“What’s her name?” Nancy asked her.
“Wadybug!” Eden giggled. “She’s going to eat you! And you, too!” She thrust the ladybug at Luna, who was standing close by. Luna gave a little scream and jumped back.
“Sorry, my sister’s a spaz,” Sonia apologized to Luna. “Hey, how’s Praying Mantis? And how’s the cage working out?”
Luna looked startled. “Huh? What? Oh! Praying Mantis is fine. And the cage is fine too.” She wandered away to study a display case full of fuzzy moths.
Nancy leaned over to Sonia. “Why did you ask Luna about her cage?” she whispered, so Luna wouldn’t hear.
“Luna has the exact same kind of cage as me,” Sonia replied, also whispering. “She asked me what kind of cage I had. She said she wanted the same thing for her new bug.”
“When did she ask you that?” said Nancy.
Sonia scrunched up her face. “Ummm … oh, yeah. It was on Wednesday. Right after our field trip. That’s when she told me she wanted to join the Bug Club.”
“Our field trip to … here?” asked Nancy.
Sonia nodded. “Luna was weird about it, though. I asked her what kind of pet bug she had. And she said something, like, ‘You know. A regular bug.’” She paused. “It’s like she didn’t know what kind of bug she had or something. I mean, everyone knows what a praying mantis is, right?”
“Right.” Nancy stared at Luna, who had moved on to a display case full of beetles. She was twirling a lock of her hair around her finger.
Why would Luna have wanted to get the exact same cage as Sonia? Nancy wondered. She tried to remember the chain of events on Thursday, the day Princess Bess disappeared. Right after Sonia said Princess Bess was missing, George had found Praying Mantis on the floor. She had offered to put Praying Mantis back in his cage. But Luna had insisted that she herself put Praying Mantis in a separate container—a plastic container with holes.
Luna must have left school that day with the cage and the plastic container. Nancy remembered seeing her put both items into her bookbag.
Then a crazy thought occurred to her. What if Princess Bess had been in Praying Mantis’s cage—or what everyone thought was Praying Mantis’s cage? What if the cages had been switched?
What if Luna was the bug-napper?
Chapter Ten
Rescuing Princess Bess
Nancy thought about it some more. Luna had bought the exact same bug cage as Sonia. What if she simply switched cages right after Bug Show-and-Tell? She could have taken Praying Mantis out of his cage and set him down for a minute, which would explain why he had wandered off, only to be found by George a short time later.
Luna could have then switched cages, putting Praying Mantis’s empty cage on Sonia’s desk and taking the cage containing Princess Bess for herself. The identical green cages had holes but no windows, making it hard to see inside. It would have been easy to get away with the switch, especially if the other students were distracted or looking the other way.
The question was … why? Luna barely seemed interested in bugs. Why would she want to steal Princess Bess?
“I’ll be back,” Nancy said to Sonia. She grabbed George and Bess and pulled them aside. “Guess what? I think I figured it all out,” she whispered.
“You mean about Michael L. and Michael D. being the bug-nappers?” George whispered.
Nancy shook her head. “No. I think Luna is the bug-napper!”
“What?” George and Bess said in unison.
Nancy told her friends about her theory. When she was finished, Bess nodded excitedly. “You’re right. That makes sense! Luna is the bug-napper. Yay, Nancy, you’ve solved the mystery!”
“What do we do now?” George said.
“Now we talk to Luna.” Nancy marched toward Luna, who was still staring moodily at the beetle display case. George and Bess followed.
Everyone else was spread around the room, checking out the other display cases and talking. Mr. Valeri still hadn’t returned from his office. Nancy tapped Luna on the shoulder. “Hey, Luna? Can we talk?” she said.
Luna turned around. She blinked nervously at Nancy. “Uh … sure.”
“We know you took Princess Bess,” Bess burst out.
Luna’s blue eyes widened. “W-what are you t-talking about?” she stammered.
“You set Praying Mantis loose, and then you switched cages with Sonia,” George spoke up.
“W-why would I do something like th-that?” said Luna.
“I don’t know. You tell us,” Nancy said.
Luna opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her eyes welled up with tears. “Okay,” she said after a moment. “I took Princess Bess. Just like you said. But it was all my dad’s fault!”
“What do you mean?” Nancy asked her.
“My dad is only interested in bugs, bugs, bugs! It’s so stupid! I try to talk to him about stuff that I’m interested in, like books and soccer and movies. But he’s not interested unless it’s bug-related.” Luna wiped her eyes. “I saw him looking at the picture of Princess Bess during the field trip on Wednesday. I thought that if I could, you know, get her for him somehow, he’d be impressed. So I came up with my plan. All I had to do was get a cage and a bug and join the Bug Club, so I could be part of Bug Show-and-Tell on Thursday. I bought the cage at a pet store—the same cage as Sonia’s. And I found Praying Mantis in our garden.” She added, “That beetle sticker you found was mine, Nancy. I saw you picking it up. It came from one of Carly’s fliers. I thought that if I left it there, people would think Carly was the bug thief or something.”
“You did all this because of me?”
Nancy and the others whirled around. Mr. Valeri was standing there, holding a pile of computer printouts. Nancy thought he looked sad and mad at the same time.
Luna started crying again. “I’m sorry, Daddy! I know what I did was wrong.”
“So … where is Princess Bess now?” Mr. Valeri demanded.
“I brought her home to show her to you on Thursday night,” Luna explained. “I was going to tell you that Sonia gave her to me as a present. But … but …” She hesitated.
“But what?” Nancy prompted her.
“But she got loose in my bedroom, and now I can’t find her,” Luna admitted. “I feel really awful! I have no idea where she is!”
Nancy stared across the room at Michael D., who was pointing to one of the display cases and talking animatedly to his dad. “I have an idea for how we can find her,” she said finally.
“Shh, everyone!” Michael D. held his finger up to his lips.
He, Nancy, George, Bess, Sonia, and Luna were all sitting on the floor of Luna’s bedroom. Hannah, Michael D.’s dad, Sonia’s mom, Sonia’s little sister, Eden, and Mr. Valeri were hanging out in the living room downstairs. They had all been camped out at the Valeris’ house for the last couple of hours, waiting for Princess Bess to make an appearance.
Luna’s best guess was that Princess Bess was still somewhere in her room. She had been very careful about keeping her door shut for the past two days, since Thursday. I hope she’s right, Nancy thought.
Earlier, Michael D. had set up several old, rotting logs in various spots around Luna’s room. Mr. Valeri and the other grown-ups had helped carry the logs in from the backyard.
Nancy’s gaze kept bouncing around the room, trying to catch the slightest movement. George and Bess were looking around carefully too and making hand signals to each other. Luna was fiddling nervously with her hair. So was Sonia.
Michael D. was leaning forward so far that his ear was practically touching the floor.
“What are you doing?” Sonia whispered to him.
Michael D. put his finger to his lips again. A moment later he said, “Did you guys hear that?”
“Hear what?” whispered Bess.
“Listen!” Michael D. said.
Everyone listened intently. Nancy heard a faint noise coming from one of the logs, which was in the corner closest to the window. It w
as kind of a squeak and kind of a lip-smacking sound too, like when people blew kisses at each other.
“That’s a bess beetle noise!” said Michael D. excitedly.
He got on his knees and crawled over to the log. His eyes lit up, and he made a thumbs-up sign. “There she is!” he announced. “Princess Bess is here, safe and sound!”
Sonia crawled over to the log too. “Oh my gosh, it’s her!” she cried out. “Hey, Princess Bess! You’re back! Remember me?”
Then Nancy, George, Bess, and Luna gathered around the log. Nancy recognized Princess Bess’s shiny patent leather shell, big teeth, and golden fringe. The beetle was having an afternoon snack, nibbling on the rotting wood.
Sonia turned to Nancy, George, and Bess. “Thank you guys so much for finding Princess Bess!” she gushed. “And thank you, too, Michael D.!”
“No problem at all,” Michael D. replied. He grinned at Nancy. “Perhaps I should start my own detective club. I could specialize in finding missing bugs.”
“Yeah. You could call your club the Critter Crew,” George joked.
Everyone laughed.
Make Your Own Bug Habitat!
Nancy, George, and Bess loved observing bugs during Bug Week. You can observe bugs at home by building a simple bug habitat.
You Will Need:
A clear plastic produce container with holes. This is the kind of container that holds berries, tomatoes, herbs, salad mix, and other types of fruits and vegetables. Ask your parents to clean one of these containers for you after they’re done with it.
Dirt, grass, leaves, sticks, and rocks from outside. You could also collect some moss, acorns, flowers, and whatever else you think a bug might like.
A few cotton balls
Something to capture your bug, like an insect net or clean cup
A bug!
A field guide to bugs from a bookstore or library, so you can identify different kinds of bugs, what they like to eat, and so forth. You could also get this information online on websites about bugs. Ask your parents to help.
Let’s Get Started!
Fill the plastic produce container with dirt, grass, leaves, sticks, and other things you collected. Think about making it look like a mini garden for your bug.
Find a bug for your habitat. The best places to look for bugs are under rocks and bricks, under (and inside) logs, under loose bark on trees, and on plants. You might even find a bug inside your house, like an ant or a fly.
Very carefully capture your bug and put it inside your habitat, then close the lid. Before capturing your bug, ask your parents (and check your field guide) to make sure it’s not dangerous or poisonous.
Soak a cotton ball in water and put it inside the habitat so your bug will have something to drink.
Check your field guide (or a bug website) to learn all about your bug. Find out what it likes to eat, and make sure to feed it!
Observe your bug for a few hours. Make notes about its behavior … draw pictures of it … even take pictures of it, if you have access to a camera.
When you’re done observing the bug, set it free where you found it.
OH … AND DON’T FORGET TO NAME YOUR NEW BUG BFF!
Buggy Breakout Page 4