The Hunt of the Grimalkin (Erresuma Book 1) by Dani Swanson (read aloud books txt) 📕

“I’m not sure,” Robin said with the sound of panic in her voice.

The girls paced the rooms and started to push on every window and even the walls. The windows were painted shut and the walls were solid stone.  There didn’t seem to be any way out.

“I could set the door on fire?” Thea stated as she started to create a fireball. Robin grabbed Thea’s arm and shook her flame out.

“You need Sorgin’s help in order to remember your abilities. I don’t think she’ll be willing to help you if you set her house on fire,” Robin said rationally, trying to calm Thea down.

“She locked us up in these rooms like we’re animals! Why would she do this?” Thea was starting to get louder while Robin got quieter. “I don’t like being forced to stay anywhere!” Robin started to hush Thea by putting her finger to her lips.

“Listen. Did you hear that?” Robin whispered. “There’s a scraping from behind that wall.” Robin’s voice was barely audible but Fig clearly heard the noise too; Thea couldn’t hear anything. Fig had his ears perked up and was over at the wall, sniffing at the floor board. The little cat followed the noise across the floor to the corner of the wall as it disappeared.

“I really don’t feel good about any of this.” Thea started to rub her temple. Robin went over to her bag and gave her some of the arrowroot dust tonic. “Thanks,” Thea said before she took a swig out of the bottle.

“Well, we’re at least stuck here for the night. We might as well settle in.” Robin said with a shrug. Thea was concerned by Robin’s lack of concern.

“We’re staying in the same room,” Thea answered back as she picked up Fig and walked into Robin’s room. The girls crawled into the soft fluff of the bed with Fig standing guard above their heads. Thea had the unsettling feeling that they were being watched. She ended up tossing and turning throughout the night without much actual sleep.

 As she lay there, Thea finally heard the scraping that the others had heard before. She got out of bed and walked over to the wall. The floor was icy on her bare feet as she walked on her tiptoes across the room. She pressed her ear up to wall below the portrait of some noble prince. The noise had stopped again, but Fig was now up and had followed Thea over to where she stood. He jumped up onto the bookcase next to her and meowed as he stared up on the painting.

“Shhhhh...” she hushed the cat as she was trying to listen. He meowed again and then stretched up the wall, trying to climb up to what caught his attention. Thea followed where the gaze of the cat was fixated. She looked up just in time to see the eyes of the portrait make eye contact with her and then the eyes flashed away; disappearing behind the wall. Thea’s blood curdling scream echoed through the massive chateau.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Robin jumped up from a dead sleep and ran over to Thea. “What?! Why are you screaming?” Thea pointed up to the painting.

“The eyes moved! Someone is watching us from the wall!” Thea snapped at Robin. The eyes of the painting were back to being the originals of the painting.

“You were dreaming. There is nothing wrong with that painting,” Robin said with a stretch and yawn.

Thea’s expression hardens as she looked back at Robin. “Give me a boost.” Thea started to climb up the wall. Robin rolled her eyes, bent down with cupped hands, and gave her a boost. Thea reached up to the eyes of the painting and poked them. The fillers holding the eyes in place fell backwards into the wall leaving two black gaping holes.

“See?! Someone is watching us!” Thea hissed in a hushed whisper.

“Seriously?” Robin questioned with fear in her voice. Thea grabbed Robin’s hand and swooped Fig up in her arm; they hustled over to Thea’s canopy bed and shut the curtains around them.

“We leave in the morning.” Thea said as she peered out through the curtain. “This is really flipping creepy.” Thea whispered.

They took turns sleeping through the night and were up, dressed, and ready to go when the sun came up the next morning. At eight o’clock they heard footsteps approach the doors, each lock clicked, and then footsteps retreating down the hallway. Thea opened door a crack, and peered out into the hall. It was empty in both directions.

“Let’s go!” she signaled back to Robin and Fig. They descended the stairs and were headed to the door.

Thea had her hands on the door knob when she heard Sorgin’s voice, “Leaving so soon?” Thea whipped around to face the old witch with her hand out on her side and ready to attack. “Oh, I don’t recommend that. I’m much stronger than you are,” she said, as she gestured to Thea’s hand.

“We don’t appreciate being locked in a room and spied on,” Thea had hatred in her voice. Robin was moving closer to the door.

“I have two strangers show up to my home and you expect me to trust you to run free, while I sleep?” Sorgin’s voice was cool as she leaned on her skull handled cane.

“I’ll manage learning magic on my own, thank you,” stated Thea as she opened the front door. Robin gave Sorgin a worried glance as she started to follow Thea outside.

The two young witches and the little orange cat made their way onto the lawn. As they were nearing the walking path to head back to Thea’s cabin, the sky turned grey and the air had an icy chill. Thea blew out her breath to be seen in billow of smoke. A gust of wind blew hard enough to blow