Star League 8 Read Online Free PDF Page A

bound up in strong spider silk. Before too long I’ll be completely mummified! Chu tries to bite Rach again, but she just knocks him away.
    Then an idea strikes me as I remember where I am – the Indonesian rainforest! And it just so happens that the komodo dragon, the largest lizard in the world, lives here. I bet a giant lizard would love to snack on a giant spider! Komodo dragons are rare, and I don’t sense any nearby, but I don’t have too many other options right now.
    As Rach spins the last bits of silk over my face I close my eyes and picture the enormous, scaly komodo dragon in my mind. But instead of the usual animancer connection I feel a strange tinglingall over. I gasp as my arms and legs start to stretch and morph.
    â€˜What’s happening to me?’ The words come out funny because my mouth is replaced by a large, snapping maw. When I notice the claws at the end of my fingers I rip at my spider web cocoon. Rach is terrified, and Chu doesn’t seem much better.
    â€˜You’re … you’re …’ he stammers.
    â€˜A komodo dragon,’ I finish for him.
    Chu jumps onto my scaly lizard back and points at Rach. ‘Let’s get her!’
    By now Rach is so pale it looks like she’s going to faint. I slap my heavy tail down on the ground next to her and she shrieks.
    â€˜Time to give up your Shadow Shard, Rach, or you’re lizard lunch!’
    She pulls her bracelet off and throws it on the ground. Chu runs forward and grabs it.
    â€˜You know what to do!’ I tell him. He points it towards her and together we yell, ‘Absorb powers!’

I step through a portal after that annoying sorceress Ursula and into a world of swirling carnival lights. Something cackles behind me and I spin around, a potion ready in my hand. But it’s just a mechanical clown head with a creepy recorded laugh.
    â€˜What’s the matter, Roger, scared of an itty bitty clown?’ I turn to find Ursula smirking at me.
    â€˜Give up the Shadow Shard, Ursula, or I’ll …’
    She laughs sharply. ‘Or you’ll what?’
    I look at the potion in my hand. Yellow Lightning Potion. Perfect. I hurl it at Ursula with all my might and it smashes at her feet. The yellow liquid flies in all directions, and electricity crackles around her, but she doesn’t react.
    â€˜What?’ I look closely and realise it’s a mirror. I was never really looking at the real Ursula, just a reflection. I run towards it and find myself in a hall of mirrors with Ursula’s sneering face looming out from every surface.
    â€˜Now are you having fun? I know I am!’ The real Ursula steps out from where she’s been standing and aims her Shadow Wand at my head. A huge fireball bursts from the end of it, and I freeze.
    â€˜Come on, Roger, don’t lose your head!’ I mutter to myself. At the last second I detach my head from my neck and it bounces onto the ground. The fireball whooshes past my neck where my head was a few seconds ago.
    â€˜Whew, that missed by a hair!’ By the time I’ve put my head back on, Ursula has disappeared.
    As I try to figure out if she’s gone left or right my head starts to tingle. Maybe it hit the ground a little too hard? I close my eyes and when I open them again I gasp.
    One of the mirrors is reflecting me. Which wouldn’t be so strange, except the mirror version of me is moving on its own. I watch as mirror me takes the right-hand path after Ursula. It’s like I’m watching a TV show with me as the star!
    Soon mirror me comes face to face with Ursula. ‘I was wondering when you’d show up,’ she says. Then she aims another fireball at mirror me. My double ducks to the right to avoid it, but Ursula’s first attack was a trick. She sends another fireball towards the space where I’ve moved to avoid the first, and it hits mirror me squarely in the chest. I slump to the ground, looking