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

a wooden box and had a couple of shovels sitting next to it. Thea looked inside to see the charred remains lying in a curled up heap, just as she had landed in the yard. The severed head had been carefully placed in a square glass display box, just as much of her collections had been. “That’s fitting.” Thea giggled, as she looked at the box. Fig jumped up on the table, and was sniffing the glass. “I wonder why Charles is keeping the head here, and not burying it with the body?” Thea asked out loud. Just then, Sorgin’s eyes open and the head began to scream.

Thea and Fig jumped back in fright landing on the couch. They stared at the screaming head in wonderment. Charles came running into the room and gave a sigh of relief when he saw it was Sorgin screaming, and not Thea.

He walked over and hit his fist on top of the glass case. “Quiet in there or I’ll cover you up again!”

The screaming immediately stopped and Sorgin looked up at Charles. “I want my body back,” the head spoke to him.

“It’s getting buried in the backyard today, you are not getting it back; you have done enough damage to all the creatures you have trapped here, in this house,” he spoke calmly to her.

Thea was still staring at the talking head and at Charles. “How is this possible?!” Thea asked over the bantering of the two. They stopped talking and both looked at her. Sorgin’s head started to cackle.

“She’s immortal. That’s why I had to cauterize her neck, so she couldn’t grow her body back. She’s only half witch, her other half is an imp. That is why she’s so powerful and also, why she has this obsession with collecting things and making deals of trade. People always end up owing her more than what they had agreed upon.”

“An imp? Really? Is anyone human around here?” Charles pointed at himself, but Thea continued ranting at the severed head. “Sorgin, how do I get everyone out of their prisons you put them into?” Thea had her face down to Sorgin’s eye level.

The head smiled back at her. “Prison? It’s not a prison. I am keeping them safe, just as I have kept you two safe,” she said as she glanced at the cat. “The Crow Witch could have easily destroyed you, or this house without me protecting it…protecting you. You see me as evil, when all I was doing was protecting you from being killed.” Sorgin said with a sickly sweet smile.

“The things you have locked up in your collection don’t see it that way Sorgin; we have to let them leave. Where are your keys, and how do I break the curses on the seals?” Thea was speaking very calmly as she was talking. However, her head was pounding and she was getting annoyed.

“She won’t give the keys up. She always pulled them out of her apron when she wanted me to go somewhere and then controlled me to give them right back to her.” He said as he pointed down to his wrist.

“I am stronger than you, even without my body. Death is what makes all men equal, and I cannot die. That makes me stronger than you.” As Sorgin laughed, she tilted her head back as far as it would go on the little stub of her neck. Thea caught a glimpse of something shiny in her hair.

“Charles, did you see that?” Thea said as she pointed at the head.

Sorgin stopped mid laugh and had a very surprised look on her face. “See what?” Sorgin asked before Charles did.

“Does she have something in her hair?” Charles asked mischievously. He walked over to the case and lifted the glass.

“LEAVE ME ALONE! DON’T TOUCH ME!” Sorgin started to yell as she made a chomping motion towards their hands.

“Hold still. You’re not so powerful without your hands, now, are you?” Charles said mockingly as he steadied the head on either side by her ears. “There you go Thea, I’ve got her.” Thea reached into the dirty, greasy bun of Sorgin’s hair and pulled out a little copper key. The head continued to scream in protest.

“I wonder what this unlocks.” Thea said to the head, as Charles was putting her back in the case.

“LEAVE MY THINGS ALONE!” Sorgin cried. “THEY ARE MY PRETTY THINGS, NOT YOURS!”

Thea examined the key, having a pretty good idea of where it would fit. “Charles, I think I am moving in the right direction today, “

“I wheeled Agatha down to the kitchen and she is working on a brew, well, as best she can. I am going to go out back and dispose of this mess.” His voice got louder at the end to ensure that the head heard him. Sorgin glared at them both from her case. “I’ll make you ladies some lunch after a while.”

Thea climbed the stairs to Sorgin’s bedroom. The key fit, and the door unlocked. There was a glimmer of blue as the spell on the door shimmered away. “Was it really that easy?” she asked Fig. The two looked at each other for a moment. She took a deep breath and held it, as she pushed the doors open.

The room was gorgeous, from the canopy bed, to the hand woven rugs, and the stain glass on the windows. Thea slowly walked in and started to look at all the shelves. One wall was ceiling to floor tea cups with different little flowers painted on the front. Each one had a little paper tag attached to it with a date written on it. “She really did keep good records on where she got things.” Thea said as she picked up a cup to examine it. Across the room there was another shelf that was filled with children’s fairy tales from all over the