Monster Max 3: This Time it's Sirius E-Book

Robin Bennett

• Herausgeber: Firefly Press Ltd
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Serie: Monster Max
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 78

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

This is Max. He can turn into a huge monster just by BURPING. Most of the time he tries to be a good monster, which is why his motto is 'To Protect and Do Good Stuff'. When Max and his best friend Peregrine realise that a dangerous pack of werewolves from Max's home country of Krit are closing in, Peregrine sets about building a fortified treehouse to keep Max's family safe. But Max has other things on his mind. He hasn't told anyone about Sirius, the tiny (cute) werewolf cub he found, smuggled home with him, and decided to keep...

Leseprobe

Dedication

For anything cute and furry RB

For Harry, another Monster Max in the making! T T-D

CONTENTS

TITLE PAGEDEDICATIONALL ABOUT MAXPROLOGUE1.TROUBLE COMES IN TREES2.THE VARKAS PACK3.A WEREWOLF’S NOT JUST FOR HALLOWEEN4.GOODBYE5.BUTT FIREWORKS6.FOG AND MORE FOG … IS THAT A BIG DOG?7.ONCE AGAIN, MAX HAS A LOT OF EXPLAINING TO DO8.SECRET LAIRS AND ANGRY WERES9.BATTLE10.GOODBYE … FOR NOWEPILOGUEABOUT THE AUTHORSCOPYRIGHT

ALL ABOUT MAX

Max is a very special boy: he can turn himself into a scary, hairy monster by BURPING. And he can turn himself back again by SNEEZING.

This is because he comes from a land 7called Krit. Perched on the top of a very pointy mountain, it’s the smallest, most hidden country in the world. Also, in Krit, being able to change into a monster, wolf, bear or bat isn’t considered unusual at all. Max’s mum comes from Krit and she can turn into a wolf.

Sometimes, Max burps by mistake, which can be a nasty surprise if you are standing next to him in the supermarket. And flowers make Max sneeze, so he often finds himself far from home in just his pants.

These days, he’s trying to be a better monster … with mixed results.

He’s even got a logo:

PROLOGUE

High up in the mountains, the tiny country of Krit was even more hidden than usual.

For it was a dark and stormy night.

Fanghorn, leader of the Red Eye wolves, and fearsome enemy of Monster Max, prowled the chilly corridors of his grim castle, getting crosser by the minute. Fanghorn was a wolf who didn’t like people leaving Krit, and that meant Max’s mum (and Max). And he also didn’t like people who made him look stupid and that also meant Max’s mum (and Max). 9

‘They think they’re free, running about doing good in this England place!’ he snarled. ‘But no-one leaves Krit without my permission. I want them here … I want to punish them!’

But how to capture them, when all his efforts had failed so far?

I must have werewolves for this job, he thought. Not just any old ones; I need the strongest and the most loyal.

He burst out onto the castle battlements just as the moon appeared from behind 10a black cloud, raised his huge jaws into the night, and he howled into the frozen air, ‘Bring me the leader of the Varkas pack! Wooooo!’

Almost immediately, he heard answer-ing howls from the ice regions of Krit and it didn’t take long for the sound of running feet to reach his wolfish ears.

Fanghorn leapt from the battlements to greet his guest in the castle courtyard.

‘Raise the gate!’ he snarled at his guards.

But before they got their paws on the lifting lever, there was a terrible splintering noise and the gate exploded into pieces. A wolf raced into the courtyard and came to a screeching stop a whisker away from Fanghorn’s nose. 11

The Varkas pack leader was even bigger than Fanghorn – like the werewolf equivalent of a cage fighter but with extra bits, like teeth and claws. Fanghorn had to stop himself from gulping.

‘Yes, sir!’ the Varkas wolf barked. (He probably would have saluted if he’d had hands, not four paws.) ‘At your service!’

‘YES!’ said Fanghorn, thinking: these guys are great, they’ll always follow orders. ‘I have a job for you and for twenty of your best fighters.’

‘Sir!’

‘You must go to England, to a place called Oxford, and find a Grey Eyed wolf who escaped from Krit, who now calls herself Sally Forbes, and her son, Max. Bring them to me!’ Fanghorn turned to go. 12

‘Sir?’

‘Yes? What is it?’ He turned back to the Varkas wolf impatiently.

‘Well, um…’ The huge wolf looked embarrassed. ‘Did you want us to go, like, right away?’

‘Of course, like right away. Otherwise, I would have waited until morning instead of doing this dramatic midnight howling… Anyway, why?’

‘It’s just that we have a new cub, lovely little fella, and my wife and I kind of run the pack together – like a family thing, you know – and, what I mean to say, your Royal Highness, is that it gives us a bit of a childcare issue … um…’ He stopped as Fanghorn glared at him in furious silence.

‘Well, take the cub along – everyone 13travels with kids these days. You’ll probably get a discount.’

‘Sir!’ The Varkas pack leader looked relieved. ‘Thank you, sir! So, twenty vicious wolves wot know no mercy and are extremely terrifying, against one kid and his mum?’

‘Yes… Anything wrong with that?’

‘Er, no, sir.’ The huge wolf looked a bit unsure but wasn’t going to push his luck with Fanghorn’s terrible temper. ‘Consider thems got!’

The Varkas wolf turned and leapt.

‘Wait, hold on … argh! RAISE THE GATE!’ Fanghorn barked at the guards, who had only just finished sticking the broken pieces together with rope and glue. He was too late. There was an awful crashing noise like a small 14meteorite ploughing through a forest as the Varkas leader smashed the gate all over again.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. Don’t these Varkas ever use doors like normal werewolves?’ Fanghorn growled. He watched the warrior disappear into the night and, instead of dwelling on his broken gate, he thought about what he would do when he finally had his captives in Krit.

Fanghorn slowly grinned with several dozen very large fangs. He couldn’t wait to get his teeth into them.

1

TROUBLE COMES IN TREES

Back in the relative normality of England, two boys made their way through quiet streets. They were on a mission.

‘It was a dark and stormy night, da, da, daaaaaaa!’ said Max.

Max’s joint best friend, Peregrine, looked at Max down his long nose and frowned at him.

‘No, it’s not. The moon’s so bright it’s practically daylight – you can even see Sirius, which is actually the brightest 16star in the night sky. It’s sometimes called the Dog Star…’

‘OK, Mr Dull of Blimey You’re so Boring Land. I’m just trying to make things more interesting,’ said Max, looking around for his other joint best friend, his cat Frankenstein, who he suspected was having a better time eating smelly left overs and terrifying local dogs than he was right now, having to listen to Peregrine going on about stars.

‘Well, you should be concentrating on tonight’s mission. It’s very important,’ muttered Peregrine.

‘What, helping you build a treehouse in the dark? It just sounds like something that would be easier in the day.’ 17

‘Look, if I’m going to finish our new Secret Lair Treehouse, I’m going to need to do it under the cover of darkness. For some reason adults don’t like eleven-year-olds carrying about military-grade surveillance units and high-tension electronic cabling in broad daylight… It makes them ask difficult-to-answer questions. And I need you to help carry all this stuff.’

‘Still a bit boring.’

‘But necessary. I’ve been up here a lot over the last few weeks and the woods don’t seem quite … right.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t know, maybe it’s nothing but I haven’t seen any rabbits for ages – there’s usually loads hopping about – and there were some claw marks on a tree near here.’ 18

‘It wasn’t me.’

‘I know. Yours are bigger and these didn’t seem random. It was almost as if the marks meant something – like they were a message.’

‘Creepy.’

‘A bit suspicious – so that’s why we need to finish the Treehouse Lair. Fanghorn’s not going to leave you alone forever. He’s been plotting for sure. We need a base of our own – one that’s not your parents’ kitchen.’

‘OK, this Secret Lair Treehouse does sound necessary,’ Max admitted. ‘But you can see my point. It’s hardly Protecting and Doing Good Stuff – more like Creeping about Doing Nerdy Stuff – your speciality…’

He paused as Frankenstein appeared 19on a wall in silhouette with something probably very old and definitely very disgusting sticking out of his mouth.

‘Anyway…’ Max continued, ‘it’s still long past our bedtimes and those trees over there look pretty sinister. Anything could be lurking in them … watching us … just waiting until our backs are turned…’20

‘No, you can’t turn into a monster.’

‘Oh.’

‘And you’ve really got to get over this fear of the dark thing.’

‘Why? It’s like asking an astronaut to get over this lack of oxygen thing. The dark’s really scary. Fact.’

‘You’re a five-hundred-kilo monster – about a third of the time,’ said Peregrine. ‘You shouldn’t be scared of anything.’

‘And you’re bossier than my teacher – all of the time,’ muttered Max.

‘We’re here,’ said Peregrine, ignoring him. They’d come to the end of a track in the woods. A tall antenna, next to what looked like a water tower on metal legs, swayed in the breeze. Peregrine pulled off his rucksack and 21