Free Treasure Trove (9781743583548) by Danny Parker

Lola gazed around.
    She and Buddy were inside a tunnel made of rock. Their train sat on tracks that disappeared into the darkness ahead.
    There was water dripping from the roof of the tunnel. Big puddles shone in the light of Buddy’s buttons.
    Buddy was looking very worried.
    â€˜What’s up?’ asked Lola.
    â€˜Could be a problem here!’ he said. ‘By my stuffing there could.’
    He looked nervously at the puddles of water on the ground.
    â€˜They don’t look that deep,’ Lola said.
    â€˜But I’m not waterproof ,’ Buddy reminded her.
    â€˜That’s OK,’ Lola said, scooping him up. ‘I’ll carry you! We can’t have a soggy clown now, can we?’
    Lola hopped off the train with Buddy in one arm. She started walking along the tracks.

    Buddy’s shining buttons lit the way like a torch.
    Lola made a special effort to splash in the puddles, because there were no grown-ups there to tell her not to.
    She didn’t care about wet shoes! But she made sure to keep Buddy nice and dry.
    Lola and Buddy had just gone around a bend when they had to stop.
    Huge rocks were scattered across the tracks. It was a dead end!
    â€˜We’ve come the wrong way,’ Lola said, and turned to go back.
    â€˜Wait!’ said Buddy. ‘Look.’
    Looking down, Lola saw that there were foot prints in the mud.
    Hundreds of foot prints!
    Lola popped Buddy onto a dry rock. Then she bent down.
    Some of them were round. ‘These look like teddy-bear prints to me, Buddy,’ Lola said.
    But some prints were clearly made by boots. And in the middle of each boot print was the letter N .
    Lola studied the boot prints. There was something very odd about them, but she couldn’t quite work out what.

    Buddy leaned over to have a closer look. When he saw the letter N , he shivered.
    â€˜ N stands for Nevercalm , Lola,’ he said, looking very worried.
    â€˜Does this mean the Almost Toys have been here?’ Lola asked.
    â€˜Indeed it does,’ said Buddy. ‘By my buttons, it also means we should leave!’
    Lola knew there was a battle going on in the Kingdom.
    On one side was the Great High Bear, the leader of the Kingdom. On the other side was the Plastic Prince from Nevercalm, who wanted to be the leader of the Kingdom.
    The Plastic Prince lived in Nevercalm with his army of Almost Toys. It was the scariest part of the Kingdom.
    Knock, knock, knock!
    There was that knocking sound again! But now it was much louder. It was coming from the other side of the fallen rocks.
    It didn’t sound scary to Lola, though. Instead, it sounded like someone was trying to get their attention.
    But first, Lola and Buddy had to figure out what was going on with these foot prints.
    It didn’t make sense that some of them looked like teddy-bear prints.
    Why would teddies be here with the Almost Toys? They were enemies!
    Lola could tell Buddy was wondering the same thing.
    Then it hit her.
    â€˜Maybe there was a battle here!’ she said suddenly.
    â€˜Twist my toggle, Lola,’ gasped Buddy. ‘If you’re right, the Plastic Prince and his army might still be near. We should get away!’
    Knock, knock, knock!
    There was that noise again.
    â€˜We can’t go yet, Buddy,’ said Lola. ‘I think someone is trapped . They need our help!’

Lola paced up and down. That’s what she did when she was thinking.
    Buddy juggled. That’s what he did when he was thinking. He was very, very good at it, too. After all, he was a clown.
    How could Lola and Buddy move all these rocks, and get to whoever was stuck on the other side?
    Knock, knock, knock!
    â€˜It’s OK!’ shouted Lola. ‘We’re going to find a way to get you out!’
    She looked around.
    There were no tools to dig with. No other toys to help.
    There was nothing but rocks and train tracks.
    Train tracks? Of course!
    â€˜I’ve got it!’ said Lola.