Gargoylz Get Up to Mischief (9 page)

“Greetingz!” An upside-down monkey face flashed backwards and forwards in front of him. Toby was swinging from Jessica’s frilly lampshade. Max looked around in dismay. Jessica’s toy box had been emptied, every drawer was open and there was green playdough covered in tooth marks all over the floor. “Did you make this mess?” Max demanded, zooming round putting everything back to rights. He couldn’t believe he was tidying his sister’s bedroom!

“I was looking for more biscuits,” Toby explained. “But all I found was that horrible green stuff.
Bleurgh!
Tasted disgusting.”

“Come back to my room before you get me into worse trouble.” Max went to the door to make sure there was no one about.

“Dangling drainpipes!” said Toby as he flew along the landing. “I haven’t had this much fun since I put sneezing powder in the vicar’s hankie! Let’s play a trick on your family.”

“I wish we could,” sighed Max. “But I’d end up with no pudding for a week. I’d never survive. You’ll have to try and behave yourself till tomorrow.”

Back in his bedroom, Max rummaged under his pillow and found his Game Boy. “I’ve got this really cool game,” he told Toby. “It’s called Attack of the Martian Mushrooms. I’ll play it first to show you what to do and then you can have a go.” He showed Toby the brightly flashing screen. “You can hold it in your paws, can’t you?”

“Course I can,” said Toby, squatting down to watch.

Max clicked some buttons and started the game. He escaped in a rocket before the mushrooms captured him. Then, with some amazing skill, he leaped to level sixty-two. “One more minute and you can have a go, Toby,” he murmured as he concentrated on blasting the Monster Fungus that had him in its evil tendrils.

At last he had reached the Toadstool of Terror. “I’ll just save my game and—” Max suddenly realized it had gone very quiet in his bedroom. He looked up. Toby was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, no,” he groaned, leaping to his feet. “Not again!”

He sped across the landing, checking every room. He peered inside the airing cupboard and pulled out all the clothes in the dirty washing basket, scattering them on the carpet.

No gargoyle in sight!

There was only one thing for it. Agent Black was going to have to venture into enemy territory. He would have to go downstairs and search there – and all without his parents seeing him.

“Activate invisibility shield,” he muttered.

He crept down the stairs and checked the hall. The door to the cupboard under the stairs was open. He flashed past the lounge with an expert commando roll and stuck his head into the cupboard. It was a total mess. Shoes, cloths, polish – everything looked as if it had been picked up and tossed in the air.

Good
, thought Max.
Toby’s been here. I’m getting close
.

He shut the door so no one would notice the disaster area and moved stealthily on to the kitchen. He put his secret listening device – codename: Ear – to the door. He could hear a lot of splashing. He opened the door a crack – and gawped! Toby was sitting in the sink, playing with the pots and pans. The water was slopping over the edge and the room was filled with bubbles of washing-up liquid.

Max slid across the wet floor. He put his hands into the soapy water to grab his gargoyle friend. “Toby!” he gasped. “You’ve got to come—”

“What have you got there?”

Max’s spy radar went into overdrive: small, shriekingly loud and a complete pest. He knew what that meant. It was Enemy Agent Jessica Black, codename: Disgusting Little Sister. She was pointing at Toby, who was sitting in a saucepan.

“It’s nothing,” Max said quickly, moving to stand in between his sister and the soapy gargoyle.

“You’ve got an animal there,” she insisted, trying to push past him. “Let me see it.”

“No, Jess,” said Max through gritted teeth. “Go away!”

“Mum!” yelled Jessica.

“Be quiet,” begged Max. “I’ll give you anything you want, only don’t get Mum in here.”

“MUM!” Jessica stuck her tongue out at him and ran to the door. “MUM!” she bellowed down the hall. “Max has come downstairs. He’s playing in the kitchen with a monkey.”

“Quick, Toby,” hissed Max. “You have to hide!” He looked frantically round the room. There was only one place he could think of. “Can you hold your breath?”

“Yes.” Toby grinned. “For ages!” He closed his mouth and ducked under the bubbles just as Mum burst into the kitchen. Jessica peered slyly round her from the hall.

“What are you doing, Max?” demanded his mother. She looked very angry. “You were told to stay in your bedroom.”

Agent Max had to put his super brain into gear and think fast. “I was . . .” he began. Then it came to him. “I felt so bad about the mess I made upstairs that I came down to do the washing up for you,” he declared triumphantly, splashing his hands about in the water and pulling out a wooden spoon.

“Oh, Max,” said his mum, her face softening. “That’s so sweet. Thank you. We’ll leave you to it.” She turned to Jessica. “Come on, Jess,” she said brightly. “Bedtime.”

“But I want to see the monkey!” Jessica wailed.

“What monkey?” asked Mum.

“Max has got a monkey in the sink.” Max didn’t know how long Toby could hold his breath. He had to get rid of Mum and Jessica quickly. More fast thinking was needed. He picked up the sponge and squeezed it so it looked like a mouth.

“Ooo-ooo, eee-eee!” he squeaked, making the sponge jiggle about. “This is what she thought was a monkey. I was just mucking about.”

“
NOOOOO!
” yelled Jessica, stamping her foot. “He had a real monkey. It had ears and a tail.”

Mum peered at the soapy suds. Then she grabbed Jessica and hauled her out of the door.

“Nice story, Jess,” she said, “but you have to go to bed now.”

They went, Jessica protesting all the way.

With a huge splutter, Toby burst out of the water.

“That was close,” breathed Max. He looked at all the dirty plates. “But now we’ve got to do the washing up for real.”