She screamed and tried to break free. At the last instant, Belle Z. Bug pulled the taco away.
“You really didn’t think I was going to give you a good one, did you?” Belle Z. Bug demanded. She bit off the end of the taco, and suddenly Ben realized that to a fly, the toxic taco really would taste good!
Ben looked up to the fly that guarded him. The poor thing was drooling. A great wad of spit plopped on Ben’s head.
Belle Z. Bug laughed and waved a hand. Suddenly a new taco magically appeared: one with a fresh handmade tortilla, crisp lettuce, tender slices of corn-fed beef, American cheese, and a zesty pepper salsa.
Belle Z. Bug grasped the taco and shoved it into Mona’s mouth. The flies all gasped and recoiled in horror.
Belle Z. Bug had made a terrible miscalculation, and Ben decided to act before she recognized it. The fly that was holding him had loosened his grip just enough so that Ben could slip free.
But he wasn’t free to go just anywhere. A billion flies surrounded him. He could never escape.
Maybe I can attack, he thought.
The necklace that Belle Z. Bug wore had caught his eye. Ben wasn’t just an ordinary mouse, he was a jumping mouse. More than that, he’d been human once, and he had been studying karate for years.
In a flash, Ben slipped free from his captor. The night air had cooled enough so that the flies moved more slowly, and Ben was able to get two great leaps in before the fly shouted and gave chase.
Two leaps was enough for a Pacific jumping mouse. Ben covered a dozen feet in a heartbeat, veered to his left to avoid the attacking fly, then leapt over his mother and launched himself feet first—right at Belle Z. Bug’s throat.
If he’d hit a human there, the kick would have crushed the victim’s larynx. It would have made the person’s throat swell closed, strangling the victim.
But a fly doesn’t have a larynx. A fly breathes through the pores in its carapace and can’t be strangled by normal means.
In fact, Ben’s kick didn’t have much effect at all, except that it broke the charm bracelet Belle Z. Bug wore as a necklace. The elastic string snapped, and charms went scattering everywhere across the deck of the ship.
In that instant, the fly’s face grew dull and dusty looking. Her hips grew wide, and a roll of cellulite bulged on her carapace. Her wings drooped like a pair of wilted leaves, and her mop lolled and hung like a sticky piece of taffy.
The flies all around Ben suddenly gasped.
“Ew,” one cried. “She’s old!”
“Ick,” another cried. “She’s disgusting!”
“Uh, you guys,” a third fly cried, “she’s dying.”
Sure enough, Belle Z. Bug fell to the ground and began to roll, as flies often will when they’re dying.
“My youth,” she cried. “My youth! You stole my youth!” The malevolent light that had glowed in her red eyes now began to die. One by one, each of the ten thousand facets in her eyes began to wink out like old light bulbs.
The audience of flies gaped in astonishment.
Lady Blackpool whirled. “Behold your leader!” she said. “Her beauty was a lie, just like her promises! It was not the makeup that made her beautiful but a cunningly wrought spell. All that she had was the beauty of her youth, and now you see her for what she really is!”
“Yuck,” the flies cried in horror as she aged. “I’m out of here!” one of the leaders said. “Let’s go down to Hollywood and walk around the Boulevard!”
With that, the flies all cheered. Their new leader leapt into the air, and clouds of flies rose up in a swarm and went racing toward Hollywood. Only a couple of the superflies remained, heads hanging dejectedly.
Belle Z. Bug lay on the ground, rolling a bit, then finally landed on her back, her legs waving uselessly in the air. Her eyes had gone blank, with only a couple of dim lights remaining.
Mona Ravenspell and Governor Shortzenbeggar got up and began massaging their wrists. The governor still had an extra fly’s head, along with a couple of fly arms and a pair of mismatched wings.
Amber the mouse just stared at the dying fly.
“I . . . don’t understand,” Amber said. “What happened? Did the governor’s poison finally kill her, or was it Lady Blackpool’s magic?”
“Time,” Lady Blackpool explained. “Time is killing her. Though mice and humans measure life in months and years, Belle Z. Bug was but a fly. A single day is all that she had to live—less than a day. She stored her youth in that necklace and kept it close. So long as it was on her, she could not grow old.
“But now her age has caught up with her, thanks to Ben,” Amber said.
Ben stood watching it all, feeling surprised. He had feared that the flies might try to take vengeance on him for killing their master.
He still wasn’t entirely sure how he had done it. He decided that he was lucky.
Belle Z. Bug turned her head, and her voice came out as a hiss. “I go now to meet the Master of Field and Fen,” she hissed, “and to gain my reward. Nothing can save me. But the Ever Shade is coming, and he shall grant you your reward,” she threatened. With smug satisfaction, she added, “and nothing can save you!”
Belle Z. Bug’s head dropped to the deck of the ship, and she fell silent. Her legs twitched.
It might take hours for her to die, Ben knew. He’d watched one die on the windowsill of his house once. Like a snake, the body of a fly keeps on kicking a little until the heat of the day leaves its body.
So the heroes sat for a bit to watch Belle Z. Bug die. It was a solemn occasion, a lonely vigil, and Ben did not speak. He felt that it was somehow improper or disrespectful.
Finally, one of the superflies, a fine bombardier fly, tilted its head toward Ben’s mom. “You will find your treasure inside the shell of the plane, there at the edge of the landfill. You’re welcome to it. We flies have no use for it.”
“Thank you,” Mona said.
The fly turned to Governor Shortzenbeggar. “You, sir, are the finest human on this planet. It was a pleasure defeating you. As your reward, I would like to suggest that you remain a fly. With just a few more alterations, you could become one of us. You would be a handsome specimen, I think . . .”
“That is a generous offer,” the governor said, “but I kind of like the idea of keeping the humans’ extended life span. No offense, but I don’t want to be dead by morning.”
The governor’s fly head swiveled around. “Hey, speak for yourself, buddy! Have you taken a good look in the mirror? You ain’t got nothin’ on me! I’m a real ladies’ man!”
The governor socked the fly head under the chin. The fly head bobbled back a little as it passed out.
Ben realized that the bombardier fly must be some kind of general or something.
“And now,” the bombardier fly said, “you are free to go!”
“Free?” Mona asked. “You’re just going to let us go free?”
The bombardier fly shrugged. “Humans make trash, and trash makes flies. There’s no value in giving you any extra grief.”
Ben wasn’t sure that he bought the giant fly’s argument. He suspected that it was scared. Two wizards and a vengeful governor are nothing to be toyed with.
Belle Z. Bug’s head now rested on the ground. The glowing red lights in her eyes had now nearly all extinguished, and her legs were curled up and folded in on themselves.
Ben’s mom came and picked up the mice and put them in her pocket. Then she and Governor Shortzenbeggar climbed down from the garbage mound, hand in hand, walking carefully over a carpet of dead flies lit by the candles that still burned all over the ship like funeral fires. They made their way to the airplane.
Ben sat thoughtfully in his mother’s pocket and felt something move near his foot. He peered down and spotted poor, wingless Serena crawling up beside him.
“Is it over?” the butterfly asked.
“Yes,” Amber said. “Belle is all but dead.”
“Wow, that’s a relief,” Serena s
aid. “You didn’t by chance happen to grab any extra fly-liner for me, did you?”
“No,” Ben said.
The group went to the plane, made their way inside, and turned on the emergency lights. As promised, they found all of their money still in the suitcases. The flies had taken all of the bottled water and sandwiches but had left them that.
Ben’s mom opened one of the trunks just to be sure, smiled at it kind of sadly, and said, “I wonder if Disneyland will be open tomorrow?”
“I don’t want to go anymore,” Ben said. “I’ve had all of the excitement I can handle.”
“Me too,” Amber said.
“Me three,” Serena agreed.
“Me four,” the governor chimed in. He took a look at his extra head and said, “and five!”
The group made their way back to the dump truck and drove a few miles until they found Ben’s dad and the CIA agents at their field office.
The CIA agents looked up at the governor in confusion. They couldn’t seem to decide whether to welcome him back or douse him with fly spray. “Uh, everything under control, sir?” one asked.
“Aye, aye,” Governor Shortzenbeggar said.
He shook hands and said good-bye to Ben’s mom and dad then shook Ben’s paw and Amber’s and Lady Blackpool’s.
“You’ll need some help to get rid of that extra head and appendages,” the old shrew told Governor Harold Shortzenbeggar. “I won’t be able to cast a spell for a few days, but I’d be happy to help you when I can.”
“Oh, thank you for the offer,” the governor said. “But I know plastic surgeons in Hollywood that can fix anything!”
The governor waved good-bye, and then a CIA agent gave the family a ride to a nice hotel in Malibu.
Ben wasn’t sure what to expect at the hotel. Crashed cars littered the freeway, and buildings were smoking from fires. It looked as if all of the state had gone on a riot. But when they got in the lobby, the desk clerk acted as if everything were normal.
“Can we check in?” Butch Ravenspell asked. “I mean, is it all right? Is everything okay?”
“There were some slight . . . irregularities earlier in the day,” the clerk said evasively. “But everything seems back to normal.”
Ben’s dad shoved a wad of money over for the night’s stay, and they went to their room. The room was very luxurious, with a hot tub and a big-screen television. The maids had shorted the sheets on the bed and stolen all of the toilet paper and the little chocolates that the guests were supposed to get, but otherwise everything seemed fine.
The whole family ordered dinner at a nice steakhouse down on the main floor of the hotel. Ben’s dad got a table right next to a movie star, Jackie Chan, but within minutes, the paparazzi were crawling all over the place, so the whole family was forced to go back to their room early.
Ben’s dad called a veterinarian in the phone book, and an animal doctor came right over. Using superglue, she was able to reattach Serena’s wings, and within minutes the butterfly was merrily flapping around the room, trying to drink nectar from the flowers in a landscape painting above the bed.
* * *
That night while Ben’s mom and dad slept, Amber, Lady Blackpool, and Ben had a little talk.
Amber said to Lady Blackpool, “I thought you were supposed to die tonight. I mean, I’m happy that you didn’t, but you seemed so sure . . .”
“I felt sure,” Lady Blackpool said. “I was certain that I would die. I have had this vision many times—me being carried to my death. In the vision, I was always certain that I would die. Let this be a lesson to you: dreams and visions might seem certain, but they can never be completely trusted.”
Amber seemed relieved. “Does that mean you’ll be able to take me to S.W.A.R.M.—now that you’re alive?”
“I suppose that since I lived out the day, I’ll have to do something,” Lady Blackpool agreed. “Yes, I’ll lead you to S.W.A.R.M. But first you must turn Ben back into a human and set him free.”
“I know,” Amber said. She sighed heavily. “Lady Blackpool, I have a question. If I turned myself into a human, could I still go to S.W.A.R.M.?”
Lady Blackpool wiggled her whiskers. “No. It’s for small animals only, I’m afraid.”
Amber glanced at Ben. He could tell that she wanted him to come with her, and he felt torn. He waited for her to ask once again, to beg, to reason. But her words surprised him: “I’m sorry that you’ll have to wait a few more days until I can turn you back into a human. I guess that now, with all that has happened, I’ve drained my powers even further.”
“That’s okay,” Ben said. “I’m getting kind of used to being a mouse.”
It was true—he was getting used to it—but Ben desperately longed to be human again. If nothing else, he wanted to look in the mirror and make sure he wasn’t growing facial hair.
But what about life after that? The Ever Shade was coming, and Amber would need to fight him. Ben didn’t want to be left out of that adventure, but he wanted to be human, too.
I can always ask my mom and dad for permission to go to S.W.A.R.M., he told himself. But he couldn’t imagine them letting him go, and the truth was that he was terrified to go—scared witless—because if he went to S.W.A.R.M., then it would be like enlisting in the army—enlisting to fight the Ever Shade. And if he didn’t go with Amber, that might be even worse, because it would be like quitting, like surrendering to the Ever Shade.
Ben was only sure of one thing. He wanted to be human again, if only for a while.
“In three days I’ll be human,” he told himself hopefully. “Just three more days . . .” But he could not hide from the fact that he knew he had to go to S.W.A.R.M.
Epilogue
By the time the Toad Warrior reached the landfill, everything was quiet and dark. Night had fallen, and a few dim stars shone. The candles of Belle Z. Bug’s tomb had all but burned out.
Max leapt up close to examine her cold, stiff body.
Overhead, the jets zipped, and in the distance, police sirens could be heard wailing. Max and his companions had found that escaping the police wasn’t hard to do. The toads had simply waited until their truck rounded a corner and then leapt out. A small spell kept the truck driving on down the highway, with all of the police cars giving chase.
Max studied Belle Z. Bug for a long moment. “You were a great leader,” he said to her cooling body. “The plan goes as it should, and the Ever Shade will be grateful. The flies that you raised shall feed my armies for weeks to come, and when your eggs hatch, your children will be fearsome warriors indeed.”
One of Belle Z. Bug’s legs twitched, and a single red light glowed like a coal in her faceted eyes.
“Most importantly,” the Toad Warrior added, “your power will now be mine!”
With that, he zipped out his tongue and grabbed Belle Z. Bug, swallowing her whole. She was huge, almost as large as him. But Max used his magical powers to suck her in.
Now, he thought, her magic will join with mine, making me stronger than ever! Let the world tremble and shake.
With that, the Toad Warrior let out a mighty croak—a croak so loud that it shook the earth.
Everywhere around the world, toads stopped in their hunts or crawled from their hiding places, eyes blinking, and set off immediately to join their evil master.
A Note From the Author
If you liked this book, do the author a favor and tell a friend!
There may soon be a movie going into production for Of Mice and Magic. You can find out the latest news about this and upcoming books from the series on the web at http:// www.benravenspell.com/
Other RAVENSPELL books by DAVID FARLAND
Of Mice and Magic
The Wizard of Ooze
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
THE BLACK LOTUS
Chapter 2
SHADOW OF EVER SHADE
Chapter 3
THE FRUITCAKE AND THE FLY
Chapter 4
/>
THE TOAD WARRIOR
Chapter 5
DAY OF PAPARAZZI
Chapter 6
THE MILLIONAIRE MOUSE CLUB
Chapter 7
EVIL FOMENTING
Chapter 8
MR. TOAD’S WILD RIDE
Chapter 9
REVELATIONS
Chapter 10
WORDS OF WARNING
Chapter 11
IN FLIGHT
Chapter 12
THE GORGEOUS GRUB CLUB
Chapter 13
THE UNLUCKIEST CHAPTER EVER
Chapter 14
LOST IN THE WILDERNESS
Chapter 15
OUT OF THE DESERT
Chapter 16
MUTAGENIC MIRACLES
Chapter 17
THE TROJAN GARBAGE TRUCK
Chapter 18
SUPERFLIES
Chapter 19
MANKIND’S LAST HOPE
Chapter 20
BEN TO MOM’S RESCUE
Chapter 21
LADY BLACKPOOL
Chapter 22
BELLE’S VICTORY BALL
Epilogue
A Note From the Author
Other RAVENSPELL books by DAVID FARLAND
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
THE BLACK LOTUS
Chapter 2
SHADOW OF EVER SHADE
Chapter 3
THE FRUITCAKE AND THE FLY
Chapter 4
THE TOAD WARRIOR
Chapter 5
DAY OF PAPARAZZI
Chapter 6
THE MILLIONAIRE MOUSE CLUB
Chapter 7
EVIL FOMENTING
Chapter 8
MR. TOAD’S WILD RIDE
Chapter 9
REVELATIONS
Chapter 10
WORDS OF WARNING
Chapter 11
IN FLIGHT
Chapter 12
THE GORGEOUS GRUB CLUB
Chapter 13
THE UNLUCKIEST CHAPTER EVER
Chapter 14
LOST IN THE WILDERNESS
Chapter 15
OUT OF THE DESERT
Chapter 16
MUTAGENIC MIRACLES
Freaky Fly Day Page 14