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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
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She was about to try again when her ShobGobble moved, trotting obediently off to the right. YES!

Tyler was right. The trick was to use the feather very, very gently.

Nicola decided to risk going faster and tapped her feather a tiny bit harder. Her ShobGobble responded with a brisk trot and Nicola panicked. Calm down, she told herself. After a few seconds, she was bouncing up and down in a slightly unsteady rhythm. As they thudded through the snow, moving in and out of the colourful beams of light created by the rainbows, Nicola suddenly felt exhilarated. It was like the first time she’d ridden her bike without training wheels.

With a deft twitch of her feather and a pull on the reins, she turned her ShobGobble back around to see how the others were doing. Sean, Tyler and Shimlara were all getting the hang of it, their foreheads furrowed with concentration.

Greta, however, was sitting astride her ShobGobble, staring straight ahead and not moving. Nicola rode over to her.

‘It’s easier than you think,’ she told Greta. ‘You just use your feather so lightly it’s like you’re hardly touching it.’

Greta didn’t answer. She seemed frozen with fear.

‘I’ll show you,’ said Nicola, and before Greta had a chance to protest, Nicola used her own feather-whip to caress Greta’s ShobGobble.

‘NICO –’ began Greta as her ShobGobble trotted off.

‘That’s it, Greta!’ Shimlara called encouragingly.

‘Try changing direction!’ cried Nicola.

Greta lifted her feather high, hesitated, then softly touched it down. Her ShobGobble obligingly turned the other way.

‘I did it!’ said Greta.

‘Well done,’ said Nicola, as Greta managed to turn her ShobGobble in a circle and bring it back to her.

‘Thanks,’ said Greta. ‘And, um, thanks for helping me. I guess I needed a push.’

Nicola was so surprised at this unexpected gratitude that she nearly fell off her ShobGobble and had to grab on to the edge of her saddle.

‘Watch it,’ said Greta sharply. ‘Your balance isn’t that great.’

It seemed it was a very short moment of gratitude.

‘Okay, everybody! We’d better get going!’ Nicola shouted. She was about to pull out her map but she noticed a sign.

image  25 VALLEY OF HIGH HOPES

She pointed to the sign. ‘That’s where we’re heading.’

‘Twenty-five what?’ asked Tyler. ‘Twenty-five miles? Twenty-five kilometres? What measurements do they use on Shobble, Shimlara?’

‘You really can’t expect me to remember everything I learned in class,’ shrugged Shimlara.

‘I’ll guess we’ll find out,’ said Nicola. ‘Let’s go.’

She gave her ShobGobble a gentle stroke with the feather.

‘You know,’ said Shimlara as she trotted along beside Nicola. ‘If it wasn’t for the fact that Katie has been taken hostage and we’re on a mission for a mad man who plans to burn our tongues and put us all in a mobile jail, this would be a lot of fun.’

18

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