Read Online Pan's Realm by Christopher Pike - Free Book Online Page B

limp. She also fed us.” Watch pointed out the order of the stones to Cindy. “See how the blue one is set at the bottom.”
    â€œSo what?” Cindy said. “What does it mean?”
    Watch shrugged. “I don’t know. But it would look prettier if the clear stones were set on either side of the blue one.”
    â€œBut who cares whether it’s pretty or not?” Cindy asked. “All that matters is whether we can use it as a weapon to get back at Klandor and free Adam and Sally.”
    Watch spoke to Pan. “Did Adam certify that this thing makes you see the opposite of what you desire?”
    â€œI think so,” Pan mumbled.
    â€œYes or no?” Cindy demanded.
    â€œYes,” Pan replied. “It turns the whole brain upside down.”
    Watch considered. “What if we could convince ­Klandor to gamble with us? What if when we do so, we have Sarshi secretly slip this necklace around the wizard’s neck? We might be able to trick him with his own tool.”
    â€œWhat do we have to offer him that he will want to gamble with us?” Cindy asked.
    Watch touched his pants pocket. “I have a thing or two with me that he might desire.”
    â€œBut I told you,” Sarshi said, “Klandor is more ­powerful than any fairy. I can weave an invisible net around myself, but his keen eyes will pierce it. He will see me if I try to slip the necklace around his neck, and he will know what we’re up to.”
    â€œI’ve thought about that.” Watch fiddled with the bottom blue stone. “Still, it may be possible to distract him somehow so that you can do what you need to do. To make him believe he knows what we’re up to and have him be completely wrong.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Cindy asked.
    Watch pulled the blue stone free. “I think the order of these crystals is important.” He held the stone up to the light. “In fact, I think the order makes the whole thing work.”

12
    A fter Pan left, Klandor turned Adam and Sally into chickens. Adam became a rooster and Sally a hen. Klandor simply waved his bony arms and chanted a few nasty words and the transformation occurred, right in front of all the elves and dwarfs, who cheered the spectacle. Then the wizard ordered that the two be taken outside and put in the wire cage with the other poultry. It seemed Klandor planned on having chicken for dinner that night.
    Adam and Sally huddled in a corner of the cage and tried to look inconspicuous. The other chickens walked around and pecked at the seed spread on the ground. So far Adam and Sally had not invited much attention. Normally Adam wouldn’t have looked twice at the seed, but now it did seem kind of appealing. He hadn’t had lunch. He told Sally as much.
    â€œHow can you think of eating at a time like this?” she snapped at him. “We have to get out of here and get back to the others.”
    â€œIf we do get back to the others,” Adam said, “they might eat us.”
    Sally was worried. Adam had never seen a worried chicken before, and the sight would have been comical if the situation had been less dire.
    â€œBut we can still speak,” Sally said. “We can talk to them. They’ll recognize us that way.”
    â€œWe seem to be speaking to each other,” Adam said, “but we don’t have human vocal cords. I doubt a person would understand us. In fact, I suspect we sound no different from all the other chickens gathered here.”
    â€œThat’s depressing,” Sally said.
    â€œIt’s reality.”
    Sally was annoyed. “How can you say being turned into chickens is reality? Nothing in this dimension makes any sense. We have to figure out a way out of here, I tell you, and soon.”
    â€œYou’re not listening to me. Getting out of here is only half our problem. We still have to get Klandor to change us back into human beings. And I