Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing (6 page)

Ben looked at Paradise. They both shrugged. “Dunno,” he admitted.

“I see. How do you activate it?”

“There’s a button on the back,” said Ben. “Do you think it’ll get us home?”

He made a move to press the button but Mr Nuttendudge caught him by the wrist.

“Not here!” the little goblin yelped. “At the circle.”

“What circle?” asked Ben.

“The circle of the realms,” said Mr Nuttendudge. “Through the forest, not far from here. One hour. Perhaps two.”

He raised a spindly arm and pointed through the gap in the wall with his oversized hand. “The circle is the key. From there we can target it. Point you the right way. Open a portal there and home you will go.”

“And you’re sure about that?” asked Paradise.

“Certain, yes. Almost definitely. Probably.” He shrugged. “It’s fifty-fifty.”

Paradise nodded. “We’ve got to try.”

Down on the floor, Burnie raised her head, peered out through the hole in the wall and let out a low growl.

Ben and Paradise followed her gaze. They saw the forest with its twisted trees and tangled branches. They saw the brooding grey sky overhead. And within the forest’s deep shadows they saw something else. Something round and white that seemed to be floating through the darkness towards them.

Ben’s stomach lurched, half with excitement and half with fear.

It was back.

The Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing was back.

Chapter Ten

“Run, go, flee,” urged Mr Nuttendudge, shooing the children towards a small door at the back of the house.

Ben and Paradise had Wesley’s arms draped over their shoulders and were half carrying, half dragging him towards the door. He was stirring and groaning, but nowhere near awake
enough to walk on his own.

Mr Nuttendudge hobbled ahead, unfastened half a dozen locks and slide bolts then pulled the door open, revealing an untidy garden beyond. “Hurry, hurry.”

Paradise looked back and saw the Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing float free of the forest. Burnie was up on all four feet, her tail pointed straight out behind her, her head lowered like she was ready to charge.

“Come on, Burnie,” she called, clapping a hand against her thigh. “Here. Come here.”

With a snarling yelp, the little dragon launched herself through the gap in the wall and bounded towards the approaching ghoulthing.

“Burnie, no!” Paradise cried. She moved to
go after the little dragon but Ben stopped her.

“I’ll go. You get Wesley out of here.” He unhooked Wesley’s arm from around his shoulder. Paradise immediately fell over beneath the sleeping wizard’s weight. “Sorry,” said Ben, helping them both up again. “Should have thought that through.”

“I will get the dragon,” said Mr Nuttendudge. “Find the well. Follow the tunnel within. The dragon and I will join you shortly.”

Paradise glanced back again. Burnie was snapping and snarling at the Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing but keeping a safe distance. The ghoul-thing floated on, ignoring her completely.

“Promise you’ll get her,” Paradise said.

“Promise. I promise. Get her I will,” said Mr Nuttendudge. “Now, go. The well. Hurry, hurry.”

Ben and Paradise stumbled out of the house and along the garden path. The garden itself was small and poorly kept, with tall grass badly in need of cutting. Flowers had been planted around the border, but every one of them was shrivelled and brown.

Mr Nuttendudge clearly didn’t have much luck with gardening either.

On all sides stood the forest. It was the sort of forest it would be easy to get lost in, Ben thought, even with Paradise’s finding ability.

Wesley’s eyelids fluttered open. “Wh-what’s happening?” he stammered.

“We’re making a dramatic escape,” said Paradise. Wesley groaned.

“Not another one. What are we escaping this time?”

“Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing. Again,” said Ben. He chewed his lip, then asked, “Are you OK, Wes?”

Wesley deliberately looked away and unhooked his arm from Ben’s shoulder. “We’re not running for the forest, are we?” he asked. “It looks terrifying.”

“No, we’re trying to find the well,” said Paradise, before immediately tripping over and landing in a heap on the grass.

“Wow, you really
can
find anything,” smirked Ben, pulling aside the tall grass to reveal a small stone well hidden within. They all peered down into the murky blackness.

The well was wide enough to climb down, but only if they went one at a time. Ben grabbed a stone from the ground, held it above
the well then let it fall.

Several seconds passed before they heard the faint
plink
of the stone hitting the water.

“It’s a long way down,” Paradise said.

Wesley stared at her in horror. “We’re not climbing down there, are we?”

“There’s a tunnel,” Paradise said, her brow furrowed as she concentrated. “It leads away
from the well and under the forest.”

“The ghoul-thing won’t be able to get us down there,” Ben said. He slung a leg over the well and pressed his palms flat against the sides. “Come on, follow me.”

Wesley shook his head. “Always rushing in,” he muttered.

“Wesley’s right,” said Paradise. “We don’t know what’s down there.”

“No, but we know what’s up here,” said Ben. “If the ghoul-thing is coming then so is Scarrabus.”

Wesley looked back at Mr Nuttendudge’s house, then peered past Ben into the well. “Oh, let’s get it over with,” he grumbled. He clambered into the well as Ben began to inch his way down.

“I don’t like this,” Wesley said. “Have I mentioned that?”

“It’ll be OK, Wes,” said Ben, but the only answer from Wesley was a grunt as he began to clamber clumsily down the well.

When they were halfway down, they heard Paradise whisper, “I can’t reach the walls. They’re too wide.”

“You mean your arms are too short,” said Ben.

“Either way, I can’t reach.”

“Try,” Ben urged. “Wedge your feet and back against the wall, and climb down that way.”

From up above Ben heard Paradise mutter something under her breath. He heard the rustle of her robe as she got into position.

Then he heard her cry out in fright as her
feet slipped and she tumbled down the well towards him.

“Oof!”

“Careful!”

SPLASH!

They hit the icy-cold water in a tangle of arms and legs. Ben barely had time to gasp before he plunged beneath the surface.

Underwater, he could hear the muffled swishing of his friends, frantically fighting their way to the surface. He kicked out in the darkness, trying to swim upwards, but instead crashed into one of the well’s stone walls.

He fumbled wildly, before a flailing foot caught him hard on the chin, spinning him round. The cold was making his body cramp. His lungs were crying out for air, but he had
no idea in which direction he’d find any. Up, down, left, right, it was all the same down there in the cold darkness.

Something snagged him by the back of the tunic and yanked him sharply. With a
splosh
he broke the surface just as his mouth opened and he gulped in the damp well air.

“Are you OK?” Wesley asked. In the gloom, Ben could just make out that Wes had what looked like an inflated pig’s bladder tied around each arm, keeping him afloat.

“I’m fine,” Ben coughed. “Thanks, Wes. You saved my life.”

Wesley looked surprised. “Did I? I mean, yes. So I did.”

Ben gestured to the pig bladders. “What are those?”

“Arm floats,” Wesley explained. “A little something I keep up my sleeve for just such an occasion. This robe gets
very
heavy when it’s wet, so they help counteract the drag effect. Also, I can’t swim.”

Paradise gently cleared her throat. “Sorry. About the knocking us into the water thing.
That was probably my fault.”

Ben snorted. “Probably?”

“It’s OK,” said Wesley, cutting off the argument before it could start. “We all make mistakes. Don’t we, Ben?”

Ben smiled at his friend, then nodded. “Can’t argue with that.” He looked around at the shadowy walls. “Now, where’s this tunnel?”

Paradise concentrated for a moment, then gave a groan. “Oh great. Of course. It had to be.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Ben.

Paradise pointed downwards with her thumb. “It’s down there,” she said. “The tunnel is at the bottom of the well.”

Chapter Eleven

They swam in a line, Paradise leading the way, Wesley in the middle and Ben tagging along at the back. They had tied themselves together using a length of rope Wesley kept tucked up his sleeve. Although Paradise was small, her strong swimming strokes were practically pulling Ben and the non-swimming Wesley
along.

Paradise gave two sharp yanks on the rope, indicating that she had found the tunnel. Ben hoped it wasn’t a long one – his lungs were already starting to ache and he couldn’t hold his breath too much longer.

He swam down, feeling his way along the wall until he found a circular hole in the stone. Ben could tell from the position of the rope that Wesley had already followed Paradise into the tunnel. He was about to join them both when the rope suddenly went tight, slamming him against the wall.

Ben rolled clumsily into the passageway, pulled by the force of the rope. It dug into his waist, tightening around him like a snake, and he had to fight the urge to cry out in pain.

WHOOSH!

The water swept him along, dragging him onwards, flipping and twirling him out of control. He felt as if he were being sucked down a plughole, and every swirl and spin seemed to drain more air from his lungs.

The rope tugged downwards. Ben bumped and scraped along the rocky tunnel floor, then
suddenly he was falling, plunging, down through the icy dark water. Ben’s head went light. Spots of colour swam before his eyes.

A tiny voice at the back of his brain was screaming at him to open his mouth and breathe, while another voice insisted he do the exact opposite.

This was it.

There was no escape.

He and his friends were going to die, and it was all Ben’s fault.

His arms and legs went limp. His eyes began to close. His mouth relaxed and …

KERSPLOOOSH!

Paradise, Wesley and Ben were shot out of a hole in the ground on a towering spout of water. They coughed and spluttered and flapped their arms, then the gushing water stopped and they landed in three soggy heaps on the ground.

Wesley wheezed and retched and eventually spat out a very small, very startled frog. It shot him a disapproving look then hopped away into the forest.

“On s-second thoughts,” Wes stammered. “Let’s take our chances with the ghoul-thing.”

It took a few seconds of struggling but the children eventually found the strength to get
back to their feet, just as a little green man in sackcloth clothing came rocketing by them on another spout of water.

Mr Nuttendudge somersaulted through the air, bounced twice on the ground then eventually slammed face-first into a tree. A moment later, something fell from the branches and landed on his head. It was a wasps’ nest.

Ben and the others watched as the Luck Goblin tore off into the forest, pursued by a swarm of angry wasps. They kept watching until his panicky screams had faded away completely.

“Cor,” said Ben. “He
is
unlucky, isn’t he?”

Paradise looked at the hole they had been fired through. The water had retreated once again. “Where’s Burnie?” she said. “He said he’d get Burnie.”

Her eyes darted across the dark forest around them, searching every shadow. “Burnie!” she called. “Burnie, where are you?”

Wesley clamped a hand across her mouth. “Sssh! You’ll give our location away.”

Paradise bit his finger, making him release his grip. “I don’t care,” she said. “We can’t leave Burnie all alone.”

“Ooh, that hurts,” yelped Wesley. “That really hurts.”

Ben put a hand on her shoulder. “Then find her,” he said. “Use your ability to tell you
where she is.”

“You nearly had my finger off!”

“I’m trying,” Paradise snapped, ignoring Wesley. “Don’t you think I’m trying? It’s just … there’s too much interference.”

“That was practically cannibalism, that was!”

“What do you mean?” asked Ben, also ignoring Wesley.

Paradise looked at the trees. “I don’t know. It’s like … there are so many things around us. In the forest. Living things.”

Wesley stopped hopping. “What sort of things?” he asked in a low whisper.

“S-something’s coming,” Paradise mumbled.

“Is it something nice?” asked Wesley hopefully.

Paradise’s whole face twitched. “D-don’t
know,” she said. The word came out as a whimper. “Can’t focus. This place … this whole forest is nothing but monsters. So many monsters!”

“Where’s the closest one?” Ben pressed.

“I … I don’t…” Paradise touched her head. She stumbled, and Ben barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Paradise, are you OK?” Ben asked, guiding her down on to the forest floor. “What’s happening? What’s wrong?”

Shaking, Paradise raised a hand and pointed past Ben’s ear. “Th-there,” she hissed. “The monster is there!”

Ben stood up and whirled round, just as a fast-moving shape exploded from the trees. The thing was small, but as it tumbled
through the air towards him Ben got a fleeting glimpse of sharp claws and a long tail.

And then he saw nothing but the creature’s red eyes and its long, pointed teeth.

And then he couldn’t even see that.