Faerie Devastation (Titania Academy Book 5) by Samaire Wynne

Author:Samaire Wynne [Wynne, Samaire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Raven Books
Published: 2021-02-27T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Black Puddle

The ghoul was curled up inside the pearly swirling mist that Professor Farryn had cast on it. It seemed to be slowly tightening around the creature, which was writhing at being bound.

It was trapped.

I leaned forward to get a better look and jumped back suddenly when the thing turned its face to stare at me.

It was the size of a small bear, but it looked like a misshapen old man, with features that were out of a nightmare.

Its nose was three times too large, as were its ears. The eyes that looked back at us were bloodshot and had pus pooled in them. The cheeks were hollow, but flushed red. There were rotten bits, in patches all over its face.

It was clothed in moss and garments that were so old they were rotting off of its body. They were thin and gauzy, as if they had been through a thousand years of wear and tear.

It stunk of the grave.

I heard a “pbblllt” and, looking down, I saw something was oozing out of its skin in several places. A large green pustule on its arm suddenly grew larger and then burst, and thick, pale yellow pus slowly dribbled out. I watched, mesmerized, as it slowly dripped down the side of its arm and finally dropped on the forest floor. It sunk into the ground as if it was melting the leaves, and finally disappeared.

I watched the hole it made, feeling something was about to happen, and I was not disappointed.

Within minutes, a black gooey tar-like substance bubbled up from the hole, and rose a few inches, before spilling over onto the leaves. It kept coming, and soon there was a small puddle of the stuff.

We backed away from it.

The thick, black puddle slowly grew larger, and larger still, until it touched the ghoul caught in the spell. The contact galvanized the ghoul, which began to blubber and giggle madly.

I tried to make out what it was saying, but it was gibberish to my ears.

“You don’t ever want to be able to understand that language,” murmured Professor Farryn beside us, making us jump in surprise as his whisper broke the silence.

I had to ask.

“Why not?”

He looked at me. “That is the language of the dead, spoken in the underworld. Spoken in Ghûlheim, the vast city at the center of that place,” he said quietly.

My breath quickened and an icy shiver jerked my torso suddenly. “Um, the underworld?”

The Master of Quests nodded, continued. “The land of the dead is a place no living person has ever been to.” He thought for a moment. “Except one, once. A child lured through a ghoul gate and stolen away.”

I held my breath. “Did he ever get out?”

Professor Farryn looked thoughtful, raising his eyes back up to mine. He nodded. “But only because he had help. Exquisite help from two extremely powerful beings who had the ability to go into the underworld and return.”

“I thought you said the underworld was a place living people could not go,” said Liesl beside me.

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