The Boxtrolls by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Author:Elizabeth Cody Kimmel [CODY KIMMEL, ELIZABETH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2014-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

There was a sudden babbling of excited voices, and Eggs realized that at the end of every chain there was a Boxtroll. “Books! Sparky! Knickers!”

The air filled with the sound of Boxtrolls calling out to him. And then another voice was added to the mix—a deep, hoarse, distinctly un-Boxtrollian voice.

“Eggs?”

Above his friends, Eggs saw a strange creature hanging upside down from one of the chains. He was very furry like a Boxtroll, but he had small pink ears and clawless hands like a Cheese Bit. Some of his face was pink, too, but the rest was covered by thatches of long fur on top of his head and around his mouth.

“Look, up there!” Snatcher shouted.

Eggs looked down and realized with dismay that Snatcher was pointing right at him.

Snatcher was staring intently at Eggs’s face, his eyes narrowed.

“What the—it can’t be! No! It’s not possible!” Snatcher exclaimed.

“Why, yes, he’s got our Boxtroll. Oy, you! Give it back!” Pickles called to Eggs.

Snatcher gave Pickles a vicious shove.

“Don’t just stand there—go and get him! Confuse him, frighten him!”

Gristle took off running while Trout ran to the levers in the factory floor. He gave one lever a yank, and the cage on which Eggs still had one of his feet jerked up into the air. Eggs glimpsed Fish tumbling out of sight into the air duct.

Trout slammed the lever the other way, and the cage, with Eggs, plummeted to the floor as the floor continued to close over the pit. Eggs barely had time to launch himself through the air and onto a rafter.

“You!” Snatcher bellowed. “Ten years, and now you show up?”

Beneath him, the precious upturned faces of his Boxtroll friends disappeared as the floor closed over the pit.

“Why are you doing this?” Eggs hollered. “Boxtrolls don’t hurt anyone. You’ve no right! You’ve got to let them go!”

“Because I need them!” Snatcher declared. “Those Boxtrolls are my ticket to a white hat!”

Pickles and Gristle were running back and forth, trying to sort out a plan of attack on Eggs. Pickles fumbled with the net gun, and Gristle leapt onto the nearest hanging cage.

“Going up, Trout!” Gristle yelled.

Trout nodded and threw another lever. The cage smoothly ascended to the rafters, and Gristle jumped onto one. He was just feet from Eggs now, surveying him and grinning wild-eyed. He held his bat in one hand.

“Batter up!” Gristle sang.

Eggs scampered across the rafter. Down below, Pickles was aiming the net gun directly at him.

“Shoot him! Shoot him, Pickles,” Snatcher bawled.

“I’m trying! Hey, you—could you stop moving for a minute?” Pickles called.

Eggs began to backtrack, but he found Gristle blocking his way, an ugly smile on his face. Gristle raised his bat at the same time Pickles aimed the gun and began to squeeze the trigger.

“I’m not going to let you kill the Boxtrolls!” Eggs called defiantly. “I’m not going to let you hurt my friends. I think you’re all evil!”

“Well, I don’t care what you think,” Snatcher snapped. “You’re not even supposed to be alive. The

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