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“She’s putting us through!”

    Sure enough, the dull yellow metal at the back of the “cave” suddenly flapped backward. Petty’s enormous pink fingers poked at it. Josh and Danny leapt through the gap and found themselves gliding down through the cool indoor air of the hallway. They landed on the rough bristles of a doormat, next to a gigantic folded newspaper.
    â€œBURGLARY ON THE INCREASE” read the front-page headline. It made Josh and Danny feel guilty.
    â€œCome on—we haven’t got much time,” said Josh. He sprang down the hallway and into the living room. He bounded up onto the mantelpiece above the fireplace in one easy leap. The long pine shelf was full of clutter. Pictures, ornaments, matchboxes, tobacco tins, a pair of pliers, a jar of screws, and lots of thick fluffy dust.
    â€œEeeww!” whimpered Danny. He was frozen on the other side of the jar of screws, his green mouthparts twitching with disgust. At his feet lay a large, upside-down spider. Hairy, crispy, the color of straw. It was bigger than Danny. It was a good thing it was dead.
    â€œJust turn around and hop away!” advised Josh. He couldn’t believe, after all Danny had been through, that he was still scared of a dead spider. Although, he supposed, Danny had been the one who was very nearly eaten by a spider a little while back.

    Danny turned around and hopped away. Then he let out a chirrup of excitement. “It’s here! I’ve found it!”
    Josh jumped along the mantelpiece. He found his brother staring at a large, clear, perfectly cut cube of glass. Even through a layer of dust, it sparkled with rainbow light. Inside, delicately carved by laser, was the hologram of a snake. Its diamond-patterned body was coiled like rope and its head raised up, as if ready to strike. “It’s beautiful,” murmured Danny. He wondered which part was the one-sixth of Petty’s secret formula.
    â€œIt is,” agreed Josh. “Uh-oh!” He felt a strange tingling and knew what was coming. “Better get off the mantel—OW!” He sat up on the carpet. He rubbed his head where it had smacked against the brick fireplace. “That was a quick change!” He hadn’t even had a second to hop down off the mantelpiece before he’d thwacked back into being a boy.
    A moment later, Danny fell on his face.
    â€œMMM-OW!” Josh shoved Danny off. “You could’ve aimed somewhere else!”
    â€œSorry,” said Danny, as he picked himself up. “Didn’t have time.”
    He turned and quickly collected the S.W.I.T.C.H. cube from the mantelpiece. He shoved it deep into his school pants pocket.
    â€œWHAT ON EARTH IS ALL THIS?” yelled a voice from the hallway.
    Josh and Danny froze, horrified. They were in the middle of burgling Mr. Grant’s house—and he was IN IT!

Mr. Grant appeared in the doorway, looking furious—at the newspaper in his hand. He was staring at the headline and shaking his head.
    â€œWhat’s all this?” he thundered. “Burglaries on the increase? Stuff and nonsense.” He flipped over the paper as two small burglars slid down behind his old leather armchair. “Tennis club faces closure!” he bellowed. “Rubbish! All newspapers are rubbish!”
    Then he stomped across the room. He thumped down into the armchair, sending up a cloud of dust around it. Josh and Danny, squashed behind it, held their breath and scrunched up their eyes. Josh felt a sneeze build up in his nose. He pinched the end of it, desperately. If he sneezed, they would be found out.
    â€œWhoo-hoo!” called a voice and the doorbell clanged. Mr. Grant, being rather deaf, had fitted an extra-loud bell. “Whoo-hoo!” called the voice again. It was Petty Potts, trying to sound sweet.
    â€œWhat?” yelled Mr. Grant and hurried out to the door.

    â€œShe’s distracting him so we can get out!”