Free Superpowers by Alex Cliff Page A

The stones instantly re-form,

    shutting Hercules in his dark prison again.
    Juno looks at the wall where the hole has been. Her eyes glitter dangerously. ‘And this time they die, Hercules.’
    She claps her hands. There is a crash of thunder and the next second, a hawk can be seen swooping out of the tower and flying away into the dark night.

CHAPTER ONE

A GREAT DAY OUT
    Max Hayward stared at his mum over the breakfast table. Had he really just heard right? ‘What?’ he exclaimed. ‘We’re going out for the day? But we can’t be, Mum!’
    â€˜Why not?’ Mrs Hayward said in surprise. ‘It’ll be fun. We’re going to Haslemere House.’ She cleared away the cereal bowls. ‘I rang Finlay’s mum afteryou went to bed last night and he’s coming too. You’ll both have a great time. The website said there are ancient suits of armour inside the house as well as big gardens and a maze.’
    â€˜But we were going to go to the castle, Mum,’ Max protested.
    â€˜Oh, Max, you’ve been at the castle every day this half-term,’ Mrs Hayward said. ‘Isn’t it getting a bit boring?’
    Pictures of the last few days flashed into Max’s mind – finding Hercules trapped in a tower there, meeting the goddess Juno, striking a deal with her to get Hercules’ superpowers back, fighting a sabre-toothed lion, killing the Nine-Headed River Monster, cleaning a thousand years of

    poo out of a stables and chasing a giant wild boar…
    No, he could
definitely
say it hadn’t been boring! ‘No, Mum, it’s … it’s fun there,’ he said.
If you like getting bitten, chased and attacked
, he thought to himself.
    â€˜Well, I’m sorry, Max, but the plans are all made,’ his mum said firmly. ‘Auntie Carol’s coming too, with your cousin, Zoë, and Zoë’s best friend, Michelle.’ The phone started ringing and she broke off to answer it. ‘Hello?’ She listened for a moment. ‘It’s Fin, for you,’ she said, handing Max the phone.
    Max took the phone through to the lounge. ‘Hi.’
    â€˜Max! What’s going on?’ Finlay shouted down the phone, almost shattering Max’s eardrum. ‘I woke up this morning and my mum said I’m coming out for the day with you! What about the task? What about Hercules? We
can’t
go out for the day!’
    â€˜I know!’ Max replied desperately. ‘But Mum says I’ve got to. Look, maybe youcan get out of it and get started on the task, then I can meet you at the castle later?’
    He held his breath. He couldn’t bear the thought of having to go round some boring house while Finlay was up at the castle using one of Hercules’ superpowers and risking his life fighting a flock of man-eating birds, but at least that way there was a chance that they might get the next task done before sunset.
    â€˜No,’ Finlay said firmly. ‘We’re in this together.’
    Max felt a rush of relief.
    â€˜Anyway,’ Finlay went on, and Max could hear the grin in his voice. ‘You don’t think I’m going to fight a load of man-eating birds on my own, do you? No way!’
    â€˜What are we going to do, then?’ Max demanded. He saw a bouncy ball on the table and picked it up, bouncing it against the tabletop as he tried to think of a way out.
    â€˜I know,’ Finlay said. ‘Why don’t we go to this Haslemere House place and then when we get there, we say we feel sick, so your mum has to bring us home. By the time we’re back here we can say we’re OK again and then go up to the castle and do the task.’
    â€˜But what about getting the superpower?’ Max asked.
    The boys had to get to the castle in the morning as the sun first shone on the gatehouse wall. This was where Juno had hidden Hercules’ powers. For twenty minutes the superpowersglowed out of the