Superpowers by Alex Cliff

PUFFIN BOOKS
    SUPER POWERS
    THE CLASH OF CLAWS
    Books by Alex Cliff
SUPERPOWERS series
SUPER POWERS
    THE CLASH OF CLAWS

    ALEX CLIFF
    ILLUSTRATED BY LEO HARTAS

    PUFFIN
    PUFFIN BOOKS
    Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
    Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL , England
    puffinbooks.com
    Published 2007
1
    Text copyright © Alex Cliff, 2007
Illustrations copyright © Leo Hartas, 2007
All rights reserved
    The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted
    ISBN: 978–0–141–90238–8
    To Steve Cole, for being a genius writer (ha!),
inspiration, source of silly jokes and best friend.
These books couldn’t have been
written without you.
PS You’re not always right, though,
I still think geese
are
scary and pigs

can
snort threateningly!
    CONTENTS
    Just imagine…
    One A Great Day Out
    Two Bullseye!
    Three In Trouble…
    Four In the Maze
    Five Trapped!
    Six
Thunk!
    Seven Chased by a Bird
    Eight Into Battle!
    Nine Back to the Castle
    JUST IMAGINE…
    a full moon shining down on a ruined castle. In the nearby village the church bells strike midnight. A hawk flies through the darkness into the castle. There is a loud crash of thunder. As the echo of the thunder fades, the evil goddess Juno appears in the doorway of the castle’s only remaining tower. She is twice as tall as a normal woman. Acloak of feathers swirls from her shoulders and her black eyes flash in anger.
    â€˜Worms!’ she hisses, snapping her fingers. ‘Maggots!’
    With a creaking, grinding noise some of the stones on the inside of the tower wall opposite her begin to crumble away.
    A man looks out of the hole in the wall. His face is lined with deep wrinkles. It is the superhero Hercules. ‘I imagine you must be talking about the boys, Finlay and Max?’ he asks. There is a note of amusement in his deep voice as he looks at the enraged goddess.
    â€˜Pathetic humans!’ Juno spits out.
    â€˜Pathetic?’ Hercules raises his eyebrows. ‘I hardly see how you can callthose two boys that, Juno. You have set them four tasks and they have completed each one, winning back four of my superpowers for me.’
    â€˜I still hold your three remaining superpowers,’ Juno reminds him. ‘You will not get
them
back!’

    â€˜I believe I will, Juno.’ Hercules meets the goddess’s gaze squarely. ‘The deal you made with them still stands. There are only three remaining tasks of the seven you set them and every time that they succeed in completing another task, they win back another of my superpowers. I believe that soon all my powers will be returned to me and I shall break free from this prison.’ He thumps the wall of the tower.
    â€˜Never!’ Juno shrieks in rage. ‘In the morning, the boys must slay the Man-Eating Birds of Stymphalia. Are you really trying to tell me that they will be able to do that?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Hercules declares. ‘I am!’
    The goddess and the superhero stare at each other.
    When Juno speaks her voice is low and dangerous. ‘They will fail.’ Before Hercules can speak she clicks her fingers.