The Drowned Tomb (The Changeling Series Book 2) Read Online Free

bloodstained, dead-eyed killer man-eating sharks look downright cuddly.” He nodded knowledgeably.
    “Oh. I feel a bit less sorry for it then,” Robin amended, raising an eyebrow. There was still so much he didn’t know about so many creatures of the Netherworlde.
    “Kraken grow as big as the space they’re in,” Henry said, strolling away across the grass towards the far end of the garden, where his father was still toiling in the sultry heat. Robin followed him, gathering up his books.
    “Or so I heard anyway,” Henry continued, brushing tree bark fragments from his sleeves. “That’s why you seal the room up, you see, if you get an infestation? You can’t drive ‘em out. All you can do is try and contain ‘em. Dad says if one ever escaped and got out into the open ocean, it’d mean the end of the world, because it’d grow so big it filled the entire thing. A bit gloomy, eh?”
    They had crossed the baking lawn, the dry grass practically crunching under their feet, and drawn level with Mr Drover, who was fighting a losing battle, but was struggling on valiantly, trowel in hand.
    “Hullo boys,” he gruffed absently without looking up, his face the colour of beetroot.
    “Isn’t that right, dad?” Henry said, thrusting his hands into his pockets and rocking on his heels.
    “Hmm? What’s that?”
    “Kraken in the ocean. Armageddon,” Henry summarised lightly.
    “Hmm? Oh yes, terrible business,” Mr Drover muttered into his moustache. “Shouldn’t be allowed. Here, I don’t suppose you boys fancy making yourselves useful and finishing up here while I get on with something else do you? There are only fifteen flowerbeds left to do. It’s just strangleweed. Giving me a bugger of a time though. I need to get round to the herb garden and start in on the screaming beets. Have to put my slippers on first, you know how easily startled that beetroot is. Gives me a migraine with its howling.”
    “Sorry,” Henry said, thinking fast. “Robin here has tons of homework to do, and I said I’d help.”
    Mr Drover looked up at them suspiciously. “Homework? In June? School is out for summer. I should know, my lad, I’ve had you under my feet at home for weeks.”
    “No rest for the wicked eh, Mr D?” Robin said, smiling innocently. He waved his book in the air as supporting evidence.
    “Hmph,” Mr Drover frowned. “Well, I suppose you’re hardly following the national curriculum here at Erlking are you?” he conceded. “More the Sorcerer’s syllabus, eh?” He chuckled at his own joke. “If that’s the case then, you’d better get along. Your aunt might still be trying to find you a replacement tutor, they’re not easy to come by, but that’s no excuse to go slacking, is it?”
    Robin’s previous tutor, Phorbas, had been a satyr. Half man, half goat. A Panthea and an expert in the Tower of Air. It was a dangerous job, teaching the world’s last changeling. One risked the displeasure of the Netherworlde ruler, Lady Eris. Phorbas had paid the price for rebellion. He had been separated body and soul, and his essence was currently trapped, rather permanently, in an ornate knife.
    There wasn’t much effective learning to be had from cutlery.
    Robin had been enjoying the lazy lesson-free days of summer as best he could, and had been studiously ignoring the lengthy list of reading material his aunt had thoughtfully provided. Feeling slightly guilty for lying to Mr Drover, he made a mental note to at least make a start on the reading material Aunt Irene had given him tonight. Later would be better, when it was cool enough to think.
    The two boys left the gardens for into the blessed cool shade of the house proper. It took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the gloom within, so it was that they didn’t immediately see the small figure of Karya before them.
    The young girl was sitting at a writing desk along one wall of the hallway, scribbling furiously on a telephone pad. Her wild mass of