Cyborg Cat and the Masked Marauder, page 6
“I know it seems the most likely explanation,” said Salim. “But I can’t believe any of those guys would do it. They all know how important getting a decent chair is.”
Despite what Salim said, I couldn’t help thinking about Tommy and what he’d said to me at the training session.
“Unless …” said Shed. We all looked at him. “Unless it’s Emily. I mean, I know she’s been really helpful, but you know what she was like before.”
“Maybe that’s her plan,” said Dexter. “Be really nice to us and then, bam! Destroy us from the inside.”
“Rubbish!” shouted Melody. “She’s really, really sorry about what she did. There’s no way it’s her.”
It was good to hear Melody so certain about Emily, and my Cyborg Cat powers hadn’t sensed any danger from her, but could the Night Spider have her own powers that prevented me from connecting to mine, so I didn’t suspect her? I kept quiet.
“Well, whoever it is wants to stop us raising money, right?” said Salim.
“Right,” we all agreed.
“So,” he continued, “we should carry on raising even more money to show whoever it is that we can’t be stopped.”
“Yes,” said Brian. “And to lure them out into the open.”
“What do you mean?” Shed asked.
“Well,” explained Brian, “we’re doing a sponsored silence next. I think we should do it at the same time as the Rollers have their next training session.”
“Yes,” shouted Dexter. “We’ll be so silent we’ll be able to hear if any of the basketball players are talking about trying to stop us. It’s brilliant!”
“Erm, I’m not sure that was Brian’s plan,” I said. “Or was it, Bri?”
“Not quite,” said Brian. “School is about three miles from where the team train. Even if everyone between the school and the park were being silent and the players were speaking really loudly, I still don’t think we’d hear them.”
“So what is your plan?” asked Shed.
“It’s very simple,” said Brian. “A couple of us spy on the team while they’re training. If anyone is missing and something happens during the sponsored silence …”
“Then the missing person must be the Masked Marauder!” shouted Dexter. “I knew that was the plan all along.”
“Course you did,” I laughed.
“Okay, but we need to make sure that everyone knows about the silence, which means we need Emily to make loads of posters,” Melody said.
“But what if —?” Salim started to say what I was thinking.
“I guess this time we’ve really got to hope that she truly is on our side,” I said. “Otherwise Emily is a lot more dangerous and evil then we ever thought, and we are in a lot of trouble.”
11
The Silent Treatment
“WOW, Emily, how many posters have you made now?” I asked, looking at her latest offering, a picture of a large pair of lips with a finger over them and the word ‘Shh’ written above … which actually may not be a word, now that I thought about it.
“I think that’s the seventeenth,” she said.
“Amazing,” I told her.
She smiled and blushed a little, which made me feel really quite bad that we’d ever doubted her. I kept thinking about what Dexter had said, though, about her being really nice and then destroying us, so I stared hard at the poster. I was trying to get transported into it, like when I’d looked at the horrible graffiti Emily had made as the Night Spider. Nothing happened, apart from Emily looking at me a bit oddly, which made me blush.
I just didn’t sense any danger at all. Emily was joining in with the sponsored silence too, which would make things very difficult if she actually was the Masked Marauder herself. No, I was certain that it wasn’t Emily and more convinced than ever that she was definitely on our side.
The identity of my new nemesis was still a mystery, but whoever it was couldn’t hide forever. Especially now that the Cyborg Cat, the Parsons Road Gang and the Night Spider were all on the case.
Salim, Melody, Emily and I had gathered in the music room for our sponsored silence as planned. A few minutes earlier we’d said goodbye to Brian and what had appeared to be a human shrub. The shrub was actually a heavily camouflaged Dexter. He’d painted his face green and stuck leaves and twigs all over his body in preparation for spying on the basketball team.
They were a little late leaving because Brian had borrowed his cousin’s video camera and had spent ages setting it up. In fact, he would have taken longer if the rest of us hadn’t all shouted, “Brian! Just turn it on!” A tiny red light was blinking at us from the camera. I didn’t think it would be the greatest film of all time, but we’d have proof for our sponsors if we were successful keeping silent. They’d shuffled out with Brian in a bit of a huff and Dexter dropping bits of foliage as he went.
“I’m not sure Dexter’s camouflage is all that helpful,” said Melody. “It’s fine if he stays in the bushes, but as soon as he steps away, you can see him a mile off.”
“You can smell him a mile off most of the time as well,” I said.
“Too right,” said Salim. “Hey, where’s Shed?”
“He had to speak to one of his teachers after lessons so I got the lift down on my own. He’ll be here soon.”
Sure enough, a few minutes later Shed appeared.
“Sorry I’m late,” he said. “Have you started?”
“Yes we have,” I said.
“Oh well … hang on!” he shouted, realising what I’d done.
“Don’t worry, Shed, you haven’t ruined it!” I said, chuckling. “We’re just about to start. Okay, everyone, time for the last words to come out of our mouths for two hours.”
We all shouted lots of really bonkers stuff then. I screamed ‘silly sausages and bum-bum bees’ about six times, and Emily kept saying ‘fluffy bunny bottoms’. We kept going for a couple of minutes, then, like a conductor of an orchestra, I gestured with my arms for everybody to gradually lower their voices until there was complete silence. We had begun.
It felt quite odd at first, the five of us just sitting there in complete silence under the watchful eye of the camera, but after fifteen minutes it became really peaceful. We weren’t allowed to actually fall asleep, but before long I was having a fantastic daydream …
Many people have swum the English Channel, but no one has ever thrown a basketball across it. You have joined us today as this incredible feat is being attempted for the first time by basketball star Ade Adepitan. What’s more, not only is Adepitan going to attempt to get the ball all the way across the sea from Britain to France, he is also going to try to score what would be the longest basket ever!
Adepitan is wheeling up to the edge of the famous white cliffs of Dover now. The basket is a mere twenty-one miles away in Calais. This is going to have to be some shot. He’s taking a few deep breaths in preparation and he’s just given the ball a kiss for good luck. Here goes. He’s raising the ball up and with incredible power has released his shot.
The ball is sailing through the air at an amazing speed … Oops, nearly hit a seagull there … Now it’s flying on, getting closer and closer to the French coastline … Yes, I can see the basket now, but will the ball reach it and, more importantly, will it go in?
It’s getting nearer … and nearer … and nearer … and …
It’s in! What a shot! Ade Adepitan has scored the longest basket ever! What a player!
Unfortunately, my dream was interrupted when Spencer and two of his stupid mates walked in.
They didn’t actually say anything, they just walked round and round, staring at us and going, ‘Shhh shhh.’ It felt really menacing, and very annoying.
I could tell we all wanted to shout at them, but none of us cracked. I think they were trying to decide who was most likely to, though, because eventually they decided to focus all their attention onto poor Shed.
They stood over him and Spencer kept staring right into his eyes. Shed looked really nervous and unsettled.
I wanted to scream at them to leave him alone, but I held back. I wasn’t going to let anyone ruin our sponsored silence. We could always get them later.
My chair had other ideas, however. It suddenly started to glow with a raging intensity and before I’d stopped to think I had pushed down hard on the wheels and rolled right over Spencer’s foot.
“Owwwwww!” he yelled, hopping about.
I was just about to sarcastically say sorry, when thankfully I remembered that I couldn’t. Instead, I screwed up my eyes, put my fingers to my lips and shrugged my shoulders as if to say it was an accident.
“I hope you lot stay silent forever,” he spat at me. “But even if you do you won’t raise enough money because you’re the biggest bunch of losers in the whole world. Come on, let’s go.”
Just as they got to the door, Spencer decided to make one last attempt to catch us out.
“Watch this!” he shouted to his friends.
Pointing his backside in my direction he let rip with probably the loudest fart I have ever heard in my life.
Spencer’s friends collapsed with laughter.
The rest of us had to cover our noises and mouths to stop ourselves from gagging on the rancid smell from Spencer’s bottom.
“Now you’re not just losers,” shouted Spencer, “you’re smelly lo–”
Spencer suddenly stopped in mid-sentence, which was unusual for him because he loved to gloat. He frantically started to grab at the back of his tight shorts.
“Oh no!” he cried.
That’s when we all noticed that Spencer’s vigorous squat and the force of his odorous expulsion had torn his shorts clean down the middle, exposing his Bob the Builder underpants.
Spencer’s friends laughed even harder when they saw them.
“Shut up, the lot of you!” he screamed.
He covered the tear with his hand and started to scurry off, but then he stopped and pointed a finger at Shed. He was obviously trying one last time to get him to crack, but thankfully Shed kept his mouth shut and didn’t say a word.
The next hour passed by peacefully enough, though there was a sudden burst of rain at one point that made a sound on the roof like loads of little balls being dropped from the sky. It startled Emily and she very nearly made a noise, but she clapped her hand over her mouth just in time.
With half an hour to go the mood changed. We were all looking at the clock, willing the time away. I suddenly felt as if I had so much to say, and I knew the others were feeling the same. The words inside my head were bursting to come out and it seemed harder and harder to stay silent.
The next twenty-five minutes were agonising, but with five minutes to go the end was in sight and I started thinking about the first thing I was going to say once the two hours were up.
I was deciding between shouting ‘Silence, you are so over!’ or, ‘In your face, Silence!’ when I heard a strange tap-tap-tapping coming from somewhere.
At first I thought it might be rain again, but this sound didn’t seem to be coming from the roof.
“Aaaaaaarrgghhhhh!”
The terrible scream had come from Emily and, when I followed her pointing finger, I understood why.
Someone was at the window wearing a horrific ghostly zombie mask.
The Masked Marauder!
“Let’s get him, quick!” I shouted, forgetting I was meant to be silent.
Melody was first to the door, but something was blocking the other side and she couldn’t open it.
The rest of us joined her and together we pushed as hard as we could.
“Harder, harder,” I bellowed. “He’s getting away!”
Eventually we heard a scraping sound and the door opened. There had been four chairs propped up against it. The delay had allowed the Masked Marauder to get away.
“He’s gone,” I said dejectedly.
“Yes,” said Salim. “But look.”
He pointed to the ground by the window. Lying there was the mask my nemesis had been wearing. Sticking out from underneath it was a piece of paper.
“I’ll get it,” said Shed, picking it up. He handed it to me. “I’m pretty sure this is meant for you.”
My chair started to hum and vibrate. I opened the note. This time letters had been cut out of a newspaper.
It was then that it really hit me. Not only had the Masked Marauder delivered another message telling me not to play for the basketball team, he’d also ruined our sponsored silence.
To make matters worse, when we checked the camera it was clear that our failure had been captured on film but, because the camera had been trained on us, there was no shot of the Masked Marauder at the window. With no money raised, it felt as if the sports chair was slipping out of my grasp. The Masked Marauder had won again.
Walking home, it was as if a gloomy black cloud was lurking overhead. We plodded along slowly and without talking. The shock of what had just happened had stunned us all back into silence. I was about to mutter goodbye to the others and slope off home when Brian and Dexter rocked up. Maybe they had the information we needed to unmask the Masked Marauder?
“He showed up,” I told them. “The Masked Marauder came to the music room!”
“We thought as much,” said Brian.
“Why?” asked Shed.
“We watched the team training,” said Dexter. He was still heavily camouflaged, but a bit smudged and bare in places. “At first we thought they were all there, but that was only because Brian can’t count.”
“I can count,” said Brian. “But not when I get interrupted all the time.”
“I was only checking that you’d counted everyone,” replied Dexter. “It’s not my fault that you seemed to be missing someone out each time.”
“I was not,” said Brian. “You –”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, worried that we’d be there all night if the two of them carried on bickering. “Just tell us the news.”
“Okay, well, they weren’t all there,” said Brian. “There was one person missing. I’m pretty sure it was someone called Howard. I remember him from when you played, Ade.”
“You sure it wasn’t Tommy?”
“No, Tommy was there, we saw him,” said Dexter.
“Then Howard must be the Masked Marauder!” I shouted excitedly.
“Erm, I don’t think so,” said Salim.
“What?” I exclaimed. “It has to be him. Why don’t you think so, Salim?”
“Howard’s on holiday in Spain for a week. He’s missing school and everything.”
“But … but if it’s not Howard,” I spluttered, “and it isn’t anyone else on the basketball team, then who is the Masked Marauder?”
Once again, we were all silent.
12
Great British Cake Off
“ADE talking to the video camera to test it out, take seventeen. Action!”
“Brian,” I said, “why can’t you just say ‘start’? It would be much easier.”
“Because,” said Brian, “that is not what real directors say.”
“But you’re not a real director,” Melody pointed out. “And this isn’t a real film.”
We were getting things ready for our cake sale at the Parsons Road Street Party. It was held every couple of years to ‘create a sense of local community’, apparently. The Masked Marauder showing up at the sponsored silence, and ruining it, had only made me more determined to carry on raising money, and more determined to catch whoever it was. I’d decided I wasn’t going to let anyone take away my dream. With my friends supporting me, I knew we were unstoppable.
We’d all made cakes to sell – with a lot of help from our parents, it had to be said. My mum had helped me make puff-puffs with a chocolate dip. Puff-puffs are like Nigerian doughnuts. The chocolate dip was Dad’s special addition. When I asked for help, Mum gave me a look which said, ‘I hope you’ve remembered that little chat we had about raising money,’ but it seemed she hadn’t told Dad anything yet. He was very pleased that I was getting involved in the cake sale. To be honest, I think he would have been happy for me to do almost anything else other than basketball.
Brian had brought the video camera along again. There was every chance that MM, as we’d started calling him, was planning to show up, and even though we were going to be on high alert, if he got away again hopefully Brian would be able to catch him on film so we could study the footage for clues. The only trouble was, Brian was acting as if he was a big Hollywood film director, and not a school kid who’d borrowed a camera.
“Melody,” said Brian, “if MM shows up, I’ve got a big responsibility, so it has to be done properly. Look what happened at the sponsored silence when I wasn’t there. You completely missed him.”
“I’ve got a big responsibility as well,” said Dexter. “If MM shows up, I’ve got to rugby-tackle him and then sit on top of him till you lot can take his mask off. Sooooo, I’m going to practise that now.”
Dexter charged at Brian playfully and tackled him to the ground.
We stopped laughing when we noticed that the video camera was flying through the air. Dexter’s tackle had been too enthusiastic.
It was as if the moment went into slow motion.
The others were frozen to the spot, but I felt like a bottle of pop that had been shaken, full of fizz and ready to explode. My mind was completely clear. I was Cyborg Cat and I could see exactly what I needed to do. In a flash, I zoomed over and just managed to grab the camera’s strap before it hit the ground and smashed into a million pieces.
The others cheered, but I knew it had been a lucky escape.
“No more messing about,” I said. “MM is going to try something today – and, when he does, we need to be ready.”
Over the next couple of hours, Parsons Road filled up with stalls and stages. It was going to be really busy, which would make it difficult for us to spot anything out of the ordinary, but we were prepared.
After the street party had been officially opened by the mayor, Emily and Shed took charge of the cake stall. Brian walked about filming, and me, Melody, Salim and Dexter stationed ourselves at places we’d decided gave us the best overview of everything. I stayed close enough to Salim to be able to pass a message on to him, and he was close enough to Dexter, who was close enough to Melody. Melody had also brought along her walkie-talkies and given one to me, so we had all bases covered when it came to communication.
