Miss Saggybottom's Island of Terror
By Becky Overy
()
About this ebook
Miss Saggybottom returns for another exciting 'Try Not to Die' adventure! John Prong has been kidnapped and it’s up to you to rescue him from Miss Saggybottom's evil clutches. With some unexpected companions and brand new battle potions to help you on your mission, can you survive the island of terror and the strange creatures that inhabit it? And will you be able to defeat Miss Saggybottom and her newly-acquired minions without dying a horrible death? Why not find out? It’d be a bit boring not to really, I mean, what else are you doing?
'Miss Saggybottom's Island of Terror' is the second book in The Saggybottom Trilogy: an epic, interactive adventure series for children.
THE SAGGYBOTTOM TRILOGY
Miss Saggybottom's Labyrinth of Doom
Miss Saggybottom's Island of Terror
Miss Saggybottom's Space Base of Despair
Read more from Becky Overy
Miss Saggybottom's Space Base of Despair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiss Saggybottom's Labyrinth of Doom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAngus McMungus and his Incredible Tea-Cosy Plan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Miss Saggybottom's Island of Terror
Related ebooks
The Everything Kids' Gross Jokes Book: Side-splitting Jokes That Make Your Skin Crawl! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNight of the Homework Zombies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy FANGtastically Evil Vampire Pet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Package on the Tram Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStinky and The Dung Beetle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThinks and Things Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Laughter Aloud: That's Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Author's And Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPast Mistakes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVoices: Haunted Coal Ridge, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpaceports & Spidersilk June 2023 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEscape from a Video Game: Mystery on the Starship Crusader Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Adventures of PB&J: Attack of the Green Goo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBonk: Monsters & Miracles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDear Earthling: Cosmic Correspondent Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Horror Papers: File 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pterodactyl's Egg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A 3-D Printing Mission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMonster Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Talisman: The Talisman Trilogy: Book One Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemoirs of a '90s Schoolboy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Funny Boy Adventures: Four Hilarious Books in One Volume Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/552 Writing Prompts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlague Monkey Spam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBack to the Ice Age Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAspects Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPango Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFunny Boy Versus the Bubble-Brained Barbers from the Big Bang Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecrets of a Middle School Monster Hunter Alien Slime Invasion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFunny Boy Meets the Airsick Alien from Andromeda Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Children's Interactive Adventures For You
Escape from a Video Game: Mystery on the Starship Crusader Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Invisible Things Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fortnite Guide to Staying Alive: Tips and Tricks for Every Kind of Player Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lil Bub and Friends Presents: The Missing Rainbow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Endlessly Ever After: Pick YOUR Path to Countless Fairy Tale Endings! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pete the Cat and the Itsy Bitsy Spider Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Wonders Book 3: The Tomb of Shadows Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quest for the Golden Apple: An Unofficial Graphic Novel for Minecrafters Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Masterminds: Criminal Destiny Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Goldilocks and the Three Bears: An Interactive Fairy Tale Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Escape from a Video Game: The Secret of Phantom Island Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Wonders Book 2: Lost in Babylon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Escape Book: The Cursed Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Search for Snake River Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Wonders Book 4: The Curse of the King Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghost Island and the Mystery of Charmander: An Unofficial Adventure for Pokémon GO Fans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Hate Reading: How to Read When You'd Rather Not Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Invasion of the Overworld: Book One in the Gameknight999 Series: An Unofficial Minecrafters Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Deadly Pink Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Molly Moon & the Morphing Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fight for Dusty Divot: An Unofficial Fortnite Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Danielle: Chronicles of a Superheroine Complete Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book No One Wants to Read Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Eye of Hastur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeptimus Heap, Book Two: Flyte Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Attack of the Goblin Army: Tales of a Terrarian Warrior, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Oregon City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Escape from a Video Game: The Endgame Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Miss Saggybottom's Island of Terror
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Miss Saggybottom's Island of Terror - Becky Overy
BECKY OVERY
Marshmallow Books Logo.pngThe Saggybottom Trilogy
Miss Saggybottom’s Labyrinth of Doom
Miss Saggybottom’s Island of Terror
Miss Saggybottom’s Space Base of Despair
Also by Becky Overy
Angus McMungus and his Incredible Tea-Cosy Plan
Warblebox.pngFor all the crazy kids who read the first Saggybottom book
Ebook published by Marshmallow Books 2016
Also available as a print edition 2019 (ISBN 978-0-9957664-2-6)
This revised ebook edition published by Marshmallow Books 2021
ISBN 978-0-9957664-4-0
Copyright © Becky Overy 2016
The right of Becky Overy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Central front cover illustration by Rob Smith.
Cover design, background and all other illustrations by Becky Overy
Marshmallow Books, independent publisher, Great Britain
marshmallowbooks@gmail.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PROLOGUE
BEGINNING
EPILOGUE
SAGGYBOTTOM SAYS
LINKS
COMPASS
INTRODUCTION
Welcome adventurer! Long tome no see...oops, I mean long time no see (though I don’t see any long tomes around here either, so technically I was right the first time). Now, I assume that anyone reading this has already read the prequel to it, Miss Saggybottom’s Labyrinth of Doom, and therefore has an understanding of what a ‘Try Not to Die’ adventure book is. But if not, or if your memory has a habit of taking holidays without inviting you along, the basic concept is as simple as ready-made pie. This book is an interactive adventure, meaning that you make choices throughout the story which will determine whether or not you survive to the end. The book is divided into numbered sections. At the end of each section you will be given a choice of what to do and a link to click on, which will take you to a new section. Make the wrong choice and you could die a grizzly death! Hooray! (N.B. Due to the nature of eBook devices displaying different font sizes, always make sure you don’t miss a choice that has gone onto the next screen page.)
It will be useful for you to draw a map when you arrive at Miss Saggybottom’s island, so have a pen and paper handy. To help you, there will be references to whether you are heading north, south, east or west on the paths as you walk around. Draw your map on paper set in landscape position (that is longer in width, shorter in height), with north being at the top, east to the right, west to the left and south at the bottom. A compass can be found here to help you. Your starting position when you get to the island will be at the bottom of the page, in a central south position. You should also keep note of any items you collect along the way.
So, have you got your paper? No? Well, hurry up then, slowcoach! I’ll just wait here for you. Tum-tum-ti-tum-ti-tum. Ready now? No? Blimey, get a move on! How about now? What do you mean you need to go to the toilet? Put a Softbot's Supernappy on for goodness sake! I suppose you’re going to get a snack as well. What’s that? You’re getting two snacks and a comfy cushion to sit on, and then you’ve got to text your friend about something. Just how disorganised are you?
Right, hopefully you’re ready now, yes? Good. Now that everything’s clear and you know what to do, it’s time to get going. Good luck! And remember: TRY NOT TO DIE!!
Begin the adventure
PROLOGUE
A branch of the Anti-Log League tried to ban this page, but we sawed them off.
Logs rule!
Go to Beginning.
BEGINNING
What better way is there to begin an adventure story than with the same twelve words I started the last one with? Any of you who are now shouting There are plenty of better ways, you just couldn’t be bothered to think of them!
at me should know that I have my fingers in my ears and cannot hear you. Of course, none of that will make sense if you haven’t read the first book in the Saggybottom saga, but if that is the case—GO AND BUY IT NOW!! AND DON’T COME BACK UNTIL YOU’VE FINISHED IT!! I dunno; some people! Anyway, nice to see you back again (stop reading now!) for another fabulous adventure (it’s rubbish!) full of excitement and merriment and jollyousness (that’s not even a real word!). I hope that you are looking forward to reading it (run for your life!) and experience wondrous pleasure as you do so (you’re going to die—mwa, ha, haaa!).
Now, in case you have forgotten anything from the last adventure, I shall refresh your memory using some simple mathematics.
1. Miss Saggybottom = very evil and incredibly naughty + she escaped.
2. Very evil, naughty people + escaping = a big problem for good people + the probability of more evil happenings to come.
3. The probability of more evil happenings to come = an increase in worried, frowny faces.
4. Very evil, naughty people - escaping = a decrease in worried, frowny faces + more time to eat ice cream.
5. Miss Saggybottom - more time to eat ice cream = cheese grater.
Which makes no sense at all. What a waste of time.
So let’s get on with it. A year has passed since you and your friends experienced the terrible events surrounding Miss Saggybottom and her monster-filled labyrinth. It had been a shock to the small population of Werelost to discover that all their children had been in terrible danger and that no one had noticed anything, despite the small size of the hamlet they live in. Some of the villagers who had witnessed the large, black cloud over the school start to swirl with coloured light, spit out electricity and then produce a thunderous tornado had confused their windows with the TV and thought they were watching an episode of School Tornadoes—OMG!
Mr Conk, the local gardener-cum-policeman who had been first on the scene, was swiftly promoted to detective status by a majority vote (he shouted Who wants to be detective?
and no one else replied; possibly because he was on the toilet at the time). He took his new role very seriously and spent a whole day away from his garden trying to uncover information about Miss Saggybottom from you and your friends. He came round to your house flashing a plastic detective badge that he had borrowed from the four-year-old kid next door and insisted that you told him every detail of the terrible day Miss Saggybottom had tried to kill you. So you explained how Miss Saggybottom had built a secret potion-making laboratory and a large portal in the room next to your classroom, and that, when you and your friends discovered it, she had threatened to kill you with one of her potions. With all your exits blocked, you had no choice but to jump into the portal to escape. The portal had taken you to her labyrinth: a dark maze of passages and rooms. You continued to tell him how you used some pocket potions to battle your way through the many creatures you encountered there, including a giant rat, before escaping the labyrinth via a second portal, only to be met by Miss Saggybottom back at your school.
Detective Conk listened in amazement as you went on to describe how Miss Saggybottom had clamped John Prong to a chair and attempted to force creatures from his mind with her Greatest Invention. But when you got to the part about her bottom falling out of her flowery, knee-length knickers and filling up with air, he blushed and decided that he had all the information he needed. Miss Saggybottom and her nasty minions had gone, and that was all that mattered. It was now his job to ensure that the school was made safe so that nothing like this would ever happen again.
As a temporary measure, Detective Conk blocked the portal entrance up with some of his prickliest rose bushes. But he couldn’t leave his precious flowers there forever. He needed to find a way to rid the school of the portal and labyrinth once and for all and get those rose bushes back into his garden where they belonged. After having a serious think whilst watching some cartoons, he came to the conclusion that throwing dynamite through the portal and blowing everything up would be the best solution. So, the next day, he set about making some dynamite in his garden shed.
Now, Mushroom (the cheeky, red-topped toadstool who had saved you from Miss Saggybottom by flinging toilet seats at her) had been given his own home in your garden shed. When he caught sight of what Detective Conk was up to in his shed two gardens down, he was so shocked he almost slipped off his golden toilet seat. Having been created by Miss Saggybottom himself, he knew that the creatures in her labyrinth had been given no choice about being put in there, and to blow them up was simply barbaric! In protest, Mushroom chained himself to one of the potted rose bushes in front of the portal and, armed with some secateurs, threatened to chop off all the flowers if Detective Conk came anywhere near the school with his home-made dynamite. He needn’t have bothered, though, because Detective Conk proved himself to be a terrible dynamite maker. One spectacular shed explosion later, and the self-proclaimed detective was being airlifted to a hospital in the nearest town 200 miles away. Mushroom was so happy that he danced around his golden toilet seat for a whole afternoon singing songs of victory (including the well known ditty ‘Goodbye Stinky Parsnip Breath’).
With your help, Mushroom then set about persuading the rest of the locals to build a zoo to house the inhabitants of the labyrinth, and considering the most exciting thing that had happened in Werelost recently was a grass counting competition, the people were more than happy to help. Six months later, a small zoo was completed on some land just outside of Werelost’s single street, at the opposite end to your school. As it had been Mushroom’s idea, he was given the privilege of naming it. He thought long and hard about a name that would express the creatures’ freedom from the oppressive labyrinth, and finally came up with ‘Prisoners Out in the Open Zoo’—‘POO Zoo’ for short.
Then came the difficult task of getting the creatures out of the labyrinth and into the zoo enclosures. Miss Jabjoo, the local appointed doctor (the villagers had asked who’d like to be doctor and she’d jumped up and down excitedly, screaming, Me! Me! Me!
), offered to provide Mushroom with a strong sleeping drug that he could use to sedate the creatures in the labyrinth to make it easier to bring them out. But seeing as no one else was volunteering to go in and help him drag their heavy, sleeping bodies out, that plan had to be scrapped. But Mushroom was full of confidence. He insisted that he would be able to talk the labyrinth creatures out of there with the promise of new homes, and if that didn’t work, he could always sing them annoying songs until they got so fed up they would be begging to leave. So, armed with nothing but his chirpy self-confidence, Mushroom jumped into the portal and entered Miss Saggybottom’s labyrinth alone, while everyone from Werelost, including you and your friends, waited on the other side of the portal for him to return.
It wasn’t long before some of your old enemies were flying out of the portal and landing on the floor in front of you. Snockbucker and Chumblewhizz (the dancing donkey and bulldog) came out first with the ninja lemmings, followed shortly by Snake Pitt: the small, Australian man you had met with the tattoo of an Inland Taipan snake on his arm. The inflatable, clown-faced Eliphanto shot out next and began bouncing around the room shouting Eliphanto!
over and over before rolling around on the floor like an idiot. Some of the villagers sniggered at his ridiculous act, but you just felt sick remembering the laughing gas you had to endure when you were trapped in the sweet room with him. After a bit of dramatic diving but missing, and grabbing at the wrong thing, John Prong’s dad finally managed to get hold of the large, pink creature before taking him and the others to their new zoo homes at the edge of the village.
Next to arrive was a huge crowd of Chip-Monks, fronted by Friar Fritta. They were carrying a massive sack of chips and burgers with them, which they were busy sharing out every second to make sure none of them went hungry. Despite desperate protests and a few of the monks faking death, Miss Jabjoo immediately confiscated the sack and took them all off for a much needed health check before assigning them to an extra-large enclosure in the zoo, which included a gym and a healthy supply of proper chipmunk food. A fast asleep Sloth Granny was then carried out by Mopalong Cassie: the giant, upside down mop. Her son, Babby, toddled after her in his little leather nappy, continuously pulling on her mop strands and asking when he could have his supper. They were followed by the Italian warthog, Nappy Changer, and Hanoo: the cute little ball of fluff that has the ability to grow into a bone-shattering monster when it’s mad.
The Golden Key who had helped you when you were in the labyrinth popped out next. When she spotted you and your friends, she bounded up your body and then hopped from shoulder to shoulder to give you all a kiss on the nose. You had helped build her enclosure, which was packed full of different locks for her to play with. When you told her about it, she was so happy that she gave you five extra kisses on the nose and did a little dance on your head before hopping excitedly onto the sleeping Sloth Granny as the new group were led off to the zoo by one of the villagers.
A few minutes later, Big-Mother came out holding hands with the four embarrassing clones Miss Saggybottom made of you and your friends. Having been prepared for this, you quickly threw some blankets over them and ushered them into Class 2 before anyone could take in what they had seen. You would wait until it was dark to take them to their special curtain-covered enclosure (which you had placed in a dark corner of the zoo surrounded by trees and shrubs). You returned in time to see Phlimb, Phlomb and Phlumb (the singing bubblegum trio) floating out of the portal waves. Then the Vestwearer worshipper came shooting out along with the giant tea bag, Flickmocker, who was complaining about the portal liquid messing up her precious tea cargo. Little Old Lady Lou, who lives in the house you walk past to get to school, was quite entranced by the talking tea bag and so volunteered to be the person to take her and her companions to their new zoo homes. As they were leaving, you listened to Flickmocker interrogating the old lady after she mentioned the zoo’s name: Is the whole zoo made of poo?
; What kind of poo is it?
; Is it absorbable?
; What if it ruins my cargo? MY CARGO MUST BE KEPT PURE!
It was about ten minutes before the next labyrinth inhabitant came charging out of the portal, and this time a couple of the villagers were knocked down in the process. The long, winding creature slowly picked himself up from his clumsy sprawl on the floor and lifted his snaking neck up until it was towering over everyone in the room.
Who are you?
he had asked, in a whimpering voice. I don’t like how you smell! I want mother! MOTHER!
Then he had started to sob, though no actual tears were present, because this was the Wivelwump—the enormous tail of the giant rat you had battled with—and he had no eyes to cry from. He continued to wail and complain because his mother, the rat, hadn’t wanted to come with him. She liked the darkness of the labyrinth and wanted to stay there (at least that’s what she’d told him—she actually found him incredibly annoying and was glad to get rid of him, seeing as gnawing him off her body hadn’t worked). But the Wivelwump soon cheered up when someone told him there was a television in his new home which had all the children’s channels. He forgot his mother in a flash and slithered off happily to go and listen to his favourite cartoons.
A short while later, Mushroom finally came back through the portal, though not entirely of his own accord. He arrived stuck to the chest of Sticky Icky: the strange, sticky giant who had an unhealthy yearning for friends. Miss Jabjoo now found a use for her sleeping drug and quickly put Sticky Icky to sleep, allowing Mushroom to be released from his pull and drop free from his gluey skin. The huge, sticky man was then placed in a secure enclosure with a whole load of cuddly toys and shop dummies that he could call his friends.
That night, Mushroom arranged a party at the zoo to welcome the new inhabitants. He took his keyboard along and played songs into the night while the people of Werelost got to know the new creatures. Looking around, you noticed that some of Miss Saggybottom’s creations were missing, namely Snotslush Bogiewaller, the Big Nudy Feet and the annoying Instructioneer. According to Mushroom, Snotslush Bogiewaller had flushed himself into the sewers as soon as he saw him, and the Big Nudy Feet had run away the moment he started singing. There had been no sign of the Instructioneer; only a note in his box that said ‘Go away, nosey!’. Mushroom also told you that he had plugged up all the drip boxes in the labyrinth while he was in there. You didn’t understand what he meant until he explained that Miss Saggybottom had placed a tiny drip box of potion on the ceiling above each of her creations in case they should be destroyed. The box would detect the death or destruction of one of the creatures and would then let out a drop of potion to create a new one to fill its place. Now that he had blocked them all up, no more creatures would ever appear in the labyrinth again.
The next day, Detective Conk arrived back at his home after six months of recovery. Not having been in contact with anyone, he was completely unaware that the labyrinth creatures had been released. He was surprised, yet happy, to see that his rose bushes had been returned to his garden (though he was extremely annoyed that one of them had been placed one-twentieth of an inch out of its original position). He was also pleased to find that the villagers had rebuilt his shed for him and replaced all his lost items. But, after tending to his garden and having a salami sandwich, he started to worry. If the rose bushes were back, then what was guarding the portal? He made a quick trip into the school to find out and was horrified to discover that there was nothing guarding it at all. What were the villagers thinking? Did they want the monsters to escape and trample over their gardens? This was a disgrace, and he would have to do something about it!
So, that night, Detective Conk crept into his shed and stuck a bomb fuse into a barrel full of gunpowder that he happened to have lying around. He then placed the barrel into a wheelbarrow and snuck down the street and into the school. After checking there was no one around, he lit the fuse and hurled the barrel into the portal. But, unfortunately for him, as soon as the barrel hit the dense portal waves, it exploded; blowing up the portal, half the school and poor old Detective Conk with it. A fire then took hold of the rest of the building and it was burnt to the ground.
From that day on, school was officially cancelled, though you would often meet your friends there to play charcoal throwing games. No one had missed Detective Conk the next day because no one even knew that he had returned. However, one of your neighbours did wonder why a singed stick in the shape of a truncheon was floating in her pond....
Over the next six months, a few changes took place around Werelost. Babby Mopalong managed to escape from his zoo enclosure when the cleaner mistook him for a real mop. As a result, Mopalong Cassie was allowed out to search for him. She eventually found him in Detective Conk’s abandoned house, helping himself to all the food in the cupboards. Whilst in the house, Cassie found all of Detective Conk’s Cops ’n Robbers DVDs and refused to leave until she had watched every single one. Seeing as she was still there three weeks later and there was no sign of Detective Conk returning, the people of Werelost decided to let Cassie and Babby stay in the house and treat it as their own.
Cassie and Babby weren’t the only zoo inhabitants to leave their captive homes. Snockbucker’s ninja lemmings soon got bored with watching the Snockbucker and Chumblewhizz show and decided to head into the big wide world to have their own adventures. They managed to escape through a hole in the ground one night and have not been seen since. Snake Pitt was also discontented with his zoo life. He had been given an enclosure with luxury furniture, his own kitchen and an endless supply of aerobics DVDs. But he didn’t want home comforts; he was a survivor, and he yearned to get out and explore the great outdoors. After pretending to starve himself in protest (whilst secretly eating any spiders and flies that came his way) he was eventually allowed to go free. He then built himself a shelter in the woods next to the meadow where the robotic cow grazed. The robot cow (whose front half had come out of the Greatest Invention when it was attached to John’s head) had been given a robotic back half by the local inventor (Mrs Prong), which ran on grass power. She had then been covered in a patchwork, leather skin, made up of old leather bags and jackets provided by the villagers, so that she looked a bit more like a real cow, and she was given the name Metal Mow.
During this time, you also experienced the unexpected arrival of Mr Chubblewubble, who, to everyone’s surprise, returned from his African picnic holiday alive and well. Apparently, a woman matching Miss Saggybottom’s description had thrown him into a swamp full of crocodiles. He luckily managed to escape, but as he ran away in a panic, he fell into a concealed hole in the ground and was left trapped in an underground cave, surviving only on bugs and the water from an underground pool. It took him eight months to dig some stairs to get out using a teaspoon from his picnic basket.
Now, one year after Miss Saggybottom tried to take over your school and six months after Detective Conk blew it up, you enjoy a more relaxed life in Werelost, hanging out with your friends and spending musical afternoons with Mushroom. You also enjoy occasional lessons with Mr Chubblewubble, which take place on a picnic rug in the middle of Metal Mow’s field. Although the lessons are fun, you aren’t sure how useful it will be in the future to know how to escape the jaws of a crocodile whilst holding a picnic basket, or what the best teaspoon digging techniques are. Still, anything is better than the lessons you used to have with Miss Saggybottom; if you can even call them lessons. Thank goodness she is out of your life for good.
Go to 2 (if you can find it; I mean, where could it possibly be?).
2
Now, let’s get on with the adventure. The sun is out and you have just finished your breakfast on this mild, Tuesday morning. Yes, luckily for you, we are starting this story on a Tuesday and not a boring old Monday. You see, it is common knowledge that Tuesdays are not quite as gloomy as Mondays. A Tuesday makes you feel like you’re getting somewhere; that you have left the darkness of Monday behind and are moving on towards greater things. Though, to be honest, that feeling only lasts for about ten minutes before you realise that the weekend is still four days away and that Tuesday is just making you think things are getting better when they aren’t. Come to think of it, that makes Tuesday even worse than Monday! It gives you false hope and then smashes you down to despair once more! It laughs in your Tuesday morning face! It throws Saturday into the distance and shackles you to its capital T! It holds Wednesday up and dangles it deliberately out of reach whilst whispering You smell of onions
over and over in your ear! Well, maybe not that last bit, but still! Tuesday is EVIL! Perhaps the word is actually derived from ‘choose day’, where you get to choose whether to carry on with another boring week or jump off a cliff. Thankfully, there are no cliffs around Werelost, so you’ll be safe for now. And besides, it’s not all that bad; you’re about to pay Metal Mow a visit to feed her some fresh greens—that’s excitement you don’t get every day! (Apart from yesterday, when you paid Metal Mow a visit to feed her some fresh greens...and the day before yesterday, when you did the exact same thing...and the day before that....)
Dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, you go out to the shed and ask Mushroom if he would like to come and feed Metal Mow with you, but he declines. He had an anonymous delivery of a new drum kit this morning and is keen to test it out. You leave him to it and head off for the meadow at the end of the one street that is Werelost. It takes you a whole two minutes to get there, which leaves you quite out of breath. As you enter the meadow, you notice that Mr Chubblewubble is already here, sitting on his picnic rug and eating his breakfast. Metal Mow spots you and walks over to get her morning treat. You give her a pat and hold the food out in your hand for her to tuck into. While she is eating, Mopalong Cassie passes you from behind, wearing her familiar black, cowboy hat.
Morning!
you say, brightly.
The giant, Texan mop doesn’t answer you and continues on her way until she has reached the back of the field, where there is a large, white cross painted on the grass. You aren’t too surprised that she doesn’t reply. Mopalong Cassie is well known for being in a world of her own and rarely communicates with the people of Werelost other than to ask where she can get food or if they have seen her Babby anywhere. (Babby has a regular habit of running away from her. You are pretty sure this has a lot to do with the weird choice of foods she keeps trying to make him eat. Whenever someone finds the lost little mop he is almost always in someone’s kitchen looking through their food cupboards for something more tasty.) The white cross Cassie is now standing her big, black cowboy boots on marks the spot where Werelost’s weekly supplies are dropped by helicopter. Cassie likes to take what she needs before they get delivered to the local shop (Mrs Muncham’s garage). This usually includes a few tins of fish and jars of jam, with which she likes to make fish-jam sandwiches (that’s jam sandwiched between two pieces of fish for those of you who have never tasted such exotic delights).
You finish feeding Metal Mow and then head over to say hi to Mr Chubblewubble. He greets you with a dimpled, puffy-cheeked smile. He has one of the friendliest faces you’ve ever known; with round, soft features and bright, excited eyes, and he always seems pleased to see you. He offers you half a beetle sandwich that was apparently given to him by Snake Pitt, who lives in the woods at the far end of the field. You politely refuse, seeing as the bugs are still alive and wriggling between the bread. Just then, Snake Pitt comes jogging out of the woods. He has an orange backpack on his back and is dressed in an olive-green T-shirt, khaki safari shorts, hiking boots and a worn-looking, brown leather waistcoat. Around his neck you spot his necklace of mouse bones and are suddenly reminded of when you met him in the labyrinth and had to eat a fried mouse for a pack of nappies. You feel queasy just thinking about it. He runs towards you carrying a small bottle in one hand and holding onto his snakeskin bush hat with the other, to keep it from flying off his head. When he reaches the picnic rug, he hands the bottle he is carrying to Mr Chubblewubble.
Forgot the maggot sauce!
he says, with a big friendly smile.
Thanking him, Mr Chubblewubble takes the maggot sauce and squeezes it over the top of the beetles in his sandwich.
Snake then turns to greet you. G’day! How ya goin’?
You are about to reply when the smile disapppears from his tanned, weathered face and he wrinkles up his nose in disapproval. Croikey! Talk about dark and gloomy!
Okay, so you never were much of a morning person, but there’s no need for that kind of rudeness!
What’s it doin’?
continues Snake, squinting in your direction. Looks loike it’s full of wind and it’s about to let rip.
I am not!
you protest. But Snake ignores you. You stare at him indignantly until you notice that he isn’t looking at you at all; he’s actually looking past your head at something else. Whatever it is, it’s sending a cold breeze across your back.
Mr Chubblewubble turns to look, just as Mopalong Cassie saunters up.
Is that there storm carrying mah supper?
she asks, staring at the object of interest behind you.
You turn around. A huge, dark cloud is raging directly above John Prong’s house at the end of the meadow. A sickly fear latches onto you and gives you an unwelcome hug. You have seen this swirling, purple-tinted, black cloud before: it’s Miss Saggybottom’s cloud. You’d recognise it anywhere. This is the cloud that hovered over your school for weeks before she used it to send electricity down into her Greatest Invention when it sat upon John’s head. It is also the cloud that took her and her ugly minions away from here. How can it be back? Why is it back? Surely she can’t be here—not again! You watch in disbelief as a thin tornado suddenly appears in the centre of the cloud. Like a drill, it burrows into the roof of John’s house and twists out a hole, sending roof tiles spinning down to shatter onto the road below. Then, to your horror, you see the figure of a person wind up through the twisting wind. You hear screams from within it...familiar screams. It’s John! The cloud is taking John!
She’s kidnapping John!
you cry. Come on! We have to save him!
You dash across the field as fast as you can and jump over the low fence into John’s front garden. The front door is locked, so you race around to the back of his house and try the sliding doors instead. Thankfully, they are open. You rush inside, heading straight for the stairs, and race up to John’s room. After bursting through the door, you stop dead in your tracks. There is still