Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Author:Jessica Townsend
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Orion Children’s books
Published: 2020-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

They came from everywhere. Swarming out from the gaps between books, crawling up from storm drains and pouring from shelves in a monstrous, chittering tidal wave of wings and eyes and legs … so many legs. It was an infestation of many-legged, multi-coloured, chihuahua-sized—

‘BUGS!’ squealed Francis. ‘GIANT BUGS!’

‘Brilliant observation, Francis, cheers for that!’ Cadence shouted angrily. Beneath her usual ferocity, there was a note of terror that reflected how Morrigan felt – how they all felt. They had formed a tight circle and were facing outwards, eyes boggled at the encroaching plague.

‘Rosh, how dangerous are these things, exactly?’ asked Miss Cheery. She had dropped her pile of books and was holding her arms out, trying to protect Mahir and Thaddea, who were nearest to her.

‘To the books? I’d say … slightly dangerous?’

‘No, Rosh, to us!’

Roshni cringed. ‘Oh! Then I’d say … quite dangerous? Jagdish got a nasty bite on his ear during an outbreak last month and Elise lost half a pinky.’

‘Oh, terrific,’ said Miss Cheery. ‘So how do we fight them off?’

Morrigan could think of one way. She took a deep breath, hummed a few notes, then knelt on the ground and breathed a low, even line of fire towards the horde of insects. The rest of 919 threw their arms up to shield from the heat. In that moment it was hard to tell if the fear on their faces was because of the bugs or her, and she almost regretted acting on impulse … except that it had worked.

Just as she’d hoped, the bugs skittered backwards. However, they also seemed to become even more agitated, the keeeeeh-keeh-keeh noises suddenly louder and more urgent.

‘Marina, what is she doing?’ shrieked the librarian, stomping out the fire with her boots. ‘Is she mad?! Make her stop!’

Morrigan swallowed, and felt the flames die in her throat. ‘I just thought – I’m sorry, I just wanted to—’

‘Well, don’t. Get back!’

Miss Cheery grabbed Morrigan around the shoulders and pulled her back from the fire while Roshni extinguished it. ‘She was trying to help, Roshni.’

‘Yes, because starting a fire is a famously helpful thing to do IN A LIBRARY!’

‘Then what can we do?’ said Miss Cheery. ‘How do you stop these things?’

‘We have mechanical swatters,’ said Roshni, moving in a slow circle and keeping her eyes on the advancing bugs. ‘And tanks of foam laced with a pesticide that won’t hurt the books. But they’re all on the trucks.’ She pressed the button on her radio again. ‘Calling all brigades. Bookfighters, can you hear me?’ Nothing. ‘Librarians, are you there? Colin? Jagdish? Come ON!’ There was no sound but static. She groaned in frustration. ‘Right, all of you kids listen carefully. I need you to—’

She was interrupted by a piercing scream from Anah. An iridescent green insect the size of a shoebox had broken apart from the pack and was crawling up her leg, up her side, along her shoulder … the screaming intensified as it latched on to her hair, and Anah squeezed her eyes shut, waving her hands helplessly.

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