Free Grasshopper Glitch by Ali Sparkes Page A

back, cheerfully, over the rumble and clunk of the fifty-year-old engine.
    â€œNo. We’ve stopped sniffing around the trash can now,” said Josh. “And Danny hasn’t spat on a doughnut or tried to walk up the kitchen window since last Tuesday.” He sighed and then grinned to himself. Being a bluebottle was very exciting. Even Danny had loved it. Well, apart from the bit when he’d been on the lunch menu for a hungry spider.
    â€œGood, good, good,” said Petty. “You know, I thought it was a disaster when you two first accidentally ran into a jet of my Spider S.W.I.T.C.H. spray. But actually it was the best thing that could have happened. If you hadn’t found your way into my secret lab, I might never have moved on from trying to S.W.I.T.C.H. rats and dogs!”
    â€œEr…thanks,” muttered Josh, raising his eyebrows at Danny. He was shaking his head and looking annoyed. The dog Petty had been trying to spray was their dog, Piddle. It was when they were rescuing Piddle that they had first got caught in a jet of Petty’s S.W.I.T.C.H. spray.
    â€œAnd of course, rats could never tell me what the experience was like!” went on Petty. “And you two are so helpful! I’m so delighted you’ve agreed to be my assistants on the S.W.I.T.C.H. project.”
    â€œLook—we just said we’d help you out by looking for your missing cube things,” said Josh. They reached the traffic lights near their school.
    â€œWe’re not trying out any more S.W.I.T.C.H. sprays!”
    â€œI never asked you to!” protested Petty. She looked all innocent and injured. “And finding my missing cubes is absolutely the most important thing. Without them I will never be able to rediscover my formula. Or be able to move on to turning things into reptiles. And you’ll never get the chance to find out how it feels to be a giant python or an anaconda or a Komodo dragon!”
    â€œWe don’t want to find out!” squawked Danny. “Haven’t you heard us? Being turned into other creatures is just too dangerous!”
    â€œYes, of course, of course…” Petty smiled ferociously into her rearview mirror. “Although I can’t imagine how anyone could hurt you if you were a twenty-four-foot python!”

    Danny and Josh looked at each other. There was just the faintest twinkle of excitement in Josh’s eyes. He thought about Petty’s promise. If they could find the last four missing cubes that held the secret of the REPTOSWITCH spray, she would be able to temporarily turn them into amazing reptiles. Josh loved wildlife—being a lizard or a snake would be incredible! The BUGSWITCH was amazing enough but a REPTOSWITCH? It would be hard to resist trying that spray out. And nice to be less easy to eat or squash! This was a definite downside to being a creepy-crawly.
    â€œJosh!” hissed Danny, narrowing his eyes at his brother. “Don’t even think about it! You don’t even know she’s telling the truth! She’s as fishy as fish fingers in fish sauce in a fish-shaped dish!”
    Josh had to admit Danny was right. Petty claimed some pretty crazy things. She had the BUGSWITCH sprays figured out. But she insisted a man who had worked with her had stolen the rest of her research. She said he even burnt out bits of her memory. She’d forgotten where she’d hidden the special glass cubes that contained the secret REPTOSWITCH formula. That was why she needed their help to find them. And they had found one.
    â€œWe have been looking for your cubes,” Danny was saying. “And we will keep looking for them. But don’t think you’ll ever change us into anything again. Not unless we agree to it!”
    â€œWell, of course not! What do you take me for? Some kind of monster?” huffed Petty. “I would never dream of such a thing. But…I just wanted to tell you that I think I have