Batty pulled his red aviator goggles down over his eyes with a snap. "Tonight, I shall not sneeze to fly," he declared to the moon, flapping his wings vigorously. Professor Hoot sighed, opening one eye, "Do try to avoid the solid objects this time, my boy."
He launched himself into the air and—amazingly—he was soaring! The wind whistled past his ears, but Batty soon realized that steering was much harder than flapping. He drifted sideways, straight toward the edge of the safe forest.
A tall, red octagon appeared out of the darkness at the end of the road. Batty squinted, trying to read the white letters, but—BONK! He bounced right off the metal sign, seeing little yellow stars circle his head.
Spinning dizzily, he zoomed backward into a dark, cozy corner between two oak branches. Suddenly, he felt very sticky. He had flown straight into the biggest, silkiest net he had ever seen!
A tiny green spider wearing a blue sleeping cap crawled down a thread. "Excuse me," said the spider politely, "you are much too heavy to be a fly." Batty apologized profusely as he wiggled free, accidentally taking most of the web with him.
The flight home was wobbly and slow. Batty was covered in sticky white silk and had a small purple bruise around his left eye from the stop sign. Yet, as he flapped, a wide, toothy grin spread across his face.
He crash-landed onto the branch, rolling like a sticky snowball until he hit Professor Hoot’s foot. "I fought a red giant and a sticky monster," Batty cheered, looking like a mess. "And I can't wait to go back out tomorrow!"
