Superpowers (6 page)

Finlay tried to move towards him but he couldn't move. He looked at Max with horrified eyes. ‘I'm…' His voice choked and stopped as his head turned grey.

He had turned to stone!

‘No!' Max yelled. Finlay stood in front of him like a stone statue. The golden apple glittered evilly in his hands.

A great wave of sickness welled up inside Max. Finlay couldn't be stone!

He walked unsteadily towards the statue of Finlay. ‘Fin,' he whispered helplessly. He felt dizzy with shock.

What was he going to do? What were Finlay's mum and dad going to say?

He looked into Finlay's grey face. With a gasp he jumped back. Finlay's eyes were still normal!

‘What-what…' he stammered as Finlay looked at him frantically, his eyes darting from side to side. ‘You're not dead!' Max exclaimed, relief hitting him like a sledgehammer.

Finlay couldn't say anything – he couldn't speak or move.

Max's thoughts whirled. He touched Finlay's arm but it was as cold and hard as a stone pillar. Finlay might not be dead but he really
had
turned to stone!
What am I going to do?
Max thought.
Help!

A savage snarl rang out.

Max's gaze flew to the grassy square. The dog was lifting its heads from the floor. Its six burning eyes fixed on him and an even louder, more vicious growl ripped through the silence.

Silence!

Max's heart sank.

The batteries of the keyboard must have finally run out.

Barking furiously, Cerberus leapt to his feet and charged towards Max and the stone statue of Finlay.

Max leapt back just in time. The beast was pulled up short just in front of Finlay. One set of jaws crashed closed around Finlay's leg. As its teeth met the rock-hard surface, the dog howled in pain. Its sleep didn't seem to have done anything to improve its temper.

Max ran forward. Finlay might be stone, but he wasn't going to let Cerberus savage him. ‘Get away from Fin! Get back!' he yelled, picking up some bricks from the ground and
chucking them as hard as he could at the beast. His throws fell short.

Cerberus raced at the bricks, grabbing them in his mouth and crunching them up as if Max was throwing bones for him. Finally one made contact with one of his heads. He lunged furiously at Max.

There was a grating sound of metal on stone and one of the rings pulled free from the plinth. Max gasped in alarm. The two remaining rings holding the dog creaked alarmingly. If they gave way too then Cerberus would be free…

Max raced back to the shed for safety. What was he going to do? Fin was turned to stone. Cerberus was about to break his chains. There was no one to help.

Hercules' voice suddenly seemed to echo in Max ear.
Remember, even if all seems lost there will always be a way out if you look hard enough.

I'm looking
, thought Max desperately.
I'm looking really hard!

His eyes fell on a piece of paper on the floor. The riddle! He'd dropped it when Finlay had turned to stone. He picked it up.

If only Fin had listened to him and not grabbed the earth apple. The riddle had said that the element to leave stood alone and was in the grassy square. Well, fire, water and air couldn't stand anywhere – but things of stone did, and the stone statue of Cerberus had stood in the grassy square. The one they had to leave was
earth –
stone which comes from earth
; the rest of the riddle had just been a trick to distract them, like he'd thought.

He looked at the riddle. A line suddenly seemed to jump out at him:
If you choose wrongly, mark these words…

Max's breath caught in his throat. Finlay
had
chosen wrongly. Maybe the riddle would tell him what to do to turn Finlay back!

‘
If you choose wrongly, mark these words
,' he read out. ‘
Two elements may break a third. The water from the cherub's breath, can split the stone and save from death
.'

Max glanced out of the shed towards the bronze statue of the cherub. As he looked at the cherub's trumpet, his eyes suddenly widened. The trumpet! The cherub
was blowing out through it! Maybe ‘
water from the cherub's breath
' meant the water that came out of the trumpet when the trick fountain was triggered.

Suddenly everything seemed to click into place in his brain. If he could get the fountain to spray on Finlay then maybe the magic would be reversed. The only problem was how did he start the fountain? He ran to the door of the shed.

Cerberus was hurling his weight against the two remaining chains, desperate to tear the flesh from Max's bones. With a grating crunch the second ring gave way.

Now there was just one chain and ring holding the beast! Fear flooded
through Max. How soon before that gave way too…

I have to get that fountain spouting
, he thought frantically. But there was no way he could get past the dog to the flagstones. If only there was someone else to help him. But it was just him and the dog…

The dog!

An idea exploded into Max's mind. Suddenly remembering how Cerberus had chased after the bricks he'd chucked at him, he grabbed a brick from the floor and threw it towards the flagstones. It fell short, but with a snarl Cerberus chased after it and grabbed it in his teeth.

Max grabbed another brick. This time his arm snapped back and he let the
brick go with all the strength he could muster. The brick sailed through the air and landed right on the third flagstone.

The dog leapt straight on to the flagstone after it. The second its weight hit the stone, a jet of water shot straight up into the air. It started raining down on the grassy square. It fell on the dog and the grass – and Fin!

Crack!

Max's heart leapt. Splits started spreading from the top of Fin's head and his fingers, spreading all the way to his toes. It was as if the stone was ice and starting to thaw, revealing the person inside. Finlay was turning back to normal!

‘Fin!' Max yelled in delight.

Cerberus stared at the cracking statue of Finlay. The hackles rose on the back of his neck and he growled in fury. He jumped off the flagstone and the fountain immediately stopped. Barking

angrily, Cerberus threw himself towards the boys, his massive paws clawing the ground, his powerful muscles straining, his burning eyes filled with hatred and hunger. With a shock, Max saw the last remaining ring tear out of the ground. Cerberus was free!

The beast threw back its three heads and gave a bloodcurdling howl of triumph. Then it charged straight at Max and the half-stone figure of Finlay – its deadly jaws wide open.

Cerberus bore down on Max and Finlay, his different heads barking, growling and spraying drool.

‘We're going to die!' Max yelled in horror.

‘No, we're not!' Finlay said, his voice strangely hollow as he shouted through stone lips that were gradually turning back to normal. And as the slavering
beast powered towards them, Finlay lifted his hand that was slowly turning back to flesh and chucked the glittering apple away from him and straight into the nearest of the dog's mouths.

A crack snapped through the air like gunshot. The dog's teeth snapped shut on the apple and stayed shut. Grey stone started to spread across its face. Thick ropes of drool hanging from its jaw hardened like icicles. The other two heads howled in surprise. But they didn't howl for long. Within seconds the hard stone was engulfing the dog, turning it to a statue where it stood. Its howl became a whimper – then it broke off with a strangled sound and there was silence.

‘One stands alone,' Max breathed, staring at the statue in front of them. He swung round. The last of the grey stone was just disappearing from Finlay's hair. ‘Cool or what? That was a brilliant idea, Fin!'

Finlay grinned. ‘Just call me a genius!' He looked at the dog's eyes, which still burned furiously in the stone even though it couldn't move. ‘Don't think he'll be winning Best Freaky Mythical Killer at Crufts any time soon!'