by Dean Lorey
Suddenly, they heard a piercing shriek from somewhere high up above. Charlie looked behind him to see a giant Netherbat swooping down out of the churning sky, its large leather wings flapping furiously.
“Oh, no,” Rex moaned as the monstrous flying creature snatched the Dangeroo by the head with its filthy talons. The Dangeroo jerked and spasmed wildly as the bat carried it, and its unfortunate passengers, high into the air.
“Hey, kid!” Rex shouted. “Don’t you ever say ‘we got it all under control’ until we got it all under control!”
“Sorry,” Charlie replied, then drew his glowing blue rapier.
“What the heck is that for?”
“Violet’s suffocating. We gotta do something.”
“Like what? We’re a mile off the ground!”
It was true. The Netherbat had carried them so high that Charlie could now see all five Rings of the Nether spread out below them like the world’s scariest board game.
“Didn’t you just tell me an impossible plan is the perfect kind of plan for a Banisher?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, but kid—I was exaggerating!”
“Sorry, didn’t hear that last part.”
With one mighty swipe of his rapier, Charlie sliced off the bat’s talons. The winged creature shrieked in pain as the Dangeroo—with Charlie, Rex and Violet on board—plummeted down toward the distant rocks below.
CHAPTER THREE
AN EVIL PLOT
Charlie heard a keen whistling sound as the wind whipped past his face. The hard landscape of the Nether rose up to meet them with astonishing speed, and he knew that if they hit it their bodies were going to be splattered across the 1st Ring.
“If you got a plan, kid,” Rex shouted, “now would be a heckuva good time to put it into action!”
Charlie did have a plan—but it was a desperate one.
He closed his eyes, extended his right hand, and began to summon a portal. Purple fire raced across him. Just as he, Rex, and Violet were about to slam into the lifeless, moonlike surface, a portal snapped open beneath them. They fell through it to land in the murky swimming pool in front of Dora’s bungalow with a great explosion of water.
The Dangeroo took the brunt of the impact, and Charlie felt its ribcage snap like the plastic bristles of an old comb. The displaced water crashed down on top of them, battering them as they thrashed around in the deep end of the cloudy, green pool. Only one thought raced through Charlie’s mind:
Violet.
Is she alive? Did she survive the impact?
He frantically swam underneath the Dangeroo and tried to open its front pouch to free her, but all the muscles on the creature’s belly had spasmed from the trauma of the fall. The pouch was sealed as tightly as a bank vault. He braced his legs against the unmoving beast’s chest and pulled on the pouch’s opening with all his might, but it was hopeless.
Violet.
Please be alive….
Suddenly, a glowing blue blade pierced the leather skin of the Dangeroo’s stomach, and Charlie realized that Violet was using her dagger to cut her way out of her fleshy prison. The water in the pool clouded with black ichor as the creature bled from the wound, but Violet’s weapon shined through the murk like a beacon. Charlie reached forward, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her through the slit in the beast’s pouch. Then they shot up to the surface, where they both breathed deeply of the cool, delicious night air.
“Thanks,” Violet said, her arm still locked around Charlie’s. “I could have died.”
“Aw, it was nothing,” he replied, blushing. “I mean, not that you being alive is nothing. That’s definitely something. I just meant—”
“There you are!”
Charlie turned to see Theodore running toward them from the apartment complex, followed by Tabitha, Pinch, Dora, and her father. Theodore leaped up and down joyfully.
“I knew you’d survive! Excellent! Never a doubt!”
“Yeah, we survived,” Rex said as he climbed out of the pool. “But it got pretty dicey there for a while.”
“And the monster?” Dora asked nervously.
“Dead,” Charlie said, as he and Violet grabbed on to Rex’s outstretched hands. The cowboy pulled them from the water. “I think the fall killed it.”
Suddenly, the wounded—but clearly alive—Dangeroo shot out of the inky murk in a foul spray. It landed at the edge of the pool, scrabbled frantically on the slick tiles, and then lost its footing and slipped back into the black depths with a howl. Before it could make another escape attempt, Tabitha quickly opened a large portal at the very bottom of the pool. The water rushed through the gateway and, like the flushing of some giant toilet, sucked the Dangeroo back into the Nether.
With a quick wave of Tabitha’s hand, the portal disappeared and the empty pool was still.
“Now it’s dead,” Rex said. “Or at least gone.” He turned to Charlie. “Kid, from now on, you’re forbidden from saying anything even remotely like ‘the fall killed it,’ ‘we’ve got it all under control,’ or ‘everything’s all right’—you got me?”
“Got you.”
Rex shot him a playful wink as Violet kneeled down in front of Dora.
“Are you okay?” the older girl asked. “You still frightened about going back into your bedroom?”
“A little. What if I have another nightmare?”
“Don’t you worry,” her father replied. “I’m here. And now that I know what’s going on, I won’t let them get you again.” He tapped his baseball bat in his meaty palm.
“And we’ll be checking in on you,” Violet added, stroking the girl’s silken hair. “Someday soon, you’ll be old enough for training at the Academy. Would you like that?”
Dora nodded. “I want to be just like all of you.”
“You hang in there and someday you will be.”
“Good.”
Charlie wondered what tortured path the little girl’s Gift would eventually lead her down. Would she be a Banisher and use her skills to fight the monsters of her nightmares? Or would she be a Nethermancer and summon up her greatest fears to open portals for traveling through the terrible ferocity of the Nether?
Either way, he empathized with her. He knew how brutally difficult it was to be young and afraid of what horrors you might conjure, late at night, alone in the dark….
“Well, I think we’ve had enough drama for one day,” Tabitha said with a smile. She turned to Charlie and his friends. “Don’t you agree…, Addys?”
“Theodore Dagget—Addy!” the skinny boy exclaimed. “That’s my name—keep sayin’ it, it’ll still be the same!”
“Not so fast,” Pinch said. “Technically speaking, you didn’t pass the exam: You used the panic horn.”
“Well, yeah,” Charlie replied, “because Violet was dying.”
“Even so, it was a clear violation of the rules. A true Addy would have been able to recover from the situation without our help.”
“Aw, c’mon!” Rex roared. “Don’t be ridiculous. The test is set up to see if kids can handle Banishing a couple Class 1 critters—not Class 4’s! I mean, what the heck were Class 4’s doing on the 1st Ring, anyway?”
“That’s entirely beside the point.”
“No,” Tabitha said. “Rex is right. That is the point—the only one that matters, anyway. Why were those Class 4’s there? I’ve never seen that before.”
“Not only that,” Charlie added, “Nethercreatures are supposed to escape from the Nether and come to Earth, right? But the Dangeroo didn’t do that. It came out of the Nether, grabbed Violet, and then went back in.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t make any sense. I mean, where was it taking her?”
“That’s exactly what I asked while I was in its pouch,” Violet said.
Everyone turned to her.
“And what did the critter say?” Rex prompted.
“Well, it was kind of hard to understand—its voice was pretty growly—but it sounded something like it was taking me to the
Guardian.”
Rex, Tabitha, and Pinch shared a troubled glance.
“You’re sure?” Tabitha asked.
Violet shrugged. “Pretty sure.”
What the heck’s the Guardian? Charlie thought. And why is everyone looking so serious all of a sudden?
“Hooo-boy,” Rex exclaimed. “Y’all thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?”
Tabitha nodded. “We’d better go see the Headmaster.”
She began to open a portal.
“That is, indeed, cause for great alarm,” the Headmaster of the Nightmare Academy said after Charlie finished telling her what had happened. She absently stroked a pet Snark that clung to a wooden railing on the first floor of her warm and pleasantly cluttered study.
“So, what do you think?” Rex asked. “You think the Named are behind this?”
Headmaster Brazenhope nodded. “Oh, most certainly. Slagguron and Tyrannus have been trying to escape from the Nether for centuries. If they’re doing what I think they’re doing, they may have finally found a way.”
“Slagguron and Tyrannus?” Charlie asked. He’d heard those names once before. Six months earlier, he’d faced off against Barakkas and Verminion—two of the four Named Lords of the Nether—and barely escaped with his life and the lives of his friends and parents. Even though Barakkas and Verminion had made their way to Earth, he knew that the remaining two Named—Slagguron and Tyrannus—were still stranded in the Nether, where they lived in their dark and glorious palaces.
“What will they do if they get to Earth?” Violet asked.
“Summon the Fifth,” Charlie replied quietly.
The very thought sent a chill through his heart. Each of the Named possessed an Artifact of the Nether. For Barakkas, it was a giant metal bracer around his wrist; for Verminion it was a thick choker around his neck. Charlie didn’t know what type of artifacts the remaining two Named possessed, but he did know that if all four of them got together on Earth, they could use their artifacts together to summon a creature they called “The Fifth.”
“What is it, exactly?” Violet asked.
“We don’t yet know,” the Headmaster replied. “But if the Named want to bring it here, it must be a monster of unimaginable evil.”
“Then we’ll monkey-stomp it!” Theodore blurted.
Everyone turned to him.
“Zipping the old lip, now,” Theodore said, laughing uneasily. He pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key.
“The entire plan,” the Headmaster continued, “hinges on Slagguron and Tyrannus being able to escape from the Nether to join Barakkas and Verminion here on Earth. Right now, the Guardian is the only thing preventing that from happening.”
“What’s the Guardian?” Charlie asked.
“A very unusual creature with a very unique ability: Any monsters that come near it are instantly crippled. It protects a weak spot between our world and the Nether called the Anomaly. Slagguron and Tyrannus are desperate to come through the Anomaly to Earth, but as long as the Guardian is there, they can’t.”
“What I don’t get,” Violet said, “is what all of this has to do with Dangeroos stealing kids.”
The Headmaster turned to her. “That’s quite simple. Just as the Guardian is poisonous to monsters, humans are poisonous to the Guardian. One touch from a human is enough to kill it.”
“Which is why we think the Named plan to steal kids during their nightmares,” Tabitha added, “and then bring them near the Guardian.”
“Of course!” Theodore exclaimed. “Then the kids will run to the Guardian for protection. If they touch it, they’ll kill it, and Slagguron and Tyrannus can escape to Earth through the Anomaly! That’s brilliant!”
Violet stared at him, aghast.
“In a totally sick and evil way, I mean.”
“Well, here’s the million-dollar question,” Rex said, scratching the stubble on his chin. “Are we too late? What I mean is, have ol’ Slagguron and Tyrannus gotten to the Guardian already?”
“Let’s find out.” The Headmaster walked to the center of her study. Her white dress flowed behind her, highlighting her lovely dark skin, the color of burned caramel. She held out her right hand. Purple flames instantly crackled across her.
“What’s she doing?” Theodore asked.
Charlie shrugged. “No idea.”
Rex drew his gleaming short sword. “Y’all might want to step back—this could get ugly.”
Charlie knew from experience that when Rex said something could get ugly, it could get really ugly. He, Theodore, and Violet stepped back.
“Be ready,” the Headmaster said darkly. With startling ease, she opened a large portal. Through it, Charlie could see sharp, mustard-colored crystals glowing gloomily in the Nether.
“That’s the 5th Ring,” Theodore whispered. “Why did she open a portal to there?”
Before anyone could venture an answer, a Class-5 Silvertongue scuttled through and into the Headmaster’s study. It looked like a giant scorpion, its poisonous stinger raised high above its head, ready to strike. Rex’s short sword glowed brightly blue as he moved toward the monster to fend off an attack, but before he even got near it, the Silvertongue shrieked in agony and then dropped to the floor of the study, shuddering.
“What’s happening?” Violet asked.
“That’s what the Guardian’s aura does to monsters of the Nether,” Tabitha replied. “That’s how we stay protected from them—no Nethercreatures can get to us here at the Academy as long as the Guardian is healthy.”
That left one giant question: How did the Guardian’s aura protect the Academy? The Academy wasn’t in the Nether and certainly wasn’t anywhere near the Guardian—or at least Charlie didn’t think it was—so how did the Guardian’s aura reach it?
As Charlie pondered that, Rex walked up to the writhing Silvertongue. Using all his weight, he shoved it back into the Nether through the Headmaster’s portal. With a wave of her hand, she snapped it closed.
“The Academy’s defenses are still strong,” she said, “so we know that the Guardian is safe—but it won’t remain that way for long. Eventually, the Named will succeed in exposing it to a human…unless we stop them.”
But before Charlie could ask how, another portal snapped open in the room and a large man stepped through. He was as straight and tall as the two-handed sword sheathed at his side.
“Dad!” Theodore exclaimed.
The man turned and silently inspected him.
“Theodore,” he said finally, without much emotion. “You’ve grown.”
“Thanks!”
“Taller…but not wider. How do you expect to wield a weapon, skinny as you are?”
Theodore seemed to deflate. “But, Dad—you know I’m not a Banisher. I’m a Nethermancer, remember?”
“How could I forget?” He smiled grimly.
The way Theodore’s father treated his son always turned Charlie’s stomach. Sure, Theodore wasn’t a Banisher like the rest of the Dagget family, but he was an awesomely good Nethermancer. Didn’t that count for something?
“What brings you to us, William?” the Headmaster asked.
“General Dagget, if you don’t mind.”
“General!” Theodore blurted. “No way! Congrats, dad!”
“Thank you,” William replied coolly.
“So how can we help you…, General?” the Headmaster asked.
“Director Drake demands your presence immediately.”
“Excellent. There is much I need to discuss with him. There is terrible trouble in the Nether.”
“Not just you—all of you.” William glanced around at the others in the room.
“Great,” Rex grumbled. “Nothing I like more than getting marched over to the principal’s office. He gonna paddle us? Make us stand in the corner with a dunce cap on our heads?”
“You better hope that’s all he does,” William replied. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him this furious.”
CHAPTER FOUR
THE FURIOUS REMEMBERER
Day or night, the Nightmare Division was always the same. Windowless and sterile, it was an immensity of blinking, chirping electronics, and it always seemed to be filled with adult Banishers and Nethermancers racing to repair a disaster or escort a Nethercreature to one of the hundreds of containment rooms in the secure facility.
“Let me do the talking,” the Headmaster said as she steered them expertly through a maze of hallways. “I think we all know how difficult and unpredictable the Director can be.”
“You can say that again,” Theodore moaned. “That guy’s a nut!”
Suddenly, a Class-3 Acidspitter herded by four Banishers broke free from its muzzle and sprayed acid at them as they passed. Without even breaking stride, the Headmaster casually opened a portal between the group and the creature, allowing the burning fluid to spray harmlessly into the Nether. Within moments, the Banishers subdued the monster, and the Headmaster dismissed her portal.
Charlie marveled, as he had so many times before, at how powerful and fast she was.
“Here we are,” the Headmaster said as they stopped at the sleek steel door marked OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR—PRIVATE. “Remember, whatever happens, let me handle it.”
The Director of the Nightmare Division was a tall man with steel gray hair and gray eyes to match. In fact, he was so gray that he almost seemed to disappear into the metal walls of his chambers. His manicured fingers tapped incessantly on his chrome desktop as he stared at Charlie down his long, crooked nose.
“Charlie Benjamin,” he said slowly. Then: “I remember.”
Charlie’s blood froze.
“You remember?” he echoed uncertainly.
“Yes,” the Director replied, savoring the word like a candy that delivers new flavors the harder you suck it. “I remember how you brought Barakkas into our world, in spite of my dire warnings. I remember how I sentenced you to be Reduced so that you could never again harm us. I remember how your friends and teachers came to your aid against my direct orders. In short, I remember…everything.”
Charlie felt light-headed. He desperately wanted to sit down, put his head between his knees, close his eyes, and pretend this was all a bad dream—but he knew better.
