The Monster Catchers--A Bailey Buckleby Story

by George Brewington

  The girl gave him another breath, gripped his wrists tighter, and as she pulled Bailey deeper down, the goblins released the oxygen in their scuba tanks to shoot them up to the surface, pulling his three-hundred-pound father behind them. That’s good that Dad will be okay, because I’m going to go with this magical girl to the bottom of the ocean and see what no human has seen before. Is she a mermaid? Will she rip my heart out and eat it? If she does, will I feel it? Or will the cold water make me so numb that I won’t feel a thing and I’ll be able to watch her do it? She’s so beautiful and glowing and her teeth look so sharp.

  A cloud of blood appeared in the water around him. Is that my blood? The mermaid was suddenly pushing him away and shaking her head violently back and forth. He saw her sharp white teeth flash in rage, her pale face with blue and green veins illuminated by a light above them. Her eyes shone green with anger as she extended her razor-sharp fingernails. But a blade jabbed through the water, piercing her hand. The mermaid shrieked with pain, turned away, and retreated to the dark depths below.

  Savannah—she was wearing a wet suit, scuba gear, goggles, and a headlamp. She grabbed Bailey by his hoodie and pulled with all her strength. Then she put her scuba pack’s rescue mouthpiece to Bailey’s lips so he could breathe, although he wasn’t feeling very much of anything at that moment except a blurry feeling of happiness, gratitude, and warmth, and absolutely nothing in his fingers and toes.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  ALIVE

  NIKOS AND SAVANNAH wrapped Bailey in towels to warm him up and bring him back to life.

  “Stay with us, son,” he heard his father say. He was smiling down at Bailey, wrapped in towels himself.

  “Dad,” he said softly.

  “You’re my sweet, brave boy,” he said proudly, hugging him tight and hurting him in the best possible way. They were surrounded by the twelve goblins in wet suits.

  Bailey couldn’t believe these goblins and his father weren’t trying to kill each other. As if they read his thoughts, one of the smaller ones said, “You saved the stars, we saved your father, and now we will all save the baby sea giant together.”

  Capella stepped forward and gave Bailey a dry towel. “I know you and your father don’t speak the sea giants’ language, but maybe we can make them understand—somehow—that just like their son belongs with them, the stars belong in the sky. Maybe if we help them, they will help us.”

  Capella seemed so earnest, and Bailey was so cold, all he could do was nod. But the wind demon still had Henry.

  The sea giants had surfaced all the way to their torsos, swinging their arms as they moved. The giants looked more like massive blue skyscrapers than living things. To the southwest, the dark mysterious half-moon that was looking less and less like a battleship was getting bigger and closer.

  Bailey’s father came close and knelt next to his son. “Bailey,” he said quietly, his eyes wet from both salt water and real tears, “I didn’t know any greater pain until I walked downstairs to find you kidnapped—my only son and greatest joy stolen from me. The pain made me want to do anything to get you back. Now I know how much Henry’s parents must have suffered for an unbearably long seven years. No wonder they smashed San Francisco into rubble. I feel so guilty for being the cause of that and having kept Henry from them for that long.”

  He hugged his son close and Bailey was starting to feel warm and alive again.

  “You’ve done such a good job. I’m so proud of you, but you don’t need to chase this evil cynocephaly one minute more. I’ll take over. Monster hunting with you is great fun, but maybe I showed you my dangerous world too early. Maybe you should concentrate on being a boy for as long as you can. I can fight this wind demon myself and rescue Henry.”

  Bailey shook his head. “No, Dad. We’ll stop him together. We both love Henry that much.”

  His father smiled his big gorilla smile, swept the wet shag of hair out of his eyes, and held Bailey by the shoulders.

  “Son, it’s not necessary. As soon as we get close enough, I’m going to blow his boat to smithereens with dynamite.”

  “Dad, no, please. That will hurt Henry. I keep telling you—dynamite won’t solve all of our problems.”

  His father patted Bailey on the cheek. “Not if I time it just right. Maybe if I throw a stick at the top of the mast—or maybe the mainsail. Not to worry, boy. I’ll blow up what’s necessary when the time is right.”

  “Dad, listen to me—”

  But they had gained on Axel, who was facing them on his bow with his megaphone.

  “WOULD YOU GUYS PLEASE STOP FOLLOWING ME? YOU ARE REALLY STARTING TO CREEP ME OUT!”

  Dougie stood up tall and determined, his eyes focused on his enemy.

  “Candycane, where do you keep your dynamite?”

  Without taking his hands from the steering wheel, Candycane called over his shoulder, “There’s no dynamite on this boat.”

  “What?” Bailey’s father shouted, as if going out to sea without dynamite was as absurd as leaving the house without pants.

  “DO YOU GUYS REALLY THINK YOU CAN STOP ME? THESE AREN’T THE ONLY GIANTS I COMMAND!” Axel bellowed. Then he made a haunting and strange hum that Bailey had never heard a dog or a human make before. It sort of sounded like—“WAHOOOOOOOM.”

  The dark half-moon to the west began to rise. To Bailey, it looked like a massive black wall, slick and speckled with barnacles. The thing kept rising and rising, and a great fountain of water burst into the air from its topside. And then two unbelievably enormous eyes, each bigger than The Sweet Tooth itself, began to open.

  The black wall was alive.

  Dougie could not help but gasp like a child—a child who had never stopped marveling at the magnificence and terror of monsters. The Bucklebys had been selling driftwood figurines of the great beast in their souvenir shop for years, but here it was in real life, in the flesh.

  “The Great Whale,” his father said with pure wonder. “Just like the one that swallowed our people years ago. As real as real can be.”

  “You did not pay me for this!” Candycane roared above the sound of the motor and the waves crashing against the yacht, but even he could only admire the mighty beast as it completely surfaced.

  Then its mouth began to open, and as it did, water rushed in, and with it The Sweet Tooth. The whale had great yellow teeth and the biggest gray tongue that looked like an endless pulsating carpet.

  “Galloping Gertrude,” Mr. Boom groaned. “I never thought I’d die like this.”

  Savannah brandished her sword before her and said, “We are Whalefatians. We have survived whale swallowing before!”

  Dougie patted her on the back. “You speak the truth, orphan girl. We were made for this. Hold on tight, everybody!”

  As The Sweet Tooth was sucked into the great mouth, and Axel once again began to put distance between himself and his pursuers, Candycane tried to turn the yacht around, to no avail. The tip of the humongous tongue lifted The Sweet Tooth up and out of the water.

  He turned off the motor, and for an impossibly long pause, they all waited to be swallowed. But instead of disappearing down the terrifyingly dark throat, the great tongue held them up in the air. Despite the storm swirling around them, the crew of The Sweet Tooth found themselves in a space of calming quiet.

  Then a voice so familiar to Bailey, even after six and a half years, called out cautiously from somewhere deep within the whale.

  “Hello?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  GEORGE

  BAILEY TIPTOED SLOWLY to the bow of the yacht, peering into the darkness. The whale’s breath was hot and humid and stank of dead fish, but he walked through the thick air as if it were harmless fog. He searched the shadows for the person he now knew was alive, deep in there somewhere.

  “Mom?” His voice cracked. The goblins, Nikos, Savannah, and Bailey’s father slowly walked to the bow of the yacht, too.

  After a long pause, they all heard her echo back
. “Oh, Bailey, my sweet everything, it’s really you!”

  He saw a faint silhouette of a woman at the base of the whale’s long tongue—he knew it was her.

  “Mom,” Bailey cried. “I thought you were dead.”

  “No, my perfect prince, I’m not dead. I couldn’t die without seeing you become a man. Though perhaps you already have. You certainly are brave to try to stop a cynocephaly way out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I’m so proud of you for trying to protect the human race from two very misunderstood sea giants. I’ve thought of you every day for six and a half years and missed you so, so much.”

  “Katrina,” his father said urgently, holding the yacht railing tight.

  “Dougie? Oh, Dougie, how wonderful to hear the voice of my big, sweet husband! Knowing I am so close and yet so far from my two favorite men just makes my predicament all the more frustrating.”

  “Katrina, my sweet darling! We have to get you out of there!”

  “Well, easier said than done, my sweet husband. Every time I try to swim out of here, or even walk to the tip of his tongue, this big friend of mine swallows me back in. He’s a very lonely whale, and perhaps it’s to my own detriment that I learned his language, because he’s only a young, endangered creature with no one to talk to. I’ve tried to steer him back to Whalefat Beach many times, but he doesn’t want to lose me as a conversation partner. We’ve been searching the seas to find him a possible mate, but there aren’t very many giant female whales out on the dating scene. So although I’ve been so sad that he hasn’t returned me to you both, I’ve tried very hard to be his friend. Everyone needs a friend—even George.”

  “Who’s George?” Bailey asked.

  “This whale is George! He seems like a George to me with his big forehead and yellow teeth, so that’s the name I’ve given him.”

  At hearing his own name, George blew a geyser of salt water up and out of his blowhole that showered down on all of them.

  “That horrible Axel Pazuzu has commanded George to swallow you all whole,” his mother said.

  “Well, if it is our fate to be swallowed, then so be it,” his father said. “Whalefatians are quite adept at living inside whales.”

  Mr. Boom interrupted. “I don’t particularly like the sound of that!”

  “No,” Katrina said. “I’ve asked George not to listen to that evil wind demon, even though he promised to find him a girlfriend. I reminded George that millions of innocent children just like him would be terribly hurt if you all weren’t allowed to return Henry to his parents. And George, I am proud to say, knows to do the right thing, because he has a very, very big heart.”

  His father stood up on the rail of The Sweet Tooth in desperation. “Darling, I was so greedy. I was so stubborn—I wanted Henry to be a rare Swiss troll so badly, I wasn’t willing to listen to the truth. I refused to believe anything to the contrary. But you were right as usual. Every night since, I’ve wished I could ask your forgiveness. Worst of all, everyone in San Francisco had to pay the price for my foolishness.”

  “Oh, Dougie,” his mother’s voice echoed. “You just really love monster hunting, that’s all! Your passion is why I have always loved you, but sometimes passion makes one do really, really stupid things. You mustn’t beat yourself up about it.”

  Even though he was cold and shivering and Axel was getting away, Bailey pretended he was warm under the illuminated, baby-blue blanket. Some would do just about anything for gold, or to save the stars, or to find a female whale companion. But Bailey wanted only one thing at that moment—to have his mother back.

  “I’m coming in after you,” Bailey said. “We’ll figure out how to get out together.”

  “Bailey,” his mother said sweetly, “I would give almost anything to hold you tight again. And this is so hard for me to say, but you’re a young man now, so I think you will understand. We can’t always think of ourselves. There are so many creatures in the world that need love, and Bucklebys are very good at finding the ones that need it most. When George is a little older, I think he will understand, too. He will let me go when the time is right.”

  “But, Mom,” Bailey said, “I’m your son, not George.”

  “You are, Bailey,” his mother said so sadly. “And that’s why I’m asking so much of you.”

  Suddenly George let loose another huge fountain of salt water from his blowhole, and his mouth began to slowly shut. He bellowed, “Wahooooooom!”

  “But, George,” Katrina cried, “must we leave so soon? Let us stay a few moments longer.”

  “Wahooooooom! Wahooooooom!”

  Bailey heard his mother choke back a lonely sigh. “George says that if I was serious about you saving Los Angeles from being stomped, then we should part company right now. And although I don’t want to admit it, my beautiful Bailey, he’s quite right.”

  “But, Mom,” Bailey protested, wanting to say anything that would keep her here with them. “Just run out of there right now—George can follow us and we can all be together!”

  “I wish I could, my sweet prince, but George is stubborn that way.” Even before Bailey’s mother could say more, George began to descend. The whale flicked his tongue between his great yellow teeth, setting The Sweet Tooth gently on the water. Dougie climbed over the rail to stand on the tip of the bow.

  “Dad, what are you doing?” But Bailey already knew.

  “Son,” he said, smiling, taking one hand off the rail to place it on Bailey’s shoulder. “I can’t abandon your mother a second time. You’ve grown up to be such a smart monster hunter and the best son a father could ask for. I know you can get Henry back and do the right thing. Deep down, did I believe what your mother knew? That he was the son of two sea giants who were grieving his disappearance? I don’t know, maybe I did. But all of this doesn’t excuse my ignorance of the facts. You didn’t ignore the facts. You faced the facts dead-on, Bailey, and you did what was right and very, very difficult—you confronted your father. I need to do the right thing for once in my life—I need to save your mother.”

  “No, Dougie,” his mother said harshly. “Don’t you even think it. You have to stay with Bailey. You’re all he’s got to protect him, to feed him, to clothe him, to love him, and to make sure he flosses on a regular basis. No son of mine will go through life without rigorous dental hygiene. Don’t you worry, my sweet husband. I’ll get out of here someday—I mean, I think I will—I just need to wean George off my friendship like I weaned our son off a pacifier many years ago.”

  His father squeezed Bailey’s shoulder, giving him that familiar pain. “I hate to leave you to fight that rotten Pazuzu alone, but I promise I won’t be gone for long. I’ll talk your mother into a whale-breakout and we’ll be home before you know it.” His eyes were pleading, as if he needed his son to confirm that this really was the right decision.

  Bailey could hear Capella sniffling behind him, and even Savannah’s eyes were beginning to well up with tears.

  “Dad, I don’t know what to do. How can I possibly stop a wind demon with just a Frisbee?” Bailey felt utterly alone.

  His father took his hand off Bailey’s shoulder. “You’re not just a boy with a Frisbee. You can outthink any monster in the world. Now, my beautiful baby boy, prove me right. Go do what your father failed to.”

  George winked at them with his huge left eye as he sank lower and lower, his mouth closing and water rushing in. He bellowed again, “Wahooooooom!”

  “Bailey! Bailey! One more thing!” his mother cried.

  “Mom?”

  “Have you met any nice girls?”

  Bailey turned red and didn’t say a word. Savannah leaned forward and shouted into the whale’s mouth. “Yes, ma’am, he has!”

  “Are you a mermaid, young lady?”

  Bailey spoke up. “No, Mom. She’s not.”

  “My sweet prince, I like her already.”

  Dougie flexed his knees, getting ready to jump. “I have to do this, son. Are you going to be okay?
You have to tell me you’re going to be okay.”

  Bailey could see the pain in his father’s eyes. He knew that if he really wanted to, he could say No, and his father would stay on The Sweet Tooth. One word, and his father would change course. But instead, knowing how much his father loved his mother, and how much he himself loved her, and that he had only one real memory of his mother to shield him from the darkness, Bailey said Yes.

  His father leaned forward and kissed Bailey on the forehead. “Bailey, my son, have faith in your old man. Whalefatians are very good at escaping giant whales—we proved that a very long time ago, and we will prove it again.” He squeezed Bailey’s shoulders one last time and then cried, “Katrina! I’m coming! Alley-oop!”

  His father launched himself off the rail, and like a perfectly graceful gorilla, landed feetfirst on the tip of the whale’s tongue. George’s mouth closed around Bailey’s father, the water frothing around the whale as he turned to dive beneath the waves. Bailey stepped off the rail of the bow and swept the wet shag of hair out of his eyes. In the distance, to the south, he could see the cynocephaly’s little sailboat zigzagging toward the marching giants. Time was running out.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  MAN TO DOG

  THEY WERE LESS than a mile from the giants when they drew near to the wind demon’s boat. As The Sweet Tooth got closer, they saw that Axel had a leaf blower strapped to his body. He was blowing air into the sails.

  “That cynocephaly really isn’t all that bright,” Nikos said as they approached.

  “Get ready to throw me over there,” Bailey said, coming up from the galley where he had been concocting a secret plan with the goblins. He stuffed as many Frisbees as he could in his hoodie and tried to push his parents out of his mind. If he thought about them, he would worry they were drowned or digested or worse. An expert monster hunter had to work on one problem at a time, and the current problem was getting aboard the wind demon’s boat without dropping anything he was carrying.