by Robert Gray
I pulled off the last of the streamers, and Steve and Lucy stood up, rubbing their sore wrists.
“Did you see where they went?” I asked.
“I’m not sure, but just before you got here we heard a loud crash. Sounded like it came from the cafeteria,” Lucy said.
“Okay. You guys should get back to the party. I’ll go check it out.”
“What’s going on, Eve?” Lucy asked. “Are you and Carly Beth in some kind of trouble?”
“If I don’t get to Carly Beth soon—”
Lucy grabbed my arm. “You’re gonna need our help. You can’t take on those girls by yourself. Something’s strange about them. Like Steve said, they’re tough. Like inhumanly tough. When they tied us up—I don’t know—it was like trying to fight a block of iron.”
“There’s some real bad stuff going on. And I should’ve never involved Carly Beth in the first place. I’m not gonna make that mistake again. I can handle this.”
“You can’t do everything by yourself, Eve. Sometimes you need friends.”
She was right, and she knew I knew it. Everything good that happened to me since I’d been here was because of my friends. I needed to stop thinking I could do everything myself. Besides, I didn’t have time to argue.
“C’mon, I’ll explain everything on the way.”
“And this time, they will be no match for my Kung Fu,” Steve said solemnly.
Lucy shook her head. “I know I’m going to regret asking, but I thought you used Judo.”
“That was the old Steve.” He spun around and thrust his fist in the air. “This one don’t play.”
“Yup, I knew I was gonna regret that,” Lucy murmured.
THIRTY
WAR …?
We found Carly Beth sprawled out on the cafeteria floor, covered in plastic trays and barely conscious.
“You okay?” I asked, clearing away the trays.
“They got the book … I saw … tried to stop them.”
“Who did this?” Lucy asked. “Was it Stacey and her cronies?”
“War …” Carly Beth managed.
“War? What about a war?” I asked, but Carly Beth passed out before she could respond.
Now I really had to stop—
“Aren’t you three a pathetic sight.”
—Stacey Maxwell.
She had crept up from the back of the cafeteria, along with Becca and Jasper. In her hand, I could see my spell book.
Carly Beth hadn’t meant “War,” I realized. She’d tried to say “Warren.” I glared at Stacey. “What did you do to Warren? He’s got nothing to do with this,” I said, trying to sound all tough but failing miserably.
Stacey and her minions laughed.
Warren laughed, too, as he stepped out from the shadows.
“I’m afraid I have a lot to do with this,” he said and gave Stacey a big kiss right on the lips.
My heart banged against my chest. It hated being deceived, and it wanted to tear apart Warren and Stacey for what they did. But the rest of me just felt numb. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know how to react. Mostly, I hated myself for being so naive. I turned to my friends and gazed at their fierce expressions. I didn’t have to ask to know they carried my pain with them, and if they hadn’t been here, I knew I would’ve given up. I nodded to them, a small thank you. I didn’t need Warren … not when I had real friends.
“This whole thing was a lie.” It wasn’t a question, but an accusation. “You two never broke up. You tricked me to get the book.” How could I not see this the whole time? Of course, Warren saw me hide the book in the graveyard, and he distracted me while Stacey stole the—hah!—fake book.
“That’s not the real book,” I said. I felt all proud of myself for getting the last laugh. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy the moment for long.
Warren peeled off the letters one by one and tossed them aside. “Oh, Eve. You are so gullible.” He sighed. “It’s a good thing you’re pretty or you’d have nothing going for you.”
At this, Stacey gave Warren a nasty glare, as if to say, What do you mean she’s pretty?
“You’ve always had The Book of Shrieks,” he continued. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. The book can change itself. It can hide as another book. It’s why no one has been able to find it.”
“Is that why you killed all those monsters? To find the book?” I asked.
“Oh, that,” Warren said offhandedly. “Necessary sacrifices for a greater cause. We made the murders look like malicious killings by humans so URNS would close all the portals. We weren’t trying to keep humans out; we wanted to keep the monsters in. But your father … he thought he was so clever. He came to this …” Warren eyed the walls around him, “… place. To protect his family. Funny thing is he had no idea that was all part of The Source’s plan. Eventually the trail of blood led to you, Eve. From there it was too easy.”
Now I was confused—and mad!—which made it hard for me to think. “But if you already knew I had the book, why kidnap my dad?”
“I tried the whole love tactic to get you to help me, but then you had to go and snoop around, so we sent in our special pets. Did you like the fairies, Eve?”
“You … did something to those fairies. You changed them.”
“Everything changes, Eve. Things always take a turn for the worst. We just helped the fairies along with a little magic here and a little science there—I really don’t understand the details, to be honest. What’s important is that you were getting too close to us. We needed to end that quick, so we sent the fairies. We didn’t expect that invisible man or those stupid pirates to come along. No matter. Your dad fell into my lap, and all my problems disappeared.”
I set my jaw and swallowed hard. I hated him and his carefree attitude. This boy ruined my whole life, and it didn’t matter one bit to him! “Then why didn’t you just go to my house and take the book? You obviously knew where I lived.”
“And fight a gorgon and a shapeshifter? I don’t think so. Besides, I learned something about the book that forced us to change our plans. John Wart told me about a book you had at the graveyard, a book that contained no words. I almost killed him a second time for not taking it when it was right there in front of him. But then I realized it had no words because he had touched it.”
He opened the book and showed me the pages. All blank. Then he tossed it to me. As soon as it landed in my hands, words appeared.
“It takes your touch to control its powers,” Warren continued. “It’s ironic, really. It’s the nightmares in that book that created monsters, but they, like the humans, have become lazy and good for nothing—”
“Hey, I resent that remark,” Steve said.
Warren looked at Steve as if he was the very definition of lazy-and-good-for-nothingness and continued, “They don’t kill. They don’t scare. They’re useless. But The Source will change all that. We will spread fear through both worlds.”
“Who is The Source then? Stacey’s mom?”
Stacey cackled. “She is one of Its children—like me and Warren and Principal McDougal and—”
“Wait a sec,” Lucy said. “Are you telling us that you and Warren are like brother and sister? You guys kissed. That is so gross.”
“You will be one of Its children, too, if you don’t keep your mouth shut,” Stacey snapped.
“I don’t think so,” said Lucy. “‘Cause there’s no way I’m spending the holidays at your house.”
At first it seemed what Lucy said had confused Stacey, because a blank stare washed over her face. But then her pupils started to expand until her eyes turned completely black. Her skin got all thick and doughy looking—like how bacon fat looks in a frying pan after it has cooled.
Lucy pointed to Warren, and I saw that he had a little extra dough around the jaw, too.
“What’s happening to them, Eve?” Lucy said, while Steve got into what I guess was his Kung Fu stance.
I didn’t know, but it couldn
’t be good. I threw the book back to Warren. “There, you have what you want, now leave us alone.”
“You haven’t been listening, Eve. The book is useless without you. And you will help us.”
“I’ll never help you!”
Warren glanced at Stacey. Her smile suggested this was the part she’d been waiting for.
“You will. Because in the right hands … your hands, Eve, the book is very valuable to us.” He paused. A flash of a memory seemed to glimmer in his otherwise shadowed eyes, and a slight grin crept across his face. “You think what The Source did to those fairies was bad …? They were just practice for the real performance.”
An adorable ripping noise broke the silence as eight spidery legs reached through Stacey’s back like an opening claw. Her human skin dropped to the floor, as if clothes that were suddenly ten sizes too big. A giant spider stood in place of Stacey Maxwell. Except for the head. That was still Stacey’s. Though it looked more like a loose-fitted mask covering something much more disturbing.
“No problem,” Steve said, his fists in front of his face, his legs shoulder-width apart. “Is that all you got?”
As if to answer, more black hairy legs broke free from Becca and Jasper’s backs. Their skin fell away, too. Only their oversized and expressionless faces remained.
Steve’s hands dropped to his sides. “Are you kidding me? All three of you? Giant spiders!”
“Still think it’s a good idea to help me?” I asked, backing up until my shoulders were even with Lucy’s and Steve’s.
“Yeah, well, when you said you were in trouble, I didn’t have this in mind,” Lucy admitted.
Stacey and her minions scurried up the walls and onto the ceiling, their useless human arms and legs dangling from their bodies.
And in that moment, of all things, I thought about sugar. Insects love sugar. And I wished I had thought of that earlier, because now it made perfect sense why I found a drawer full of sugar packets in McDougal’s office, and why Stacey had a cup full of sugar on her tray the day we got into the fight, and why Mrs. Maxwell had a glass of syrupy liquid in her hand when I bumped into her …
I eased back and shifted my attention to Warren. Two giant amber wings spilled out from his back. His skin and clothes hung in shreds down his body. He had turned into a giant wasp, except for his face. Nothing but a lifeless human mask.
Oh, yeah, and this explained why Warren was licking powdered sugar from his lips and fingers earlier today.
“Sorry, Eve. I’m afraid I’m gonna need those hands of yours,” Warren said.
THIRTY-ONE
AN ULTIMATUM
The spider-girls scuttled around the cafeteria’s ceiling above us, and then Stacey dripped down on a glistening, wet string.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Stacey growled.
“Me, too,” I said, trying to sound tough.
“And me,” Lucy said.
“Me, too,” Steve said, then whispered to me, “Do you think if she bites us we’ll get superpowers?”
I told him I didn’t think so and that we’d probably die instead.
“Oh,” Steve managed. “I take that back. I haven’t been waiting all that long for this moment—”
“Shut up, Steve,” Lucy and I said at the same time.
I would’ve had us all run, believe me, but with Carly Beth knocked out, we couldn’t leave. And regardless of how much Steve and Lucy trembled, they weren’t abandoning their friend either, so we readied ourselves for a fight—one we’d surely lose—by putting up our fists.
Among the three of us, Steve probably had the most fighting experience, and that didn’t say much at all. We must’ve looked ridiculous to these creatures, so I was totally surprised when Stacey began backing up. Three long shadows appeared beneath my feet, and I twisted around.
“See! Told you my Kung-Fu rocked,” Steve said.
I tapped Steve on the shoulder. “Look behind you.”
“What the heck are they?” Steve screamed.
I guess I should’ve warned him first. He nearly jumped into Lucy’s arms when he saw the triplet zombies.
“Hello, lady … hope we’re not … too late,” Three Petes said and drew their swords.
I could’ve hugged them. “Not late at all.”
Jasper and Becca scurried to the ground next to Stacey, and the three of them hissed at Three Petes.
“Yeah, is that all you got,” I said. I sounded a lot tougher now that we had backup.
Stacey and her minions edged back a few steps, then looked to Warren for their next move.
He leaned over one of the round tables and sighed as if this whole mess was rather trivial. “You can save us all a lot a trouble, Eve. Just show me how to work that book.”
“But I don’t know how. It’s a spell book.”
“You’re a bad liar.”
“Yeah, you’d think I be better after spending time with you,” I muttered, then added, “But I’m telling you the truth.”
I think he tried to smile, although the skin mask he wore couldn’t form any expression besides a droopy scowl. “Kill them all. And get me her hands.”
The spider-girls leaped at us, but Three Petes deflected them. I thought for sure their swords would easily chop up those spiders, but those girls’ spidery legs were as strong as steel … Sharp, too. They used their legs as knives and stabbed with them, spinning in the air wildly, and pushing Three Petes back.
The spiders might’ve had more weapons, but Three Petes had more skill, and the battle became a back-and-forth struggle.
Warren, watching the stalemate with little interest, decided to take a different approach. His head twitched, and his veiny wings stretched wide, casting a dark shadow over us. He flew over the fight, swooped down, and snatched Carly Beth, who lay behind us. Steve and Lucy grabbed for her legs, but Warren swatted my friends away and sent them crashing hard into the wall.
“Meet me at The Source newspaper office. Alone. In one hour,” Warren said, staring me down. “If you don’t, I will kill her.”
He crashed through a window, and Stacey and her minions followed after him, screaming with laughter.
“Oh, man,” Steve said, as I helped him and Lucy to their feet. “Should’ve stuck with my Judo moves.”
“You heard him. He wants me to go alone,” I said as we ran to the school parking lot.
“It’s a trap, and you know it,” Lucy said. “He’s gonna kill you and then kill Carly Beth.”
“And he’ll kill the both of you, too. It’s better that I follow his rules. It’s the only chance we have to save Carly Beth.”
I wanted Steve, Lucy, and Three Petes to go. Believe me. But what choice did I have? I had no doubt Warren would keep his word. If I showed up at The Source with everyone, I knew that Carly Beth was as good as dead.
I decided not to tell my parents. They would never let me go alone. But I also worried someone else from The Source would show up looking for my family, so I asked Three Petes to stay at the school and watch over Mom, Dad, and Sam.
The rest of us headed for the parking lot where we found Hal sitting in his yellow bus and fumbling with a deck of cards.
“Hal, you need to help me. You have to take me to The Source’s office. It’s an emergency.”
He seemed to genuinely consider this, but then his face twisted up into an adorable knot, and he said, “What did I tell you about calling me Hal? The name’s Lester. Are you trying to get me killed?”
“Please … Lester. My best friend’s in danger. The whole monster race is in danger.”
“Blah, blah, blah. I’ve got my own problems to deal with.” And he went back to shuffling his deck of cards.
“I know how to handle this,” Lucy said. “I have an uncle just like him.” Lucy dipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out a fistful of crumpled bills. “Here. We can pay you.”
I followed Lucy’s lead by reaching into various pockets in my outfit and handing Hal—or whatever his na
me was—another handful of money.
Then Lucy and I turned to Steve. He reached into his pants pockets, his tongue poking out the corner of his mouth.
“Hmm. I’ve got an empty pack of gum, my cell, a piece of paper with—oops, I forgot to turn in this receipt from one of my tables last night.”
“You only took one table last night,” Lucy reminded him. “And if I remember correctly you even sat down to eat with them.”
Steve, ignoring the comment, dug deeper into his pockets. “Here we go. Eighty-two cents. All yours.” He poured the coins into my hand, avoiding Lucy’s death stare.
The iGor-Formally-Known-As-Hal stacked the coins on the dashboard, then commenced to licking his filthy thumb and counting out the bills. The total came to seventy-six dollars … and eighty-two cents, a sizable amount that cheered the iGor up a great deal.
“Why didn’t you say you needed my help? Where to?”
I placed my arm on Lucy’s shoulder. “I’ll drop you and Steve off at the pizza place. You’ll be safe there with—” An idea struck me, and I beamed from the brilliance of it.
“What is it?” Lucy asked.
“I’ll tell you on the way.” I stepped onto the bus. “Head over to the pizza place, um, Lester. We need to make a drop off. And a pickup.”
“A pickup? Like as in food?” Steve asked, rushing up behind me. “Awesome. I’m starved.”
THIRTY-TWO
THE SOURCE’S LAIR
The night had weight. The silence, too. And they both pressed against my shoulders as I crossed the empty street toward the newspaper company.
Three hanging lamps burned along the otherwise shadowy building. I paused at the entrance and searched the dark windows for any sign of movement. Nothing. That didn’t make me feel any better.
I took a deep breath and whispered, “Happy Halloween.” In less than ten minutes, All Hallows Day would begin, and I hoped I’d live long enough to see it.
As I opened the door, a cool breeze rushed by me. I couldn’t see a thing when I entered, and I ran my hand along the walls—Huh? The walls feel … mushy—trying to find a light switch—Ah! Here it is.