by Brandon Mull
Page 17
They waited, looking around, expecting a recurrence of the unusual sound. After a tense minute or two, Kendra broke the silence. What was it?
I bet it was whatever has Grandpa and Lena, Seth said. And it didn't sound too far off.
It sounded big.
Yeah.
Like whale big.
We have the salt, Seth reminded her. We need to follow that trail.
Are you sure that's a good idea?
You have a better one?
I don't know. Wait and see if they show up? Maybe they'll escape.
If that hasn't happened by now, it isn't going to. We'll be careful, and we'll make sure to get back before dark.
We'll be fine. We have the salt. That stuff works like acid.
If something goes wrong, who saves us? Kendra asked.
You don't have to come. But I'm going.
Seth hurried down the porch steps and started across the yard. Kendra reluctantly followed. She wasn't sure how they would pull off a rescue if scalding the monster with salt failed, but Seth was right about one thing-they couldn't just abandon Grandpa.
Kendra caught up with Seth at the flowerbed where they had originally found the prints. Combing through the grass together, they followed a series of nickel-sized holes across the lawn. The holes were spaced roughly five feet apart and followed a generally straight line, passing the barn and eventually leaving the yard along a narrow path into the woods.
No longer obscured by grass, the tracks were even easier to follow. They passed a couple of intersecting paths, but the way was always certain. The prints of whatever creature had left the holes were unmistakable. They made rapid progress. Kendra remained alert, searching the trees for mythical beasts, but spotted nothing more spectacular than a goldfinch and some chipmunks.
I'm starving, Seth announced.
I'm okay. I'm getting sleepy, though.
Just don't think about it.
My throat is getting sore, Kendra went on. You know, we've been up almost thirty hours.
I'm not that tired, Seth said. Just hungry. We should have foraged for food in the pantry. It can't all be smashed.
We must not be too hungry if we didn't think about it at the time.
Suddenly Seth stopped short. Uh-oh.
What?
Seth went several paces forward. Leaning close to the ground, he worked his way back past Kendra. He went forward again more slowly, kicking aside any leaves or branches on the trail. Kendra realized the problem before Seth vocalized it. No more holes.
She helped scan the ground. They both scrutinized the same segment of the path multiple times before Seth began to search off the trail. This could be bad, he said.
There's a lot of undergrowth, Kendra agreed.
If we could even find one hole, we'd know which direction it went.
If it left the path, we'll never be able to follow it.
Seth crawled on hands and knees along the edge of the path, sifting through the mulch beneath the undergrowth.
Kendra picked up a stick and used it to poke around.
Don't make any holes, Seth cautioned.
I'm just moving leaves.
You could do it with your hands.
If I wanted bug bites and a rash.
Hey, this is it. He showed Kendra a hole about five feet from the last one on the path. It turned left.
Diagonally. She made a line with her hand connecting the two dots and continuing into the woods.
But it might have turned more, Seth said. We should find another one.
Finding the next hole took almost fifteen minutes. It proved that the creature had indeed turned almost directly to the left, perpendicular to the path.
What if it kept turning? Kendra said.
It would sort of be backtracking if it turned more.
Maybe it wanted to throw off pursuit.
Seth went forward five feet and found the next hole almost instantly. It confirmed that the new course was perpendicular to the trail.
The undergrowth isn't as bad here, Seth said.
Seth, it would take all day to track it twenty paces.
I don't mean to track it. Just to walk in this direction for a while. Maybe it will intersect a trail and we can pick up tracks again. Or maybe it lives not much farther ahead.
Kendra put a hand in her pocket, feeling for salt. I don't like the idea of leaving the trail.
Me neither. We won't go far. But this thing seems to like trails. It followed one all this way. We may be close to a discovery. It's worth going a little ways just to check.
Kendra stared at her brother. Okay, and what if we run into a cave?
We take a look.
What if we hear breathing coming from the cave?
You don't have to go in. I'll look myself. The point is finding Grandpa.
Kendra bit her tongue. She almost said that if they found him out here, it would probably be in pieces. Okay, just a little ways.
They walked in a straight line away from the path.
They kept scanning the ground, but noticed no more holes.
Before long they crossed a dry, rocky streambed. Not far beyond, they wandered into a little meadow. The brush and wildflowers in the meadow grew nearly waist high.
I don't see any other trails, Kendra said. Or any monster houses.
Let's take a good look around the meadow, said Seth.
He made a complete search of the perimeter of the meadow, finding neither holes nor trails.
Let's face it, Kendra said. If we try to go any farther, we'll be wandering blind.
What about climbing that hill? Seth suggested, indicating the highest point visible from the meadow, less than a quarter-mile away. If I were going to make a home around here, it would be over there. Plus, if we get up there, we'll have a better view of the area. These trees make it hard to see.
Kendra pressed her lips together. The hill was not steep; it would be easy to climb. And it was not too far away. If we don't find anything there, we go back?
Deal.
They marched toward the hill, which was along a different line from the course they had originally taken from the path. As they picked their way through denser underbrush, a twig snapped off to one side. They paused, listening.
I'm getting pretty nervous, Kendra said softly.
We're fine. Probably just a falling pinecone.
Kendra tried to push away images of the pallid woman with the swirling black garments. The thought of her made Kendra freeze. If she saw her out in the woods, Kendra worried she would just curl up in a ball on the ground and let herself be taken.
I'm losing track of which way we're going, she said.
Back under the trees, the line of sight to both hill and meadow was disrupted.
I have my compass.
So if all else fails, we can find the North Pole.
The trail we followed went northwest, Seth assured her. Then we left it going southwest. The hill is to the west, the meadow is east.
That's pretty good.
The only trick is paying attention.
Before long, the trees were thinning and they were walking up the hill. With the trees farther apart, the underbrush grew higher and the bushes bigger. Kendra and Seth wound their way up the moderate slope toward the crest.
Do you smell that? Seth asked.
Kendra stopped. Like somebody cooking.
The smell was faint but, now that she noticed it, distinct.
Kendra studied the area with sudden alarm. Oh my gosh, she said, crouching down.
What?
Get down.
Seth knelt beside her. Kendra pointed toward the crest of the hill. Off to one side rose a feeble column of smoke - - a thin, wavering distortion.
Yeah, he whispered. We may have found it.
/> Again she had to bite her tongue. She hoped someone wasn't cooking Grandpa. What do we do?
Stay here, said Seth. I'll go check it out.
I don't want to stay alone.
Then follow me, but stay back a bit. We don't want to both get caught at the same time. Keep salt ready.
Kendra did not need that reminder. Her only worry about the salt was that her sweaty hands were going to turn it to paste.
Seth crept ahead, staying low, using the bushes for cover, gradually making his way toward the meager line of smoke. Kendra imitated his movements, impressed that his hours of playing army were finally paying off. Even as she followed him, she struggled to come to terms with what they were doing. Sneaking up on a monster cookout was among the activities she could do without. Shouldn't they be sneaking away?
The trembling shaft of smoke grew nearer. Seth waved her up to him. She huddled beside him behind a wide bush twice her height, trying to breathe quietly. He put his lips to her ear. I'll be able to see what's going on when I get around this bush. I'll try to yell if I get captured or anything.
Be ready.
She put her mouth to his ear. If you play a trick on me, I promise I will kill you, I really will.
I won't. I'm scared too.
He slunk forward. Kendra tried to calm herself. Waiting was torture. She considered moving around the bush to take a peek, but could not muster the courage. The silence was good, right? Unless they had stealthily dropped Seth with a poison dart.
The pause stretched mercilessly. Then she heard Seth coming back less carefully than he had left. When he came around the bush, he was walking upright, saying, Come here, you have to see this.
What is it?
Nothing scary.
She went around the bush with him, still tense. Up ahead, in a clear area near the summit of the hill, she saw the source of the thin smoke-a waist-high cylinder of stone with a wooden windlass and a dangling bucket. A well?
Yeah. Come smell.
They walked to the well. Even up close, the rising smoke remained vapory and indistinct. Kendra leaned over, staring down into the deep darkness. Smells good.
Like soup, Seth said. Meat, veggies, spices.
Am I just hungry? It smells delicious.
I think so too. Should we try some?
Lower the bucket? Kendra asked skeptically.
Why not? Seth replied.
There could be creatures down there.
I don't think so, he said.
You think it's just a well full of stew, Kendra scoffed.
We are on a magical preserve.
As far as we know it could be poisonous.
It can't hurt to take a look, Seth insisted. I'm starving.
Besides, not everything here is bad. I bet this is where fairy people come for dinner. See, it even has a crank. He began turning the windlass, spooling the bucket down into the darkness.
I'm staying on lookout, said Kendra.
Good idea.
Kendra felt exposed. They were far enough from the summit that she could not see anything on the far side of the hill, but they were high enough that she commanded an expansive view of trees and terrain when she looked down the slope. With little cover surrounding the well, she worried that unseen eyes might be spying from the foliage below.
Seth continued unwinding the rope, sending the bucket ever deeper. Eventually he heard it wetly hit bottom.
The rope slackened a bit. After a moment he began winding the bucket back up.
Hurry, Kendra said.
I am. This thing is deep.
I'm worried everything in the forest can see us.
Here it comes. He stopped cranking and pulled the bucket up the last few feet by hand, setting it on the lip of the well.
Kendra joined him. Inside the wooden bucket, bits of meat, cut carrots, potato fragments, and onion floated in a fragrant yellow broth. Looks like a normal stew, Kendra said.
Better than normal. I'm trying some.
Don't! she warned.
Lighten up. He tweezed out a piece of dripping meat and tried it. Good! he announced. He plucked out a potato and offered a similar report. Tipping the bucket, he slurped some of the broth. Amazing! he said. You have to try it.
From behind the same bush they had used as their final hiding place when approaching the well, a creature emerged. From the waist up, he was a shirtless man with an exceptionally hairy chest and a pair of pointy horns above his forehead. From waist down he had the legs of a shaggy goat. Wielding a knife, the satyr charged straight at them.
Both Kendra and Seth turned in alarm at the sound of his hooves racing up the slope. Salt, Seth blurted, dipping into his pockets.
As she fumbled for salt, Kendra dashed around the well, placing it between herself and the attacker. Not Seth. He stood his ground, and when the satyr was a couple of steps away, he flung a fistful of salt at the goatman.
The satyr stopped short, obviously surprised by the cloud of salt. Seth threw a second handful, groping in his pockets for more. The salt failed to spark or sizzle. Instead, the satyr appeared bewildered.
What are you doing? he asked in a hushed tone.
I could ask you the same question, Seth replied.
No you can't. You're spoiling our operation. The satyr lunged past Seth and slashed the rope with his knife. She's coming.
Who?
I'd save the questions for later, the satyr said. He wound the rope until it was tight around the windlass, seized the bucket, and started down the hill, spilling soup as he went. From the far side of the hill, Kendra heard foliage rustling and branches crunching. She and Seth followed the satyr.
The satyr slid into the bush Kendra had crouched behind earlier. Kendra and Seth dove in alongside him.
An instant after they ducked out of sight, a bulky, hideous woman lumbered into view and approached the well. She had a broad, flat face with saggy earlobes that hung almost to her hefty shoulders. Her misshapen bosom drooped inside a coarse, homespun tunic. Her avocado skin had a ridged texture like corduroy, her graying hair was shaggy and matted, and her build bordered on obese. The well barely came to her knees, making her considerably taller than Hugo. She waddled from side to side as she walked, and she was breathing heavily through her mouth.
Bending over, she pawed at the well, stroking the wooden frame. The ogress can't see much, the satyr whispered.
When he said it, the ogress jerked her head up. She yammered something in a guttural language. Shambling a couple of steps away from the well, she squatted down and sniffed at the ground where Seth had thrown his salt.
