Free Ravenspell Book 3: Freaky Fly Day by David Farland Page A

She has this great deal on makeup. You can get fly-liner just for signing up some friends. And if their friends sign up, then you move up in the plan, higher and higher, and the rewards are . . . well, just impossible to imagine! Just think, you won’t have to be ugly anymore. Wouldn’t that be great? Want to join?”
    Ben’s mom shrieked, “Why, that sounds like some vile, twisted multi-level marketing scam to me . . . Sign me up!”
    “Yes,” Lady Blackpool said more cautiously. “Belle Z. Bug is playing a very dangerous game. She reinforces the feelings of ugliness in her victims on one hand, and then offers them beauty with the other. That is a very great evil indeed.”
    “You put fly-liner on around your eyes,” Serena said. “It makes you look more beautiful. You do want to be beautiful, don’t you? Want to join?” The poor butterfly sounded desperate to gain converts.
    “I really don’t think that you need fly-liner,” Lady Blackpool said gently. “After all, you’re a butterfly and one of the most beautiful that I’ve ever seen.”
    Lady Blackpool waved a paw at Serena, and suddenly the little butterfly seemed to waken from a daze.
    “What? Where am I?” Serena peered all about in alarm.
    “You’re among friends,” Lady Blackpool said. “You were under a spell cast by an evil fly. She blinded you to truth and reason and to your own innate beauty.”
    “Oh, goodness!” Serena said in alarm.
    “Now,” Lady Blackpool demanded, leaning close, “tell me more of what you know. Once this Belle Z. Bug converts the flies to her cause, what does she plan?”
    “Oh, dear!” Serena wandered about in a panic. “She’s amassing her armies, getting ready to destroy the world!”
    “Ah,” Lady Blackpool said as if she had expected this news. “And where can I find this Belle Z. Bug?”
    Suddenly a black housefly shot up out of the car’s grill and shouted at Serena, “Shut your mouth, you filthy traitor! When the Dark Lord rises, you’ll be first against the wall!”
    Ben’s mom warned the housefly, “Quiet! It’s not polite to butt in on another person’s conversation.”
    “You can’t order me around!” the housefly roared. Then it asked in a confused voice, “Hey, do you understand me?”
    Ben’s mom rolled up a magazine and swatted the fly.
    “Ack!” the fly cried. His voice came out rather miserable sounding. “It’s not polite,” he gasped, “to kill . . .”
    The whole family was trapped in the car, surrounded by paparazzi. One of them tried to open the door, but Ben’s mom hit the locks. The group had nothing else to do but sit and listen to Serena.
    “Go ahead,” Lady Blackpool said gently. “Tell us what you have to say.”
    The butterfly gasped, shocked at the fate of the housefly. “I can’t go on,” she said miserably. “I’m a traitor to my own species!”
    “No, you’re not,” Ben said. “You’re a butter fly. You’re beautiful and nice—not like some nasty housefly.”
    “You don’t need to convince her to talk,” Lady Blackpool told Ben. “There is a spell that compels her to speak.” The aging shrew now turned to Serena. “Go ahead, little one, spill your guts.”
    “The Lord of the Flies has risen at a garbage dump, far to the south of here!” she said. “That’s the buzz.”
    “I see,” Lady Blackpool said. “And what are her intentions. How will she attack?”
    “I don’t know,” Serena said. “I only heard that she has come to prepare the world for the Ever Shade—whoever he is—making it ready for his return.”
    For a long moment, Lady Blackpool considered the news. She glanced at Amber as if wondering what the young mouse might be able to do in the coming battle. But Amber had used up all of her magical energy. She couldn’t cast a spell for two more days.
    Lady Blackpool sighed. “I will have to face this one alone.” Her words hung heavily in the air.
    This could be dangerous, Ben knew. He suspected that this Lord of