Wrath of the Grinning Ghost by John Bellairs

Author:John Bellairs
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 1999-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Johnny pulled the thunderbird amulet out of his shirt. It swung on its leather thong as if it were alive. "Take off this rope!" ordered Brewster's irritable voice. "Then I might be able to help!"

The rawhide strip ran through a clip behind the thunderbird's head. Johnny untied the knot and pulled it through and, as soon as it was off the thong, the little carved wooden bird rose into the air and hovered above them. The professor said, "All right, you poor excuse for an antediluvian deity, where is this blasted book?"

"How should I know, Whiskers?" shot back Brewster. "This is your world, not mine! By the way, how am I coming through?"

"Loud an' clear," said Fergie. "Say, how come you weren't able to talk to us before?"

"Dark forces are working against me!" said Brewster, making his voice sound mysterious. "Forces on my side as well as on the earthly side! Besides, it helps if there is a focus of power on the earth. If Fuzz-Face here hadn't sent my statuette back to ancient Egypt, it would be no sweat. As it is, I have to make do with this foreign carving!"

Professor Childermass snorted. "Look, you frustrating fowl, I tried to get in touch with you through a replica of your figurine. Why didn't you cooperate then, eh?"

The little carved thunderbird jittered in the air. In an agitated voice, Brewster said, "That was a fake, and you know it! It wasn't a real temple figure at all, just an—an unreasonable facsimile thereof! For the trick to work, somebody who believes in me had to create the figure! And the gumps who worked in that factory in Grover's Mill didn't believe in much of anything beyond a weekly pay envelope!"

"Hang on, Feathers. Whoever carved this thunderbird pendant didn't believe in you either," said Fergie sarcastically. "They were Cheyenne or Sioux or something, not Egyptians. They never heard of Horus!"

The thunderbird image spun to face him. "It was me, anyway!" Brewster declared. "I was the thunderbird, just as I was Horus! After all," he added, sounding temperamental, "when the Egyptians stopped believing in me, I still had to work, didn't I? So I got a job as the thunderbird to tide me over!"

"Please," said Johnny, "let's not waste any more time.

We have to find that book! Brewster, is it around here? Can you give us a clue?"

"A clue?" asked Brewster. "You mean like saying, 'You're getting warmer'? Sorry. I'm on this side and you're on that side, and just as you can't see the spirit world, I really can't see your world. All I can tell you is that unless someone has moved it, the cursed thing is still in that house. Be careful! It's more like a live creature than a book, and it has soaked up a lot of evil. It may be tricky! Now go scatter and find it! And let me know when you have! Whoosh! I have to rest now!" The floating bird figure dropped to the floor as if someone had cut an invisible string.

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