she thought. First I can’t see because there’s no light, now I can’t see because there’s too much of the stuff.

Gradually her eyes adjusted. She was in the middle of a row of bushes. Daisy crawled through them and out onto a hillside. She sat there panting, sore, extremely hungry and utterly spent, wishing she had food and drink and, if she had the choice, that the food was a big bowl of hot chips with tomato sauce and extra salt and the drink was raspberry cordial.

She also wished that she had a dog called Ben.

But she didn’t.

The ground was still shaking beneath her. The trembling seemed to be getting stronger. What the heck was going on?

She hauled herself to her feet. She was on the side of the hill, about halfway up. She guessed that the main entrance to the caves must be around the other side because she couldn’t see any sign of it or the archaeologists’ campsite.

She started walking around the hill, through a mixture of bushes, rocks, dirt, the occasional tree and several giant pink teacups (no, only joking, I just thought I’d throw in the giant pink teacups as a bit of light relief because things are looking a bit grim, what with the earth shaking, Gamion having the very powerful red stone, Sinclair and Dennis being close to death, Jackie Malone being hypnotised and Daisy being very hungry.)

The earth was shaking so hard now that she had to step carefully, and sometimes hold her hands out for balance. She came to a clump of rocks and stepped through them and over a ridge. To her relief, she saw the campsite and the main entrance to the caves below and to her left. And trotting across the hill in her direction, but quite some way below her, was a dog!

‘Ben!’ she yelled, and stumbled down the hill towards him. As she did, the earth gave a tremendous heave and she was thrown forward. She fell on her shoulder and then tumbled head over heels and heels over head.

‘Daisy?’

Ben stood over her, looking down anxiously.

Daisy pulled herself up. Her shoulder was stiff and sore. So was her elbow, her thigh, her ear and her hand. But on the positive side, her other elbow, her other thigh, her other ear and her other hand all seemed fine.

Ben bent down and Daisy gave him a big hug. For some strange reason tears began to leak out of her eyes. (Obviously her eyes. Tears don’t leak out your nose. That’s snot.)

After a few moments she wiped them away and told Ben what had happened.

When she had finished Ben stared solemnly at her. ‘When you fell in that lake you told me you were safe and you could see the way out. You lied to me, Daisy.’

‘I’m sorry, but I had to. If you had jumped in after me Fiona – the monster in the lake – would have got you.’

They stared at each other for a few moments.

‘I’m glad you’re okay,’ said Ben. ‘I mean, what’s a dog without an owner?’

Daisy smiled. ‘And what’s an owner without a dog?’

The earth trembled harder, causing a dead branch to fall from a nearby tree.

‘Where are my parents?’ asked Daisy. ‘And the others? Did you get Dennis out?’

‘Yep,’ replied Ben. ‘It wasn’t easy. I had to nip at his ankles to keep him moving. He just wanted to lie down and die. And he is lying down now, but at least he’s not dead. Not yet, anyway. He’s just around the hill a bit. Sinclair is with him. We found him near the entrance. He’s in a bad way, too. No sign of your parents but they must have got out or we would have passed them.’ He paused and looked around. ‘Daisy, we need to get everyone out of here. This rumbling is getting worse. It feels like something is going to explode. Let’s get moving.’

Daisy forced herself to stand up and took a few tentative steps. Ben led the way. The shaking continued, and twice Daisy stumbled, nearly falling.

They came around a bend. The cave’s entrance was just a couple of hundred metres away. Near the entrance, just off the track, lying on their backs on some grass, were Sinclair and Dennis.

They hurried to them. Dennis was moaning softly, while Sinclair seemed to be asleep.

Daisy knelt next to them. ‘Sinclair?’ She shook his shoulder.

His head rolled to one side and his eyes struggled open. He looked around uncertainly and then seemed to recognise Daisy.

‘Help me sit up,’ he murmured weakly. Daisy pulled him up.

‘If we can’t get a stone soon … we’ll die,’ he gasped. ‘But we’re too … weak to search. Prawn went deeper into the caves, but I had to get out … No power.’

‘Gamion got the red stone. I tried to stop him but …’ Daisy trailed off.

Sinclair shook his head. ‘Too much power for one person … Where was it?’

‘It was deep in the cave, attached to some computer thingy.’

Sinclair’s eyes shot fully open. ‘What?!’

‘Then when Gamion took it, the –’

‘The earth began to shake,’ Sinclair interrupted. ‘Oh my great grandgrasimus.’

‘Who?’ asked Ben.

‘What?’ asked Daisy.

Sinclair ignored them, staring into the distance. ‘Do you know what this means?’

‘No, of course we don’t,’ said Ben. ‘That’s why I said “Who?” and Daisy said “What?”.’

‘Is it bad?’ asked Daisy. ‘Should we get everyone away from here?’

‘Get away?’ said Sinclair. ‘You think we can get away?’ He started to laugh, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. It was more of a crazy, desperate, forlorn laugh, the sort of laugh you only hear when things are really bad, and then they suddenly get a whole lot worse. It was the sort of laugh that suggested that the person doing the laughing had finally lost their very last bit of hope.

‘What is it?’ asked Daisy uneasily.

‘People from our planet,’ Sinclair wheezed, ‘do not travel halfway across the universe and go to the trouble of placing a red stone deep in a cave just to prevent an earthquake. Earthquakes happen all the time.’

‘That’s what Gamion said. Why, then?’ asked Daisy, already pretty sure that she wasn’t going to like the answer.

‘The only reason we ever do it,’ said Sinclair, fixing her with a sad, solemn look, ‘is to save a planet.’

‘Huh?’ was all Daisy could manage.

‘Sometimes planets develop structural faults. They can start out looking like an earthquake, or a volcano. But earthquakes and volcanoes begin and end. These just begin.’

A chill was working its way up Daisy’s spine.

‘If a planet has a structural fault,’ continued Sinclair, ‘a crack opens up in the earth. The crack gets bigger and bigger and wider and wider until eventually things on the surface begin to fall into it.’

‘What sort of things?’ asked Ben nervously.

‘Trees, buildings, hills, and then, as the crack widens, mountains, rivers, lakes, countries and eventually continents and oceans,’ said Sinclair. ‘Ultimately the planet collapses in on itself.’

‘And then?’ asked Daisy, dread settling in the pit of her stomach.

‘The planet dies. All life is destroyed. The planet burns and collapses and explodes and becomes a lifeless piece of rock.’

‘That’s not good,’ said Ben.

‘Indeed.’ Sinclair took a deep, raspy breath. ‘My people keep a lookout for such faults. We can detect them. And when they are discovered, if there is intelligent life on the planet –’

‘Like the ants,’ interjected Daisy with, despite the gravity of the situation, a touch of sarcasm.

‘– we can place a red stone – only red ones have sufficient power – at the site of the fault and adjust it to stabilise the planet. That must be why my people came here all those years ago and dug all those tunnels. They were trying to get to the site of the fault to place a red stone there. Tell me, was there a guardian? A creature protecting the stone?’

‘Fiona. Yes. Big and blobby with tentacles.’

‘A morphang. Morphangs live on Dextra, the planet that the stones are from, and they are fiercely protective of them. When our people first travelled to Dextra and tried to take some stones, several of them were killed by morphangs. We now use them to guard the stones. This one – or its parents or grandparents – must have been brought here by our people when they came here to put the stone in position. Morphangs will do anything to protect the stones. The only thing that can make them stop is –’

‘– using the stone itself on them,’ interrupted Daisy. ‘That’s what I did. I used the power of the stone to make it go away.’

Sinclair gave her a long look. ‘I see. Which meant that the morphang was unable to protect the stone from Gamion.’

‘I … oh … um,’ muttered Daisy uneasily.

‘Just so I have this clear,’ began Ben. ‘The red stone was there to stabilise the planet, so now that it’s not there anymore the fault in the earth will open up wider and wider and everything will start to fall into it and soon everything on Earth will die?’

Sinclair sighed. ‘That is what will happen, unless the red stone is put back in place soon. But how did Gamion get the stone out? Usually they are locked in place … and cannot be released without a code.’

Daisy licked her lips. ‘Yes, um, about that, you see, I think my mum found the code and she … well, I got it from her … and I sort of used it, because I thought I needed to get the stone out to save you … and then Gamion arrived.’

Sinclair put his head in his hands. ‘Oh, no. The code must have been left with the spare stone. We always leave a spare stone in case of an emergency. Just in case, for example, someone visits the planet and needs help. Or if the red stone stops working for any reason, the spare can replace it.’

‘But the stone my mum found was blue,’ said Daisy. ‘I thought you said that only a red one would be powerful enough to stop a fault in a planet.’

‘A blue one could be used in an emergency and would work for a few days until another red one was obtained. They couldn’t leave a spare red one here. They’re much too dangerous.’

‘And now Gamion has one,’ said Ben.

Daisy realised the enormity of what she had done. ‘It’s my fault,’ she gasped. ‘I unlocked the red stone. And then I made its guardian go away. Without me Gamion couldn’t have got it. I’ve … I’ve caused the end of the world.’

There was a long pause in which both Ben and Sinclair almost said, ‘There, there, don’t worry. No, you haven’t,’ but they didn’t because it wouldn’t have been true.

Eventually Ben spoke. ‘Not yet, you haven’t. I can track him. We can get the stone back, fix your mum and Sinclair and Dennis and then replace it underground.’

‘How long do we have?’ Daisy asked Sinclair.

Sinclair shrugged. Even that seemed to cause him pain. ‘Not long. I don’t know how quickly the fault will accelerate.’

‘Come on, Ben,’ said Daisy, getting to her feet. ‘Gamion might not have come out of the cave yet. He probably went back the way he came, towards the main entrance. We can get him there, or if he’s out already, you can pick up his scent.’

They hurried to the main entrance. While Daisy stepped carefully to cope with the earth’s shaking, Ben was sure-footed, proving that four legs are better than two. They passed a spider, who moved even more surely than Ben, proving that eight legs are even better than four. A centipede strolled along absolutely calmly, proving that a hundred legs are better than eight. There weren’t any millipedes about.

Ben sniffed around the cave’s entrance as Daisy wondered where her parents were. If they didn’t manage to get that stone back where it belonged, it wouldn’t matter.

Ben looked up. ‘Got him! He’s out! Fresh scent heading up the hill. Come on!’ He set off after it, nose to the ground.

They picked their way between rocks and bushes. Normally it would have just been steep, but now it was steep and shaky, and Daisy had to lean into the hill and grab clumps of grass to stop herself from falling backwards.

Soon they reached the top and the ground flattened out and opened into a clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood Gamion. He had his back to them, and his arms were outstretched and his fists clenched. A red glow escaped from one of his hands.

They crept closer. Daisy turned to look at Ben just as Ben turned to look at her. No words passed between them but Daisy was sure that somehow, they had agreed on a plan.

Or at least she thought she was sure. Just to be certain, she knelt and whispered in Ben’s ear. ‘You bite him hard on the ankle, and I’ll pull him backwards. When he falls, you jump onto his chest, growl and, if you need to, bite him. I’ll stamp on his hand until he releases the stone. Then we’ll search him and get the two blue stones, and then run away.’

‘Der,’ replied Ben. ‘I thought that was obvious.’

They crept to within a few steps of Gamion and got ready to throw themselves into one final, gigantic effort to save the world. Daisy looked at Ben and nodded, and then together they leapt forward.

As they did so a circle of dazzling red light appeared around Gamion.

And he vanished.

Chapter 21

CHASING GAMION

If Sinclair and Dennis hadn’t been so close to death that they couldn’t keep their eyes open, they would have known from Daisy and Ben’s slouching, defeated walk that they had failed.

Daisy roused them, helped them to sit up, and explained.

Sinclair sighed.

The earth gave a violent heave, and they all lurched to one side.

Sinclair looked at them. ‘There is nothing more you can do. The only way to follow him is with a stone. And we don’t have one.’

‘Does that mean we’re going to die, boss?’ asked Dennis sadly.

Sinclair put his hand on Dennis’s shoulder. ‘I’m afraid it does.’

‘Oh no,’ moaned Dennis. ‘I’ve got overdue library books. I hate dying. Although I’ve never done it before. But I hate the idea of it.’ He sighed deeply. ‘If only we could give them our hearts.’

Sinclair stared at him. ‘What?’

‘I know. It’s a stupid idea,’ said Dennis sadly. ‘Silly Dennis.’

‘Dennis! You’re a genius!’ said Sinclair excitedly.

‘No, I’m not. You’ve got me mixed up with someone else.’

‘No, I haven’t!’ Sinclair turned to Daisy. ‘Remember I told you that these bodies that we’re using while we are on your planet are machines? And that they’re each powered by a yellow heartstone. The heartstones aren’t as powerful as blue or red stones, and ours are nearly run down, but if you take them both you might just have enough power to follow Gamion.’

‘But we don’t know where he went,’ said Daisy.

‘That doesn’t matter. The stones work by concentration,’ explained Sinclair. ‘When you get them, return to the spot where Gamion disappeared, hold one in each hand, shut your eyes and concentrate on following him. The stone will sense what you want and make it happen. It is like a car. It has the power, but you steer it. If you’re holding Ben, he will go with you. Then, if you succeed in retrieving the red stone, you can return in the same way. And if you don’t …’ Sinclair shrugged, ‘… there’ll be no point coming back. This planet will be destroyed. You may as well stay wherever you are.’

‘But if you need the stones to power your bodies and we take them … won’t you …?’ Daisy trailed off.

‘Die? Yes,’ said Sinclair flatly. ‘That’s why we couldn’t use our own heartstones to return to Hankarania. If we removed them from our bodies we would die.’

‘Maybe it wasn’t such a brilliant idea,’ said Dennis quietly.

‘But if you don’t take them, we’ll die anyway,’ Sinclair continued, ‘and so will everything else. The only way to save this planet is to get that red stone back where it belongs. It must be done.’

At this point in the conversation, there would normally have been a long pause, but they were all aware there wasn’t time for a long pause because the planet was about to die, so instead they just had a short pause and then Daisy nodded tentatively. ‘All right. How do we get your stones?’

‘Like this,’ replied Sinclair. He pulled up his shirt and pressed his bellybutton. Below it, a little drawer popped open. In it was a black circle the size and shape of a saucer. Sticking up out of the middle of it was a glowing yellow stone. In front of it was a small keyboard.

‘The brighter the stone, the more power it has. Usually it is much brighter than this, but it still has some power.’ He turned to Dennis.

Dennis swallowed. ‘Do I have to?’

Sinclair nodded.

Dennis stared at his bellybutton for a moment and then pressed it. Below it, his drawer opened.

‘The stone can only be removed or replaced after the code word has been typed in,’ Sinclair explained. He typed some letters onto his keyboard and hit enter. He then extracted his stone and gave it to Daisy. Almost immediately, his breathing grew more laboured. He nodded to Dennis, who reached towards his own keyboard.

Sinclair put his hand on Dennis’s shoulder. ‘I know I have been hard on you … but you are a good boy, and I am sorry that I did not … take better care of you.’

Dennis nodded. ‘Thank you, boss.’ Daisy thought she saw a tear in his eye. But it wasn’t a real body, so how could it have been?

Dennis typed in his own code, and then extracted his stone and handed it to Daisy.

Sinclair lay back on the grass. ‘Go,’ he gasped. ‘Hurry.’

‘Wait,’ said Daisy. ‘What are the code words?’

‘Even if you succeed,’ said Sinclair, ‘it will be too late for us. We will die within minutes.’

‘Just tell me. In case.’

‘Our Earth names. Sinclair … and Dennis.’

And with that he closed his eyes and started to die. Dennis lay back, looking frightened, and then his eyes also flickered shut.

Daisy looked down at them. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered. She had first known Sinclair and Dennis as enemies, but then they had become allies, and finally, perhaps almost friends. And it was her fault that they were dying. She took a last look and then turned away.

Daisy and Ben made their way back up the hill to the spot where Gamion had vanished. When they reached it Daisy picked up Ben and held him in her arms, while grasping a yellow stone in each hand.

She wondered where they were about to go, and whether they would ever come back. And what would await them if they did. She closed her eyes and focused on Gamion. She pictured the moment of his disappearance, his vanishing, his suddenly-not-thereness, and concentrated all her thoughts on following him.

She felt herself become weightless. She could no longer tell which way was up, down or sideways. She wanted to open her eyes but could not. Then everything started whirling about. It was as if she was sliding down a long, steep water slide except that there was no water and the slide seemed to be going in every direction at once. She felt like she was splitting into fragments, and bits of her were spreading out across the universe. After a while, the feeling reversed and it was as if all the bits were returning to their centre, honing in on each other.

And then she was somewhere.

She seemed to be standing, and could still feel Ben in her arms. Cautiously she opened one eye, as if that was somehow safer than opening both. She was in a grey metal corridor that curved gently away to the left. She put the two heartstones in her pocket.

‘You okay?’ she asked Ben.

Ben frowned. ‘Think so.’ He sniffed. ‘I can sense Gamion’s scent, but I’m not sure which way he went.’

Daisy looked around. Behind her the corridor continued curving. They started forward, just because that was the direction they were facing. The corridor rounded a bend, and they both gasped. Ahead was a floor-to-ceiling window that ran a few steps along the right-hand side of the corridor. Out of the window Daisy could see what looked like outer space: blackness punctured by hundreds, perhaps thousands, of stars. The bottom right-hand corner of the window was dominated by a planet. Daisy could make out oceans and great land masses, and she knew enough geography to know that this planet was not Earth. She paused for a moment to allow her brain to catch up and then slowly said, ‘We’re staring at a different planet.’

‘It’s been quite an unusual day, hasn’t it?’ replied Ben.

‘We must be on a spaceship,’ said Daisy. ‘It’s definitely not where I thought I’d end up when I woke up at the Gloomy Gulch train station this morning.’

They continued past the window and soon reached an intersection where the corridor split in two. Ben sniffed about.

‘He went thisaway,’ he said confidently, taking a step down the right-hand corridor, but then added, ‘I think. Unless he didn’t. Anyway, we may as well try it.’

They continued down the corridor, which now gently curved to the right. Up ahead the passageway opened up into a large foyer, from which more windows showed more outer space. On the far side of the foyer was a large metal door, in front of which stood four person-shaped things. It was hard to tell what they were as they were covered in body armour, helmets and facemasks, but each of them had something that looked extremely gun-shaped hanging from their belt.

Daisy motioned to Ben to retreat back down the corridor. When they had backed up far enough to be out of sight of the guards, Daisy stopped.

‘I’m sure Gamion’s scent heads right towards those doors,’ whispered Ben.

‘Gamion said that he was going to an intergalactic council meeting,’ whispered Daisy. ‘It must be being held on this spaceship. That’s why the door’s guarded. We need to get in there too.’

‘What about the guards?’

‘Hmmm. We need a distraction. Something that will get them out of the way while we sneak in.’

‘Yes, I know what a distraction is, Daisy.’

‘Sorry. Let me think. I know! We can start a fire! That worked in the hotel.’

‘Got any matches?’

Daisy turned out her pockets. ‘No.’

‘Good. I’m pretty sure that starting a fire on a spaceship is a really bad idea.’

‘Maybe you could run around again, like you did in the hotel foyer,’ suggested Daisy. ‘Then the guards might chase you and you could lead them away.’

‘Wouldn’t they just pull out those gun-shaped things on their belts and shoot me?’

‘Good point. Bad idea, then.’

‘I’m glad you agree. How about we try this?’

And Ben told Daisy his plan. But I’m not going to tell you what it was because that would take all the excitement out of the next bit.

Daisy and Ben walked towards the guards.

‘Remember,’ whispered Ben. ‘It’s only going to work if they believe you. Sell it!’

The guards saw them and immediately pulled out their gun-shaped things and pointed them at them. ‘Stop!’ ordered one.

(By the way, because the guards all have identical uniforms and their faces, hair and all other distinguishing marks are completely covered by their body armour, I’m just going to refer to them by the very boring names of ‘Guard 1’, ‘Guard 2’, ‘Guard 3’ and ‘the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards’. But even though they have these very boring names and you can’t see their faces [or in fact even know for sure if they have faces], remember that these four guards are all living creatures [of some sort] and, just like the rest of us, have their own hopes, dreams and fears. It’s just that we won’t find out much about what those hopes, dreams and fears are. But they do have them.)

(By the way, it was Guard 1 who said, ‘Stop!’)

‘You have to help,’ cried Daisy in a panicked voice, raising her arms above her head but still walking towards the guards. ‘They’re coming!’

‘Who’s coming?’ said Guard 1, ‘And stop!’

‘Rebels!’ said Daisy, slowing down but still walking forward. They had decided she would use the word ‘rebels’ because, if the intergalactic council was meeting through the doors that the guards were guarding, then surely, somewhere in the universe, there were bound to be some rebels that they were worried about. And even if there weren’t, Daisy knew that every council in charge of anything, whether it be organising the school fete or running the universe, was scared of rebels.

‘They’re coming!’ cried Daisy again, trying to inject real panic into her voice. Their plan depended upon Daisy convincing the guards that the rebels were real.

‘Please!’ cried Daisy. ‘They’re dangerous! They’re going to raid the meeting and kill everyone!’ She pointed behind her. ‘They’re down that corridor! You must stop them! Please hurry!’

The guards looked at each other in what Daisy hoped was confusion.

‘But who are you?’ asked the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards.

‘There’s no time!’ screamed Daisy. ‘Don’t you understand? They’ll be here in a minute! They’ll kill us! You’ve got to do something! Please!’

‘How many of them?’ asked Guard 1.

‘Six, maybe. Or seven.’

The guards looked at each other then Guard 1 pointed at the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards and said, ‘You stay here with them.’ He pointed to the other two guards. ‘You come with me.’ He raised his gun-thing and led the way towards the corridor Daisy and Ben had emerged from.

‘Be careful!’ called Daisy.

The guards disappeared into the corridor.

But there was still one left.

Daisy put her face in her hands and started to sob.

The Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards took a step towards her and then stopped, as if unsure how to deal with a sobbing girl. Which is fair enough. Hardly anyone in the entire universe knows how to deal with a sobbing girl.

Daisy covered her face with her hands and sobbed louder. Then she opened her arms and let out a long series of sobs that she tried to make as sad and scared sounding as she could. The guard looked around and then holstered his weapon and stepped towards Daisy. Daisy threw her arms around his waist and blubbered (actually pretend-blubbered) into his stomach armour, which was not at all comfortable as the armour was very hard. Daisy blubbered with her mouth while doing something tricky with her hands and a few seconds later she stepped back, holding the guard’s gun-shaped thing. She brought it up and pointed it at the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards.

‘Hands up,’ she said, wiping away her tears. (She was very impressed that she had been able to produce tears. Maybe she had a future in acting. Then she remembered that she wouldn’t have a future in anything if she didn’t get that red stone back and save the world.)

‘And get down on your knees,’ Daisy commanded as the guard slowly raised his hands.

‘But …’ started the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards. Daisy raised the gun and tried to put on an ‘I-really-am-going-to-fire-if-you-don’t-obey’ look. It must have worked because the guard dropped to one knee. As soon as he did, Daisy whacked him on the top of his head with the gun. The guard crumpled and as he hit the ground made a sound similar to that of a really big apple hitting the floor after it rolls off the kitchen bench (or the living room bench, I suppose, but why would you have a bench in your living room?).

‘Sorry,’ said Daisy, but of course the guard didn’t hear because he was unconscious. Daisy knew that, but she just said it to make herself feel less guilty. And it worked.

They turned their attention to the big metal doors. Daisy hoped they weren’t locked. She tried the handle on one of them and it opened. That made sense. Not many people lock themselves in a room, especially when they are on a spaceship and have four armed guards outside.

Inside the door was a short but wide corridor. At its far end was an open doorway.

‘Lock the door from the inside,’ suggested Ben. ‘In case the guards come back.’

‘But they’ll probably have a key,’ said Daisy.

‘There’s a bolt,’ said Ben. Below an elaborate lock was a simple bolt. Daisy drew it across the door.

They crept down to the other end of the corridor and cautiously peered through the doorway. The room inside was large and dominated by a huge oblong-shaped conference table, around which sat about twenty creatures in ornate costumes. Several looked nearly human, a few looked kind of vaguely human but also a bit non-human, one looked like a giant lizard, another had a face like a panda, and several others looked so weird that in other circumstances Daisy could have stared at them for ages, but right now she didn’t have time. The table was so big it had a smaller oblong hole in the middle of it, so that it resembled a large oblong doughnut. (To look at, that is. Not to taste. If Daisy had tasted it, it would have resembled wood, because that’s what it was made of.) One wall of the room was glass, and out of it Daisy could see more outer space and another planet.

At the far end of the table stood a creature with a big, grey, crinkled, hairless head. It was about the size of an adult and its head had two very large eyes, between which sat its nose, which was shaped like a normalish nose at the top, but which then widened dramatically across the creature’s face to make room for eight nostrils. The mouth had bright blue lips.

‘It’s him,’ whispered Ben.

‘Who?’

‘Gamion. That thing up the end of the table is Gamion.’

‘It is?’

‘Same scent, different body. It’s Gamion in a different shape.’

‘Of course! He’s an alien too,’ said Daisy.

The creatures around the table seemed transfixed by Gamion. As he talked he waved his hands about and Daisy saw that in one of them was a red stone.

‘So let’s be clear,’ he was saying. ‘You, the intergalactic council, thought I did something wrong and you put me in gaol. You were able to do that because you had more power than I did. But now I’ve got a red stone which means that I have more power than you.’

‘How did you get it? No one can have a red stone!’ said a creature who looked humanish, except that he or she had an extra nose and eye, and gigantic drooping ears.

‘Oh, I got it from a small planet in quadrant 8,’ said Gamion smugly. ‘It was controlling a structural fault there.’

There was a collective gasp from around the table. ‘But taking the stone will cause the planet to be destroyed,’ said the drooping-eared alien.

‘Boohoo!,’ sneered Gamion. ‘Anyway, I didn’t take it because I wanted to destroy the smelly little planet. I’m not that evil.’

‘Our planet is not smelly,’ whispered Ben under his breath.

‘But I do have to admit,’ continued Gamion, ‘that when I found out that removing the red stone would cause the planet to be destroyed, I didn’t care one little bit! In fact, I even felt a little bit happy about it. So, maybe I am that evil. Anyway.’ Gamion smiled his not-very-nice-smile. ‘What do you think happens next?’

‘You must give us the red stone,’ said a short, dumpy creature with a head that looked like a pavlova. ‘It is forbidden for anyone to have one.’

‘You weren’t supposed to answer,’ snapped Gamion. ‘It was a rhetorical question. This is what happens: I’m going to do your job. See, it must be so hard to make decisions about how to rule the universe when there are so many of you. You spend all your time discussing and disagreeing. Don’t you think things would run more smoothly if just one person was in charge? Me, for example?’ Quickly, Gamion held up his hand. ‘Don’t answer! It’s another rhetorical one.

‘So if I’m going to rule the universe, what will become of you? You’re not really needed anymore, are you? Hmmm. It’s a tough one. Either I could lock you up in prison – after all, that’s what you did to me – or …’ Gamion smiled brightly, ‘… I could kill you all. Two options then. Gaol or death. I know. Let’s vote!’ Gamion raised the red stone. ‘Who wants to go to gaol? Hands up? This one isn’t a rhetorical question.’

Gamion slowly pointed the red stone around the table and Daisy sensed the power coming from it. She could see a few of the council members struggling to raise their hands, but they seemed unable to.

‘No votes. All right, then. Anyone who wants to get killed by me, raise your chair really fast until your head crashes into the ceiling.’ Gamion pointed the red stone again and instantly everyone’s chairs went flying towards the ceiling. There was a chorus of ‘Oww!’ and screams as heads hit the ceiling. Then the chairs descended to the floor.

‘That seemed to be a unanimous vote in favour of death,’ said Gamion. ‘Odd choice, but so be it. Let’s get it done!’

Daisy had an idea. She backed up, returned to the door, unbolted it and cautiously poked her head out. She then disappeared through it and a few seconds later returned with the helmet of the Guard who was slightly shorter than the other three guards. She rapped it with her knuckles. It was hard. Then she pulled out her pocket-knife.

‘Daisy, no,’ hissed Ben. ‘You’ll never get anywhere near him. As soon as he sees you he’ll use the red stone to stop you.’

Gamion’s voice came from the big room. ‘Who wants to go first? Non-rhetorical, that one.’

Very deliberately Daisy drew the knife across the back of her hand. It really hurt and she had to stop herself from crying out.

‘Daisy,’ hissed Ben. ‘What are you doing?’

‘How about you, uglyface?’ came Gamion’s voice. ‘Shall I kill you first? How would you like it to happen? With my stone I can induce a heart attack, make your head explode, turn your liver into a carving knife or many, many other things. Any preference?’

Daisy bent and whispered urgently into Ben’s ear. When she had finished he nodded and said, ‘I get it.’

Daisy pulled out one of the heartstones Sinclair and Dennis had given her. Its glow had dimmed, but it still shone a dull yellow. She wiped it along the back of her hand, smearing her blood onto the stone, then she spread the blood around so that the stone was evenly covered. It now glowed red. She held it out in front of Ben.

‘I really don’t want to carry that in my mouth,’ said Ben.

‘This is no time to be squeamish,’ said Daisy.

Ben wrinkled up his nose.

‘Wait!’ said Daisy. She dug into her pocket and emerged with the clear plastic bag the parchment had been in. Carefully she placed the stone in the bag.

‘Thanks,’ said Ben, taking the bag in his teeth.

Ben walked slowly forward through the doorway into the big room, then dropped the bag containing what looked like a glowing red stone on the floor. He looked up at Gamion and said loudly, ‘I’ve got another one.’

Daisy stayed behind in the corridor, just to one side of the doorway, holding the helmet. She slid her head slowly out so she could see what was happening.

‘You’re that dog from the cave. What are you doing here?’ asked Gamion, moving around the table and up the room towards Ben.

‘I’ve brought you another red stone,’ said Ben.

‘Have you?’ asked Gamion curiously, but also cautiously as he slowly walked towards Ben.

‘I wondered what you might give me for it.’

‘Oh, my lovely little friend. I’m sure we could work something out that would please you.’

‘Actually, I’ve changed my mind,’ said Ben. ‘See you later.’ He picked up the bag in his teeth, turned and trotted back through the doorway.

‘Wait!’ cried Gamion, and ran towards the doorway. Daisy’s heart leapt. Gamion could have used the power of the red stone to freeze Ben, but luckily, as she had hoped, his first instinct had been to chase him.

As Gamion came through the doorway, Daisy gathered all her strength and smashed him as hard as she could in the face with the helmet. Gamion screamed and fell to his knees, clutching his face. Daisy raised the helmet high and hit Gamion on the top of his head. Gamion screamed again and fell onto his side. Ben leapt forward and barked ferociously into his face. Daisy saw that Gamion was clutching the red stone in his right hand and bashed the helmet down on his hand. Gamion rolled away, twisted his body and lashed out with his foot, kicking Ben in the ribs.

Daisy hit Gamion’s hand again and the red stone popped free and rolled across the floor. Daisy dived after it, grabbed it, and then stood over Gamion, who was on his knees, trying to get up. She hit him hard on top of the head again and he fell back to the floor. As Gamion lay moaning in what looked very much like agony, Daisy searched his pockets until she found the two blue stones. Then she stood and took two steps back.

Gamion’s nose was squashed flat into his face, five of his eight nostrils were bleeding and he had a cut cheek and a black eye. Daisy really wanted to kick him again for good measure, but he looked like he was already in plenty of pain.

She looked around for Ben. He was crumpled against the wall, chest heaving.

‘Ben,’ she cried, and backed towards him, keeping her eyes on Gamion. She knelt and stroked his tummy. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Think so.’

Some of the council members were starting to creep slowly through the doorway. Daisy stood, picked up Ben and turned to them. ‘Umm … hello, I’m Daisy,’ she began. ‘Gamion hasn’t got the stone anymore, so I guess you can do whatever you like with him. Personally I’d recommend a very big, very unpleasant punishment. But we have to go so, umm, goodbye.’

‘Wait!’ said a tall alien with lizard-like features and three legs. ‘You have the red stone now. You cannot leave with it. It is forbidden.’

‘I need it,’ said Daisy, backing away. ‘I’m not going to do anything bad with it. I’m just going to put it back where it belongs and save my planet. Besides, I just saved your lives. And anyway, I’ve got it, and I sort of know how to use it so, no offence, how are you going to stop me?’

The lizard-headed alien digested this. ‘I see. You are right. There is nothing we can do to stop you. But please, be careful with it. And thank you for saving us.’ He indicated Gamion. ‘We will ensure that he causes no further trouble.’

Daisy nodded. While at another time she may have been curious to discover what the intergalactic council thingy actually was and how it worked and who all the creatures on the council were, she knew that every second was vital. They had to get back to Earth and replace the red stone before it was too late. She looked down at Ben. ‘Let’s go home. If we’ve still got one to go to.’

Daisy gripped the red stone tightly in her hand and concentrated on returning to where they had left from. Once again things began to whirr about and she had the odd sensation of falling in every direction at once. Things spun and twisted for an uncertain amount of time, until, until …

… she landed. She opened her eyes. They were at the top of the hill, at exactly the spot they had left from. It seemed to be late afternoon. Immediately Daisy noticed that the earth was shaking much more violently than it had been. There were fallen trees everywhere and even when standing still it was an effort to stay upright. Daisy put Ben down.

‘Let’s get that stone back,’ she said.

‘That means going underground again, doesn’t it?’

Daisy nodded.

‘Oh, boy,’ sighed Ben.

They ran as quickly as they could (well, as quickly as Daisy could; Ben could have gone a lot faster) down the hill towards the cave’s entrance. When they were halfway down, the earth suddenly gave a tremendous lurch. Daisy was thrown to the ground and then felt herself falling. But she wasn’t falling down the hill. She was falling with the hill. The entire hill was collapsing!

As she fell Daisy felt her stomach try to escape out of her mouth and then with a tremendous whack everything stopped. She landed hard, and had the wind completely knocked out of her. She tried to suck in some air and then looked around. The hill was no longer a hill. It had been flattened, and was now at the same level as the surrounding countryside. She looked around anxiously for Ben. He was next to her, wide-eyed.

‘The cave where the stone was,’ he panted. ‘The hill’s fallen in on it. All the passages would’ve collapsed.’

Daisy realised he was right. ‘We’re too late,’ she said despairingly.

She sat back, feeling defeated. She knew what would happen next. Without the red stone controlling the fault in the earth, the planet was going to crack and collapse and die, and she and Ben and her parents and everyone else were going to die with it. Of course, she and Ben might be able to use the red stone to escape to some other planet, or back to the spaceship. But what was the point? She’d just have to live with the knowledge that the world had ended, and that it was her fault.

‘Come on, Daisy, get up. We’ve got to put that stone back in place.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Daisy flatly. ‘How can we? The cave’s collapsed. We did our best, Ben, but we’ve failed.’

Ben growled. ‘Not yet.’

‘Yes, yet. And it’s all because of me.’

Ben growled again, baring his teeth and standing up very straight. ‘Give me the stone, Daisy.’

‘What’s the point, B–’

Ben cut her off with a ferocious bark. ‘Give it to me now, or I’ll come and get it.’ He took a step towards her.

‘Ben! This isn’t you!’

‘And this isn’t you, Daisy! You’ve given up! If you think it’s your fault, then do something about it! You can’t let your parents die, and all your friends, and everyone else!’

Daisy was tired. So tired. She just wanted to lie down and sleep. Actually, what she really wanted was a bath, and some fish and chips and a caramel milkshake and some chocolate ice-cream with extra chocolate and most of all, her mum tucking her into bed (although when her mum did tuck her into bed, Daisy always complained that it was much too early and she should be allowed to stay up a bit longer).

She sighed. ‘I’m too tired.’

‘Then give yourself some more energy.’

‘Whaddayamean?’

‘See if you can use the red stone to give you some extra energy.’

Daisy stared at the stone. Would it work? It was worth a try. She concentrated hard on thoughts of energy flowing into her from the red stone and, sure enough, soon a new warmth and liveliness began to seep into her bones and her muscles and her blood and her liver and her brain and all the other bits of her, except her fingernails and toenails and hair because those bits don’t really need energy.

She tried again. ‘Make me happy.’ She waited. She still felt miserable. Even the stone couldn’t change that.

‘Ah-hmm,’ said Ben, raising his eyebrows.

‘Oh, sorry. Here.’ She put the stone at Ben’s feet and he placed a paw on it. ‘Fill me up with energy,’ he said. ‘Stop me being hungry. Get rid of all my fleas.’

Daisy watched him. After a few moments his face dissolved into a slow, satisfied smile. ‘Ahhh,’ he sighed. He wiggled in delight for a few moments and then said, ‘Okay, let’s get going.’

‘Where?’

‘I know the hill’s collapsed, which means that technically we shouldn’t even be calling it a hill anymore, but let’s try to find the passage where you exited the cave. Maybe there’s still a way in there. If there’s not, we can try the other entrances.’

Daisy nodded. She thought it was hopeless, but they had to at least try. They made their way cautiously along what used to be the hill until they found the bushes that hid the cave entrance Daisy had emerged from. The earth was torn up and mangled, and there was no sign of any way in. They continued on and soon came around a bend and saw the main entrance. Or at least what used to be the main entrance. Now it was a load of collapsed rubble.

‘There’s no way in there either,’ said Daisy.

‘Look!’ said Ben, pointing with his forepaw. Above and to the right of the entrance, exactly where they had left them, lay Sinclair and Dennis. Daisy didn’t want to go too close to them because she knew that without their heartstones, they would now be dead. But she still started walking as fast as she could towards them, because lying next to them was her mother, and sitting next to her, with his head on his knees, was her father.

Chapter 22

UNEXPECTED HELP

‘Dad!’

‘Daisy!’

A violent shudder rocked the earth. Daisy half fell, half sat down next to her father.

‘Mum won’t wake up,’ said Brian Malone shakily. ‘At least, she does sometimes, but when she does it’s like she’s not really there.’

Daisy had an idea. Sinclair has said that Gamion’s hypnotism could be undone by either a blue or a red stone. She might not be able to save the world, but at least she could try to un-hypnotise her mum and the others. She pulled out the red stone.

‘I think I can help her,’ she said. ‘I need to focus.’

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on her mum. She felt her father’s presence next to her, and then Ben’s and – there it was! – Jackie Malone’s. But it was like there was a barrier encircling Jackie Malone. Daisy could feel the wholeness of her father and Ben, but her mother was muted, caged, trapped. Daisy tried to sense the nature of the barrier around her mum, and she realised that it was connected to other barriers around other people nearby. If she could break it, surely they would all be released. She concentrated hard on the barrier and its connection to the other barriers, and imagined breaking it apart. She felt the power of the red stone flow through her. She trembled, but stayed focused … and then the barrier was gone. She was sure of it!

She opened her eyes and gazed down at her mother. Jackie Malone was groaning. Her eyes fluttered open and she managed to squeak out, ‘Where am … what … huh?’ before they shut again.

Daisy squeezed her father’s hand. ‘She’s going to be all right, Dad.’ Then she remembered an important detail. ‘At least, that is, until the world ends.’

Brian Malone looked bewildered. Far too many confusing things had happened to him in much too short a time and he desperately needed some sort of explanation. So Daisy quickly outlined most of what had happened, leaving out that Ben could talk and the bits about Fiona, which she thought might be unnecessarily alarming. As she spoke Brian Malone’s hand went to his mouth and every few sentences he muttered, ‘Oh my goodness.’

When she’d finished Daisy said, ‘So the good news is that I’m pretty sure Mum will recover soon. The bad news is that the whole planet is going to be destroyed and we’re all going to die.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Brian Malone.

‘The only way of stopping it happening is if we can get that red stone back in place.’

‘Right. Then we should –’ began Brian Malone.

‘But all the entrances have collapsed, and probably all the caves have too, so we can’t. I’m sorry, Dad.’

Her father shook his head. ‘No, I’m sorry for having been so scared. If only I’d listened when you called me from the train station, we could have driven up together and got here a bit earlier, and that might have made a difference.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Daisy. She was pretty sure that was true, but even if it wasn’t she didn’t want to saddle her dad with the guilt of feeling that it was his fault that the world was ending. She knew that feeling, and it wasn’t nice. ‘It’s my fault. If I hadn’t unlocked the stone, Gamion couldn’t have taken it.’

Brian Malone put his arm around her. ‘We all do things we regret. Unfortunately, though, we can’t turn back time. We just have to –’

Daisy stared at him. ‘Wait! What did you say?’

‘I said we just have to –’

‘No, no, no! You said “we can’t turn back time”.’

‘Yes, but –’

‘But what if we could? Ben, let me pick you up.’

‘Where are you going?’ asked Brian Malone.

‘Not where. When!’

Brian Malone looked even more confused than he had before (and he had already been looking pretty confused). ‘Wha … huh?’

‘Dad, we can’t put the stone back in place because the hill has collapsed. But what if we could travel back in time an hour or so to a time before the hill collapsed? Then we could put the stone back.’

‘But time travel is impossible.’

Daisy held up the stone. ‘With this stone Gamion hypnotised a whole town. With this stone Ben and I travelled back from somewhere on the other side of the universe. For the last few hundred years this same stone has been powerful enough to control a fault in the earth. How do we know it’s not powerful enough to take me an hour or two back in time?’

‘You might be right,’ said Ben thoughtfully. ‘It’s worth a try, anyway.’

‘Wait!’ said Brian Malone, swallowing hard. ‘Did Ben just … talk?!’

‘Whoops,’ said Ben, looking sheepish. (Actually, he looked more doggish than sheepish. But not dogged.)

‘Okay, Dad,’ said Daisy. ‘You know how you like to talk about big issues and small issues? I agree that usually a talking dog would be a big issue. But today it’s a small issue. The big issue is that the world is about to end. Yes, Ben can talk and he’s very clever. Now let’s focus on saving the planet. Yes?’

Brian Malone stared wide-eyed at Ben and slowly nodded.

‘Dad, Ben and I are going to try to travel back in time and replace the stone. You stay with Mum and –’

‘No,’ interrupted Brian Malone.

‘Dad, it’s our only chance –’

‘I know. I’m coming with you.’

‘But Dad –’

‘Let’s not waste time, Daisy. I might be able to help. And if I get too scared you can just leave me behind.’

Daisy hesitated and then gave him a big hug. ‘What about Mum? Ben, maybe you should stay here …’

‘Obviously that isn’t going to happen,’ Ben replied calmly. ‘And it doesn’t even make sense. If you fail, we’re all going to die anyway, so what’s the point of me not coming? None. Come on, let’s go.’

Daisy grabbed the stone, picked up Ben and put her arm around her father. ‘Everyone be quiet.’ She closed her eyes, felt the power of the red stone and focused on going back in time to the recent past. But not too far. If she went back to a time before Gamion took the red stone from the cave, then she wouldn’t be able to do anything. It had to be to a time after Gamion had seized the stone from the underground cave, but before the hill collapsed.

She concentrated as hard as she could, trying to anchor her thoughts on the ‘when’ of her destination. She pictured herself and Ben at the top of the hill, about to follow Gamion to the spaceship, and tried to zone in on that time.

Again, she felt the whirling, disorientating feeling of stone-travelling. But this time it was different, more like she was shrinking in on herself, as if the universe was rushing past and she was falling backwards into a big pool of everything swirling around her. Everything rushed onwards and away and up and out and everywhere …

… until eventually it was over. She opened her eyes. They were still on the hill, and it was still a hill! It hadn’t collapsed yet which meant that it had worked! They had travelled back in time!

But how far? If a dinosaur wandered into view, she’d know it had been too far. Luckily, one didn’t.

Daisy felt a trembling beneath her feet. The earthquake had started, which meant that they were sometime after the stone had been removed from the underground cave. Good. But how long did they have to get the stone back before the hill collapsed again? Actually not collapsed again, she corrected herself, because now that they had gone back in time the hill hadn’t collapsed yet.

She turned around. Sinclair and Dennis were lying near her, unconscious, but Jackie Malone wasn’t there, which meant they had arrived back at a time before Brian and Jackie Malone had reached the hillside. But had they come back to a time before or after Sinclair and Dennis’s heartstones had been removed? If it was after their stones had been removed, were Sinclair and Dennis dead already? Daisy had an idea. She no longer needed the heartstones they had given her, so she could replace them. Then, if she managed to replace the red stone, Sinclair and Dennis might survive.

She knelt down, pulled up Sinclair’s shirt and pushed his bellybutton. Sinclair’s drawer slid open, once again revealing a black saucer. It was empty.

‘Oh dear. Now what’s happening?’ asked Brian Malone.

‘They’re aliens, remember?’ said Ben. ‘Let me explain.’

Brian Malone held up his hand. ‘Don’t bother. Having the reason why my daughter is opening up the stomachs of some aliens explained to me by a talking dog is probably more than I can handle at the moment.’

Daisy took the two heartstones from her pocket. One was still covered in her blood, so she wiped it clean with her handkerchief. The heartstones were both almost completely dull. Daisy pointed the red stone at them and tried to focus its power on restoring some of the heartstones’ power. After a few seconds they started to glow brighter. She picked one up and carefully placed it on Sinclair’s tray, then pressed his bellybutton again.

The tray wouldn’t go back in.

‘You need the password,’ said Ben.

Of course. She typed ‘Sinclair’ into the small keyboard within Sinclair and then pushed his bellybutton again. The tray slid back in.

They waited for Sinclair to show signs of life. Nothing happened.

‘Maybe it takes a while,’ Ben said uneasily. ‘Do Dennis while you’re waiting.’

Daisy repeated the process on Dennis. When she had finished she looked again at Sinclair.

Nothing.

‘Come on, Daisy,’ said Ben. ‘We have to get that red stone back in place before the hill collapses.’

‘Just a minute.’ Daisy had another idea. She still had the blue stones she had taken from Gamion on the spaceship. She slid one into Sinclair’s pocket and then reached into her own pocket and found the parchment with the red stone removal instructions on it. ‘Anyone got a pen?’

‘As if I’m going to have a pen,’ said Ben. ‘Where would I put it? I’m nude.’

‘I’ve got one,’ said Brian Malone. He unclipped a pen from his shirt pocket and handed it to Daisy.

On the back of the parchment she wrote:

If you get better, a blue stone is in your pocket. You can use it to escape back to your planet. I am trying to replace the red stone in the cave to stop the earthquake. If I fail, please take my mum with you. Daisy.

Sinclair’s hands were folded across his chest. She lifted one and placed the note under it. She gave Sinclair and Dennis a last look, hoping for a sign of life, then tore herself away.

The quickest way back to the chamber where she had found the red stone was back through the small crack along which Daisy had slowly pulled herself to escape the caves, so they climbed the hill towards it.

Daisy saw a clump of bushes that looked familiar. ‘I think it’s through here,’ she said.

They pushed through them and there was the crack. It seemed like a lifetime ago that Daisy had emerged from it. She turned to Ben and her father. ‘You sure you both want to come?’

Ben nodded.

Brian Malone shook his head. ‘I’m completely sure that I don’t want to come. I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.’ He swallowed. ‘But I’m coming. And it could be worse. I mean, at least there aren’t any monsters.’

Daisy coughed. ‘Actually …’

Brian Malone’s eyes widened. ‘What?!’

‘There is one monster. But …’ Daisy began, and then stopped.

‘Yes?’ prompted Brian Malone. ‘But what?’

‘But … nothing, sorry. I was trying to think of some reason why you don’t have to be scared of the monster, but you actually do, ’cos she’s really terrifying and vicious. Right then, let’s go.’

Brian Malone put his head in his hands. ‘Oh dear, oh dear.’

‘You don’t have to come, Dad.’

He took a deep breath. ‘I’m coming.’

Daisy got down on her knees and manoeuvred herself through the crack and back into the underground world. She held the red stone out in front of her, and even though it glowed, the shadows bounced at odd and unnerving angles and the uneven ground and low roof only allowed her enough room to drag herself painfully forward, using her elbows and feet.

She heard her dad enter the cave behind her. ‘Come on, Brian,’ he muttered to himself. (Obviously it was to himself. If he was muttering to Daisy he wouldn’t have called her ‘Brian’.)

‘No, Brian!’ continued Brian Malone. ‘That shadow isn’t a monster. Calm down! Just think about cake. Nice chocolate cake. Yum. Imagine eating a yummy chocolate cake. Chocolate cake, chocolate cake, chocolate cake. Yummy, yummy. But not too much now, it’s very fattening.’

Progress was slow and Daisy was beginning to feel weak. Despite the energy the stone had fed her, nothing beats a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and she hadn’t had one of them, or anything else, to eat for a very long time.

Daisy pushed the stone along in front of her, and then pulled herself after it. In this way she eventually emerged at the end of the squeeze and slid down the rock-and-mud slope she had scrambled up on her way out. Ben was waiting at the bottom.

Next, Brian Malone stumbled down the slope, muttering to himself. ‘Stay calm, Brian. Chocolate cake. Chocolate cake.’

‘Are you okay, Dad?’

‘No, definitely not. Come, on, let’s go.’

The earth’s shuddering was getting stronger. Walking along the passage was like walking on a rope bridge. Suddenly, a huge tremor sent Daisy flying into the wall and a rock hit her on the back, knocking her to the ground. Dust swirled everywhere and a dull roar filled her ears. She covered her head with her hands, terrified, wondering if this was the end.

Slowly the shaking and the noise lessened. Daisy raised her head and looked around. Ahead, a few rocks had fallen but the passage wasn’t blocked. Ben appeared next to her, seemingly okay.

Brian Malone was on hands and knees. He struggled to his feet. His face was twisted into a tight grimace.

Daisy tried to rub the spot on her back where the rock had hit it, but it was right in that awkward part that you can’t reach no matter how hard you try.

It had been that sort of day.

They kept going. Soon they came to a bend and around it they saw the entrance to the chamber where the red stone had come from. They had made it!

‘Thank goodness,’ said Daisy. Just then another violent heave knocked her to the ground. The earth shook too much to risk trying to stand, so she crawled. The earth gave another tremendous heave, almost as if it was trying to stop her. She covered her head again as rocks and dirt rained down. Up ahead there was a tremendous crash.

She thought that the whole roof was about to come down on their heads. Soon, however, the rumbling stopped. She crawled on. As the dust settled, she saw that the passage was now completely blocked by a wall of fallen rocks and rubble that rose to the ceiling. And the cave they had to get to was on the other side.

Daisy stared at the wall. There were no holes or gaps anywhere. It looked impassable.

‘We were so close,’ she said forlornly.

For once Ben had no reply. He was panting, tongue out, and his ears were drooping lower than Daisy had ever seen them.

Brian Malone stumbled past them. ‘We’ll have to dig through it,’ he said, a tremor in his voice. ‘Come on.’

Surely, Daisy thought, they couldn’t. Not with their bare hands. And even if they could, it would take too long. The hill was going to collapse at any minute.

Brian Malone reached the wall of rubble and fallen rocks and pulled himself up it until he was at the top. He started pulling and pushing rocks, but none even moved. His legs were still shaking.

Ben turned to Daisy. ‘Can you imagine how scared he must be? I mean, I’m scared, but for him, after what he went through with the cave-in, it must be a hundred times worse. But he’s still going. Come on, Daisy.’

Daisy looked up at her father. It was hard to believe he was the same person who, just last week, had refused to leave the house because it had been raining and there were snails on their front path. ‘What if they attack us?’ he’d nervously asked.

And now, there he was, single-handedly trying to dismantle an underground rock wall. Daisy felt a surge of pride. She struggled to her feet, climbed up the wall and started to help.

‘Aha!’ cried Brian Malone as he pulled at a rock and it moved a little. Grunting, he pulled and pushed it, gradually working it from side to side until, with a cry, he pushed it clattering down the rock wall to the ground.

He tested the rocks on either side. ‘This one’s loose,’ he called and wiggled another one until he was able to pull it free and push it, too, to the ground.

Another violent heave shook the earth, and more dirt rained onto them.

‘Daisy. Shine the light through here,’ said Brian Malone.

Daisy climbed across to him and shone the red stone through the opening he had created. The removal of the two stones had opened up a narrow passage through the wall just under the cave’s ceiling. It ran for about two or three body lengths and was very narrow, but at the end of it was a hole that surely led into the cave where the red stone belonged.

‘Can you fit through?’ asked her father.

Daisy pushed her head into the passage. Could she? Even if she could, had the computers in the cave already been smashed to smithereens by falling rocks? And where did the word ‘smithereens’ come from anyway?

Daisy held the stone in front of her and peered down the passage. She pushed herself into the hole, lay flat and pulled herself forward. She found a foothold and pushed, and inched forward a bit further. She heard the rumbling start to build up. The roof above her shifted, and once again Daisy wondered if she was about to be crushed to death in a dark, muddy, squashed underground passage.

She really hoped that she wasn’t.

She scrambled forward again, bending around a protruding rock. She could now see into the cave through the hole at the end of the passage. There were a few rocks on the ground, but the computer screens seemed to be intact, as did the empty stone holder.

Getting through the hole was going to be tight, though. Daisy pushed her head through and tried to squeeze her shoulders through. She twisted and turned and pushed and pulled and grunted and squeezed; she wiggled her elbows, pushed her feet and strained her everything, but either the hole was too small or she was too big. Or both. She pushed and pulled at the rocks on either side to try to widen the hole, but they were jammed tight. She kept pushing and pressing, flaying skin off her elbows and forearms, until sweat ran into her eyes and she began to cramp from exhaustion. Eventually she collapsed, panting. Her head and one arm were through, but that was all.

She had an idea. Ben was definitely small enough to squeeze through. Maybe he could squeeze past her and carry the stone down into the cave in his mouth? But then Daisy remembered that the ledge upon which the stone’s holder sat was at the height of her shoulders, and she knew exactly how high Ben could jump: to her chest. He wouldn’t make it.

She racked her brains. Maybe she could use the stone to widen the hole. She closed her hand around it and concentrated on moving the rocks back. They wobbled a bit, but as they did, the ceiling above her trembled. Dust fell on her, as did some small rocks. She stopped, sure that if she kept going the ceiling would cave in on her.

Daisy laid her head down. She was hungry, thirsty, tired and, worst of all, defeated. She was dimly aware of Ben and her father calling her name behind her, but what did it matter? She had failed. The earth was going to be destroyed. Any minute now, the hill was going to collapse on top of them, and then the fault in the earth would widen and widen and eventually swallow up everything. She was maddeningly close, just a few steps away from being able to stop it happening, but she might as well still have been half the universe away. Daisy shut her eyes and let go. She just wanted to sleep.

She lay there, drifting, waiting for the upheaval that would bring the end. She hoped Sinclair and Dennis would wake up in time to escape, and that they would take her mum with them. Her mum had always loved travelling.

Daisy wasn’t sure how much time passed before she heard a familiar noise. It was the slurping sound of something wet shuffling across the chamber. She opened her eyes. It was Fiona.

Okay, you win, Daisy thought. You’ve got me now. If we’re all going to die anyway, then you may as well get some pleasure from eating me first.

The earth shuddered again, and dust fell from the ceiling of the cave.

You’ll have to be quick, though.

Fiona blobbed over to the rock wall and slurped halfway up it, where she stopped. She advanced a tentacle towards Daisy. Daisy waited for it to grab her, but the tentacle stopped just short of her hand.

Huh? Shouldn’t Fiona be trying to squeeze the life out of her again? The creature turned the end of her tentacle upwards and then laid it down again. Daisy stared at it uncomprehendingly.

The creature repeated the movement. It was almost as if she was … beckoning? But for what? For Daisy to come through the hole? But she couldn’t.

Once again, Fiona turned the end of her tentacle upward and then laid it down. Suddenly, Daisy realised what the creature was doing. She wasn’t reaching out towards Daisy’s hand. She was reaching out towards the stone that was in Daisy’s hand.

Fiona wanted the stone!

But why?

And if she got it, what would she do with it?

If Daisy kept hold of the stone she knew what would happen because she had been to the future. The hill would collapse on top of her and the world would end. So why not let Fiona take it? It wasn’t as if anything worse could happen.

She opened her hand. Fiona reached out her tentacle and wrapped it around the stone. She lifted the stone, retracted her tentacle and descended the wall.

Daisy let her eyes close. It would all be over soon. She waited to hear the splash as Fiona re-entered the water.

It didn’t come. Daisy opened one eye a crack. Fiona had squelched her way across the room to the control panel and now stood, or sat, or perhaps just blobbed, in front of the computer screens. Slowly she lifted the tentacle holding the stone.

Daisy jerked both eyes fully open. Surely she couldn’t. Or could she? Could Fiona somehow know that putting the stone back would stop the earth shaking?

Daisy hardly dared hope. She held her breath. Every living creature on Earth should have been doing the same, because their fate hung on the actions of a creature they didn’t even know existed.

Very slowly, carefully even, Fiona extended her tentacle and carefully placed the stone back in its holder.

And the earth fell still.

Daisy Malone let out a big breath and, for the first time in a long time, smiled. ‘It’s done,’ she shouted over her shoulder. ‘The stone’s back in place!’

Behind her she heard cheers from her dog and her dad.

But why had Fiona done it? Daisy remembered something Sinclair had said: We now use them to guard the stones. Morphangs will do anything to protect them. Of course. If the earth was destroyed then the stone, mighty as it was, would be destroyed with it. By replacing the red stone Fiona had ensured that it would continue to exist. She had done the only thing she could do to protect the stone, and in so doing had saved the world.

Fiona shuffled back towards Daisy, and again climbed halfway up the wall and extended a tentacle. Daisy stared at the tentacle for a moment, and then understood. She lifted her hand and opened it, her palm facing upward. Fiona very gently placed her tentacle on top of Daisy’s palm. They stayed like this, creature and girl, sharing a moment Daisy would never forget.

Then the tentacle wound itself around her hand and began to tighten, while a second tentacle wrapped itself around her forearm and pulled. Things were back to normal!

‘Hold on there. Wait now!’ said Daisy uneasily, pulling her arm back through the hole and using her other hand to unpeel the tentacles. Quickly she pushed herself backwards down the passage until she was out of reach. Fiona raised her eye to the level of the hole and looked long and hard at Daisy. Then she slid a tentacle in and along the passage. At first Daisy thought it was to try to grab her again, but the tentacle stopped in front of her and then rolled from side to side. Daisy realised Fiona was waving goodbye.

She grabbed the tentacle and gave it a quick squeeze. ‘Thank you, Fiona.’

The tentacle waved again and withdrew.

Chapter 23

OUT IN THE OPEN

‘Can we go now?’ asked Brian Malone, when Daisy had extracted herself from the passage.

‘No, let’s stay here a few hours longer and just hang out.’

‘Daisy, this really isn’t the time for sarcasm.’

‘I am getting good at it though, aren’t I?’

They made their way back the way they had come. Daisy was so tired she could hardly move. The final crawl towards daylight took every last bit of her strength, but eventually they made it out and collapsed on the side of the hill.

Daisy slumped next to Brian Malone. ‘We did it, Dad.’

‘Hooray! Where’s the chocolate cake!’

They both laughed, and then Brian Malone put his hand around Daisy’s shoulders. ‘Seriously, Daisy, you did it. I’m so proud of you. And I’m sorry I let you down and made you come up here alone. I was scared. I’ve been scared for a long time.’

Daisy leant into him. ‘I’m proud of you, Dad.’

Brian Malone hugged his daughter tighter.

‘Sorry to break up the moment,’ said Ben, ‘but I think there’s a slight problem. We travelled back in time, right? So now, don’t we have to travel forward again back to where we were? Except that we can’t, because we can only do it with the red stone and we don’t have it anymore.’

‘Hmm. I don’t think we do. We’re probably nearly at the time that we travelled back from,’ said Daisy, ‘so I guess we just need to make sure that we don’t bump into our other selves. If they’re here. But maybe they’re not here, because we changed the past, so this is like some sort of parallel universe.’ Daisy’s brain was starting to hurt. ‘Let’s just go and find mum.’

They crept down and across the hill towards the spot where they had left Jackie Malone and Sinclair and Dennis. They came over a ridge and suddenly, down the hill, Daisy saw them. All three of them were lying on the ground.

‘There they are!’ called Brian Malone.

But Daisy didn’t hear him properly because she was running down the hill.

First, she went to her mother.

‘Mum? Mum?’

‘Darling? Darling?’ panted Brian Malone who, with Ben, had followed Daisy.

Ben was about to add ‘Jackie? Jackie?’ but stopped himself, figuring that the ideal moment for him to reveal to Jackie Malone that her dog could talk probably wasn’t just as she awoke from a long period of being in a hypnotised, zombie-like state. Ben was very sensitive like that.

‘Hmmm, wha …?’ muttered Jackie Malone. Her eyes fluttered open, then closed, then open. Then they closed again. It was sort of like slow-motion blinking.

Daisy and Brian Malone gently lifted her into a sitting position.

Jackie Malone’s eyes opened again. ‘Brian? Daisy?’ she said sleepily.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Brian Malone anxiously.

‘I … I think so. What …’ began Jackie but the next few words were lost in the huge hug her daughter gave her. Brian Malone put an arm around them both and joined in and Ben squashed himself up against as much of each of them as he could.

Let’s just give them a moment.

Eventually Daisy remembered Dennis and Sinclair. Were they alive? Had her attempt to recharge their heartstones worked? She moved over to them and put her ear next to Sinclair’s mouth. He was breathing!

‘Sinclair! Dennis!’ Sinclair’s eyes fluttered open and Daisy helped him up. Next to him Dennis also awoke and immediately sat up. ‘Is it still my birthday?’ he asked. Then the three of them excitedly said lots of very obvious things like:

‘You’re alive!’

‘We’re alive!’

‘The earth has stopped shaking.’

‘You replaced our hearts.’

‘We got the red stone back in place!’

‘You saved the world.’

‘We saved the world!’

‘I’m hungry!’

That last one, of course, was said by Dennis.

Ben sniffed and his ears pricked up. Daisy stared over Dennis’s shoulder. Two people were making their way up the hill. It was Prawn! With him was another man who Daisy recognised as one of the hypnotised people she had seen inside the cave.

Prawn bounded up to them. ‘Man! It was, like, yikes! Like, that earthquake thingy! But now it’s cool again. And, like, I found my dad.’ He indicated the man next to him who looked like an older version of Prawn.

‘Like, hi,’ said Prawn’s dad. ‘It’s all, like, pretty weird, hey.’

‘You speak like that too,’ said Daisy, smiling.

‘So I’m, like, Barry,’ said Prawn’s dad, ‘but dudes call me Crab. ’Cos it’s, like, way cooler than Barry. Don’t you think?’

Daisy didn’t, but she wanted to be polite. ‘It’s a nice name,’ she said.

Daisy introduced everybody who didn’t know each other. They all looked at each other curiously. Daisy knew that soon everyone was going to start asking each other lots of questions, so she decided to get in first and started to explain everything that had happened.

When she got up to her arrival in Gloomy Gulch, Brian Malone asked, ‘Why was everyone in Gloomy Gulch hypnotised?’

‘Gamion must have done it,’ said Sinclair. ‘Maybe to practise using the stone, or perhaps so that the townsfolk wouldn’t discover what he was doing.’

‘Or probably, knowing him, just for fun,’ added Daisy. ‘But why wasn’t Prawn hypnotised?’

‘Well, probably ’cos I have a really strong mind,’ said Prawn. ‘Like, he tried, but he just couldn’t break me down. Oh yeah!’

Sinclair smiled. ‘Or perhaps because you were concentrating so fiercely on something else that your mind blocked him out.’

‘That’d be that game, hey, Prawn,’ suggested Daisy.

‘Awesome!’ said Prawn. ‘Doomfinder 4 rocks! Which reminds me, like, I’ve, like, gotta get back to it soon or else –’

‘Or else what?’ asked Daisy.

‘Er … or else nothing really. I guess maybe I am a bit addicted.’

Crab put his arm around his son’s shoulders. ‘To be honest, son, I think I am too, a bit. I love that game. But we’ll beat it together.’

‘Thanks, Dad,’ replied Prawn.

Daisy continued. When she explained how her father had saved them in the caves by attacking Gamion, Jackie Malone’s eyes widened and she stared at her husband in admiration. Her eyes got even wider when Daisy described how they had got the stone back from Gamion and travelled back in time to replace it.

‘Mum, can you remember anything about being hypnotised?’ asked Daisy when she had finished.

‘Yes, sort of. It was like I was doing things, but I had no control over them. And then when that horrible man made me tell him things, I tried to stop myself.’

‘How did you know about the short cut to where the red stone was?’

‘When I had the blue stone I was sort of drawn down the passage that led towards the red stone, but I never went all the way. I saw another little passage halfway up the wall, and it seemed to lead the right way and … I just sort of guessed really.’

‘It was a good guess,’ said Daisy. She turned to her father. ‘What happened to Professor Blont after you got out of the cave?’

‘He explained a bit about what was going on and then he just kept apologising,’ replied Brian Malone, ‘and then when we got out he offered us a lift home. I told him we weren’t going anywhere without you, and he offered to stay with us, but it was pretty obvious he just wanted to get out of here, so we told him to go.’

‘It’s a shame about his leg,’ said Dennis.

‘It’s a shame he decided to help an evil alien who wanted to take over the universe,’ said Daisy. ‘But I guess he did try and do the right thing in the end.’ She looked up at Sinclair. ‘Now that you have two blue stones, I wonder if maybe you could fix his leg.’

Sinclair smiled at her. ‘You are very merciful, Daisy. Personally, I’d prefer to damage his other one. But I will try.’

Sinclair held a blue stone in each hand and closed his eyes. About half a minute passed and then he opened them again. ‘It is done.’

‘Now he really owes us,’ said Daisy. ‘I might get him to repay me with a year’s supply of cream buns.’

Jackie Malone turned to Sinclair and Dennis. ‘So you’re aliens, are you?’

‘We could take our heads off to prove it if you like,’ suggested Dennis.

‘No, don’t,’ said Daisy quickly, remembering how she had fainted when she had seen inside their bodies. ‘We’ve all had a pretty big day already, don’t you think?’

‘Can I ask you something?’ said Jackie Malone to Sinclair. ‘I’ve been puzzling over this for years. When we first explored the caves we found a black object that looked very much like a television remote control. Do you know what it might be?’

‘Oh,’ said Sinclair, looking a bit sheepish. ‘That would have been a television remote control. We have television on our planet too. And those who came here to dig the tunnels and place the stone would have brought one with them. It’s a good way to relax and forget that you are half a universe away from home. They must have left the remote control behind.’

‘Mystery solved,’ said Jackie Malone. She turned to her husband. ‘I’m so proud of you, Brian. You came and rescued us, and then you went back down there again during an earthquake! I can hardly believe it!’

Brian Malone smiled shyly, looking both embarrassed and proud.

‘Brian and Daisy Malone saving the world!’ exclaimed Jackie Malone. ‘Who would have thought?’

Ben had, up to now, with a supreme effort, managed to stop himself from speaking. But he could contain himself no longer. ‘Don’t forget me!’

Jackie Malone stared at him and her hand went to her mouth. ‘Oh my goodness!’

‘Whoops,’ said Ben.

Chapter 24

A FAREWELL

Sinclair and Dennis stood at the top of the hill with Daisy, Ben, Jackie Malone, Brian Malone, Prawn and Crab. It was early evening, that time of day when sometimes, if you’re lucky, things feel exactly right.

‘I think we may have to reappraise our view of Earth,’ said Sinclair dryly. ‘It may well be that the ants are not the only intelligent species here.’

‘Finally you’ve realised us dogs are not just pretty pets,’ said Ben.

‘Although the ants did help to save our lives,’ continued Sinclair.

‘What do you mean?’ demanded Daisy. ‘Ben and I saved your lives.’

‘And the ants,’ said Sinclair. ‘Remember I told you that I thought ants may be able to communicate telepathically? When I was unconscious – it must have been just after you replaced our heartstones – I suddenly felt a strong message to wake up. When I opened my eyes, a row of ants was sitting on my arm staring at me! The ants had communicated with me to wake me up! It’s a breakthrough! We will have to come back to study them further.’

‘Well, make sure you call in when you do,’ said Daisy. ‘But this time, how about you knock on the front door rather than breaking in through the back one?’

‘Certainly,’ said Sinclair, smiling. He shook hands with everyone. Dennis followed, looking as if he wasn’t quite sure why he was doing it.

Finally, Sinclair turned again to Daisy. ‘We only need one blue stone to return home,’ he said, ‘which of course means that there is one left. The one that your mother found hidden in the caves.’

Sinclair pulled it from his pocket. ‘I think we should entrust it to you and your mother, Daisy.’

Daisy stared at the stone. She remembered the power of the stones, and the things she had been able to do with them. Travel across the universe and time, fill herself with energy. Imagine if she could …

‘No!’ she said, so fiercely it surprised her. ‘Sorry. It’s just that … I want to be normal again. I know how powerful it is and … I don’t want to be tempted. Besides, the stones have caused so much trouble already. I think it’d be better if you took it with you.’

‘I understand,’ said Sinclair.

Daisy remembered something. ‘The red stone we replaced. We couldn’t lock it back into place. Fiona is guarding it, but still … ’

Sinclair nodded. ‘I will report it as soon as we return and it will be locked. We can do it from Hankarania.’

He took both of Daisy’s hands in his and looked her in the eye. ‘You saved our lives, Daisy. And you saved your planet. Thank you.’

Daisy felt a bit special. She wasn’t sure what to say.

Dennis stepped awkwardly towards Daisy. ‘Er, what the boss said. But yeah, thanks.’ He smiled.

Sinclair put his arm around Dennis. ‘Farewell, Earth people and dog,’ he said. He held the blue glowing stone up and closed his eyes.

Dennis said, ‘Wait! This isn’t going to hurt, is –’ and then a blue light enveloped them and they vanished.

‘Wow!! That was soooo, like, awesome!!’ said two people at the same time. And if you don’t know who they were, you haven’t been paying attention.

Daisy turned to her father. ‘So, Dad, now that you’ve helped save the world, do you think you might be up for a few more adventures?’

‘Per … haps,’ responded Brian Malone uncertainly.

‘Great. Let’s do something really dangerous together next weekend. Ever been parachuting? I’d love to try that.’

‘Um, maybe not quite that soon. How about a game of chess instead?’

Daisy stared at the empty spot where Sinclair and Dennis had been and then bent to cuddle Ben. Ben put his mouth to her ear. ‘Daisy, do you remember how this all began? When we went for that walk behind our house and I heard voices in the forest, and I wanted to ignore them, but you were curious. Daisy, your curiosity saved the world!’

Daisy squeezed him tight and whispered back, ‘Ben, we saved the world.’

For the first time in his life Ben wished he had arms, so he could hug her back.

‘Come on then,’ interrupted Brian Malone. ‘If we leave now, we should get home in time for dinner. If your mother drives, that is. And maybe I’ll make spaghetti bolognese.’

‘Great,’ said Daisy, rising to her feet. ‘But we have to stop at the shops on the way because Mum, you owe me a proper birthday present.’

And then a giant piano fell out of the sky and squashed everyone.

Not really.

We don’t know what happened next because this is …

THE END

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to everyone at Pan Macmillan for being so nice to Daisy and for having so many ideas that improved the story. Special thanks to Claire Craig for her enthusiasm, great judgement, many helpful suggestions and general niceness. Thanks also to Libby Turner for skilfully guiding everything along in the right direction, and to Brianne Collins for her excellent editing.

Thanks to my daughters Bibi, Nina and Lily for listening to an early version of the story and telling me when:

a. they were enjoying it, and

b. it was getting a bit boring (or, as Nina says, ‘snore-worthy’).

Thanks to Lucy for being Lucy.

Finally, a big thankyou to curiosity. Daisy is driven by curiosity and so am I. Curiosity prompts us to try new things, and to find out how things happen, and why they happen. When you hear your own curiosity speaking inside yourself, it’s often a good idea to listen to it because it can take you to some wonderful and exciting places.

About James O’Loghlin

James O’Loghlin has been a stand-up comedian, a criminal lawyer, a radio presenter, a television host and a milk deliverer. He has written several other books, including The Adventures of Sir Roderick the Not-Very Brave, which won the 2014 Speech Pathology Award for the best book for 8 to 10 year olds. James is married with three daughters and has a dog who doesn’t talk. As far as he knows.

Also by James O’Loghlin

The Adventures of Sir Roderick the Not-Very Brave

James O’Loghlin

The Adventures of Sir Roderick the Not-Very Brave

In a land where peace is threatened by assassins, invading armies and unhappy peasants, one knight must be brave enough to journey forth on a great quest.

‘But that can’t be me,’ thought Sir Roderick.

‘I’m the most junior knight in the kingdom. And definitely the most hopeless.

They wouldn’t pick me to go somewhere so dangerous …

Would they?’

First published 2015 in Pan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited

1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

Copyright © James O’Loghlin 2015

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available

from the National Library of Australia

http://catalogue.nla.gov.au

EPUB format: 9781743537329

Typeset by Post Pre-press Group

Cover illustration by J. Yi

Cover design: i2i Design

The characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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