The Wyrm King

by Tony DiTerlizzi

  Jules told their dad that he and Nick were going to a junkyard to look for a less mangled bumper for the station wagon. Their dad seemed surprised that Jules was taking Nick along, but he didn’t mind. He just warned them to make sure to wear gloves around all that rust. Nick thought tetanus was the least of their worries .Laurie was quiet in the car. She had fresh red scrapes on her arms that she said were from giving Sandspur a bath. The little faerie was huddled on her lap, licking his toes as if he liked the taste of them. Next to her were Jared, Simon, and Nick, squeezed in pretty tight. Mallory had claimed the front seat after eyeing Jules’s clunker with its scrapes and duct-taped bumper suspiciously.

  In front of Jack’s ramshackle house a sink- hole cut into his lawn. They piled out of the car and went up to the door, which they found locked for the first time in Nick’s memory. Mal- lory slid out her driver’s license, ran it through the crack in the door, and pushed the door open.

  Her fencing sword clanked on her hip, a sheath tied to two of the belt loops of her cropped cargo pants.

  “Did you just break into this house?”Nick asked her.

  “Nope,” Mallory said, walking inside. “Didn’t you see? The door was just open.”

  Nick gaped at her as they went inside. She seemed like a girl from a video game, the kind who can kick three guys in the chest at once and run in high heels. He had never met anyone like her.

  They all settled themselves in the living room, and Jared spread out the pages where they could all see them. Sandspur crawled around on the floor, snatching up palmetto bugs and popping them in his mouth.

  Nick frowned at Sandspur and said to Laurie, “Didn’t you let him go? We promised we’d let him go.”

  “I guess he just really likes you guys,” said Simon, smiling at Laurie. Simon reached out a finger toward the little creature but pulled it back abruptly when Sandspur bit the air in front of him.

  Sandspur opened his mouth in Nick’s direction, showing his red gums. “You promise to feed me. Feed me anything. Feed me until I’m full.” He looked at Nick beseechingly with wide, pale eyes.

  “You didn’t really promise that, did you?” Jared said, turning toward Nick. “They take promises really seriously.”

  That whole night was a blur. Nick couldn’t remember what he’d said. “I don’t think so.”

  “You did. Jules said it. You all promised together,” said the faerie.

  Laurie didn’t look at Nick. “Leave Sandzy alone. Just tell us about the thing you saw.”

  Nick groaned. “What is your problem?”

  “My mom didn’t have to spell it out. You didn’t want us. That’s what you said in therapy, right? You were just too scared to say it to my face.”

  “No, that’s not what—”

  “Forget it. We have more important stuff going on.” She pointed to the papers.

  “Look,” Nick said. “We never said we didn’t want you!”

  “Do you?” Laurie said.

  He was silent.

  “Did you say that you want us to live with you? Did you tell your dad that?”

  Nick hadn’t said that. Not exactly.

  “Yeah,” she said, getting up and walking out so that the screen door banged after her, stopping only to call back, “that’s what I thought.”

  Nick started to get up. He didn’t want her to be mad at him, but he had no idea how to stop her.

  “Hang on,” said Mallory. “I don’t know what’s going on, but let her cool off. Anyway, we need to talk about what you saw.”

  Nick sighed. “I don’t really know what it was. I thought I saw something crawling up out of the sinkhole. Somethings. Like snakes. Not exactly like the picture, but close enough that I think it must be the thing we’re worried about.”

  “Like this one?” Simon got down on his hands and knees to point to one of the pieces of paper. There was a sketch that looked like a ball of squiggles, with the note “As the rat king is to rats, so the wyrm.” Noseeum Jack’s father might have been a great researcher, but maybe not such a great artist.

  Nick squinted at the drawing. They’d looked at it a dozen times and never known quite what to make of it. “Hard to say.”

  “How dangerous could a bunch of salamanders be?” Jules asked. “I mean, more dangerous than gnarly, fire-breathing giants? I don’t think so.”

  “Here’s what we know,” Mallory said, pointing to the pages. “The giants have some kind of natural enemy. Both of them wake up. They fight until they take each other out. And based on this drawing, the giants’ natural enemy appears to be an evil ball of yarn.”

  Jules snorted.

  “Snakes or salamanders, I guess,” Jared said, tilting his head to look at it from a different angle. “Dragons, maybe. Even if it looks like a bowl of spaghetti. But it’s close enough to what Nick saw.”

  “Here,” Nick said, pointing to another piece of paper with an annotation. “I don’t think Jack’s dad drew this from life. He copied it from somewhere—a legend some settler had been told. Jack’s dad wasn’t around when it happened the last time. It was five hundred years ago. That’s the sixteenth century. Or the fourteenth century. It’s fifteen-oh-something. Which way does it go?”

  “Dude,” Jules said.

  “Ponce de León shows up not even ten years after,” Nick said, seeing everyone’s blank stares. “He was this Spanish explorer. Looking for the fountain of youth.”

  “I guess someone studies,” Mallory said with a pointed look in Jared’s direction.

  “Whatever,” Jared said. “How does Nick’s showing off help?”

  Nick gave Jared a poisonous look. “I’m not showing off. I’m just saying. He couldn’t have drawn this from life.”

  “Come on,” said Jules. “Chill out, you two.”

  “I didn’t think he was showing off,” said Simon, patting Nick on the shoulder.

  Jared scowled. “What’s a rat king, anyway? That’s what we need to know.”

  Simon looked up from the papers. “Oh. I know that. It’s crazy. Sometimes when there are a lot of rats in a small space—like during plagues or whatever—then the dirt or blood or, uh, other stuff sticks their tails together. And

  they start thinking differently—almost like they’re one creature. Isn’t that awesome?”

  Nick tried to picture it. “That can’t be real.”

  Jared started to laugh. “That’s gross.”

  “There are mummified ones in museums,” said Simon, grinning. “Really gross.”

  “Then they die, right?” Nick asked. “They can’t live like that.” Simon shook his head excitedly. “Sometimes one will die and the rat king will just roll on. They can live a long time like that.”

  “Ugh.” Mallory shivered. “Rats freak me out.”

  “There are reports of squirrel kings and field mice that got tangled up the same way. And I also heard about all kinds of . . .” Simon stopped as he noticed that everyone else was staring at him. He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s kind of cool.”

  “Hey, what’s this?” Jules pointed to a piece of paper that looked like it had been ripped out of an old book—an old engraving of a hydra with a single large body and multiple waving heads. It looked utterly terrifying.

  Nick really hoped that that had gotten in among the other pages by accident.

  This sinkhole was much larger.

  Chapter Three

  IN WHICH Someone Familiar Returns as Everything Else Becomes Unfamiliar

  As the others continued discussing the wormish, snakish things and how they could cause sinkholes, Nick went outside to find Laurie. Pausing in front of the door, he looked across the front yard at the pit yawning closer to the house. A motorcycle was parked down the street, but he didn’t see any other cars. No neighbors, either. He went around the side of the house, heading toward the back.

  He didn’t see Laurie, just overturned buckets and some beams leaning against the house, like Jack had been about to do some repairs. Nick’s mind wandered
to the last time he’d seen Jack and how Jack had told him there was something in the back for him. It had turned out to be an old, scummy kiddie pool. Maybe Laurie had gone there to check on how the mosquito larvae were enjoying breeding in it.

  Turning the corner to the backyard, Nick didn’t see Laurie, but he saw the pool. Bright blue plastic, covered with images of a grinning fish, and as thick with slime as before.

  “Laurie?” he called.

  Something moved beneath the green sludge. It was such a subtle shift in the water that he almost doubted he’d really seen it, but Jack had said there was something back here. Maybe there was. Leaning down slowly, Nick picked up a stick and drew it over the water, parting the lily pads and slime. Then he poked deeper.

  Nick stumbled back as a head rose. For a moment he thought Laurie had decided to go for the most disgusting swim ever. Then, as the head turned toward him, he saw another head surfacing. And another.

  A nixie blinked her golden eyes at him.

  “Taloa?”

  “Yes, Nick-la,” sang another, pushing back the murk and lily pads. Taloa and two of her sisters were here, in Jack’s kiddie pool. Nick grinned crazily. That was what Jack had been trying to tell him. Something you were thinkin’ on.

  “You’re okay,” he said, feeling stupid.

  “We are prisoners la-le-la. The man captured la- le-lo us and brought us la-la-le here.”

  “Yes,” sang one of the sisters. “A bad man la- le-lo-le-la.”

  “Something you were thinkin’ on.”

  “But why?” Nick asked. “Why would Jack bring you here?”

  “He wanted us to sing for him,” sang Taloa. “But we wouldn’t le-la.”

  Sing for him? Had Jack already figured out that they were going to need to lure the giants out to sea? Nick tried to think back, but he couldn’t remember Jack knowing anything about their plan. Maybe Jack had a plan of his own. A cold feeling of dread crept up Nick’s spine. “How long have you been here?”

  “La-le-lo,” sang one of the sisters. “Many days and nights.”

  Nick swallowed. The nixies must have been in the pool before Jack left with his son. Before Jack was hurt, certainly, or he wouldn’t have been able to carry them here. Which meant that the night when Nick had mentioned Taloa and Jack had said they could deal with it later, Taloa had already been caught and brought here.

  “You’ve been here since you left us the note?” Nick asked numbly.

  Taloa blinked several times, quickly, and nodded. “He said he would show me where my sisters were la-le-lo. I should not have gone with him.”

  Nick’s head swam.

  “You will take us back to the pond le-la?”

  “The pond’s not safe,” Nick said, thinking of the development and the construction that would be coming. “We need to find you a good stream. One where there aren’t a lot of people.”

  “Yes le-la-lo,” sang Taloa. “Bring us to this place

  ” Nick wasn’t sure where there was an untainted stream or a pristine lake, but he was horrified at the thought of the nixies staying here as the water level continued to drop and the scum got thicker.

  Then Laurie walked around the corner of the house, Sandspur resting on her hip. She’d been frowning, but when she saw Taloa, a huge smile spread across her face.

  “Tally!” Laurie yelled, continuing her habit of giving unearthly creatures stupid nick- names.

  “Laurie la-lo-le!” Taloa seemed glad to see Laurie, which made Nick feel weirdly hurt.

  “Hey,” Jules shouted from the front yard. “Are you two done fighting? Because we want to go take a look at the sinkhole.”

  Nick and Laurie exchanged glances. He needed to tell her something that would make her forgive him, but he had no idea what to say. It wasn’t fair. Her mother had decided to move out too. It wasn’t just his fault.

  “We’ll be there in a second,” he shouted back, stalling for time.

  “I don’t want to talk to you anyway,” Laurie snapped, and turned away from him.

  “Good,” he said automatically. Then he turned to Taloa. “We’ll be right back, and then we’ll get you out of here.”

  Taloa reached out her hand and caught his. Her skin felt damp and cool, and he couldn’t stop staring at the way a membrane stretched between her fingers like webbing.

  “Don’t make me a promise you don’t intend to keep le-la,” she sang, her voice low and grave.

  Right, Nick thought. Promises.

  This sinkhole was much larger than the one on the highway and looked larger than it had minutes ago. It stretched across the whole road and, in addition to coming close to Jack’s house, stretched onto the lawn of another house that looked like it had been abandoned. Even the motorcycle was gone. One of the nearby palm trees sagged dangerously toward the pit. They could see the dirt floor about seven feet down. Nick thought he saw some flickering movement in the shadows.

  “Do you think that ground’s solid?” Mallory said, peering down at the floor of the sinkhole. “Do sinkholes fall more if you touch the bottom?”

  “I don’t know,” said Jules. “Maybe we could drop something down and see what happens.”

  “I’ll get rope.” Mallory walked back in the direction of the house.

  Nick crouched down, trying to figure out what he’d seen moving. It might have just been the shadows cast by the tree. He shuffled closer and found himself taking breaths in short, rapid gasps. His pulse raced. There was something odd about the air.

  Mallory came back with rope, but she’d tied it around her own waist. Nick stood up, backing away from the pit.

  “What are you doing?” Jared asked.

  “Wait,” Nick said.

  “Hold this,” Mallory said to Jared. As he grabbed hold of the end of the rope that she handed him, she took three quick steps and jumped into the pit.

  “She always does this!” yelled Jared. He braced himself, leaning back. “If there’s a stream, she’s got to wade into it. If there’s an enormous red-capped goblin, she’s got to charge it.”

  “Oh yeah,” said Simon, “you’re one to talk. If Thimbletack tells you not to do something, what’s the first thing you do?”

  “She always does this!”

  Mallory landed on loose dirt. She looked around and then gave a little gasp.

  “What’s wrong?” Laurie called down.

  Worming out of the ground all around Mallory were snakelike shapes, their heads as craggy and pointed as turtles, their bodies wriggling, their tiny arms digging in the loose dirt. Mallory sprang back to the side of the pit. She began to climb and then slipped. She seemed oddly unsteady.

  “Mallory!” Jared yelled.

  Losing her hold on the rope, Mallory fell back down on her hands and knees in the dirt. Rustling surrounded her as vague shapes writhed on the ground. Her hands went to her throat. Her mouth opened, but all that came out was a horrible, choking sound.

  “Something’s wrong with her,” Simon said.

  “The air,” Nick said. “She can’t breathe. There’s something wrong with the air.”

  “Mallory!” Jared screamed. “Climb! Climb!”

  Jules grabbed the rope out of Jared’s slack hands. “We’ve got to get her out.”

  Nick took hold of the rope too.

  “Pull!” Jules shouted.

  Nick pulled.

  Jared snapped out of his daze and started to tug, Simon and Laurie joining in front of him. Jules stepped back, anchoring their efforts. The loop of nylon around Mallory’s waist slid up to just under her arms. Her slack body bumped against the wall of the sinkhole as she rose, her sword dragging up the side.

  Nick took a deep breath and held it, running forward to try to stuff his shirt between Mallory and the rough ground as they pulled her up over the edge. Already a cut above her eyebrow was oozing blood, there was a rip in her capris, and

  “What are these things?”

  one of her legs looked badly scraped. Her eyes fluttered open,
then closed again.

  They managed to carry her onto the soft grass, where she choked and then, crawling to her knees, threw up. Laurie brushed Mallory’s hair back from her face. Looking down, Nick saw three glossy black creatures scuttling away from Mallory. Their tails seemed tangled together.

  Nick grabbed hold of the creatures’ tails and held them up and as far away from him as he could. They snapped at one another in the air and tried to crawl up one another’s bodies to Nick’s arm.

  “Get a jar,” he yelled to Simon.

  “No, Simon, stay here,” Jules said, and raced off himself in the direction of Jack’s house.

  “Ugh, what are these things?” Nick said, shaking them until they went limp.

  Jules came back with two mason jars, one empty and the other filled with water. He brought the water over to Mallory, who swigged a little, then spat it out. She drank the rest in three swallows.

  “You okay?” Jared asked her, his hand on her shoulder.

  “I think so,” Mallory said.

  Then, gingerly, Jules held the empty jar so Nick could drop the creatures inside. Jules slammed the lid down as they began to work their way up the glass. He looked more closely at their tails. They weren’t so much knotted together as tangled with dirt and roots, which binded them like glue.

  “I couldn’t smell anything,” Mallory said, gasping. “But I was breathing something that wasn’t air. There were lots of those things.” She pointed to the jar. “I have no idea what happened.”

  “Could be methane,” Jules said, tilting the jar and watching the creatures scrabble around. “That’s odorless.”

  “Methane,” said Simon. “That would make sense. It displaces oxygen.”

  “It’s why you can’t build on a landfill,” said Jules. Nick looked at him in surprise. Jules rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on, I can’t know anything? Dad’s a builder.”