The bell rang and they stood up. “I hope so,” Rosa said.

  The nature garden gate opened. Plum Pringle came out. She was carrying the cat basket again. Mr Pringle was right behind her.

  “Plum!” he called. “Don’t take her away yet! We haven’t finished!”

  Leo and Rosa looked at each other.

  Rosa said, “That must be one very hungry cat.”

  Suddenly Rosa frowned and rubbed her hearing aid. “Was that a really loud noise or have my hearing aids gone funny?”

  Leo said, “It was a really loud noise!”

  It sounded like a sad trombone and it seemed to be coming from Plum Pringle’s cat.

  Leo said, “Look over there, Rosa!”

  A pair of toads was bouncing across the playground towards Plum. A third toad dropped from the windowsill by the boys’ toilets and landed at Plum’s feet. Another toad came and another one, all plopping to the ground and looking up at her.

  Another sad trombone toot came from the basket.

  Rosa said, “That’s a really strange cat in there.”

  The toads by Plum’s feet sucked in their bodies and opened their mouths. The noise they made was like a ship’s horn blasted through the biggest megaphone in the world. The playground went silent and everyone watched as an extra-big toad jumped up onto the wall where Leo and Rosa had been sitting. The toad’s wide mouth seemed to be grinning at Plum.

  “Dad,” Plum said in a tiny voice. “Do something.”

  Mr Pringle just stood there. His eyes were popping out more than those of the toads.

  “I don’t know what to do,” he said.

  The school bell blasted through the outside speakers. The toads pushed down on their front legs and launched into the air. Plum ran back into the nature garden. Mr Pringle followed her, calling her name.

  “This isn’t going to be a normal Thursday, is it?” Leo said.

  *

  After Miss Quaver had taken the register, it was time for assembly. Leo sat with the other Year 6s on the benches at the back, while Rosa was at the front to see the British Sign Language interpreter better. Mr Pringle stood on the stage with the teachers sitting on chairs behind him.

  He said, “Only two days to go before the Dab’s Best Blooms judges come and visit our wonderful little garden.” He rubbed his hands together. “And this year I am happy to say that we have the best chance of winning, ever.”

  Leo watched the interpreter sign “best”. Rosa looked back at Leo and rolled her eyes.

  Mr Pringle turned to the white screen behind him and said, “Let’s remind ourselves who we’re up against.”

  A picture of a garden flashed up. The caption said “Krump Middle School”. It looked perfectly fine to Leo. There was a giant cactus and a bush with some bright yellow flowers and a basket with strawberries hanging out of it.

  Mr Pringle smiled. “They haven’t won for three years and I don’t think they will this year, either.”

  Next up was the Slide Music School. Leo liked this one better. Flowers sprouted out of a trombone, ivy trailed out of a trumpet and they’d planted cress in a violin case.

  Slide’s garden disappeared and a new picture took its place.

  “And this is the offering from Nae Nae Juniors, last year’s winners,” said Mr Pringle.

  The whole hall went “Wow!” – even the teachers. Mr Pringle glared out at everyone. There were beds of white and pink flowers, and pots with lemon trees and fig trees. An old bath tub was filled with plants trailing bright orange and yellow flowers. Little wooden markers poked between the leaves said “Cucumbers” and “Marrows”. In the middle of the garden was a tower made from bricks, logs and hollow pipes. A banner draped across the top said “Nae Nae Juniors Bug Hotel”. Tiny signs were stuck on to different parts of the hotel. There were Ladybird Bedrooms and a Wormy Basement and an Ant Gym and—

  “Mr Pringle?” Mrs Walker from the school office was standing at the hall door waving a sheet of paper. “A word, please.”

  Mr Pringle frowned down at her. “Can’t it wait?”

  “I’m sorry, Mr Pringle. I think you’ll want to hear this.”

  Mr Pringle trudged down the steps at the side of the stage. Mrs Walker whispered something in his ear and he trudged back up again.

  Rosa turned round and signed to Leo, “Look at his face!”

  Mr Pringle was doing something odd. It was like he was trying to laugh, talk and look serious at the same time. Finally, he gave a little cough.

  “I’m sorry to say—” He squeezed the palm of his hand against his mouth and coughed again. “I’m sorry—” His voice seemed to squeak. Everyone in the hall leaned forward, including the teachers on stage. “I’ve just heard the tragic news that Nae Nae Juniors are no longer taking part in Dab’s Best Blooms. Thank you.”

  He almost ran down the stairs and out of the hall. Leo couldn’t be sure, but was that the sound of Pringle laughter? Miss Smith, the deputy head, stood up and started to dismiss the classes. Rosa was waiting for Leo in the corridor outside the hall.

  She said, “Have you seen how many toads are outside?”

  The window looked onto the junior playground. The wooden climbing frame was covered in toads – twenty, maybe thirty of them. As Leo and Rosa watched, Plum Pringle ran out carrying the cat basket and stood in the middle of the playground. She crouched down and started fiddling with the straps. Every single toad flopped off the frame and landed next to her. Soon, she was in the middle of a ring of toads.

  Rosa looked at Leo in alarm. “Why’s she doing that? Doesn’t she know about Nigel?”

  Leo thought about Mary Grimbow’s cat, Nigel, on the Frosty Morning programme. He’d run away in terror as soon as he saw the toad.

  “Here comes her dad,” Leo said. “I think he’s going to tell her to keep the cat in the basket so the toads don’t get it.”

  Mr Pringle raced towards her, shouting and waving his hands. The toads didn’t move. He snatched the basket off Plum, took her arm and hurried back into school. The toads sucked in their sides and even through the window Leo heard the trombone sound. More toads plopped onto the climbing frame. Within a few seconds, it was hard to see the wood beneath the pulsing, red-eyed creatures.

  Leo shivered. “I hope they don’t find a way in.”

  Chapter 5

  Toads on the Roads

  The toads found a way in. Mr Rib, the head cook, left the kitchen back door open to take out some rubbish. He came back to find a pair of toads paddling in his tray of beef stew. When the Year 4 girls went to get ready for PE, the changing room had been taken over by a toad squad hopping from bench to bench. Toads perched on the windowsills outside and stared into the classrooms. No one could concentrate.

  While Miss Quaver was pulling down the blinds, Rosa signed to Leo.

  “I found out what happened to the Nae Nae garden.”

  He mouthed, “What?”

  “Toads ate it.”

  They must have thought the bug hotel was lunch, with vegetables to go with it and fruit and flowers as pudding. No wonder Mr Pringle was laughing. His main rivals were gone.

  News of the toad mob in the playground got round quickly. Worried families arrived early to pick up their children, meeting them by the toad-free staff entrance. It was hard for Rosa to lip read so many people at once, so Leo told her what people were saying.

  He said, “Vespa’s mum is furious because the toads ate all the baby apples. There won’t be any apples to sell this September.”

  Rosa’s eyes widened. “The toads ate a whole orchard?”

  Leo nodded. “Abi’s big sister is saying the toads went for their dog. Yan’s mum saw the toads chasing a squirrel up a tree!”

  Rosa said, “They’ve munched through Slide’s musical garden too. I just saw Alex tell his grandma.”

  “I liked that garden,” Leo said. “It wouldn’t be fair if they keep the competition open after all this.”

  A van from the local builders’ yard, Dab’s Brick and Slab, pulled up in the staff car park. The builders opened the back doors of the van and pulled out long rolls of netting. They hoisted them on their shoulders and headed towards the nature garden.

  Rosa said, “Mr Pringle will never give up!”

  *

  School was cancelled the next day. The toads wouldn’t leave the playground and many of the families were having their own problems. There were reports of toads popping out of cereal boxes and getting stuck in car exhaust pipes. A toad even jumped through someone’s window and landed next to them in the bath.

  Rosa’s Dad Ashley had to go to work, so she came to the shoe repair workshop with Leo. Everyone, including Maria from the shoe shop, was huddled round the laptop watching Dad Raj present his special edition of Warts and All. Behind him was a picture of a grand house.

  “We are now sure that the toads in Upper Dab are Hunter gliding toads,” Dad Raj said. “They started their lives here at Bog House. In Victorian times, it was owned by the Hunter family. Maddie Hunter and her husband were great animal collectors, and especially interested in toads and frogs.”

  The picture changed to a blurred black and white photo of a woman in a long skirt holding a frog in front of a pond.

  “The Hunters collected frogs and toads from around the world. They also tried to breed their own. We now believe that Hunter gliding toads are part Wallace flying frog, part marsh frog and part cane toad.”

  Dad Raj’s voice sank for the last two words. Leo wasn’t surprised that Dad Raj had said that part quietly. When Mary Grimbow was on Frosty Morning, she’d said that cane toads eat everything.

  The picture changed to a close-up of a Hunter gliding toad. Was that Twerky again? Leo thought.

  “The Hunter gliding toads have big sticky toe pads so they can climb trees and walls. You can also see they have extra flaps of skin between their toes and more skin flaps between their legs and bodies. Even the sides of their bodies have extra skin, just like the flaps under plane wings. All this helps them glide.”

  “They open and close like umbrellas.” Granddad sounded impressed.

  Dad Raj pointed to a map. “We can now trace the toads’ route from Bog House.”

  Yellow cartoon toads appeared on the map by a dot marked “Bog House”. The toads moved across the map to another dot. The words “Nae Nae Juniors” flashed up underneath it.

  “The toads stopped here for a while,” Dad Raj said.

  The map cut away to a picture of Nae Nae’s garden. It wasn’t really a garden any more. All Leo could see were a few stems and a leaf.

  “Wow,” Granddad said. “They must have been hungry.”

  “Look,” Mum said. “They were still hungry when they left.”

  The TV was showing the map again. The yellow cartoon toads were moving towards another dot. They stopped.

  Rosa read the caption underneath the dot. “Slide Music School.”

  “They ate that one too,” Leo said.

  Two more dots flashed up.

  “That leaves Krump Middle School,” Rosa said. “And Dab Juniors.”

  Leo said, “Even an elephant couldn’t get through all the netting Mr Pringle’s used. Our nature garden is safe from the toads.”

  “Shush,” Mum said. “Raj hasn’t finished yet.”

  “Thank you to everyone who contacted us with sightings of the toads before they reached Upper Dab,” Dad Raj said. “I’m sorry that no one believed you at that time.”

  Mum pressed “pause” on the laptop. “We’ve had our first order from the Upper Dab Parks department. They want twenty Toad-Busters to protect their wardens. Three of them have been hit by toads and they’re not happy.”

  “That’s great news, Mum,” said Leo. “You said the toads would be good for business.”

  “They’re not great news for everybody,” Granddad sighed.

  “Stop being so gloomy,” Mum said. “Loads of people love the toads. Tourists are coming from all over the country to see our toads. Dab Towers Hotel is fully booked for the first time in years. You know Elly Spenser, who runs the nature society? She’s planning special toad walks. Lots of people have been very busy since the toads came.”

  Mum clicked onto a website selling Get Woke to the Croak stickers and notebooks. It even had a toad-themed recipe blog. Leo was pleased to see Toad Sundae was mainly made of mint choc chip ice cream, not real toad.

  Mum and Granddad returned to making Toad-Busters. Maria went back to the shop. Leo and Rosa found a quiet corner behind some boxes of running shoes.

  Rosa said, “Does your mum know about the Exploders?”

  “The who?” Leo asked.

  She showed Leo her phone. The Upper Dab Gardening Club website featured a video of a man wearing a T-shirt with a crow on it and the words “It’s Time to Explode the Toads”. “Cane toads are a pest!” the man in the crow T-shirt said. “They won’t rest until every cat, dog, squirrel and bird HAS BEEN EATEN!! Bring in the crows!”

  “What’s with the crows?” Leo asked.

  Rosa made a face. “Some cane toads exploded in Germany a few years back. They think they were attacked by crows looking for food.”

  Leo frowned. “Why did the toads have to hide the crows’ food?” he asked.

  Rosa rolled her eyes. “The toads were the food,” she said.

  “Yuck! I wonder why the toads came here though,” Leo said. “They could have chosen anywhere in the whole world, but they turned up in Upper Dab.”

  “Dad Raj has an idea but he’s not saying until he’s sure,” Rosa replied.

  “He likes to keep his secrets, doesn’t he?”

  “Yup,” Rosa answered. “And there’s another secret he’s kept. He’s a judge for the Dab’s Best Blooms competition this year.”

  “Is it really going ahead?” Leo asked.

  “Mr Pringle insisted.”

  Chapter 6

  Toad Attack

  Leo woke up to a cold drizzly Saturday. He peered out of his bedroom window. A trio of toads were huddled on top of the bus shelter. They bounced up to a low tree branch, caught a gust of wind and were gone. Leo craned his neck up.

  The trio had joined a larger flock heading … heading …

  Dad burst into the room holding Leo’s phone. “It’s all over the news! The toads have eaten the Krump Middle School garden and they’re on their way to Dab Juniors! Rosa’s just sent you a text. She’s heading there now!”

  Leo tumbled out of bed. “I’m on my way!”

  *

  Leo ran even faster than usual to school. Nae Nae Road was jammed with traffic. Leo spotted two outside-broadcast vans with their satellite dishes on their roofs. A minibus was parked on the pavement. An “Explode the Toad” banner was draped over the front seat. Cars were parked anywhere there was a space. Some of the windows were decorated with Exploders’ crow logos, others with “Get Woke to the Croak” stickers. A wobbly line of toads bounced and flopped from car to car.

  “Leo!” Rosa and Dad Ashley were waving at him from the other side of the road.

  He ran over to them.

  “Raj and the other judges are in there now,” Dad Ashley said. “And so is half the town.”

  “Excuse me, please!” A man in a dark suit and sunglasses nudged past them. A cage swung from his hand. Inside it, a large black bird stretched its wings and cawed.

  Dad Ashley touched Rosa’s shoulder and signed “crow”.

  Rosa clapped her hand to her mouth. “That means they really are going to explode the toads! We have to do something!”

  They ran around the back to the junior playground. The climbing frame was empty.

  Leo said, “Where have the toads gone?”

  “Up there,” Rosa said.

  She was right. Rows and rows of toads were sitting on the roof. It reminded Leo of class visits to the swimming pool when everyone was sitting on the edge, waiting for their turn to jump in.

  Somewhere from the front of the nature garden, Mr Pringle’s voice echoed through a microphone. “I am absolutely delighted—”

  He was drowned out by shouts of “Explode the toads! Explode the toads!”

  Leo, Rosa and Dad Ashley hurried round to the nature garden gates. It was impossible to see inside. A dense crowd of people spilled out into the playground. They were waving banners with pictures of crows.

  Dad Ashley tapped his phone. “I’ve texted Raj.”

  Rosa shook her head. “He’s not going to look at his phone at the moment,” she said.

  “Excuse me, please.” The man with the crow had caught up with them. A woman at the back of the crowd turned round, saw the crow and smiled. She tapped the shoulder of the man in front of her and a path opened up ahead into the garden. Rosa and Leo sneaked through.

  The netting had been rolled aside and even in the drizzle the garden looked glorious. Mr Pringle was standing on a low wooden stage. Sitting behind him was Dad Raj, the Dab mayor, wearing a massive chain around her neck, and an older man wearing wellies and a red tracksuit.

  “That’s Ivan Stitch,” Rosa whispered. “He writes about gardening for the Dab Daily.”

  Ivan Stitch stepped forward. He was holding a gold cup. Mr Pringle was smiling so hard it looked like his chin might fall off.

  “I can’t believe it,” Leo said. “How can we win a competition if there’s nobody else in it?”

  “Plum Pringle doesn’t look happy neither,” Rosa said.

  Plum had crept onto the stage and was sitting in Ivan’s seat. The cat basket was by her feet. A toad flopped onto a pot of strawberry plants. Mr Pringle’s eyes twitched towards it. He frowned, turned around and saw Plum. He made a little sign with his hands, as if he wanted her to go away. Instead, she picked up the cat basket, stood up and walked towards the centre of the stage. The crow in the cage cawed loudly.

  The cat inside the basket replied with its strange trombone sound.

  Leo nudged Rosa. “It’s making that noise again.”

 

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