On the Story Sea (9781743583531) Read online

  CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  It was the weekend, and Lola was going to a fancy-dress party.

  But she had nothing to wear to a fancy-dress party!

  She did have an old princess dress in the back of her closet.

  But when Lola dug it up, she saw a big square cut out from the front of it.

  Lola smiled. Oh, that’s right! She’d cut it out to make a blanket for her toys. She didn’t really like princesses these days, anyway.

  Hunting around in her cupboard, she found some long stripy socks, and an old pair of jean shorts that she had almost grown out of.

  She also found some of her mum’s old scarves, and a belt.

  It was hopeless!

  Just then, her brother Nick looked into her room. ‘What are you going to wear to the party?’ he asked.

  Lola shrugged.

  ‘I know,’ Nick snorted, ‘you can pretend you’re one of the ugly sisters from Peter Pan.’

  Lola rolled her eyes.

  ‘Or you could go as the ugly duckling from Where the Wild Things Are!’ he said gleefully.

  Then he bounded off down the stairs.

  ‘You’re muddling up your stories!’ Lola called after him.

  She slumped onto her bed next to her favourite toy, Buddy.

  Buddy was a learn-to-dress clown, with lots of zippers and poppers, buckles and buttons.

  ‘Easy for you,’ she told him. ‘You could just go as yourself. A clown!’

  Lola was tired of looking for a costume. And anyway, the party was hours away.

  She had much better things to do.

  At the end of the bed was her toy box. But this was no ordinary toy box. Oh no.

  This was Lola’s magical toy box.

  Lola picked up Buddy and climbed inside her toy box. Then she carefully closed the lid.

  The toy box filled with light and started to shake. Lola held onto Buddy as they jiggled around like a baby’s rattle.

  She squeezed her eyes shut.

  Then, as suddenly as it had started, the shaking stopped. The lights went off again. Everything was still.

  Lola took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and climbed out.

  She had climbed into her toy box, but she had climbed out of …

  She had climbed out of a magnificent treasure chest, on the deck of an enormous ship!

  ‘Wow!’ shouted Lola. ‘Where in the Kingdom are we?’

  She had to shout because the wind was blowing very loudly.

  Buddy climbed out of the toy box behind Lola, clutching his hat with both hands.

  ‘Bless my buttons!’ he yelled. ‘I think we are on a ship!’

  Lola laughed. She wasn’t sure she would ever get used to seeing her favourite toy come alive. Or hearing the funny way he spoke!

  ‘I can see we are on a ship!’ Lola shouted at Buddy. ‘But where are we going?’

  Her magic toy box always brought them to the Kingdom. It was a special place where toys came when they were not being played with at home.

  Above Lola and Buddy were tall masts and huge sails. The sails were billowing in the wind.

  ‘Let’s get out of the wind,’ yelled Buddy, pointing to a small wooden door. ‘That’s probably the door to the ship’s cabin.’

  Lola and Buddy held hands and leaned into the wind, taking one step at a time towards the cabin door.

  But the wind was very strong. It was tough going.

  ‘This wind is amazing!’ Lola shouted.

  Then, with no warning at all, the wind dropped. Completely.

  Lola and Buddy tumbled onto the deck in a big heap of girl and toy.

  Lola gasped as she sat up.

  Right there, in front of her, was a pair of boots.

  Big leather boots.

  Big leather pirate boots!

  Lola looked up. Wearing those big pirate boots was the most awesome pirate Lola had ever seen.

  ‘Hello there,’ said the pirate. ‘I am Pirate Sal, at your service.’

  Lola clambered to her feet.

  She recognised Pirate Sal at once. Lola had had a whole set of pirate puppets when she was little.

  She thought she’d lost them forever. Actually, she’d totally forgotten about them until … um, that very minute.

  They must have been in the Kingdom all this time!

  ‘Hello, Pirate Sal,’ said Lola.

  She wanted to give the pirate a huge cuddle, but she wasn’t sure if Sal was the cuddling type of pirate.

  Sal had golden hair and blue eyes, and earrings made of gold buttons.

  She also had a very sharp-looking cutlass and a hook for a hand!

  Pirate Sal gave Lola a nod.

  ‘I’ve heard rumours that a real girl has been visiting the Kingdom,’ Pirate Sal said. ‘Welcome back!’

  Word travelled fast in the Kingdom.

  But Lola was puzzled.

  Pirate Sal sounded friendly. She didn’t sound at all pirate-y.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ asked Pirate Sal.

  ‘Well,’ said Lola, ‘it’s just that you look like a pirate. But you don’t sound like a pirate.’

  ‘That’s because you wouldn’t understand me if I spoke like a pirate,’ Sal told her.

  Lola frowned. She had heard pirates talk. She had seen pirate films. There had even been a day at school when everyone had tried to speak like pirates.

  ‘I think I’d understand you,’ she said.

  ‘Very well,’ the pirate replied.

  Suddenly Pirate Sal’s blue eyes seemed to flash, and she spoke again.

  ‘Avast, ye land~lubbering squab and buffoon! Behold me bootstraps and canter on behind, d’ya hear? Afore the howlin’ blizzard take ye over an’ inta the drink!’

  Lola and Buddy looked blankly at each other.

  ‘OK, you’re right,’ Lola said with a grin. ‘I didn’t understand a word of that.’

  ‘Not to worry,’ said Sal, speaking normally again. ‘I speak Land-Talk too. I was just saying, Follow me before another gust of wind blows you overboard.’

  ‘Bust my buttons, Lola,’ said Buddy, beaming with joy. ‘Pirate Sal is the finest pirate on the Story Sea!’

  Lola couldn’t believe her luck.

  A pirate ship! This could be her best adventure yet.

  Pirate Sal led them to the front of the ship. Lola and Buddy held onto the rail as another huge gust of wind started to blow.

  ‘Welcome aboard the Eye Spy!’ shouted Pirate Sal. ‘Fastest ship on the Story Sea.’

  Lola couldn’t believe how quickly the ship was sailing. It was very exciting, and it was also a teensy bit scary.

  Buddy clung to her leg, so she picked up his soft little body for a cuddle.

  Pirate Sal shouted at them to look ahead. Lola saw a large yellow shape burst up out of the water in front of them.

  Then the shape was gone.

  ‘Twist my toggle!’ cried Buddy. ‘What in the Kingdom was that?’

  Pirate Sal looked worried. ‘We don’t know. We’ve been chasing it for hours. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and I know these seas better than any toy in the Kingdom.’

  Moments later the giant yellow thing jumped up out of the water again, and then dived down.

  This time, Lola got a good look. It was like a huge plastic whale. It had a big open mouth, but there were windows along the sides.

  Lo
la had seen something like it before. Just last night, in fact, when she was having her bath!

  Lola turned to Pirate Sal and said, ‘I know what it is!’

  Pirate Sal led them down to her cabin so they could talk where it was much quieter.

  Lola, Buddy and Pirate Sal huddled together as Lola explained what they had seen.

  ‘It’s called a submarine,’ said Lola. ‘It travels under the water.’

  Pirate Sal looked worried. ‘A ship that goes under the water, eh?’ she said. ‘I’ve never seen one of those.’

  Lola thought about the big open mouth on the submarine.

  ‘Sometimes they’re used to catch other boats. Or to attack them,’ she said. ‘And sometimes they secretly scoop things up from underwater!’

  Pirate Sal was quiet for a moment, thinking.

  ‘Come with me,’ she said finally. ‘I have something to show you.’

  Pirate Sal opened a trap door in the floor.

  Lola and Buddy followed her down the ladder and into the darkness below.

  Lola looked around. Huge fishing nets hung from the walls. And she could see wooden treasure chests everywhere, lined up next to each other.

  Pirate Sal opened a few of the treasure chests. Some were full to the top with paper. But many of the chests were empty.

  ‘Usually these chests are all full,’ Pirate Sal said. ‘But someone has been stealing from me!’

  Pirate Sal pointed to the fishing nets hanging from the walls. ‘When we go fishing on the Story Sea, we don’t fish for fish. We fish for stories.’

  ‘How do you catch a story?’ Lola asked.

  ‘You put a blank page into the water, and wait,’ said Sal. ‘After a while you pull the paper back out, and if you are lucky it has a story on it. Easy!’

  Lola giggled. It sounded very magical, and much easier than trying to write a story all by yourself. Or going to the book shop to buy one!

  ‘Usually we catch hundreds of stories. Old stories, new stories, funny stories. Look.’

  Pirate Sal picked up a piece of paper and handed it to Lola. It said:

  And he sailed off through night and day, and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.

  Lola smiled. It was one of her favourite stories from when she was little.

  ‘You can keep it,’ said Pirate Sal, grinning.

  Lola popped the piece of paper into her pocket.

  ‘The last few days, we’ve been fishing more than ever,’ said Pirate Sal, ‘but guess what?’

  Buddy shrugged his floppy shoulders.

  ‘No stories?’ guessed Lola.

  ‘That’s right. So half our treasure chests are still empty,’ said Sal.

  What a mystery! thought Lola.

  ‘Imagine a world without stories!’ cried Buddy.

  Lola thought about all her favourite books. The ones that made her feel good. And the scary ones, as well as the funny ones.

  She even loved the sad ones.

  Lola knew she had to do whatever she could to help Pirate Sal.

  Whenever she needed to think, she paced around the room. This was one of those times.

  Buddy took out his juggling balls. Whenever he needed to think, he started to juggle. It was a clown thing.

  A mysterious submarine is seen in the Story Sea, thought Lola.

  And stories are going missing …

  Lola stopped pacing and looked across at Buddy and Sal.

  ‘The submarine and the missing stories must be linked,’ she said slowly. ‘The submarine must be stealing the stories. But why?’

  Buddy stopped juggling. ‘Stories are very powerful, Lola,’ he said. ‘They are full of ideas. Often very clever ideas. That’s why we treasure them.’

  ‘Buddy’s right,’ said Pirate Sal. ‘That’s why we put the stories into books for everyone in the Kingdom to read.’

  But who would want to steal the stories? wondered Lola. Who in the entire Kingdom needs new ideas?

  She threw up her hands. It was so obvious.

  ‘The Plastic Prince!’ she cried.

  The Plastic Prince was the ruler of Nevercalm. He ruled over the Almost Toys and was always up to no good.

  What he wanted more than anything was control of the whole Kingdom.

  ‘He is always after more power,’ Lola reminded the others. ‘And that’s why it’s a plastic submarine. It’s from Nevercalm!’

  ‘Well, tangle my laces, Lola,’ said Buddy. ‘The Plastic Prince stealing stories for more power? It makes perfect sense! And a plastic subma-thingy would definitely be from Nevercalm.’

  Lola looked thoughtful again. ‘Have you seen any paper in the sea that shouldn’t be there?’ she asked Pirate Sal.

  ‘Indeed we have!’ replied Sal.

  ‘The submarine must be fishing for stories!’ said Lola. ‘It’s dropping paper into the sea, and then coming back to collect it all.’

  ‘If this is the work of the Plastic Prince, we must stop that subma-thingy!’ cried Pirate Sal.

  They all went quiet, and Lola started pacing again.

  Buddy started juggling again.

  Lola tried to think of a plan. She knew that submarines were much faster than pirate ships. Ships needed the wind to sail, but submarines had powerful engines.

  Lola suddenly felt nervous. What if the submarine captured all the stories?

  If there were none left, then Pirate Sal and her puppet crew wouldn’t be able to make books for the Kingdom’s toys.

  Come on, Lola, she told herself. Think hard.

  She looked arounnd. Treasure chests … fishing nets …

  All at once, an idea popped into Lola’s head. She looked up, her eyes sparkling.

  Buddy dropped his juggling balls. He had seen that look on Lola’s face before.

  Lola had a plan.

  Soon Lola, Pirate Sal and Buddy were back up on deck.

  Sal ordered the ship’s crew to bring up the treasure chests.

  ‘But only the ones full of stories,’ she said.

  Lola watched the funny puppet pirates struggle to carry the heavy chests.

  Soon the chests were all lined up, ready to go.

  Pirate Sal was busy getting the fishing nets into place.

  Buddy was standing next to Lola, watching it all.

  ‘I hope this works,’ he said. ‘By my buttons, I do!’

  Lola smiled. But she was nervous, too. It was a simple plan. Was it too simple?

  If it went wrong, they would lose all the stories Pirate Sal had been keeping safe in the treasure chests. They would be even worse off than they were now!

  But Lola knew they had to try. They had to stop the Plastic Prince.

  If he took all the great ideas from the world’s stories, he would become even stronger. And then the whole Kingdom would be in danger!

  Pirate Sal appeared at Lola’s side. ‘Everything is ready,’ she said.

  Together, Lola, Buddy and Pirate Sal walked over to the treasure chests.

  ‘We should take one chest each,’ said Sal. ‘Are you ready?’

  Buddy nodded.

  Lola took a deep breath and nodded too.

  ‘It’s a splendid plan, Lola,’ said Pirate Sal. ‘Let’s hope it works!’

  Lola, Pirate Sal and Buddy each opened a treasure chest. Then, one by one, they started throwing the pages into the sea. The pages fluttered down and landed in the water.

  ‘When they get wet, the stories will leave the paper and return to float in the Story Sea,’ called Pirate Sal.

  Lola, Buddy and Sal worked quickly, throwing in more and more stories.

  Soon the treasure chests were empty. Out at sea, a long line of pages drifted away from the ship.

  They watched and waited.

  Lola began to worry. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good plan after all.

  They watched and waited some more. What if I’ve made a terrible mistake? Lola thought.

  Then, all of a sudden, it happened. There was a big
splash, and the huge plastic submarine leapt out of the water!

  Then it dived back down, sinking beneath the waves.

  Lola felt her heart beating loudly. ‘It’s working,’ she cried. ‘It’s working!’ The submarine jumped out of the water again.

  It was moving quickly. And it was coming their way!

  Each time the submarine jumped up they could see its big, open mouth scooping up the stories.

  The first part of Lola’s plan was working. But what would happen next?

  In a few minutes, the submarine would be really close. The crew took their positions.

  Pirate Sal climbed up the mast, ready to give the signal.

  This was the scariest moment. Lola was holding her breath. This had to work.

  Buddy touched her arm.

  ‘It will be OK, Lola,’ he whispered. ‘I can feel it in my stuffing.’ Lola put her arm around her cuddly friend.

  Then there was an almighty great SPLASH!

  Lola gasped.

  The submarine was right next to them!

  It was so close that Lola could see in through the round windows.

  The submarine was full of Almost Toys. So, they were right – the submarine was from Nevercalm!

  ‘Release the nets!’ yelled Pirate Sal.

  The puppet pirate crew threw the fishing nets over the submarine.

  The submarine was big and powerful. But it was also caught in Pirate Sal’s huge fishing nets.

  ‘Yippee!’ Lola cried. ‘We did it!’

  Buddy started to turn cartwheels on deck as the pirate crew tied long ropes around the submarine.

  Then they hoisted it high above the ship.

  As the submarine swayed in the breeze, hundreds of pages started to fall from its giant open mouth.

  More and more stories poured out.

  Lola laughed in delight. She grabbed Buddy’s mitten and danced beneath the falling pages.

  Soon the deck of the ship was covered in stories.

  Pirate Sal slid down on a rope from the mast, grinning.

  Just then, Lola heard a rattling coming from the submarine above them. She grabbed Buddy and dived out of the way.