voice.
âNo.â
âShall we give them a clue?â
âNo.â
âWho shall we eat first, the boy or the girl?â
âBit of both. One for lunch. One for dinner.â
âWe ⦠we have to see F-F-F-Forecl-claw,â stammered Festival.
âYes,â said Peter. âIf we donât see him, youâll be in t-t-t-trouble.â
âT-t-t-trouble, you say?â said the first voice. âSo, someone knows youâre here, do they?â
âOf course,â said Festival. âMy m-m-m-mum and d-d-d-dad.â
âYour m-m-m-mum and d-d-d-dad, eh?â
âYes, and if weâre not back by teatime, theyâll come looking for us.â
âWell now. Let you come up here alone, did they?â said the second voice. âCareless, that. Iâve got three answers for you.â
âAt least,â said the first.
âOne, youâre lying. Two, if youâre not lying, how will they find you? Three, if they do find you, then weâll have even more dinners.â
âAnd four, youâre lying,â said the first voice.
âI said that already.â
âNo you didnât.â
âYou wouldnât be calling me a liar, would you?â
âI, um â¦â
âMore dinner,â said the second voice.
There was a brief pause and then a bloodcurdling scream.
âNow look what youâve made me do,â said the second voice. âVile children, you made me kill my mother. Iâm rather cross now. That was the only mother I had. Throatgall is all alone.â
A pool of blood began to trickle out of the first doorway. It was followed by muttering and cursing and a small fat naked pink figure appeared, down on its hands and knees like a huge baby, scooping up the blood in its hands and drinking it.
The creature was no larger than a three year old child, but it had the skinny shrivelled body of an old man. Its skin looked like it had been in water too long, crisscrossed with a cobweb of lines. It reminded Peter of Bathline, something living that should have died a long time ago.
The smell of the blood brought other creatures. Rats the size of small dogs and cockroaches appeared from everywhere.
âVile creatures,â the pink figure screamed. âThis is my motherâs blood.â
He tried to sweep them aside but there were too many of them. There was blood everywhere. The pink figure was covered in so much of it, the rats threw themselves on him and a terrible fight broke out. Rats and cockroaches were thrown off the balcony, some landing on the gallery below, some falling all the way down into the water. Others ran inside the book, looking for the corpse.
While the fighting was going on Peter and Festival stood rooted to the spot. A rat had bitten Throatgall on the leg and his blood was now pouring onto the ground and mixing with his motherâs. Seeing he was wounded, the other rats stopped fighting each other and threw themselves on Throatgall.
âHelp me,â he pleaded, waving his arm toward the two children.
Instinctively, Peter rushed forward. Festival grabbed his shirt to pull him back, but she was too late. Throatgall threw off the rats and lunged at Peter. In a split second his teeth flashed and came down on Peterâs hand.
The pain was unbearable and as Peter felt himself begin to faint, Festival dragged him back and the two of them fell through the second doorway. They struggled up the stairs into a bedroom and slammed the door shut. Peter collapsed onto the floor whileFestival jammed a chair under the door handle, but they hadnât been followed. The rats had regrouped and were now attacking Throatgall with renewed energy.
Festival knelt in front of Peter and took hold of his hand. There was so much blood, it was hard to see what damage had been done. She pulled a mouldy sheet off the bed and tore it into pieces. She wiped Peterâs hand and gently tried to open out his
Landon Dixon, Giselle Renarde, Beverly Langland