by Thea Stilton
and the other
contestants left the Hilo airport together.
The Thea Sisters were already bonding
with the other competitors — everyone
except for the Ruby Crew, that is. Ruby and
her friends trailed after the rest of the
rodents. They only seemed interested in
chatting with one another.
As they were all boarding the bus that
would take them to the resort,* a squeak
rang out: “Look! A white dog!”
Colette, Nicky, Pamela, Paulina, and Violet
turned around. A Hawaiian
mouselet
was pointing at something in the distance.
She seemed very worried.
Tails trembling, her friends surrounded
THE WHITE DOG
* A resort is a fancy hotel that offers services like swimming
pools, a spa, meeting rooms, and even concerts.
her. They all shared the same
fearful
expression.
The Thea Sisters followed their gaze
and saw a white dog passing about twenty
feet away.
Colette, Nicky, Pam, Paulina, and Violet
exchanged puzzled looks: What was so
scary about a white dog?
“Let’s do a little research when we get to
the hotel,” Violet whispered to Paulina, who
nodded.
After a short drive, the bus stopped
in front of a flashy new building. The
sign outside read Fire Flowers resort. It
looked very exclusive!
“Holey cheese!” cried Pamela as she
scrambled off the bus. “What a fancy-
schmancy hotel! The owners must have
Why were the local mouselets so upset by the sight of
an ordinary white dog?
C
L
U
E
!
money to burn. . . .”
“You said it, sis!” chirped Colette, her eyes
sparkling. “I’ll bet there’s a spa inside!”
Paulina and Nicky looked at her in
confusion. “A what?”
“A spa is a beauty treatment center,”
Colette explained. “A place where they help
you relax with massages, snout masks,
compresses, saunas —”
“We get it, Colette,” interrupted Pam. “It’s
your ultimate fantasy made reality!”
Nicky and Paulina burst into giggles.
SPA
The word
spa
comes from the town
of Spa in Belgium, where people used
to visit for the healing properties of its
mineral springs. Today the term is used
to refer to centers that offer restorative
hot baths, body well-being services, and
beauty treatments.
sweet
“It sounds wonderful, Colette,” said Violet
gently. “But I don’t know if there will be
time
for beauty treatments. We’re here
to represent Mouseford Academy in the
hula championship. We’ve got to stay
focused on our performance tomorrow!”
A high-pitched squeak
interrupted her. “You said it, sweet
cheese
! I’ll bet you a pound of fresh Swiss
that Mouseford will win the hula
competition!”
It was Ruby squeaking. She, Connie, Zoe,
and Alicia sashayed past the Thea Sisters.
“That’s right, Ruby!” added Zoe. “But
let me clear something up: Since the Ruby
Crew
is also here to represent Mouseford,
the academy’s got this competition in the
palms of our paws. I can’t imagine what a
bad impression
Mouseford would
make if it were just the
Thea Sisters representing
our school!”
Pam was furious. “How
dare you?! Just wait. We’ll
show you, you . . .”
Violet put a paw on her
back to calm her down.
RUBY’S CHALLENGE
“Let it go, Pam! It’s not worth getting upset
about. At the end of the championship, the
results will squeak for themselves!”
Ruby stuck her snout in the air and said,
“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” Then she shook
her
FIERY
red fur and strode away,
with her friends trailing after her.
That was when something bizarre
happened: The mysterious white dog
appeared again!
While everyone was entering the resort, an
old mouse leaning on a wooden cane
approached the group. He looked very
upset.
“Get out of here!” he shouted.
Everyone looked at him apprehensively. No
one had any idea who this rodent was or why
he was yelling at them.
“You must LEAVE immediately!” he
insisted. “Leave this hotel before
Mauna Loa erupts!”
The Thea Sisters exchanged
alarmed
glances. They were
about to ask the old gentlemouse
for an explanation when Ruby
butted in impatiently.
“Just ignore him. Obviously he
doesn’t know what he’s talking
about. Everything is so new here,
there certainly can’t be any danger!”
The other mice whispered a bit, but they
reassured one another and agreed to ignore
him.
“Come on, everyone,” Ruby continued.
“Let’s relax and enjoy this classy hotel!”
At that moment, two police officers came
and grabbed the old gentlemouse.
“
Come on, move along,
” the first officer
crazier
ordered him, dragging him away. “How
many times have we told you not to scare the
guests with your ridiculous stories?”
“Don’t mind him,” the other officer told
the contestants. “He’s CRAZIERthan a
cat chasing his own tail!”
Violet observed the two
officers carefully. They
were dressed in official-looking uniforms,
but they didn’t look like any
policemice she’d ever seen.
The two officers nodded at
a mysterious mouse standing
at the entrance to the resort.
He nodded back at them.
While the officers pulled the
old gentlemouse away, he pointed his
paw at the Thea Sisters, who were the
only ones left looking at him.
They turned to see what he
was indicating and finally noticed the view.
Looming over the resort was an enormouse
mountain: the Mauna Loa volcano!
How strange! An elderly gentlemouse warned
everyone to leave the resort, and two suspicious
policemice dragged him away. Why? And who was
that mysterious mouse watching over everything?
C
L
U
E
!
MAUNA LOA
Mauna Loa is the world’s largest volcano. At its peak, it
is 13,677 feet above sea level. Mauna Loa means “long
mountain,” and that is
a good description of this volcano —
it takes up half the area of the island of Hawaii, with a dome
75 miles long and 64 miles wide.
Mauna Loa has been an active volcano for over 100,000
years! It has erupted 33 times since its first documented
explosion in 1843. The last eruption was in 1984.
The Thea Sisters got settled in their room,
which was more like a deluxe suite!
There were five canopy beds, each draped
with a white curtain; an enormouse
hot
tub
in the middle of the room; and a wall
of windows that looked onto a pool of crystal
clear water. Mauna Loa stood
imposingly in the background. What an
awe-inspiring
view!
The five mouselets lingered by the windows
for a while, admiring the landscape. After a
few moments, Colette broke the silence with
an excited yelp: “Moldy Brie, there’s a
hoootttt tuuuubbb!”
WELCOME TO THE
FIRE FLOWERS
RESORT!
Nicky, Pam, Paulina, and Violet laughed.
Colette could be a little overly enthusiastic!
After unpacking their bags, the mouselets
got ready to attend the welcome
party downstairs. When they entered
the banquet room, they immediately caught
their
breath
: It had a magnificent terrace
with an amazing view of Hilo Bay, which
was lit up all the way out to sea.
“This place is swankier than soft cheese!”
commented Paulina,
impressed
.
The terrace was packed with young mice.
Nicky noticed a
ratlet
gazing at her.
She turned red and looked away,
embarrassed
.
The Ruby Crew was there, too, dressed in
their fanciest duds.
After a few moments, a mouse scurried
onto a small platform at the end of the terrace
and picked up a microphone.
“Hello, everyone!” he exclaimed. “Welcome
to the hula championship!”
“Isn’t that the same rodent who
knew
the two police officers this afternoon?”
whispered Violet. Her friends nodded in
agreement.
“My name is Sammy Sharkfur, and I am
the owner of this marvemouse resort!”
the mouse continued pleasantly.
“One of the owners, that is,” said another
mouse, smiling, as he joined Sammy
onstage. “Or are we not partners?”
Sharkfur turned redder than a tomato.
“Oh, er, yes, yes, of course! I didn’t mean to
imply . . .” Turning back to the audience, he
said: “It is with great pleasure that I introduce
to you Ekana Kahanamoku, my
partner and co-owner of this
splendid resort.”
Everyone in the room
applauded.
“Sharkfur doesn’t seem too
enthusiastic about having a
partner, does he?” Paulina whispered.
“You can squeak that again,” agreed
Nicky.
While Ekana told everyone about the hula
competition, Sharkfur climbed down from
the platform and headed for a scraggy rodent
with a pair of glasses perched on his snout.
The rodent was holding a folder filled with
papers under his paw. The two immediately
began squeaking nonstop.
Paulina shook her snout
suspiciously
.
“I don’t know about you, but there’s
something about Sammy Sharkfur that
rubs my fur the wrong way. . . .”
As the Thea Sisters were TALKING,
Sharkfur and the strange mouse slipped out
of the room.
chatting
Ekana soon concluded his remarks. He
climbed off the
platform
and began
with the guests. The Thea
Sisters decided to go introduce themselves.
“Hi!” said Colette. “My name is Colette,
and these are my friends Violet, Paulina,
Nicky, and Pamela. We are here representing
Mouseford Academy.”
“Welcome to Hawaii!”
Ekana replied. “I hope you
enjoy
your stay, and
most of all that you like
our resort!”
“Are you kidding?!”
responded Colette. “This
place is just fabumouse!
EKANA KAHANAMOKU
Especially that
HOT TUB
in our room ...”
Nicky jokingly put her paw
over Colette’s mouth, and
Ekana laughed. “Well,
I’m thrilled to meet such a
BIG fan! We paid
through the snout to
get this hotel just right.”
“Tell us a little about
how the resort
got started,” Paulina
jumped in. “Its location is amazing — right
near Mauna Loa. But isn’t it dangerous?”
Ekana smiled calmly. “Absolutely not.
The volcano has been dormant for years, and
the island’s observatory surveyed the
land before we began construction on the
resort. There is no danger at all!” Then he
continued PROUDLY, “The land the
hotel is built on has belonged to my family
for generations. When Sammy arrived here,
he asked me to be partners. We used my
property to BUILD the resort.”
Suddenly, Ekana’s cell phone rang, and
he excused himself.
The Thea Sisters exchanged glances. They
had all noted the same thing: Sammy
Sharkfur was the one who’d wanted to get
into business with Ekana! Interesting . . .
Before returning to their room, the
mouselets went onto the terrace, where some
Hawaiian students were playing the ukulele
under the gorgeous NIGHT sky.
“Isn’t this place fantastic?”
Paulina sighed dreamily. “It’s
more
magical
than
Mouseyland!”
The Thea Sisters wanted to get some rest
before the competition began. They were
heading backto their room when they ran
into Ruby, Alicia, Zoe, and Connie in the
corridor.
AN URGENT CALL
FROM WHALE
ISLAND!
“You mouselings look a little tired,”
observed Ruby, pretending to worry. “You
better get some shut-eye, sleepysnouts!
Otherwise your performance tomorrow will
be even worse than usual! Ha ha ha!”
Before the Thea Sisters could respond,
Ruby and her friends turned tail and
disappeared into their room.
Then Paulina’s MousePhone rang. She
quickly answered it. To her surprise,
it was Professor Van Kraken, their science
teacher at Mouseford Academy.
The
mouselets
hurried into their
room, and Paulina put the call on
squeakerphon
e. “I’m so glad
that I reached you!” began
the professor. “I’m calling
because there is an emergency,
and only you can help me.”
“You need us?!” exclaimed Pam,
dumbfounded. “But, Professor,
we are in Hawaii!”
“Exactly!” responded
the professor. “That’s why
I’m asking for your help!”
“Sure, Professor,” Pam said.
“We are at your service. What’s up?”
“I’ve been working with an international
team of scientists, monitoring volcanoes
around the world using the most modern
research technology,” explained the professor.
“In the last few hours, we’ve collected some
disturbing data about one of the volcanoes.
An eruption is close at paw. I’m
squeaking about Mauna Loa!”
The mouselets jumped.
“But that’s the
VOLCANO
right
next to our resort!” exclaimed Nicky as the
others
turned
to look out the window.
Professor Van Kraken sent them a
graph showing the data, and the mouselets
gathered around to look at it. It was so quiet,
you could hear a cheese slice drop.
“This data shows that Mauna Loa will
ERUPT within the next two days!”
the professor cried in alarm.
Paulina studied the
chart carefully. “But
just this evening, we
talked to one of the
two owners of the
resort, and he assured
us that Mauna Loa
has been
dormant
for years. According
to him, there are no RISKS of any kind....”
“That worries me,” said the professor. “I
contacted scientists from the research
42
observatory on Mauna Loa, but they say they
haven’t seen any warning signs.
That’s impossible — the equipment our team
placed there is the most recent technology
and can’t be wrong. There’s something
going on that I don’t understand. . . .”
“You’re right, that is really strange!”
agreed Violet.