My Adventures with Chickenspike

Painted Shell was just to my left. She looked like a boulder struggling to stay afloat in an ocean of heavy sand. King Snapperhead was sinking fast. It was easy to see that they were tiring. Their short, little forepaws were not built for swimming. They would not last much longer.

Chickenspike was nowhere to be seen. I scanned the surface of the sand, yet his massive form was simply not here. My mind whirled with the possibilities. He could have escaped the quicksand. No. Chickenspike would never leave us. The only other possibility terrified me. Chickenspike had drowned. He must have sunk before he even realized that he had fallen asleep within a pool of quicksand. I told myself, "Think logically, remain calm." My heart ached with the fear of losing my new friend.

Suddenly, I heard the familiar sound of scratching nails on a chalkboard. Spector screamed, "I knew that yoke brain would blow it. Hang tight! I'll have you out in a minute."

A thick rope of webbing flew from the spider with a high-pitched whistling sound. The webbing soared past me and spattered against Boxer Girl's hard shell. A second webbing spattered against King Snapperhead's shell. An idea popped into my head just before the third line of webbing reached me. I dove deep into the quick sand.

Chickenspike had been lying just to my left. If he sunk he should be just below me and slightly to my side. If I am wrong I could drown. But, if I am right I could save Chickenspike. It never occurred to me that even if I was right both Chickenspike and I could still end up drowning.

The sand was so dark that I could not even see my own hand. I could almost feel the touch of death as the tiny grains of sand rubbed against my skin. The tiny grains seemed to be pulling me down, deeper and deeper into the depths. I reached and searched for Chickenspike. But I could not find him. He was lost. Somehow I knew that Chickenspike was down here. I searched frantically, actually digging through the sand towards the bottom. My mind began screaming at me. "I need air! I need air! Swim for the surface!" I lost all rational thought and turned back towards the surface trying to swim up. But the heavy sands only pushed harder against me, forcing me further down. The blackness stretched out before me and my mind screamed at me once again. "Chase, Breathe in! Breathe in! Breathe anything, just breathe in!"

I took a deep hard breath, hoping for just a little air. All I got was a mouthful of sand. My arms thrashed about in anger, and once again I began to yell at myself, "Chase! How could you have been so stupid? You should never have thought that you could swim down into quicksand and then simply swim back up again whenever you pleased! How could you have been so stupid. You can't... Wait! What was that? Could it be? Chickenspike!"

I knew that it had to be Chickenspike. I had done the impossible. I had found him! But how was I going to get us out of the quicksand?

Chickenspike did not move. I hung tightly to him. But by now I was tired, so very tired. My lungs stopped fighting for air. I felt very sleepy. Everything began to go blurry.