How to Stop a Witch Read Online Free PDF Page A

faces. After what Rake surely must have felt was a sufficient interval, he chattered playfully and crawled nonchalantly into Greg’s pack.
    After a longer interval, Growl lowered his axe. “Queen Gnarla wishes a word with you. You will come with us.”
    “You mean I really do get to meet a queen?” said Kristin.
    “She’s not what you think,” said Greg, and from the look on Kristin’s face when they met up with Queen Gnarla later, he was correct in his assumption.
    “You’re a queen?” Kristin said before Greg could warn her not to speak.
    “Silence,” ordered Queen Gnarla, who was not particularly friendly, even for a monster. She wore a cloth robe and a jagged crystalline crown, while the guards who surrounded her wore tattered pants and chain mail, but otherwise she looked identical to the others.
    The guards leaned close and showed off their axes.
    “You shall not speak unless spoken to,” Queen Gnarla announced in a haughty tone.
    “Well, I’ll admit you sound like a queen,” said Kristin.
    “SILENCE.”
    Greg shot Kristin a glare she couldn’t possibly misinterpret. Even so, she nearly apologized. Instead, she caught herself and simply nodded.
    “Have you not heard about the dragon?” Queen Gnarla asked Greg.
    “Ruuan? What about him?”
    “He has been taken against his will,” the queen said, “by the human Witch Hazel. Apparently she holds some sort of amulet that grants her power over dragons.”
    Greg gasped. “The Amulet of Tehrer.”
    Even though spirelings could communicate clearly without a sound, they started up a whisper that shook the walls as it echoed its way down the tunnel.
    “Does no one listen to Us?” Queen Gnarla held her hands over her ears and glared at Greg. “As We recall, you were responsible for the loss of the key piece of the Amulet of Tehrer. Why would you give something that powerful to the witch?”
    Greg gulped. “Because Nathan told me to?”
    “Nathan? He is that magician who was with you when last We met, no? He warned Us that there may come a time when he needed Our section of Ruuan’s amulet, yet We have not seen him since. If not now, when?”
    “Nathan hasn’t come?” Greg said. “Maybe I should take the amulet with me.”
    Queen Gnarla’s expression suggested otherwise, far better than words. “I will give it to the magician, when he asks.”
    After a long moment of awkward silence, the queen indicated Kristin with a wave of her hand. “Tell Us, who is this?”
    “Kristin Wenslow,” Kristin answered.
    “Silence. We were not speaking to you.”
    “Sorry,” said Kristin. She realized she’d talked again too late and quickly placed a hand over her mouth. Queen Gnarla rolled her eyes before looking to Greg for an answer.
    “Her name is Kristin Wenslow,” Greg repeated. “She’s a friend of mine from my own world.”
    “Ah.” Queen Gnarla looked her up and down without seeming to notice Kristin’s discomfort. “She is a warrior too, then?”
    “Women aren’t warriors where I come from,” answered Greg.
    “I could be a warrior if I wanted,” said Kristin. “Oh, I know,” she told the queen. “Silence.”
    Queen Gnarla frowned. “Well, that is a shame. She has a lot of spunk for a human.”
    Kristin smiled and regarded Greg smugly. He took only a second to notice how cute she was. Then he told the queen of the letters he’d received and how he’d traveled between worlds to do what he could to save the kingdom. Queen Gnarla glared at her guards.
    “Why are We always the last to know of these prophecies?”
    The guards cleared their throats and quickly looked away.
    “I don’t suppose you would be willing to help us?” Greg asked the queen.
    “Normally no,” said Queen Gnarla, “but then normally We would have eaten you the moment We found you trespassing in Our tunnel. Since you are the Mighty Greghart, We are making an exception. Today you may have anything you need . . . aside from Our amulet. How might We