Lark Has the Shivers Read online

  A illustration shows a young boy and girl examining an empty pet carrier. The boy turns back to look at a bird in a cage.

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  LARK

  HAS THE SHIVERS

  NATASHA DEEN

  Illustrated by MARCUS CUTLER

  For Mom and Dad

  Text copyright © Natasha Deen 2022

  Illustrations copyright © Marcus Cutler 2022

  Published in Canada and the United States in 2022 by Orca Book Publishers.

  orcabook.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Title: Lark has the shivers / Natasha Deen ; illustrated by Marcus Cutler.

  Names: Deen, Natasha, author. | Cutler, Marcus, 1978- illustrator.

  Series: Orca echoes.

  Description: Series statement: Orca echoes

  Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210167165 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210167181 | ISBN 9781459826052 (softcover) | ISBN 9781459826069 (PDF) | ISBN 9781459826076 (EPUB) Classification: LCC PS8607.E444 L365 2022 | DDC jc813/.6—dc23

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2021934077

  Summary: In this illustrated early chapter book, Lark and Connor are asked to solve two mysteries in one day! When pets go missing from the local fair and Sophie’s house appears to be haunted, the Ba twins have only a little time to figure out a lot of problems.

  Orca Book Publishers is committed to reducing the consumption of nonrenewable resources in the making of our books. We make every effort to use materials that support a sustainable future.

  Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

  Cover artwork and interior illustrations by Marcus Cutler

  Author photo by Curtis Comeau

  Printed and bound in Canada.

  25 24 23 22 • 1 2 3 4

  Lark Ba Detective series

  Lark Holds the Key

  Lark and the Diamond Caper

  Lark Takes a Bow

  Lark and the Dessert Disaster

  Chapter One

  My name is Lark Ba, and I have the eye of the tiger. Well, not really. That would be mean. Tigers need their eyes. Eye of the tiger means you have a winner’s attitude. I have a winner’s attitude. So does Max, our family dog. The annual pet show is tomorrow, and we’ve been practicing hard.

  At this event every pet gets a chance to show off their talent. That’s the tuffest touphest toughest part, because it’s hard to pick just one! Max can sit and stay. He knows how to shake paws, and he knows lots of words, including cookie, treat, dinner and lunch. Plus, he’s a very sweet dog, and I think that’s the best kind of talent.

  This year I wanted to teach Max a special trick. Er, Connor and I wanted to teach Max a special trick. Connor is my little brother, but he’d get grumpy if he heard me say that.

  For the pet show, Connor and I have taught Max how to do math! Dogs know how to count. I know this because I read it in a book I borrowed from the library. Here is how we do our neat trick.

  One of us asks Max a question like, “What’s two plus two?”

  The word plus is our cue word. That means when Max hears it, he springs into action. He barks. When he gets to the correct number, Connor winks at him. That is Max’s cue to stop barking. Then I dance around to really let Max know to stop barking. Our trick is great, but we aren’t perfect. Sometimes Max gets really excited because he loves to bark, so it is hard to get him to stop.

  “Lark.” Connor came into the family room. He rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing up?”

  “I woke up early to practice with Max for the show.”

  “It’s too early,” said Connor. “You’re supposed to be sleeping.”

  “It’s nine o’clock.”

  He shook his head. “No, it’s only six.”

  Oops. I have dyslexia, which means I sometimes mix up letters and numbers. “I was so excited, I guess I didn’t pay attention,” I said. I scratched Max’s ears. “We better go to bed before we wake up Mom and Dad. A grumpy mom plus a grumpy dad—” Oh no!

  “No, Max!” said Connor.

  But it was too late. Max heard the cue word. He started barking and barking and barking. His tail was wagging so hard, his rear end was swinging back and forth.

  Connor tried winking. “Max! Max! Look at me!” He winked and winked and winked, but Max was too happy, and he liked barking too much. I tried dancing, but it didn’t make Max stop. He just danced with me.

  We heard a bedroom door open. It banged against the wall.

  Uh-oh.

  Chapter Two

  Mom and Dad ran into the living room. Mom’s hair stuck out in a bunch of different places, and Dad had a baseball bat in his hand. Max yelped and stopped barking. He hid behind me.

  Halmoni—that’s Korean for “grandmother”— came out of her bedroom. Max ran to her, and she scratched his head.

  “What’s going on?” asked Mom.

  Dad swung his bat. “Is it a burglar? Was that why Max was barking?”

  “No, I’m sorry,” I said. “I mixed up the numbers on the clock because I was excited to practice with Max.”

  “Oh.” Dad put down the bat. “Max was barking a lot. What was the math question?”

  “I asked Connor what would happen if you added a grumpy mom and a grumpy dad together,” I said.

  “That’s easy,” said Halmoni. “You’d get an early bedtime for both of them.” She turned to Mom and Dad. “Go back to bed.”

  “I’m not tired anymore,” said Dad.

  “Yes you are. Go to bed,” said Halmoni.

  “I don’t want to go to bed,” said Mom.

  “Go to bed,” said Halmoni.

  “Aw, Mom.” Dad dropped his bat. “But I’m not tired!”

  “No more arguing.” Halmoni sent Mom and Dad back to bed.

  “Isn’t that amazing?” I whispered to Connor. “She can make the grown-ups do anything.”

  “When I grow up, I want to be a halmoni,” said Connor. “Then I’ll make Mom and Dad give me a later bedtime.”

  “You’ll make a great halmoni,” I said.

  Connor grinned.

  Aren’t I such a great, wonderful big sister?

  Halmoni turned to us. “How about if we sit quietly for a little while and read? I’d like to look through the books for a costume for Max. Or you can go back to sleep too.”

  Connor and I looked at each other.

  “Books,” I said.

  “Definitely books,” said Connor.

  We had been reading a lot lately because it had been raining a lot. We had read about wind and clouds and rain and lightning storms.

  Connor picked up a book and showed
me the cover. “Can you guess where the largest desert on Earth is?”

  “That’s easy,” I said. “Africa. It’s the Sahara Desert.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. It’s Antarctica.”

  “What? No!”

  He opened the book and showed me the page. “See? The Sahara Desert is about 3.5 million square miles, but Antarctica is 5 million square miles.”

  That was a lot of miles! Connor and I sat on the couch and read. After a while we went to help Halmoni look for a costume for Max.

  “This one.” Connor showed us the picture. “If Max is going to do math, we should dress him up as a professor for the costume part of the contest.”

  “Hmm.” Halmoni took the book. “There are a lot of items here—a pipe and a vest and a coat. Max doesn’t like it when we put too many things on him.”

  “Maybe we should check with Babu,” said Connor.

  Babu is Swahili for grandfather. He’s Mom’s dad, and he is very clever. “That’s a good idea,” I said.

  Halmoni agreed. “I’ll send him an email. Now how about if we make some breakfast? Who wants some muffins with oranges, white chocolate and oatmeal in them?”

  Delicious! We put away the books. Connor and I helped Halmoni make breakfast. Then came my favorite part—eating! I had four muffins. They were buttery and sweet. After we cleaned up, we went to the computer to email Babu and see if there were any new cases for us.

  This summer had been the bestest. Connor and I had become private investigators, or PIs. We had solved the mystery of Mrs. Robinson’s lost key to the library, and we had found out who had stolen a pair of diamond earrings from the general store. We’d discovered who had been playing pranks on the theater company and who had destroyed a contestant’s entry for a bake-off. It had been a busy summer, but I was always up for more mysteries.

  Halmoni signed into the computer and opened up her email. “My goodness,” she said and put on her glasses. “Look at this! Connor and Lark, you have a request for some sleuthing help.” She peared pieered peered at the screen. “Oh my, this request is quite mysterious.”

  Connor and I stood on either side of her as she read the message aloud.

  “Dear Lark and Connor Sheep, I have a mysterious case for you. But I can’t talk about it here. Please come to my house, and I will tell you everything. Sincerely, Sophie McCallister.”

  Sophie had a case for us? This was so exciting! Sophie is my best friend, but she doesn’t know it yet.

  Connor made a frowny face. “I don’t mind helping Sophie, but I wish she’d stop calling us sheep.”

  “If she bugs you, I can take the case myself,” I said.

  Connor shook his head. “No, you and I are a team, but I think she’s being mean.”

  “She is being funny, not mean. It’s—” I couldn’t think of the word, but it was a great one. It started with a d or an n, and it meant being super sure about something. “I’m positive.”

  “Well, if you’re both up for the case, let’s get this show on the road,” said Halmoni. “Just let me finish going through my email.”

  Connor stepped close to me. “I think Halmoni’s mixed up about something. We’re practicing for the pet show. We’re not traveling with Max. We’re just going to talk to Sophie.”

  I nodded. “Plus, roads are dangerous. We should never take anything on them, especially Max.”

  I decided to talk to Halmoni about the danger of roads later. Right now, there was a mystery to solve!

  Chapter Three

  Halmoni decided to stay home to give Max a bath. I packed my notebook. Then Connor and I walked to Sophie’s house. The rain had stopped, and the sun was out. It was still windy though. Everything was warm and bright. The air smelled sweet and fresh. On the way to Sophie’s, we spotted Mr. Ian. He was the head judge for the pet show. Mr. Ian saw us and started to walk over.

  “He looks frazzled,” I said to Connor.

  “Raspberries?” Connor looked around. “I don’t see any.”

  “No,” I said. “Frazzled.”

  “Freckles?” he asked.

  “Mr. Ian looks frazzled!” I yelled.

  “Oh, sorry!” Connor pressed his fingers to his ear. “It’s hard to hear you above the wind.”

  “It’s okay!” I yelled so he could hear me. But the wind had stopped for a minute, so I ended up just yelling at him.

  “Stop yelling! I can hear you!” he said. Then Connor frowned. “Wait. What’s frazzled? It rhymes with dazzled. Is Mr. Ian sparkling or bright?”

  “No, it means you’re tired and stressed out at the same time.”

  Connor nodded. “He does look frazzled. His hair is all messy.”

  It was true. Mr. Ian’s curly hair stuck out at a bunch of angles, his shirt was rumpled, and his shoelaces were untied. Worst of all, he looked like he was trying not to cry.

  “I’m so glad I found you,” Mr. Ian said as he came up to us. “I need your help. The pet show is a disaster!”

  “What happened?” asked Connor.

  “What hasn’t happened?” he moaned. “We have a new moving crew, and they lost a bunch of our boxes. The pavilion for the band took longer to build than it was supposed to. This morning Mr. Rupert accused Miss Ruby of stealing his ferret, but she says he’s hiding her dog. Now I have two contestants fighting. Even worse, there really are missing pets!”

  Missing animals? I shivered. I hated to think of them lost or scared. “That’s extra terrible,” I said. “Missing pets are a sad thing.”

  “We know Aerie and Hellie,” said Connor. “The library has Paws for Reading every Tuesday night. That’s when people can bring their pets and you can read to the animals. Halmoni and our parents bring Max. Aerie and Hellie come every week with Miss Ruby and Mr. Rupert.”

  I nodded. “The pets love reading with everyone.”

  “Hellie and Aerie both love the soft cushions and quiet corners. They like being together and having people read to them,” said Connor. He blinked fast. “This is horrible. I hate thinking about them being away from their families.”

  “It makes me feel terrible too.” Mr. Ian nodded glumly. “I need some help. I know you solved a lot of cases this summer. Please, could you help me?”

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  Connor’s face went all worried. “Helping to find missing pets is a big deal. But we’re supposed to be helping Sophie.”

  Crickets! “You’re right,” I said to him.

  Mr. Ian wrung his hands. “You can’t help?”

  “Sure we can,” said Connor. “There’s two of us and two cases.” He turned to me. The wind was back, and it blew his hair straight up. “We can each take one.”

  “Where should we run?” I asked.

  “We should each take one,” he repeated.

  “What about the sun?” I asked.

  “We should each take one!” he yelled over the howling wind. “You take a case, and I’ll take a case!”

  “That’s good thinking,” I said as the wind quieted down. “You’re a very clever little brother.”

  He sighed. “Twins, Lark. We’re twins.”

  I knew he’d say that, because I’m a very good big sister, but I didn’t tell him that.

  “Which case do you want?” he asked.

  “I should go to Sophie,” I said. “She annoys you, but she’s my best friend.”

  “You’re right,” he said. “She does annoy me, which is why I should help her. I should try to like her, like you do.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  He nodded. “It would be nice if we could all be friends.”

  I turned to Mr. Ian. “May I please use your phone to call home? Halmoni gave us permission to go to Sophie’s house. I need to make sure it’s okay for us to change our plans.”

  “Of course,” he said and handed me his phone.

  I talked to Halmoni, then Connor talked to Halmoni, and then Mr. Ian talked to Halmoni. Once everything was sorted, Connor gave me a high five an
d left for Sophie’s house.

  “Okay.” I turned to Mr. Ian. “Let’s go to the show.”

  He smiled. “Thank you, Lark. I’m so relieved.”

  This was exciting and scary. Connor and I had two cases in one day, which was exciting. But we were also working by ourselves, which was scary. My heart thumped in my chest. I hoped I could help Mr. Ian. The pet show had been held at the park every year since Connor and I were babies. There was an agleity, ajillety, agility course, a costume contest and the talent show.

  Everyone loved the chance to meet other people’s animals and see the neat things they could do. Plus, it was a chance to learn interesting things about the different animals. Mr. Rupert had taught us that ferrets used to help farmers protect their grain from rodents. Miss Ruby had taught us that dogs can use their amazing sense of smell to help doctors diagnose cancer.

  Mr. Ian walked toward the park. I took a breath and followed him. I really hoped today was going to be the bestest day ever.

  Chapter Four

  When Mr. Ian and I got to the park, we spotted Miss Ruby and Mr. Rupert inside the yellow and red event tent. They were facing each other. It was easy to see them. And hear them.

  The table with the kennels stood between them. Mr. Rupert and Miss Ruby were screaming at each other. Miss Ruby’s face was all scrunchy and mad. Even her pink hair looked angry. Mr. Rupert’s bow tie was untied, and his face was bright red.

  “Wow,” I said. “They’re very angry.”

  Mr. Ian sighed. “Sometimes it’s hard for grown-ups to remember to use their polite voices.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s see what we can do.”

  We went over to the arguing adults, and Mr. Ian said, “Lark is here to help.”

  But they didn’t hear Mr. Ian because they were too busy yelling at each other.

  Mr. Ian put his fingers to his mouth and whistled.

  It was loud and high-pitched, and it made my ears ring.

  The grown-ups stopped yelling.

  “That’s better,” said Mr. Ian. “Lark has agreed to help us.” He gave each of them a stern look. “I’m sure we all agree that in times like these, more help is welcome. And I’m sure we’ll be excellent role models and show Lark how we can work together to solve problems.”