Free Escape from the Drooling Octopod! by Robert West

She immediately tumbled off the branch, caught another, and swung over to drop onto the forest path.
    Somebody oughtta check her DNA , thought Beamer. There’s gotta be some chimpanzee in there somewhere. “Scilla!” whisper-shouted Beamer. “Where are you going? We don’t even know if they’re friendly.”
    It didn’t look like they were going to find out, for as soon as Scilla plunked down on the roof in front of them, the moths shot back into the forest.
    â€œStop!” cried Scilla. “I won’t hurt you! I promise!”
    But it wasn’t her they were afraid of. They heard flapping wings — loud and leathery. Then they heard a shriek!
    Scilla whirled around and looked up. She lurched back, fell to the ground with a scream, and then lay there without moving. Beamer and Ghoulie recoiled back into a thicket of tree leaves. The thing flapping its wings and hovering far too near Scilla was right out of a nightmare. It had the wings of a bat and the face of a monster.
    â€œIt’s a gargoyle!” Ghoulie exclaimed in hushed alarm. “We’ve got to get Scilla away from him!”
    But the gargoyle paid no attention to Scilla. It flew quickly off in pursuit of the moths. Beamer and Ghoulie lost no time in getting to Scilla. Ghoulie checked her pulse, and Beamer listened to her heart.
    â€œWhat are y’all doing?” she suddenly yelped as she pushed them off her. “This is no time to play paramedic. That thing is after the fairies. We’ve gotta rescue them!”
    â€œAre you sure they’re fairies?” Beamer asked her. “Did they say anything? What did they look like?”
    â€œFirst of all, the moths weren’t human,” she said after taking a deep breath. “They were sort of human, but their eyes were too big and shaped like . . . uh, maybe rounded diamonds. And their legs were too long and spindly, like insect legs.”
    â€œWhoa! They’d be great for a science fair exhibit!” said Ghoulie. “Could we get rights for a national tour?”
    â€œWould y’all pipe down!” Scilla yelled in frustration as she waved a “Back off ” to them. “Come on, we gotta save them!” Scilla said, suddenly bolting on down the path into the roof forest.
    â€œScilla!” Beamer yelled again. “We don’t have anything to fight gargoyles with! Scillllaaaaa!”
    But Scilla had already charged into a dark corner of the forest. “Oh, brother!” Beamer said with a sigh. “Looks like we’re gonna have to drag her back. Let’s go, Ghoulie,” he said, charging after her.
    The forest was every bit as murky as it had looked from afar. The tree trunks were especially weird. They weren’t tucked neatly into the ground like most trees on Murphy Street — or on any other street Beamer had ever been on. They stood above the ground on their partly exposed roots, looking like they might start walking at any moment. The normal assortment of forest animals was skittering around — squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and the like — even a deer or two. There were also a lot of fireflies beginning to whisk about as it got darker.
    Something didn’t seem right about all this wildlife to Beamer, though. First of all, he’d never seen so many forest creatures at the same time. Second, all the animals seemed like they’d just jumped out of Bambi or Snow White . They were just too perfect — like out of a cartoon forest. Even the weeds were pretty with flowers.
    Also, unlike most forests, this forest floor was covered with grass. Real grass needed plenty of sunlight, which you couldn’t get in a dense forest. What’s more, the grass was neatly trimmed, not a blade out of place. Beamer was seeing all this on the run, of course. Luckily his legs were longer than Scilla’s. “Scillaaaa, stop!” he yelled as he drew closer to her.