by Dean Lorey
“Thank you,” Charlie managed.
“Not at all,” Xix said, heaving the trapped Gorgons through the portal and into the Banishing arena. “I don’t smell any more of them, so you should have a clear path to the Shadow. You can close the portal now.”
“Okay,” Charlie said. It took all of his will to strand himself in the Nether by closing the only gateway that led to safety, but Charlie gritted his teeth and, with a wave of his hand, closed the portal.
Alone once more, he continued deeper into the maze.
The green crystal walls were blazing with such intensity that they were almost painful to look at. Suddenly, to his shock, he heard his mother’s voice.
“Charlie…,” she said from somewhere farther down the maze. “Where’s my sweet boy?”
“Mom!” Charlie shouted, and pressed forward, following the sound. Finally, he rounded a corner and saw his mother standing with her back against a dead end.
“There he is,” she said. “You found me at last.”
“Is it really you?” Charlie gasped. He desperately wanted to rush up to her and hug her—but it couldn’t be her, could it? What would she be doing here at the very end of the Gorgon maze?
“Of course it is,” she said, and then something odd happened. She shimmered and fell away, almost as if she’d been absorbed into the column of dark smoke that now stood there writhing against the glowing emerald wall. The smoke re-formed itself and now it was his father standing there.
“Hello, son,” the thing that looked like his father said. “It would be so good if we could all be together again.”
Charlie slowly walked up to the alien thing and reached out to touch it. His hand passed straight through and the thing that looked like his father was instantly absorbed back into the column of churning black smoke.
“Are you the Shadow?” Charlie asked.
There was no answer.
“Can you help me find my parents?”
Again, silence from the twisting, formless thing.
“Open your mouth and let it fill you. It will do the rest,” the Headmaster had instructed him.
Charlie opened his mouth.
Slowly, carefully, the darkness formed itself into a tube and snaked down his throat. It was cold and he could feel it spreading throughout his body, its smoky, dark tendrils filling all his crevices—his heart, his lungs, out to the tips of his fingers and down to the heels of his feet.
Finally, the coldness went away and it was as if it had never been there. But the Shadow, which just moments ago had been swirling in front of him, was now gone.
It was inside him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE SHADOW KNOWS
After a few frustrating attempts, Charlie finally managed to portal back to the Banishing arena and was happy to find Rex, Tabitha, Pinch, and the Headmaster waiting for him.
“You did it!” Tabitha nearly shouted, hugging him tightly. “Are you okay?”
“Sure am. Where’s Professor Xix? I want to thank him.”
“Aw, he’s like a kid on Christmas morning,” Rex said. “Off to play with his fresh crop of Gorgons. We’re not gonna see him for a while.”
“Did you find the Shadow?” the Headmaster asked.
Charlie nodded.
“And did you swallow it?”
He nodded again. “It was cold.”
“I hear that’s true, although I’ve never had one in me personally. They’re extremely rare and quite powerful.”
“What do they do exactly?” Charlie asked.
The Headmaster smiled. “Come outside and I’ll show you.”
The balmy tropical breeze felt good on Charlie’s face after spending so much time in the Nether. He basked in it, breathing it in. It warmed him from the inside.
“You see where the sun is?” the Headmaster said, pointing. Charlie looked. The sun was low in the western sky, directly behind him. “Now look at your shadow.”
Charlie looked in front of him to where he expected his shadow to be. It wasn’t there. “Huh?” he said.
“Keep looking.”
Charlie turned around, only to discover that his shadow stretched out behind him—pointing in the direction of the sun.
“But that’s impossible,” he said. “Your shadow can’t point toward the sun; it has to point away.”
“True,” the Headmaster replied, “but this is not your real shadow. That is now gone. It has been replaced by this Shadow, and this Shadow will always point in the direction of the thing you love the most—[ ]in this case, your parents. It will lead us straight to them.”
“Excellent!” Charlie said. “Let’s get going. Let’s hunt for them now, before it gets dark.”
“You sure you’re ready?” Tabitha asked. “You’ve just been through quite an ordeal.”
“And my parents are going through a worse one,” he replied. He had no idea exactly what they were suffering, but he knew it was, at best, horrible.
“Fine,” the Headmaster said. “Your Shadow is pointing west. We will travel in that direction, adjusting our course as necessary based on what the Shadow tells us, until we discover their precise location.” She waved her hand and opened a portal. “Let’s begin.”
After a quick stop in a desolate part of the Nether, the Headmaster opened another portal back to Earth and they all stepped through into a dusty ravine full of cactus and the occasional sagebrush. A decaying pyramid stood some distance from them, surrounded by ruins. Several men on horseback, wearing sombreros to ward off the searing heat, drove a herd of cattle through the crumbling buildings.
“We are in Mexico now,” the Headmaster said. “Ahead are the ruins of Cholula. It was once a great city, until it was destroyed by Cortez. I thought, perhaps, we might get lucky and discover our quarry here.” She glanced down at the Shadow. It still pointed west, straight into the sun.
“Looks like we didn’t go far enough,” Charlie said.
“Indeed,” the Headmaster agreed. “Let’s press on.”
After another quick trip to the Nether, the Headmaster opened a portal back to Earth and they all stepped through onto a beach, where they were surrounded by thousands of people surfing in the ocean and lounging under umbrellas. High-rise hotels lined the shore. The smells of coconut oil, sunscreen, and sea spray were overwhelming.
“How’s it going?” Rex said to a large shirtless man at their feet, sipping a pink drink with an umbrella in it.
“Uh, good, I guess,” he replied, staring at them in amazement.
“Welcome to the Hawaiian Islands,” the Headmaster exclaimed. “This is the island of Oahu, to be exact. It’s far too crowded for my taste, but to each his own, I suppose. So, what does the Shadow tell us now?”
Charlie glanced down. “We still need to go even farther west.”
“All right, then. Would you care to portal us back into the Nether?”
“Me?” Charlie asked, alarmed.
“You are a Nethermancer, are you not?”
“Yeah, but it would be a lot quicker if you did it,” Charlie said, looking around uncomfortably at the hoard of sun worshipers surrounding them.
“Of course it would,” the Headmaster replied. “Which is precisely why I don’t need the practice. Begin, please.”
“Okay,” Charlie said, closing his eyes. He raised his right hand and tried to shut out the laughing and shouting of the beachgoers, but it was difficult.
“What’s the kid doing?” the man at their feet asked, rolling to his side like a beached walrus.
“Trying to concentrate,” Tabitha whispered. “Which will be impossible if you keep asking questions. Portaling is not as easy as it looks.”
“Oh,” the man said. “Right.”
“I don’t know if I can do it,” Charlie said finally. “It just feels like everyone is staring at me.”
“They are,” Tabitha whispered in his ear. “Use it. Harness your insecurity to access your fear.”
“I was afraid you’
d say something like that,” Charlie replied, but he did what she suggested. He imagined thousands of pairs of eyes on him, all of them staring at the freak on the beach, all of them watching and hoping for him to fail miserably….
Ironically, it was his fear of failure that allowed him to succeed. Purple fire shimmered across him and, suddenly, a portal snapped open.
“Excellent,” the Headmaster said. “You’re progressing splendidly.”
“Enjoy your day,” Rex remarked pleasantly to the stunned man at his feet; then he and the rest of the group returned to the Nether.
“Ugh, Gremlins,” the Headmaster remarked with disgust. They were surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of the reedy little creatures, as numerous in this area of the Nether as humans had been on the beach in Oahu. “Pinch, do you have a cell phone on you?”
“Of course,” he replied. “But it won’t work here.”
“May I have it, please?”
Pinch handed it over. “Here you go, but, like I said, it won’t get reception until we go back to—”
But before he could get out the rest of the sentence, she threw the cell phone as far away from their little group as she could. The Gremlins swarmed all over it, desperate for its meager electricity, fighting like sharks warring over a bit of chum.
“Hey!” Pinch shouted.
“Gremlins are like gnats,” the Headmaster said, “and, like gnats, I find them very aggravating. This will free us of them at least for a moment.”
“But my phone,” Pinch groaned.
While he pouted, Tabitha turned to Charlie. “We’re in the 1st ring. Why did you pick this place in the Nether?”
“I didn’t really,” he replied with a shrug. “I was just trying not to go too deep…to where the really bad things are.”
“You’re beginning to be able to control it,” she said with a smile. “That’s amazing in so short a time.”
“Aw, it’s no big deal,” Charlie said, flushing with pride.
“Excuse me?” Pinch asked, stepping forward. “Could we please get out of here before the Gremlins start investigating the rest of my electronic goodies?”
“If you insist,” the Headmaster said, and with a wave of her hand, she created another portal and they stepped through.
They found themselves in China this time, knee-deep in a rice paddy. Farmers worked around them, collecting the rice, barely noticing their presence.
“Ecch,” Tabitha said. “You could have warned us we were going to get wet.”
“You’ll dry,” the Headmaster replied. “How are we looking, Mr. Benjamin?”
Charlie glanced around. “The Shadow’s pointing south,” he said. “I guess we’ve gone as far west as we need to.”
“Good. We’re making progress, then.” With a wave of her hand, the Headmaster portaled them back into the Nether, then through another portal, and onto a busy city street. A horn wailed loudly.
“Move!” Rex shouted, and they all leaped aside, narrowly avoiding being crushed by a bus.
“Ah, the city of Perth,” the Headmaster remarked. “I’ve always been fond of Australia. Perhaps it’s because, as a child, I always wanted a pet kangaroo. I imagined living in its pouch as it hopped from place to place, safe and secure. I would have called it Mr. Snuggles.”
“Too much information,” Rex muttered.
“Grouch,” the Headmaster teased.
“Excuse me,” Charlie said, checking the Shadow, which was pointing north. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we went too far.”
“Interesting,” the Headmaster replied. “We’re looking for a place south of China, north of Australia. Any thoughts?”
“There’s nothing there,” Rex said. “That’s just open ocean, right?”
“Yes, unless you want to count the hundreds of islands, as well as all of Indonesia and the Philippines,” Pinch replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Well, look who put on his smarty pants this morning,” Rex said. “Geography was never exactly my specialty.”
“And exactly what is your specialty?” Pinch shot back.
“Beating up Facilitators. I’ve always been real good at that.”
“That kind of violent talk is uncalled for!” Pinch snapped, but before he could continue, Charlie stepped between them.
“Could we focus on finding my parents, please? I’m sure they’re really scared.”
“Quite right,” the Headmaster agreed. “We’re looking for someplace remote, probably someplace underground, hidden from view.”
“Borneo, maybe,” Tabitha suggested. “It’s remote.”
“True,” the Headmaster replied, “but it lacks drama. Verminion has always had a flair for the dramatic.”
“Krakatoa,” Charlie said suddenly. Everyone turned to him. “What about Krakatoa, under the volcano? My mother taught me about it in our geography class. It’s remote, hidden, and definitely dramatic.”
“Indeed it is,” the Headmaster said. “Let’s find out if you’re right.”
She immediately created a portal, and they all jumped into it as a large truck blared its horn and barreled through the spot where they’d once stood.
Without missing a beat, from inside the Nether, the Headmaster opened another portal and they stepped through, to find themselves standing at the lip of the world’s most famous volcano, scattering a herd of surprised mountain goats. The enormous hollow in the center of the crater seemed to stretch below them for an eternity. Steam issued through vents in the gray volcanic rock.
“Krakatoa,” the Headmaster said. “It’s been many years since it last erupted, but that doesn’t mean it’s dormant. Where is the Shadow pointing now?”
“Straight down,” Charlie said, pointing to where it arrowed beneath them toward the heart of the volcano.
“Excellent,” she replied. “We have found our place. Now, because we don’t know the precise location of your parents, I will open a series of portals, one after another, into the caverns underneath Krakatoa. Although we will use those portals to hunt for your family, we will not actually go through one until we see your parents on the other side.”
“Then what?” Charlie asked.
“Then the fun starts,” Rex said with a grin. “We fight.”
“Prepare yourselves,” the Headmaster warned. “We’re about to begin.”
They returned to the Nether, where the Headmaster opened her first portal into the caverns underneath Krakatoa. Through it, the group could see a gigantic tube the size of a train tunnel, carved from the volcanic rock. Lava flowed down a trench on the right-hand side, bathing the Nethercreatures that swarmed there in a harsh red glow. Charlie saw dozens of Silvertongues, all Class 4’s and 5’s, as well as scores of Netherstalkers scuttling frantically through the uncertain light.
“Oh my God…,” Tabitha said, drawing back. “There’s a million of them.”
“We’ve found the hive,” Rex said. “This is Verminion’s base. This is where he’s been assembling his army.”
One by one, the Nethercreatures came to a stop as they noticed the open portal in front of them.
“Your parents,” the Headmaster said. “Do you see them?”
Charlie quickly scanned the hallway. “No,” he said.
“Then we move on.”
As the Nethercreatures rushed toward the open portal, the Headmaster slammed it shut and, almost instantly, opened another one to a different area of the caverns beneath Krakatoa. “Look quickly,” she said. “We must move fast now that they are alerted to our presence.”
Charlie looked and found himself staring at a giant glowing lake of lava dotted with chunks of rock that floated on its surface like scabs. The lake was so vast, it dwarfed the hundreds of Nethercreatures that flew above it. They were Hags, mostly, but there were other things there, too—monsters Charlie had never seen before, like enormous mosquito-like creatures with insanely long snouts, perfectly designed for piercing flesh and sucking out the juices inside.
; “Whoa,” Charlie said. “This place is huge.”
The creatures turned and stared at the open portal…then began flying toward it.
“Mr. Benjamin,” the Headmaster shouted, snapping Charlie out of his stupor. “Do you see them?”
“Uh…no,” Charlie said, looking around.
“Then we move on.” She closed that portal and opened another.
This one looked out onto a gigantic cavern the size of a baseball stadium. Lava bubbled up in pools across the floor and ran down the rough walls in fiery rivulets that looked like glowing veins. They made the cavern feel like a living thing, a pulsing organ, like the actual heart of the volcano. The air shimmered as waves of heat blurred the Nethercreatures that scuttled and flew through its darkest recesses.
“There,” Rex said, pointing.
And that’s when Charlie saw them. His parents were being held hostage at the far end of the enormous cavern. They hung from the ceiling, bound tightly in cocoons of Netherstalker silk that exposed only their heads. They appeared unconscious.
“Mom! Dad!” Charlie cried out. The creatures in the cavern spun toward him.
“Good work,” Pinch sneered.
“Follow me!” the Headmaster shouted. “We have no time!” She leaped through the portal and the others followed.
The heat from the lava hit Charlie with the force of a sledgehammer. It instantly leeched every ounce of moisture from his skin and sapped his energy like a vampire draining blood.
“This way,” Rex yelled, uncoiling his brightly glowing lasso as he sprinted across the cavern, leaping over the small pools of lava and dodging around the bigger ones. But it was the Headmaster who surprised Charlie. She had to have been at least in her fifties to have had students as old as Rex and Tabitha, yet she was astonishingly fast. She sprinted like a cheetah and bounded over lava springs with the grace of a gazelle.
As she ran, she removed from a fold in her brightly colored dress the short runed rod she had used earlier to reduce a Hag to a pulp. With a quick snap of her wrist, the rod telescoped outward on both ends, so it was now the length of a large staff. It blazed a startling blue—so bright, it shone like a beacon, cutting cleanly through the smoky haze.