rabbits for directions to their burrow. Telling a bearded dragon to change the TV channel, and conducting an interview with a seagull.
There were thousands of strangers on the internet calling her a freak, so Evie had been locking herself away in her bedroom and reading. The book she had been reading most was called Animals of the Amazon, by Professor Abigail García. It was amazing. Full of astonishing facts, and written by a biologist who actually worked in the Amazon, in Peru, finding new species and helping to save the rainforest. Abigail García was on the front cover, smiling and waving in front of the trees, with a parrot on her shoulder.
Evie was holding that exact book in her hands as she stared out at all the shouting reporters.
‘EVIE! EVIE! GIVE US A SMILE!’
‘I’m sorry. I’m just tired—’
‘EVIE! WHAT DO YOU SAY TO PEOPLE WHO SAY YOU ARE A FAKE?’
‘I’d say ask the scientists who have confirmed I am not—’
‘EVIE! DO YOU THINK FAME IS GOING TO YOUR HEAD?’
‘I’d rather not be famous, to be honest—’
‘EVIE! EVIE! EVIE!’
Evie’s dog Scruff came to her side.
‘GET A LIFE!’ he barked at the reporters. ‘LEAVE EVIE ALONE!’
But the reporters didn’t speak dog, and so they carried on doing what they were doing.
Then Evie’s dad came and slammed the front door in the reporters’ faces.
‘Evie, I told you not to answer the door . . .’
‘I forgot.’
‘She forgot,’ said Scruff, in her defence. ‘She is quite forgetful. I mean, I haven’t had a tummy rub all morning.’
‘Scruff, I’ve just woken up. You had forty-eight tummy rubs yesterday. At least.’
‘You say that like there can be such a thing as too many tummy rubs,’ said Scruff. ‘And, well, there can’t.’
A little later, over breakfast, Evie’s dad had an idea about how to deal with all this unwanted attention.
‘It’s the school holidays next week. We need to get away for a while,’ he said, pulling the blinds down to stop the reporters from looking in. ‘What do you think?’
Evie nodded. ‘One hundred per cent agree.’
‘Where would you like to go?’
Evie looked down at the book she was holding. ‘How about the Amazon? I’d like to go back. I know we were there when I was little, when you and Mum worked there, but I can’t remember it except in dreams. Maybe we could make those dreams real?’
Her dad looked worried for a moment. Then he smiled. ‘You are your mother’s child. But the Amazon is a big and dangerous place. Are you sure? And what about Scruff?’
Scruff was lying in his basket.
‘Would you like to go and stay with Granny Flora?’ Evie asked the dog.
‘Yes,’ Scruff said. ‘Yes, I would. I get to sleep in her bed and she gives me human food. Including pizza. I like pizza. I know I shouldn’t but I do. Pizza is good. Can I go right now?’
‘Scruff would be fine at Granny Flora’s,’ Evie told her dad.
‘Okay. But it’s the Amazon.’
Evie sighed. She knew all about the Amazon. Not just from her dreams but also from books. She knew that one out of ten animals that exist on Earth can be found in the rainforest. And that many of them are dangerous – poison dart frogs, wandering spiders and sleek, prowling spotted jaguars.
But she also knew that more dangerous than all of those creatures were human beings. She knew the rainforest was under attack. Humans destroy enough rainforest to fill thirty football pitches every minute.
‘I’m sure. I want to go there and think about doing something useful. I want to help fight climate change. I want to protect animals. This might help me do that.’
‘Do you want to visit the Brazilian rainforest?’
Evie shook her head. Her mum had died in the Brazilian rainforest.
‘No. Not yet. I’ve been thinking about Peru,’ said Evie.
‘Wow. You really have thought about this. But I am worried.’
‘There’s a surprise.’
‘I’m sorry, Evie, but it’s not the safest place for a holiday. Are you sure you don’t want to go to Mallorca? Or the South of France? Or . . . Cornwall?
‘A riverboat cruise would be safe,’ she suggested. ‘And I could meet some pink river dolphins. I’ve done my research. There’s one called Ernesto’s River Adventures. It’s a small boat. Just a few passengers.’
‘Well, okay. I’ll look into it. But maybe we should sneak away to Granny Flora’s until we go. Just to get away from all this noise.’
‘Thanks, Dad!’ said Evie.
‘Thanks!’ said Scruff, closing his eyes and thinking of all that pizza.
Evie’s dad smiled. ‘But I can’t promise pink river dolphins!’
The riverboat cruise had been a great idea.
Evie and her dad were having an amazing time in Peru, sailing down the river.
She had exchanged thoughts with a (gentle) manatee and a (grumpy) giant otter and had had a shocking conversation with an electric eel, whose thoughts zapped and jolted about so fast Evie got a headache. They had:
• visited a nature reserve known as the ‘Jungle of Mirrors’ where the backwaters were so still that they could see their reflections;
• spotted a three-toed sloth in the trees and Evie had mind-chatted sleepily with her;
• met more species of monkeys and birds than even Evie had known existed;
• and finally caught a glimpse of a deadly-looking jaguar between the trees.
The glimpse of the jaguar had been far too short for Evie’s liking, and she hadn’t been able to pick up on its thoughts.
‘I’d love to be face to face with a jaguar,’ Evie said.
Her dad went pale. ‘Maybe we could get a cat when we get home,’ he said. ‘A nice small cat. I mean, cats are cats. I’m sure Scruff wouldn’t mind.’
‘He would mind. He thinks cats are evil. He thinks cats are in a plot to take over the world and then make dogs their slaves. And anyway, I would love to talk with a jaguar.’
‘Jaguars are killers,’ her dad said.
‘But, Dad, so are humans. I mean, technically. And you’re a human and I still talk to you.’
‘Yes. But unlike a jaguar, I’m not going to bite your head off. Even if I got really angry.’
Evie sighed. ‘Dad, that’s prejudiced. Jaguars rarely kill humans.’
Her dad decided