Nanny X Returns Read Free Page A

“
Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh
.”
    The second thing it says in the guide is that you should try not to panic. It was too late for that, so I skipped to step 3: Try to take in more air. You were supposed to be able to do this by floating on your back. The book forgets that floating on your back can be hard if you can’t swim. But with the life jacket, floating was pretty easy. I tilted my head back, just like the book suggested. Slowly, my legs started to rise.
    I could feel the cold water all around me. Slime and algae swirled around, too, like monster hair. I could feel wet dog. Plus, I could
smell
wet dog. When you are drowning, you do not pay attention to how things smell. Yeti paddled next to me. He licked some water off my nose.
    â€œHold on, Jake Z,” called Nanny X.
    â€œ
I’m trying
,” I yelled. But there was nothing for me to hold on to.
    I felt something smooth and cold rub against my leg. My
Fantastically Freaky Animal Facts
book says all snakes can swim, including poisonous ones. What if I died from a snakebite instead of drowning?
    â€œ
Aaaahhhhhhhhh
,” I yelled, a little higher.
    â€œCan we help?” I whipped my head around and saw a small boat. Our friend Stinky, who is in fifth grade with Ali, was leaning over the side. The person steering was his nanny, Boris, who is a member of NAP, like Nanny X. They had their own fishing gear, which meant that they must be the special agents who got the case first. The good news was that they were in a perfect position to stop me before I drifted over a waterfall. Going over a waterfall is something that happens a lot in the movies.
    â€œAaaahh,” I said, but not as loud.
    Nanny X waved, like she was shooing them away. “We’ve got him covered.” But she was nowhere near me. Then I saw her pluck a fishing lure from her hat and stick it in the water. It floated toward me, and grew from what looked like a purple minnow to a purple eggplant. It kept growing, until it was the size of a man-eating shark. But it wasn’t eating anybody. What it was doing was swimming. What it was doing was coming to save me.
    â€œTundra,” I said, which means that it was way cooler than just regular cool. After that, I stopped talking so water wouldn’t get in my mouth.
    The minnow reached me. Its tail was flat, like the bottom of a chair. There was a handle, and I grabbed it. My legs were still churning around in the water, so it took me a little while before I could pull myself up. I pulled Yetiup, too. He shook himself and I could see all kinds of ripples in the water where the drops fell. Slowly the minnow turned around and started swimming back toward Nanny X.
Upstream
. Which didn’t seem possible. It had more control with its fins than Nanny X and my sister had with their paddles.
    The minnow moved forward until it bumped smack into the canoe. Ali helped us on board, and Nanny X squeezed the minnow’s cheeks so its fish lips looked even fishier.
Pppfffffft
. It sounded like a whoopee cushion as it shrank back to its original size. Nanny X snatched it out of the water and stuck it back on her hat. Then she squeezed me.
    â€œI guess I should start swimming lessons again,” I said.
    â€œIt’s not a bad skill for a special agent to have,” she agreed, as Stinky and Boris buzzed toward us. Their boat had a motor. When they were a few feet away they cut it off, and Boris pulled out a hook—not for fishing, but for grabbing—and attached our boat to his. Then he pulled out a small anchor and threw it over the side.
    â€œFancy meeting you on this fine morning,” said Boris, who is tall, even when he is sitting in a boat. He has brown skin and a little beard that Eliza likes to pull on.
    â€œHello, Boris,” said Nanny X. She sounded kind of frosty. Not frosty as in cool or tundra; frosty as in angry.
    â€œWhat have you caught?” he said.
    â€œNot a person, place or thing,” Nanny