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

front yard. He stopped and looked back at the girls. “Wait here,” he said with authority.

Thea looked back at Agatha and raised her eyebrows at her. Thea wasn’t going to stay put. “Let the fairies out.” She gave Agatha the bottle back. Thea followed Charles to the front door. They peered out the window to see the outline of a woman standing by the lake. The Crow Witch had returned and was throwing fireballs towards the house as she cackled at the sky.

“I want my eyeball back!” Charles said, about to charge out the door. Thea grab him by the elbow.

“Wait. Look.” Thea pointed outside. The fireballs were hitting a force field about eight feet in front of the house.

Thea could hear Sorgin laughing again from the sitting room. “Do you see? How naive you are to think that I’m hurting you, when I’m protecting you from her! You can leave, but then you will have to face the Crow Witch!” Her laughter filled the entire chateau as it echoed down each of the halls.

“She’s right. If we leave here, we’ll have to face them.” Thea was looking out of the open door and could see silhouettes of ten other witches surrounding the lake.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Thea shut the door and headed back into the sitting room. She watched Agatha carefully put a little drop of her blue mixture on the door to each lantern. The little fairies flew up, one by one, and were ecstatic to be out of their prisons. One purple fairy with golden wings flew over to Sorgin’s head and spit at her. The fairies all flew over to the door quickly; they were ready to leave.

“The witches are out there.” Agatha warned them as they were fluttering together.

“Yeah? There’re witches in here, what’s your point?!” The black winged fairy flung his arm up and the front door flew open. He flew out the door with purpose and left the protected area of the house. The witches by the lake used him as target practice once he got past the eight-foot mark of the front stoop. Thalia hit him head on with a thunderbolt and he exploded into pixie dust. The rest of the fairies halted and returned to the safety of the house.

“Sorgin is just taking care of you, my sweet little collection. I don’t want to hurt you; I just want to love you!” the imp head cooed to the fairies before she started to cackle again.

“I think the rest of you better stay here for a while until we figure this out,” Thea said as she shut the front door.

“I only have a few drops left! We are saving them for Robin, when we find her in this prison!” Agatha held the little bottle against her chest. “I made it! It’s mine!”

Thea plopped down on the couch next to Fig and just stared at Agatha.

“You can barely stand, and you think you could keep that from me?” Charles said with a chuckle.

Thea started to rub her temple. “Stop.” she said quietly, but the two continued to bicker at each other.

“Stop,” she said a little bit louder, but they continued to poke at each other. The fairies had now started to fight amongst themselves as well; it was obvious that they were all from different kingdoms and didn’t seem to get along with each other.

“STOP!” Thea finally yelled at the group. The room went silent except for the snickering of Sorgin’s head from her glass case. “First off, Agatha, give me some arrowroot tonic,” she said with her hand out. Agatha reached into her bag and handed her a bottle. Thea took a sip of it and then looked around the room at the rest of them. “We are not going to be staying here for long, but we have to work together. We can make more of that potion, Agatha, I bet she has a banshee here, or the tears of one.” Sorgin’s face became very serious, as if she wasn’t trying to give anything away. “I know there is a unicorn in the barn. We just have to find the man that tends the creatures, or, the right key for the barn. We will free both your brother,” to Charles, “and your sister,” to Agatha, “as well as everyone else in this place.” She took another sip of her tonic. “Fairies…stop fighting. Can’t you see she is enjoying that?” Thea asked as she motioned to the head. “We will get you out of here without being attacked by the witches outside, but you will need to help us get everyone out. There are only eleven of them. Who knows how many creatures we have in here?”

Thea got up and walked over to Agatha, and put her hands on her shoulders. She began to feel the electricity soar through her fingers as she felt the injury come out of Agatha’s body and into her own. She felt light headed and sat back down on the couch. “You don’t deserve that, but I need you healthy so you work faster.” Thea glared at the lying girl.

Charles took the keys with the fairies and headed down the hall to the back door. It took almost two hours, but he finally found a key that fit the lock for the barn. Inside there were animals of all shapes and sizes with black collars around their necks. The man that Thea had seen tending to the animals, wasn’t a man at all, but, was gnome; he was inside the barn as well. Charles went over to him and let him released him first.

“What is your name?” he asked; he was bent down on one knee.

“Boog,” he replied softly, in a gravelly voice.

 The little gnome had a scruffy beard that was full of black