The Three Furies (Erec Rex) Read Online Free Page B

arms, and feet were poking out.
    Erec had to get his siblings away from them. He hooked Nell's arm over his shoulder and grabbed her waist, picking up her and her walker. "C'mon, Trevor. And Danny? Sammy? Could you come here a minute?"
    "Not now, Erec." Danny sounded annoyed. "It's dangerous here. Okay?"
    "That's right, Sorry," Mrs. Smith snapped. "It's time you got the message, and scrambled like an egg."
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    The man in the barrel nodded. "Tha's right, kid. You best listen to Dumpling here, if you knows what's best for ya."
    Dumpling? Mrs. Smith's name was Dumpling? Well, it did seem to fit. "You guys," Erec said, smiling like their best brother, "this will just take one minute. Please, come into Mom's room. We need to take some things with us before we go."
    Danny and Sammy didn't answer, but just stood there as if they were unsure what to do. Nell and Trevor, however, jumped toward him, wanting to get away from the visitors. He helped Nell down the hall into his mother's room, and Trevor followed. The Substance Channel had stopped spinning. Now it hung still, suspended in the air. A green light pulsed from it. Nell and Trevor looked into the blackness inside, eyes wide.
    But he had to get Danny and Sammy. Erec could hear them explaining to Dumpling Smith that they couldn't leave without Erec, Trevor, and Nell. She was arguing with them. So Dumpling only wanted the twins? Erec panicked. He had to get them away from her. Trevor helped steady Nell in front of the Substance Channel, and Erec sped back into the room, just as Mrs. Dumpling Smith was trying to drag the twins out the door.
    This time they were struggling, trying to make her understand. Sammy pulled back against the door frame. "We can't leave our brothers and sister here. We have to protect them, too!"
    "There is no time for them," Mrs. Smith said. "We must get you to safety quickly."
    The huge woman and her two friends could easily overpower Erec. He glanced at the coat rack for help, giving it a shrug. "C'mon, guys. Please. You left all your important stuff in Mom's room. You can come right back, okay?"
    "All right." Danny yanked his arm out of Mrs. Smith's grip. "We'll be right back."
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    Mrs. Smith looked suspicious as she watched the twins walk away. "What is that Sorry up to? We better check." She got up to follow them and nodded to her friends to come along. Her girth filled the hallway in front of the tall man, and the man in the barrel closed in behind him, leaving little room for his wide strides.
    "Hurry up, guys!" Erec tore ahead to his mother's room, and Danny and Sammy followed him. He was amazed at how fast Mrs. Smith was. She would never let them climb into the Substance Channel.
    Dumpling Smith was closing in on them. But right when it seemed hopeless, the coat rack threw itself down across the entrance to the hallway, right in front of the shorter man's feet. The third man had too much momentum to stop himself, and he tripped over the coat rack and started rolling in his barrel down the hall. A bowling ball in motion, he knocked the tall man over like a pin, sending both of them flying into Mrs. Smith's back end.
    Shaped a bit like a ball herself, Mrs. Smith tumbled forward. The two men spilled over her, rolling and tangling more until they resembled a pile of spaghetti and meatballs.
    Erec lifted Nell up to the Substance Channel. "Climb in and I'll give you your walker. Here." He grabbed Trevor. "Hold Trev's hand. We should all hold hands in there so we don't get separated."
    Erec helped them both in quickly. Sammy took Trevor's hand and climbed in after, pulling Danny in after her. Erec grabbed Danny's hand and Nell's walker and dove into the ring after them.
    An unseen force seemed to pull him through the hoop. He looked back and saw Mrs. Smith and her strange friends flopping over one another, trying to stand up. Then he sank into the blackness around him.
    Danny's hand and the walker were the only things he was sure were there. It felt like