Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure (10 page)

“We thought maybe you got lost. But, Molly, there’s something else,” said Rocky. “Your skin. Your face has started to wrinkle or something—in patches, it’s so dry that it’s almost scaly. Look!” Rocky led Molly to the wall that was decorated with small chips of mirror. She shrank back in horror when she saw her reflection.

“You probably just need to drink some water.” Forest peered at Molly’s cheek and poked it. “Or maybe it’s some scaly skin condition that is comin’ out because you’re stressed.”

“Or maybe it’s the time travel,” suggested Molly, touching the dry, crusty skin near her ear. Then a noise in the courtyard outside broke their discussion.

“Let’s cut the medical and get out of here,” suggested Rocky.

T
he jeweled corridor outside was dark and silent, except for the occasional
meow
of a peacock from the palace gardens. They crept out and down the stairs, pausing at the bottom to look left and right, uncertain which way to go. Rocky went to the other end of the corridor and frantically tried that handle. It gave way and Petula darted through.

They found themselves in a musty-smelling room with a wax-covered candelabra hanging from its ceiling. On the right were two wooden latticework screens through which shone thousands of spots of light. A door with a curtain hanging across it stood half hidden to the left. They tiptoed quickly across the room toward it. As Molly’s eyes adjusted, she could see that the lotus-patterned wallpaper was punctuated with the
heads of dead animals—stag with magnificent antlers, wild boar with fierce tusks, and leopards, their faces snarling stiffly. Lined up on the floor against the wall were tiger skins with their heads attached. A shaft of sunlight fell upon a Victorian daguerreotype photograph of a hunting party. In the picture, the giant Waqt leaned proudly against a dead elephant, his rifle slung over his shoulder.

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Molly said.

As if in answer, a grunt came from the corner of the room, making everyone jump. They turned to see what horrible beast might be there.

But it wasn’t a beast. There, sitting cross-legged on the floor, was a thin man in a knee-length outfit—a cream shirt, with pleats around the bottom, and orange leggings. He wore a pashmina shawl and a faded turban with green and gold stripes running through it. A tired black feather sat feebly in the silk.

The odd thing was that directly above the man’s head was a large portrait of an Indian prince dressed in
exactly
the same clothes. Each man wore a green, gem-encrusted brooch in his turban. Both were covered in precious jewelry. The difference was that the living breathing man was dirty and disheveled. His unkempt black beard bushed down his chest, and his mustache fell about his jaw like hairy black seaweed. From the
glazed look in his eyes, Molly knew he was hypnotized and when her eyes quickly scanned the plaque under the portrait that read:

she knew he was the true owner of the palace they were in.

“Don’t stop,” said Rocky, hovering by the curtained door. “We’ve got to get out of here, Molly.”

“But this man’s the real maharaja!” Molly bent toward the zombielike man. “Hello, can you hear me?” Petula sniffed at his silk-soled feet. “It’s awful. Looks like he’s spilled a hundred curries down his shirt.”

“Hurry up, Molly, someone’s coming.”

The maharaja on the ground grunted.

“Oh, I wish I could undo your hypnosis,” said Molly apologetically, “but it will be locked in with some sort of time-stop lock or a time-travel lock,
with
a password. And I’m afraid I just don’t know what that is.”

“Molly, man, you better move,” said Forest, wiggling about as though he had a snake down his shirt. “I got this vibe that people are, like, comin’ soon.”

Sounds in the passage echoed his warning. Copper doors clanked against walls as they were roughly opened. In a moment their escape would be known. There was nothing for it but to leave the hypnotized maharaja. Molly leaped up and followed her friends through the curtained doorway.

Now they were in a white and blue corridor. This had six doors along the sides of it.

“Which way?” Molly asked frantically. “There’s so many flippin’ doors!”

“The main entrance must be to our left,” insisted Rocky, opening one.

A large garden lay before them, with a green lawn and borders full of flowers. Inside the building they heard a shout. It was Zackya’s rusty voice. “Sound the alarm. The prisoners have escaped!”

Molly, Rocky, and Forest dashed across the grass, with Petula behind them. They could see the entrance of the fort through a colonnade at the end of the garden. Drums sounded and peacocks roosting in the trees began to screech.

Four turbaned guards emerged from behind the columns ahead and unsheathed their swords.

Molly grabbed the red crystal from her pocket.

“Okay, quickly—Forest, hold my shoulder; Rocky, hold Petula, and put your hand on my shoulder, too.
Whatever you do,
don’t let go!”

“Hurry up, man!” urged Forest, hopping from one foot to the other, starting to giggle hysterically. “Those guys are coming and they don’t exactly look as if they’re gonna ask us to dance.”

“Forest, just shh, okay?” Molly pleaded. “Try to pull yourself together. I’ve never taken off with other people before, so if you want to get out of here alive, just be quiet a minute.”

Just then, the door from the white and blue corridor burst open and Zackya emerged.

Taking a sudden U-turn decision, Molly felt for the clear crystal that hung around her neck and, with swift expertise, froze the world.

Zackya felt the moment and resisted the freeze. In a second, the two of them were standing in a still landscape. The soldiers looked like giant toys, stiff and immobile. Forest’s and Rocky’s expressions were set, flushed with panic. The screeching of the peacocks ceased and silence reigned.

Zackya avoided Molly’s eyes. Molly hid the red crystal from him. She realized that he had no idea that she had some time-travel crystals. She also saw that he was nervous of her hypnotic powers.

“You can’t escape me,” he said.

“But I can delay you, Zackya.”

“Oh, yes? And for how long? Time stopping is
exhausting, even for a seasoned hypnotist like myself. So for you, it won’t be long before you collapse from the cold.” He kicked a stone and it bounced toward Molly. She shrugged. She didn’t disagree, even though Zackya had completely misjudged her capabilities. Instead, she lied.

“I
am
feeling tired and cold. But I’d rather faint than give in to you.”

Zackya laughed and kicked another stone. Inside, he felt uneasy. He didn’t want a competition to see who could bear the cold, still world the longest—already he could feel his rheumatic knee aching. Nor did he want to try hypnotizing Molly.

“What’s the password to free the hypnotized maharaja?” Molly demanded.

Zackya shook his head. He really didn’t like this. He wondered what would make Molly give in and stop the freeze. Then, an idea dawned on him.

“I don’t know the password, but I will strike a deal with you,” he said. “If you unfreeze the world, I will tell you something about the hypnotized maharaja.”

Molly pretended to look unsure. “Why would I agree to that?”

“Because, Miss Moon, you will have to give up, eventually. This way, at least when you are caught and imprisoned again you will have something new to think about.”

Molly made a sour face and then she nodded.

And so Zackya, extremely pleased to have caught Molly, and very relieved not to have to tell Waqt that he’d lost her, started to spill the beans about the lonely man inside. His first impulse, though, was to put the record straight about himself.

“Before I start, I want to explain my relationship with Waqt,” he began. “You may think that Waqt hates me. He may call me a dog and spit on me, but you should understand that
I
am the closest thing he’s ever had to a friend. And, although I was once an untouchable from the lowest caste, at least I was never an
outcast
like him. You see, Miss Moon, Waqt’s royal parents chose to cast him out and to lock him up like a mad person.” Zackya pointed to the building behind him. “That man in there is Waqt’s younger brother. When he was a boy he lived the life of a prince while his elder brother, the giant, was left to rot.” Zackya’s face went strangely soft, and then his mouth twisted as though he’d tasted something bitter. “Waqt’s father and mother thought that if they locked their monstrous child up they could pretend that he and his fits of temper didn’t exist. All those childhood years I spent with him, I saw him spurned and I saw his hatred grow. He went through fifty-seven nannies and even more tutors. He was impossible. No adult could cope with him.”

“Where did Waqt learn about hypnotism?” asked Molly. Zackya answered as though his thoughts were far away.

“He found a book. He was always reading. Then we escaped. We went to China, where he learned about time travel from an old warrior. Eventually we returned.” He paused. “Some people say that revenge is a dish best tasted cold. Well, by the time we returned, the past was cold, but Waqt never forgot how his parents had treated him. His hate still burned like a furnace inside him. That is why he hypnotized his brother and seized all his power.”

“What about you? Do you hate his brother and his parents?”

Zackya’s eyes narrowed. The cold, still world was getting to him now. The tip of his nose felt numb. “You’re getting a little more explanation than you deserve, Molly Moon. I think it is time for you to honor your side of the bargain and unfreeze the world.”

“No, tell me more first. Do you hate his brother and parents?”

Zackya growled. “Very well. One more slice then, Miss Moon. His parents are dead, but I still hate them. Because of the monster they created, I live in fear every day of my life of Waqt hypnotizing me. And I am chained
to helping him source his precious crystals because, as you can see, if we don’t get to the Bubble at the beginning of time, our skins will drop off us. Time travel makes the skin go scaly.

“Of course, one day Waqt will reward me with my freedom. By then, I will have traveled to the Bubble of Light. My skin will be glowing and youthful. And, by that time, Waqt will own every fort and every palace in India. He will give some to me. So, I will be young
and
I will be powerful.
This
is what I wait for.” Zackya spat on the ground. “And now, Moon, you must let the world move.”

Molly felt Rocky’s and Forest’s still hands on her shoulders. She checked that Petula was under Rocky’s arm.

“I don’t like to break promises,” she said to Zackya, “but I do like to be free.” With that, Molly simultaneously focused on the red crystal and let the world defreeze.

As their surroundings sprang into action, she sank her mind into the red crystal.

“Whoa, okay, I’ll be quiet,” said Forest.

Molly willed warm time winds to envelop them. In a second there was a BOOM and they were moving.

“S
o, said Waqt. “I am letting you out of your trances for an hour or so. I hope you are pleased.”

The
ten
-year-old Molly blinked up at the huge, scaly man in front of her and cast her eyes over his equally reptilian assistant, who had just arrived with a notebook and a pen.

“You’re
late,
Yackza,” the giant snapped. Molly tried to work out whether she was dreaming. Had she really just met an eleven-year-old version of herself? And an older Rocky? The small girls beside her huddled close, hiding their eyes in the silk of the strange new dress she had on. Were they younger versions of herself? All this was impossible. She must, she concluded, be dreaming. And yet she felt so wide awake. As though the moment was real. Molly looked around the room. It was
a beautiful room, with colored marble embedded in the walls and golden chairs to sit on.

“Who are you?” she asked. “And why are we here?”

“The only reason you are here is to show me thumsing of what this baby’s character will be when it grows up.”

The ten-year-old Molly decided not to argue with him. “Why are we dressed in these Indian clothes?”

The giant ignored her question.

Molly shook her head. She felt completely disoriented and confused. Was she mad? Maybe she was actually sitting in Hardwick House imagining all this. Perhaps the giant in front of her was a distorted Adderstone, the orphanage mistress.

“Is this another one of your punishments, Miss Adderstone?”

At this, the huge man in front of her let out a demented laugh. “Ooooooohhhhhhh, how amuuuusing,” he declared. “You really are entertainment, Miss Moon!”

Molly shook her head. “It wasn’t me who overflowed the bath, Miss Adderstone. This isn’t fair. Whatever you’re doing, please stop.”

“Overflowed the bath! Overflowed the bath! HA! Ha ha ha!” Waqt wailed with laughter.

“Let me put you out of your misery. I am not Miss
Adderstone. Ha! I am the Maharaja of Waqt. Born 1835. Prone to fits. Tall, hark, and dandsome—don’t you think? Cooped up by my own parents for fifteen years. Imagine that! Well traveled, to put it mildly. Europe, Africa, China, the future, the past! But enough of myself. We are here today to analyze you. You will now show me thumsing about yourself. We want to see what sorts of talents the maby Bolly has inside her.” He put his hands on his hips and nodded to a servant at the door.