The Dragonified Wizard had barely finished speaking when a blinding crimson spell flared without warning deep beneath the rubble under his feet.
"Get back!"
Newt roared.
He kicked the open Suitcase shut. Its clasps snapped tight, and his Wand was already raised beside his shoulder.
Boom!
A deafening blast pulverized the entire rim of the shaft.
The violent shock wave swept across the grass like a hurricane, forcing Newt to raise an arm to shield himself.
Through the billowing dust, a massive, vein-bulging foot—larger than the first troll's—crushed the steel reinforcing bars underfoot.
A second human-headed troll forced its way through the blasted opening.
Unlike the first troll, this one was anything but quiet.
One of the cooling tubes in the Patchwork Monster's neck was badly damaged. High-pressure white vapor burst out with every heavy breath, hissing like a leaking steam engine.
It held a seven-foot black wooden stake upside down.
A trace of spell light still lingered on it.
"An Impediment Jinx?" Gavin recognized the color. "That thing can cast spells?"
The rough blue-white blast had already proved it was no sharpened stake. It was a horrifyingly oversized Wand.
At that size, Ollivander would probably charge by the cubic foot.
"I'm hungry!"
It roared and swung the wooden staff, firing another spell.
The blast plowed a deep, charred furrow through the grass.
"A troll that can use magic?" Newt murmured. "No wonder."
"You know about them?" Cordelia asked quietly.
"Last year, the Romanian Ministry of Magic sent a six-person mountain Auror team to investigate missing Fire Dragons in the Carpathian Mountains." Newt kept his eyes on the monster. "None of them came back. The report from the scene mentioned a troll that could cast spells."
"Mihai wasn't very good at it back then. He only ate four brains, smashed