The Seeing Stone

by Tony DiTerlizzi

  “Skin it raw, skin the fat.”

  Several of the goblins started to sing. Jared shuddered at the words.

  Fidirol, Fidirat!

  Catch a dog, catch a cat

  Skin it raw, skin the fat

  On the spit, turn like that

  Fidirol, Fidirat!

  Cars whizzed by, oblivious. Perhaps even their mother was driving past now, Jared thought.

  “How many?” Mallory whispered, hefting a heavy branch.

  “Ten,” Jared answered. “I don’t see Simon. He must be in one of those cages.”

  “Are you sure?” Mallory squinted in the direction of the goblins. “Give me that thing.”

  “Not now,” said Jared.

  They moved slowly through the trees looking for a cage large enough to contain Simon. Ahead of them, something cried out, shrill and loud. They crept forward to the edge of the forest.

  An animal was lying alongside the road, beyond the goblin camp. It was the size of a car, but curled up, with a hawk’s head and the body of a lion. Its flank was streaked with blood.

  “What do you see?”

  “A griffin,” said Jared. “It’s hurt.”

  “What’s a griffin?”

  “It’s kind of a bird, kind of a—never mind, just stay away from it.”

  Mallory sighed, moving deeper into the woods.

  “There,” she said. “What about those?”

  Jared looked up. Several of the high cages were larger, and he thought he could make out a human shape in one of them. Simon!

  “I can climb up,” Jared said.

  Mallory nodded. “Be fast.”

  Jared wedged his foot in a hollow of the bark, hefting himself up to the first split in the branches. Then, pulling himself higher, he started crawling along the bough that held the little cages. If he stood up on that limb, he would be looking into the cages that were hung higher.

  As he edged along, Jared could not help looking down. In the cages below, he could see squirrels, cats, and birds. Some were clawing and biting at the bars, while others were unmoving. A few contained just bones. They were all lined with leaves that looked suspiciously like poison ivy.

  “Hey, dribble-puss, over here.”

  The voice surprised Jared so much he almost lost his grip on the branch. It had come from one of the large cages.

  “Who’s there?” Jared whispered.

  “Hogsqueal. Now how about opening that door?”

  Jared saw the frog face of another goblin, but this one had green cat’s eyes. It was wearing clothes, and its teeth weren’t glass or metal, but what looked like baby teeth.

  “I don’t think so,” said Jared. “You can rot in there. I’m not letting you out.”

  “Don’t be a cat-whipper, beetlehead. If I holler, those guys are going to make you into dessert.”

  “I bet you yell all the time,” Jared said. “I bet they don’t believe anything you say.”

  “HEY! LOOK—”

  Jared grabbed the edge of the cage and pulled it forward. Hogsqueal went quiet. Below, the goblins slapped one other and snatched pieces of cat meat, apparently unaware of the racket in the tree.

  “Okay, okay,” Jared said.

  “Good. Let me out!” the goblin demanded.

  “I have to find my brother. Tell me where he is, and then I’ll let you out.”

  “No way, candy butt. You must think I’m as dumb as a hatful of worms. You let me out or I scream again.”

  “Jared!” Simon’s voice called from one of the cages farther down the branch. “I’m over here.”

  “I’m coming,” Jared called back, turning toward the sound.

  “You open this door or I scream,” the goblin threatened.

  Jared took a deep breath. “You won’t scream. If you scream, they’ll catch me and then no one’s going to let you out. I’m getting my brother out first, but I’ll be back for you.”

  Jared edged farther down the branch. He was relieved that the goblin stayed silent.

  Simon was stuffed in a cage much too small for him. His legs were drawn up against his chest, and the toes of one foot stuck through the bars. His bare skin was scraped from the thorns that lined the cage.

  “You okay?” Jared asked, taking his pocketknife out and sawing at the knotted vines wrapped around Simon’s prison.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Simon’s voice quavered just a little.

  Jared wanted to ask if Simon had found Tibbs, but he was afraid of the answer. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I should have helped look for the cat.”

  “That’s okay,” said Simon, squeezing out through the part of the door Jared managed to open. “But I have to tell you that—”

  “Turtle-head! Boy! Enough mouth! Let me out!” the goblin shouted.

  “Come on,” said Jared. “I said I’d help him.”

  Simon followed his twin back along the branch to Hogsqueal’s cage.

  “What’s in there?”

  “A goblin, I think.”

  “A goblin!” Simon exclaimed. “Are you crazy?”

  “I can spit in your eye,” Hogsqueal offered.

  “Gross,” said Simon. “No, thanks.”

  “It will give you the Sight, jinglebrains. Here,” Hogsqueal said, taking a handkerchief from one of his pockets and spitting in it. “Rub this on your eyes.”

  Jared hesitated. Could he trust a goblin? But then, Hogsqueal would be stuck in the cage forever if he did anything bad. Simon would never let the goblin out.

  He took off the eyepiece and wiped the dirty cloth over his eyes. It made them sting.

  “Ugh. That’s the most disgusting thing ever,” said Simon.

  Jared blinked and looked over at the goblins sitting around their fire. He could see them without the stone. “Simon, it works!”

  Simon looked at the cloth skeptically but rubbed his own eyes with goblin spit.

  “We had a deal, right? Let me out,” Hogsqueal demanded.

  “Tell me what you’re in there for, first,” said Jared. Giving them the handkerchief was nice, but it could still be a trick.

  “You’re not very chicken-beaked for a nibhead,” the goblin grumbled. “I’m in here for letting out one of the cats. See, I like cats, and not just ’cause they’re tasty, which they are, no mistake. But they got these eyes that are an awful lot like mine, and this one was real little, not much meat there. And she had this sweet little mewl.” The goblin looked lost in his memory, then abruptly looked back at Jared. “So enough about that. Let me out.”

  “And what about your teeth? Do you eat babies or what?” Jared had not found the goblin’s story very reassuring.

  “What is this? An interrogation?” Hogsqueal groused.

  “I’m letting you out already.” Jared came closer and started to cut the complicated knots on the cage. “But I want to know about your teeth.”

  “Well, kids got this quaint idea of leaving teeth under their pillows, see?”

  “You steal kids’ teeth?”

  “Come on, Dumbellina, tell me you don’t believe in the tooth fairy!”

  Jared fumbled for a few more moments, saying nothing. He had the last knot almost sawed through when the griffin started screeching.

  Four of the goblins circled it with pointed sticks. The animal couldn’t seem to raise itself very far off the ground, but it could snap at the goblins if they got too close. Then the creature’s hawk beak connected, scissoring off a goblin arm. The wounded goblin squealed while a second drove his stick into the griffin’s back. The remaining goblins cheered.

  “What are they doing?” Jared whispered.

  “What does it look like?” Hogsqueal replied. “They’re waiting for it to die.”

  “They’re killing him!” Simon yelled. His eyes were wide, staring down at the gruesome spectacle. Jared realized that his brother was seeing all this for the first time. Suddenly Simon grabbed a handful of leaves and sticks from the tree they were stand
ing on and hurled them at the goblins below.

  “Simon, stop it!” Jared said.

  “Leave him alone, you jerks!” Simon shouted. “LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

  All of the goblins looked up at that moment, their eyes reflecting a ghostly pale white in the dark.

  The flames blazed green.

  Chapter Six

  IN WHICH Jared Is Forced to Make a Difficult Choice

  Let me OUT!” Hogsqueal yelled. Jared snapped into motion and cut through the last knot.

  Hogsqueal danced onto the branch, heedless of the goblins barking beneath him. They had begun to surround the tree.

  Jared looked around for some kind of weapon, but all he had was his little knife. Simon was breaking off more branches and Hogsqueal was running away, jumping from tree to tree like a monkey. He and his brother were abandoned and trapped. If they tried to climb down, the goblins would be upon them.

  And somewhere down there, in the gloom, Mallory was alone and blind. Her only protection was the red of the sweatshirt she wore.

  “What about the animals in the cages?” Simon asked.

  “No time!”

  “Hey, mucky-pups!” Jared heard Hogsqueal shout. He looked in the direction of the voice, but Hogsqueal wasn’t talking to them at all. He was dancing around the campfire and sticking a large strip of burnt cat meat in his mouth.

  “Ninnyhammers!” he yelled at the other goblins. “Pestleheads! Goobernuts! Jibbernolls! Fiddlewizzits!” He leaned back and urinated on the fire, making the flames blaze green.

  The goblins turned from the tree and headed right for Hogsqueal.

  “Move!” Jared said. “Now!”

  Simon climbed down the tree as fast as he could, jumping once he was close enough. He fell to the ground with a soft thud. Jared landed beside him.

  Mallory hugged them both, but she didn’t let go of her stick.

  “I heard the goblins get close, but I couldn’t see a thing,” she said.

  “Put this on.” Jared held out the eyepiece to her.

  “You need it,” she protested.

  “Now!” Jared said.

  Surprisingly Mallory buckled it on without another word. After it was on, she reached into her sweatshirt and gave Simon his shoe.

  They started moving into the woods, but Jared couldn’t help looking back. Hogsqueal was surrounded like the griffin had been only moments before.

  They couldn’t leave him like that.

  “Hey!” he called. “Over here!”

  The goblins turned and, seeing the three children, started moving toward them.

  Jared, Mallory, and Simon started to run.

  “Are you crazy?” Mallory yelled.

  “He was helping us,” Jared yelled back. He couldn’t be sure she’d heard him since he was panting at the same time he was speaking.

  “Where are we going?” Simon shouted.

  “The stream,” said Jared. He was thinking fast, faster than he’d ever thought in his life. The troll was their only chance. He was sure that it could stop ten goblins with no problem. What he wasn’t sure of was how they could avoid it themselves.

  “We can’t go this way,” Mallory said. Jared ignored her.

  If only they could jump the stream, maybe that would be enough. The goblins wouldn’t know there was a monster to avoid.

  The goblins were still far enough behind. They wouldn’t see what was coming.

  Almost there. Jared could see the stream ahead, but they weren’t to the ruined bridge yet.

  Then Jared saw something that stopped him cold. The troll was out of the water. It stood at the edge of the bank, eyes and teeth gleaming in the moonlight. Even hunched over, Jared guessed that it was more than ten feet tall.

  “Luckyyyy meee,” it said, reaching out a long arm in their direction.

  “Wait,” said Jared.

  The creature moved toward them, a slow smile showing broken teeth. It definitely was not waiting.

  “Hear that?” Jared asked. “That’s goblins. Ten fat goblins. That’s a lot more than three skinny kids.”

  It stood at the edge of the bank.

  The monster hesitated. The Guide had said that trolls weren’t very smart. Jared hoped that was true.

  “All you have to do is get back in the stream and we’ll lead them right to you. I promise.”

  The yellow eyes of the creature glinted greedily. “Yesss,” it said.

  “Hurry!” Jared said. “They’re almost here!”

  It slid toward the water and dropped under with barely a ripple.

  “What was that?” Simon asked.

  Jared was shaking, but he could not let that stop him. “Go in the stream there, where it’s shallow. We have to get them to chase us through the water.”

  “Are you nuts?” Mallory demanded.

  “Please,” Jared begged. “Trust me.”

  “We have to do something!” said Simon.

  “Okay, let’s go.” Mallory followed her brothers toward the muddy bank, shaking her head.

  The goblins burst through the trees. Jared, Mallory, and Simon waded through the shallow water, zigzagging around the pit. The fastest way to go after them would be to cut through the middle of the stream.

  Jared heard the goblins splashing behind them, barking madly. Then the barks turned to squeals. Jared looked back to see a few goblins paddling for the shore. The troll grabbed them all, shaking and biting and dragging them down to his watery lair.

  Jared tried not to look any more. His stomach did an odd, nauseous flip-flop.

  Simon looked pale and a little queasy.

  “Let’s go home,” Mallory said.

  Jared nodded.

  “We can’t,” said Simon. “What about all those animals?”

  The full moon overhead

  Chapter Seven

  IN WHICH Simon Outdoes Himself and Finds an Extraordinary New Pet

  You have to be kidding,” Mallory said when Simon explained what he wanted to do.

  “They’re going to die if we don’t,” Simon insisted. “The griffin is bleeding.”

  “The griffin, too?” Jared asked. He understood about the cats, but a griffin?

  “How are we going to help that thing?” Mallory demanded. “We’re not faerie veterinarians!”

  “We have to try,” said Simon just as firmly.

  Jared owed it to Simon to agree. After all, he had put Simon through a lot. “We could get the old tarp from the carriage house.”

  “Yeah,” Simon chimed in. “Then we could drag the griffin back to the house. There’s plenty of room.”

  Mallory rolled her eyes.

  “If it lets us,” Jared said. “Did you see what it did to that goblin?”

  “Come on, guys,” Simon pleaded. “I’m not strong enough to pull it alone.”

  “All right,” she said. “But I’m not standing close to the head.”

  Jared, Simon, and Mallory trooped back to the carriage house. The full moon overhead gave them enough light to navigate the woods, but they were still careful, crossing the stream where it was barely a trickle. At the edge of the lawn, Jared could see that the windows of the main house were lit and that his mother’s car was parked in the gravel driveway. Was she making dinner? Had she called the police? Jared wanted to go inside and tell his mom that they were all okay, but he didn’t dare.

  “Jared, come on.” Simon had opened the door to the carriage house, and Mallory was pulling the tarp from the old car.

  “Hey, look at this.” Simon picked up a flashlight from one of the shelves and flicked it on. Luckily, no beam of light spread across the lawn.

  “Batteries are probably dead,” Jared said.

  “Stop playing around,” Mallory told them. “We’re trying not to get caught.”

  They dragged the tarp back through the woods. The walk went more slowly and with a good deal of arguing about the shortest way. Jared couldn’t keep from jumping at distant night noises. Even the croaking of frogs sounded ominou
s. He couldn’t help wondering what else there was, hidden in the dark. Maybe something worse than goblins or trolls. He shook his head and reminded himself that no one could possibly be that unlucky in one day.

  When they finally found the goblin camp again, Jared was surprised to see Hogsqueal sitting by the fire. He was licking bones and burped contentedly when they approached.

  “I guess you’re okay,” Jared said.

  “Is that any way to talk to someone who saved your prawnheaded hide?”

  Jared started to protest—they’d almost gotten killed over the stupid goblin—but Mallory grabbed his arm.

  “Help Simon with the animals,” she said. “I’ll watch the goblin.”

  “I’m not a goblin,” Hogsqueal said. “I’m a hob goblin.”

  “Whatever,” said Mallory, sitting on a rock.

  Simon and Jared climbed the trees, letting out all the animals in the cages. Most ran down the nearest branch or sprang for the ground, as afraid of the boys as they were of the goblins. One little kitten crouched in the back of a cage, mewling pitifully. Jared didn’t know what to do with it, so he put it in his backpack and kept moving. There was no sign of Tibbs.

  When Simon saw the kitten, he insisted that they keep it. Jared wished that he meant instead of the griffin.

  Jared thought that Hogsqueal’s eyes softened when he saw the cat, but that might have been from hunger.

  When the cages were empty, the three siblings and the hobgoblin approached the griffin. It watched them warily, extending its claws.

  Mallory dropped her end of the tarp. “You know, hurt animals sometimes just attack.”

  “Sometimes they don’t, though,” said Simon, walking toward the griffin with open hands. “Sometimes they just let you take care of them. I found a rat like that once. It only bit me when it got better.”

  “Only a bunch of chuckleheads would mess with a wounded griffin.” Hogsqueal cracked open another bone and started sucking out the marrow. “You want me to hold that kitten?”