Monster

by Yolanda Olson

  As I lay there I started to formulate a plan of action in my head. Charlie would be easy enough to lose on the way up the mountain. I'd just kick in the turbo speed and she'd still be struggling on the way up and I'd be done with Phoebe.

  The back door opened quickly and closed even faster as she settled herself on the seats.

  “Okay, this is a little musty smelling, but it's big and it was the best I could do,” she said throwing an ancient looking and smelling quilt over me. “When I count to three, I'm going to open the door and pull you out with me. I'll keep your face covered but just run with me and we'll get into the house fairly quick.”

  Before I had a chance to reply she had counted to three and wrapped me tightly in the quilt. The door opened and shut quickly, and with her arm around my waist, she ran me up the stairs into the house, kicking the door shut behind us. I stood there with the quilt still wrapped around me while she secured the door.

  “Alright,” she said finally, “you can take that off now.”

  I threw off the quilt and shook the hood off of my head. I reached up and smoothed my hair, nodding a quick thanks to Charlie. She smiled and nodded back then looked around.

  “The sun shouldn't be up for much longer, I heard it's supposed to rain today, so I guess we only have a couple of hours left to wait.”

  “Fine,” I said unzipping my jacket and tossing it by the door. I looked down at my arm and rolled my eyes at the piece of burned flesh and gave it a poke. It was as hard as a rock and looked like solid lava. Sighing I looked up and saw that she was watching me curiously.

  “Were you trying to kill yourself?” she asked quietly, looking away.

  “No. Not this time anyway,” I said laughing, “I really was looking at some animals on a friend's farm. I did something that I shouldn't have done and I decided to let the sun take a little bit from me as a punishment.”

  “Gotcha,” she said still not looking at me. I watched her as she walked over to one of the windows and gave it a couple of tugs. “Good, it's secure,” she said to no one in particular.

  I turned around and looked behind me noticing a short dark hallway. “I'll be down there,” I said pointing in that direction and she nodded. Hopefully she'd remember to come get me when the sun went down. I walked down the corridor and smiled when I saw a door to my left that opened into a small bedroom. I peeked in and saw a small bed with a dusty mattress and old pillow. Taking off my shoes, I climbed into it and stared at the ceiling. It was nice to be able to lay there and not have any thoughts floating through my mind, badgering me. Letting out a contended sigh I smiled and waited for the signal from Charlie that the coast was clear. I wasn't going to let anything bother me; not now. I had a big challenge in front of me and I wanted my head to be clear, so I just cleared my mind and started imagining shapes out of the shadows on the ceiling. I found a rabbit, a horse, a rainbow, and a really big cat. Laughing quietly to myself I turned my attention to the wall next to me. Not that there was anything there, I just felt like staring at it.

  Who knows? It might be the last time I could do something so simple.

  I closed my eyes and listened as Charlie bustled through the different rooms, opening and closing doors. I heard the crunching sound of the front door being ripped off of its hinges and the crude sound of it being put back into its frame. If it had been any other day, I would've gotten up to see where she was going but I was going to save all of my strength. A few moments later, I heard the sound of the door being moved again, and Charlie's grunting as she shoved it back into place.

  “Finnegan,” she called out, “The sun is gone!”

  “Coming!” I replied sitting up, then putting my shoes on. I wiggled my toes a couple of time and then I stood up. I cleared my throat and headed down the hall, humming Cody's song to myself again. When I got to the room Charlie was on, I tilted my head and looked at her. She was dressed completely differently than when we were in the car.

  She stood there a hand on her hip and an impish grin on her face. On her head sat a small top hat, tilted to an angle. She had on black leather pants and a black and blue striped tube top. On her feet she wore a pair of dark blue open toe saddle shoes with brass knuckle heels. She didn't look ready for a fight, she looked like she was ready for this year's Monster Masquerade.

  Shaking my head, I walked past her and picked up my jacket, dusting it off with one hand. Then I pulled it on, zipped it, and pulled the hood up over my hair. I turned around to look at her and saw that she was heading toward the door.

  “Whoa, whoa. You're staying here. Phoebe is dangerous when she's upset, and I guarantee, she is going to be angry once I get to her.”

  She laughed lightly then walked right past me into the open terrain outside. I sighed angrily and followed her outside. She was standing by the car waiting patiently for me.

  “Look, unless that car is a spider, it's not going to make it up that mountain,” I said pointing toward Devils Tower.

  “And I told you already,” she said in a pleasant tone, “I told Kaeden I'd look out for you and if that means having to climb a mountain to do it, then that's what has to be done. See ya at the top,” she called after she gave me a salute and started jogging toward the mountain.

  I stood there for a second. Closing my eyes, I forced myself not to think about her, she wasn't going to get in my way, and once she saw Phoebe angry, she'd ditch anyway. I took a couple of deep breaths and felt a curious feeling in the pit of my stomach. My fists inadvertently started to open and close tightly. A trickle of sweat started to crawl slowly down the side of my face. I started to will myself to bring that feeling up through my body and within a second, I realized that I had finally learned to control my rage. My eyes flew open and I was off like a shot. I caught up to Charlie who was already at the base of the mountain.

  Running past her, I yelled, “You're as stubborn as Kaeden!”

  The look of shock on her face told me that even though she knew that I was different she didn't know what I was capable of. Animalistically, I clawed my way up the mountain grunting and moving as quickly as I possibly could. Below me, I could hear Charlie calling to me trying to get me to slow down. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that she had just started climbing while I was almost at the top already.

  A few more feet, I told myself as my hands dug into the side of the mountain. I pushed myself harder and moved faster than ever finally pulling myself up to the summit.

  Just as I had hoped there stood Phoebe. She had her back to me and she was holding my journal in her hand. Past her a bolt of jagged lightning split the sky followed by an intense clap of thunder. I didn't think this would end up being so theatrical, but I didn't really care. I wanted to get this over with. Her long hair was loose and blowing gently around her. In a way, I felt like I had stepped into a movie.

  “I figured you'd find me,” she said still looking off into the distance. “I knew you'd realize that when your book was gone it was me that took it.”

  “Do you feel good about yourself, Phoebe? Knowing that your brother died because of you?” I was going to bait her into this as fast as I possibly could.

  She laughed a cruel, merciless laugh and turned to finally face me. Her face was tear stained and her eyes were wild. She gripped my book tightly in her hand.

  “My brother isn't dead because of me, you stupid girl,” she said.

  “Sticks and stones, Pheebs,” I said with a sinister grin. Unzipping my jacket I ripped it off of my body and tossed it to the ground. Cracking my knuckles and my neck I kept my eyes on her letting her know that this was going to be the end.

  “Finnegan, you don't stand a chance,” she said softly. “I won't fight you. I wouldn't do that to my brother.”

  “Not like he'd know right? The dead don't usually know what's going on with the living,” I said taking a step closer.

  “Yes they do; you're the proof,” she said the crazy look coming back into her eyes. “You want your book back pretty bad, don't y
ou? I didn't know this meant that much to you. I'll strike a deal with you for it,” she said waving it at me.

  “Finnegan!” I heard faintly.

  Damn it, I forgot about her.

  “Bring a friend, did you? Then I'll name my terms quickly. If you want this book back, I want you to kill the Westmore vampire.”

  I looked at her shocked for a moment, then started to laugh. She must've gone off the wall if she thought I was going to kill Kaeden. The more I thought about it, the more raucous my laughter became. I was doubled over with my hands holding my stomach as I laughed. When I was finally able to regain my composure I looked up at her and saw the murderous rage written all over her face. Then in an instant it was gone. She took a deep breath and waited for my answer.

  “You must be crazy if you think I'm going to kill Kaeden, lady,” I responded wiping the tears from my eyes. “That's about as likely as you and me becoming best friends.”

  “Well, that's not fair,” she said tilting her head to look past me. I turned to follow her stare and saw Charlie pulling herself up onto the top of the mountain.

  “God, will you get out of here!” I shouted at her.

  But she didn't seem to hear me as she locked eyes with Phoebe. There was no friendly look on her face and the fatigue that was on her face from climbing Devils Tower was gone. Only a look of determination was revealed. I looked over at Phoebe just in time to see her let my book fall from her hand and land on the ground. Calmly, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a hair tie, working her hair into a ponytail.

  Suddenly behind me I heard Charlie's breath becoming rapid and unsteady. I turned to look at her again and saw her body shaking in jerks and fits. It looked like she was having a really violent convulsion. I watched in amazement as she doubled over then came flying back up with a deafening scream. After the convulsing, Charlie had gone from a human girl to a white tiger the size of a gaur bison.

  She ran over to my side and roared so loudly that I had to cover my ears. I was surprised to see that I only came up to her shoulder and I knew that Phoebe was going to be in for a major fight. Charlie crouched down in a position to pounce and I heard Phoebe chuckle as her eyes went pitch black.

  “Be careful and don't get sloppy. This chick is cunning,” I said quietly to Charlie who growled in response.

  Together, we ran at Phoebe as quickly as we could. Charlie in her other form was as fast as I was in my regular state. When we reached her, she had steeled herself to stop us. I leaped at her low and let Charlie take her high, but at the last second I dove to the left slightly and picked up my journal. Once I had it firmly in my grip, I rolled over getting to my feet swiftly.

  Phoebe and Charlie were locked in a grapple. I watched as Phoebe was trying to overpower Charlie who was pushing right back at her with her enormous paws.

  As Charlie was starting to push her down to the ground a flash of cloth came past me so quickly that I didn't have a chance to react until she was taken down by a blow to her side.

  “Hey,” I cried out in surprise as I ran toward the melee.

  The next thing I knew, Charlie was airborne as whoever it was that had attacked her launched her into the air and over the side of the mountain. I skidded to a stop as I watched the massive animal go flying through the air and heard the sickening thud each time her body hit the mountain on the way down.

  Letting out an enraged scream, I ran at the intruder aiming to not only take them down but cripple them for what they had done to Charlie. If she died I didn't know what I was going to say to Kaeden. The intruder hearing me whipped around and gave me a look of disdain before grabbing Phoebe by the arm and jumping off the side of the mountain.

  Billie? I thought to myself suddenly feeling dizzy. There was no way; it couldn't have been her. I dropped to my knees and thought of what Phoebe had said to me in the farmhouse; I'm more welcome here than you are. That meant that she was on Phoebe's side and she had been the whole time. I wondered if Brian was still alive and if Archer was still unharmed. Then the next thing I wondered to myself was what the hell Billie was. She obviously wasn't an angel, demon combination. She had to be one or the other, but I didn't know which.

  Getting up I ran over to the side of the mountain that Charlie had been thrown off of and started to slide my way down. I was easily able to keep balance on my feet as I slid all the way down and I frantically kept looking for any sign of life at the bottom. The more ground I gained on the way down, the easier it was to make out the heap of a human being laying on the ground, writhing in agony.

  “Charlie!” I called out. I thought that maybe if she heard my voice and knew that I was coming, she'd hold on until I got there.

  “Charlie!” I called again and she answered me in a scream of pure agony. I picked up speed sliding even faster down the mountain and landed at her side on my knees. I felt so horrible for her when I saw her. She had an arm bent at an odd angle and scrapes and bruises on her face and body.

  “Look, your arm is broken,” I said tearing the bottom half of my shirt off. “I’m going to set it back in place and then make you a splint okay?”

  “Do it,” she said through grit teeth.

  Looking around, I found a rather large, thick branch and told her to bite down on it. Then I grabbed her arm and snapped it back to its normal position. The pain that it caused her was so severe that she bit the branch in half and howled in agony.

  As quickly as I could I put the shirt around her neck then bent her arm and made a sling to slide it into. Taking a deep breath, she nodded at me. I grabbed her other arm and helped her to her feet.

  “Cunning isn't the word for her,” she said with a half mile.

  “I didn't know Billie was here. If I had I would've gone after her. I'm sorry,” I said putting her arm around my shoulder and walking her back to the house.

  “Not your fault. I thought someone else was around but I shrugged it off. We'll get them though. Make no mistake about it,” she said in a determined voice.

  “You gave me quite a shock there,” I said changing the subject. I just didn't have the heart right now to tell her all I wanted was my book. “You smell human.”

  “I know. It's a secret that I can do that. Only Kaeden knows. I very rarely transform so I give off a mostly human scent. Ouch,” she said grimacing. “Don’t worry about it. I’m still getting used to this. My body will heal fairly quickly though, so thanks for snapping the bone back into place. I can’t imagine if I would have to go through life with a backwards L of an arm,” she said laughing.

  I chuckled. It was interesting to see someone in so much pain but be able to still joke about it, while I spent most of my days moping and feeling bad for myself. I snuck a glance at Charlie who had trickles of sweat running down her face but still wore a smile. Maybe she could teach me how to be happier.

  A car honking loudly broke me from my thoughts and forced my eyes back on the road. I didn’t realize that I had almost walked us into the street. I mumbled a sorry and readjusted her on my shoulders, looked both ways, then crossed us to the other side of the road. Another clap of thunder shook the sky and the clouds parted letting down pelts of angry rain. Great. Just what we need. To get completely soaked.

  “Come on, we can go faster, it’s my arm that’s broken, not my leg,” she said looking up at the sky.

  Nodding I gripped her around the waist and started to walk as quickly as I could. I knew there wasn’t that severe of an injury to her leg, but running right now wouldn’t be good for her arm either. At one point treading through the mud made me want to put her on my back and run us to the shack, but I didn’t think she’d be up for it. I took a deep breath and started to walk a little faster. Eventually she had to start to half walk half jog to keep up, but I wasn’t used to moving slow even when I was injured. After what seemed like an eternity we finally climbed the stairs onto the rickety porch and I released her.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “No biggie. I’m sure if I needed t
o be carried you’d have done it for me,” I replied laughing.

  “It’s about time you two got back,” came a voice from behind one of the boarded windows.

  I jumped and turned around. Why was it never possible to be the only monster somewhere and have a house to myself? I looked at Charlie who was shaking her head with a small grin on her face. When she saw the look on my face she tilted her head.

  “Forget his voice already?”

  “Huh?” I asked squinting at the boards.

  I watched as the door slowly started to creak open. It was so intentional and deliberate that I felt like I was going to lose my mind if the door didn’t swing open within the next two seconds. I reached a hand out to push it open when it suddenly flew open and a familiar face poked out.

  “Hey kid!” Drake said with a big smile.

  “Oh my God,” I screamed running at him and tackling him to the ground in a fierce hug. Laughing he used one hand to push us up of the floor while steadying me with his other arm.

  “You’ve got to learn how to control yourself,” he said once we were both on our feet. “I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ve never seen someone so happy to see me over and over, but eventually you’re gonna break us both.”

  “Sorry,” I said pushing my hair back, “I just didn’t think we’d ever hang out again for some reason. I’d ask how everyone else is but then I’d be giving off the illusion that I actually care.”

  He laughed loudly. Then he came over and gave me a major hug, “Missed you, kid. You’ve got to stop running away like that. And another thing.”

  “Yeah?” I asked muffled by his chest.

  “Stay out of the sun. It doesn’t do a thing for you.”

  I looked up and saw him grinning mischievously and I gave him a playful punch on the arm. It seemed like besides Archer; Drake would be the only being not to care about what I looked like now.

  Charlie laughed pleasantly and I smiled at her. Drake put an arm his hands on my shoulders and guided me back into the house. Then he went outside and cradled Charlie in his arms, bringing her back in.