Free Monster Madness by Dean Lorey Page B

to Mr. Pinch?” Charlie thought it was eerie how she almost seemed to read his mind.
    “Sure.”
    “Please tell him he’s no longer in charge of the Academy in my absence—that task now falls to Housemistress Rose. I want him to accompany you back to the Nether. I believe you’ll find his experience…invaluable.”
    Charlie, Theodore, Brooke, and Violet glanced at one another unhappily.
    “Yeah, right,” Theodore muttered.
    The Headmaster pretended she didn’t hear.
    Just then, a horrible shrieking filled the air, and Charlie clamped his hands over his ears—his eardrums felt like balloons filled to bursting. A hurricane-force wind blew down from the sky, and they all looked up to see a golden streak hurtling toward them from out of the swirling red pillar of the Inner Circle.
    Charlie had seen that golden flash once before—in the crumbling manor of the Hags.
    “Tyrannus,” he said.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    TYRANNUS THE DEMENTED
    The enormous golden bat plummeted from the sky with the force of a tornado and slammed into the ground hard enough to shatter the massive crystals beneath its scaly feet. Its wingspan was gigantic—the width of a jumbo jet—and the slightest flutter from one of those wings was enough to knock down an elephant. It stared at the group with its wild, red eyes as it picked the remains of an Acidspitter from between pointy teeth with a claw that protruded from its wings. Around the bony finger, Charlie could see a ring, glittering blackly, with many carved images that issued red firelight.
    That’s one of the Artifacts of the Nether, he realized.
    “GREETINGS and many great hellos!” the giant creature shrieked, bouncing up and down fifty yards from them, trampling several Nethercreatures that didn’t move away quickly enough. “Welcome to this humble spot in the Nether. I am Tyrannus and it’s a great pleasure to eat you!”
    “Really?” the Headmaster shouted back. “If you’re interested in eating us, why don’t you come over here and do it?”
    “Yum, yum—would be FUN!” Tyrannus said with a cackle. “But it’s just so hard. The distance may be short, but the pain is loooong.”
    “Oh, you must mean from the Guardian’s aura?” the Headmaster replied. “I forgot how horribly it affects you. I just hate that you can’t go everywhere in the Nether that you’d like.”
    “Soon!” the great beast shouted cheerfully. “Soon the Guardian will be DEAD and I’ll paint the ground RED with blood from…”
    The Named creature suddenly stopped and cocked its head to the side, thinking.
    “Your head?” Theodore offered. “That would rhyme. Paint the ground red with blood from your head? How about that?”
    Charlie turned to him. “Are you crazy? Let the monster figure out its own rhymes, will ya?”
    “Right,” Theodore said, quickly nodding. “Sometimes I get a little caught up.”
    “I couldn’t quite HEAR that,” Tyrannus roared. “Could you come a little closer, child, and whisper your rhyme in my ear…just so we’re clear?”
    “I think I’ll pass,” Theodore shouted back. “Or you’ll knock me on my—”
    “Mr. Dagget!” the Headmaster thundered, cutting him off. “Will you please let me handle this?”
    “Right,” Theodore said. “Definitely.”
    “What do you want, Tyrannus?” the Headmaster yelled to the creature. “We are busy people and don’t have time to waste with you.”
    “To waste time suggests that there’s a proper way to use time. I, personally, like to exercise my wings, eat the flesh of the innocent, and dance to the rhythm of the music in my head!”
    The Named creature did a little jig. It shook the Nether like an earthquake.
    Oh my God, Charlie thought. He’s insane!
    The Headmaster, seeing the realization in Charlie’s eyes, shot him a look that said, quite clearly, Be quiet.
    “Yes, we all like to dance a jig, now and again,” she said, turning back to the great beast. “Is there some way we can help you?”
    “Yes.