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said. And now that they looked closely, they could see that she had a rash of rather nasty red pimples—many of them topped with a little yellow crust. “I’ve been dreadfully tired and sore. And I didn’t feel like talking to anyone—or infecting anyone!”
    Josh and Danny took a step back.

    â€œOh don’t fret now!” Petty said. “I’m not infectious anymore. Once the spots get all scabby, you’re past the point of infecting anyone.”
    â€œPhew,” sighed Danny, sinking into a worn leather armchair. “We thought it was all over for the S.W.I.T.C.H. Project.”
    â€œI’m touched by your concern,” Petty said. “But now that you’re here, I might as well get out the chocolate cake. And then you can tell me about … this!” She dug in her pocket and held out something small, round, and shiny.

    â€œOur marble!” breathed Josh. “Yes—and—well, you might want to look at these too.” He dug in his own pocket and withdrew a small black drawstring bag. In it were two marbles. One blue and one red. “These two are like the green one you’ve got there. They have a code in them and a hologram—just like your BUGSWITCH and REPTOSWITCH cubes.”
    Petty stared at the marbles in Josh’s palm as if she was desperately trying to remember something. After thirty seconds, she got unsteadily to her feet. “No—no good!” she snapped. “Until I have chocolate cake and a large mug of tea, not a single synapse is going to fire!”
    â€œShe means her brain isn’t working,” muttered Josh to Danny, following Petty into the kitchen. “Sit down, Petty. We’ll get it,” he said, feeling guilty because she really did look pretty bad. She was pale under the pox. He and Danny put the kettle on and got the cake out of a tin in the fridge. Petty sat at the table rolling the three coded marbles around in her hand.
    Soon they were all munching cake covered with thick chocolate icing and gulping down hot brown tea between bites. Petty’s color began to improve. The glimmer returned to her eyes as she continued to stare closely at the marbles.
    â€œSo,” she said, eventually. “Where did these come from?”
    Josh and Danny looked at each other and then back at Petty. “We were hoping you could tell us,” Josh said. “They’ve been sent to
us
—by the Mystery Marble Sender. One at a time across the last three weeks or so. We thought maybe it was you.”

    â€œWhy on earth would it be
me?
” Petty asked.
    â€œWell … because they’ve got a code in them. And a hologram,” explained Josh. “Just like in your S.W.I.T.C.H. cubes! We didn’t think anybody else could make Serum Which Instigates Total Cellular Hijack.”
    â€œAnd nobody else can!” agreed Petty. “I made these, yes—I told you! But I can’t remember when. Or why. Or what for. Remember that nasty bag of bones Victor Crouch burnt out my memory after he tried to steal my S.W.I.T.C.H. Project work and claim it as his own! There are big echoing chambers of my brain with VACANT signs hung over them, thanks to my backstabbing former best friend.”
    â€œWell … maybe Victor Crouch
did
manage to steal some of your formula after all—this bit,” Danny said.
    â€œIt looks like a S.W.I.T.C.H. code for mammals,” Josh said. “We had a look with my microscope. There’s a bat shape in the blue one and a cat shape in the red one.”
    â€œThere’s a wolf shape in the green one,” Petty said. “I started on insects with BUGSWITCH. Then rediscovered amphibians and reptiles after you helped me find the missing cubes containing the code to REPTOSWITCH. If I had been working in any kind of order, the next thing I would have created would certainly have been MAMMALSWITCH.” She smiled. “I really am fabulously