Casper Candlewacks in the Attack of the Brainiacs! (17 page)

Down on the cobbles, Julius stirred.

“Dad!”

“Casp? That you?”

Casper leant down beside his father. “Yeah, I'm here. You took a serious bread shot back there. Thought I'd lost you.”

“Urgh, my head. Did youâ¦ Is he gone?”

“We got him. I'm fine. So're Mum and Cuddles.”

Across the square, Amanda was trying to separate Cuddles from the three cats she was currently trying to swallow.

“You beat him?”

“Sort of,” Casper nodded. “Lamp helped.”

“My little swordsman. Some day you'll be as good as your old man. I'm proud of you, Casp.” Julius closed his eyes. “You know, I saw my life flash before my eyes back there.”

“Don't think it was your life, Dad. I'm pretty sure it was a baguette.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

With a screech, Clemmie Answorth tripped over a pigeon and clattered to the cobbles. Things really were back to normal.

“This calls for pie,” Mayor Rattsbulge announced. “Everybody, listen up. You're all invited to The Battered Cod for a free meal.”

“Are they?” Casper gulped.

The mayor licked his lips. “Hurrah for Julius Candlewacks!”

“Hurrah for Julius Candlewacks!” the crowd cheered.

“Hurrah for me?” Julius mumbled, but he was drowned out by the stampede of feet as every single idiot in Corne-on-the-Kobb piled into The Battered Cod.

Ting-a-ling.

Mr Flanty's Pi Song

Copyright

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2012
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CASPER CANDLEWACKS IN ATTACK OF THE BRAINIACS!
Illustration copyright Â© Hannah Shaw 2012

Ivan Brett and Hannah Shaw assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.

ISBN 978-0-00-741159-7

CASPER CANDLEWACKS IN ATTACK OF THE BRAINIACS!
. Text copyright Â© Ivan Brett 2012. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition Â© APRIL 2012 ISBN: 978-0-00-741160-3

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