"Hello children! ", a merry female voice greeted them.

Sarah looked up and saw the principal's wife standing in the doorway looking down at them with an expectant smile on her face. She wore a beautiful yellow sun dress with an apron and in her hand sat a flawlessly good looking Apple pie.

'Yummy!,' thought Sarah as she smelled the delicious aroma and tried hard to concentrate on the mission and not the pie.

"Hi Mrs Myrrthe!" ,Medusa greeted back in return. "Is the principal here? "

"He sure is!", she replied, "and you are just in time for tea!" She said, waiving the Apple pie in front of them.
"Please! Do come in", she said as she stood back for them.

"Thank you ma'am ",Billy replied.
Mrs Myrrthe closed the door and led them through a magnificently warm and welcoming furnished house, to the back where Mr Myrrthe, the principal, was sitting in a beautifully well kept garden, enjoying the view of some small birds bathing in a water feature, patiently calm, as he waited for tea to be served.

"Ben, you have some visitors! ",Mrs Myrrthe called out in a lovely calm voice.

She nodded at us, to go to him and then disappeared into the kitchen.

"Wow! This is an amazing house! ", thought Sarah as she followed the others to the principal. " 'Don't judge a book by its cover ',is right! "

"Ah! To what do I owe this pleasure? ",asked the principal with a smile on his face, as he rose from his chair to greet them.

"Hi sir," Medusa greeted. "We came here to ask for your help with something. "

"And your permission, " added Billy.

"His help, is his permission Billy! ",Medusa replied. Rolling her eyes.

"Of course. "Replied the principal. "Please take a seat. Let's wait for Ruby to serve us our tea, before you tell me why you have come. Can it wait? "

"Yes, of course ", replied Sarah.

Mrs Myrrthe re-appeared with a tray , carrying our tea. She placed it on a table in the centre, before joining us, next to her husband.
Everyone, each took a slice of deliciously fresh-baked, out of the oven pie served with homemade ice cream and melted chocolate.
After tasting the delicious goodness, Medusa began to speak : (we all decided that she should be the person to speak. )

"You see sir, we were watching the news and saw that two students from school have gone missing. "

"Yes, John and Madison Tyler. We heard the news too. It is terrible!" Said Mrs Myrrthe.

"What were they doing at school? " Sarah couldn't help herself and just had to ask the question.

"They came over the day they were kidnapped and asked for permission to conduct an experiment in the school's laboratory. I didn't ask what experiment and didn't know they'd get kidnapped. "

"And you let them on the school's premises? ",asked Billy.

"Of course. I let anyone onto the school's grounds if they ask my permission. "

"Good! ",said Sarah.

The principal and his wife looked confused.

"Oh, we wanted to conduct an investigation of our own, to try and find out how and why they went missing. That's why we are here... to ask for your permission." Said Medusa.

"Oh", was all the principal could say.

"Is it fine? ", asked Billy.

"Yes, of course ", the principal replied. "But, be careful! I don't want any more children kidnapped! ",he said with a stern look on his face.

"We will ", replied Medusa.

"Well then, take care. But please stay out of the detectives' way and let them do their jobs. "

"Yes sir, thank you! ", the children replied in unison.