Free Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing by Barry Hutchison Page A

his hand on the magical barrier, Mr Nuttendudge hobbled closer. He sneered down at Ben. “Good try, boy,” the goblin said. “Almost had me.” He pointed the gauntlet towards Ben’s head, palm open. “But now your time is up.”
    Mr Nuttendudge giggled. His eyes narrowed. His fingers spread wide.
    And then, with a ping , his trousers fell down.
    Instinctively, the goblin bent to pull them up, breaking his contact with the barrier. Ben swept with his foot, kicking Mr Nuttendudge’s legs out from under him. The goblin flipped over in the air and landed on his long nose.
    Ben scrabbled across the sand and grabbed for his sword, just as Mr Nuttendudge spat out a spell along with a mouthful of sand. The sword came up and deflected something Ben couldn’t even see. There was a pop and the Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing seemed to become a thousand different shapes all at the same time.
    A second later, where the ghoul-thing had been, there was now a large frog in a tiny robe. It hung in the air for a moment looking reallyquite surprised, and then gravity took hold and it landed with a splot on the sand.

    Mr Nuttendudge kicked backwards along the ground. Before Ben could reach him, he slapped a hand against another of the standing stones and grinned triumphantly.
    Nothing happened. He adjusted his fingers, splaying them flat against the stone. The goblin stared at it in disbelief. “It’s not working. Why isn’t it working?”
    “Like you said,” called Paradise. “There’s more than one wizard around here.”
    Ben turned to see Wesley floating towards them, a metre or so above the ground. Wesgiggled as he skimmed along above the sand, wobbling unsteadily. Paradise ran behind him, her little legs struggling to keep up.
    “Magic,” Wesley said. “Look at me … I’m doing magic.”
    “Looking good, Wes,” Ben told him.
    Mr Nuttendudge scowled. “You’ll never get the gauntlet. It’s mine now. All mine!”
    He held up his hand. The gauntlet was no longer there. “Oh, trollfarts,” he cursed.
    “It fell off when you were talking,” said Ben, stooping to pick up the glove.
    Paradise smirked. “How unlucky.”
    Ben looked up at the holes in the sky above them. Shapes were now swarming through, making their way from the other Monstrous Realms into this one. Soon they’d find a wayback to the human world. There was no time to lose.
    “How do we stop it?” Ben demanded.
    “I’ll never tell you!” Mr Nuttendudge cried. Ben pointed the sword at his throat. “OK, OK, I’ll talk! No need to get nasty.”
    The goblin took a deep breath. “There’s just one spell you can use to stop it. One incantation you need to say. Ready? What you need to say is—”
    An enormous black rock fell from the sky, squishing Mr Nuttendudge flat. Ben, Paradise and Wesley leaped back, just as five more of the boulders slammed into the ground around them.

    One by one the stones unfolded, becoming large rock creatures before the children’s eyes.
    “That’s not good,” Ben gulped.
    “What do we do?” asked Paradise.
    Ben puffed out his cheeks. “I’m at a bit of a loss,” he admitted. “Run away?”
    “No.”
    Ben and Paradise turned in disbelief to Wesley. “Did you just vote against running away?” Paradise asked.
    Energy crackled from Wes’s fingertips. “I can feel it,” he said in a whisper. “All the magic in all the worlds. I can feel it.”
    “It’s too much,” said Ben, backing away from the rock creatures. “It could make you blow up.”
    Wesley gazed up at the holes in the sky.Other shapes were already tumbling through into Goonderslarg. “No. I can control it. I can close the holes,” he said. “I can send them all back. I just need a minute.”
    “Not sure we have a minute,” said Paradise. The rock-headed rock-things were closing in a circle. Any second now, they’d be upon them.
    “Keep them busy,” said Wesley, and with a sweep of his arm he drifted straight up into the sky.
    Ben and Paradise