The Circle of Owls (The Grimalkin Book 3) Dani Swanson (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

to work, Cricket, remember I made it into a powder…..” Robin was trying to distract Cricket from what she was doing as she saw her friends, Charles and Dean creeping up the stairs outside of the castle’s window. Tinker had quietly slinked out of Robin’s arms and had made her way down the path towards the men. Robin silently watched as Dean bent down with a small key, releasing Tinker from her collar. Fig came charging behind Dean and paused for a moment to nudge the head of his sister before coming up the stairs to where Robin was.

“This crystal is more powerful than the spell you had used on your sister….I just need your spell to release it’s power to myself. With the trapped souls and a bit of blood, I can heal this.” Cricket then turned her back on Robin – placing her hands on the crystal and healing it just as if it were a living thing - like Robin had seen Thea do so many times before. Between the blood that was now smeared onto its edges and the particles of people’s souls that were trapped inside the shards Cricket made the pieces fit back together as if it had never been shattered in the first place.

With a hopeful look, Robin gazed back out of the window, hoping to see her cat or friends coming to her rescue, but they were being detained by a group of witches that were blocking the only entrance to the throne room.

“They’ll never make it here to save you.” Cricket had crept behind Robin as she whipped the black bile from the corner of her mouth.

“They’re not going to allow you to win, Cricket. And I’m not going to give you any assistance with the spell!” Robin pushed away from Cricket, grabbing a vase from a nearby table, throwing it at Cricket before she started to run to the door but was quickly sent crashing to the floor by a thunderbolt that Cricket had conjured.

“Silly Little Girl – I always win.” Cricket walked over to where Robin was laid out on the ground. She turned her over onto her back and placed her crimson lips near Robin’s. She slowly inhaled as a smooth teal colored smoke came swirling gracefully from the back of Robin’s throat. The smoke twisted and turned through the air as it made its way over to the crystal, which absorbed her soul like a sponge. The lines around Cricket’s eyes tightened and the few greys in her hair disappeared the more the crystal absorbed. “I already have your spell.” She said to Robin’s still body. The stupefied look appeared on Robin’s face as her body rose and started to walk to the stairs. Cricket walked up behind her, giving her a slight shove sending her crashing down the stairs to where her friends were fighting a witch. “I was rewarding you by allowing you to stay alive.” Robin’s body no longer moved when it hit the landing below. “You should have just behaved.”

For a moment the fighting had stopped as the witches, cats and men all looked up to see Cricket’s smiling face above. Charles was the first to scream at the witch and start the charge, but Cricket was gone from the throne room before they ever made it up the flight of stairs – she was making her way to where her mother and niece were waiting her.

Charles ran back down the stairs to where Robin’s body laid. Tinker was nudging Robin’s cheeks, trying to get her to move. Charles silently cried as he picked up her body and started to bring it up to the throne room. “We’ve got to find Thea! Go get her!” He yelled over his shoulder to his brother. Dean nodded and turned on his heels and was off to the castle walls to try to see where Cricket was headed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

The Baba Yaga traveled through the forest with a few dozen dragons flying behind her as they approached the Kingdom of Owls. A dense fog rolled in on the dragon’s wings, covering the light from the stars - the darkness of night cloaked their entrance to the kingdom – hiding everything but her glowing yellow eyes.

She placed Agatha down onto a mossy patch of ground in the shadows without saying a word to her and then started out into the battle. For an instant both sides stopped in their tracks and looked at the ancient witch in awe as she walked into their midst. She took one of her massive arms and swept it wide – knocking many members of the Circle of Owls into the darkness. Without hesitation, she took her other arm and did the same to those who lived at the Kingdom of Owls as well. The Baba Yaga felt that both sides were wrecking the world she created and thought that she should be the only winner of this fight. She was going to do everything she could to end the battle on her own.

Lola was leading the charge on the ground. She had a small blade in her paw as she ran between the legs of the much larger trolls, biting their achilles causing them to fall. They screamed in pain as they grabbed their feet, now being unable to walk. She ran up the back of a colossal org, running around his face and perching her bushy bottom on his nose - she stabbed him in the eyeball as one of the fairies cast a spell sending him flying into the distance.

The dragons blew streams of flames at the fairies and elves who were trying to ground them. The Baba Yaga laughed at the witch’s attempts with their fireballs and mudtrolls to attack her. It wasn’t until a giant that belonged to the Circle of Owls came out of the trees, tall enough to look the Baba Yaga in the eye did her laughter stop.

He was not afraid of her