by Jon Skovron
“Sorry we disturbed you,” I called. “We’ll be gone in a minute.”
He sniffed again and cocked his head to one side.
“Boy, I don’t think you should be talking to him!” Sophie hissed.
“What, you think being rude is a better idea?” I asked.
“Let’s just leave him be. Come on. We need to stay calm and act like we’re supposed to be here.”
We started walking again, as fast as we could go without breaking into an obvious run. But then a door opened in front of us and a ten-foot-tall spider crawled out.
“Aaand, let’s go back the way we came,” said Sophie, spinning around.
The man’s head still stuck out of the doorway. He still sniffed the air, staring at us.
“Do you think he’d help us?” I asked.
“Um…” Sophie looked doubtful. Then she glanced back at the giant spider. It was following us. Her eyes widened and she looked back at me. “Couldn’t hurt?”
“Excuse me,” I said to the man.
His mouth opened and he hissed, showing us a row of fangs. Then he moved out from the doorway and it was clear he wasn’t a man at all. He was a manticore, with a lion’s body and a massive, barbed scorpion tail.
We jerked to a stop, looking back and forth between the giant spider and the manticore.
“Oh, God, this is not happening,” whimpered Sophie as she grabbed my arm hard.
More doors opened and other creatures came out. Some of them, like the hydra with seven long dragon-like heads, and the giant cyclops, I’d known about. Some of them, like the creature with the front part of a rooster and the back part of a horse, or the headless humanoid with a face peering from his chest, I had never even heard of.
“I am so so so sorry,” said Sophie as she clung to me.
One or two I might have taken. Maybe even a few. But they just kept coming from every door. Bats as big as wolves. A wolf with three heads that was as big as an elephant. They looked ravenous and completely wild as they circled around us, hissing and growling and chittering in a way that sounded unmistakably like hunger.
The headless thing with the face in its chest was the first to move in, but the manticore let out a growl and stabbed it in the shoulder with its tail. The thing whimpered in pain and scuttled back. The manticore then drew closer, saliva dripping from its open, fanged mouth.
“STOP!”
The roar was deafening and all of the creatures flinched back. Then the Dragon Lady crashed through their ranks and coiled around us protectively.
“Grab hold!” she said. We grabbed tufts of the coarse fur on her back and she launched up into the air again, shooting down the hallway even faster than we’d gone before. We didn’t stop until we’d turned the corner and gone most of the way down the next hallway.
“Didn’t you receive instruction to not visit that hallway?” roared the Dragon Lady.
“Yes, I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault,” said Sophie, her eyes welling up with tears. “I was just…I didn’t know….”
“We’re okay now,” I said, taking her into my arms.
“But I could have gotten us killed!” she said.
“Yes, you could have,” said the Dragon Lady. She sighed and closed her eyes. “I suppose I should have known that you were too young to resist such temptations.”
“Why are they here?” asked Sophie.
“They have to be somewhere,” said the Dragon Lady. “If we turned them out, then the humans would soon hunt them down and exterminate them. Entire species eradicated. No, that is not acceptable. They stay in their hallway, we feed them. It is generally a peaceful arrangement. But you have stirred them up. You both smell too much like humans. Now that they’ve caught your scent, they will start tracking you. I am sorry. You must leave The Commune immediately.”
THE DRAGON LADY gave us some supplies and offered to fly us to our car.
“It’s the least I can do,” she said as Knossos, Rhoecus, and Javier strapped food, water, and a large canister of gas to her tail. “I dislike having to turn you out so abruptly.”
“Well, we kind of brought it on ourselves,” I said.
“Even so,” she said. “And besides, I rarely get out these days. It will be pleasant to taste the night air.”
Once the supplies were securely strapped on, Rhoecus and Javier slid a massive panel back from the outer wall. I could see a black, star-speckled sky, and the fresh smell of desert night air poured into the hallway.
The Dragon Lady let out a rumbling sigh. “Yes, it has been too long. Climb on, little monsters. Let’s be off.”
A few moments later we shot up into the night sky, the thunderous flaps of leathery wings in our ears. I tried to see what The Commune looked like from the outside, but I couldn’t see it.
That’s when I realized how they hid from humans. The whole structure was invisible.
I looked out over the dark horizon as we flew across the desert plains. I felt Sophie’s arms wrap loosely around me, and her cheek press against my back. The wind whistled so loud that I almost missed her say, “Freedom.”
I’d never been this high up in the air before. I’d never seen such an expanse of land stretching out beneath me. The world looked so much quieter up here. I wondered, If we could just get enough distance, would everything look like that? So simple? It reminded me of Medusa’s act. That fleeting feeling that there really was a purpose to everything. If only you could hold on to it. But did it really matter if there was some deep meaning to it all? This night stretching out from horizon to horizon seemed, after such a close call, more beautiful than any I’d ever seen before.
All too soon, we landed next to our car.
“I should not stay by the roadside for long,” said the Dragon Lady.
Sophie and I quickly unstrapped the supplies from her back and climbed down. She immediately started to move away from the road. But then she looked back at us.
“Where will you go?” she asked.
I looked at Sophie. She shrugged. “We don’t really know,” I admitted.
“In Los Angeles, there is a group,” said the Dragon Lady. “Not quite as big as Ruthven’s coven, but big enough, and I believe young enough, for you to find a place. They pose as a Hollywood special effects studio. It is run by the person who helped us build The Commune.”
“Who’s that?” asked Sophie.
“The Invisible Man,” said the Dragon Lady. Then she launched herself up into the night sky, leaving a thin line of fire behind her.
We watched her sail off into the distance, her red and yellow scales winking in the moonlight. Once I could no longer see her, I turned to Sophie.
“Well?”
“She’s good at exits, I’ll give her that,” she said.
“What do you think about going to LA?”
“Could be worse.”
“It isn’t much to go on, though,” I said. “She didn’t give us an address. Even assuming it’s actually in Hollywood itself, that’s still probably a lot of ground to cover.”
“True.”
“And finding an invisible man obviously makes it even harder.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You got somewhere better to be?”
I smiled. “Not really.”
“Then I say, go west, young man, go west!”
“You’re driving, though,” I said. “It’s the least you can do after nearly turning us into manticore chow.”
19
Vortexes
WE WERE ABOUT halfway across Arizona when the landscape started to get strange. I was sitting in the passenger seat, half napping, half daydreaming, when I noticed massive red rocks rearing up around us, some of them in oddly unbalanced shapes like the kind you’d see in old Road Runner cartoons.
“Where are we?” I stretched my arms and legs as best I could in the cramped car.
Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know. Somewhere west of where we were the last time you checked the map.”
“I take it you
’re not really paying attention to signs.”
“Nah.” She patted my cheek. “That’s what I have you for.” She made a flipping motion with her hand. “Figure out where we are then.”
After looking at the map for a little while and comparing it to mile markers, I realized we’d gotten a little off course somehow.
“We’re in Sedona,” I said.
“Okay. And that means…”
“Well, the way I routed us, we were supposed to be going through Flagstaff about now, but that’s thirty miles north of here. How did we get off track like that?”
She shrugged. “Probably me not paying attention. It happens. Is it a problem that we’re in Sedona?”
“No, not really. It’s only a little out of our way, and we can just pick up the main highway after we pass through.”
Sophie looked around at the rock formations. “Cool area, anyway.”
“Yeah. There’s something about this place. I can’t remember what, exactly. Whirlpools or something.”
“A hot tub would be completely brilliant right now. Bubble this desert grime right off me!”
“I could probably use a shower, too.”
“Uh, probably?” She wrinkled her pert nose.
“Hey, you stink, too!”
“Please,” she said. “My arse smells like peaches. Just ask the anal probes.”
AS WE DROVE higher up into the mountains, the scrub brush turned into clusters of pines, then finally into a forest. We found a wooded area that had a campsite with showers. No hot tubs, obviously, but they did have hot water.
“Here, catch.” I heard Sophie’s voice through the thick cement divider between the men’s shower room and the women’s. A moment later, a pair of jeans and a T-shirt came sailing over. I caught them just before they hit the wet ground.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Clothes for you. I told you that you needed some. I bought them in that shopping mall we went to.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
The jeans fit perfectly and were just my style. I was starting to get excited about having some new clothes. Then I unfolded the T-shirt.
“Are you kidding me?” I said.
“You don’t like it?” I could hear the smile in her voice.
“It says ‘I’m with the hottie.’”
“Do you disagree with the statement?”
“Well, no…”
“What’s your problem, then? It was on sale.”
“Sure it was.”
“Look, if you’d rather wear that nasty old ‘I just drove cross-country without bathing’ T-shirt, you go right ahead.”
I sighed and put on the I’M WITH THE HOTTIE T-shirt.
Once we were back outside and she saw that I was wearing the T-shirt, she smiled. “Such a good sport!” She looked at me appraisingly for a moment. “It looks good on you. You need more fitted shirts like this. Show off your physique a bit more.”
“You look good, too,” I said. She was wearing a bright blue summer dress that looked sort of retro 1950s with big, white polka dots.
“Thanks,” she said. She turned purposefully toward the car. “Now, let’s eat the rest of that food the Dragon Lady gave us. Then I want to go for a walk.”
“A walk?”
“Sure. This is a campsite. We don’t have a tent so the least we could do is go for a nature walk or something. Besides, with as much time as I’ve spent in a car lately, if I don’t get up and move around, my arse is going to be permanently flattened.”
“Why do you talk about your ass so much?” I asked.
“Why do you talk about my arse so much?” she asked.
“What? I don’t!”
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“Now you’re just messing with me.”
She laughed as she yanked open the trunk. Then she began to rummage through our supplies.
I wasn’t sure what kind of game Sophie was playing, or if there even was a game. One minute she was incredibly sweet, the next minute she was doing this weird teasing thing that might or might not be flirting. I understood Claire. Even if I didn’t always like what she said, I could depend on Claire. But Sophie was still a mystery to me.
THE DRAGON LADY had given us a big loaf of bread, a cured ham, a block of cheese, and a small basket of fruit, telling us that it had all been made or grown right on The Commune. Despite its simplicity, or maybe because of it, it was delicious.
Afterward, Sophie selected a short hike for us. We followed the dusty red trail through some dense woods for a while. Eventually, we stepped out into a clearing and there was a massive red rock canyon in front of us. The sun was beginning to set, casting shadows across the uneven formations and layered red stripes along the cliffs.
“Oh, wow,” she said. Then she just stood there, gazing out over the canyon.
“It’s going to be dark soon,” I said. “If you don’t want to get caught out here in the dark, we should probably head back.”
“Claire’s the one who doesn’t like nature. I love it.” She dropped down to sit by the edge of the cliff and leaned against a flat rock. “Come on,” she motioned me to join her. “Let’s watch the stars come out.”
I sat down next to her, my feet sticking out over the edge of the cliff. She immediately curled up into my arm. It took me by surprise. Of course, she’d gotten close like this before. But it had always been for a reason. Like after Claire had forced her out on the gurney, or when we’d ridden the Dragon Lady. But there was no real reason for it now. Other than just because it felt nice. And it did feel nice—her warmth against me, her fresh, soft smell in my nose. After a moment, I let my hand rest on her shoulder, bringing her in even closer.
“Isn’t this nice?” Her eyes were half closed as she faced the last rays of sunlight. The warm desert winds tousled her corkscrew hair.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Cuddling isn’t so bad after all.”
“I never said it was.”
“No, but you used to tense up every time I touched you.”
“Did I?”
“You didn’t realize it?”
“It wasn’t like I was doing it on purpose. I don’t really come from a touchy-feely family. I’m just not used to it.”
“I guess that makes a difference. My mum is a big hugger. So was my dad.”
We sat there for a while in silence. I realized that although I’d talked with Claire about her family history, I’d never talked about it with Sophie. Considering how she’d tried to avoid it before, the fact that she’d just volunteered something about her parents was a big deal.
“I’m sorry you lost your dad,” I said. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost mine.”
“You miss him.”
“I do.” That surprised me a little. “I mean, he’s not a hugger. Or even much of a talker, really. But I do miss him. His familiar presence. His quiet strength. It was comforting. You know?”
“Yeah. I think I do know what that feels like now. So what are you doing out here, so far away from him?”
I looked out at the canyon that stretched across the horizon, valleys and crags rising and falling, sometimes in serene order, sometimes in bizarre, dangerous shapes. An eagle flew between outcroppings, its outstretched wings riding the air currents as it swooped, rose, and soared.
“I was mad at him. For wanting to send me away to live with the Frankensteins. It felt like a betrayal of everything we stood for as a family. Like I was supposed to be his ticket back into the fold. The monstrous black sheep of the family comes home. And I was angry that he was still treating me like a child, that he didn’t respect me as an adult. Of course I really was only a child. I didn’t know anything about the real world.”
“Do you regret leaving, then?”
“No, not really. It had to happen somehow. I’m the son of one of the most famous monsters ever. My dad is a big guy who casts a big shadow. I had to get out from under it, I guess. So
I could have my own life.” I suddenly thought of Medusa then. It’s time to start your journey, she’d said. Not on your father’s path, but your own. I wondered what she’d say now about this path I’d made.
Sophie sighed and nestled farther into the crook of my arm.
“This place has good vibes,” she said.
“That’s what it was.”
“What?”
“Vortexes. Not whirlpools. Sedona is supposed to have these energy vortexes. Basically, naturally concentrated good vibes.”
“Cool. Do you think it’s true?”
“I don’t know. Do I think it’s any weirder than most of what we saw at The Commune? Not really.”
Sophie laughed silently. “Yeah, that was the craziest nursing home in the world.” She pressed the palm of her hand against my chest. “I’ve been meaning to thank you.”
“For what?”
“For everything you did back there. I don’t usually like being vulnerable in front of people like that. But you…made it okay. I feel safe around you.”
We lay there in silence for a while as the sun set behind the mountains. After a little while I realized there was music off in the distance.
“Do you hear that?” I asked quietly.
“You’re only just hearing it now?” she asked.
“What is it?
“Sounds like a flute player.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“It is.”
We listened to the lone melody echo through the canyon, soaring, dipping, whirling almost like the eagle. The sun had finally set. All that was left was a faint red glow that put the rock formations in a silhouette.
“Look.” Sophie pointed.
Standing at the top of the highest peak was a figure. It had a hunchback, and feathers stuck out of its head and arms. It danced nimbly on the mountaintop as it played on a long flute. Then it jumped high into the air and landed on a different peak, then jumped and landed on another, all while still playing its tune. As the last red glow disappeared, the figure and the song faded away until it was just the evening winds whispering through the dark canyon.
“I wonder who that was,” said Sophie.
“Kokopelli, I think,” I said.