Kieran barely had time to jump out of the way as a mushroom-covered monster soared over his head.
The creature in front of them was massive, standing roughly twenty feet tall and made largely of mud, moss, and mushrooms.It looked to be a mix of a giant toad and something more predatory, with clawed toes and no visible eyes—only a wide mouth full of sharp clay teeth.It had swung first toward Kieran and Klaus, but as soon as it missed, it doubled back toward Sebastian and Elias.It opened its mouth and let out a gurgling roar before swiping at them.
Klaus cried, “Run!”
Kieran floundered, turning to find Klaus already sprinting in the other direction.Someone cried out.Kieran whipped around to find that Sebastian had pushed Elias to the ground just as the creature took a swing at him.Elias ducked his head and managed to avoid getting hit.
Sebastian held out a hand to him, saying, “Come on, we have to—”
Just then, the creature roared and jumped at them, hitting Sebastian with a hardsmack.He went flying, landing limply in a heap not far from Kieran.Sebastian moaned, lifting himself up onto his elbow as he struggled to stand.
Elias, meanwhile, screamed shrilly and scrambled to hide behind a mushroom.
The creature spun back toward Sebastian with impressive speed, given its size.Sebastian was still on the ground, his expression dazed.Kieran wondered if he’d hit his head on impact.He didn’t seem to notice that the toad creature was descending on him, its moss-covered tongue lolling over its sharp teeth.
It lifted a clawed arm toward Sebastian, readying another blow.
In that moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl, the scene appearing to Kieran as if in flashes: The creature’s claws glinting in the sunlight.Sebastian trying to blink his vision back into focus.Blood seeping from a cut on his forehead.
If Kieran didn’t do something, he realized, he was going to watch that monster tear Sebastian to ribbons.
Which was why, despite the screaming part of his brain telling him to run, Kieran grabbed a rock from the ground and launched it, full force, at the toad creature.As the rock left his fingers, he felt a spark of magic in his chest—the same sensation that had gripped him while writing the curse poem.
The rock struck the creature hard in the side of the head, embedding itself.For a second, it didn’t seem to make a difference.Kieran’s heart dropped from where it had climbed up his throat.
But then the rock exploded like a loose grenade.
The toad creature shrieked as chunks of mud and moss rained down around it.A huge crater was left in the side of its body, revealing a network of pale roots inside, not unlike the ones Kieran had seen in the soil when pulling flowers out of their pots to be replanted.Its head swung back and forth wildly, sending more clumps of dirt and mushrooms flying.
Kieran was momentarily taken aback.I…did that?I did that!Then, bolstered by the realization, he waved his arms in the air.“Hey!Over here!Come get me!”
Kieran turned on his heel and ran as the toad roared once again, leaping to follow him.Glancing over his shoulder to check on Sebastian, Kieran saw that the boy had struggled to his feet and was swaying in place.
Well, at least he’s up,Kieran thought, arms pumping at his sides.Now I just have to—
In a flash, the creature hit him with a bone-shatteringsmack.
Kieran sputtered a choked yelp as his body rolled across the moss.The wind flew out of him.He came to a halt beneath a giant mushroom, head swimming as he gasped for breath.
Okay,he thought, blistering pain zigzagging through every nerve in his body.Maybe that was a stupid move.
“Kieran!”Klaus shouted from the woods.“Don’t fight it!Just come this way and I’ll—”
Kieran didn’t hear the last part.Because at that moment, as he tried to haul himself up, the toad creature took another swipe at him, claws first.
And stabbed him straight through the ribs.
For a second, the pain didn’t hit him.Instead, he was just staring at the creature, trembling in terror.Its open mouth waited to devour him, muddy saliva dripping from its teeth.The claws were still inside Kieran, holding him aloft like a rag doll.He felt warmth on his skin as blood began to leak from the puncture wounds, wetting his side.Before the rattling agony of a punctured lung hit him, he glanced back.
Sebastian was staring at him, pupils blown out, with a hand clapped over his mouth.
Well,Kieran thought,at least I went out finally being able to help someone other than myself.Ash would be proud.
Kieran’s body slipped from the toad’s claws, landing hard on the ground.As his vision swam, he caught the briefest flash of movement in front of him.It almost looked like someone opening a hidden, moss-covered trapdoor in the ground.
Oh, good,he thought, vision going dark at the edges.Death hallucinations.That’s a new one.
A gnarled hand reached out to grab him.He felt it wrap around his collar, yanking him forward.
