Ant Alert!

Once, in a place called Droon, Will, Alice, and Julie lived in a small cabin near the woods. Daniel, Sebastian, and Meredith's cabin was right next to their cabin. They were neighbors.

One sunny afternoon, Will was playing Star Wars with Daniel and Sebastian in the woods. The girls were playing a hopscoth they drew from ash. (They just get some ash and put it on a stick and draw stuff.)

The kids went further into the forest. It was getting darker. Daniel and Julie made a torch. It was lucky that they all wet to camp before.

Will shuddered. "It was also getting spookier," thought Will. "Where are we?" Alice wondered out loud. "I don't know," Sebastian replied.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Sebastian cried just as they were about to give up hope. "I have a mini GPS on my keychain. My dad gave it to me when he traveled to California." Sebastian held up his keychain near the torch. He clicked his GPS on. Beep! Everyone gathered around. Sebastian clicked on a few more buttons. Finally, the GPS said in a robot voice, "Unidentified place." Beep!

"What are we gonna do?" Meredith whimpered. Will shivered. The small band heard a coyote howl in the distance.

Will stepped back and accidently stepped on a really tough branch. The ground below him started shaking and Will's friends turned to watch. "Is this an earthquake?! Daniel sqeaked. Suddenly, the ground behind Will started to rumble. The ground cracked just enough to reveal a hidden colony. Will peered in to get a better look while his friends trembled. Julie yelled, "William Johnson! Careful!" (That was Will's real name.)

Just then, a bunch of card-sized worker ants tackled Will from behind. "Ahh!" Will scheeched. Will's friends reached for him but the sized worker ants ate their torch so they couldn't see a thing. The kids scambled around while the worker carried Will away into the colony with Will screaming. The giant trap colony closed as soon as the ants crawled in.

Soon the kids fell asleep. They all woke up at 6:45 am. Daniel rubbed his eyes. "What happened?" he mumbled in a sleepy voice. Meredith looked around. "Hey, where's Will?" she asked. Julie said, "The giant ants carried him away, remember?" "I know," Sebastian and Alice said together.

Back in the colony, the card-sized worker ants were carrying Will to the queen ant. One worker ant shoved Will in front of him. Will gulped. The ant said in a rough voice, "After we take you to the queen, bow." Will was not surprised because Droon was a magical world. Will gulped harderthis time but he stammered, "OOOOkkkay." The ant grinned. "Call me Antony," he grunted. And Antony pushed Will toward the queen.

When they got to the queen, the queen ant glared at Antony and boomed, "What'cha doing here, pipsqeak?" The queen seemed like a giant compared to Antony. Antony replied, "I brouhg you this little boy," he said out loud. Antony nudged Will. "Bow!" Antony whispered. Will had no choice but bow, so he did.

Meanwhile outside, Alice, Sebastian, Julie, Daniel, and Meredith found the log that Will stepped on. Alice found Will's hankerchief nearby the giant colony. "That probably fell out of Will's pocket when those ants attaked him." Alice thought. She bent down to pick it up. Alice stuffed Will's hankerchief in her pocket.

"How are we gonna find Will?" Meredith complained. Just then, Julie had an idea. "I know!" she exclaimed. "We could step on that branch and go inside the colony!" Sebastian slapped Julie on the back. "Great idea!" he whooped.

So, Daniel steeped on the branch and a minute later, the colony reopened once again. They all scambled in. Then the crack closed.

They sneaked in past the guards. The group met a friendly ant calld Neal. Neal gave them a tour to where his brother, Eric, was working. Eric and Neal were both the size of a crayon. Eric was friendly too.

Finally, Meredith asked, "Where's Will?" Neal blinked. "Who's Will?" Eric said, "Wait, is that the guy Antony was walking with?" Eric nodded toward the queen's throne. The kids glanced over. Sebastian called out, "Thanks Eric!" and the kids ran over to where the queen was.

Daniel tapped Will on the shoulder. "What?" Will said annoyed expecting Daniel to be an ant. Will instantly spun around. When he saw his friends, his eyes grew wide. "How did you find me!" Will gasped. Alice grinned. "Neal and Eric helped us. "She explained.

Will shook Antony. Will introduced his friends to Antony. Antony stuck out five of his hands to shake. Antony peered at the queen who was busy with another worker ant. Antony murmured, "Let's get you out of here."

Antony led the kids to the exit. He stepped on a stick feeling it with his antennae. The ground above them cracked and out they went with Antony in the lead. Antony wiggled his antennae on Alice's shoe. Then Antony tracked them out of the woods and waved good-bye.

The small band ran back to their warm, cozy cabins.