Mutant Bunny Island by Obert Skye
“Are you ready?”
I nodded and zipped up my suitcases.
“Wait,” he said. “One last thing.” From behind his back, he pulled out a rolled-up shirt. “I was afraid it wouldn’t get here in time, but like I told you, we have really good mail carriers.”
He handed me the shirt, and I carefully unrolled it. On the front were Admiral Uli, Stacy Horse, Commander Cod, and even Benedict Cucumber, who looked shifty.
“I got it on eBay. I just wish they had one in my size.”
“Zeke! Thank you so much!”
I wanted to rip off the Admiral Uli shirt I was wearing and put on the new one, but I didn’t feel like changing in front of company. So I tucked the shirt into my suitcase and zipped it up again.
“Should we go?” Zeke asked.
I looked at all three of them and wished I didn’t have to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
AWKWARD
Being home was great, but I missed Bunny Island. I also missed my uncle and Juliet. Actually, I even missed Rain. He had called me yesterday from the glass phone booth to tell me that he saw a dead squid on the beach and thought of me.
I was horrified at my fallen comrade and touched that Rain would call me.
I was still spending a good amount of time in my room playing on the computer and reading comic books. But to be honest there were moments when I wanted to be running down Rabbit Road or stomping across the beach. My legs were actually mad about all the lying around I was now doing.
“Fine, legs,” I said. “I’ll stand up.”
I closed the comic book I had just finished reading for the third time.
It was late morning, and my bedroom window was open so the breeze could come through. I wasn’t worried about newts attacking, because they knew perfectly well that it would be foolish of them to mess with me.
Outside, my old friend Ryan pulled up to my house. I jumped at the chance to run to the front door.
“Hi, Ryan,” I said when I opened the door.
“Please, kid, I’m not your friend.”
“Right,” I said sadly. “I guess you heard about Juliet and Rain, then.”
Ryan “acted” like he didn’t know what I was talking about.
“Just take this, please,” he begged.
Ryan was holding what looked to be another orange envelope from Zeke containing the next issue of Ocean Blasterzoids.
“Sure,” I agreed. “We shouldn’t make this any more awkward than it needs to be.”
Ryan handed me two envelopes.
“Two?” I asked in surprise.
He was already down the walk and driving off. I closed the door, looking closely at the envelopes.
My dad came out of the kitchen, where he had been grinding wheat into flour all morning.
“Anything for me?” he asked.
I put the orange envelope from Zeke under my arm and checked the second one. It was a small yellow one from Juliet.
“Nope,” I said, blushing.
“Look at you,” my father said proudly. “Getting a letter from someone you’re not related to. It’s like you came back from that island a player.”
“What’s a player?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” my dad admitted.
We both stood there a moment as he cleared his throat and I finished blushing.
“Well,” he finally said. “I was reading in the almanac that we can expect this to be a favorable summer for drought-tolerant crops. That includes certain kinds of wheat.”
“I can’t speak for wheat, but I know it’s been a good one for me.” Summer wasn’t even halfway over, and already my head was filled with things I will never forget. I held up the orange envelope. “I’m going to read this new issue.”
“Of course,” my dad said. “It’s really nice to have you home, squid.”
“What’d you say?” I asked.
“Just that I’m glad you’re back, kid,” he said with a smile.
I returned the smile and ran outside to read.
BACK AD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OBERT SKYE is the author of the bestselling Leven Thumps series, the Creature from My Closet series, and the Witherwood Reform School series. As far as he knows, he has never been attacked by either bunnies or newts. There is still time, however. He lives in Arizona with his family. Learn more about him at www.obertskye.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eduardo Vieira is an illustrator who specializes in character design. He lives and works in Brazil. You can see more of his work at www.eduardovieirart.bigcartel.com.
CREDITS
Cover illustration by Eduardo Vieira
Cover art © 2017 by HarperCollins Publishers
Cover design by Joe Merkel
COPYRIGHT
MUTANT BUNNY ISLAND. Copyright © 2017 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017932866
ISBN 978-0-06-239912-0
EPub Edition © October 2017 ISBN 9780062399137
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FIRST EDITION
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Obert Skye, Mutant Bunny Island