Straightaway, a boy called Louis put his hand up. “The arachnid family?” he said.
“Very good,” said Lucy, nodding. “Lots of people think spiders are insects, but actually they’re not – they’re arachnids. Their bodies are made out of two sections, rather than three, and they have eight legs, not six.”
“Look at that amazing web!” said Miss Hawkins.
“Spiders’ webs are made from very strong silk,” explained Lucy. “In fact, a strand of spider silk is five times stronger than a piece of steel the same size! And a spider produces lots of it. Some spiders spin themselves a brand-new web every day! Can you imagine building yourself a new house every day?”
Then she moved on to the next glass enclosure, and pointed out a big black spider with bright orange-red patches that was emerging out of a tunnel in the soil packed into the bottom of the enclosure.
“Now, here’s a spider that doesn’t live in a web – in fact, it lives in a burrow!” Lucy said.
“Wow!” breathed Jack. “What type of spider is it?”
“Rosie here is a red-knee tarantula!” explained Lucy. “She might look a bit scary, but most tarantulas will never hurt a human. In fact, it’s very rare to be bitten by a spider. Most spider bites happen when a person is frightening a spider, but if you’re kind to them and leave them alone, they won’t cause you any harm.”
Zoe’s friends rushed from spider to spider, taking pictures. Lucy even let Jack hold Rosie! Luckily, Mr Pinch hung back at the entrance, still glaring at the class as if he expected them to cause trouble at any moment. Zoe smiled to herself – she knew he was secretly a little bit nervous of spiders, and wouldn’t want to get near any of the enclosures!
Eventually Miss Hawkins clapped her hands and said, “I think it’s time we went to see the bats, everyone. Make sure you’ve got your bags and coats before we move on.”
As the class started to file out of the spider house, Nicola tapped Zoe’s arm. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing at a big poster pinned up on the wall next to the door. “The Rescue Zoo Spooktacular? Is that a special Halloween event?”
Zoe nodded. “Usually the zoo closes at six o’clock, but we’re going to stay open late on Halloween, so that visitors can come and look around when it’s dark. We’re going to decorate the enclosures with carved pumpkins, and all the zookeepers are going to dress up as something spooky. There’s a fancy dress competition for all the visitors too, with prizes. And we’re going to bake Halloween cupcakes for everyone!”
“That sounds like so much fun!” said Nicola.
“Yes, it does!” added Miss Hawkins, who had overheard them. She looked thoughtful. “Actually, I noticed the poster as we were coming in, and now that I think about it, I have an idea…” She turned to Lucy and explained, “I’ve been teaching the class a special song, all about the so-called ‘spooky’ creatures they’ve been studying. We were going to perform it in assembly next week. Maybe it would be fun if they came and performed it at the Halloween event, too?”
“That would be brilliant!” said Nicola immediately, her eyes wide. Zoe smiled. Her friend Nicola was really good at singing and even sang in the school choir.
Lucy was nodding enthusiastically. “That’s a wonderful idea,” she said. “We’ll be setting up a little stage for the presentation of the fancy dress prize – maybe we could have a performance beforehand! The class could all wear their Halloween costumes and take part in the competition too. What do you think, Zoe?”
Zoe nodded and did her best to seem excited, but her tummy was suddenly feeling funny. Zoe didn’t think she had a very good singing voice, and she felt nervous about singing in front of other people, even though she would be with her friend Nicola. Singing together in assembly wasn’t too bad, because she knew all the other children at her school, so that wasn’t as scary. But performing in front of lots of strangers would be very different. And the tickets for the Spooktacular night were almost sold out already. There was going to be a huge crowd – more than two hundred people! And now they were all going to watch her sing.
As Nicola skipped along, chatting excitedly about how much fun the performance was going to be, Zoe felt more and more worried. What was she going to do?
Chapter Two
Zoe’s Costume Puzzle