Like a toy caught between two toddlers, Jamie’s body was now being pulled in both directions. His mouth opened in a silent scream. The stoor worm let out a strange whine again and loosened its hold slightly. Jamie was no longer being pulled in the direction of its cavernous mouth but it wouldn’t be long before it happened again.
I cast around. There had to be something here I could use as a weapon. Bob’s knife – scimitar – was on the floor but it was well out of reach. If I could grab one of the pillows on the hard bed I could smack the stoor worm round the head – but unless the worm was allergic to feathers, that wasn’t going to help.
Growing more and more angry, the stoor worm threw out another tentacle. It smashed against the side of my head, making my senses reel. There was no way out of this, not without asking for help.
‘What do we do?’ Jamie shrieked.
‘The scimitar,’ I gasped. ‘Throw me the sodding scimitar.’ I couldn’t reach it from up here in the air but if Jamie could grab it I could summon Bob. Yes, there would be dangerous consequences but the alternative right now was either being squashed to death or chomped on.
Jamie was baffled. ‘Scimitar?’
‘Letter opener! Throw me the letter opener!’
His head swung round until his eyes alighted on the little knife. ‘It’s too small. It’s not going to do anything,’ he yelled as the stoor worm’s jaws snapped forward, narrowly missing him.
‘Just do it!’
He stretched out, taking the hilt and flinging it upwards. Unfortunately he timed it badly and the knife bounced into another swiping tentacle. Instead of flying up to me, it went out of the other window.
‘Bob!’ I screamed as the silver flashed in the failing sunlight. The genie didn’t answer.
He had told me that I couldn’t rid myself of him and that, like a bad penny, he’d always turn up again. I had the sneaking suspicion that this would be all over for both Jamie and me by the time that happened. I cursed, just as there was another tug round my waist. The stoor worm had apparently decided I was the tastier one and was pulling me towards its mouth.
I stared down the thing’s throat. Dark saliva glistened from within. I swallowed my fear and tried to reach the light fitting again. This time I was too far away.
The dim recesses of my brain registered how stupid all this was. Who got eaten by a sea monster when they were up a mountain? It’d go down in history. I wondered if the person who’d used magic to bring the damn thing here knew about the Foinse. They had to. But didn’t they realise that by killing me they were damning everyone else too?
The stoor worm whined, then made several clicks. It was probably telling me that I was going to make a bloody tasty snack. Wait a minute…
‘How good is your psychometry?’ My words came out garbled but I think Jamie got the gist.
‘I’m one of the best.’
‘Can you use to it learn the language? To communicate?’ The tentacle round my waist tightened and I winced in pain.
‘And say what? Please don’t eat us?’
‘No. Say there’s a river. The River Tay’s near here, right? It leads to the sea. Use your psychometry to glean enough words to tell this thing that it can get back home. We didn’t bring it here but we can help it escape.’
For what seemed like an eternity there was absolute silence, not just from Jamie but from the stoor worm as well. It pulled its tentacle towards its horror of a mouth again. Now my toes were only inches away from those teeth.
Jamie screeched then he clicked. The stoor worm’s jaws opened wider and I knew it was about to bite. I squeezed my eyes shut while Jamie whined. My life should have been flashing in front of my eyes right about now but all I could think about was how pointless all this was. I held my breath. Hopefully death would come quickly.
Nothing happened. There was a series of clicks from the worm but unless my adrenaline had truly kicked in to the point where I could feel zero pain, it wasn’t actually eating me. I lifted up one eyelid. The worm’s blind eyes were turned in Jamie’s direction. It hissed and spat. Jamie whined once more then I fell to the ground with a heavy thump as the worm released its hold on me. It withdrew every tentacle, lifted its head up in sea-monster acknowledgement and a heartbeat later it slithered out of the window and vanished.
I stared at the spot it had just vacated. Pushing away the urge to scream, I scrambled to my feet and lurched to the window. The stoor worm was already on the ground, its body snaking with incredible speed towards the Tay. A few Sidhe standing around far below shrieked, but the worm paid them no attention. Before I could draw another breath, it was out of sight.
Jamie shook his head in disbelief. ‘It worked. I’ve never used my Gift before to learn another tongue. I thought what I had was useless unless it involved archaeology or analysing a murder weapon.’