Star League 3
Authors: H.J. Harper
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Star League Book 03: Raising the Dead
ePub ISBN 9781742744346
A Random House book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
First published by Random House Australia in 2011
Copyright © H.J. Harper 2011
Illustration copyright © Nahum Ziersch 2011
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian
Copyright Act 1968
), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.com.au/offices
.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Author: Harper, H.J.
Title: Raising the dead / H.J. Harper; Nahum Ziersch
ISBN: 978 1 86471 868 3 (pbk.)
Series: Harper, H.J. Star league; 3
Target Audience: For children
Other Authors/Contributors: Ziersch, Nahum
Dewey Number: A823.4
Cover illustration and design by Nahum Ziersch
To Nick. â H.J.H.
To my big brother, Jerome. â N.Z.
An eerie fog whispers through the streets, making it impossible to see where I'm going. As I walk along, tall shadows loom out at me like monsters, but mostly they just turn out to be overturned cars or toppled buildings. At one point I almost walk straight into someone, but when he sees me he screams and runs off.
âArghhh! Zombie!'
âWhat, is it my breath?' I yell into the fog. I try to breathe into my hand to check, but it just smells like chewing gum. I pop another piece of Braynes Gum in my mouth just to be on the safe side.
I wander around the foggy streets searching for something. Well,
someone
to be exact. But with all this stupid fog around it's impossible to know
whether I'm coming or going. I've probably just been walking around in circles.
That's when I realise there's something growling right behind me. I spin around to find an enormous brown wolf eyeing me off like I'm dinner.
âNice doggy!' I say brightly. The wolf snarls at me, revealing razor-sharp teeth. âWhoa, doggy has an attitude problem!'
âI'm not a doggy!' snaps the wolf in a human voice. âI'm a werewolf.'
âWell, if you're a werewolf, maybe you can tell me where I am. This fog's pretty confusing.'
The werewolf snarls even louder. âThis is no time for jokes! Prepare to meet your doom.'
I look around. âDoom? I don't see any doom here, just you.'
A murderous rage flares in the werewolf's yellow eyes, and before I can say âfetch' he leaps forward and knocks me over.
I reach out for something to break my fall and my hand grabs onto a street sign. Then my hand
pops off my wrist and I end up sprawled on the ground.
I stare down at the stump where my hand used to be, then back at my hand wrapped around the street sign. It flops to the ground and rolls between the werewolf's front legs. His mouth drops open in surprise.
His expression is so priceless I can't help but laugh. The werewolf squints in confusion, but before he can figure out what's going on my hand has crawled underneath him and yanked his tail. He yelps in shock.
âWhy don't you check out some of the tricks I've got up my sleeve?' I stand up and dust myself off with my remaining hand.
âQuit messing around!' He spins around and tries to bite my disembodied hand, but I'm too quick for him â my hand scurries away on its fingers, climbs up my leg and reattaches to my wrist. In the meantime I make my foot detach from my ankle. It hops along towards the werewolf, who
is keeping such a close eye on my hands that he hasn't noticed my missing foot.
âHey,' I say, holding up my hands. âThere's no need for fighting. I think we both got off on the wrong foot.'
As I say that, my foot leaps up and kicks the werewolf right in his shaggy butt. He howls ferociously and looks at me like he's going to tear me apart. I reach into a leather pouch I keep around my waist and pull out one of my magic concoctions. Paralysis Potion â perfect! I take my nose off and put it in my pocket so I don't breathe in any fumes, then I raise my hand to throw the vial.
It smashes on the ground in front of him. Yellow fumes curl up around the werewolf and he starts to cough, then he freezes up like a statue. A loud voice booms out of the fog.
â⦠Aaaaand cut!'
