HowlSage

by Brock D. Eastman

  The fountain was the namesake of the inn—three oversized pink hippos wallowed in the water in varying positions. The pink paint that once adorned the copper animal busts had mostly peeled off, but a few flecks still remained. The fountain was a scratchy green and white color; that’s what happens to copper after it oxidizes. I only know about oxidization because Ike explained it to me. Apparently the Statue of Liberty is also made of copper.

  Ike reached in the fountain and moved his hand around as if searching for something. A moment later he pulled out his web-phone and tapped the screen. I looked over his shoulder and watched as a video played on the screen.

  “What are we—?”

  Ike held up his hand. “Watch. Listen.”

  The video zipped by in fast-forward mode. Ike quickly tapped the play button as McGarrett stepped out of the workshop. He walked to the Rolls, and Jesse came out of the workshop dressed in his silver suit. Neither of them said anything, but both got in separate vehicles and a moment later drove down the lane. The camera rotated, following the cars until they disappeared out of sight. It even zoomed in as far as it could.

  Ike tapped the device off and slid it back in his pocket, then reached in the water to touch something in the fountain.

  “What was that all about? How’d you do that?” I asked.

  Ike smiled, happy that he’d impressed me. “I’ve placed several cameras all around the inn, my own security surveillance. McGarrett doesn’t know about them,” he explained.

  “And neither did I.”

  “Nope, nor does my dad or mom,” he said. “They’re secret.”

  For some reason it didn’t concern me that Ike had covertly planted cameras all over the inn; instead, I felt honored that he’d shared it with me. Although, why not before now?

  “You can’t tell anyone, not even that cousin of yours,” he explained.

  “I won’t,” I promised. “So, what’s in the pool?”

  “Oh, there’s a switch that turns the streaming signal on and off. If I left the stream open, McGarrett or my father might have detected it. So while the camera remains active and senses motion, I don’t allow its wi-fi to transmit.”

  “Way beyond me.” I smiled at him, a real genius, and three years younger than me. “Where do you think they went?”

  “Not sure, but it looks like they were doing some recon; Jesse was dressed in his hunting clothes. Maybe they’re hoping to find the HowlSage sleeping in its den.”

  “How long ago did they leave?”

  Ike pulled out the phone again and checked the time stamp on the video. “Looks like noon.”

  “Hmmm, and they’re still not back yet.”

  “Nope, there were no more records, besides you and I walking up the drive.”

  “Well, I guess we should just wait. How about we see if we can snag a snack?”

  Secretly, I was miffed that they’d gone somewhere without me. I mean, I remember what McGarrett said about school first, but still. We had a little more than 27 days to find the foul beast, or risk it spreading hate and bringing forth a small demon army. That seemed a bit more serious than my studies.

  The sun dropped and still no sign of McGarrett or Jesse. We tried calling, we even tried tracking them. But the signal was still messed up. Ike explained that it seemed to happen at sun down, and the problem hadn’t existed the previous day before sundown either.

  We asked Mrs. Riley where they’d gone, but she didn’t know. I could tell she seemed a bit nervous. The three of us ate together and Ike and I decided to go to the library afterward.

  I was getting angrier by the moment—an entire night of hunting wasted. I was stuck home. I’d considered gearing up and flying out on my own, but Ike reminded me we didn’t know where the creature was due to the dead signal. I could search all night and never see a sign of the beast. It’d just end up being a waste, and if they returned while I was gone, there would be no way to contact me.

  More so, I was angry at Jesse for going without me. We were supposed to be partners, cousins, blood. Instead, he was out having fun, taking the glory probably, and he’d eat it up if he got the HowlSage on his own. His head would explode with pride.

  It wasn’t until nearly midnight when the Rolls sped up the drive. Ike and I saw the headlights from the library window and raced downstairs.

  The Rolls skidded in the gravel driveway as it grinded to a stop. The door swung open and McGarrett nearly toppled from the car. He was bleeding, and Jesse was nowhere in sight.

  Mrs. Riley ran down the stairs to her husband. “What’s happened?”

  He looked up at her. “I’m fine. Really, it’s just a scratch and a bump.”

  I noticed that there was a large hole in the windshield of the car. This was a great shock, as the windshield wasn’t your standard car safety glass—it was reinforced bullet-proof.

  This was bad. I watched Ike climb on to the hood of the car. He had his web phone out and was taking pictures, surely running calculations of some sort.

  The moment had gotten away from me.

  “Where’s Jesse?” I asked.

  McGarrett looked at me. “I don’t know. We got separated.”

  I took a step forward. “Why did you leave him?”

  “Had to—” He took a deep breath. “Look in the trunk.”

  I ran around the car and popped it open. I’d never seen anything like it. It shimmered in the moonlight, mesmerizing. All thoughts of Jesse vanished from my mind.

  Ike joined me and we both stared at the magnificent thing.

  Before us was a wide jeweled belt. Chains of white diamonds surrounded a fist-sized ruby.

  I looked back at McGarrett. “Where did you find it?”

  Chapter Five

  October 6th—Friday

  I repeated my question, “Where did you find it?” It was but a few seconds into Friday, but the day had already started grimly.

  “We’d noticed something odd in a section,” McGarrett took a deep breath, “—of the old canning factory. The levels were higher than they’d ever been, but it was still daytime. So we decided to investigate immediately.”

  I felt an odd sense of guilt for being so angry that they’d left me behind. “Then what happened?”

  Ike had disappeared to the workshop, and Mrs. Riley had gone to retrieve some bandages. McGarrett sat on the ground, his back against the car.

  “The canning factory was dark—not like shadows or nighttime darkness, but dark as in the absence of hope or anything good. It was cold. An eerie mist swirled within the building and voices whispered in the mist,” McGarrett’s voice trailed off. “The voices whispered hateful things. I felt an odd sense of guilt for being so angry that they’d left me behind. “Then what happened?” My heart sunk, and thoughts I would have never had before began to slip into my mind. I saw things, things of pure evil.” He stopped and took a deep breath, his eyes closed. “I’d entered with Jesse, but he had gone invisible far before we reached the door. I stood there and felt entirely alone.” McGarrett’s voice was weak as he continued. “Then it came. I don’t know what it was, but it blocked my exit. Shrouded in a gray mist, the thing moved forward. I backed away from it, and tripped over a large beam. Suddenly Jesse attacked, still invisible, but I knew it was him. His sword glowed green, appearing only momentarily as it sliced into the gray mist. There appeared to be nothing inside. The mist separated, but reformed quickly.” McGarrett stopped for a breath. “He yelled for me to run; I turned and crawled out of reach. But it didn’t matter. I watched as the sword wielded by an invisible hand appeared each time it sliced and slashed through the mist. There was one thing to do—I knelt, bowed my head, and began to pray. My eyes closed tightly.” McGarrett swallowed. “What seemed like hours but was a matter of minutes passed as I prayed. I felt the darkness lift, I felt a sense of relief, of someone holding me. When I looked around, the gray mist was gone. I was alone and I knew that Angels had to have been the ones holding me. I called for Jesse, but he didn’t
answer.”

  Mrs. Riley had returned with bandages and a warm, wet cloth. She began wiping and dressing her husband’s wounds.

  He spoke again, “I went back to the car and retrieved a sword mightier than the one Jesse had used.”

  I knew exactly what he was speaking of—he meant the Book.

  “I walked into the factory, praying aloud, searching for Jesse. I’d never realized how large the building was, and I had to search every inch of it. If Jesse was still invisible, but—” he stopped.

  I knew what his next word would have been if he’d continued.

  “Hours passed and I knew the sun would disappear soon, when I remembered something your father and I had discovered. There had been an old sewage drain that we’d sealed together. But before we did, your father had walked its entire length. A side tunnel had been dug, connecting it to the mines, but no man had dug this connection. We planted some sensors and then sealed the factory side of the drain.”

  It was hard to hear him speak of my father. They’d had more adventures together than I had, but more than that, it made me miss him.

  “When I reached the old drain, I found the seal had been destroyed. Something had broken through.” McGarrett looked at me. “Taylor, I would have climbed in and gone after, but my body won’t allow me to do what I could long ago.”

  I nodded to let him know I understood.

  McGarrett stared at the ground. “Instead. I went back to the Rolls and made for the mines—”

  Mrs. Riley interrupted, “You know you aren’t—”

  Mr. Riley broke in, “—I had to, the boy had been taken, I assume. I might have been his only hope.”

  “Wait, might have?” I asked.

  “Yes, but not yet. I sped to the mines like a banshee, which for all I knew was exactly what we had faced. I blasted through the old chain link fence to entrance seventeen, one of the last that has not collapsed. Darkness had fallen, so I knew I had to be even more cautious. The HowlSage would now be awake and stalking the hillsides.”

  Ike suddenly ran up to the car wearing thick sparkling gloves. He reached into the trunk and lifted the belt out. I admired the glittering jewels once again.

  Ike walked to the front of the car and set the belt onto the hood. Mrs. Riley looked at it, as did McGarrett.

  “Yes, we must get that inside and safe,” McGarrett said, and climbed to his feet as if no injury had ever riddled him. “Quickly, everyone to the workshop.”

  The four of us went inside and McGarrett ordered all of the windows and doors to be sealed.

  “What about Jesse?” I asked, ashamed I had forgotten him at the sight of the belt. There was something possessive about the thing, as if nothing else in the world existed once you caught sight of it.

  “Yes, as I was saying,” McGarrett started again. “I walked into the mine and followed it deep into its depths. For how long, I don’t remember. I searched many off shoots of the tunnel; whenever I would come to a dead end or a collapse, I’d turn and go back to the main branch of the mine. Deeper and deeper I went, then I heard something. Soon, out of the darkness, Jesse appeared. No longer invisible, he turned and fired something into the darkness. An ear splitting roar howled from the black. He looked at me and shouted, ‘run!’ I didn’t, he ran to me and pulled something from an old burlap sack.”

  “The belt,” I said without thinking.

  “Yes,” McGarrett nodded. “Jesse gave me the sack and ordered me forward. He fired blindly into the darkness again. A new howl erupted. Jesse was hitting his target—and a moment later I saw it. The HowlSage erupted into view, enveloped in the eerie gray mist I’d just seen. Together we ran for the entrance of the mine. I was slower, so Jesse continually stopped and fired at the beast to delay it. Once or twice he attempted to use his sword, but it glowed green each time it entered the mist and the HowlSage didn’t try to avoid the sword, but took the blows. I knew we were facing something more powerful than we had before—the silver in Jesse’s sword should have turned the HowlSage into dust, but it had no effect on the creature.”

  “The silver didn’t affect the HowlSage,” Ike repeated. “That’s not possible.”

  “It’s the truth. We eventually made it to the car. I climbed inside, as did Jesse, when something fell from the sky, or dived. A beak of sorts pierced through the windshield, sending fragments of glass everywhere. That’s where the scrape comes from. The beast tore its beak from the hole and reeled back for another strike; I’d never seen anything like it. Jesse climbed out of the car and swung his sword at the creature. The darkness shrouded its identity, and it flew from the hood before it could be killed.

  “The HowlSage had emerged from the mine and was starting for us, but the gray mist seemed to hang back near the entrance. Jesse looked at me and I knew what he was thinking. I tried to stop him, but he argued that he had to try to kill it and that I needed to get the belt away from here. Before I had any chance to stop him—not that I would have been successful—he tore forward to meet the HowlSage. I heard a screech and felt the car rock as the beak of the creature pierced the roof of the Rolls,” McGarrett stopped for a breath. “I slammed the car in reverse and tore from the mine property, my destination The Pink Hippo. I looked out the rearview mirror, but there was no sign of Jesse, the HowlSage, or the gray mist.”

  I sighed and listened for the sound of tires on gravel or the slamming of a door, as if expecting for Jesse to arrive any moment.

  “What of the flying thing?” Ike asked McGarrett.

  “I’m not sure; it didn’t attack again,” he said.

  “What is the belt?” I asked. “I mean, is it special or something?”

  “Not sure yet, I need to run some tests.” McGarrett stared at me. “Jesse never said where or how he found it; we were too busy scrambling for our lives.”

  The hours passed slowly. McGarrett wouldn’t let us leave the workshop. The building provided more protections than the many-windowed inn. We were literally sealed within. Of course I knew, as did Ike, that the defenses only worked against physical threats, which meant ninety percent of our enemies could still get to us.

  McGarrett had been busy analyzing the belt as Ike looked on. Mrs. Riley hovered over me, trying to comfort me. “Jesse is more than capable of handling himself against a five-day-old HowlSage,” she assured me.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I awoke with a start, lifting my head from where it rested on a computer panel. Using an old hard drive for a pillow hadn’t been a good idea.

  A few feet away, McGarrett flipped to the screen that monitored the workshop entrance.

  He was looking ragged, but clearly it was Jesse. He’d returned.

  McGarrett clicked a button and the door opened. The bright sunlight from the outside blinded me as I looked to see my cousin. Jesse hobbled forward; a tear in his pant leg revealed a deep gash. He sat nearby and looked at me as I lay in a sleeping bag on the floor.

  “Glad you had a good night’s sleep,” he teased.

  Typical that Jesse would still have a sense of humor.

  “Yeah, well what else could I do? I was stuck in here, because you ran away.”

  He smiled then looked to McGarrett. “Is it safe?”

  “The belt? Yes, we have it here. I’ve run some tests, it certainly has the signs,” McGarrett said.

  Jesse frowned.

  Signs? Signs of what? I wondered. I was about to ask, when Jesse groaned painfully.

  “What is it?” Mrs. Riley asked. She’d already started to clean the wound. “Is it a bite?”

  We all knew the implications of the question, and if it was a bite, we knew the consequences that waited.

  “No,” Jesse answered. “A branch got me.”

  Everyone sighed in relief.

  “So it got away?” I asked.

  “It did, but I chased it all the way to the river where it slipped into the murky water and disappeared. The sun was nearly up.”

  “What of the mist?” McGarre
tt asked.

  “Never left the cave, and I blocked the HowlSage from reentering.”

  “And the flying thing?” Ike asked.

  Jesse shook his head.

  “All right, now that Jesse is back and the light has returned, it’s time for…” McGarrett started.

  I waited for him to say, “It’s time for school.” But that wasn’t to be.

  “—one of the missus’ wonderful breakfasts. Then off to bed for everyone,” McGarrett finished.

  “You mean no school?” Ike asked.

  “Not today. Everyone needs rest; this weekend is going to be challenging to all of us.”

  We all went to the dining hall and in ten minutes food started streaming from the kitchen as Mrs. Riley brought one dish after the other. Jesse looked as though he might doze off at any moment, and although I’d gotten a little bit of sleep, I could hear my pillow calling me.

  There was to be no hunting that night—sleep all day, relax to a book or movie, and then sleep some more. We’d get back to it Saturday night.

  Ike woke me about 2 p.m. I agreed to go with him to Coal Chase Lake, which stretched across the back side of the property. It was a great place to spend an afternoon.

  We outfitted ourselves in fleece jackets, hats, and gloves and made our way through the woods behind The Pink Hippo. It was a good three-mile hike on dirt paths winding through pine forests, the smell of which made me feel alive.

  As we hiked, we talked about the hunt, and Ike shared a couple theories he had about the gray mist. He believed it was some form of demon spirit that had been defeated or banished. As for the flying thing, he wasn’t sure yet.

  I just hoped I didn’t have to fight either one.

  As we arrived on the shore we looked out over the lake. The greenish blue water stood out against the cold gray sky. The lake hadn’t frozen over yet, but we were certainly not going swimming.

  An old wooden row boat would be our transport out onto the water.

  The lake was dotted with several small islands; Ike and I had named each one. There was Pine Needle Island where a small glen of pine trees had created a three-foot covering of needles. Croaking Flat, where we’d discovered an entire colony of frog burrows. On Cedar Point Island a single cedar tree stood in the center, from which we’d hung a rope, creating a swing to jump into the lake from.