by Wesley King
“No.”
“Do so tomorrow. In the next few days, we must escalate your training. I fear we may be running out of time.”
I sat there for a moment, thinking. “How will you know when I’m ready?”
He smiled. “I have a feeling that fate will decide that for us.” He rose to his feet like a cat unfurling and extended a calloused hand. “Ready?”
“Not really,” I muttered, letting him pull me up.
“The others don’t like you,” he said quietly. “They ask me to send you home almost every day. To tell you to move. To tell you not to return.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because a very small part of me thinks they are wrong.”
With that, he swept away toward the course, his cloak flying out behind him.
“Now do it again!”
Chapter Eighteen
The next day at school was a little strange. Allison had really gone into overdrive yesterday, and people were all a bit wary, like they were getting back into the water after a shark attack. Shal kept looking around like something was going to pounce on her. Mia ran away if Allison and the seagulls even glanced in our general direction.
People were still giggling when I walked by, but I was taking it better today. Shal and Mia knew I hadn’t peed myself, and they were the only ones I really talked to anyway. If everyone else wanted to laugh, so be it. But I was very careful to check my pants every time I stood up while Allison and Ashley snickered behind me.
I was also missing Liam. I know that sounds crazy since we don’t really talk to each other that much, but class felt very boring without him. No one put their hand up, and Ms. Haddock just got flustered and stopped asking questions. I might have considered putting my hand up for some, but I didn’t want to give Allison any more excuses to come after me. It was time to get back to rule number one for awhile.
I was not going to call any more attention to myself.
I’d lost some of last night’s courage when I showed up at school that morning. It was easier being brave in some alternate world, but I was too used to being afraid in this one. At lunch, Mia, Shal, and I went and sat in the corner as usual, propped up against the chain-link fence. Shal stared at Carl and the other popular kids in the distance.
“They had thirty signatures,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“On the petition. The ugliest ginger petition.”
I waved a hand in dismissal. “People will sign anything that Allison gives them. Ashley would sign a petition naming herself the biggest idiot in school if Allison made it.”
“I hate my hair,” Shal muttered. “Always have.”
“I like it,” Mia said, her slender little arms wrapped around her knees. “It’s so long and colourful. Mine is boring.” She glanced at me. “You keep looking over at the portables. Are you sad Liam is at home today?”
Shal snickered.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I just feel bad. I hope he didn’t get in trouble.”
“Maybe you should go visit him,” Shal suggested.
“Oh, yeah, he’d be thrilled.”
“It would be nice,” Mia said. “Just say you’re there to see how he’s doing.”
I frowned. “I couldn’t do that.”
“Why not?” Shal asked.
I thought about that. Hmm. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Can we hide in the bushes and watch?” Shal asked eagerly.
“Shut up.”
I noticed Mia was staring through the chain-link fence, and I followed her gaze. The same forest that wrapped around my street stretched down behind the school as well, though it was about thirty metres back through a grassy field. In the distance, two police officers were walking along the edge of the forest. They were both staring into the trees as they walked.
“Looking for the animal,” Mia said quietly. “They still haven’t found what got that hiker.”
“Does this stuff happen a lot in Riverfield?” I asked.
Shal shook her head. “No. Well, I guess a few years ago a couple went missing in the woods. Oh, and my mom did tell me about this thing that happened like twenty years ago. Apparently four houses just outside of town were burned down. The families all disappeared. Mom said they never figured out what happened.”
“I didn’t know that,” Mia said worriedly, looking at her.
Shal waved a hand. “That was a long time ago.”
I watched as the two police officers plunged into the forest. I hoped they were keeping their guns close. There were monsters in those woods.
“Can we get back to Kelp?” Shal asked. “What would you say? Can you imagine if I showed up at Carl’s one day? I know what I’d wear: my white top and those jeans with the little faded specks on the thighs. I’d probably wear my hair down. Maybe dye it brown first. But what would I say? Hey, Carl, how’s it going? No, that’s stupid. Hey, Carl, just thought I’d drop in. Nope.”
As Shal went on about all the things she might say to Carl, I scanned the woods, looking for yellow eyes.
—
I made it through most of the day without any incidents, which was pretty impressive. I took Allison’s little whispered comments and pretended I didn’t hear them and just read the guide through class. This time I turned right to Tips on Monster Crushing.
Now that Eldon had surprised me with the spider, I was afraid he might try me out with other monsters soon. Not to mention the fact that goblins had already tried to kill me in my own backyard. I needed to know how to protect myself.
The tips section was even more disorganized than the histories. Notes were scribbled in everywhere, and it seemed each Monster Crusher had his own techniques. I started with the goblin section.
1. Always go for the leader FIRST. Save yourself some trouble.
2. If you are attacked by one goblin, look behind you. They never attack alone.
I frowned. I wish I’d read that tip earlier.
3. Most goblins keep a knife hidden somewhere in their clothing. Make sure they don’t stick you when you’re not looking.
Note: Sometimes they have two. I just got a knife in the thigh. Not pleasant.
4. Goblins are led by fear. If you face overwhelming odds, make them fear YOU. I find shouting effective. However, if you face REALLY overwhelming odds, you might want to run. OR:
Challenge the leader. If you call him out, he may feel compelled to fight you one-on-one. Crush him, and you win the battle.
Note: The monsters may also do this to you. That’s how they got Daniel.
I flipped to the spider section to see if I should have done anything differently.
1. Don’t get bitten. If you do…you’re in trouble.
2. Poking at the eyes is always a good idea.
3. If you crush the abdomen with your hammer, watch out for spraying venom.
Note: Should have read this sooner. Ow.
4. Spiders don’t like fire.
Hmm, I thought. Better remember that one. I flipped through a few more monsters, though I noticed the tips were sparser for the leaders. For dragons, most of them were warnings not to get caught out in the open and to try to catch them sleeping. For giants, it was pretty much the same, though Gregory the Giant’s Bane had killed his giant by jumping off a rocky ledge and bringing the hammer down on its head.
Trolls seemed equally troublesome.
1. Trolls love ambushes. Be aware.
2. Do I even need to tell you about bridges?
3. They often wear armour under ratty brown clothes…they can absorb a lot of blows.
Note: No kidding. I barely beat the last one. Are they getting bigger?
4. Don’t underestimate their intelligence.
5. They have thick skin almost everywhere, but not on the top of their feet. If you hit them there, they’ll feel it.
I read through the rest of the tips, on ogres, imps, giant snakes, sea creatures, and those scary wolf hawk things that I really hoped I didn�
��t run into. Actually, I hoped to avoid all of them, but considering it was supposedly my job to crush these things that didn’t seem very likely. I closed the book and grimaced. This was not cool.
The bell went for recess, and I tucked the guide away and met up with Shal and Mia on the outside, trying to remember what life was like before I found that elevator.
—
I was just heading back into class when I realized I’d forgotten my math textbook. I hurried back to my locker, thinking that I might have been even less excited for math class than I was for training that night. My whole body was aching again, and I knew it was just going to keep getting worse for awhile until I got used to running the course.
I had just pulled the textbook off the shelf when I heard someone step behind me.
“Look how heartbroken she is,” Allison said with mock sympathy. “Lover boy is home today. At least you remembered to wear a diaper.”
I turned around and saw Allison standing behind me with Ashley and another seagull named Tanya, a fairly stocky girl who was essentially their muscle. She was still smaller than me, obviously, but I guess they wanted to come prepared. They both cackled.
I tried to stay calm. Rule number four was very clear: NEVER react to insults.
“It’s a good thing he was gone before that,” Allison continued, playing with a strand of that annoyingly shiny black hair. “Boys don’t usually like girls that pee themselves. Maybe Liam does. He is a little weirdo.”
I closed my locker, took a second to compose myself, and started to walk by her. There were still a few other kids milling around in the halls, but most people had already filtered into class.
Allison stepped in my way. “You don’t want to talk anymore? Maybe I can give you some advice. Let’s see: lose fifty pounds, buy new clothes, put on some makeup, stop peeing yourself—”
“Leave me alone,” I muttered, moving around her.
“Oh, she’s getting angry,” Allison said. “Fine, we don’t need to hang out. Better you hang out with your little brother, anyway. He can’t see how ugly you are.”
And that did it. It wasn’t even an insult to Tom. But I don’t like when he is brought up by evil girls. Ever. Like I said, I’m not a slapper or a hair puller. I spent most of my childhood with Stache, and he watched a lot of boxing.
And so without thinking I turned around and punched Allison directly in the stomach. Hard. Like her brown eyes bulged and she collapsed grabbing her stomach hard. And Ashley and Tanya looked at me like I was a murderer hard. Ashley took off, probably to get the principal, and I just stood there as Allison clutched her stomach. She suddenly glanced up at me, and to my surprise, she was wearing a knowing little smile.
I was still standing there when the principal stormed around the corner, took in the scene, and escorted me straight to his office.
—
“It’s lucky it’s just a day,” my mom said on the way home, shaking her head.
She’d had to leave work early to come get me. She was not thrilled. Tom was. She’d taken him out early to avoid making the trip back to school again.
“She’s lucky it was just her stomach,” I muttered.
My mom glanced at me. “You should know better. After all you went through in Newcastle—”
“Yeah, well, I’m going through it here too. I’m still fat, if you haven’t noticed.”
“You don’t look fat to me,” Tom said.
“Thanks, Bat Boy.”
“You’re full-figured,” my mom added. “Like your father.”
“That’s not a good thing.”
“But you’re used to these girls, Laura,” she continued. “They’ve been making these comments for years. And you know punching them doesn’t help—”
“I don’t care about the fat jokes,” I said. “She brought up Tom.”
“Who would want to insult the captain of the football team?” Tom asked.
My mom frowned in the rear-view mirror. “What?” She shook her head. “What did she say?”
I paused. “Just that I should hang out with him because he can’t see how fat I am.”
“That’s awful,” my mother said.
“I like to think I make good company regardless,” Tom pointed out.
“The point is I shouldn’t have done it,” I said. “It was stupid. It’s just going to be worse when I go back.”
My mom seemed to consider that. “Well, then I hope you really socked her.”
I looked at her in surprise, and she tried to hold back a little smile. My cellphone buzzed. The bell must have gone, which meant Shal and Mia finally had a chance to text.
Shal: I heard you punched Allison!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mia: Are you okay?
Shal: Where did you hit her??????????
Mia: You’re not in trouble are you?
Shal: I love you!!!!!!!!! Carl laughed at her. Best day ever. Want to chill tonight?
“Who’s that?” my mom asked.
“Just Shal and Mia,” I said. “Asking if I’m all right. And if I want to hang out.” I snorted. “I guess they don’t get the whole grounding concept.”
“Who said you were grounded?”
I looked at her. “I’m not?”
She smiled. “I don’t condone punching people. Ever. But I know they can be hard on you. And you haven’t…you know…had a lot of friends come over. Why not have them over for a girls’ night? I mean it’s a school night, so you have until nine.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Tom asked from the back.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m just sick of those annoying hussies bothering your sister.”
I laughed. “Did you just call them hussies?”
She sat up a little straighter. “Never you mind. Now invite your friends over.”
I looked at her for a moment and then shook my head and started texting them back. It’s always nice when your parents surprise you.
—
“This house is cool,” Mia said, sitting cross-legged on my bed. “You have a big room.”
“Love the closet,” Shal added, peeking inside.
“Yeah, nothing special,” I said quickly. “What do you guys want to do?”
“We can creep on Carl and Liam,” Shal replied, walking over to the computer. She clapped her hands together. “I know. We can send Liam a message. You didn’t have a chance to get over there, so we’ll just write him one.”
I sat down on my bed. “I don’t know. What would we say?”
Shal paused. “Dear Liam, I am now also a felon. Will you marry me?”
Mia laughed and shook her head. “Just say hi or something.” It sounded like the idea of writing a message to a boy was enough to get her nervous.
She wasn’t the only one.
“Let’s write Carl instead,” I suggested.
Shal looked at me like I’d gone mad. “No.”
“But—”
“No.”
“Fine,” I muttered. “We can write Liam.”
“Excellent!” Shal opened my profile and cracked her fingers. “Dear Liam—”
“Hey, Liam,” I interjected.
“Fine,” she said. “Hey, Liam. Not sure if you heard, but I got suspended too.”
She looked at me for approval, and I nodded.
“You’ll be happy to know it was for punching Allison in the stomach—”
“That hussy Allison,” I added. “Don’t ask.”
Shal frowned and added it. “Hope you didn’t get in too much trouble. I’d love to come over and talk about it—”
“No,” I cut in.
“Go to a movie—”
“No.”
Shal sighed. “See you on Thursday. Love, Laura Ledwick.”
I stared at her, and she deleted the sign-off. “Not bad,” she said. “It says I care without making it clear that you stare at a picture of him all night.”
“I do not.”
She smiled. “It’s okay. I stare at Carl a lot.”
“A lot,” Mia agreed. She turned to me. “Want a make-over?”
“A make-over?” Shal asked. “Since when do you do make-overs?”
Mia flushed. “I looked up online what to do at a girls’ night.”
Shal and I glanced at each other and broke out laughing.
“A make-over sounds fun,” I said.
—
Two hours later, I was staring into a small portable mirror we’d borrowed from my mom. My chestnut hair was curled and crimped, I had black eyeliner and eye shadow on, and a whole lot of blush and concealer. I was even wearing lipstick. I hadn’t quite wanted so much, but we were having so much fun that I kind of just went along for the ride.
It was my first girls’ night ever, after all.
“I love it,” Shal said, nodding at me thoughtfully. “Next time we’re doing Mia.”
Mia looked terrified at the idea.
“I could never wear this anywhere,” I said.
It looked all right, I guess. I’d never even worn eyeliner or eye shadow before, and it did kind of make my green eyes stand out. And my hair looked kind of nice. But I wasn’t a makeup and lipstick kind of girl. And that was before I was recruited to be a Monster Crusher. Uh-oh. I still had to go train tonight.
Eldon was going to love my eyeliner.
“I think my mom’s going to be here soon,” Mia said, checking her cellphone. It was almost nine. “This was fun! Let’s do it again soon.”
“Definitely,” I agreed. “I’ll walk you down. I just have to make sure Stache doesn’t see me. He might pass out.”
“You have to show your mom,” Shal said. “She’ll love it—”
And then I heard it. The rattling.
Shal stopped. “What’s that?”
“Nothing,” I said.
Mia frowned. “I hear it too. Is your window loose?”
“It sounds like it’s coming from the closet…” Shal said, starting for the closet.
“No, it’s the door in my brother’s room,” I said quickly. “The draft comes in and knocks it back and forth. Super annoying.” I stood up and ushered them out of the room.
“Can I get my purse?” Shal asked.
I hurried back into the room and got it for her. “Shall we?”