Casper Candlewacks in the Attack of the Brainiacs! by Ivan Brett Page B

choclit croissants.” Lamp chewed his pencil, shook his head determinedly and rubbed out a whole corner of calculations (and the garlic crusher). “I’m putting in a nuclear reactor.” He scribbled lots of numbers over the eagle’s wings and then, when he ran out of space, drew another wing and scribbled on that.
    â€œOh.” This was wrong. Casper knew Lamp like the back of his own hand (two brown freckles and a scar from the pigeons). His were simple clunky contraptions invented off-the-cuff that took weeks of oily explosions before they finally worked. But now he was messing around with nuclear reactors ? That was far too clever for Lamp. Wasn’t it?
    But that wasn’t it. More changes struck Casper as he looked about the bus. Across the aisle, Milly and Milly Mollyband, who spent yesterday’s bus journey pinching each other, were reciting times tables. Samson Jansen was recreating Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus with felt tips on the front of his pencil case. But the biggest change, and the only one Casper could explain, was Anemonie Blight. She sat snarling on the back seat with herarms crossed, not doing any bullying at all. In the end, Ted Treadington was so confused that he trotted to the back and handed his lunch money to Anemonie, anyway.
    â€œWhat’s the point?” Anemonie spat. “They’ll only nick it once we get there.”
    â€œOh…” whispered Ted, and he put the money back in his pocket.
    A muffled snarl distracted Casper from his frowning. Below the seat, his backpack was trying to eat itself.
    â€œShh,” whispered Casper, gripping the backpack a little tighter between his legs.
    A light rain pattered on the windows like tiny goblin fingers. Grey concrete buildings lumbered out of the smog and the tractor pulled right off the main road.
    â€œHere we go again.”
    Casper shuddered to think what role Snivel was playing in his brothers’ game of football – if you’re interested he was playing the role of goalkeeper’s gloves – but he didn’t stick around to find out. He fled with Lamp and the other Corne-on-the-Kobb kids, straight through the playground and into school to find the maths room.
    â€œHey, Candlewacks,” smirked Anemonie Blight, plonking her pink bag down on a desk at the back. “Blown up your restaurant yet?”
    â€œActually, last night went quite well,” said Casper proudly.
    â€œNot what I heard.” Her pointy nose wrinkled. “I heard you’re gonna be driven out of the village cos the Frenchman’s a better cook than your daddy.”
    â€œHe’s not!” shouted Casper. “All he does is omelettes!”
    â€œBut such lovely omelettes,” Milly and Milly Mollyband chimed in together.
    â€œCrispy and juicy!” added Ted Treadington.
    â€œHah!” Anemonie snorted. “Looks like you’d better start packing, Candlewacks.”
    Casper felt his skin prickle. “How do you know, anyway? I didn’t see you at either restaurant last night.”
    â€œAs if I’d eat your swill.” Anemonie turned her nose to the ceiling. “I’m the heir to Blight Manor, not some common serf like you. I’m three-hundredth in line to the throne. I’ll get my servants to cook my dinner.”
    Casper had been to Blight Manor. He knew Anemonie had no servants. The house itself,once the grandest in the Kobb Valley, was now a crumbling rotten heap with half a roof. Nevertheless, Anemonie Blight and her pointy mother thought themselves too important to be seen eating in public. Casper would get no support from her.
    â€œLook, my dad’s going nowhere, whether you like it or not,” Casper said confidently. “You just wait and see.” He wished he could share the confidence of his voice. In truth, he was terrified.
    Snivel appeared five minutes later, a bit wobbly, but still in one piece, give or take a few clumps