Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

own frightened eyes.Hovering above the two, she waved her smoke-likevaporous arms through the mist-fogged air.

In seconds, using the mist and fog to aid her, shecreated the images of volcanic mountains erupting; theboys just stared helplessly.

Then noticing the pumpkin laying nearby, next toJonathon, the witch swirled her nightmarish formtowards it; her hands grasping for it. She let out a gaspas her hands passed through the pumpkin like a breathof wind passing through the air itself—she couldn’tconnect with it! She then tried to pick up Jonathon, buther spirit’s form passed through him, too.

In a fit of anger she let loose a howl that wasboth dark and horrifying. Jonathon and Haley felt theirbodies shake with the sound. Stones from the canyoncave pockets loosened and fell about the riverbed.

Nearby, Tabitha clawed her way upwards fromthe bottom of the large crevice where she had taken atumble; her body ached from the fall. She heard thehowl as it shook the canyon walls terribly; and then allwent quiet again. Struggling to see in the almost pitchdark, she continued climbing upward, fearfully wondering all the while what was happening to Jonathon andHaley.

The witch continued to hover above the boys, herfigure swirling back and forth as if contemplating whatto do now that she could not grasp anything. Butbefore she could decide, vapor trails of movementcaught her attention. All at once, ghostly forms begandescending quickly down towards the party from thecanyon cave pockets.

Jonathon was the first to see the forms zoomingin towards them; his heart seemed to stop altogether.The stone trader ghosts! he thought. They came withina few feet of the witch and began a circling vortexaround her form. Jonathon could see her face contort inmaddening alarm at this old enemy of hers.

Tabitha had made it to the edge of the crevice justas the vortex of the trader ghosts picked up speed. Shenow saw the witch—her mother’s former master! shethought with alarm. The witch seemed doomed to thestone trader ghosts’ own magic, once again!

But just when it looked as if the witch had mether fate, yet again, the unbelievable happened. Thewitch, it seemed, had created a spell of sorts thatreversed the fateful vortex of the ghosts. They wereinstantly flung far from the witch in all directions, oneeven whistling over Tabitha’s head where she hid. Sheturned to see it pass, but lost it to the darkness in thecrevice.

Within moments the other ghosts were disappearing, fleeing back into the cave pockets above. All buttwo of them. These two unfortunate ghosts werequickly brought back into the hold of the witch’s spell.They zoomed in close to the her, held under herresurrected and strengthened, dark power.

The witch let loose an awful laugh.

Tabitha witnessed in horror as the witch cast theghosts into the paralyzed bodies of Jonathon and Haley.Frozen with fear, she could only watch as the witchthen motioned her now possessed friends upwards offthe ground; they seemed like puppets being lifted byinvisible strings.

Jonathon and Haley now stood immobile in frontof the ghastly witch, their eyes vacant and blackened.Tabitha felt her heart beating so fast she thought it wasgoing to leap out of her body. And then the witch spokein a most unearthly and hollowed tone of voice. Herwords were sharp, yet they had the feel of sandpapergrating finely over an iron anvil.

“With my power holding sway over you two, Ishall now exact my revenge upon this forsaken realm!”she hauntingly hissed. “With this sacred pumpkin, youso thankfully uprooted,” she said as she raised thepumpkin into the air with another wave of her hands,“you shall deliver my magic to the Land of Iron andAnvil—as well as to the realm!”

The ghosts were now under control of the witch,within the bodies of Jonathon and Haley. They bothbowed to the witch, accepting what she had told them.Tabitha remained fixated, her fingers clenching theedge of the crevice as her eyes peered over to this newmadness. She then saw Jonathon lift his hands up totake the pumpkin into his grasp. The witch, once more,summoned from the fog-laden air the images of thevolcanic mountains erupting.

The volcano iron mines! Tabitha thought, nowbeginning to understand just what the witch intended.

“You will travel here,” the witch crowed, flashingthe swirling imagery of the volcano mines before theeyes of the possessed boys, “to the southern realm.Here you shall deliver the seeds of this pumpkin intothe molten lava pits brewing inside the heart of thedormant volcano mountains!”

Oh no! She is going to destroy our home with herevil magic! Tabitha’s mind screamed. And it will bewith that wretched old pumpkin of hers!

The witch then motioned the two spell-capturedghosts, that now had possession of the boys, to moveout. They traveled with remarkable speed, seeminglyfloating from stone to stone, as they journeyed from thenarrows of the shaded canyons.

Tabitha remained spellbound, watching as herbest friends departed; leaving her alone with only theancient dead ghosts and the evil witch. She shivered,her mind reeling in fear and her body frigid from thecold-still air.

Just stay calm; just stay focused, Tabitha! shetold herself. I will get out of here alive! I have to warneveryone of the witch’s return and the spell!

As the boys vanished from her sight in thedistance and the ever-increasing fog, Tabitha turned hergaze back to the witch. Still hovering nearby, the witchfinally turned and floated towards the burial hole fromwhere she had risen.

Suddenly the witch twisted her gaze towardsTabitha’s spot. Tabitha felt her heart stop, and she losther grip on the edge of the crevice; her body slid a bitnoisily back down into the dark.

For what seemed like an eternity, Tabitha lay flatand still on a ledge. She did not move a muscle andcovered her mouth in case she should scream out. Shecould hear the witch drawing near, the sound of anawful hissing seemed to creep closer to the crevice’sedge.

Then without any warning, Tabitha felt apresence overwhelm her. A stone trader ghost! shethought, feeling certain of it.

“Stay put, do not fear me…” The ghost spokeinside her mind, very softly. Tabitha felt a breath ofcalm wash over her