Free Monster War by Dean Lorey Page A

Pinch’s body began to bubble and stretch like molten plastic.
    He looked down in strange fascination as hairy, red insect legs - six of them - poked through his skin. It didn’t hurt really - the nerves in his flesh seemed to be dead now, which was lucky because everything from his chest down soon sloughed away like a snakeskin, revealing a bristly, segmented body beneath. Suddenly, that body began to grow with startling speed and Pinch was dizzied by the rapid change. Where, just moments ago, he had looked up at the Queen - now he looked down at her from an immense height. She smiled approvingly.
    “Good, my beautiful baby. Look at yourself. See what you have become .”
    There was no mirror in the throne room, but the walls of the shell were a polished pearl and he could see his reflection in them. Pinch stepped back and gazed, for the first time, at his new form.
    He had become an ant - but the world had never seen such an ant. This was no tiny creature that could be carelessly crushed under the heel of a boot. Pinch was a giant now, easily the size of a jumbo jet, and his hard carapace gleamed a toffee-apple red. Instead of an insectoid head, Pinch was pleased to see that his own face protruded from the massive body - his adult face. True, it was plated in a thick shell just like the rest of him, as red as a fire engine, but the torso and head were still undeniably… Pinch . His two arms, which ended in clawlike fists, were corded and powerful. He flexed them and was astonished by their strength.
    “I’m…fearsome,” he said, shocked at the gravel of his voice.
    The Queen of Nightmares nodded. “Yes, you are, my baby. We all have a monster inside us. I just helped you to find yours.”
    “Will I stay this way?”
    “For a time. Eventually, you will return to your weakand pitiful former self. To regain your power, you will need to drink more. Upon your third taste of my blood, the change will become permanent and then no one will be able to harm you - not even that wretched boy, Charlie Benjamin.”
    Pinch smirked. “Unless he gets the Sword of Sacrifice, that is.”
    The Queen of Nightmares froze. Her eyes went cold. “What did you say?”
    “The Sword of Sacrifice,” Pinch replied, looking down at her. “It’s one of the Ancient Weapons. It gets its power from the Nether Core and can slay any monster alive - or so it is said.”
    The Fifth pursed her lips. “Why did you not think to mention this delightful little tidbit before?”
    Pinch laughed. “Because Benjamin will never get that sword, trust me. For him to attain it, his friends would have to pass the Test of Sacrifice. I have seen these friends. They will fail him.”
    “Perhaps.” She walked away from him then and, when she next spoke, her voice was as cold and hard as a glacier. “Or perhaps they will surprise you, just as you are now surprised at having become the marvel I see before me. Life is…unpredictable.”
    Pinch sighed. “Indeed.”
    She walked back to him and lovingly stroked one of his massive legs. “You can’t let him get that weapon, my dark darling. You must kill him before he does. Promise me.”
    “It will be done,” he replied. “I promise.”
    Moments later, the monster that Pinch had become opened a portal to the Nether - the only creature who could - then stepped through and was gone.

C HAPTER N INE T HE T EST OF S ACRIFICE
    C harlie fell into the abyss.
    He had no idea how deep it was, but he knew that he had to find some way to safely bring himself to a stop or he would die. He thought about opening a portal to one of the oceans on Earth so that he could use the water to slow his fall, but quickly realised that that wouldn’t work - at this speed, the water would be as hard as concrete and hitting it would kill him instantly. There had to be another way…
    Strangely, his mind flashed to an image of Spider-Man slinging webs through canyons of skyscrapers, never having any problems with the treacherous falls