The Sisters Grimm: Book Eight: The Inside Story by Michael Buckley, Peter Ferguson Read Free Book Online Page B

story would rule.”
    “What should we do?” Sabrina asked.
    “We need to get out of here!” Daphne shouted.
    “Right behind you,” Puck said.
    The girls started to follow the fleeing pack but were stopped in their tracks by Shere Khan. His eyes locked onto the children and his jaws filled with angry foam. Sabrina couldn’t tell whether the rising temperature she felt came from the fire or the rage wafting off the jungle cat.
    “You have doomed us all. The Editor and his revisers will be here any moment,” Shere Khan said. “Perhaps he will spare me if I kill those responsible for the damage.”
    Puck zipped down and snatched each of the girls by the back of their shirts. A moment later, they were rising skyward. “If Garfield the cat here won’t let us pass, I suppose we’ll have to take another route.”
    Shere Khan leaped at them, swatting with his massive paws, but the children were already out of his reach and sailing over the fiery jungle.
    “Thanks for the save,” Sabrina said.
    “No problem, honey bunny,” Puck said. “I can’t exactly let my bride-to-be become cat food.”
    “The second we’re on the ground, I’m going to put my fist into your mouth, you stinky, scummy sack of stupid,” Sabrina said.
    Just then, a stone sailed into the air and slammed into Puck’s head. “Owww!” he cried, flapping awkwardly in the air and nearly dropping the girls. Sabrina looked down and saw hundreds of monkeys swinging from treetops and shaking angry fists at them.
    “I think those are the monkey people we heard about,” Daphne said.
    Puck did his best to avoid the flying rocks, zigging and zagging around each projectile, but there were too many of them. Their only defense was to fly higher.
    “How does this story end?” Sabrina asked. “We can’t stay up here much longer.”
    “That depends,” Daphne said. “ The Jungle Book is a collection of short stories. Technically, this part is over, and so the door might be down there.”
    “You want me to fly down into that inferno?” Puck said.
    “Yes?” Sabrina squeaked. She hoped her uncertainty was covered by the wind.
    “You’re completely insane—a good quality in a wife. Hold on,” Puck said. His wings stopped flapping and the three dropped toward the ground. Sabrina was sure they were about to be splattered on the jungle floor when Puck’s wings expanded and caught an updraft of hot air. They glided to safety and touched down on the ground, surrounded by burning trees.
    “Do you see a door?” Daphne asked as she scanned their surroundings.
    “It could be anywhere,” Puck said.
    Sabrina began to panic. Puck was right. She hadn’t read The Jungle Book from cover to cover, but she remembered lots of settings—the Council Rock, the human village, the giant snake’s lair—the door to the next story could be anywhere. Maybe they should have stayed in the sky. Maybe they would have been able to see it from up there.
    She wondered how things could possibly get any worse when she got her answer. From out of the trees stampeded a herd of long-horned cattle. They tore through the jungle, their hooves grinding everything into pulp and their horns goring trees and bushes. Their panicked bellows rose above the noise of the roaring and crackling fire. The children leaped behind some ancient trees for protection, but unfortunately, another wave of cattle was approaching from that direction as well. Nowhere was safe.
    “Don’t worry, honey,” Puck said to Sabrina. He spun around on his heels and she watched him hulk up in a disturbing transformation. One of Puck’s many abilities as a fairy was to change into a variety of different animals, which didn’t make it any less weird each time he did it. His arms grew in length and his shoulders hunched with dense muscles. As his whole body sprouted thick, black fur, Sabrina could tell he was transforming into a gorilla. He snatched the girls in his huge arms, climbed a tree, and plopped them all