The Very Royal Holiday Page 5

  ‘I’ll take you back to Earth,’ said Nadya of Marok to Anna and Holly when it was her turn. ‘Where’s Pepino?’

  ‘No idea,’ Anna said. ‘Have you seen him anywhere?’

  ‘Well …’ Nadya blushed. ‘This morning, when we were packing our stuff, I was talking to Blastula and Quetzal, and … we didn’t mean to be rude … we just said something like, “Isn’t it weird that Pepino’s parents haven’t sent a rocket?” And Blastula said, “Poor Pepino! He really isn’t loved, is he? I used to dislike him, but now all I feel is pity.” And we all agreed and said much the same thing.’

  ‘That’s not very nice,’ said Holly. ‘But why are you telling us this?’

  The Tsarina of Marok bit her lip. ‘Well, when I left the fo’c’sle, I noticed Pepino had been standing in the corner the whole time. He must have overheard our conversation.’

  Anna and Holly stared at each other, horrified.

  Twig-Leg Zig, behind them, said, ‘Look into the spyglass, me lassies! Who be up thar in Hamelin’s pedal car, flying away as fast as he can? Pepino!’

  Anna and Holly grabbed the spyglass and their blood curdled.

  ‘Oh, no! Where’s he going?’

  ‘I need to go. My rocket’s here,’ said Nadya. ‘Are you coming or not?’

  Anna and Holly looked at each other and sighed. ‘No,’ said Holly. ‘We need to get Pepino. He’s our friend.’

  The Tsarina of Marok shrugged and said goodbye to everyone. A few seconds later, she’d gone into the rocket, the rocket door had clicked shut and she was gone.

  ‘Quick,’ said Anna. ‘The racing car – and our scuba-diving kits. Zig, we’re leaving – we need to catch Pepino.’

  ‘That’s the right attitude, me sprogs,’ said Zig. ‘I’ll be sorry t’see ye leave, but ye can’t let a bucko get lost in the sky like that. Take me spyglass – I’ll make another one.’

  Anna and Holly hugged the buccaneers of the Void Vagrant, and Zig even shed a few tears. Anna too, perhaps, and Holly certainly. As for Arak, it was very obvious, since there were so many eyes on her.

  And then they got into the racing car and took off.

  Chapter Twelve

  B ecause Anna and Holly were in a racing car and Pepino was pedalling on his own – and because Pepino wasn’t especially good at pedalling – they caught up with him pretty quickly.

  ‘Pepino! What are you doing?’ Holly shouted. ‘All the rockets have gone!’

  ‘Why haven’t you left?’ the prince replied. ‘You should have!’

  ‘We weren’t going to leave you alone! Where do you think you’re going?’

  ‘I don’t care. Anywhere. I want to find a nice little planet just for myself, where I can be all on my own.’

  ‘That sounds sad,’ said Anna.

  ‘I am sad,’ said Pepino.

  ‘Well, we’re not leaving you alone,’ Holly stated. ‘We’ll come to your little planet with you.’

  And they drove in silence for what felt an eternity in the very empty and very dark skies. They were so far from any suns now that it was mostly dark, and quite cold.

  ‘There’s a little planet over there,’ said Anna after a while, looking into the spyglass. ‘It’s very, very little.’

  ‘Sounds perfect,’ said Pepino grumpily.

  The planet was indeed very, very little.

  It was also, it turned out, already occupied, for there was a tiny cottage there, with a large bird perched upon the roof.

  ‘Looks like a bird’s living here,’ said Holly. ‘Shall we see if we can find anything to eat or drink in that cottage before we leave again?’

  ‘It’s such a small planet,’ Anna mulled. ‘Will we even have enough space to land?’

  They did, just about. There was barely anywhere to stand. They took off their scuba-diving and breathing kits – the air was quite breathable, and smelt familiar.

  ‘I feel like I’ve seen this bird before,’ said Holly. ‘Shall we knock on the door?’

  ‘I guess we might as well,’ said Anna. ‘I hope it’s not an ogre or a witch.’

  They knocked, but no one came to the door.

  So they pushed it open and looked inside.

  ‘I feel like I’ve seen this fellow before,’ said Pepino, looking at a man asleep in the bed. ‘Have you?’

  Anna and Holly didn’t reply. They just stared at the sleeping man.

  ‘Oh, I know,’ said Pepino. ‘I know where I’ve seen him … It was a few days ago. When you showed that picture to Blastula. That picture of …’

  Pepino stopped. ‘Oh, Anna! Holly! This is your … It’s your …’

  ‘Daddy,’ Holly and Anna whispered at the same time.

  Very slowly, they walked to the bed. The man was sleeping calmly and snoring a little bit.

  Holly and Anna bent down … and kissed his cheek.

  What happened next can’t be explained very well with words …

  And then there were too many words …

  And very, very, very many kisses.

  Many kisses and stories for the next few days and nights.

  Chapter Thirteen

  One sort-of-morning, suddenly, they heard a sound outside the door of the cottage.

  A sound like the huffs and puffs of someone pedalling hard when they’re not very good at exercising …

  … and a voice harrumphing, ‘I really wish we hadn’t spent the rescue mission budget on those new toboggans.’

  ‘I know, my dear,’ said a second familiar voice. ‘You keep saying this. Maybe the people on this planet will be able to help. Ahem, ahem, excuse me? Is anyone home? We’re looking for a tiny sort of prince, with cute little cheeks and messy hair. And two girls: a bossy one and another one with glasses, both very cute too.’

  Pepino stared at Anna, then Holly, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  And then he was out of the house in a flash. The girls and their dad followed him.

  ‘MUMMY!!!!!!!!! DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

  ‘Oh, Pepino, darling!’ the King and Queen of Britland exclaimed, hovering beside the cottage in their pedal rocket. ‘We’ve been looking for you all over the entire universe!’

  ‘Have you really?’ Pepino marvelled, jumping into his parents’ arms.

  ‘It was quite slow,’ said King Steve, ‘because we had to build this rocket from scratch, and then pedal through space for weeks. I must say, your mum’s become devilishly good at pedalling. She should take part in the Tour de Francia.’

  ‘Oh, Mummy, Daddy,’ Pepino whispered, hugging his parents. ‘I was so worried you didn’t care I’d gone!’

  ‘Didn’t care?’ Queen Sheila laughed. ‘There wasn’t a second when we didn’t miss our grumpy, ice-cream-covered, chubby, funny, lovely little prince!’

  ‘We even brought you ice cream,’ said King Steve, ‘but it’s a tad melted, and, erm, I ate a bit of it.’

  But it was the most delicious ice cream Pepino had ever eaten.

  ‘Where are the Berties?’ Anna asked.

  ‘Being babysat by Nestor. I hope he doesn’t mind that we’ve been gone for much longer than we said.’

  ‘And I hope King Alaspooryorick hasn’t heard you were away,’ laughed Holly.

  ‘Shall we give you a ride home, then?’ the King and Queen asked Holly, Anna and their dad. ‘It’ll be quicker with all of us pedalling.’

  ‘I can’t wait to stretch my legs a little bit,’ said Holly and Anna’s dad. ‘It’s been a while since the last time I was able to walk more than a few steps.’

  So they all got into the pedal rocket – even the pelican, who, it turned out, could pedal quite well when he put his mind to it.

  And they pedalled and they pedalled in the dark and empty skies, passing by planets, UFOs and flotsam from the Earth and other places, passing by the pirate spaceship too …

  And through his spyglass, Twig-Leg Zig watched them go by and he smiled, saying, ‘Arrr! The man an’ the bird! Thar he is. I knew something good wo
uld come o’ that in the end. I knew it was a special man an’ a special bird. I knew it.’

  And they pedalled and pedalled until the Earth was in sight …

  … and then through the Earth’s

  atmosphere …

  … and straight to Britland …

  … and down to the small

  seaside village of Doverport, which thankfully hadn’t been invaded at all (though Nestor looked a tiny bit tired).

  And when they landed it was already September – in fact, the school bell was just ringing for the first morning class!

  ‘Come to school with us, Pepino,’ said Anna. ‘You’ll have much more fun than with your private tutor at the castle!’

  ‘Yes,’ said the King and Queen, ‘it’s probably a good idea. You go off to school and make new friends and learn new things.’

  ‘YIPPEE!!!!’

  Pepino was so happy he tried to do a triple somersault, forgetting he wasn’t in space any more, and landed on his head.

  But Anna wasn’t happy.

  In fact, she was quite grumpy.

  ‘School!’ she grumbled. ‘School! Already? We’ve barely had a holiday!’

  Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and Sydney

  First published in Great Britain in May 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

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  This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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  Text copyright © Clémentine Beauvais 2016

  Illustrations copyright © Becka Moor 2016

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