The Case of the Runaway Brain by Nick Sheridan

Author:Nick Sheridan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2022-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

‘What?’ Drew’s mouth was hanging open.

‘I, the Snoops Bay Sniffer’s chief investigative reporter, Moonyoung Choi,’ continued Riz, ‘visited the acadamy yesterday and had a lovely evening with Madame Strang and her beautiful sausage dogs. She was even kind enough to give me a behind-the-scenes tour of her top-secret salon and washed my hair for free! I’ll certainly go again. Keep up the good work, Madame Strang.’

Drew had his head buried in his hands. ‘Why is Moonyoung writing this?’ he moaned.

Olly was pacing up and down again, but his bedroom was so small that he could only manage about two steps before he had to turn round and walk in the other direction. ‘She didn’t write that,’ Olly muttered to himself. ‘Choi doesn’t write fake news.’

‘Well, it looks like she does now!’ exclaimed Drew. ‘That’s a pack of lies! Everyone is miserable in that place. And the ones that aren’t act odd.’

‘Odd how?’ asked Riz.

‘It’s like their personalities have been scrubbed clean and their brains have upped and run off. That’s what all the kids are like when Madame Strang sends them back to their parents. Either Moonyoung Choi is lying, or someone else wrote this.’

‘Obviously someone else wrote it!’ snapped Olly.

Riz was gazing grimly at the article. ‘She did write it, Olly.’

‘And how do you know that, Riz?’

She shoved the article in front of his nose. ‘You said she misspells “academy” every time she writes an article. It’s spelled wrong here too. If someone else had written it, they would have spelled it correctly.’

Olly’s face fell. He took the paper from Riz. ‘You’re right,’ he said eventually. ‘She wrote it.’

Riz squeezed her eyes tight. ‘Yesterday, Madame Strang said that her new product had changed the lives of the kids at the academy, and that soon it would change the lives of adults too.’

‘And then she announced that she was going to demonstrate it on Moonyoung,’ added Drew.

‘Wait a second.’ Olly gasped, the cogs turning in his head. ‘Madame Strang’s… brainwashed Moonyoung!’

Drew’s eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights.

Riz gulped. ‘I think you’re right, Olly. We saw her take Moonyoung off to the salon – she must have given her the same treatment she’s been giving the kids! That’s the only way Madame Strang could have got her to write that article. We need to do something!’

‘I’ve got an idea,’ Olly piped up. ‘Moonyoung will have kept notes on her investigation into the academy at the Snoops Bay Sniffer offices down town. If we’re able to get them, they might help our investigation.’

‘Our?’ said Drew in a quiet voice.

Olly looked at both of them nervously. ‘Well, I’m coming too, aren’t I? You’re bringing me along?’

Riz and Drew exchanged a glance.

‘You need me!’ he shrilled. ‘This is a huge story! It’s perfect!’

‘Perfect?’ snorted Riz. ‘Has your brain run away too?’

‘Riz, this is what I’ve been waiting for!’ Olly beamed. ‘I need a proper cracker of a story to start my career as an investigative reporter. A good old swashbuckling, eye-popping zinger of a story.

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