The Cryptid Keeper

by Lija Fisher

  “This is as far as our plan goes, Clivo!” Charles yelled over the ruckus, ducking away from a swipe of the cane. “So if you could take over from here, dude, that’d be awesome!”

  Clivo, in his cage, turned toward Jerry in his. “You got anything up your sleeve, Coops?”

  But Jerry had already pulled out his two lock-picking paper clips. “I’m on it!” He reached around to the front of the cage and grunted as he fiddled with the lock.

  The basement lair was filled with ear-piercing noise as the Blasters yelled at Douglas while avoiding his swinging cane that was quickly shattering every lamp and test tube in the dungeon. The cryptids kept up their howls of pleading and the Beast of Bray Road was banging its bear-like body against its cage as if in desperation to escape its prison. The scaly dingonek was gnawing on the bars with its saber-like teeth in an attempt to chew its way out.

  Jerry finally unlocked his cage and ran over to open Clivo’s as Clivo hopped unsteadily on his tied feet. “Untie me, Coops,” Clivo said once Jerry had the door open. He had his eyes trained on Douglas, who had just given Charles a solid whack in the shins with his cane. Clivo wasn’t sure what his next move would be. All he knew was that it involved getting his hands on Douglas.

  “No way, man,” Jerry said, suddenly hoisting Clivo over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I’m getting you and the team out of here before someone gets hurt.”

  “Let me down, Coops!” Clivo said, squirming in his friend’s iron grip. “I’m not letting that spawn of Satan get away!”

  Suddenly a shot rang out, and everyone froze, including Douglas, who had his cane raised for another swipe. The cryptids scurried to the corners of their cages where they hunched and trembled.

  Clivo’s eyes went wide as he saw Hernando huddling in a corner, Douglas’s gun shaking in his outstretched hand. The ground was covered in broken glass and dented stainless-steel bowls.

  Hernando swallowed and spoke quietly. “I would just like us all to calm down for a minute, please.”

  “Shoot him, Hernando!” Clivo yelled, tears running across his forehead since he was still hanging upside down from Jerry’s shoulder. “Just shoot him!”

  Stephanie gasped. “Clivo! You don’t mean that!”

  “Yeah, dude, we don’t really do that kind of thing,” Charles said.

  “Not really our bag, you know?” Adam agreed.

  “Well, if you’re not going to shoot me, can we at least get on with this, please?” Douglas bellowed, his face red and sweaty from the exertion of the fight. He had staggered over to the blue tiger’s cage and was leaning against it as he panted for breath.

  Jerry turned to face everyone, which was a bummer because then Clivo couldn’t see anybody. “I think we need to give Clivo a hall pass for his thoughts. That guy over there killed Clivo’s pops, so he’s pretty bent out of shape about it. Can’t say I blame him.”

  Now Amelia gasped and whirled on Douglas, who still had his cane of death held in front of him like a broadsword, but his grip looked wobbly. “You murdered Russell?”

  Douglas gave an evil smirk, but said nothing.

  Stephanie ran up to Clivo and grabbed his upside-down face in her hands. “Clivo, I know you’re upset, but remember, Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.”

  Clivo’s face was a mess of snot and tears. “I know, Stephanie. I just want him to pay for what he’s done.”

  “And he will, I promise. Just not that way. Agreed?” Stephanie’s face, even upside down, was filled with such compassion that it made Clivo tear up even more.

  “Agreed,” he choked.

  Amelia took the gun from a grateful Hernando and held it expertly toward Douglas. “Here’s how this is going to go, you walking piece of contaminated meat.”

  “Whoa! Solid insult!” Adam cheered.

  Amelia continued. “You are going to have a seat in that chair like a good boy while we figure out a way to get these cryptids out of here. Understood?”

  Douglas began laughing and pushed himself away from the cage he had been leaning against. “It is just amazing to me what a pain in the rear your entire generation is, you know that?”

  Clivo couldn’t see what was going on since Jerry was too busy observing the action himself, but he figured it out the second Jerry began to yell, “Watch out! He’s going to throw it!”

  Jerry turned around and ran, allowing Clivo to see Douglas just as he threw a pearl from the blue tiger onto the ground in front of him. A wall of green flame exploded, throwing the Blasters backward.

  “Run!” Clivo yelled as Jerry bounded up the stairs with him.

  Clivo was relieved to see all the Blasters scramble to their hands and knees and follow them up the stairs.

  Douglas’s echoing laugh followed them all the way outside until Charles slammed the front door shut, leaving them alone in the darkness of night.

  * * *

  The gang ran away from the building to where three old bikes and two dusty skateboards sat waiting.

  Adam quickly pointed to them. “We figured we’d need some wheels for a quick getaway, and this was all we found in your garage.”

  Charles grabbed a bike and wobbled as he climbed aboard. “And walking up that hill is super tiring on my legs. Saddle up, everybody!”

  Clivo rode on the back of Jerry’s bike since he was still weak from the tranquilizer. Hernando sat behind Charles, who complained about the extra weight, and Adam sped in front of them, his arm raised and a yell of triumph warbling from his mouth. Amelia and Stephanie rode the skateboards as they held on to two of the bikes, surfing along with expert balance.

  “Hey, Adam,” Jerry yelled, “take a left here! We’ll go to my place; it’s too dangerous back at headquarters now that we know Douglas is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.”

  They finally arrived at Jerry’s house, which was in a quaint residential neighborhood.

  “You’re sure it’s okay if we all stay here tonight?” Clivo whispered.

  “Totally,” Jerry said. “I’ll hide you in the basement, and in the morning I’ll figure out how to tell Ma and Pops that they need to make a bunch of waffles and put you guys in witness protection.”

  Clivo turned to the Blasters. “Let’s make sure we’re quiet as we sneak in.”

  “No problem, dude,” Adam whispered. He took a step forward and something under his foot made a loud click, causing him to freeze. “Oh no—”

  In a sudden burst, an inflated clown popped up from behind a bush, causing Adam to let out the highest-pitched scream Clivo had ever heard. A bright floodlight popped on and a whooping alarm began sounding. The noise echoed up and down the quiet street.

  Jerry winced. “Whoops, I forgot about that.”

  The front door to Jerry’s house was flung open and Mr. and Mrs. Cooper stood in the doorway, both wrapped in bathrobes and looking like someone had just thrown a live rooster in their faces.

  “Jerry?” Mrs. Cooper yelled. “For the love of Martians on the moon, what is going on?”

  “Sorry, Ma, sorry! I’ll turn it off!” Jerry rummaged in the bushes, and a moment later the lights and sound stopped. He turned toward the other houses, where panicked neighbors were spilling out onto their porches. “Sorry, everybody! My apologies! False alarm!”

  Jerry ushered everyone inside, where his angry parents stood with their hands on their hips. “Clivo?” Mrs. Cooper said, her hair wrapped in big curlers that had gone askew. “It’s past midnight! What is going on?”

  Mr. Cooper adjusted his glasses, which were sitting crookedly on his face. “And who’s your crew here? You guys aren’t on the run from the law or anything, are you?”

  “No, Dad,” Jerry said, obviously searching for a proper lie. “It’s just, well, there’s this thing…”

  Clivo stepped in. “Remember when I said that our science experiments were having a contamination issue?”

  Mr. Cooper scratched his belly. “Yep. Yep, I sure do.”

  “We
ll, we’ve kinda contaminated the whole house,” Clivo said with an “oops” face. “I hate to bother you guys, but is there any chance me and my science team could stay here for a few days?”

  Charles stepped forward and kissed Mrs. Cooper’s hand. “Charles Duncan, at your service. My cohorts are Adam, Hernando, Amelia, and Stephanie, and we formally request the pleasure of staying in your abode. We’re clean, don’t eat much, and rarely snore.”

  “But I do have a slight gluten intolerance,” Adam added, raising his hand.

  Mr. Cooper looked at his wife. “Is that okay with you, Pumpernickel?”

  “Well, of course they can stay,” Mrs. Cooper said with a wave of her hand. “But, Clivo, what about Aunt Pearl? Where is she staying during the contamination?”

  Clivo’s eyes shot wide open. He had completely forgotten about Aunt Pearl and the cats, all of whom Douglas could take hostage, or worse.

  “Shoot. Um, any chance you have extra room for some cats?” Clivo asked sheepishly.

  An hour later, Clivo and Mr. Cooper arrived back at the house with a disheveled Aunt Pearl and two curious cats. The felines instantly jumped on Hercules, who looked as if he knew his peaceful life was about to end in a puff of cat hair.

  “Come on, Pearl, let’s get you all set up in the guest room,” Mrs. Cooper said.

  “They really are wonderful kids,” Pearl said with a twitch of her nose. “In spite of being teenagers, they haven’t burned the house down once.”

  Mrs. Cooper looked at her in confusion. “But they did contaminate the house with some kind of foreign poisonous substance.”

  Aunt Pearl let that soak in. “I suppose you’re right. But it’s the first hazardous spill we’ve had all summer.”

  The adults led Aunt Pearl to her room. After they left, Clivo turned toward his team. “I want to thank you guys for coming to rescue us. We never would have gotten out of there without you.”

  “Yeah, we were pretty awesome,” Adam said, kissing his nonexistent bicep. “Hey, Amelia, how’d you learn how to handle a gun?”

  Amelia blushed. “When I need to rest my brain, I play Tomb Raider. I’ve learned a lot from Lara Croft.”

  Clivo took a deep breath. “And I want to apologize to you, Hernando, for telling you to shoot Douglas. That was wrong. I just … I don’t know. I understand what he meant when he said it’s easy to turn evil. Thanks for setting me straight.”

  Hernando gave Clivo a big hug. “As long as you surround yourself with good people, you’ll stay good.”

  Jerry motioned for everybody to follow him to the basement. “Come on, team. I think we should get some sleep so we can figure out in the morning how to wage war on a guy with an arsenal of crypto-weapons.”

  “Sounds good, dude,” Charles said, stretching his arms over his head with a yawn. “I chugged an energy drink before our rescue operation, and I’m totally spiraling into a caffeine crash.”

  Everyone went to their respective sleeping nooks, with Mrs. Cooper coming down and insisting on kissing everyone goodnight before tucking them in.

  Clivo lay down on a blow-up mattress in Jerry’s room, the familiar smell of the house giving him comfort. Even though it was close to two A.M., he couldn’t sleep, and it wasn’t because of Hercules’s rattling snores as the basset hound slept at Jerry’s feet. His mind was full of so many things, none of which he could sort out. Douglas had murdered Clivo’s father, and the cryptids were being used for war—neither of which he had any idea of how to handle. And he still had to find the immortal. All of a sudden, everything seemed dismal and hopeless.

  “You awake, Wren?” Jerry asked from his bed.

  “Yeah,” Clivo said, staring at the ceiling.

  Jerry rolled up onto an elbow. “This reminds me of last summer, when you lived here.”

  “It does,” Clivo agreed. “Those were good times. I mean, apart from losing my dad and all.”

  Jerry picked at a piece of lint on his comforter. “I’m sorry about your dad, Wren. I know you trusted Douglas, and for him to betray your family must really sting.”

  Clivo rolled onto his side to face Jerry and rested his head on his arm. “I just can’t shake the feeling that I should’ve known. I can’t believe I trusted him this whole time, and even vouched for him. I feel like an idiot.”

  “Don’t go there, Wren,” Jerry insisted. “If someone’s a total jerkbag, that’s on them, not you. You’re not responsible for Douglas turning into an evil mastermind of epic proportions. Remember, your dad trusted him, too.”

  “I know, Coops, it’s just—” Clivo’s voice faltered. “I have so few people left who mean something to me. I know it’s stupid, but it just makes me sad that he’s no longer one of them.”

  Jerry got out of bed and picked up Hercules, who snorted awake with a whine of confusion, and placed the dog next to Clivo. “Here. Whenever I’m not feeling so positive, I sleep next to Hercules and it makes me feel better.”

  “Thanks, Coops.” Clivo wrapped his arm around the chubby dog, who instantly snuggled against his shoulder and fell right back to sleep. Clivo had to admit, it did make him feel better.

  Jerry yawned and settled back into bed. “You still have a lot of people around you, Wren, remember that. And let’s be honest, losing that grumpy grouch probably isn’t the worst thing in the world.”

  Clivo smiled. “You’re probably right. Good night, Coops.”

  “Good night, Wrenmaster.”

  Clivo eventually fell into a deep sleep cradling Hercules, whose breaths felt like butterfly kisses on his cheek.

  * * *

  Clivo woke early, as the sun began to shine through the window. He walked around to see if anyone else was awake, but the house was silent. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper’s bedroom door was closed, but he checked on Aunt Pearl, who was snoring away happily with the cats encircling her head like a fluffy hat.

  He quietly walked downstairs and smiled as he saw Amelia and Stephanie asleep on the living room sofas. Mrs. Cooper had even put glasses of milk and plates with a few cookies next to them.

  Clivo went into the basement, which was cozy and nicely decorated, save for a bit of Jerry’s weight-lifting equipment piled in the corner. Adam, Charles, and Hernando were all sprawled out on the sofa or the floor. Charles was talking in his sleep, his arms flailing as if he was playing a tennis match.

  Clivo went back to Jerry’s room and lay down, and Hercules once again snuggled against his chin.

  He might have lost his mom and dad, but he had found a new family. A family who cared for him and was ready to protect him without a thought for their own safety.

  There was a lot to still get done, but Clivo fell back asleep with the comforting feeling that he wasn’t alone.

  XIII

  The next morning, after Mrs. Cooper had fed them a big breakfast of waffles with eggs, bacon, and more waffles, the Blasters gathered in the basement. Everyone was in the same clothes as the night before and nobody knew quite where to sit since they didn’t have their workstations.

  Eventually they situated themselves on the cushy sofa or chairs, and Amelia took her place at the front. Adam stood in the back, attempting to pump iron with some of Jerry’s weights.

  “Okay, let’s take stock of where we are,” Amelia said. “We know where the lost cryptids are and we know that Douglas is the kidnapper. But we’ve lost our headquarters, our laptops, and any equipment we might need. Other than that, we’re in good shape.”

  “If this is being in good shape, I don’t want to know what bad shape is,” Jerry replied.

  Adam yelled from the back where he was trying to lift what looked to be a rather light dumbbell, “I feel naked without my laptop, dudes, but using them as flying weapons was pretty sweet.”

  Clivo looked at Stephanie. “Any chance Douglas could hack into one of your laptops and steal your intel?”

  “Not a chance,” Stephanie said, shaking her head. “If anybody’s machine still works, we have a kill switch installed so t
he hard drive will immediately be erased if someone tries a wrong password three times in a row.”

  “Great,” Amelia said. “Clivo, how do things stand with you?”

  Clivo rubbed his forehead with his fingers. “I’ve lost my tranquilizer gun. But when I went back to the house to get Pearl, I picked up my passport and the blood sampler. They’ll come in handy if we ever figure out who the immortal is.”

  Amelia smiled. “Oh, yeah, we were all kinda distracted with the whole rescue operation, but I’ve figured it out.”

  Clivo lifted his head, a bit of hope coming to him. “You have? Amelia, that’s amazing!”

  “It’s just a guess, as the others have been, but at least it’s a guess based on clues—the clues the Oracles gave us,” Amelia responded. “And it does make perfect sense.”

  “Who is it?” Clivo asked.

  Amelia looked around. “Jerry, do you have a laptop I could use?”

  Jerry ran upstairs to grab a computer and returned a moment later, handing it to Amelia. She opened it and began tapping on the keys. “So, the Oracles told us that the immortal must be an eater of the dead.”

  “Which is so awesome!” Adam said from the back as he struggled to lift the dumbbell with both hands.

  Jerry walked over and took the weight easily in one hand. “Why don’t you sit down, buddy? You’re going to blow a gasket.”

  Amelia continued. “Anyway, we need to find an eater of the dead, which rang a bell for me. In Philippine mythology, there’s a being known as the Manananggal, a vampire-like creature with huge bat wings that eats people. It’s purely a myth; there’ve been no actual sightings of it. But I thought I had read something about the word ‘manananggal’ being applied to other creatures in the Philippines that were also known as eaters of the dead. That’s why I needed to go to the library. They have the only known copy of a handwritten account of Philippine mythology written by a Spanish colonist in the seventeenth century. I skimmed it for instances where the word ‘manananggal’ was used in reference to other beings.”