CLANG! A flying horseshoe struck it on the side of the head, stunning it. Tavish swung with his arm and the Bear-Thing went sprawling off him. The pull of the portal caught it, but this monster was larger than the rest. It dug its claws into the stone floor, and slowly, slowly, centimetre by centimetre, it began to crawl towards Ben and the others.
The building around them was shaking itself apart as the whirlpool began sucking the stones from the walls. Ben and the others still had their grip on Tavish’s machine, but they couldn’t hold on forever, and the Bear-Thing was closing in.
Struggling with all his strength against the pull of the portal, Ben reached a hand up until he found a lever. “Hey, ugly,” he yelled, yanking the handle down. “Breakfast is served!”
From inside the machine there came a surprised cluck. A split-second later, an egg was fired out at high-speed from somewhere within the machine. With the portal pulling on it, the egg travelled even faster than before. There was a loud boom as the egg became the first in history to break the sound barrier.
It exploded in a shower of shell and hot yolk against the Bear-Thing’s head, and that was all it took for the monster to lose its grip. It flailed and flapped for not much time at all, and then through the portal it went.
“They’re gone!” Wesley yelped.
“We’re saved!” cheered the mayor.
“But how do I turn it off?” Ben cried. The howling of the wind whipped his words away, and the entire Automated Breakfast Producing Device began to tremble and shake.
Wesley’s face went pale. “I forgot to check!”
“Well, check now!” said Paradise.
Wesley fumbled up his sleeve, and found the book, only for it to be torn from his grip and pulled through the portal. “Oops,” he whimpered. “Butterfingers.”
The whirlpool began spinning faster. They all cried out in fright as their feet were pulled towards the hole, and their grips on the machine began to slip. “Try the same button again!” Wesley screamed, but Ben was holding on with both hands and couldn’t reach the back of the glove.
“I have to let go,” he announced.
“No!” gasped Tavish.
“Ben, don’t!” Paradise cried, but it was too late. Ben opened his fingers and the portal caught him. He tumbled towards it, end over end, spinning and flipping as he fumbled his fingers over the back of the gauntlet, searching frantically for the button that would…
SHOOM!
With a final flickering flare-up, the whirlpool vanished. Ben clattered to the floor, bounced on his head, then rolled to a stop just where the portal had been.
For a moment, there was no sound in the room but the breathing of its five occupants. It was the Mayor of Loosh who finally broke the silence.
“Well,” he breathed. “What an eventful day that was.”
He opened his arms and Paradise threw hers around him in a hug.
“I knew you’d find me,” the mayor said. “Even when I was down there with those things, I knew you’d find me.”
“Why didn’t they eat you?” Ben wondered.
“Do you know,” said the mayor brightly, “I didn’t think to ask?”
“And why were they coming here? Why were they digging into my basement?”
“Ah, now that I did ask them,” replied the mayor.
“And?” said Ben. “What did they say?”
The mayor scratched his head. “If I recall correctly it was ‘grrr raaar hsss grrr’. Or words to that effect.” He smiled broadly. “Don’t worry about it, my boy. You’ve stopped them. It’s over.”
Tavish sat up suddenly. He took one look at the ruined remains of his house, then lay back down again, groaning.
“Oh, you poor chap,” said the mayor. “Here, let me help you.”
He rushed to the blacksmith’s side, leaving Paradise with the two boys. “So … thanks,” she said to Ben. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You can say that again,” Ben agreed.
Paradise glared at him. “Don’t push it,” she said. “Now I think about it, Wesley was probably more help than you were.”
“Really?” asked Wesley, perking up.
“And all he did was magic up a bit of custard.”
Wesley’s shoulder sagged again. “I did warn you. Less magical ability than a sandwich.”
“Hey, maybe not,” said Ben. He stooped down and picked up a small metal box from among the debris on the floor.
“What’s that thing?” asked Wesley cautiously.
Ben pointed one of the rectangular box’s narrow ends at Wesley. “It’s a magic detector,” he explained. “One bloop means you’re magic, two bloops means you’re really magic.”
“Three bloops means we’re all about to die,” Paradise added.
“It’ll be three bloops then,” said Wesley glumly. “Bound to be.”
They all watched the box and waited.
And waited.
“Nothing. See, told you, I’m not magic,” said Wesley, but then the end of the box flipped open, and the model bird popped out on its spring. The bird sat there for a while, trembling slightly.
A moment later, it went ptwing.
A moment after that, its head exploded.
“Wh-what does that mean?” Wesley fretted.
Ben shrugged, then clapped his new friend on the shoulder. “No idea,” he said, “but I bet it’s going to be a lot of fun finding out.”
Paradise gave them both a nod. “Well, I’ll see you, I suppose.”
“See you,” Ben said.
“Hopefully not too soon,” Paradise added.
Ben smiled. “Just what I was thinking.”
Paradise looked down at the mayor, who seemed to be just finishing up a conversation with Tavish. “Are we ready to go?”
“Go?” the mayor replied. “Go? Oh my goodness, no! Mr Tavish and I have been talking, and what with Loosh being in ruins, we’re all going to need somewhere to live.”
Paradise and Ben exchanged a glance. They both had a feeling they knew where this was going.
“So they’re all going to come and stay here,” said Tavish, letting the mayor help him to his feet. “The people of Loosh will move to Lump.”
“Isn’t it wonderful!” the mayor announced. “All of us together, like one big happy family!”
“Um … great,” said Ben.
“Terrific,” said Paradise.
The mayor put a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Mind if I have a word, young Benjamin?” he asked, steering Ben away from the others. When they were out of earshot, the mayor took Ben’s hand and shook it. “You saved me today,” he said. “You saved everyone.”
“I didn’t really do that much,” replied Ben.
“Nonsense,” the mayor said. He leaned in closer and lowered his voice a little. “Your parents would be proud.”
Ben blinked in surprise. “You knew my parents?”
The mayor held his gaze for a while, then leaned back and shook his head. “I just meant … whoever they are. Whatever happened to them. They would have been proud.”
He continued to look Ben in the eye, but gave a little nod of his head. “Nice glove, by the way. Very useful. Tell me … where did you get it?”
“Tavish found it,” Ben said. “He found it with me when I was a baby.”
“Ah,” said the mayor. “In the wreckage?”
Ben began to nod, but then he stopped himself. “How did you know that? I didn’t say anything about any wreckage.”
“Oh no,” said the mayor, “neither you did.” He winked and smiled, then sauntered back over to continue his chat with Tavish. Ben watched the mayor for a while, then looked across his half-ruined home, to where Paradise and Wesley were trying to repair the magic detector. He stared down at his gauntlet and a tiny tickle tingled along his fingertips.
As he walked over to join his new friends, Ben couldn’t shake the feeling that, after today, life was about to get a whole lot more interesting.
&nb
sp; Copyright
FOR MUM. Off on the last great adventure. B.H.
THE SHARK-HEADED BEAR-THING
First published in the UK in 2015 by Nosy Crow Ltd
The Crow’s Nest, 10a Lant Street
London SE1 1QR, UK
This ebook edition first published in 2015
Nosy Crow and associated logos are trademarks and / or registered trademarks of Nosy Crow Ltd
Text copyright © Barry Hutchison, 2015
Cover illustration © Chris Mould, 2015
The right of Barry Hutchison and Chris Mould to be identified as the author and illustrator respectively of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
All rights reserved.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogues are products of the author's imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblence to actual people, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978 0 85763 270 8
www.nosycrow.com
If you liked Benjamin Blank’s first adventure…
…then keep a beady eye out for his next one…
It’s a real monster!
The Shark-Headed Bear-Thing Page 7