Summer of the Sea Serpent: A Merlin Mission Read Free Page A

to touch them, the Spider Queen turned and scurried back up to the ceiling, leaving a giant web ladder behind her.
    The Spider Queen stared down at Jack and Annie with her eight red eyes.
Climb! Climb! Climb!
she whispered from her spot on the ceiling.
    “I think she wants to help us!” said Jack.
    “No! She wants to trap us!” said Annie.
    The spider whispered again:
Climb! Climb! Climb!
    Something about her voice made Jack feel certain the Spider Queen wanted to help. “She doesn’t want to hurt us!” he said. “She wants to help us escape! Besides, we don’t have any choice!”
    The water was rising higher and higher over their ledge. It was swirling above their ankles now.
    “We have to climb her web!” said Jack. “I’ll go first!”
    He reached up and grabbed one of the spider ropes. It felt damp and sticky. He pulled himself onto the bottom strands of the web ladder.
    “Grab on!” he shouted to Annie above the roar of the water. “We have to get to that crack in the ceiling!”
    Annie grabbed one of the web ropes. “Eww!” she said. “It’s gross!”
    “Just climb!” said Jack.
    Holding tightly to the sticky strands, Jack and Annie began making their way up the Spider Queen’s web ladder. The web swayed and stretched, but it was sturdy enough to hold their weight. Its stickiness kept them from slipping and falling.
    Crawling and climbing, they moved higher and higher above the crashing waters. As they drew near the crack in the ceiling, Jack kept his eyes on the Spider Queen. She was watching them carefully.
    Finally Jack reached the ceiling crack. He swung to one side of the web ladder, putting himself between Annie and the giant spider.
    “You go first,” he said.

    “Okay,” said Annie. She grabbed the rocky edge of the opening and stuck her head out of the crack. “There’s nowhere to go but into the water!” she called.
    “How far down is it?” said Jack.
    “Pretty far!” said Annie. “But I think we can make it!”
    “Wait—” said Jack.
    But Annie was already squeezing herself through the crack.
    “Annie, be careful!” said Jack.
    Splash!
    “Oh, man,” said Jack. He gripped the edge ofthe crack. Then he glanced back at the Spider Queen.
    Her glowing red eyes peered out at him from the shadows.
Go! Go! Go!
she whispered.
    Jack smiled at her. “Thanks!” he said.
    Go!
the Spider Queen whispered again.
    Jack pulled himself out of the darkness onto a narrow rocky ledge. The bright sun sparkled on the blue water of the small cove below.
    “Come on!” Annie shouted. She was bobbing up and down on the gentle waves.
    Jack took off his glasses. He pinched his nose and closed his eyes. Then he jumped off the ledge.

J ack splashed into the blue sunlit sea. He sank to the bottom and then bobbed back up. He coughed and pushed his hair out of his eyes.
    Annie was treading water nearby. “Hey!” she called.
    “Hey!” Jack sputtered.
    “I was wrong! You were right!” Annie said. She sounded thrilled. “The Spider Queen just wanted to help us!”
    “Yeah,” said Jack. He shook the seawater off his glasses and put them back on.
    “She must be really lonely!” said Annie. “She probably feels like she has to hide in that cave because she’s so scary-looking!”
    “Maybe,” said Jack. He looked around the second cove. Purple shadows stretched over a rocky seashore beneath the cliffs. The sun had moved farther across the sky.
    “We’d better hurry!” said Jack. “What do we do now?”
    “Read the rhyme!” said Annie.
    Jack pulled the shell out of his pocket. Treading water, he read the next line in Merlin’s poem:
    And swim with a selkie clothed in green.
    “What’s a selkie?” said Annie.
    “Who knows?” said Jack.
    He looked at the cliffs and the shore.
Is a selkie a fish? A person? What?
he wondered. Then Jack saw two dark shapes speeding like fat torpedoes below the surface of the water. They were coming straight toward him and Annie.
    “Watch out!” Jack