Geronimo Stilton: INTERPOL-Trouble In France: An Old Enemy Returns

Trip To California

The Rodent's Gazette, 17 Swiss Lane
1550 hours

After school ended, another one of my cars came to pick us up from school and drove us to The Rodent's Gazette. This time, a BMW M6 Grand Coupé I named Geschwind. We rode the elevator up from basement parking, then headed straight to Geronimo's office.

The door was wide open, coming out of the office was the sound from the wall-mounted flatscreen. Geronimo was watching his favorite afternoon drama series again while his staff works elsewhere in the building and his correspondents out and searching for a scoop, not including myself.

As we entered, I noted the absence of certain mice in the room which I was trying to get used to. Trap was running his store a few blocks down the street, Pandora's aunt, Patty Springs which usually comes by to pick her up after I gave her and Benjamin a ride here (Geronimo could get a little nervous when he's with her because he has a crush on her) but Pandora told her that she'd stay at the office and have Geronimo send her home.

And the most noticeable absence of all was Thea. She wasn't anywhere around New Mouse City ever since she was sent back to Whale Island to teach her students at Mouseford Academy for the new semester. I was trying to get use to her being gone for 14 weeks, yet I failed miserably. It's been only two weeks since she left and I missed her already! She's my friend and stepsister, how couldn't I? Plus, it does get really boring sometimes when Geronimo assigns me to search for scoops with him after school.

Geronimo was on his chair at his desk when he saw us come in. "Ah! You're all back from school," he squeaked.

Without a reply, I started to give out orders to everyone as we stepped in. "Pandora, close the curtains. Benjamin, shut the door, lock it, then make sure that the room is secure. I don't want any ears spying on us."

Pandora without question knew what the orders were for, and got to the windows behind Geronimo's desk and pulled the green curtains. Benjamin with an "Affirmative!" as a response and locked the door behind him shut, and went to check all the corners of the office to look out for any spying bugs.

Geronimo in mysteriousness demanded to know what was going on. "Mouselings? Danny? What's the meaning of this?" he asked as the office turned dark after Pandora got the curtains to shut.

I got him cheesed off when I waved my hand out to the TV and sent out neurosignals from the microchip to the TV that channeled out my hand by neurotransmitters planted in my fingers. "Hey! I was watching that!" he reacted.

"Benjamin! Is this place safe to talk?" I said.

He was looking inside the big grandfather clock by the fireplace. "The room is secure," he reported.

"Danny, may I ask what is going on?" demanded Geronimo.

I went to in front of him. "First, I want all electronics turned off. Huddle up everyone's iPhones to the desk." Our pockets were emptied of our iPhone 5Ss, and we gathered them on the desktop. I waved my hand above all of them, sending out commands to the phones and shut them off.

"Alright, NOW are you going to tell me?" asked Geronimo again, unable to hold his curiosity.

I explained the whole thing briefly. "Okay, at school, Benjamin and Pandora got into trouble with Punk Rat again. I was there to save him, got Punk Rat slammed and pinned to the lockers, and this happened." Waving my hand at the flatscreen, I played the digital memory I stored in the chip.

Geronimo witnessed me use Force Lightning in the clip, and he frowned at it. "Force Lightning? As a Jedi, I thought you weren't supposed to have that power," he said.