Authors: Liane Moriarty

Earthling Ambassador (19 page)

BOOK: Earthling Ambassador

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Nicola kept sneaking looks up at the princess. It was funny, Nicola's mom's simple, one-piece bathing suit made the princess look like such a
normal
girl. Well, nearly a normal girlâexcept that she was extraordinarily tall and she still insisted on wearing her tiara, even though they had all told her it would surely fall off in the surf.

The princess had white, freckly skin, and Nicola said that she had to wear sunscreen or she'd get badly sunburned and that would hurt even more than the hot sand.

“So you only have
one
sun on this planet, and the one you have
burns your skin
?” the princess said with disbelief, while Nicola briskly rubbed sunscreen onto her back.

Now the princess shaded her eyes as she looked out at the ocean. “Why does the water move up and down like that?”

“It's the wind,” explained Tyler. “They're called waves.”

“So, how do you swim around them?” Shimlara looked worried. “Don't they get in your way?”

“I would think they must be very annoying,” said the princess imperiously.

“Nah, they're great! You just dive under them,” said Sean. “I'll show you.”

He ran straight into the water and dived under a wave. He came up with his hair plastered flat against his head, grinned, and dived under another one.

“Oh, no, I can't do that.” Shimlara held her palms up and started backing away from the water.

“You don't have to dive under them,” said Katie. “You can jump over them, or you can kick your legs and float gently over the top of them.”

“Or if they're too big to jump over, you can hold your nose and duck,” said Tyler.

“Come on,Tyler and Greta, let's do a demonstration,” said Katie.

“Yes, well, I was just
about
to suggest that myself,” said Greta.

They ran into the water. Greta ducked under a wave pointing at her head, while Katie floated over it with her arms up like a ballerina, and Tyler jumped through the middle of it.

“The way the nice Earthling did it looks quite easy,” said the princess thoughtfully.

Aha
, thought Nicola,
so the princess thinks Katie is niceâthat's something.

“Oooh!” Shimlara squealed and gurgled as a bigger wave splashed up past her knees.
It is like taking little kids to the beach
, thought Nicola.
Just really, really tall little kids.

“Let's all go in together,” she said.

“Okay!” Shimlara grabbed Nicola's hand and, after a second's hesitation, the princess grabbed the other one.

Together they walked into the ocean.As the water frothed around her waist, Nicola tried to imagine what it must be like for Shimlara and the princess. It was probably like the first time she went cloud-swimming: an entirely new experience that had been both incredibly exciting and incredibly scary.

Luckily, the first wave was a small, gentle one. Shimlara and the princess both obediently held up their arms like ballerinas, exactly as Katie had done, and Nicola tried to keep a straight face.

“That was fun!” Shimlara trod water, a huge smile on her face.

“I suppose it's an interesting sensation,” said the princess coolly as they floated over another one. “Oooh, this one looks
big
!” She clutched Nicola's arm, nearly pushing her under.

An unexpectedly huge wave was coming their way. Before it reached them, it curled over and broke into a frenzy of white water.There was no way they could float or even jump over it.

“You're going to have to duck under it!” shouted Tyler.

If the princess gets dumped,
thought Nicola,
it will be the last straw.
The mission would be lost.

“Take a breath! Curl up like a ball!” she yelled. “You'll beâ”

There was no time to say “okay.” Just before she ducked, she caught a glimpse of Shimlara and the princess both holding their noses tightly, their eyes big with fear.

Nicola ducked down as low as she could.The water grabbed hold of her and shook her back and forth and around and around like a shirt in a washing machine. She opened her eyes and all she could see was white, swirling water.Which way was up? What was happening to the princess and Shimlara?

She popped back up and the water was calm and sparkling. She looked around frantically.Where were they?

“WHOA!” Shimlara's head broke through the water and she gasped for air. “I ducked straight under that
gigantic
wall of water! Did you see me, Nicola?”

“Ummâwellâ”

“WHOA!” It was the princess, her wet hair plastered over her face like seaweed, but her tiara, amazingly, still on her head. She pushed her hair out of her eyes impatiently. “I did it! Did you see me? Did you see what I did?”

“I saw you both! You were
fantastic
!” Katie was swimming up to them. “You did it perfectly!”The princess and Shimlara beamed and Nicola understood that they both had wanted to be praised. It must have been Katie's experience with her little brothers that helped her know the right thing to say.

“You were both great!” she agreed.

“Yep, I think you're ready to try
catching
a wave now.” Sean and Tyler appeared next to them, paddling on the boogie boards they'd picked up from the trailer.

“Catch one?” said Shimlara. “How could we catch one? And what would we do with it when we caught it?”

“I don't think they're ready to try boogie boarding yet,” said Nicola, giving Sean a warning look. No need to rush things.

“Why? Is boogie boarding just for boys?” asked Shimlara.

“No!”
cried Nicola, Katie, and Greta all at the same time, in the same horrified tone of voice.

“Then I shall try it,” said the princess. “I was very good at wave-ducking. I expect I will be outstanding at boogie boarding. Demonstrate it to me, Earthling Boy.”

“Actually, you can call me Sean, Alien Girl,” said Sean.

“Oh!” Nicola spoke quickly, hoping that the princess hadn't heard the Alien Girl part over the crashing of the waves. “You don't even know our names! We were so busy kidnapping you, we forgot to introduce ourselves. How rude!”

“I'm Katie,” shouted Katie as they all jumped over a wave. “I'd curtsy, but it's a bit hard while we're swimming.”

“You may kiss my hand instead.”The princess graciously held out her hand.

“Come off it!” exploded Sean. “I'm not kissing any girl's hand, even if you are a princess. I'm Sean, that's Tyler, Greta, Shimlara, Katie, and Nic-the-boss.We're pleased to meet you and we're pleased to kidnap you. Now do you want to try boogie boarding or not?”

Nicola was going to
murder
Sean. She hoped he suffocated under a huge pile of garbage, because if this mission failed it would be his fault.

The princess narrowed her eyes dangerously. “Yes, I do want to try it,
Sean
.”

“Good! Tyler can show you what to do. On you go.” Sean slid off the board and helped the princess lie down on the board and adjust the ankle strap.

“Nicola, you should put a stop to this,” hissed Greta. “She'll fall off and she'll be mad and the mission will fail.”

“Do you think?” said Nicola vaguely, but she knew there was nothing she could do to stop them. It didn't matter how much she yelled at them, the princess and Sean were both too stubborn to listen.

Tyler showed the princess how to paddle with her hands and kick with her legs. “You're not wearing flippers, so you'll have to kick really hard.”

“You!” The princess pointed at Greta. “Get me some of those flipper things immediately!”

Greta frowned. “On this planet we say
please.
”

“We don't have any flippers in your size, Princess.” Sean swung her board around so it was facing the shore. “Anyway, I'm going to give you a push, so just enjoy the ride.Whatever you do, don't look behind you!”

A beautiful, smooth, curling wave was heading toward them. It was perfect for boogie boarding but it was
very
big.

“Not that one, Sean!” called out Nicola. “At least try a smaller one.”

Sean cupped his hand behind his ear and frowned, shrugging his shoulders and pretending that he couldn't hear what she was saying. Oh, for goodness sake.

“Ooh, I don't want to watch!” Katie covered her eyes.

“Is he trying to kill her?” asked Shimlara with interest.

The wave was nearly upon them.The princess paddled her hands and kicked her legs, imitating Tyler. She looked very determined. Nicola had to admire her.

“Now hold on tight!” Sean gave the boogie board an almighty shove.

Clinging on to the sides of the board, the princess plunged headfirst over the crest of the wave. “WHOOOEEEEEEE!” she shrieked as her tiara flew straight off her head and the board streaked toward the shore.

“She's going too fast,” said Greta. “She's going toâ”

The boogie board flipped over and the princess flew through the air, her arms and legs flailing before she crashed into the water.

“Ouch,”
winced Shimlara.

“Uh-oh,” said Katie.

They watched Tyler paddling his board over to the princess.

“You've made a lot of mistakes, but I'd say that was your worst yet, Nicola,” remarked Greta in a satisfied way.

“I'm sorry, Nic,” said Sean glumly.

Suddenly the princess erupted out of the water. She caught sight of Tyler and lunged toward him, dragging her boogie board behind her, yelling something they couldn't understand.

“Quick! She's going to kill him,” said Nicola. She started to swim over to them, but Sean grabbed her arm, holding her back. He was smiling.What was there to smile about? This was no time for jokes!

“Listen,” he said.

Nicola listened.

The princess was shouting,
“Again! Again! I want to do it again!”

CHAPTER 34

It was much later that day, and the Space Brigade and Princess Petronella sat on the beach wearing old sweats from the trailer. Greta had surprised them by efficiently finding firewood and building a perfect campfire the way she'd learned to in Girl Scouts.

After swimming, they'd all gone food shopping at the local supermarket (where a girl had approached the princess and Shimlara and
begged
them to consider joining her basketball team).

Now Tyler was showing Shimlara how to fry sausages, while Sean toasted bread rolls on the fire, and Katie and Nicola chopped tomatoes. Greta was making disapproving remarks about their cooking techniques and everybody was ignoring her.

“So every single time you want something to eat you have to
cook
it yourself?”The princess was stunned that they didn't have Telepathy Chefs on Earth yet.

“Cooking is fun,”Tyler told the princess. “You can help us by buttering the rolls if you like.”

“I am not trained in the art ofâbuttering a roll,' Tyler,” said the princess. Her hair had fallen out of its bun and was curling in messy tendrils all around her shoulders. She actually looked rather pretty in the crackling light of the fire.

“You just dip the knife in the butter, like so,” demonstrated Sean. “And then smear across the toast. Not too thick. Not too thin. It's not exactly an art.”

To everyone's surprise, the princess took the knife from him and tentatively began buttering the rolls.

“Oh, look, the colors of the sky are changing!” Shimlara pointed at the horizon, where the sky was turning pink and gold. She explained, “The suns on Globagaskar don't go down slowly like that each night.They just disappear at six o'clock, as if someone has switched off a light.”

Nicola said, “Every time there's an extra beautiful sunset, our mom makes us run outside to watch.”

“Yeah, she won't even let us wait for the commercial break,” complained Sean.

“It's
really
beautiful,” said the princess quietly, almost as if she were speaking to herself.

“Go, Earth!” whispered Shimlara, while Sean did a silent victory punch in the air behind the princess's back.

Something is probably about to go wrong again
, thought Nicola. But her luck must have been changing, because at that moment she felt a delicate flutter against the top of her hand. It was a butterfly. Its wings were black with an intricate pattern of blue spots like wrapping paper.

“Oh look, a butterfly,” said Nicola casually. “Do you have butterflies on Globagaskar, Princess Petronella?” Of course, she knew perfectly well that they didn't. She held out her wrist to the princess.

“No, we don't have flying butters.”The princess looked enchanted as the butterfly flew straight onto her hand, almost as if it knew it had to help out with the mission. It flew up near the princess's face and caressed her cheek with its wings before it flew off.That butterfly deserved a medal.

“You just got a butterfly kiss,” said Katie. “Now you'll have good luck.”

“Really?”The princess seemed quite dazed.

“Okay!” said Tyler briskly. “I think the sausages are nearly ready. How are those rolls going?”

The princess bent her head obediently. “Nearly done.”

As Nicola looked around, she saw that every member of the Space Brigade, even Greta, was trying to suppress a giant grin.Things were looking up.

She sneaked a look at her countdown watch. It said:

Tomorrow is the day--Are you nearly done? If not . . . PANIC NOW!!!

BOOK: Earthling Ambassador

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