Molly Moon & the Morphing Mystery

by Georgia Byng

  At once Molly saw how totally in control the queen was, and how all the termites served her completely. Molly looked at Miss Oakkton, who was still under the impression that the insect she was holding was Molly. Miss Oakkton was about to kill that termite, to squeeze the life out of it, and Molly felt entirely responsible for this. And so Molly the queen whispered to her feeders.

  “The large termite there is an imposter!”

  In unison, the termites turned to look at Miss Oakkton. They stopped what they were doing. And, as though their brains were synchronized, they moved toward her. Before Miss Oakkton knew what was happening, the termites had walled her in.

  The smaller termite that had once been Molly escaped from the termite scrum, scurrying out of the chamber in terror, while Miss Oakkton…she was destroyed.

  Molly the queen termite shuddered, her multi-abdomined body wobbling like Jell-O. It was then that she noticed that the termite that was Miss Hunroe had slipped away. And the stones were gone.

  “You all rightee my queenee?” came a loyal termite’s concerned question.

  “Yessee,” Molly the queen replied. “Thank you. I want messageeee sent out to all the colony. Messageeee is this. The termite that took the colored stones must be caught.” As she spoke, the termites listened.

  “Yeeesssee Your Highnesssss,” they said in unison, and immediately they left the chamber to spread the word.

  With no time to lose, Molly morphed into a big black termite. And, back inside its armored body, she darted down the tunnel after Miss Hunroe.

  She hoped that once the queen’s wishes were known, every one of her subjects would surround the termite that was Miss Hunroe. Miss Hunroe was likely to be heading for the exit—unless she’d hidden the colored weather stones somewhere in the termite mound, and hidden herself, too. Molly was going to have to take a guess. As she scurried along, a wave of termite whispers flowed beside her.

  “Find the termite with the stones,” the whisper went. “The queen wants that termite caught.”

  And then Molly heard barking outside. It was muffled because of the denseness of the mud walls, but Molly would recognize that bark anywhere. Petula! She was barking incessantly—a bark that meant there was trouble. Breaking into a run, Molly followed the sound of Petula’s bark and pushed through the crowds of soldier termites that were entering the mound. She burst out into the open.

  Above her, a massive Petula barked at Miss Hunroe, who was so big that Molly could hardly see her face. Micky was there, too, as well as Lily and Bas and Canis. Cappuccino the capuchin monkey sat on a low rock surveying the scene. It was pouring rain, and the ground was so muddy and waterlogged that small rivulets flowed next to the termite mound and beside the Logan Stones. To Molly the termite, these streams were like torrential rivers. She looked up at Miss Hunroe and wondered desperately whether it would be possible to morph into her.

  All the while Petula and Canis barked and snapped at Miss Hunroe, who was brandishing a stick and trying to hit anyone who came to close to her. The commotion of barking and shouting, along with the thunder, was deafening.

  Then Molly saw Petula drop something onto the ground. It was the blue stone. Miss Hunroe saw it, too. All at once, Molly understood that it had been her dear friend Petula who had been changing the nearby weather. She’d been causing all this rain.

  Miss Hunroe dived for and snatched the blue stone and then, like some insane person, began to scale the tall termite mound. Slipping as she gripped its wet surface, she made her way up to its top turret.

  In a flash, Molly meegoed into her own body and surveyed the scene.

  Miss Hunroe was sitting on the top of the colossal termite mound, holding the stones aloft.

  “Molly!” Micky shouted through the rain. In the next moment, Miss Hunroe disappeared. All that was left of her was a pile of safari clothes, and balanced on top were the four colored weather-changing stones.

  “Get the stones!” Molly yelled. Wasting no time, Molly dived onto the termite mound and began climbing toward them.

  But in the time it takes to turn a page, Miss Hunroe was back. This time she was wearing a long red dress with flames embroidered up the side. A pattern of green leaves twisted around the side, and its hem was blue like the sea. A scarf of gray chiffon framed her beautiful face.

  “It’s heaven!” she exclaimed, holding the four colored stones up to the sky. “Heaven! I have complete control!” She saw her audience’s amazement. “Yes, I look wonderful, don’t I? This is called style. You didn’t think I would wear an ordinary safari suit to become the queen of the weather, did you?” She began to laugh.

  Molly raised her head and stared straight up at Miss Hunroe. “Look me in the eyes, Miss Hunroe, if you dare.”

  Miss Hunroe began to giggle like a crazy schoolgirl. “I shall have to decline your offer, my dear,” she tittered. “Instead, why don’t you look down the barrel of my—” The instant the word barrel left her lips Molly knew what Miss Hunroe was about to pull from the silk of her dress. Micky realized, too, and thinking as one, the twins both morphed into Miss Hunroe.

  As Molly arrived, she saw how twisted and cruel Miss Hunroe was. But she didn’t have the time to dive into Miss Hunroe’s memories and see why she was such a vindictive sociopath. Like a great friendly presence, Micky arrived and joined Molly. The battle was on.

  Molly and Micky worked together. Using all their mental might, they wrestled with Miss Hunroe. They edged and shouldered her into a smaller and smaller place, taking the fury that they felt for the woman and turning it into strength. With two determined minds against one, Miss Hunroe didn’t stand a chance. Though she pushed and wriggled, she couldn’t expand herself past the twins. In fact, she was shrinking. Shrinking and shriveling like a poisonous flower in the hot sun. Like a car in a metal crusher she was being squashed. The button-sized thing that was her was flattened to the size of a sunflower seed, and then was squeezed to the size of a poppy seed.

  “NOOOOO!” she screamed, her voice now a squeak.

  And then, using the tiny amount of energy that she had left, Miss Hunroe did what might have been a clever thing. She somersaulted out of her own body and into the form of the white-faced capuchin monkey that sat on a branch eating a piece of fruit.

  With a pop, Miss Hunroe’s body disappeared.

  Molly and Micky were prepared. Simultaneously they meegoed into themselves, and calmly watched Cappuccino. He was doing exactly what Molly had told him to. He pushed his shoulders up and down as he positively refused to let Miss Hunroe take over his body and mind.

  “Did you hypnotize the monkey?” Micky guessed.

  “Yes,” Molly replied, and grinned. “Hello, Micky.”

  Bas and Lily ventured out from their hiding places.

  “Look,” Molly said. “Miss Hunroe morphed into Cappuccino. He’s got her completely under his thumb.”

  “How long can he keep her in check?” Bas asked, watching as Cappuccino nibbled at the core of his forest fruit.

  “I told him to keep her quiet until he’s convinced that she’s turning good.”

  “Really? Do you trust Cappuccino to do that?”

  “Yes,” Molly replied. “You said he was a very good judge of character, so I decided to let him decide.”

  “Wow.” Bas sighed, rubbing his head. “This is just all too amazing.”

  The rain had stopped, and the sun was now out. Rays of light lit up Miss Hunroe’s gold coin, lying abandoned in the mud. Molly bent down, scooped it up, and put it in her pocket.

  Lily put her arm around Molly.

  “I’m so glad you’re all right,” Lily said. “I was worried about you.”

  “I was worried about you, too.” Molly gave Lily a hug back, then picked up Petula. Micky picked up the four stones.

  A termite on the ground caught Molly’s eye. It was carrying a piece of rotten bark. Molly watched it. It had no idea what drama had just unfolded.

  “Hey!” Molly said to the termite.
“Tellleee all your friendseees thank you!” But of course the termite had no idea what Molly had just said. It simply felt a wind from the giant moving thing above, and it moved on.

  Thirty-two

  “I wish you were here,” Molly said. She was on the phone to Rocky, with fat headphones on her ears and a mike at her mouth, sitting in a moving helicopter hovering over the rain forest canopy. “And it’s so lucky that Hunroe’s hypnotism on you wore off…. It’s been a bit hairy here. Actually, that’s an understatement. But it’s over now, and everyone’s fine.” She paused as Rocky spoke. “Yup, we got the hypnotism book…. No, couldn’t find the crystals…. Maybe Miss Suzette has them. And I can tell you, if I ever find them, I’m not letting Lucy and Primo take them again. But I got Hunroe’s coin. It’s quite cool.” Molly took Miss Hunroe’s coin out of her pocket and fingered it before putting it away again. “A memento.”

  Rocky asked something. “Oh, yes, the stones are all back on its front cover.” Molly patted the book. It was on her knee. “I know, isn’t it amazing…! Yeah, maggots…Malcolm said he’s going to stay here with Bas for a bit. Says he wants to forget about aliens and get into ecology. The cloud forest is so beautiful, you see…. Hey, why don’t you come out?” Molly paused. Below her, the jungle was vast and green and rolling away on every side, and ahead, in the western skies, the sun was setting in red and pink. A pink blush spread through the white cumulus clouds there so that they floated like magic puffs of rose-tinted smoke. Molly hugged Petula. Sometimes life felt too good to be true.

  At Briersville Park, Todson was eating scrambled eggs at the kitchen table.

  “Terrible, terrible,” he muttered to himself as he flipped through a newspaper full of horror stories about the recent floods and tornadoes all over the world. A rusty, old-fashioned bell on the wall above the stove rang. “Ah, front door. Wonder who that can be?”

  Todson wiped his hands on a napkin and made his way upstairs, taking off his apron on the way. Walking toward the front door, he straightened his tie. Then he peered through the hall window.

  “Goodness me,” he gasped. Outside was a grand, long black car with a little flag set on its roof above its front windshield. Checking his hands to see that they were clean, Todson opened the door and found himself looking into the eyes of someone dressed rather like himself.

  “Good morning,” Smuthers, the queen’s butler, said. “Is Molly Moon in?”

  Todson’s eyes opened wide as he saw the queen herself, dressed in a country coat, talking to a Rasta on the steps below.

  “I’m a-a-afraid she’s not,” he stuttered. “But her best friend, Rocky, is upstairs. I could call him down. Could he help? Please come in.”

  “Thank you very much,” Smuthers said. Then, in a whisper, he added, “You’ve got a bit of egg on your collar.”

  “Ah, thank you.” Todson nodded with a wink. He removed the egg and stepped back to let the visitors in.

  The queen smiled graciously as she passed. “Thank you so much.”

  “Tank you,” said her Jamaican companion.

  “I was lucky, Leonard,” Todson caught the queen saying to the man. “I had Smuthers to talk to. Poor you! You must have thought you were losing your marbles. You know, no one else believed me. Thank goodness for Smuthers.” She paused as she looked at her surroundings. “And thank goodness for the Moon children. I am so looking forward to meeting them.”

  Leonard smiled. “Yeah. Feel like I’ve known them for years.”

  Acknowledgments

  As always, a forever-grateful thank-you to my agent, Caradoc King, who believed in me and Molly so early on.

  And to Sarah Dudman, the best editor in the world!

  About the Author

  Georgia Byng's brain has been stretched for this book. She is now in a hamster cage, recovering. The only comment she could make about this Molly Moon adventure was, “SQUEAK!”

  www.meetmollymoon.com

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  also by Georgia Byng

  Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism

  Molly Moon Stops the World

  Molly Moon’s Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure

  Molly Moon, Micky Minus, & the Mind Machine

  Credits

  Jacket art © 2010 by David Roberts

  Copyright

  MOLLY MOON & THE MORPHING MYSTERY. Copyright © 2010 by Georgia Byng. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Byng, Georgia.

  Molly Moon & the morphing mystery/ Georgia Byng.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Having acquired the skill of morphing, Molly Moon can inhabit any creature she wants but, unless she can find the ancient book of hypnotism in time, she risks never getting back into her own body.

  ISBN 978-0-06-166160-0 (trade bdg.)

  ISBN 978-0-06-166161-7 (lib. bdg.)

  [1. Shapeshifting—Fiction. 2. Identity—Fiction. 3. Hypnotism—Fiction. 4. Orphans—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Molly Moon and the morphing mystery.

  PZ7.B9887Mq 2010 2009054131

  [Fic]—dc22 CIP

  AC

  EPub Edition © March 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-199840-9

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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