Read Online Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers by Lee Edward Födi - Free Book Online Page A

is it?” Jinx asked, brandishing her sword.
    “I heard something,” the old wizard said.
    “I think it came from that direction,” Professor Bumblebean said, pointing to a clump of nearby bushes.
    Without a second thought, Jinx raised her sword and marched boldly into the brush.
    “Where did she go?” Oki cried. “Is she all right?”
    “Quiet,” Uncle Griffinskitch warned.
    Then suddenly, they heard Jinx shout, “Intruder!” and the bushes shook violently with the swinging of her sword.
    “OUCH!” someone screamed, and a moment later Jinx reappeared with Ratchet staggering behind her. He was rubbing his sore bottom.
    “You didn’t have to jab so hard,” he muttered, eyeing Jinx.
    “Ratchet, what are you doing here?” Kendra exclaimed.
    “As if I didn’t know!” Uncle Griffinskitch boomed, his eyes flaring with rage. “I should have guessed that you couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
    “Well, you might need me after all,” Ratchet said in his defense. “You can’t expect me to just stay behind.”
    “Humph,” Uncle Griffinskitch snorted, and it was the type of angry humph that bordered on a “Days of Een!”
    “I do say, your actions are immensely foolish,” Professor Bumblebean lectured the raccoon. “Why, if the orb had wanted you to come, it would have—”
    “Wait,” Uncle Griffinskitch interjected suddenly.
    “Now what?” Kendra asked, giving her braids a fretful tug.
    “I heard something again,” Uncle Griffinskitch said.
    “Who else did you bring with you?” Jinx demanded of Ratchet.
    “Why, no one!” Ratchet replied, crossing his arms angrily.
    “Well, then what was it?” Jinx said. She raised her sword anxiously.

     
    But before anyone could answer, the bushes ripped apart, and the tiny band of heroes found themselves face-to-face with a cluster of creatures so savage and so fierce that for a moment, everyone just froze. Kendra had never seen anything so frightening, not in her wildest imagination, not in her darkest nightmares. The beasts came out of the night all claws and fangs and grunts and snarls. No, she had never seen anything like them in all her short life. Indeed, she couldn’t even say what they were.
    But Oki seemed to know. “UNGERS!” he yelled, then—with a very loud “EEK!”—he turned and disappeared into the darkness.



FOR ONCE Kendra thought Oki wasn’t overreacting. Even as the tiny mouse turned tail (and Professor Bumblebean wasn’t far behind him), the largest of the Ungers raised a crooked club and smashed it into the dirt with such force that the whole ground shook.
    “Days of Een!” Uncle Griffinskitch cried. “Get behind me, Kendra!”
    Kendra’s brain told her to listen to her uncle, but her legs were screaming at her to follow Oki. Now that the Ungers were upon her, they seemed even more frightening—if that were possible! They towered over Kendra like mountains, chiseled and hard, with skin as gray and rough as boulders, and arms like pillars. Coarse hair, as thick as wire, covered their backs, which were so humped that no shirt or cloak would fit them. Indeed, the Ungers seemed to wear no clothes at all other than ragged trousers. Even more hideous than their disfigured bodies were their heads. The savage creatures had small beady eyes set deep within their wrinkled faces and large yellow tusks that jutted out from wide crooked mouths.
    It was no contest. Kendra’s legs won out over her brain, and she turned and disappeared through the woods.
    As she ran, she could hear Jinx yelling: “Meet the sword, you bloated bags of jelly!”
    Kendra imagined the small and speedy captain leaping about the giant Ungers, jabbing them with her sharp weapons. Just knowing that Jinx was between her and the monsters made Kendra feel better—at least a little.
    Kendra ran as hard as her legs would carry her. She was a good sprinter, and had won many races at school. But then, she had only raced against her classmates. It was a different