Snake Escape: Mission Fox Book 1

• Published: 28/03/2011
• Format: Paperback, 96 pages
• Price: $12.95
• ISBN: 9780143305811
• Imprint: Puffin
• Publisher: Penguin Aus.

DO WE CATCH SNAKES?

Jordan Fox opened his eyes, feeling confused. It was Saturday. Why was he awake so early? And what was that noise?

Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz!

He lifted his head to listen. The noise was coming from across the room. It sounded muffled. Like an alarm clock covered with a blanket.

Or like a phone under a rock!

Jordan sat up and prodded the bunk above him.

'Harry, wake up!' he hissed. 'It's the FoxPhone!'

His twin brother made a grunting sound but didn't move. It always took Harry ages to wake up.

Jordan would have to answer the phone himself. Gulp!

He scrambled out of bed and crossed the room. On his desk there was a big glass tank with sticks and sand and rocks in it. The buzzing sound was coming from under one of the rocks. It was the perfect hiding place for a secret mobile phone. When the twins' mother cleaned their room, she never opened Max's tank.

Jordan had never opened it, either.

Until today.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted the lid. Unlike his owner Harry, Max the tarantula was wide awake.

And he was sitting on the rock with the phone underneath!

Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz! Zzzz!

Jordan had to answer. People only rang the FoxPhone in an emergency.

He grabbed a ruler off the desk and carefully pushed the rock to one side. Max stayed on the rock. His eight beady eyes watched Jordan's trembling hand come slowly down and grab the phone away.

'Mission Fox Animal Rescue Service,' he whispered. 'Does an animal need help?'

'Well, I'm really the one who needs help,' said a shaky voice. It sounded like an old lady.

'I'm sorry,' Jordan told her. 'We only help animals, not people. Would you like me to call an ambulance or something?'

'Good heavens, no!' the old lady said. Jordan heard the sound of paper shuffling. 'I found this flyer in my letterbox, you see. It says you help find lost pets.'

Jordan knew the words on the flyer off by heart - they were his words. Well, Harry had helped a bit.

'Have you lost your pet?' Jordan asked.

'Well, Bella's my husband's pet, actually,' said the old lady. 'She's a snake.'

A creepy feeling, like a tarantula's feet, ran up and down Jordan's spine.

Snakes freaked him out even more than giant hairy spiders. 'What sort of snake?' he asked nervously.

'A scrub python,' said the old lady. 'Hang on a minute,' Jordan said.

The FoxPhone had a special app called BRAIN (Bird, Reptile and Animal Identification Network). Jordan typed in Scrub python and a big scaly snake appeared on the screen. Yikes! Jordan nearly dropped the phone. Quickly he scrolled down to 'DESCRIPTION' It said scrub pythons were the largest snakes in Australia. They could grow to eight metres long!

Further down, under 'HABITS' as something even worse...

Jordan looked in the mirror, and made himself stand very tall.

He clicked the PHONE button.

'Is Bella a full-grown snake?' he asked.

'I don't know,' said the old lady. 'You'd have to ask my husband.'

Can I talk to him, please?'

'That's the trouble, you see,' she said.

'My husband's at the hospital. Yesterday my grandson came to visit and he must have left Bella's cage door open.'

'Do you know where Bella might have gone?' asked Jordan.

'I think she's somewhere in the house,' said the old lady. 'But I'm a bit scared to go looking for her.'

So was Jordan. 'Could you hang on again, please?' he asked.

Jordan crossed back to the bed, and gave his brother a big shake. 'Harry, do we catch snakes?'

'Uhhhhn,' went Harry.

Jordan waved the phone at him. 'Wake up! We've got a call on the FoxPhone.'

'Who is it?' Harry asked sleepily.

'An old lady,' whispered Jordan. 'She wants us to catch a snake.'

Suddenly Harry was wide awake. 'Awesome!' he cried. 'What sort of snake?'

Jordan told him about Bella.

Harry jumped down off his bunk and raced to the wardrobe to look at the handwritten chart that was taped to the back of the door.

'Our first Code Red mission!' he cried.

Panda Chase: Mission Fox Book 2

• Published: 28/03/2011
• Format: Paperback, 96 pages
• Price: $12.95
• ISBN: 9780143305828
• Imprint: Puffin
• Publisher: Penguin Aus.

NOT A ZOO

HARRYYYYYYYYY! JORDAAAAAAAAAAAN!'

'Yikes!' said Harry Fox, and ducked under the bunk bed.

His twin brother, Jordan, headed for the wardrobe. But he had a little dropper of milk in one hand, and a tiny baby animal in the other. And everyone knows you can't run with babies.

The twins' mum burst into Mission Fox Headquarters before Jordan had crossed the room. She looked mad.

She sounded even crosser!

'THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A HOUSE,' she yelled, 'NOT A ZOO! And what's that in your hand?' Jordan tried to hide the baby animal behind his back.

'Milk,' he said, holding up the dropper.

'I meant your other hand.'

Sprung!

'A baby ringtail possum.' Jordan showed her. 'Its mum got run over by a car.'

'Oh! Poor little munchkin,' said Mrs Fox, bending over it and cooing. Like all mothers, she loved tiny babies.

There was a slight noise from across the room.

'You can come out now, Harry,' Mrs Fox said. 'I know you're under the bed.'

Harry came crawling out.

'Hi Mum,' he said cheerfully.

'Don't Hi Mum me,' she growled. 'I've just come from the bathroom.'

Oops!thought Jordan.

Come with me, both of you,' their mother ordered. 'NOW!'

The twins followed her downstairs to the bathroom. So did Myrtle, their enormous dog, who was a Great-Dane-Newfoundland cross. She had come to see what all the noise was about. All three of them crowded next to the bath.

'Would one of you like to explain this?' Mrs Fox asked.

The bath was half full of muddy brown water. And that wasn't all. Something was in the water. Something alive. Every few seconds, a scary-looking claw would poke out of the water.

'Looks like some yabbies,' Harry said innocently.

Their mother looked at one twin, then the other. 'Would one of you like to tell me why there are yabbies in our bath?'

'There are too many to go in the fish tank,' Jordan explained. He was still holding the baby possum and the dropper of milk, and Myrtle was watching him closely. Myrtle loved milk. 'Besides, nobody uses the bath since we got the new shower.'

'Well, I'm not having it filled with smelly zoo animals!' said Mrs Fox.

Harry leaned over and sniffed the muddy water. 'They're not very smelly.'

'And they're not just animals,' added Jordan, who had looked yabbies up on BRAIN, a special app on the FoxPhone (it stood for Bird, Reptile and Animal Identification Network). 'They're crustaceans. And they don't usually live in zoos.'

'Just get rid of them!' growled their mother. 'Take them back to wherever it was you got them.'

'We can't,' Jordan said. 'They were in Bunyip Dam, and it's gone.'

Gone?' said Mrs Fox.

Harry nodded. 'It got filled in by a bulldozer.'

'They're building some new houses there,' Jordan explained.

'We only just got the yabbies out in time,' said Harry.

Mrs Fox sighed. It was hard being the mother of twins, especially twins who kept bringing animals home.

'Take them somewhere else then,' she said. 'What about Lawson Park?'

There was a lake in Lawson Park. But it was all the way across town.

'Could you drive us?' Harry asked.

Their mother looked at her watch. 'I'm getting my hair done after lunch,' she said. 'I can drop you at the park on the way, then pick you up when I'm finished.'

'Cool,' said the twins, and turned to go.

'Not so fast!' said their mother. 'I want this bath emptied right now!'

'But we're not taking the yabbies for ages,' said Harry.

Mrs Fox shrugged. 'They'll be okay in buckets for a couple of hours. I want this bath spotless before we go.'

Once the twins got the yabbies out of the filthy bath, it was really hard to scrub away the mud stains. Jordan frowned as he worked.

'Don't worry, Jordan,' said Harry. 'We're nearly finished.'

'I don't care about the bath,' Jordan said. 'I'm thinking about Lawson Park. People catch yabbies there all the time.'

Unlike Jordan and Harry, who rescued things, most people caught yabbies to eat.

'Where else can we put them?' asked Harry.

Jordan checked outside the bathroom door to make sure nobody was listening. The coast was clear.

'The Old Quarry,' he whispered.

Dolphin Rescue: Mission Fox Book 3

• Published: 27/06/2011
• Format: Paperback, 96 pages
• Price: $12.95
• ISBN: 9780143305835
• Imprint: Puffin
• Publisher: Penguin Aus.

REEF ISLAND

Jordan Fox gazed up at the tall coconut palms that grew around his family's villa by the beach.

'I can't believe there are no gum trees!' he said.

He and his twin brother, Harry, had searched the whole island.

'Well, I can't believe you brought a box of caterpillars with you on holiday!' said their dad. He was reading a book in a deckchair further along the veranda.

'It said you can't bring pets,' Harry said.

'It didn't say anything about caterpillars.'

'And it didn't say there were no gum trees,' added Jordan.

Their mum came outside in her bathers. She had a towel wrapped around her. 'You should have checked on the internet before we came,' she said.

Harry shrugged. 'Reef Island is part of Australia. We thought gum trees grew everywhere in Australia.'

'Live and learn,' said Mr Fox, turning a page of his book.

Jordan sat on the veranda stairs and opened the shoe box. Eight half-grown emperor gum caterpillars clung to a skeleton of chewed twigs and branches. There were no leaves left - not even one. A big teardrop ran down Jordan's nose and landed - plop! - in the bottom of the box.

Mrs Fox sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. 'Can they eat anything else?' she asked gently.

Jordan shook his head. He'd looked it up on BRAIN when they rescued the caterpillars from a fallen gum tree on the last day of school.

BRAIN was a special app on the FoxPhone that had a million facts about wildlife. It only said they ate gum leaves.

'We could ask in the restaurant if they have any spare lettuces,' Mr Fox suggested.

Harry laughed. 'They're caterpillars, Dad - not rabbits!'

Mr Fox got out of his deckchair and stretched. 'I happen to know a thing or two about caterpillars,' he said smugly. 'When I was a boy, I used to keep silkworms. Everyone said they only ate mulberry leaves. But one year we ran out of leaves, so your grandma suggested I try a lettuce from the garden. And guess what?'

'What?' asked the twins.

'They turned into the fattest, healthiest silkworms I ever had!'

Jordan wiped his eyes. 'I guess we could try.'

He and Harry went with their dad to the restaurant, where everyone at the resort had their meals. The kitchen was closed, but there was a lady putting flowers on the tables. When Mr Fox told her about the caterpillars, she disappeared through a door and came back with a whole lettuce.

'Don't tell the chef!' the lady said, giving Jordan and Harry a wink. 'And if you're going out today, boys, keep an eye out for Tilly the dolphin, and her new baby, Pip. They've been spotted close to shore.'

Back at their villa, the twins put four cut-up lettuce leaves in the shoe box with the caterpillars, then watched to see what would happen.

Nothing happened.

Jordan crouched over the box for nearly an hour, long after Harry had given up and gone snorkelling with their mum.

But the caterpillars just ignored the lettuce leaves.

'Any luck?' said Mr Fox, bringing Jordan a glass of juice.

Jordan shook his head. 'Dad, do you think they'd bring some gum leaves on the supply boat, if we asked?'

'I reckon they would,' his dad said. 'But the next supply boat isn't due for three days.'

Three days, Jordan thought sadly. The caterpillars couldn't go without food for three whole days.

Horse Hijack: Mission Fox Book 4

• Published: 29/08/2011
• Format: Paperback, 96 pages
• Price: $12.95
• ISBN: 9780143305842
• Imprint: Puffin
• Publisher: Penguin Aus.

FOXPHONE (Part 1)

Jordan and Harry Fox were at the movies. It was the new Twisterman movie and it was REALLY exciting. But right at the very best bit, when evil Dr Chill was about to freeze Twisterman inside a giant ice-cube, someone's phone started ringing.

It was the person sitting on Jordan's left.

'Hey, turn that off!' Jordan whispered to whoever-it-was.

'It's the FoxPhone!' whoever-it-was whispered back.

It sounded a bit like Harry.

'Keep the noise down!' hissed the person on the other side of Jordan – where Harry was supposed to be sitting.

But it didn't sound anything like Harry.

Jordan's head snapped from side to side. Shishkebab! It was Harry on his left, and someone else on his right.

Or was it the other way around?

That was the trouble with Twisterman movies. They made you so dizzy you couldn't tell one direction from the other.

But the FoxPhone was still ringing, and people all around the twins were getting cross.

'Turn that thing off!' they growled.

'Shhhh!' they went.

'Keep quiet!' they said.

Harry passed the FoxPhone to Jordan. 'Take it outside and answer it,' he whispered. 'You're closer to the aisle.'

Yikes! thought Jordan. Now the noisy phone was his problem! And nearly everyone in the packed movie theatre was yelling at him. About 300 angry people.

Jordan jumped out of his seat, squeezed past someone else, and raced for the exit.

It was a relief to get out into the foyer. But the lady who sold popcorn was scowling at him, as if the FoxPhone was a bomb that was about to go off. So Jordan charged out into the street.

Finally it was safe to take the call.

'Mission Fox Animal Rescue Service,' Jordan said breathlessly. 'Does an animal need help?'

Puma Rumour: Mission Fox Book 5

• Published: 22/02/2012
• Format: Paperback, 96 pages
• Price: $12.95
• ISBN: 9780143306542
• Imprint: Puffin
• Publisher: Penguin Aus.

Secret Project

The twins found their Pop washing the floor in the milking shed.

'It's finished!' said Harry.

'Come and see!' said Jordan.

Pop turned off the hose and followed Harry and Jordan across to the barn. A big cage stood in the middle of the floor. It was surrounded by tools, bits of wire, and sheets of paper with plans scribbled on them. The cage used to be for taking calves to market, but Pop had said the twins could use it for their secret project.

'Ta da!' they said.

Pop walked slowly around the cage, looking at all the changes the twins had made.

'What is it, Jordan-and-Harry?' he asked. He always said their names like that, because he couldn't tell them apart.

'Guess!' they said.

Pop tapped his chin, thinking. 'I reckon that bone must be a clue.'

The bone was left over from last night's roast. It was sitting at the back of the cage.

'Is it a... yabby trap?' he asked.

The twins shook their heads.

'Is it a... cage to breed flies in?'

The twins giggled and shook their heads.

'I've got it!' said Pop. 'You're getting a pet vulture!'

'I wish!' said Harry, who loved creepy things.

'No way!' said Jordan, who didn't.

'I give up, then,' said Pop.

Harry turned to Jordan. 'Will we show him how it works?'

Jordan nodded. 'I'll go and get Myrtle,' he said.

Harry and Pop waited in the barn while Jordan raced off to get their dog. Nana had been looking after her all morning while the twins worked on their secret project.

A minute later there was the sound of running feet. A huge, shaggy dog came charging into the barn, dragging Jordan behind it.

'Sit, Myrtle, SIT!' Jordan cried.

Myrtle finally sat down. Usually she did what she was told, unless she saw a cat.

Luckily, there were no cats at Nana and Pop's farm.

'What are you waiting for, Jordan?' asked Harry.

'Nana wants to see, too.'

Their nana appeared in the doorway behind them. 'So where's this top-secret project you boys have been working on?' she asked.

They pointed at the cage. 'Ta da!'

'What does it do?' asked Nana.

Jordan unclipped Myrtle's lead. 'Watch this.'

Myrtle sniffed the air and ran straight over to the cage. She could see the bone, but she couldn't reach it. She ran around the cage, looking for a way in. When she came to the door, Myrtle rushed through and grabbed the bone.

Big mistake!

There was fishing line tied to the bone. The other end was tied to a wooden peg that held the door open. When Myrtle tugged on the bone, the fishing line pulled tight, the peg came out, and the door dropped down.

CLANG!

It worked! Myrtle was trapped.

'Yaaaay!' cried the twins, giving each other a Mission Fox high ten (that's a high five when you count all the fingers).

'I see,' said Pop. 'It's a dog trap.'

Harry shook his head. 'Wrong again.'

'Myrtle was just showing you how it works,' explained Jordan.

He let Myrtle out. Harry took the bone from her and pulled the fishing line back the other way.

'What is it for?' asked Nana and Pop.

'Catching pumas!' said the twins.

Zebra Rampage: Mission Fox Book 6

• Published: 22/02/2012
• Format: Paperback, 96 pages
• Price: $12.95
• ISBN: 9780143306559
• Imprint: Puffin
• Publisher: Penguin Aus.

Flight Over Africa

There was no warning. One moment Jordan and Harry Fox were gliding slowly through the treetops, next moment their sky-chair stopped dead.

'Shishkebab!' gasped Jordan, gripping the safety bar with both hands. 'Is this supposed to happen?'

His twin brother, Harry, looked in both directions. All the other sky-chairs had stopped, too. The overhead cable was no longer moving.

'There must be a power failure,' he said.

Jordan tried not to look down. They were stuck – dangling six metres off the ground in the middle of Africa!

Well, it wasn't really Africa.

'I wish we'd never entered that stupid competition,' Jordan muttered.

The twins had found the competition on the children's page of last Saturday's newspaper. It was a 25-question quiz all about the birds, reptiles and animals of Africa. Jordan and Harry got every answer right. (They'd had a bit of help from BRAIN, a special app on the FoxPhone that stood for Bird, Reptile and Animal Information Network.)

First prize was two free tickets on the brand new 'Flight Over Africa Sky Safari' at Nullambine Zoo.

But there was a difference between going for a ride on a sky-chair and just hanging, stalled, in the air from a cable, like pegged-out washing.

'Look on the bright side,' said Harry. 'At least we can get some good photos.'

Their sky-chair had stopped above a wide, bushy enclosure. There were zebras, wildebeests and a few antelopes scattered among the trees. One of the zebras was directly below the twins' dangling feet.

'Smile, Mr Zebra!' Harry said, pointing his camera.

'I think it's Mrs Zebra,' said Jordan.

A baby zebra lay in the big one's shadow. The mother was licking it.

'Cool!' said Harry. He zoomed his camera for a closer shot. 'Get out of the way, Mrs Z, so your baby isn't in the shade.'

But the mother zebra stayed where she was. She kept licking her baby. Its fur looked dark and wet.

'It's just been born,' whispered Jordan.

'Awesome!' Harry said. He took another photo.

Jordan watched the baby zebra for a few more seconds. Its eyes were closed. It wasn't moving a muscle.

'Something's wrong,' he said.