Superpowers (5 page)

‘Max!' he yelled again. But the courtyard was empty. He looked all about him in astonishment. Max had gone!

Almost there
, Max thought as he crawled commando-style through the rhododendron bushes. He was nearly at the edge of the grass tennis courts where the Brownies were having their music and craft day.

His plan buzzed through his head. In the story he'd read with his dad, Orpheus, a kind of superhero, had managed to put Cerberus to sleep by playing a harp to him. Maybe he and Finlay could do the same. They didn't
have a harp. But maybe any musical instrument would do.

The Brownies must have lots of instruments if they're having a music day!
Max thought. Reaching the edge of the bushes, he peered out.

On the far side of the tennis courts, a group of girls dressed in brown and yellow uniforms were painting pictures. Nearer to Max, a second group of girls were playing music with a jolly-looking woman.

There was a large plastic crate labelled
Instruments
just near the edge of the courts. Max could see a recorder, a drum and a small electronic keyboard sticking out of the top. His heart leapt. If he could just get one of those…

He eyed up the distance from the bushes to the box. It was about three metres.
I could probably get there and back without anyone noticing
, he thought.

Of course it is stealing
, a voice in his head said.

Max ignored the voice. It wasn't
really
stealing, he told himself. Just borrowing. He'd bring the instrument back.

He was just about to make a dash for it when one of the girls in the group with the musical instruments put up her hand. ‘Brown Owl, my keyboard's making a bit of a strange noise.'

‘It's probably just the batteries running out,' the jolly-looking woman said. ‘There's a spare keyboard in the instrument box. Go and fetch it and leave that one on the ground beside the box so no one else uses it.'

The girl ran over. When she stopped by the crate, she was only a few metres away from Max. He stayed as still as he could, hardly daring to
breathe. What if she looked into the bush and saw him?

But to his relief the girl simply threw down the old keyboard, grabbed the spare one and hurried back to join the others.

Max checked the tennis courts. No one was watching. He crawled out from the bushes, ran with his head ducked as fast as he could, grabbed the old keyboard from the ground and dived back into the bushes. All the time he expected to hear a yell as someone noticed him. But no one called out, no one shouted. He'd got away with it! His heart banged against his ribs as he lay among the leaves, clutching the keyboard to his chest. He hadn't been seen!

Turning the volume down very low he pressed his ear to the speakers and pushed the play button on the keyboard. The backing track was set to ‘Slow Ballad', and it sounded a bit wobbly and dragging. The woman called Brown Owl was right, the batteries were wearing out, but even though it sounded a bit odd, it was still music. Maybe it would work!

I hope so
, Max prayed, and, switching the keyboard off, he set off back in the direction of the walled garden.

‘Max!' Finlay yelled above the howling of the three-headed dog. ‘Where've you gone?'

Max came running into the walled garden. Twigs and leaves were sticking out of his hair.

‘Where have you been?' Finlay shouted across the courtyard. ‘I need you to help me with this riddle. What's that?' he exclaimed, seeing Max at the bottom of the garden, the keyboard in his arms.

‘Keyboard!' Max panted, his breath coming in short gasps. ‘To put Cerberus to sleep. Orpheus did the same thing in the underworld.'

Finlay looked at him in confusion.

‘Who? Where? What?'

‘Watch!' Max called. Switching the keyboard on, he set it to ‘Lullaby' and turned the volume up full. Soft, gentle music started playing. It burbled a bit because of the batteries running out but it still sounded quite restful.

Holding his breath, Max looked at the dog. ‘If he's like the Cerberus in the stories, it should make him feel sleepy,'

he called to Finlay as quietly as he could. All three of the dog's heads looked towards him. Suddenly it sat down and yawned.

‘Do you think it's working?' Finlay hissed in amazement.

Max stared. Surely it couldn't be this easy?

But it did seem to be.

The dog yawned again and then lay down. With a swish of its dragon's tail, it laid its heads between its great taloned paws and then shut all six of its eyes.

Within a minute it was breathing heavily. Max looked across the grass at Finlay. ‘Should I try getting past it?' he hissed.

Finlay nodded eagerly. ‘Quick,
before those batteries run out completely!'

Max stepped forward. The dog lifted one of its heads. Max froze. But the dog was only shifting its position slightly. Giving a loud snore, it settled down peacefully on its side.

‘Come on!' whispered Finlay urgently.

Heart beating fast, Max began to tiptoe closer…

Max could see the dog's sharp yellow teeth and its three lolling tongues. He crept past the first head, past the second, past the…

Thud!
His foot kicked a stone on the ground. Max froze, almost too scared to look to see if Cerberus had awoken.

But the beast slept on.

Max hesitated and then ran the last
bit as fast as he could. He reached Finlay, his breath coming in short gasps.

‘That was such a cool idea to use the music!' Finlay whispered as Max reached him.

‘Thanks,' Max panted back. ‘Come on. Let's get the apples and get out of here before it wakes up!'

They ran into the shed together. The four golden apples glowed at them, all identical apart from the pictures engraved into their sides.

‘I just don't know which three to choose,' said Finlay, going over to the bench. He pulled the riddle out of his pocket. ‘And this doesn't help at all.'

‘Give it here.' Max took it from him and read quickly through it. ‘So we've got four apples.' He studied the apples.

‘One is earth, one is fire, one is water and one is air.'

‘Yeah, I got that far,' Finlay said. ‘But which do we leave?'

Max read out:

‘
All four are strong, one stands alone.
Fire dries water, which wears out stone,
Which comes from earth, which smothers air,
The answer's in the grassy square
.'

He paused for a moment. ‘It's almost like it's talking about which of the elements is the strongest,' he said slowly. ‘Like when we play paper, scissors and stone.'

Finlay's eyes widened. ‘Do you think we have to work out which is the strongest element and leave that one alone?' He looked at the riddle. ‘Well, in that case, the answer's obvious, isn't it? Fire's got to be the strongest. Air's the weakest because it can be
smothered by earth, but then earth, when it's stone, can be worn away by water. The only thing that can beat water is fire. It says here, “
Fire dries water
”!' He looked very excited. ‘We've got it, Max! I bet we have to leave the apple with the fire picture on. Come on, let's take the other three and get out of here!'

‘Wait!' Max exclaimed, but Finlay was already grabbing the two apples with the water and wind symbols.

Max gasped, but nothing happened.

‘These two are OK, then!' Finlay grinned. ‘I am
so
right about this riddle! We just need to take the earth one and we're done.' He shoved the two apples he'd taken into his pockets and reached out to pick up the one
with the picture of a stone on, but Max gripped his arm.

‘No,' he said urgently. ‘I'm not sure we've got the riddle right. If it is like stone, paper, scissors, then there isn't a winner. There's always one that can beat the other. There isn't one that's the strongest. I think it's a red herring…'

‘A red herring!' Finlay looked astonished. ‘What's a fish got to do with it?'

Max sighed. ‘A red herring's a name for a false clue. Riddles often have them. I think this riddle's tricking us, by making us think we have to work out which is the strongest, but actually there isn't an answer to that question. After all, if you think about it, water can put out fire, can't it? I think the
answer to which apple to leave is somewhere else in the riddle. Look at the fifth line: “
one stands alone
”. I bet that's a big clue. And look,' he pointed at the eighth line. ‘It says, “
The answer's in the grassy square
.” '

They looked outside at the square of grass. The dog was still asleep. ‘Maybe you're right,' Finlay said uncertainly. ‘Well, there's air in the square, because there's air everywhere. And there's water from the fountain. There isn't fire or stone. Though…' He frowned thoughtfully. ‘There
was
stone when the dog was a statue. So, the only thing that isn't there is fire! Fire
has
to be the answer to the riddle!'

‘No, hang on. If fire's not in the square, it
can't
be right!' Max protested.

‘I reckon that bit of the riddle just doesn't make sense,' said Finlay impatiently. ‘Let's ignore it.'

‘You can't just ignore a bit of a riddle,' Max argued. ‘Riddles don't work like that. Look, we have to think this through. We have to be logical…'

‘Pants to logic!' Finlay said. ‘It's fire, Max!' He lunged forward. Max tried to grab his arm to stop him but this time he was too late. Finlay's fingers closed around the apple with the stone symbol.

Crack!
There was a loud snapping noise.

‘What's that?' Max gasped as Finlay charged out into the courtyard with the apple.

‘My hands!' yelled Finlay, stopping dead.

Max stared. The apple was still golden but Finlay's fingers were turning grey – grey and hard like stone.

‘Fin!' Max gasped as the grey stone spread up Finlay's arms and down over his body.