9 Operation Twinklenuts

CHAPTER NINE Operation: Twinklenuts Nancy woke up and saw that, as usual, Ted had left a mug of coffee by her bedside. She slurped it gratefully. He was a good cub, she thought to herself. Before she went outside, she stopped for a moment. She pulled back the tatty old blanket that was hanging on the wall. There were two paw prints, pressed into the mud. Her paw fitted neatly in the smaller one. Nancy sighed. She had found the prints not long after they had arrived in Grimwood. She knew it sounded weird, but part of her had wondered if they had been made by their mum and dad. Even though, as far as she knew, her parents had never been to Grimwood– so it was just a silly daydream, really. She

didn't tell Ted about them. He'd just get all excited, and what was the point of that? The paw prints probably meant nothing at all. 'Just forget about it,' Nancy growled to herself. She downed the coffee and headed for treebonk practice. Frank swooped up and down the line of squirrels. He hadn't slept a wink after yesterday's visit from Sebastian Silver and his furry associates. 'Now listen here, team,' said Frank, puffing out his owly chest. 'We've got quite the treebonk battle ahead of us. But we're strong, and fast, and with practice, we can get stronger and faster. Because we're not just playing to win. We're playing for our HOME. We're playing to SAVE GRIMWOOD!' Frank waited for everyone to whoop and cheer. But there was silence. He turned around and saw that everyone was huddled around a squirrel called Martin who was showing off his new light-up trainers.

'WILL YOU PLEASE PAY ATTENTION, TEAM?' Frank shouted, so loudly that everyone jumped (and a tiny bit of wee came out of Martin). 'What's the plan then, kid?' said Frank to Nancy, after he'd sent the squirrels out to run some laps. 'I'm not sure yet,' said Nancy. 'But I'm working on it.' Ted and Willow were sitting on top of a mossy rock, sharing a bag of sweets. 'Green one, please,' said Frank, holding out a talon. 'Urgh! Only weirdos like the green ones,' said Willow, handing over a sweet. 'Frank, I don't mean to be a downer, but you guys are never gonna beat Twinklenuts. Grimwood is toast!' Frank sighed. He knew Willow was probably right. 'We need to know more about their team,' said Nancy. 'Learn about their strengths. Find a weak spot.' 'Frank! Why don't you fly over there and take a look?' said Ted. Frank shook his head. 'Sebastian Silver's no fool,' he said. 'He'll have lookouts waiting for me to swoop over and spy on them. I'll get shot down by a catapult.' Willow started hopping up and down on the spot. 'I know, I know, I know, I know!' she cried. 'What do you know?' said Frank. 'We need a SPY,' said Willow. 'The problem with spies,' said Nancy, 'is that if they are a good spy, you will never know they are a spy. But if you know that someone is a spy, then they are not a very good spy.'

'OK, misery-pants, then what about someone that used to be a spy? An EX-spy?' said Willow. 'Guess that might work,' grunted Nancy. 'But who do we know that used to be a spy?' Willow grinned. 'Back in a mo!' she hooted, and she bounced into the woods, leaving Ted chewing thoughtfully on a fizzy cola bottle. Ten minutes later… 'QUAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!' quacked Ingrid. She had been having a lovely nap and refused to move from her comfy island of shopping trolleys. So Willow had just lifted her and a shopping trolley out of the Small Pond and wheeled them through the woods. Ingrid had complained loudly the whole way. 'The duck?' scoffed Nancy. 'What's she gonna do?' Ingrid narrowed her eyes. 'Before I was a wildly successful business-duck, I was an AC-TOR,' she hissed. 'Yes, yes, we all know,' moaned Nancy. 'And before I was an AC-TOR I was… I was a top-secret SPY,' said Ingrid, folding her wings and looking very pleased with herself. 'Nah,' said Nancy. 'I don't believe it.' Ingrid adjusted her turban and slowly clambered out of the shopping trolley. She wandered over to Nancy. 'Say that again,' said Ingrid quietly.

'I said I don't believe that you were ever a spy,' shrugged Nancy. 'With those soft feathers and earrings and that posho hat? Ha! As if.' There was a scuffle, a quack and lots of dust. A few seconds later, Nancy was on the ground, her arms twisted behind her back. Ingrid was sitting on her head, reapplying her lipstick. 'I was a spy,' said Ingrid, snapping her small mirror shut. 'Woaaaah!' said Ted. 'You totally flattened Nancy. That's so cool!' 'Now, how can I be of service?' asked Ingrid. 'We need you to sneak into Twinklenuts,' said Frank. 'We need to know what their treebonk game is like. Who's on the team, how they play, what their tricks are.' Ingrid nodded. 'This is no problem,' she said. 'I'm coming with you,' said Nancy. 'I wanna check out their moves.' 'And me and Willow too!' said Ted. 'We'll be a cool little Grimwood gang.'

'Nah,' said Nancy. 'You ain't coming, squirt. You and your bunny pal can stay put.' 'Oh, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!' whined Ted. 'Don't worry, Ted,' smirked Willow. 'She needs us. We're small and can get into tight spaces AND we're brilliant at being lookouts AND we both like cheese AND my favourite colour is orange AND I won't stop talking until she lets us come AND…' 'OK, OK, I give up,' groaned Nancy. 'Can I come?' asked Felipe, a passing bumblebee. 'NO,' said everyone, because it was obvious that Felipe would be a total nightmare. 'What about the electric fence?' said Willow. 'I ain't burning my paws again!' 'Now listen,' said Ingrid. 'If you are all going to be top- secret spies like me, you need to start acting like it. No moaning. No loud noises. No disco dancing. We go under cover of darkness. Meet me by the Magic Tower at midnight.' Oh, this is so exciting! But should I stay in my pyjamas or should I wear