Free Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers by Lee Edward Födi Page A

and turned to go.
    “Waitzum!” Trooogul rumbled.
    A shiver went down Kendra’s back. She turned and found herself face-to-face with the Unger. He was so close that she could see his eyes gleam in the moonlight. She could feel his hot breath on her face. For a minute, he said nothing, and the only sound in the night was his harsh gasping.
    “Unger thankzum little Eeneez,” Trooogul grunted.
    Then, before Kendra could reply, the great beast turned and bolted into the darkness, leaving her to wander back through the woods alone, towards the sound of Uncle Griffinskitch’s voice.



“THERE YOU ARE!” Uncle Griffinskitch boomed as Kendra came into sight. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I told you to stay with me.”
    “I-I-I was scared,” Kendra stammered.
    “Humph,” he muttered, and it was the type of humph that Kendra couldn’t even begin to decipher. Her uncle’s face was pale, his eyes wide with fright.
    But what is he afraid of? Kendra thought to herself. Uncle Griffinskitch is no typical Een. I can’t imagine him being afraid of any Unger!
    “Come now,” the old wizard said gruffly as he turned and led Kendra back toward the campsite. “You’re safe now. Captain Jinx and I were able to scatter those beasts.”
    “What did you do to them?” Kendra asked as she followed after him.
    “Not as much as I wanted to,” Uncle Griffinskitch grunted. “Unfortunately, they all escaped.”
    “Oh,” Kendra said, looking worriedly at him. How can I tell him about Trooogul? she asked herself. I can’t. He won’t understand. He sits on the council; he’ll just have me exiled. I can’t tell him. I can’t tell anyone.
    And now you know, reader, the secret that I spoke of at the very beginning of this tale. Kendra forged it at that very moment, vowing to tell no one about how she had saved the life of an Unger.
    Of course a secret, a really important one, can be a heavy burden to bear, and Kendra began to worry about it almost immediately. It weighed so heavily on her that she didn’t even realize that she and her uncle had arrived back in camp until Oki came charging up to her.
    “Kendra!” the tiny mouse cried. “You’re all right!”
    “Yes,” Kendra said weakly. “What happened to you?”
    “I found him and the professor stuck in a bramble bush,” Jinx said. “Isn’t that right, Bramblebean ? How did your books and facts help you in the face of an Unger? And Oki was just chanting over and over again ‘Don’t think of onions, don’t think of onions!’ As if that would help against an Unger.”
    “I thought it might make me forget how scared I was,” Oki informed Kendra.
    “Did it work?”
    “No,” Oki confessed, “but thinking about onions is better than thinking about Ungers.”
    “Kendra, you scared the wits out of me by running off like that,” Ratchet said.
    “Never mind what you think!” Jinx scolded. “You have no right to even be here, Ratchet.”
    “Precisely,” Uncle Griffinskitch said. “It’s only the first day of the quest and you’ve nearly ruined everything.”
    “Ah, don’t be so dramatic,” Ratchet muttered. “Those Ungers would have happened upon you no matter what.”
    “Is that so?” Uncle Griffinskitch demanded, banging his staff against the ground. “And tell me, Ratchet Ringtail, what do you know about the world beyond the magic curtain?”
    “Yeesh,” Ratchet said. “I’m sorry, okay? There, I said it. I’ll go back home as soon as morning comes.”
    “Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch snorted. “I’m afraid, Ratchet, that you’ll be going back sooner than that. And this time I will take an extra measure to make sure you don’t follow us again.”
    “What does that mean?” the raccoon asked nervously.
    “Humph,” the old wizard grunted again. “Just a little spell. It shouldn’t hurt too much.” He waved his gnarled staff at Ratchet and, in his very deep voice, proclaimed:
    Tiny bell, loud and clear,
    Sounder than an