Rabbit Racer (7 page)

‘Time for ze quick getaway!’ Madame Belladonna muttered and she lifted her leg to climb into her garden. Heart pounding, I willed EE to hurry. In a few seconds I’d be over the
fence and EE wouldn’t know where I’d gone. I had to do something to stall my kidnapper!

I had seconds to come up with a plan. Desperately, I stared around the birdcage. The bell was still ringing madly and the swing was – well – swinging, but they were
no use to me now. The door was bird-sized; I’d be lucky to fit my paw through it. I needed another escape route, fast!

Madame Belladonna had one leg straddling the fence and was balancing on top, ready to swing me and her other leg over. She wobbled and the cage trembled with her. Suddenly, I knew what to do. If
I could make Madame Belladonna lose her balance, she’d have to let go of me and the cage would fall to the ground. She wouldn’t have time to come back and get me before EE made it to
the garden.

Wriggling as much as I could, I pushed my tail up the cage wall and balanced on my front legs, in a rabbit paw-stand. Then, with an enormous thrust, I kicked my legs towards the dome at the top
of the cage.

‘Stop eet!’ Madame Belladonna shouted, clasping her bobble hat to her head with her free hand and glaring at me. ‘We will fall to ze death if you are not careful!’

I kicked out again, even harder this time. At the same time, the back door of the Wilson house flew open and EE appeared in his tartan dressing gown and football-shaped slippers, with Susie and
the rest of the family close behind.

‘Halt! Who goes there?’

It was all too much for Madame Belladonna. She lost her balance and began to slide sideways. I fired my hardest kick yet at the top of the cage and the handle slipped from her fingers. With a
startled yell, Madame Belladonna fell into her garden, just as the cage crashed to the ground and broke apart.

For a second, I lay there, breathing hard. Then I heard a scrabbling noise next door and I knew Madame Belladonna was getting away. Well, I wasn’t having that – no one tries to
bunny-nap me and escape so easily! Without thinking, I was up and racing towards the beach-ball at the bottom of the garden. Leaping on to it, I bounced high into the air. A quick glance down told
me that Madame Belladonna was running towards her house with surprising speed for an old lady. So she thought she could escape a rabbit racer, did she? We’d just see about that!

Changing course mid-air, I aimed for her bobble hat. I’d never had to land on a moving target before and it took all my Stunt Bunny skills to do it. Madame Belladonna let out a terrified
yell.

‘Aaaargh! Get off, you crazy animal!’

She shook her head from side to side. The hat began to come loose and the scarf fell down to her chin. I gripped on and felt myself sliding forwards over her nose. As I came face to face with
her, I was in for a shock. Underneath the hat and scarf, she had thick, curly hair and a big, black moustache. Madame Belladonna wasn’t a Madame at all. She was a
he
! Our next-door
neighbour was none other than my old enemy, the Great Maldini!

He reached up and grabbed me. ‘I ’ave you now, ’Arriet ’Oudini. Soon we will be far from ’ere and you will be ze new star of my magic show!’

Not if I had anything to do with it. Remembering my Bunny Boot Camp boxing sessions with Susie, I lifted both paws and delivered a flurry of rabbit punches to the Great Maldini’s long,
pointy nose.

‘Ouch, by dose!’ he yelled, letting go of me to clutch at his face.

In a flash, I scrambled up on to his head and kicked off hard, aiming for the tree branch above. All that agility training came in handy as my claws gripped the bark. I picked my way carefully
along the thin branch until I was over the Wilsons’ garden. Then I threw myself upwards into a triple bunny backflip and landed in Susie’s waiting arms.

‘Oh, Harriet,’ Susie sobbed, burying her face in my grey fur. ‘You were ever so brave.’

EE waved a garden fork over the fence as the Great Maldini vanished into the house. Seconds later, we heard the roar of an engine. Rushing to the front garden, we were just in time to see the
Great Maldini burst through his front door on a shiny red motorbike.

He revved the engine and raised a hand as he sped off down the street. ‘Until we meet again, ’Arriet ’Oudini! Ze Great Maldini never gives up!’

Lights came on in all the other houses as people came out to see what the hubbub was about. The Wilson family stared at the disappearing motorbike in disbelief.

‘So the Great Maldini is Madame Belladonna’s son?’ Mrs Wilson said in a confused voice, as Lily snuggled sleepily against her shoulder.

EE waved away the last of the smoke from the motorbike’s engine. ‘I don’t think our neighbour was who she said she was. I suspect Madame Belladonna was the Great Maldini all
along!’

Susie gasped and held me tightly. ‘And he was after Harriet again, but she was too clever for him.’

Smiling, EE looked at me. ‘She was. Salt and Pepper helped too. If they hadn’t made so much noise, we might not have woken up.’

Then Mrs Wilson glanced at her watch. ‘Goodness me, back to bed, everyone,’ she commanded. ‘It’s Harriet’s big race in a few hours and I think we’ve had quite
enough excitement for one night.’

‘But what if the Great Maldini comes back?” Susie said, a worried expression on her face. ‘Harriet could still be in danger.’

EE thought for a moment. ‘I suppose she could sleep indoors for once.’

Smudge didn’t look pleased, but I twitched my nose happily. Salt and Pepper were bound to be excited from all the adventures, so I doubted I’d get any sleep at all next to them. No,
a nice cosy snooze in the warmth of my travel basket was exactly what I needed to be ready for
Superpets
. When I woke up, Taz was going to be in for the race of his life.

The
Superpets
studio was packed for the special race show. Backstage, people were squeezed into every corner and most of them wore T-shirts with ‘Team Taz’
or ‘Team Harriet’ on them. Even Spike-tacular had special outfits on, each of them with a letter which spelled out my name. Doodle and Miranda had clearly chosen their side and were
wearing Taz T-shirts and little furry cat ears. Miranda was fussing around Tim, offering him chocolate fudge cake and cups of tea.