Never Give an Old Lady Guns. Never.

Between all the work the teachers gave them, Mavis at least had something to look forward to.

Every evening she and Walter had started taking their horses for a walk in the village. Mavis was now quite familiar with the path, and anyway, Walter knew it by heart so she didn’t even need to be.

On Thursday evening, Mavis managed to finish her homework just before five and dash outside before Star realised she was late and started to neigh his head off.

Walter was already there, looking bored. ‘Where were you?’ he asked her as she hurriedly put on the saddle and bridle for Star.

‘Homework.’

‘Really? I thought it was pretty easy . . .’

Mavis scowled hard, but he didn’t seem to even notice.

Mavis patted Star’s head and mounted him. Soon, they were walking towards the gates. The watchman was asleep and it was no hard task slipping past him. The horses started trotting down the hill and they were at the village in no time.

The path was cobbled and they heard the rhythmic clop of the horses’ hooves on the road. Mavis loved the sound. It always relaxed her.

They were just passing by a house with a huge wall around its backyard when Star gave a dramatic neigh and tossed his head, refusing to move any further.

‘You okay?’ Walter asked Mavis, noticing that she’d stopped.

But now Peanut Butter had stopped too. She wasn’t nearly as melodramatic as Star, but no tugs at her reins would get her to move.

Suddenly, they heard loud barking and then a howl. It was coming from the house with high walls.

What? mouthed Walter.

Mavis threw him a quizzical look.

They stayed absolutely still for a few seconds. Even Star knew not to neigh loudly. But the barking and howling wouldn’t stop.

Finally, Mavis dismounted Star and stared up at the wall as if trying to see above it. She knew that whatever creature was howling like that was certainly in distress. She hated to hear the high wails of the animal.

‘What are you doing?’ whispered Walter.

Mavis gave him a sideways glance but wouldn’t respond. She caught sight of a tree that grew by the wall. The branches were nearly bare, so it was perfect to climb.

She hoisted herself onto a low branch and started climbing the tree, pulling herself up with each branch she grabbed.

‘Hey, you get down!’ hissed Walter.

Then he realised she wasn’t listening to him.

He hesitated. Would he be arrested for spying if he was caught? What if he was expelled from school?

He inhaled and looked up at Mavis, nearly at the top.

‘Oh, fine,’ he muttered irritably and followed her.

Once they were at the top of the tree, they could easily see over the walls of the cottage.

The front yard was overgrown and not at all well-kept. It looked like it hadn’t been tended to for days. The plants had spread all over the place, and you couldn’t walk without stepping on at least a hundred. A dead tree was in the corner and hadn’t been cleared. On its rotten wood grew white mushrooms.

In the middle of the garden, they saw a small black dog yelping and whimpering as a fat man hit it with a stick.

‘If you mess about my things that’s what you’ll get!’ he cried angrily.

Mavis felt rage flood through her veins. She’d always loved animals, and so, she hated people who hurt them. She was tempted to jump into the garden and strangle that man. And she would have if he hadn’t suddenly stopped. There was the noise of the rumbling of an engine in the distance. Mavis and Walter watched, not moving an inch.

A big blue SUV drove past them. As they looked down, they saw that it had stopped in front of the man’s house.

The fat man ran forwards and opened the front gate. A thin bony man got off the truck.

‘Did you get it?’ whispered the thin one.

The fat one nodded grimly and started to lead him into the house, leaving the black dog unnoticed. Panting hard, it licked its wounds and curled up into a ball.

‘I think we’d better leave,’ whispered Walter.

Mavis nodded.

They slowly climbed down the tree, into the bushes below it. Mavis managed to stay hidden behind the bush without even a rustle, but Walter wasn’t so lucky. He ironically landed right into a rose bush. He let out a yelp of pain.

‘What was that?’ Mavis heard the thin man gasp from above the wall.

The two men quietly opened the gates and stepped outside, looking around at the street warily.

There was a silence. Mavis watched through the gaps between the branches of her bush with bated breath. The thin man stepped forwards. He was right in front of Walter’s bush.

He suddenly stuck out his hand, pushing the bush away. Walter was crouched behind it, petrified. He fled, the man right behind him.

Mavis was terrified by what she had just seen. She sat behind her bush, shivering. She saw the fat man suddenly divert his attention to the bush she was behind. He had seen movement. He slowly walked up to her, pushing the bush away.

She turned and fled. He was right behind her. She ran and ran, taking as many turns as possible. She didn’t look back but didn’t stop running either.

After a very long time, Mavis finally managed to lose the fat man at a turn. But she knew he would catch up with her soon. She suddenly bumped into someone. Mavis was sure she was finished. She knew it was the thin man. But it turned out to be her friend.

Before Walter could shout in surprise, Mavis grabbed his arm and hurled them both over the fence of a cottage, into the garden.

Mavis saw through the bushes, the fat man meet with the thin man. None of them knew where Mavis and Walter had gone, both unable to see them after losing them at turns.

Only then, Mavis looked around and found that they were in the garden of a black house The garden was overgrown and there was a pale thorny tree in the corner of the house. Its branches grew jagged and twisted.

Then suddenly, everything went blank. Mavis felt her head hit the ground hard.

Mavis and Walter sat up rubbing their heads. They were shocked to see an old lady pointing two humongous rifles at them. She had a mane of silvery hair and was wearing black clothes with a glare on her face.

Walter regarded her closely. ‘I think you’re my grandma or something,’ he remarked.

‘If your name is Walter, I might be,’ shrugged the old lady.

‘What?’ cried Mavis. ‘You’re his grandma?’

‘I think so,’ said the old lady. ‘And what were you doing in my garden?’

So, they told the old lady the whole story. There wasn’t much to hide, they thought.

But when they came to the part when everything went blank, the old lady laughed. ‘When I saw you in my garden, I hit the two of you with the back of these guns and you were knocked out!’ She cackled loudly.

Mavis looked at her doubtfully. This woman seemed like a maniac.

Suddenly, they heard the neighs of two horses.

‘Oh!’ cried Walter. ‘We’ve left our horses!’

They ran to the front gate. Their horses were there, looking very annoyed.

‘Sorry Star!’ cried Mavis running up to him. He gave an angry neigh.

When Walter ran towards Peanut Butter, she stomped her hoof on the ground.

Seeing that Star was sniffing his way into her garden, Walter’s grandmother gave a sort of yelp and shoved his head back outside. ‘I don’t want any horses in my garden! They’ll ruin it!’

Mavis wasn’t sure there was anything much to ruin, but she patted Star. ‘Just stay here and don’t kill anyone,’ she told him.

‘Come into my house,’ ordered the old lady.

‘Why?’

‘’Cause I said so! Now hurry up; I haven’t got all day!’

Mavis and Walter exchanged nervous glances. Then they came to the silent agreement that this was about as dangerous as wrestling a mad elephant, but you didn’t have to wrestle the elephant. You could always run if it got dangerous.

So they followed the old lady into the cottage, fully prepared to jump out of the window and flee the country if required.

The cottage probably would have been good-looking on the inside if there hadn’t been scratch marks all over the walls and furniture.

Just as Mavis was wondering where they had all come from, a whole group of cats and kittens entered the living room. Walter’s grandmother didn’t care about them. One of them jumped onto her head and she casually swatted it away like a fly.

But Walter did care about the cats. He was allergic to cat fur after all. In moments, he was sneezing and his eyes were all watery.

‘Cad we–Achoo!–go–Achoo!–subwhere else?’

‘Nope,’ said his grandma flatly. She sat down on a chair near the empty fireplace and Mavis and Walter sat down too.

‘Now, you tell me: what were you doing in my garden?’

‘What?’ cried Mavis. ‘We just told you the entire story!’

‘Well, yeah,’ said the old lady. ‘But, you know, I forget things.’

So, Mavis told her the story all over again. It wasn’t very easy with Walter sneezing all the time, but she managed in the end.

‘Oh, yes, that fat man is an evil boy.’

‘An evil boy?’

‘Yes.’

Mavis scratched her head. ‘Ehh . . . I guess he was beating up a dog.’

‘Exactly!’ cried the old lady, as if delighted to find fault with the man. ‘Yes! A dog!’

‘Uh, okay.’

‘Poor dog.’

‘Yeah.’

‘So, what exactly was all that about, d’you know?’ asked Mavis. ‘I’m pretty sure those two men did not want me and Walter to hear their plans.’

‘That,’ announced the old lady, ‘was about a box.’

‘A box?’

‘A silver box.’

‘So id’s–Achoo!–subbthig expensibe?’

‘Yeah, why d’you think people are after it’

Mavis wasn’t sure silver was that expensive. Why would people be having secret dealings about a little amount of silver? And why was the silver shaped like a box?

‘Now get outta my house!’ snapped Walter’s grandmother, getting to her feet. ‘Out! Both of you!’

Mavis was relieved to get out of this creepy house and Walter was delighted that he wouldn’t be sneezing any longer.

‘Oh–and be back here tomorrow,’ said the old lady.

‘But why?’

‘’Cause I said so! You two better be here at five. Now out!’

She picked them up by their collars and chucked them out the door with a lot of strength for an old lady. Mavis landed face-first in mud, ruining her uniform for not the first time.

Walter sat up, nervously looking at his glasses which were cracked. ‘Uh-oh . . .’

His grandmother slammed the door shut, leaving them outside in her overgrown garden.

Mavis and Walter weren’t exactly excited to visit the old lady again. It was actually nice to have school in the morning because it gave them enough time to discuss everything.

‘So should we go?’ whispered Mavis in history class, which was with Mr Gupta. The way he taught them was by reading from the textbook in a droning voice. He didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the students so they could do pretty much anything they wanted.

Walter didn’t talk in class, but deciding it was important, he said, ‘I dunno. My grandmother is a bit of a lunatic and she might destroy what’s left of my glasses.’

Mavis glanced at his cracked glasses. They made everything quite difficult for Walter because he had to squint every time he read something, which was quite inconvenient seeing his life was nothing without reading.

‘But I mean, don’t you think we should?’ pressed Mavis.

‘She has cats! I’m allergic to cats!’

‘But don’t you want to find out about what’s going on?’

‘I want to pass the exams!’

A banter followed, finally turning into a heated argument.

‘Oh, you go dig your own grave and rot in it!’ snapped Mavis, startling the rest of the class. ‘May big mushrooms grow from it and may all the flies in the world nibble at you.’

‘May you fail your exams!’

Someone snickered.

‘Uh,’ said Mr Gupta, ‘detention to you.’

It wasn’t very long until Mavis and Walter were forced to spend an hour in the empty classrooms, mopping and sweeping the ground. None of them spoke to each other, both still angry.

Mavis had done this sort of job at home before, but her house hadn’t had these many rooms and she hadn’t had to scrape gum from the bottom of desks.

But at least now she wasn’t new to it. She worked quickly, skipping about and sweeping dust from corners. Walter was a different story. He wasn’t as fast and wouldn’t let even a grain of dust remain.

As Mavis swept dust into a dustpan, she couldn’t help glancing at the clock. Fifteen minutes to five.

She tapped her foot on the ground nervously. Walter’s grandmother had asked them to be there at five. And they still had eight classrooms to go.

Walter didn’t look at the clock, clearly not wanting to compromise his school grades for the sake of a silver box.

Mavis fidgeted as the clock struck ten minutes to five. She would probably have just enough time to get there. But she was stuck cleaning a classroom.

Finally, she couldn’t bear it anymore. She would find her answers and be back here in no time. No one would even notice she was gone.

She tossed the broom aside and ran over to the window, peering out.

‘What are you doing?’ demanded Walter.

Mavis stared at him. ‘Living.’

She hurled herself outside into a pile of mud, ruining her uniform yet again. But she didn’t even care anymore. She was used to it now.

‘You can’t just leave!’ gasped Walter, his head appearing at the window.

‘Try me.’

Mavis ran off to the stables, determined not to be seen. Walter hesitated, then followed. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. But it was barely in his control now.

By the time he had gotten there, Mavis had already mounted Star.

‘Wait up!’ he said, quickly putting on the saddle and bridle for Peanut Butter.

‘Oh, so now you’re coming.’

‘Yeah, what about it?’

They slipped past the watchman and galloped down the hill.

Walter wanted to get his glasses fixed first. Mavis was reluctant because they didn’t have much time left, but he threatened to go back to school and leave her on her own, so she was forced to oblige. Much as she hated to admit it, she really was scared.

They got Walter’s glasses fixed at a shop easily and right on time, they were in front of the creepy cottage owned by Walter’s grandmother.

They left their horses outside and knocked at the door. It was opened in moments by the old lady.

‘Hi, Walter’s grandmother!’ called Mavis brightly.

‘Hey, ya two,’ she said. ‘And call me Silvia or Your Majesty. Grandmother makes me sound old.’

Walter looked perfectly happy until she invited them in.

‘We’ll stay out!’ he yelped.

‘That wasn’t a request.’

Soon, they were sitting on the couches by the empty fireplace, pretending that a hundred cats in a little house was perfectly normal.

‘So, what did you want to tell us?’ asked Mavis.

‘Well,’ said Silvia, ‘I have a quest for you.’

‘A quest?’ squeaked Walter.

‘Yeah, a quest. So toughen up.’

‘Okay,’ said Mavis, regretting coming here. ‘What are we supposed to do?’

‘For starters, save the dog.’

‘The dog?’

‘Yeah, the dog.’

‘You mean that black one?’

‘I do.’

‘But what does saving the dog have to do with anything?’

‘Nothing,’ said Silvia with a cackle. ‘Now are you getting out or should I throw you out?’

Mavis and Walter ran outside.

‘Now this is why you don’t try to skip detention!’ moaned Walter when they were out.

Mavis rapped her fingers on the fence nervously. ‘How should I know that your grandmother would try to get us into prison?’

Walter sighed. ‘Well, of course, we won’t go, will we?’

Mavis shrugged. ‘It can’t hurt . . .’

Walter stared. ‘You actually want us to do it?’

‘Hey, I’m not saying you have to. I’ll just climb over the wall, get the dog and be back here in no time.’

‘But what if you’re caught?’

‘I won’t be. It’ll be easy. And anyway, that man can’t just beat up that dog.’

Walter watched her mount Star.

‘Fine,’ he said irritably. ‘But you’re not going alone. I’ll come too.’

Mavis smiled. ‘Did I ever tell you what a good friend you are?’

‘Actually, no. You never did. But whatever.’

He sulkily climbed on top of Peanut Butter and took the reins.

They got to the fat man’s house in no time at all. They could easily climb up the walls, but getting down would be a challenge so they decided to find another way in.

Mavis saw Walter gesture silently to the gate and she walked over.

‘How are we supposed to get through that?’ she whispered.

Walter wordlessly pointed to the latch. Mavis saw with surprise that it was unlocked.

‘The man may have just left,’ he said. ‘He’ll be back soon, but he’s forgotten to lock the gate.’

So they pushed the gate open, wincing at the loud creaks that followed, and went in.

‘Stay here,’ Mavis snapped at Star, who was trying to edge his way in. He whined piteously.

‘You too,’ Walter told Peanut Butter.

They tiptoed through the garden but there was no dog there.

‘Where is it?’ said Walter desperately.

Mavis squinted through the house’s windows, but there was nothing alive inside. ‘Not in here,’ she said.

Walter nodded to the cottage’s backyard though it obviously pained him to trespass private property

Mavis, on the other hand, was delighted. She quietly crept to the back of the cottage. Walter glanced around nervously, then followed.

The backyard was just the same as the front lawn. Only, it had a rusty, moss-covered cage in the corner. The two peered inside. There was the black dog they had seen the previous day inside.

It gave a confused woof, then let out a series of barks.

Mavis opened the rusty latch of the cage, snatched the dog out, and then clasped a hand over its mouth. The dog was clearly baffled by what was going on.

‘All right, Dog,’ she snapped at it, ‘my friend and I have risked our futures for you. The least you can do is not bark.’

The dog could kind of understand this girl, which was odd seeing humans don't talk. But he decided, for his own sake, not to bark. After all, it seemed he was being rescued.

Mavis picked the dog up to keep him from running away, and they started to go towards the gate.

And then they heard the creak of the gates.

Mavis and Walter froze (the dog was clueless). They ran frantically to the backyard before the fat man could see them.

Mavis looked around desperately. There was no way they could climb up the walls in time, and certainly not with a dog.

Just as she was planning her prison life, Walter shook her arm, pointing at an open window of the house.

What? she mouthed, but he had already climbed through.

Mavis thought the idea was ridiculous. To escape from someone, why on earth would you run into their house? But she could hear the approaching footsteps of the fat man. He was probably coming here to check on the dog. And since she saw no other way out, she dived into the house after Walter.

She crashed onto the wooden floor and looked around. She was in what looked like the living room. Couches were in the room, and paintings hung on the walls. It was difficult to think that the owner was involved in mysterious dealings.

‘Get here,’ Walter said in a hoarse whisper and pulled her behind one of the couches. It was near the edge and they couldn’t be spotted from the window.

They heard the clunk of metal from outside that told them that the fat man was checking the dog’s cage. He gave a confused grunt when he saw it was empty.

‘Alpha!’ he shouted. ‘Where is that dog?’

Alpha the dog heard his name called and was tempted to go to his owner, as he was trained. But he was on the verge of eternal freedom and no way was he going to waste this opportunity.

Mavis listened with bated breath. She could hear the footsteps of the man. He was walking to the front door and she knew he would be in the house soon. She and Walter couldn’t stay hidden.

She looked down and saw a mark on the wooden floor. Most of it was below the couch, but part of it was outside too. Mavis shoved a very surprised Walter out of the way and ducked down to see it well.

There was no mistaking it. It was a trapdoor.

Yes, she thought in relief. This was their way out.

She pushed the couch away and opened the trapdoor. There was a small wooden room inside. But there was no time to inspect it. The man was coming. She jumped in, holding Alpha. Walter decided this was the worst plan possible, but also the only plan, and followed her. He shut the door just in time.

Now that the door was shut, no light could get inside. Mavis stumbled around in the darkness until she crashed onto the wall, making the wood creak eerily.

‘Aargh–what was that?’ yelped Walter.

‘Nothing.’

Mavis heard the click of the switch and a light bulb above them turned on, lighting up the whole room in yellow light. Walter was standing by the switch, clearly having pressed it.

‘What now?’ asked Mavis. But Walter didn’t answer. He was staring at something. Following his gaze, Mavis saw a big silver box in the corner of the room. It was nearly completely made of silver except for a red button on the top.

Suddenly, she remembered hearing about a silver box from Silvia. Was this the one she was talking about?

‘Your grandmother said something–’

‘Yeah, maybe she wanted us to find this.’

There was a silence as the two of them stared at the box, trying to figure out what was so remarkable about it.

Mavis prodded it gingerly.

‘Don’t do that!’ said Walter.

‘It’s not doing anything.’ Mavis prodded it again. ‘You know, I can’t believe your grandmother sent us here for this.’

‘I can’t believe people are actually having dealings about this.’

There was a thud above them as the man walked around, still looking for Alpha.

‘We have to get out of here,’ said Walter. ‘He’ll be down soon, to check on the–uh–box.’

‘And how exactly do you plan on doing that?’

‘I don’t know.’

The two of them stared at the box again.

‘It must be valuable . . .’ said Mavis.

‘Seems so.’

Mavis decided to stop beating about the bush. ‘Let’s use it.’

‘Use it?’

‘Walter, it might be our only way out! We’ll just push that red button and see what it does.’

‘You can’t be serious. It’s dangerous!’

‘I'm dead serious, Walter. I’m not going to prison. Who’ll take care of Star, then?’

‘Mavis, just listen–’

But she had already turned to the silver box and before Walter could stop her, she pushed the red button at the top.

The box swung open. Blue sparks erupted out of it, cocooning her, Walter and Alpha. They were ice cold and sucked them all in.

They found themselves in a room, which was perhaps, the inside of the box. On one end of the tiny room, there was some sort of control panel with colourful buttons.

‘Well, this is weird,’ remarked Mavis.

‘You don’t say,’ grumbled Walter. ‘It looks like we’ve just jumped from the frying pan into the fire.’

Mavis glanced at the control panel. ‘Now that’s our chance of escape!’

‘But–'

Before he could react, she started pushing random buttons. Then, when she pressed a red button, the box (which they were standing inside) started hissing and spluttering. Mavis felt a horrible feeling of queasiness. She had a splitting headache.

Suddenly, they were lying in front of the box in a brambly jungle.

Mavis sat up, still groggy and sick. She looked around and was relieved to see both Alpha and Walter with her. Then she saw that they weren’t in a jungle. They were in the fat man’s unkept garden.

Peanut Butter and Star were in front of them, looking curious.

Walter groaned and sat up. ‘What happened?’

‘I just saved our lives!’ said Mavis proudly.

It was then that Walter saw where they were, making his eyes widen. ‘But that means–we teleported!’

‘Eh, I guess so.’

Walter stared at the silver box. ‘No wonder it’s so expensi–’

The box burst open again. The blue sparks surrounded them all over again, sucking them into the box. It shut again. Mavis tried to reach the control panel and get out of the box, but then there was another flash of white light. Mavis felt a horrible sickness take over her, finally causing her to pass out.