Harry the Poisonous Centipede by Lynne Reid Banks Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t last as long.
    A moment, that’s all. Then they landed back on the bed.
    Luckily it was soft. They weren’t hurt, just frightened out of their wits.
    They ran around in circles for a minute or two. And then suddenly it was bright-time.
    Light flooded them. They crouched down. Then a shadow fell on them.
    They both knew what they had to do when a shadow fell on them.
    Run. Run! Run!

29. The Chase
    They ran.
    They ran across the warm-web thing. But it wasn’t good for running on! Their feet kept falling into the open bits of the blanket and snagging in the tiny hairs of the wool.
    They kept expecting something to whack down on them. But the Hoo-Min was looking for something to hit them with. That gave them a few moments, long enough to reach the edge of the bed.
    They headed straight down. Luckily they found the bed-leg and slid down it head-first.
    Then they were on the floor. They ran across it like mad, heading for the door. They could see it now.
    The Hoo-Min had found something to hit them with. It was a rolled-up newspaper, but they didn’t know that. All they knew was that something came down – CRASH! – just behind them as they ran.
    They shot forward, faster than ever.
    The Hoo-Min could see them quite plainly. He saw the way they were running. There was nothing wrong with his eyes, or his aim. Yet he kept missing them.
    The reason was, he just couldn’t believe how fast they were running. He aimed at where he thought they would be, but by the time the newspaper landed, they were always a little bit further on.

    They reached the door of the showerroom. The newspaper came down WHACK! against the crack under the door. It just caught Harry’s back feelers as he raced under it. He felt it, and it hurt, but it didn’t stop him.
    Before the Hoo-Min could get the door open and follow them, they had shot across the tiles to the drainage hole and dropped down it.
    What would you have done if you’d been the Hoo-Min? If you’d burst into the shower-room and seen those two centis disappearing down the drainage hole?
    You’d have turned on the shower – right?
    Right. And that’s just what the Hoo-Min did.

30. Down the Up-Pipe
    Harry and George had had some good luck and they’d had some bad luck on their adventures. Now they had the best bit of luck they’d had so far.
    They just didn’t know it.
    What happened when the Hoo-Min turned the tap on full was that – nothing happened. Not a thing. Where this Hoo-Min lived, things didn’t always work properly. And sometimes there was no water for a while.
    By a wonderful piece of good luck(for the centis) no water came out of the shower to wash them away and maybe drown them. Not a single drop.
    So they shot down the Up-Pipe and fell on the earth-pile together in a tangle, and no jet of water shot down after them. A lot of noise did follow them. It was the Hoo-Min saying bad words in a very loud voice, but the centis didn’t know that.
    They untangled themselves and stood up. Most of the white-choke was gone and they felt terrific. Triumphant! They’d done it! They’d actually climbed on a Hoo-Min and survived! They felt like a pair of the bravest centis who ever lived!
    â€œWait till we tell Mama!” crackled Harry. “Wait till—”
    And then they saw her.
    She was lying at the bottom of the earth-pile. They saw her in the light coming down the Up-Pipe.

    She was lying in a crumpled heap. She looked like – she looked like – a very dead centipede.

31. The Long Way Home
    â€œMama!”
    They ran their front feelers all over her body, and Harry tried to make her wake up by pushing her head with his.
    â€œIs she dead?” asked George in a whispering crackle.
    â€œNo! No! She can’t be! Mama! Wake up, wake up!”
    But Belinda didn’t move.
    â€œWe’ve got to get her home!”
    â€œHow can we? She’s so