Free Superpowers by Alex Cliff Page B

twenty of them to try and herd.’
    â€˜Least we don’t have to kill them,’ Max said, looking on the bright side.
    â€˜Yeah, we’ve just got to stop them from killing us!’ Finlay took a deep breath and went to the door. ‘Come on, let’s go. I need to get that superpower!’
    Each morning, just as the sun shone on the gatehouse wall, the bricks crumbled from around Hercules’ face, so he could see out of the tower and the superpowers lit up in the stones of the gatehouse. They shone for twenty minutes and the boys had to take the superpower then.
    â€˜Where are you two off to?’ Max’s mum asked as Max and Finlay went into the kitchen.
    â€˜The castle,’ Max replied.
    â€˜You’ll be moving in there next!’ Mrs Hayward smiled. ‘Are you still looking for the dungeon?’
    â€˜Oh…um, yes!’ Max said. On thefirst day of half-term, six days ago, he and Finlay had set off to try and find the castle’s secret dungeon, but then of course they had met Hercules and their plans had changed. Still, his mum didn’t know that. No one did!
    â€˜Oh well, I suppose you’ll be there all day again,’ Mrs Hayward said. ‘You’d better take some lunch with you. I’ll just get it ready.’
    It seemed to take Mrs Hayward forever to make the lunch. ‘That’s enough, Mum,’ Max said anxiously, as his mum started to butter even more bread for about the seventh round of sandwiches. He looked at the kitchen clock. Time was ticking by.
    â€˜I’ll just do you a few more,’ his mum said cheerfully. ‘Can you find the picnic basket and rug, please, Max?’
    â€˜Picnic basket!’ Max stared at her. ‘Can’t we just have a carrier bag, Mum?’
    â€˜Everything will get squashed,’ his mum said, looking at the mound of sandwiches and chocolate cake. ‘You might as well use the basket. You can tie it on to the back of your bike.’
    Max exchanged looks with Finlay. He was going to feel really stupid cycling up to the castle with a picnic basket on the back of his bike but he didn’t want to waste any more time by getting into an argument with his mum. ‘OK,’ he muttered.
    He fetched the basket and the red checked rug. His mum packed everything inside with four cans of Coke and some apples. ‘Have a good day, then!’

    â€˜Thanks, Mum!’ Max grabbed the basket and he and Finlay ran outside.
    â€˜I thought we were going to be trapped in your kitchen forever!’ Finlay exclaimed.
    â€˜I can’t believe we’ve got to take a picnic basket with us!’ Max said.
    â€˜At least the food looks good!’ Finlayreplied, thinking of the chocolate cake he’d seen Mrs Hayward cutting up.
    They hastily strapped the picnic basket on to Max’s bike.
    â€˜Come on!’ Max exclaimed to Finlay.
    â€˜Let’s go!’

CHAPTER TWO
DESPAIR!

    The cycle ride to the castle was all uphill. The boys stood on their pedals and cycled as fast as they could.
    â€˜At least we’ll be able to use our bikes to cycle to wherever these bulls are,’ Finlay said as they bounced over the grass and stones on the overgrown footpath.
    â€˜I hope Juno tells us where they are,’ Max replied. Juno had a sneaky habit ofleaving them to search for the monsters they had to fight.
    The castle came into view. The boys rode up to it and jumped off their bikes. Leaning them against the crumbling walls, Max and Finlay climbed through the ruined gatehouse and came out into the grassy castle keep. The sun was shining on the gatehouse wall and Hercules was already looking anxiously out of the tower.
    â€˜Get the superpower quickly, boys, before Juno arrives,’ he called urgently. ‘She will want to do everything she can to try and stop you succeeding in the task today!’
    Max and Finlay saw the last of the seven symbols shining out of the stones around