by N. C. Reed
“But, what can be done, can be undone,” Chuck sighed. “And you kids, completely by accident, returned one of these creatures, named Monusuol, to Earth.”
“So you do have a spell to fix this?” Belinda asked.
“Yes,” Chuck nodded. “A fairly simple one, but that doesn’t mean easy. Everyone gather around, and let me explain.”
An hour later the group broke apart, everyone heading home. While still angry, the parents were actually proud that their children were willing to take responsibility for their mistakes. They were also impressed by the way the teens had stood up for each other.
Valina, Kat, and Alfred had offered apologies to Chuck and Stacey, but the group was strained by their harsh accusations, there was no question. Chuck had already decided that once this problem was dealt with, he was done with the group. Twice in two days the others had turned on him. That was two times too many, as far as he was concerned.
But before that, he had to teach five teenagers how to harness the energy they were capable of summoning when they were together. Their group was much stronger than their parent’s had ever dreamed of being. They would need careful training and management over the next few years, or things might go badly for them.
And for anyone around them.
Chapter Six
Saturday dawned clear and a little cool. It wasn’t autumn, but fall was just around the bend, and the weather was starting to show it. Leaves were already starting to turn a bit.
Chuck had spent a good portion of the night teaching his son how to properly pronounce the words of the banishment spell. All of them would have to participate, but Chip would have to lead them, just as he had in the first ritual. Chuck didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do about it, either. Together the teens had the power to send Monusuol back to his own version of purgatory. The adults simply didn’t have that kind of power.
Some of the parents had argued that it should be them that tried to work the spell, but Chuck calmly pointed out that there would be only one opportunity to make this spell work. Is the adults tried, and couldn’t succeed, then Monusuol would wreak havoc on Creasy’s Hollow. They couldn’t chance it.
The teens were surprisingly calm all things considered. All five showed a level of maturity that made their parents proud of them. They were no less scared for their offspring, but they were proud.
The plan, as Chuck had said, was simple, but not easy. Monusuol had one weakness the group could exploit.
He loved goat meat.
All of the teens had cringed at the thought of sacrificing a goat to make up for their own mistakes, but there wasn’t much choice. Is Monusuol smelled a goat, he’d come to investigate. It had been along time since the creature had had access to goats, so Chuck was counting on him being careless.
Together everyone had picked a spot on the far side of Creasy’s Lake from town. This time of year, even on a Saturday, the area wouldn’t see much traffic. Most tourists, and even most locals, preferred the higher elevations this time of year because of the color change. Chuck had arranged for a goat that was already slaughtered, since he didn’t want the children to be subjected to that. His request that the blood be preserved had caused a raised eyebrow, but he’d gotten it just the same.
Chuck and Alfred would go and hang the goat from a tree, hopefully just high enough that Monusuol would have to work to get it. The harder he had to work, the less attention he would pay to his surroundings. At least, that was the theory.
Meanwhile the others would split up, taking each side of the lake, and carefully allowing the goat blood to ‘leak’ from syringes onto leaves, rocks, anywhere that would preserve the scent and let the wind carry it. The wind was their one variable. If it wasn’t in their favor, then the whole plan might be shot.
Chuck and Alfred would prepare the ground around the goat for the banishment. Since salt wasn’t needed, there would be no scent to scare the monster away. The advantage of using such an open area was that the various diagrams could be drawn larger than normal, making them harder for the demon to spot, even if he wasn’t distracted by the temptation of a tasty goat snack.
The spell was fairly straightforward. Chip would do the chant, while the others repeated after him. The only problem was the distance between the children. Since the signs would be large, each teen would have to stand apart from the others. They would communicate with small two way radios and earphones. Their candles could be masked inside blackened holders to keep their light from being seen if night fell before they could work the spell.
To say that everyone in the group was terrified was a huge understatement. Yet, there was nothing else to be done. Monusuol could not be allowed to roam free. It was as simple as that.
But no one told Monusuol that.
*****
Monusuol had watched the human settlement from the woods near the small lake. As day dawned he could get a better look at the beasts that had concerned him last night. The largest of them concerned him greatly. Great black plumes of smoke roiled from behind their massive heads, spreading into the air around them. He noted that their growling was punctuated with the smoke plumes, and assumed that the beasts could, if they desired, breathe fire.
That was an unwelcome surprise. Monusuol had known creatures that breathed fire in the past. All were of nasty dispositions, and much more powerful than he was. He decided that these beasts must be avoided at all costs.
He had spent the day observing the settlement, watching the comings and goings of the humans and their great beasts. It seemed that the beasts actually allowed humans to ride within them. He had known knights to ride horses in past times, so this was not so strange, but the fact that they rode inside these new beasts was puzzling. Not puzzling enough to force him from cover, however.
There were many humans in this settlement, and they walked to and fro, or rode in their great beasts, with no sign of fear whatsoever. They had either never been attacked by a being such as himself, or knew that any such attack was doomed to failure, and didn’t worry about it over much.
The day drifted into late afternoon, and Monusuol had decided that once darkness fell, he would venture back into the settlement. He was hungry, both for food and for violence. He knew he could find both in this human settlement, so long as he was properly careful around their massive guardians.
He was preparing to move when a slight breeze brought a long familiar smell to his nostrils. His head lifted without conscious thought as he tasted the wind, savoring the scent.
The blood of a goat! Freshly killed, too! Monusuol drooled at the thought of fresh goat, a delicacy which he had not enjoyed in an age or more. The thought of visiting the town left his mind completely as he began to seek out the source of this wonderful scent.
He would feast on his favorite tonight.
*****
“Everyone in place?” Chuck asked quietly over the radio.
“We’re ready,” Chip replied, his mother beside him.
“Good to go,” Donna called, her own mother by her side.
“Same here,” Alvin called, his own parents behind him.
“Ready Mister Douglas,” Angie called for herself and Kat.
“Now we wait, then,” he ordered, placing a steadying hand on Donny’s shoulder. Chuck would much preferred to be with his own son, but Belinda couldn’t be two places at once, and Chip had his mother. Alvin and Valina had refused to be separated. Chuck shook his head mentally at the pair, and the rest of the group in general. What had once seemed like a tight knit group of people had turned into a seething mass of back stabbers at the first sign of trouble.
He and Stacey would be well rid of them once this was over.
“Steady, Donny,” he said softly. “We’re ready for him.” The teen nodded in reply, watching the woods around them. Everyone was covered in the scent of other, smaller animals that should go unnoticed by the demon, hiding their presence. It wouldn’t do for Monusuol to get a scent of human when he went for t
he goat.
*****
Across the way, Chip had turned to his mother about to say something, but froze at what he saw. Just beyond where they were standing was the most hideous thing he had ever seen in his life, and that included the stupid horror movies that he watched with Angie.
Seeing the look on her son’s face, Stacey turned slowly until she could see the beast. Her own eyes widened at the sight of the monstrous creature.
Standing nearly eight feet tall, with cloven hooves for feet and a short tail that swished back and forth behind him almost cat like, the monster was a vision of horror. Ugly didn’t begin to cover the leathery skin with it’s numerous boils and ulcers, the wide set eyes atop a face that resembled a cross between a rhino and a crocodile, right down to a small horn on the tip of his wide snout.
A snout he was currently using to sniff the air around him. Stacey froze, afraid any movement would draw the beast’s attention. She also averted her eyes slightly, not staring directly at the creature. Chuck had told them all that staring directly at the beast might well attract his attention, almost as if he could feel their eyes on him. That might be an old wives tale, but Stacey wasn’t willing to take that chance.
She heard two clicks in her ear, and realized that Chip, despite his fear, had remained level headed enough to remember the signal that would alert the others. Each party had a specific number of clicks, and theirs was two. She felt immensely proud of her teenage son at that moment.
Of course once this was over he was still grounded for the rest of his natural life, she reminded herself sternly.
Answering clicks came through her ear as the others signaled they had heard them. She listened until everyone else had checked in. There was nothing else to be done now, except wait, and hope the monster took the bait.
*****
Monusuol was suspicious to say the least. Hanging there in the forest was a freshly slaughtered goat, a delicacy he loved above all others. It was all he could do not to charge forward and grab the fresh kill and gobble it down. But something was nagging at his mind.
He had found blood along the way, some of it off the trail he had followed, but some off it as well. He was well aware that this could be a trap. He had been trapped before by humans. They were nothing if not sneaky.
He studied the surrounding area, testing the air for any hint of a human scent. He found none, but knew that humans would try to cover their scent if they were hunting him, usually with something vile. He could smell none of the concoctions that he had encountered before, however. It appeared that a hungry human had simply left his kill here to attend to something else. Likely intending to return once the animal had bled completely out and finish the slaughter.
Well, he would save the human from that labor, Monusuol decided with a snort. And if the human returned before he was finished? Well, Monusuol didn’t really mind the taste of human. It tasted like chicken, mostly.
Tasting the air once more and finding no hint of a threat, Monusuol gave in to his base urge to plunge into the small clearing and seize the goat.
*****
Chip watched from his place, amazed at the speed of such a large creature despite his own fear. He had to fight to keep his fear from taking control and sending him running through the woods for his life. His father had made it clear that there was no outrunning Monusuol. They would have to defeat the creature here, or. . .well, there was no ‘or’ that anyone wanted to discuss.
Stacey placed a reassuring hand on Chip’s shoulder, steadying them both. She was just as afraid as her son was, and even more fearful for the life of her son. Had there been any other way to end this, Chip would have participated in this venture only over her dead body.
Of course, that might happen anyway she reflected, watching the monstrous Monusuol move toward the invitation the group had left for him.
*****
Alerted by the signal from Chip, everyone knew roughly where to look for signs of the approaching beast. Chuck stood with Donny, hand firmly planted on the boy’s shoulder, watching for the first sign of Monusuol’s approach. Knowing that the monster was mere feet from his wife and son was not helping his calm in any way.
A snort was the first sign that Monusuol was near. Despite the monster's size, his footfalls were surprisingly light. That would have been a problem for anyone not prepared for the creature's approach.
Chuck barely contained a snort at that thought. Were they prepared? He hoped so. He had worked through the night to make sure that everything was done exactly as it should be. And to make sure that Chip was able to lead the others through the ritual. The trap was set, and the beast was already inside in. All that remained was to spring it closed.
And then pray it worked.
This was never supposed to happen, Chuck thought to himself, reflecting on how the small group had gotten started. Natural arcane rituals practiced for thousands of years to increase strength, health, ensure success in business, even fertility rites. All of them done in positive ways, all of them passive and in no way harmful to anyone else. The small group had stuck to those rules no matter what.
He should have been more careful, Chuck decided. He should have never left any of his texts were Chip could see them. For that matter, they never should have dabbled in these arcane arts to begin with. There was a reason that information on them was so hard to find. Some of the rituals were dangerous.
Like the one their children had enacted two days ago trying to bring a stray dog back to life. Chuck almost shook his head before catching himself. He didn't want to attract Monusuol's attention any more than his wife had.
Had Chip asked him before hand, Chuck could have told him that bringing dead creatures back to life simply wasn't possible. It was beyond what natural, or 'earthen' magic was capable of. Technically what they did wasn't even magic. It was just harnessing the power of the Earth itself, taking that power and lending it to themselves in positive ways.
But everything positive had a negative side, as they were witnessing now. He swore to himself that once this was over, there would be no more dallying in powers that were simply beyond man's ability to control. He was looking at one possible outcome with his own eyes.
The creature before them was horrifying. Like something from a deranged imagination brought to life right before them. The fact that such a thing could be summoned to this plane by a book he possessed was equally frightening. Chuck found himself wondering how he could ever have been so naive. How any of them could have been.
He gently squeezed Donny's shoulder once more, steadying the teenager. The humor wasn't lost on Chuck. He was trying to infuse courage that he didn't have himself into the young man before him.
It had been that kind of day.
*****
Angie could feel her mom's breath on her neck, and it itched a little. Yet she didn't dare move enough to scratch it, nor to get away from it. The dying light was just enough to let her see exactly what it was she and her friends had 'summoned' when trying to bring their dog back to life.
The beast was hideous. A fan of every creature feature ever made, Angie had never seen anything that frightened her until today. Perhaps, she decided, because she'd always known they weren't real.
Well, Monusuol was real enough, and standing right in front of them all, in the flesh. And Angie was scared silly. The shrouded candle in her hands felt as if it weighed a ton, and her hands were sweaty with fear, making it hard to hold. She tightened her grip, knowing that attracting the attention of this monster would be the last mistake she would ever make.
All we wanted to do was bring Waldo back to us, she thought. That reasoning had been their justification for what they had done, and she had held to it like a ship anchor until now. The excuse rang hollow in her mind as she saw the horrible beast they had summoned from another plane of existence standing before them.
We shouldn't have done it, she told herself. But now that we have, we have to fix it.
That thought steeled h
er determination. But she was still scared out of her mind.
*****
Alvin watched in silent horror as the monster moved to take the goat hanging from the tree. He had almost cried at the idea of killing another living thing to make up for their mistake, but looking at the hideous Monusuol now, he admitted that it was far better to kill one goat than to let this thing run loose in Creasy's Hollow for another second.
At first he had simply been relieved that Waldo hadn't been turned into a monster by their attempt to revive him. Alvin was as soft hearted as any teenager ever when it came to inflicting pain and suffering on any other living thing. He always had been. He had taken a lot of ribbing about it from others, though not from his friends, who seemed to understand and even agree with his feelings.
Maybe that was one of the reasons he immersed himself in his video games, he thought, as he tried anything to distract himself from the vision of horror in front of him. The games he played, while violent, were just that; games. And Alvin knew that. Unlike some people, Alvin had no trouble simply leaving a game behind and moving on to something else. He enjoyed playing, and had made 'friends' with other kids, and even a few adults, online playing in tournaments and role-playing games. He'd never meet them, of course, but they all came together in the virtual world to play.
That was all it ever was to Alvin. Play. But this. . . . This horrible scene was real, and he had helped cause it. He could have absolved himself by saying he hadn't wanted to do it in the first place, and he had been reluctant. But in the end, he had wanted Waldo back as badly as anyone, and he had put his misgivings aside to try and help make that happen.