“What I really want is my home back, my stuff back, my secrecy back,” Sky listed. “I know that’s not realistic. Right now, all I want you to do is tell the hunters some tale so they’ll get off my back. If you don’t, they’ll eventually find me.”
“Instead of scaring me with those apparitions, you could have been far gone already,” Tremaine pointed out.
“I know, but that… I… I’m sorry, okay? It was just to get your attention.” Sky shrugged, “Doing all those apparitions, it took a ton of energy out of me too!”
Tremaine thought for a moment.
“I have money I could give you.” Sky went to his coat pockets, and searched around, “Oh, never mind, I left it in the bags in the barn.” Skyler folded his hands together, “I’ll pay you back. Please, just help me!”
“No,” Tremaine said sternly.
“But, I-" Sky started, then stopped himself and sighed. He ran a hand over his face and sat down on a fallen tree trunk. “Do you know what they’re going to do to me if they catch me?”
Tremaine rolled her eyes, “Should I care?”
“I once heard of this one woman… she wasn’t human.” Sky explained, ignoring Tremaine’s question, “She was being chased by the hunters, and then one day she was never heard of ever again.”
“How do you know she just didn’t leave the island?”
“Because we physically can’t… but explaining that tidbit doesn’t matter right now,” Sky said. “This isn’t some game. They… they have intentions to hurt me; I just know it. I’ve been warned this. Please.” Sky bent is head down and held it in his hands.
Tremaine looked down at him. She wasn’t sure if he was making it all up to somehow trap her and attack, or if he was genuine. She bent down a little, to see if he was truly upset. She stood straight, and crossed her arms, “What about your folks? You must have them. How old did you say you were?”
“I just turned thirteen,” Sky corrected, and raised his head, “I don’t know my parents. The man who raised me… he’s not human either. I can’t go back to his house or office because of the hunters. They’re following me, or my tracks.” He looked around him and stood. He frowned deeply, and moved closer to Tremaine, “They’re here, I just know it. They’re close.”
“They’ve been following you?” She inquired, “Like, what? Wanting a fight?” Tremaine thought back to last fall, after her fight with Robbi. Girls, both her age and older, would sometimes follow her to pick a fight.
“No. I mean, maybe. I don’t know.” Sky brought a hand to his forehead, “I thought I was so careful.”
Tremaine turned around and started heading back to the school. She stopped, and then turned back around. She curled her fists and then marched back to Sky. “Fine. I’ll… help.”
“You’ll divert the hunters?”
Tremaine frowned, “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“They barely know me,” Tremaine said. “If I tell them something, they might not believe me. They’ll know I’ve seen you.”
“No, they won’t.”
Tremaine looked around in the forest. She didn’t know when the hunters were going to attack. She looked back at the building, “I’ve got an idea.”
“What?”
“You could stay inside the school.” Tremaine said. She pointed through the trees to the exit door to a bulging part of the building. “That exit door there is to the basement of the stage. It’s where all the props for plays are stored.”
“I… I don’t know.”
“It’s either that or stay in the woods,” Tremaine said, “And if you take up my offer, I’ll help you inside… if you promise you won’t be doing any more tricks on me.”
“Yes, I promise.”
“Okay,” Tremaine started to head back to the building. Skyler followed. Tremaine turned around and held up her hand, “Stay here. I’ll get you when I get the exit door propped open, okay?”
“Thank you, Tremaine, uh… it’s Bu-pel, right?” Sky cringed, “I kinda forgot.”
“Tremaine Boppel,” she corrected, and then started with her usual line after she introduced herself, “Don’t let the name fool you, though. It’s an English sounding name, but I’m mostly Italian.”
“You don’t have to defend yourself,” Sky smiled. “I think it’s beautiful none the less.”
“Disgusting,” Tremaine muttered and rolled her eyes. She walked to the school. She looked at him one last time, remembering that the hunters were possibly on their way. Tremaine pointed to the exit door to the auditorium, “I’ll be down there. And if a teacher or something catches you, don’t tell them who let you in. Got it?”
He nodded. Tremaine hurried to the entrance. The only teachers were in their offices on the second floor, and the remaining students were resting by the bathrooms from their sports, or still in the gym.
Tremaine arrived in the auditorium. It was lit, but empty. She assumed it was because it was the beginning of the semester, and auditions for the spring musical hadn’t even been held. She traveled down the stairs that ran in the middle of the seats and to the orchestra pit. She was happy to find that the door to the set room was unlocked.
She walked through the set room and found herself in a common area. It was the area where her Urban Legend Exploration Club was held and figured Sky could survive here until the hunters lost interest in him.
She opened the door slowly, praying the door didn’t have an alarm on it. She picked up a block of wood that was laid beside a pile of construction supplies and stepped outside. She took the wood and put it between the doors. She walked through the doors and then to the area were Sky had been. He was gone. She called out, “Sky?” He didn’t answer. “Hello? Sky?”
Sky watched as Tremaine left. He hugged himself close, his coat not very supportive. He loved the cold, but spending a full twelve hours in the winter atmosphere drained him, along with his constant running and use of witchcraft. He cursed himself for his irresponsible use of his remaining energy.
He’d probably have to wait until all of the workers and students were gone to finally sleep in the school, just to make sure he wouldn’t be caught. He didn’t even think about what he was going to do about food. Maybe I can take some food from the cafeteria, he thought.
Crack.
Sky jumped up from the tree he was sitting on. He looked around but didn’t see any sign of disturbance. He figured it was just a squirrel. He sat back down on the fallen tree trunk and kept his ears open for Tremaine.
Five minutes passed, and she wasn’t out yet. Sky was getting nervous, and he stood. He started to walk through the forest so he would be closer to the auditorium doors when Tremaine opened them.
He heard another snap of wood as he continued. They were right on him. He started to walk faster. He kept hearing the crunch of snow and wood cracking. Just as he was about to take off faster, an arm snatched his neck and jerked him back.
Before he could react, he was thrown to the ground. Not only was he shocked and sore from the fall, but wet with snow as well. When he twisted his head around to see the predators, a camouflage-clad Zac stood above him with his hands behind his back. René was digging a knee into Sky’s side and was about to bring down the butt of a shotgun on his head. Sky covered his head with his arms and bit down on his lip.
“Hold on, René,” he heard Zac say. He felt the absence of René’s weight. Sky removed his arms from his head just as Zac was pulling him forward. Zac was kneeling, looking down at Sky. René kept the shotgun in his hands, ready to fire if things went amiss.
Sky met Zac’s eyes unsurely. He had never been this close to a hunter before. “You’re a young one, aren’t you?” The man looked up at his brother, “René, what do you peg him for?”
“Doesn’t matter if they’re three years old or three hundred years old.” René gave a one-shoulder shrug, “A monster is a monster.”
Zac let go of Sky, “how old are you?”
“Thirty-s
even,” Sky managed to say, “but every birthday, I tell my friends I’m twenty-nine.”
Zac chuckled. René stayed silent. In the back of his mind, Sky was yelling run, run, run as fast as you can! Fear prevented him from doing so, but he figured if he could humor or distract the hunters long enough, he might find a way to freedom. He addressed Zac. “You know, you aren’t nearly as scary as the stories tell.”
“Really?” Zac smiled, and stood, “What kind of character have you monsters crafted out of my image?”
Sky stood as well, “I guess maybe the biggest difference is... hey, look over at that tree!” Sky pointed, and took off. As soon as he started to run off, he felt a hand grab his hair and pull him back. Sky yelped at the pain and went for Zac’s hand. The hunter switched his grip and curled his arms around Sky’s neck and chest. The Krampus struggled and cursed. He froze when he heard the sound of a fired gun.
Smoke emerged from the neck of René’s shotgun. René pointed the gun at Sky, “Next bullet will be in you, kid, if you don’t stop-”
“René!” Zac barked, “by pointing it at him, you realize you’re pointing it at me, too?”
René winced and repositioned the gun, so it wasn’t directed at anyone.
“But, he’s correct,” Zac’s voice sounded gentle, but Sky knew it was far from it. Zac turned Sky around, forcing the boy to look at him. “Run off again, and you’ll be shot. It won’t kill you, no, but I do know it would hurt like hell.”
Zac grabbed Sky’s wrist and started to pull him through the forest. René made it clear to Sky that he was behind him with the shotgun, prepared to fulfill their threat if Sky stepped out of line.
Tremaine ran over to where she last saw him. She looked throughout the surrounding woods. She double checked the clearing where they met, and saw indents in the dirt. It looked like a struggle had taken place. Tremaine extracted her cell phone and checked her text messages. Hannah had texted a few minutes ago, “Thanks, Trey! We got him!”
Tremaine rubbed her forehead, “Oh, no.”
She rode her bike back to her house. Tremaine was so distracted that she just barely was able to break at an intersection.
She took her turn and crossed the road. She gave a small shake of a head, thinking to herself. It’s not your fault, Tremaine. You took a dangerous creature off of the streets. She stopped by a grassy area and parked her bike by the bench. She sat down on it and pulled out her phone. She read Hannah’s text again. What does she mean by “we got him?” They didn’t kill him, did they?
She thought for a moment, remembering a passage in the online journal. It was impossible to kill a monster, only to incapacitate it and hope that it stayed that way until it died of old age. One of the more popular ways was to get rid of one was to cut off its head, and then bury the body in a remote location. Eventually, the body would disintegrate into dust. Tremaine felt sick at the thought of it happening to Sky.
Tremaine dialed Hannah’s number and waited for her to pick up.
“Hey, Tremaine!” Hannah greeted on the other line.
“Hannah,” Tremaine smiled, “I-"
“Did you get my text?” she interrupted.
“Uh, yeah, I did,” Tremaine spun a finger around one of her curls, “What happened, exactly?”
“Zac said after you left you tricked him into staying in the woods. You made up a story about how he could stay in the school’s auditorium, good one, by the way!” Tremaine didn’t even know anyone was there when she was talking to Sky. “And then left him there alone. My brothers caught him, and now he’s here.”
Tremaine tried to make her voice sound steady, “I… what are you going to do?”
“My brothers haven’t caught anything in a long time now… it’s been about a year or so. But from what they’ve told me, they usually study them and then hold them in the basement,” Hannah explained. Tremaine started to sweat, despite the cold atmosphere, “If a creature gives them enough information, either about its anatomy, it’s relationships or the whereabouts about other monsters, and then they’re let go.”
Tremaine gave a small sigh of relief, but not loud enough for Hannah to hear on the other end of the line. “What if they don’t tell your brothers anything? Then what happens?”
“Then they aren’t let go,” Hannah said, “but that’s never happened. Why would they choose captivity over freedom? Not worth it.”
“Letting them go… doesn’t that defeat the whole point of hunting?”
“Not when they can learn new information and go after bigger fish,” Hannah explained. “It’s all about leverage; why catch a dog when you can go after a wolf?” she paused, “Do you want to come over? You sound really interested in this hunting thing.”
Tremaine hesitated before answering, “Yes.”
“How about seven?” Hannah suggested, “My brothers should be finished with questioning him by then.”
“O-Okay,” Tremaine said. “I’ll be there. I just have to tell my folks.”
“Sure. Oh, and Tremaine, I forgot to tell you.”
“What?” Tremaine said.
“Don’t tell anyone, not even your parents, about his capture,” Hannah said. “We don’t want to cause a panic around town, and we can’t have any monsters who are masquerading as humans to find out about it. It might cause a retaliation on their part, according to Zac.”
“Okay,” Tremaine agreed. “I’ll be over at your house at seven.” Tremaine hung up her phone and buried her face in her hands. What have I done?
Chapter Nine
Zac locked Sky in a spare room on the second floor of the St. Charles estate. At first, Sky panicked, but after a little time pacing around and drinking some water, he managed to get somewhat calm. He tried the door first, but it was locked so tight that the knob didn’t even turn.
The room in which he had been locked in didn’t look like it had been updated since the twenties. The dresser, the desk he sat at, and the bed all looked like they were from an antique shop. Even though the room gave him the feeling that it was haunted, at least it was better than the dungeon he thought he would be trapped in. Ghosts were better company than humans, anyway.
He searched the desk drawers for anything that could be useful to him but was unsuccessful. He went over to the closet, and found that it was not only full of things but were full of his things. Many of the objects he left behind in his apartment, apart from the furniture and his pantry items, were packed into the closet. Most of them were in cardboard boxes, without labels. Sky glanced at the bedroom door before proceeding to open one of the boxes. He found simple items, like his blankets and some fiction books.
It unnerved him that the hunters not only captured him but took all of his possessions as well. I hope they didn’t find anything too embarrassing, Sky thought. He shuffled through some knick-knacks and found a bland-looking snow globe with a ciphered code written on the base. He stuffed it in his jacket. He didn’t have enough energy to form an apparition, so this would have to do.
His heart stopped when he remembered a notebook he left behind. It was full of his badly written jokes and a few haikus. He hoped the hunters didn’t find that.
“Looking through the closet?” Sky flinched and fell back. He unsteadily made it to his feet. It was Zac, holding the door open. The hunter entered the room fully, slowly walking over to Sky. Sky stiffened. “That’s alright; it’s all your items anyway. Well, most of it.”
“I find it somewhat creepy that you took all of my stuff,” Sky smiled, “What? Did you think some of my dishware here contain some kind of supernatural element?”
Zac snorted, “I find it puzzling that you’re so concerned about your things and not about yourself.”
Sky’s smile dropped. Zac handed his notebook to Sky. The hunter explained, “I’ll make this simple. On that paper is a list of things I want to know. Some are about you, and some are about other… so-called monsters. I don’t know what your kind call each other, but that’s how we refer to them a
round here.”
“So… you want me to answer these questions?” Sky pointed at the paper.
Zac said, “Obviously.”
Sky looked over the questions listed. He spotted the questions that concerned him at the top. His name was already filled in. The space for his age was filled in with “about thirteen” and his species was “Krampus/Goatman?” Down at the lower part of the paper were questions like, “Where are other monsters located?” and “Where do most monsters gather?”
Sky shook his head and gave the notebook back. He remembered to be courteous, hoping his politeness would work with the hunter. He faked a British accent, “My deepest apologies, but I refuse to respond to your inquiries.”
Zac snatched the notebook from his hands, “Why not?”
“They invade my privacy,” Sky folded his hands and walked away. He sat on the bed when he realized his legs were trembling. I can’t answer any of these questions, Sky thought. I’d be putting my whole community at risk.
Zac chuckled, surprising Sky, “Oh, yeah? It’s either you or them, kid.”
“As in what? Torture? Burying me alive?” Sky looked up at Zac. He noticed how tall the hunter was from his place on the edge of the bed. It was highly intimidating.
“Here’s how it goes down,” Zac started, “You give me information on where other monsters are located, I’ll go out and confirm it, and then I’ll come back here and let you go,” Zac bent down to be below Sky’s eye level. “You may be a monster, but I have no interest nor the heart to hurt a child. Do you understand?”
“I’m not a kid, just by the way,” Sky corrected, and turned away. He hated when people treated him like he was a kid. In his culture, he was an adult by ten. He lived on his own, gathered his own food, and did everything an adult Krampus would do. “But I… get the picture.”
“Great!” Zac stood, “Now if you could just give me the information on where the other monsters are…”
Sky shook his head, “I’m not doing that.”
Samhain Island (Episode One) Page 8