Gecko Gladiator (6 page)

“Hey—she's lost her marbles!” quipped Danny, but Josh gave him a stony look. “OK, I'll shut up,” Danny sighed.

They stepped out into Princessland, trying to act normal again. Or more normal than last time. And then a series of things happened very fast.

First, Josh was knocked over as somebody ran past him. Then someone else tripped over him, cursing loudly, and then a large coat was shoved in his face and then a loud alarm went off.

Danny, who'd gone ahead, trying to avoid looking at the fairy outfits, was spun around by the impact of someone bashing into his shoulder. It was the woman in the long coat, running past him. Her daughter, who wasn't wearing a long coat anymore, was pulling stuff out of her jumper and chucking it on the floor as she skidded after her mother, bawling “Maa! Maaa! Wait for meeeee!”

Danny ran over to Josh, who was struggling out from under the coat. Just as his surprised face
emerged there was a shout. “OY! You two! STOP RIGHT THERE!” And a heavy hand landed on Danny's shoulder.

“SO! You think nicking stuff from Princessland is a joke, do you?” said the voice. Danny looked up, shocked, into the face of a burly security guard. “Well, sunshine, I'm calling the police … and you two …” The guard dragged Josh up by his collar, “… are coming with ME!”

Josh and Danny were dragged along by their elbows through the shop, loudly protesting their innocence. The store manager, a thin, nervous-looking man in a pale pink shirt, hurried behind them carrying the dumped coat and all the things that had dropped out of it. They all arrived in a small square office with two-way mirror windows, a desk, and three chairs. On the wall was a sign that read “WE ALWAYS PROSECUTE SHOPLIFTERS!” The guard shoved them across the room and pulled the door shut, while the manager hit a button on the wall that silenced the alarm.

“Right!” snapped the security guard. He wore a gray uniform, a peaked cap, and a menacing look on his rather square face. “So … let's see what we have here, shall we?” He took the coat
and the things bundled up with it and began slapping them all, one by one, onto the desk. “ONE—Diddly DeeDee double doll set. TWO—Diddly DeeDee fashion boots set. THREE—Diddly DeeDee doggy kennel including Diddly Doggy and DiddlyDoggy Dinner Dish.”

Danny let out a snort of laughter. He just couldn't help it. The security guard's large sausage-thick fingers paused just as they were about to pluck yet another Diddly DeeDee treat from the coat. “You think this is funny, do you, boy? You thinking cheating us out of Diddly DeeDees is just a joke, do you?”

Danny snorted again. Josh bit his lip. Then they both burst out laughing.

“Have it your way!” snarled the security guard, emptying another ten or twelve packets of Princessland goodies all over the desk, including three yellow toy microphones. “Let's see what the police have to say about this, shall we? Mr. Butch—please call the police!”

“Erm—I'll have to call from the manager's office,” Mr. Butch said. “You'd better come with me to verify what's happened …”

“Fine—we'll lock these two young thieves in here until they arrive!” the security guard said. And then he and the manager went out and slammed the door shut, locking it firmly behind them.

“Oh dear,” gurgled Danny, wiping away tears.

Josh got control. “This is not good, Danny! This is really not good. What will Mom and Dad say when we get arrested? For shoplifting?!”

“We're innocent!” repeated Danny. “They'll believe us! And there must be security cameras or something, where we can show them the real shoplifters!”

“But … Mom and Dad will want to know why we were here,” pointed out Josh.

Danny's face went serious. “Oh no …” he moaned. “What if people we know find out that we were in Princessland? We'll have to move! Leave town!”

“There's only one thing for it,” Josh said. “We've got to escape before they make us tell them our names and addresses.” He pulled the bottle of GeckoSWITCH out of his pocket. “And this is how!”

Danny jumped to his feet. “Spray me! NOW!”

When the security guard and Mr. Butch came back to tell the two young criminals that the police were on their way, they were shocked into silence. As soon as they unlocked the door and stepped into the tiny office they could see the inmates had vanished. Completely.

“Whaaa-aaa-aaa?” inquired the security guard. Mr. Butch just stood with his mouth opening and closing, no sound coming out. They checked under the desk. In a cupboard. Even behind some coats that hung from hooks on the wall.

“But—but—but … how?” spluttered the security guard. His eyes bulged with disbelief. “We locked them in! And that's a proper deadlock, that is! And there's no window to the outside … and no way they could have gone through the floor … it's solid concrete!”

“Well, I'm … flabbergasted!” Mr. Butch said.

They continued to stare all around the room. Eventually they even looked up at the ceiling. If they'd done that as soon as they'd walked in, they might have gotten a clue as to how Danny
and Josh escaped. They might have seen a sleek leopard-skinned gecko and a shiny pink gecko dart across the ceiling tiles.

But by the time they'd even thought to look up, Josh and Danny had long since run down the wall and out through the top corner of the open door.

“Who-hoooo! Score!” cheered Danny. They ran speedily along the ceiling of the store, skittering with great ease around light fixtures and suspended signs. It was a fabulous ceiling to walk on—smooth and white with enough obstacles to be fun. He didn't even mind that he was still pink and Josh had got to be the cool leopard-skinned version again.

“Head for the door,” called Josh. “We'd better get outside before we change back. We don't want to drop from this height when we S.W.I.T.C.H. back into boyaaaaaaaaaagh!”

At this point, Josh S.W.I.T.C.H.ed back. Two seconds later, Danny did the same.

They both plummeted to the floor.

The ceiling was high. A good three meters higher than in a normal house. And beneath it lay sparkly white tiles laid over a solid concrete floor. Had Josh and Danny been a meter off to one side, they would have smacked onto the unforgiving tiles and broken several bones.