Read Online Sea Monsters and Other Delicacies by David Sinden - Free Book Online Page B

of chests. There were lots of them, and boxes and crates, and furniture covered in white sheets.
    â€œI think his sea chest was brown,” Ulf said.
    â€œThey’re all brown,” Tiana replied.
    Ulf stepped to a chest by the wall and lifted its heavy wooden lid.
    He gasped. Inside were two trolls’ heads. Their skin was green and leathery and their snouts were shrivelled.
    â€œUuurrgghh!” Tiana cried, flying above them.
    Ulf opened another chest. Inside he saw a vampire owl. Its feathers were dusty and it was stuffed with straw. He opened another and found the tail of a mermaid, chopped off and curling at its end. He pulled the corner of a white sheet. Underneath wasa dead phoenix in a glass dome. Its wings were spread and held up with wire. Then he pulled the sheet from a glass cabinet.
    Tiana screamed. Inside the cabinet were row upon row of fairies, pinned flat against a black velvet board. Their wings were dry and cracked. Tiana flew to Ulf’s shoulder, shaking. “They’re all dead, Ulf. This room’s full of dead beasts!”
    Ulf pulled open chest after chest, then box after box. He found the blubbery head of a wartolump, a pickled impossipus in a glass tank, and a stuffed gorgon with its feet nailed to a plank of wood. Its eyes stared blankly at him.
    â€œWho could have done this?” Tiana said. “It’s so cruel!”
    She covered her eyes with her hands.
    Under another sheet Ulf saw a pair of brown leather shoes. He lifted the sheet up and saw two trouser legs and then a bony hand on the arm of a chair. It was holding a tea cup. Ulf whipped thesheet off and froze. “Tiana, I think I know why Professor Farraway’s ghost brought us here,” he said, trembling.
    Beneath the sheet, sitting in an armchair, was a human skeleton dressed in a tweed suit.
    Tiana peered between her fingers. “Professor Farraway!”
    Ulf stared at the skeleton in the chair. It was Professor Farraway’s body. His bones were shiny and polished.
    â€œBut the Professor died on an expedition out at sea. He was killed by a sea monster,” Tiana said.
    Just then, Ulf heard footsteps coming up the stairs.
    â€œWhen I was a boy, my father said to me, ‘Yo ho ho, it’s a sailor’s life for thee.’”
    Captain Crab appeared at the doorway. “Well, well, so you found him then,” he said, looking at the skeleton. The Captain glanced around the room at the open boxes and leaned down, stroking one ofthe trolls’ heads. He looked at Ulf. “Now it’s your turn to die, werewolf!”
    Captain Crab picked up his hammock and threw it over Ulf. Ulf tried to claw his way out but the Captain held him down.
    Ulf scratched at the Captain’s face, and the Captain’s skin tore off in shreds. It was made of rubber.
    Tiana hurled herself at the Captain, tugging at his eyebrows and his nose. They came off in her hands. Underneath was a face that was twisted with hatred like a rotten apple core.
    â€œMarackai!” Ulf said, staring.
    â€œ Baron Marackai to you, werewolf.”
    â€œYou’re not a captain at all!” Tiana said. She bit Marackai’s ear.
    Baron Marackai laughed. “Didn’t hurt, fairy!” He pulled his ear off, along with what was left of his rubber mask. Then he lunged at Tiana with his hook. It missed and dug into a table. The Baron pulled hisarm back and his hook came off. Underneath was a hand with its little finger missing.
    As Ulf struggled in the net, the Baron grabbed his jam jar, unscrewed the lid and slammed it over Tiana, trapping her inside.
    Ulf kicked Baron Marackai’s ankle.
    â€œOuch!” the Baron said. He seized hold of Ulf with both hands, carrying him struggling in the net. “Couldn’t you find my sea chest?” he asked. “Here it is. It’s the empty one. I was saving it for you!”
    He kicked open the lid of a wooden chest and bundled Ulf