The Beast

by Ally Condie

  The group clustered around Emma by the pedestal. Tyler started chewing his lip. “Oh man,” he mumbled, “this is gonna be so bad.”

  The Freakshow title sequence played in all its garish glory. Then, for the first time, the opening shot was a close-up of Colton Bridger’s face. “We set out to discover if Timber’s Beast of legend was truly real,” Bridger said, his expression grave. He was staring into the camera while standing on a windswept beach, but not one Opal recognized. It looked more like California, with bright blue water and white sand. “What we uncovered in Timbers shocked even me. Someone who has been everywhere. Someone who has seen it all.”

  “Basic much?” Logan muttered. “I could do this intro.”

  “I’m here to tell you,” Bridger said, his voice growing fervent, “that this Pacific Northwest lumber town has been harboring a dark secret. One they will even kill to protect.”

  Tyler rolled his eyes. “Come on.”

  “The production values are not as high as I expected,” Emma murmured. “He rushed to get this out so soon.”

  Bridger leaned close to the camera, a wild intensity in his eyes. Opal began to feel light-headed. “I agonized over the best way to present what you are about to see,” he rumbled, his voice as rough as tree bark. “In the end, I decided to let the horror speak for itself.”

  “I don’t know if I can watch,” Tyler moaned. Opal reached over and squeezed his hand. She knew how he felt. Once this story broke, Timbers would never be the same.

  A dark shot of Razor Point appeared. People were milling around the borders of the illuminated filming area, waiting for Bridger’s reenactment to begin. Nico squirmed beside Opal, his foot tapping on the floor. Her own pulse sped to a million rpms.

  “We were attacked by … monsters,” Bridger intoned, as movement appeared at the black edges of the shot. “First, by a wave of creatures so horrible and inexplicable as to defy description.” But nothing came into focus—the figments were just shadows on the fringes, with sounds and motions of regular people panicking in the foreground. No monsters were clearly visible on-screen.

  “Seriously?” Emma said. “This doesn’t show anything.”

  Opal wanted to laugh, but her heart remained in her throat. Bridger wasn’t finished. In the next moment, a mass of figments filled the screen, rushing up the beach, sending townspeople running and screaming. Chaos reigned. Cameras and lights were knocked askew as people fled for their lives.

  Opal dug her nails into her palm. She heard Nico whimper under his breath, a hand rising to rub his forehead. It was everything they’d tried to contain, laid bare for the world to see.

  Only …

  “What is …” Logan trailed off.

  “Huh,” Tyler grunted, shifting as he tilted his head.

  Opal felt a nervous giggle rise in her throat.

  “It looks really … bad,” Emma said, leaning close to the screen. “Is this digital? I know the rest of the crew all quit when they got back to California, and Bridger did the final cut alone. He had a tantrum on Twitter about it, acting like he didn’t need them. He said he didn’t trust anyone else to work on his shocking breakthrough anyway.”

  The images were grainy. Choppy. Campy. Someone came right up to the camera and screamed into it like an extra in a Godzilla movie. A taloned figment ran past, but all you could see was something covered in weird feathers. Then Nico was suddenly on-screen, throwing rocks.

  “Look, Nico!” Emma shouted. “You’re an action hero!” Nico hid his eyes.

  “That one,” Logan blurted, pointing out a horned gorilla with scales. “That figment was scary as crap, but the way they filmed it—”

  “It looks like somebody’s dad in a rubber suit,” Nico finished. “Is Bridger this bad at editing?”

  “The main camera went down early,” Tyler said, a note of hope creeping into his voice. “These shots must be from backup cameras on tripods. Some must’ve been rolling the whole time, but it was really dark out, and no one was framing shots or adjusting the lenses. They don’t seem to have gotten anything up close or in good lighting.”

  “And then,” Bridger said, his voice dropping to a whisper, “summoned by a group of children skilled in the dark arts, the Beast itself arrived … to feed.”

  “Mercy.” Tyler’s voice was a desperate supplication. “Please, no.”

  They all watched as the image changed to a crooked shot of dark ocean. A shiver ran through Opal. That’s where it happened.

  There was vague movement in the background, obscured by waves. Then a roar sounded.

  The hair on Opal’s arms stood.

  The Beast’s head bobbed into the frame, sinuous and deadly. But … there was something weird about it. The camera had switched to a low-light mode, though a haphazard spotlight beam was shining directly up at the Beast from the ground. The sea monster looked … startled. Like a buffalo caught in headlights. It snuffled once, like a sneeze, and then ducked out of the shot. Seconds later another roar sounded. The camera tipped over, and the screen went black.

  “Behold,” Bridger hissed, “the horror of … the Beast.”

  The show cut to a still of the sea monster’s head, but it looked nothing like real life. It looked … silly. Like Bridger had filmed his fake puppet-beast.

  “Um.” Tyler’s voice was flat. “What on earth.”

  Everyone was silent for several beats. Then they all started cracking up.

  “It looks like a kid’s bathtub toy!” Logan wheezed. He was literally down on the floor. “My little sister used to shoot videos like that with my dad’s phone.”

  “As you can see,” Bridger continued dramatically, “the legends are true. The Beast … is … real.”

  The Beast’s head boinged past one last time. The episode ended with stark music. Nico turned purple with laughter.

  Opal was helpless. She leaned her head on Nico’s shoulder, trying to catch her breath.

  “My stomach, you guys,” Emma gasped. “I think I pulled a muscle.”

  Nico was already scrolling on his phone. He handed it to Logan. “Are you seeing this?”

  “Oh man, the Internet is killing Freakshow,” Logan crowed. “Look at these comments. Bridger is a laughingstock!”

  Opal exhaled for what felt like the first time in days. She closed her eyes. They still had serious problems—plenty of people in Timbers knew something incredible had happened that night—but Freakshow shouldn’t set off any serious shockwaves. The episode was being panned as a fake on every social media platform in existence. It was more likely to kill interest in the Beast than create any.

  The Rift was closed. Thing was home. No one was going to believe that footage.

  Opal opened her notebook, the one with the tiny asters drawn in the corner of each page. Next to one of the flowers she sketched a small gemstone. An opal. This book had likely belonged to a Torchbearer, but it was hers now. Someone had to tell the stories. And she could trust herself to do it.

  Opal closed the notebook, tucked it into her backpack, and got to her feet. One task left.

  “What’s up?” Nico asked, as she moved toward the hidden door. The others were passing his phone back and forth, reading scathing comments about Freakshow to one another.

  “Just checking the Darkdeep,” Opal said. “I’m still spooked it tried to swallow the staircase, you know?”

  Nico nodded, popping up. “I’ll come with you.”

  They went downstairs. The Darkdeep was back to normal, contained in the well at the center of the room. They had no idea why it had risen so high, or why it had fallen back. Opal was just grateful it was still.

  But then she stopped in her tracks.

  “Nico,” Opal said softly.

  “I see it,” he whispered back.

  Something was floating in the black water.

  A glass jar.

  Opal and Nico shared a glance.

  “Wanna pretend we never saw it?” Nico said hopefully.

  “More tha
n anything in the world. We can be back upstairs in three seconds.”

  They edged closer to the pool instead. Using her fingertips, Opal fished out the jar.

  It wasn’t empty.

  “We could be home in thirty minutes,” Opal suggested.

  “I’ve got a ton of homework,” Nico agreed.

  Opal slowly unscrewed the lid. Inside was a scrap of paper, with something scrawled on it.

  “We don’t have to read that,” Nico said. “Reading is very overrated.”

  Opal’s eyes scanned the paper. “It’s a message.”

  “In a bottle.” Nico sighed. “How cliché can you be? Who do you think is pranking us, Logan or Tyler?”

  Opal didn’t laugh. A hollow space had opened in the pit of her stomach.

  Wordlessly, she handed the note to Nico. The blood drained from his face as he read.

  Torchbearers,

  Thank you sincerely for sending me home.

  But I fear the balance has not been restored.

  There’s something here that doesn’t belong.

  Or, I should say, someone.

  Come and see what I have for you.

  —D

  BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS

  Bloomsbury Publishing Inc., part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018

  BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY CHILDREN’S BOOKS, and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  First published in the United States of America in September 2019 by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

  Text copyright © 2019 by Allyson Braithwaite Condie and Brendan C. Reichs

  Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Antonio Javier Caparo

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the events, incidents, names, characters, companies, businesses, executives, and organizations portrayed in this novel are either the products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Bloomsbury books may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at specialmarkets@macmillan.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Condie, Allyson Braithwaite, author. | Reichs, Brendan, author.

  Title: The Beast / by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs.

  Description: New York : Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019. | Series: [Darkdeep ; 2]

  Summary: Middle-schoolers Nico, Opal, Tyler, and Emma face a more dangerous threat and must uncover the whirlpool’s origins, as well as those of that freaky “Thing in a Jar,” while fending off paranormal investigators.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2019004264 (print) | LCCN 2019006487 (e-book)

  ISBN 978-1-5476-0203-2 (hardcover) | ISBN 978-1-5476-0204-9 (e-book)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Supernatural—Fiction. | Monsters—Fiction. | Houseboats—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Northwest, Pacific—Fiction. | Horror stories.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.C7586 Bc 2019 (print) | LCC PZ7.C7586 (e-book) |

  DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004264

  To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.