Speed Demons Read online

  Copyright © 2010 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Disney Press, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.

  Printed in the United States of America

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  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number on file.

  ISBN 978-1-4231-4158-7

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  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped” book.

  Table of Contents

  Part One

  Part One Chapter 1

  Part One Chapter 2

  Part One Chapter 3

  Part One Chapter 4

  Part One Chapter 5

  Part Two

  Part Two Chapter 1

  Part Two Chapter 2

  Part Two Chapter 3

  Part Two Chapter 4

  Part Two Chapter 5

  Runaway Hit Preview

  Part One

  Chapter 1

  Phineas Flynn and his stepbrother, Ferb Fletcher, had a problem. It was a beautiful summer day, and they had nothing to do.

  Here they were just sitting under a tree with their pet platypus, Perry.

  “So, Ferb, what should we do today?” Phineas asked. “I mean, besides giving Perry a bath.” He leaned over to sniff his pet.

  Ferb looked at Perry. The platypus made a low clucking sound. Ferb didn’t say anything in reply, which wasn’t unusual. Ferb was the strong, silent type. Except that he wasn’t particularly strong. He and his father were from England. Ferb’s dad was married to Phineas’s mom. Phineas and Ferb had been best friends from the moment they met. They thought of themselves as brothers, not stepbrothers.

  Just then, a loud, zooming roar cut through the silent, summer breeze.

  Ferb looked at Perry again, but Phineas was already peeking over the backyard fence. A deafening buzz was coming from the other side. Phineas saw a huge motor speedway. Cars were zipping around the track. A brilliant idea popped into Phineas’s brain. “Awesome!” he cried. “Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today.”

  “Oh, I have got to take a new picture of myself for my blog.” Phineas’s older sister, Candace, frowned at the photo of herself on her cell phone. “I didn’t realize mine is already a week old.” She pointed the camera at her face and snapped another picture. It looked exactly the same as the old one.

  “That’s better!” she said brightly as she walked past the door to the garage.

  Something strange was afoot in there.

  Sparks flew. Smoke rose. Saws buzzed.

  Candace stopped in her tracks. “What are you doing to Mom’s car?” She glared at Phineas and Ferb. They were busy turning the family sedan into . . . something. It had a large number on the side and turbo boosters on the top.

  Phineas and Ferb popped out of the roof. “We tricked it out,” Phineas explained.

  Candace rolled her eyes. “You don’t even know how to drive!”

  “Well, duh,” Phineas shot back. “That’s why Ferb built this remote.”

  Ferb held up the remote control and flipped a lever. The car’s engine roared to life.

  Candace narrowed her eyes. “Oh, you are so busted! Mom!” she shouted, darting through the house. “Mom! Mom!” Candace ran through every room. Her mother was nowhere to be found.

  Candace finally ran back to the garage. “Um . . . where’s Mom?” she asked.

  Ferb was jumping on a giant engine, trying to force it under the hood of the family sedan.

  “She’s playing bridge at Mrs. GarciaShapiro’s,” Phineas explained.

  Candace hurried across the street. She couldn’t wait to see the look on her mother’s face when she saw the car.

  Phineas and Ferb would be totally toasted. Finally. They always got away with everything. And Candace never got away with anything. Such as that time she borrowed her mom’s sweater without asking. It wasn’t even Candace’s fault that Stacy had spilled grape juice on it! But, of course, Candace got in trouble anyway.

  Now it was Phineas’s and Ferb’s turn.

  “They won’t get away with it this time!” Candace laughed as she rang Mrs. GarciaShapiro’s doorbell.

  Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro’s round face lit up when she answered the door. “Oh, Candace, dear,” she said in her slight Spanish accent. “What a coincidence. Do you know your mom is here?”

  “Yeah, I do, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro.” Candace smiled sweetly. “I need to talk to her if you don’t mind.”

  “Oy, vey!” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro didn’t move out of the doorway. “Look how tall you are now! You must have grown a couple of inches since the last time I saw you.”

  “That was last week, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro.” Candace tried not to sound impatient. She really wanted her mother to see what Phineas and Ferb were doing—before they got away with it! But Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro loved to chat.

  “Well, your mom’s inside, dear,” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro said. “Where are your braces? I thought you were wearing braces.”

  “Yeah,” Candace said absently. A car zoomed down the street behind her. It was her mom’s car! “Mom!” Candace shouted. “Mom! Mom!”

  Linda Flynn-Fletcher didn’t look up from her cards. She and the other members of the bridge club were all sitting at the table. They were in the middle of a hand. “What is it, Candace?”

  “You have got to see what Phineas and Ferb are doing!” Candace looked across the street. The car was zipping back and forth behind her. Phineas and Ferb were on the front lawn, watching it go. Ferb had the remote control. Their hair blew back every time the car whooshed past.

  “Hey, Ferb,” Phineas said, peering down at the remote. “What’s the red button for?”

  Ferb pressed the red button. Rockets appeared beneath the car.

  “Mom!” Candace shrieked, just as the car shot into the air.

  Linda hauled herself out of her chair. “What is it?” she asked. She walked over to Candace’s side. “What do you want me to see?”

  “Look!” Candace pointed across the street.

  “Hi, Mom.” Phineas said as he and Ferb smiled and waved. The car had disappeared.

  “Hi, boys,” Linda called. She looked down at Candace, whose mouth was hanging open. “Well, if that’s all, I’ll just be getting back to the game.”

  Linda turned and went back inside just as the car dropped from the sky, landing right in front of Phineas and Ferb.

  “Good thing we beefed up the suspension,” Phineas said.

  Ferb flipped a lever and the car spun around in circles. It moved so fast, it looked like a tornado!

  “Whoa!” Phineas said, his eyes wide. “What else can it do?”

  “Hi, Phineas.”

  “Oh, hi, Isabella.” Phineas turned to his friend, a pretty black-haired girl, who had just appeared beside him. She had on a pink dress and wore a pink bow in her hair.

  “Whatcha doin’?” Isabella asked.

  “We’re entering the Swamp-Oil 500 today,” Phineas explained. He pointed toward the racetrack.

  Isabella thought for a moment. “Aren’t you going to need a pit crew?” she asked.

  Phineas lifted his eyebrows in surprise. Isabella was right—he did need someone to help change his tires and fill up his gas tank b
etween laps. “Do you know a pit crew?”

  “Well, I know a few people who work well together,” Isabella said.

  “Great, you’re hired!” Phineas said happily. “See you at the track.” He looked over at his brother. “Hey, Ferb, where’s Perry?” he asked.

  Ferb shrugged.

  Phineas shook his head. This day was getting out of hand. He and Ferb had built a race car. They were about to enter the Swamp-Oil 500. And now their pet had disappeared!

  Chapter 2

  Perry the Platypus had an assignment. He pulled out his felt fedora and a remote control. He pressed a button, and a panel on the side of Phineas and Ferb’s house slid back. Perry stepped inside. He dropped down a long tunnel and landed in his secret lair. He hurried to the control panel. A giant screen flickered to life. A military man with a serious face and a square jaw looked down at the platypus. Major Monogram was Perry’s boss.

  Perry the platypus worked for a secret branch of a secret branch of a secret part of the government. He was undercover. Even Phineas and Ferb didn’t know his true identity. They thought Perry was just a pet. But the platypus was a secret agent.

  “Good morning, Agent P,” Major Monogram said.

  A photo of a devious-looking man in a white lab coat appeared on the screen. “The evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz is up to his old tricks,” Major Monogram explained. “For reasons completely unknown, he’s purchased a giant airship, or ‘blimp,’ as the kids say. Your mission is to find out why, and, if necessary, put a stop to it!”

  Perry nodded. He had dealt with Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz before. No doubt he was up to something horrible. But Perry wouldn’t let him get away with it. The top of the mechanical tree in Phineas’s backyard opened up, and Perry blasted out of his cave in a flying car.

  The platypus was on the case!

  * * *

  “Hi, Phineas,” Isabella chirped. They were in the center of a racetrack in a stadium packed with the sounds of roaring engines and screaming fans. “I got your pit crew.” She motioned to a group of girls. They all wore identical brown uniforms and brown berets. Isabella was the leader of the Fireside Girls troop. Whenever there was a task to be completed, she knew she could call on them. Fireside Girls were always prepared.

  “Cool!” Phineas grinned. “See you in the pits!”

  Isabella pulled out a diagram. It was a picture of the car’s reworked engine. “Okay, girls,” she said. “We’re dealing with a four-hundred-and-twenty-six-cubic-inch, fully blown V-eight with hypo-lifters, radical cam, and a limited slip differential.”

  The girls flipped open their Fireside Girl handbooks. Gretchen raised her hand. “Would that be electronically fuel-injected?” she asked.

  Isabella nodded. She just knew that the Fireside Girls were going to make the best pit crew ever! This was going to be great!

  “Phineas!” Candace screamed as she plodded through the stands at the racetrack. “Phineas! Phineas!” Her voice was even more deafening than the engines on the track.

  “Hey!” A guy in the stands glowered at Candace. “I can’t hear the cars!”

  “Hey, Candace!” a cute boy called out. “I didn’t know you were a racing fan.”

  Candace’s eyes went wide. That blond hair! Those blue eyes! It was her crush, Jeremy! She hadn’t expected to see him here. “Who, me?” she asked as she slipped into the chair beside his. “Oh, yeah, I’m a big fan of those . . . those, uh . . . uh . . .” Her mind went blank. She couldn’t remember the word for the things that went around the track. “That red one is cute,” she said, pointing to the race cars.

  “Oh, that’s Billy Ray Diggler’s car,” Jeremy said. “He’s great!”

  “Yeah, yeah, he’s the best!” Candace gushed. She fluttered her eyelashes at Jeremy. “That Billy Roy.”

  “Billy Ray,” Jeremy corrected.

  “Billy Ray. I—I love it when he turns left . . .” Candace thought about that. Didn’t the cars go in a circle? That meant they were always turning left. “. . . And then he turns left again . . . and then . . .” Her voice drifted off.

  Just then, an announcer’s voice blared through the speakers. “And in the third lane, newcomers Team Phineas!”

  What? Candace looked up at the JumboTron. Sure enough, there was Phineas!

  “And look!” the announcer went on. “He’s already got his own screaming fans!”

  The camera cut to Candace as she screamed, “Phineas!”

  Phineas looked up at the JumboTron. His sister was on the screen, hollering her head off. “Hey, Candace is rooting for us!” Phineas said to Ferb.

  Phineas wasn’t the only one who had noticed. “Candace, you’re on the big screen!” Jeremy exclaimed.

  Candace looked up at the giant image of herself. Her face was hideously twisted as she screamed her brother’s name again. “Phineas!” Candace cringed in embarrassment. Great. Forty thousand people—including her crush—were seeing this. Why couldn’t they have blown up the cute photo she had taken for her blog?

  “And your little brother’s going to be on TV!” Jeremy went on.

  “Phineas . . . on TV?” Candace repeated. Sure enough, Phineas was being interviewed in front of a TV camera. An idea popped into her mind. “TV! That’s it! They are so busted! Can you wait right here for a second? Thanks.”

  Candace rushed off toward the pay phones.

  She had forgotten her cell phone. Just when she needed it most! If she’d had it, she could have snapped a picture of Phineas while he was on the JumboTron. Just her luck.

  Candace dropped a quarter into the pay phone and punched in Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro’s phone number. Finally, Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro answered. Candace asked to speak to her mother.

  “What is it, Candace?” Linda asked when she got on the line. “I’m right in the middle of a three no-trump.”

  “Turn on the TV!” Candace cried. She had to shout to make her voice heard over the engines roaring in the background.

  “All right, all right, Candace,” her mother said as she walked into Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro’s living room. “This better be good.” Several different remote controls sat on the table in front of her. Linda had to guess which one turned on the TV. Finally, she chose the largest. She picked it up and pressed a button.

  Static appeared and hissed across the screen.

  “Well?” Candace demanded. “Well, do you see it?”

  “Just a second, honey,” Linda said as she pressed another button. A DVD slid out of the player.

  “Turn on the cable box first,” Mrs. Garcia-Shapiro called from the other room.

  “Hmm, all right.” Linda picked up another remote and pressed a button. “Wait. Okay, that’s not it. Um, is it this one? No, this is another phone.” She then picked up another remote and pressed a button. Pop music blared as a result. “Oh, I turned on the stereo.”

  “Mom, hurry up!” Candace whined into the phone.

  “Okay. Just a second!” Finally, the TV screen came to life.

  “Are you embarrassed by flaking, itching, peeling?” asked an announcer.

  Linda frowned. “Candace, this is a dandruff commercial. Is there something you’re trying to tell me?”

  Candace groaned. It would probably take her mother another three hours just to change the channel! She looked over her shoulder. The race was about to start.

  Chapter 3

  “Okay, Ferb,” Phineas said over his walkie-talkie. He was behind the wheel of their souped-up family car. Engines revved around him, ready to start the race. “Are we good to go?”

  Ferb gave his brother a thumbs-up. He was standing at the top of a tower at the edge of the track. He would have a great view of the entire race.

  “And, with the race about to start,” the announcer said over the speakers, “there’s the Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated blimp.”

  Dr. Doofenshmirtz was so good at being evil that he had actually turned it into a business. His large blimp floated over the speedway. The Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated logo
was in big letters across the side.

  Perry steered his flying car toward the blimp at top speed. When he was next to it, the platypus jumped into the blimp through a window.

  “Ah, Perry the Platypus!” Dr. Doofenshmirtz grinned. “I’m glad you’re here, actually. I was just getting ready to serve some platypus under glass!” He pulled a red lever, and a glass jar clamped down over the secret agent. Airholes were cut into the side so he could breathe. Perry pounded his tiny fist against the glass. He was trapped!

  “You’re just in time to witness my latest invention,” the evil doctor said, rubbing his hands together. “My Deflatanator Ray! Which I will demonstrate by deflating all the tires at the Jefferson County motor speedway. After which I will deflate everything in the tri-state area!”

  Perry narrowed his eyes in anger. If the evil doctor deflated all the tires on the speedway, the cars would crash. People would be hurt—including Phineas!

  Perry had to find a way to stop the evil doctor—before it was too late!

  Candace stomped down to the edge of the racetrack. “Phineas, you are in big trouble, mister!” she shouted at the cars as they whizzed past. A blast of exhaust landed all over her. She was coated in grime. She trudged back to her seat.

  Jeremy winced when he saw her. “Candace, you’ve got a little—”

  “Smile!” A flashbulb popped. “Souvenir picture?” a photographer asked. He held out a photo. “Only a dollar!”

  Candace screamed at the sight of herself covered in soot. But then another bulb popped—in her mind. She had an idea. A brilliant, perfect, sure-way-to-catch-Phineas-and-Ferb-in-the-act idea! “Wait a second!” She shook off the soot and exhaust residue and grabbed the camera.