9 Worms, Beautiful Worms

Chapter 9 WORMS, BEAUTIFUL WORMS meep… "Can open eyes now, Oody," said Thudd. They were in a dark, narrow, rocky tunnel. A strong current was speeding them along. The tunnel was getting wider and higher. Ahead, patches of light danced on the water. The stream dragged them around a bend and into another enormous room of the cave. The stalactites above twinkled with blue-green lights. "Jumping gerbils!" said Andrew. "Looks like someone put holiday decorations on the stalactites!"

meep… "Glowworms!" said Thudd. "Glowworm is kind of baby insect. "Glowworm make silk thread, like spider. Sticky! Sticky! Sticky! Hang thread from top of cave. "Mosquitoes, other bugs fly to light of glowworm. Fly through sticky threads. Get caught! Glowworm crawl down thread and eat prey." "Sheesh," Judy grumbled, slapping her hand on the side of the boat. "Everybody's always eating some— Youch!" she cried. "Something bit my hand!"

Andrew looked down into the clear water. Fish the size of fingers were darting everywhere! "Leaping lizards!" said Andrew. "Look at all these fish! And they're all white! And there's one of those white salamanders we were following!" meep… "Lotsa cave animals got no color. Color not help animal here cuz everything dark, everything blind. "Animal with color need more food than animal that not got color. Animal that not got color live longer here than animal with color." "Strange-a-mundo!" said Judy. Ahead of them, a rocky ledge jutted out in the stream. The bug boat was speeding toward it. "Hang on, Judy!" said Andrew. "We're gonna crash!" Plumph… It was a soft crash. "Whew!" said Andrew. "That was like hitting a pillow!"

Andrew reached out to push the boat off the ledge. Instead of touching rock, his hands touched something soft. "This stuff feels like cotton candy!" he said. When Andrew tried to pull his hands away, he couldn't! He tugged. Then he yanked. "What are you doing, Andrew?" asked Judy. "Um, this stuff is really sticky," said Andrew. "I'm kind of super stuck." meep… "Glowworm web!" said Thudd. "Web fall from top of cave!" "Judy," said Andrew. "Grab my belt. When I count to three, give me a big jerk." "You already are a big jerk!" said Judy. "One, two, three!" said Andrew. Judy jerked. Andrew came loose and fell into the bottom of the bug boat. The boat teetered and water slopped in. "You know," said Andrew, "this glowworm web is really neat stuff. Maybe I can use it in one of

my inventions." "Don't you dare touch that stuff again, Bug- Brain," said Judy. "I won't touch it," said Andrew. He leaned over the side of the bug boat and grabbed a hollow cockroach leg. He bent it from side to side and twisted it until it came loose. "Woofers!" said Andrew. "This leg is heavy!" He shoved the cockroach leg into the glob of glowworm web. He spun the leg around till he had collected a big glob of web. Then he tossed it into the bottom of the bug boat. Andrew snapped off another cockroach leg and used the tip of it to push them away from the ledge. The tiny boat lurched into the stream again. It bounced and dipped as fish and salamanders snapped at it. A fish's head popped up so close to Andrew, he could have kissed its fishy lips.

"Holy moly!" said Andrew. "These guys don't have eyes!" meep… "Cave fish and cave salamander born with eyes," said Thudd. "Then skin grow over eyes. Eyes sink into head." "That's disgusting!" said Judy. "Cave animals not need eyes in cave that got no light. Cave animals find prey by smell. Feel prey move.