by E. G. Foley
Jake lowered his head. “I’m pretty sure it’s my fault. They found out I killed Garnock, and they’ve taken that as an act of war. They’re preparing to come after the Order, starting with the Lightriders.”
Dani and Archie looked at each other, wide-eyed.
Red nested his head on Jake’s knee with a small, sympathetic groan. Isabelle exchanged a worried glance with Maddox, who did not look surprised in the least.
Nixie, meanwhile, having already heard the dreadful news, was distracted, anxiously watching the shadows for the return of the Bugganes. She froze at a flicker of motion in the weeds, a small scampering in the shadows.
It turned out to be Malwort.
“Oh!” she said, drawing back, startled, as the spider ventured nervously into view and said, “Good evenings, gentlemens and ladieses.”
“What are you doing here?” Jake demanded, shooting to his feet. He immediately thought the arachno-sapiens was there to spy on them, just like Uncle Waldrick had often ordered his former pet to do in the past.
Malwort shot backward and cowered. “Malwort only being social! The Jake not be so mean! Fairy Stinger cousins’s boring.”
“Well, get out of here,” Jake said in a hard tone, shooing him off.
Malwort whimpered, doing his best to look lonely and pathetic.
“Aw.” Nixie reached out her hand toward him. “Can’t he stay? I’ve heard about arachno-sapiens, but I’ve never seen one before. He’s kind of cute.”
“Malwort very cute!” he agreed, venturing toward the young witch. “Most uniquest spider anyplace.”
“Ew,” Isabelle mumbled, cringing slightly as Malwort stepped onto Nixie’s hand.
But witches sometimes had very different reactions than other girls. Nixie giggled at the creature. “Your feet tickle!”
Encouraged by this unexpectedly warm reception, Malwort pranced about on her palm like a music hall performer, tittering in his weird little voice.
“Can’t he stay?” Nixie asked.
Archie sent Jake a pleading look and nodded discreetly toward the poor girl, who had been through so much.
Jake rolled his eyes. “Oh, very well. But everything we say here is a secret, Malwort! If you’re spying on us, mark my words, I’m gonna squash you good.”
Malwort ignored him, gazing at Nixie with as close to a smile of delight as a spider could manage.
Maddox scowled and brought them back to the dire topic at hand. “Did the vampire say anything about the Dark Druids’ time-frame?”
Jake shrugged. “No, he just said he believes they’ve got plans in motion against the Lightriders.”
“What are your thoughts, Maddox?” Archie asked, since he was the only one with training in military matters. “Have you heard anything amongst the Guardians?”
“Not exactly. But…” He searched for the words. “I’ve been sensing something like this for a while now through the Guardian instinct. A lot of us have.”
“Maybe that’s what I was sensing in the ballroom tonight,” Isabelle remarked. “I didn’t think of it at the time, but in hindsight, there was a lot of tension coming from some of the adults. It was giving me a headache.”
“I’d bet word is traveling fast, at least among the leaders of the Order,” Jake said. “So far, only a few people know about it. Her Majesty and a few of the top Elders.”
“I’m sure the Elders will want to keep it that way,” Maddox said. “Secrecy gives us an advantage. The Dark Druids still think we’re oblivious. Instead, when they make their move, now we can be ready for them. I should think they’ll want to bring all the Lightriders in from the field so they can be briefed on the situation and their security increased. Especially those who think they can go whooshing around the earth with no Guardians for protection.” Maddox gave Jake a pointed look.
He shook his head, still feeling sick to his stomach. “I can’t believe I caused this.”
“Don’t blame yourself.” Dani put her arm around his shoulders. “This isn’t your fault.”
“Oh, really? Then why do I feel so horrible?” he muttered, shrugging her off, unwilling to be comforted.
Stung by his dismissal, Dani scowled. “What were you supposed to do? Let Garnock go free to keep feeding on innocent people’s souls until he recomposed his body and returned as the leader of the Dark Druids? You had no choice.”
“That’s what I said,” Nixie agreed.
“And hullo,” Dani added, “Garnock was going to sacrifice Isabelle to a demon to try to weasel out of his deal with the devil!”
“What?” Maddox uttered, turning to her in shock.
Isabelle smiled dryly. “What can I say? Evil beings love me. I’m such a lucky girl.”
Nixie chuckled.
“What surprises me most about all this is that the vampire came forward to do the right thing,” Isabelle remarked.
“Are we sure we can believe him?” Archie asked.
Everyone pondered this, a very good question.
“Well,” Maddox ventured, “vampires are known as master manipulators, but Janos used to be a Guardian and Guardians don’t lie. Perhaps some of that is left in him.”
“I hope he’s lying,” Archie muttered.
“I don’t think he is,” Isabelle said.
They all fell silent for a moment, until Dani spoke up with her famous practicality, shaking her head.
“Even if it is true and there is to be a war, I don’t see what we’re supposed to do about it. We’re just kids, after all. This is up to the Elders to handle. They’re the adults and the leaders. We have to trust them to take care of us, trust that they know what they’re doing. I don’t think we have much choice.”
Maddox smiled fondly at Dani. The others started nodding, and even Jake could not deny the wisdom of her words.
“She’s right,” he said. Being just a kid, able to do nothing in the face of this disaster, was the worst part to him.
So much for being a hero.
But perhaps it’s for the best, he thought. Because it seemed like, instead of solving problems, all he did was cause them.
He dropped his gaze, his brow furrowed. If he rushed in trying to help, he’d probably only make it worse.
“There’s nothing we can do about the war, except maybe Maddox, and you’re still not officially a Guardian yet anyway,” Jake said in a low tone. “But as it turns out, that’s not the only fight we’re facing. If we work together, I think there is something we can do—to help Nixie.” He glanced at the witch, then looked around at the others. “Nixie’s being haunted.”
They turned to her in surprise.
“I say!” Archie burst out.
“And not by any ordinary ghosts, either,” Jake added. “Remember that Boneless thing we saw in the art gallery and chased down the hallway? That’s just one of four creatures who’ve been tormenting her for months.”
He told the others all about the Bugganes and their determination to make Nixie’s young life a living torment.
“How awful!” Dani murmured.
“I knew it!” Archie said. “I knew there was something wrong, that you couldn’t be that gloomy on purpose.”
Nixie gazed ruefully at him, but Malwort marched up onto her shoulder and sat there, guarding her, and scanning the darkness with his ten beady eyes. Jake believed the spider actually growled a little. How was that possible?
“Anyway, she was trying to keep everyone at arm’s length because these Bugganes, as they’re called, have promised to murder anyone who tries to help her.”
“Sweet Galileo!” Archie murmured.
“But if we unite against them, they haven’t got a chance,” Jake declared. “I promised Nixie we would help her. She saved my life today inside the paintings, after all.”
“If you don’t want to get involved, I fully understand,” Nixie hastened to tell them. “You barely know me, you shouldn’t risk your lives—”
“Nonsense!” Archie said.
“We’
ve risked our lives for less, believe me,” Dani mumbled.
“Of course we want to help you,” Maddox informed her.
“It won’t be easy,” Jake warned. “I’ve seen three of these creatures so far myself, and Nixie says the one I haven’t seen yet is the worst.”
“Nuckalavee, the water-horse—or water bull, as some call him. He’s a great, horrid beast with no skin.”
“I think I saw him in the water nymphs’ stream,” Jake said.
“Hey, I saw that, too,” said Maddox. “Red in color, pointy ears?”
“That’s him,” Nixie said.
“I thought I had imagined it,” he murmured.
“But I thought water-horses… Wasn’t there a legend that they can only be in seawater?” Dani spoke up. “My granny spoke of them in Ireland. They’d come up onto the shore during a storm, rising from the foam of the waves. If one chased you, the only way to escape him was to cross to the other side of a freshwater stream or pond. Then he couldn’t come across. But this one’s bathing in freshwater? That’s weird.”
“Oh, that’s the part that’s weird?” Archie mumbled.
“No, these Bugganes followed me from Scotland,” explained Nixie, “and in Scotland, the water-horses can live in the lochs or the ocean.”
“Ohh,” Dani said.
“That Headless Highlander ghost I saw in the woods that night when we were walking around—he’s one of them, too,” Jake told the others.
Nixie turned to him in surprise. “You didn’t tell me you saw him! While you were alone? You’re lucky to be alive.” She turned to the others and explained. “If the Headless Highlander comes across somebody who’s alone, then he attacks. He’s killed countless travelers that way. He picks a stretch of road and sets up shop there. Any solitary soul who comes along, he pretty much chops them into bits with his claymore. But, if you come upon him when you’re with at least one other person, he disappears without a fight.”
An eerie silence fell as they pondered this.
“It probably has something to do with the way that he died,” Nixie added, “but he’ll never let himself be outnumbered.”
“See? You’re lucky we were there,” Archie told Jake, who nodded heartily.
“One other thing about Headless, he has to stay in the shadows. He prefers the night, but he can move about in the daytime, as long as he keeps out of sunlight.”
“Good to know,” Maddox murmured.
Jake furrowed his brow. “But Nixie, you were on your own in the art gallery this morning when I found them tormenting you. But Headless didn’t kill you.”
“Jenny Greenteeth won’t let him,” she said bitterly. “The hag enjoys tormenting me too much.”
“Jenny Greenteeth?” Isabelle echoed.
Jake explained to his puzzled friends who Jenny Greenteeth was, the leader of the Bugganes. He also repeated Nixie’s information about how the hag had started her existence as nothing more than a scary tale told by nervous mothers to keep their tots away from local streams and ponds so they didn’t stumble in and drown.
“Yes,” Nixie said with a shudder, “over time she became all too real. Now her favorite hobby is drowning people. Or cats.”
“And the Boneless creature?” Archie persisted. “What the devil is that thing?”
She shrugged. “It’s just called a Boneless. More annoying than dangerous, really.”
Archie, however, was mystified. “An unknown species! Maybe I could catch it and study it for science…”
“Would you be serious?” Dani scolded him.
“I am being serious! It could be my presentation at the next Invention Convention!”
“What about your submarine?”
“It’s not ready yet.”
“Oh, you,” Dani said, waving him off. She glanced around a trifle uneasily at the dark woods around them, then turned to Nixie. “You don’t think they’d come after you while we’re out here, do you?”
“Not with the Gryphon present. They wouldn’t dare,” Nixie said. “Not even Nuckalavee would risk going near him.”
“Good thing the Bugganes don’t know Red’s not up to his full strength yet. But you will be soon, won’t you, boy?” Jake patted his pet on the head.
“Caw, caw, becaw.”
Jake looked expectantly at Isabelle, awaiting translation.
She smiled. “Basically, he said, ‘You can do this.’ He’ll help us if we need him, but he trusts we can handle the Bugganes without him.”
“Caw!”
“Yes, Red,” Isabelle amended, then she added his extra message: “If we all work together.”
“Hear, hear,” Archie said.
Red snorted and tossed his head in approval. “Caw!”
“Oh,” Isabelle murmured, gazing at the Gryphon.
“Well?” Dani asked the older girl, smiling.
Isabelle hesitated.
“What did he say?” Jake prompted.
“Um, he says it’ll be good practice for us. Before the Dark Druids come.”
Everyone fell silent, chilled to the marrow by Red’s statement, even though he had intended it as encouragement.
Maddox folded his arms across his chest and looked at Jake, his face stoic in the dim lamplight. “So how do you want to handle this?”
“Divide and conquer,” Jake said.
Archie nodded. “Let’s take them in order, easiest to hardest? That’s how I work out my equations.”
“The Highlander’s the hardest?” Maddox asked Nixie.
“Certainly, he’s the most skilled warrior. I believe he was a champion of the MacGool clan ages ago. The thing is, how to fight him? If you face him alone, it’s certain death. But if you go up against him with friends, he simply disappears and comes back later…when you’re alone.”
“Very tricky,” Maddox murmured.
“As for Nuckalavee, he’s just brute animal strength,” she continued, “but he’ll eat you as quick as any bear. Boneless is the least vicious of the lot, but a prankster and extremely persistent. It seems to think it’s funny to pester people until they break down. It can go through walls, so if it wants to harass you, there’s no way to escape it.”
“What about the hag?” Dani asked.
“She can travel magically between bodies of water or by mirrors, since a mirror has the same reflective properties as a lake or pond,” Nixie said.
“She can also hurl these green balls of energy at people,” Jake reported. “That’s how we ended up stuck in the paintings today.”
“Hmm, very interesting,” Archie said, intrigued.
They began discussing strategies for how they might separate and defeat each of these foes, when all of a sudden, a branch cracked loudly in the woods below.
A clumsy rustle came from the underbrush.
Dani shrieked and flew behind Red, already spooked by all the talk of the Bugganes. Jake and Maddox leaped to their feet while Archie pulled Nixie behind him, automatically assuming that the Bugganes had tracked her down.
Jake’s heart pounded as he scanned the darkness, bracing himself for the attack and already summoning up his telekinesis. Maybe the Bugganes weren’t so afraid of the Gryphon after all or could somehow tell that Red wasn’t up to his full power…
Maddox braced a foot on a boulder at the edge of the precipice, his fists clenched. “Who’s there?”
“Show yourself!” Jake ordered, not to be outdone.
The Gryphon sniffed the air, then turned to Isabelle. “Becaw, caw.”
“Are you sure, boy?” She peered over the edge of the rocky precipice. “Red says it’s only Ogden Trumbull.”
“Ogden Trumbull?” Dani cried.
“Are you serious?” Archie cried, letting out a huff of angry disgust. “Go away, troll!”
Realizing he had been found out, Ogden leaped up from the bottom of the rock-pile and vaulted into their midst with a ferocious roar. Everyone cowered to varying degrees—except for Archie, who simply reached into his pocket a
nd pressed a button, unseen by the rest.
Og let out a yelp of pain, lost his balance, and long arms flailing, tumbled right back off the rocky precipice. He went crashing onto his back some thirty feet below and landed in the darkness with a thunk.
“You all right down there?” Archie called politely, peering over the edge, while Maddox and Nixie marveled.
“What’s wrong with him? Why did he fall down like that?” Nixie asked.
“No idea,” the boy genius said mildly, a devilish curve on his lips.
Jake sent his cousin a pointed smile. Glad to see the Bully Buzzer works.
“Archie’s decided to teach the troll some manners,” Dani informed her.
“How?” Nixie asked.
“He made a gizmo,” Jake said.
At Nixie’s questioning glance, Archie discreetly pulled the controller for the Bully Buzzer out of his pocket to let her in on the secret.
She lifted her eyebrows. “Is that magic?”
“Science, my dear.”
When Nixie’s eyes widened with admiration, Archie seemed to grow at least two inches taller right before their eyes. He cleared his throat in mild embarrassment and looked over the ledge once more. “I say, what do you want this time, troll? Why are you bothering us again?”
“He’s a half-troll, Archie,” Isabelle chided. “Show a little kindness.”
“I am showing kindness! If I wanted to be cruel, I’d have doubled the voltage, sis. Trust me, he’s a savage.”
“And a snoop,” Jake said, feeling much more prepared to deal with Ogden Trumbull now that Archie had the situation well in hand. “Why are you lurking around here spying on us?”
“You’re plotting and planning! I’m gonna tell!” Ogden rumbled, climbing to his feet below, a bit dazed but none the worse for wear.
Trolls were very hardy.
Jake held out the lantern and could just make out the pugnacious glower stamped on the hybrid’s ugly face. “You’ll do nothing of the kind.”
“Oh, yes, I will! Unless…unless you let me help, too!” Ogden burst out.
“Absolutely not!” Archie said.
“Go away!” Dani yelled for good measure.
