by Peter Cox
“Sounds like a plan,” Sam said. “You sure you’re with us in this?” Sam asked, turning to Gerald.
“For sure, young lady! I have discovered a new outlook on life, it would seem. A grand outlook. Adventure: that’s the name of the game now. Come!” He lifted Basset’s collar like reigns and tapped him on the sides. “Yah! On Lassie!”
“It’s Basset,” my dog said, still pretty glum about being made into a horse.
“Just having a bit of fun, old chum. I’ve never seen you so down in the dumps before. Adventures are grand, are they not? Chin up, come on!”
“Any chance you could sneak through the woods and see what we’re up against?” I asked him.
“I said I had a new outlook on life, not a new set of legs. It’d still take me a few hours to make it there, I’m afraid.”
“Fair enough,” I said with a laugh. “Fair enough.”
We crept through the woods until the tall bushes that surrounded the picnic area were right in front of us.
My hands were drenched in cold sweat, and my stomach was doing back flips. Who knew what was beyond those bushes? Who knew if my parents were okay, or if an army of monsters waited ahead of us?
I bent down onto my knees and carefully, slowly, ever so slowly, parted the branches of the bush.
I was convinced I was making too much noise. My breathing sounded impossibly loud in my ears, and my heart was pounding as hard as a drum. The leaves rustled no matter how hard I tried to move slowly, but I kept telling myself that the woods always rustle and make noise. No one would think this was odd.
I peered through the branches, and at first everything seemed just fine.
Mr. Barston had his back to me, and was looking down at one of the sagging picnic tables, where a few crumbling Native American relics were piled up.
I looked around the clearing, and didn’t see anything else. It looked like our enemy was alone.
Then I remembered Sam’s advice. And it’s a good thing I did.
I glanced up into the trees above Mr. Barston, not really expecting to see anything, and my breath caught in my throat.
My parents were hanging from the trees.
They looked alright. They were definitely breathing. But they were unconscious, wrapped up tight in white silk and dangling from the branches.
That wasn’t even the worst of it.
The entire tree canopy was covered in a maze of spider webs, with thousands upon thousands of huge, furry spiders scurrying all over their network.
Chapter 36
TRAPPED
This was why William and his tribe wouldn’t come anywhere near here. They were outnumbered 10 to 1.
Sam was crouching right next to me, looking up at the webs with a calm look on her face.
“This is what I was afraid of,” she said. “Spiders.”
“How could you know?” I whispered back.
“Athena. In Greek legend, she turned one of her servants into a spider during a tapestry-weaving contest. Athena is the mother of spiders.”
“Well that’s a silly story.”
“Oh, definitely. But everything in Baskertonn Manor, everything, had to do with Athena. And then when William said they wouldn’t come here, I remembered that little snippet from class, and I put the two together. Why else would William be so terrified of this place?”
I was about to ask why the people in Baskertonn Manor would be so obsessed with spiders, but I didn’t get the chance. I got a shiver, and felt like a cloud had drifted in front of the sun. It had certainly gotten darker.
I looked up, and nearly peed my pants. Seriously.
These spiders were fast. The trees above us were now full of webs, blocking out a good amount of light. And they were now descending towards us, building a wall to block us in. They were about 100 yards behind us. At the rate they were moving, we’d never get there before the wall was finished. And it looked strong.
But Basset was a lot faster than us.
“Basset, buddy, I need you to run as fast as you can and get past that wall,” I whispered urgently.
“I’m not leaving you. Not ever, and especially not at a time like this.”
“It might be our only chance. I need you to get away and see if you can find another way back to us. See if you can get the drop on these guys.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“It’s the only way,” Sam said, scratching behind his ears. “I’ll look after him while you’re gone. Promise.”
Basset looked doubtful.
“Come, old buddy,” Gerald said. “Surprise attack, that’s the game now. We’ll come back for them forthwith.”
Basset licked my hand. “Don’t do anything dangerous.”
“I think we’re already neck deep in dangerous,” I laughed. “I’ll be alright. Now go!”
He gave me one last look, but knew there was no more time. He bolted straight back into the woods, like a streak of gold lightning. Gerald was bouncing so hard on his back I thought he might pop, but the little guy held on tight.
I looked up above, where the spiders were busily expanding their web. Some of them looked almost as big as a small dog, which I was almost sure was impossible. There aren’t any spiders that big. But when you see it with your own eyes it’s hard to argue.
Spiders. I was done with spiders.
The spiders knew we were here, but Mr. Barston didn’t. It was time to find out what this was all about.
If you can’t fight your way out of something you might as well try to talk your way out.
I was shaking inside, but hey, fake it ‘til you make it, right?
Sam and I walked straight through the bushes.
Chapter 37
FACE TO FACE WITH THE ENEMY
“Kind of a dim afternoon, isn’t it?” I said casually with my hands in my pockets.
Mr. Barston whirled around so fast he almost knocked one of the Native American artifacts off the table. There was a look of shock on his face that quickly changed into a look of arrogant contempt. More prideful than Genevieve, more disgusted at our presence than the squirrels at the sight of Basset.
“Finally found me, eh boy?” he said, rolling his eyes. “Took you long enough. And now you’re stupid enough to walk right into the spider’s web.”
He walked towards me and motioned to the treetops.
“Look around you. Your parents are in the palm of my hand, and now so are you.”
“Doesn’t look like it’s your palm I’m dealing with, actually,” I said calmly, looking up at the trees as well. “I’m assuming you work for them.”
“They work for me,” he said, tapping himself on the chest.
“I hope you’re right. We’re not the only ones in the middle of this web.”
He looked uncomfortable for a second. I don’t think he’d realized that yet. No criminal mastermind for sure, but he quickly composed himself.
“How did you find me?”
I pulled out the calendar. “You’re new to this life of crime, huh?”
His eyes grew wide with surprise, but he lied right through his teeth. “I wanted you to find that. Fell for my trap.”
“Yeah, guess we did,” Sam said. “Fell right into it. Smack!”
“You’re awfully calm about it,” he responded.
“Well, it’s obvious we lost,” I said. “No point in crying over spilled milk, is there? Why fight it if it’s so obvious?”
Our calmness was really starting to shake him. He expected us to be quivering in our sneakers.
“What’s going on here?”
Sam straightened up to her full height, towering over the spindly little man.
“Why don’t you tell us,” she said. “We’re about to be eaten by a bunch of spiders, right? Might as well explain all this.”
“Can’t do any harm, I suppose,” he said pridefully, though he was clearly terrified of Sam. He turned back to look at his Native American artifacts. “I’m guessing you children are too stupid to hav
e figured it out by now.”
“What, you’re planning on taking over the world with a few spiders?” I asked. “I think tanks and bombs and guns versus spiders isn’t really much of a fight.”
“Oh, it’s so much more than that, boy,” he said, his eyes getting a disturbing sparkle as he looked at the relics. “So much more. My family has been working on forging a connection with the animal world for generations. We didn’t have much success…until now.”
“Your family?” I asked.
He sighed. “The townspeople didn’t take well to what they called our ‘kooky beliefs’ and chased us out of our manor. Over time, more and more in my family came to agree with them, until I was the only descendent left who believed in the old ways. I decided to come back here, an outcast from my own family and from the village that was rightfully ours.”
“You’re a Baskertonn?”
“You really are slow, aren’t you? I couldn’t very well return under my family’s name, so I changed it. But I still wanted to honor my ancestors, so I kept all the letters. Ken Barston: rearrange it a little, and you get Baskertonn. Simplest thing.”
I was shocked, but for once I kept my mouth from hanging open. I wasn’t going to show him my surprise.
“What do you mean you’ve been successful?”
“Haven’t you noticed? Those spiders up there, some of them are as large as a dog. I’ve found a way to make them grow, not just in size but in intelligence and in speed, and in sheer ferocity. They cannot speak to me, but they understand me now. Years of talking to them and finally, finally they can understand me.” He looked like he was trying to appear terrifying, but just like the painting in Baskertonn Manor he looked like a kid on Halloween: someone weak trying to act scary. And failing.
Sam, on the other hand, didn’t even have to try. She took another step toward Mr. Barston. Mr. Baskertonn. Whatever.
“So you have a race of super-spiders. So what?”
“That’s only the beginning. There’s so much more I can do. But even now, even this is dangerous enough. Think about it: who would suspect this? Who thinks anything of insects, other than as pests? No one will know there’s something going on until it’s too late.”
He was clearly mad: spiders aren’t insects.
They’re arachnids.
He had a point though. It was crazy, but it was a point. You try telling the army there’s a conspiracy of super-spiders bent on taking over the world. I don’t think that’d get you much further than a padded cell.
We had to stop him. First step: keep him talking long enough for Basset to find a way to help us. Getting him to talk wasn’t going to be hard: this kook was clearly proud of his plan.
“Okay, so now we know what you’re doing, and why. But how?” I tried to sound impressed at his mind-shatteringly crazy ideas instead of laughing at them. “How did you do it?”
“Don’t you know anything?” He motioned to the artifacts on the table. “The Lakota tribe feared the spiders, saw them as tricksters and evil creatures.”
“Shoot. I guess I wasn’t paying attention in my ‘Spider-Worshiping Ancient Cultures’ class again.”
“Don’t be snide with me boy.”
“Me? Snide? Never! I don’t even know what the word means? Is it some sort of slide made out of snow? Snow-slide. Snide? Then again, I don’t see why you’d call me a snow-slide, so that’s probably not it…”
He cut me off.
“Using their artifacts in one of their unholy places, I was able to communicate with the spiders, and eventually control them.”
“Ohhh, that makes sense,” Sam said, twirling her finger around her ear while looking at me, as if to say “nut job.”
“Look around you child! It worked, did it not?”
“Yes,” I said. “Congratulations. You’ve created slightly larger spiders. The world trembles at the sound of your voice.”
“It will,” he said.
It did actually explain some things. With an army of spiders, we finally knew how he could steal so many items in such a short amount of time. That’s a lot of helping hands. And now we knew why he wanted to get rid of the birds: they eat spiders.
“But why did you steal from those other stores? I get the Lakota exhibit, but why comics and lumber and pet supplies?”
“The pet shop provided me with cages. When my spiders get large enough they will need more than bugs to feed on. The neighborhood pets will do nicely.”
I grimaced.
“The lumber is to help me fix up my family manor and turn it into the palace it should rightfully be.”
“And comics?”
“I thought the spiders might like to read a bit about Spiderman.” He turned and looked at a stack of shredded, brightly colored paper that was covered in spider spit. “I was wrong on that one.”
He was more than nuts. He was batty, daffy, crackers. He was a flock of bats watching Daffy Duck cartoons while eating an entire grocery store full of nuts and crackers.
After that simile, I’m starting to think it was wearing off on me.
“I’m tired of talking,” Mr. Baskertonn said, snapping his fingers.
I looked up and saw at least 50 fat, hairy spiders sliding down their silken strings towards us.
Time for one last show of fake-bravery.
“Alright Baskertonn. Times up,” I said. “You don’t think we would’ve come in here without backup, do you?”
“What, you mean that mongrel and his pet frog?” Mr. Baskertonn laughed. “I sent my spiders after them. Your dog’s not as fast as you think he is. He’s failed you, I’m afraid.”
Okay, now I was scared.
The spiders up above were clicking their fangs together, and making a terrible squelching sound as they descended towards our faces.
And we were surrounded.
There was no way out.
Chapter 38
THE FIGHT BEGINS
“Failed? Basset has never failed anyone, not in his life, and he’s not about to fail now!” I heard a voice ring out from the treetops. “You cannot hope to escape from –” there was a pause, and then I saw a green blur whizzing through the air. It smacked straight into five of the spiders, sending them sailing and splatting into a tree trunk, then it landed in a pile of leaves.
“Basset and His Amazing Acrobatic Amphibian!” Gerald leapt from the leaves. “Name’s a work in progress.”
The remaining spiders changed course and started clambering for Gerald, but at that moment I saw the greatest sight I’ve ever seen in my entire life: Basset came charging out of the woods, barreling straight for Mr. Baskertonn.
Before the man could even turn around, Basset chomped down hard on his rear end.
“Yow!” Mr. Barston screamed as he jumped and ran into the woods. “Ow, ow, ow!”
Basset came running up to me, and Sam and I rushed over and wrapped our arms around him.
“Blech! Crazy-man butt tastes awful,” he said. Then he got serious. “I’d never fail you buddy.”
“I know boy, I know,” I said, tightening my hug. “And I’d never fail you.”
“I hate to break up this touching moment, but we’re far from out of the woods, if you’ll pardon the expression,” Gerald said, hopping over to us.
I looked up. Mr. Baskertonn had been chomped, but he wasn’t out of commission. I saw him limping back towards us, and up above, thousands of spiders were assembling for an attack.
And there were only four of us.
All of the biggest spiders were on their way down, the ones the size of a cat or larger.
They spat out a horrible hissing, gnashing noise as they descended, a few of them spitting out bits of web onto us to taunt us.
It was sticky and gross, but not very effective.
The smaller spiders stayed up in the web, cheering their big brothers on, probably because it would have been so easy for them to get squished. I don’t think they knew how easily frightened we are of spiders, even if we can easily
squish them.
“What do we do now?” I asked, jerking my head from side to side to see if there was a way out. There wasn’t. The huge spiders were all around us, and the web wall was now complete.
“I’m glad you came back for us and all, but it looks like you just postponed our deaths by a few seconds,” Sam said.
“And gave the spiders more flavor options to choose from,” I added.
“I couldn’t leave you here alone, even if I knew I’d die,” Basset said, holding his head high and licking my hand. “We can fight them off as long as we can.”
“Certainly my boy,” Gerald nodded.
Mr. Baskertonn had finally regained his composure, and was watching the spiders descend with hungry eyes.
“Their first taste of true battle,” he hissed. “I think they’ll get a craving for it.”
The lowest spider was just feet above me now, so close I could see its hairs twitching and its fangs glistening with venom.
Basset and Gerald’s grand entrance had given me some hope, but I didn’t know what to do now.
Basset barked at the nearest spider, causing it to twitch, but it kept coming at him. Gerald struck at one with his tongue, which made it lose its grip, but it landed on its feet and scuttled right for him.
I rushed over to help, but I heard a plop behind me and quickly felt something sticky wrap its way around my legs.
I looked back, and a 50 pound spider was just inches from my face, my feet wrapped in its web.
Basset growled low in the back of his throat and leapt at the spider. He clamped down hard on one of the spider’s legs, snapping it right off. The two animals rolled over in a heap to my left, scuffling and biting at each other.
I got onto my feet, kicked off the web, grabbed a nearby stick, and rushed over to help my dog.
The spider had him pinned, and was just about to sink his fangs into him when I brought the stick down on the furry head.
With a loud crack the spider rolled onto its back, its legs curling up.
Basset got to his feet, and I whirled around to see how Gerald was doing. Sam had gotten to Gerald’s side and apparently picked up his attacker and lobbed him at another spider, both of which were now tangled in a pile next to a tree.