Coffin Island Read Online Free

books rotated. The creature came into view. He
peered down at us with his burning eyes. He was a flaming
ape.
    “ That is the librarian,”
Madison said.
    “ He won’t let you read
anything?” I asked.
    “ Nope,” Madison
said.
    Millions of books were floating over my
head in planetary formation. The library was some sort of galaxy of
the written word. The entire canon of witchcraft was floating above
my head? I didn’t like that. I can tell you that. I aimed to fix it
somehow too.
    “ Do all those books have
witchcraft in them?” I asked.
    “ Which is why you cannot
call them down,” Madison said.
    “ All the witchcraft of the
ancient world is just beyond our grasp?” I asked.
    “This is one of the great treasures of
our race,” Madison said. “Although it is somewhat questionable
whether we are a race or have treasures. I just figure that there
is something special about these books. The flaming ape suggests
it. What do you think?”
    “ Why don’t you get a net?” I
asked.
    “ The books are extremely
dangerous,” Madison said. “They have not been suspended in space
for thousands of years with no visible signs of degradation because
of magical neglect. They are protected by very ancient witchcraft.
The wombats avoid the library at all costs. The books will kill
them.”
    “ More reason to not go up
there,” I said.
    “ You mean down,” Madison
said. “The library is upside down. You are standing on the ceiling
of the library.”
    The library was upside down. We were
walking around in the vaulted ceiling. The flaming librarian was
pacing the floor. The chandeliers were hanging upside down. The
furniture was floating in space. Oriental rugs were moving around
like jellyfish. Book ladders ran in the wrong direction. Sculptures
were floating around. It reminded me of when my mother fired our
banshee housekeeper. She turned our house upside down on her last
day. Things were beginning to come into much clearer focus. We just
needed a troop of banshees to straighten out The Coffin Island
School for Witchcraft. Perhaps a few tinkers too. They had plenty
of tools in their donkey carts.
    “ Years of my life have been
wasted in this library learning nothing,” Madison said. “Or perhaps
it was just a second. The book solar system runs independently of
the hourglass. Or rather it is a competitive time zone. I enjoy a
little friendly competition in my time zones.”
    “ There are two different
time zones on Coffin Island,” I gasped.
    My goblin nanny used to rewind time
when I wouldn’t eat my vegetables. I had to sit in my highchair for
decades. Now I was really beginning to get furious.
    “ That is the sum of my
knowledge of the library of the Coffin Island School for Witches of
which I have learned nothing,” Madison said. “Or rather I have
learned that these books are not going to teach me. Even the
simpleton witches grasp that. Although some of the more ignorant
ones learn this posthumously after the books kill them. I enjoy
that particular Coffin Island inversion.”
    “ It works on several
levels,” I said.
    “ Witchcraft often does,”
Madison said.
    “ Except when it’s not
working,” I said.
    “ In that instance,” Madison
said. “It is attempting to lull us into complacency.”
    “ Or it is resting for its
next assault,” I said.
    “ That too,” Madison
nodded.
    “ It’s a tricky little fish,”
I said.
    “ Witchcraft will demonstrate
that concept for you,” Madison said. “Reach for the
books.”
    I reached for the books but they moved
away. I stopped moving. The books moved back towards me. I reached
for them again. They moved even closer to me. I rushed towards
them. They darted away. They were taunting me to follow them. They
were trying to lure me within striking distance of Flash. Nice try
with the flaming ape witchcraft, I thought.
    “ I knew it,” I
said.
    “ They’re trying to kill us,”
Madison confirmed.
    “ They’re trying to burn us,”
I said.
    “