Georgia Byng: Molly Moon & the Morphing Mystery

Her eyes fell upon an area in front of the queen, where two big termites stood. Once more Molly felt the strange magnetic pull. And, oddly, a rush of warmth. Just as the reddish orange Logan Stone had radiated warmth, something was giving off heat here, too. Molly moved closer.

Then she saw three of the stones from the cover of the hypnotism book. They were huge now because she was so small. The green stone, the gray stone, and the red stone.

Molly was astounded. Now she knew for sure that the two monstrous termites beside the colored stones were Miss Oakkton and Miss Hunroe. And this lowly termite cave was the very nerve center of world weather control!

Molly realized she was staring. She snapped her gaze away and tried to find something ordinary and termitelike to do. Whatever happened, she must not let them know that she was in the room. So, joining the other termites who were mending the wall, Molly tried to do what they were doing. She gave what felt like a heavy burp, and a chunk of sticky spit came up into her mouth. Coming to grips with her mandibles, she prodded the stuff onto the wall and smoothed it out, just as the other termites were doing. As she worked, Molly trained her hearing on the twittering ants around her.

“Pat it pat it flat it mend it,” said the termite beside her.

“Great one we adore you,” a termite was saying to the queen termite.

“Great one we are your servants,” said another.

And “Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed you. Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed you,” said a fourth.

Molly now caught the sound of the Hunroe termite. She was talking in an angry, electric buzz. “I would like to put some cyclones up over the Pacific,” she was saying, “but because of stupid Miss Speal losing the blue water stone, I can’t.”

“Think zem up! You can do it, Miss Hunroe. Use the gray stone instead,” came the unmistakable reply of the Oakkton termite.

Molly watched as Miss Hunroe lay her front four termite legs on the three flat stones in front of her. The colored stones began to hum and throb and beam so that the whole chamber filled with red, gray, and green light. Both the alien-faced termites with their huge pincers and antennas were lit up. The scene was like something out of a science-fiction horror film. The termites beside Molly turned to look.

“ Disturbance for queen!” one of them protested.

“ O Queen are you happy?” another asked the big fat worm.

“ Comp-leeeeeeeeeeeeeet-ly ,” came the deep sonorous tones of the queen. “ Laaaaarva-lee .”

Miss Hunroe and Miss Oakkton didn’t seem remotely bothered by the queen or the other termites. Their attention was solely fixed upon the glowing, weather-changing stones in front of them. Miss Hunroe squealed with delight, and Miss Oakkton cackled with mirth as the chamber throbbed and glowed.

Molly wasn’t sure what to do next. The termites had finished fixing the wall and were moving off. Molly couldn’t think of a good reason why she should be in the chamber any longer. Reluctantly her eyes settled on the oozing, bubbling, slimy queen. She could, she supposed, be a termite feeding the queen. Slowly, Molly moved toward the smelly, sluggy creature.

Micky and Lily followed the friendly, scruffy dog through the rain. They arrived at a bush-covered cliff ledge where there was a low wooden stool. Micky and Lily peered over low ferns to see what was down below. Immediately they saw the collection of huts in the clearing. One hut had rabbit skins pegged out on a board outside it.

“Wonder who lives here,” Micky whispered. As though in answer, they heard a dog barking. “That sounds just like Petula!” Micky gasped. “It’s coming from that shed.” Micky stroked the mountain dog. “Good boy.”

Lily began pushing through the sopping leaves ahead. “How do we get down there?”

Micky grabbed her arm. “I think Petula’s locked up, Lily. We don’t know who lives down there. It could be really dangerous. We’re going to have to play this one carefully. “

Lily stared at him. “Who’s locked her up? Do you think Molly is with her? Or Malcolm?”

“I don’t know,” said Micky. “Let’s watch for a bit and see.”

And so Micky and Lily waited. Petula could obviously smell them, for she continued to bark. Their patience paid off. In five minutes Miss Teriyaki and Miss Speal, both holding glasses containing some sort of brown liquid, emerged unsteadily from one of the huts.

“Ooh, it’s raining cats and dogs!” Miss Teriyaki exclaimed. Then, ignoring the downpour, the two women went to the shed where Petula was locked up. Both were giggling.

“Miss Hunroe is going to be furious when she finds out that you found a pug and didn’t tell her!” Miss Speal tittered. “I mean, how could you think that the breed of pug was native to Ecuador?”

“I don’t know!” Miss Teriyaki replied, hiccupping, and then laughed. “What an idiot I am! What a twit! I’m going to get into so much trouble!” When she said this, both of the women fell about, giggling.

“That’s not funny!” Miss Speal exclaimed. “She’ll skin you alive! We know how nasty she can be!”

Micky watched them. “Miss Speal and Miss Teriyaki. Drunk as skunks!” he whispered.

Miss Teriyaki picked up her poison-dart tube.

“I could always get rid of the dog now,” she said. “Blow a dart and finish it off. This poison kills instantaneously, you know.”

“I could cook it and give Miss Hunroe dog pie for supper!” At this suggestion, the two ladies folded over with laughter.

“Ooh, you are so funny, Miss Speal! I can’t think why we haven’t gotten on like this before.”

“Maybe Miss Oakkton’s special rain-forest brew has something to do with it,” Miss Speal replied, slurring her words. “Come on, let’s have some more.”

With that, they sauntered back to the hut.

The two children tried to think what to do next.

“I could morph into one of them,” Micky suggested.

“Or couldn’t you hypnotize them?”

Micky made a face. “I can’t hypnotize.”

It was then that Lily noticed a bunch of keys on the table outside the hut.

“Look! Bet those are the padlock keys,” Lily whispered. “I’ve got an idea.”

Canis watched the two humans and wondered what they were talking about. He could smell fear on both of them. Then he saw the girl beginning to edge forward.

Lily parted the ferns and, finding footholds below, climbed carefully down the slope. Once at encampment level, she quickly crossed the wet dirt ground behind the kitchen hut, and quiet as a cunning fox she crept toward the women’s cabin. The radio was on. The voice of a newsreader blasted out of the hut.

“We are getting reports of strange tornadoes in the northern Pacific. These are causing grave concerns that tidal waves will hit the west coast of America, costing millions of lives.”

“Oh, not more weather!” Miss Teriyaki complained. “Switch channels!” Ecuadorian pop music now blared out into the damp mountain air. “Ooh, yeah!” Miss Teriyaki shouted. “Move yer body!”

“What a dancer you are, Miss Teriyaki!” Miss Speal cried.

“I know! You should see me with my disco outfit on!”

Lily ignored them. She tiptoed past cautiously, dodging behind a bin and moving silently in the rain. The padlock keys twinkled in the dappled green light. Taking a deep breath, Lily shot toward them. Swiftly she grabbed them from the table and darted behind the kitchen hut. As she did, Petula began barking again. Lily winced. If Petula made too much noise, the women would be out again. Lily had to act immediately. So as quickly as she could, she stole across to Petula’s shed.