Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism (18 page)

“Calm down, Molly,” said Rocky, frowning and sitting down on the sofa. He helped himself to a marsh-mallow from the large bowl on the table.

“Okay,” Molly said, taking a deep breath. “First, I’ve got something to show you.” Molly went to a cupboard and opened it. “It’s the thing that changed my life…. It’s what helped me get here.” Molly clicked a combination lock and opened the safe’s heavy steel door. She pulled out the hypnotism book, which she had wrapped in silk, and carried it over to Rocky. “Inside here is the most incredible book. And I’m not joking, Rocky, it really is something special. This book is what brought me to New York. It brought me all this success … but it’s all ended in disaster.”

As Molly poured them both a Qube, Rocky opened the package. And for the next hour Molly told him the whole story. From when they had had the argument by the cross-country track in Briersville to hearing Rocky’s message just now. She showed him the envelope of instructions from Nockman and Petula’s red collar. When she’d finished, Molly tried to look Rocky bravely in the eye.

“So now you know what I’ve been up to. The worst thing is that I got so wrapped up in myself and blown
away by fame and money and flashy stuff that I forgot about you. Then, when I lost Petula too, I realized how awful it is without friends. You’ll probably want to go now, but I just had to tell you everything.”

Rocky’s expression was thoughtful. He rolled a piece of golden paper from a chocolate around in his hand until it was a small ball. “You nitwit,” he said. “I’m not going to
go.
I’ve only just found you. Why would I want to leave my
best
friend, who has been almost
impossible
to find and who I’ve missed like mad?” Rocky held up the golden ball and twisted it from side to side, so that it caught the light and shone. “I mean, she may be half crazy and have done some things that she maybe shouldn’t have, but so what? She’s still the best person I know. I mean, look at this ball. If it was the
only
precious thing you owned and if you’d had it all your life, you wouldn’t just go and throw it away when a little bit of rust showed on it, would you?”

Molly shook her head and looked at the golden ball.

“You can relax, Molly. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay right here, by your side, okay? So you can relax and feel good.”

Molly did feel good. Better than she’d felt in ages. It was wonderful to have Rocky back. He was talking to her now, but she didn’t hear what he was saying. She was just listening to his warm, kind voice, realizing how
much she’d missed it. It made her feel as if she had come home.

“But what am I going to do about Petula, Rocky? I can’t see how to get out of this trap. All because of me, Petula is somewhere lonely and scared. She’d be better off feeling sick with Adderstone’s chocolate cookies. Because now she might die, she really might…. I mean, this guy is really mean … and it’s all my fault…. I should have just stayed at Hardwick House and put up with life there. I may have been bad at everything and unpopular, but at least Petula was safe and I wasn’t being blackmailed into robbing a bank…. In fact, I wish I was back there … I wish I’d never found this stupid hypnotism book … I wish I could turn the clock back and all of this would just disappear.”

All at once Rocky clapped his hands, and with a
whoosh
the hotel room disappeared. In its place was a wood. The wood beside the cross-country track, outside Briersville. Rocky and Molly were sitting on a bench, just as they had been the afternoon of their argument. They were in gym clothes, with sneakers on. It was raining and they were wet.

M
olly nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked about her in a panic. They really were sitting by the Briersville School crosscountry track, in the rain.

“Aaaah, what’s happening? Where’s New York gone?” she cried.

Rocky smiled. A roll of thunder growled in the sky above them.

“Your time in New York never existed,” he said calmly. “It was all a figment of your imagination, and my imagination too.”

“But … how?” Molly managed to stammer.

“I hypnotized you,” said Rocky.

“You
hypnotized me?” she said, aghast.

“Yup.”

“You
hypnotized me?” Molly repeated, “But … but … when?” She felt disoriented and confused. The rain started to get heavier.

Rocky said, “Just now, here in Briersville. You said, ‘I hate this place, in fact I can’t think of a
worse
place to be in the world. My life is just
HORRIBLE.’”

Molly felt very mixed up. “Did I? I can’t remember saying that.”

“You just said it, at the end of our argument,” said Rocky.

“What argument?” asked Molly, totally bewildered.

“Sorry,” said Rocky patiently, “I’ll have to make this clearer. You’ve been cross since this morning, because Mrs. Toadley was nasty to you after the word test and Miss Adderstone has been giving you punishments all week—you know, like cleaning the toilets with your toothbrush.”

“But …” said Molly. “But … I can’t believe … it’s incredible….” She could find no more words, as it began to sink in where she was in the world and when.

“You said,” repeated Rocky, “that you couldn’t think of a
worse
place to be, and that your life in Briersville was a
horrible
situation. So I hypnotized you and showed you a worse place to be, which was an imaginary situation in an imaginary New York.”

“So Petula’s okay?” asked Molly, shaking from shock.

“Yes,” replied Rocky. “She’s probably curled up on Miss Adderstone’s lap right now.”

“So Nockman doesn’t exist?”

“Nope.”

“And Adderstone’s still at Hardwick House?”

“Yup.”

“And she doesn’t click her false teeth like castanets?”

“Nope.”

“And you haven’t been adopted?”

“Nope.”

“And I’m plain old unpopular Molly Moon?”

“You got it.”

“Wow,” said Molly. The worry of Petula and the worry of having to rob a bank lifted off her shoulders. Her stomach relaxed and she felt a hundred times better. “Wow,” Molly said, still dizzy from shock and still half disbelieving that she was really back in her old world. “Wow, Rocky! But where did you learn how to hypnotize? Wow! That story was amazing. Did you just make it up?”

“Yup,” said Rocky.

“But, Rocky, you could probably
really
hypnotize your way to the top. I mean you’re
really
good. That felt
completely
real. I actually felt like I was in New York, for weeks and weeks.” Raindrops splashed on Molly’s sneakers. “I can’t believe that I really thought I was a
hypnotist, and all along it was y
ou.”

“Mmmnn.” Rocky nodded.

“But that was
amazing,”
Molly said, remembering everything. “I
really
felt like I was in that show.” Molly shivered. “And Nockman was so real. Uuurgh, he was horrible, and it felt really bad when he had Petula. Rocky, your imagination is
wild
. I can’t believe you made that all up. And how long have you been able to do that? When did you learn? Does the book really exist? Why didn’t you tell me?” Molly looked suspiciously at Rocky. “Why haven’t you hypnotized me before? Or have you?”

“We’d better get back,” said Rocky. “I wonder what’s for supper.”

“Probably Edna’s fish in cheese-and-nut sauce,” said Molly, thinking of the food at the Waldorf, which, in her imagination, had been so delicious. “Mind you, Rocky, there were lots of parts of that story that you told me that were really nice.” Molly licked her lips. “The food in the hotel was amazing, and that bedroom was so posh. Room service … I liked room service, and I liked the view from the hotel room, and even though I shouldn’t have stolen Davina’s part, I liked being in
Stars on Mars
, and I liked New York, oh, and I really liked having money.” Molly laughed. “It would be lovely if it was all true, with just Nockman cut out of
the story. I mean, he spoiled everything. Although I
was
starting to feel a bit guilty for being such a fake. But otherwise, it was … pretty good.” Molly chuckled. Then there was a flash of lightning, and Rocky clapped his hands again.

A
flash of lightning lit up the New York skyline. Molly found herself back in the Waldorf with Rocky.

“What …? Why …? Rocky! What’s happening? Oh, Rocky, what are you doing? Why are we back
here?”
Molly felt spooked. She didn’t know what was real anymore, and she didn’t like the feeling at all.

“Rocky,” Molly said slowly, “I don’t understand…. Is this real, or are the woods in Briersville real? I mean, were we just in Briersville, or was that my imagination?”

“New York is real. Briersville was in your imagination.”

“Definitely?” asked Molly.

“Yes. New York is real and everything that you’ve
been doing here is real,” said Rocky.

“Are you sure?” asked Molly, still unsteady.

“Yes, I’m sure,” said Rocky. “I just hypnotized you then, using my voice and this ball of golden paper.” Rocky held up the chocolate wrapper. “I made you think we were still on the cross-country run. I wanted to make you think that all this”—he pointed out of the window at the New York skyline—“never happened. Sorry about that.”

“But it felt
wet
… that rain. Everything felt so real,” said Molly.

“Well, that’s the power of hypnotism,” said Rocky.

“But why … why did you do that?”

“I’m sorry,” said Rocky again. “But, well, you were saying you wished you’d never found that hypnotism book … so I wanted to show you how
lucky
you were to have found it, and I wanted to show you that I could hypnotize too.”

“So you’re a hypnotist too! I can’t believe it,” said Molly, still reeling from the trip Rocky had taken her on, and completely amazed by his talent. “And that’s what it feels like to be hypnotized…. Quite nice! So how did you learn?”

Rocky smiled. “Guess.”

“I don’t know—your new parents are hypnotists?” guessed Molly.

“No.”

“I give up.”

“Okay.” Rocky reached into his denim jacket pocket and carefully pulled out two tissue-paper packets. “Do you recognize this?” he asked, passing the lumpier one to Molly. Molly unfolded the tissue and found inside a small, shabby piece of burgundy-colored leather. She turned the leather over in her hand to discover on the other side a large, golden capital letter:

“The missing H!” she said, amazed. Picking up the hypnotism book, she carefully placed the H in the space on the spine. It fitted exactly, and the strange word
YPNOTISM
became
HYPNOTISM
again.

Then Rocky passed her the other parcel. In this one were some neatly rolled yellowing pages. Molly turned the pages over. “I can’t believe it! You were the one who ripped those chapters out!”

“I couldn’t resist,” Rocky said. “Chapter Seven, ‘Hypnotism Using the Voice Alone,’ and Chapter Eight, ‘Long-Distance Hypnosis.’ They’re my specialties.”

“And I thought I was the naughty one,” said Molly.

“Mmmnn. You see, I had the book first,” explained Rocky. “I found it in the not-to-be-lent-out section
in the library, so I read it there.

“It took me
ages
to read. Every time I had a spare hour, I’d sneak to the library. You thought I didn’t like you anymore, because I kept disappearing. The truth was I was trying to learn how to be a hypnotist, because I had a plan. I wanted to get you and me away from Hardwick House by hypnotizing some of the Americans who came. I wanted to hypnotize them into seeing how great you are. I wanted them to
tell
you how much they liked you, because everyone else was always so mean to you. I wanted them to boost your confidence. That’s why I never told you about the book. Anyway, while I was reading, that bit of the cover fell off, so I kept it. And I decided to … um … borrow those pages. But you know what? I think I ought to put them back now.”

Rocky took the pages, and opening the hypnotism book, he put them back into their rightful places. “Home sweet home,” he said. Then he gave the whole book to Molly.

“We’ll glue the H back on,” she said, wrapping it up with the book. Putting the bundle back in the safe, she imagined Rocky practicing Dr. Logan’s lessons, just as she had. “Did you hypnotize an animal?” she asked, very intrigued.

“Yes, a mouse in the library.”

“You’re kidding!”

“I’ve never seen a mouse roll over like the one I talked to.” Rocky chuckled.

Molly laughed. “And what about people? Who did you hypnotize?”

“Well, people weren’t easy,” remembered Rocky. “I could half hypnotize people, but it never really worked. Do you remember our argument, on the cross-country run, when I made that blowfish face?”

“Yeah,” Molly said, smiling.

“And you told me I looked really stupid?”

“Yes,” said Molly, laughing as she remembered.

“Well,” explained Rocky, “I was trying to hypnotize you into calming down because you were in a really bad mood.”

Molly grinned at the memory. “So when did you get good at it?” she asked.

“Well, something clicked the day the Alabasters came to Hardwick House, at least enough for them to fall under my spell. I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe it when they actually wanted to take me home. They just turned up again on the Saturday morning and wanted me to come away there and then. Miss Adderstone, of course, was really pleased to get rid of me, and I couldn’t get to spend enough time with them to persuade them to take you.”

“But, Rocky, maybe they really
genuinely
liked you,” Molly interrupted.

“Well, maybe,” said Rocky. “Maybe. Anyway the thing was, Molly, that you were upstairs ill and I wanted to say good-bye to you and explain that I’d come back and get you, too, and then all the little kids as well, eventually. Wow! I had such a plan … but Miss Adderstone wouldn’t let me see you. She said you were highly contagious, and that you were asleep, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hypnotize Miss Adderstone, and the Alabasters said that since we were traveling I ought not to catch your illness, and it was awful because I didn’t want to make a scene just in case it put them off me, but I knew you’d be really upset and I wrote you a note, but I expect Adderstone never gave it to you, and oh, Molly, I’m sorry.” Rocky stopped, out of breath.

“That’s all right,” said Molly. “I knew something like that must have happened.”

“Now, though, I’m more practiced at hypnotism,” said Rocky, smiling craftily. “Voice-only hypnosis is my strongest point. And
most
of the time, it works.”

“Mmmnnn,” said Molly. “I never managed to master voice-only hypnosis, myself.
Since I couldn’t find the lessons
. My specialty is eyes-only hypnosis, with a bit of voice on top. When you saw me on TV, did you guess I’d found the book?”

“You bet I guessed,” said Rocky.

Molly sat back down and smiled. It was great to have Rocky back and someone to confide in. “Real friends are the best thing,” she said. “Better than popularity, or fame or money. Rocky, I’m
so
glad you found me. But—what are we going to do about Petula? And what are we going to do about Nockman and the robbery?”

“Well.” Rocky nodded slowly. “Things are a bit different now, because Nockman doesn’t know about me.”

“I hope not,” said Molly quietly.

“When do you think he’ll ask you to rob the bank?”

“Who knows?” said Molly. “He’s so greedy … the day after tomorrow?”

“That soon?” said Rocky. “In that case, we’ve only just got time to sort ourselves out. I’ve got an idea. It’s a long shot, I have to admit, but it might just work.”