The Monster of Shiversands Cove Read Online Free PDF

would attack. After all, it showed no sign of attacking the boat and something that big could have charged at the boat and caused a
lot
of damage.
    But it didn’t.
    Besides, I have read hundreds of monster stories and one thing I know. Not all monsters are bad. There are good monsters too, friendly, helpful monsters, and this could be one of them.
    So, although I would
prefer
to have a holiday without glimpses of a far away sea monster, as long as far away was where it stayed, I could cope. In fact, I could even do some drawings of it and send them to Rory. I could tell him all about it, tell him what he was missing.
    And anyway, whales swim thousands of miles each year, so sea monsters probably did too. This sea monster was probably just passing through. It would leave soon; maybe it was gone already.
    Just then, I heard Dad’s feet clumping into the house. He stuck his head round the sitting room door. ‘Stan,’ he said. ‘I have a little favour to ask you.’
    * * *
    â€˜No,’ I said. ‘No, no, NO! I will NOT do it.’ Then, I shook my head, and folded my arms.
    Because Dad wanted me to be Wicked Wanda.
    Wicked Wanda is a witch who keeps interfering with Mr Wizzywoz’s plans. Wicked Wanda is also Mum but Mum wasn’t here.
    â€˜I need a stand-in,’ said Dad. ‘So I can practise a new routine for the Lightsands Bay Festival.’
    Then he threw himself to his knees and clasped his hands. ‘Please, please,’ he said staring up at me and clutching my leg. ‘I’m begging you.’
    â€˜Get up,’ I said, pushing him off. ‘There’s no way am I doing it. I do
not
feel like being Wicked Wanda and there is not one
single thing
in the whole world that you can say to make me change my mind.’
    There – that told him.
    But then Dad got this crafty look on his face. ‘If you stand in as Wicked Wanda,’ he said, ‘I’ll teach you how to use the lasso.’
    Oh, that was
unfair
.
    I have been
begging
Dad to teach me how to use his lasso. It’s a real one, like cowboys use. Dad uses it as part of his Mr Wizzywoz routine and every time I beg him, he says he’s too busy, or it’s too precious, or we need a bigger space than our back garden. He has hundreds of reasons, all adding up to the same answer.
    No.
    Up until today.
    Which is how I ended up prancing around the beach, standing in as Wicked Wanda.
    * * *
    I’ll spare you the details. It was a terrible story: some race to find buried treasure. Maybe little kids would find it thrilling, but I didn’t.
    So I had to prance about, cackling, with a hunting horn I had to keep blowing. And Dad kept lassoing me, again and again, until he got the routine just right.
    Then, at
last
, it was over, and I got to use the lasso. Dad stuck a picnic chair on the beach. He showed me how to do it, and I practised. I practised and practised, concentrating really hard.
    Time whizzed by as I stood there, lassoing the picnic chair, getting better and better. It turned out I was a natural and I was enjoying myself so much, and concentrating so hard, that I almost forgot about the sea monster.
    Then, I looked up . . . and there it was. Only it wasn’t out at sea. No. Not any more. Now it was right here, here in Shiversands Cove.
    I felt my legs go wobbly. The monster poked its head out of the water and swivelled it around. I knew what that monster was doing: spyhopping. That’s what whales do; they poke their heads up and look around.
    I backed away.
    But why?
Why
was the monster spyhopping? What was it looking around for? And why was it here, in Shiversands Cove? Why was it so
close
?
    I backed further away, further up the beach. I could hear Magnus just behind me, sitting on the sand, chatting to his fairy. By now, my legs were so wobbly that they wouldn’t hold me up any more and I collapsed on the sand.
    Magnus let out a huge shriek. ‘DON’T SIT