The Pi Sisters at Malory Towers

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: THE PI SISTERS ARE FOUND

The next morning, the school was in a frenzy. Miss Grayling hired search parties, and the Pi Sisters' mother was called.

'They've escaped?' she commented primly. 'Jolly smart of them. They've probably gone to their Auntie Nigella's. They simply adore her. She's a famous chef, you know. Almost as rich as us.'

But the Pi Sisters were not at Auntie Nigella's. No, they were buried in a pile of glop and dung, moaning and waiting for someone to find them!

'This is worse than when I was mobbed by scones before Daddy's concert,' moaned Doris.

'I wish someone found us!' exclaimed Fanny, who was much more practical than her twin.

'At least we're missing school,' retorted her twin. And with that, the Pi Sisters settled in the glop, Doris clutching her ribs in mock agony.

Meanwhile, Alicia was the only one unperturbed by the twins' disappearance. 'I knew they would run away someday,' she said casually. 'I think I'll take a walk near Farmer John's farm to look for them, they can't have gotten too far on those ancient donkeys!'

Alicia was strolling through the muddy fields, when, suddenly, she noticed a pale hand sticking out from under the manure heap.

'Heavens!' she exclaimed. 'Could that be the Pi Sisters?'

Alicia grabbed a shovel from nearby and set to work unearthing the bodies from the muck. When they were out, she let out a gasp, for the Pi Sisters looked like monsters!

Filth dripped down from their blond locks, and their faces were caked with slime.

'Get us to school, you dreadful Alicia,' said Doris gruffly. 'We need to wash our faces and douse ourselves in expensive parfum. What a stinky place this was!'

'Well, I read in Vogue that mud can be quite good for your skin!' cut in Fanny. 'And besides, I have a sprained ankle and can't walk.'

'And I have a broken rib,' added Doris quickly, pasting a pained expression on her muddy face. 'Get us a Rolls Royce and we'll see if we can get out of this ditch.'

Alicia ignored them. She walked to Farmer Johns storehouse, and hauled out a rusty wheel barrow.

'There, that will do,' she said, roughly shoving the twins into the hay-filled cart. 'Now hold on tight. You're going to be seeing some angry faces when we reach school!'

The pi sisters squealed as the bumpy journey started. Alicia grimly pushed the cart, sighing with relief when she reached the school. The Pi Sisters were rather heavy with all that mud and the layers of clothes.

Mam'zelle was the first to see them. She let out a shriek. 'Tiens! What are these little muddy puppies you bring back on a cart? Naughty Alicia! Pets are not allowed!'

And indeed, the twins did look like inhuman creatures with their cake of mud. The hay had stuck to the sticky mud coating them, and now they looked more like meatballs than schoolgirls – and their many layers of clothing were not helping either!

'They're simply the Pi Sisters, Mam'zelle,' said Alicia. 'Call matron, please. We need to get them cleaned up, and this one claims her rib is broken!' She pointed at Doris skeptically.

Matron arrived, the search parties were called off, and soon the scene had died down and the Pi Sisters were in the bath.

'Golly!' said Fanny. 'The mud and hay have blocked the drain!'

At last, the girls were clean for matron to examine. She inspected Fanny's ankle first, which had swollen to the size of a lacrosse ball.

'Badly sprained,' she announced. Then she turned to Doris. 'And you,' she said. 'Claim to have broken a rib? Let me check.'

She pressed Doris's ribs. Doris screeched loudly, nearly deafening Matron.

'Nothing wrong at all,' she said to the sullen girl. 'No need to scream like that. Now shoo! I have your twin to attend to.'

She turned to Fanny, lying in bed like a queen. Doris's mood soured. 'Now I shall have to face the girls alone,' she thought to herself. 'Oh, blow that awful Fanny!'