Read Online Molly Moon & the Monster Music by Georgia Byng - Free Book Online Page A

that normally Molly had no musical skills. Yet here she was, as though she had been born playing a harmonica—as though she had been taught to play it by the angels.
    As Petula looked about, she saw the effect the music was having on the humans in the restaurant. They seemed hypnotized by the sound. Petulasqueezed her eyes and checked herself. No, she was definitely not hypnotized. But it was clear to her that everyone in the restaurant, except for Mr. Proila, who was eating a chocolate dessert, was. This music Molly was making, Petula thought, was hypnotic, and in a way more powerful than Molly’s hypnotic eyes could ever be. For this hypnotism was effective en masse. If there had been a thousand people in the room, Petula knew that they all would have been affected by Molly’s music.
    Petula knew this sudden musical ability, and Molly’s new meanness, were both connected to the coin. The foul-smelling, evil-feeling coin that Petula could sense right now in Molly’s pocket.
    When Molly finished her piece the customers and the waiters let out cheers of appreciation. Everyone was smitten. Everyone that is bar Mr. Proila, who was wiping his mouth with a napkin.
    Chokichi shook Mr. Proila’s arm.
    â€œMr. Proila,” he said, making sure his manager could read his lips, “Molly’s an amazing musician!”
    Mr. Proila looked up from his dessert and saw the enthused faces about him. He studied the waiters’ gleeful expressions and he saw that the object of everyone’s enthusiasm was the plain-looking girl with the scruffy hair, who held a harmonica in herhand. Mr. Proila had never cared for music, even when he had been able to hear, but he was very interested in the money he could make from it.
    â€œI’ve an idea, Mr. Proila,” Chokichi said. “Why doesn’t she play with us at the concert tomorrow night? She’s great. The audience will love her.”
    Mr. Proila had been in the music business long enough to know a hot thing when it sizzled in front of him. Regardless of what the potato-nosed girl looked like, it was quite obvious from the faces of the people in the restaurant that whatever she did on her harmonica was hot. He shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
    â€œOf course,” he said nonchalantly. “Good idea.”
    Then, deciding that one pudding hadn’t been enough, he waved at the waiter to bring him the dessert menu.
    When Gerry and Toka returned to the table, Petula could tell they hadn’t heard any of Molly’s music—and they hadn’t been hypnotized. Did Molly know what she had done to the others? She must, Petula thought, for Molly was experienced enough to know what hypnotized people looked like. Then Petula wondered whether Molly had even registered that Gerry and Toka had been absent. Petula began to shiver with worry. Somehow she must protectGerry and Toka from this new Molly and her dangerous music.
    She thought of the coin that sat like an evil imp in Molly’s pocket. Petula knew what she must do. She must get the coin off Molly.
    The rest of the evening passed quickly. They piled into the limousine once more and were soon back at the apartment.
    Gerry was exhausted, and he and Toka went upstairs to bed. Petula hid under a chair and watched Molly pacing the lounge with the coin in her hand. Petula was sure she overheard her whispering to it.
    More frightened than sad now, Petula crept up the stairs to Toka’s room. She hopped onto Gerry’s bed and curled up there.
    Molly meanwhile had sat on a stool beside the window and was stroking and adoring her coin. “To think I’ve been carrying you about without realizing until this evening what you can do,” she whispered to it. “All that power sitting in my pocket! You are amazing. You make me amazing.”
    All of a sudden a flickering to her right caught her attention. She glanced quickly up, at the same time automatically closing her hand over