Creature Keepers and the Perilous Pyro-Paws

by Peter Nelson

  “Wait, what’s that?” Abbie pointed toward the puddle.

  A small fist slowly emerged from the center of the muck. The green goo coated its arm as it reached into the air.

  “It’s Eldon! He’s alive! Help me get him out of there!” Jordan grabbed the arm and pulled. Abbie grabbed Jordan and pulled. Mr. Grimsley grabbed Abbie and pulled. Mrs. Grimsley grabbed Mr. Grimsley and pulled. Bernard grabbed Mrs. Grimsley and yanked. They all tumbled backward in a pile, with the goo-covered survivor on top. They quickly cleared the slop from his mouth and nose, then from his face. Then they all stepped back.

  “Wait,” Chupacabra muttered. “No . . . It can’t be. . . .”

  The figure was not Eldon Pecone. But he was wearing his underwear. It was a much older man—wrinkled, bald, and hunched over, but with Eldon’s aged features.

  The person who’d emerged from the Puddle of Ripeness was George Grimsley.

  43

  Boy, howdy! That goo can sure get into a fella’s nooks and crannies!”

  Bernard stepped forward. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “It’s really you.” He gave the little old man a great big hug.

  “It’s always been me,” Grampa Grimsley said. “But hug away, big fella. I can’t get any smellier than I already am!”

  “WHAT IS THIS TRICKERY?” Chupacabra was confused. And growing angrier.

  “Dad?” There were tears in Mr. Grimsley’s eyes as he slowly approached.

  “I’m afraid so, son,” the old man said. “I’m sorry I deceived you.”

  “YOU’VE BEEN GRIMSLEY ALL ALONG?” Chupabacabra shouted again.

  Mr. Grimsley tore his eyes from his long-lost father and trained them on the creature. “And if you intend to kill him, you’re going to have to go through me. Because I’m George Grimsley’s son!”

  “And I’m his daughter-in-law,” Mrs. Grimsley said, stepping forward.

  “And I’m his granddaughter.” Abbie stepped in front of her parents.

  Jordan stepped beside his sister. “And for the last time—I’m his grandson!”

  They stood together, unified with Grampa Grimsley. Bernard was still off to the side. There was an awkward silence. “And I’m, uh—”

  “My oldest and dearest friend,” Grampa Grimsley said, reaching for the Skunk Ape’s paw.

  Bernard stood a little taller. “That’s right. And adopted brother. Kind of.”

  Chupacabra reared up. “Fine! I’ll just wipe out the lot of you! In fact, I can think of no better way to kick off my global domination than by forcing the entire Grimsley clan into extinction! Are we missing anyone? Half cousins? Step-uncles? Third nephews twice removed? Come out, come out, wherever you are! Come out and meet your doom!”

  Mr. Grimsley smiled at his father, then at Abbie and Jordan. “So much for Grimsley Family Fun Time, I guess.” Everyone chuckled, except Chupacabra.

  “Stop that! You’re all about to meet your demise! The least you could do is show a little fear of the unknown! I mean, would it kill you to beg for your lives?”

  “Sorry,” Abbie said. “Grimsleys don’t beg.”

  “And I’ve already met my demise,” Grampa Grimsley said. “Or at least faked it. So do your worst, you mangy old mongrel!”

  “For that, I will not be gentle. Prepare to be hit with all the weapons you foolishly surrendered to me. Farewell, George Grimsley. Farewell to you and your entire bloodline!”

  Chupacabra’s Hydro-Hide fluttered violently. The ground rumbled and shook as his Soil-Soles sank into the mossy floor. His icy Blizzard-Bristles stiffened, crackling as they crystallized. His Pyro-Paws burst into flaming fists.

  Bernard and the Grimsleys huddled bravely together. “Sorry, everyone,” Jordan said. Looking to his grandfather, he added, “You were right. My plan really was a stinker.”

  “I said your plan B was a stinker,” the old man said. “I liked where you were going with plan A.” He held out his wrinkled hand. “I think you might have dropped something again.” He pushed something into Jordan’s hand. “Try to hold on to it this time, will ya?”

  Even speckled with the green muck, Jordan recognized the crystal ring. Flowing inside, it’s bluish-silver elixir danced and swirled. Jordan’s eyes lit up. “Not this time.”

  Chupacabra spread his arms. Flames shot out of his Pyro-Paws, extending across the grove, blasting holes through the tree trunks, setting them on fire on either side. The ground shook and rumbled as vines and roots came to life underfoot. His Hydro-Hide scales fluttered menacingly. Finally he opened his mouth to prepare a deep breath to blast through his Blizzard-Bristles. That’s when Jordan caught sight of the cryptid’s jagged teeth. He clutched the ring in his hand.

  He had just one shot. He cocked his arm back— “Uh, y’know what?” Grampa Grimsley grabbed Jordan’s arm. “I’ve seen your throwing skills. Let’s let Abbie handle this one, eh?”

  Abbie quickly pulled Alistair’s slingshot out of her back pocket, took the ring, loaded it, pulled back the strap, and let it fly.

  Ping!

  The elixir-filled ring flew into Chupacabra’s open mouth, smashing against his fang. Its contents sprayed into his throat. His exhale morphed into a wild hacking cough, which blasted chunks of ice up into the burning trees. He waved his fiery arms wildly throughout the grove, extending across the clearing, slicing the tree trunks. He stumbled back, tripping his mighty Soil-Soles over the vines and roots that he’d unearthed.

  Jordan, Abbie, Grampa Grimsley, and the others scattered, taking cover from the mayhem as the sliced cypress trees began to fall in different directions like giant pickup sticks. Bernard covered Mr. and Mrs. Grimsley while Jordan and Abbie protected their grandfather, ducking beneath a fallen trunk.

  “What—what have you done?” Chupacabra choked and gurgled as he continued to stumble backward, his body jerking and convulsing. His Pyro-Paws retracted, and he landed on an altarlike table of severed cypress trunks.

  The Grimsleys all came out of hiding and approached him, meeting Doris, Hap, Kriss, and all the Keepers and underwear-clad Face Chompers who ventured inward, climbing over the charred stumps. Everyone gathered around Chupacabra, who was writhing in pain.

  “It’s too strong,” Jordan exclaimed. “The concentrated elixir from the ring is killing him!”

  THUMP! THUMP! The ground shook as Syd’s Soil-Soles hit the ground after suddenly slipping off Chupacabra’s feet. “It’s not killing him,” Abbie said. “It’s shrinking him!”

  “Of course!” Grampa Grimsley said excitedly. “He’s regressing in age! It’s the same effect Harvey’s elixir had on Nessie! We need more! Hap, in my tent! Go get the rest of the elixir!”

  “Your tent?” Hap said. “I’ll get it, but I think you mean Eldon’s tent, wrinkly old dude.” He ran off in the direction of the boathouse.

  Doris peered at the old man, and caught her breath. “George Grimsley?”

  Grampa Grimsley smiled at her, and she knew it was him.

  Doris whistled to the abandoned Keepers standing with their creatures. They pulled from inside their underwear the small tinctures of elixir Hap had given them. One by one, each Keeper poured whatever they had left into the gaping, gasping mouth of Chupacabra. The cryptid choked and sputtered on it, then quickly seemed to calm as it began to take effect. Hap came running back with the box of his stash, and the rest of them took to administering it all to the shrinking patient.

  “It’s working!” Jordan shouted. “He’s getting littler!” The Pyro-Paws slid from Chupacabra’s skinny arms like molten goo, burning deep into the tree trunks. His snout grew shorter, and was engulfed by Wilford’s flowing Blizzard-Bristles. Bernard reached out and gently pulled the frosty whiskers away, exposing a tiny Chupacabra face. Before their eyes, the face continued to shrink, disappearing inside Nessie’s Hydro-Hide. Then, suddenly, all went quiet.

  A soft whimpering cried out from within the coat of scales. Jordan and Abbie reached in and pulled out something so small they could hold it to
gether in their arms. A tiny Chupacabra pup.

  The cryptid’s eyes darted around fearfully, until they landed on a face it recognized.

  Grampa Grimsley reached out and Jordan and Abbie gently placed the pup in his arms. “Why, hello there, little fella,” the old man said. “It’s been a long time.”

  The Chupacabra pup purred, then stretched its neck toward the old man, then licked his wrinkled face.

  44

  Jordan Grimsley stood at the window of his new bedroom. With the large garden wall gone, his backyard was now basically the entire Okeeyuckachokee Swamp. This was a good thing, he thought to himself. They were going to need the extra space.

  He unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out the dead blaststone he’d packed. He turned it over in his hand a few times before placing it on a small bookshelf beside his window. He began pulling out his books and lining them up beside the blaststone.

  “Unique bookend.” Grampa Grimsley stood just inside his doorway. “I used to have a pair just like it. Ruined a perfectly good fanny pack.” He picked up one of Jordan’s books. “A Guide to Mankind’s Most Amazing Mythological Monsters. Mind if I borrow this one?”

  Jordan stared into his grandfather’s face. In the few days since the strange transition in the Puddle of Ripeness, it had become easier for Jordan to find Eldon’s smile behind the wrinkles, and to recognize Eldon’s twinkle in the old man’s eyes.

  “Still a bit weird for you, I’d guess,” Grampa said, reading his mind. He looked over at his reflection in a mirror on Jordan’s dresser. “Kind of weird for me, too.”

  “You know, you could’ve told me. I would’ve understood.”

  “That’s probably true. And I’m sorry. It was always my plan to groom you and your sister to take over the family business. Then I’d reveal who I was. I figured I’d let myself age slowly so it wasn’t so much of a shock—to any of us.”

  “The ring,” Jordan said. “Wearing that kept you young.”

  Grampa Grimsley nodded. “I tried to part with it. But I found the transition too painful. It nearly killed me in the Amazon. You saw me and gave it back.”

  “I just thought it had healing properties for whatever sickness you had.”

  “I welcomed the relief. I was a coward. About a lot of things.”

  “No. You parted with it on our way back to the Kappa’s home.”

  “You and Abbie were more than ready to take over the Creature Keepers after that adventure. And with Chupacabra captured, I thought I could focus on surviving a gradual transition, no matter how painful, without distractions. But of course, the ring returned to me once again.” He turned to the window, staring out at the swamp stretching beyond his old house. “I was happy to return it to you. The day Hap showed up with his leftover elixir.”

  “Of course,” Jordan said. “You’re the one who took the bottles.”

  “Again, a cowardly act. But I was very careful to leave enough for the abandoned Keepers. I filled my canteen with what I needed to get through the metamorphosis—hopefully without it killing me.”

  “And finally, after all that, I threw your ring away.”

  “At that point, it didn’t matter to me anymore. I thought all was lost, that everyone I loved and trusted had betrayed me. I was going to sit in that cypress grove and let the conversion take its course. If it took my life, that was fine with me. The ultimate act of cowardice. I should never have doubted any of you. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Eld—uh, Grampa.” He grimaced. “Maybe it is still a little weird.”

  The two friends laughed.

  “Hey, you two!” Mr. Grimsley poked his head into Jordan’s bedroom. He held up a pair of baseball gloves. “Sorry to interrupt, Dad, but I was thinking maybe we might have a catch out back before lunch! Whaddya say?”

  “Sure, son,” Grampa Grimsley said. “I’ll be right down.”

  “Awesome! Hey, Jordan, why don’t you join us? I’ll find another glove!” Mr. Grimsley ran down the hall.

  “My dad has never asked me to play catch,” Jordan said. “Like, ever.”

  “Don’t complain,” Grampa Grimsley said. “This will be our seventeenth catch since breakfast.”

  “I guess he feels you and he have a lot of catching up to do,” Jordan said.

  “I’m technically your elder now, so I say this to you as a wise old mentor. That joke was a real stinker.”

  Downstairs, the house was bustling with activity. The old Eternal Acres sign was carried out the door to be hung, with a fresh paint job that now read: Harmony Acres. In the front hall, the tenants and the retired Keepers were working side by side with the Face Chompers, busily moving furniture about, bringing strange new items through the front door.

  Doris was in the foyer, barking out orders. “Easy with that, big guy! That’s a very technical piece of machinery, and we don’t own it, we’re just renting it!”

  Just outside the front door, Lou and Donald were lugging a giant vending machine up the steps. They set it down just inside the doorway. In it was a mixture of normal snacks alongside some very strange ones. Chocolate-dipped pretzels hung beside small bags of live worms; beef jerky, along with clusters of dirty twigs.

  “Hiya, Jordan,” Lou said. “Yo, Gramps!”

  Doris snapped at the cryptids. “Did I say break time? We have just a week before our human students arrive for the first day of classes! Let’s move it, while we’re young!” She winked at Grampa Grimsley. “No offense, George.”

  “None taken, Doris,” he said. “Keep up the good work!”

  In the living room, Hogie was moving a heavy coffee table across the floor by balancing it on his back and oozing his way along. Kriss and Gavin were fluttering above the fireplace with a large banner, while Bernard and Donald were eyeballing it.

  Bernard beamed proudly at his banner. “Whaddya think? Came up with the name all by myself!”

  Jordan shared a look with his grandfather.

  “Let it go,” Grampa Grimsley said. “He’ll figure it out eventually. Or not.”

  “Uh, George? Can I talk to you a sec?” As Bernard and Grampa Grimsley spoke, Jordan noticed something on the television screen, which was mounted in the corner.

  The sound was turned off, but he could read the news graphic: “BENEVOLENT CREATURES SAVE HUNDREDS OF LIVES IN MEXICO!” The footage showed Nessie, Wilford, and Syd being interviewed on the day they stayed behind on the pier. Buck kept stepping into the shot to hog the limelight.

  Jordan stepped up behind his grandfather, who was listening to Bernard. The Skunk Ape looked nervous as he spoke. “I know you and Eldon are—or were—the same, and so I, uh, I know you know that me and Eldon, that is to say me and you had a bit of a falling out before he, that is, you changed back into you. . . . So I guess I’m just wondering, or I’m really hoping, that he and I, or you and I, are, um, are—”

  “Bernard,” Grampa Grimsley said. “You were, are, and always will be the best friend anyone could ever have. That includes young George Grimsley, old George Grimsley, and especially Eldon Pecone.” The Skunk Ape burst into tears, and hugged the old man so hard Jordan thought he’d need a crowbar to pry them apart.

  Heading out of the room, Jordan caught another quick bit of news on the television: “ . . . MAYAN PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP PURCHASED BY MYSTERIOUS INVESTOR, C. E. NOODLEPEN . . .”

  Jordan caught up with his grandfather, and also caught Doris beaming at Grampa. “Okay, so what’s the deal with you and her?” Jordan asked him.

  “Who, Doris? Nothing. She’s just glad that I survived, that’s all.”

  “Survived the aging process?”

  “That, but also the accident, all those years ago. She was the last person to see me alive that fateful night.”

  “The night you were eaten by an alligator.”

  “The night a very helpful alligator helped me fake my own death by eating my pajamas. It was right after that Skunk Ape Summer nonsense. Everyone thought I was crazy, including your pare
nts. So that night I broke out of the hospital they’d put me in and I came here, to my old house. I knocked on the door and begged the caretaker to keep something for me.”

  “The caretaker—Doris,” Jordan said. “And I know what she kept for you. The suitcase, with your journal hidden inside.”

  “That’s right. I showed her what was hidden there and made a deal with her. If she kept it and kept it secret, she would be richly rewarded someday by a boy who would come and claim it. A Grimsley boy.”

  “Me,” Jordan said. “But how did you know then that I would come?”

  “I didn’t. The Grimsley boy wasn’t you, Jordan. The Grimsley boy was supposed to be me. I’d discovered the elixir, and I was going to use it to hide somewhere no one would ever find me—in my own youth.”

  “So my happening along—”

  “Was an accident. But a very fortunate one, as it turned out.”

  45

  Abbie sat beside a child’s playpen set up near the greenhouse at the edge of the Okeeyuckachokee Swamp. Inside the playpen, Chunk looked as bored as ever, sitting in a lump, while a frisky Chupacabra pup yipped and ran in circles and leaped on top of him, trying to get him to play.

  “C’mon, Chunk,” Abbie said. “Be a good big brother and show the little guy how to behave himself.”

  Chunk looked out of the corner of his eye at Chupacabra, crouched low with his tail in the air, like he was about to pounce. The iguana opened his mouth and let out a threatening hiss. Chupacabra froze in fear, then sat up perfectly still, like an obedient show puppy.

  “Good boy!” Jordan approached with Grampa Grimsley.

  Abbie tossed Chupacabra a slab of beef jerky, and Chunk a Crazy-Blazin’ Jalapeño-Heckfire Nacho Cheezy Puff. The cryptid pup yawned, then gently snuggled up to his stepbrother. Chunk allowed it.