Babysitting Nightmares_The Shadow Hand

by Kat Shepherd

“That’s getting a little weird,” Rebecca said.

  “Whatever. It’s definitely a sheep,” Maggie said.

  “Enough with the sheep! It’s not a sheep!” Tanya said.

  “Fine. Then what else could it be?” Maggie asked.

  Clio clapped her hands triumphantly. “Wait! I’ve got it! It’s the moon!”

  A slow smile spread across Tanya’s face. “Of course! The tides! Why didn’t I think of that?” She paused, thinking. “But wait, last week I read this article about wolves, and scientists have discovered that they don’t actually howl at the moon.”

  Maggie gestured to the clearing around them. “Um, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re trying to solve a riddle given to us by a magical blue lady with actual stars on her skin. Not tattoos of stars. Actual stars. Do you really think science has anything to do with this?”

  Rebecca ran the riddle through her head again. The moon could definitely be the queen of the night, and—forgetting Tanya’s article—wolves certainly had some kind of connection to the moon. There was always the harvest moon in the fall, and of course she knew that the moon controlled the tides. “I think Clio’s right,” she said.

  “I guess, but I still think a sheep would be much more awesome. But, yeah, Clio’s the riddle master. So let’s go with the moon,” Maggie said.

  Tanya grinned. “I guess it’s possible that the Night Queen didn’t read that article last month. Well played, Clio.”

  Clio stepped forward confidently. “Our answer is the moon.” The lusus pressed in eagerly, malice in their eyes.

  A look of irritation crossed the Night Queen’s perfect features. “It is the moon.” The creatures hissed in disappointment, and Clio yelped as a wet, boneless tentacle snaked out of the crowd and twisted her ear.

  The queen arranged her face into a regal smile and raised her arms above her head. “In honor of the first victory, we shall reward our challengers with a banquet.” The drummers began to play, and the lusus danced in a lurching circle around the girls.

  A long table covered with black silk rose out of the ground, its surface laden with silver platters piled high with delicious treats. Rebecca spied delicate white mini-cupcakes with fluffy pink icing, gooey cheese pizza with a perfect, golden-brown crust, and an elaborate gingerbread house covered in candy. Enormous ice cream sundaes in frosted glass bowls sat between silver baskets of crispy fried chicken and pyramids of fresh, juicy cheeseburgers. There was even a chocolate fountain in the middle.

  Rebecca could smell every sumptuous dish, each aroma more delicious than the next. She tried to remember when she had last eaten; it must have been hours ago. She didn’t think she had ever been so hungry. Rebecca’s mind felt fuzzy and slow, and all she could think about was the blissful sweetness of icing melting on her tongue. She should definitely eat something so that her mind could focus on defeating the queen. It would be easier to win the challenges if she wasn’t so hungry; she was sure of it.

  The table settled itself and the girls rushed over to it. Tanya picked up a wooden plate and reached for a slice of pizza. Rebecca went straight for the cupcakes. Maggie grabbed her arm. “Wait a minute. Something’s not right.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Maggie nodded at the queen, who stood watching them with interest. “Look at her. You saw her face when we answered that riddle. She was not a happy camper.”

  Tanya’s hand hovered above the steaming slice of pizza. “Yeah, so? She’s just being a good sport.”

  Maggie lowered her voice. “Good sport? Really? Snap out of it! This is the Night Queen we’re talking about, remember? Do you really want to eat that food?”

  Tanya’s hand moved closer to the pizza. “Well, yeah, we kind of do.”

  Rebecca pulled her arm out of Maggie’s grip. “Look, there’s nothing wrong with it. Here, smell this cupcake.”

  Maggie waved the cupcake away. “I’m not going to smell your cupcake, weirdo. Focus.”

  “I don’t want to focus. I’m starving!”

  Maggie raised her voice. “Clio, you’re with me, right? Can you help me talk some sense into these two?” Clio didn’t answer. She had plunged her arms up to the elbows into a huge china bowl filled with jelly beans. The drumbeats grew faster and louder; the creatures’ dancing, more frenzied. Jelly beans spilled from Clio’s cupped hands as she brought them to her mouth.

  “No!” Maggie ran over and slapped Clio’s hands away. The candies scattered across the table. Rebecca forgot her cupcake for a moment.

  Clio shoved Maggie. “Hey! What was that about?! Those were my jelly beans!”

  Tanya curled her lip and hunched over the pizza, guarding it. “Stop trying to take our food. Get your own!” On the dais behind them, the Night Queen let out a tinkling laugh and clapped her hands.

  Rebecca looked again at the cupcakes. The dollops of pink frosting, spotted with rainbow sprinkles. The scalloped edges of the cakes so perfect. Her mouth watered. I’ve worked really hard. I deserve those cupcakes. Why is Maggie trying to ruin everything?

  Maggie pushed her way between the other girls and stood with her back to the table, arms spread open to block her friends from the food. “Just stop and think about it, please! Do any stories end with the Night Queen just randomly doing something nice? She’s mean to the bone, and I may not know much about ghost stories, but I do know mean girls. Don’t you guys ever watch TV? I’m telling you, this is a trick!”

  “I don’t care. I’m hungry!” Clio edged closer to the table.

  In desperation Maggie bent over and grabbed a handful of dirt from the clearing floor. She threw it over the jelly beans, covering them with clods of soil.

  “What are you doing?!”

  Maggie grabbed two more handfuls, tossing them on the pizza and cupcakes. “No way am I going to let you eat this.” She tipped over the plate of burgers, spilling them off the table. As soon as the burgers touched the ground, they broke apart, transforming into piles of wriggling worms and heavy black beetles. The three girls jumped back, their faces pale. The fog in Rebecca’s head cleared.

  “Still hungry?” Maggie asked. Rebecca thought about how close she had come to eating those cupcakes, and she gagged. Tanya shuddered, and Clio wiped her hands on her jeans. Maggie turned to the dais. “Yeah, thanks, but I think we’re going to pass on the banquet. We’re not really hungry.”

  The music stopped abruptly. The table sank slowly back down into the earth, the food transforming into insects that skittered across the girls’ toes before scuttling away under the leaves. The queen sat rigid upon her throne, her face a mask of cold stone. Rebecca saw her fingers tighten slightly on the throne’s arms, then loosen again. Her chitinous locks scratched angrily against her shoulders. The grimacing changeling cowered at her feet, and the other lusus backed away, whispering, widening the circle around the girls.

  The queen stood. “You met the second challenge by refusing to eat.”

  The girls hugged one another, their faces glowing with relief. “Yes!” Clio whispered. “Two down. Just one more to go.”

  The queen’s face shifted into a brief, tight smile. “There is but one challenge remaining. If it is met, the girls are free to take the babe and go. If it is not, all will remain with us.” The lusus tittered. Rebecca could sense their excitement. They knew the end was close.

  The Night Queen gestured to her attendants, and one of them lifted Kyle from the cradle and placed him in the queen’s arms. Rebecca’s heart tightened in her chest. “For the final challenge, our guests must set right the balance of nature. In order to win the babe, they must sacrifice the changeling. For the children to leave freely, the changeling must be thrown into the fire.”

  CHAPTER

  18

  THE CHANGELING SHRIEKED and clung to the Night Queen’s skirts, as if begging for mercy. She kicked it away savagely, and Kyle began to cry. The queen’s lip curled in disgust. She shoved Kyle into the arms of a waiting attendant, who then disappeared into the shadows.<
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  The changeling lurched toward the edge of the dais and leaped awkwardly to the ground below. It limped toward the forest’s edge, desperate to escape, but the night creatures surrounded it. Several began to tease it, poking at it with sticks and laughing as it feebly snapped its teeth at them.

  A gray skeleton with the head of a shaggy black wolf carried a gilded cage over to the group, and the lusus forced the changeling inside. Trapped, its ugly face twisted into a howl of fear and rage. Two cadavers hooked a long silver pole onto the top of the cage and hung it near the dais. The creature’s decaying hands shook the golden bars in vain.

  The girls stood frozen. Rebecca could hear Kyle’s cries growing fainter as the attendant soothed him. The changeling’s cries weakened as well, softening to a dull whimper.

  The Night Queen ignored the chaos around her. She sat in front of the mirror again, watching her reflection as several attendants placed a heavy, jet necklace at her throat.

  Tanya was the first to speak. Her voice was unsteady. “It probably shouldn’t be too hard, right?” She swallowed. “After all, it’s really just an old log, isn’t it? It’s not like it’s an actual animal. Or a person.”

  “Yeah,” Clio said. “And it’s nasty, anyway. It hurt us anytime it had the chance, remember? It’s a monster. You’re supposed to kill monsters.”

  Rebecca remembered the wiry grip of the changeling’s hands on her wrists and the terror she had felt back in Kyle’s bedroom. Her back burned from where talons had cut her.

  “It’s not like we’d even be killing it, anyway,” Maggie said. She picked up a twig from the ground and turned it over in her hands. “I mean, is it even really alive? Aren’t we just … you know … making it turn back into a log or whatever it was before?”

  “Besides,” Tanya added, “look at it. I think it’s already dying.” The girls watched the changeling, who huddled, shivering at the bottom of its cage. One of its arms jutted out from its body at an odd angle. “Maybe we would actually be helping it, like putting it out of its misery.”

  “If it’s the only way to bring Kyle home, we have to do it,” Rebecca said. “We don’t have a choice.” She walked over to the bonfire and held out her hands, stretching her fingers over the hot flames. The fire crackled; the wood beneath glowed red. Embers drifted upward into the night sky. All we would be doing is just tossing a piece of wood into a fire. I’ve done that a million times. It’s not like it’s one of us. It’s only a log. The whole thing would take less than a minute, and then Kyle would be back safely in her arms. They could all go home.

  She could see the Night Queen’s reflection in the mirror. The queen spoke softly to her attendants and adjusted the necklace at her throat, but the golden eyes followed Rebecca.

  Rebecca walked over to the cage and bent down, looking inside. The changeling hissed and snapped at her, scraping its talons along the bottom of the cage. There was furry mold on its face, and a thick, yellow liquid dripped from its injured arm. It swiped at her with its good arm, and Rebecca flinched. The creature managed a wheezing giggle.

  The girls crowded in behind her. “So should we just grab it and, you know, toss it in?” Maggie asked.

  “I don’t want to get bitten or scratched again. It could still really hurt us,” Clio said. “Maybe we could carry the whole cage over and then just kind of dump it in.”

  Tanya folded her arms. “Maybe … but that seems sort of, I don’t know … mean.”

  “What’s there to be mean about?” Maggie said. “Think of it like we’re killing a bug. You see a bug in your room, you hurry up and squish it. You don’t think about how to do it nicely.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t kill bugs. I catch them with a cup and put them outside again,” Tanya said.

  Clio looked at her watch. “Well, however we do it, it has to be quick. We have less than an hour until Kyle’s parents get home.”

  Rebecca stretched her neck to try to find the attendant holding Kyle, but the baby was back in the cradle, dozing. He looked so small and vulnerable. “Look, you guys,” she said to her friends. “I brought us here; it’s my responsibility. I’ll do it.”

  The other girls backed up as Rebecca bent down and opened the cage door. The changeling cowered against the opposite wall, hissing. She reached inside, carefully avoiding the creature’s injuries, and scooped it into her arms. The changeling bit and scratched at her, but it seemed to know that all was lost. The teeth barely grazed her skin. After a few moments of weak struggles, it lay limply in her arms, the bulbous head resting on her shoulder. She could hear its breathing, thick and wet, near her ear.

  Without thinking, Rebecca murmured to the changeling the way she would to any frightened baby. “Shh … shh … I know you’re scared, I know. It’s all right.” She stroked its rotting back. “In just a few minutes, it will all be over.”

  As she turned toward the fire, everything slowed. The shifting light of the flames bathed her friends’ stricken faces in flickering shadows of red and gold. The night creatures stilled; their conversations fell away, and their hollow eyes glinted with malicious curiosity. The distance to the fire seemed to stretch impossibly. Her legs quivered, and a wave of exhaustion washed over her. Rebecca took the first trembling step toward the fire, and the queen stood up from her throne. Her forgotten attendants stepped back.

  Rebecca forced her leaden legs to take another step, the changeling in her arms weighing her down like a stone. Her body seemed to be rebelling against her, pulling her backward, away from the fire. Nothing in this dark world felt right, but this was a deeper kind of wrong. Something nagged at the edge of her mind, struggling to the surface.

  Rebecca took another step, and from the corner of her eye she caught a glint of gleaming black teeth. For just one second, a tight smile of triumph flashed across the queen’s face. But the smile disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Rebecca wondered if she had even seen it at all. She tightened her jaw. Only the Night Queen would be cruel enough to take pleasure in something like this.

  If I have to do this, I’m not going to let her make it ugly. Rebecca unconsciously began to hum a lullaby to the pitiful creature in her arms. Her heart drummed in time, and she allowed herself to draw strength from the melody. The heavy feeling left her body, but the deep sense of unease remained.

  Rebecca took another step. Why would the queen free them this way? Why did she want them to kill the changeling?

  Because she thinks I can’t; that’s why. She thinks I’m not strong enough to do it.

  Rebecca stepped closer to the bonfire.

  The logs in the fire shifted, and an ember leaped out of the flames with a loud pop. She jumped, and the changeling trembled in her arms.

  Will it feel anything? What if it screams? I don’t think I can do it if it’s going to scream.

  Rebecca stopped. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

  I cannot let her win.

  She moved a step closer.

  I have to be as cruel as she is. That’s the only way to beat her.

  The memory surfaced, flashing like a beacon. Clio, standing in the shop, reading from a scroll. The poem.

  “Cruelty is as cruelty does

  But none can rule the heart that loves.”

  Rebecca walked the final few feet to the fire and looked back at the dais.

  Why did the queen smile when she saw me walk toward the fire? Why would she smile if she’s about to lose?

  She felt the heat from the blaze and looked down into the heart of the flames. Rebecca tried to imagine what it would feel like to put the changeling on the burning pyre. Could she really do it? In one agonizing moment, it would all be over. For all of them.

  She imagined Kyle in her arms and her friends surrounding them. Their relieved faces lit by the glow of the fire, the flames strong and tall from the extra fuel. The fuel she carried in her arms.

  Cruelty is as cruelty does.

  Rebecca did not know if she could bear to be this cruel, e
ven to save her friends. Even to save Kyle.

  But I have to save them. I have to. There’s no one else but me.

  Her heart cried out against what she was about to do.

  None can rule the heart that loves.

  Tears spilled down her cheeks.

  She would do it quickly, before she had time to think.

  Why did the queen smile?

  Rebecca closed her eyes.

  Why did she smile?

  Now.

  She would do it now.

  CHAPTER

  19

  REBECCA’S ARMS TIGHTENED around the creature, hugging it to her chest. Without looking at anyone else, she turned and sprinted away from the fire, toward the edge of the clearing. The changeling clung to her. She had no idea if her gamble would work, but she had to risk it. She just needed to make it to the yew tree before the lusus caught up with her.

  Rebecca reached the tree and placed the changeling in the stream near its entrance. “Hurry! Go through the tree and hide in the forest! They won’t have time to find you before the portal closes again!” The changeling scampered through the opening without even pausing to look back at her in thanks.

  Rebecca turned to face the clearing and stood firmly in front of the portal, guarding it from the creatures that now formed a tight circle around her. Several darted toward her, and she spread her arms wide, blocking their way into the opening. She knew she had no chance of stopping them, but at least she might buy enough time for the changeling to get through the tunnel and find a place to hide. Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself, preparing for an onslaught of attacks.

  A few seconds passed. Nothing happened.

  She opened her eyes to find that the lusus still surrounded her, but none of them moved in for a fight. Rebecca eyed the creatures warily, her hands balled into fists. Had it worked? Had she been right? Maybe they had decided the changeling just wasn’t worth the risk of being trapped in the other world. They must have known that it didn’t have long to live; it probably didn’t make any difference to them where it died.