Alan Durant With illustrations by
Sue Mason
For my nephew Max Lyon – and for my daughter Josie, who gave me the title A.D. For Mum and Dad with huge love S.M.
First published in 2015 in Great Britain by Barrington Stoke Ltd 18 Walker Street, Edinburgh, EH3 7LP www.barringtonstoke.co.uk 4u2read edition based on Game Boy Reloaded (Barrington Stoke, 2005) Text © 2015 Alan Durant Illustrations © 2005/2015 Sue Mason The moral right of Alan Durant and Sue Mason to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in any part in any form without the written permission of the publisher A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library upon request ISBN: 978-1-78112-472-7 Printed in China by Leo
Contents Level 1. . . . . . . . . . . 1 Level 2. . . . . . . . . . . 7 Level 3. . . . . . . . . . 13 Level 4. . . . . . . . . . 17 Level 5. . . . . . . . . . 25 Level 6. . . . . . . . . . 33 Level 7. . . . . . . . . . 38 Level 8. . . . . . . . . . 44 Level 9. . . . . . . . . . 51
Level 1 “Get away from there, Zak!” Mia yelled. Mia yelled at Zak a lot. Zak was her little brother and he was a pest. He was always doing things he shouldn’t do. Just now he was throwing stones into the canal. That was OK. But he was too near the water. He might fall in – and then they’d both be in trouble. Mum had told Mia to look after Zak. It wasn’t fair. Mia could be playing Planet Quest on her Game Boy instead.
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“Zak, don’t be stupid! Get away from there!” Mia yelled again.
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Zak took no notice. He never did. Mia marched up to him, huffing with anger. “Look, Mia,” Zak said. He pointed at something in the water. “Look at that.” Mia was too cross to look. “It’s just a bit of old rubbish,” she said. “Now come away. It’s all muddy here.” “No, look,” Zak said. “It looks like a Game Boy game. Over there, in the water.” This time Mia did look. She loved her Game Boy. So did Zak – but she never let him play it. He took it sometimes when Mia wasn’t around, and he never put it back. It drove Mia mad. “I’m going to get it,” Zak said. “No, stay here,” Mia said. “You’ll only get wet. I’ll try.”
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Mia found a long stick and reached out into the water. It was easy. The thing seemed to bob towards her on its own. Zak was right – it was a Game Boy game! Mia picked the game out of the water. Zak ran over. “Let’s see, let’s see!” he yelled. Mia held it away from him and shook the water off it. “It’s mine,” she said. “I saw it first!” Zak complained. “But I got it out,” Mia said. They looked at the game. It had no picture or name on it. But there was a line of print. Warning! This game may be very bad for you. “That’s weird,” Mia said. 4
“Cool,” said Zak. “I wonder what game it is.” “I don’t think it’ll work,” Mia said. “The water will have ruined it.” “Let’s try it,” said Zak. “I will,” said Mia, “as soon as we get home.” All of a sudden, Zak put his hand on Mia’s arm. “Somebody’s watching us,” he whispered. “Look on the bridge.” Zak was always imagining things. But this time, when Mia looked, she saw that he was right. There was a man on the bridge over the canal and he was staring at them. He looked odd. He was bald, except for a small cone of white hair on top of his head. He wore thick glasses which made his eyes look huge. His eyes had an odd gleam to them as
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well. He smiled at Mia, and she saw a row of silver-capped teeth. Mia shivered. “Let’s go,” she said. She grabbed Zak’s hand and they ran away.
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