Free The Guardians of Island X by Rachelle Delaney

obviously terrified. Jem looked back at Uncle Finn, who only shook his head. “Later.”
    “Right. Well, it didn’t work, Uncle Finn. The pipe you gave me. I tried to call you when the pirates invaded, but that noisemaker seriously scuttles—didn’t make a sound. Maybe you—”
    “Pirates? Invaded? Stop babbling, boy, and tell me exactly what happened.”
    Jem took a deep breath and began his tale from the beginning.
    “Oh, and the King’s Men are here now, too,” he concluded. “Scarlet and I saw them while hiding in a shrub yesterday.”
    Uncle Finn looked as though he were seasick. “I have to sit down.” He found a boulder and sank down onto it, mopping his face with his handkerchief. “All right. So you don’t know where the
Dark Ranger
pirates are camped now?”
    “Dark Ranger
?” Thomas stopped poking the spider, which promptly leaped off his hand and rappelled to the ground on a strand of silk. “That’s a funny name. Finn, have I heard of the
Dark Ranger
?”
    Jem looked from his uncle to Thomas and back to his uncle. “What’s with him?”
    “Oh, just an experiment gone slightly awry.” Uncle Finn dismissed it with a wave of his handkerchief.
    “What? What did you do to Thomas?”
    “I didn’t
do
anything to him, Jem,” Finn snapped. “He’ll be himself in no time. Anyway, it was a great step forward in our study. We disproved our hypothesis that
Bediotropicanus onicus
cures androgenetic alopecia. Rather, it swiftly erases one’s memory. Thankfully, Thomas ingested only a small amount.”
    Jem’s mouth fell open.
    “Oh, don’t worry, nephew. He’ll be right as rain tomorrow, ready to work again. We’re making great progress. Our first sample,
Bediotropicanus plumpicus
, turned Thomas’s hair a gorgeous shade of green—made him blend right into the trees. Look, you might still be able to see it.” He motioned for Thomas to turn around, and the giant obeyed. On the back of his head, his brown hair was streaked with emerald green.
    “Wow,” said Jem.
    “Impressive, isn’t it?” Uncle Finn patted Thomas on the back. “So we’ve eliminated two
Bedio
s, and I’ve come to the exciting conclusion that the one we want is so close it’s practically in this clearing. Which is fortunate, because with the pirates and King’s Men on the island, I won’t be leaving you children alone.”
    “The King’s Men,” Thomas said thoughtfully, turning back around. “They sound nice.”
    “It’ll all come back to him, Jem. Don’t look so worried.” Uncle Finn yawned. “Now I, for one, am going to take a nap.”
    “Wait.” Jem dug in his pocket and pulled out the noisemaker. “Can you look at this first?”
    Uncle Finn took the noisemaker, motioned for Jem and Thomas to cover their ears, then blew into it with all his might. Nothing happened.
    “Hmph,”
he grunted. “I could’ve sworn…” He held the pipe up to his eye and squinted into it. “Aha.” Raising an eyebrow at Jem, he tapped the pipe against the palm of his other hand. Out slid a small blue-and-black-striped worm. It looked at them with a dazed expression similar to Thomas’s, then rolled into a ball.
    “Oh,” said Jem. “Oops.”
    “Indeed.” Uncle Finn handed him the pipe and placed the worm on a nearby leaf. “Not faulty. Just occupied.” He yawned again. “Now for that nap. Really, you have no idea how exhausting it is making groundbreaking discoveries.”

CHAPTER EIGHT
    “Jem. Jem, wake up.”
    “Mmph?” Jem rolled over, pulling himself out of a dream in which Ronagh had dressed the wild pigs in matching squash bonnets.
    “I need your help,” Uncle Finn said.
    “Again?” Jem murmured, turning away. “I’m not writing another letter to the pigs.”
    “What are you talking about? Wake up.” Uncle Finn gave him a firm thump on the shoulder.
    Jem blinked, trying to focus on his uncle in the early-morning light. A light mist had settled on the clearing, and Uncle Finn’s bald head was covered