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seen. Indeed, if she wasn’t seeing it with her own eyes, she would have said they were made up—like flowers in a cartoon. There were massesof orange and purple flowers that looked like huge balls of fairy floss stuck on the end of bright green sticks, all lined up in a row. There were pink and blue flowers with petals that looked like little drooping umbrellas. There were bright red flowers that shot through the light green vines like beautiful but dangerous sword-like thorns.
    Now she could also see all the birds she had watched from the river close up. In fact, EJ had a bird’s eye view of the birds. Parrots and toucans dashed between the trees, squawking and screeching. There were crazy-looking woodpeckers hammering into the tree trunks while tiny birds hopped from leaf to leaf.

    The first alarm. No time to admire the view I have to keep moving. Where to now? EJ looked around and noticed a second arrow, this time pointing left towards another thick green vine. She took her binoculars out of her backpack and lookedcarefully around her, scanning the trees. Then she saw it, another tree a short distance away, with another arrow and then another vine. And beyond that, there was yet another tree with an arrow and yet another vine. I get it, thought EJ. Jump arrows! EJ realised she had to jump from one tree to the next by swinging from the vines. This is going to be interesting, she thought. Why would anyone want to swing from vine to vine? She decided SHADOW must have monkeys for agents!
    There was nothing for it. EJ had to jump. The arrows would take her closer to Project Green Eye and the only way to travel through the dense rainforest was to jump from tree to tree.
    EJ felt her muscles tighten and her mouth dry out, just like when she was on the beam at gym. But hold on, that was Emma Jacks, wimpy gymnast—not EJ12, secret agent, code-cracker extraordinaire and current leader of the SHINE Shining Stars competition. And besides, it was jumping up that was the problem and this was jumping across. Okay, it was jumping from tree to tree. And it wasn’t quite the same as in the gym. But it was still jumpingacross. Even Emma Jacks could do that!

    It was just like the old movies she and her mum loved to watch together—the ones where the hero would swing her way across the jungle to save the boy who was being held prisoner by a secret jungle tribe. EJ knew exactly what she needed to do. Reach out for the vine, pull it back, then swing over and jump to the next tree. Timing would be important, and so was time, which was beginning to run out. EJ needed to jump straight in.
    She pulled back the first vine, leapt out of the tree and swung.

    Wow! It was as if she were flying through the rainforest! EJ had never had so much fun! In fact,she was having so much fun that she missed her jump and swung all the way back to the first tree.
    Okay, second time lucky and concentrate, she thought. She pulled back and swung again.

    This time, just as she reached the highest point in the arc of the swing, she lined up the next tree. Here it comes, here it comes. Ready, set, jump!
    EJ landed right on a branch, exactly where she needed to be, next to the second jump arrow. She had made it—and she couldn’t wait to do it again! She looked for the next vine and grabbed it.

    She was off again. This time it was a longer vine and therefore a longer, slower swing. But EJ timed her jump perfectly and landed in the next tree, right beside another green jump arrow. She jumped and swung, swung and jumped all the way through the rainforest. If only Lauren could see me now! If only Nema could see me now! This would stop her mean comments. Part of her was hoping she could go on swinging and jumping forever, but eventually she landed on a branch next to an arrow that pointed straight down.
    Down? This time there was no vine to swing on and no branches below her to help her climb down to the forest floor. And then suddenly, EJ