Rise of the Heroes (25 page)

“Sarge!” wailed a terrified young soldier.

“Pipe down!” growled a muscular sergeant with a British accent.

Jake landed with a thump on the beach, facing the men. He allowed his long claws to tap rhythmically against his leg, in what he hoped was a menacing manner. His clothes absorbed the moonlight, and his glowing eyes gave him a fearsome appearance.

“Um … yeah …,” he mumbled. He couldn't think of
anything
suitably threatening to say. His head was still swimming with recent revelations.

Then the ground shook, making every bone in his body vibrate and his teeth rattle. The braver of the troopers risked a glance behind, through the foliage, at the volcano. A massive plume of smoke spewed from the volcano's cone, lit by flaming debris.

It had begun.

Jake's actions over the last week had been truly awful, even by his own standards. But they were nothing compared to the erupting volcano and what it signified. Jake knew that the Core Probe had been launched and was now burrowing to the center of the earth.

After the backstabbing treachery of the past few days, it looked as if he'd either be dead or in a cell on Diablo Island before he learned the consequences of his actions.

Copyright © 2008 by Andy Briggs

All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by Oxford University Press

Electronic edition published in October 2011

Published in the United States of America in 2009 by Walker Publishing Company, Inc.

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www.walkeryoungreaders.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Briggs, Andy.

Rise of the heroes / Andy Briggs.

p. cm. — (Hero.com)

Summary: After Toby, Pete, Lorna, and Emily download powers off the Internet to become superheroes, they must band together to save Toby and Lorna's mother from the evil supervillain Doc Tempest.

eISBN: 978-0-80272-815-9 (ebook)

[1. Superheroes—Fiction. 2. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.B76528Ri 2009            [Fic]—dc22            2008040630

HERO.COM is used in this work as a fictitious domain name. Walker & Company and OUP take no responsibility for any actual Web site bearing this name.