Free Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson Page B

animals. I was imitating the noises they make, purely out of curiosity, to see if I could get a response. That’s al you saw. It was nothing.”
    “That’s not what it looked like,” said Peter. “It looked like you were talking to them. And you were upset about something. I heard you shout ‘No!’”
    “I was just frustrated, because I couldn’t make the noises properly,” said Mol y. “That’s al . Nothing more.”
    “You ran away when the sailors came. Why?”
    Mol y paused, again weighing something, then answered: “Only because I didn’t want them to report me to Mrs. Bumbrake. She told me to stay in the cabin. Real y, Peter, you’re imagining things.”
    She’s lying.
    “I am?” said Peter. “And I suppose I imagined the flying rat? And I imagined that you were in that aft hold? What’s going on, Mol y? Tel me what’s going on.”
    “Nothing, Peter,” said Mol y. “There’s nothing going on.”
    Why is she lying?
    “Fine,” said Peter. “If you won’t tel me, I’l find out for myself.”
    “No, ” she said with sudden intensity, grabbing his arm with a startlingly powerful grip. “Peter, you must not go down to that room again. You must not. ” Peter yanked his arm away. “Who’s going to stop me?” he said.
    Mol y’s eyes bored into his. She spoke slowly.
    “I wil , Peter.”
    “How?” he snapped.
    “I’l tel Slank,” Mol y threatened.
    “You wouldn’t, ” he said.
    “I wil if I have to,” she said.
    “Al right then,” said Peter, his cheeks burning, his voice quivering with anger. “I see now that not al the rats on this ship are four-legged.”
    “Please, Peter,” said Mol y, reaching for his arm again. “You don’t understand.”
    “Good-bye… rat, ” said Peter, brushing her hand away.
    “Peter, please.. .”
    He faced her. “You know,” he said, “I thought you…I thought we…Wel …I was obviously wrong.”
    Peter darted up the ladderway to the relative safety of the darkened deck. He crouched for a moment, breathing deeply, seething with feelings of rage and betrayal.
    Thinks she can lie to me, does she? Thinks she can tell me what to do? Well, I’ll show her. I can do this myself, me and Alf. I don’t need her help.
    Who does she think she is ?

CHAPTER 13
THE LADIES

    I N THE DARKNESS JUST BEFORE DAWN, Leonard Aster paced back and forth on the stern of the Wasp, his long legs carrying his lanky frame across the beam in just a few strides each way.
    Again and again he looked into the water; again and again he saw nothing.
    Where are you?
    Final y impatience overcame him. After checking around for observers, he leaned over the rail and made a series of inhuman noises. Almost instantly he saw the glistening silver back of a porpoise break the ship’s wake. It rose on its tail, quickly joined by the other four, facing in different directions, as if keeping watch.
    “Hel o,” said Ammm.
    “Hel o,” said Aster, anxious to hear news, but observing porpoise protocol.
    “Ammm talk Mol y,” said Ammm.
    “What say Mol y?” said Aster, leaning forward eagerly.
    “Mol y say three things,” said Ammm.
    “What things?”
    “Mol y teeth green.”
    “Mol y teeth green?”
    “Yes.”
    Aster contemplated that for a moment, and decided the problem was likely Mol y’s limited command of Porpoise.
    “What more Mol y say?” he asked.
    “Bad man hunt father ship,” said Ammm.
    Aster felt a chil .
    “Again,” he said, and the response was the same:
    “Bad man hunt father ship.”
    Bad man. Aster figured he knew who that would be. He thought for a moment, then squeaked a question to the porpoise.
    “Ammm see bad man ship?”
    The answer was immediate: “Yes.”
    “Where?”
    Glittering among the dolphins, then: “Near.”
    Damn. Aster thought furiously. He needed to see the captain. He started to go, then remembered that Ammm had said there were three messages.
    “What more Mol y say?”
    Ammm hesitated, as if struggling with something, then