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“Let me go,” Lilly demanded as Frank tried to carry her deeper into the forest. They have been so scared, they didn’t realize that the chick had once again disappeared.

“I’m only trying to help.” Frank put her down and stepped back.

Lilly was about to run, but for some reason, didn’t feel afraid of Frank. “Help? Like you helped that town with your hypnotizing slime? That’s no help at all.” Then she thought a minute. “Why did you save me from being eaten by that baby chicken? We’re enemies, aren’t we?”

“Are we?”

“Yes, we are. You want to hurt people and I want to save them.”

Frank felt his anger growing inside him. “People don’t want to help spiders. They’re always smashing us or throwing us in toilets. We have a right to defend ourselves.”

“Then hide.”

“Did you miss the part where people are always smashing us or throwing us in toilets? They’re about a million times bigger than we are. We can’t always hide and you know it. And why should we? Spiders help people by gobbling down bugs and stuff that are worse than we are. After all our help, they still hate us.”

“Maybe we can convince them not to hurt us by helping them, not controlling them.”

“We’d never be sure they’d all go along with it. Besides, have you ever tried talking to a human?”

While Frank and Lilly were arguing, Lydia from Lilly’s team was hiding in some bushes. She was afraid of Frank and afraid of what he might do to Lilly. She heard a rustling of leaves behind her and turned to see Gloria, her friend on the team.

“We’ve got to get help for Lilly,” Lydia said.

“Don’t worry. The others are just a minute or two away. You keep watch. I’ll go get them.” Gloria dashed off on her eight speedy legs.

A minute later, there was more noise behind Lydia. She turned again expecting to see Gloria, Taylor, and Daniel, but instead she came face-to-face with Leah, Seth and the rest of Frank’s gang.

“Hold her, Seth,” Leah commanded. “We’ll rescue Frank from that pest Lilly.”

Hearing the commotion, Frank and Lilly looked just in time to see Leah, Dominick, and Hazel bursting into the clearing. But as Leah was about to grab Lilly, Frank got in the way.

“That’s enough, Leah,” he yelled. “Let’s just get out of here.” In the distance, they could all hear Gloria telling the members of Lilly’s team to attack. With Seth still holding Lydia, now with the help of Leah and Hazel, they all escaped.

“We’ve got to go after them,” Gloria said.

“No wait,” Daniel replied. “Look at Lilly.”

They saw that Lilly had bruises and looked dazed.

Lilly tried to tell them that she had fallen in the confusion and hit a rock, but she knew they must have thought Frank hurt her. “Wait,” she croaked. She’d meant for them to wait and not hurt Frank but they thought she meant to not chase them. She didn’t know Lydia had been captured. By the time her head cleared, Frank and his gang were gone, along with Lydia.

This is the fourth installment of eight chapters in a story I co-wrote with my seven-year-old granddaughter starting last Halloween. If you have missed the first three chapters, you can start with Chapter 1 and then click through the links at end of the subsequent chapters to get back to here.

I publish one chapter a week on Fridays just so you know. All of the drawings are mine. If you enjoy them, and they’re perfectly “kid-friendly,” pass them along to your own children or grandchildren (or nieces, nephews, and so on).

Let me know what you think. I’ll pass any complements along to my granddaughter.

Next: Chapter 5!