Silence filled the hollow. Katie paused at the edge of the trail; Penny froze in midstep toward the door, the magic knob seeming to thrum in her hand; Zoe and Ellen stood rooted in place near the fire pit. The girls goggled up at the monster snake and his gray men, immobilized by shock.
The monster and his minions moved closer, the former rising behind the latter, his three arms opening in mock welcome. The fourth arm, the one he’d broken in his fall at the landfill, was gone; in its place was a narrow waving stump.
The three gray men bobbed in place, as if eager to leap down and begin the fight.
“I had hoped Master Duke would keep you young ladies occupied back at the home place,” he sighed and shook his head, as if in sorrow, “but I did not count on it. He has been less than effec
