Jonah and the Last Great Dragon by M E. Holley

terrible silence in the churchyard as they all looked up. The creature, motionless, stared down at them, its face contorted in rage. Then it shrieked and scampered down the church wall to the ground. It leaped across the grass, spitting and baring its teeth at the nearest people. They screamed and scattered, scrambling behind gravestones and bushes to get away.
    As the children ran for the gate, one of Erin’s schoolfriends stumbled over the edge of a grave that was hidden by long grass. She fell headlong onto the ground. The demon screeched with joy, bounded across the grass and leaped on her back. She squealed with terror and tried to roll over to knock it off. Before anyone could reach her, it clutched handfuls of her hair in its bony hands, yanked back her head and bit into her neck. She shrieked as blood poured from the wound, and then her body began to jerk violently.
    â€˜Megan, don’t move!’ Before Jonah could stop him, Erin’s school friend Gethin flung himself on the Night Creature, trying to pull it off. It turned, grabbed his wrist and viciously sunk its teeth into his arm. Gethin grunted with pain and then he crumpled on to the grass. Like Megan, he began to twitch uncontrollably.
    The scaly demon was sitting astride her back chortling, and raking its nails down her arms until they were a mass of bleeding scratches. She whimpered faintly as it kicked her hard with its bony heels but she seemed to be losing consciousness.
    â€˜Megan! Oh, my God, Megan!’ A fair-haired woman raced across the churchyard, screaming, and had to be held back.
    â€˜Get off me,’ she sobbed, as she struggled against the restraining hands. ‘Let me go to my daughter!’
    A woman put her arms round Megan’s mother comfortingly, as the demon crowed with glee and leaped up and down on the girl’s back. The Night Creatures on the roof hopped around, screeching with delight, as they watched. They jabbered at each other and then they all swung down from the porch and the guttering, bounded about among the squealing crowd and grabbed at people’s clothes with their skinny little grey fingers. Children in the crowd screamed in panic and men were trying to push frightened women out of the way, as the grotesque little fiends herded them away from the gate and the wall that ran beside the lane.
    Erin clutched Jonah’s sleeve, as they stood wondering which way to run. Claire and Gwen peered from behind the huge yew tree. When they saw that there were no demons near the church porch, they rushed across the grass towards the children.
    â€˜Quick,’ gasped Gwen. ‘Slip away to the corner of the graveyard there, behind the church, and get over the wall into the field. Then we can run for home. You two go first. Quick now, before any of those things see you.’
    â€˜Yes, go on. Hurry,’ urged Claire, giving Jonah a push. ‘We’ll be right behind you.’
    Jonah took one last glance at the chaos among the gravestones. Through people’s legs he could just make out Gethin, jerking on the ground. It reminded him how he shook, when the wolf had bitten him. Suddenly, he realised just what they had to do.
    â€˜Just a minute. I’ve got an idea.’
    â€˜No, Jonah. There’s no time. We must get away while we can.’ Claire took his shoulders and urged him towards the field wall. He twisted away from her.
    â€˜No, not yet. There’s something we have to do.’ He grabbed Erin’s arm and pulled her along the path..
    â€˜Jonah! Come back!’ Claire threw up her hands and the two women groaned with frustration.
    At the corner of the church, he turned urgently to Erin. ‘How does the spell work? What do you have to say?’
    She looked puzzled for a second and then her eyes lit up. ‘Oh, yeah. That’s it! That’ll get rid of them. Oh, brilliant, Jonah!’ She bit her lip in thought. ‘I think it