HowlSage

by Brock D. Eastman

  As I walked up the lane toward The Pink Hippo I felt something hit me in the back. I turned and saw a pinecone sitting in the middle of the gravel drive.

  Something hit me again. I turned.

  Another pinecone.

  “Nice shirt,” came the voice from overhead, and a moment later Jesse became visible. He landed next to me. “McGarrett fixed my J-Pak and I was just testing it out.”

  I smirked. “Any sign of Ike?”

  “Naw, that little pipsqueak is still ‘sick.’ But you and I both know he isn’t sick. He’s embarrassed at his constant screw-ups.”

  I knew I should feel bad that Jesse was berating my friend, but I didn’t. After all, his recent series of cataclysmic mistakes nearly cost me and my cousin our lives. Killing us was supposed to be the HowlSage’s job, not Ike’s.

  “McGarrett is sending us to the canning factory tonight,” Jesse explained. “So let’s hurry and get you suited up. I left a spare shirt in the workshop changing room for you, and Mrs. Riley brought down some hunting pants and shoes.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “You gonna hunt tonight?”

  “Yah. The burns are already healed up.”

  I nodded. I wasn’t sure if it was Mrs. Riley’s salve or Ike’s white powder.

  We rode into town in the back of the Rolls. The idea was to drop us off a short ways downstream from the abandoned factory, then make our way to it.

  It was dusk, which impeded my vision. Jesse was already invisible, but I could see imprints from his footfalls in the soft dirt next to me. A steam was rising from the river running next to us as the water cooled in the chill night air.

  “Hey Jesse, that isn’t the gray mist stuff, is it?”

  “Doesn’t look like it to me,” came Jesse’s voice from beside me.

  As we approached the factory, we were surprised to see a light glowing through a few of the windows. Was someone inside? If some civilians were, they had no idea the danger that lurked nearby.

  Jesse motioned for us to slow down, I crouched low as we crept forward. The light seemed to flicker and then it disappeared.

  Jesse pushed open the old rusted door that he and McGarrett had entered previously. The metal base screeched across the concrete, announcing our presence to anyone within a mile, or at least that was what it sounded like.

  The factory was three stories tall, most of it open from floor to ceiling. There were pieces of machinery in some areas, with ladders and balconies. The back portion of the factory was sectioned off into three floors of offices.

  Jesse and I moved deeper into the abandoned factory in our search. It reeked of garlic, which was the prime product being canned here. It wasn’t the yummy smell you get when someone’s baking garlic bread; this scent was rancid. Near certain machines I’d get a particularly good wiff and almost hurl.

  An odd sensation kept me looking back at the door every few moments. Sounds fair; I mean the thing we were hunting was also hunting us, but this was different. There was someone or something else here. I could sense it.

  “Let’s split up,” Jesse said.

  “Are you—” I stopped myself. I couldn’t sound like a wimp. I wasn’t scared—or was I? For the first time since we’d started this hunt, I realized that maybe I actually was scared.

  I thought I couldn’t be, that fear did not affect me. But the risen hair on my arms and the shivers running down my spine said differently.

  “Am I what?” Jesse asked.

  I puffed out my chest. “Ready,” I said, covering my fear.

  “Yeah,” he whispered. He was invisible, so in actuality I already felt somewhat alone. “I’ll head toward the offices; I’m probably better suited for close-corner combat than you are. You search out here. If either of us finds it, I’m sure the other will know. If we don’t, we’ll meet up at the entrance to the tunnel.”

  “OK.”

  Of course, I didn’t see him leave, but I knew I was alone.

  As I said, the factory was almost cavernous, the third floor lined with windows, some cracked, some only fragments left.

  Where had the glow come from? It made little sense as I estimated what windows we’d seen the light shining through as we’d approached. There was no platform in this section of the factory. The lower floors of the factory had fewer windows, but none of them had been lit up.

  I walked over. There were shoe prints in the dust that cloaked the floor, smaller than mine, but not Jesse’s and not HowlSage prints either. The marks left by the shoe soles were in an odd pattern as if the wearer had danced, or spun, or…something. Then the prints left the circle.

  So I followed. But they disappeared where the dust did. I felt a cold draft and looked up. Several of the windows were missing in this section of the factory. I determined the wind must have swept the dust away.

  I continued in the general direction the trail had been leading when I heard something on the air.

  A voice, chanting. I turned to see the owner, but there was no one.

  The chanting continued. It was similar to the song I’d heard outside that house a few nights prior. But the voice was different. Deeper. I’d heard the HowlSage speak in my dream, but…

  Shouting erupted behind me from the third floor of the offices. Jesse!

  I darted for the stairs to help. As I did, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it—or someone.

  It was my size, cloaked in black, in the shadows of one of the old machines. I turned to look. It held something shiny in its hands.

  A dagger?

  My hand was on the hilt of my sword, but the cloak swirled and a second later the person was gone. Either in the shadows, or literally vanished into thin air, but gone nonetheless.

  I heard Jesse shout again. He was challenging the HowlSage. I started up the first flight of stairs.

  “Finally I’ve got you cornered, you stinking hairy beast. Where’s your misty comrade?”

  A loud growl rumbled and I felt the staircase railing shiver.

  “That’s the best you got?” Jessed called.

  I figured he was still invisible. I pictured him circling the creature that was probably over nine feet tall by now.

  I reached the second landing on the staircase.

  Roar!

  “Whoa!” I heard Jesse yell. “That was close, but not close enough.”

  Something banged against the wall.

  “Throwing things, are you?”

  I twisted the handle of the door, but nothing happened.

  I saw the wall of the room shake and heard something smash against it.

  “Not nice. Take this.”

  I pictured Jesse slashing at the HowlSage with his sword.

  Suddenly the staircase shook violently and I looked down to see the lower landing and set of stairs crumbling to the ground. The second landing and staircase leading to the third floor shook and started to fall.

  Within a second, the landing I stood upon dropped sharply at an angle. I reached for the door and held on tight. The only thing stopping the landing from dropping two stories was the bolts anchoring it to the third floor, and they wouldn’t hold long.

  I spread the wings from my pack out and started the J-Pak. Letting go of the handle, my body slid off the landing and I let the J-Pak lift me into the air. I hovered for a moment, looking for anything that might have caused the collapse.

  It was there, the cloaked figure. It had a chin, a human-looking chin. It held a dagger in its hand and I knew the weapon had been used to slice through the old metal supports. This was not your typical knife.

  The knife was silver, and in its hilt was a large red ruby.

  A crash resounded overhead, pulling my attention upward. Time seemed to slow down.

  Glass flew through the air, and I watched as Jesse’s body was launched through a third floor window. He was visible and he was falling. I dove to catch him, but I couldn’t get there. My hand only caught his arm a moment before he slammed into the wood-plank floor, slowing him down only a bit.<
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  Still standing just a few yards away was the cloaked figure. Even in the shadows of its cloak I could see its gleaming eyes.

  Jesse groaned and I looked at him.

  When I turned back, the staircase saboteur was gone.

  I looked toward the third floor. I wanted to attack the HowlSage, but I stopped myself. If the stalker hadn’t left, he might come back to finish off Jesse. And Jesse was hurt bad.

  A short moment later, the HowlSage came to me. Leaping from the third floor, the demon landed ten yards away. It snarled and then let out a deafening howl.

  Jesse’s eyes opened wide and he pushed himself up. The HowlSage started for us. I slid my sword free of its sheath and stood before my cousin. The beast stopped five yards away and rose to its full height. Its eyes narrowed and flashed yellow.

  It was ready to strike.

  But then its ears perked up. It slowly turned its head. Something had changed its mind. The beast stepped backward slowly.

  I knew this was my chance. I dashed forward at the beast, when I heard a grinding noise overhead. I looked back—the bolts holding the landing I’d been hanging from were coming loose, and Jesse lay directly below.

  I dashed back to my cousin and pulled him away from the point of impact. We’d barely gotten clear when the landing crashed to the ground with a metallic noise that sounded like a thousand cymbals crashing together.

  I looked back and the HowlSage was gone. It’d gotten away, and for some reason I felt relieved.

  Chapter Eleven

  October 12th—Thursday

  It turned out Jesse had only sprained his ankle; my last-minute grab had been just enough to stop him breaking anything or, well, dying.

  School went quickly and I didn’t see Melanie—I mean Mel—anywhere. Which was disappointing. I wanted to feel her hand run through my hair again.

  Weird how I’d only talked to her once for all of twenty minutes, but it was like I had to see her, feel her touch.

  It didn’t happen today though; she was nowhere.

  Ike was still sick, and Jesse was laid up. So when I returned to The Pink Hippo after school, I was on my own with McGarrett.

  “Taylor?” McGarrett asked.

  “Yah?”

  “Do you feel up to hunting tonight?”

  “Of course,” I said.

  “I mean, with Jesse hurt, the communications still down, and Ike sick, we can’t provide you a lot of support.” He paused for a moment. “Your job is more dangerous than it’s ever been.”

  “OK, but really, can it get much more dangerous? I’m fighting a demon either way,” I said.

  Mr. Riley frowned.

  “I know what you do is essential,” I corrected. “I’m not saying it’s not. But the task at hand is always dangerous. I’m always a moment away from—” I swallowed hard.

  “Death,” McGarrett finished. His expression changed from serious to kind. “Taylor, can I ask you a couple questions?”

  “Sure.”

  “How is your Walk?”

  I felt my heart drop into my knees. He wasn’t talking about my ankle. I knew exactly what he meant, spiritually. “Ummm fine,” I lied.

  And there, with those words, I proved my walk wasn’t what it was supposed to be. I’d lied, which was a good indicator my walk wasn’t where it should be.

  “You’re sure?” he continued. “I know I’m not your parent, but I am responsible for you. And I guess I’ve been lax in keeping up with you.”

  “You’ve—we’ve been busy,” I said.

  “No, I don’t want to make any excuses for it. I have to do better at mentoring you.”

  I nodded. “All right.”

  He smiled. “Now, are you absolutely sure you’re ready to go out tonight?”

  I pulled on a black pair of gloves. “Yep.”

  “Good. With the sensors not functioning correctly after dark, we don’t really have any updates on the HowlSage’s movements tonight. One place we haven’t been thoroughly checking is the park.” McGarrett tapped the keyboard in front of him and a large city map appeared on one of the screens. “I’ve mapped out the sightings we’ve had of the HowlSage and some possible paths it would have taken to get to those places. At least four of the routes would be through the park, so tonight I want you to spend some time checking there.” McGarrett stopped and held out a folder for me to look at.

  I opened it and found several grainy images of someone in a cloak. “Who is it?”

  “We don’t know, but the images were caught by a camera in the park. Some wildlife photographer set the camera up to track the Canadian geese, and when he saw this suspicious figure in the background of his pictures he decided to let the police know.”

  I handed the pictures back to Mr. Riley.

  “The chief brought these to me after they stationed a patrolman there, but they never saw the cloaked figure. It might have been a one-time thing, but I think with the likelihood that the HowlSage is moving through the forest, and your sighting last night, these images are of the saboteur from the factory.”

  I nodded. McGarrett was right; he had to be.

  We went outside and I strapped on the J-Pak.

  “Since you’re alone tonight, I want you to check in every couple hours.”

  I sighed.

  “I mean it. Use a pay phone or fly back here, but I want you checking in.”

  “A pay phone, really?”

  “There’s one at Yoder’s Fuel Station and one at the IGA grocery store. Our cell phones aren’t connecting at night for us either. In fact, calls are getting dropped at dusk for everyone in town. Apparently, several cellular companies have sent crews up here trying to fix the issue, but they can’t figure it out,” McGarrett rubbed his chin and looked up into the night sky. “The Chief says that their dispatcher can’t get a hold of the patrols at night either. His men have to come by the station to check in every so often. Only landlines seem to be working.”

  I nodded, but McGarrett looked me in the eyes. “Taylor, I mean it. I owe it to your parents to watch out for you. I can’t do anything about you hunting, it’s your job, it’s who you are, but I have to try my best to make it easier and safer for you.”

  I laughed unintentionally, but he did as well. We both knew my job wasn’t safe and it couldn’t be.

  “I will call, or come back to check in,” I promised.

  “Good. Now get going. The sun is nearly set.”

  I touched the controls to my jet pack and blasted into the air. I gave it a little more power than needed, partially because I was tired of all the sappy talk, but also because mentioning my parents had made me want to find and kill the HowlSage as soon as possible.

  Ashley Meadows was mostly dark. I headed for the middle of town where the park and lake were located. I had my night vision goggles on, knowing that I was again looking for a needle in a haystack. It was hard enough to find a big hairy creature bounding through the woods, but someone my size in a cloak, now that would be impossible.

  Two hours had passed with no sighting. So I made my way to the gas station and landed. I found the pay phone, an old, rusty thing, and inserted a couple of quarters to make my call. It was weird holding the handset to my ear and hearing it ring.

  “Hello,” I head McGarrett answer.

  “Yeah, it’s Taylor. I’m just checking in. Haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “All right. Thanks for calling. You need anything?”

  “Nope, but I’m heading back to the park to look.”

  “OK.”

  I hung up and started for the back side of the gas station. I’d decided to ditch the J-Pak and wings there, so as not to draw suspicion to myself at the pay phone. It was one thing to be dressed all in black, but to have a jet pack strapped to your back was too much for a civilian to handle. Especially since the underside of the gas station canopy glowed like a tanning bed.

  I took off again and started flying a zigzag pattern over the woods.

  Then I saw it
. Not the HowlSage, but the figure. I only caught sight for a brief moment, and it was only the slightest movement that got my attention. I brought myself to a hover position and used one hand to zoom the night vision goggles in.

  Nothing.

  I flew lower in the direction it’d been walking. I went slow.

  I saw some bushes moving near a trail. I knew I’d have to be on foot if I wanted to track the figure, so I landed.

  I stepped forward into the underbrush silently and found myself on a path, the beginning to which had been shrouded by bushes. Just twenty yards ahead, a silhouette moved forward on the trail.

  I crept along for several minutes following. The figure turned and walked between two pine trees. I’d lost sight of it for the moment. Not wanting to walk into a trap and find the person waiting for me, I dropped to my belly and crawled under one of the trees, staying near its trunk and shrouded under a blanket of needle-covered branches.

  A small gap in the branches allowed for me to see what was ahead. Before me was a clearing lined with pine trees, like a greenish-blue ring of spires. Immediately within the pine circle were rocks—large round rocks ringing the clearing—and in the center was the figure, on its knees, bowing.

  Up and down, up and down.

  I heard it whispering, chanting as I had heard it the night before. I couldn’t understand what it was saying.

  The figure stood and looked into the sky, which I realized was visible. The clearing extended far up into the atmosphere. Above us, only a sliver of the moon showed. A few more days and it would be new moon, which meant the Earth’s satellite would disappear from view.

  The figure pulled a dagger from its cloak. The same as from the other night, ruby hilt and all. The knife was set on the ground in the center of the circle, and the figure knelt again, bowing up and down, up and down.

  Suddenly the radio on my wrist squealed to life.

  “Testing,” came the voice. “Testing, one, two, three.”

  I slapped my hand over the radio, but it was too late. The figure looked toward me. It scooped up the dagger from the circle and dashed wildly into the pine trees at the far side of the circle.