His voice tailed off as the money on the ground suddenly lifted in the air and whirled around them like it was on a spin cycle. Max’s robes whipped about him and Liah leaned against Buttercup to stop herself being blown off her feet. Faster and faster the tornado whirled, until all of the money, including the briefcase was spinning around them.
‘No!’ shrieked Greg as the wads of money were torn from his hands to join the rest.
Suddenly the money burst into flames and almost instantly turned to ash. The wind disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived leaving small piles of smouldering dust. ‘The money,’ Greg whimpered. ‘It’s all gone.’ He dropped to his knees, too caught up in his grief over the burned cash to notice he was being observed by a seven-foot-tall skeleton.
Max stared down at his dad. How did I ever think he was cool? ‘You know,’ he said carefully, ‘bad things happen in life. What makes you a man is learning to deal with them.’
Death stepped forward. ‘It is time,’ he boomed. Raising his scythe he cracked the handle into the ground three times. Instantly the whirlwind returned, whipping around the group in a fury.
‘Max,’ his father cried, his voice sounding more and more distant. ‘I’m sorry.’
* * *
Moments later, Liah, Death, Max and Buttercup were standing in Death’s throne room, where Mopsus was waiting holding a scroll.
‘You did it,’ he congratulated Max. ‘You destroyed the elixir. I never doubted you.’
‘Liah was the one who destroyed it,’ Max said, holding back the information that she had, for a short while, been prepared to use it to bring Tom back to life.
Liah shot him a grateful look.
‘Yes.’ Death sat down on his throne and drummed his fingers against the armrests. ‘How exactly did you end up in the Overworld, Liah, when you were supposed to be in the kitchen?’
Liah shifted from one foot to another. ‘I, uh…’
‘I accidentally left the door open,’ Max interrupted. ‘She must have gone into the cupboard looking for a mop and come out in Crete. What a shocker! Um. That reminds me – you might want to check the broom cupboard and see if anyone else has … er … accidentally got lost in there.’
Mopsus raised his bushy eyebrows. ‘Is there something you’re not telling us, assistant?’
The very picture of innocence, Max shrugged. ‘Nothing that I can think of.’
‘I think…’ Death stood up and walked across to Liah. ‘…you have served your time in my kitchen.’
Liah’s eyes flickered nervously. ‘If I’m not going to be in the kitchen then – where am I going to work?’
Death swung his scythe so that the glowing blade rested gently against her chest. ‘Many people think they can cheat Death but they never can.’ He leaned closer to Liah. ‘I always catch up with them. Understand?’
Liah licked her lips nervously. ‘I understand,’ she whispered.
Max took a step forward. If Death wanted to take Liah’s life because the elixir had been used to save her, then he’d have to get past Max first.
A gnarled hand shot out and grasped Max’s wrist. ‘What are you planning on doing?’ Mopsus asked with a maggoty smile. ‘Offering to play another game?’ He tightened his grip. ‘Don’t go jumping in with your size fives again.’
‘Sixes,’ Max whispered.
‘Mopsus,’ Death said without taking his gaze off Liah.
‘Yes Master Reaper?’
‘Give the boy his contract.’
Mopsus winked at Max and handed him the scroll. ‘Your job here is done. You are free to go.’
Max’s spirits soared. Amy was safe, and he could go home! He’d never wanted anything more. Then they plummeted again. He couldn’t leave Liah, not without knowing she was safe.
Death held out his hand. ‘Give me your robes.’
Slowly Max pulled his robes over his head. He handed them over, along with the whistle, cap and belt.
For a moment he was distracted by a bark and a scrabbling of paws. A familiar-looking dog scampered up, his plumy tail wagging. He grabbed the bottom of Death’s robes and tugged on them, making playful growling noises.
‘It’s Larry’s dog!’ Max said in surprise. ‘What’s he doing down here?’ Then he noticed that the dog had the same opaque shimmering outline as Tom. ‘He’s dead?’ He looked up in shock. ‘How? I thought the elixir brought him back to life?’
‘As I said,’ the Grim Reaper intoned. ‘Death cannot be cheated.’ He let his hand rest briefly on the dog’s head. ‘And I rather fancied a one-headed dog to keep me company.’
He stepped towards Liah. Her eyes widened as he stretched out his hands. ‘Take them.’ He nodded at the robes.
‘You want me to p-p-put them back in the catacombs?’ she stammered.
‘I want you to put them on. I’m in need of a new assistant. Mopsus has decided he has something of a knack for haute cuisine and will take over the kitchen. He has resigned as my personal assistant.’
Liah’s mouth opened. ‘You want me to be your assistant? I thought…’
‘I know what you thought. Would you prefer to join your fiancé?’
‘Ex-fiancé.’ Liah tossed her hair over her shoulder.
‘Ah yes, your ex-fiancé. Your second task will be to extricate him from the broom cupboard and escort him back to where he belongs.’
‘And my first task?’ Liah asked.
Death glanced at Max. ‘To take this young man back to where he belongs.’
* * *
Max looked at the light spilling from the living room window. Through a chink in the curtains he could see his mother kneeling by the Christmas tree. She took a brightly wrapped parcel and handed it to Amy who was sitting alongside David on the sofa.
It’s Christmas Day! He longed to be in there with them, to be a part of it all, rather than an outsider with his nose pressed up against a pane of freezing glass.
‘Well, I guess this is goodbye,’ Liah said.
Max nodded. ‘So, Death’s assistant huh?’
‘Yeah.’ Liah plucked at her robes. ‘Although these are going to have to go. I don’t care if wearing them gives me authority in the Underworld. They clash with my hair and do nothing for my figure.’
Max grinned. ‘I’m glad you’re not dead.’
‘Thanks to you.’ Liah suddenly threw her arms around him. ‘I hope I don’t see you in a very long time,’ she whispered. Her eyes looked suspiciously bright as she stepped back and withdrew the key from her pocket. She inserted it into the front door, turned it and stepped through without a backward glance.
The door clicked shut. Max waited a moment before inserting his own key and stepping into the hall. ‘I’m back,’ he shouted out. ‘Mum, Amy, Dav… Dad. I’m home!’
The Twins, the Ghost and the Castle
Paul Mason
“The castle had a secret. They were not alone.”
Two abandoned children make their home in
a castle – which is haunted by the Duke of
Wellington! The spook helps them hide from the
castle’s caretaker. But when developers want to turn
their home into a spa, everyone who loves the castle
must band together to save the day.
£4.99 ISBN 9781408176269
The Gorgle
Emma Fischel
“We’re not safe. Not in here. Not anywhere.”
Finn didn’t want, to move to the spooky old house in the
first place. And then he sees the THING in the wardrobe.
It’s a Gorgle. A ten-foot tall nightmare.
It’s awake. It’s hungry.
And nobody else believes it exists …
£4.99 ISBN 9781408174135
This electronic edition published in August 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing
Copyright © 2013 A & C Black
Text copyright © 2013 Beth Chambers
Illustrations copyright © Warwick Johnson Cadwell 2013
> First published 2013 by A & C Black,
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square,
London, WC1B 3DP
www.bloomsbury.com
The right of Beth Chambers and Warwick Johnson Cadwell to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.
eISBN: 978-1-4081-8042-6
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Dicing with Death Page 7