Coffin Island by Will Berkeley Read Free Book Online

your expectations,”
Madison laughed. “It’s extremely advanced witchcraft, Headmaster
Boo.”
    “Can you please not call me that,” I
said. “It’s totally upsetting that I’ve been put in-charge of this
magical disaster.”
    “Perhaps you would prefer that I call
you, Headmaster Booster,” Madison said.
    “It seems more suitable to the prestige
of the position,” I said. “Can you believe that I might be stuck
with this job forever?”
    “Maybe someday you will get promoted to
Janitor if a more powerful witch comes along,” Madison laughed.
“Professor Coffin called it a prestigious position.”
    “I can only imagine the honor,” I
said.
    “ I don’t blame Professor
Coffin for drinking,” Madison said.
    “He figured out how to get rum on
Coffin Island,” I said.
    “It appears for the Janitor out of
necessity,” Madison laughed.
    “His flask is bottomless,” I
said.
    “It would have to be,” Madison said.
“Take my hand.”
    “I don’t want to fly again,” I said. “I
don’t think that’s for me. Something tells me that I’m not supposed
to fly.”
    Madison grabbed my hand.
    “There is no way that I am taking the
staircase,” Madison said. “Mount Coffin is the Mount Everest of
witchcraft.”
    “Where is the hourglass?” I
asked.
    “You’re going to have to be careful
with that power now that you are Headmaster,” Madison laughed.
“However I am thrilled that you can take passengers. What a
rush.”
    We were standing on the top of the
world. The peak of Mount Coffin was where the prayer flags were
kept. If you’re going to plant a prayer flag it might as well be
seen from the heavens. We could see the curvature of the Earth. Or
whatever contrivance of a planet we were on. Perhaps we were on the
Planet of Witchcraft. Some poorly assembled test planet to try out
ideas. It was far, far away and far out. It was far too many
things. That’s far sure. I aimed to smash it.
    “I can teleport myself around the
island?” I asked.
    “What an awesome power,” Madison
laughed.
    “How could anybody be in-charge of
this?” I gasped.
    “The Coffin Island Mountain Range,”
Madison snorted. “This is your reign, Headmaster Boo.”
    The Coffin Island Mountain Range was a
total disaster. It was in a continuous state of earthquake.
Mountains were imploding. Mountains were exploding. Tidal waves
were crashing over the continental rubble. Volcanoes were dumping
lava on top of everything. The island kept reconstructing itself
only to be destroyed again. The summit of Mount Coffin was the only
safe spot. You might as well be at the top if you’re the man at the
top. How else can you locate your position on the map? This wasn’t
good. Perhaps I was Headmaster after all. I was hoping it was some
sort of magical ruse.
    “Civilization can’t get a very good
foothold in The Coffin Island Mountain Range,” Madison
shrugged.
    “We’re living in that?” I
asked.
    “Technically we’re under it except up
here,” Madison said. “Our castle is subterranean but it’s solar
powered somehow.”
    “ Can we leave the castle?” I
asked.
    “Perhaps with your power,” Madison
said. “But I have never been able to get past the black cats.
They’re guarding the perimeter.”
    “What about the emerald ocean,” I
asked.
    “It’s under everything,” Madison said.
“It’s a subterranean ocean.”
    “ It sounds like a sewer when
you put it that way,” I said. “It’s actually quite
beautiful.”
    “ Our ocean is a beautiful
sewer,” Madison shrugged.
    “I might as well go look at the
hourglass,” I said. “Trying to escape through that rubble looks
like a death sentence. Then there is the open ocean after
that.”
    “That would be the general gist of it,”
Madison said. “But appearances are deceiving on Coffin Island. Try
to jump off Mount Coffin.”
    “Are you nuts?” I asked.
    Madison stepped over the
edge.
    “See,” she said.
    Madison was standing in thin
air.
    “Eventually