Either result will protect tons of people he might accidentally kill in the future.
I can’t say no. Especially if it’ll only take like fifteen minutes.
“Okay.” I stand. “I’ll help.”
23
The Expedition
Garrett leans back, both eyebrows up. I don’t think he could’ve been more surprised if I erupted vomiting gold coins.
“I do have one question though. Do you have any way to know what the weather is going to be like in there? I can’t take bright sunlight, only rainy days.”
“We’ll help.” Cody stands.
“Yeah.” Ben slides off the bed and pats me on the back. “We’re already down here. Might as well.”
“Guys. It’s too dangerous for you.”
Cody points at me. “You might not make it in the sun without help. We managed last time, right?”
Maybe their bravery comes from not wanting me to leave them in the company of a vampire nest. And, honestly, the forest didn’t become dangerous until we opened the wrong portal. “All right.”
We head back down the sloped floor into the secondary chamber.
Garrett gestures at the shelves. “Take whatever you need.”
“How long is this trip, and where are we going?” I ask.
“Oh.” Garrett biffs himself in the forehead. “Forgive me. Sometimes the simplest of things escapes my thoughts as they spend too much time high up in the clouds.” He jogs back up the ramp to the bedroom.
Cody grabs more crossbow bolts. Ben straps on a belt with two canteens. I snag a backpack and stuff a bedroll in it along with a tent. Figure if we’d been gone a full twenty-four hours and only a few minutes passed in here, his estimate of fifteen minutes means we’ll be camping a few times.
Garrett returns and hands me a map as well as an ordinary magnetic compass. “Nothing technological works in there.”
“We kinda noticed that,” says Cody.
I look the map over and take note of that giant waterfall I saw in the distance. Being able to fly should let me navigate by this map, assuming the positions of rivers and ridges are accurate.
“Oswald said the flower would be here.” Garrett points at a small X drawn on the map near the top of the page. “The door opens to here.” He points near the middle, bottom.
“Figures the target and entry point are as far away as possible on the map,” says Cody.
Garrett laughs. “I have no reason to map beyond them in either direction. I could include a map for thousands of miles so the two points would appear to be right on top of each other, though such a map would not help you.”
“Oh.” Cody glances at the shelf. “Right.”
Once we’ve stocked up, Garrett pulls the door open and we step inside again. This time, the portal doesn’t close behind us.
“You’re really going to stand there for days holding the door?” asks Ben.
“For me, it will be ten to fifteen minutes.”
“So weird,” mutters Cody.
I shoot up into the sky, take a quick survey of the area, and compare to the map. According to the old compass, we need to travel kinda southwest but more west than south. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find.
“Oh.” I drop back to the ground and approach the door. “Forgot a big question. What’s this plant look like?”
Garrett hangs his head and sighs. “You see why I am so determined to free myself of this. It is a long-petaled flower that glows cyan blue. The interior is dark, and the shrub surrounding it has glistening red vines that appear bloody.”
“I’m not sure if that’s pretty or horrifying.”
He shrugs. “Subjective based on the observer’s experience.”
I again feel awkward for assuming a man this big would be dumb. “Right. Okay. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
This time, I lead the way, glancing at the compass every so often.
No one says a word for a while. Damn. I wish I had a way to tell time in here. In the short while we spent talking to Garrett, several days probably passed here. The sun was minutes from rising when we stepped out, and now it’s dark again. But how long do we have before daybreak?
“Dude. I can’t believe we’re helping the vampire who wanted to eat me,” mutters Ben.
“Well, he could’ve done a lot worse,” I say. “I didn’t want to make him angry. If something set him off, we would’ve had a real big problem. Even sitting around in his presence is potentially dangerous.”
“Huh?” asks Cody.
“My mom once barged into my bedroom and let the sun in. I blacked out for a few seconds. One second, she’s opening the door. The next, the door’s shut and I’m surrounded in a haze of smoke. Mom said I growled at her like a cougar and my eyes glowed. I totally have no memory of it other than what I saw inside her head. If she’d come too close to me, I might have…” I choke up.
Cody rubs my back.
“It’s like a panic attack or something, right?” asks Ben.
“Yeah.” I sniffle. “Only with more blood. I think Beasts can do that randomly without warning, not only when they’re roasting in surprise sunlight. For me, primal fear of destruction let it out. He could flip at any time and turn into a raging monster who can throw a car over a house.”
“Are you guys really that strong?” Cody gawks.
“I’m not. Did you see the size of that guy? He’s almost 150 years old. He probably could’ve knocked that damn troll out with one punch.”
The boys laugh.
“Besides… if this only takes a few minutes, how could I say no?” I check the compass again. “That potion—wow did I really just say ‘potion’ and not mean something from a video game?”
“You did.” Cody scratches at his head and yawns. “But we also killed a troll. Vampires are real, and evidently magic works.”
I bite my lip, missing my normal life for the first sincere moment since, oh, a few days after I woke up as an undead. Being a vampire has grown on me. It’s pretty damn cool. But ugh. This new reality of weird crap is going to take a lot of effort to get used to. Better yet, I’ll try to ignore it’s real as much as I can get away with… once we’re out of here.
“Anyway, the thing he wants the flower for is either going to kill him or change his nature. Either way, he won’t be a danger to people visiting this park. So, yeah. I had to help.”
The brothers get into a debate about whether I’m ‘lawful good’ or ‘chaotic good.’ Both seem to think it’s hilarious that a vampire would be either one of those. I vaguely remember that terminology from the character games Dad and Sierra like. Cody mentions me sneaking into the cave with him past a ranger, so that means I can’t be ‘lawful.’ Ben doesn’t think I’m chaotic or random enough.
I sigh. Great. I’m stuck with nerds. “Says the nerd,” I mutter.
“Huh?” asks Ben. “Did you say something?
“No, just wondering how much time we have before sunrise.”
“Watch is dead.” Cody holds up his arm.
“Yeah. We kind of expected that.” I poke him in the side.
We walk for a few hours without seeing anything alive other than plants. I’ll take it.
“Cave,” says Ben, pointing. “It’s been a couple hours. The sun should be up kinda soon, right?”
Not too far off course to the right, a vast rock ridge at the top of a moderate incline spans for miles. A big crack near the bottom appears to be a cave entrance that should provide cover from the sun. I don’t feel dawn approaching yet, but we have been walking long enough that taking advantage of a good hiding place is a much better idea than risking a fiery death on the off chance we could find another shelter an hour from now.
“Okay.” I fly to grab a few apples, then follow the boys up the hill.
It’s about a quarter mile out of our way, but the cave is wide and deep enough to keep me well away from any encroaching daylight. Best part? No bears.
The boys unroll their sleeping
bags, wolf down an apple each, and sack out. While they probably got some sleep in that hut once they dragged me in out of the sun, they’ve still been up for a long time. Heck, I’m so worn out I’m almost ready to sleep and the sun’s still down.
Also, this cave is severely lacking in amenities. Not even a single-pot serving of complimentary coffee. I roll out my sleeping bag, take my shoes and socks off, then stretch out. Even if I can’t sleep until the sun’s up, not having to deal with weird shit is a nice, relaxing break.
I wake to air smelling of rain mixed with teenage boy and a hint of dirt.
The usual sluggishness that accompanies waking up doesn’t sink its claws into me. No, that’s not a vampire thing. That’s a Sarah Wright thing. Sometimes when I was in grade school, my mom had to physically drag me out of bed in the morning. Not that I had a problem with school—other then them starting it at stupid o’clock in the morning. When I grew too big for her to carry, she threw cold water on my face. Around that time, she finally let me have coffee.
Sierra and I share that trait. Sophia though? She’s one of those people who’s so chipper in the morning you want to hold them face down in a plate of scrambled eggs so you can enjoy the silence.
The brothers both look like they could sleep for the next six hours.
I sit up and pull out the map Garrett gave me, taking an approximate guess where we are along the rock cliff. Compared to the distance from the opening, I figure we’re going to have to stop and shelter for the day one more time before we reach the grove. It’s really tempting to fly there. No doubt I could make it there and back in the air. But it would be just my luck that something would happen to the brothers while I’m gone. Going alone would’ve been better. Maybe. The boys didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea of staying at Garrett’s without me there. Hell, as nice and educated as he is, I didn’t really want to be there either. No fault of his, but he could go Tasmanian devil at any minute without warning.
The sad thought hits me that Beasts are likely responsible for the folkloric representation of vampires as hideous monsters and dangerous fiends, when it’s quite possible they were also like Garrett. Geez. Talk about a total Jekyll and Hyde situation. No wonder he’s willing to risk drinking something that could destroy him. Never did ask what he considered an ‘acceptable risk.’ It would say a lot about his mental state if that risk is fifty-fifty or worse.
Ugh. Poor guy.
Also, I might need another pair of hands at some point, but there isn’t much a pair of normal boys are going to help me with. Well, other than staying out of the sun in an emergency. And we’re already a day away from the portal. Without me and the map, they’d get lost. Wait, no they wouldn’t. Ben’s ring could lead the way back to the portal… not like they’d go anywhere near Garrett without me to protect them.
And if the time thing is right, what feels like three days out and three days back is only like fifteen minutes in reality. Okay fine. I walk.
I creep to the end of the cave and peer out at a gloomy, overcast day that could be eleven in the morning or six in the evening. My tendency to sleep later after an ass kicking makes me think it’s closer to six, but there’s enough light that I’m offline for now. Grumbling, I head back into the cave to put on my socks and sneakers before repacking my sleeping back.
The boys wake in about twenty minutes and do the whole stretching, scratching, and walking outside to water the bushes thing. I pull the borrowed backpack on and wait for them to gather their sleeping bags, then head out.
We walk for a little over an hour until the burbling of a creek pulls the boys off course. Oh, yeah… right. Water. Normal people have to drink that stuff. I’m still kinda hungry, but it’s mild. Two pints was a big meal. Plus I can’t really feed again off these two for a couple months without hurting them.
Cody protests drinking right from the stream, not trusting the water to be free of microorganisms. Ben points out that we A) don’t have anything to boil it with and B) are in an alternate dimension. I’m not entirely sure how he finds B comforting. This other world might have entirely new awful creepy-crawlies in the water. He adds a C, I drank their blood so they need to replenish liquids. Before they can make up their minds about drinking from the stream, the skies open up with a downpour.
That solves one problem and creates another.
Cody grabs a broad leaf from a nearby plant and makes a funnel out of it to drink rainwater. Ben follows suit. The rain soaks us to the skin pretty fast, but at least the boys aren’t thirsty anymore. Ignoring the downpour, I march onward with the compass directing me. For now, the map stays safe out of the rain in the waterproof backpack.
I’m guessing Garrett didn’t expect there to be much danger here or he wouldn’t have bought ‘deer hunter orange’ backpacks. These things are visible from outer space. Granted, he also has a crossbow. Which makes me wonder how his, umm, ‘Ghoul Team Six’ died. Did they touch that archway and let the troll in? Can the troll open it from his side? Is there something else around here strong enough to smash people like that?
Fortunately, the forest is mostly the same. Flattish ground, trees, bushes. We don’t encounter any real obstacles like cliffs or thorn walls or big rivers for several hours. The light doesn’t change much, which pushes my initial guess at the time back from six to maybe three. I really hate not having a clock. How the hell did people cope with not knowing the time back in like medieval days? Though, I guess they didn’t care as much since surprise sun-up wouldn’t have killed them.
At least the rain stops.
We keep going, following the compass. Unless my sense of time is completely thrown off, it should be dark sometime soon.
A sudden, loud ripple of crackling erupts off to the left, somewhere between a Leprechaun army firing off a twenty-one gun salute and a giant breaking a bundle of small trees in half. The boys both drop down, crouched, as still as spooked deer. We all look toward the noise.
Motion draws my attention to a not-quite-humanoid figure made of leaves, vines, and brambles sliding from left to right maybe forty feet away. It somewhat resembles a man in a hooded cloak, only it’s creeping forward like a snail without any obvious signs of a walking stride. Spots of dim green light hover near the ‘head’ end, suggesting eyes. It briefly angles its ‘face’ toward us, revealing six or seven of the glowing spots peeking out from a lattice of thorny tendrils. The ‘head’ is beyond mannequin simple, lacking any attempt to suggest a human nose or mouth.
“What the hell is that?” whispers Cody.
“A literal forest ranger,” I mutter.
They glance at me.
“What? It’s made out of forest and its… umm… ranging around.”
“Is it dangerous?” whispers Ben.
I tilt my head at him. “Seriously? How would I know? I’m still not sure any of this is really happening. We’re probably still all sitting in that cage having a dream together. We should avoid it. Run.”
“No. Don’t run,” says Cody. “If it’s predatory, running will make it come after us.”
“You’re not going to rip it apart?” asks Ben.
Shaking my head, I back away. “No. For one thing, the sun’s still up. I’m basically a normal girl right now, and I don’t want to die.”
“We’re not dreaming by the way.” Cody also backs up. “People wake up from dreams when they pinch themselves. I think you got hurt worse than a pinch.”
I shudder. If there’s anything I never want to ever do again, it’s wearing my own ass as a hat. “Yeah, just a little.”
The plant creature stops sliding and turns toward us. Its green orb eyes brighten.
“Crap!” yells Ben. “It sees us.”
‘Backing away calmly’ lasts only another four seconds. When the mound of vegetation glides straight at us, the boys scream and take off at a sprint. Fear gets the better of me. I scream as well and run.
Vines whip in the air behind us. Sharp cracks echo whenever it wraps one of its tendril
s around a tree to pull itself forward even faster. A deep whoosh passes over my head and something brushes my hair. I shriek and pour on more speed, flailing my arms to keep balance in the mud. I may not have my ‘powers’ at the moment, but at least I don’t have to worry about exhaustion. Day or not, I don’t get tired.
This thing is pretty damn fast for a pile of weeds.
The afternoon’s heavy rain has turned the forest floor into a slippery mess. Cody slips into a sitting slide for a few seconds before somehow managing to get back to his feet and keep running.
Ben goes down head first and tumbles, spinning. I swoop in and grab him by the backpack, hauling him upright and giving him a shove. Vines whip around me, mostly snagging my pack, pulling me toward the creature.
I shrug out of the straps, abandoning the backpack. A wooden tendril wraps around my right ankle two steps later. The creature yanks my leg out from under me, sending me over forward onto my chest—and a face full of mud. More vines grab my other leg and wrap around my body, pinning my arms to my chest. Another coils around my neck, squeezing.
Crap. I really hope this isn’t going to turn into one of those creepy Japanese cartoons Ashley likes.
The creature lifts me off the ground and… holy shit it’s huge. The ‘head’ is like twelve feet off the ground and wider than me. Eerie green light orbs behind the interwoven roots pulse with sentience, staring at me. Slick with rain, the creature’s wood-and-leaf body glistens in the dim light. I try to force my arms away from my sides, but mortal strength isn’t enough to budge these roots. I scream again, both terrified and furious. It swings me around in the air, adding more vines to hold me still. For a second, I’m nearly upside down and my wet hair flops over my face.
Ben runs over and grabs the vine squeezing my left calf, attacking it with a folding knife from his belt. Cody fires a crossbow bolt into the mass of leaves and vines about where its heart should be, but the bolt passes clear through it and comes out the other side without doing much of anything.
The Last Family Road Trip (Vampire Innocent Book 4) Page 17