Free Seven Sorcerers by Caro King Page B

either?’
    ‘Nope.’ Jonas shrugged. ‘There are tales about him, but a lot of them are made up. Some people say he’s a kind of demon. Others that he’s a bewitched monster who eats souls.’
    Nin turned the stories over in her head. She guessed she would find out the truth eventually, if they ever reached the House. Right now, with the sun on her shoulders, Jik at her heels and Jonas leading the way, she was almost sure they would succeed. Almost.
    She had been lucky so far, she knew that. She had Jonas, her boots and Grandad’s money to prove it. Perhaps her luck would hold. After all, she had already survived more danger in two days than she had faced in her whole life until now.
    ‘I’ll just have to trust to luck,’ she said cheerfully,‘because that’s all I have.’
    Their path took them through a cluster of twisted trees standing in a ring like a circle of dancers turned to wood as they swayed and bent. Shadow dappled them and the air was suddenly cool on their faces and hands.
    ‘Luck!’ said Jonas. ‘You need to come up with something a bit more concrete than luck if you want to survive the Terrible House of Strood, find Toby
and
get your life back.’
    ‘I’ve got a plan,’ said Nin, as the path took them out again into the sun and alongside the whispering river. ‘I just don’t know what it is yet.’

    Underneath a nearby shrub a sinister patch of shadow with blood-red eyes couldn’t believe its ears.
    Skerridge watched patiently as Right Madam and Obstacle, followed by the mud creature, wandered past him at the painfully slow pace anything that wasn’t a BM always used. He didn’t move until he thought they were far enough down the path that if they glanced back the trees would be just a shaggy blot on the horizon. Then he exploded.
    He rolled out of the shrub and back into his own shape, shaking with laughter. He lay on the ground and roared, accidentally setting fire to a patch of feathery bracken. Scalding tears of mirth steamed on his cheeks.
    Skerridge had never heard such a good joke in his life. When he had laughed himself into acid hiccups hecalmed down and thought about it.
    Skerridge had been worrying about how to get Right Madam to the House, but there was no need to worry any more because she was WALKING TO THE HOUSE OF HER OWN ACCORD!
    And if that wasn’t mad enough, the kid even thought she was going to get out again. Alive. Some chance! Not if Mr Strood had anything to do with it. Right Madam was destined for the same terrifying end as all the other kids over all the many years. Or then again, she might just end up as one of Strood’s horrible experiments.
    Skerridge sniggered. Main point was, the Quick would cross the Drift on their own. No need for Skerridge to do a thing. But it was a long haul and a dangerous one and at some point they would run into trouble, get separated or simply leave one another alone for a moment. Then he could snatch Right Madam and run, leaving Obstacle to whatever horrible fate awaited him. After all, there were so many horrible fates in the Drift that sooner or later one of them was bound to get him.
    Skerridge grinned. He grinned so fiercely that a rabbit shivering under a bush nearby had a heart attack and dropped dead of fright on the spot. Skerridge’s sharp ears picked up the soft sound of its crumpling body. Licking his lips, he grabbed a twig, speared the tiny body through and picked it up. Then he gave it a light roasting with his firebreath and popped it in whole.
    When he was finished he yawned, scratched himself, straightened his waistcoat and disappeared.

9
A Drop of Rain Won’t Hurt You
    o when do we get to the Savage Forest?’ asked Nin.
    It was late in the afternoon. They had left the river behind and were crossing a stretch of open meadow. The wall of Raw was still visible behind them, looking smaller now and less threatening, like a beached cloud on the horizon. A red-painted barn dominated the field to their left, its