The Spider Siege Read online

  With special thanks to Adrian Bott

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  CAMPING TRIP

  BACK TO BUG ISLAND

  MEETING THE TROOPS

  SNEAKY SPIES

  LANDSLIDE!

  FANG MOUNTAIN BATTLE

  KOMODO APPEARS

  BATTLE BUGS ATTACK!

  BRAVE BUGS

  REAL LIFE BATTLE BUGS!

  PREVIEW - BATTLE BUGS 3: POISON FROG ASSAULT

  COPYRIGHT

  Max Darwin lifted the glass lid of his brand-new bug tank and dumped in some fresh cucumber slices. “Here you go, Millie! Enough to last you through the weekend!”

  Millie, his new pet millipede, nuzzled her way out of the moss she was hiding in and inched over to enjoy the food. Max grinned, bending over so he could watch her.

  She is so cool! he thought. Max loved the way her long, segmented body seemed to glide over the hills and valleys of her little kingdom, her horseshoe-shaped feelers waving in front of her. It was amazing how her dozens of tiny legs worked together in total harmony.

  In the next tank over, his walking sticks clambered around their own mini-jungle. Max made sure they had plenty of food, too.

  “Max! I said it’s time to go!”

  Max sighed. “Coming, Mom! I’m just making sure the bugs are okay.”

  He gave Millie a longing look, wishing there was time to lift her gently out of her tank and let her crawl over his hands.

  “I’ll be back soon, guys, okay?” he told his roomful of insect friends. “You all have plenty to eat, so don’t eat each other!”

  “MAX!”

  He bounded down the stairs two at a time. The front door was open. His mom waited outside, arms folded.

  Max got as far as the doormat, then did a one-eighty-degree turn and ran back inside. “Forgot something!” he yelled over his shoulder.

  He ran to the kitchen, then back to the living room again. Where is it? How could I lose something so huge …? Aha! Max found it propped open on the dining room table, right where he’d left it. The leather-bound Complete Encyclopedia of Arthropods was more than just a book. It was the gateway to a hidden, magical realm. He quickly checked that the magnifying glass was still tucked into the inside front cover pocket.

  “Can’t go anywhere without this,” Max said to himself. He stuffed the encyclopedia deep into his backpack and zipped the zipper so it wouldn’t fall out.

  In the driveway, the family RV’s motor was already running. Behind the wheel, Max’s dad was making a big show of looking at his watch. “Good to see you, son. I thought your bugs might have eaten you alive.”

  “Very funny, Dad!” Max climbed in and fastened his seat belt.

  His mom got in front. “You’d better not have any beetles in your pockets,” she said as she buckled up.

  Max snorted. “Right, Mom.”

  He didn’t bother to tell her why he didn’t have any: smuggling beetles in his pocket would be cruel—grown-ups didn’t always understand stuff like that. All too often, they thought that liking bugs was weird.

  “Engaging main rocket drive!” Max’s dad said, putting the RV into gear while Max’s mom rolled her eyes. Max fidgeted with excitement as the big vehicle reversed out onto the main road and sped away. The open road, and the promise of a whole weekend of bug-hunting fun, lay ahead.

  Max knew the journey to the Wildgrove Acres Campsite would take hours, but he couldn’t wait to get there. The forest would have so many new bug species to explore!

  His dad put on his favorite pop music radio station. His mom switched it to a rock station. His dad switched it back. As they playfully struggled, Max closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift away.

  The musty, mysterious old bug encyclopedia that his mom had found in the library of an old mansion had turned out to be a gateway to another world. He’d been shocked to find himself looking through its magnifying glass one minute, and shrunk down to bug size the next. Even more shocking were the friends he’d made on tropical Bug Island—talking insects, arachnids, and other mini-beasts. The only problem was that their home was under threat from invading reptiles.

  However, with Max’s human-size brain on their side, the tide had quickly turned. He’d come up with new ways to fight the enemy and hatched a clever plan when the bugs were in danger of being wiped out by lizard forces. General Komodo, the reptile leader, had been furious.

  Max yawned. He wondered where Spike, Webster, Buzz, and Barton were now. How were the Battle Bugs doing without his help? He’d tried to use the magnifying glass again to enter their world, but it hadn’t worked. As he leaned his head against his car seat and began to doze off, he wondered if he’d ever see Bug Island again.

  * * *

  Three hours later, Max jolted awake. The RV was slowing down. He rubbed his eyes and saw that they’d made it to Wildgrove Acres!

  “You slept through the whole trip!” his mother told him. “I wish I had that talent.”

  His dad took a deep sniff. “Smell the air—that’s nature! Pure and clean and good for you.”

  He parked the RV in a shady spot, and they all jumped out. The forest surrounded them. It was surely a treasure trove of insect life. Max could almost feel it pulling at him, like an ache in his bones.

  “Can we go and look for bugs?”

  “We just got here!” His dad laughed. “Lunch first. The bugs can wait.”

  “But, Dad!” Max pleaded. There would be bugs nesting in the fallen leaves, scrambling up the branches and twigs, burrowing under the bark, lurking in rock piles, and feasting on fallen fruit. How was he supposed to think about lunch at a time like this?

  His dad gave him a stern look, but only for a moment. “Well, all right, buddy. Let’s go.”

  They eagerly headed into the forest. Max found a grasshopper, a katydid, and two ladybugs within minutes. He pointed out the katydid’s long antennae to his father, who’d thought it was just another grasshopper. “Easy mistake,” Max said, grinning.

  Then he spotted a flash of gold between two big boulders. Breathlessly, he leaned in close. It was a giant spiderweb made of golden-yellow silk!

  “What kind of spider could have made this?” he whispered. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

  As if introducing itself, the spider came running up one of the gleaming strands. It was nearly two inches across, a deep reddish color with bright, green-yellow markings. Max jotted down a quick description and began running back toward the RV.

  “You can’t be finished already,” his dad said in confusion.

  “I need to look up that spider!” Max yelled back.

  Alone in the motor home, he pulled out the encyclopedia. He flicked through the pages, searching for the entry on spiders. But before he could even turn to the arachnid section, he heard a faint buzzing coming from inside the book.

  That’s what happened last time I got called to Bug Island, he thought excitedly. I bet the bugs need my help! Maybe I can get back there! Suddenly, all thoughts about the spider disappeared, and he quickly turned to the double-page section on Bug Island.

  Wait. Max had to make sure he was alone. Through the small window he saw his parents digging a little pit; it looked like they were making a campfire. Great, they’ll be busy with that forever.

  He pulled out the magnifying glass. Peering closely, he could just make out Buzz, the giant hornet!

  Suddenly, the world began to spin, and he had the sensation of being pulled through the magnifying glass. He felt dizzy and a little bit sick.

  “Here we go again,” he whispered.

  The pages of the book rushed up toward him. He was being drawn in … back to Bug Island!

  Max landed with a thump on Bug Island. The blades
of grass around him were the size of broom handles, and the trees towered above as high as skyscrapers. Once again, he’d shrunk down to bug size.

  He picked himself up and looked around. He was standing on top of a hill that bulged up from the woods like a lookout post. Where was Buzz? Max couldn’t see a sign of her anywhere. Had he landed on the wrong part of the map? Or was he just too late to help?

  He had to find out why Buzz had called him through the encyclopedia. He looked out across the landscape. There was the Reptilian Empire, a dusty, sandy island rising out of the sea. And there was the grayish-black rock bridge that now connected it to Bug Island.

  The bridge was brand-new, made from cooled-down lava that had flowed from an erupting volcano. Bug Island, which had been safe from the reptiles for years, was now under constant attack. The reptiles could slither, scuttle, and crawl across the rock bridge and eat their fill.

  Or they would have, if not for the heroic Battle Bugs. Max was sure they must be on duty somewhere, protecting Bug Island. He continued his survey of the landscape. Down the hill, in the middle of the forest, he saw what looked like a clearing. There were mounds, earthen walls, and little shapes crawling back and forth among them.

  The Battle Bug camp! he guessed.

  Although there were no reptiles in sight, Max felt anything but safe. If that really was the bug camp down there, he needed to get to it as fast as he could.

  He set off at a run, heading down the hill through the dense woodland. Lizards could attack at any moment—he knew that from his last visit. Max kept a careful lookout as he shoved his way through the waist-high grass. The slightest flash of scaly skin, and he’d be ready to swerve away.

  As the camp drew nearer and nearer, Max began to get a funny feeling. Nothing had jumped out at him, and the ground seemed peaceful. All the same, the hairs on the back of his neck were prickling, as if something was following him.

  He glanced behind him quickly, making sure he wasn’t being followed.

  But there was nothing there.

  I’m going crazy, he thought.

  Just then, he heard a faint rustling in the trees. He looked up—right into the pointy face of a bright green snake, dangling from a low branch!

  The stalking reptile hadn’t been behind him. It had been ABOVE him! It opened its jaws wide and lunged straight at him.

  Max dodged out of the way just in time and fell, sprawling, on the ground. He scrambled to his feet and ran down the hillside as fast as he could go.

  If he’d been full-size, he could have cupped the snake in his hands. But shrunken down as he was, the snake was gigantic, the size of a fallen tree trunk. It chased him easily, slithering from one low-hanging branch to the next.

  Max desperately searched for a spot with no overhanging branches, but there was none. The nearest clear spot was the bug camp, and that was still far away.

  The snake lunged again and again as Max ran. Each time, Max barely managed to avoid its pointy fangs. It would gulp him down in a second if it caught him.

  The camp was getting closer. For a moment, Max thought he might make it. He strained to run even faster—and that was when disaster struck. His foot skidded on a damp patch of moss, and he felt his legs give way. Then he was on his back, helpless.

  The snake’s lean face loomed above him, blotting out the light. This is it, Max thought. I’m finished.

  “You don’t look like much,” it whispered. “I probably won’t even notice you going down my throat. Still, waste not, want not.”

  Then, suddenly, the snake hissed angrily and backed away. A black-and-yellow shape zoomed through the air like a fighter plane and stung it in the side. A giant hornet! Another one shot toward the snake, then another and another, until there were ten of them. They swarmed around the snake, diving in, stinging, and flying away.

  “Go, Battle Bugs!” Max yelled. He punched the air. Buzz had come through with serious backup just in time!

  The giant hornet commander broke formation with the others and made a perfect landing by Max’s side. “No time to explain now. Climb on.”

  “Good to see you, too, Buzz!” Max grinned.

  He threw a leg over the hornet’s back and grabbed on to the tough, spiky hairs that grew there. Buzz’s wings became a blur as she lifted off from the ground in a stomach-lurching rush.

  The snake tried one last time to make a wild lunge for Max, but Buzz was much faster and swerved easily out of the snake’s strike path.

  Max looked over his shoulder to see the snake writhing in agony as the hornet squadron drove their stings home. It retreated back up the hill, obviously too badly hurt to give chase.

  “What was that snake?” Max wondered aloud. “I never even saw it coming.”

  “Better save the questions for Barton!” Buzz shouted. “He asked me to fly as high up as I could and try to summon you with my buzzing. I’m glad it worked. We need your help.” Buzz flew up and away from the ground, far from where any reptiles could reach. “We’ve seen some strange things around the camp. Barton says we need your human brain to make sense of it. It’s a good thing we found you in time.”

  Buzz flew the very relieved Max down into the clearing. The bug camp was surrounded by a circular wall with termite-mound towers set around it, dividing the wall into segments, like on a castle. Inside there were piles of debris for the bugs to live in, along with decaying logs, burrows, odd rocks, and piles of rotting food in the corners—just how they liked it!

  “Can’t stay and chat,” Buzz said. “Gotta get back to the others. See you later!” With that, she flew off to rejoin her squadron.

  Max watched the bugs work to build their camp. Now that he had a better look, he could see that it was far from finished.

  Then he saw a familiar, gigantic shape emerge. It was Barton, the titan beetle and leader of the Battle Bugs. Max saluted as the huge bug came lumbering to his side.

  “Welcome back, Max. You couldn’t have come at a better time.”

  “I almost didn’t make it at all! There was a snake!”

  “It’s not the first,” Barton said darkly. “I need your brains, Max. My soldiers have seen many reptiles over the last few days—reptiles that we cannot explain.” Max hadn’t known that a titan beetle could sigh. “After your last visit, I had hoped we were safe. But the war goes on. I had to ask Buzz to try and call you back.”

  Max got ready to put his brains to work. “Where are the reptiles coming from?”

  “It seems … from nowhere.”

  “The snake that attacked me was in the trees.” Now that he wasn’t being chased by the thing, Max found he was able to recall it clearly. “It was bright green, not very big for a snake, with an odd sort of face. Long and narrow, like a wedge.”

  “It must have been a long-nosed vine snake,” Barton said. “We’ve tangled with them before. Snakes don’t usually go after bugs like us, but General Komodo has obviously struck a deal with them. The long-nosed vine snakes look just like plants, so we can hardly see them at all when they hide in the trees. Until they strike.”

  “So they’re using camouflage!” Max said.

  “Exactly,” rumbled Barton. “Which means one thing. They could be hiding anywhere.”

  “This changes everything,” Max said. “If we can’t see the reptiles until they’re right on top of us, how are we going to defend ourselves?”

  Barton began to pace back and forth. If he’d been a human being, Max thought, he’d have had his hands behind his back and a stern look on his face. “So far, they haven’t launched an all-out attack. But it can only be a matter of time.”

  “Wait,” said Max, confused. “How did the snakes even get over here? I thought the bugs were safe from the reptiles now. The river was supposed to act as a barrier, right?” On his last visit, the bugs had destroyed the path across the river. Everyone had celebrated, thinking they were safe. Obviously, all that had changed.

  “General Komodo’s troops must have found another way to reac
h us!” Barton said, snapping his mandibles together in anger. “Our enemy has learned from his mistakes, Max. He is sly. Why do you think he might have sent vine snakes so close to our camp, instead of launching a full-scale attack?”

  Max thought for a minute. “Because of their camouflage, they could be spies!”

  “I think you’re right,” Barton said. “He wants to know everything about our camp, especially all the weak points. Only then will he launch his attack.”

  Barton didn’t sound worried by the idea. In fact, he sounded like he was looking forward to it.

  “You have something up your sleeve, don’t you?” Max asked.

  “Hmm. What is a ‘sleeve’?”

  “I mean, you’re prepared for Komodo’s forces.”

  Barton nodded his huge head, nearly knocking Max over with his antennae. “Come this way,” he said proudly. “It’s time to inspect the troops.”

  He led Max down a ramp into an open area. It reminded Max of a fairground. Lined up in front of them, not moving a muscle, were ranks of reddish-yellow beetles. Just past them were ranks of copper-brown fire ants, and bringing up the rear was a troop of unusual spiders. Max grinned in excitement when he realized they were the same kind that he’d seen spinning the golden webs back at his family’s campsite. Now maybe he’d learn what the spiders were.

  “Soldiers!” Barton boomed. “Present … ARMS!”

  To Max’s amazement, the beetles in the front rank spun around and hoisted their bottoms into the air. The fire ants shoved their abdomens out, showing their stingers. The spiders each loosed a line of gleaming golden web.

  “Impressive, aren’t they?” Barton said. “Komodo won’t know what hit him!”

  “They’re, um, very scary,” said Max, wondering what exactly was supposed to be dangerous about a beetle’s backside.

  Barton must have noticed his confusion, because he bellowed to one of the beetles. “You there! Soldier! Name and rank?”

  “Dungworth, SIR!” squeaked the beetle. “Sergeant and bombardier, SIR!”

  Max managed not to laugh.