‘Nope.’

  ‘Shield is up,’ Ham’s voice sounded in their earpieces.

  ‘What does he mean by shields?’ Romeo asked.

  ‘He puts a cloaking shield up so people can’t see us emerge,’ Beth explained. She revved the Vespa and took off. The motorbike buzzed along the tunnel, out from under the John Watts statue, over the fence and into the street.

  She’s done that before, Romeo thought.

  His exit was slower and clumsier, the Tesla clipping the top of the cemetery fence and causing it to get the wobbles. The car landed on one side, almost tipping over before hurtling down the street on two wheels, onto the sidewalk, then back onto the road, narrowly missing seven dogs, four elephants, two fire hydrants, a food cart, and three yellow cabs.

  Tulip reached across to grab the steering wheel to help Romeo bring the car back onto four wheels. ‘Please don’t tell me this is the first time you’ve driven,’ she hissed.

  ‘Okay. I won’t tell you.’

  ‘Mind the duck!’

  ‘Does this thing have cruise control?’ Romeo asked as he narrowly missed a bison in a tutu trotting across the road.

  ‘Consider it done,’ Ham said.

  The car immediately began to drive itself.

  ‘Ahhh.’ Romeo sighed with relief. ‘That’s better.’

  Tulip laughed. ‘If nothing else, I think we’ve found your kryptonite.’

  They soon reached Dylan’s Candy Bar on Third Avenue. Ham handed control back to Romeo so he could park the car, but there weren’t any spots.

  ‘Welcome to New York.’ Tulip smiled wryly and pointed to a button on the dash. ‘What about that?’

  ‘Invisibility cloak,’ Romeo read. ‘Hey, Ham, does that mean what I think it means?’

  ‘It does indeed,’ Ham replied. ‘The cloak only holds for fifteen minutes, though. Slight technical hitch I’m trying to iron out.’

  Romeo carefully drove the Tesla onto the top of another car, pressing the invisibility button as he did. He hoped fifteen minutes would be enough time.

  Up ahead, Beth had parked her Vespa and was waiting for them outside the store. When Romeo stepped out of the Tesla, the sweet, heady smell of sugar hit him fair in the nostrils and stomach. With his mouth watering, he wandered inside to find wall-to-wall chocolates, shelves loaded with brightly coloured packets of sweets things and counters stuffed with cotton candy every colour of the rainbow. One display even had an inflatable pink flamingo on top and jar after jar of confectionary below. Skittles. Bazookas. Hot Tamales. Runtz. Chewy Sprees. Peanut M&Ms. Romeo didn’t know where to look first.

  ‘Wipe the drool off your chin,’ Tulip growled in his ear.

  ‘Right,’ Romeo said, coming back to his senses. ‘A little girl is depending on us. What do we do now?’

  Chapter 10

  ‘Follow me,’ Beth said. She located a shop assistant and asked to speak to the manager.

  An elegant giraffe came up behind them. ‘That’s me,’ she said. ‘I’m Mandy. How can I help?’

  ‘Hi, Candy. I mean, Mandy,’ Beth said. ‘We’re investigating the abduction of a child from the store last night.’

  ‘Are you detectives?’ Mandy said.

  ‘We’re friends of the family.’ Romeo used his hypnotic powers to smooth things over. ‘Did you happen to see the little girl and her parents when she came into the shop?’

  Mandy’s eyes glazed. ‘Ooh, you’re a delectable little thing, aren’t you? Let me tell you everything! I saw the girl. She was about eight and well behaved, even though it was late at night. The family were on holiday from Australia.’

  ‘Did they do or say anything unusual?’

  ‘You know.’ Mandy wiggled her hoof at Romeo, ‘now you mention it, they did have funny accents and say ‘crikey’ a lot. Plus, they called cotton candy ‘fairy floss’.’ She giggled. ‘So silly!’

  ‘We don’t mean anything unusual they might have said about the candy, Mandy,’ Tulip said. ‘We mean to each other. Anything out of the ordinary that might indicate why Amy was kidnapped? Did they look unhappy? Or did Amy and her parents argue?’

  Mandy shook her head. ‘They were a normal family on holiday. They bought a box of Reece’s chocolates then left. It wasn’t until they stepped outside that the shar-wolf came. I think it was a random attack.’

  Romeo asked if they could take a look around. He was keen to uncover any clues that police might have overlooked. Anything to help them track or locate Amy.

  ‘Knock yourself out,’ Mandy said. ‘The police have already given every jube, lollipop and chocolate a thorough going over, so I don’t think you’ll find anything.’

  Romeo, Beth, and Tulip searched the store, soon realising that Mandy was right. There were no clues anywhere. Disappointed, they trudged back outside.

  ‘We have to think,’ Beth said. ‘Where would the shar-wolf take Amy?’

  ‘It jumped in the river yesterday,’ Tulip said. ‘Maybe it has an underwater lair?’

  Romeo bent to pick up a piece of yellow fabric off the sidewalk. The ragged square of material had a brown, sticky-looking stain on one corner. Romeo sniffed the smudge. ‘Definitely Reese’s chocolate,’ he said.

  ‘Didn’t Mandy say Amy and her family bought some of those last night?’ Tulip said.

  ‘Yes,’ Beth said. ‘And that material looks the same colour as the pants the shar-wolf was wearing yesterday.’

  Romeo peered closer. The label read, ‘Property of Weird-Warp Industries’. ‘I’ve seen ads for this place,’ he said, showing the others. ‘What is it?’

  Beth explained that it was a research facility owned by Professor Ian Weird-Warp.

  ‘What a strange name,’ Romeo said.

  ‘Weird-Warp?’ Tulip said.

  ‘No, Ian. Imagine calling your baby ‘Ian’. Here little Ian. Hello there, sweet little Ian.’ Romeo screwed up his nose. ‘Very odd.’

  Beth laughed. ‘I guess. Anyway, the professor has attended some of my father’s fundraiser events before. He’s a brilliant doctor and specialises in genetic research. Wait a minute! This is starting to make sense now. An animal like the shar-wolf doesn’t occur normally in nature. Someone made it.’

  ‘You mean like in a science lab?’ Romeo said.

  ‘Precisely,’ Beth said. ‘And Professor Weird-Warp has a lab here in New York, down on the Hudson River. Maybe we should pay him a visit.’

  ‘Great idea.’ Romeo searched for his car. ‘Hey, where’s the sloth-mobile?’

  Chapter 11

  Romeo scanned the street. The car he’d parked the Tesla on was gone. ‘There it is! Stop!’ He sprinted towards the car carrying the invisible sloth-mobile. At least he hoped it was carrying the sloth-mobile. He couldn’t tell because it was potentially still invisible.

  ‘Oooh, I love sloths!’ an elk cried as Romeo raced past. She held her front hooves together and twirled in ecstasy.

  Everyone stopped to gawk. Several passers-by tried to pat Romeo, stroking his fur and slowing him down.

  I definitely need a disguise, he thought as he plucked himself from strange hands and paws then raced over to the car, which was stopped at a red light. The driver was a grouchy looking mongoose with tattooed arms, one of which hung out the open driver side window.

  ‘Excuse me,’ Romeo said. ‘I need to pop onto your roof and retrieve my car.’

  The mongoose grunted. ‘You need to poop on my roof ?’

  ‘No, sir. I need to get my car. It’s on top of your car.’

  ‘There’s no car on top of my car, you nitwit,’ the mongoose said.

  The lights were about to change and Romeo didn’t have time to argue. Instead, he leapt onto the car, ignoring the mongoose’s protests. Relieved to feel the sloth-mobile door, he got in, reversed the Tesla off the mongoose’s car, turned off the invisibility cloak and picked up Tulip. Then he followed Beth down to the docks.

  It was a hot day and hordes of sightseers were boarding jetboats and watercraft to cruise the bay. Romeo found a park beside the Vespa. A large square building sat at the end of one of the piers. The sign on its rooftop read, ‘Weird-Warp Industries’.

  The trio marched into reception where they were greeted by a gazelle seated behind a high desk. She stared down her nose at them and asked if she could help.

  ‘We’re here to see Professor Weird-Warp,’ Romeo said, while Tulip flicked her tail impatiently and Beth stared intently.

  ‘Professor Weird-Warp doesn’t take visitors,’ the gazelle said.

  ‘It’s important that we see him,’ Romeo pressed. ‘We’re happy to wait.’

  He flopped into one of the expensive armchairs, doing his best to sloth about and look like he had all day. Taking his cue, Tulip did the same, occasionally flexing her claws and flashing them at the receptionist meaningfully while Beth continued staring.

  The gazelle batted her eyelashes, clearly uncomfortable. ‘A-hem. Perhaps I can ask the professor’s assistant, Hector Hardwallop, to see you.’

  She picked up a telephone and spoke into it briefly before hanging up. ‘Hector will be with you soon.’ Her eyes flicked nervously to Tulip and her sharp claws.

  Five minutes later, scratching sounded at the door behind the receptionist then a small flap at the bottom lifted. Out stepped a scrawny, pint-sized animal with grey, tufty fur, buck teeth and a bushy tail. His yellow eyes bulged unnaturally, his pupils were like pinpoints as he tapped his spindly fingers on his belly.

  Romeo tried not to recoil in horror.

  Tulip whispered, ‘This guy is creepy with a capital C.R.E.E.P. and Y.’

  The animal’s freakish eyes bored into Tulip’s. ‘I’m Hector Hardwallop,’ he said, ‘and I have remarkable hearing.’

  Romeo stepped forward, trying to avert his gaze from Hector, who was difficult to look at. ‘T-terribly sorry about that. I-I’m Romeo Fortez and these are my friends, Beth Castlemaine and Tulip Goldenclaw.’

  ‘What’s this about?’ Hector snapped. ‘I’m a busy aye-aye.’

  ‘Aye, aye,’ Romeo said. ‘Yes, sir.’

  Hector glared. ‘I’m an aye-aye.’

  ‘Aye, aye, Captain?’ Tulip said, looking confused.

  ‘I’m an aye-aye!’ Hector seethed.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Beth said. ‘Yes, yes?’

  ‘That’s the kind of animal I am.’ Hector threw his bony hands in the air. ‘I’m a type of lemur. Don’t you read?’

  ‘Oh, right-right,’ Romeo said. ‘Um, we’re here to ask you about the girl who was kidnapped outside Dylan’s Candy Bar last night.’

  The aye-aye nodded. ‘Dreadful business. What has it got to do with me?’

  ‘She was taken by an unusual animal,’ Beth said, ‘a shar-wolf and we ha-’

  ‘Shar-wolf?’ The aye-aye stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around. ‘Great name. Note to self: shar-wolf. Go on.’

  ‘We were wondering if you knew anything about it,’ Tulip said.

  Romeo scanned the room. ‘What is it that you do here, Mr Hardwallop?’

  Hector seemed surprised at the question. ‘Here? Well, we create gigantic mutant animals and let them loose on New York City.’ He stared at Romeo as he rocked on his heels. ‘What do you think we do?’

  Chapter 12

  ‘Did he say what I think he said?’ Ham spluttered in everyone’s earpieces.

  ‘You what?’ Beth said.

  The aye-aye’s eyes bulged. ‘Oh, I got you a good one! You should have seen your faces.’ He cackled maniacally, slapping his knees and bending over double before suddenly becoming serious. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. We’re a medical research facility and we donate all profits to charity. I can’t help you with your enquiries. I know noth-’ Hector’s watch flashed. He paused to press a button.

  ‘Hector, come quick. It’s an emergency,’ a voice sounded from the watch. ‘The beast is loose. I repeat, the beast is loose and headed for Coney Island.’

  Hector grimaced. ‘Haha. That’s a silly game called ‘Where’s the Beast?’ that I play with my colleagues. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve things to do.’

  Before they could stop him, Hector disappeared back the way he’d come. The receptionist pretended to be busy by answering the phone even though it hadn’t rung.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Beth said.

  Outside, the trio formed a huddle. ‘Did you hear that?’ Romeo said. ‘The beast is headed for Coney Island. Do you think they mean the shar-wolf?’

  ‘Who else could it be?’ Tulip replied.

  ‘It won’t hurt to drive over and check it out,’ Beth said.

  Ham’s voice sounded in their ears. ‘Sorry to give you bad news, but a traffic accident has the city gridlocked.’

  Romeo spotted a lime-green jetboat roaring across the harbour. ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’

  Beth and Tulip nodded. They made their way to the jetboat ticket booth, pushing their way to the front of the line.

  ‘We need a boat,’ Beth told the flamingo in the booth.

  ‘You’ll have to wait your turn.’ The bird flapped a wing at the line in front of her. ‘You can see others are waiting.’

  Romeo was about to use his hypnotic powers when Beth put her hand on his shoulder. ‘I’ve got this, well, my dad’s credit card has got this. I’ll take care of things here. You and Tulip get on the boat and go.’

  ‘Great idea!’ Romeo said, before racing off with Tulip.

  ‘You know how to drive this thing?’ Tulip asked as they clambered one of the jetboats moored at the pier.

  ‘How hard can it be?’ Romeo said. He gunned the engine and they set out, heavy metal music blasting from the boat’s speakers. It turned out that starting the boat and steering it were easy. Preventing the super-charged boat from crashing was another matter altogether. Luckily for Romeo, he was a super-fast learner. Luckily for Tulip, she had super-sharp claws to hang on with.

  After two wild loops around the bay and several near misses of other watercraft, including the Staten Island Ferry, Romeo got the jetboat under control. With the wind rushing through their fur and water spraying their faces, they sped past the Statue of Liberty through to Lower New York Bay then on to West Brighton in Brooklyn. Here Romeo steered the jetboat directly towards Luna Park. In the distance, rising above the ferris wheels and run park rides, he spied the huge silhouette of the shar-wolf.

  It was hard to miss, being so humungous and all.

  Romeo dropped anchor then leapt from the boat, using his super sloth speed to race over to the shar-wolf. Tulip loped along after him. The mutant creature seemed fascinated with the Thunderbolt roller coaster, watching it closely as it travelled from loop to loop.

  ‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’ Romeo asked Tulip.

  Tulip nodded. ‘It wants to play.’

  Romeo considered whether the wolf’s playful nature might have crossed over into the shar-wolf during the gene splicing. Of course, some of the killer shark instincts could also have crossed over and Romeo supposed that was the reason Weird-Warp might have bred the creature in the first place.

  Why would Weird-Warp want a killer animal? he wondered. And why would that so-called killer kidnap a kid?

  Chapter 13

  Our hero didn’t know the answer to the first question, but the penny soon dropped regarding the second one. The shar-wolf hadn’t taken Amy so he could demand a ransom. He’d done it so he could play with her! And where better to play than the most fun place in New York: Coney Island.

  Baby wolves were pups. So were baby sharks. And while the shar-wolf looked huge and scary, it was only a baby, a pup. And that pup wanted to play. Romeo felt sorry for the shar-wolf. It had never asked to be mutated.

  The creature sat beside the roller coaster, pushing the carriages along the track like a child playing with toy cars while Amy sat in the front carriage. Romeo could see the pair talking and laughing. Amy didn’t seem afraid at all.

  ‘Faster!’ she cried. ‘Good Sharky!’

  Romeo vaulted onto the roller coaster support structure and started climbing. Tulip watched from below, having received strict instructions from Romeo to spring into action if needed. Once he’d reached the top of the support structure, Romeo dived into the roller coaster then worked his way to the front where Amy was.

  ‘Hey, it’s little Sloffy again,’ the shar-wolf said.

  Romeo waved to the shar-wolf and asked Amy if she was okay.

  Amy grinned. ‘Crikey, I’m having the best time! I’ve never been to Luna Park before. How ridgey-didge is this?’

  That giraffe was right, Romeo thought. This kid does have a funny accent. ‘Are you hurt at all?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Amy said. ‘Sharky’s big, but he’s harmless.’

  ‘Is Sharky your real name?’ Romeo asked the shar-wolf.

  ‘Professor Wonder-What’s-It calls me 407, but me like Sharky better.’ Sharky slapped his shark head with his wolf paw. ‘Me mean Prof Whisper-Whopper. Me never remember.’ He stared into the distance. ‘Uh-oh. Here comes one of those metal mosquitos. Sharky no like. It shoots him with stingy thingies.’

  Romeo looked where the shar-wolf pointed. Several helicopters were heading their way. ‘Do you mean tranquilisers?’

  ‘Me dunno. Me Sharky.’

  The poor guy, Romeo thought. He really is harmless.

  ‘We need to get you out of here. Ham, any idea where we can hide Sharky so he won’t get hurt?’

  Ham checked his maps and found an uninhabited island five miles off the coast that was owned by Beth’s dad. He gave Romeo the island’s coordinates.

  ‘Tulip,’ Romeo said, ‘can you take Amy to her parents while I get Sharky to safety?’

  ‘Roger that,’ Tulip said with a salute.

  As Romeo led Sharky towards the beach, the helicopter landed and a tall, thin man wearing a lab coat jumped out. His long grey hair was swept up and back from his forehead.

  ‘407, we’re bringing you in!’ Professor Weird-Warp commanded. ‘Now come and take your medicine.’