Emily Eyefinger and the Secret from the Sea Read online

  Dedication

  For the three wise monkeys of the Monkey Baa

  Theatre Company: Eva, Sandie and Tim, who brought

  Emily so brilliantly to life on stage

  Contents

  Cover

  Dedication

  1. Emily and the Gargoyle Gang

  2. Emily and the Runaway Star

  3. Emily the Elephant Girl

  4. Emily and the Mystery of the Ancient Horse

  5. Emily and the Computer Mice

  6. Emily and the Secret from the Sea

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Other Books by the Same Author

  Copyright

  1.

  Emily and the Gargoyle Gang

  Emily Eyefinger was a very special little girl. She had an eye on the end of her finger. Sometimes this was a problem, but it had also led to many adventures.

  Emily was having a busy day. She and her parents were on holiday in Paris. First they went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Then they went on a boat ride down the river. They also went to an art gallery that was so big that walking around made their legs tired.

  In the street, Emily saw some people covered in paint from head to toe and standing perfectly still.

  ‘They’re called living statues,’ Emily’s mother said. ‘See that lady? She looks just like the lady in the painting we saw today. Here, give her this money.’

  Emily put the coins in the box at the statue’s feet. When she did, the woman smiled and winked at her. She did it so suddenly that it gave Emily a fright. Then the woman went back to standing very still.

  Mr Eyefinger said, ‘If someone gave me money every time I stood around doing nothing I’d be rich.’

  They stopped in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. Mrs Eyefinger was reading from a guidebook.

  ‘Those statues up there on the cathedral are gargoyles,’ she said.

  ‘What is a garboil?’ Emily asked.

  ‘It’s not a garboil. It’s a gargoyle,’ Emily’s mother said. ‘When it rains water comes out of their mouths. They’re just like drains.’

  Emily looked up at a devil with horns and wings that stared down at them.

  ‘They look like monsters,’ she said. ‘Why did they make them so scary?’

  ‘To frighten off evil spirits,’ said Mrs Eyefinger.

  ‘Then I must be an evil spirit because they scare me too,’ Emily said. ‘Can we go inside the cathedral?’

  Inside there were stained-glass windows and paintings. Somewhere Emily could hear a choir singing. The cathedral gave Emily a peaceful feeling.

  After they looked all around, Mrs Eyefinger said, ‘Let’s see the treasury.’

  ‘A treasury?’ Emily said. ‘Is that anything to do with treasure?’

  ‘Yes, kings and queens of long ago sometimes gave valuable things to the cathedral. Come along, let’s have a look.’

  Mrs Eyefinger led the way down the steps to some small rooms. There were glass cases filled with crosses and crowns and robes covered in gold and silver thread. There were jewels everywhere. The lights shining on them made them sparkle like a thousand stars.

  ‘These are so beautiful,’ Emily said.

  She used the eye on the end of her finger to look closely at a few of the treasures and she noticed that many of them had jewels missing.

  ‘They’re probably being cleaned and polished,’ Emily’s mother said. ‘Would you like to have a closer look at the gargoyles?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Emily said.

  The three of them climbed up the steps that went round and round all the way to the top of a tower. Emily’s parents were out of breath when they got to the top. Emily and Mr Eyefinger looked down over the railing but Mrs Eyefinger stood back.

  ‘I don’t think I like this,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, Mum,’ Emily said. ‘It’s okay. You won’t fall off.’

  ‘I know but I think I’ll just stay here.’

  Emily looked at the gargoyles and other strange statues. The one nearest to her faced out over the square below. She stretched her arm as far as she could and used her eyefinger to look at the gargoyle’s face. And when she did she saw something in its mouth. Emily reached in and pulled out a little cloth bag. She spilled the contents into her hand.

  ‘Jewels!’ she cried. ‘A red one and a green one – a ruby and an emerald!’

  People crowded around. Then two guards appeared. They took the jewels from Emily’s hands.

  ‘From zer treasury. Where you get zeez?’ one of the guards asked. Before Emily could answer, he said, ‘Come wiz us.’

  Emily and her parents were hustled downstairs and into a police car. In minutes they were in a police station talking to a policewoman and a policeman.

  ‘Tell me again how you find zer jewels,’ the policewoman said.

  ‘They were in a gargoyle’s mouth,’ Emily explained.

  ‘You climb out to look in the mouth? Is very dangerous, no?’

  ‘No, I just reached out and looked in its mouth with this,’ Emily said, holding up her eyefinger.

  The policewoman gasped and then grabbed Emily’s eyefinger hand to have a closer look.

  ‘How you get zees? Is a real eye?’

  ‘I’ve had it all my life,’ Emily said. ‘I was born with it.’

  Emily blinked her eyefinger and the woman quickly let go.

  ‘Zat is fantastic!’ she said. ‘You could be policegirl and solve crimes.’

  ‘I’ve already done that,’ Emily said. ‘And I’ve even been a secret agent, too. Of course I’m not allowed to tell you about that.’

  Both police nodded their heads.

  ‘Someone is taking zer jewels from zer treasury. We know about zez but we not catch anybody. Many jewels are missing. We check people who leave the cathedral and no jewels. We look everywhere in the cathedral and no jewels. But we don’t check in mouths of gargoyles. Maybe zere are more jewels in more gargoyles. Maybe zer robbers come to get zer jewels. We watch and maybe we catch zem.’

  ‘But they will see you watching,’ Emily said, ‘and then they won’t come.’

  ‘Zat is zer problem, Emily,’ the policewoman said. ‘We can put out cameras but zeez people are very smart. But please do not worry yourself. You help us a lot. You and your parents may go. Have a wonderful time in Paris. Is zer most beautiful city in zer world.’

  As Emily’s parents got up to leave, Emily thought about the living statues she’d seen that day.

  ‘I have an idea,’ she said. ‘I think I can help you to catch the robbers.’

  Before she knew it, Emily was in the Make-up and Costumes Unit of the Paris Police Special Operations Division. A team of people were working on her. They put a rubber hood with horns on it over part of her head and they put wings on her back and grey make-up on her face. Then they sprayed her all over with thick grey paint.

  ‘Don’t worry about zer clothes, Emily,’ the policewoman said. ‘We buy you new ones, better ones. Paris has so many good clothes.’

  ‘Zere,’ one of the make-up artists said finally. ‘You look just like a gargoyle.’

  Emily looked in the mirror and saw a terrifying sight. Standing in front of her was a horrible monster.

  ‘That’s me!’ she cried. ‘I only learned about gargoyles today and now I am one!’

  ‘Zere is a tiny microphone in your hair and a tiny speaker in your fake ear, Emily,’ the policewoman said. ‘So we keep in touch.’

  Very soon Emily was standing high up on a balcony in one of the towers of the cathedral. She was right next to the gargoyle where she’d found the jewels. She looked around at the rooftops of the ci
ty. The sun had set and it was getting dark. The policewoman was with her.

  ‘You watch zer street,’ the policewoman said. ‘Tell us if you see zer robbers.’

  ‘How will I know it’s them?’ Emily asked.

  ‘Zey will come in a van. Robbers like vans, black vans. Zey will try to get in zer cathedral. Zer cathedral has many doors. You tell us which one. We are waiting inside. Now stand wiz your mouse open like gargoyle. Very still. Look straight but use your eye on finger to look down at zer street. I go inside now before lights come on.’

  Right after the policewoman went inside, spotlights came on, lighting up the front of the cathedral. Emily almost put her hands up to her eyes to shield them but she remembered just in time and closed her eyes instead. After a minute she got used to the bright light and opened them again.

  ‘This has to be the spookiest thing I’ve ever done,’ she thought.

  As the night went on there were no more people out walking and fewer and fewer cars.

  Emily heard the policewoman’s voice in her earphone.

  ‘Are you okay, Emily?’

  ‘Yes, thanks,’ Emily whispered, ‘but it’s getting cold.’

  ‘Is it too cold? Do you want to stop?’

  Emily was freezing but she didn’t want to say so.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she said.

  Hours went by and Emily started shivering. She heard the voice of the policewoman again.

  ‘I think we stop now. Zer sun will come up very soon.’

  Just then Emily thought she saw something.

  ‘No, wait a second,’ she whispered.

  Emily had seen something, something moving just below. Suddenly, a horrible face peered around the corner near her.

  ‘I can’t believe this!’ she thought. ‘It’s a real gargoyle and it’s alive!’

  Emily moved her eyefinger slowly back and forth and saw a terrifying sight. All around there were gargoyles climbing the walls of the cathedral.

  Some were climbing up and others were climbing sideways. She watched as they reached into the mouths of other gargoyles and took out little bags of jewels just like the one that she had found.

  ‘It’s a whole gang of gargoyles!’ she thought. ‘The cathedral is covered in living statues!’

  Emily slowly closed her eyes so the gargoyle near her couldn’t see them but she kept the eye on her eyefinger slightly open. She tried to speak into her microphone but he was so close now that she had to talk very softly and without moving her lips.

  ‘They’re here! They’re dressed like gargoyles!’ she whispered but it came out sounding like, ‘Air ear. Air gressed rike gargoyz.’

  ‘What was that, Emily?’ the policewoman answered. ‘Are you trying to speak French?’

  ‘No.’

  Now the gargoyle was even closer to Emily. He climbed over the railing and reached into the mouth of the gargoyle next to her. But that was where Emily had found the jewels so it was empty. She took a very slow deep breath and held it in so she wouldn’t move a muscle. She kept peeking at the man with her eyefinger.

  He mumbled something she didn’t understand. He looked again at Emily and bent his head around to look straight into her mouth. Emily hoped that he wouldn’t notice that it was pink inside her mouth and not grey like a real gargoyle.

  ‘I can’t hold my breath much longer!’ Emily thought. ‘Oh, make him go away!’

  Emily could see the other gargoyles making their way down the front of the cathedral. Whenever a car drove by they would stop moving and then move again when the car had passed.

  Then a black van pulled up and stopped.

  ‘The robbers’ car!’ Emily thought. ‘The Gargoyle Gang are going to get away with all the jewels! I’ll have to tell the police!’

  The gargoyle that had been looking in her mouth reached in with his fingers. Emily felt his painted hand on her tongue. She swivelled her eyefinger around and saw the man’s eyes widen and his mouth drop open.

  ‘Oop-la!’ he cried.

  The man pulled his hand back quickly but Emily was even quicker and bit him as hard as she could.

  ‘Aaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!’ he screamed.

  ‘It serves you right!’ Emily shouted. ‘You shouldn’t put your hand in other people’s mouths!’

  Emily turned to run but the gargoyle grabbed her.

  ‘Who are you, leetle gargoyle girl?!’ the man demanded. ‘Why are you ’ere?!’

  ‘To catch robbers like you!’ Emily yelled. ‘Help!’

  He clamped his hand over Emily’s mouth but, as he did, the police rushed onto the balcony and arrested him. Down below, the street filled with police. Emily watched as they quickly rounded up the rest of the gang.

  ‘You are a very brave leetle girl,’ the policewoman said back at the police station. ‘Your eyefinger was great help for zer Paris police. You come back and help again one day?’

  ‘I would be happy to,’ Emily said. ‘I’m always happy to help.’

  ‘Good. Here is some money. You go and buy some nice clothes. When you go home you look more beautiful and very French,’ the policewoman said, kissing her on both cheeks.

  And so it was that Emily and her parents went off to buy some new clothes for her and to see more of the beautiful city. Emily felt happy that she’d helped to catch the Gargoyle Gang but it was good to be a normal little girl again. Well, a normal little girl who just happened to have an eye on the end of her finger.

  2.

  Emily and the Runaway Star

  ‘Okay, so we’ve been kidnapped by aliens,’ Janey said, ‘and we’re being held captive on their spaceship.’

  ‘Are you an alien?’ Emily asked.

  ‘No way, I’m a kid,’ Janey said. ‘The aliens have been collecting plants from Earth and taking them back to their planet. They’ve kidnapped us kids to look after the plants.’

  Janey was acting in a movie. She and Emily were at the movie set where it was being filmed. Janey had invited Emily to watch the very last scene being made. The two friends were standing in a huge dome filled with rows and rows of plants. It was supposed to be the inside of the aliens’ spaceship. The name of the film was The Greenhouse. There were lights and cameras everywhere and people dashing about, waiting for the star of the film to arrive.

  An actor in an alien suit walked by. He said a very friendly ‘Hi, kids’ to Emily and Janey, and the girls said ‘Hi’ back.

  ‘That guy is seriously scary,’ Emily said.

  ‘You get used to their costumes,’ Janey said. ‘They’re really nice even though they’re the baddies in the movie.’

  ‘How do the aliens capture you?’

  ‘We’re on a school bus and the whole bus is sucked up into their spaceship. In this scene we’re locked up in that cage over there,’ Janey said, pointing. ‘Iris has escaped and –’

  ‘Who’s Iris?’

  ‘Iris is played by Melody Wu. She’s the star. Wait till you see her. You’ll love her. She’s still a teenager but she’s already mega mega mega. They call her Perfect Miss because that was the name of the movie where she became a star. She was only nine years old! And she is so perfect!’

  ‘So she’s escaped from the cage, right?’

  ‘Yes, and she’s been hiding all over the spaceship and fighting the aliens. They can’t catch her. Finally she gets to the greenhouse – that’s here. She has to find the key to the cage and let us out so we can kill all the aliens and go home again.’

  ‘It sounds very violent,’ Emily said.

  ‘No, it’s just lots of action. It’s fun, Em! She knows there’s a copy of the key hidden in a flowerpot but she doesn’t know which one. So she starts ripping out plants and the aliens are coming to get her and – anyway, you’ll see. Hey, that’s her coming now!’

  Outside, Emily saw a long black car pull up. The driver ran around and opened the door. Photographers crowded around as Melody stepped out. She posed for a minute and then made her way through the gate of the studio. She
passed by Emily and Janey and into a room that said ‘Melody Wu’ on the door.

  ‘Hey, Em!’ Janey said. ‘She said hello to us!’

  ‘Did she?’ Emily asked.

  ‘Well, she smiled at us. She is so gorgeous! Hey, the director’s waving at me. Time to get into the cage. See you later. Tell me to break a leg.’

  ‘But I don’t want you to break a leg.’

  ‘It’s just something you say to actors,’ Janey said. ‘It means good luck.’

  ‘Okay, break a leg – but I hope you don’t.’

  There was a long wait for the star to come out of her dressing room. Three cameras had been set up to film the action from every angle. Emily went to the back of the room to be out of the way. She watched over everyone’s heads with her eyefinger.

  Bright lights lit up the huge greenhouse, which was filled with all sorts of plants. Emily could see Janey and the other kids looking out through the bars of the cage.

  When Melody finally came on set, everyone clapped. Then the director spoke.

  ‘This is the last scene we have to film in the whole movie and it’s the most important one. If we mess it up the movie will be a flop. So, please, everyone do your best! Okay? Places everyone! Action!’

  Melody came running from the back of the greenhouse with the aliens chasing her. She started ripping plants out of their pots, looking for the key to the cage. The kids in the cage stretched out their arms screaming, ‘Save us! Save us!’ Emily could hear Janey’s cries above all the others. Pots and dirt flew everywhere as two of the cameras moved overhead. Melody started swinging a big stick at the aliens.

  Suddenly a frown came over Melody’s face. She stopped and just stood there. The aliens stopped chasing and the kids stopped yelling. Everyone was looking at the star.

  ‘Cut!’ the director yelled. ‘What’s the matter, Melody?’

  But Melody didn’t answer. She put her hands over her face then ran past the director and the crew and past Emily. In a flash she’d disappeared out a side door.