by Dean Lorey
“How did this happen?” Director Drake snapped. “Are you not in charge of keeping the Gremlin population thinned? Is that not your job, sir?”
“It is,” the young man admitted, “but we have been unable to banish them at the same rate they’ve been coming into the world. As the human population expands”—he gestured to another chart, which read “Human Population Expanding at Dramatic Rate”—“there are a greater number of children who, unwittingly, portal them in during their nightmares—which are also becoming more frequent, due to uneasiness over the current scary state of world events. The power grids can’t sustain the constant attack. I mentioned California and New York, but the Gremlins are having a serious impact globally, as well. Our London Division is reporting significant disruptions throughout Piccadilly Circus, and I haven’t even begun to address what our colleagues in Spain, Italy, and Korea are telling us. We’re looking at an epidemic.”
“I certainly hope you haven’t come before me to whine about your failures,” the director shot back. “Please tell me you have a plan.”
“Of course we do, Director,” the young man quickly assured him. “Are you aware of the great success we’ve been having with our Mimic Motels?”
“You’re talking about those ugly fake motels you’ve been building around the country?”
“Yes, Director. Every room has an open vat of sweat, which attracts Mimics by the truckload. Once there, a handful of Nethermancers and Banishers are able to easily return them to the Nether.”
“Yes, I know all that,” Drake snapped. “Get on with it!”
The young man swallowed hard and continued. “Well, Director, we’re proposing to do the same thing with the Gremlins. Because they feed on electricity, we can lure them to a fake power plant under ND control and banish them as they arrive. It’s far more efficient than chasing them around the world, trying to sneak our Banishers into private power plants to deal with the problem piecemeal.”
“Sounds dicey,” Drake replied, “but I’ll approve it, provided you understand that I am holding you solely responsible. I will expect an update in two months. If the problem is not improving by then, I will also expect your resignation.”
“Understood, Director,” the young man said. “I won’t disappoint you.” He hustled toward the door, passing Charlie on his way out. “Good luck,” he muttered. “The Director’s in a terrible mood.”
“Maybe we should come back another time,” Charlie whispered to Rex. But before Rex could answer, the voice of the Director roared through the chamber.
“And who is this?” he asked, staring pointedly at Charlie.
Pinch stepped forward. “Edward Pinch, at your service, Director. We’ve acquired the boy. The one we’ve had our eye on.”
“Have you?” Drake said. “Excellent. Come here, boy. What’s your name?”
“Go on up,” Rex whispered. “We’re right behind you.”
Heart fluttering nervously, Charlie headed down the long center aisle that led to the High Council. “My name is Charlie, sir. Charlie Benjamin.”
“Ah, yes, I remember now. And you may address me as “Director.” “Sir” is what you’d call a waiter, and I’d like to think I’ve achieved more than a measly waiter, don’t you agree?”
“Yes, sir,” Charlie said, nodding. “I mean, yes, Director,” he quickly added.
Drake gave Charlie a slight grunt, then turned to Pinch. “You confirmed he’s strong with the Gift?”
“Indeed, Director. We witnessed him portal a Class-5 Silvertongue.”
“A 5, huh?” Drake replied with a whistle. “That’s rather extraordinary. Have any other portalings been attributed to him?”
“Well, a day or so earlier, he brought through a Class-4 Mimic that took the place of his mother, and we strongly believe that he was responsible for portaling in a Class-3 Netherstalker that cocooned several children at a sleepover less than a week ago.”
“Do you mean to say that, within a week, he went from portaling a Class 3 to a Class 5?” Drake asked.
“Exactly,” Pinch replied. “Incredible, isn’t it? His power is growing remarkably fast. And not only that, newspaper accounts show that when he portaled the Netherstalker, it cocooned only the other children and left him completely alone.”
“Unbelievable,” Drake remarked.
“Actually, I wondered about that,” Charlie said. “Why did it leave me alone?”
“Because,” Pinch replied, “unlike the more stupid creatures of the Nether—Gremlins and Ectobogs, for instance—Netherstalkers are quite smart and, unless forced to, will usually refuse to attack a much stronger foe, which you clearly were.”
“Wow,” Charlie said.
“Wow indeed,” Pinch replied. “And perhaps now you will do the Director the courtesy of speaking only when spoken to.”
“Oh. Sorry, Director,” Charlie said.
Drake shot another grunt in his direction, then turned to Rex and Tabitha. “And what do you two have to say?”
“Well, the child is definitely strong with the Gift,” Tabitha replied. “Maybe the strongest I’ve ever seen.”
“Strength is nothing without the ability to control it,” Drake said.
“Oh, he’s trainable,” Rex replied. “Absolutely.”
“And you base this on…”
“My gut,” Rex said. “I can just tell.”
“Ah, I see. Well, while you may be comfortable making critical decisions based on your gut, I hope you won’t mind if I don’t place quite the same faith in it.”
“With all respect, Director, you’ll see I’m right after he’s spent a year in the Nightmare Academy.”
“Oh, he’s not going to the Academy,” Drake said casually.
“What?” Rex replied, shocked.
“The boy can already portal a Class 5 with no schooling at all! Can you even imagine what he’ll be capable of if he’s allowed to achieve his full power? Opening a portal into the Inner Circle may not be beyond him. The last time that happened, a Named came through, and we have been scrambling to recover from Verminion’s escape ever since.”
“But the boy may be the solution to that problem,” Rex pressed. “A kid this powerful, properly trained, could have the ability to return Verminion to the Nether—or kill him outright. Charlie could be our ultimate weapon against the Nethercreatures.”
“And he could just as easily be their ultimate weapon against us,” Drake snapped. “Or have you already forgotten how Verminion got to Earth in the first place?”
“That’s fear talking,” Rex said. “If we’re going to make all our decisions based on fear, we may as well just hang it up now.”
“And why shouldn’t we make decisions based on fear?” Drake shot back. “Our very existence is based on fear. If people were not afraid, they would not have nightmares, and if they didn’t have nightmares, there would be no portals into the Netherworld. Fear is fundamental to what we do here. It is the very foundation of this division!” He shook his head. “Training the boy is too much of a risk. He must be Reduced.”
“No!” Charlie gasped.
“Don’t worry, kid,” Rex said, then turned back to the Director. “You know, Arthur Goodnight would have never let a kid like Charlie get Reduced.”
“I’m sure that’s true,” Drake replied. “And that is why the Council chose me as the new Director after his death. Goodnight was always too soft on people with the Gift because he possessed it himself—and that’s what killed him.”
“It was an accident and you know it.”
“Of course it was,” Drake agreed smoothly. “But all his training and all his power still didn’t prevent him from having a nightmare and unwittingly portaling through a Class-5 Acidspitter. He was dead before he even woke up, not to mention the Banishers and Nethermancers who were sent to their graves trying to save him.” Drake leaned forward. “As strong as Goodnight was, the Gift still made him a very real threat. I don’t have the Gift, so I don’t have that proble
m.”
“The Gift isn’t a problem,” Rex countered; “it’s a solution. You may not have it, but nearly everyone else here uses it to do the work this division was designed for.”
“You misunderstand,” Drake said. “I have nothing but the utmost respect for my Gifted employees, but people with the Gift are like ‘good dogs’—useful and oftentimes kind—but every ‘good dog’ can have a bad day. The stronger they are, the more damage they do when they bite. And a boy like this one”—he gestured to Charlie—“a bite from him could be lethal. Goodnight never understood that…until it killed him. I do understand it—and I will act accordingly.”
“Look, I’m just asking you to give the boy a chance, Director,” Rex said. “Charlie is trainable. He can control it. Give him a year at the Nightmare Academy. Let him prove it to you.”
“Why wait?” Drake replied. “Let him prove it to me now. Let him open a portal right now, this instant, to demonstrate his ability to use the Gift on command. Perhaps, if he can prove to me that he has unusual control over his abilities, I might reconsider my judgment.”
There was silence in the room. Finally, Tabitha spoke up.
“Director,” she said. “It takes weeks to train even the strongest child to open a portal while awake.”
“Ah, I see,” Drake said. “Isn’t that fear talking? Fear of failure? Your partner doesn’t believe in that. Just ask him.”
“The kid’ll do it,” Rex said.
“What?” Tabitha snapped, turning to him. “No, he won’t.”
Rex pulled Tabitha aside and whispered harshly to her. “This is Charlie’s only shot. You know what’ll happen if he blows it.”
“But it’s never been done before,” she countered. “And the pressure. Even someone skilled in portaling would struggle to do it under these absurd conditions. Look at him. He’s terrified.”
“So what?” Rex pressed. “Use his fear. If you can get him scared enough, you’ll send him into a waking nightmare. That should open a portal.”
“But he would have no control over it,” Tabitha protested. “Even if he could manage it, who knows what it might open into? What if another Class 5 comes through? What if several come through?”
“Then we’ll deal with it,” Rex replied. “You just help him to get that portal open.”
“I’m waiting,” Director Drake said from his high seat. “You have three minutes before I issue my final decision on the boy’s fate.”
“Go,” Rex said to Tabitha. “Make it happen.”
“Close your eyes,” Tabitha whispered to Charlie moments later, “and listen to me very carefully.”
“Okay,” Charlie said, shutting his eyes.
“Good.” Her voice was calm and measured. Soothing. Hypnotic. “You’re standing on top of a tall building, Charlie—the tallest you’ve ever seen.”
A picture instantly formed in Charlie’s imagination. He saw himself standing on the roof of a building so high that it rose above the clouds. It seemed so real and vivid that he could actually feel the chill breeze stinging his face as the building swayed sickeningly beneath him, buffeted by the wind.
“Do you see it?” she asked. Charlie nodded. “Now…look over the edge.”
In his mind’s eye, Charlie stepped forward and peered over the edge of the building. The view was dizzying, hundreds of stories straight down. His stomach lurched nauseatingly and he tasted hot copper in his mouth. He desperately wanted to retreat.
“Suddenly, you feel a hand on your back,” Tabitha continued, and Charlie straightened up stiffly. He could actually feel the hand. “It pushes you over the side.”
“What?” Charlie demanded.
“There’s nothing you can do to stop it. You fall.”
And, just like that, in his imagination, Charlie fell.
The windows of the skyscraper rushed past him at blinding speed as he plummeted toward the ground far below. He tried to scream, but the air froze his lungs and his heart thudded in his chest like a jackhammer.
“As the ground races toward you,” Tabitha continued with more intensity now, “you look toward the windows of the building and see people you know. Your mother and father are in one of them and they could reach out and pull you to safety if they wanted to…but they let you fall.”
“Why?” Charlie said, his voice cracking.
“Because life is easier for them without you.”
“No…”
“In other windows, you see kids from your past,” she continued. “They could all rescue you if they wanted to…but they don’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re not like them, Charlie, and they fear and despise you for it. So they let you fall.”
“No one will help me?” he asked.
“No one,” Tabitha said. “You’re all alone. The ground is coming toward you quickly now and you know that when you hit it, you will die.”
“Make it stop,” Charlie said.
“I can’t help you, either, Charlie. You can only help yourself.”
“How?”
“Look for a door. A way out. Do you see one?”
“No,” he shouted, looking around frantically. There were no doors anywhere, just the blur of the windows and the certainty of the hard pavement spiraling toward him. Then, suddenly—“Yes!” he said. “I see one. It’s in the ground below me. It’s purple. I’m falling toward it, right at it.”
“Then open it, Charlie. Open it and fall through.”
“I don’t know if I can,” he shouted.
“Open the door!” Tabitha said fiercely. “Open the door now or you will die!”
A heartbeat before Charlie hit the ground, he opened the door.
A shudder like an earthquake rolled through the High Council chamber and, with a deafening boom, a gigantic portal opened up in front of Charlie, far larger than any he had seen so far. It was the size of a two-story building and it sliced through the room above and below them. Purple flames danced on its edges.
“Oh no,” Pinch said, backing away.
“Uh-oh…,” Rex muttered, doing the same.
Looking through the portal, Charlie could see an enormous throne room carved from shiny black obsidian. It was as big as several football fields, and hundreds of Nethercreatures scuttled through it, carrying on their dark business. There were Silvertongues there, as well as creatures Charlie didn’t recognize—Banshees and the shadowy, blind Nameless. One by one, they stopped what they were doing and noticed the giant gateway that had opened up before them.
“Close it,” Director Drake gasped. “Close the portal now, boy. This instant.”
But Charlie couldn’t hear him. He was lost in his own head, staring in awe at the wonder he had created. Rex rushed to his side and shook him violently.
“Snap out of it, kid,” he said. “This is more than we can handle, trust me.”
But Charlie barely noticed him. He felt disconnected from his body, separate somehow. Rex and Tabitha and the High Council chamber seemed to exist in another world, far away, one he could barely see. Suddenly, with a shriek, the Nethercreatures rushed toward the open portal, claws snapping, gaping mouths yawning wide.
“You!” Drake screeched, turning to Tabitha. “Shut down the portal! Shut it now!”
Tabitha instantly extended her right hand and closed her eyes as Rex unlooped his lasso from his belt, moving to her side. “Just do your best, sweetheart,” he said. “I’ll keep ’em off you long as I can.”
Purple flames crackled over Tabitha’s body and her brow furrowed in fierce concentration. Sweat beaded on her forehead and her breathing came in quick, harsh gasps. She began to shudder.
“I can’t,” she said finally, opening her eyes. “The portal’s too strong.”
“Stand back, then,” Rex said, pushing her behind him. His lasso glowed a fiery electric blue, which grew in intensity as the hundreds of Nethercreatures neared him.
Suddenly, just as the first of the Nethercreatures—a spider
like Netherstalker—leaped toward the open doorway, a bone-shattering roar ripped from somewhere deep within the throne room. It was so loud that the entire chamber rattled with its echo long after it had stopped. The Nethercreatures froze in their tracks, then scuttled away from the portal, disappearing into the dark recesses of the palace.
Thudding footsteps, each one like the thunder of a cannon, drew closer, until finally, at the far end of the gigantic throne room, a horned creature three stories high stepped into view. It was powerfully muscled, with orange eyes that glowed like coals and gigantic arms ending in curved talons. Its skin was cobalt blue, dark and deep as a story sea, and it had two massive legs, but instead of feet, it had hooves that sparked flame as they slammed into the obsidian floor.
“Barakkas,” Pinch gasped.
“Call all the Nethermancers,” Drake said, his face now a ghastly shade of white. “Tell them one of the Named is trying to escape from the Nether….”
CHAPTER SIX
BARAKKAS THE RAGER
Barakkas stepped slowly toward Charlie, flames sparking from his hooves. “Who has come uninvited to my palace?” he growled. “Go ahead, boy. Speak.”
“Charlie,” Charlie finally managed. “My name is Charlie Benjamin.”
“Charlie Benjamin,” Barakkas repeated. His voice boomed across the epic palace. Even though he was still far away, the echo from the black walls made it seem to Charlie as though the giant creature was standing right next to him. “Only once before has a human breached the Inner Circle.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Charlie said.
“And yet you did,” Barakkas replied. “You must be very strong.”
“I guess so,” Charlie said.
“And very brave,” Barakkas continued, drawing closer. He was now about two football fields away.
“I never thought I was.”
“Who but only the very bravest of boys would dare face me? We have much to talk about, you and I.”
As Barakkas talked to Charlie, there was pandemonium in the High Council chamber of the Nightmare Division. Nethermancers poured into the room and quickly found themselves stunned silent when they saw the enormous gateway and the Named creature beyond.