Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

Author:Ursula Vernon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2015-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Witches are brave. Witches walk in dark places. And there was a Minotaur with her. Molly lifted her chin and walked forward.

Her boots wanted to stomp, but she lifted her feet and set them carefully instead.

The barn was quiet—almost. Dragon the donkey was restless in his stall, shifting from hoof to hoof. At the end of the line of stalls, in the little room where all the straw was kept, Molly saw a flicker of light.

They’re still here. Whether it’s Freddy or someone he hired—they’re still here.

Great! I can catch them red-handed!

Err . . . if they don’t catch me first . . .

She took a deep breath and held it until she was sure that she was invisible, then poked her head around the doorframe.

A dark figure stood in a beam of light. There was something in his hands that Molly couldn’t make out.

It was Freddy. He was wearing black clothes, and had set a flashlight on the counter to see by.

Molly reached out, groped along the wall—the light switch should be there, shouldn’t it?—and heard a chilling sound.

Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.

It was the sound of someone trying to light a match.

“Strike anywhere matches,” Freddy muttered. “Huh! Strike nowhere is more like it.”

Was Angus in position? If Freddy lit the straw on fire, would they have time to stomp it out? Molly didn’t know and couldn’t take the time to find out.

If he sets the barn on fire—if he scares Dragon, I’ll—I’ll—I’ll do something!

Her fingers found the light switch.

“Stop right there!” yelled Molly, and flipped the light on.

Freddy let out a yelp and dropped the match he was holding.

It’s not lit, it’s not lit—whew!

It has to be said that Molly wasn’t a particularly imposing figure. She wasn’t wearing her coat or her Witchy hat and she hadn’t had time to put on any silver jewelry. Her hair was tangled from the wild ride down the hill, and the pounding smell of rosemary was making her nose run.

“Oh,” said Freddy, “it’s you.” He folded his arms. “What are you doing here?”

“Stopping you!” said Molly. “What are you doing breaking into the barn in the middle of the night!”

“I could ask you the same question,” said Freddy. “You’re here too!”

Molly stamped her foot, which might have been childish, except that the boots made it a fierce stomp. “I’m the Master of Castle Hangnail! You’re breaking and entering!”

“You can’t prove that,” said Freddy. “I might just have been passing by.”

“You’re wearing all black! You’ve got a flashlight!”

“You’re wearing black too.”

“I saw you trying to light a match! You’re trying to burn the barn down!”

Freddy folded his arms. “So you say. I say it’s dark and I wanted a light. It’s your word against mine, isn’t it?”

Molly gritted her teeth.

I’m a Wicked Witch. Witches don’t lose their tempers over stupid people. Witches fix things. Wickedly.

“You’re right,” she said, wonderfully calm. “You’re absolutely right. We’ll just call the constable to sort this out, shall we? There’s a phone up at the castle.”

Freddy took a step back.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.