Molly Moon & the Morphing Mystery

“Excuse me,” he said, addressing Molly as Lady Storkhampton. “I’d like to introduce myself. I am AH2. My real name is Malcolm Tixley.” He gave a little bow. “Do not be alarmed. You can trust me. I know your secret, and I want you to confide in me. I want to be your contact on Earth.”

Molly looked at Micky, bewildered.

“I am a sympathetic human being,” AH2 insisted. “You can tell me all about your planet, your own species, your purpose here on Earth. I will keep the information confidential until a mutually agreed time when you want to talk to the other earthlings.”

“Listen,” Molly as Lady Storkhampton said. “I’m not sure what you are talking about. Please leave me alone.” But the man in front of her shook his head and put his hand on her shoulder. He was beginning to look desperate. “Get off me,” Molly said, twisting away from his grip. This time the man grabbed both her shoulders.

Miss Hunroe was almost across the road when she saw the strange situation in front of her. She drew closer.

“You must confide in me, Molly Moon,” AH2 hissed. “It’s imperative that you do.”

Miss Hunroe heard the name and was at once absolutely alert. Her mind catapulted. Who was the man ahead? Was the rich woman the Moon girl? Was the waiter beside her the Moon boy? Had they learned how to morph into humans?

Miss Hunroe faltered and her heartbeat quickened as she considered what to do. Amazingly, the twins had already mastered the art of morphing. And so they had the secret that she was desperate for. Miss Speal, as a child, had only learned animal morphing, and so this was all she had been able to teach Miss Hunroe. Morphing into humans was so much more useful! If she could get the secret from Molly or her brother, she’d be able to easily get the hypnotism book from Black. And then—why then…

Micky could see that things were getting out of hand. He didn’t want this madman drawing attention to them.

“Police! Help!” he yelled, seeing a police car crawling nearby.

In a moment, two officers had jumped out of their car. They pushed past the people near the bus stop and seized AH2.

“All right, all right, what’s this all about?”

AH2 hardly saw the policemen. He clung to Lady Storkhampton as though his life depended upon it.

“GET OFF ME!” Molly shouted. “YOU’RE CRAZY! GET OFF!”

The police snapped handcuffs onto the young man’s wrists and restrained him.

“You don’t understand!” AH2 cried desperately to them. “This woman is an alien.”

“I’m sure she is,” said the first officer. “You can come and tell us all about it down at the station.” With that, they began to push AH2 toward their car.

“We’ve got to change,” Micky said to Molly. He pulled Lady Storkhampton away from the police and the people about them, and swiftly he found a gap in the traffic. Darting between cars, he and Molly crossed the road once more.

“Excuse me, you two,” called one of the policemen after them, waving a notebook at Lady Storkhampton. “You need to come back to give me a statement.”

Micky and Molly ignored him and hurried into the side street near the hat shop.

Miss Hunroe left her hiding place to follow them, but for her, negotiating the traffic was difficult, and crossing impossible.

“Ve vill have to push through,” said Miss Oakkton, returning from another secret pipe break.

Looking ahead, Molly saw the alley where she’d spotted the bins and the rats before. “Quick, Micky!” she said. “Follow me. I’ve had an idea.”

Theobald Black was now leaving the hotel. His eyes moved to the small crowd that had gathered on the other side of the street, where a police car had stopped. One of the policemen was talking to a man inside the car, who was shouting like a lunatic. Black did not feel comfortable at all. First Lady Storkhampton had disappeared, and now there was this trouble outside. He turned his attention to getting home as quickly as possible.

AH2, Malcolm Tixley, sat in the police car. He watched the woman in the fur hat and her large companion with her basket of cats as they made it across the road. Then his eyes darted across the street to look for the glamorous woman who was Molly Moon.

There she was, with her chaperone, crouching on the floor in an alley near some rubbish bins. AH2 held his breath as he expected something to happen. He watched as the fur-hatted woman and her friend trotted toward the bins. Suddenly, the gadget in his pocket began to bleep. His eyes shot toward the woman who had been eating in the Glitz and the waiter beside her. Simultaneously they both slumped onto the ground.

Miss Hunroe and Miss Oakkton were stopped in their tracks. They let the police rush past them toward the two people beside the bins. They could read the signs. These people weren’t of any use to them now. Molly and Micky had left them.

Ten

A rat was practically the last creature Molly would ever choose to be, so she’d forced herself to want to be the dirty, mangy, whiskered rodent by the bin.