by Thea Stilton
The Thea Sisters said good-bye to Melika
and
hurried
out of the office.
“So,” murmured Violet thoughtfully as
they took the elevator down, “if there’s
something suspicious going on,
we’ll find the data at the observatory, right?
That seems to be where all the news about
the volcano comes from.”
“That’s definitely where we need to go!”
Paulina replied.
Outside the building, the mouselets were
looking for a taxi when they noticed a
police car parked nearby. It seemed to be
waiting for them. Leaning against the
doors were the two police officers who had
asked Nahele to leave when the mouselets
THE PLOT
THICKENS. . . .
had first arrived at the resort.
The two officers watched them for
a moment. Finally, one squeaked, “Aren’t you
here for the hula competition? Isn’t it a bit
late to be out and about?”
The other one nodded. “He’s right. It would
probably be best if you were safe and
sound back at the resort.”
It’s the two police officers again! Their behavior seems
more suspicious than ever. . . .
The Thea Sisters looked at one another in
surprise: That sounded more like a threat
than a piece of friendly advice!
Violet squeezed Paulina's and Pam’s paws.
“They’re right,” she agreed loudly. “Let’s
go, mouselets!”
As they were leaving, she whispered to
her friends, “I think it’s better to not attract
attention from those two. I have a sneaking
suspicion they aren’t police officers at all!”
“Yeah,” Pam whispered back. “The fact
that they took the trouble to come all
the way here looking for us just confirms
something fishy is going on.”
Colette, Nicky, Pam, Paulina, and Violet
returned to the resort. As they were passing
through the lobby, they noticed Sammy
Sharkfur squeaking on his cell phone.
Quiet as mice, the Thea Sisters hid behind
an ENORMOUSE plant and started
eavesdropping on his conversation.
“No, they haven’t come back yet, but I want
you to keep an eye on them from now on,
understand?! Those five rodents are nosier
than an aardvark at an anthill! They are
asking too many
questions
around
The plot thickens! Why did the two police officers (if
they really are police officers) follow the Thea Sisters?
And what is Sammy Sharkfur hiding?
here, and I don’t like it.”
The mouselets looked at one
another in surprise. Was
Sammy Sharkfur talking about them?!
Sammy concluded the conversation with
an angry gesture. Then he strode down
the hallway that led to the Thea Sisters’ suite.
“He was obviously talking about us!”
declared Colette as soon as they were sure
they were alone.
“We need to be very careful from
now on,” said Pam.
“Agreed,” said Nicky, yawning. “Now let’s
hit the hay. We have a busy day tomorrow.
Just thinking about dancing the modern
choreography contest is making me
stress more than Santa Paws on Christmouse
Eve!”
floral
The next day was dedicated to all of the
individual performances and the group
performances with modern choreography.
For this stage of the competition, Colette had
outdone herself. She had designed
eye-catching costumes with a gorgeous
red-and-white design.
The Thea Sisters were worried about
wrinkling their delicate costumes on the bus
ride, so they decided to bring them to the
stadium and get changed there. They dressed
in their usual clothes and carefully folded
Colette’s designs inside their backpacks.
“Everyone ready?” Nicky asked. Her
friends nodded. “Then let’s roll!”
The five mouselets scurried downstairs
PSSST . . . PSSST . . .
to meet the other contestants in the lobby.
They joined Apikalia’s group and began
chatting away.
Zoe noticed the Thea Sisters at once. She
elbowed Ruby to get her attention.
“Pssst . . . pssst . . .” she whispered.
“What is it?!”f
snapped
Ruby, adjusting
her dress with one paw.
Zoe pointed to the Thea Sisters. “Look,
they have their costumes in their backpacks.”
Ruby glanced over at the Thea Sisters.
Then she looked back at Zoe as if she were
mold on a cheese slice. She was getting more
and more IRRITATED. “So? Do
you really have to update me on their every
move?” she answered
rudely
.
Zoe shook her snout and leaned in close to
her friend’s ear. “Well, imagine what
would happen if one of them were to lose
her backpack. All five mouselets would
probably have to back out of the competition!
Then it’d be ‘bye-bye second place, aloha
first place’ for us!”
Finally, Ruby understood what Zoe was
getting at. An unpleasant smile spread
across her snout. “Zoe! Have I ever told you
that I absolutely adore it when you’re
smarter than I am?”
Zoe smiled, too. Her plan was a go!
The bus arrived right on time.
Nicky found a seat next to Renani, and they
immediately started talking about
the previous afternoon’s surfing. The drive
passed quickly.
At the stadium, the stage had been adorned
TOTAL CAT-
ASTROPHE!
with hundreds of orchids. Everyone oohed
and AAHED over the gorgeous flowers.
As she was admiring the
decorations
,
Colette felt someone bump into her. She
almost lost her balance and had to stumble
to stay on her paws. She assumed it was an
accident till she felt a tug on her back.
Colette whirled around in surprise.
Behind her stood Alicia, who was blushing
bright red. “S-so sorry, Colette! Someone
pushed me!” she mumbled.
Colette was squeakless for a second, but
then she smiled kindly. “No worries, it
was just an accident.”
Alicia turned to Zoe, and the two ran
together.
Ruby and Connie were waiting for them.
They giggled as they watched their
friends approach.
“Did you get it?” Ruby whispered.
“Of course! It was easier than taking
cheese from a mouseling. I put it in my bag,”
Zoe replied triumphantly.
The other mouselets high-fived her.
“I just
wish
I could see the look on their
snouts when t
hey realize it’s gone!” snickered
Alicia.
In the meantime, Colette had returned to
her friends without suspecting anything was
amiss. The individual competitions had
begun, so the Thea Sisters hurried into the
changing rooms to dress for their performance.
As soon as she opened her backpack,
Colette let out a cheese-curdling shriek.
“AHHHHH!”
“Good Gouda, Colette, you’re going to give
me a heart attack!” said Pamela. “What
in the name of cheddar is going on?”
But Colette didn’t answer. She was busy
thinking, retracing her steps, trying to figure
out when it could have happened. Suddenly,
she exploded, “What a down and dirty
trick
!”
“What? What did you say?” asked Nicky.
Colette showed them her pink backpack: It
was empty! “I was tricked! Alicia bumped
into me — at first I thought it was just an
accident, but now I’m pretty sure she did it
on purpose so she could steal my costume!
Without it, we can’t participate in the
competition!”
The mouselets were as frozen as fish
sticks.
theft
“You mean . . . your costume is gone?”
asked Paulina in shock.
“This is a cat-astrophe!” cried Violet.
“This whole thing smells fishier than day-
old tuna! We can’t just do nothing and let
them win!” spluttered Nicky. She turned and
scurried
out the door.
She was rushing down the corridor when
she ran into Renani, whose eyes
sparkled
when he saw her. But he quickly turned
serious when she exclaimed, “Renani, I need
your help! We need to find Colette’s costume
right away — someone stole it!”
Renani was just as indignant about the
as the Thea Sisters. “I know just what
to do,” he said confidently. “You and your
friends go backstage and wait for your turn.
I’ll take care of the costume!” he
assured her.
Nicky scampered back to the changing
room and told her friends Renani would help
them. A few minutes later, as they were
nervously waiting in the wings (there
were only two groups before them!), Renani
hurried over to join them. He had a satisfied
expression on his snout. In his paws was
Colette’s costume!
Nicky hugged him. “How did you manage
to find it?” she asked incredulously.
“Simple!” he replied with a
wink. “I used the same
strategy they used
to take it from Colette!”
Colette, Pam, Paulina,
and Violet all clapped
their paws.
“Thank you, Renani!” said Nicky.
“You are a true pal!”
The recovery of Colette’s costume gave the
Thea Sisters an extra jolt of energy. They had
a stellar performance and jumped to the
head of the charts. Now they were even with
Apikalia’s team, whose good sportsmanship
put the Ruby Crew to shame.
“You were great! Compliments to Colette
on her marvemouse costumes!” Apikalia
congratulated them.
“Thanks!” Colette responded.
Then she whispered to
Violet, “We squeaked in
by a whisker! Another
moment and we’d have
missed our chance to
perform.”
FULL SPEED AHEAD!
While everyone else returned to the hotel,
the mouselets asked Renani if he’d accompany
them to the observatory. Renani readily
accepted.
Nicky had told him their professor’s
suspicions about the volcano, and
Renani immediately offered to help the
mouselets clear up the situation.
“We can go in my car,” he suggested. “It’s
big enough to take us all, and it’s the fastest
way to get to the national park.
That’s where the observatory is located.”
The group scrambled into the SUV, and
Renani got behind the wheel. The ratlet
drove carefully, playing tour guide as they
sped along. “The observatory was created to
deal with the risks of the two active volcanoes
in Hawaii: Kilauea and Mauna Loa. The park
is actually a active reserve —” Renani
HAWAII
VOLC
A
N
OE
S
NAT
ION
A
L
P
A
R
K
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers a vast
area on the island of Hawaii. The park
extends from the sea all the way to the
tops of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Many
protected animal and plant species live
there — so many that the park was declared
a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.
The park also includes the Ka’u Desert,
a region of unusual lava formations.
stopped abruptly and looked in his rearview
mirror. “UH-OH! We’ve got company,
mouselets!”
The Thea Sisters turned around
and saw a dark car
racing
toward
them. It looked like it wanted to run them
off the road! Unfortunately, the car’s windows
were tinted, so they couldn’t
see
who was
driving.
“Something tells me that our fake-police
friends are in that car,” Violet said.
Nicky had an idea. She turned toward
Renani. “Do you think you can lose them?”
“Of course!” he answered, grinning.
“I took a class in race-car driving! Actually,
Nicky, I think you would’ve loved the
class—”
Colette
coughed
. “Umm, fascinating
as that sounds, I’m not sure this is the time
to start comparing notes about MOUSCAR!”
Renani understood. He nodded and shifted
the car into a faster gear. The pursuers
tried to keep up. They gained ground on the
SUV for a while, but Renani twisted the
wheel this way and that, changing direction
so suddenly that he was finally able to shake
them.
“Yee-haw!” he cried, looking in his
rearview mirror. There was no sign of the
other car. “I think we did it! Let’s take this
little shortcut I know. They’ll never
look for us there.”
The SUV bumped along a dirt road. After
another minute, the mouselets spotted
the observatory.
mouslets
The Thea Sisters were out of breath by the
time the SUV pulled up to the observatory.
Now that they were being tailed, the
mouselets were really anxious to figure out
what was going on. They needed to learn
why the most important research center
in the area had not gathered the same data as
Professor Van Kraken and his team.
As they scurried into the observatory, the
were met by a group of
young researchers. They seemed eager to
help, but when Paulina asked them about the
possibility of an
eruption
, the researchers
shook their snouts vehemently.
“No Way is Mauna Loa about to erupt,”
one responded. “We monitor the activity for
THE OBSERVATORY
Mauna Loa and Kilauea twenty-four hours a
day. Our instruments are absolutely
trustworthy. There hasn’t been a single sign
of an eruption. You really don’t need to
worry.”
Yet the Thea Sisters didn’t feel any better.
They knew something wasn’t right. . . but
what?
“Ah, good morning, Professor!” exclaimed
98
one of the researchers suddenly.
A tall, thin rodent had appeared in
the doorway. The researcher turned
to the mouselets. “Let me introduce
to you the scientist in charge
of the observatory, Professor
George Crusterson.”
The Thea Sisters shook the
professor’s paw. Then they said
their good-byes. They had run out of
questions.
As they were crossing the parking
lot, it finally hit Violet. She slapped
her snout. “Just a sec . . . by my
cheese, I think I’ve got it!”
Do you recognize the head of the observatory? No?
Well, then turn back to page 33 and take a look at
the rodent talking to Sammy Sharkfur the night of the
welcome party!
Renani looked at Violet quizzically. “What
do you mean?” he asked. “The scientists
at the observatory all seemed very nice to
me. Even their boss was nice!”
Violet shook her snout. “Their
boss
is the whole point! We already saw Professor
Crusterson! He was talking to Sammy
Sharkfur the other night, and he kept looking
around
suspiciously
. Do you remember,
mouselets?”
