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Back The Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble Save as PDF
Chapters (47)
  1. COVER
  2. ABOUT L. M. MORIARTY
  3. ALSO BY L. M. MORIARTY
  4. TITLE PAGE
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
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  18. 13
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  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
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  33. 28
  34. 29
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  36. 31
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  38. 33
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  47. 42

‘Oh, yes,’ said Joy. ‘One more thing. We don’t know how many people support Topaz. Some people think that because Enrico is our Commander-in-Chief he can do no wrong. Others are just so nice they think it’s bad manners to complain. And of course, everyone is frightened of the Thugs. So, if you want to know if someone is a Topaz supporter you can recognise them by this secret mark.’

She pushed back her frizzy hair. High on her forehead was a tiny speck like a freckle, but when Nicola looked closer she saw it was actually a tiny letter ‘t’.

The door to the mansion opened again, and another servant yelled, ‘All hands on deck! Enrico’s toast is . . . lukewarm!’

Joy and Silent Fred rolled their eyes at each other.

‘You’d better get going,’ said Joy. Silent Fred helped each of them climb up on to the saddles of their ShobGobbles.

‘Good luck,’ said Joy fervently.

Silent Fred held up his board. It said, We’ll keep an eye on Katie for you.

Nicola felt like she was very high up off the ground. She clung to her ShobGobble’s back with her knees and grasped her reins tightly. She noticed that the rest of the Space Brigade were all watching her expectantly.

Whenever you don’t feel confident, just pretend you are, her mum had told her once when she was nervous about a speech she had to give.

Nicola lifted her chin. ‘Follow me,’ she said, and tapped her feather-whip against her ShobGobble’s back.

17

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‘WHOA!’

The ShobGobble shot off like a firecracker exploding. Nicola’s head snapped back and her legs gripped the saddle in panic. Her feather-whip nearly slipped from her grasp as her ShobGobble pounded down Enrico’s long driveway, splattering snow with its hooves.

Cold wind rushed against her face, tearing the breath from her throat and blurring her eyes. She could hear cries and shouts from the other members of the Space Brigade behind her. It seemed they were all having the same trouble. A ShobGobble streaked past hers with someone clinging desperately to its back. She recognised Sean’s voice yelling, ‘WHAT’S YOUR HURRY?’

Up ahead, Nicola could just make out the huge brick wall that surrounded Enrico’s property. Her ShobGobble seemed to pick up pace.

‘WHOA!’ shrieked Nicola again, pulling on her reins. ‘OH PLEASE, PLEASE WHOA!’

It seemed her ShobGobble was determined to slam them both straight into the wall. She tried to sit up so she could use her feather-whip to guide him towards the gates but it was all she could do to keep her balance. Should she just throw herself off? Which would hurt more, hitting the ground or hitting the wall?

The wall loomed up in front of them. The ShobGobble lifted his head and stretched out his long neck. Suddenly Nicola knew what he was planning to do. He was going to try to jump over the wall.