Abarat

'Kill my slave.'

The eeriac didn't hesitate. It threw itself down from the heights of the room and flew toward Malingo.

Luckily, Malingo was quick. He was used to climbing over the rooms. He knew every rock and cranny. Before the eeriac could reach him, up he went, like a spider on the wall. The creature pursued him, the hooks on its numberless tentacles striking sparks off one another, bright enough to flood the room with a rancid light.

Wolfswinkel was pleased with the spectacle he'd created. He applauded like an egotistical child as the chase set the chandelier swinging. A dry rain of dust and dead moths came down off the crystals as they twinkled and shook.

'Get out !' Malingo yelled down to Candy. 'Go !'

The moment that he took to beg her to leave was his undoing. The creature closed the distance between them in a heartbeat and clamped both sets of jaws upon him.

Candy couldn't bear to look. She averted her eyes, her gaze going instead to Wolfswinkel. He was totally engrossed by the spectacle overhead. Surely she could creep up on him and not be noticed.

Did she dare? Yes, of course she dared. Anything to save Malingo from Wolfswinkel's monster.

She glanced up once to see how Malingo was faring. Not well was the answer. The eeriac was wrapped around Malingo, its hooks seeking to catch his skin. But he wasn't quite as vulnerable as a human being. Though doubtless his skin was tender from the beating he'd endured, the hooks did not wound him.

Even so, he was in dire jeopardy: not from the hooks but from the eeriac's teeth. He did his best to hold the beast's two mouths away from his face with his hands, and for a while he succeeded. But the eeriac was strong. It was only a matter of time before the monster's needle teeth pierced him.

Candy waited no longer. As Wolfswinkel continued to applaud the horrible spectacle, Candy moved behind him. Then she pitched herself at his back.

Wolfswinkel turned at the last moment and raised his hand to strike her, but he was too late. She threw herself at him, and with a backward sweep of her hand, she knocked all of his hats off his head.

Wolfswinkel unleashed a howl of fury and went down on his knees in a desperate attempt to pick up the fallen hats. Candy did her best to prevent him from doing so by kicking them out of his hands.

From overhead there came a din like the sound of an enormous firecracker exploding.

Candy looked up to see that the eeriac was no longer threatening Malingo. With Wolfswinkel's power suddenly removed, the eeriac was diminishing. It had let Malingo go and was bouncing back and forth around the room like an over-filled balloon that had suddenly had the air let out of it. As it struck a solid object—a wall of books, the chandelier, a table, the floor—it erupted in a shower of black sparks, its body getting smaller each time it did so. Candy watched it for a moment, then she called up to Malingo, who was still hanging on the ceiling.

'Come on! Quickly!'

He dropped down to stand in front of her.

'Are you all right?' she said.

'It didn't hurt me.' He smiled. 'It tried, but—'

Candy smiled and caught hold of his clammy hand.

'We have to get out of here!' she said, and they ran toward the front door.

As they reached the door the beast slammed into the wall above it and released one last stinging rain of black sparks. Then it dropped to the ground between them. It was deflated to a tiny version of its former self. It writhed on the floor, its minuscule mouths still loosing that throaty hiss.

'Look away,' Malingo said.

'Don't worry, I'm not squeamish,' Candy said.

Malingo stamped his heel down on the eeriac, grinding out the last of its magical life. When he lifted his foot, the creature was no more than a dark stain on the carpet.

'Now we go,' Malingo said.

He pulled open the top bolt of the front door. Candy took the middle and the bottom. 'Wait. What about the Key?' she said to Malingo, as she threw open the door.

'This isn't the time to be worrying about that,' Malingo said, as Kaspar's din became louder behind them.

Candy agreed with a little nod, and hand in hand they pitched themselves over the threshold.

They didn't look over their shoulders.

They just stumbled away from the house into the early night of Ninnyhammer, leaving Kaspar Wolfswinkel to roar his threats and his frustration at their backs.

29. CAT'S EYES

' I' M FREE ,' MALINGO YELLED as they ran. 'I can't believe it! I'm free! I'm free !'

Suddenly he stopped running and picked Candy up in his arms, hugging her so tightly she could barely catch her breath.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you,' he said, swinging her around. 'You gave me the courage to do it! Whatever happens to me after this, I'll always be grateful to you.'

Then he planted a loving, leathery kiss on her cheek and set her down again.

Candy was a bit flustered by all this. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been hugged or kissed. But she quickly regained her composure and turned the conversation back to practical matters.

'We're not out of the woods yet,' she pointed out. 'We need to put as much distance as we can between us and Ol' Banana Suit.'

Malingo laughed. 'Agreed,' he said. 'Do you have a boat?'

'No. And I don't suppose you have a luxury yacht in the vicinity?'

'No. 'Fraid not. How did you get here, by the way?'

'Well, there was this giant moth, you see—' she said.

'Giant moth?'

'Sent by Christopher Carrion.'

'So the Lord of Midnight has been after you for a while. What's he so interested in?'

'Well, I had this Key—' Candy began. Then she stopped herself. 'But that can't be why he was after me. He didn't even know I had the Key until Wolfswinkel found it.'

'Do you know what this mystery key is for?'

'No, I don't. I don't think I was ever told.'

Candy had no sooner spoken than she heard the voice of Kaspar Wolfswinkel. He was somewhere nearby, to judge by the way he whispered.

'Oh the Key ,' he said. 'You want to know what the Key is for…'

Malingo turned to Candy, the joy stripped from his face, terror replacing it. 'He's here!' he said.

'It's all right,' Candy murmured. 'He's not going to hurt us.'

As she spoke, she looked around for some sign of Wolfswinkel in the murk. But despite the eerie intimacy