Sophie, Hattie, and Owen whirled around. A small, furry brown bat was hanging upside down from a nearby crystal.
“Ahhhhhh!” Sophie shouted.
“Eeeeeeeeep!” the bat squeaked, startled by Sophie’s shout.
It was a very familiar sound—high-pitched, almost a shriek!
Sophie covered her ears until the bat quieted down and the echoes faded. Then she eyed him suspiciously.
“Wait a minute,” said Sophie. She put her hands on her hips. “Were you the one attacking us up there?” She pointed up the slide.
The bat nodded. Then he shook his head. “No,” he squeaked. “I mean, yes. I mean . . . I wasn’t trying to attack you.”
Hattie and Sophie looked at each other in disbelief. “It kind of felt that way,” Hattie said gently.
The bat covered his face with a wing. He peeked sheepishly out at them. “I was trying to help you find your friend,” he said. “I saw him slip down the slide. Then I saw you come looking for him.”
Sophie was confused. “You were trying to make us fall down too? So we’d find him?”
The bat nodded.
“Maybe you could have told us instead?” Hattie pointed out.
The bat hid behind his wing again. “Sorry,” he squeaked. “I . . . don’t get a lot of visitors in here. I guess I don’t have the best manners.”
Sophie’s heart melted. “No, we’re sorry,” she said. “This is your cave. We didn’t mean to barge in. I was just so curious about what was in here.”
She introduced herself, and Hattie and Owen too.
“Pleased to meet you,” the bat replied. “My name’s Jet.”
Sophie looked up and around at the crystals. “Your home is so beautiful, Jet.”
“How do the crystals glow like that?” Owen asked.
Jet flapped his wings and flew in a circle around one crystal. He explained that they were made of a mineral called fluorite.
