A Reluctant Witch's Guide to Magic by Shivaun Plozza

Author:Shivaun Plozza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

PEOPLE SCREAMED AND RAN for the door; the prince shoved his way to the head of the line. Where was Gish? And Marceline? Willa couldn’t see them. Her heart thumped.

Suddenly Gaspard’s hands were on her shoulders, guiding her back until she hit the wall. “Stay out of harm’s way,” he ordered. Then he ran to help the clerk, who had fallen over in the stampede.

Willa flinched as a crash sent glass flying everywhere. The jumble had punched through the windows with thick bear claws. “Who wants to play?” it said.

Eladar shot a Tickle-me-now! curse, but it bounced off the window frame and hit Gaspard, who bent over double, crying with laughter.

Willa spied Marceline weaving through the crowd toward her. But where was Gish?

“What are you going to do?” Marceline was breathless as she reached Willa’s side.

“Do?” Didn’t Marceline know Willa was terrible at magic? It was up to Eladar, a proper witch, to save them. “I don’t—”

There! Gish was running toward them, pushing against the flow of traffic. Willa sagged in relief. But it was momentary. Because the jumble monster reached through the broken window and knocked Gish sideways with a swipe of its giant claw. Gish landed butt-first on the floor with a yelp of pain.

“Heh-heh-heh!” laughed the jumble monster.

Willa made to rush toward Gish, but the jumble whipped its snake tail at her; the tail really was a snake, but at the tip was a rat’s head. “Got you now!” sneered the rat in the master weaver’s voice. Marceline stumbled back as the rat gnashed at her.

Jumping the tail like a skipping rope, Willa ran toward Gish and hauled him to his feet.

Marceline swatted the rat’s head with a bedpan. “Take that!” she cried. Plonk! The bedpan hit the rat squarely on the nose, forcing it to retreat.

But it didn’t retreat far. Instead it swerved to wrap around Gish’s middle, ripping him from Willa’s grip. She cried out, fear coursing through her. The rat laughed gleefully as Gish was pulled out the window and hoisted high into the air.

“Let me go!” yelped Gish, dangling upside down in the jumble’s grip.

“Such a tasty meal I’ve caught!” said the jumble, and stomped away from the castle.

Gish!

Willa grabbed Marceline’s hand and ran, escaping the hospital and racing through the castle. The fizzy, zizzy orange-soda feeling bubbled inside her. Stay in your cage! she warned it. That’s the only way I’ll get the spells right and save Gish.

Willa and Marceline burst through the castle doors and out into the soldiers’ yard.

“I can’t see it,” cried Marceline. “Where did it—argh!”

From behind the stables, the jumble appeared. It unfurled ginormous eagle wings and launched into the air, then landed between the two girls and the castle doors. The girls skidded to a halt and screamed as the jumble scuttled toward them on eight giant spider legs.

“Help!” cried Gish. The jumble flung him side to side.

The soldiers’ yard was ringed by a high stone wall; at the north end, an arched gateway led to the market square.

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