Superpowers (6 page)

They ran back to the maze. Max couldn't go as fast as before because the axe was heavy. On the way there, Finlay spotted Zoë's bag. ‘We could use this to put the birds' skins inside once we've killed them.'

‘
If
we kill them,' Max said, his heart beating fast. Now they were near the maze again he was beginning to feel very nervous. ‘Which way shall we go
in?' he asked, lowering his voice as he looked at the maze.

‘Through the escape gate,' Finlay whispered. ‘I reckon our best chance is to get to the centre and then lure the birds in there. As they come into the centre you can be lying in wait and chop their heads off with the axe.'

Max nodded. It was as good a plan as any, though right then he'd have given anything to be able to run away in the opposite direction!

They crept as quietly as they could down the path. Scalps prickling, muscles tensed, they listened for the slightest sound as they stepped into the centre of the maze.

‘All clear,' Finlay breathed.

The skin of the bird they had killed
was still under the bench but it seemed to have dried up and shrunk.

Finlay went over with Zoë's rucksack. He dumped the paint pot and pliers on the ground and then, kneeling down, he emptied the contents of the rucksack into the carrier bag he'd found in the workshop: a hairbrush, a magazine, a bag of make-up and a letter with hearts drawn all over it that was written in pink writing. The first line caught his eyes:

To Jake, my cutest big huggy-bear

His eyes jumped to the last line:

Love and cuddles, from your little snuggly squoogles, Zoë XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For a moment, Finlay forgot about the Man-Eating Birds! A grin spread across his face. ‘Hey, Max! Look at this!' he hissed. ‘It's a soppy love letter from Zoë to someone she calls her big huggy bear!'

Max looked at it and pulled a face. ‘Yuck!'

Finlay grinned and shoved the letter into his pocket. Then he bent forward to pick up the Man-Eating Bird skin and put it in the bag. But the skin was so dry and thin now, that as he picked it up his fingers tore straight through it and it broke into pieces. Every time Finlay tried to pick up one of the pieces his fingers damaged the skin some more. He exclaimed in frustration as the skin started disintegrating.

‘Stop, Fin!' Max whispered in alarm. ‘If we lose
any
of the pieces, we'll have failed the task. Don't you remember Juno saying that to complete the task we must take back
every shred
? I bet this is her way of making the task harder!'

Finlay groaned. ‘Of course! No

wonder Juno was happy for us to do the task further away from the castle. She knew it would be more difficult for us to get back with every bit of the monster skins.'

‘Here, let me try picking up the bits,' Max said. ‘Maybe the superpower will help.' He bent over and picked up a bit of the skin on the floor. His fingers tingled; the superpower allowed Max to judge with absolute accuracy how hard he could hold the skin without it tearing. With the precision of a brain surgeon he neatly folded the bit of skin and placed it carefully in Zoë's bag.

‘Wow!' Finlay said. ‘That's cool!'

Max carefully placed every shred of the monster skin into the bag and straightened up. ‘One skin ready to take
home. Now all we need to do is kill the other eight birds.' He picked up the axe. ‘I guess we should really fold their skins straight away, before they dry out. That will make it easier and quicker.'

‘Hang on. You can't kill the birds
and
fold the skins up at the same time,' Finlay pointed out. ‘And anyway, the birds might trample over the skins while you're trying to kill them.'

‘So what can we do?' Max frowned. ‘I have to fold the skins because I've got the superpower.'

‘Then it looks like I'm going to have to kill the birds,' Finlay declared.

Max stared at him. ‘But you haven't got the superpower, Fin. What if you miss?'

Finlay looked grim. ‘I guess I'd better
not.' He stood up and went to the steps. ‘I'll go and see if I can see where the birds are –'

But just as he spoke there was a piercing shriek and a Man-Eating Bird stepped into the centre of the maze. It stopped and looked at them, its red eyes

burning; its dagger-like claws gripping the ground. Seeing the boys it began to charge excitedly towards them, its wings flapping; its cruel beak open.

‘The axe, Fin!' Max shouted. He chucked the axe at Finlay, who caught it.

Finlay didn't stop to think. Gripping it tightly, he raced to meet the bird!

The Man-Eating Bird bore down on Finlay. Finlay swung the axe up, dodged to the side and brought it down as hard as he could.

Thunk!

The axe chopped through the monster's neck, cutting off its shrieking victory cry.

‘You did it!' Max shouted to Finlay.

Just as before, the head vanished as it flew through the air. The body collapsed to the floor and a few moments later, an emu was wriggling its way out.

Finlay stared at it, torn between shock that he'd done it and delight. But he didn't have time to stand still for long. The Man-Eating Bird's shrieks had attracted the attention of the other birds and even as Max began to quickly and precisely gather up the skin, two more birds burst into the centre of the maze.

‘Hi-yaah!' Finlay yelled, charging to meet them.

Thunk! Thwack!

Two more heads flew into the air. A fourth bird appeared. Finlay swung towards it, but as he did so, it ducked
and he lost his balance. The weight of the axe dragged him forward as the axe's head bit into the ground.

‘Finlay!' Max yelled in alarm as the bird swung round and raised its beak over Finlay's head. Grabbing the first thing that came to hand – the large empty paint pot from the workshop – Max chucked it at the bird. It landed perfectly on the bird's head. The bird shook its head furiously, but Finlay had seen his chance. Yanking the axe out of the ground he swung it through the bird's neck.

‘Four down!' he yelled to Max as the bird collapsed. ‘Four to go!'

Trying to herd the emus away down to the escape gate, Max began to fold up the skins. It was hard to concentrate
with so much going on around him but he kept his head down and focused on folding up the disintegrating skins. They had to get every last shred of them back to Juno or they would fail the whole task. Hearing another thunk, he looked up.

‘Five down!' Finlay shouted triumphantly as another bird fell to the ground. ‘Just three more!'

‘And here they come!' Max shouted as the three remaining Man-Eating Birds raced into the maze. They screeched as they saw Finlay with the axe. He hesitated for a second, unsure which one to go for first.

In that second of hesitation they surrounded him. Their eyes gleamed as they raised their necks. Max saw Finlay
look round in alarm. He couldn't possibly get all three at once. The birds opened their beaks…

Max grabbed the pair of heavy metal pliers, turned on the spot and in the same movement chucked the pliers at one of the bird's heads. It hit the bird with a heavy clunk. The bird slumped to the ground. Finlay quickly chopped its head off.

The other two birds shrieked in fury. Finlay leapt towards one, the axe swinging straight for its neck.

At the same moment the other bird began to run at Max. He looked round desperately. What could he use as a weapon? Suddenly he saw the wooden post they had unscrewed the metal discs from earlier and picked it up. Running forward to meet the bird he swung it upside down so the heavy metal base was pointing upwards. The bird bore down on him, flapping its wings. It looked huge – enormous. Its savage beak sliced downwards.

Using all his strength, Max shoved the signpost upwards into the bird's open mouth. His aim was perfect. The bird's beak closed on the metal base with a
loud clunk. For a moment its mouth was so full of metal that it couldn't do anything, but then within seconds, it had ripped through the wood, shearing off the metal base. Spitting out the metal and wood, it shrieked in fury and slashed at Max again. Max dodged back in alarm but he wasn't quite quick enough. The bird's beak caught the top of his arm.

He yelled in pain. The bird raised its head to strike again. Heart pounding, Max grabbed the wooden post from the ground. It was the only possible weapon to hand. What could he do? He looked down and saw the bird's taloned webbed foot just centimetres away from his own. The bird's beak was already stabbing down towards him.

Max ducked and in the same movement threw the wooden stake through the webbing on the bird's foot. It speared through and stuck in the ground.

The bird screeched and tried to pull its foot away but it was pinned fast. ‘Fin!' Max yelled. ‘The axe!'

Finlay raced over, panting, and threw the axe at Max. Max caught it perfectly and cut straight through the bird's neck. The head shot past him and vanished. The body slumped to the floor. He'd done it! He'd killed the final bird!

He looked up and saw Finlay standing red-faced and panting a few metres away.

‘We did it,' Max said shakily.

‘Just,' said Finlay, swallowing.

They looked round. After all the screeching and shrieking the centre of the maze seemed suddenly very quiet. The emus had disappeared down the exit path and they were on their own with just the few remaining skins.

Max drew a trembling breath and examined the wound on his arm. Blood was seeping out of it. ‘That was a tough task.'

‘The toughest yet,' Fin agreed.

Max looked at him with respect. ‘It took real guts to fight all those birds like that, Fin. You didn't even have a superpower to help you.'

Finlay grinned. ‘I'm just glad my guts didn't end up splattered all over the floor!'

Max grinned back and carefully
picked up the remaining skins. He folded them and put them in the rucksack. ‘That's all of them,' he said.