Free Turtle Terror by Ali Sparkes Page A

stick—the end of Josh’s shrimping net. Josh was lying flat on his chest on the lower shelf of rock where Danny had begun his climb. He was holding the net end and waving the stick at Danny. Piddle was running up and down the rocks, barking furiously. Josh’s face was white and his blue eyes round with fear as he shrieked, “GRAB IT! GRAB IT!”
    As the next swell of water pushed him toward the shore, Danny grabbed it.
    Soon he was back on the rock shelf next to Josh, spluttering and coughing and blowing gooey streams of seawater out of his nose while Piddle happily licked his ear. His knee was bleeding where it must have scraped against some rock, but apart from that, he seemed to be OK.
    Eventually he turned to Josh and said, “Sp-sp-spider!”
    â€œ
Crab
!” Josh corrected. “Spider
crab
. Not an arachnid—a crustacean. Probably migrating right now, as it’s September . . .”
    â€œYou—you—you freaky little nature nerd!” Danny squawked. “Can’t you just SHUT UP for one minute about your freaky little nature nerdy facts? I nearly DIED just then! That spider . . . crab . . . tried to kill me!”
    â€œErm . . . no . . .” Josh corrected. “That spider crab was just out for a little walk when these huge flappy hands started whacking at it and a big ugly human face reared up out of nowhere and screamed at it. It’s probably having a panic attack of its own now.”
    â€œOh—that’s right! Worry about the spider, why don’t you?” Danny muttered. He could never understand how his twin brother could be so different from him. Creepy-crawly stuff just freaked Danny out—but Josh couldn’t get enough of it.
    â€œThey’re nowhere near as scary as spiders,” Josh said. And he got up and started looking for the spider crab, much to Danny’s horror. “They’re amazing,” he went on, foraging around the beach end of the rocky outcrop Danny had just fallen from. “They look pretty grumpy, but they’re all right, really . . . Here you go!”

    Danny yelled and ran back up the sand as Josh emerged from a clump of seaweed-covered rocks holding a spider crab. The beast was pale brown and waggling its spindly legs wildly, as well as fiercely snipping its chunky claws in the air. “Look at all these spines on it,” pointed out Josh, grinning lovingly at the crustacean that he was holding carefully on the top and bottom of its rough, rounded body. “They call them spiny crabs too. You should see a Japanese one . . . that’s huge. A six-foot leg-span, easily!”
    â€œIf you bring that thing anywhere near me, I’m going to throw sand in your face!” Danny warned, picking up a wet handful. Piddle ran round in excited circles, hoping for a game of catch, and then piddled on the sand. Danny dropped his handful and ran after Piddle. “Piddled-on sand!” he warned Josh, pointing to the wet patch.
    Josh chuckled and put the spider crab down. It scuttled away noisily across the rocks and plopped into a large seaweed-y pool.
    â€œI wonder it there’s such a thing as CRUSTASWITCH,” pondered Josh as hesat down next to Danny on their beach mats a minute later. Danny was glugging orange juice from a bottle, hoping the sugar in it would help his state of shock, and letting the hot sun dry out his T-shirt and shorts.

    â€œCRUSTASWITCH?” he echoed.
    â€œYeah—you know,” Josh said, his eyes shining. “BUGSWITCH turned us into insects and spiders, AMPHISWITCH turned us into frogs and newts, and REPTOSWITCH turned us into lizards . . . but imagine being a crustacean! If we were spider crabs we could walk along the seabed. That would be
so
cool. We’ll have to ask Petty Potts if she can make a new S.W.I.T.C.H. spray!”
    â€œJosh. Pay attention. I am
never
going to be a spider crab—get that?” Danny said. “It was bad