Good Curses Evil by Stephanie S. Sanders Page A

Now if we only knew HOW TO GET THERE!”
    The crystal went stubbornly dark.
    â€œOh, like you could do any better! Anyway, don’t be such a baby. We’ll find the road again. There’s no way I’m going to tell my dad I failed my first Plot,” she said.
    â€œMe neither,” I said.
    Cappy was no help at all. He had no idea where anything was.
    â€œBut you live here!” I said to him, exasperated.
    Cappy just smiled stupidly until a moth flew past. He hopped up and down, chasing it around the forest. But when he finally caught it, he smashed it in his clumsy, clawed hands. He cried for almost an hour.
    â€œPoor flutterby!” he moaned from a rock, where he sat with his dog head in his claws.
    â€œI wonder how Wolf Junior is doing,” I said to Jez.
    â€œDoggy?” Cappy asked, perking with interest.
    â€œYeah, Cappy. He’s a doggy. You’ll get to meet Wolf later, okay? If we ever get out of here. We’re lost, Jez.”
    â€œI know,” she answered. “But there has to be some way …”
    â€œThere isn’t!” I yelled.
    Cappy’s bawling and Jez’s unrelenting determination were getting on my nerves. I only had five days left to steal a baby, kidnap a princess, and overthrow a kingdom … and I was stuck in the forest with an optimistic vampire and a crybaby henchman.
    I’d pretty much given up hope, when something strange happened.
    â€œDid you hear that?” Jez said. Even Cappy stopped crying to listen.
    â€œIt sounded like Wolf. Maybe we’re not lost!” I said. “Wolf! Where are you?”
    From far away we heard the voice again shouting what might have been our names.
    â€œHe’s calling us!” Jez said. “Wolf! Over here!”
    Quickly, Jez became a bat and flew in the direction of the voice. I put out our fire—except for one branch, which I used as a torch—and ran after her. Cappy trudged behind.
    For a moment, I thought we’d lost track of Wolf’s voice. Then we heard it again a little farther away. Once again, we ran after it only to come up empty.
    â€œWhere did he go?” I asked, searching around frantically.
    All I could see were trees and thick undergrowth in all directions. Then I heard the voice again. This time, Wolf was calling from our left. I ran toward the sound, shouting Wolf’s name. Instead of getting closer, though, the voice stayed just beyond our reach.
    Jez had transformed back into a girl and Cappy had finally caught up with us, when we all stumbled through a thick growth of brambles and straight into what seemed like an enormous patch of soft moss. The moonlight broke through the canopy and turned the moss into an eerie misty green.
    â€œOoooh,” Cappy said. “Pretty greeny.”
    We stepped into the mossy clearing just as a hailstorm of tiny arrows rained down on us from all directions. I tried to duck behind Cappy and realized I couldn’t move my feet.
    â€œCappy stuck!” the capcaun cried anxiously.
    â€œI’m stuck too!” Jez said in alarm. “And I can’t transform!”
    My feet sank beneath the surface of the moss, and I realized what had happened. Somehow the sprites had imitated Wolf’s voice and lured us into a trap.
    â€œRune! What do we do?” Jez asked, trying to pull her legs free. She only sank faster.
    â€œStop struggling! It’s a Magic Marsh!” I said. “We have to think.” A Magic Marsh is like quicksand, only it keeps a person from using magic to escape.
    The barrage of mini arrows stopped as the little sprite chief stepped into the moonlight with his followers. He pointed at me, then Jez, then Cappy. Then he made a fist and pounded it into his other hand.
    â€œYeah, I get it,” I said irritably to the little sprite. He pointed and laughed. The others all joined in.
    â€œJerks!” I yelled.
    Villains were not supposed to fall into lame traps. They were