Spirits and Spells by Bruce Coville Read Free Book Online Page B

floor, and rolled away. Unbroken, it continued to cast a dim light over the scene.
    Derek was trying to pry the tentacle off his leg, but his fingers couldn’t get a grip on its slimy surface. At the same time, and unseen by him, another tentacle was slithering forward. The tip of it touched his arm, then began to wind about his wrist.
    The creature made a sound of triumph. It began pulling Derek toward its mouth, making an urgent gasping noise, a wheezing cough of hunger.
    Derek clawed at the rough cellar floor, trying so hard to drag himself away that he was shredding his fingertips. Suddenly his hand closed on the broomstick he had been using to knock down cobwebs. With a cry of triumph he raised it over his head, then smashed it against the tentacle that still gripped his leg.
    With a horrible shriek the creature released Derek’s leg. The injured tentacle slithered back across the floor, and the creature popped it into its mouth like a burned fingertip. The bulbous body began to shake and swell. Breath rasping in and out, the monster made a strange burbling noise.
    Derek wrenched off the tentacle that still had a grip on his arm, then scrambled backward, his eyes wide. After a moment he shot a wondering glance at Jenny and said, “I think it’s trying to talk! ”
    The creature looked straight at Derek. “Thakin obbovver cangoo in retruble!” it said emphatically.
    Jenny staggered back against the wall. “You’re right! It is trying to talk to us.”
    Removing the bruised tentacle from its mouth, the creature bellowed, “Of course I’m talking. What I said was, ‘That kind of behavior can get you in real trouble!’”
    Derek was so startled he dropped the broomstick, which clattered to the floor.
    The creature raised another, undamaged, tentacle and shook it at him admonishingly. “Look, I don’t want to hurt you. But it’s my job to guard this sword.” Its voice was deep and oddly solemn, with a slight bubbling quality, as if it were coming through a layer of oil.
    Derek pushed himself to his feet and went to stand protectively in front of Jenny. She put a hand on his shoulder. “What’s going on?” she asked, her voice quivering.
    â€œI don’t have the slightest idea what’s going on!” shouted the creature, as if Jenny had addressed it and not Derek. “I was sleeping peacefully in my cave when suddenly I woke up and saw him heading for my sword. So I grabbed him. That’s what I’m supposed to do, you know.”
    Jenny tightened her grip on Derek’s shoulder. “What …” She stopped, swallowed, and tried again. “What world are you from?”
    â€œQuarmix. Why?”
    Derek blinked in surprise. Quarmix was the world of the game—the supposedly imaginary world where they were playing this all out!
    Jenny tightened her grip on Derek’s shoulder. “I’m scared,” she whispered.
    Derek put his hand over hers. “Me, too. But we have to stay calm. I don’t know—”
    The creature slapped a tentacle down beside them with a suddenness that made them both jump. “Where am I?”
    Derek was astounded to hear a note of fear in its voice.
    â€œYou’re on Earth,” stammered Jenny. Then she added in a whisper, “I hope.”
    The creature made a bubbling noise deep in its throat. “The coven! Is the coven trying to come back?”
    â€œWhat coven?” asked Derek. “What are you talking about?
    â€œNothing!” said the creature desperately. “Nothing!”
    Derek glanced back at Jenny. She was white-faced and shaking with fear. He stepped back to comfort her, but before he could put his arm around her, the creature lashed out with another tentacle. Moving like a whip, it struck the floor just to their right with a thwack , splattering slime in all directions. Now a thick tentacle lay undulating on either side of