Henderson's Boys: Secret Army by Robert Muchamore

Author:Robert Muchamore
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781444910438
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Rufus and Khinde searched the house and garden but Mavis wasn’t found. Group B’s afternoon lessons were cancelled and the whole group scoured the school and the surrounding woods.

The others searched because they’d been ordered to and didn’t like the idea of having a big scary spider on the loose, but Troy was concerned for Mavis’ well-being and went back out after dark to search with a torch.

He was over two hundred metres into the woods behind the graveyard when he caught a blue glint in his torch beam. He thought he’d imagined it, but swung the beam back to make sure and saw Mavis’ furry body and the unmistakeable metallic blue colouring on her legs and back.

‘So that’s where you’ve been hiding,’ he said gently.

They’d been told to call an adult to capture Mavis if she was spotted, but Troy had the impression that most people wouldn’t mind if Mavis ended up getting splattered and he wanted to avoid that.

Troy had expected a chase, but Mavis didn’t shun the light. In fact, she didn’t move at all and her body trembled in a way he’d never seen before as she nestled between a rock and a clump of wild grass. Cobalt blues are native to Thailand and Malaysia where the temperature rarely drops below thirty centigrade and the cold was killing her.

‘You’re freezing, aren’t you?’ Troy said, as he slipped a canvas bag off his shoulder.

He took out a small hand-shovel and the wooden cigar box from which he’d taken Mavis’ lunch earlier in the day. With the torch tucked under his armpit, Troy held the open cigar box in one hand and the shovel in the other.

‘Come on,’ Troy whispered. ‘There’s a good girl.’

He moved the box as close to Mavis as he dared, then reached behind her with the shovel and gave her a gentle flick. He was scared that Mavis would panic and either run off or charge up the shovel handle and sink poison fangs into his hand, but she barely moved when the shovel touched her and Troy had to flick her into the cigar box before snapping the lid shut.

The torch dropped out of Troy’s armpit as Mavis found a burst of energy and began spinning around and scraping her legs against the side of her wooden prison. Troy got a rubber band and fastened it around the hinged box, before putting it back in the bag and setting off towards the house.

As he came close to the farmhouse there was a bang and a bright orange flash through the trees. His first thought was that an artillery shell had strayed from the firing range, but they rarely went off after dark and it wasn’t loud enough.

Yves and Sam stood at the back of the garden. Troy was ready to boast about the capture of Mavis, but as he walked through the back gate he was startled to inhale a strong whiff of petrol and see one of the spider cages burning in the middle of the lawn.

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