Amelia Fang and the Lost Yeti Treasures, page 7
Florence grunted. ‘SHE DON’T ’AVE TO KNOW WE EVVA FOUND IT,’ she said with a wink. ‘I LIKE TO FINK THAT MAYBE ONLY WE WERE MEANT TO FIND IT. IT WAS ONCE TERRENCE’S LITTLE SECRET, AND NOW IT CAN BE OURS. EVEN WHEN I’M A FOUSAND MILES AWAY.’
‘What do you mean, when you’re a thousand miles away ?’ asked Tangine, frowning.
Amelia, Florence and Grimaldi looked at each other awkwardly.
‘WELL, THE ANCIENT YETIS ’AVE TO MOVE TO A NEW MOUNTAIN A FOUSAND MILES AWAY, WHICH MEANS DAD ’AS TO MOVE TOO, AND YEAH, THAT MEANS ME AS WELL,’ said Florence sadly.
Tangine looked horrified. Then he ran into Florence’s furry arms and hugged her tightly. ‘I’m going to fly over on John the Vulture whenever I can,’ said Tangine. ‘I’m going to miss you even more than my EveryKing Sparkles polish . . . and that’s a lot.’
Amelia, Squashy and Grimaldi all joined in the big hug and tried to keep breathing as Florence squeezed them back with tears in her eyes.
She gave a big sniff and wiped her snotty nose with a big paw. ‘RIGHT. WE CAN’T FINK ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW. WE ’AVE TO GET OUT OF ’ERE FIRST.’ Florence picked up a bottle of vintage super-belch. ‘LET’S DRINK UP!’
‘What about all the yetis’ glittery belongings?’ said Grimaldi, looking at the once lost items scattered around them. ‘It’s going to be tricky trying to carry them all.’
Tangine picked up five pairs of glasses. ‘Maybe we don’t have to carry them all.’ He put all five pairs on his face at once. ‘We can wear them!’
Tangine was very quick to throw on a pair of platform glitter shoes, along with at least ten sparkly bracelets. Amelia wore a pair of unicorn earrings, tucked Derek’s bubble flute behind her ear and put on a bunch of other strange shiny garments, whilst Grimaldi tucked a glittery disco ball in his hood and wore a collection of jewelled belts. Florence sported Jane’s flamingo-dragon knickers and wore her Grand-yeti’s Glitteropolis Garnet necklace.
Florence poured a few bottles of super-belch on to the floor for Squashy and the fluffy pumpkins to lap up, then the friends began to drink the rest.
Soon enough, a very bejewelled and glittering Amelia, Florence, Grimaldi and Tangine bobbed up and down in the air along with Squashy and a cluster of fluffy pumpkins, like a cloud of VERY strange balloons. They floated out of the trap door, back up through the rubbish pit and into the huge cavity in the middle of the mountain.
Amelia looked up into the moonlight and grinned.
‘Okay everyone, let’s FLOAT!’
Amelia led the way as the friends and the pumpkins floated up and up and up until they reached the very top of the mountain, where they were met with a rush of cold night air.
Amelia floated out first.
POP
Then Florence, Grimaldi and Tangine.
POP
POP
POP
Followed by Squashy and the fluffy pumpkins.
POP . . .
POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, POP, PO,P POP, POP, POP, POP!
They’d made it.
CHAPTER 17
FOREVER
‘FLO FLO!’ shouted Florence’s dad, Laurence, from one side of the Yeti Mountain.
The ancient yetis began waving and cheering as Amelia and her friends floated above them in the night sky. But soon the yetis’ expressions turned to confusion.
‘Are they flying ?’ bellowed Derek.
‘We need to float down!’ Amelia called to Florence, who was directly below her.
‘WE GOTTA BELCH!’ said Florence. She made an almighty burping sound and began to descend slowly. Amelia, Grimaldi and Tangine followed suit, burping as loudly as they could to bring themselves back down to solid ground.
Squashy was making little burps and then squeaking at the fluffy pumpkins to do the same. They imitated Squashy with little belches and a few little farts.
‘Good work, Squashy!’ called Amelia.
BUUUUUUURP
BURRRRRRRP
BUUUUUUUURRRRRRRP
Finally, the friends landed on the side of the mountain one by one. They were greeted by a horde of emotional yetis and a very puzzled Ricky and Graham.
‘OH FLO FLO! WE WERE SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!’ bellowed Laurence, running over and squeezing Florence tight in his arms. ‘I’M NOT EVEN GONNA ASK WHY YOU WERE FLOATING, OR ’OW YOU GOT OUT, OR WHY YOU’RE SURROUNDED BY STRANGE FLUFFY BALLS WIV EYES. I’M JUST SO ’APPY YOU’RE SAFE!’
Clemence ran over and hugged Amelia, Grimaldi and Tangine. ‘WE FORT YOU WERE ALL GONE FOREVVA!’ She sniffed. ‘I’M SO RELIEVED YOU’RE ALWITE!’
‘Those fluffy balls are the reason all your glittery things went missing,’ said Tangine, pointing to the wild pumpkins. ‘They ate my EveryKing Sparkles polish and got addicted to glitter. Then they stole all of your glittery things.’ He spread out his wings and twirled around, creating his own sparkly cloud. ‘Mystery solved!’ he sang. The fluffy pumpkins scurried towards Tangine, eager to lap up the flecks of glitter settling to the ground.
‘I FINK WE MIGHT NEED TO KEEP ’EM AWAY FROM GLITTER FOR A WHILE ’TIL THE GLITTER EFFECTS OF THE POLISH WEAR OFF !’ said Florence.
‘WHAT ARE THESE CREATURES?’ asked Clemence.
‘They’re wild pumpkins,’ said Amelia. ‘I think your pumpkin seeds did grow . . . just not in the way you expected. You now have a WHOLE BUNCH of fluffy mountain-pumpkin pets.’
Grand-yeti Clemence gasped. ‘GIDDY GOBLIN SLIME! MY BIRFNIGHT WISH CAME TRUE!’
‘They’ve adapted to life in the mountains,’ said Amelia. ‘But they’ve been burrowing hundreds of tiny tunnels over the past few months whilst they’ve been living there to stay warm – and they’ve grown thick yeti fur!’
‘BILLOWING BAT WINGS,’ said Florence’s dad. ‘IT’S NO WONDER THE YETI PITS ’AVE BEEN COLLAPSING! ALL OF THOSE TINY TUNNELS IN THE MOUNTAIN WILL ’AVE BEEN WEAKENING ITS STRUCTURE.’ He gasped. ‘FLO FLO! WE CAN FIX THIS. THE TINY TUNNELS JUST NEED TO BE RE-FILLED AND THE COLLAPSED PITS CAN BE REPAIRED!’
‘EVEN THOUGH THE MOUNTAIN ’AS A GAPING GREAT ’OLE IN IT?’ said Florence.
‘WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS CAUSING IT BEFORE, BUT NOW YOU’VE REMOVED THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM . . .’ He nodded towards the pumpkins. ‘WE CAN REPAIR THE MOUNTAIN AND NO MORE PITS WILL COLLAPSE!’
Laurence put an arm around his daughter.
‘NOBODY WILL BE MOVING AWAY,’ he said happily. ‘I RECKON ME AND YOU TOGEVVA WIV A FEW OF OUR GOOD FRIENDS CAN GET THIS PLACE UP AND RUNNING IN NO TIME! COZ AFTER ALL, WHAT DO US YETIS DO BEST, EH?’
Florence looked as though she might burst with joy.
‘WE DIG!’ they both bellowed, throwing their arms around each other.
Amelia felt her heart swell. ‘I’m SO happy you don’t have to move away, Florence!’ she cried, and joined in the big furry hug.
‘BUT WHERE ARE WE GONNA GO WHILST THE MOUNTAIN IS BEING FIXED?’ asked Clemence.
‘How about Nocturnia Palace?’ suggested Tangine. ‘There are over three thousand rooms and loads of Mummy Maids to help take care of you whilst Florence’s dad mends the Yeti Mountain!’
‘WILL THERE BE ROOM FOR ALL THE FLUFFY PUMPKINS TOO?’ said Clemence, cuddling five of them at once.
‘Of course!’ said Tangine. ‘Enough for their very own room each!’
The ancient yetis cheered and clapped and bumped bums in glee.
‘So, this mystery ’as been solved by the sounds of it,’ said Graham, adjusting his glasses as the unicorn and his friend emerged from the crowd.
‘Easiest mystery we’ve ever had to solve, Graham,’ said Ricky.
‘It’s the only mystery we’ve ever ’ad to solve,’ said Graham.
‘You didn’t even solve it!’ Tangine added flatly.
‘Maybe we could ’elp you rebuild your pits!’ said Ricky.
‘THAT WOULD BE GREAT!’ said Laurence, ‘WE NEED ALL THE ’ELP WE CAN GET.’
‘Excellent! I’ve always wanted to be a yeti!’ said Graham. ‘Finally, my ’opes and dreams come true!’
‘You can’t be a yeti,’ said Ricky.
‘Why not?’ said Graham, looking defeated.
‘Coz you’re a unicorn, you big orange peel,’ said Ricky.
‘Well, who’s to say we can’t ALL embrace our inner yetis and have these pits rebuilt in no time!’ said Amelia with a grin. She puffed out her chest and tried flexing her arms.
‘RAAAAAAAAAAAAR!’ she roared.
There was silence, then everyone burst out laughing.
‘OH AMELIA, YOU ARE THE FINEST YETI I’VE EVER MET,’ chuckled Florence.
Over the next few weeks of the Winter Holidays, whilst the Yeti Mountain Pits were being repaired, the ancient yetis very much enjoyed their temporary stay at Nocturnia Palace.
Tangine’s dad, King Vladimir, loved teaching them how to play Eye Bowls, whilst Queen Fairyweather shared books on pumpkinology with Clemence. In turn, the yetis taught the Mummy Maids how to prance, and Tangine even set up an annual Prancing Parade at the palace.
The fluffy pumpkins were also having lots of fun with Pumpy and Squashy exploring the palace gardens. Thankfully their glitter craving had worn off after about a week of a strict non-glitter diet, although their thick fur remained.
The Pumpkineers Club was going really well; Amelia even brought Florence and Grimaldi along to a pumpkin patch race. Florence made new friends with another yeti and Grimaldi became acquainted with a pumpkin-obsessed toad. When they weren’t playing together, or hanging out with new friends, Amelia, Florence and Grimaldi helped Laurence and a team of expert yeti diggers to repair the pits.
The Winter Holidays were coming to an end, and the Yeti Mountain Pits were almost as good as new. A network of smaller pits and tunnels had been specially constructed for the Yeti’s new wild pumpkins to roll around if they wished.
‘Y’KNOW WHAT,’ said Florence as the friends sat in Central Nocturnia Graveyard eating Sugarplum ice-screams. ‘I FINK THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST WINTER ’OLIDAYS I’VE ’AD. AND I’M SO GLAD I DON’T ’AVE TO MOVE A FOUSAND MILES AWAY.’
‘That’s the BEST part of it all,’ said Amelia. ‘Even better than finding a whole bunch of wild fluffy pumpkins! And you know how much I love pumpkins . . .’ She winked at Florence.
‘Hey, we should give these wild pumpkins a special name,’ said Grimaldi. ‘Like “Fluffy Pumpkins” but much better. I’m not very good at thinking of good names though.’
‘How about tangines !’ suggested Tangine.
‘NO, TANGINE,’ said Florence, rolling her eyes.
‘Well, they’re super fluffy . . .’ said Amelia, laughing. ‘So, how about fluffikins?’ She thought for a moment then shook her head. ‘Or maybe . . . yetikins? Hmmmm, no. That still doesn’t sound quite right . . .’ Then she grinned. ‘I’ve got it!’
‘WOT IS IT? TELL US!’ urged Florence excitedly.
‘Let’s call them . . . YUMPKINS!’
‘That’s the perfect name!’ said Tangine.
‘And this is the perfect moment,’ said Amelia, as she watched a group of fluffy yumpkins roll over the murky hills of Nocturnia and into the light of the full moon.
Laura Ellen Anderson, Amelia Fang and the Lost Yeti Treasures
