The Case of the Wayward Professor Read online

  By the end of the school day the plan was ready, but she needed help.

  In the common room she found Moji sitting with some other prefects, flicking through glossy magazines, laughing at the problem pages.

  ‘Hi,’ said Holly, standing in front of her.

  ‘Hey, it’s Steve McQueen,’ said Moji, making her friends laugh. ‘How’s it going, Steve?’

  ‘Can I talk to you in private?’ asked Holly.

  ‘Sounds serious,’ said Moji smiling, but she put down her magazine and followed Holly out of the common room. Holly led her out of the main door, to avoid being overheard.

  ‘I need your help,’ she said. ‘I need to get out. I can’t tell you why, but I’ve got a plan. This isn’t a stupid running-away-from-school thing. It’s important. I’ll only be gone a few days.’

  Moji looked at her. She could tell she was serious. ‘Are you in trouble?’ she asked.

  ‘No, but someone is, and I need to get out to help him. You have to trust me.’

  ‘Sorry, Holly. I already told you, my escaping days are behind me. I can’t help you.’

  ‘Yes, you can,’ pleaded Holly. ‘You’re the only one who can. You’re the best, Moji. You know this place better than anyone. I can’t do it without you.’

  ‘But even if you got past the fence, they’ll find you because of the non-removable …’

  ‘Wristband?’ Holly interrupted, pulling it out of a pocket.

  Moji sighed. She looked at Holly, so stubborn and strong-willed. It was crazy to help her escape but, looking into the girl’s determined brown eyes, she was reminded of herself at that age.

  ‘OK, Hol,’ she said eventually, ‘but I must need my head seeing to. What’s the plan?’

  Later that night, with Petal murmuring something about Versace in her sleep, Holly crept out of the room, dressed all in black. She slipped across the corridor to the cupboard, pulled a balaclava over her head and put on her trainers, then snuck to the main door, clinging to the shadows, where Moji was waiting for her, also dressed in black.

  Without a word, Moji held her wristband up to the door and pushed it open. Holly darted through, swiftly followed by Moji. Outside, they took cover behind the two large pot plants. They stayed hidden for two minutes exactly, without speaking, then Moji nodded at Holly. Holly raised her thumb and Moji ran across the concourse in the direction of the football pitch.

  Holly waited another minute before running to the tall conifer tree. She climbed up the tree, then across to the next, heading, tree to tree, along the path towards the main gate.

  Reaching the final tree she climbed down to a lower branch so that she could see the security cabin. The light was on. At this time of night there would be two guards in the cabin, the patrolling guard having just got back from his round. The cold penetrated Holly’s clothes. She shivered and blew into her hands to keep warm. She checked her watch. If Moji was on schedule, the alarm light would be flashing inside the cabin right about now.

  Sure enough, the door opened and a guard hurried out. Holly stayed still, focused on the task. Another few minutes passed then a second guard left the cabin.

  Holly waited for another minute, giving Moji enough time to make another hole in the fence, flushing out any extra guards on duty tonight. No one else appeared, so she jumped down from the tree and approached the cabin cautiously, but before she could get too close, she heard a dog barking and a voice say, ‘What is it, Bruno, boy? Is there someone out there?’

  Holly ran to the nearest tree and scrambled up it, grazing her hands and knees in her desperation to get away. The door opened and Hamish appeared, holding the barking poodle on his leash. Holly’s heart thumped like it was trying to get out. Bruno dragged the large man to the tree where she was hiding. This was it, she thought, she would be seen for sure. She shrunk back into a shadow and shut her eyes in case they gave her away in the darkness.

  ‘What you barking about, you daft poodle, Bruno?’ she heard the guard say, standing directly below her.

  His walkie-talkie crackled and a voice from it said, ‘Hamish, you need to come and check this out. They’re springing up everywhere.’

  ‘Aye, I’m coming,’ said Hamish, waving a torch in Holly’s direction and then saying, ‘Come on, Bruno, there’s no one there. Ah wish you’d bark a bit more opportunely.’

  Holly opened her eyes to see the guard disappearing down the path, dragging the hysterical poodle behind him.

  She jumped down and darted into the open cabin. The high-tech control panel was alive with lights, indicating that Moji had successfully made a series of holes around the perimeter fence. Only one of the holes was big enough for anyone to fit through, way over behind the main building, but Holly wasn’t leaving through a hole in the fence.

  She found the override for the cameras and made those overlooking the main entrance point in the opposite direction then pressed the button that opened the front gate. She grabbed her bag, ran full pelt through the gate and pulled it shut behind her.

  She had done it. She was out.

  Soon the guards would find the wristband by the large hole, assume she had discarded it during the escape, and search for her in the wrong direction. It would take them hours to realise they had been tricked. By that time, Holly should have reached Dirk.

  She headed through the dense undergrowth, deep into the forest in the direction of the caves where Dirk said he was hiding out, but it was dark and it was difficult to stick to a straight line. She stumbled over twisted roots and slipped on clayey ground.

  After several hours without any sign of Dirk or the caves, it began to rain. Moisture seeped through the fabric of her trainers, dampening her feet. An unforgiving wind cut through the trees, making her shiver.

  She tried to hum a tune in her head to lighten her spirits, but her teeth were chattering too violently. She was freezing. Her nose felt like it was made of ice and she could no longer feel her toes at all. She tried to avoid the muddy lower ground, using roots and vines to scramble up banks but, with no light, kept stumbling into puddles. Muddy water squelched over the tops of her trainers.

  She felt scared. Leafless branches hung down like giant claws, catching and scratching her face. Unseen animals scurried away as she disturbed them. Strange sounds filled the air. The trees rustled and creaked. She never knew a forest could make so much noise.

  She stopped and listened. She could hear voices. At first she thought it was her imagination, but they grew nearer. She pushed herself into the shadow of a giant oak tree and kept still. Two raspy female voices were arguing.

  ‘If the manuman has served his purpose, why can’t we schmunch him?’

  ‘Because Vainclaw says so. It’s all part of the plan, Salix.’

  Holly struggled to see who was speaking.

  ‘But what is this plan of his, Acer? I want action. Remember the old days when we used to terrofear entire villages for fun.’

  ‘It’s not like that any more. We can’t let the manumans know of our existence until we know we can win the war, that’s what Vainclaw says. They have weapons that would kill you in an instantesance.’

  Holly could make out two dragons. They were thinner than Dirk and looked like two leafless trees skulking through the forest, getting closer to where she was hiding. Their heads were like twisted tree branches, with dark rough bark and cold green eyes. Thin lines of dirty brown smoke curled from their nostrils. One of them snapped its jaws at the other, causing the other to do the same. They were so close now that Holly could see rows of jagged moss-stained teeth.

  ‘Well, I preferred it the old way. I can’t bear all this schnooking around.’

  ‘Sh!’ urged the other. ‘I can hear something breathing.’

  Holly held her breath. The Tree Dragon stared into the shadow. It was looking directly at her. She had nowhere to run, so she shut her eyes tight, pushing herself against the tree, desperately trying not to move a muscle.

  She could feel the dragon’s hot sulph
urous breath against her cheek. Holly felt sick with fear.

  ‘There’s no one there, Salix. No manuman would be this far into the forest so late,’ said Acer.

  ‘You never know with them. They get everywhere.’

  The voices moved away. Holly opened her eyes. The dragons were walking away, swinging their heads to and fro as they moved, their long tails twisting behind them.

  ‘You shouldn’t be so scared of the pathetic creatures. We’re Kinghorns. Let’s schumch the old manuman.’

  The last thing Holly heard Salix say was, ‘You stidiotical fool. You want to end up being banished?’

  With the dragons gone, Holly stepped out of the shadow and tried to get her bearings. She was utterly lost, cold, wet and completely terrified. It took all her strength to hold back her tears. Holly didn’t like to cry. Crying brought back sad memories of her mum, who used to cry all the time. The only time she had ever seen her dad cry was at Mum’s funeral.

  Holly sniffed and wiped her eyes, but the feeling was too strong. She dropped her head into her hands.

  ‘I thought you didn’t cry for real,’ said a familiar voice.

  She turned to see two friendly yellow eyes. It was Dirk. She threw her arms around his neck and now they were tears of relief that streamed down her face.

  ‘Dirk,’ she exclaimed. ‘I was so frightened.’

  Dirk brushed the girl’s cheek gently. ‘You don’t need to be scared now,’ he said kindly before adding, ‘Come on, get on, they’re getting away.’

  Chapter Fourteen

  With Holly on his back Dirk spread his wings and took after the two Tree Dragons, being careful to avoid being seen. Holly noticed that his wounds had completely healed over.

  ‘Why aren’t you at school?’ he asked.

  ‘There’s a boy in my year, Callum Thackley, he’s the Prime Minister’s son and he was kidnapped last year and I think it was these Tree Dragons because he talks about creatures that look like trees. Then during band rehearsal …’

  ‘You’re in a band?’ interrupted Dirk.

  ‘It was an escape plan,’ replied Holly. ‘But these men in dark glasses came to the school, saying they were from the government and taking him to a photo call, but Callum screamed and yelled that they were coming for him. Why would he scream if that’s all it was?’

  Dirk looked doubtfully at Holly. It sounded ludicrous, but he had learned to trust her and he knew these Tree Dragons were up to something. Besides, the Prime Minister’s son was exactly the sort of target he would expect the Kinghorns to go for, weak enough to overcome, but with enough power to prove useful. He already knew that Vainclaw employed humans to do his dirty work, from the two stupid crooks and Professor Rosenfield, so it was possible that the men in black did work for him.

  ‘Quiet now, we’re getting near,’ he said.

  In the early morning light Holly could see five Tree Dragons prowling around a clearing in the forest, heads bowed low. She tightened her grip on Dirk’s neck.

  Dirk landed silently behind a large fallen tree trunk and brought his wings to his side. He lifted his head to see the dragons. Something metallic glinted in the middle of the clearing.

  The Tree Dragon Acer Campestre spoke.

  ‘What is it? Why are we doing things we don’t comprestand?’

  ‘Strush up, Acer,’ said Betula. ‘Vainclaw has toldered us to guard it. That’s all you need to know.’

  ‘What for, Betula? We don’t even know what it is,’ said Acer, breaking the circle and approaching the silver case in the centre of the clearing.

  ‘It’s the professor’s case,’ whispered Dirk to Holly.

  The other Tree Dragons turned to face Acer and hissed at her.

  ‘Stay away from it,’ said Tilia.

  ‘Yes, Acer, don’t be stidiotical,’ said Salix.

  ‘It’s some kind of manuman schmunching machine. We should master it ourselves,’ said Acer, sniffing at the case.

  ‘She’s right,’ said Buxus. ‘Why wait for Vainclaw to come and steal all the glory.’

  ‘Vainclaw is our master,’ asserted Betula. ‘He will lead us to victory against the manumans.’

  Acer reached out her claws and tapped around the side of the case.

  ‘You’ll break it,’ said Tilia.

  Acer’s claw must have found a button because the case slowly opened, revealing a computer screen set into the top. It flickered to life and the computer made a loud beep, causing the five dragons to jump back, allowing Dirk and Holly to see the screen. It read:

  A red handprint appeared on the screen under the words and the voice counted down the seconds.

  ‘What does it mean?’ asked Buxus.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Acer. ‘Shall I touch it?’

  ‘If you don’t stop I’ll tell Vainclaw,’ said Betula.

  ‘If you do I’ll schmunch you,’ snarled Acer, reaching a claw to the screen and touching the handprint, which disappeared. The machine stopped counting down and said:

  After a few seconds a red cross flashed on screen along with the words:

  As automatically as it had opened, the lid closed again.

  ‘You’ve broken it,’ said Tilia.

  ‘I’ll try again,’ said Acer, trying to stop the lid from closing, but as she did so she screamed, suddenly pulling away her claw again.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Buxus.

  ‘It bit me,’ said Acer.

  The lid closed. Betula stepped forward. ‘From now on I’m looking after this,’ she said, going to grab it in her mouth, but screeching and jumping back.

  This time Dirk noticed the spark that flew from the case.

  ‘It’s giving off electric shocks,’ he whispered to Holly.

  ‘You stidiotical fool,’ said Salix, ‘We’ll all end up in Euphorbia Falls for this.’

  ‘I’m not scared of the Dragnet,’ said Acer.

  ‘Well, I am. We’ll be banished to the Inner Core. That new Dragnet captain is arresting hundreds of suspected Kinghorns.’

  ‘Vainclaw said we shouldn’t worry about the Dragnet,’ said Betula. ‘Now, get back into guarding position. Enough of this. That includes you, Acer. You’ve done enough damage for one day. You better hope you haven’t broken it.’

  The Tree Dragons resumed their circling motion, swinging their heads from side to side.

  ‘I’ve seen enough,’ said Dirk, turning and crawling away. Once he was out of sight of the Tree Dragons, he leapt into the air, taking Holly up through the trees, bursting out of the dappled shadows into the full sunshine above the forest.

  Holly allowed herself a small squeal of excitement. Flying over the trees was even better than jumping over rooftops. It was brilliant to be back with Dirk. She felt safe on his back, like no one could harm her. And special, like no one else in the world could be happier than she was at that moment in time. She thought of Petal Moses, who got everything she ever wanted, but she didn’t have a dragon for a friend.

  ‘I’ve missed you,’ said Holly.

  ‘Me too, kiddo,’ admitted Dirk.

  ‘How’s Willow?’

  ‘She’s fine. Mrs Klingerflim’s looking after her while I’m away.’

  ‘Is that safe? She thought she was a dog last time she saw her.’

  ‘That would explain why she keeps throwing sticks for her to fetch in the back garden and trying to train her to fetch the paper.’

  Holly laughed. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

  ‘That silver case is some kind of weapon. I want to know what it does,’ replied Dirk, sailing down towards the black-and-white cottage in the middle of the forest. He landed quietly behind the stone wall and ducked down. ‘This is where they’ve been keeping the professor.’

  Holly climbed off his back and they approached a window in the cottage.

  Looking in, Dirk said, ‘It’s empty,’ and quickly moved to the front of the building and ducked through the door.

  Holly followed him in and shut the door behind t
hem.

  She glanced around at the tatty furniture, coated in a thin layer of grime. ‘What a dump.’

  ‘Quick, I’ll check this room, you look in the bedroom,’ said Dirk, lifting up the worn cushions of the mouse-eaten armchair. ‘We shouldn’t stay here too long.’

  ‘What are we looking for?’ asked Holly.

  ‘Clues.’

  Holly found the bedroom through a door on the right. It was small and dingy, with a tiny window. She sat down on the bed and picked up a newspaper with yesterday’s date on it. Seeing the picture on the front she shouted, ‘Dirk, come and look at this.’

  ‘What is it?’ Dirk’s head appeared around the door frame.

  ‘I guess I was wrong about Callum,’ she replied, holding up the paper. It was a picture of the Prime Minister and his family outside Number 10 Downing Street. His other two grown-up sons were smiling. Callum stood in front of his father, glaring fearfully at the camera. ‘The men who took Callum must have been for real,’ said Holly.

  ‘Let me see that.’ The room was so small that Holly had to stand on the bed so Dirk could get in as well.

  ‘I’m not sure this room was designed for a drag—’

  She stopped mid-sentence, interrupted by the sound of a car engine. Holly and Dirk looked at each other. The engine cut out and doors opened.

  ‘Well, professor, as usual it has been truly gratifying indulging in such weighty discourse. Once again, apologies for my colleague’s windy interruptions,’ said the voice of the crook Arthur.

  ‘Yeah, sorry about that. The fish pie I had last night keeps disagreeing with me gut,’ said Reg.

  ‘When can I go home?’ asked the professor.

  The front door opened.

  ‘Mr G has requested that you remain here for the time being in case your services are required.’

  ‘But I’ve reprogrammed the machine now. There’s nothing more I can do.’