Nightmare Hour Read Online Free PDF Page A

floorboards. “Come, boy. We will preparesomething special for Shamandra. He will not find it so easy to battle Margolin. Shamandra will fail miserably. After all, that is the first part of his name. Sham. And a sham is a fake! ”
    Ned cast one last glance at the snakes crawling across the floor. Then he scrambled to his feet and followed Margolin into the sorcerer’s magic chamber.
    â€œShamandra would not be able to cast such a spell unless he was close by. He is only a day or two away,” Margolin said. “I know him. Once he has made his challenge, he will not waste any time.”
    He stepped to the wall of supplies and began pulling jars and flasks and tiny cloth bags from the shelves. “I know the spells I will use to defeat him.”
    â€œWill you cast a vanishing spell?” Ned asked.
    Margolin snorted. “No, fool. That is too painless. And too quick. He must suffer first. I’ll show you what I’m going to do.”
    Ned backed away in fear. “ Show me?”
    â€œFirst I will embarrass and humiliate him,” Margolin declared. He threw a handful of black powder over the shoulder of his robe, chanted mysterious words in a low whisper, and pointed a crooked finger at Ned.
    â€œ Ulllp .” Ned choked and grabbed his throat. “Can’t…breathe…” he gasped.
    He felt something large and heavy clogging his throat.
    Desperately, he struggled to suck in air. To cough the thing up.
    Straining his whole body, he coughed hard. Coughed again.
    He felt something furry slide up his throat. Into his mouth.
    Ned gagged. Gagged until his stomach heaved. Gagged and spit.
    â€œOhhhh.” A fat, black rat slid out of his mouth, its patchy fur glistening. Eyes blazing red, the rat hissed at Ned as it scurried across the stone floor.
    â€œPlease--” Ned begged.
    But Margolin just smiled. And…
    Ned’s throat clogged again.
    His neck bulged.
    He gagged and coughed. Bent double.
    Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe…
    Another rat, this one the size of a small dog, dropped wetly from his mouth.
    Weak and quivering, Ned dropped to his knees again. “Please, sir. Please…” He spit several times and pulled bristly rat hairs from his teeth. “I beg you--why are you doing this to me?”
    But Margolin wasn’t paying any attention to Ned. Now he was madly stirring liquids in a glass beaker. “First I treat Shamandra to a few fat rats. Then it’s pain time,” he said.
    He snapped his fingers, muttered a few words, and stared at Ned.
    At first Ned didn’t feel anything. But then his arms began to itch. His legs tingled. The back of his neck prickled.
    He pulled up his sleeve--and gasped when he saw dozens of hairy brown spiders swarming over his arm.
    He swiped at them, tried to brush them off.
    But the spiders clung to his skin.
    His legs throbbed. His hair itched. He could feel the spiders digging into his scalp.
    â€œPlease--please, sir--” he screamed.
    But the sorcerer kept his cold stare locked on Ned. He snapped his fingers again.
    â€œ Aaaaaaaii! ” Ned opened his mouth in a wail of pain. “No! Please--”
    Now all the spiders were burrowing into his skin. And then he could feel them crawling under his skin.
    Under his skin. Under his skin…
    He squirmed in agony. He slapped frantically at his arms and legs. Tore at his skin with his fingernails.
    He watched in horror as little bulges moved down his arms, inside his palms….
    Now he itched from inside .
    And all his clawing and scratching and slapping did nothing to ease the horrible, throbbing itching.
    â€œPlease, stop it!” Ned shrieked. “It hurts! Ohhhh, it hurts!”
    â€œGood,” Margolin muttered to himself. “Very good. Yes. This spider spell will work nicely. A wonderful way to begin.”
    Margolin snapped his fingers. “Get up, fool. We have work to do.”
    The bulges under Ned’s skin