by Dean Lorey
The students rushed to the table. Violet picked a small dagger because it seemed the least imposing of the choices. Duct tape was wrapped around the hilt, presumably to keep it from falling apart. It glowed dimly blue in her grasp.
Charlie gravitated to a long, thin rapier. It lacked the heft of a sword, but what it missed in weight it made up for in speed. He whipped it around wildly, leaving a trail of sparkly blue mist in the air. The rest of his classmates grabbed the remaining weapons—a mace, several swords, even a spear. After all the budding Banishers had made their selections, there was only a strange pile of junk left on the wooden table—[ ]a metal chain, a crowbar, a flashlight, a bottle opener.
“No one wants the bottle opener, huh?” Rex said. “You sure? Never know when you might need a good bottle opener.”
There were no takers. The students, predictably, were too enamored with the more obviously lethal weapons that they had chosen. “En Garde!” Charlie said, happily challenging another boy to a duel. They started play-fighting, and soon the other kids joined in. Swords clanged against maces, axes clattered against polearms.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rex yelled. “Put those things down before you hack off a nose or chop off a leg. This ain’t kindergarten; this is serious business.”
Reluctantly, they lowered their weapons.
“Now, let’s see how you do against your first Nethercritter.” The large wooden doors that led to the arena suddenly opened and a Netherstalker the size of a pickup truck crept into the room on its eight giant spider legs. The students gasped and stepped back—no one was prepared for something like this their first time out.
“Good luck,” Rex said with a grin, and walked toward the back of the arena. As he passed by Charlie, he whispered, “By the way, kid, the answer is four.”
“The answer to what?” Charlie asked, but by then, Rex had passed him by.
As the Netherstalker approached, the class timidly held their cheap weapons in front of them, illuminating the ferocious beast in a weak blue light. The Netherstalker stared at them with its dark spider eyes…then it threw back its head and laughed.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” it said with amusement.
CHAPTER TEN
THE TRANSFORMING SNARK
“What…what did it say?” the girl in pigtails asked, bewildered.
“It,” the Netherstalker answered with particular emphasis, “said ‘And what do you think you’re doing?’ Probably because it was amused to see a class of Noobs actually raising weapons to it.”
Rex walked back up.
“It has a name, by the way,” he said, clapping the creature affectionately on one of its hairy legs. “This is Professor Xixclix and he’s been the Academy’s beast-master since I was a Noob. How you doing, Xix?”
“Not bad,” the creature said with a grin. “Except it seems like I keep getting older and they don’t.”
“Well, age catches up with even the best of us,” Rex replied warmly, then turned to the class. “Here’s your next lesson: All creatures from the Nether are not mindless, slobbering beasts. Some of ’em are pretty smart. And, in the case of old Xix here, at least one of them has switched sides and agreed to help us out. Xix, ’cause of his rather special experience, handles all the creatures from the Nether that we’ll be using in our training.”
“Quite right,” Xix said, scuttling forward. The students instinctively took a step back. “Now, you all know I am a Netherstalker, but who can tell me what Class I am?”
There was silence then, until Charlie suddenly remembered what Rex had told him—the answer is four.
“Four!” he shouted.
“Exactly,” Xix said. “To tell the Class of a Netherstalker, you need only count the eye stalks.” Charlie looked and saw that Xix did, in fact, have four eye stalks. “Here’s another question,” he continued. “As a creature from the Nether ages, do they rise in Class or do they stay the same Class their entire lives?”
Violet tentatively raised her hand.
“You, young Banisher,” Xix said, pointing to her with a hairy leg.
“They rise in Class?” she ventured.
“Quite right,” Xix said with a nod. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”
“Because I noticed you have a fifth eye stalk just beginning to bud, which would mean that you’re growing into a Class 5.”
“Excellent!” Xix said. “Very observant. When I first joined the Nightmare Academy, I was a Class 3. Several years ago, I advanced to a Class 4. Soon I will be a Class-5. You have good eyes, young Banisher.”
“Thank you,” Violet said, blushing slightly.
“Now just sit tight and I’ll be back momentarily with your first challenge.” He scuttled out of the arena through the large wooden doors.
“While we wait,” Rex said, stepping forward, “I’d like you to meet Kyoko. She’s a Leet Nethermancer who will be helping us out today by making a portal.”
A tall seventeen-year-old Asian girl stepped down from the viewing gallery. Her long black hair hung straight against her porcelain skin. “Hey, everyone,” she said with a smile. “You want the portal now, Professor?”
“Nah, you can open it soon as Xix unveils the critter these Noobs will be Banishing—and call me Rex.”
“Okay,” she said, giggling a little.
She has a crush on him, Charlie thought with some amusement.
Just then, Xix returned carrying a wriggling bag of spider silk. It looked like a cocoon. He placed it on the sandy arena floor. “I present to you a Class 1 Ectobog,” he said, then quickly sliced through the spider silk to reveal the creature inside.
A green blob the size of a Doberman slithered out. It seemed to have the consistency of a jellyfish and, in the middle, Charlie could see the remains of its last meal. There were small bones in there, a belt buckle, and something that looked suspiciously like an iPod.
“Charlie, you’re up,” Rex said, hitching a thumb in his direction.
“Me?” Charlie replied, alarmed. “What do I do?”
“Banish it into the portal, course,” Rex answered casually, then turned to Kyoko. “Fire one up, if you don’t mind.”
Kyoko closed her eyes and concentrated fiercely. Her body glowed with electric purple flame and, after several seconds, she opened a small portal in the middle of the arena.
“Um,” Charlie said, unsure.
“Come on, kid—it ain’t gonna Banish itself,” Rex teased.
Charlie tentatively crept toward the Ectobog, holding his rapier out in front of him, probing delicately like a blind man with a walking stick. As he neared the creature, the blue glow of the rapier intensified.
“See, that blue glow gets brighter the nearer you get to a Nethercritter,” Rex explained. “In fact, sometimes you can use it to tell if a baddie is sneaking up on you.”
The class nodded, but Charlie didn’t hear a word; he was focused on the pile of goo in front of him. As he got to within a few feet of the Ectobog, it seemed to become aware of him and oozed slowly in his direction, its skin shimmering like an oil slick after a rainstorm.
“Now what?” Charlie asked.
“How should I know?” Rex replied with a grin. “You’re the Banisher.”
“Great…,” Charlie mumbled, then turned back to the Ectobog. The closer it got to him, the faster it moved. “Get back!” he shouted as he brought his rapier whistling down. To his amazement, he sliced the Ectobog neatly in two. “Cool!” he said after realizing what he’d done.
The class cheered and applauded and Charlie felt a warm rush of success and approval. “Go, Charlie!” Violet shouted.
Charlie turned and took a stage bow.
As he did, something strange happened behind him. The two halves of the Ectobog quivered like jelly, then began to grow, until they formed two separate Ectobogs, each one identical in size to the original.
Both Ectobogs oozed toward Charlie.
“Look out!” Violet yelled.
&
nbsp; Charlie turned and saw the creatures sliming toward him. “What do I do?” he shouted. “When you attack, it makes two of them!”
“Gee, that’s a problem,” Rex replied, slightly amused.
Suddenly, one of the Ectobogs reached Charlie’s foot. It quickly oozed up his leg and Charlie could feel it inside of his jeans. It was cold and clammy, like an oyster.
“It’s got me!” he yelled and, purely by instinct, he sliced at it again with his rapier. It split cleanly in two. After a moment, the two halves quivered, then each one quickly grew to full size. Immediately, both Ectobogs swarmed up toward Charlie’s belly as the third one caught up and joined them.
Now he had three on him.
“Uh-oh,” Rex said casually. “Somebody better do something. This could get ugly.”
The kids in the class glanced at one another nervously. No one knew what to do. How do you defeat something that gets stronger as you attack it?
“Wait…,” Violet said suddenly.
She threw down her dagger and raced back to the weapons table. Quickly, she dug through the remaining pile of junk, grabbed the flashlight, and turned it on. Bright white light shot from the bulb in a focused beam, while the flashlight itself glowed a brilliant blue. She pointed it at the Ectobogs, which were now creeping up Charlie’s chest, heading toward his face.
“Get off him!” she yelled.
The Ectobogs reacted to the light as if stung. They quickly slithered off Charlie and retreated. Violet pressed forward, using the beam of light to herd them toward the open portal.
“Go on!” she shouted. “Get out of here!”
With one last sweep of the flashlight, the Ectobogs retreated into the portal.
“Should I close it?” Kyoko asked, purple flames flickering across her.
“Yes, please,” Violet answered, her heart hammering in her chest.
With a wave of her hand, Kyoko closed the portal, sealing the Ectobogs in the Nether. There was silence then, broken finally by the sound of one person clapping. Violet turned to see Rex giving her a round of applause.
“And that’s how you do that,” he said. “What made you think to use the flashlight?”
“Well, what you said earlier about the point of greatest dark—that creatures from the Nether don’t like the light.”
“Exactly,” Rex said, bounding toward her. “See, Banishing’s not all about fighting and strength, it’s mostly about thinking. ‘Using your noodle,’ as my momma used to say. The Wrangler that can keep her head and think outside of the box is the one who’ll live to Banish another day. Congrats, kid.”
He shot Violet a friendly wink.
Violet left the class on a real high. “Maybe I can do this,” she said as they walked along the crashing surf outside of the caves that led to the Banishing arena. “It’s not just about fighting and boy stuff. There’s some smarts to it, too.”
“Yeah, great,” Charlie mumbled.
“What’s wrong?”
“I looked like an idiot in there!”
“No, you didn’t,” Violet protested. “I wouldn’t have known what to do if I’d gone first. Someone had to attack it so we’d know what would happen.”
“I guess,” Charlie said, unconvinced.
“There’s the DT!” a voice shouted from some distance down the beach. Charlie and Violet turned to see Theodore bounding toward them, his face still red and puffy from his beating at the hands of Geoff. The Nightmare Academy loomed behind him. “How was Beginning Banishing?”
“Great!” Violet chirped as Charlie said, “Miserable.”
“I see,” Theodore replied, glancing between them. “SDOO—otherwise known as severe difference of opinion.”
“Ignore Charlie,” Violet said with a playful grin. “He’s just grumpy he didn’t get a chance to show the world that he’s the greatest Banisher who ever lived.”
“That’s not true,” Charlie shot back. “I don’t have to be the greatest Banisher who ever lived—I just don’t want to be the greatest screwup who ever lived.”
“Well, you’re about to have a chance to turn things around,” Theodore said, clapping him on the back. “Neophyte Nethermancy is about to start.”
It was always night in the Nethermancy class.
Dark and mysterious, the classroom was located inside a hollowed-out section in the giant heart of the banyan tree, accessible only by a deliriously dodgy rope bridge that looked in terrible need of repair. Theodore and Charlie entered to find the class already full of students, all babbling excitedly. When the other kids saw them, their chatter slowed to a stop, like a car running out of gas.
“Oh, man, they were talking about us,” Charlie whispered.
“Let them talk,” Theodore replied with some measure of pride. “It’s not every day they get a chance to see a Double-Threat and a combat machine standing side by side.”
“You really believe that about yourself, don’t you?”
“Of course,” he said. “If I don’t, who will?”
Charlie laughed then—Theodore’s self-confidence was like a kind of miracle. “Maybe you’re right,” he said, then glanced up at the ceiling. He was surprised to discover that it was covered in stars. Unlike the fake press-on stars from his bedroom, these looked like real stars. A comet traced a lonely path across the roof, flaming out before it reached the wall.
“Hologram, definitely,” Theodore said, gesturing to the amazing display above them. “Probably rear projection. Excellent system. Top-notch.”
“Yeah,” Charlie agreed, but he wasn’t so sure. The stars and planets twinkling over their heads looked so genuine, it felt almost as if you could travel to them.
Suddenly, there was a soft pop and a portal opened up on the riser in front of the waiting students. Tabitha stepped through and closed the portal behind her.
“Good afternoon, class,” she said, nervously adjusting her jewelry. “My name is Tabitha Greenstreet, but the Headmaster insists you address me as Professor Greenstreet, so I guess we’d better do as she says. This is your first day taking Neophyte Nethermancy and it’s my first day teaching it, so let’s just go easy on each other, okay?”
The students all nodded.
“Good,” she said. “Nethermancy is the art of opening portals into and out of the Nether, and, yes, it is an art. Now, you’re all able to do it or you wouldn’t be sitting here, but you can’t do it on command and you can’t do it with precision. The world is full of children who unwittingly open portals during their nightmares, but we believe that you select few have the ability to open a portal while you’re awake and to open it into a particular place. And what allows you to do that?”
“The Gift,” Alejandro Ramirez instantly shot back.
“Right,” Tabitha said. “And imagination allows us access to the Gift, but what fuels it? What emotion do we have to tap into?”
“Fear,” Charlie said, unaware that he had even opened his mouth. When he realized he had spoken out loud, he was instantly embarrassed.
“That’s right, Charlie,” Tabitha said. “Fear is our weapon and fear is also our enemy. We need it to do our job correctly, and yet, if we don’t control it and channel it, fear will make us turn and run at the exact moment we need to use it. So, the first question we have to ask ourselves is, ‘How do we access our fear?’ How do we make ourselves afraid enough to open a portal when we need to? It’s easy at night, during a nightmare, but how do we do it during the day, on command?”
The students were silent. Tabitha turned to Charlie. “How about you? You did it last night, rather famously, it seems. I helped you. What did I do?”
“You told me I was on the roof of a tall building.”
Tabitha nodded. “That’s right. Fear of heights. Go on.”
“You said I fell.”
“Fear of falling. What happened next?”
“Uh…I don’t remember.”
“I think you do,” Tabitha pressed. “We’re going to be sharing some very personal
feelings in this class. It may be uncomfortable, but it is necessary. So, I ask you again…what happened next?”
Charlie continued, even though it was painful territory for him. “You said my parents could save me if they wanted to…but they didn’t want to.”
“That’s right, Charlie. Thank you. Fear of abandonment. Keep talking.”
“You said there were other kids there who could help me, but they didn’t want to, either.”
“Fear of rejection by your peers. Very devastating. And there was one more thing, wasn’t there? As you fell toward the ground, what did I say would happen to you?”
“That I would die,” Charlie said softly.
“Fear of death,” Tabitha agreed, nodding. “So, fear of heights, fear of falling, fear of abandonment, fear of rejection, fear of death. One or all of those fears gave Charlie access to the Gift, which allowed him to open a portal.”
“Not just a portal,” Theodore exclaimed. “The hugest portal anyone’s ever seen!”
“True,” Tabitha replied. “But that’s because Charlie’s power over the Gift was raw and unfocused. In this class, we will learn to control it. Now, when I was trying to help Charlie open the portal, I played on a variety of common fears, hoping I would find one that would trigger his use of the Gift. You see, all fears are not equal. Very often, you must find a personal fear, the thing that scares you in your heart and soul, to allow you to open a portal. We will spend the next few days trying to find those fears so that you will be able to access them when necessary.”
“But that’s impossible,” Alejandro said. “How do you just make yourself afraid?”
“How do actors make themselves cry?” Tabitha countered. “When the director says ‘Action,’ how do they shed real tears? They think of something that fills them with grief, something personal, to trigger the emotion.”
Charlie glanced around. The other students seemed unsure, nervous. Charlie knew exactly how they felt.
“I won’t kid you,” Tabitha continued, walking toward them. “It is a hard and difficult path you have been called to. You will have to face your deepest fears every day. Most people spend their lives trying to figure out how to avoid being afraid, but you will seek it out. The process may seem uncomfortable at first, even cruel, but it is necessary.” She stopped in front of Theodore. “What makes you afraid, young man?”