Free Beware The Wicked Web by Anthony Masters

Chapter One
    The rustling was much louder as Rob and Sam climbed the stairs to the attic, but when they arrived at the top, all they could see was darkness. Sam swept the attic with her torch beam. The space was completely empty but they could still hear the silky rustling that had kept them awake all night.

    Rob shivered. “What is it?” he asked once again.

    “How would I know?” snapped Sam.
    She shone her torch around the dusty walls of the attic until the heavy oak door was caught in the beam. “I think it’s coming from behind that door.”
    “There must be another room in there,” whispered Rob.
    “Let’s go in,” said Sam.
    “Wait a minute.” Rob hesitated.

    Sam had always been the adventurous one. Although he was a year older, her brother, Rob, was more cautious. Now, with his mass of dark hair and pale face, he looked downright terrified.
    Sam wasn’t feeling so good herself. But she was the one who always wanted to make decisions. It didn’t matter whether they were right or wrong.
    “There’s no
point
in waiting,” she said briskly.
    “But that rustling sound… Suppose it’s dangerous?” asked Rob, nervously.
    “Well, there’s only one way to find out…” Sam gave the door a push and it opened without a sound.
    “Shine the torch then,” hissed Rob.
    The beam swept the inside of the room. Rob gasped and Sam screamed.

    Right in front of them were the dusty, rustling folds of the most enormous cobweb they had ever seen.
    Where was the spider? wondered Rob, cold shock waves spreading inside him.
    “I’m not going in there,” said Sam.
    Rob was taken by surprise. Sam went everywhere. She never chickened out. Now it looked as if he was going to have to take charge and go in first.

    But what urged Rob on was the small black book propped up against a cushion on the web-shrouded table.
    He had the oddest feeling that it had been put there for a reason.
    “The book—” Rob began.
    “What?”
    “On the table. It looks… important.”
    “Does it?” Sam swept the beam around the room again and suddenly realized she was peering into the dusty remains of a child’s bedroom. There was a small bed against the wall, a table and an oil lamp. On the cobweb-matted walls were pictures of animals and on the floor was a half-open box of old-fashioned-looking toys, a teddy bear and a wooden train.

    Although there was no sign of an open window, the web was rustling as if in a light breeze.
    “It’s throbbing,” murmured Sam, as she watched the folds move in a kind of rhythm. She shuddered and tried to step back, but Rob was blocking the doorway.
    “Can you see the egg?” Rob asked quietly, his voice trembling.
    “What egg?” whispered Sam.
    “Up there. Above the bed. Between the wall and the ceiling.”
    The egg was as big as a football, wrapped tightly in a fluffy cocoon.
    “Whatever laid that?” she asked, hardly able to get out the words. Sam was trembling all over and when she glanced at Rob she could see he was shaking too.
    “A spider?”
    “That size?”
    “Maybe it’s a
big
spider,” Rob replied, panic sweeping through him.

Chapter Two

    Thankfully, there was no sign of any spider as Sam’s beam swept the room again and again.
    Rob wheeled round. “Look at that lot.”
    Part of the web near the egg was covered in the black bodies of dead flies.
    “How did they get in?” Sam demanded.
    “Check out the ceiling again,” said Rob.

    Eventually Sam’s torch lit a skylight window, covered in web but open a fraction.
    “That must be where the breeze is coming from,” she said, sounding relieved.
    “And the flies,” added Rob. Then he shook himself and stared towards the table.
    “I want that book,” he said with surprising determination.
    “Why?”
    “It might tell us something. I’ve got this hunch.”
    Sam groaned. Rob often had hunches.
    “Let’s get a broom and push the web out of the way,” she suggested. “Then you can grab your precious