Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Charlie looked at his friends, aghast. 'It's empty,' he said flatly. 'Empty?' asked Wogan. Charlie nodded. 'Like COMPLETELY empty?' Charlie nodded again. Wogan stormed over to the safe, and popped his head inside. 'It's empty,' he said, his head still in the safe. 'Like COMPLETELY empty?' asked Mohsen. Wogan nodded, but nobody saw because his head was still in the safe. 'Well, that's it,' said Charlie. 'I'm finished. Done for. No gold means my parents have to sell the house and we have to move into Aunt Brenda's. This is goodbye, guys.' Silence fell on the four friends like fog at night. Charlie sat on the floor, head in hands. He felt utterly defeated.

'And just look at this place,' he added. 'All this mess. For nothing.' Flora, Wogan and Mohsen, looked around in silence. Charlie fell back and groaned. 'I just want to change into a slug or something and slime off under a rock and completely forget that I'm Charlie.' 'Dylan,' said Flora abruptly. The others looked at her. 'What about him?' Wogan said. 'He must know where the gold is hidden.' 'Yeah, probably,' Wogan said. 'But he'll never tell us.'

Flora thumped her palm. 'We'll make him!' 'But he's gone! He ran out of the building.' 'We can catch him! Or Charlie can at least. He just needs to change into something fast.' Charlie looked up. Despite everything, a sliver of hope gleamed in his eyes. 'I guess it might be worth a try…' 'That's the spirit! Come on!' The four friends started running, and then sprang up the half-destroyed stairs. A moment later they were standing outside the gate of Van der Gruyne Industries, scanning for Dylan. 'There!' shouted Flora. 'At the end of the street!' In the distance was a small figure– and it was unmistakably Dylan. 'Now quick, Charlie! Change!' Flora urged. 'Think of something fast! A cheetah would be perfect. When you change, keep the image of a cheetah in your mind!' His friends edged backwards, the whale incident still pretty fresh in their minds because: I. It had only happened a few minutes ago. 2. Their best friend had just turned into an enormous whale and back again, and when you see your friend turn into an actual whale and back again, it tends to stay quite fresh in your mind.

Charlie closed his eyes. It was easy to change this time. He just remembered how he'd felt just a few moments ago by the empty safe. The electricity tore straight through him. He could feel his body changing almost immediately. And as he changed he tried to keep a picture of a cheetah in the front of his mind. He was growing fur. That was a good sign. He felt that squeezing sensation that made him feel like he was being turned inside out. Still he pictured the cheetah sprinting majestically across the savannah. He could tell he now had four legs. Another good sign. The change was finishing. He was nearly the complete animal. He was growing claws. Fur, four long legs, claws? Had he done it? Had he finally discovered how to choose which animal to change into? Charlie started running after Dylan as fast as he could. He felt strong and powerful as he pushed his new body to unimaginable speed… 'Charlie.' As he ran, Charlie turned his head towards Flora. He didn't seem to have moved very far from his friends considering he had been running as fast as he could. In fact, he seemed to have moved less than half a metre from where he had started. 'Charlie,' repeated Flora. 'You're a sloth, Charlie.' I'm a what? Charlie's jaw dropped. Very slowly.

A sloth? Of all the bloomin' useless animals to turn into now, Charlie thought slowly. Well, never mind– this sloth is going to have to run faster than any sloth has ever run before if Dylan isn't going to get away! Charlie picked up his speed, his legs pumping as hard as possible, wind whistling in his fur, the world a blur. 'Oh dear,' Flora said as she walked slowly to stand by Charlie's side. 'A sloth!' Charlie felt slightly miffed that despite his furious pace, Flora seemed able to match his speed by plodding slowly next to him. 'Oh, Charlie, a sloth!' Flora said, a tinkle of laughter in her voice. What's so funny about that? thought Charlie. 'Yeah, hurry up, Charlie!' said Mohsen. 'If you keep up that pace, we should be able to catch Dylan some time next month!' Wogan, Flora and Mohsen all burst out laughing. Charlie finally stopped running and noticed to his surprise that this hardly changed his rate of forward momentum at all. He turned his head, very slowly, to give his friends a look of disgust. How could they laugh at a time like this, when Dylan was getting away? But this only seemed to make his friends laugh even more.

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