10

Scoot Gives Jess A Fright

On Saturday morning Ben took his rucksack and went to sit under the trees at the bottom of his garden. He only had one more day to collect the seven tears and he really didn’t think he could do it. If Jess had come over to play he’d planned to bump into her so that she fell over. He’d hoped that she might cry. He knew that wasn’t a very nice thing to do but he wanted to help the spiders so much. He’d asked his gran if she could help, but she didn’t think her tears would count.

He felt a tickle on his hand and he jumped. It was Lox. Ben told him that he didn’t have all the ingredients just yet, and asked how he could let Lox know if he did find them in time. Lox told Ben to come to the spider gate and flash his torch beam three times. The guards would fetch Lox straight away.

Ben threw the ball a few times for Scoot but he didn’t really feel like playing. He sat with his back against the tree and closed his eyes. He felt a soft touch on his cheek. It came again and Ben opened his eyes. It was Jess.

‘Jess!’ Ben jumped up. ‘What are you doing here? I thought Kelly was coming to stay with you for the second week of the holidays?’

Jess smiled at him. ‘She was, but we had a terrible argument when I was at her house and my mum brought me home. I wanted to come over before this, but I didn’t think you’d want to be friends any more. I wasn’t very nice to you, was I?’

‘That’s all right,’ Ben said. ‘I’m glad you came. What changed your mind?’

‘It was your gran, she rang my mum.’

Ben grinned at her. He said he didn’t have time to tell her everything, but he did tell her about the three ingredients and asked her if she thought she could cry!

She tried thinking about sad things but Ben was watching her so closely that all she did was laugh. Then Ben had an idea. He ran up the path to the kitchen and asked his gran to peel an onion for him. He wrapped it in a tissue and went back down the garden.

‘Here,’ he said, ‘this might help. Gran always cries when she peels onions. Let me find the tube that the wizard gave me to catch the tears.’ He opened his rucksack. ‘Oh no! They won’t fit in here.’ He held up the tiny tube. ‘Why didn’t it get bigger when I said the rhyme? Everything else in my bag did. It must be a magic tube.’

‘What can we do?’ Jess asked. ‘If it has to be seven tears, we need a bigger tube.’

Ben scratched his head, then he looked at Jess and grinned. He knew exactly what to do, but would Jess agree?

‘Hold the tube, Jess,’ he told her. ‘What if I make you smaller so that your tears will be tiny and then the tube will be big enough?’

Jess looked puzzled. ‘What do mean? How can you make me small?’

‘I’ll tell you all about it later,’ Ben promised. ‘Gran gave me the secret and now I can make myself, or anyone else, smaller and then bigger. It doesn’t hurt and it won’t take long. You just need to smell the onion and then catch seven tears in the tube. As soon as you’ve done it, I’ll make you big again.’

Jess looked worried but she said she’d do it. Ben put the onion next to her feet and made sure that she had the tube in her hands. He said the magic rhyme quietly and did the actions. Jess watched him with her eyes wide open. Then she felt a tingling in her arms and legs and she felt dizzy, so she sat down quickly and closed her eyes. When she opened them she could see two very large shoes next to her. She looked up. Ben was a giant!

Jess was very scared but she remembered what she had to do. She leaned against the onion and took a deep breath. She poked out her tongue. Yuk! She breathed in again and could feel her eyes starting to water, but there were still no tears. She tried twice more and finally the tears began to roll down her cheeks. She took the stopper from the tube and carefully caught seven tears. Then she put the stopper back.

Ben knelt down on the ground and took the tube from Jess. He put it in his rucksack and he was just about to say the rhyme to bring Jess back, when Scoot dashed across the grass and picked her up by the hood of her coat. He shook her a few times and Ben could hear her screaming.

‘Drop that Scoot,’ he shouted. ‘Naughty dog! Give it to me now.’

Scoot put his head on one side and looked at Ben. He didn’t understand. This was a new toy, wasn’t it? He ran around the tree three times, but when he saw that Ben wasn’t playing their usual game of chase, he stopped. He walked towards Ben with his tail down, and then he dropped Jess on the ground.

Ben said the rhyme as quickly as he could and waited for Jess to feel steady on her feet. She was really crying now.

‘I’m so sorry Jess,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see Scoot behind the tree. Are you all right?’

Jess sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. ‘I’m all covered in dog spit so, no, I am not all right.’

Ben couldn’t help laughing. Her hair was all spiky and she looked like she’d been out in the rain. Jess pretended to be angry but after a while she started laughing as well.

‘I don’t know why I’m friends with you,’ she said. ‘You always get me into trouble, but we do have some fun, don’t we?’

Ben told her that he had to call for Lox to come out, and said that she should sit down next to the tree. He didn’t know if Lox would come right out if she was there but they’d have to try. He lay down on the ground and wriggled under the hedge. He shone the torch beam on the spider gate at the back of the hedge and blinked it on and off three times. Then he wriggled out again and went to sit next to Jess. Five minutes later Lox peeped out from the hedge.

‘It’s all right Lox,’ Ben whispered. ‘This is Jess. She’s the one who helped me last year with finding the last piece of the spider gate, and she’s just helped me now. I couldn’t have done it on my own. Please don’t be afraid of her.’

Lox came towards them slowly and told Ben that it was all right for Jess to be there. He thanked her for helping Ben. Jess held her breath. She felt as though she was in a dream. It was so strange to hear this spider talking to them. She shook her head and just watched as Lox took the three ingredients. He told Ben and Jess to wait in the garden and ten minutes later he was back. He ran towards them waving his front legs in the air.

‘You did it,’ he told Ben. ‘You really did it. The wizard was so excited that he ran up the walls of the cave and spun a golden-coloured web all over the ceiling. Queen Aranya was crying and everyone else was cheering for you. The only one who wasn’t happy with you was Spindra, but we’re watching her very carefully.’

‘Who’s Spindra?’ Jess asked, but Ben said he’d tell her later. She rolled her eyes.

Lox carried on talking. ‘The queen would like to thank you both but we don’t think it’s safe for you to come into the kingdom again. She asked if you could be in the garden after dark tonight? If you can, be here when the owl starts to hoot. We’ll be waiting and you won’t have to stay out for long. There are some others who’d like to meet you as well.’

Lox ran back under the hedge. Jess pulled at Ben’s sleeve.

‘Oh boy,’ she said. ‘You have so much to tell me. I want to know everything NOW!’

Ben laughed. ‘All right bossy, but we’d better go back indoors. I think you need to wash your face before anyone sees you. Then we have to think of a way to meet Lox and the others.’