The Dragonfly Defense
Page 4
Max grinned. The dragonflies are keeping the crocs right where I want them!
The Goliath beetles pushed and pushed until the first of the stones went tumbling over the cliff. Others followed. They rattled and bumped down the cliff walls, knocking larger chunks of flint loose. The bigger chunks fell like sledgehammers, dislodging even bigger rocks.
Suddenly, the whole of Flintfang Gorge echoed with the rumble and roar of falling rocks. The Goliath beetles had triggered a full-on landslide, and the crocs were at the bottom of it …
“Argh!” yelled a crocodile as a sharp flint whacked him on the nose.
“Stand your ground,” growled Longtooth as pebbles, stones, and boulders rained down on him. “We can’t let them—argh!” A heavy lump of flint bounced off the general’s flat, scaly head.
The crocodiles ran madly to and fro, but there was no escaping the stones, and the rockfall just kept on coming. Goliath beetles pushed more stones over the edge, triggering even more rockfalls. The crocs’ bodies were soon white with crumbled chalk and piled high with stony debris. They looked as if a backhoe on a building site had emptied gravel over them.
The smallest crocodile had had enough. It turned and fled down the river, away from the chaos. Longtooth snarled angrily at it, but the crocodile wasn’t listening.
Suddenly, Longtooth was facing mutiny. His croc commanders all turned tail and fled, away from the hail of stones. However afraid of him they might be, they didn’t want to be buried alive.
Only Longtooth was left.
“You haven’t seen the last of us, bugs!” he hissed. “We’ll be back. Count on it!”
With that, he heaved himself out of the rock pile that had built up around him and waddled away down the river, his clawed feet slap-slap-slapping on the mud. Max watched him glide away in the water, and punched the air in triumph.
“We’ll be ready for you,” Max shouted to him. “Count on that.”
Two nearby Goliath beetles hoisted Max and Spotter onto their backs and set off for the bug camp. Max heard thousands of bug voices cheering as they carried him in victory.
As bugs celebrated in the safety of the camp, Barton leaned over to Max.
“It seems to me that the reptiles will try any way they can to get across the sea and attack us,” he said. “In the old days, we could watch the lava bridge. But now we’ll have to be alert in all directions.”
“They’re bound to try the river again,” Max said. “It’s the easiest way for them to reach our camp.” Thinking about the river reminded him of his first sight of Spotter, and gave him an idea.
“Hey, Spotter?” he called. “Why don’t you and your fellow dragonflies set up an early warning system along the length of the river? Then if any lizards try and come back that way, we’ll be ready for them.”
“I’ll get right on it!” Spotter replied.
Suddenly, Max felt the hairs prickle on the back of his neck. He knew that feeling all too well—it was the mysterious force of the Encyclopedia tugging him back to the human world.
“That’s my cue to leave,” he said. “Bye, Barton! Bye, Spike! Bye, Webster—whooooa!” Before he could finish his sentence, he was plucked off his feet and dragged up into the spinning, windy tunnel between the worlds.
“That was fast!” he said as he landed back in the cabin at Camp Greenwood. Then he laughed, shook himself, and dashed outside to play with his friends.
Almost no time had passed at all. It was still the last day of camp, and he could hear Scott, Jamal, and Mark whooping and splashing in the distance.
He ran along the forest path, not slowing down for anything or anyone this time. He jumped off the jetty with a wild yell and landed in the river.
The splash that went up was almost as big as the waterfall flooding the lagoon back on Bug Island … but luckily, there were no crocodiles here at camp!
Australian emperor dragonfly
The Australian emperor dragonfly—also known as the Yellow dragonfly or the Baron dragonfly—is one of the largest dragonflies in the world. It can grow up to seven centimeters long and have a wingspan of eleven centimeters. As its name suggests, it is found in Australia, over large expanses of fresh water such as ponds and lakes. However, it’s also found in New Zealand, New Guinea, parts of Indonesia, and other islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The Emperor dragonfly species is known for its impressive, jewel-like colors: everything from sky blue to emerald green. That’s how it received its royal title. However, the Australian emperor dragonfly is usually bright yellow, with a pale to dark brown mottled effect down the length of its body.
The Australian emperor spends most of its life flying quickly across ponds and lakes, defending its territory from rival dragonflies and chasing away any other flying insect that comes too close. Despite the fact that it’s been around for about 300 million years—old enough to be around when the dinosaurs lived—individual dragonflies have a short lifespan. Most Australian emperors only live for about six months!
Goliath beetles
Goliath beetles are among the largest beetles in the world—adults can measure up to four inches long. They’re not quite as big as the Titan beetle, but they come pretty close! The species is native to Africa and is most often found in the tropical rain forests near the equator.
The females of the species are a dark brown color, but the males are much more striking. They have a bold black-and-white striped pattern on the carapace, which continues down to a hard shell covering its wings. This makes it one of the most distinctive beetles in the forest.
Males have a horn in the shape of the letter Y, which they use to fight their rival beetles. Confrontation can occur over anything from breeding rites to the best spots for feeding. Females have more of a wedge-shaped head, which allows them to dig holes in which they bury their eggs.
Turn the page for a special sneak peek!
Max knew he was heading for something gross. He could tell by the smell: a blend of stagnant water, rotten vegetation, and old, black mud. It was a bit like the smells of a well-used soccer field in the rain. Then, suddenly, came the impact: a squelch that left him standing in cold, boggy sludge up to his knees.
“Gross!” he yelled as he shook dirt off his hands.
Max took a second to get his breath back, then looked around into the nighttime that enveloped him. This was way darker than night ever seemed at home. He took a step forward, and then hesitated. With this little light to see by, he could easily blunder into a deep bog or pool, and never come out again. Better to take it real slow.
“This is some welcome to Bug Island,” he muttered as his eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.
Through the leafy cover overhead, he made out faint stars and a slim crescent of moon. All around lay stretches of black, oily-looking water with patches of firmer ground rising up from it. Reflected stars glimmered in the surface. Farther away into the marsh, a dim blue mist hovered over the water like smoke.
Max decided not to stick around—predators could be anywhere in the dark and he would have no idea. He heaved himself out of the marsh and trudged up to higher, drier ground, leaving a glistening trail of swamp sludge in his wake.
He looked out from the hill, and suddenly he knew where he was. “The Misty Marshes!” he said out loud. I’ve seen these on the Encyclopedia map! That means the jungle is … this way!”
He peered into the distance, and sure enough, he thought he could make out the silhouette of trees. “If I can just reach the jungle, I can find the bug camp! As long as Barton hasn’t moved it again.”
The night air was damp and chilly against his skin. Max was dressed for a day at the park, not a night in the marshes. He zipped up his hoodie and kept moving. The outline of the jungle, even blacker than the sky overhead, loomed in the distance.
Max jumped over yet another soggy spot and noticed a strange depression in the ground. There were more little pockmarks and holes nearby. He paused for a while, trying to figure out what kind
of bug could have made them, then shrugged and moved on. The Misty Marshes were beginning to give him the creeps.
He stopped. A light had flashed up ahead.
Max peered into the distance, suddenly alert.
It flashed again.
“What is that?”
Although it was just a tiny flicker against the blanketing darkness, Max’s hope grew. Only one thing made a light like that—a firefly! And that meant Max wasn’t alone out in the dark after all.
Max sprinted toward the light and his grin grew broader as he recognized the glowing insect. It was his trusted friend, the head of the bug underground intelligence network: Glower.
“Hey, Glower!” Max shouted. “I’m glad to see you! I can hardly see a thing out here!”
“No problem!” came Glower’s faint voice shouting back to him. “I’ll come to you! Don’t go near the …” His voice faded away.
“Near the what?” Max hollered, but Glower’s words were lost on the night air. Max gritted his teeth and ran on toward Glower’s light.
The firefly zoomed toward him. Glower was flying so low he was almost brushing the ground. Suddenly, though, something burst up from one of the dark holes. It was snakelike, reptilian, and moved with a hunched wriggle that made Max feel sick with fear.
“Glower, watch out!” Max shouted.
“Huh?” Glower said.
The reptile twisted around to glare hatefully at Max. He had never seen anything like it before. It had a long, scaly body and a stubby little head, just like a snake. But it also had small, clawed forelimbs, just like a true lizard.
A Mexican worm lizard!
The worm lizard lunged up at Glower, chomping and scrabbling. The firefly darted out of the way, but not quickly enough.
“Another tasty morsel,” the worm lizard hissed in delight.
“Max, get out of here!” Glower shouted as the reptile grabbed him by the leg. A quick tussle, a sudden tug—and Glower’s light vanished.
Text copyright © 2016 by Hothouse Fiction.
Cover and interior art by Brett Bean, copyright © 2016 by Scholastic Inc.
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First printing 2016
Cover art by Brett Bean
Cover design by Phil Falco & Ellen Duda
e-ISBN 978-0-545-94510-3
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