Page 28 of The Neverfear

‘The mouse said that the dog likes a dance,’ said Jacques.

Anya glared at Jacques, but her whistle shifted into a waltz and she began to move, spinning with her arms held out. The dog’s six eyelids drooped.

‘Call that dancing?’ said Jacques.

‘Just trying not to die here.’

First one, then two, then three heads began to snore.

‘Quick,’ said Anya. ‘The whiskers!’

‘Keep whistling!’

Christopher approached the dog. Its sides rose and fell rhythmically and its heads lolled forwards on its chest, but its whiskers were too high for him to reach.

‘I’m going to have to climb it.’

Anya’s eyes were wide, but she nodded, still whistling.

He reached out, wincing, and took hold of two handfuls of fur. The dog did not move. Hand over hand, Christopher pulled himself up on to the dog’s back until he was sitting astride the thinnest of the three necks. He reached for one of the dog’s shining whiskers. He held his breath.

‘Do it!’ hissed Jacques. ‘Let’s get out of this place!’

Christopher pulled. The whisker came free with a jerk.

And the dog’s eyes opened.

‘Oh noes,’ said Ratwin. ‘Oh, this isn’t goods!’

She was right. It was not goods.

Anya screamed as all three dog heads whipped upwards. Christopher grabbed at the collar, one hand on the leather, the other digging deep into the fur. The dog thrashed under his grip, letting out a high, shrill snarl. If he let go he knew he would be hurled against the wall and cut apart by its claws.

Anya whistled desperately but the dog’s anger was too great now. It barked, a terrible ear-shredding sound that would surely bring the giants running at any moment.

Christopher pressed himself against the Cerberus’s neck. They were going to die. He had only one chance. But how could he reach something so rabid with anger? How had he summoned the flash before?

He shut his eyes and tried to push through his panic. He yearned towards the still, hidden part of him that could reach out to another living thing.

‘Christopher!’ screamed Anya.

The green-gold flash knocked him backwards.

Flash

He was falling away from himself, and the dog’s mind rose up to meet him.

He opened his eyes. He was standing at the dog’s feet; all three of its heads bent to his. He felt three minds coursing through him, all of them tumultuous with fury. He felt three rages.

Green lights flickered in front of his eyes. He could not feel his hands. He rolled back his lips over his fangs and growled. He was chained at his feet: he could feel where the chains cut into his skin. He loathed being held captive. He longed for the forest. He should be hunting …

‘Christopher!’ A voice was shouting at him from a great distance. ‘The whiskers!’

His focus swam – animal, human. Dimly he saw that all three heads had come to rest on the floor of the kennel. All three sets of eyes were trained on him.

‘We need to go!’ cried the strange girl.

Her voice reached him and he stumbled forwards. The room itself was dizzy. He pulled out the whiskers – two, three. Each one hurt him, but he allowed it. He sniffed the air.