Digger Doyle's Real Book of Monsters by Daniel Warriner

Author:Daniel Warriner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure novel set in japan, fear of unknown monsters, friends search for scary beasts, missing in the japanese woods, monster hunting in the forest, mystery with a magical book, strange creatures in faraway places
Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.

Chapter 19—After the Echoes

A giant goblin had snatched up Pam like a mouse. As she shrieked and struggled in its grasp, there was nothing Corliss could do except avoid being captured himself. He made a run for it, straight to the waterfall to hide, and nearly bashed his head on the log stairway.

Up he went, counting on the log to split into pieces if the second goblin climbed up after him.

The very instant he entered the cavern he saw Digger about to fall. He lunged for his cousin and grabbed hold of his feet, not seeing any of the Kappas racing toward him.

Flat on his chest and stomach, he held on as tightly as he could, while Digger—ankles to head—dangled just below the edge. Then he felt the hands yanking at his legs, rucksack, and the P Z, making it impossible for him to pull Digger up.

The muscles in his arms and shoulders were beginning to ache. He wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

He twisted his neck enough to see a lizard-like hand clutching a strap on his rucksack. Then he saw those hissing reptilian faces, each with a set of sharp teeth. Right then he believed in Kappas. And they were attacking him.

“Dig, I can’t hold on,” he shouted frantically, but the roaring waterfall drowned out his words.

All of him was being stretched. He felt like the rope in a tug-of-war match. The strain was unbearable. He saw the extra weight—another Kappa—holding onto the rope below Digger. Is that thing reaching up with a mirror? Is Digger reaching down to . . . take it?

Then, with a snap of Digger’s wrist, the mirror came somersaulting through the air and over Corliss’s head. He heard it hit and then slide across the rock floor, and all the Kappas at once let go.

But it was too late. Digger had slipped out of Corliss’s hands and was falling with the rope, the Kappa, and the water.

Corliss scrambled to his feet and hurried into the cavern’s darkness. “Yukiko?” he whispered. No reply, only his own voice echoing deeper underground. Not a good move, he told himself. Keep quiet.

The Kappas in there with him were searching around for the mirror. He caught his breath as quietly as he could, leaning against his rucksack, now sandwiched between his back and the cave wall, with the P Z at his side.

The Kappas could attack—WILL attack, he warned himself. And soon. He slowly shifted sideways along the wall, further into the cave, choosing each step carefully so as not to knock over any Kappa shells. The tunnel curved slightly, and the floor was slanting downward. All the light was swallowed up.

Corliss was never afraid of the dark. He wasn’t scared of these shelled creatures either, even though they looked much more vicious than the animals Digger had described. But what did put a lump in his throat were those huge goblins—and what they might do to Pam.

He had to make it back outside so he could go after her.

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