Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade by Kimberly Behre Kenna

Author:Kimberly Behre Kenna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

14

Within minutes of hiding the mosaic shards, Art was startled by the sound of horns beeping and people screaming. Through the open window she saw a tour bus of people armed with cameras and binoculars, swarming the Horizons Hotel beach. The sand dunes were littered with picnic refuse that buzzed with flies.

Artemis high-tailed it outside.

“Do you see it, Gerry?” a woman yelled at her husband, who scanned the water with binoculars.

“Nope. Not even a regular-size jellyfish.”

“Keep looking! I need a picture of that monster to show the grandkids.”

No way was this about my posters.

The card-playing women exited the hotel, dragging their suitcases behind them. “I told you there was something odd about this town, Nettie, with all its talk of wars and what-have-you.”

“I hear you, my friend. We’ll get our money back and finish our vacation elsewhere in a few weeks. Somewhere more peaceful.”

The hotel parking lot erupted with agitated drivers trying to park and set foot on the now-famous Jellyfish Beach. Mr. Hellander attempted to direct the traffic, but nobody paid attention to him. One car sideswiped another, and the drivers swore at each other while kids in wet bathing suits, holding drippy ice cream cones, looked on.

All of a sudden, Art’s mother was there, running toward the cars, waving her hands, trying to help Mr. Hellander stop the madness. But the noise just got louder, and soon two cop cars arrived. Art ran over to her mom, who was begging the cops to help and didn’t even notice Artemis at her side. Unfortunately, Mr. Hellander did.

“Artemis! Get out of here right now. Somehow, I think you’re involved in this mess. You and that dastardly neighbor of ours. Now git!” Mr. Hellander shouted.

“I’ll—I c-can help—” Her mouth wasn’t capable of saying more than a few words to the man, even if they were nice words.

“Just go! My hotel thrives on facts, not fantasies, and you’re too full of the latter to be of any help,” he yelled.

As she turned to leave, she came face to face with the Barlow twins.

“Chaos! Cool!” Henry said while his brother filmed it all on his phone.

Artemis pushed the phone away. “Quit it! C-can’t you be d-decent human beings for once?”

“Decent human beings will enjoy seeing news like this, believe me!” Brett walked toward the water, his phone capturing all the excitement. His brother went to the bike rack and took a soda from his backpack.

Which gave Artemis an idea.

When the boys were busy on the beach, she let the air out of the back tires of both bikes. She made her getaway toward the front entrance of the hotel, but something moving near the storage shed caught her eye.

Art pivoted and snuck around back of the shed, where Mrs. Moonchaser was seated on an overturned apple basket, peeking out at the commotion. “What are you doing back here?” Art asked.

Mrs. Moonchaser wiped her eye with the sleeve of her blouse. “Heartbreaking. This behavior is heartbreaking, and I’m not sure what to do about it.

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