Free Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent by Alan Early

lace through the loop at the top and tied it around his neck. He stuffed the pendant inside his shirt, where it felt momentarily cold against his bare chest.
    â€˜Thanks,’ he said. ‘Where’d you get it?’
    â€˜An old pair of my dad’s shoes. It’s all right, though – he never wears them. He’s more of a Nike man.’
    Cheerfully they made their way to school.
    When they got there, there was no sign of Miss Keegan, but Will was surrounded by the class and was right in the middle of recounting their adventure of the previous day. He’d replaced the hospital bandage with a smaller Band-Aid and the cut over his eye seemed to be healing nicely. Their classmates listened in rapt silence to his every word.
    â€˜And it stank so bad down there. I didn’t see any rats, but I’m sure there were loads. And –’
    â€˜Skip to the good part,’ encouraged Rob Tynan. ‘Tell us about when it flooded.’
    â€˜Well, the tide just started coming in real suddenly, right. This wave came out of nowhere, down the tunnel and,’ he slapped the desk he was standing at, ‘ smashed right into us. It knocked us all off our feet. It hit me so hard that I slammed my head on the ground.’ He rubbed the Band-Aid over his eyebrow where it still stung. He saw Arthur and Ash enter behind the kids crowded around him. ‘But, eh, I was lucky. Because Arthur saw me in the water and helped me. He saved me.’
    The class turned to Arthur. A few congratulated him, while others patted him on the back.
    â€˜What happened then?’ prompted Rob.
    â€˜What happened then is that their lovely teacher came in and it was time to start class,’ Miss Keegan said as she entered the room. ‘Everyone take your seats, please. I’m sure there’ll be lots of time to talk to our three adventurers during the break.’ The pupils hustled to their desks, chair legs screeching on the floor. ‘Settle down, settle down. Now, before Arthur, Will and Ashling decided to go for a little swim yesterday, we did actually have a very interesting and informative tour thanks to Arthur’s father. So I’d like you all to spend the next, say, two hours writing an essay on what you learned about the new Metro. You can include pictures if you want. You can focus on one aspect of the Metro or on the whole thing. You can write about the excavation or write about what it’ll mean to the city when it’s complete. It’s totally up to you. You can begin.’
    She looked at her watch and sat down to correct the previous Monday’s maths homework. Arthur decided to focus on the work that his father was doing at the Metro – he’d bring in all of Joe’s past tunnelling experience as well as how the Usher’s Quay tunnel would eventually be constructed. He might even touch on how the Metro would be joining the east of the city to the west. But one thing he would certainly not be writing about was the River Poddle. He suspected that neither Ash nor Will would want to revisit that particular topic either.
    When the two hours were up, it was time for break. The school bell rang and the class filed out; everyone handing their essay to Miss Keegan as they passed. Arthur handed his up and was just pushing out the door with Ash and Will when Miss Keegan called him back.
    She was looking at his essay as she leaned against her desk.
    â€˜Miss Keegan?’
    â€˜Take a seat please, Arthur.’ He sat down in the front row before her. She noticed Ash and Will standing in the doorway, waiting for him. ‘Out, you two! He’ll follow you.’ Casting a quizzical look towards Arthur, they walked off, leaving Arthur alone with the teacher.
    â€˜Look, Arthur,’ Miss Keegan sighed, ‘I know yesterday was a hard day for you. I’m sure you’re still a bit shaky after your ordeal.’
    â€˜Well, a little, yes.’
    â€˜But I did ask