by Zoe Arden
"Aunt El—"
Trixie pinched me hard. I stopped talking just as the eight-foot shadow of a figure stepped in front of us.
"Lumos," Trixie whispered.
Light flared all around us. It came from nowhere and everywhere all at once.
The draugr held Sheriff Knoxx with one hand and Aunt Eleanor with the other. They looked like rag dolls as they dangled limply from its oversized fingers. Sheriff Knoxx was a big man. For the draugr to lift him one-handed like that, it must have had muscles the size of a school bus.
The stench of the draugr overwhelmed me. I gulped for air, trying to fill my lungs before I passed out. It had been a mistake coming down here. The draugr had known it.
"Trixie," I said, looking to my right. I couldn't breathe. The air was like dark, dank water. Every breath drowned me a little bit more.
"Trixie," I said again, hoping she was all right. Her eyes fluttered rapidly as she coughed up enough air for one last spell.
"Carmakutran..." she muttered.
A soft pink light glowed from her nostrils like she was exhaling color. Whatever she'd tried to cast wasn't working. The draugr smiled and waved his hand in the air. A thousand rose petals fell from the ceiling, blanketing everything under them, including us.
I fell to my knees. Breathing was no longer an option. I wished I'd read the draugar books more closely in the library. Somewhere inside their pages, they must have mentioned the fact that a hungry draugr gave off a scent so powerful it could kill.
"Anast..." I tried to call her, but my voice couldn't carry that far through the house. Even if she came running down the stairs now, it would be too late. "Why rose petals?" I managed to croak before blacking out entirely.
The draugr looked at me, still grasping Sheriff Knoxx and Aunt Eleanor in its hands.
The creature answered in my father's voice. "Rose petals mean death. Consider it my final gift to you."
I closed my eyes and hoped death would come quickly.
* * *
CHAPTER
THIRTY-EIGHT
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Shouts and sounds erupted all around me as the draugr chased me through my dreams.
"Get back," I ordered it. The face of Jon Pratt laughed at me.
"Get back," I ordered again. "Or I'll turn you into a... a... daffodil!" It was a ridiculous thing to say, but this was a ridiculous situation.
The draugr's eyes flashed dangerously as he bared his teeth at me. It charged at me like a linebacker just as I raised my hand, ready to cast my spell. I knew that witches weren't supposed to need wands unless they were dim-witches, but I wished I had one with me now. The draugr's mouth opened and a groan spewed out of it like magma from a volcano. Black goo went everywhere.
I slipped in the goo and went sprawling just as the draugr began to eat my toes.
"Aaah!" I cried.
Someone was slapping my face. No, not slapping it. Licking it. My eyes flickered open. I had to blink several times before they adjusted to the late afternoon sun. The breeze that blew past my nostrils was like freshly baked cookies. I filled my lungs with the scent and let the energy surge through my body.
A tiny, furry head nudged against my chin.
"Snowball?" I asked, propping myself up on my elbows. Snowball rubbed her nose against mine, tickling me with her whiskers. I coughed and looked around me. I was in the alley behind The Alchemic Stone. "Why am I outside? How did I get here? Am I dead?"
"Mama is not dead," Snowball said.
"I certainly hope not," said a voice from behind her. A man's frame stepped into view. I'd have recognized it anywhere.
"Dad!"
I sat up too fast and nearly threw up. Snowball rubbed her head against my hand, pushing her wet nose into my thumb pad.
"Papa came home," Snowball said. "Snowball led him here."
"Dad!" I cried again, finally accepting that this wasn't an illusion. "Thank the witches you're all right."
My dad was really here. He was safe. I threw my arms around him, hugging him tightly as my knees tried to buckle under me.
"I love you, too, kid, but we don't have much time."
"What do you mean? What's going on? Where have you been?" A dozen more questions raced through my mind.
"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.
"The last thing I remember..." I paused, trying to think. Snowy nudged my ankle and I picked her up, absently stroking her white fur. Trixie was doing the same with Tootsie, and Rocky was sleeping at Eleanor's feet.
"The last thing I remember I was on the floor of the basement. Dying."
My father winced at the word "dying."
"Eli!" A deep voice barked my dad's name.
My father pried my hands free from him so he could swivel in its direction.
"We must hurry," the voice said. "No time for talk. Strike now, while the draugr is confident in our retreat."
"Zulabar, do you remember my daughter?"
My eyes popped out of my head a fraction of an inch. Goblins? Here? I looked around and realized there were at least a dozen gremlin-looking creatures milling about the alley behind Anastasia's store.
King Zulabar glanced at me with suspicion or maybe it was contempt. Either way, he managed to push his personal feelings down and stepped forward, hand outstretched. He was wearing a purple robe pulled tight across his shoulders and a golden crown that sat on top of his head, attached with a chin strap.
I shook his hand and tried to pretend I didn't notice when he wiped his palm on the sleeve of his robe.
"I remember the woman who turned down help. The goblins only offer help once. No more."
"Then why are you here?" I asked.
He seemed to take my question as an insult, but I was genuinely confused. The last time I'd been this perplexed by anything was in first grade when my father had tried to tell me about the birds and the bees. In his version, the birds and the bees ended up making a home together in Alaska and selling icicles to the tourists.
King Zulabar grunted and turned his back to me.
"Not to ask such questions," he grumbled. "A favor is not forsaken."
I looked for Eleanor and Sheriff Knoxx. They were standing to the side, deep in conversation with two goblins who looked familiar. I looked at them, hoping my stare wasn't freaking them out. It finally dawned on me who they were. Meenah and Javyn. Kiya's parents. A third goblin came striding across the cement toward them. Ekon.
"How long was I out for?" I asked my dad. "And are you going to tell me where you've been? Do you have any idea how worried I was?" My voice broke. I stuffed the sob that tried to escape back down and demanded answers.
"You were passed out when we got here. That was maybe ten minutes ago."
"Ten minutes? That's it?"
A lot had happened in just ten minutes.
"We heard the draugr in the basement and ran down the stairs," my dad continued. "When it saw the goblins, it... threw you at us."
I shook my head, not sure I was understanding him correctly.
"It... threw me at you? You mean like a baseball?"
"Yeah." He arched one eyebrow apologetically.
I realized now why my head was hurting so much.
"Turns out draugar hate goblins with a mad passion. He used you to try and push us back. When that didn't work well enough, he threw Eleanor and Sheriff Knoxx our way, too."
I didn't know why I was so surprised. Draugar weren't known for being warm and fuzzy.
"What about Aunt Trixie?"
I looked to my left and saw Trixie sitting with Melbourne. She was on his left. Anastasia was on his right. He was moving now, but he still looked rather ill. If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn that Trixie and Anastasia were both vying for his attention.
"Trixie wasn't passed out. Not completely," my dad said. "We just grabbed all of you and hightailed it out of there."
"The draugr tried to take me when I was at home. Nearly had me, too. The second I realized the situation for what it was, I knew that the goblins had been right all along. That you'd been right all along."
"That was a dangerous thing to do!" I exclaimed. "You could have been killed going there alone like that. Don't you know goblins shoot first and ask questions later?"
Every warning that my aunts and Sheriff Knoxx had given me I now flung back at my father. I could finally understand why he'd been so protective of me growing up. Worrying about someone you loved was difficult. It was easier just to keep a watch over them at all times.
"Eli!" King Zulabar said. "We must move. Now!"
"Wait, what are we doing?" I asked. "What's the plan?"
King Zulabar stood, impatiently tapping his foot. When that didn't hurry us along, he began cracking his knuckles.
"The plan is we go in there together," my dad said. "The goblins are stronger than us physically. They'll surround the draugr. Then the rest of us will destroy it using an oobleck spell."
"An oobleck spell?" I asked, trying to hide my shock.
"You know who that draugr is, don't you?" my dad asked.
I nodded. "Jon Pratt."
Something clicked in my brain when I said his name out loud. The missing piece of Polly's diary... I'd been so sure that I'd seen "that evil brat" scribbled in Polly's handwriting. But that's never what it had said.
"That evil Pratt will be unleashed," I muttered.
"What?" my dad asked.
I shook my head. "Nothing important. Not anymore." His face was tense and his lips were pressed so tightly together they were almost one piece.
"Why an oobleck spell?" I asked him.
"Because that's what I used on Jon Pratt the first time."
"We're going," King Zulabar said irritably. He didn't turn to wait and see if my father and I would follow. He simply marched to the door and walked into Anastasia's shop. The rest of the goblins lined up behind him. The witches brought up the rear.
"Zulabar thinks the draugr expected us to retreat. He's hoping for an element of surprise."
Stepping into The Alchemic Stone for the millionth time tonight, I realized one thing. I never wanted to step foot in here again. Ever.
"Downstairs," Zulabar whispered and descended the steps. There were too many of us for such a small store. Half of us waited up top while the others went to the basement.
"He's not here," Javyn said.
Something soft rubbed against my ankles. "Mama," Snowball whispered in the lowest voice I'd ever heard. Her eyes lifted toward the ceiling.
I looked up and my heart almost stopped. The draugr was suspended from the ceiling, its hands and feet stuck to the drywall like a fly on a window. When it realized it had been spotted, it dropped to the ground with a boom.
My father ran forward and kicked the draugr in its chest. It picked up my father threw him against the wall. Tootsie and Snowball ran to his side, making sure he was okay. Rocky stood in front of Eleanor, his own brand of magic entering the mix.
Flashes of light and sound erupted all around me as we tried to get the draugr under control. King Zulabar and the rest of the goblins ran full force into the draugr, using their bodies as cannon balls. They launched themselves at the creature over and over again, never making a dent. It merely swatted them away like a gnat.
The only goblin with any success was Meenah. She managed to hurl herself into the draugr's enormous eyeball. She kicked it with her feet, temporarily blinding it, while the witches began to wind their arms up in synchronization.
I had no idea how to perform an oobleck spell. I wanted to help but was afraid I might mess things up.
"Like this, Ava," my dad said, showing me the right way to circle my arm, as if winding a giant clock. I moved my arm in a clockwise motion until I thought it might fall off.
A soft chant began to grow. I could hear Eleanor's and Trixie's voices first.
"Witching time, witching world, witches make the draugr curl."
The draugr let out an enormous cry that sounded like its arms were being ripped off. I almost felt bad for the thing. Almost.
"Oobleck oobleck," a new chant begun. I joined in when I could. "Bloggio cremati."
The goblins who'd been holding the draugr in place suddenly let go as a red ball of light hit its chest. The draugr screamed and began to crumble to the ground, melting like something out of a movie.
I stood mesmerized, wanting to turn away yet terrified of what I'd miss if I did.
By the time the draugr's neck touched the floor, it had stopped screaming. A minute later, nothing remained but a pile of black goo.
"Dad, did he just... melt?"
I turned to see my father standing with his hands clenched at his sides. Sweat was pouring down his face.
"Dad?"
He fell to his knees.
"Oh, my roses! Eleanor! Trixie! Something's wrong with my dad!"
The momentary congratulation party that had sprung up stopped as everyone in the room turned to my father.
Eleanor knelt over him, searching for a wound. She gasped when she examined his arm. Her face went white as a ghost.
"What is it?" I asked, terrified of her answer.
Eleanor took a deep breath. "He's been bitten."
* * *
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
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"Bitten?" I cried. "By... by that thing?" I looked at the black goo where the draugr had been just a moment before.
"I think so," Eleanor said. Her face was pinched. I could tell she was trying to hold it together so I wouldn't freak out, but it wasn't working.
"Dad!" I screamed, grabbing my father's shirt as he slumped forward. I caught his collar but instead of holding him upright, it ripped and he fell on his face.
I turned him over and started shaking him.
"Dad? Dad, can you hear me? When did the draugr bite you? How long ago?"
But he wasn't responding. His eyes were closed and sweat continued to run down his face. It was like every pore in his body had suddenly decided to vent itself. My hand brushed against his skin. I drew it back, alarmed.
"What is this?" I asked, holding my fingers out to Eleanor. "It's not normal sweat. It feels sticky. Like slime or glue."
Eleanor exchanged a worried look with Sheriff Knoxx.
"Quick, get your friend outside," King Zulabar said. "He needs sunlight before the darkness takes hold of him."
I had no idea what he meant by that, but I decided not to question it. Without the goblins, I didn't think we'd have succeeded in destroying the draugr. Witches were smart about a lot of things, but it seemed to me that goblins were cleverer.
"Hurry," Sheriff Knoxx said. He grabbed my father's feet as I took his head. We lifted him together but my dad was bigger than he looked. I almost dropped him.
Javyn and Ekon jumped in just in time to stop him from hitting the floor, but I refused to let him go. I cradled his head in my hands like it was an infant.
"Ava, let Javyn and Ekon get him."
"No," I said, being stubborn. "He's my father. I've got him."
Javyn placed one hand on my wrist. I turned to him, wanting to yell, but the look in his eyes stopped me before I'd taken another breath. It was pure pain.
"My loved one is gone. Kiya is no more. Your father is still here. I will not let him fall."
The goblins had an intriguing way of speaking that bordered, at times, between crass and poetic. I remembered what King Zulabar had said at our first meeting. Kiya had only been sixteen when she was killed.
"I'm sorry for your loss," I told Javyn. He squeezed my wrist tighter in recognition of our mutual sorrow. Despite the scaly appearance of their skin, his hand was soft. It felt as though he must soak it in paraffin wax every night before going to
bed.
"May I?" Javyn asked. I nodded and stepped back.
Sheriff Knoxx began to walk my dad carefully out the door while Javyn cradled his head and Ekon kept a watch on his midsection, making sure it didn't sink too low.
Outside, the afternoon sun was starting to fade. It had dropped below the trees but not so much that we couldn't see. My father's face blossomed alternating shades of red and white. Strange scabs began to break out across his forehead.
"What's happening to him?" I asked Eleanor.
"I... I don't know," she said. This time, she couldn't hide the panic in her voice. "I never believed in the draugar until today. It's not something commonly studied in school. It's... it's supposed to be a fairy tale. A myth."
She looked back toward the shop where Jon Pratt's draugr lay in a pile of liquid goop.
"You mean you don't know what to do?"
She looked at me with tears in her eyes.
"No," she admitted, defeated.
"Trixie? Anastasia? What about you? Someone must have an idea." I went from one person to the other, searching their faces for some sign of a plan. All I got back were blank stares.
"What does the mythology say?" I asked Eleanor. "About draugr bites? What's supposed to happen to him?"
His chest was barely rising and falling. The breath he did expel sounded labored. Gurgling noises sprung from his lips like he was breathing through water.
"Eleanor," I snapped. "What does the mythology say?"
She looked at me with watery eyes. "That the bites are deadly. That one bite from a draugr is equivalent to a thousand from a black widow spider."
"A million," King Zulabar corrected her.
"A million," Eleanor repeated solemnly.
I jumped up and grabbed Zulabar's robe, pulling him close. The other goblins clustered around us, agitated. King Zulabar raised one hand and held it out, settling them back down.
