The Huldra Hostility

by Michael Almich

  Shy renewed his efforts to wriggle the gun from his pocket. The closest red had taken the distraction from the arrow and again climbed up on the back of the seat. The coaster took a sudden and hard turn to the right just as the red leapt. Shy watched as it fell, hit the canopy of another ride, and landed on the park floor.

  The coaster whipped around another turn and rose into the air, and the second red now made his way towards Shy's car. This little creature must have decided to throw caution to the wind, because, with an immense jump he leapt one whole car. He was now only three cars away! Shy saw an impish smile creep across the little, wrinkly, round head. The smile exposed a set of pointed little teeth, and blood red gums.

  Although he felt the urgency of the situation, Shy found it difficult to make progress on the squirt gun with the sudden changes in direction. Each time the coaster shifted direction, Shy would slide in the seat. Now the coaster rose almost into the roof girders for its final descent.

  The second red also rose, emboldened by its recent successful leap. Shy watched, with his squirt gun now half out of his pocket, as the red leaped again. The leap was poorly timed, and the back of its head slammed into a girder as they passed. The creature, like the one before, fell limply to the ground!

  The coaster now slowed and pulled into the loading platform. As he climbed out, he saw the man who sat next to him squint angrily at the squirt gun, and then turn away. Shy spied the last red, just in front of the man. It was walking backwards, and aiming its arrow directly at Shy. Shy did not waste any time, he had the squirt gun out and took aim. The red ducked back in front of the man, and Shy kept squirting. Before he knew it, people were yelling, and the very same security guard that had confronted Shy at the fountain had a grip on his arm.

  The man was shouting at the guard, who was apologizing. Shy saw that the man now had a large wet spot in the crotch of his khaki shorts! The red was nowhere to be seen.

  His mother saw Shy being led down the ramp by the uniformed guard and ran up immediately. Needless to say, Shy did not have an explanation that he could share with anyone. In the end, being kicked out of the Mall of America that day wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. As his mother scolded him all the way to the car, Shy could only think about his new book.

  Chapter Three

  "You cannot save him now, Shylock."

  Shy had devoured the book called The Faerie in less than one full day. Then he went back and reread it. Twice! It had so much information about fairies and their world. He had read some of the information from other sources during the school year. Much of what the book contained was new to him though, or directly contradicted what he had read. Shep had told him that this book held more truth than anything else that humans had gathered, but it didn't mean it was all true. Shy resolved that it was the best he had to go on though and he memorized as much as he could.

  Even now, as the bus continued north from Duluth on the winding Highway 61, Shy had the book out and was studying goblins. Claire tried several times to see what it was that Shy was reading. Shy knew it made her crazy that he was reading. Usually she was the one with the book tucked under her arm for easy reference, and quoting it to all who would listen.

  Shy hadn't discussed much of the fairy interactions that happened during the school year with Claire. Claire was extremely intuitive, however, and one day after the incident in March, where Shy had run into the schoolyard to help Shep, she had put two and two together. She knew he could see through the fairy magic, and had surmised that he was still having run-ins. After she had figured out that much, she would ask him pointed questions that he couldn't evade. So, she now knew that the Unseelie fey were still after the box. She said she wanted to help him, and after much pushing, Shy gave in… to an extent. He told her about everything except the book, and the incidents at the Mall.

  Claire had been incredulous at finding out that Shep was a Pooka. She didn't outwardly express her disbelief, except to say that she still thought the dog had Lyme's disease. Shy knew that Claire had been in constant contact with Portia over the school year though, and Shy felt that Portia must have filled Claire in on most all of what happened last summer at the end of camp.

  As always when he thought of the tall girl with curly long hair, Shy felt the little tingle of excitement. He had emailed her once or twice over the school year, to which she promptly responded each time. She had wanted him to call her, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. The questions from his mother on the topic of who he was calling would have been unbearable. He found that, as he remembered their experiences of last summer, he was really looking forward to seeing her again.

  He was shaken from his daydreams by Claire swiping The Faerie from his hands. He didn't bother to fight for it. Let her read it, he thought. She was better at remembering details anyway. It might be good to spread this information out to everyone. The Forest cabin boys had gotten close to the Lake cabin girls by the end of last summer. Whatever adventures arose this summer, Shy was sure that they would be in them together.

  He glanced past Claire, who was deep into reading The Faerie already, to the scenery along the highway. On the one side the endless Lake Superior glittered with sunlit jewels, on the other the lush summer forests and inland hills still dotted with spring wildflowers passed by. Shy watched an eagle soar high above the Sawtooth Mountains. He reflected on the rugged terrain, and realized that it was beautiful… and dangerous.

  ***

  He must have drifted off, for when Claire poked at him to open his eyes, they were just pulling into the dirt parking lot that served as the Gateway to Camp Lac Igam. Shy stared at the faces carved into the posts of the old weathered sign, and realized something. Some of the faces were familiar! Many were creatures he had seen last summer with his newly found ability. He now recognized the fossegrimen, a goblin with its small tusks, a hippo-faced troll, and what looked to be a nisse, although it did not look like Tom T.

  He had not thought a whole lot about the drab, hairy little creature that had waited on them, picked up after them, and in the case of Daniel and Shy, even saved them from trolls! He was sure that he would get an earful for not putting the box back last summer like Tom T had expected of him.

  The bus came to a stop and Claire shoved the book into his ribs.

  "Can I keep this for a couple days?" she asked. "It has got a lot of good info I need to read if I am going to keep an eye on you this summer. Shy?"

  "Well…." He hesitated. On the one hand he was happy she was interested, on the other, he wanted to show the guys.

  "C'mon… I will bring it back to the Lodge in a day or two. I want to finish it, so I can share with the girls. We are on your side, Shy… and we wanna help. Pleeeaasssse?"

  "OK, but I wanna show it to the guys, so two days, OK? And take care of it!"

  She nodded earnestly.

  It was time to get off. As they piled out of the bus, Shy saw several of the other boys were already standing around talking. Shy immediately moved off to join their little group. Sam, Sawyer, Ralph, and Finn were standing around Henry, who was gesturing dramatically.

  "I don't believe that Gust is gone… I just can't believe it."

  "Hey guys," Shy said as he walked up.

  "Shy!" Henry yelled and to Shy's surprise came over and gave him big hug.

  Sam and Finn gave Shy the head nod, and red headed Sam rasped out, "Hey Shy."

  Ralph quietly nodded to Shy and Sawyer punched Shy right in the arm.

  "That's for not emailing this year," Sawyer softened the punch with a smile.

  It was true, Shy had at first procrastinated the emailing. Then, once he had heard about Gust from Tad, he had decided he didn't want to be the one to explain to everyone.

  "Didja hear about Gust, Shy?" Henry didn't even wait for an answer as Shy shrugged his shoulders. "He never showed up after the camp games last year!"

  "Who didn't?" Daniel shouted as he exited the last bus, ran up, and jumped on Shy's back.
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  Henry sighed loudly. "Gust! Gust is gone! Clancy had a memorial service for him and everything… didn't even invite us…. Now, they have some dorky replacement. Some professor."

  Daniel looked at Shy, and Shy nodded slowly. The smile had disappeared from the tall dark-haired Daniel's face.

  "Where is the new guy?" Daniel asked. "Gust's replacement?"

  "He already went over the bridge with one load of bags," Sawyer chimed into the conversation. "Gust brought all of them over at once last year. This guy is a pretty little flower… we better water him…" As he made that strange statement, Shy saw him pull out a handful of water balloons from his pocket. He looked at the circle of all six other boys, a devilish smile on his face, and said, "Gentlemen, it's gonna be a goooood summer!"

  The friends looked around at each other and smiled.

  Just then, Clancy took out her old, beaten up, red and white megaphone and spoke to the campers, "All right campers! Welcome to Camp Lac Igam! Follow me, single file now."

  With those words, they crossed the mist covered river gorge on the creaking rope bridge. Shy wondered how much weight the dry, weather-pounded rope could hold. The rope was rough to the touch, and the stray pieces broke off as his hand brushed them. It was as thick as Shy's calf though, and he decided he was sure it would hold up. At least, he hoped it did!

  Shy turned his attention to the other campers as they crossed. He looked up and down the line. New faces blended with the old, and Shy realized that he hadn't see Crutch yet. While he was certainly not friends with the bully, knocking him down on the first day of school last year had certainly changed Crutch's attitude towards him. They had even passed in the halls several times without Crutch attempting to knock Shy's books out of his hand.

  He thought he caught a sight of Portia's bouncing locks far ahead, but wasn't sure. No doubt she was catching up with the girls that had returned from last summer. He was excited to make new friends, but really happy to see all his Forest cabin boys from last year. They seemed like the same old guys except Finn had gotten taller, Sawyer had gotten thicker, and Sam's voice seemed to have gotten deeper. Daniel had the same confident air and smile, and Henry certainly hadn't stopped talking. In fact, Shy thought with a smile, he could hear Henry singing from the back of the line.

  When they were almost across the bridge, Shy flashed back to the previous summer. It was at that very spot where they had encountered the flying creature. It had bashed the rope and screamed its horrible scream at several of the boys. Ralph had almost fallen off the bridge! They then reached the other side where, later in the summer, Shy had been grabbed by the creature and subsequently discovered its weakness… it was ticklish!

  Next was the short hike to the courtyard of the Lodge. There, gathered in a huddled group, were the four cabin counselors. Shy instantly saw Tad and Mad Meg, sporting flame red hair. The other two counselors appeared to be new. Shy certainly did not recognize them from last summer.

  Something seemed strange to Shy. He saw a man up by the Lodge, struggling with the cart of bags. The counselors were darting looks at him and whispering. When they saw Clancy leading the campers up to the courtyard, however, the four counselors split up and prepared to call out names.

  Shy looked back at the man unloading the bags. He had long hair, drawn back in a pony tail. He wasn't thin, but didn't give off that rugged aura that Gust had. The man straightened from the cart and turned to fetch the remainder of the bags from the parking lot. Shy sucked in his breath in surprise, as he recognized the man. It was his seatmate from the roller coaster at the Mall of America a few days prior!

  Just then Shy heard his name called, and Sawyer pulled him along over to the Forest cabin group. He didn't have any time to consider Gust's replacement and the coincidence of recognizing him. The group was gathered when Tad called out one last name… a new name. Edgar.

  A boy walked over with his bag slung over his shoulder. Besides having a really big nose, Shy thought, he seemed pretty normal. Shy watched as Tad diplomatically asked the boy what he liked to be called. Once they had settled on referring to him as Eddie, Tad gave him some quick background information.

  "Eddie, I know you are going to like our cabins. These other boys were all here last summer, so they are already familiar. You and I will talk more about some of the other… ummm… peculiarities of this campground later today." He looked up from the new boy and addressed them all while grabbing Sawyer by the collar as he had already lost interest and began climbing the tree next to Tad. "Listen, guys, things have changed a bit from last year. I am sure you have all heard by now about Gust's disappearance."

  At mention of the incident, all the boys became attentive.

  "The rules from last year, about staying together, etc, etc, are still in place. I am pleading with you for no more sneaking around. The new guy, Moriarty, has already told us counselors that there will be a zero tolerance policy for rule breakers. Do you all know what that means?" He continued without waiting for an answer, "That means that you would have been sent home many times over last summer, Sawyer."

  The boys looked at each other. Shy could tell that there was a hint of smiles on many of the faces. Finn was actively covering his mouth to hide his expression. Shy glanced at the new boy who was sullenly staring at his feet. Shy wondered if he was stuck up or just embarrassed at being the new guy. Already this summer was beginning to have a different feel.

  The hairs on the back of Shy's neck began to stand on end, a distinctly unusual feeling in the oppressive early summer humidity. He left his ponderings of the new boy, and stole a glance over his shoulder. The new caretaker, Moriarty, was rolling the final cartload of bags up the path to the courtyard. Shy saw that his lips were moving. He continued to talk to himself until reaching his destination. Several kids from other cabins stepped up to grab their bag from the cart. Moriarty glared at them through his wire-rimmed glasses. He again began mumbling to himself and turned from the cart. His eyes latched onto Shy and he stopped mid-turn. Shy's stomach flopped upon itself and he quickly turned back to his group.

  "… so because of that I have decided to keep the room assignments the same, with the exception that Eddie here will be staying in the Raven with Shy." Tad finished his speech.

  Shy stared at Tad. Of course this was coming, he thought to himself, where else would the new guy go? Tad had told him last summer that he usually stayed in the Hive. That must be the plan for this summer.

  All the other boys were looking at him. He saw concern on Ralph's face, and Henry's lip was raised in a sneer of disgust.

  Shy abruptly made a decision that he would accept this new kid as a friend, or at the very least give it a good effort. He walked over and uncharacteristically put his arm around Eddie's shoulder.

  "Raven cabin is ready to go." Shy stated.

  Tad beamed, but Eddie shook off Shy's arm and stepped away. Shy looked at him, but he still didn't make eye contact. Shy then looked over to Daniel, who had his eyebrows raised in surprise. The tall dark haired boy just shrugged.

  Tad caught the whole exchange and decided to get them moving. Soon they had made the trip up the hillside to the cabins in the trees, up the Elevator, and to their respective cabins.

  Shy had barely showed Eddie the hidden slide entrance into the Raven, and hooked up his hammock, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

  "Shylock you have caused us much distress. You did not return the box!"

  Shy turned and his vision quickly snapped. There, before him, was Tom T. The short, ragged nisse looked to be in much worse shape than when Shy had seen him last. His drab colored clothes now hung limply from his body, and had been patched many times over. He had obviously lost some of his rotund belly, and was now leaning on his hooked staff.

  “I was going to… really!”

  Shy saw that Eddie had stopped attempting to hook up his own hammock, and was staring at Shy with his mouth hanging open. For some reason, Shy was irritated. He was irritated because he
knew this scolding from Tom T was coming, and he was irritated that he would have to go through all the explanations for Eddie. It wasn't the new boy's fault though, so he took a minute to explain.

  "Eddie, this is Tom T. He is the nisse for our cabins."

  "Wh… who are you talking to?" Eddie stuttered out.

  "It's Tom… Oh, forget it." Shy became quickly frustrated as he realized that it was going to take a long explanation and lots of questions before Eddie would understand. "Tom, can you show yourself so the new guy can see you?" Shy tried a new tactic.

  He saw the nisse look over at Eddie, then back at Shy.

  "So be it." The nisse said.

  Shy heard Eddie gasp and jump back.

  "What is th…that?" The new boy asked.

  "Look, Eddie, Tad told you this wasn't your normal summer camp. Just watch and listen. He won't hurt you…. Unless you do something stupid."

  Eddie took another step back, but said no more. Shy turned back to Tom T.

  "With everything that happened at the end of camp, I just forgot. Plus, how can I even return it to the lake? I would get stuck there."

  "You needed to find a way Shylock, but you failed. War is close, and they have Gustavus… Bleakness is all around…. Where is the box now?"

  Shy was taken aback by the lack of ferocity in Tom T's words, the resigned tone. Things must have not gone well over the course of the last nine months. He glanced at his pillow, where the box was hidden.

  Tom T saw his glance. "It is a danger to you and all while you still have it. I will do my best to protect it, but at some point I will not be able to any longer. Heed my words Shylock."

  Shy then realized what Tom T had said previously.

  "Wait a minute, what did you say a second ago? Do you mean Gust is alive?"