Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure Read Free Page A

the horrible moment. “It was definitely Petula. She looked me right in the eye and wagged her tail just before he took her. If
only
she wasn’t so friendly.… If only she’d run away from him or bitten him.…”
    “Why don’t we telephone the gardening company and find out who the gardener was?” suggested Forest.
    “I already have,” said Molly. “None of their workers were in yesterday. That man was a fraud. Oh, I hope Petula’s all right.” Rocky, Molly’s best friend, stood beside her. He gently patted her shoulder.
    Rocky Scarlet had grown up in the orphanage with Molly—he’d shared a crib with her when they were babies and he knew her better than anyone. He was also an accomplished hypnotist, though nowhere near as good as Molly. His skill was “voice-only hypnosis.” He had a lovely voice.
    “We’ll find her, Molly. It’ll just take time. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a blackmail call. Whoever he isprobably just wants something. He’s just a low-down dirty dognaper, I expect.”
    Molly looked at Rocky’s face. It was a rich, deep black because he’d spent so much time in the Los Angeles sunshine. And his smiling eyes were always reassuring, even though this time, Molly wasn’t put at ease.
    Rocky went over to the desk and sat down. He picked up a pen and, humming, began doodling on the back of his hand. He drew Petula and a clock. As far as he could see, they just had to wait. He was calm, patient, and logical and was sure that Petula’s disappearance would be explained.
    Molly slapped her jeans, slumped back in the sofa, and hugged her knobbly knees.
    “I don’t see how it could have happened. How does a person just disappear like that? I would have felt it if the man made the world stop.”
    “Yeah, you would have got that chill vibe,” agreed Forest from his cross-legged yoga position on the armchair. “You were wearin’ your time-stop crystal, weren’t you?”
    Molly pulled her crystal on its chain out from under her shirt.
    Forest poked at the hole in the toe of his orange socks for inspiration. “What do you think, Primo? Rocky and me here, well, we ain’t hypnotic world-stopping expertslike you and Molly. Do you think the guy in the turban made the world stand still without Molly feelin’ it? I mean, she could have been lookin’ up that path with Petula waggin’ her tail and, BAM, suddenly he could have stopped time and frozen Molly stiff as an icicle. An’ then whoever that dude was, he just picked up Petula and walked away. Once he was far away, he started the world again. Well, of course, to Molly, because she was frozen, she wouldn’t have seen how he took Petula; it would have looked as if they’d gone in a puff of smoke.”
    Primo shook his head and picked up a china elephant from the mantel.
    “I don’t like it,” he said, as if speaking to the small sculpture. “I don’t like it at all. Theoretically it shouldn’t happen. If one hypnotist hypnotizes the world to stand still, other hypnotists wearing their crystals feel it and should be able to resist the freeze. And what was the BOOM sound that Molly heard?”
    “Maybe.” Forest sighed, lying on the floor and putting his ankles around his ears. “Maybe the gardener was standing on a lea line or something. I mean, you got those way-out druid stone circles in this country, and energy lines are awesome here… hmmm…” Forest drifted off into his thoughts.
    Rocky ignored Forest and instead approached Molly to study her crystal.
    “This is the original crystal, isn’t it?”
    “Yes, look—it’s got that icy-looking bit. And I wear it all the time. Even if someone wanted to swap it while I was asleep, they couldn’t. I’d wake up. Especially recently. I haven’t been able to sleep very well.” Molly dropped her voice. “Rocky, it’s been like a tomb here, and Lucy’s been walking around like a… like a
mummy.”
Molly couldn’t help smiling. Rocky laughed. After all, Lucy was a