Read The Swamp Boggles for Free Online Page B

“The gem must be through there.”
    Their footsteps squished and squelched up tothe door. Sophie and Sam huddled behind the shelves. Sophie mouthed: “One… two…”

    The door swung open and the three Swamp Boggles came in.
    â€œTHREE!”
    Sophie and Sam flicked the hairdryers on, and the loud whistling noise of the motors filled the attic. For a moment, the Swamp Boggles froze, almost comically surprised looks on their faces. Then they felt the warm air blowing on to their slimy skin.
    â€œARGH!” they shouted, jumping around.

    They tried to turn about to get away from the blasts of air, but only succeeded in tripping over each other’s feet and bumping heads. Sophie heard their skin cracking and saw her opportunity.
    Leaving Sam to work the hairdryers, she jumped up and ran round towards the rapidly hardening boggles. “Take that! And that, you slimy slug brains!”
    Her Guardian powers surged through her. Turning in mid-air, she kicked out with both feet. There was a loud crunch as the boggle she’d kicked staggered backwards. Yes! thought Sophie. If she could just knock them all over, then she could grab Sam and use her superspeed to whizz them downstairs!
    Seeing the chief boggle lunging towards her, Sophie pivoted round and kicked his handsaway. Thud! Thwap! Turning a back flip, she landed neatly on the floor. “Go on, make my day!” she declared, dusting her hands down as he came at her.
    Then suddenly the hairdryers stopped.
    Silence filled the room. Sophie swung round, her eyes wide with horror. The third boggle had reached the socket in the wall and pulled the hairdryers’ plugs out!
    The chief laughed. “Or maybe you can make my day!” He grabbed the cables of the hairdryers, pulling them hard so that the hairdryers jerked out of Sam’s hands. The chief tossed them to Hissy Voice, who threw them outside the door. Already, Sophie could see the boggles’s bodies getting squishier again as they refilled with slime and water.
    â€œUh-oh,” said Sam as he scrambled to hisfeet. With evil grins, the boggles formed a line and began approaching. “ Uh-oh” is right , thought Sophie. Now what were they going to do?
    As the boggles drew closer, Sam and Sophie backed off, Sophie almost tripping over her school bag. She grabbed it. Maybe there was something in it she could throw to keep them back? Not The Shadow Files , she couldn’t risk losing that, but she had her school reading book and water bottle. Grabbing them she sent them flying through the air, but the boggles just ducked and kept on coming. Sophie flung her empty lunch box too, but that simply squished off the chief boggle’s shoulder.
    Sophie felt the wall behind her back. This was it – she and Sam couldn’t go any further.
    Beside her, Sam’s face was pale. Then his footbumped into the painting of the girl and the kitten that he’d taken down off the shelf earlier. “Right, forget this!” he muttered, scooping it quickly up. “I’m not just going to stand here and be squelched by a Swamp Boggle! Geronimo! ”
    With a yell, he ran straight at the nearest one. Sophie watched in amazement as he slammed the painting down on the boggle’s head. It popped out through the canvas and the boggle started to yell, then broke off as a sneeze ripped through it.
    â€œATCHOO!”
    The boggle began to stagger about with the picture round his neck. “ ATCHOO! ATCHOO! ” Slimy green snot flew across the room.
    Sophie’s mouth was open as she gaped at thescene. She had no idea why it was sneezing, but at least it was otherwise occupied now. “Way to go, Sam!” she cried, ducking to avoid the snot as it splatted into the wall behind her head.
    The other two boggles started to sneeze too. They backed away from the painting.
    â€œWhat are they doing?” cried Sophie.
    â€œThe question’s not what are they doing,