Edwin lay sprawled on the floor. At first he thought he’d been struck by lightning. His body tingled from head to toe, and his head felt like it was spinning.
He sat up groggily, trying to work out what had happened.
The Wychetts Key was still in his grasp, but what had become of the Tome?
“Your powers can’t stop me.” Maddy smiled down at Edwin. “That was the first spell I wrote today. To make myself resistant to the power of Wychetts. Whatever magic you try on me will rebound on you, at double the force.”
Edwin looked around, and saw the Tome had been hurled to the floor on the other side of the hall.
Maddy set off towards it, casting him an almost pitying look as she strode past.
Edwin tried to stand, but couldn’t feel his legs. So he tried crawling instead, but all he could manage was a feeble slither.
Thunder rumbled through the building, and Edwin felt the floor tremble. Then the thunder stopped, but the floor carried on trembling.
Maddy picked up the Tome, and raised her quill with a dramatic flourish.
“It’s too late,” she smirked. “You can’t stop me writing my spell.”
“You must take care,” warned Inglenook. “Something is happening to the floor.”
Edwin had been so focussed on Maddy that he hadn’t noticed, but Inglenook was right. The floor behind Maddy was sliding backwards, revealing a large hole only inches behind where she was standing.
“You think I’d fall for that one?” Maddy laughed scornfully. “You’ll have to do better than that. Only now you’ve run out of time.” She pressed the quill against a page of the Tome Terriblis…
“Maddy, no!” Some feeling returned to Edwin’s legs, and he managed to haul himself to his knees.
Maddy took a step backwards, and screamed as her right leg plunged into the hole.
Edwin threw himself at Maddy. He grabbed her arm, and clung on as she stood teetering on the edge of the hole.
“Let go of me!” Maddy thrust an elbow into Edwin’s stomach. “I’m not letting you have the Tome.”
“It’s not the Tome I’m trying to save,” grimaced Edwin. “You’ll fall if I let go.”
Maddy jabbed Edwin again with her elbow. He tried to grab her shoulder, but as she twisted away she lost her grip on the Tome.
Maddy lunged to grab the falling Tome, but lost her balance and went tumbling into the hole along with it. Still holding Maddy’s arm, Edwin was dragged down with her.
Falling head first into darkness, Edwin saw something rising from the shadows below. It was a needle, as thick as a drainpipe, that came rushing towards him…