There was silence as they all stared warily at the plant. It was completely motionless as it sat innocently in its pot. Now that they were closer they could see that its leaves were a strange, dark colour, and that little clusters of fruit – about the size of oranges – hung from its branches.
‘What kind of fruit is that?’ Stella asked.
‘That isn’t fruit,’ Ethan replied. His eyes met Stella’s. ‘They’re cabbages.’
‘Cabbages aren’t carnivorous,’ Beanie said at once.
‘Didn’t Captain Ajax say not to wake up the—’ Shay began, but that was as far as he got. The plant suddenly snapped out a long, hairy vine, and wrapped itself all the way up Shay’s arm – causing him to drop the baby volcano – and then started dragging him slowly forwards. At the same time, the leaves around the little cabbages spread out to reveal sharp, pointed, glistening teeth, all drooling with saliva, and making a horrible hissing sound.
The explorers all screamed at once, although Shay screamed loudest of all, which was only fair since he was the one being attacked by the carnivorous plant. His free hand clawed at the vine but it was clamped firmly around his skin and he couldn’t loosen it at all.
‘Do something!’ he cried. ‘Do something now!’
Koa was barking and snarling at the plant but, being a shadow wolf, she couldn’t do much to help. Ethan threw up his hand and some tiny miniature arrows – like the ones he’d used against the frosties – sailed towards the plant. But instead of piercing it, the arrows turned around in mid-air and bounced back towards the explorers, meaning they all had to duck in order to avoid being shot in the eyeball.
‘It’s got some kind of anti-magic protection spell on it,’ Ethan said.
Stella grabbed the vine, and the other two quickly joined her, but they couldn’t pull it free either, and they were definitely losing the tug-of-war with the cabbage plant as Shay’s boots kept sliding ever closer towards those glistening fangs buried within the cabbages.
‘Find a knife or something!’ Shay gasped. ‘You need to chop off the vine!’
Stella, Ethan and Beanie scattered across the room, tearing round the cabinets in search of something sharp. Finally, Beanie located an axe in the iron grip of a suit of armour – Ethan managed to wrestle it free and they raced back to Shay who was now only inches away from the teeth of the plant.
‘Don’t move!’ Ethan yelled as he raised the axe high over his head.
The axe came whistling down and sliced cleanly through the vine. Black sap splattered out like blood and the plant made a horrible squealing sound that made Stella want to clap her hands over her ears. Shay grabbed the vine still twisted around his arm and flung it to the floor, whilst Koa ran around his legs excitedly. More vines quickly came shooting out towards them but the explorers leapt back out of reach just in time, retreating to the safety of the far end of the room.
‘Well, what are we going to do now?’ Ethan asked, still clutching the axe. ‘It’s blocking our only way out.’
The plant rustled its leaves at them in a threatening way, and the black sap dripping from its chopped branch gave off an unpleasant, dank stink.
‘Why don’t you look in Captain Filibuster’s guide?’ Stella said. ‘Maybe there’s some advice in there.’
Shay pulled his battered copy of Captain Filibuster’s Guide to Expeditions and Exploration from his pocket and thumbed to the index. ‘There’s nothing in here about cabbage trees that want to eat you,’ he said. ‘I don’t think Captain Filibuster ever went to the Valley of Carnivorous Plants.’
‘Why would anyone go to the Valley of Carnivorous Plants?’ Beanie groaned, tugging at his pom-pom hat in agitation.
Stella snatched the book from Shay’s hand and found the chapter on confronting enemies.
‘“When confronting ferocious monsters in a hostile environment,”’ she read, ‘“it is important to keep calm and in control at all times. The monster is probably more afraid of you than you are of it—’
‘I don’t think that’s true in this case,’ Ethan said.
‘Oh, this is no use at all,’ Stella said, thrusting the book back at Shay. ‘We’re just going to have to work it out for ourselves. Why doesn’t one of us chop it up with the axe? Give it to me – I’ll have a crack at it.’
‘Where’s it gone now?’ Beanie said.
The explorers looked back at the door and realised, to their horror, that the plant had moved again. The pot was still there, and a trail of soil led around one of the display cabinets, but there was no sign of the plant at all.
‘Never mind, let’s just get out of here while we still have the chance!’ Shay said.
They started towards the door, but had only gone a few steps when vines shot towards them – and this time they came from above. Before they knew what was happening, Stella and Shay were both plucked from the ground and drawn up towards the hissing plant that had attached itself to the ceiling.
‘Oh, yuck – it’s all hairy!’ Stella exclaimed, clawing at the vine wrapped around her arm, whilst Koa howled beneath them.
‘Throw me the axe!’ Shay yelled down to Ethan, then hurriedly added, ‘But don’t throw it at my head! Do not throw it at my head!’
‘I’m not going to throw it at your head! I’m not an idiot!’ Ethan yelled back.
He threw the axe up handle first but it sailed past Shay and went to Stella instead, who caught it and then swiped at the vine that was holding Shay, slicing it clean off and splattering her with more of the black stuff. Shay fell to the ground and managed to land on his feet with a loud thump. Stella lost no time slicing at the vine wrapped round her arm, and then tumbled through the air, away from the squealing,
