The Time Warp Wonder Read online

  “Messing with you Hardys was fun,” he admitted. “I’m going to miss making those pictures on the computer.”

  “Cheer up, Adam,” Joe smirked. “I’m sure you’ll find other ways to mess with us.”

  A noise made the boys turn their heads. Squeaky had jumped off the books and was scurrying toward a backpack on the floor.

  “Squeaky knows where I stash his food,” Tony said, chuckling. “Watch this.”

  Squeaky squeezed through a small opening, disappearing into Tony’s backpack.

  “Maybe his name should be Squeezy!” Joe joked.

  “Hardy-har-har!” Adam snapped. “And maybe you guys should leave before you crack more stupid jokes.”

  Frank and Joe smiled at each other. Adam was back to being his old bully self!

  “And take your dumb Frisbee with you!” Adam said.

  “No, thanks,” said Frank. “It’s got dog spit all over it.”

  The brothers left the Ackerman house. On the way home, Joe crossed Adam’s name off the suspect list in the clue book.

  “Adam thinks he’s so tough,” Joe said, and laughed. “But now we know he was scared of some goofy Halloween house for kids.”

  “He is good at something, Joe,” Frank pointed out. “Computer photography.”

  “And Squeaky is great at getting into tight spaces,” said Joe. “I wonder if all hamsters are good at that.”

  Joe was about to close his clue book, when something clicked . . . .

  Hamsters? Tight spaces?

  “Frank,” he said. “Maybe we’re wrong.”

  “Wrong about what?” Frank asked.

  “About Crusty,” Joe replied. “Maybe he wasn’t taken out of Phil’s time machine!”

  THE HARDY BOYS-and

  YOU!

  CAN YOU SOLVE THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING HAMSTER?

  Think like Frank and Joe Hardy to solve the case. Or turn the page to find out what happens next.

  1. Frank and Joe have ruled out Trent, Phil, and Adam as suspects. If someone did take Crusty out of the time machine—whodunit? On a sheet of paper, list other possible suspects.

  2. Joe thinks Crusty may not have been taken out of Phil’s time machine. How else could the hamster have gotten out? Write your answers on a sheet of paper.

  3. Frank and Joe each invented detective science projects. If you could invent a detective project for your science fair, what would it be? How would it work? Draw or write your ideas on a sheet of paper.

  4. Which clues helped you to solve this mystery? Write them down.

  Chapter 10

  Nick of Time!

  “If someone didn’t take Crusty out of Phil’s time machine, how could he have gotten out?” Frank asked.

  “If hamsters can squeeze into and out of tight spaces,” Joe explained, “maybe Crusty squeezed out of the time machine.”

  Joe turned to a fresh page in his clue book. Frank watched as Joe began to doodle.

  “What are you drawing?” Frank asked.

  “Phil’s time machine,” Joe answered, “and all the different places Crusty could have escaped from.”

  He drew arrows pointing under the time machine door and at the air holes.

  “We have to see if there’s enough room for Crusty to have squeezed out,” said Frank. “Let’s go to the school and look at Phil’s time machine.”

  “And look for Crusty,” Joe added.

  Frank and Joe walked the few blocks to Bayport Elementary School. The brothers headed straight to the lunchroom and Phil’s time machine. Luckily, the lunchroom was open, and they walked right in.

  “There’s no room between the time machine and the floor,” Frank said as they eyed it from top to bottom.

  “Yeah,” Joe agreed. “Crusty would have to be as flat as a tortilla to squeeze out underneath.”

  Frank pointed to the airholes. “He might have squeezed out one of those.”

  “Let me see,” Joe said. He walked around the time machine to the two air holes. But when he looked through—

  “Ahhhhhhh!” he shouted. “Two eyes are staring back at meeeeeeee!”

  “Who is it?” Frank asked.

  “Who do you think it is?” a familiar voice inside the time machine asked. “George Washington?”

  “Phil?” Frank and Joe said in unison.

  The time machine door opened. Out stepped Phil.

  “What were you doing in there?” Joe asked.

  “It’s my science fair project, remember?” said Phil. “I wanted to figure out how to make it more like a time machine. Like Ms. Klinger told me to.”

  “We were trying to figure out something too,” Frank said. “How Crusty could have escaped on his own.”

  “You think he escaped?” Phil repeated.

  “We think he might have squeezed out through one of the air holes,” Joe said. “That is, if he could reach them.”

  “I built a small shelf underneath the air holes,” Phil said. “Crusty could have jumped from the stool to the shelf, then out a hole.”

  Frank and Joe looked inside the time machine to see for themselves. It was an easy escape route for a hamster.

  “If that’s how Crusty got out,” Frank said, looking around the lunchroom, “where did he go?”

  “Maybe he ran into Mrs. Carmichael’s kitchen,” Phil said, “for some veggies or whatever hamsters like.”

  “Chet’s hamster likes pizza!” Joe said, and chuckled.

  Frank smiled too, until he was struck by a thought. “Isn’t Chet’s science project a slice of pizza?” he asked.

  “Yeah!” Joe said excitedly. “And Crusty loves pizza, so—”

  “So what are we waiting for?” Frank said. “Next stop—pizza project!”

  Frank, Joe, and Phil raced to the table holding Chet’s pizza slice. It was still covered with the metal dome-shaped lid.

  “How could Crusty get under that thing?” Phil asked. “It’s a tight fit.”

  Joe pointed at a round hole at the top of the dome. “Unless,” he said, “Crusty squeezed through this!”

  Leaning over, Joe looked down through the hole.

  “What do you see, Joe?” Frank asked.

  “I spy with my little eye,” said Joe, “a very full hamster!” He smiled as he pulled off the cover.

  “Crusty!” Frank and Phil cried.

  The little hamster sat next to the pizza slice. His cheeks were stuffed as he nibbled on the crust.

  “And look,” Joe said, pointing to the hamster’s pizza-filled stomach. “White marks the spot. It’s Crusty, you guys!”

  “This is awesome,” Phil said. “Wait until we tell Chet that we found Crusty!”

  “You found Crusty?” a voice asked.

  The three boys turned to see Chet. Their friend was wearing a white baker’s hat and apron streaked with blue and yellow frosting.

  “Well?” Chet asked. “Where’s my hamster?”

  Joe stepped aside to reveal Crusty. “Ta-daaa!” he announced. “There he is—living up to his name!”

  When Chet saw Crusty, he smiled from ear to ear. “At least the crust isn’t moldy yet,” he said. “Stale, but not moldy.”

  “What are you doing at school today, Chet?” Frank asked. “And why are you dressed like a chef?”

  “My cake decorating club meets here every Sunday,” Chet said. “I get to eat whatever I decorate. Good deal.”

  He picked up his hamster. “How did you find Crusty anyway?” he asked.

  “Hamsters squeeze out of tight spaces,” Frank explained. “That’s how he got out of his carrier on Friday. And out of Phil’s time machine.”

  Chet turned to Phil. “Sorry I blamed you,” he said. “I just wanted my hamster back. So did Iola.”

  “It’s cool,” Phil said. “I’m just glad Crusty didn’t go back in time. That would have been weird.”

  “And kind of awesome,” Joe admitted.

  Phil heaved a big sigh. “You know what’s not awesome?” he asked. “The sci
ence fair is tomorrow, and I still don’t know how to make my time machine more like a time machine!”

  Joe looked across the lunchroom at Phil’s science project. It was built really well. Maybe it just needed more lights. Or pink mist. Or . . . something else!

  “How about pictures of different times in history flashing on and off?” Joe asked Phil. “All over the outside of your time machine?”

  “Sounds neat,” Phil said. “But how am I going to do that?”

  Joe thought of the pictures of Squeaky and smiled. “Don’t worry, Phil,” he said. “I know just the guy for the job!”

  On Monday the Bayport Elementary School Science Fair was in full swing. Lots of kids tried on Joe’s lie detector helmet. And Frank demonstrated his fingerprint project on the principal himself!

  But the project that drew the biggest crowd was Phil’s time machine, with its picture tour of the world through history.

  “The Phil and Adam Time Warp Wonder is a hit!” Joe said as he and Frank watched it from across the lunchroom.

  “What’s really a wonder is that Adam can stop being a bully for a day,” Frank said, “and do something good.”

  “Yeah,” Joe said with a grin. “And it’s about TIME!”

  About the Author

  Franklin W. Dixon is the author of the ever-popular Hardy Boys series of books.

  Santy Gutiérrez resides in the seaside city of La Coruña, Spain. He has won awards such as the Best Spanish Young Editorial Cartoonist and Best Galician Caricaturist, among others.

  DON’T MISS THE NEXT HARDY BOYS CLUE BOOK:

  Who Let the Frogs Out?

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  Don’t miss any of the cases in the Hardy Boys Clue Book series!

  #1: The Video Game Bandit

  #2: The Missing Playbook

  #3: Water-Ski Wipeout

  #4: Talent Show Tricks

  #5: Scavenger Hunt Heist

  #6: A Skateboard Cat-astrophe

  #7: The Pirate Ghost

  Coming Soon

  #9: Who Let the Frogs Out?

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

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  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  First Aladdin paperback edition November 2018

  Text copyright © 2018 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Santy Gutiérrez

  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Series designed by Karina Granda

  Cover designed by Nina Simoneaux

  Library of Congress Control Number 2017049432

  ISBN 978-1-5344-1392-4 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-1391-7 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-1393-1 (eBook)