Читать книгу The Hidden Kingdom - Tracey Hecht - Страница 31

THE NOCTURNALS

The armadillo yelped and frantically waved his arms.

But Bismark dismissed him with a wave of his flap. “Don’t be such a worrywart!” he cried. “This quigglemoo is no match for—” Suddenly, Bismark felt something under his paws. He looked down.

“AHHH!” The glider’s already-bulbous eyes bulged even more. The earth was moving! The sand that was flat and still just moments ago was now churning around Bismark’s feet…and sucking him under!

As the ground spiraled and swirled, the armadillo clutched his tree even tighter. “Get outer there!” he yelled. “Before yer a goner!”

Bismark urgently pumped his flaps, trying to lift himself out of the strange substance. But the more he moved, the more it pulled him in. “Sacre bleu!” he cried. “I can’t move!”

Dawn’s eyes widened. “It’s quicksand!” she cried. “Bismark—stay still! It will get worse if you try to fight it!”

But the panicked sugar glider kept flapping and flailing. And sure enough, the more he did, the more the strange sand spun and sucked at his feet.

“Oh no!” Cora gulped. “He’s sinking!”

“Hurry!” said Dawn, beckoning Tobin. “We ________

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