5 Attack of the Icky Bugs

CHAPTER Five Attack of the iCKY Bugs Sssss! The giant bugs hissed angrily at Neal. Their thick, pointed tongues lashed up at him. "If one of those things licks me, I'm going to lose the lunch I never ate!" Neal shouted. The bugs were hairy beetles about four feet long. Their hard brown shells gleamed like armor. "Gross!" said Eric, ducking behind a tree. "Eew!" said Keeah, jumping down beside him. The bugs flicked their fuzzy legs at Neal and Julie. Their feelers twitched, and their tongues stuck out angrily.

"All I did was look at a rock," Neal said. "It was an egg!" Julie shouted, pointing to a nearby pile of round pink eggs. "One of their eggs! And you didn't look, you touched!" Neal shrugged. "So how do you say 'I'm sorry' in bug language?" "If they even have a language," Max said. "The horrible creatures!" Sssss! The bugs hissed and edged even closer.

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Keeah turned to Eric and Max. "I'm going to try a spell. If it works, it will scare the bugs for a few seconds. Then you two can help Neal and Julie escape." "We will do it!" Max promised. Keeah crossed her fingers. "Right, if I concentrate on something simple…" Eric peered around the tree. "On the count of three, you guys run, okay?" "How about on the count of one?" Neal asked. "Very funny," Eric said. "One…" Keeah jumped up. She pointed her hands at the bugs. "Two…" said Eric. Keeah narrowed her eyes. "Tomba—snooka—jeeba—" "…three!" Eric shouted. "Three!" said Keeah. "No, wait! I mean floo!" Too late. Neal and Julie were already leaping off the rock when—ka-bam!—a bolt of bright green light shot from Keeah's hands. The air filled with smoke. The bugs shrieked—eeee!— and disappeared into the jungle. Julie leaped over to the princess. "Keeah, you did it! Your incredible spell worked!" Keeah stared at her hands. "I guess so…." Eric tried to wave away the smoke. "Where's Neal?"

"Here I am!" he yelled from behind them. Julie and Eric turned around. Neal wasn't standing there. The only thing there was the pile of bug eggs. "I hear him," Julie said, "but I don't see him." "Hey, I'm right here!" Neal shouted again. The pile of pink eggs moved. Out from underneath the pile popped a brown bug twice the size of a football. It had a hard, shiny shell, six thin legs with fuzz on them, three orange eyes, and two feelers sticking out from its head. It was like all the other bugs only smaller. A baby bug. Eric staggered back. "Neal, is that… you?" The brown bug scuttled across the pile of eggs and looked up at them. "Boy," the bug said in Neal's voice, "Keeah's spell made you sort of big, didn't it?" Eric gulped. "The spell went wrong, all right," he began. "But… well, um, Neal, it's like, I mean—" "You're a bug!" Julie shouted. "An icky icky bug!" "The spider part of me resents that!" said Max. "Oh, what have I done?" Keeah said. "Neal, I am so sorry!" Neal rubbed his front legs together. Then he saw them and jumped. "Oh, man! This is not good. Change me back, Keeah. Change me back now!"

The princess stared at her fingertips and then back at Neal. "You didn't answer right away!" Neal said. "You're supposed to say, 'Sure, Neal!' and do your zapping thing, and I'm me again." Neal closed his three eyes. "I'm ready. Go." Keeah's own eyes welled up with tears. "I'm afraid to try." Neal's fuzzy legs began to quiver, and his feelers twitched. "It's all a dream. It's all a dream. It's all a—hey, what's that?" Suddenly he flicked his tongue at Julie's head. "Eeeeeew!" she gasped, jerking backward. "Sorry. There was a fly near you," Neal said. "At least it looked like a fly. It was yellow with bright green wings. Anyway, I missed it." "What you saw was a Droonian seafly," Max said. Suddenly Neal rubbed his legs together, making a strange, high-pitched sound. Eric made a face. "Stop being such a bug." "Shhh!" Neal hissed. He tilted his head and went still. "Say that again, please." Eric blinked. "I said, stop being such a—" "Not you!" Neal snapped. "The fly!"