by Dean Lorey
Suddenly, a horrible shrieking filled the air. It was a sound unlike any Charlie had ever heard before—a cross between cats fighting and nails slowly scratching down a blackboard.
“What is that?” Charlie finally managed to ask.
“The Hags,” the Headmaster replied. “The Hags are coming.”
“What do I do?” Charlie shouted, panic rising.
“Nothing,” she said. “Let them take you. Don’t fight them.”
The shrieking was so loud now that Charlie felt like his head might explode. The air began to vibrate with the beating of what sounded like hundreds of wings. The stink of rot and vomit surrounded him and, suddenly, talons gripped his shoulders so tightly that Charlie felt them pierce his skin. He was roughly yanked into the air and, within moments, he was caroming sickeningly through the sky as if on the world’s most insane roller coaster, held aloft by creatures he could not see or even imagine. Finally, the talons released him. He plummeted down and slammed onto a hard stone floor.
As Charlie struggled to his feet, he was surprised to discover that he was crying. Tears streamed from his eyes and he wondered if they were tears of fear or rage, but he soon realized they were neither—it was just his body’s attempt to flush his eyes of the miserable alien dust.
Amazingly, it worked. After a moment, the world around him swam into a kind of bleary focus. He wiped the tears from his face and saw that Rex, Tabitha, Pinch, and the Headmaster had landed next to him and were all doing the same. Finally, Charlie’s vision cleared enough for him to see more than a few feet in front of him.
It was not a pleasant sight.
They were in the ruins of a crumbling mansion that was filled with the creatures the Headmaster had called “Hags.” They were vaguely feminine-looking—at least as much as monsters with green cracked skin, stringy purple hair, and black scaly wings on their backs could be called feminine. A crazy forest of teeth filled their wide mouths, all of them filed to razor-sharp points, and the ball gowns they wore were filthy and tattered. They stank worse than they looked, and they looked like hell.
“This,” Rex said finally, “is why we don’t…break…the stalks.”
Charlie’s rapier from Beginning Banishing class, which hung by his side, began to hum with electric blue fire as the Hags approached.
“Bring us to the Queen,” the Headmaster commanded, turning to the nearest creature.
“Why should we?” the Hag rasped.
It happened so fast that it took Charlie a moment to be sure it had even happened at all, but there was no denying the fact that, half a second later, the Hag who spoke had been reduced to a twitching pile of meat. Black ichor pooled around it.
The Headmaster lowered the long metal rod she now held and wiped it clean on the fetid gowns the dead Hag wore. The rod was covered with rune-like carvings and glowed a startling, brilliant blue—[ ]much brighter than Charlie’s rapier. With a quick flick of her wrist, the rod telescoped inward, collapsing in on itself until it was only a foot in length.
“Wow,” Charlie exclaimed.
Ignoring him, the Headmaster slipped the runed metal rod back into a fold of her dress and turned to the next Hag. “Now,” she said, “let’s see if I have more luck with you. Bring us to the Queen.”
The Hag swayed a moment, eyed her carefully, then suddenly turned and shuffled toward a dark hallway. The other Hags parted, opening up a path.
“Follow,” the Headmaster said, and began to walk.
Charlie and the others followed.
The Queen of the Hags was the most vile creature Charlie had ever laid eyes on, and yet she seemed to think she was beautiful. From the top of the crumbling grand stairway in the enormous ballroom she had taken as her personal chamber, the Hag Queen admired her extravagantly long and twisty black nails, then sniffed under her armpit, clearly enjoying the smell. The decaying gown she wore was longer and dirtier than the ones the others wore and she stood nearly a head taller than even the tallest Hag who served her.
“I hear you killed one of my ladies,” she croaked as she slowly flew down the stairs toward them.
“Yeah, it was a real shame,” Rex said, “but she refused to bring us to you and we couldn’t stand to be separated from your beauty even a moment more.”
At that, the Hag Queen laughed. Her voice was throaty and shrill and caused the few remaining crystals in the broken chandeliers that hung from the ceiling to chatter ominously.
“You’re a flirt,” she said finally.
“Nah, just a fella who appreciates the…exotic,” Rex replied with a grin.
“Incorrigible. So, what brings you this close to death?”
“We need a Shadow,” the Headmaster said, stepping forward.
“A Shadow,” the Hag Queen purred. “That’s a very extravagant request. Who is it for?”
“The boy.”
The Queen turned to Charlie and looked him up and down. Her dark eyes narrowed. “He’s special, isn’t he?”
“Just a boy,” the Headmaster replied with a shrug.
“Really? That’s unfortunate. If he thinks he can acquire a Shadow, he had better be special. Who do you seek, boy?”
“My parents,” Charlie said, his voice cracking. Even from this far, he could smell the stink of her breath. It made him want to retch.
“Ah, parents. Delicious. Delicious.” She licked her black lips with a shockingly long tongue. “And who will pay?”
“I will,” Rex and Tabitha said at the same time, stepping forward.
“You’re all so eager,” the Hag Queen said, flying slowly toward Rex on her large leathery wings. “But I think I shall choose payment from this strong, manly specimen here. Do you have something tasty for me?”
“I’m sure I do,” Rex replied, and shuddered involuntarily. Seeing this, the Queen closed her eyes and smiled, enjoying his revulsion.
“Let me think,” she said. “If you want a Shadow so that the boy can find his parents, then in payment, I want”—she opened her eyes and looked straight at Rex—“your parents.”
She licked her black lips once again.
“What?” Charlie said, confused. “You can’t have them. His parents are already dead.”
The Hag Queen laughed. “The boy doesn’t understand what we desire. What we eat.”
Charlie turned to Rex. “What is she talking about?”
“They eat memories, kid,” Rex said quietly. “They suck ’em from your brain and feast on ’em, and once they’re done, you don’t have ’em anymore.”
“You can’t do that!” Charlie gasped. “Your memories are all you have left of your parents.”
“I got pictures,” Rex said. “Some letters, too. Those’ll help.”
“But it’s not the same. When things get tough, you said you think of your mother taking care of you when you were sick by putting her cool hand on your forehead. That will be gone.”
“It’s okay, kid,” Rex said with a gentle smile. “Nothing lasts forever.”
“No!”
Rex pushed past him and walked to the Hag Queen. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Giant leathery wings enfolded Rex, pulling him against the chest of the thing that meant to take his family from him. The Hag Queen stood fully two feet taller than he did and he could feel her hard, scaly body pressed up against his back. The stink of her made his eyes water.
“Tasty,” she said, and that long tongue of hers flickered out of her mouth, snakelike. She leaned down to the side of his head and licked his ear. Rex could feel his stomach heave.
“Say good-bye to Momma and Daddy,” she croaked, then clamped her rotten lips over his ear and slid her tongue inside as smoothly as hot grease going down a kitchen sink. Rex could feel it in his head, that tongue, snaking into his brain, where his memories were locked away. She drank deeply of them, starting with the most recent—the deathbed of his father.
His final words to Rex: “…my strong son.”
Gone.
“Good,” the Hag mumbled, and drank more deeply.
Rex toasting his parents at their fortieth anniversary party—gone.
The family trip to the Kern River, the one where they’d all gone rafting down the white water and Rex had teased his mother for screaming like a little girl—gone.
The countless Christmases and birthdays with presents and cakes and sparkly ornaments on the trees. The cheers during football games that were won and the hugs of comfort after games that were lost. The hours spent building train tracks together, laughing at movies, and crying when their dog Gus had to be put down.
All gone.
Even the cool hand on a hot, feverish forehead was greedily drunk by a Hag with an unquenchable thirst for the joy and pain of others. When it was done, she released him and licked her lips like a starving man who had just gorged on a full meal.
“Delicious,” she said. “Tasty, tasty. All the good bits.”
Rex dropped to his knees on the shattered tile of the grand ballroom and Tabitha rushed to hold him.
“Is it over?” he asked weakly.
“It is,” she said.
“What did she want from me?”
“Your parents.”
He looked at her blankly. “Who?” he said.
She held him tightly then as the Hag Queen fluttered to the Headmaster on her strong wings.
“Are you satisfied?” the Headmaster asked.
“It was…quite a meal,” the Queen replied, shuddering with delight. “You have earned your chance at the Shadow.”
“I mean to see the boy protected,” the Headmaster said. “We have paid a terrible price. If there is any trickery, I will kill every creature in here, starting with you.”
“I thought you all found me beautiful,” the Hag Queen croaked with a sinister smile.
“You are foul,” the Headmaster replied. “Now fulfill your bargain.”
The Hag turned to Charlie, who was still reeling from the horror of what had just happened to Rex. “Come, boy,” she said. “I will lead you to the Gorgon Maze.”
“What do I do?” Charlie asked the Headmaster.
“Go with her,” she replied. “At the end of the Gorgon Maze lies the Shadow. Now, listen to me carefully, Mr. Benjamin—do not look at any of the Gorgons. If you see them directly, you will be turned to stone.”
Charlie flashed back to the unfortunate soul he’d seen wheeled through the Nightmare Division, skin hard and pale as marble. Was it possible that Charlie had first set foot in the ND only yesterday? It seemed like a lifetime ago.
“I’ll be careful,” he said. “But what do I do when I find the Shadow?”
“It will speak to you,” the Headmaster replied. “Open your mouth and let it fill you. It will do the rest.”
Charlie shuddered. Open your mouth and let it fill you. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do less.
“And, Mr. Benjamin,” the Headmaster continued, “always remember, if things seem hopeless—you are not alone.”
She held his gaze steadily.
Charlie nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” As he walked toward the Hag Queen, he passed by Rex, who was still being held by Tabitha.
“I’m sorry,” Charlie said. “I never wanted you to give up so much.”
“Give up what?” Rex asked.
It was almost too much for Charlie to bear. He walked past Rex and followed the Hag Queen into the darkness.
The Gorgon Maze glittered brilliantly. Crystals covered the walls, glowing from within. Ruby reds lay side by side with cerulean blue and dark forest greens. The colors were so intense, they were almost blinding.
“Good luck, boy,” the Hag Queen said to Charlie, “although luck won’t be enough. I am quite certain you will end up joining the other ‘ornaments’ in my Gorgon maze.” She laughed then, the sound shrill and piercing.
Steeling his courage, Charlie asked, “Where can I find the Shadow?”
The Hag Queen smiled. “You are insolent. The Headmaster said you weren’t special. She lies.” She beat her giant wings then and rose into the air. “You’ll find the Shadow at the end of green, boy—not that you’ll get that far.” With that, she flew off, leaving behind a cloud of stink.
Charlie turned to the rainbow maze and headed inside. The walls were high and slick and sheer—there was no way to see above them or even climb on top to get your bearings. He wondered what the Shadow looked like and how it could help him find his parents. Would it teleport him to where they were, or would it bring them to him? His mind raced with possibilities as he made his way through the maze—left, right, randomly choosing directions, looking always for a preponderance of green to lead the way. After all, wasn’t that what the Hag Queen had said? That the Shadow lay at the end of green?
He came to a three-way intersection and looked down each path. Straight ahead seemed to glow mostly red. To the left, that gorgeous blue, shimmering like a summer sky. To the right, green—dark and mysterious, like the Emerald City. He went right, rounded a corner, and suddenly let out a scream.
Standing there was a man with an outstretched sword, hunched down, cowering, his face frozen in terror. He was made of stone—pure white marble that reflected the greenish light. When Charlie recovered from his shock, he inspected the man more closely. This was no statue, that much was certain. The detail was incredible. He could see every pore on the man’s face, every hair of his beard rendered in stone with startling precision. And that expression of horror—it was ghastly to look at, so real and alive.
And yet, the man wasn’t alive. He had been turned to stone after glancing at a Gorgon, and now he was one of the permanent “ornaments” of the Hag Queen’s maze.
But how can I fight the Gorgons if I can’t look at them? Charlie wondered.
Before he could figure out an answer, he began to hear hissing echoing through the maze. It was hard to tell where it was coming from. In front or behind? To the left or to the right? Or maybe from all directions. As Charlie pressed on, the hissing grew louder and more distinct, and he finally realized what was making that noise.
Snakes. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands.
As his mind raced frantically, he almost tripped over another statue—this one of a woman lying on her back, looking up at something above her in terror. That horrible hissing was even louder now and it seemed to fill Charlie’s ears like a TV tuned to an empty station, its volume on high. The maze had turned purely green. Wherever the Shadow was, he knew he was getting close.
He glanced to his right and, to his shock, got his first glimpse of a Gorgon.
It was on the other side of the translucent crystal wall. He wasn’t looking directly at it—and that was what saved him. The Gorgons, like the Hags, were tall humanoid creatures, but, unlike the Hags, instead of hair, they had snakes—hundreds of them, hissing madly.
The Gorgon was followed by another.
And then another.
“Boy meat…,” the Gorgons hissed as they sniffed the air. “Tender boy meat…”
They were coming toward him from all sides now, and Charlie started to panic. How could he survive this all by himself?
And then he remembered what the Headmaster had told him.
You are not alone.
Charlie closed his eyes tightly, extended his right hand, and tried, for the first time on his own, to consciously open a portal. As the hissing of the Gorgons grew louder, he imagined the Banishing arena. It was vivid and clear in his mind’s eye, and he suddenly realized that all the places he had previously portaled into or out of were shining brightly in his head—the High Council chamber, the Nethermancy room, Barakkas’s palace.
He focused on the Banishing arena.
He could see the worn stone benches and smell the sweet, dusky scent of the powdery dirt. Once he had the destination in mind, he focused on the fear, his particular personal fear that seemed to fuel his Nethermancy ability most easily.
If I do this, he thought, if I find the Shadow and let it
do to me what it needs to, I’ll be that much more of a freak.
Though he couldn’t see the Gorgons, he could hear them and, even worse, he could smell them. They smelled like earth and decaying leaves—like a cool, dark burrow where snakes hid from the heat of the day.
The nearness of them turned his stomach.
Brick by brick, he thought, I’m building a wall that separates me from the other students. Eventually, I’ll close myself off from them completely. I’ll be untouchable. I’ll be all alone.
Alone.
That’s what did it.
Like a key turning in a lock, Charlie controlled and channeled his fear to open a portal to the Banishing arena as the Gorgons drew to within an arm’s length of him. Professor Xix stood there, waiting patiently on his eight giant legs.
“There you are,” Xix said. “I was wondering if you were going to call on me.”
“Can you help?” Charlie asked, eyes shut tight.
“Oh, I’m sure I can,” Xix replied, quickly surveying the scene. “Gorgons. Excellent. I’ve been meaning to replenish our supply. Some ridiculous student always tries to take a peek at one during Gorgon Defense class—even though I clearly warn them—and then I end up having to cut off the Gorgon’s head to bring the student back to life. It wreaks havoc on my stock. Keep your eyes closed, Charlie, until I say to open them.”
“No problem,” Charlie said. At that moment, he couldn’t imagine ever opening his eyes again. Even though he couldn’t see what was happening, he could hear it. Beneath the insane shrieking of the Gorgons, there was a sound like fishing line playing out, followed by a thud.
It’s wrapping them in webbing, Charlie realized with dark delight.
Occasionally, stiff hairs brushed past him and he knew that they were the hairs on the legs of Xix as the large creature shuttled about, doing its business. Finally, mercifully, the shrieking of the Gorgons stopped.
“You can open your eyes now,” Xix said.
Warily, Charlie opened his eyes. He was surrounded by writhing sacks of spider silk. The Gorgons were completely encased. There must have been twenty of them lying there.
“Quite a haul,” Xix said cheerily. “Won’t need to get more for some time now. It’s one of the advantages of not being human—looking at them has no effect on me.”