Free Girl Wonder to the Rescue by Malorie Blackman Page A

The outside was brilliantly wrapped in more brown paper. We drew stars and moons and comets and spaceships all over the brown paper and coloured them in. Then we carried the box downstairs.

    “There you are, Mum,” I said, as we plonked down the box. “This is your birthday present.”
    “My goodness! What is it?” Mum said. She bent down and shook the box. It didn’t make a sound.
    “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out,” Anthony said.
    “Yeah, tomorrow morning,” said Edward.
    “Can’t I open it now?” Mum asked, giving it another shake.
    “No, you can’t. Wait until your birthday tomorrow,” I said firmly.
    “Oh, all right then,” Mum said reluctantly. But she had a strange gleam in her eyes.
    That night I dreamed about flying through the air faster than a speeding rocket and leaping over giant trees with just one jump, when I heard a funny-peculiar noise. It woke me up. I listened. The house was very quiet. I wondered if I’d dreamed the noise. Deciding I must have dreamed it, I pulled my duvet up around my ears and snuggled down to go back to sleep.
    Then I heard the same noise again. It was the stairs creaking. We were being burgled.

The Birthday Burglar
    I sat up, listening in the darkness. I heard another creak from one of the bottom steps. We were definitely being burgled. I got out of bed and tiptoed out of my room. I was scared – so scared – but I was a superhero and we superheroes have to be braver than brave. I went into the twins’ room. They were fast asleep. I might have guessed. It would take fifteen planes flying over our house at the same time to wake those two up.
    “Come on, you two. Wake up!” I whispered. “We’re being burgled, so thisis definitely a job for Girl Wonder . . .”
    “And the Terrific Twins?” Anthony whispered back, instantly awake. “Isn’t this more a job for the police?”
    “Definitely a job for Mum or the police,” agreed Edward. “Or a grown-up.”
    “No, I’ve got a plan,” I said.
    My brothers got out of their bunk-beds and we whirled and twirled around quickly but quietly, so that the burglar wouldn’t hear us. Luckily there was a full moon so we had the moonlight to see by, otherwise the twins would have tripped over their own feet and made all kinds of noise. I whispered my plan to them. Then we crept slowly and silently down the stairs. We got to the living-room. I could hear noises. There was definitely someone in there, trying their best not to make a sound. We got a chair from the kitchen, then crept to the open living-room door.
    “Ready, Terrific Twins?” I whispered.
    “Ready, Girl Wonder . . .” the Terrific Twins whispered back.
    “Go!”
    The Terrific Twins pulled the living-room door shut, then I quickly placed the back of the chair under the door handle. I switched on the hall light, because with the living-room door shut, you can’t see much in the hall.
    “Right then, Mr Burglar!” I called out. “We have you now! And don’t even think about getting out through the window, because there are locks on all the windows in the house and the window key is in the kitchen.”
    The Terrific Twins were jumping up and down now.
    “Hooray! We caught a burglar! Hooray!” Anthony shouted.
    “All by ourselves.” Edward grinned.“Yippee!”
    “Anthony, you go and get Mum. Edward, you watch the door. I’ll phone the police . . .”

    “Maxine . . . MAXINE! Let me out of here THIS SECOND!”
    We stared at the barred living-room door.
    “Mum . . . Mum, is that you?” I asked, surprised.
    “OF COURSE IT’S ME. OPEN THE DOOR! NOW!” Mum didn’t sound too pleased at all.
    We were in seriously, serious trouble. Possibly the most seriously serious trouble we’d ever been in. I unlocked the door.
    Sparks flew from Mum’s eyes.
    “What do you three think you’re playing at?” Mum asked furiously, her hands on her hips.
    “I heard a noise, Mum,” I said. “We thought you were a