Read Online The Beast of Seabourne by Rhys A. Jones - Free Book Online Page B

of the bus bay.
    â€œHaving proved his point very well,” Heeps said smoothly, “perhaps we could ask young Mr Piotrowski to now get rid of them?”
    â€œCan you?” asked Skelton. “Make them go away, I mean?”
    Niko nodded and adjusted the instrument. Once again, he put it to his lips and blew his silent note. Outside, the rats stopped, turned almost as one, and this time ran for their boltholes. The class broke into spontaneous applause, which lasted a good five minutes and redoubled once everyone got back to their places. Niko stood in the front without smiling. If anything, he looked even more self-conscious.
    â€œWow,” Ruff whispered to Ellie under the applause, “Niko’s the Pied Piper of Seabourne.”
    â€œThat thing of his is amazing,” Ellie said.
    Finally, the applause died down, and Niko found his way back to his seat. Several of his fellow students clapped him on the back as he passed them.
    â€œWell, after that amazing display, it’s now the turn of the Penwurt Profs and their water cycle model.”
    Nervously, Oz lifted the Perspex box with shaky hands and carried it to the front of the classroom. Niko was going to be a hard act to follow, but he felt quietly confident as he took off the cover. He went into his brief explanation of the water cycle and came to the interesting bit. “No one has been able to build a working scale model. Until now.”
    Oz flicked the switch. “It should take about seventy seconds,” he said to the assembled watchers. Oz sent Ellie and Ruff a confident grin.
    By thirty seconds, steam was coming off the water, and by fifty, it was rolling forwards towards the clay mountain. By sixty-five seconds, Oz was ready for the climax, but at eighty, he was getting worried. By ninety, steam almost filled the box, obscuring Ruff’s sculpted mountain altogether, and, with a sinking heart, Oz knew that something was dreadfully wrong.
    â€œIs it supposed to be a sauna?” someone asked.
    â€œOr Jurassic Park?” said someone else. That earned a ripple of laughter.
    Desperately, Oz inspected the wiring. Then he saw it. The wires from the batteries to the cooling unit had been ripped out and folded back to look like they were connected. His stomach plummeted. Sabotage.
    â€œWait,” Oz blurted out, knowing he was doing a great impression of a red steam engine from how hot his face was feeling. “Looks like it’s been damaged.”
    â€œDamaged?” Skelton asked.
    â€œSomeone’s pulled the wires out of the cooling unit,” Oz said hotly.
    â€œWhat?” Ruff yelled, jumping to his feet, his eyes flying like arrows towards Skinner and Jenks.
    â€œYou mean, they have become dislodged during transport,” Mr Skelton said, his eyes narrowing.
    â€œNo,” Oz said. “They were screwed in.” Oz sent Skinner and Jenks a scathing look, too. To his surprise, they were not gloating or even enjoying his excruciating moment of humiliation. They seemed preoccupied, whispering something about “humongous tails” and “that brown one was as big as a badger.”
    â€œWell, you have one minute left to fix it,” Mr Skelton said sternly.
    Oz shook his head. “It’s no good. It’ll take longer than that.” “Oh, well, good effort,” Skelton said, and looked down at his clipboard.
    Silently fuming, his face blotchy with embarrassment, Oz covered up their model and carried it back to the bench. Ellie sat dumbstruck, but Ruff looked as angry as Oz felt.
    â€œJenks and Skinner!” Ruff hissed.
    â€œI’d put money on it usually, but I’m not so sure,” Oz said.
    â€œWhat do you mean?’ Ellie asked.
    â€œWell,” said Oz, “if it was them, you’d have thought that seeing me dying up there would have made their day. But they didn’t even seem to notice. Too excited about the rats.”
    â€œThen