griffin shook his head , then finally the light turned on . something like twenty-five million people died of starvation last year , twenty-five million people . `` do you mind if we stop in there for a sec ? '' all the spell did was to give the serpent a terrible bad dream : he dreamed that he was covered all over with barnacles ( very irritating , and partly true ) , and also being slowly roasted in a volcano ( very painful , and unfortunately quite imaginary ) . 