60 Spiders

Chapter 60 Spiders Peanut dashed up the staircase after Nerys. Little-Bit and Rockwell followed closely behind. The three of them had, by now, become a super team who worked together brilliantly, instinctively knowing what role each of them should play. Also, they had some experience of being stuck at the top of a very tall building with nothing but art supplies to help them, and, up until this point, they'd always managed to get back to down to earth safely. They couldn't risk Nerys doing the same, however. Peanut!' Little-Bit shouted up to her. 'Use your art equipment!' My art equipment? thought Peanut as she bounded up the stairway, taking the steps two at a time. Of course! She'd totally

forgotten that she was still wearing her bandolier. Its contents appeared to be in working order, despite RAZER 005's iron grip on her earlier. She pulled the spray can from its slot, put her finger on the nozzle and aimed it at Nerys. A powerful jet of black paint flew across the void, hitting the woman on the shoulder and painting a strong black line diagonally across her back. She stopped immediately and turned to face Peanut. 'You'll have to do better than that, lovely,' Nerys said with a grin, before pulling Little Tail from her pocket and drawing several small, spiky shapes on the step below her. 'What's she drawn?' yelled Little-Bit. 'Not sure,' shouted Peanut over her shoulder. 'They look a bit like—' 'SPIDERS!' screeched Rockwell. Sure enough as the children got closer, it became clear that the little spiky shapes were alive. Not only that, but they seemed to be growing bigger very quickly and they were multiplying! Soon, hundreds of huge hairy illustrated arachnids were scuttling down the stairs towards them.

'What do I do now!?' asked Peanut desperately, as the army of illustrated spiders approached. 'I'm not a huge fan of creepy-crawlies!' LEMONS!' shouted Rockwell. 'What?' asked Peanut. 'LEMONS!' said the boy for a second time. 'QUICK! PAINT SOME LEMONS!' 'Why?' 'JUST DO IT!' he yelled. Peanut snatched the watercolour set from her bandolier, picked up the brush, dipped it in yellow, and began to paint three lemons in the air in front of her. 'Why am I painting lemons, Rockwell!?' she shouted down the staircase. ' Spiders hate citrus smells,' he replied, his voice getting higher as the creatures got closer. 'Cut the lemons in half and squeeze them all over the stairs in front of you!' Peanut drew a simple knife with one of her marker pens, picked it up and sliced the fruit. Thankfully, the lemons she'd painted were very juicy, and, for once, actually smelled like they should. She squeezed them all over the steps seconds before the torrent of spiders

got there. The creatures at the front of the pack stopped instantly in their tracks, causing those behind to crash into them. A huge eight-legged pile-up ensued. Then, every single one of the spiders turned around and scurried away back up the stairs. ' Yes!' Rockwell exclaimed. Little-Bit high-fived him. Great thinking, Rockwell!' shouted Peanut. Nerys, meanwhile, had been busy with the pencil again. She had drawn what appeared to be a black cloud, which she now held in her hands. She turned around, brought it up to her face and blew. Slowly, it began to float across the room, getting bigger as it moved. A few seconds later, the cloud had filled up the entire top of the room, enveloping the whole staircase and the door above Peanut, Little-Bit and Rockwell. Then the storm began.