Ravenous Read Online Free Page B

little pet, do you?” She glances back and forth between us. “Your brother, perhaps?”
    She steps closer, and a static charge runs through the air. My arms stick to my sides. Panic swims in my throat. “What’re you doing to me?” I whisper hoarsely.
    She grins again. “Oh, nothing much. Just what I do to all intruders, especially curious, succulent children.” She pinches my arm. My stomach heaves. “You are a bit skinny, though I daresay I can fatten you up.”
    â€œPlease, I just want to get my brother back. Let us go and we won’t tell anyone about you.”
    She cackles, the sound both merry and terrifying. This isn’t someone I can fight with my sword. My only hope is to outwit her somehow.
    I’m not off to a good start.
    â€œYou won’t tell anyone about me from my cages, either. I’m not terribly concerned about that.”
    â€œWait! There must be something I can offer you. A trade? Anything you want. There has to be something you want.” Yes, I have been reduced to begging, but I’m not ashamed. I will do anything for Hans.
    She laughs again but then pauses. “You’re a brave one, aren’t you? Perhaps there is something you could do.”
    â€œYes!” I cry. “I’ll do it. Name it.”
    She eyes me appraisingly but this time not for my bodyweight. “You agree even though you have no idea what it is?”
    â€œI’ll find a way. I have many skills.” I may be boasting, but if it will buy us time, it will have to do. “Let me do this thing for you, and in return allow Hans and me to go free.”
    â€œAll right. I will make a deal with you. Bring me what I want and I will set you both free.”
    I breathe out audibly.
    â€œBut,” she continues, “if you fail to do it before the height of the next full moon, I will hunt you down and have you both for dinner.” She claps her hands together. “Sound fair to you?”
    I swallow hard. The full moon? That’s just over three weeks away. I can’t imagine what the task will be. “Yes. What must I do?”
    The witch comes closer, until she’s right next to me. I can smell the horrid, choking stench from the forest on her breath. Like rotting flesh. “You will fetch me something I greatly desire: the cornucopia. It’s a rare thing. A never-ending source of food. It always serves the owner exactly what he or she desires. It will be an acceptable substitute for the loss of my supper.” She tilts her head toward Hans, and my stomach drops into my feet.
    â€œA cornucopia? But isn’t that just a legend?” I’ve heard it mentioned vaguely in fairy tales and stories of times long past, but never thought it was real.
    The witch waggles her finger at me. “There is much more to legends than people nowadays can see. Do you know the story?”
    â€œOnly a very little.”
    â€œIt is in the form of a horn-shaped basket. One merely has to touch it and think about what food one desires, and the meal will appear in the cornucopia. They say it once fed the ancient gods when they were but mewling children.” She paces the small space as she talks, and I never take my eyes off her for a second. “But someone clever stole it from them, and it was passed around from one selfish human to another for centuries. For a time, one country worshipped it, believing it granted them a good harvest every year. But then the king and queen of that country lost it. They hid it, most likely, wanting the horn’s abundance for themselves. Humans were never meant to hold that sort of power.”
    Her eyes pierce me, making my skin want to crawl and hide away.
    â€œWhere is this cornucopia now?” If I had much money to my name, I would bet anything the wizard hoarded that right along with all the other magic he stole.
    â€œThat is the trouble. No one knows. Ensel, that fool king from Belladoma, stole