The Beast

by Ally Condie

  The space around them twisted. Nico felt himself stretched, then squished like a stress ball.

  Go. Thing floated down to the rip in reality that accessed its world. Quickly. We’re out of time.

  Reality seemed to melt. Nico grabbed Tyler’s hand, saw him take Emma’s, who linked with Opal. As one they arrowed up toward the passage back into their world. Reaching the threshold, they turned and looked down.

  Thing waved. They waved back. Then Thing faced the gateway to its realm and started through.

  Here goes nothing, Opal said, taking the chessboard from Emma. Holding it in front of her, she stepped to the barrier and pushed. It parted easily and she stumbled forward, with only the hand holding Emma’s still visible in the void.

  Don’t let go! Nico urged. Emma and Tyler went next in a rush. Nico came last. As he passed through the veil—into the frigid, murky Pacific Ocean—he felt something slide shut behind him. Releasing Tyler’s hand, Nico swam to the surface and took a gasping breath.

  They were inside the Rift’s cylinder in the drilling chamber, but the water had stopped moving, its purple glow dulled to nearly nothing. There was no sign of any Takers, or the Beast. Nico still worried about both being on the loose—whatever Thing thought—but a groan from the catwalks above captured his full attention.

  Rain poured down through the open roof. The platform was vibrating ominously, seemed ready to keel over. “Let’s get out of here!” he shouted.

  Tyler was helping Emma onto a ladder. Opal and Nico swam over to another set of metal rungs, Opal holding the chessboard overhead. The wall to Nico’s left shifted precariously as they climbed. Up on the catwalk level, they fled through the door, scrambled down the outside steps, and raced away along the lonely spit of rocks.

  Metal screeched behind them. Nico turned, watched the entire oil rig collapse with an echoing crash. “Oh man,” Emma breathed. “Close one.”

  “Maybe we can call a cab?” Tyler said hopefully, pulling his hood up. The rain had begun to slacken, the weird glow fading like an exhaled breath. “Otherwise …”

  Nico peered into the darkness. Clouds hid the moon. The world was pitch-black and would stay that way until morning. How long before people started searching for them? Would anyone think to look out here?

  A spotlight cut across the waves. Nico heard the low purr of an engine. Moments later a cherry-red runabout pulled up to the breakwater. Logan waved from behind the wheel.

  “Oh thank heavens,” Tyler gasped. “Logan did the thing he was supposed to do!”

  “So did we,” Opal said, in an almost disbelieving tone. “We closed the Rift, you guys. Thing made it easy.”

  Nico nodded, yet felt unsettled. It had been easy. He remembered something Thing had said near the end: For now.

  Logan tossed a line and they all scrambled aboard. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “But the town is in an uproar, you’re all probably considered missing, and, now that I’ve added two counts of boat theft to my resume, I’m officially Timbers’ highest-profile criminal.”

  “Are the figments still attacking?” Opal said worriedly, shoving the chessboard under her seat.

  “Thing’s army ran wild through downtown, but thankfully most everyone stayed inside. Then they all vanished at once. Whatever you did, it wasn’t a second too soon. But we’re never going to cover this up. Dozens of people saw real-deal monsters running down Main Street. Blaming it on Halloween isn’t going to work.”

  “We didn’t do anything about the figments,” Tyler said in disbelief, but then he slapped the gunwale beside him. “It must’ve been when Thing went home! I bet its creations disappeared when the little blob crossed over. Thing helped us close the Rift, too.”

  Logan shook his head. “Tell me about it on the way back.”

  He reversed into deeper water, then spun the bow and headed for Timbers. Nico stared up at the night sky, which had returned to normal. But will my life? As they bounced across the waves, Nico couldn’t shake a feeling that his world had changed forever.

  32

  OPAL

  A rare November blue sky stretched across the horizon.

  Opal and Emma waited on the front steps of the public library, surveying the damage littering downtown. A moment later, Nico and Tyler strode up together, followed by Logan appearing from the opposite direction.

  “Are you good?” Opal asked as the boys approached.

  “Incredibly, yes.” Nico said. “I can’t believe my dad bought it.”

  Tyler waggled his phone with a guilty grin. “No cell service—the greatest excuse ever.”

  Opal nodded, her expression growing contrite. “After I told my mom we had to hide in the gym to avoid freaks attacking the middle-school Halloween party, she actually hugged me. I think she was still pretty upset about someone smashing the bank’s front window.”

  “Technically there was no service last night,” Emma said. “The tower’s still out of commission today, and us hunkering down to avoid a rampaging mob makes sense.” She shrugged. “My parents believed me, no questions asked.” Then Emma frowned at her shoes. “But I have to write letters of apology to almost everyone in town for my role in the beach fiasco. People seem pretty mad about it. They think I helped plan a giant Freakshow prank for ratings. Some reward for saving their butts with a distraction.”

  They turned to Logan, who snorted a bitter laugh. “No one even noticed I was missing. I put the boat back, slipped home, and pretended to have been in my room the whole time.”

  “Thanks for taking the risk for us, Logan.” Opal looked at Nico. “Did you notice the red tide has dissipated? I walked through Orca Park on my way here, and there’s no trace of the bloom. That’s almost as weird as the algae showing up in the first place.”

  Nico’s shoulders rose and fell. “My dad left a stack of articles on my desk about the outbreaks, but this one didn’t act normal. I think the Rift had everything to do with it. Maybe it was leaking iron into the ocean, and that spurred the algae growth?”

  Tyler nodded slowly. “That might even be what riled up the Beast. Maybe the iron, and algae, and other weird stuff was messing with its habitat. The Beast seemed to know where Dixon’s crypt was, and then it came to the island in Still Cove. Our new buddy might’ve been trying to check in with the Torchbearers and found us instead. As crazy as that sounds.”

  “We need to go through those file cabinets in the Torchbearers’ office,” Nico said, scratching his cheek. “Though I have to find a way inside the Custom House that doesn’t risk bumping into my dad every single time.”

  “As soon as we can,” Opal agreed. “But we’ve got other business right now.”

  “My mom didn’t love me heading out again so early,” Tyler said. “You sure this is necessary?”

  Opal nodded with a frown. “We have to find Colton Bridger. He knows almost everything, and might even have the beach attack on film. We can’t let anything get onto the Internet.”

  “They’re headed for the waterfront,” Logan said. “I saw that ugly van roll by on my way over here. I bet they’re taking the first ferry out.”

  “Shoot.” Opal hurried down the steps, waving for the others to follow. “Let’s go. That stupid film crew can still ruin everything.”

  Bridger practically snarled as Opal approached the Freakshow van.

  “You.” He spat the word out the passenger window. “Get away from me. Miserable little heathen.”

  Nico and the others gathered behind Opal, on a sidewalk next to the loading area. They’d found Bridger sitting in his van, alone, parked in line and waiting for the ferry to start taking on vehicles.

  Bridger’s eyes glittered with malice. “I don’t know what your role in this fiasco was—or how you did it—but you’re responsible for those awful creatures, I’m sure of it. Soon everyone is going to know your secret.”

  “What secret?” Opal had lost all patience with Colton Bridger. He talked a big game, but he’d hidden when the figment army att
acked, then cowered uselessly in front of the Beast like a terrified squirrel. Had he ever faced down creatures from another dimension, or closed a rift in space-time that threatened the entire world? No, he had not. He couldn’t even keep it together when confronted by the very Beast he’d traveled there to find. Some adventure hunter.

  Still, he and his crew had seen a lot. That was a problem.

  Bridger yanked his ski hat down over his eyebrows. “We’ve got a ton of footage from last night, and I’m going to use every frame of it. The world will learn what’s happening in this podunk backwater. You can bet your crappy little town on that.”

  “We saved you,” Opal said, scowling at the petulant TV host. “I think the words you’re looking for are ‘thank you.’ ”

  “Thank you?” Bridger yanked open the passenger door and stepped out of the van. “You clearly summoned the Beast, and it almost killed me! You even planted a spy in my production.” He smiled coldly at Emma. “But you’ll pay for it. I’m about to put this hick town on the map, and my ratings will skyrocket!”

  Bridger turned and hopped back into the van, but Tyler grabbed the door before he could close it. “If you expose the Beast as real, bad people will come looking. People only interested in exploiting the creature for their own gain.”

  “That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?” Bridger’s voice was a knot of tension. His finger darted out at Logan. “Right, T-shirt boy? Come visit Timbers, you might spot a sea monster! Well, congratulations. I’m going to make that happen.”

  “You’re deliberately causing a disaster!” Tyler shouted, eyes angry. “Some jerks will try to catch it. Or shoot it. And the Beast isn’t messing around, either. People could die!”

  Tyler was right. Opal felt sick.

  “That’s your problem.” Bridger laughed in their faces. “You led me right to that terrible creature, twice. You tried to murder me. So now you’ll taste what payback … tastes like.”

  “We didn’t ask you to follow us around,” Nico snapped. “And wasn’t that your whole point in coming here anyway? To see the legendary Beast?”

  The ferry whistle blew. Engines fired up along the line of vehicles. The rest of the Freakshow crew emerged from the waiting area and began piling into the van. Derek and Jacqueline nodded to Emma, who gave a little wave back. Bridger shoved Tyler’s hand out of the way and slammed the door.

  Jake keyed the ignition. These strangers were leaving with Timbers’ biggest secrets in their possession, and there was nothing Opal could do to stop them.

  Bridger rolled down his window and sneered. “I’m going to be so freaking famous. And this place is going to be a war zone after my finale airs. Enjoy!”

  A crowd of angry citizens was filtering down to where the van idled. Jake slapped Bridger on the chest and pointed. “Let’s go,” Bridger said, voice tense. He glared at Emma. “Half this town blames us for last night, thanks to your stupid speech. But I’ll show the world what happened here. I’LL SHOW THE WORLD!”

  The van pulled onto the ferry. Moments later, the heavy boat pushed off. As the vessel floated away, the film crew headed up to the ferry’s passenger area, but Bridger never appeared. Opal thought he was probably too unnerved to set foot outside his vehicle.

  “I do not like that guy.” Emma shook her head. “He wanted sea monsters to be real but couldn’t handle meeting one.”

  Nico’s shoulders slumped. “He’s going to ruin Timbers.”

  “People are the worst,” Opal said, hugging her arms to her chest.

  Tyler sighed. “The absolute worst.”

  Logan put a hand on Ty’s shoulder. “Personally, I think screaming nightmare creatures from another dimension are the worst.”

  “Let’s call it a tie.” Tyler scrubbed at his eyes. “Guys, we have to do something.”

  “There’s nothing we can do.” Emma’s voice was somber. “And right now, I have to go home.”

  Logan peered down through the open skylight. “Is it working?”

  “Yeah!” Emma said. “At least, I think so. I’ve got three bars.”

  Her tablet sat on the pedestal where Thing’s jar used to be. Thanks to some complicated cell phone–streaming airplay-signal-bouncing—or whatever Tyler and Logan had finagled—things were set up so they could watch the final episode of Freakshow together on the houseboat.

  The sun was shining outside, the air clear of sulfur stink for the first time in a week. Opal was playing chess with Tyler on the ancient board Thing had given them. She was losing—badly—but didn’t really care. The intricate pieces reminded her of all that they’d accomplished.

  “So I think I finally figured out what the Torchbearers’ emergency letter was asking us to do,” Tyler said, moving his queen diagonally into a position that made Opal nervous. “About the seal, and the Traveler, and all that.”

  Opal stared at the board, searching for a trap. “Okay?”

  Tyler glanced at Nico, who was reading an article about volcanic ash. He was still investigating where the sulfur had come from, but so far had found no clear answer. Feeling Tyler’s eyes, Nico sat back and motioned for his friend to continue.

  “The seal was a chemical layer that the Torchbearers devised to cover the Rift and keep it more stable,” Tyler said. “That was the first part: Seek the platform. Tend the seal. But the Rift itself was held closed by balancing what came through it. So when they asked us to ‘secure the Traveler,’ they really did want us to keep Thing on this side, locked inside its jar. That’s what actually kept the Rift from breaking open.”

  “So we rebalanced the equation with this,” Opal said, tapping the chessboard. “Which crossed back over in exchange for Thing. But that didn’t do anything for the seal, right?”

  Nico shook his head. “We didn’t fix that, which means the Rift is closed but still vulnerable. And I’m not sure how we can ever create the right chemical mixture again, since the entire oil platform collapsed and the Rift’s tank is now buried under all that rubble.”

  “Good riddance,” Tyler said. “If we can’t reach it, no one else can, either.”

  “I wish we could ask Thing,” Emma said from over by the pedestal. “I kinda miss the little green gumball.”

  Tyler’s head reared back. “Miss it? Did you forget how that monster tried to feed us to an army of figments?”

  “Thing came through in the end,” Opal countered. “It had been caged for decades by the Torchbearers. I don’t blame it for not trusting us at first.”

  Logan walked into the room and joined the trio hovering over the gameboard. “You’re done for,” he told Opal calmly.

  “It’s not over yet,” Opal shot back. Tyler just grinned, putting his hands behind his head.

  “Did you talk with Sheriff Ritchie?” Nico asked Logan. Adding the disaster of Dark Halloween to the unsolved vandalism of Beast Night had local law enforcement wired tighter than a snare drum. Every person in Timbers was being interviewed about both nights. Mayor Hayt was terrified to schedule any future civic events, since the last two had resulted in town property being torn to shreds.

  Logan rubbed the back of his neck. “My dad and I met with him yesterday. Both investigations are ongoing, but no one has asked to see my four-wheelers. I think I might be in the clear.”

  “Dump the tires into the cove,” Tyler advised, moving his rook halfway up the chessboard. “You made enough money on Beast shirts to buy new ones, right?”

  Logan shrugged. “I shut all that down. Didn’t feel right anymore. Not since the Beast became our new pet or whatever.”

  “Not a pet,” Tyler said sharply. “Our ally.”

  Opal scowled at Tyler over the game pieces. “You checkmated me, didn’t you?”

  “I sure did.”

  “I wonder where the Beast is now?” Emma said, gazing out the showroom window. “I keep watching for the big guy in Still Cove. I’m not sure whether I want to see it there or not.”

  “About that.” Tyler rose and walked to his backp
ack, removing a thick book. “I finished this one last night, and look what I found.” He flipped to the back and held a page open so everyone could see. A swirling torch was drawn there.

  “The symbol from Dixon’s crypt,” Opal blurted. “And the plaque where we found his name.”

  Tyler nodded, setting the book down. “It’s the mark of a special position within the Order.” He cleared his throat. “The emblem of Beastmaster.”

  There was a silent moment, then Nico laughed. “So that’s you now?”

  Tyler glowered at his friend. “And why not? I know the most about it!”

  Nico held up his hands. “I was joking. It’s just so full circle. But the job is definitely yours.”

  “Uncontestedly yours,” Logan quipped. “Congrats, Beastmaster.”

  Opal nodded quickly, as did Emma, both girls beaming at their skinny friend.

  “I’ll try to … to figure out how to work with it,” Tyler promised, suddenly embarrassed. “And reward it somehow for saving our butts with those Takers.”

  “You might need to convince the Beast to leave,” Nico said quietly. “If Bridger’s stupid show makes this area unsafe. We might need a plan for sinking the houseboat, too.”

  The mood in the room deflated. Emma walked back over to her tablet. “Speak of the devil,” she said. “The episode is downloading!”

  Everyone in Timbers would be streaming it, even those who blamed Colton Bridger for Dark Halloween. People were angry and scared. Many believed the film crew had played everyone, and that the figment army was nothing more than special effects and hired goons in costumes shipped in secretly from out of town. Many didn’t believe that, however, and paranoia festered in the streets.

  Opal and her friends wanted to watch the finale alone. They couldn’t bear witnessing the fallout of their secrets being exposed. The five newest Torchbearers weren’t the only Beast truthers in Timbers anymore, which was going to have repercussions. If outsiders swarmed the area to search for a sea monster, Still Cove would top their list of places to look. Everything they had worked so hard to protect was at risk.