8 The Dungeon

CHAPTER 8 THE DUNGEON 'Mr Big Nose?!' says Terry. 'Is that you?' 'Of course it's me!' says Mr Big Nose. 'What are you two clowns doing here? You're supposed to be writing a book!' 'We are,' I say. 'At least, we were, but we got to page 54 and realised that you hadn't called to remind us about the deadline like you usually do, so we called you. But you weren't there. It looked suspicious, so we decided

to investigate and search for clues.'

'And the trail of clues led you here?' says Mr Big Nose. 'Well, not exactly,' I say. 'We found a caterpillar in your office. We figured it must have seen what happened to you, and we took it to Jill's house so she could talk to it.' 'Ah,' says Mr Big Nose, 'so that's how you found me.' 'Well, no,' says Terry, 'because Jill had pricked her finger on a carrot and fallen asleep for 100 years.' 'So I kissed her to wake her up,' I say. 'Eeewww!' says Jill.

'I know what you mean,' says Terry. 'And it didn't work anyway, because Andy's not a real prince. So then we had to go on a long journey to find an actual prince. But the best we could come up with was a potato prince.' 'Oh, so that's why that potato was slobbering all over me,' says Jill. 'Yes,' I say, 'and I'm sorry about that, but at least you're awake now.' 'Yeah,' says Terry. 'And you can talk to the caterpillar and find out what happened to Mr Big Nose.'

'You fools!' shouts Mr Big Nose. 'You don't have to talk to a caterpillar! I'll tell you what happened—I was kidnapped by vegetables, that's what!'

'But why?' says Jill. 'Why would vegetables do such a thing?' 'Because I published Vegetable Patty's book, Fun with Vegetables, that's why. Apparently, they're a little upset about it.' 'So the book was a clue!' says Terry. 'I thought so!' 'You thought everything was a clue,' I say. 'Even your own hand!' 'Did not,' says Terry. 'Did so,' I say. 'Did not.' 'Did so times infinity!' I say, which wins the