The Beast of Blackslope

by Tracy Barrett

  “I’m trying!” he said, trotting after her while pressing the button. Weak yellow light came out the front of the flashlight but faded seconds later.

  “I don’t believe this!” Xander said. “It worked when I turned it on before.” He shook the flashlight and tried again. No luck.

  Xena turned back. There was no point—the darkness was as thick as a wall. Unless the Beast was standing in the middle of the road waving its arms, they’d never see it. She stopped and waited for her brother to catch up with her.

  “Xander, stop messing with the flashlight. The battery’s dead.”

  He looked up. “How do you know?” He smacked the flashlight against the palm of his hand.

  She took it from him. “You’ll just break the bulb. There’s no point.”

  Xander followed her back to the B and B. He was secretly relieved that their mission had to be postponed until daylight. Even if the Beast was a person in a costume, he wasn’t eager to meet that person in the middle of the night.

  Xena, though, was genuinely disappointed. “The way Mr. Whittaker described the Beast, it didn’t move very fast. I bet I could have caught up with it if I was able to see where I was going.”

  “I always thought it was just a saying that your hair stands up on your head when you’re scared.” Xander rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, which still felt tingly. “But it really happens!”

  “I was a little spooked too,” Xena admitted. “I wonder if Mom and Dad heard the howl.”

  “I don’t think so. They’re on the other side of the house. And they’d probably be out here by now if they had.”

  The only light on was the one left burning all night to light the way to the bathroom. The sitting room, the kitchen, everything else was dark. Xena and Xander tiptoed up the stairs, and as they passed Trevor’s room Xander noticed that his door was ajar. It had always been shut tight before, so this was odd. Xander pushed the door with his fingertips, and it moved a little. He gave it a good shove and it swung all the way open.

  The light from the hall was weak but their eyes were accustomed to the darkness by now, and they could see that Trevor’s bed was empty.

  “Strange,” Xena mused. “Where could he be in the middle of the night?”

  “Bathroom?”

  Xena looked down the hall and shook her head. “Door’s open and nobody’s in there.”

  “Maybe he went outside to see what the howling was.”

  “Maybe,” Xena said, “and maybe not. He could be the one out there howling and making footprints!” They locked eyes, a combination of certainty and excitement growing inside them.

  “Let’s try to catch him when he comes back,” Xander said. “We’ll have to stake out his room.”

  Xander took the first watch. “If I hide in the linen closet with the door cracked, I’ll be able to see if anyone goes in or out without being seen.”

  “Just don’t fall asleep in there,” Xena cautioned. “I’ll come in a few hours.”

  Xander made himself a kind of nest out of pillows and blankets. He sat bolt upright and stared at Trevor’s door until he thought his eyes had dried out. He blinked and rubbed them, fighting the urge to sleep.

  Why was it that time went so fast when you were having fun and so slowly when you weren’t? The sounds of the house around him were cozy as little clicks and creaks reached him every once in a while. He heard the sitting-room clock strike the hour, then again, and again. Surely Xena would come for him soon.

  He didn’t realize he had fallen asleep until another sound woke him. He sat up, feeling the insides of his ears tickle. It wasn’t a howl, and it wasn’t footsteps. It was a regular and highpitched beep-beep-beep. What could it be?

  Then he recognized it—Xena’s alarm clock. She must have set it before she went back to bed so that she could relieve him on time. Good. He stood and stretched, aching for his bed.

  Why wasn’t Xena turning off the alarm? And why wasn’t she relieving him? If she didn’t shut off the alarm soon, it was liable to wake one of the adults. Then a worse thought came to him—what if something had happened to her? What if whoever was pretending to be the Beast had gone into Xena’s room and snatched her away? Xander jumped to his feet in a sudden panic. Wait a minute, he told himself. He took a few deep breaths. Why would it come for Xena? He had to be logical about this. Then Xander’s fear level shot back up as another question occurred to him: What about Trevor? After all, his grandmother had said the Beast might come for him!

  Cautiously, Xander pushed open the linen-closet door. No light, no sound aside from that annoying beep, no motion. He forced himself not to run but to take long silent steps as he moved toward the bedrooms. He reached Trevor’s door and glanced in. Still nobody.

  He let himself into Xena’s room. For a moment he couldn’t tell if the bundle on the bed was a pile of bunched-up sheets or his sister’s sleeping form, but then he heard a light snore and a grunt.

  Phew. It was Xena. He turned off the alarm and shook her shoulder.

  She rolled over. “Leave me alone,” she muttered into her pillow. “’S not time to get up yet. ’S still dark.”

  “Xena!” He shook her again. “I’m not Mom! I’m Xander, and you were supposed to take over the watch.” He yawned hugely. “Get up!”

  Xena sat up, her hair messy, her eyes half-open. She glanced at the window. The sky was a light charcoal gray. “Look, it’s getting light,” she said. “Did Trevor come back?”

  “Nope. Let’s go look for him!” Maybe now that the sun was rising they would be able to see something.

  Xander got their sweaters while Xena dressed, and then they went out together. Birds were twittering in the trees, and the dawn air was cool.

  “Look!” Xander said. “We’re in luck!” He pointed at the dew that lay on the grass. Someone—or something—had walked over it, leaving a clear trail.

  “It will burn away as soon as the sun’s really out,” Xena said. “Come on!”

  They took off running. The trail led through the garden and down a slope. They had to climb over fences and let themselves through gates, and once Xander nearly ran into a drowsy sheep. Every time the trail faded they took their best guess as to where it would lead; every time they managed to pick it up again.

  When they paused to catch their breath Xena said, “You know, you can tell where it’s going.”

  Xander nodded. “Straight into the woods.”

  “Right. And this means … ?”

  He knew what she was getting at. “It means we have to go into the woods after it.” Even if the Beast wasn’t really a beast, even if it was a human, there was something weird going on. And who knew what other animals might be lurking in the shadows? Nocturnal animals with sharp eyes that could see him when he couldn’t see them. He shivered and glanced behind him. Nothing.

  “Xander.” Xena’s voice was quiet. “I have to tell you something.”

  “What?”

  She looked him right in the eye. “I know this case scares you, but you’ve never backed off. I think you’re really brave. And we’ll keep together the whole time, okay?”

  “Okay.” Xander took a deep breath, tried to smile, and ran off with his sister. Soon they were surrounded by trees. They paused, wondering where to go next.

  “There isn’t anything here,” Xander said. It didn’t look like there were any wild animals nearby, but still—

  “Wait!” Xena grabbed her brother’s arm. “What’s that?”

  Xander strained to hear, and thought he caught the sound of rustling leaves and cracking branches behind them.

  Then an unmistakable sound reached their ears. It was a howl, and as it rose and quavered in the air they realized it was close. Very close.

  “Climb a tree!” Xander said. “The Beast is right on top of us!”

  But before Xena could move, a voice came from somewhere in front of them. “I thought there was someone following me! What are you two doing out here?”

&n
bsp; It was Trevor.

  But Xena had a different question. “If you were in front of us, what made the noise?” She pointed to her left.

  For a second all three looked at one another, and then they said simultaneously, “The Beast!”

  Xena said, “Come on! It’s getting away!” and they took off. They couldn’t run fast, since they had to push their way through branches and climb over fallen logs.

  Xander fell into step beside Trevor. “So what were you doing out here?” Xander asked. “Why did you sneak out? Weren’t you afraid your grandmother would think the Beast got you?”

  “She and my grandfather sleep till seven,” Trevor said, panting as they hurried after Xena. “I’ll be back before then. And I’m doing the same thing I bet you’re doing—tracking the Beast.”

  “Come on!” Xena called. She had pulled way ahead. “There’s a path over here.”

  The two boys pushed their way through the underbrush. Xena was already running down the trail. They pounded after her but even at top speed they couldn’t catch up. She rounded a turn and they lost sight of her.

  It was getting lighter as the dawn spread across the sky, but Xander felt a sudden prickle of fear. In this thick forest anything seemed possible. Could they be wrong? Was there really a Beast of Blackslope? He pushed the thought away.

  The path forked and the two boys slowed down. Which way had Xena gone?

  Trevor held out an arm to keep Xander back, and bent down close to the dirt. He straightened. “This way!” They started running again. Xander had a stitch in his side, but he gritted his teeth and kept going.

  Then, from straight in front of them, came the beginnings of another howl. Straining to see through the trees, Xander made out a bright light shining not too far away. The howl stopped abruptly. There was silence for a moment, then someone screamed and the light went out.

  “Xena!” Xander called. “Where are you?”

  CHAPTER 17

  Xander took off running toward the light. Xena never screamed without good reason. Beast or no Beast, his rage at whatever it was that had threatened his sister overcame his fear.

  “It came from over here!” Trevor called.

  “No, the light was in this direction!” What if the Beast had gotten his sister? Where could they go for help in the woods? Stay calm, Xander told himself.

  Trevor caught up with him. “The light could have been anything, but the scream was from that direction.” He pointed left.

  Xander stopped and bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He felt all turned around.

  “Okay, you go toward the scream. I’ll follow the light.”

  “I don’t think we should split up.” Trevor cast a nervous glance over his shoulder.

  “Well, let’s go somewhere.” Xander’s anxiety was growing.

  “Xena!” they both called. “Where are you?”

  Nothing. “Okay, I guess we do have to split up,” Trevor admitted. “I’ll go this way, and you—”

  Just then they heard a whistle.

  “That’s her!” Xander ran toward the sound, suddenly afraid of what he would see when he got there. Would he find his sister clutched in huge shaggy paws? He let out a big breath of relief when he saw Xena sitting on a log holding her right ankle.

  “I tripped,” she said. Xander reached down and helped her up. She put her weight on her left leg. “If you guys had quit arguing, you would have heard me calling earlier.”

  Xander couldn’t feel irritated at her angry tone. He was so relieved to see her safe and reasonably sound that he would have hugged her if Trevor hadn’t been there.

  “Is that why you screamed?” Trevor asked. “When you fell, I mean.”

  “That wasn’t me. That was way down there.” She gestured into the trees.

  “Where’s the Beast?” Xander looked all around.

  “Lost it.” Xena sounded angry at herself. “I could hear it for a while, but it seemed to know the woods really well. By the time I found this path it had disappeared, and I have no idea which way it went.”

  “Can you walk?” Xander asked.

  “You stay here with her,” Trevor said. “I’ll go see if I can pick up a trail.” He sped off.

  Xena got up and tested her ankle. “I’m okay. It’s not sprained.” She spoke with the authority of an athlete who had experienced injuries. “Let me lean on you a bit.” With her hand pressing down on Xander’s shoulder, they followed in Trevor’s path.

  They found him in a clearing where the grass had been trampled flat. Xena plopped down onto a large rock with a sigh, holding her ankle, and Xander bent over the grass looking for clues.

  After a few minutes he said, “This is weird. Look!” and pointed to three holes in the dirt that formed a triangle with corners about two feet apart.

  “Huh.” Trevor squatted next to him and peered at the holes. “I wonder what could have made those.”

  Xander studied it again. He measured the distance between the holes with his hands.

  “There are lots of prints here.” Trevor pointed to the middle of the cleared area. Xander joined him. “These look like shoes, but those other prints were made by something else. Like a big flat foot.”

  “Which way do they go?” Xena called from her perch on the rock.

  Trevor followed the prints across the clearing and into a thicket of trees. A few moments later he returned. “It’s no use,” he reported. “I can’t track it. The branches of all those trees protected the path from the rain. The ground is dry and there aren’t any clear prints. Come on, let’s go home.”

  Xena and Xander had had enough for one night, so they agreed and headed back to the B and B, Xena limping on her twisted ankle. It was full daylight by the time they got back. Trevor stopped them at the door. “Don’t tell my grandparents. I don’t want to worry them.”

  You mean you don’t want to get grounded again, Xena thought, but all she said was, “All right.”

  “You can count on us,” Xander promised.

  They slept most of the morning, and when they got up they found a note on Xander’s door. “See you later, sleepyheads!” it said in their mother’s handwriting. “We’ve gone exploring. Money for lunch on my bureau. Be back before tea time.”

  “Let’s go to town,” Xander said. “I’m starving.”

  Xena’s ankle hadn’t swelled up, and if she walked carefully it didn’t hurt. They made their way slowly to a café and ordered sandwiches. They were finishing their lunch when Katy and Emma, the university students from next door, stopped at their table.

  “Hullo, you two!” said Emma. “What have you been up to?”

  “Not much,” Xander said. “Exploring.”

  Katy leaned forward and plucked something out of his hair. “Exploring in the woods?” She showed him a twig she had pulled out of the blond streak in his dark curls.

  “Yup,” he agreed, and then he pulled a tiny leaf off the sleeve of her sweater. “You too?”

  For a second she looked like she was about to deny it, but then she laughed. “You have sharp eyes! That leaf matches my sweater exactly.”

  “So what were you doing out there?” Xena asked quickly, before the girls got a chance to ask them first.

  Katy and Emma looked at each other as though unwilling to explain. “Oh, come on,” Xander said with his winning smile. As people usually did, Katy and Emma melted.

  “We’re making a film,” Emma said. “A documentary about a bird called the red kite.”

  “The kite!” Xena exclaimed. “I knew you weren’t talking about one of those things on a string!”

  “Sorry we told you a story,” Katy said. “A kite’s a kind of bird. It’s rare and very shy, and we heard one had been sighted near here. So we decided to film it for our final class project. But there’s always noise in the forest at dusk, which is normally when we’d have the best chance of seeing it. It seems to have been scared off by something.”

  “Aha!” Xena said. The ot
hers looked at her. “That’s why you told us to search on the other side of the town!”

  “Yes,” Emma said. “The more people in the forest, the less chance we have of finding it.”

  “Oh!” Xander said. “So that was film equipment you were carrying when we saw you that first time!” The waitress brought the trifle he had ordered, but he was so intrigued by what the girls were saying that the layers of cake, custard, and jam didn’t even tempt him.

  The girls nodded. “We had to be secretive about it,” Katy said. “We keep it in the shed so that the others won’t see what we have.”

  “What others?” Xander asked.

  “There’s a prize for the best film, and another of the crews from our school is working nearby,” Emma explained. “We didn’t want them to know we were here.”

  “What kind of equipment do you use?” Xena asked.

  “Oh, cameras and lights and tripods,” Katy answered. “And filters for the lenses, and all sorts of things.”

  “Anything with brown fuzzy material on it?” The girls looked at her questioningly, and Xena flushed. She knew it was an odd question. “Like insulation or padding or something?”

  “No,” Emma answered, still looking curious.

  Before her friend could say anything else, Katy said, “But now that we know about the Beast, there’s no way we’ll be going into those woods again!”

  “We have to,” Emma said. “It’s too late to start another film.”

  “How do you go about looking for the kite?” Xena asked.

  “Oh, we know where it likes to hang out,” Katy said. “And we have a recording of its call.”

  Xander pricked up his ears. “Could we hear the recording?”

  Emma shrugged. “I don’t see why not.” Out of her backpack she pulled a portable CD player. “Put these on.” She gave Xander the headphones. He sat up straighter. Was he about to hear the howl? Emma pressed the Start button, and Xena pulled one of the earpieces away from her brother’s head so that she could hear too.

  For a second, nothing. Then—

  “Scrawk!” The shrill scream wasn’t very pleasant but was unmistakably a birdcall, and nothing like the heart-stopping howls that had been ringing out at dusk and in the night.