by Peter Nelson
“Wait,” Abbie said. “Where is Sandy?”
A trap door in the wooden stage suddenly popped open. Sandy the mighty Golden Liger leaped straight up in the air, landing in front of the crowd. She let out a horrible roar, which cued the other cryptids to introduce themselves, as well. Donald the red-mohawked Ban Manush flexed his great muscles. Francine the Bunyip waved her strange stick arms around as she moaned from her swampy mouth. Paul the Dingonek gnashed his long teeth and thrashed his dragonlike head. And Bernard the Skunk Ape stood in the back and waved.
The crowd screamed in panic as they realized these were not costumes. They retreated toward the Mayan Princess, to escape the terrifying monsters.
Confused, Buck added to the panic by shouting at everyone through his distorted bullhorn. “Wait! Don’t run away! Stand still so the Face Chompers can meetcha!”
“Aaah!” Someone in the crowd screamed as they rushed past Abbie and the others. “Did you hear that? They’re going to eat us!”
Abbie pulled her parents out of the way of the stampede. Lou stepped in front of Harvey, blocking the old man with his beefy, red body. Gavin scooped Hogie and Clarissa up in his talons, spread his massive wings, and fluttered in the air, hovering just over the crowd. The large godlike bird holding two even weirder-looking creatures in its talons as it hung overhead incited the crowd even further.
“We’re surrounded!” someone yelled.
“The Face Chompers are everywhere!” shouted another.
“They’re here to eat us!” still another said.
Backed up to the very end of el Terminal Remota, some leaped into the warm gulf waters, while most ran for the Mayan Princess, plowing up her gangplanks.
“Well, that sure could’ve gone better,” Abbie heard a voice say behind her. She spun around. Buck stood with Bernard, Donald, Paul, Sandy, and Francine.
“Krikey, people sure are jumpy,” Hogie said. “They took off faster than a long-finned Tasmanian river eel!”
“Except for those two,” Donald pointed his long red-haired arm at a disheveled Roger and Betsy Grimsley. Their costumes were torn, and they stood staring at the strange creatures before them—and one in particular.
“Master Ranger Bernie?” Mrs. Grimsley stammered to the Skunk Ape. “Is—is that you?”
“Uh, yes—and no,” Bernard replied.
29
Jordan pushed against the heavy desks and equipment barricading the Cooler door, straining to see what was happening just inside the portal window. Every survival instinct in his body told him to turn and run while he still had the chance. But he thought about his responsibilities as co-leader of the Creature Keepers. He thought about what his grandfather would do. And he stood his ground.
Inside the Cooler, the blaststones had melted through the ice, causing cracks and fractures in the glacial tomb. One thick fracture suddenly splintered so violently that it could be heard through the door.
CRACK!
The sound startled Jordan. He heard bits of ice shrapnel blast the inside of the Cooler door, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, and finally a horrible scratching sound, like the metal floor was being scraped by a rake—or a set of cold claws. Chupacabra was free of the ice tomb. Jordan shut his eyes and pushed as hard as he could on the barricade, hoping the Cooler door would hold him in.
SMASH! The force hit Jordan along with a freezing cold blast of air, sending him flying backward, along with all the desks and equipment. When everything settled, Jordan gathered the courage to peer out from beneath the pile that had been his barricade.
Chupacabra stood in the smashed-open Cooler doorway, his half Blizzard-Bristle moustache sparkling with ice. The Hydro-Hide he’d hijacked from Nessie was slick and glistening from his melted tomb, and his one stolen Soil-Sole was perched atop what was left of the bent metal door that lay on the floor, complete with a Sasquatch-shaped-footprinted dent in it.
Chupacabra sniffed the air. “Come out, come out, wherever you are. . . .” Chupacabra sniffed again. “My senses are half frozen, Grimsley, but I know you’re nearby. I saw you peering at me in my chilly cell. This is so rude of you. Why don’t you just come out and save me the trouble of tearing this room apart?”
Jordan carefully shifted his weight and Chupacabra quickly raised his oversized foot. “Ah-HA! There you are!” Jordan scurried out from under the metal just as, in one Soil-Sole stomp, Chupacabra flattened the desk Jordan had been hiding under.
“Look at you,” Chupacabra said. “Like a frightened little cockroach about to be squashed.” He stumbled awkwardly on his thawing legs, giving Jordan time to stumble to his feet and run up the greenhouse entry ramp. He clambered up the dark tunnel, the horrible cackling of Chupacabra echoing from behind.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The cryptid was getting strength back in its legs, and Jordan could hear it running up the ramp, gaining speed as he approached. Jordan reached the greenhouse and slammed the retractable-roof button, closing the glass ceiling that had been left open. He rolled under the shelves as Chupacabra came flying up the ramp floor.
SMASH! Chupacabra blasted through the ceiling, raining a shower of glass down all around Jordan, landing outside the greenhouse in a lump. Jordan stayed under the shelf until all the glass had fallen, then he carefully reached up and hit the other button, closing the ramp and sealing off the CKCC—and hopefully the rest of Eternal Acres.
He looked outside and saw where Chupacabra had landed on the mossy ground—but the cryptid was gone. Jordan tore out the greenhouse door, hoping with all his heart that Ed and Hap had gotten Doris and the retired Keepers safely back to the house in time.
He followed drops of blood and bits of broken glass far deeper into the swamp, until the trail of clues abruptly ended.
Jordan looked around, then shouted across the Okeeyuckachokee. “All right, you mangy dog, where did you go? Show yourself!”
“Up here, Georgie boy,” Chupacabra’s voice came from a tree, above. He took a deep breath and blasted an icy squall from his Blizzard-Bristles, blowing Jordan to the ground, pinning him flat on his back. Jordan was encased from the neck down in a cocoon of ice.
Chupacabra dropped to the ground and loomed over him. “How do you like it, Georgie? Not very comfortable, is it?”
Something caught Jordan’s eye. Two red stones, embedded in each of Chupacabra’s claws. He squirmed and wriggled, but it was no use. Jordan was completely trapped. One thought ran through his head: Eldon, please, where are you?
“Go ahead,” he said. “Kill me. But know that you’ve been betrayed. The Creature Keepers know your plan, and they’re gathering to stop you. Killing me will do nothing because the Creature Keepers is bigger than any one person or any one cryptid. And they won’t let you win. As an old friend of mine would say, you can bet your bottom dollar on it.”
“I have a much smarter bet,” Chupacabra said. “Two things will happen today. One, I will at last control the power of the Perfect Storm, allowing me to begin Operation Pangaea. And two, I will have my revenge on you, George Grimsley, and personally end your life. Both these things will happen. Unfortunately for you, just not in that order.” He raised his claw. “Good-bye, George Grimsl—ooof!”
A blur of white fur sent Chupacabra flying as Peggy plowed into him with her great antlers, slamming the nasty cryptid into an old, dead swamp tree. She bowed her head close to Jordan and licked his face. He smiled up at her. “I’m okay, Peggy. Thank you. If you could just let me out of here.”
She smashed his icy cocoon, and a smoky smell immediately caught Jordan’s attention. He leaped to his feet. An enraged Chupacabra had grabbed a dead tree trunk and pulled himself up. As he did, his blaststone grip grew hotter against the dry bark. In a fiery blaze, it suddenly ignited.
“Peggy, look out!” Jordan leaped out of the way as Chupacabra swung the blazing tree trunk like a lit torch. Peggy leaped straight into the air, but her fluffy cotton tail caught the flames. She landed and began running in c
ircles. As she did, she began lighting small fires around the swamp. Chupacabra lifted the trunk and prepared to swing at the distracted Peggy again. Before Jordan could shout to warn her, a freezing, snowy blast from above engulfed the giant torch, extinguishing it immediately and knocking Chupacabra backward again.
Fluttering in the sky just above Jordan was Kriss the West Virginia Mothman. And in his arms was Wilford the Yeti of the Himalayas and owner of the other half of the Blizzard-Bristles. He took a deep breath again to blow out Peggy’s tail, but a similar wintry blast suddenly struck him, knocking him and Kriss out of the sky.
Chupacabra blew again, but his next cold-shot was met with Wilford firing back. As the two of them blasted each other in an explosion of ice and snow, Kriss and Jordan ran over to Peggy and used some of it to extinguish her tail. There were a few small fires throughout the area, but Peggy was safe.
BOOM!
The ground shook violently as Chupacabra slammed his Soil-Sole on the mossy ground. He’d been pushed backward by Wilford’s blasting, and as he stumbled toward the boathouse, Chupacabra decided to put his foot down. The tremor knocked Wilford off his feet, and Chupacabra eyed the water behind him.
“Enough of this!” Chupacabra shrieked in anger. “Why am I wasting my gifts on you fools when I should be using them to take what is rightfully mine!” He took another step toward the water, and his Hydro-Hide scales fluttered. “The next time you see me, it will be too late. You’ll be powerless against the Perfect Storm!”
“Stop him!” Jordan cried. “We can’t let him get away!”
Peggy and Wilford made a move toward Chupacabra as he dived into the bay. The water immediately rose like a mountain and spit him back onto dry land.
Chupacabra tumbled across the ground, sliding on the snow left over from his battle with Wilford, coming to a stop near a few of the small fires Peggy had set. He shook his head. The water had formed a high, liquid wall at the shoreline, with Nessie balanced atop its crest. Standing on the foot of the dock was Alistair, his hands on his hips. “Over our two old, dead carcasses!” he hollered.
Peggy, Wilford, Kriss, and Jordan slowly closed in on Chupacabra. He crawled backward until he reached a small fire behind him. He let out a horrible laugh.
“I don’t know what you’re laughing about,” Jordan said. “You’re surrounded. You’re outnumbered. You lost the bet.”
“Oh, Georgie boy. Our bet is still on. The only thing that’s changed is the order in which I’ll carry out the terms. But don’t worry. The first thing I’ll do when I have the power of the Perfect Storm is terminate you, once and for all. I promise you that.”
They all braced for battle as Chupacabra slowly stood up and stepped backward—into the fire. “Killing you is a promise you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll keep.”
The blaststones in his claws glowed a hotter red, and the flames engulfed his body. FWOOSH! Chupacabra suddenly blasted in a streak of fire, shooting up past the tops of the trees, disappearing across the sky.
“He’s headed for the Yucatan to get that eggsteroid!” Jordan shouted. “We have to warn everyone and get the specials to the bottom of that crater before he does!”
Kriss swooped and grabbed Wilford around the midsection. “We’re on our way!” Wilford shouted down to Jordan.
“Us too!” Alistair called out from the water’s edge. He was standing in the speedboat, and he tossed a lasso around Nessie’s neck. “We’ll beat him there, laddie!” he hollered as he tied the other end of the rope to the front of the boat. “We got us a single water horse–power engine!”
Jordan ran to Peggy. “Great work, girl. Put out these fires, then go and keep watch over Doris and the retired creatures. It’s all going to be okay.” The giant Jackalope gave Jordan a big lick on the face and started hopping on the little fires.
As Jordan ran toward the boat, he glanced to his right, hoping to see Eldon running toward him, ready to join him on what could be their last adventure together. But the deep swamp remained dark, and quiet.
30
The approaching sirens grew louder as the Mexican authorities rushed to the scene. “Hooray!” Hogie said excitedly. “More celebrations!”
“Not this time,” Abbie said. “Pretty sure they’re on their way to put an end to this celebration.” She could only imagine how many hundreds of calls the local police had received, each one weirder than the last. From aboard the Mayan Princess, the frightened people stared down at them from every deck.
“Bernard, get everyone on board. I’ll talk to the police.” Abbie glanced at her mother and father. “It’s okay, guys. You’ll understand soon, too, I promise. Just go with Bernard. Everything’s gonna be all right.”
Mr. and Mrs. Grimsley turned their blank stares to the Skunk Ape. “Wh—where’s your uniform?” Mrs. Grimsley said softly.
“It was just a costume,” he said. “Why are you dressed like a gorilla and a pigeon?”
Bernard led them along with Harvey, Buck, and the other cryptids up the gangplank, onto the ship. Within moments, a boatload of shrieks and screams erupted from inside, and the panicked crowd came running off again. Some leaped into the water while most ran down the gangplank toward the police as they came screeching onto the scene.
“Oh brother,” Abbie turned to face the authorities. “What a bunch of scaredy-cats.”
The police seemed immediately confused and overwhelmed. Abbie wasn’t going to have much luck explaining the situation, especially if she had to fight through a throng of hysterical people to get to them. She decided to retreat to her friends and family.
“¡Detengas! ¡Detengas!” the officers shouted out as Abbie bolted up the gangplank, onto the Mayan Princess.
She ran through the empty ship in search of nine creatures, an old man, a washed-up TV personality, and her mom and dad. She finally located them at the very top Lido deck, standing around an untouched all-you-can-eat buffet.
“That brand release couldn’t have gone any better!” Buck was grinning as Sandy, Paul, and Francine loomed around him. They didn’t look happy. “Help yourself, fellas,” Buck said. “It’s all you can eat!”
“You made us look like fools,” Sandy snarled.
“Worse than that,” Donald added. “You made them afraid of us!”
“Are you guys kidding? You came out with a bang! You can’t put a price tag on that kind of publicity! Just look at all the free media down there!”
Among the crowd and the police below, a few news reporters were already setting up, pointing their TV cameras at the ship.
“Great,” Abbie said. “Just great.”
“Hey, it’s what I do,” Buck said. “You guys are gonna be on every TV on the planet! And I was afraid I’d lost my touch, sitting around in the woods with ol’ Syd. . . .”
Down on the pier, more police had arrived. They were surrounding the ship and keeping the onlookers back. In the distance, more and more people were making their way to see the spectacle. Abbie was lost in thought when a faint voice from behind got her attention.
“Uh, sweetie . . . ?” Abbie’s mom looked shell-shocked.
Mr. Grimsley didn’t look much better. He spoke in a slightly trembling voice. “Is this all . . . actually happening?”
“Mom, Dad, I’m so sorry!” She rushed to them and hugged them both. “Listen to me. It’s all okay. And yes, Dad. It’s all very real.”
Mr. Grimsley examined the cryptids standing around him. “Then . . . it was all true. My father, his stories, they were real, too. He wasn’t crazy.”
Gavin stepped forward. “Sir, George Grimsley was a great man. He found me, saved me, and protected me. I owe him everything.”
Sandy stepped forward next. “As do I,” she said.
Hogie oozed toward them. “Yup. Same here,” he said.
They all crowded closer, each paying respects and showing thanks. Abbie’s mother smiled. But her father’s smile slowly faded.
“Dad,” Abbie said. “Are you oka
y?”
“Forgive me, but this is a lot to take in.” Mr. Grimsley’s eyes were full of tears. “To me, my father’s life was a mystery. Then it was an embarrassment. Finally, it became a joke. But I see the joke was on me. And the worst of it is, my father died alone, with no one believing in him. Not even his own son.”
“Dad,” Abbie said. “Jordan and I have learned a lot about Grampa Grimsley. He chose to keep all this a secret. He spent nearly his entire life in the company of creatures. And in the end, that’s how he died. Y’know, in the mouth of one.”
“She’s right, Roger,” Mrs. Grimsley said. “There’s nothing we could’ve done. He didn’t want anyone to know about all this. Not even his own son.”
Mr. Grimsley nodded. “But what . . . is all this, exactly?”
“The Creature Keepers,” Bernard said proudly. “Sworn to protect all cryptids everywhere and to keep them healthy, happy, and hidden. Mr. Grimsley, I knew your father. We all did. He founded the Creature Keepers. In order to protect us.”
Mr. Grimsley turned to his daughter. “You and your brother are part of this?”
“They’re not just part of it,” Bernard said. “Abbie and Jordan are our leaders.”
“Abbie,” Mrs. Grimsley said. “Is this true?”
“Jordan and I have been proud to help continue Grampa Grimsley’s legacy, and even prouder to help the ones who want to come out of the shadows. And I know that when the people down there understand what’s inside the hearts of these Face Chompers, they’ll see what Grampa Grimsley saw in them, and the whole world will welcome them.”
Mr. Grimsley put his hand on Abbie’s shoulder. “Thank you. Your mother and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”
“Of all of you,” Mrs. Grimsley said to the cryptids. “But have you considered calling yourselves something other than ‘Face Chompers’?”