Bodkin opened his own mouth to shout out a warning but he was so scared, no sound came out.

What on earth could he do?

Wait a second… the Nuckalavee had said that the Magic of Wizards did not work in here. The Enchanted Sword was stuck in the scabbard. But how about the do-it-yourself Magic staff? That wasn’t the Magic of Wizards, that worked on its own. Maybe the staff would work in here…

He pointed the do-it-yourself Magic staff at his forehead.

Squelch! The staff stuck firmly to his right temple.

Great.

Now he had a staff stuck to his head.

This sort of thing never seemed to happen to proper heroes in stories.

It took a few moments for Bodkin to remember the right words to get the staff to unstick. Which it did, with another protesting squelch!

Okay, so he had a weapon that at least worked, although it was a little difficult to see how sticking things to other things was going to be helpful in this kind of emergency. He gathered all his courage together. Wish and Xar were dangling down inside the throat of that monster. They were his friends. And even though Bodkin was ABSOLUTELY PETRIFIED of the Nuckalavee,

Slowly,

Slowly,

Ever so slowly,

Bodkin climbed down from his hiding place.

When one of the Nuckalavee’s eyes flicked in his direction, Bodkin froze. But he kept on moving slowly, slowly. Because he had a very bad feeling about what the Nuckalavee was going to do next.

And Bodkin was right.

The moment that Wish shouted, “We’ve got it!” and Crusher began to haul on the ropes to bring Wish and Xar up, the Nuckalavee’s eyes blazed orange and he shut his mouth very, very quickly indeed.

WHIRRRAMMMMM!

The Nuckalavee’s jaws slammed shut, with Wish and Xar and the sprites and Caliburn and Crusher all inside.

Crusher’s rope was still tied to the stalactite. The Nuckalavee jerked his head to work the rope free. The rope held, because the rope of a Longstepper High-Walker giant is made of strong stuff.

And Bodkin ran, as fast as he could toward the rock and the rope.

He didn’t have a plan.

He just ran toward the rock and the rope.

The Nuckalavee’s eyes blazed orange at him.

You’re putting your filthy shoes on my beach!!! is what the Nuckalavee would have said if he didn’t have his mouth full at the time.

The Nuckalavee jerked his head a second time, and this time…

SNAP!

Bodkin only just got hold of the rope before it snapped from the stalactite, and he was hauled high up into the air, dangling from one end of it.