by Dean Lorey
Theodore cut her off. “I’m never talking to him again. Far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a father.”
Charlie wasn’t sure what to say, but Violet spoke eloquently just by laying her head on Theodore’s shoulder.
“Hi, guys.”
Charlie glanced down to see Brooke on a platform below them, walking with her boyfriend, Geoff.
“Hey, Brooke,” Charlie called back. “You guys doing all right?”
“Yeah. We’re off to hang out with some friends.”
“Oh. Well, have fun.”
“Bye, Brooke,” Violet said. “And thanks again for that portal back in the lair—you saved my life.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have been able to make it to begin with if you hadn’t kept those monsters off me, so you saved mine, too.” She smiled warmly, then she and Geoff walked off.
“What does she see in that guy?” Theodore moaned.
“I don’t know,” Violet replied. “He’s kind of good-looking, I guess.”
“Him? Are you serious? Yeah, I guess he’s good-looking if you like them big and muscle-y and blond!” He snorted with laughter as if the very idea were ridiculous.
“He’s uncomplicated,” Charlie said. “Simple. Maybe that’s just what she wants right now.”
“I’m simple!” Theodore shot back. “I mean, who’s more simple than me? I’m like a one-piece jigsaw puzzle!”
Charlie and Violet stared at him for a second, then burst into laughter.
“What?”
They kept laughing until Theodore finally joined them. It didn’t get rid of all the tension, but it was a welcome break.
“I just want to say,” Charlie said after they all quieted down, “that I wouldn’t have made it this far without you guys. I can’t explain it, exactly, but you guys mean, well, everything to me.”
“I think that explains it pretty well,” Violet said. “And, for the record, I feel the same way about you guys.”
“Me, too,” Theodore added.
Charlie turned to look out over the vast ocean.
“I don’t know. Every time I try to do something good, it seems like it always turns out bad. We got the milk to save the Guardian, but that just ended up allowing Pinch to get his power back and summon the Fifth. We rescued that little kid on the 5th Ring, but that just let Slagguron escape from the Nether. We brought the Guardian to Earth, but that just ended up getting half the Nethermancers and Banishers in the Nightmare Division killed.”
He shook his head.
“I try so hard to figure out what’s right, and it seems like half the time it all goes wrong.”
“We got a fancy word for that,” a friendly voice drawled. Charlie turned to see Rex standing there with Tabitha. “We call it ‘life.’”
“Hi, Rex. Hi, Tabitha,” Charlie said. “I’m so glad you two are all right.”
“Oh, you gotta throw more than a couple little Nethercritters at the Princess and me to take us down.”
“We’re just glad you’re safe,” Tabitha added. “All of you.”
Rex grinned. “Yeah, just think, if you’d gotten hurt, we wouldn’t be able to come to this little pity party you’re throwin’.”
“Pity party!” Charlie exclaimed. “Come on, it’s not like we’re just sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves—some seriously bad stuff has happened.”
“Uh-huh. Here’s your problem.” Rex put one dusty boot up on the lower rail of the pirate ship. “See, you think life is one plus one equals two—but it ain’t. Sometimes it equals three or nineteen or a sack of magic beans. Just ’cause you do something good doesn’t mean good’s gonna come out of it right away. And just ’cause you do something bad doesn’t mean you’re gonna get punched in the kisser. But if you keep trying, and you keep making choices that are decent and moral—eventually the ball’s gonna roll your way and you’ll be glad you fought the fight.”
“Eventually?” Charlie asked.
“Sorry, kid, I don’t control the universe.”
Charlie smiled. “I wish you did.”
“You and me both, kid.”
“Would you like a bit of good news?” Tabitha asked.
“Would we!” Violet said. “Please!”
“The Headmaster is awake…and she’s asking for you.”
The Headmaster lay on a cot in the open air of the infirmary as Mama Rose cooled her forehead with a wet cloth. Charlie didn’t know the full extent of the injuries she had sustained, but she seemed weak and frail—nothing like the picture of confidence and strength that he was used to.
“I know what’s happened, Mr. Benjamin,” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper. “We could sit here and debate the wisdom of our previous actions if there were time, but there isn’t. With the Fifth in our world, the monsters of the Nether will soon begin their assault. As you know, Pinch has betrayed us; I am in no condition to fight; and so, I’m afraid, a very dangerous and unpleasant task falls to you. You must find a way to confront the Fifth—the Ruler of the Army of the Nether—and destroy her…or all will be lost.”
“I understand,” Charlie said, not understanding at all. How could he possibly defeat something so powerful that not even the Named could stand against it?
“You will get no help from the Division, Mr. Benjamin. In fact, you must stay away from them—they will try to harm you. Nor can you stay here. Instead, you must rely on your friends.” The Headmaster nodded to Violet and Theodore. “You are very lucky to have such splendid ones.”
“I agree, Headmaster.”
“We won’t let anything happen to him,” Theodore chirped, clapping Charlie on the back. “That’s a TDG—a Theodore Dagget guarantee.”
“We’ll do whatever it takes to protect him and get the job done,” Violet added. “Don’t worry.”
“I won’t,” the Headmaster said. Then she took Charlie’s hand in hers. He could feel her bones, as frail and fragile as a bird’s.
“This is a task I wish had not fallen to you, Charlie,” she said. “But it has. There will be much darkness ahead—but, in the end, there will be light.”
Charlie nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Headmaster,” Rex said, stepping up. “I’d like to take Charlie to do that ‘thing’ we talked about.”
The Headmaster smiled weakly and nodded. “Yes. You should. He certainly deserves it.”
“Come with me, kid. I think you’re gonna like this. Tabitha? A portal if you please…”
Moments later, Charlie knocked on the door of a small apartment—it was several stories above a modest Brooklyn pizza joint called “Slice of Heaven.” He heard shuffling on the other side, followed by a couple shouts of “Hold on a second! We’re coming!” Finally, the door opened to reveal a tall, balding man with a kind smile and a woman with her hair done up in curlers.
They stared at Charlie in shock.
“Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.”
His mother burst into tears. “Charlie!” she screamed, grabbing him to her. She kissed him all over his cheeks, and Charlie was surprised to discover that he didn’t even mind all that much.
“Son!” Barrington Benjamin exclaimed, snatching him from Olga, hugging him tightly. “My boy, we’ve missed you terribly!”
“I’ve missed you, too. So much, you wouldn’t believe it.”
Rex followed Charlie into the apartment and, after several slices of pizza from the place downstairs (pretty good, actually, Charlie thought) he found out what his parents had been up to during the six long months that they’d been hidden from him. The Nightmare Division had gotten a job for his father: “World of Batteries!” Barrington said proudly. “Anything you need to know about batteries, you just ask me!”
And his mother had busied herself with charity work at the local soup kitchen while trying to start a home bakery business.
“After smelling that delicious pizza all day long, I just couldn’t resist,” she explained.
Like everyone else on the planet, his parents had watched the monstrous at
tack at the San Diego Zoo. They were filled with questions, but Charlie was reluctant to answer them—not because he wasn’t supposed to, but because, if they knew the true depth of the danger he was about to place himself in, they would worry themselves sick.
Although they’re probably going to do that anyway, he thought.
“This place is nice,” Charlie said, looking around at the apartment. It was far smaller than the model 3 that he’d grown up in, but his parents had made it cozy and warm and had decorated it with tons of family pictures—almost all of them of Charlie.
“It’s the perfect size for us,” Barrington exclaimed. “Not too big, not too little—just right, as Goldilocks would say.”
Charlie smiled. Only his father would quote Goldilocks.
“So, has the Nightmare Division treated you okay?”
“Perfectly fine, Charlie,” Olga replied. “They got your father his job, got us this nice apartment, and gave us new names.”
“A ridiculous bit of cloak-and-dagger,” Barrington snorted. “Truth is, I like my old name just fine.”
“Who are you now?”
“The Smiths,” Olga replied. “Bob and Betty Smith.”
Rex couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess Jim and Jenny Jones must have been taken.”
“I asked them the same thing!” Barrington replied. “And, you know what they said? Yes!”
Everyone laughed then. After the nightmare of the past few days, it felt good. Being around his parents seemed to Charlie almost like a dream—a wonderful dream that he wished would never end.
“What’s wrong, Charlie?” his mother asked with a warm smile. “I can see it in your eyes.”
“It’s just…it’s been difficult.” In that moment, he seemed far older than a boy of thirteen. “See, I’ve done things…things that haven’t turned out exactly the way I’d hoped.”
“It doesn’t matter,” his mother replied simply.
“But you weren’t there, Mom. I made decisions. They seemed right at the time and maybe they even were right, but they couldn’t have ended up more wrong.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, but people depended on me and I let them down, and now—”
“Charlie?”
“Yes, Mom?”
“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that your father and I love you no matter what you do. Do you understand that? No matter what.”
“Yes, Mom. I understand.”
She touched his face with a warm, loving hand. “You’ve got so many years in front of you, Charlie. Why be in such a rush to grow up?”
He hugged her tightly, tears filling his eyes.
Rex and Charlie stood on the small balcony just off his parents’ living room, surveying the bustling streets of Brooklyn far below. Multicolored twinkle lights, wrapped around the wrought-iron railing, blinked cheerfully. Inside, his parents were preparing dessert—something with chocolate and apples and thick whipped cream. It smelled delicious.
“Nice to see your folks, huh?”
“Yeah,” Charlie replied. “Sure is.”
“You’re not gonna be alone, you know. You have your friends, and then there’s Tabitha and me, of course—we’ll stand by you as much as we can.”
“I know. And thank you.”
From down the street, they heard the sound of glass shattering, followed by another sound that Charlie had become all too familiar with:
The shriek of a Netherbat.
Then came the screaming—people shouting, horns honking. Charlie and Rex glanced at each other, saying nothing.
There was nothing to say.
“It’s starting,” Rex said finally.
Charlie nodded. “Yeah. I thought we’d have a little longer, but I guess we’re already out of time.”
The sound of sirens and the smell of smoke began to fill the night sky.
“So, you think you’re ready to take on the Fifth?” Rex asked.
“No,” Charlie answered honestly. “How could I be?”
“Fair enough.”
They both glanced upward at the full moon, which glowed orange in the city smog. Just then, a flock of Hags flew across it, their leathery wings silhouetted against its ancient craters. They dived down into the darkness below. Terrible, gleeful cackling echoed back, followed by panicked shouts and screams.
“They do everything they can to make us fear them,” Charlie said quietly. “But you know what?”
“What?”
“They should start fearing me.” He turned to Rex then. “I’m not a kid anymore.”
“I know,” the cowboy said, “and just in the nick of time, too.”
He stared off into the dark, monster-filled night.
“Looks like the War of the Nether has finally begun.”
Credits
Cover art © 2008 by Brandon Dorman
Cover design by Alison Klapthor
Copyright
NIGHTMARE ACADEMY, BOOK TWO: MONSTER MADNESS. Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Brandon Dorman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Mobipocket Reader July 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-170507-6
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