The Unwilling Witch Page 9

  Unfortunately, whatever was chasing me had a lot more experience in this version of tag. The growling sounds got closer. They were right behind me. Then they were right on me. Something slammed into my back.

  I fell face-forward. The force made me roll right over. It was the first time in my life I had ever done a somersault. I didn’t like it. As I slammed to a stop, my glasses bounced from my head. I panicked at the thought of losing them, but I got lucky. When I groped through the leaves that surrounded me, I felt the frames right away.

  Before I could put on my glasses or stand up, something gray and sleek and fast landed on my chest. It was so close to me that it was mostly a blur, but it was a blur with a mouth and a tongue and teeth—especially teeth. Even without my glasses, I could tell that the blurry teeth ended in blurry points of the kind designed to make holes in just about anything. The teeth appeared about ready to bite my face. This wasn’t a good thing.

  I raised my hand as the animal lunged closer, the mouth so wide, it looked like my whole head would disappear inside. A wave of hot, raw animal breath washed over me.

  Starscape Books by David Lubar

  NOVELS

  Flip

  Hidden Talents

  True Talents

  MONSTERRIFIC TALES

  Hyde and Shriek

  The Vanishing Vampire

  NATHAN ABERCROMBIE, ACCIDENTAL ZOMBIE SERIES

  My Rotten Life

  Dead Guy Spy

  Goop Soup

  The Big Stink

  Enter the Zombie

  STORY COLLECTIONS

  Attack of the Vampire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Beware the Ninja Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  The Curse of the Campfire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  In the Land of the Lawn Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  Invasion of the Road Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales

  About the Author

  David Lubar grew up in Morristown, New Jersey. His books include Hidden Talents, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults; True Talents; Flip, a VOYA Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror selection; the Weenies short-story collections In the Land of the Lawn Weenies, Invasion of the Road Weenies, The Curse of the Campfire Weenies, The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies, Attack of the Vampire Weenies, and Beware the Ninja Weenies; and the Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie series. He lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. You can visit him on the Web at www.davidlubar.com.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  THE UNWILLING WITCH

  Copyright © 1997 by David Lubar

  The Wavering Werewolf excerpt copyright © 1997 by David Lubar

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Marcos Calo

  Illustrations by Marcos Calo

  A Starscape Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-7653-3078-9 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4299-9309-8 (e-book)

  e-ISBN 9781429993098

  First Edition: September 2013