Vita and the Monsters of Moorhouse

by Jillian Karger

  Soon they were seated at the head table across from King Arzanian and Queen Felinetta in Elysian’s Banquet Hall. Tuxedoed waiters sped around the hall on wheels for feet with silver trays of food held high. Tonight the menu consisted of roast beef, garlic mashed potatoes, and a medley of the most delicious cooked greens Vita had ever tasted. She never would have minded eating her vegetables if they had been like this.

  When the waiters came in from the kitchen with slices of chocolate cake for dessert, Vita heard some kind of commotion outside. There was shouting and a loud knocking. There were also mechanical noises like ffft, ffft, ffft.

  Now it was Grover who had his head in his hands. “Not again,” he murmured.

  Rosie put her hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong, Pres?”

  He remained silent so Rafe cleared his throat on Grover’s other side. “It’s the black knights of Antorax. This is the third time they’ve tried to attack the castle.”

  “But why?” Vita asked.

  “I don’t know!” Grover cried. The bespectacled boy raised his face at last and it was streaked with tears. “There’s always been peace between the kingdoms; I don’t know what—”

  “Rafael Von Schloedon!” a booming voice called from outside. “Will you not come face the Crusador in a real fight? It seems play-fighting with sticks is all you are able to do!”

  The cruel laughter of the crowd outside seemed way too close somehow, as if the robots in the hall itself were the ones laughing. But they were all silent or shaking with what would have been tears, if robots were able to cry.

  Rafe stood from his seat at the table, a determined look on his face. “Enough is enough,” he said. “I must face him.”

  For once Grover and his best friend did not appear to be on the same page. The boy looked up at him with concern. “No, Rafe, you can’t.”

  King Arzanian rose from his seat as well. “You’re right, Rafe. Felinetta and I will accompany you.”

  With that the three robots strode out of the banquet hall. Grover quickly followed, and Vita, Rosie, and Wile trailed behind him. They made their way to the castle’s southern drawbridge, which opened outward when the king pulled a lever on the wall. In a dirt clearing beyond the castle’s moat stood an impossible number of black knights on matching mechanical horses. They were like a sea of darkness, with their red eyed shining like demonic fireflies.

  At the front of the group she recognized the Crusador from his fencing match against Rafe. Next to him stood a robot who exuded the same sense of power and majesty as King Arzanian, despite being a smaller robot that the one standing beside him.

  “Who is that?” Vita whispered to Grover.

  “King Morgdar of Antorax,” Grover replied, his voice coated in fear.

  “I have come to claim your kingdom,” King Morgdar announced. His was the same low, venomous voice that had taunted Rafe while they had been inside the banquet hall. The king gestured toward the Crusador. “I have chosen my champion. I assume Rafael Von Schloedon will be yours, Arzanian?”

  Rafe stepped forward from the rest of the group with his hand gripping his sword’s hilt. “You assume correctly.” Rafe looked back toward his king. “I won’t let you down, my lord.”

  “Rafe, no,” Grover whimpered again.

  The Crusador stepped away from King Morgdar and drew his sword, which was made as the same black metal as the rest of him. He swiveled his blade impressively through the air before taking his stance opposite Rafe. Rafe usually seemed so large, but now he and his silver sword looked positively tiny compared to the other robot.

  The Crusador was the first to move toward Rafe with his sword raised, and for a few moments the two crossed their swords over and over with neither of them getting past the other’s defenses. Vita couldn’t help but be impressed by the artful way the Crusador twirled this way and that to avoid Rafe’s attacks. The clang of their swords was all she could hear in the silent night.

  “They can’t really hurt each other, can they?” Rosie whispered as they fought. “I mean, they’re robots.”

  “The circle at the center of their chests,” Grover murmured. “That’s the heart. If Rafe gets stabbed there, he’ll die.”

  After a minute or two of dancing back and forth across the clearing, the tip of the Crusador’s blade stabbed into one of the gold buttons that bordered the blue circle on Rafe’s chest. With a spark the button cracked. Rafe took a ragged breath, as though he’d just suffered a considerable blow.

  “No!” Grover yelled.

  But the Crusador continued to gain in the fight, cracking two more of the buttons on Rafe’s chest. Rafe’s footing became less sure and his breathing heavy. Vita tore her eyes away from the fight and looked over at Grover. Tears ran down his face and he alternated between squeezing his eyes shut and peeking them open. She knew she would look just the same way if she saw Melina in pain.

  Thinking of the spinning stools in Rosie’s Chamber, Vita turned toward him. “Grover, listen to me.” The boy opened his red-rimmed eyes and focused on her. “This isn’t over; Rafe can still beat him.”

  He shook his head. “But Rafe’s never been in a real fight before. All he does is jousting and fencing: play-fighting with sticks, just like King Morgdar said.”

  She put her hand on his shoulder. “This is your world. If you want Rafe to win, then he will.”

  Grover met Vita’s eyes for a long moment then gave a small nod.

  They both turned back toward the fight, where Rafe was on his knees and the Crusador had his sword pointed right at the blue circle on Rafe’s chest. Rafe’s sword sat uselessly on the ground beside him.

  “Does the mighty Rafe have any last words?” the Crusador asked gleefully.

  At this Rafe suddenly gave a brilliant smile.

  “No,” was all he said.

  With lightning speed Rafe reached out and grabbed the end of the Crusador’s sword. The sword cut into his metal hand but he didn’t even seem to notice. With his other hand he picked up his sword from the ground and pointed it at the red orb on the Crusador’s chest. The Crusador tried to pull his sword from Rafe’s grasp but couldn’t get it free.

  There was a metal clacking as King Arzanian and Queen Felinetta clapped their hands. “You’ve had your fight, King Morgdar,” King Arzanian said. “Now leave us in peace.”

  The black king scowled but nodded. “Back to Antorax, men,” he announced.

  Rafe gave the Crusador his sword back. Surprisingly the black knight extended his hand toward Rafe. “Well fought,” he said.

  Rafe shook his hand. “And to you. Till we meet again in the joust?”

  “I shall look forward to it,” the Crusador replied. Then he turned and followed his king and knights back toward their kingdom.

  Once the group could no longer see the black knights in the distance, Queen Felinetta and King Arzanian turned their silver and golden glowing eyes onto Vita. “You’ve saved us!”

  The girl cocked her head to the side. “No, I didn’t. I just helped Grover realize he could.”

  Still the robot king and queen insisted Vita come inside to the throne room, where they awarded her a medal just like the one Rafe had received after he won his jousting match. It hung from a red ribbon right beside Vita’s compass. The golden medal was emblazoned with the same image as Elysian’s flag and Rafe’s riding tunic: a tiger leaping over a rising sun.

  After King Arzanian and Queen Felinetta had left the throne room, Vita frowned. “I still think you should have gotten the medal; not me,” she told Grover. She even began to remove the medal from around her neck with the intention of hanging it around Grover’s.

  He put his hand on her arm to stop her. “No, please. I want you to have it.”

  She reluctantly stilled her hands and the medal dropped back down beside her compass. “Oh, all right. Can we head back to the banquet hall, though? That chocolate cake looked amazing.”

  In the Banquet Hall they sat back down at their table. At some point
the buttons on Rafe’s chest had repaired themselves, and his hand looked good as new. Vita noticed Wile staring at her in wondering silence. That was, he stared at her when he wasn’t focused on his cake. He’d only picked at his dinner but ate the chocolate cake with gusto, and only paused to tell Grover it was the best cake he’d ever had. Vita had to agree—it was moist and delectable, with just the right cake-to-frosting ratio.

  Later Grover, Rafe, Rosie, and Jasmine led the way out of the Dream Chamber while Vita and Wile trailed behind. “You’re sure you don’t have a little brother or sister?” he asked her, just as he had after the spinning stools incident in Rosie’s Chamber.

  “I’m sure,” she replied. “You must miss Robbie a lot, huh?” Over the past week he’d told her all he could remember about his little brother—how they’d played video games and built impressive Lego creations together, and how happy Robbie would look as he listened to Wile play the piano. His stories reminded her of her own relationship with Michelle, before Michelle had outgrown her.

  He nodded and looked down at the castle’s stone floor. “Yeah.” When they emerged onto the castle’s drawbridge, he looked at her again. “Vita, are you tired yet?”

  She nearly yawned at the mention of sleep, but then she realized she didn’t need to. “I know I probably should be, but no.”

  “Good,” he replied. “Because there’s something I want to show you.” He looked even more nervous and excited than he had before he’d shown her his secret Jeff room.

  As soon as the children stepped into the hall Vita could hear a loud ringing like a bell. Over a loudspeaker, Faylonique’s French-accented voice announced, “All students please report to the Mess Hall. I repeat, all students please report to the Mess Hall.”

  Grover’s shoulders were hunched again, and Rosie looked down at the floor dejectedly.

  “What’s going on?” Vita asked.

  Wile answered her through gritted teeth. “Integrity test,” was all he said.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE INTEGRITY TEST

  In the Mess Hall the monsters were all gathered together, each and every table full, just as it had been on Vita’s very first day at Moorhouse. Even Fidoreekio sat on one of the benches, taking up the space of four humans with his many tentacles. Fironella, Ruckles, Skrillus, and Mazkin filled the smallest table on the girl’s left while the scarred one on the right was deserted. Vita blinked a few times, a creeping sense of déjà vu washing over her. She found it somehow comforting that Fironella didn’t have her usual plate of frosting-covered treats—in fact none of the monsters had any food in front of them.

  Vita looked over at Wile beside her and wished he would look back. But he was focused on the crowd of monsters before them.

  “Stand in a line!” Fironella barked from her seat.

  The children did as she said, though there was barely space for a line of four children across the narrowest part of the Mess Hall—on either side Wile and Rosie’s shoulders brushed up against the cement walls.

  Mazkin stood and turned to face his much shorter students. His orange-flecked hazel eyes combed over them each before landing on Grover. “Grover,” he said, and extended his black-clawed hand in the boy’s direction. “Your map, please.”

  Vita could feel Grover trembling beside her. He fished his folded map out of his pocket and handed it to the headmonster. Mazkin unfolded the map and studied it in silence for a few moments. His eyes widened and his furry brow rose only a fraction, but that counted as shock from a monster as generally cool and emotionless as Mazkin. “Oh,” he said softly after a minute or two more of study. “Yes, all right, very good, Grover.”

  “Are you serious?” Fironella croaked. She still didn’t rise from her chair or turn around, but her voice sounded outraged.

  “There isn’t any gray,” Mazkin confirmed.

  Gray … like what had happened to Vita’s forest? But no, Vita had been able to fix that. She tried to remember how Wile had described the gray.

  Then she began to wonder how he’d known what it looked like.

  Mazkin’s gaze moved to Rosie next, and then it was Vita who trembled. What would these monsters do if they saw the windows breaking and those stools spinning in the little girl’s Chamber?

  Rosie handed her map to Mazkin and he unfolded it. Now the monster did look really and truly shocked. After a few moments, he gave the little girl a slow smile. “Nice job, Rosie,” he said.

  At this Fironella did rise from the table. She snatched the map from Mazkin and looked over it, her uneven eyelids flapping wildly in the monster’s attempts to blink. “It isn’t possible…” the headmonstress murmured.

  “Give the girl her map back,” Mazkin commanded. Astoundingly, Fironella did as he said. Rosie turned to give Vita a smile that looked as surprised as Mazkin’s.

  Vita’s smile back lasted only a few seconds, since Mazkin looked at her next. “How about you, Vita?”

  The older girl hesitated. She knew there weren’t any spots of gray on her map, but maybe that wasn’t all Mazkin was looking for. Still, she found the courage to hand her map over.

  He studied her map just as he had the others. He gave her an even wider smile than the one he had given Rosie. “This is a beautiful start, Vita. Well done.”

  One of Fironella’s lavender eyes rolled. Vita noticed Skrillus and Ruckles now stood flanking her, as usual. “Well, of course hers is fine. She’s barely even started.”

  Mazkin looked to Vita’s right, where Wile stood between her and the cement wall. “That just leaves you.”

  The boy looked over at Vita and swallowed hard. He took his time fishing his map out of his pocket. The monster’s smile slipped away as his eyes combed over it. “Well, I guess we couldn’t hope this test would go completely smoothly,” he murmured.

  Mazkin showed the map to Fironella, who laughed. “Thank goodness,” she croaked. “I was afraid we wouldn’t get the chance to have any fun today.” The doll monster showed Wile’s map to Skrillus and Ruckles as well. Ruckles giggled his maniacal giggle while Skrillus blinked his red headlights and swished his creaking windshield wipers back and forth.

  Without handing Wile his map back, Mazkin, Fironella, and her cronies led the way out of the Mess Hall and back into the boys’ hall. Rosie and Grover followed with Wile and Vita in tow. Wile reached over to grip Vita’s hand. His hand wasn’t cool and dry like it had been when they’d been making their way back from the North Wing—it was clammy and gripped hers too hard. Still, she held on tight. When they entered Wile’s Dream Chamber Wile switched from holding Vita’s right hand to her left, and she noticed he held something round and hard in between their two hands.

  “C’mon, squirt, you know where you need to take us,” Fironella called once she, Ruckles, and Skrillus had crossed into the Chamber. Ruckles kicked up sand with every step he took and Skrillus’s ever-swishing windshield wipers clashed with the lovely violin tune floating over the air.

  Wile let go of Vita’s hand, leaving what he had been holding in her palm. She gave it a quick look to confirm that it was his compass and stuffed it in her pocket.

  She glanced at Wile again and found he was now wearing a compass that anyone who didn’t know his creations as well as she did would have thought was real. She wondered when he’d had time to create it then remembered the flock of doves he’d created out of just a handful of Base, and the bobby pin he’d given her. He’d pulled the pin from his pocket, she’d thought, but maybe he’d created it just that moment. Wile didn’t seem to need Base in order to create, not like the other children.

  Wile led them to the same boathouse he and Vita had used on her first visit to Lumaria. The group crowded into the wooden sailboat and Ruckles’ pronged feet scratched at the gleaming wooden floorboards. Wile pushed them out onto the water. This time the boat didn’t rise into the air, but sailed like a regular sailboat across the sea. Vita watched the folding windmills during the ride and tried not to think too hard about whatev
er awaited them at the opposite bank. She felt Rosie leaning against her and she put her arm around the younger girl.

  The boat pulled into a navy blue boathouse and Wile led them into the city of accordion buildings. Vita watched them stretch and contract, wishing she could hear the music they danced to better over Skrillus’s infernal creaking. They walked down the sidewalk and eventually reached one building that didn’t dance; it simply stood upright. It looked like an apartment building.

  It was also completely and utterly gray.

  The group followed Wile through the building’s front door, down a hall, and all managed to cram into the tiny elevator. Here she could barely tell the difference between the groaning of the old elevator and Skrillus’s wipers. Vita made sure to stand beside Ruckles so Rosie and Grover wouldn’t have to, and got a cut on her arm. She gasped at the pain and everyone in the elevator turned to look at her.

  Vita hid her injured arm behind her back. “I’m fine,” she said.

  Wile looked at her from Ruckles’ other side and she got the feeling he would have held her hand again if he could. He was such a wonderful friend, and now it seemed like something terrible was about to happen to him.

  Vita was grateful to escape the claustrophobic elevator when it screeched to a halt on the third floor. Wile walked to a door marked “3D” and knocked. Soon an elderly black woman came to the door. She had her gray hair pulled into a bun and had dark, dark skin like Wile. The calm that sometimes seemed to radiate from Wile eyes poured out of this woman like water. Above the woman’s head Vita could see a string of pale blue and green paper lanterns strung in the doorway.

  “How sweet of you to come visit your old grandma, Reginald,” the woman said.

  “I’ve told you, it’s Wile, Grandma Loretta,” Wile said in a younger voice than she’d ever heard him use. “And you know I love coming to see you.”

  “I see you’ve brought some friends!” Loretta exclaimed with a hand on her chest. Her eyes fixed on Vita and she smiled wide. “Something about this one reminds me of Robert, don’t you think?”