The Wyrm King

by Tony DiTerlizzi

  “Okay,” Nick said. “See me acknowledging that you have a brain. What else do we know about methane?”

  Jules shrugged. “It’s flammable.”

  “Fire-breathing,” said Jared. “Fire-breathing dragons? Could the methane be coming from them? Could they be breathing it out?”

  Nick looked at the creatures in the jar. They seemed so small to be so dangerous. Then he imagined all the sinkholes he’d seen online

  They seemed so small.

  brimming with them and shuddered.

  Laurie walked over to look at the creatures too. They scraped tiny claws against the side of the jar. “Well,” she said, “I guess now we know what’s worse than giants.”

  “You will take us to a bigger water.”

  Chapter Four

  IN WHICH They Drive in Circles

  Loading the nixies into the station wagon was the hardest part. First Jules put down a somewhat shabby tarp, and then Nick covered the back in soaking wet towels. The nixies used several more wet towels as cloaks. They huddled there, singing softly to themselves.

  “You will take us to a bigger water la-lo.” Taloa’s voice was firm.

  “We’re getting out of here before the sinkhole gets any bigger,” Nick said. “We’ll figure out a good stream for you, I pro—”

  “Don’t promise,” Mallory said. She was leaning on the long wooden handle of a rake and looked pale.

  Taloa glared at her with golden eyes.

  “We’re going to do our best,” Mallory said to the nixie, and put her hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Come on, get in the car.”

  Nick sat in the front so that Mallory could slump between her two brothers in the back, with Laurie crushed against the door. Simon wound up stuck with the jar of creepy dragons on his lap and kept glancing at Laurie’s lap like he was trying to figure out a way to trade them for Sandspur.

  “Maybe we should give them names,” Simon said resignedly, tapping the glass.

  “No,” the rest of the backseat chorused. That made Nick grin, but looking at Mallory’s pale, clammy skin made the smile fade fast.

  “We should give them names.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to go to the hospital?” he asked her.

  “The next person who mentions the hospital is going to get my fist in their face.” She didn’t even bother to open her eyes.

  It made Nick nervous to see her half asleep like that. It was too similar to seeing her collapsed at the bottom of that pit. Jared must have felt the same way, since he poked her leg with his foot. She opened her eyes enough to look annoyed.

  “Okay,” Jules said from the front. “Somebody tell me where I’m supposed to be going.”

  Nick shook his head. “We have to figure out what those things have to do with the sinkholes. And how to stop the sinkholes from spreading. And find a safe stream for the nixies.”

  Laurie looked over at the jar. “How do you think the tails get tangled like that? Like that rat king thing?”

  “Oh,” Nick said. “Simon, how big can a rat king get?”

  Simon shrugged. “I’m not an expert or anything, but I guess it depends on how many rats. Theoretically? Really big.”

  Nick thought of the drawing of the hydra with its waving necks and enormous body. He thought of the badly drawn ball of string they’d found among the papers at Jack’s house. Lots of horrible little creatures were bad enough, but the idea of their knotting together into some monster made the hair stand up along his arms.

  “So what we need to know,” said Laurie, “is how many dragon-lizard things are down there.”

  “Lots,” Mallory mumbled.

  “Knowing what they are would also be good,” put in Jared.

  Simon held up the jar. “They look a lot like the salamanders we saw back home.”

  “You mean the ones that turned out to be baby dragons?” Laurie asked.

  Sometimes her knowing practically every- thing there was to know about faeries had its advantages, Nick thought.

  Jared and Simon exchanged a look.

  “Look,” Nick said. “If there’s something you’re not telling us because you think we’re going to be freaked out, I’m already freaked. I doubt you can make it much worse.”

  “They do look a little like baby dragons,” Simon said. “But the ones we encountered back in Maine were poisonous—just touching them would burn you. See?” He pulled the collar of his shirt wide to show where a scar ran up the side of his neck. “These whatever-they-ares made Mallory pass out, but they didn’t burn her.”

  “See?”

  “They didn’t burn my fingers, either,” Nick said. “You know, when I picked them up.”

  “So they’re not dragons,” Laurie said.

  “Since none of you have any idea where we’re going, I’m stopping for gas,” Jules said, and pulled into a station. He got out and leaned back in the window. “You want anything from inside?”

  No one did.

  As Jules headed for the little market, Simon continued. “Well, they still could be dragons.”

  “And for a moment we were all reassured,” Jared said, moodily pushing black hair off his face. “Thanks, Simon.”

  “Well, animals look different in different regions. I mean, think about all the different ways that toads look. And how one kind might be bright-colored and poisonous while another kind might be really camouflaged and not poisonous at all.” He held up the jar. “So these might be dragons—just not the same kind of dragons we have in Maine.”

  Jules’s phone rang, rattling in the cup holder. Nick picked it up and looked at the number. It was their dad. He clicked the button and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Jules?” their dad said.

  “No.” Nick shifted guiltily in his seat, already anticipating having to lie. “It’s me, Nick.”

  “Where are you kids?”

  Nick looked around. “Just finished at the junkyard. We didn’t find anything good.”

  “Don’t come back to the development. A big sinkhole opened up along the main road. I got the car around it, but it’s widening. Tell me what’s close and I’ll come and meet you.”

  “Maybe you should go to Charlene’s,” Nick said. Laurie gave him a dark look from the backseat.

  His dad hesitated.

  “What if a sinkhole opened by the hotel?” Nick said, hoping that this was the right thing to say. Hoping that if his dad and Charlene could spend some time together without fighting, things could go back to normal. Whatever normal was. “We could meet you there,” he added.

  “I’ll call you from there,” his dad said. “Just to let you know I made it. If you’re in a safe place, stay where you are until I call. Then we’ll meet up. We might have to evacuate. You and your brother be careful, all right, Nicholas? Stay safe.”

  Nick closed the phone with a sinking heart as Jules got back in the car with two hot dogs and a congealed piece of pizza.

  “Who was that?” Jules asked.

  “Your dad,” Laurie said. “Why did you tell him to go to my mom’s?”

  “I don’t know,” Nick said.

  “You better figure it out,” she said. “You better decide what you want, Nick.”

  “Hey,” Jared said to Jules, “can I have some of the pizza? I want to feed these dragon things something. See what they do.”

  Jules sighed but handed the piece over.

  Simon unscrewed the top of the jar, and Jared dropped a chunk of pizza inside. One of the little mouths bit down on the cheese, and then its torso twisted back so that another head could attack the slice.

  “Uh,” Nick said.

  The tiny creatures were rotating faster, each one tearing off a chunk of food and swallowing it so quickly that it was gone in moments. Their bodies swelled at first, then stretched like worms. When they stopped stretching, they seemed much longer.

  “Uh,” Nick said again. “I think they’re growing.”

  “That’s what animals do,” said S
imon.

  “But I can see them growing,” said Nick.

  “That giant. The first one,” Laurie said. “The one that Jack killed. It was looking for salamanders. It was rooting around in the dirt for them.”

  “So the giants eat the salamander-dragon things, which keeps the population down,” said Simon.

  “Which explains the papers we found,” Jared finished. “So what happens normally? Like if we hadn’t interfered, what would have happened?”

  “I guess the giants fight with one another by eating the baby dragons and breathing flame. This cuts down the baby dragon population, but also burns down lots of stuff. But if there are no giants, then the dragons turn into hydras and destroy everything. There’s nothing to check their destruction. Does that sound about right?” Laurie said. The jar rocked back and forth as each of the dragons battered at the glass, trying to get to where Sandspur was finishing off the rest of the piece of pizza. They were bigger than they had been moments ago, nearly too big for the jar.

  “We have to get the giants back to shore,” Nick said. “And we have to do it now.”

  The cap was still in his hand.

  Chapter Five

  IN WHICH They Go to the Beach

  The giants had been drawn out to sea by the mermaid’s song, recorded and replayed with amplification thanks to hastily rigged electronics and a model boat. The giants had obediently followed the singing into the water. Maybe singing could bring them back, too.

  “Taloa,” Nick said, “we need your help.”

  “What do you want her to do?” Laurie asked, leaning forward in her seat like she could protect the nixies.

  “You said la-lo-lee-la you would find us water la,” sang Taloa from the far back of the station wagon.

  “We have to go to the beach,” Jules said.

  “No,” sang one of the other sisters.

  “What’s your name?” Laurie asked. “I’m Laurie.”

  “Ooki,” sang one of the sisters. “That’s what people called me lo-lee before. And my sister has lo-la- ah been called Ibi.”

  “We need your help,” Nick put in. “Nowhere’s safe right now, but maybe we can fix that. Then you could have your pick of streams or rivers or ponds. You could pick anything—”

  “Why should we la-le help you?” Taloa sang. “You never found my la-le-lo sisters la-lee. Your la friend lo- lee kept us prisoners la. I do not trust you.”

  “We need you to sing and lure back the giants. They’re out in the sea—we’re not sure how far out or how many of them we can get back, but we need to. They have to come back and eat all the dragons that are breeding in sinkholes. Um, things are bad now but they’re going to get a lot worse. For everyone.”

  “No,” Taloa sang.

  “Why not?” Simon asked her.

  “I will not lo-le help Nicholas.”

  Nick stared into her golden eyes and shuddered. “But why not?”

  She pointed a webbed finger at him. It reminded him uncomfortably of the mermaids and their cold stares as they dragged Jules underwater. “You found no sisters lo-le. I owe you la-lo nothing. I am glad la-lee-la the giants are gone.”

  “We have to do something,” Nick said. He thought about himself, just a few weeks ago, not bothering with anything. Not thinking he could change things. Now he was afraid that

  “No helping.”

  he had changed things too much and didn’t know how to change them back. “We have to keep the dragons from getting big enough to destroy everything. Or you’ll all be in danger again.”

  “No giants la-lo-le,” sang Taloa. “No helping.”

  “Simon, hold up the jar,” Nick said.

  Simon raised the jar of large dragon- lizards so that the nixies could peer at them. One of the dragonish things snapped at Ooki.

  “These things get tangled together, they grow, and then they eat a lot of stuff. Plus sinkholes are no good for streams. And there are sinkholes opening up all over the place because of these creatures.” Nick paused. “If you help us now, I promise I’ll take you wherever you want. Any stream. Any lake. Anywhere.”

  “Do you la-lo swear on your life?” asked Taloa, the nictitating membrane closing over her eyes and then opening again.

  He shivered. “Yes.”

  “You can’t keep promising like that,” Jared said, aghast.

  But Nick had nothing to give anyone but promises.

  “I will help,” sang Ooki.

  “I will help too,” sang the other.

  “No,” Taloa sang. “Le-lo-le we must hide from the giants. We must not trust the humans further. Even with their la-lo promises.”

  “Tell us your plan, Nicholas,” sang the sisters, huddled in the light blue towels.

  “Do you even have a plan?” Jules asked softly.

  Nick shrugged. “Um, get the nixies to sing? Get the giants back? Get out of the way?”

  Jules laughed. Laurie and Jared exchanged glances.

  “We’re going to need to get the nixies out on the water,” Jared said. “Even if sound carries over water, they’re still going to have to be out far enough to get the giants’ attention.”

  “My sisters lo-le-la do not like la-lo salt,” sang Taloa. “They will not la-lo swim in the sea.”

  “We need a boat,” said Jared.

  “I don’t know where we can get a boat,” Jules said. “But I know where I can get a surfboard.”

  The quickest way to get a surfboard was to borrow it from someone close by, and the person they knew who lived the closest and had a surfboard was Cindy. Jules pulled up the station wagon in front of her house and got out like he was facing execution. In the week since the disastrous staying-out-all-night giant- luring party, Cindy’s parents had threatened to call the police on Laurie, Jules, and Nick for burglary (of Cindy’s father’s prized fish) and wanton destruction of property (that part was all Sandspur). It was only their own daughter’s involvement in the whole thing that seemed to make them reconsider.

  Luckily, there was no car currently in the driveway. Which Nick really hoped meant that Cindy’s parents weren’t home. Maybe they could just get the surfboard and go.

  Mallory got out of the car and stretched, yawning. She seemed to have a bit more color. “This is your girlfriend’s house?” she asked Jules.

  “Yeah,” Jules said quietly.

  Nick decided that as the least miserable or sick person out of the station wagon, it was his job to knock on the door. Which he did.

  Cindy opened it a few moments later. “You have to get out of here! If my parents see you— look, you just really shouldn’t be here.”

  From behind her, in the house, they heard her father’s voice. “Those little sociopaths! What do they want? They come back to murder the rest of my fish?”

  “How come you haven’t called me?” Jules asked, clearly completely forgetting the reason they’d come.

  “My dad took my cell phone,” Cindy whispered. “Right after he grounded me forever.”

  “You could have e-mailed me or something,” Jules said. “When I didn’t hear from you at all, I didn’t know what to think.”

  “Computer privileges suspended,” Cindy said, her hand going to her hip. She looked past him at Mallory, who was leaning against the car, her glossy black hair blowing in the breeze as she checked the ties on her sword. “Who’s that?”

  Jules looked over. “A friend of my brother’s.”

  “Oh, right! Sure! Your brother is a real...” She wasn’t whispering anymore.

  “We need to borrow your surfboard,” Nick interrupted.

  Cindy seemed to deflate. She sighed. “It’s around the side. Take the longboard. Is that the only reason you came over?”

  “I’ve been texting you all week,” Jules said.

  “Tell them that if they step one foot in this house,” her dad yelled from inside, “I am going to use them as chum! Chum, I tell you!”

  “Are you sure you can’t come with us?” Nick asked. “We cou
ld really use the help.”

  “I really better not,” Cindy said before she shut the door.

  Jules stared at it a moment, then shook his head and went to get the board.

  The beach was windswept, and rough waves crashed against the shore, throwing up enough spray to coat Nick’s arms with a fine dusting of salt. Even in the late afternoon there were still surfers out in the swells and a small group of sunbathers spread out on towels. Nick wanted to scream at them. Didn’t they know about the sinkholes? Weren’t they worried?

  “I can’t take the nixies out there,” Jules said to Nick as they clambered down from the highest dune, where the car was parked, past palm trees and sea grapes to the compacted sand and shell of the beach.

  Mallory walked up to Jules without her shoes on. Simon and Jared were behind her. “You ready?”

  Jules shook his head. “I can’t do this. I can’t be the one to go out there.”

  “What?” Mallory asked him.

  “Merfolk took him underwater. For a while,” said Nick. He didn’t want to say anything else, not about Jules’s nightmares or the fact that Jules no longer went to the beach each morning. He wasn’t sure they’d understand.

  “We can’t surf,” Jared said. “We live in the middle of Maine. We only know how to swim in pools.”

  Nick saw Jules start to say something and was suddenly afraid that Jules would volunteer to go out on the water when he wasn’t ready. Nick started talking before Jules could. “I’ll go. I’ll take the surfboard and a nixie out into the water.”

  “You’re going to go?” Jules asked, looking at Nick in alarm.

  “I’ll go,” Nick repeated, toeing off his shoes and trying to convince himself that he wasn’t terrified. The hot sand scalded the soles of his feet. “I’ll go out there with the surfboard and one of the nixies.”