Two cold hands curled around my shoulders.
I spun around, arms flailing.
Candy grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against the metal door handle. It crunched against my spine.
“Let go,” I begged. “You’ve got to get out of here!”
“I don’t have to do anything,” she replied. She looked around the library in disgust, as if I had only retreated here to hide from the dance. “I didn’t have to help you, but I made a plan and you agreed to it. This is how you repay me?”
Natalie was behind her, shaking her head.
“This isn’t about you,” I replied. I couldn’t hear anything moving in the darkness around us. “Let me go.”
“A newspaper reporter is waiting in the gym to take your picture. You will smile and pose, just like we agreed. Natalie and I will stand just a little in front and on either side so no one can see what you did to the dress.”
“You go,” I said. “I promise, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Candy tried to pull me, but I planted my good foot and braced against her.
“Like I would ever listen to you again,” she said.
“You never listened to me at all!” I yelled, slapping her hands away. “You have no idea who I am!” A terrible realization hit me. “You have no idea who you are either.”
She sneered, but a flicker of sadness in her eyes told me I was right.
My voice hardened; she had to get this. “We’re not packages, or illusions, or magic tricks. We’re not just girls…we’re humans, and we’re supposed to want things that can’t be found in a mirror.”
She shook her head, refusing to listen.
“Candy, some people can’t change how they look, or disguise who they are. They’re just born different, and this world is not a safe place for people who don’t fit in. And I’m one of them. You think that makes me a loser, but I think that might make me a hero. I’m not afraid anymore that people won’t love me; I’m afraid of hurting the ones who really do. So you can keep the limelight, because I’ve learned that not everyone is like me. Not everyone is strong enough to face the shadows.”
“You don’t know anything about life in the shadows!” Natalie snapped, pushing both of us to the side. She swung the door open, expecting Candy to force me out into the hall. Candy and I stood face to face.
A flickering shadow moved across Candy’s pupils.
Natalie’s body flew backward, crashing into a bookshelf. Books scattered around her, pages flapping. Candy and I screamed at the same time.
Entropion stood in the doorway. His lips lifted to show rows of white teeth as he reached his arms out wide to either side, claws scraping down the metal doorframe. I winced from the sound. Olympias stood behind him, delight etched across her face as she watched her creation at work.
Entropion lowered his head and hissed.
My good foot was wet and warm. Glancing over, I saw a dark stain spread across Candy’s dress. She had peed all over us both.
Entropion shifted his head back and screamed, the sound piercing my ears. I shook my head, trying to stop the pain.
Above us, the ceiling tiles shuddered, flakes of insulation fluttering down. Something else was up there. I had seen this a thousand times on Animal Planet. It was a hunting strategy. One animal bared its teeth and scared the prey while the other circled behind and attacked.
Xeno was wrong. I hadn’t made just one monster.
I’d made two.
I grabbed Candy and shoved her to the ground with all my strength. I was the one they wanted, not her.
But it was Golem who crashed through the ceiling. He opened that beautiful, thick dark mouth and roared. Windows shattered and books flew through the air. I hadn’t created Golem, had I? No, but I had loved him, and that was maybe close enough. He was mine, and I was his.
Entropion lowered himself on his haunches and lunged.
Golem caught him in midair before he reached us. One of Entropion’s claws shot out for me from under Golem’s arm, slicing my skin. Blood bubbled up beneath the long mark.
Golem had Entropion pinned down, his mouth open, thick teeth snapping in fury. Every second, Golem seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Entropion thrashed, lifting his knees to knock Golem off. Golem flew up and back, crashing into the lockers outside the doors. They burst open, papers flying like a snowstorm.
Free now, Entropion turned toward me again and jumped, throwing me on my back, one clawed hand around Candy next to me, the other around my prosthesis. I bent my good leg and kicked him. He clung to my prosthesis, trying to regain control. I tried another tactic and spun onto my stomach. The prosthesis came off in his hand.
Confusion flashed in Entropion’s eyes.
Behind him, Golem rose. He grabbed Entropion by the waist and lifted him into the air, and then Golem’s eyes met mine. A softness shone within them, something like love.
He slammed Entropion to the floor, and Olympias released a bloodcurdling scream.
Entropion didn’t move again.
My breath came out in spurts like short laughs. Golem had done it. He had killed Entropion. Golem looked at me and pointed to his heart.
With a trembling hand, I pointed to my own.
Olympias raised her arms like a puppeteer commanding her creation.
Entropion rose and shifted, sinking his claws into Golem’s chest. The tender monster slowly fell backward with a mighty sigh.
“Golem!” I screamed. “No!”
Entropion was on top of him now, claws twisting inside Golem’s chest, sunk to the knuckle. Golem lifted one shaking arm and rested a finger against his own forehead. Then he opened his mouth wide, inhaling. Locker doors swung in his direction, books and papers careening toward him. He inhaled harder, chest expanding, mouth gaping wider and wider.
Entropion trembled and yanked at his arm to free it, but Golem had caught it with his other arm, pinning Entropion to himself. Golem inhaled so powerfully that Candy and I began to move across the floor toward him.
Olympias collapsed, her hands covering her face as she shrieked.
With Golem’s final mighty inhale, Entropion exploded into a cloud of ash that was sucked into Golem’s mouth. Golem snapped it shut and looked toward me.
With one raised finger, he smudged the last symbol on his forehead.
Golem’s head rolled to one side, limp, his eyes blank holes.
He began to fade, and the air between us shimmered and danced like snowflakes falling softly at midnight. Then he was gone. I pressed my hand to my heart, expecting it to break, but instead, it was stronger. Golem was still with me somehow. He was not lost, not as long as he lived inside me. I knew I would see him again.
My focus shifted to Olympias. Underneath her hands, her face was shifting, the skin rippling between her fingers. She turned her back to me and stood.
Then she looked over her shoulder at me, and I could see her profile. I didn’t recognize her anymore; if I passed her on the street now, I wouldn’t know who she was.
“The first chapter of our story is finished,” she whispered. “But oh, what surprises await!” Like smoke floating up from a candle, she vanished into the night.
“What happened?” Natalie sat up, rubbing her head.
At some point, Candy had fainted, and she was still flat on the ground. Natalie stumbled over to her and shook her awake. Candy pushed herself up, her eyes glazed over. I grabbed my prosthesis and wrestled it on, feeling the suction that secured it into place, then wiggled the stretchy support bands over the top to secure it.
Mr. Reeves burst in from the opposite set of doors, and his mouth fell open when he saw the mess of papers and books lying everywhere.
“Don’t be angry, Mr. Reeves,” I said. “They saved my life.”
“We did?” Natalie asked.
Candy nudged her, hard. “We did,” she said.
“I ran away from the dance,” I said. “Candy and Natalie followed me. They were worried because I was so upset.
We found the library like this, and a big animal—a dog or wolf, I think—jumped out and Candy shoved me to the floor to protect me.”
Candy looked at me, suspicion lingering in her eyes. I didn’t know whether she doubted my story or her sanity.
Mr. Reeves tapped his notebook. “Is what you’re telling me true?” he asked. I nodded.
Billy and Matt ran into the room and froze. Billy looked at me first, checking me up and down, then exhaled so hard his upper body caved forward. Matt ran over to Candy and she let him put his arm around her.
Resting his hands on his thighs to catch his breath, Billy looked up at Mr. Reeves.
“Somebody called for an ambulance and it just pulled up,” Billy said. “Who’s it for?”
Outside the school doors, the familiar blue and red lights were flashing in all directions. Every police car and ambulance in the county must have been there. Parents were calling their kids’ names and jumping out of cars with the motors still running. Cell phone rings came from all directions. Teachers were shouting about the strange animal that had been sighted in the school.
A beehive of EMTs and police officers swirled around the fallen officer. He was alive—Entropion had only knocked him out—but he had a nasty gash on his hand. One of the paramedics said it looked like a defensive wound; another one said it was a bite mark. Either way, something was wrong. A hand injury couldn’t cause the amount of blood I had spied on the floor.
I pushed past the kids peering into the library and found a new trail of blood drops leading toward another hallway.
Billy saw it too. He grabbed my arm and propelled me forward, his strength carrying me along. The trail led to the drinking fountain. The smaller, female German shepherd had collapsed in the recessed area under it. Red slashes crisscrossed her fur. She must have tried to protect the officer when Entropion attacked.
“Is she dead?” I asked, hand over my mouth. “Please don’t let her be dead.”
Billy gently rested two fingers on the inside of her thigh. He was still, waiting for a pulse. And I swear, in the silence, my own heart stopped and listened for hers.
“She’s alive.”
“Call your dad,” I said.
“There’s no time.” He scooped his hands under the dog’s body, and she whimpered when he lifted her.
I was already moving toward the school’s front doors, where all the adults were.
“We can’t,” Billy said. “It’s crazy out there with all the cars. They won’t move fast enough.”
We had to get help. We couldn’t handle this alone.
Billy turned and staggered toward an emergency exit. “We’ll take my golf cart.”
He glanced back at me. “It was the only way I could get here. I snuck out.”
I kept moving, following behind Billy and the dog faster than I thought possible. My brain was screaming, but all my thoughts were jumbled. Billy pressed his back against the exit doors and burst through them to the outside, carefully cradling the dog.
“The key’s in my pocket,” he said, and turned to present his rear end to me. With no time to argue, I grimaced and stuck my hand in his pocket, feeling for the key. Billy had a gift for putting me in awkward situations.
“You’ll have to drive,” he said, while carefully lowering himself into the passenger seat. A golf cart only went about ten miles per hour, I knew, but we were desperate. I put the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life. It sounded like a jet engine had been dropped under the hood.
“Take Main Street down to Milton,” Billy yelled above the noise.
I hit the gas and the cart burst out of the lot, gravel flying behind us. There was no speedometer, so I had no idea how fast we were going, except that it was somewhere between Crazy and Dangerous. I glanced at him in amazement.
“My dad let me tinker with it. I upgraded the motor. But be careful!”
I narrowly dodged an elderly woman setting out her trash can. She yelled at me, shaking a fist in the air.
I made the turn onto Milton Street, smoking past a middle-aged guy in a Prius. The cart straightened onto the road.
“Clinic is one mile ahead on your right!” Billy yelled. “Almost there!”
Flashing blue and red appeared behind us. We didn’t have time to stop for a cop. I jammed the gas pedal to the floor. The engine burst into flames and the cart rolled to a stop. The officer jumped out of his car and caught up to us on foot, his flashlight blazing into our faces.
“Sofia?”
I looked up and squinted. “Officer Lopez?”
“Sofia, there’s a bottle of Betadine next to the table,” Dr. Hamby said. “Grab it and pour it wherever I tell you, okay? It’s the dark orange stuff.”
“I know what it looks like,” I said.
Dr. Hamby had already grilled us about the dog’s injuries. We were in the operating room of his clinic now. Officer Lopez stood to the side, busy on his radio. All the other officers were at the school, but everything was calming down there. My story about the animal had everyone panicked, but no one had seen anything. Officer Grant, the one injured at the school, had regained consciousness on the way to the hospital. He didn’t remember anything except his dog growling, and a flash of pain when something hit him on the head.
Dr. Hamby poured Betadine over the dog’s leg before he started an IV. I watched the needle go in, and she lifted her head, licking Dr. Hamby on his hand. Tears sprang up in my eyes, hot and stinging. I hated needles.
I tried to hide my face from Billy, who was standing on the opposite side of the table, covered in blood and dog hair. He walked over and put his arm around me. He didn’t have to say anything.
Dr. Hamby inspected the dog’s scalp and head and seemed to find nothing serious. Then he peeled back the skin on either side of an obvious chest wound. I could see the white of the bone. Billy left my side and wheeled a big metal box over and positioned it above her.
“Wait!” Dr. Hamby told Billy. Then he looked at me. “No chance you’re pregnant, right?”
“No.” It was the most awkwardly spoken single word ever.
Dr. Hamby nodded and Billy flipped the switch. A low buzz told us the X-ray machine had snapped the picture. They turned to a computer screen on a table behind them. Blurry black-and-white images came to life. Billy exhaled hard.
“What?” I asked, my voice rising.
“No broken ribs. Lungs look good too. It’s a bad cut. That’s all,” his dad said.
Mom burst through the clinic’s front doors, yelling my name. Alexis was with her.
Dr. Hamby didn’t wait for introductions. He plunged a syringe into the IV and depressed it, sending a light pink medicine into the line. The dog’s body relaxed immediately, her breathing becoming more even.
“Your mom was freaking out when she got to the school,” Alexis whispered to me. “She called Officer Lopez. He told her where you were.”
“Billy, suture kit,” Dr. Hamby said.
“Your daughter did a brave thing,” Officer Lopez said. “She found an injured police dog and got help.”
Dr. Hamby agreed. “And thankfully, Officer Lopez got the dog here in time.”
I exchanged glances with Billy.
I reached out toward the sleeping dog and stroked her fur. The monitor registered a change immediately as the dog’s heart rate finally pushed back into the normal range. Everyone watched, fascinated.
“She just needs to know that she’s not alone,” I said. “I think they feel more than we know.”
Billy excused himself and walked out.
I found him sitting outside on the curb.
A yellow streetlight beamed down like a low moon hanging in the dark sky.
I managed to sit beside him rather gracefully. Alexis started to come out the door, but I held a finger up to stop her. She stepped back inside, nodding like she understood.
“What’ll you tell your dad about the golf cart?” I asked.
“As little as possible,” he replied.
“I wasn’t supposed to be at the dance.”
“Or with me,” I said.
“You’re the only reason I showed up,” he said. “I had to see what kind of dress was worth the pain of being friends with Candy.”
I looked down at the dress. The fabric hadn’t held up very well in all the excitement; the side seams were splitting and tiny threads poked out of them. It was cheaper than it looked.
“Well, it did look a little better on the hanger,” I admitted.
Then Mom came outside and cleared her throat. I nodded in her direction. Alexis stood in the doorway behind her.
Billy grabbed my hand before I could stand up. “My dad won’t let us date. So we can’t be boyfriend and girlfriend. And we can’t be best friends, because you already have one.”
“Is everything always so black-and-white with you?” I asked.
“I’m willing to create a new category. I still want to hang out. I’m just not sure what we would call that.”
“It’s called being friends,” I said.
“No, it’s something more,” he said.
“Okay,” I said. “You’re my Something More.”
Mom cleared her throat, this time really loudly.
“Why did you really show up tonight?” I asked.
“I decided that there’s only one thing worse than feeling pain, and that’s feeling nothing at all.”
He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I glanced at my mom to make sure she wasn’t watching.
This time, she blushed.
“I better go,” I said.
The soft smile on his lips made my stomach flutter.
Mom and Alexis were waiting. I glanced down at my shadow and saw the strange outline of spiky hair and mismatched legs, then forced myself to look back up at the dark blue horizon. The full moon was bright silver, and the stars around it burned gold. I never realized how much color hid in the darkness. Wind rustled the leaves of a nearby tree, and something flew from its branches into the night.
Now I knew that a book really could save you, if it was the right book. And if I had to carry this secret alone, it didn’t mean I had to be lonely. It meant I had to burn brightly, like the stars. I had to reclaim what was lost in the darkness.
The Last Monster Page 22
