7 Uh-oh!

Chapter 7 UH-OH! meep… "Porcupine fish!" said Thudd. "When porcupine fish afraid, blow itself up! Spines pop up. Other fish not swallow it!"

The porcupine fish batted its fins angrily. But when it couldn't make the Water Bug go away, it took off into the gloom. The cave was crawling with strange sights. Blue sausage-shaped creatures with black stripes slithered over the rocks. One rock was crowded with black pincushion-shaped animals covered with needles as long as knives. A red skirt-like creature twirled in front of the windshield like a ballerina. meep… "Spanish dancer sea slug," said Thudd. "Like big snail without shell." A dark wall of the cave twinkled with light. As the Water Bug got closer, Andrew and Judy saw clam-like creatures clinging to the rocks. Their shells were open. Inside, flashes of light flickered. "Wowzers!" said Andrew. "It looks like tiny lightning inside those shells!" meep… "Flame scallop animal!" said Thudd. "Make light inside! Lotsa sea creatures make light. Called bioluminescence. Means 'light made by living thing.'"

Andrew squinted at a rock next to the flame scallops. "I think that rock has eyes!" he said. meep… "Stonefish!" said Thudd. "Look like rock. Not move. Wait for prey animal. Stonefish got big poison in skin! Human step on stonefish, can die!" The headlights of the Water Bug fell on a bumpy pink lump smooshed into a corner. It looked like a humongous glob of Silly Putty! In the next instant, the glob turned white, peeled itself off the wall, and flung itself toward the Water Bug! Now Andrew could see it was balloon-shaped, with eight twisting tentacles at the bottom.

"Neato mosquito!" yelled Andrew. "It's an octopus!" It was turning red as it zoomed toward them. meep… "Angry octopus," said Thudd. "Octopus angry, turn red. Get scared, turn white." The octopus slapped itself onto the hood of the Water Bug. It poked one of its tentacles inside the Super-Sniffer! "It's trying to pick the Super-Sniffer's nose!" said Andrew. meep… "Octopus looking for clams," said Thudd. Andrew pressed a button on the dashboard. The Super-Sniffer twitched. The octopus seemed

startled and pulled its tentacle out of the Super- Sniffer. Then it crawled up to the windshield. It gripped the glass with its round suckers and looked in at Andrew and Judy. "Weirdo eyes!" said Judy. The pupils of the octopus's eyes weren't round like a human's. They were narrow black slits. The octopus was changing color again. Pink and blue and purple began to flicker across its skin like a neon sign! meep… "Octopus excited to see us!" said Thudd. The octopus slapped its tentacles against the window on Judy's side. It looked like it was tugging! "I think it wants to get in," said Judy. "It's actually kind of cute, in a weird way." The octopus gave up and jetted back to the cave wall. It slithered over to a patch of bumpy purple sponges. In a moment, its color matched the sponges. Its skin became just as bumpy.

meep… "Octopus change skin to hide," said Thudd. "Octopus eyes connect to octopus skin. Make octopus skin match what octopus see!" Suddenly the octopus turned white and puffed out a smoky black cloud! The water in front of the Water Bug turned dark as mud. meep… "Octopus make black ink," said Thudd. "Hide from enemy!" "What's scaring it?" asked Andrew. CLACK! CLACK! CLACK! came a noise. The whole Water Bug was shaking!