The hunters searched every pocket. They patted her down and looked under her shawl. Krawl kept her face lifted toward the sky, ignoring everyone as she muttered under her breath. A couple of cracks grew in the green marble that encased her arm.
Faster, Celia thought, wishing she could join them.
A screeching filled the air. A shadow passed over the street. A keening sound joined the first cry, followed by a deafening roar.
Celia looked up in time to see three winged monsters fall out of the sky. “Did you think I wouldn’t bring backup?” Krawl laughed.
The hunters fell back from her as a snarling blue-skinned man with swirling black tattoos and long, leathery wings landed beside Krawl. His lower half was furry and thick, like a grizzly bear. The hunters pulled together into a wary clump. The next monster to land was a strange jumble of body parts that was hard to look at. It had legs, eyeballs, hands, and arms, all pushed together into a lumpy mass held aloft with dozens of mismatched wings. It stood on seven different legs and stared at everyone with its many unblinking eyes. The third was a winged horse with a pearly white unicorn horn jutting out from its silvery white head. It nickered and moved its horn through the air as it sauntered to stand with the other monsters. Celia recognized all three—their images had been painted on one of the walls at the graffiti flats she had visited with Ruby and Amber.
The blue man folded his thick arms over his bare chest. “Orders, Madame Krawl?” he asked with a thunder-laced voice.
Krawl, still frozen in marble, nodded toward the hunters. “Keep them occupied and away from me, in whatever way you wish.”
The three new monsters flowed past Krawl and ran at the hunters.
The hunters fell back, retreating down the block. They scrambled to pull out spells and weapons from their bags. More cracks grew in Krawl’s marble as she watched the hunters.
Celia clenched every muscle and fought to get up. If I could just get to Krawl and find her heart before Krawl is able to move again, Celia thought. She wasn’t far away, but it might as well have been a thousand miles. Celia tried to move her knee. She failed.
Weights pushed her to the ground. It was all she could do to keep sitting up.
Small chunks of green marble fell off Krawl.
Celia looked around, desperate for any help. In one direction, the golem had stopped walking. He studied the sky with an empty look stretched across his gaunt features. In the other, the hunters threw handfuls of spells at the three advancing monsters. The air filled with fizzing explosions that smelled like rain and peppercorns. Ruby raised her twin swords against the blue man. She struck him in the arm with one of them.
The Big laughed and whipped his cut arm toward her.
His blood splattered across her torso. It caught fire wherever it hit her. Ruby screamed and fell backward. She dropped to the ground and rolled around until the fire went out. Bits of paper caught fire but then went out, too.
Another hunter took her place, using a slingshot to hit the blue man with paintballs that exploded with yellow magic that danced across his tattooed skin. He howled and cut his own hand open with a knife. He used it to set two more hunters on fire as he advanced toward them on powerful furry legs.
Celia kept trying to get up. The weight of the world pushed back on her. More chunks of marble fell off Krawl.
Amber ran with her long braid flying out behind her. She twisted through the air and threw a handful of exploding marbles at the floating misshapen Big. Mouths opened up all over its lumpy form. Tongues reached out and grabbed the round spells. It ate all the marbles, then ran toward Amber on its many legs. A dozen arms reached for her. Amber and four other hunters ran away from it, throwing more spells at it as they did. The thing gobbled them all up.
Other hunters surrounded the winged unicorn. It hummed a song, and, as if in a trance, the hunters swayed to the sound of it. None of them seemed to notice the battle happening all around them. The Big kept humming as it lowered its gleaming horn and ran at the nearest hunter. The boy snapped out of his daze and jumped aside just in time.
The other hunters moved into action. They threw spells and rocks at the horse’s pearly-white hide. The horse fought back, biting the air and charging them with its lowered horn. All three of the Bigs pushed the hunters down the road and away from Krawl.
Krawl muttered under her breath as the marble that held her grew thinner and paler. Cracks spiderwebbed across it as its hold on her weakened.
The golem took a couple of long steps closer. The Littles did everything they could to keep it moving and avoid crashing into the nearby buildings.
The thin green marble exploded off Krawl in hundreds of flying pieces. Krawl raised her white cane up. Great strands of magic flowed off it and flew down the street. The magic streaked across the papered ground and whipped around some of the hunters’ legs. It yanked them to the ground. As soon as they fell, more of Krawl’s magic covered them and bound them. Five hunters fell, then four more, and another three.
The remaining hunters turned and fled from Krawl’s magic. They ducked and zigzagged. They threw spells and jumped into the air. A few of them made it to the end of the block and disappeared around the corner. The three winged monsters chased after them.
The golem shuffled his feet slowly along the ground, kicking up tufts of paper.
We aren’t going to win this, Celia thought. We’re just a bunch of kids. Bigs always win. Her rage grew hot at the thought. It coursed through her with every beat of her heart.
“Now where were we, Celia, dear?” Krawl turned to face her. She looked older and shrunken. “Oh yes, we were discussing your death! And how it will be just the thing to enslave Demetri to me forever. Oh, Celia, I shall love eating your fear and seeing you die.” Krawl gave her a grandmotherly smile.
Celia groaned and found a way to force one leg up. Somehow, pushing against all the weight that held her down, she ground her teeth together and got herself up to standing. She faced Krawl.
Krawl walked forward until she stood in front of Celia. She reached out with one hand and touched Celia on her cheek.
Celia slammed back to the ground again.
Behind them, the golem loomed closer. He ran into a wall. He kicked a car. He scratched his nose and stared blankly up at the sky.
37
The Desire to Destroy
Krawl followed Celia’s gaze and stared at the golem. She made a tutting sound. “So many distractions. A moment, Celia dear. I will get to you soon enough.” Krawl walked by Celia’s fallen form and faced the towering golem.
The giant stumbled over some garbage cans. Around him, the Littles pushed his feet and struggled to keep him moving. If they could just get him to Krawl, the golem was full of spells that would hurt her.
Daisy glared at Krawl. Her black-and-white face was flushed with anger. “Think you can take us all, Krawl? You think you’re big and bad enough, old lady?”
“Come closer, Little rebels, and find out,” Krawl called back and cackled. She began to sway from side to side, muttering and tapping her cane along the papered ground. Magic grew on it like a cloud of cotton candy.
Celia focused on Krawl’s back and somehow, some way, forced one leg up again, and then the other. She sagged under a thousand pounds that pushed down on her shoulders. She dragged one foot a couple of inches forward, then the other. Krawl had to be stopped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Demetri, trussed on the ground and watching her. The bond between them pulsed and strengthened her. She took another step forward.
The Littles got their golem to take three steps forward, but then some crows flew by his head, and he stopped to watch them. Daisy screamed at him to keep moving and kicked his foot. The golem smiled at the birds.
Celia took another impossible step closer to Krawl.
Krawl muttered and moved her cane through the air in precise gestures. More magic clung and grew on the tip of her cane.
The golem needs to attack now, before she’s done w
ith that spell, Celia thought. If he just ran at her right now . . .
The giant reached toward the crows that squawked and circled his head.
Celia gritted her teeth and slowly forced herself closer to Krawl. All her muscles screamed. Her bones bent with the effort. I’ll never get to Krawl, she thought. Celia took another step forward.
Daisy kicked the golem’s shin. All the Littles yelled at him to keep walking. The golem looked around. He spotted Krawl and started lumbering toward her.
Krawl’s muttering grew louder. Her magic grew brighter. She’ll destroy him, just like the rest of us. She’s going to get everything she wants, Celia thought.
Krawl raised her cane at the golem.
Celia, with everything she had, ran forward and shoved Krawl in the back.
Krawl fell. Her magic flew upward.
For a brief moment, Celia thought it might miss the golem, but then the magic hit him in his knees and burned through them, leaving gaping, wide-open holes. The golem opened his mouth in a surprised O shape. He began to fall.
Right toward Krawl and Celia.
Krawl raised her head up from the ground and lifted one deadly hand toward it.
Celia fell on top of her and knocked her down again.
A heartbeat later, the golem landed on top of both of them. His open mouth covered their entire bodies.
Krawl screamed from inside the golem. The sound echoed off the walls.
The pressure on Celia’s body disappeared. She was suddenly able to move again. She sprang up into a crouch inside the small dark cave of the golem’s mouth and backed away from Krawl until she was pressed against the thin wall. Light shone in through the nostrils and mouth. Celia blinked, and her new Little eyes adjusted instantly to the darkness.
Krawl sat up just as a flock of origami cranes flew out from the dark tunnel of the golem’s throat.
They flapped their bright-colored wings and swirled around Krawl’s head and shoulders, pecking at her and leaving tiny spots of blood where their paper beaks bit her.
Krawl muttered under her breath. Her fingers glowed bright. She batted away the cranes. They burst into flames the second she touched them. More flew out from the throat and moved in undulating circles around the monster’s head. The air filled with bright bursts of fire.
Krawl’s heart, Celia thought. I have to get it. She stood pressed against the wall of the golem’s head, unable to move, this time because of fear. If I don’t get it . . . if I fail . . . Panic fizzed through her.
She swallowed and looked through the blur of cranes at Krawl’s many pockets. One chance, she thought. Krawl is the mother of all monsters, and maybe, right this second, I might have one chance. Dizziness washed over her. She looked Krawl up and down.
Krawl’s bun had fallen to one side, and some of the white hair had been pushed aside. Something red peeked out beneath it. It seemed to be moving. Not just moving, but beating.
Celia’s breath caught in her throat. Could that be . . . ?
Celia pushed off the wall and lunged for it.
A new flock of cranes burst from the golem’s throat. The wild paper birds were everywhere. They blinded Celia. She reached, unseeing, for the bun. Her hands closed around something round and alive. She yanked on it, hard, and fell backward.
Krawl screamed. All the origami cranes exploded into flames. The paper fell smoldering to the ground and the cave of the golem’s mouth lit up with hundreds of soft flickering embers.
Celia looked down at her hands and saw that she held a small red rubber ball. It pulsed in and out with the steady rhythm of a monster’s heart.
“No,” Krawl whispered. “No!” she screamed, and raised her deadly hands.
“Don’t,” Celia whispered.
Krawl’s arms fell to her side.
Celia stepped back, pressing her body against the wire-and-paper wall of the golem’s skull. She looked down at the red rubber ball and remembered Demetri saying Kristen had brought a red ball to play with the orphans at the park. She remembered Demetri telling her how much he had liked that girl named Kristen.
“Whatever you wish me to do,” Krawl whispered. “I am yours to command, evermore. Together—Celia, I can do things for you. We can rule the—”
“Quiet,” Celia whispered.
Krawl’s mouth snapped shut.
Celia stared at the throbbing red ball as she heard banging come from the far side of the golem’s head. “Once upon a time,” Celia said, looking at Krawl, “there was a girl who thought she was important, but she wasn’t. Not at all. She was the most normal girl in the world. There was nothing even a little bit special about her. All she was was the victim of a nasty spell.”
“Are you talking about you or me?” Krawl whispered. She was an old lady, but her voice sounded young and sad.
Celia shrugged. “The beginning of this story could be about either of us. But then you changed twelve kids and became more powerful than anyone else. Me? All I wanted was to make some friends. Our stories have different endings.” Celia squeezed her fingers around the warm pulsing rubber heart and watched the mother of all the monsters.
Krawl flinched. She whispered, “I wanted friends too. I didn’t mean to hurt any of them. I didn’t know, not really, what would happen when I touched them. All I knew was that I was so hungry and so, so tired of being all alone,” she whispered. A tear ran down her cheek.
Every monster started with a kid being hurt. “What if we could be different than the stories they tell about us?” Celia whispered.
Krawl blinked slowly and stared at the heart that beat in Celia’s hand. “I don’t understand.”
“I made Demetri different than every other Big.” Celia took a deep breath and couldn’t believe she was saying this, except that a long time ago, Krawl really had been just like her. “Do you want me to try to help make you become different too”—Celia swallowed—“Kristen?”
Krawl’s eyes went wide. “That name,” she whispered. More tears fell down her face. Krawl covered her face with both hands.
Then, before Celia could squeeze the heart and command her not to, the old lady attacked her.
38
A Deluge of Fire
Krawl bashed into Celia’s side. Both of them tumbled to the ground. The wind got knocked out of Celia’s lungs. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t order Krawl to stop.
The monster’s gnarled hands wrapped around Celia’s fingers and started prying them off the heart. The rubber ball throbbed in Celia’s hand as she fought Krawl. The old lady kicked her in the shins and yanked on the heart, hard.
Celia felt the red ball slipping out of her grasp. She grabbed onto it with her claws.
A squelching sound filled the small dark space.
Krawl fell away from Celia.
Celia stared down at her hands. They held half of a rubber ball that dripped blood onto the ground. The old woman held the other half. Already, Krawl was starting to change. She grew thinner and older with every passing second.
A great roaring filled the air. A wind rose up and battered them from all directions. The air itself caught fire with a hundred different colors and someone was screaming and there was laughter and rage and sorrow sparking and breaking all around her and—
39
The Unlucky One
Celia blinked. An empty blue sky filled her gaze. The world smelled like ash. She sat up and saw burned paper wafting through the air and shifting across the ground. She rubbed her eyes and noticed the whiteness of her strange hands. “What happened?” she whispered.
Something moved to her left.
Celia tensed but then saw it was just a kid. For a second, Celia thought it was Daisy, but this girl had smooth brown skin instead of a checkerboard face. The girl stared at her for a long second. “What happened? A lot,” she said slowly. And the girl’s voice? It was Daisy’s.
Dizziness washed over Celia. “You’re . . . human? Normal again?”
Daisy chewed on her lower lip
and nodded. Other Littles from the sanctuary crowded around them. Only . . . none of them were Littles anymore. Celia recognized each of them, but they looked totally different without their horns, strange-colored skin, and other Little traits.
“Krawl died and you all became . . .” Celia shook her head.
“Normal. You freed us,” whispered a boy. He reached up to touch the tip of a horn that was no longer there. “You broke the great spell.”
Daisy nodded. “We’re all just a bunch of normal kids again. Those Bigs who were chasing the hunters? They changed back into kids too.” She grinned and bounced up and down on the toes of her worn shoes. “No more monsters.”
Celia got up and took a step toward them. All of the kids moved away from her. “But . . . me. I’m still . . . ?” She studied her black clawed hands.
“You and Demetri are the only ones. He’s still a Big. You’re still a Little. He said the spell broke with Krawl’s heart, but not all the way. The magic still needed to go somewhere. It’s in you two now: the one who broke the spell, and her maker. It’s in you two, and nowhere else.”
Celia blinked and tried to take in all the new facts of the world. The wind shifted and Celia caught scent of the former Littles. They smelled like fresh-baked cinnamon rolls on a Saturday morning. Or the first nibble of a good chocolate bar. She inhaled the scent. A hunger roared through her.
I’ll get used to that, she thought unsteadily as she bit her cheek and forced herself not to run at them. I’ll learn to deal with it. All she wanted was to hold their hands. Was that so wrong?
“Where is he? Demetri?” Celia asked.
A girl who used to be covered in boils pointed at the sky.
The midnight-black body of Demetri was just visible as he flew in between two skyscrapers. Celia watched until she couldn’t see him anymore.
“You can live at our old sanctuary,” Daisy said. “That’s where some of us will be staying, those of us who were monsters for a long time and don’t have families anymore. We can make a section of it just for you, and it could be okay, even if you’re a Little.”
Little Apocalypse Page 21