Anaconda Adventure (6 page)

Charlie snorted as she climbed up onto the parapet of the bridge. “Oh, give it a rest, Isobella. Don't be such a wuss.”

Isobella gasped again. “Who are you calling a wuss?” she hissed.

“Um … that would be you!” Charlie said, walking along the parapet, holding her arms out wide for balance.

“I suppose you think you're so brave!” sneered Isobella. “Just because you can walk along the wall of a bridge!”

“Nope. Just very good at it,” Charlie said. “I do gymnastics, remember? I have a good sense of balance.” She stood on one leg to prove it.

“Oh you really think you're it!” Isobella stared with her hands on her hips for a moment, and then she scrambled up on the parapet too.

“Whoa!” Charlie said. “Don't do that! It's dangerous.”

“But you're doing it!” Isobella said.

“Yes! Because I'm
good
at this! You're not!” Charlie said, alarmed. “You can't even balance along the curb! Get off, Isobella! Look—I'm getting down now. It's too dangerous for me.” And she hurriedly got back down onto the path. She glanced around, hoping for a chance that one of the teachers would turn and make Isobella get down—but neither did. They were studying tree bark.

“Izzy! Don't!” whimpered Lucy.

“You'll fall!” warned Jemima.

But Isobella was smirking and throwing her arms out wide and walking, rather shakily, along the top
of the narrow stone wall. Ten feet below her, the river churned and flowed at high speed.

“Isobella! Please!” Charlie gave up trying to be cool as the girl wobbled along to the middle of the parapet.

“You think I can't make it across, don't you?” Isobella said, glancing defiantly at Charlie.

“No! I know you can. I'm sorry—I was just showing off,” gabbled Charlie. “You're better than I am … just … get down!”

“I'll get down when I'm good and ready!” snapped Isobella, waving her arms about.

And then she fell off.

Josh and Danny were just running up to Charlie to quietly get back the S.W.I.T.C.H. spray when something astonishing happened. One minute Charlie was walking along the top of the parapet (which did not surprise Josh and Danny one bit) and the next minute another girl had climbed up, wobbled along it, and then fallen off.

The girls watching her, Charlie included, were so shocked they didn't even scream. They just gaped and then ran to the wall and peered over.

Josh and Danny arrived next to them in time to see a straw hat bob up on the surface and spin away downstream. Charlie turned to them, her eyes wide. “She fell!” she whispered. “She FELL!” The other girls had begun to react now. They ran to the teachers, screaming.

“I'm going after her!” Charlie said, hauling herself up on the parapet. “It's my fault!”

“Charlie—no!” hissed Danny. “It's too dangerous!” And as he said this he saw the blond-haired girl whizzing away downstream, her upturned face pink and shocked. “You'll never catch up with her and save her! None of us could. We'd need to be superhuman!”

Josh caught his breath and then plunged his hand into Charlie's blazer pocket. He brought out the S.W.I.T.C.H. bottle. It was different from the one Petty had used on them earlier—it had the letters G A on it. Josh knew exactly what those letters stood for.

He grabbed Charlie's and Danny's hands and dragged them around the far end of the bridge and down the steep woody slope to the river. Hidden by trees and bushes, Josh knew what they had to do. “Superhuman, no,” he said. “But super-reptile, yes!” And he sprayed Danny and Charlie and himself.

Seconds later, three enormous green anacondas slid into the river and began to swim downstream.

Josh couldn't believe how fast he was moving. He seemed to have become part of the river—his long, muscular body rippling through the fast-flowing water. His eyes and nostrils were positioned on his head at just the right place to stay clear of the bubbling, churning surface. Water weed and bits of twig and leaf rafted along beside him. A low branch touched the surface, speeding towards his head, and he instinctively ducked under. At once his world went pale green, and a strange booming gurgle resounded through his head. Then—three seconds later—he was back on the surface.

“Where is she?” he heard Charlie shout.

“I can see her!” Josh called back, although he couldn't see Isobella that well. He could, however,
smell her—and sense her body heat. She was struggling along in the water, repeatedly going under and popping up again, about thirty feet ahead of them.

“There she is!” Danny called out, spotting a flash of white lacy sock. Although, Josh realized, Danny wasn't really calling out. He was hissing a bit, yes, but like many of the creatures he and Danny had been S.W.I.T.C.H.ed into, there was other stuff going on which made up their communication: scent and body language and a bit of telepathy.

Charlie struck ahead and Josh marveled at what he saw in the water. She was bigger than he and Danny—in the wild, many female snakes were bigger than males. Charlie was at least twelve feet long! Her scales were green with black pebbly markings along the top. Josh was very glad Petty's second S.W.I.T.C.H. spray had been for a green anaconda. There was nothing in the reptile world which could swim faster down a river than a green anaconda.

They were all closing in on Isobella now—but it wasn't looking good. Just ahead of them was
another waterfall. From where they were swimming, Danny couldn't see the other side of the drop, but there was mist and spray rising up from it. He could hear, too, the sound of water dashing hard onto rocks.

“She'll go over the waterfall!” cried out Charlie. “Come on!” She powered through the river, carving a deep wake in the water behind her. Josh and Danny shot after her. Working his body left and right in undulating pulses, Danny felt his reptilian heart pounding. At least he thought that was his reptilian heart. He had no idea where a snake kept its heart …

Up ahead, Isobella was waving one feeble hand out of the water. Her face was going under again. Charlie could see her eyes were shut.
Probably just as well
, she thought.
It won't help if she sees three huge snakes coming after her
! But were they too late? With one immense effort, she lunged forward. Now Isobella was seconds away from the drop. How could Charlie save her? How was she going to grab her? Even as she thought this, Charlie opened up her powerful jaws, revealing not just fangs but two rows of needle-sharp white teeth, which pointed backward into her cavernous red mouth.

Upstream, Josh and Danny saw Charlie's jaws open in an amazingly wide gape. Josh remembered that anacondas could literally unhinge their jaws to swallow their prey whole. It was the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. A second later, Charlie had grabbed Isobella's foot in her jaws. The girl was barely conscious now as the giant snake snagged her shoe.

But the danger wasn't over. Charlie had held Isobella back from the waterfall, but she was being dragged toward it herself. Her incredibly strong,
scaly body was rippling hard against the current, desperately trying to pull Isobella back upriver, but she was losing the battle. Josh and Danny had to do something—NOW!

Danny flung himself across the powerful current to the nearest bank and whipped his tail across a low branch, wrapping it around and pulling tight. And even as he did this, Josh was wrapping his tail around Danny's upper body, anchoring himself firmly with a tight coil of snake muscle.