by Obert Skye
The rabbit turned his head to look at me, and I could see Juliet nodding. She kept trying to throw her voice like a ventriloquist, but as I had suspected, she wasn’t supergood at it yet. It sounded like the stone pillar was talking, and I could see her lips moving.
“I’d like to get down!” Cottontail Tower seemed to say.
The rabbit looked at the stone pillar.
“We’re trying to get you down!” I yelled. Big Bun looked at me again. “Zeke is going to grab you when he can!”
Everyone moved closer.
It was Rain’s turn. “I hate this tube! If I ever get out of it, Perry, you’re going to pay big-time!”
We were all getting close, and still the rabbit didn’t sense the danger. Zeke was almost near enough that he could reach out and grab Juliet’s feet, which were dangling as Big Bun held her. It was Beatrice’s turn to distract.
“You’re spectacular!” she spoke up. “As a rabbit, there is none better!”
We all moved closer. I saw Zeke slowly reaching out to grab Juliet’s foot. Unfortunately, as Rain took one step closer, he stumbled. I watched him wobble for a second before he went down. The ground was sloped, so he instantly began to roll toward Big Bun.
Rain screamed, and the rabbit turned his giant body to see what was happening. Spotting the rolling Rain, he lifted his right foot and tried to stomp Rain. But the force of it just managed to pop Rain out of the tube and send him flying into the bushes.
We all froze.
“I’m okay,” Rain yelled. I could barely breathe. Zeke was the closest, but it was obvious by the way that Big Bun’s whiskers were twitching and his teeth were chattering that he was getting agitated.
It was now or never.
Zeke lunged forward and grabbed Juliet’s right foot as we all screamed to distract the monster bunny.
Big Bun turned his head and hissed while Juliet screamed. Zeke tried to pull her foot, but it was no use. The rabbit screeched and jumped up as high as he could. He came slamming down against the earth.
Juliet kicked and hit the bunny as Big Bun thumped his right foot violently. Zeke tried to grab her again, but the rabbit had other ideas. It jumped up and clung on to the stone pillar with its left paw. His huge rabbit feet scratched the rock structure as it climbed up Cottontail Tower.
Rain screamed from the bushes. “Truck!”
We all turned to see that the fertilizer truck was beginning to roll. Big Bun’s thumping had jiggled the brake loose and sent the truck into motion. It rolled down the hill, gaining speed, and headed directly toward the stone pillar.
Juliet saw what was happening and kicked at Big Bun even harder.
We all rushed in as if we had the ability to stop a free-rolling truck, but there was nothing we could do. The truck slammed into the base of Cottontail Tower. There was a tremendous crack as the stones at the bottom broke and the tower began to topple toward the side of the cliff with Big Bun still hanging on.
“Juliet!” I screamed.
Bouncer fired his net gun as the bunny fell. A perfect shot. Juliet grabbed on to the flying net, and Bouncer yanked her from Big Bun’s grip just before the poor animal hit the ground. The top half of the stone pillar struck him on the head with a giant . . .
Carrwhack!
It knocked him out completely. The truck rolled right past his big body and flew over the edge and down into the stones and water below. The sound of the vehicle hitting the rocks was spectacular and unforgettable.
Beatrice looked at the unconscious bunny and began to simultaneously bubble and sob.
I ran to Juliet. She was lying on the ground near the edge in a tangled mess of net.
“Am I alive?” she asked.
“You are.”
Rain ran over as well, and the two of us began to untangle her.
“You have arms again,” I said to him.
He took a moment to punch me in the shoulder with one of them.
We all gathered around Juliet and struggled with the netting until she was free. Then, as a group, we stood up and turned to look at Big Bun. He was out cold, and large pieces of Cottontail Tower were lying on the ground near him.
“Do you think he’s dead?” I asked.
“By my calculations, he could be,” Neil said sadly.
Beatrice sobbed and bubbled some more. I was sad to see that such a fantastic creature had bitten the dust, but I was more relieved that Juliet was okay.
But then Big Bun’s body began to shake and air escaped from his twitching mouth. I was about to casually scream in terror when I saw that he was starting to shrink. His arms and legs began to convulse and shrivel. His body deflated like a blimp—the air rushing out sounded like the world’s loudest, longest whistle! We all plugged our ears and looked on in amazement. The rabbit rocked and thrashed about.
In a matter of minutes, Big Bun was little Bun.
There on the ground was a normal-size rabbit, no different from any others on the island. It looked at all of us, twitched its nose, and then hopped off.
Lady Beatrice held her left hand to her heart while wiping away tears from her eyes with her right one.
“That was . . . incalculable!” Neil exclaimed.
Zeke looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“What a day,” he said with a weary smile.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I just wish it had been more exciting.”
We all turned from the cliffs and headed back.
When we got to town, I was completely surprised. I thought the whole island would be in an uproar about what had happened when Big Bun had stormed through earlier. Instead, everyone seemed excited, and acted as if Big Bun had just been part of a staged Carrot Con experience. Tourists were taking pictures of where the rabbit had knocked things over and hoping it would show up again.
Rain’s mom, Flower, hadn’t even seen the rabbit. So she was only upset with Rain for not showing up to help. She was also bothered that Zeke hadn’t helped either. I’m guessing they explained things to her, but Juliet and I didn’t stick around. We got some Carrot Candy, which was just orange cotton candy, and sat on a bench near the face-painting booth.
“Was it weird being carried by a rabbit?” I asked.
“His fur was supersoft.”
“That’s a relief.”
“And it was terrifying.”
“I don’t know any girl who’s as brave as you,” I said honestly. “But I don’t know many girls, or boys, for that matter.”
“I thought I was going to die,” she said as her lips turned orange from the carrot candy.
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Me, too.”
Juliet smiled. I wondered if I should kiss her, but instead I gave her a thumbs-up. It was almost as awkward as if I had tried to kiss her.
CHAPTER TWENTY
CARROT CON
Two bad things happened the next day. First, Beatrice and Neil didn’t get in any trouble for all the mess they had made. Her nephew, Rolly, refused to lock her up or punish her in any way.
“She scares me,” he had said.
I couldn’t argue with that. So the bubbling lady and Neil had returned to her home to live another day. I guess she was impressed with all that Bouncer had done, because she had hired him back on at twice his pay.
The second bad thing to happen was that Juliet didn’t win Junior Miss Carrot. To make things worse, some girl who was allergic to fur and played the harmonica won.
Where is the justice in the world?
Lots of tourists wondered if the giant rabbit would show up again, but it didn’t. Everyone was convinced that it was all a huge promotion show for Carrot Con. The public wanted it to come back so they could take more pictures or ride on it like Juliet had.
We all took turns helping Flower sell smoothies from her booth until it was time for us to have our panel presentation at four. The event was held in the Angora Room of the Bunny Hotel. Me, Juliet, Zeke, and Rain sat behind a big table at the front and answered que
stions about the time we had saved the island from purple carrots and mutant bunnies. There were a lot of good questions, but also a few dumb ones.
“Do you like bunnies?” a woman with a big forehead and sundress asked all of us.
Zeke answered, “Sure.”
Juliet said, “Yes.”
Rain answered, “Why not?”
And me? I had to think about it. I was more of an under-ocean fan than an aboveground groupie. I wanted to have tentacles and fins and fight newts along with Admiral Uli and my uncle. But even though bunnies needed oxygen and they don’t hate newts, they had still been the source of some important times for me.
“So, do you like bunnies, Perry?” the woman asked again.
“They’re probably my fourth-favorite animal,” I answered.
After the panel was over, I took a few minutes to slip away from everyone and call my dad. I had meant to phone home earlier in the day, but Carrot Con had been very distracting.
“Perry,” he said with excitement. “I was just thinking of you. Of course, I always am. I could be wrong, but I don’t think you called me yesterday.”
“Sorry, it was kind of a busy day.”
“I understand. I had to run to the store twice. Once to get cereal and the second time to get the milk. So, tell me, how’s the Root Festival?”
“So far, Carrot Con has been great.”
I told my dad about the Con and everything that was happening there. I wanted to tell him about Big Bun, but I figured I would wait until I was back home to do that. I didn’t want him to worry. Besides, I had plenty of things to fill him in on—what people thought of my hair, the Sharky-Barkys Zeke had given me, my thumbs-up to Juliet, and the questions I’d answered at the panel.
“You’re like a plant,” he told me. “A plant that is growing and acquiring new leaves with each experience.”
“I guess so. I should probably go,” I informed him. “They’re about to start the Carrot Color Battle. Locals, Bunny Mooners, tourists, everyone is going to throw color bombs at each other.”
“Sounds messy,” he said. “But I checked the weather for your area, and it looks like it’s favorable battle weather. How about you call me again tomorrow and let me know how it went?”
“For sure.”
“And, Perry . . .” My dad stopped talking to sniff. “Don’t eat any bad wheat.”
“I won’t eat any wheat at all, Dad.”
I hung up the phone and went back to join my friends. The Carrot Color Battle was held in the mall parking lot, where there were tables set up with what looked like millions of orange-colored balls.
We all threw colored balls at each other until everyone involved was orange from head to toe. After it was over, the Carrot Con committee handed out green paper hats for us to wear so we’d look like carrots. I looked at my friends and uncle and smiled. Normally, I hated carrots, but today at least, they looked okay.
“Hey,” Zeke said. “We should go swimming in the water pools near Whisker Cliffs to wash off.”
Juliet, Rain, and I agreed with him.
We all ran to the falls and swam until the water was good and orange.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OBERT SKYE is what some people call an author. Other people might call him an award-winning author with close to thirty books under his belt. Sure, that’s a weird place for him to keep his books, but he’s run out of shelf space. Mutant Bunny Island is inspired by his love for mutants, bunnies, and islands. Three things he thinks the world needs more of. Obert has five kids and a wife and lives in a warm place. Find out more about him at obertskye.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eduardo Vieira is a freelance character designer and illustrator, trying to find his place in this big world through art. When he’s not drawing (which is almost all the time), he likes eating pizza, playing Street Fighter, and having Netflix marathons.
Eduardo currently lives in São Paulo, Brazil, with his girlfriend and their amazing cat.
BOOKS BY OBERT SKYE
Mutant Bunny Island
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COPYRIGHT
MUTANT BUNNY ISLAND #2: BAD HARE DAY. Copyright © 2018 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover illustration by Eduardo Vieira
Cover art © 2018 by HarperCollins Publishers
Cover design by Joe Merkel
* * *
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018933328
Digital Edition NOVEMBER 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-239916-8
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-239915-1
* * *
1819202122CG/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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