*

I walked back to the ocean alone. While I sat in the sand, a bright red peculiar with three legs and four claws scuttled over to me. She was moving sideways, and her eyes were on the sides of her head. She was a little strange, but she was a peculiar, so I didn’t think she’d hurt me.

“Hi,” I said when she stopped in front of me. My curiosity got the better of me, and I tapped her back with one of my claws. The red stuff was hard as petrified wood—she was wearing armor like the beetles I learned about in the second. “I’m Niel.”

“I’m Ruth. What kind are you?”

“A tamandua. A Jungle creature. What are you?”

Ruth clicked her two front claws together. “I’m a crab. I can’t go in...

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