فصل 07

CHAPTER 7

THE SECRET

THE SUN BLAZED HOT IN THE BRILLIANT BLUE SKY; the still, humid air hung heavy on Mollusk Island.

Peter and his mates sat in a bored clump in the middle of the Mollusk village. Normally, this was a lively place, where children’s laughter mingled with tribal gossip. But today there was almost no sound other than the muffled roar of waves crashing onto the beach several hundred yards away. Nobody felt like talking; everyone except the youngest children was waiting.

They were waiting for a sound nobody wanted to hear but everyone expected—the sound of a conch-shell horn, blown by one of the sharp-eyed Mollusk warriors posted high on the mountainside. The conch horn would mean that a lookout had sighted war canoes on the horizon.

It would mean the Scorpions were coming.

But for now, there was nothing to do but wait. And waiting was something Peter did very poorly. He glanced at his shadow; it was just the slightest bit longer than the last time he had looked at it. Would this day never end?

Peter looked at the others. Tubby Ted was sleeping, his chin sticky with juice from the coconut he’d been eating before he dozed off. Prentiss and Thomas were playing perhaps their hundredth game of tic-tac-toe, drawing the grid in the dirt with sticks. James sat nearby, trying to catch a bright green jungle fly as it darted around his head.

Peter shifted closer to James, moving carefully so as not to wake Tinker Bell, who was dozing in the bushy red mass of his hair. Keeping his voice low, he said, “The moon is full tonight, isn’t it?”

“I believe so,” said James, swatting unsuccessfully at the fly. “Why?”

“I’ll have a good view of the ocean, that’s why,” said Peter, grinning.

James, abandoning the fly, turned to Peter. “You wouldn’t,” he said.

“Yes, I would,” said Peter. “I’m tired of staying in the village.”

“We all are,” said James. “But you promised Fighting Prawn that…”

“I nodded,” interrupted Peter. “A nod isn’t a promise. Fighting Prawn doesn’t have to know I went out there—that is, unless I find the Scorpions. And then he’ll be glad I went out.”

“But what about the poison arrows?” said James. “Fighting Prawn said…”

“They can’t hit me if they can’t see me,” said Peter.

“When do you plan to go?” said James.

“Tonight,” said Peter. “Keep it a secret, all right?”

“All right,” said James reluctantly. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I’ll be careful,” said Peter, grinning. “Aren’t I always careful?”

“No,” said James.