Moon-Faced Ghoul-Thing

by Barry Hutchison

  “How do we stop it?” Ben demanded.

  “I’ll never tell you!” Mr Nuttendudge cried. Ben pointed the sword at his throat. “OK, OK, I’ll talk! No need to get nasty.”

  The goblin took a deep breath. “There’s just one spell you can use to stop it. One incantation you need to say. Ready? What you need to say is—”

  An enormous black rock fell from the sky, squishing Mr Nuttendudge flat. Ben, Paradise and Wesley leaped back, just as five more of the boulders slammed into the ground around them.

  One by one the stones unfolded, becoming large rock creatures before the children’s eyes.

  “That’s not good,” Ben gulped.

  “What do we do?” asked Paradise.

  Ben puffed out his cheeks. “I’m at a bit of a loss,” he admitted. “Run away?”

  “No.”

  Ben and Paradise turned in disbelief to Wesley. “Did you just vote against running away?” Paradise asked.

  Energy crackled from Wes’s fingertips. “I can feel it,” he said in a whisper. “All the magic in all the worlds. I can feel it.”

  “It’s too much,” said Ben, backing away from the rock creatures. “It could make you blow up.”

  Wesley gazed up at the holes in the sky. Other shapes were already tumbling through into Goonderslarg. “No. I can control it. I can close the holes,” he said. “I can send them all back. I just need a minute.”

  “Not sure we have a minute,” said Paradise. The rock-headed rock-things were closing in a circle. Any second now, they’d be upon them.

  “Keep them busy,” said Wesley, and with a sweep of his arm he drifted straight up into the sky.

  Ben and Paradise watched him go. “‘Keep them busy,’ he says,” Ben sighed. He tightened his grip on the sword and eyed up the monsters around him. They were each over three metres high, with fists like solid slabs.

  “I’ll take the one on the left,” Ben said, standing back to back with Paradise. “You take the other five.”

  “Sounds fair,” Paradise said.

  Ben smiled, but it didn’t last long. “I’m sorry,” he said.

  “This is all my fault.”

  “Oh, stop going on about it,” Paradise said. “You made a mistake. We forgive you, OK?”

  The closest rock creature raised its arms and stepped closer. Ben swung with his sword at its leg. The blade struck the stone with a bdoing and Ben felt his whole body vibrate.

  “Ow-w-w-w-w-w!” Paradise dragged him back. They stumbled and fell together on to the sand.

  A rock-thing loomed above them and the children braced themselves for the end.

  A tiny ball of flame burst against the creature’s face. It shook its head, irritated, just as three more little fireballs exploded on the side of its neck.

  Paradise and Ben scrambled to their feet. Something reddish-pink and bull-sized bounded across the sand, spraying pellets of fire from its throat. The rock-things hissed and swatted at the flames as Paradise squealed in delight.

  “Burnie!”

  There was a sonic boom from overhead. The clouds swept aside as bolts of electric-blue power snaked from Wesley’s fingertips. With a sharp jerk, the rock-things were yanked sharply upwards like fish on a hook. They tumbled through the sky, then flipped and flopped back through the hole they’d come through.

  All around Ben and Paradise, the other creatures were also being dragged back to their Monstrous Realms. Ben punched the air in delight. “He did it! Wesley did it!”

  As the last of the creatures was pulled back into the portals, the holes began to close. At the very same time, Wesley’s lightning vanished. He flapped his arms. He let out a very unwizard-like sob.

  “I’ve run out of magic,” he yelped.

  And then, with all that out of the way, he began to fall.

  “Catch him!” Paradise shouted.

  Ben looked from her to Wesley and back again. “What, me?”

  “Anyone!”

  Wesley was falling too fast. He twirled around in a tangle of robes, the wind spinning him as he plunged towards the ground. “Feel free to rescue me any time!” he shouted.

  “Hey!” Paradise yelped, as Burnie bumped into her. Paradise fell on to the dragon’s back just in time for Burnie to scoop Ben up with her long neck.

  With a groan of effort, the little dragon hurled herself into the air and beat her stubby wings. Ben and Paradise grabbed on tightly as Burnie lurched sideways and bounced on the sand.

  “You can do it, Burnie!” Paradise cheered.

  “I doubt she can,” said Ben. He caught Paradise’s look. “I mean … you can do it, Burnie!”

  With a hiss of effort the little dragon began to climb. She banked upwards until she was above Wesley, then swooped down. Her claws snatched at him, snagging his robe and stopping his fall with a sudden jerk.

  Wesley stopped screaming for a few brief moments, then started again when Burnie began to fly higher and higher towards the sky.

  “No, go down!” he cried. “The ground’s that way!”

  “She’s not aiming for the ground,” Ben realised. He pointed ahead to one of the holes in the sky. It was the last hole to have opened. It was the last hole to start closing. It was the hole that led home.

  “Go, Burnie, go!” Paradise urged. The dragon was struggling with the weight of all three children. She flapped and flapped, but the hole was closing over too fast.

  “We’re not going to make it,” Wesley wailed. “We’re too heavy.”

  Ben looked down at the gauntlet and the sword. He looked at the hole in the sky. He had been the one to get his friends into this and there was no way he was leaving them trapped here. No matter what the cost.

  With a deep breath, Ben tossed his gauntlet and sword away.

  “No!” Paradise yelped. She grabbed for them but they were already tumbling towards the ground far, far below. “Your gauntlet. Your sword. They’re important.”

  Ben shrugged. “There are some things even more important,” he said, then he leaned down low and gave the dragon an encouraging pat. “Now go, Burnie. Get us out of here!”

  With a screech, Burnie beat at the air. The hole was just ahead of them now, but closing fast. They rocketed towards it, the wind whipping at them and stinging their eyes.

  “We’re not going to make it!” said Paradise.

  “Yes,” said Ben as they streaked towards the shimmering purple glow. “We are!”

  There was a sound like rushing water, a flash of white, a scream of Wesley and then … there was nothing at all.

  Ben opened his eyes in time to see a large dragony tongue lick his face. He spluttered and sat up, pushing Burnie away. “Ew, get off.”

  He was lying in a grassy field, covered in twigs and clumps of mud. Paradise and Wesley propped themselves up beside him. They looked one another over. “Anyone broken anything?” Wesley asked.

  “Nope,” said Ben.

  “I’m OK,” said Paradise. “And nobody landed on me this time, which was a nice bonus.”

  Ben looked up at the blue sky overhead. It was dotted with fluffy white clouds. There wasn’t a portal to a demon dimension in sight. “So,” he said, “are we—”

  “Home!” said Paradise, getting to her feet. “We’re back home. We’re just a few miles from Lump.”

  Wesley leaned down and kissed the ground. “Oh, the World, how I’ve missed you.”

  He and Ben stood, enjoying the feeling of the sun on their backs. Burnie circled them, her tail wagging excitedly.

  “You know who I feel a bit sorry for?” asked Paradise.

  “Me?” said Wesley. “I had a terrible time.”

  “Scarrabus. I wonder what’s going to happen to him.”

  Wesley fished up his sleeve. After a moment, he pulled out a large white rabbit. “Ask him yourself,” he said, passing her the demon-lord-turned-bunny.

  “I think I prefer him like this,” Paradise said, tickling the rabbit under the chin. She tucked Scarrabus under o
ne arm. “Let’s go. Home’s this way.”

  She skipped off in the direction of the village. Wesley hurried along behind her. They both stopped when they saw Ben looking at his bare hand.

  “Oh, Ben. I’m sorry about your gauntlet,” Paradise said.

  “And the sword,” said Wesley. “You’d just got it too.”

  Ben waggled his fingers. “It’s OK,” he said.

  The others gathered around him. “They were important. They were clues to your family,” Paradise said.

  Ben smiled. “Guys, it’s fine. Besides,” he looked at them both in turn, “I’ve already got a family.”

  The three friends didn’t speak for a few long moments, until Paradise eventually broke the silence.

  “Wow, that nearly made me throw up in my mouth,” she said.

  “Yes, that was truly corny,” Wes smirked.

  Ben laughed. “Ah, shut up,” he said. “Let’s go home.”

  And, with Scarrabus the rabbit under one arm, and Burnie the dragon trotting alongside them, they all did just that.

  Together.

  Copyright

  FOR KYLE AND MIA, the scariest ghoul-things of them all B.H.

  THE MOON-FACED GHOUL-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 524 2

  www.nosycrow.com