Read Online Crown of the Cowibbean by Mike Litwin - Free Book Online

chunk of the temple being smashed away.
    â€œHey! Are they shooting at us?” Dakota said.
    â€œThey’re pirates, you kau’pai!” Chuck snapped.

11
    CROWN OF THE COWIBBEAN
    The Kingfish’s pirates started their attack immediately. The spider crab, who had been sleeping peacefully, awoke angrier than ever at the sound of the Tyrant’s cannon. He thrashed and gnashed, defending the cave. Dozens of prawn scuttled all over the spider crab, chomping at him with their own claws. Ribeye drew his sword as a cluster of hard-shelled lobsters climbed aboard the Swashclucker .
    â€œKeep working on that clamshell!” Marco ordered. “We’ll take care of everything below!” He fluttered down to the battle.
    Down below, the spider crab threw shellfish left and right. Ribeye faced off with the lobsters on the Swashclucker’s deck. Marco flapped around the crayfish who were working the Tyrant’s cannons, making it impossible for them to see what they were doing.
    The Kingfish, however, cared nothing about Marco, or Ribeye, or even the spider crab. While everyone was fighting, he climbed the tallest mast of the Tyrant , using it to reach the bottom of the temple. He grasped the sides of the temple with his fins, shimmying his way up. His eyes looked wide and crazy, and his whiskers curled and wiggled like snakes coming from his chin. Chuck’s and Dakota’s eyes got bigger and bigger with fear as the vile catfish flopped his way higher and higher. For a fat, sloppy fish, he was very good at climbing a wall.
    Rushing back to the clamshell, they pulled and tugged and jiggled the key, but it still wouldn’t turn.
    Dakota pounded his fist on the clamshell. “What do we do? There’s no hornpipe song for this!”
    They heard a crashing sound below as the spider crab splintered one of the Tyrant’s masts. He started smashing both ships with his enormous legs.
    â€œThe poem says the crown will ‘ sing to a key of her kind.’” Chuck thought frantically. “Maybe…maybe…we’re supposed to…sing?”
    Dakota did a double take. “Sing? Now? Sing what?”
    â€œThe poem! What about the poem?” Chuck mooed. “Sing that!”
    Dakota cleared his throat. Chuck took a deep breath. Trying to remember the words as best as they could, they sang together:
    â€œ Circle of darkness, horn of the heavens ,
    A watery grave where the clock strikes eleven. ”
    The key began to glow brighter in the lock. For a few moments, it felt like time slowed down. The crown, the crab, the cannons, the Kingfish—everything seemed to happen at once in slow-motion.
    â€œ A spying eye sees when our own eyes do fail ,
    Into the nothingness, bravely we sail. ”
    â€œGet ready, sweet little hamburgers! I’m coming for you!” the Kingfish yelled from below. The spider crab spotted the Kingfish and began climbing the temple wall after him.
    â€œ The beast shall sleep at the Sea-Cows’ song ,
    And we shall be guided by stars of our own. ”
    Ribeye knocked three lobsters into the water, as a dozen more jumped onto the ship.
    â€œWhatever you’re doing, do it quickly!” Marco squawked from below. “We cannot hold them much longer!”
    â€œ Reach for the skies and a sea rover finds
    The crown she doth sing to a key of her kind. ”
    Another cannonball rocketed into the side of the temple as the pirates fired at the spider crab. The spider crab roared. The Kingfish cackled as he neared the top of the temple.
    â€œ And guard thy heart, hearties, where wishes do dwell ,
    For those who bring ruin shall earn it as well. ”
    As their song finished, the key turned itself in the lock…and the shell opened.
    â€œPeek-a-booooooo!!!” the Kingfish sang as his head popped up into view. But just as he appeared, a blinding light shined from the clamshell.

    Chuck reached into the clamshell and removed the