He knew they would take their task seriously. They had not learned to be nonchalant about things like the adult Hunters had. They felt the weight of responsibility and duty on their shoulders. And they would bear that weight to the very end.
Halfway across the bridge the five Monster Hunters strode forward and…
…and then they were gone.
Loch sighed and looked at the empty bridge. He waited, almost hoping they would reappear, but of course they did not.
Subtly, he looked at the gargoyle and nodded, releasing it from its current duty and commanding it to protect them—praying that it could protect them. It waited for him to look away, and then he heard the sound of stone skin brushing against itself.
When Loch looked back, there was nothing but an old white bridge with bloodstains. He pulled his winter coat tighter and trudged through the thin snow back into Hunter’s Key.
Chapter 9: The Otherworld
The air pulsed like a heartbeat as they passed through.
Or so they thought. In reality, the pounding was on the inside of their heads. And their skin—oh, their skin! It felt as if it had traveled separately in carry-on bags, and had just been reattached to their bodies with helter-skelter pins and needles.
Nash thought his lungs were going to implode before he realized he needed to breathe. He gasped for breath, falling to his hands and knees on a black, splintered bridge. He was aware of something flying over him—like a big, heavy eagle—but was too preoccupied to look.
Lisa felt the same way for a moment, coughing up trapped air, while Liev just held his head, hoping the pounding would go away.
Charlie was writhing on the ground, seeing through too many sets of eyes at one time. His nightmare raged at him too, though he was in no shape to understand that it was just a nightmare.
He eventually curled up into a ball and clenched his teeth, waiting for the pain to go away.
As for Darcy, she was unconscious. She lay on her back, half phased through her crossbow and the ground around her, and dreamed of a bedroom. It was brightly lit, and a lady sat on the window seat, lulling a little girl to sleep. The girl held a strange necklace, while her mother gently sang.
“Red monster, Red monster,” her mother was singing, “up above my head.”
While the little girl watched, dreary, her mother pressed a thumb twice against the red gem on the necklace.
“Your friend, the Blue monster is under my bed.”
She pressed against the blue gem…
“Making faces, ugly faces, is the game you play,
“With the scary from the closet, glowing green his eye.”
The green gem…
“Never, dear, never fear the Dark or these faces here,”
Black…
“For soon, very soon, will come the morning Light.”
Yellow…
Darcy jumped awake, startling the others as she cried, “That’s it! That’s it!”
“Would you hush?” Lisa said in a harsh whisper. She was still rubbing her throat. “We don’t know what’s around us, or how close we are to any monsters.”
Darcy ignored her and madly fumbled for her mother’s necklace. She found it, stared at it, and pressed her thumbs urgently on the red gem twice, then on the blue gem, and then the green one. Thumbing the gems reminded her of texting on her cell phone, which made her laugh now….
What were the last two lines?
“Never, dear, never fear the Dark or these faces here.”
She pressed black, and then…
“For soon, very soon, will come the morning Light.”
…yellow.
And with a crackle, the hole of the necklace lit up with a pale light. The light shot out, and Lisa, being closest, jumped back with a small yelp.
The light was like a projector, its beam reaching out three feet in distance, ending in a flat, octagonal disc. She set the necklace on the ground and the disc of light stood up to their waists, like a table. There were shapes in the light, little hills, flat land, names written over places.
Realization dawned on Darcy, and she gasped. The other’s gathered around it, even Charlie—his eyes were blood red again, but otherwise he seemed recovered.
“It’s a map,” observed Nash.
“Obviously,” said Lisa.
“Conveniently,” added Liev.
Darcy looked at it carefully, as did Charlie. It was carefully detailed and labeled, presumably by the Hunters who had originally created it. In the center of the octagon a large, roughly triangular piece of land resembling an arrowhead was labeled in large calligraphy, OTHERWORLD.
Many islands broke off from the mainland, most of them labeled: Boggart’s Marsh, Banshee’s Stay, and Witch Island. A large section of map, a very prominent section in the middle of the Otherworld, looked to be grimly labeled Graveyard, and directly behind it was Spirit Tree. Also within the Otherworld were such places labeled as Manticore Den, Basilisk Pit, Wyvern’s Peak…. None of them sounded very comforting.
“We’re here,” said Darcy, touching a point labeled The Bridge. They still stood on the bridge, where the gateway had deposited them. But this bridge was black, not white. Nobody saw any sign of the Key they had left behind.
“Right,” said Charlie, the black pupils swimming around frantically in a sea of red as he scanned the map. “And we need to be here.”
He pointed to the very tip of the arrowhead, where a picture was drawn of a castle with a moat. It was labeled Blood Castle.
Everyone groaned. It was the very farthest point on the map from where they stood. Directly behind the castle was labeled DEMON’S GORGE, so that meant they could only try to enter from the front. They would be marching in blatantly, staring their enemies in the face.
A large cave on the map stood in front of the castle. It was labeled Wolf’s Lair.
It just made things that much better.
Liev shook his head. “We are so scr—”
Lisa elbowed him hard in the ribs.
“Which way do we go?” asked Nash, a little desperately. Charlie turned away from the map, searching the land with his dreadful eyes. He saw so many things, glimmers of light rising from the earth, ley lines under the earth, traces of magic that he didn’t understand. He searched hard, but there was no glowing neon sign that said “THIS WAY.” No billboard reading, “BLOOD CASTLE, THREE STOPLIGHTS AHEAD ON THE RIGHT! STOP HERE FOR SLUSHIES!”
To the left was Boggart’s Marsh, and past that was the Manticore Pit, right next to Demon’s Gorge.
To the right were Witch Island, Wyvern’s Peak, and Banshee’s Stay. And beyond that, Wolf’s Lair.
“Left,” said Darcy.
Charlie did not like the shimmer in the air to their left. He didn’t like the right, either, but he had a feeling that left was a bad idea.
“I think we should go right,” he said.
Darcy scrunched her nose. “Why right?”
“I don’t know… I just think it’s better if we go that way.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t like the sound of Wolf’s Lair. And besides, we’d have to climb Wyvern’s Peak. Left would be easier.”
Lisa looked at the map with her brother. They knew a lot of these monsters, or at least what old books said about them, and none of it looked very hopeful.
Basilisk Pit was straight ahead, between them and the Graveyard.
“Darcy’s right,” said Lisa. “If we go left, we can march up the side pretty easy. Maybe we can cut in between Boggart’s Marsh and the Graveyard, steering away from it all, and get right to Blood Castle.”
The others all agreed, despite the sinking feeling in Charlie’s stomach. He tried to ignore the nervous gut feeling and just go along with them, hefting his spear for comfort.
Darcy scooped her mother’s necklace off the ground and its map winked out. The light in the hole swirled and drifted away like a mist. Warily, she put it back around her neck.
&n
bsp; She took the crossbow off her back and loaded it with one of the iron tipped shafts. Lisa did the same.
Liev grinned maniacally, loading his bronze grenade launcher and shifting it to his left hand, holding a foil in his right. Two grenade belts were strapped across his torso in an X, while two hung in another, if a more flattened, X at his hips and waist. He looked vaguely like a steampunk commando.
Nash picked up S.M.U.G.G. affectionately, loading several canisters of salt grapeshot into the chamber tube. He pressed the button on the front of his vest, and a slight hiss became audible.
Charlie marched behind Darcy, holding his spear sideways so he could wield it in a two-handed grip. As Lisa suggested, they stuck to the left edge of the Otherworld, not far from the waters beyond the dirty banks.
The painful disorientation of traveling into the Otherworld quickly wore off as they continued on through the frigid country. And it was when the effects of first-time interworld travel wore off that Nash noticed how good he felt.
“Anyone else feel that?” he asked, stretching his legs as he strode.
“I sure as heck do,” said Liev.
He had realized a few steps back that his senses were sharper than usual. He could see the miniscule fray in the right knee of his white jeans, and he could smell the minerals in the stones to his left, where they sat being lapped at by the water.
“What?” asked Darcy.
“You don’t feel it?” Lisa asked, staring into the sky as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. (In truth, purple skies are very interesting indeed, but it was the sharp detail of the nearly black clouds that she was so immersed in.)
Liev stopped, unnoticed by mostly everyone, and picked up a small pebble, then flung it at Darcy’s back.
Reflexively, Darcy whipped around—having heard a tiny gust of wind behind her—and plucked the pebble from the air without thinking.
“That,” said Liev emphatically.
Darcy looked at the pebble. “Oh.”
“It’s like we’re meant to be here,” said Lisa, spreading her arms. She spun around, grinning. “Like we have the greatest potential here. I wonder what our gifts are like….”
“Yeah,” said Nash, suddenly noticing how much lighter S.M.U.G.G. had become. It felt like a feather, now.
“Which means we need to be even more careful,” said Charlie.
It was the first time he had spoken in nearly half an hour. Of course, he noticed the change, too, because his Sight had become even more detailed, more frightening. Now he could see pale figures in the water, watching the five humans with fiery-green eyes. Charlie doubted the others had seen the water spirits.
“We can’t get too wrapped up with what’s new, or the point will be moot. Because then we aren’t even paying attention.”
And as it turned out, Charlie was dead right. Just at that moment, a creature appeared out of what seemed to be thin air. Before any of them had even realized what was happening, the monster—a horse-like creature whose skin looked disturbingly like a dead fish—rammed through all of them from behind, knocking them forward like bowling pins. They were picking themselves up while the monster turned back to face them, pawing the ground with clawed hooves.
To their surprise, the monster opened its ragged mouth and spoke, its voice a nauseating whine.
“You killed him. You killed my master.”
“What are you talking about?” cried Charlie, terrified. “I didn’t kill anybody!”
“This is for my master!” the wretched horse shrieked. It charged for him, opening a mouth rowed with shark-like teeth.
“Charlie!” Lisa called. “This is an erkling’s steed…its master must be the one Loch killed.”
“Well that’s just great! What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Get the heck out of its way!”
And Charlie tried. He dove out of the way, but not enough. His legs were still weak from crossing the gateway. The only thing he managed to do was make himself a sitting target for the erkling’s steed. He clenched his eyes shut, reprimanding himself for already dying.
Again, there was that heavy whoosh through the air, the same that Nash had felt earlier after crossing the gateway. Over their heads flew…something.
Whatever it was screeched, nearly piercing their eardrums. To their surprise, it snatched the horse monster up like a dragon snatching up livestock. Charlie felt the pounding of bloody hooves, felt the gust of wind, and then heard the angry cries of the horse beast, sounding farther and farther away. He opened his eyes wide and sat up just in time to see a gargoyle the size of a lion carry off his would be killer. It was the same dragon-like gargoyle that had been poised next to the white bridge, back at the Key. He was sure of it.
“What was that thing?” asked Darcy, a little hysterical.
“Which one?” said Charlie.
Darcy did not have time to clarify, because at that moment Nash said, “Oh, crap.”
“Don’t say, ‘oh, crap,’” said Liev, his white t-shirt all smudged with dirt. “We just had an ‘oh, crap’ and we don’t need another one.”
Nash shook his head and pointed in front of them, just a little left of where the gargoyle had flown.
“Oh,” said Liev. “Crap.”
From where Nash was pointing came something unexpected. Of course, they had expected to see monsters come after them, ready to fight. It was just…they had not expected this.
Thirty or so cats came from around a bend in the land that connected to an island. It was Boggart’s Marsh.
“Boggarts,” whispered Lisa.
Charlie didn’t see cats, like the others. He saw foggy, swirling spirits, trying to disguise themselves as cats. His stomach was sinking even further now.
“I knew we should’ve gone right.”
“We’re in their world,” snapped Darcy, defensive. “We were bound to run into a monster at some point.”
The cats continued to come, moving in a way that told the teens they had been spotted. The Otherworld was aware of their human presence.
“Lisa,” asked Charlie, “how bad are boggarts?”
“Uh….” In the face of the enemy, Lisa froze.
“They’re bad,” said Liev, coming to his sister’s rescue. “They’re a nuisance most of the time, but they can be murderous. And a whole pack of boggarts?”
Charlie didn’t need Liev to finish the sentence. “Let’s just go back and try the other way,” he said.
The five turned back to retreat, but opposite the cats came a harpy. It was a bird the size of a horse, with the wretched face of a bird-woman. Then, to their left, two massive creatures appeared; one a gray giant with a large nose, the other a black humanoid creature with no face but for three eyes and six clawed arms. The strange creature stood on goat-like legs.
Between the boggarts, the harpy, and the giants, the only way out was to swim through the water. They were boxed in.
Terrified, the five Hunters backed away from each of the monsters that were closing in, pushing them closer to the water.
“Don’t step in the water,” Charlie warned.
“It may be our only chance!” cried Darcy.
He grabbed her sleeve. “There are things in the water, Darcy! Put one foot in and I guarantee it’ll be worse than standing your ground, here.”
She shook, suddenly afraid to die. “But what are we supposed to do?”
“Hold them off,” Charlie said quickly. “Hold them all off. Somebody needs to go after the bird thing.”
For once, Lisa didn’t offer the monster’s name.
“I can deal with the boggarts,” Liev said, sheathing his sword and raising his grenade launcher. He knew the salt and iron alone compacted within the grenades should be enough to do the trick.
Nash pointed S.M.U.G.G. at the two massive hulks trudging over the molehill toward them. “I got Tweedledee and Tweedledum over there.”
Lisa and Darcy looked at each other
and then at Charlie. “We can help take down the bird,” Darcy offered, raising her crossbow.
Charlie grimaced. “No offense, But I don’t want to be battling that thing with a spear while you’ve got a crossbow pointed at my back. You two help Nash and Liev hold the other monsters off. I’ll kill the bird.”
As if she had heard him, the harpy bird opened her beaked lips and screeched a horrible song meant to incapacitate whoever heard it. Charlie gritted his teeth and brought his spear up, ready.
Liev took aim at the sulkily approaching cats. He pulled the old trigger, and a black grenade shot forward, cracking into the head of the nearest cat. Liev just barely saw the angry boggart leave its cat skin to become a swirling mist before the grenade exploded.
About that same time, Nash squeezed S.M.U.G.G.’s trigger and opened fire on the grayish troll. Large holes appeared in the monster’s thick arms, blistering around the edges as the troll tried to shield himself. Lisa and Darcy opened fire on the frightening giant that strode next to the troll, and to their surprise one of the shafts actually hit a hoofed leg, temporarily crippling it. Darcy looked back at Charlie as she hastily loaded the next arrow.
The harpy was close enough to strike at, and Charlie thrust the spear forward, aiming for one of her hideous eyes. But she was quick—quicker than he expected of a giant bird—and dodged the attack.
Her massive head came in for the kill. Lank, greasy hair flew out behind her as she ducked forward to pluck something vital out of Charlie’s head or torso.
To his surprise an arrow shaft appeared out of the creature’s forehead with a FLUNK.
The harpy screeched and flew back a few feet, clawing at her own forehead.
“Still sure you don’t want me to watch your back?” called Darcy.
Charlie nodded his thanks before turning back to plunge his spear into the harpy’s exposed neck.
“Darcy! What are you doing?” cried Nash, bringing her back to the reality of her own battle. The six-armed beast had recovered and was running for them at an alarming pace. Nash was forced to take his gun off the troll and drive the other giant back.
Charlie Sullivan and the Monster Hunters: The Varcolac's Diary Page 16
