Free Superpowers by Alex Cliff Page A

Hercules. If you do not escape today your final superpower will fade and be lost to you forever!’
    â€˜The boys will not fail me!’ Hercules exclaims.
    They stare at each other. Then Juno swings round angrily and snaps her fingers. The stones close over Hercules’ face.
    â€˜I will win!’ Juno hisses, staring out at the castle keep. ‘I will!’

CHAPTER ONE
WHO WILL IT BE?

    â€˜Your call,’ Max said nervously. He and Finlay were sitting in his bedroom. Max looked at the coin in his hand. ‘Here goes.’
    â€˜Heads!’ Finlay called as Max flicked up the coin.
    Finlay and Max both held their breath as they watched it spinning in the air.
    A week ago, their lives had changed

    forever. They had discovered the ancient hero, Hercules, trapped inside the walls of the ruined castle outside their village. Juno had taken his superpowers during a fight between Hercules and her andplaced them in the stones of the castle’s gatehouse. Finlay and Max had been determined to free Hercules, and so each day, for seven days, they faced a terrifying task set by the evil goddess. These tasks would have been impossible for a normal human to complete but each day either Max or Finlay got to choose one of Hercules’ superhuman powers to help them. Juno had made a deal with them that if they completed the task by sunset the superpower returned to Hercules. Today was the day of the final task.
    The coin spun down.
    Max caught it and covered it with his hand.
    â€˜Well?’ Finlay demanded.
    Max slowly revealed the coin.
    A mixture of relief and disappointment crossed his face. ‘It’s heads.’
    Finlay let out a deep breath. ‘Looks like I get the superpower of incredible-agility, then. I’ll be able to run, climb and jump like a superhero.’
    Max forced himself to smile. ‘And you’ll have the chance to herd twenty raging bulls.’
    â€˜Let me at ’ em!’ Finlay said with a shaky grin. ‘You’ll help, though, won’t you?’
    â€˜You know I will,’ Max replied, looking determined. ‘We’re going to do this task and get Hercules his last superpower back!’
    â€˜Then he can break free from the tower and fight Juno!’ Finlay jumped to his feet and leapt forward, doing a karate chop.
    â€˜Hi-yaa!’ He tripped over a pile of Max’s books. ‘Oof!’ he exclaimed as he landed on the floor.
    â€˜Hope Hercules does better than that if he fights Juno!’ Max grinned.

    Finlay picked himself up. ‘Ow,’ he said, inspecting a recent cut on his leg. Blood was seeping out of it. ‘I’ll be glad when all our wounds heal over.’
    Every day either Max or Finlay had been injured while carrying out Juno’s tasks. It was always the person with the superpower who seemed to get injured and each wound looked suspiciously like the symbols of the superpower they had taken that day. Max looked at his own three wounds – one on his hand, one on his leg and one on his arm. ‘I hope they turn into proper scars. That would be cool!’
    â€˜I just hope I don’t get another one today!’ Finlay said. ‘What do you reckon these bulls will be like?’
    â€˜I dunno but I looked up some stuff on the Internet last night,’ Max repliedeagerly. He loved finding things out. ‘There was loads about bulls.’
    â€˜But did it tell you what wild magic bulls conjured by psycho goddesses are like?’ Finlay said.
    Max grinned. ‘No, but I found out some general facts that might be useful.’ He tried to remember what he’d read. ‘You can lead a bull around by putting a ring through its nose. If they’re together in a group there’s always one big boss bull that all the other bulls will follow. They hate red. Oh, and their horns are very sharp – they can kill a man by goring him.’
    Finlay groaned. ‘Oh, great, and we’ve got