Emily Eyefinger and the Secret from the Sea (2 page)

‘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.

‘What's going on?' the director yelled. ‘Find out what's wrong with that girl and bring her back. She's probably in her trailer! Honestly, stars,' he added, shaking his head, ‘why do they have to be so difficult?'

‘She's not in her trailer!' someone yelled.

‘Well find her! People don't just disappear into thin air!' the director shouted back. ‘Okay, cut the lights, we're wasting electricity.'

‘What do you think happened?' Janey asked when she joined Emily.

‘I don't know,' Emily said. ‘One minute everything was going perfectly and the next minute she ran away.'

‘Maybe she got dirt in her eye,' Janey said. ‘There were plants and dirt flying everywhere. Or maybe she was about to throw up. Acting can be very scary. It can make you sick.'

Emily thought for a minute.

‘I don't know what happened,' Emily said, ‘but I'm going to try and find out. I'll be back in a minute.'

Emily went out the side door and headed towards the star's trailer. Instead of going in she slipped around behind it and climbed the back fence. Then she ran along a path through the
woods. Soon she heard the soft sound of someone crying. She made her way through the bushes and around a big rock. There was Melody Wu, her head in her arms, sobbing.

‘Melody?' Emily said. ‘Are you okay?'

Melody looked up, startled, and quickly covered her face with her hands. ‘Get away from me!' she shouted. ‘Leave me alone!'

‘Are you sure I can't help you?'

‘Yes, I'm sure! Just go away!'

‘Okay, I'm going,' Emily said.

‘Wait a minute,' Melody said, sounding less angry. ‘Can I use your phone?'

‘My phone? I don't have one. Sorry.'

‘You don't have a phone? What kind of person doesn't have a phone?'

‘A person like me,' Emily said, ‘and you.'

‘Of course I have a phone! I've got four of them! I don't have one with me because I'm acting in a movie! Are you stupid?'

‘You don't have to be rude,' Emily said.

‘I'm sorry,' Melody said. ‘Don't go. I promise I won't be rude.'

Emily thought about it. ‘Okay,' she said, ‘I'll stay.'

Melody still had her hands covering her face but tears were flowing down through her fingers. ‘But could you turn your back?' the girl asked. ‘Please?'

Emily sighed. ‘Yes, all right,' she said, turning her back to Melody. ‘Now how can I help you?'

‘I have to get out of here before they find me,' Melody said, taking her hands away from her face. ‘I have to get to a taxi before one of those photographers takes my picture. I just have to get away from here.'

‘You're not going back to the movie set?'

‘No.'

‘Is it because of your face?' Emily asked.

‘Hey! I told you not to look!'

‘No, you didn't,' Emily said. ‘You told me to turn my back, and I did. But you didn't say I couldn't look at you with this,' she added, wiggling her eyefinger at Melody behind her back.

Emily's eyefinger had seen the star's face and it was all red and puffy, and covered in little bumps.

‘What is that
thing
on your finger?!' Melody screamed. ‘It's horrible! Get it away from me!'

‘That thing is part of me,' Emily said. ‘I have an eye on the end of my finger. I've had it all my life.'

‘You have an eye on your finger?' the star said. ‘You're an alien! A real alien. I can't believe it. An eye on a finger. It's got to be fake.'

‘Well, it's not and it works the same as my other eyes. Melody, you're allergic to plants, aren't you?'

Melody looked at her in surprise. ‘Who told you that?'

‘Nobody told me anything. Some flowers give my mum a rash. All she has to do is sniff them and her skin turns all red like yours. But with her it goes away in a few hours.'

‘The same with me,' Melody said. ‘But I don't know which flowers I'm allergic to. I'm allergic to lots and lots of things.'

‘So if you knew that some flowers were a problem, why did you say you'd be in a film called
The Greenhouse
?'

‘Because I didn't know it was about a greenhouse. I thought it was about a green
house
. Like a house that was green. My agent said it was a good film for me. He doesn't know about my allergies. By the way, what's your name?'

‘Emily. Emily Eyefinger.'

‘Eyefinger? That's a made-up name, right?'

‘No, it's not. It's my real name,' Emily said. ‘Now why don't you go back to the movie? They can put some make-up on you. Or maybe they can get rid of all the flowers and just have plants without flowers.'

‘Emily, you really don't understand. I can't go back. This isn't about the movie. It's about me, Melody Wu, Perfect Miss. I have millions of fans. There's a magazine about me and a website and everything. It's all about being perfect. Don't you
see – I have to be perfect! I can't get all red and horrible every time there are flowers.'

‘But you're not perfect.'

‘I know that but my fans don't.'

‘Well, that's silly,' Emily said. ‘Look at me, I have an eye on the end of my finger.'

‘But that's a good thing, isn't it?'

‘Sometimes it is and sometimes it's not,' Emily said. ‘I have to be careful not to get dirt in it or soap in it when I wash my hands. I will never be able to play the piano or the violin or do lots of other things. Sometimes that makes me sad and I just want to be like other kids. Then I think, no, I don't want to be them. I'm me and I want to be me.'

Melody thought about this for a minute. ‘I can see you've thought about this a lot,' she said.

‘Yes, I have,' Emily said. ‘Now why don't you come with me to my house? You can use the telephone and talk to the director. I'm sure everything will be okay.'

‘That's very kind of you, Emily. But can you do me one other gigantic favour? Please don't tell anyone about this.'

‘Of course.'

 

‘What a fantastic film!' Janey said as they left the movie theatre. ‘It seems like ages since we made it. Didn't you love it, Emily?'

‘Yes, it was really good,' Emily said, ‘and so exciting even though I knew what was going to happen in the end. And I thought you were wonderful!'

‘Thanks, Em. I wasn't bad, was I? And Melody was great too. She has all these allergies to everything and she's still a big movie star. Did you know they had to redo that last scene using plastic flowers because of her allergies?'

‘No, I didn't know that.'

‘In her next movie she wants to play a girl with an eye in the back of her head,' Janey said. ‘I read
about it in
Perfect Miss Magazine
. Hey, why not on the end of her finger, Em? They could call it
Perfect Miss Eyefinger
. Hey, why are you smiling?'

‘It's funny,' Emily said.

And with this Emily smiled another big secret smile.