Beetle Blast by Ali Sparkes Page B

awesome. Both boys knew how it felt to fly, to leap twenty times their own body length, to run up walls, and to walk upside down along ceilings. It was just the nearly getting killed …
    But being a reptile would be different! Most reptiles were tough and much, much bigger than a creepy-crawly. It would be amazing to become a big scaly predator! That was why they had agreed to help Petty find her missing cubes, so she could crack the REPTOSWITCH code.
    â€œCome on,” said Josh. “We’re not going to worry about the last cube here. She didn’t hide it half a mile from her house.”
    â€œWe’re not going to worry about being watched by government spies, either,” grinned Danny. “All that ‘
Victor Crouch is after me
’ business!
That’s
all in her head!”
    The Wild Things went to scoop creatures out of the pond. Danny mooched along after them. He was bored and trying not to notice Poppy smiling and waving at him with her little glass jar on a bit of pink string. He did
not
want to get to know a dragonfly nymph or a newt—or Poppy. It was a stupid waste of time. He sat down at a picnic bench while the others squelched about by the edge of the water. They oohed and aahed about tiny splodgy brown life-forms.
    Danny’s stomach rumbled. He noticed a plate left on the table. On it was a sticky chocolate muffin from the wildlife center café. With just a bit broken off. A rich sweet chocolaty smell was wafting across from it. Danny’s mouth watered. He looked around to see if anyone was coming to claim it. Nobody seemed to be. He peered at it a little closer. No wasps on it.

    Another chocolaty waft reached him. Danny couldn’t resist a moment longer. He grabbed the abandoned muffin and bit into it.
    â€œMmmmm,” he groaned, happily.

    â€œDanny! Come and see this!” said Josh, who was crouching in some bog weed. The other Wild Things had wandered off to the other end of the pond on the other side of some bushes. Danny felt he could bear to show some interest with Poppy no longer goggling at him.
    He took the remaining bit of muffin with him and ambled over to his brother.
    â€œSee!” said Josh, pointing at a muddy pebble. “A great crested newt!”
    â€œHey. Wow. I mean, that’s, err, great.” Danny shrugged.
    â€œWhat are you eating?” asked Josh, sniffing at his brother.
    â€œMuffin. ‘ave some,” said Danny, handing the last chunk to his brother.
    Josh held up his muddy hands. “Stick it in for me, will you?” he said, opening his mouth. Danny shoved it in.

    â€œMmm, nice chunky chocolate chips,” mumbled Josh.
    â€œHey!” said a sharp voice behind them. “Who ate my muffin?”
    Danny spun around, guiltily. Standing by the picnic bench was … oh
no …
Petty Potts. Suddenly Danny had bigger things to worry about than being caught for muffin theft.
    Petty stared at him and then at Josh, who had turned around too. “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” she said, spotting the chocolate crumbs around their mouths.
    â€œOkay, out with it. What
kind
of ‘oh dear’?” asked Josh, sounding a little bit squeaky.
    â€œUmmm,” said Petty. She looked sheepishly at the little metal container of pellets in her hand and then at the empty plate on the picnic table. “Well …”
    Then there were two small pops. No further point in explaining. Josh and Danny wouldn’t have understood.
    When the remaining Wild Things came around from the other side of the pond, they were surprised to see that Josh and his bored brother had disappeared. An old lady was peering anxiously into the pond, saying not very polite words.

“Don’t tell me,” snapped Josh. “Just don’t tell me!” He had his eyes screwed shut and refused to open them.
    Danny waggled his feelers in annoyance. “All right. I won’t tell you! You can guess!” He