Book 7: Murder of Crows - Demon Slayer Set 2
De
Demo
m n S
on
o l
S ayer
by
b Dax
y D V
ax a
V rle
arl y
e illustrated b
illustrated y
b J
y o
J n Pr
on P octor
roctor
De
Demo
m n S
on
o l
S ayer
by Dax Varley
illustrated by Jon Proctor
Spellbound
An Imprint of Magic Wagon
abdopublishing.com
For Sixx and Pearl —JP
abdopublishing.com
Published by Magic Wagon, a division of ABDO, PO Box 398166, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55439. Copyright © 2018 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Spellbound™ is a trademark and logo of Magic Wagon.
Printed in the United States of America, North Mankato, Minnesota.
052017
092017
Written by Dax Varley
Illustrated by Jon Proctor
Edited by Megan M. Gunderson
Art Directed by Candice Keimig
Publisher’s Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Varley, Dax, author. | Proctor, Jon, illustrator.
Title: Murder of crows / by Dax Varley ; illustrated by Jon Proctor.
Description: Minneapolis, MN : Magic Wagon, 2018. | Series: Demon slayer ; #7
Summary: Max tracks Runt to a gathering of demons in hopes of finally finding his mom.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016961885 | ISBN 9781532130083 (lib. bdg.) |
ISBN 9781624029622 (ebook) | 9781624029776 (Read-to-me ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Mothers and sons¬--Fiction. | Kidnapping--Fiction. |
Demonology--Fiction.
Classification: DDC [Fic]--dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016961885
Table of
Contents
c h a p t e r 1
Collared ....................4
c h a p t e r 2
Tracked .....................16
c h a p t e r 3
Floating ....................22
c h a p t e r 4
Crowing .....................36
c h a p t e r 1
Collared
Darkness comes.
Those words haunted me.
But wait . . . I had an
.
Snatching up my pack, I hurried
off to the cemetery.
4
5
I perched,
, on a
tree branch. Poe perched beside
me. We didn’t have to wait long.
6
Four nasty demons crept in. I
only needed one. But these were big and beefy, with daggerlike claws.
Too risky.
Then I got lucky.
7
Runt! The smal demon with the
injured leg I’d
with before hobbled up. Perfect!
I aimed my slingshot and . . .
Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!
8
Four tokens.
Four dead demons.
Runt’s eyes grew as
large as
. He tried
scuttling away, but Poe swo ped, touched down on his head, and
began pecking.
9
The puny demon flailed,
trying to bat Poe off. That’s when I came up and kicked Runt in the
backside. He went sprawling—
OOMPH!—facedown on
the ground. I rolled him over with my foot, my sLinGsHot drawn.
He blinked up at me. “Max.”
“Yep. I’m back.”
10
11
Runt sneered. “I told
you before; I’m not giving
you any information.”
I grinned down at him.
“Want to bet?”
12
I reached in my pack
and retrieved a dog collar.
A special dog collar. I’d glued
tokens side-by-side
around it. No way Runt, or any
of the others, could remove it
without—boom!—exploding
into demon dust.
13
“What’s that?” he yelped.
“Your new choker”.
Poe flittered onto my
shoulder as I buckled the collar around Runt’s neck. Once it was
secured, I scooted back.
Runt eased to his feet like I’d
strapped on a bomb. Of course,
for him, that’s exactly what it was.
I scooped up some graveyard
dirt and let it pour out of my
hand in front of him. “Here. Eat up.”
Then, after plucking up the four tokens I’d fired, I walked off.
15
c h a p t e r 2
Tracked
Away from the cemetery,
I took out my phone. What Runt
didn’t know was that I’d planted a device inside
that collar. I opened the GPS app to his every step.
16
17
It wasn’t long before he was on
the move. I didn’t hurry to catch up. I swear, he was the s l owe s t demon alive. I could almost see the blip on my screen going step . . . drag . . .
step . . . drag.
Keeping
, I followed.
S low ly.
Runt teetered along, his chin
poked up high to avoid touching the collar. We finally came to a familiar spot. The old gas station.
19
“Demons ”, Poe said.
Boy, was he right! The parking
lot was overrun with them.
Why here?
20
I watched, waited. Then one big, nasty bruiser squatted on
one knee. That’s when it hit me.
I know where Mom is!
21
c h a p t e r 3
Floating
A warrior needs
.
Mine was stashed in my hideout.
First, I shrugged on my jacket.
Next, I worked a spiked glove
onto my right hand. Adjusting the ring on my left, I said, “Hang on, Mom. I’m coming.”
22
When I got back to the gas
station—Whoa!—the demon count
had doubled. Maybe fifty or more.
With my best warrior
, I
raced toward them.“Ahhhhhh!”
I picked off six with my slingshot. The rest scattered and ran.
That was easy.
24
26
I wasted no time. I pRiEd off
the cap to one of the station’s
underground tanks. Inside, black ooze. It had a smoky scent, like a freshly sharpened pencil.
I shone my flashlight in. Wow!
The fluid lit up like a glow stick.
27
Red-haired women floated
by. An elbow here. A knee there.
Way too many people for me to
pull out on my own. I started
to dial
.
But the glint of a wedding ring
caught my eye. Then
a face came
into view.
ÒMom!
I reached in and grabbed her
wrist before she floated away.
“Mom, Mom, Mom,” I chanted as
I fished her out of the demon goo.
28
29
I carried her to a gas pump and
set her down. “Mom?” Nothing. I
patted her face. ÒMom, wake up.
She was breathing, but barely.
I took out my phone, ready to
dial
again.
“Demons,” Poe warned.
I turned. Holy molehills! A
herd of them stampeded
toward us.
31
Grabbing my sLinGsHot, I
picked off two. This time, they
didn’t scatter.
32
I charged, shouldering into them.
Whap! Whap! Whap!
One grabbed my neck, but I got
him with a right hook.
33
Poe dive-bombed a bunch,
but they just kept coming. More
and More and More. Far
more than we could handle.
34
Suddenly, Poe flew up and away.
“Caw! Caw! Caw!”
“Poe!” I screamed.
He’s deserting me?
35
c h a p t e r 4
Crowing
A demon grabbed a hunk of my
hair. I popped him with my ring, but another took his place, yanking hard. I backed into him. Whap!
ÒGah! Something bit my leg.
Runt!
36
I grabbed Runt by the ankles, lifted, and swung him. We kNocKEd
out nine demons as they connected with his collar.
38
Whap! Whap! Whap!
Whap! Whap! Whap!
Whap! Whap! Whap!
But Runt’s head tilted and—
whap!—he exploded too. The
collar dropped on the pavement.
39
Two sly ones snuck up behind
me and grabbed my legs. I
elbowed them. Whap! Whap!
More came. I was swimming in
a sea of
demons. I
powered at them, but how could
I keep this up?
So many.
41
A demon clawed my calf. I
buckled. Another backhanded
me. I fell, still struggling.
I was wearing down. Flat on my
back, I swung and kicked. But
a claw sank into my thigh. Another sl ashed my cheek. I tried to
shield myself with my arms.
I lost
. Pain ripped through
me. Blood warmed my skin. The
stink roiled my gut.
42
I can’t do it. I can’t.
Then the sky darkened. A
storm cloud covered the sun.
43
Wait . . . not a cloud. Crows!
Hundreds of them! And
Poe was leading the way!
They swooped , clawing and pecking. The air filled with the w h oosh of batting wings.
44
The demons thrashed and
howled and wildly
.
But they were no match. The crows were out for blood.
Demons fell. Others ran. And
when there were none left, the
crows took wing . . . flying up and away.
45
All but Poe. He’d always
have my back.
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
I rol ed over, feeling like I’d been through a meat grinder. On elbows, I crawled.
46
“Mom,” I uttered as I got
near her.
Her eyes fluttered open. I was
flooded with relief.
“Max,” she croaked.
“Shh, Mom, don’t talk. I’m calling for help.” I reached for my PHONE.
She hugged herself close.
“Max, you must find it.”
“Mom—”
“You have to find it.”
“What, Mom? Find what?”
Her eyes filled with fear. “The
SCAR LET PORTAL. The
door of doom. It’s ready to open.”
How on Earth can I stop it?
48
De
Demo
m n S
on l
S ayer
murder of cro s
w
Max is so c
s
lose to f
o inding h
ng is m
his issi
missing m
ng om
mom. Fol
Follow
o in
wing
a d
a e
demo
mon,
n, hhe a
e n
and P
d o
d PPoe a
e r
arri
rive
vve bbac
ack at t
at the a
he aba
band
ndon
oned gas
station. There
r , he finds m
s ore t
more ha
than h
e
he b
a
barg
rgained for
ained fo .
d forr .
An
And h
d how c
ow a
can P
n o
Poe l
e e
leave h
ave i
him at a t
m at a tim
ime l
e ike
lik tthi
his?
s?
#
Bo
B ok
oo s i
s n
i
n
7
t hi
h s se
is s r
erie
ies
# 5
5
# 6
6
# 7
7
# 8
8
Document Outline
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Collared
Chapter 2: Tracked
Chapter 3: Floating
Chapter 4: Growing
Back Cover
Dax Varley, Book 7: Murder of Crows - Demon Slayer Set 2
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