G entle waves rippled through the cove as Jack andAnnie swam to the foot of the cliff. They pulledthemselves onto the boulders. Soaking wet, they satfor a moment in the warm sunlight and caught theirbreath.
"That was so cool!" said Annie.
"Yeah. But why--" Jack gasped, "why did he dumpus way out here? What do we do now?""Check the rhyme," said Annie. "What happensafter we call for the help of the Water Knight?"32Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out theseashell. He read aloud:
Call for the help of the Water KnightThen pass through the Cave of the Spider Queen.
"Oh. Right," said Annie. She took a deep breath.
"Spider Queen.""Sorry," Jack said softly. "But don't worry, maybethe Spider Queen is just a person. Maybe 'SpiderQueen' is her nickname.""But what if she's half a person and half a spider?"said Annie. "Like the Raven King was half a man andhalf a raven?"Jack shuddered at the memory of the monster ontheir last Merlin Mission. "Don't think about that," hesaid. "Time's running out. Let's just find this cave."Annie nodded and smiled bravely. "Okay, you'reright," she said.
They stood up and started climbing barefoot aroundthe craggy curves at the base of the cliff. As theyrounded a corner, they both gasped.
33In front of them was the mouth of a cave. Themouth was covered with thick, sticky white ropes.
The ropes were woven tightly together in a crisscrosscobweb pattern.
"If that's a spiderweb, we're in big trouble," saidAnnie.
Jack tried to sound calm. "Urn, the size of the webdoesn't actually tell us the size of the spider," he said.
"Plus, I once read that no spider on earth is biggerthan a dinner plate.""Yeah, and no horse on earth has a giant fish's taileither," said Annie.
Good point,thought Jack. "Let's just concentrate onfinding the Sword of Light before nightfall," he said.
Jack picked up a stone the size of a softball. Hehurled it toward the mouth of the cave. The stonesailed through the giant cobweb and into the cave,pulling the sticky rope-like strands down with it.
Jack turned to Annie. "Ready?" he said.
34She didn't move.
Jack took her hand. "Don't worry, I won't let anymonster spiders get you," he said. He nodded towardthe mouth of the cave. "Onward?""Onward," Annie repeated in a small voice. Thentogether she and Jack stepped over the fallen web andentered the Cave of the Spider Queen.
Inside the cave, the walls were black and shiny. Theground was wet and slippery under their bare feet.
"Yikes!" Annie said, jumping back. A pale pink crabscuttled sideways across the rocky floor.
"Don't be afraid," said Jack. "That's not a spider.""I know," said Annie. "Sorry."As they went deeper and deeper into the cave, itgrew darker and darker. Finally Jack saw a faint lightcoming from a wide, arched passage. "That way," hesaid.
36They stepped through the arch into a roundchamber with a high ceiling. There were several largecracks in the ceiling that let in beams of sunlight. Themisty light shined on mossy green ledges and on agreen, spongy-looking floor. Silver droplets drippedfrom above, ker-ploppinginto tiny pools. Squeaks andchirps came from crannies and hiding places in thewalls.
"What's that noise?" asked Annie.
"Probably just teeny cave crickets or baby bats,"said Jack.
"No, thatnoise," said Annie, "the whispering noise."Jack listened. Then he heard it: a low whispering.
He couldn't make out the words. It just sounded likewhisper-whisper-whisper-whisper.The hair stood upon the back of his neck. Now hebegan to feel scared.
"This place is really creepy," said Annie.
"No kidding," said Jack. "But we don't have to stayhere long. The rhyme says we just have37to pass through the cave. So let's hurry and passthrough it."Jack and Annie walked through the ghostly greenlight of the chamber. The spongy floor squishedbeneath their bare feet. As they searched for an exitfrom the cave, they both kept an eye out for theSpider Queen.
"Hey, look at the starfish," said Annie. She pointedto a bright orange starfish clinging to the rockyceiling. "How'd he get up there?"Before Jack could answer, a wave crashed into thechamber. Water splashed over Jack and Annie.
"Yikes!" said Annie. She and Jack jumped onto amossy ledge jutting out from the wall.
The wave washed back out. There was a moment ofquiet. Then another wave surged into the chamber. Itsplashed against the cave walls, soaking Jack andAnnie again.
"Oh, man," said Jack. "The tide must be coming in!
Soon this whole cave will be flooded!"38The wave receded. For a moment all was quietagain.
"We'd better leave now!" said Jack. "Quick! Go backthe way we came in!"39Jack and Annie jumped down from the ledge. Butbefore they could escape, another wave crashed intothe cave! This one swept them off their feet andpulled them down into the foamy water.
Jack grabbed Annie's hand. Fighting the swirlingcurrent, they climbed back up onto the mossy ledge.
The water churned and gurgled around the chamber.
"We can't go back the way we came in," said Jack.
"The waves will just keep knocking us down, andwe'll get caught in the current!"40"Maybe we can get out through that crack!" criedAnnie. She pointed to the widest crack in the caveceiling. It was high above the swirling water.
"It's too high!" said Jack. "We can't get up there!" Helooked frantically around the flooded cave, searchingfor another way out. Suddenly he froze in horror.
Clinging to a ledge near the ceiling crack was theSpider Queen. She had eight red glowing eyes. Shehad eight long, hairy legs. And she was muchbiggerthan a dinner plate.
The Spider Queen was bigger than Jack. |