We sped through the tall weeds and out the gate that separated the tangled forest of overgrowth from the neatly manicured school grounds.
“Faster,” Leonard shouted, his football pads bouncing about on his shoulders. “Karl, take up the rear with me.” He glanced at the baseball player. “We have to give Cameron time to hide the Skull Key somewhere within Camp Pontchartrain.”
Karl nodded, then slowed, letting Bobby, Elisa, and me move ahead. “Here they come.”
A gargoyle leaped into the air and flapped its wings, taking to the sky. The monster picked up speed, then dove at Leonard, its smoking fingers extended. Watching it over his shoulder, Leonard let it get closer, then skidded to a stop and swung his hockey stick. The wood smashed into the gray creature’s wing and the gargoyle fell hard to the ground. Leonard hit it one more time across the back, smashing both wings, then turned and sprinted after us.
Karl stopped running, turned, and attacked. He swung his bat at a group of approaching imps. The tiny red demons charged at Karl with claws extended and teeth bared. Their red bodies stood out in the moonlight, making them easy targets. His bat flashed through the air like a bolt of blue aluminum lighting. Karl hit imp after imp, knocking them aside as if they were annoying gnats. Gargoyles charged him. The baseball player slowly moved backward as he struck at the attackers. Number Three smashed smoking hands and extended wings. But for every monster Karl clubbed into unconsciousness, two more flooded out of the Crypt.
A wave of claws and fangs descended upon the baseball player.
Leonard reached Karl’s side and used the hockey stick like a scythe cutting wheat. The wooden shaft struck down monster after monster. Imps fell to the ground, wounded, with wings torn and claws chipped.
One imp made it past Karl’s bat and slashed at his arm. Its dark claws sliced across Karl’s skin, drawing a thin bead of blood. With a kick to the chest, Karl sent the monster tumbling to the ground, then brought his bat down onto the Agarthan, knocking it out. The two captains fought side by side, each watching the other’s flank.
I glanced over my shoulder at the two athletes. Soon, the approaching mob would overwhelm them. A buzzing storm of angry hornets filled my head, my Beast closing in.
I can’t let them get hurt, I thought. They’re like friends . . . Leonard is, at least . . . and I have so few.
Automatic negative thoughts flashed through my mind like lightning during a hurricane, each image showing how Leonard and Karl might get hurt. I gotta help them. I can do it!
At that moment, the quartz Chakra stone grew hot on my skin. Light leaked out from beneath my shirt as it glowed, getting hotter, but not burning my flesh. The glow from the quartz leaked into my mind, driving many of the ANTs back into the shadows and silencing the angry hornets in my head, allowing me to think. Courage blossomed within my soul, further blasting away the hornets and what-ifs.
“Bobby, Elisa, we need to help Leonard and Karl.” I skidded to a stop and reached into my backpack. “We can’t just leave them there.” The hornets grew louder for a moment, but I pushed them aside. Instead, I focused on my friends, the what-ifs fading under the glare of the quartz Chakra stone and my courage. “Gather your weapons and follow me.”
“Jelly-gun?” Bobby asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “Leonard and Karl need our help.”
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a handful of shiny spheres; shocker-balls. I was about to put the Skull Key into my backpack when an imp dove at me. Instinctively, I brought up the bag to stop the monster. Its claws sliced into the bottom of the backpack; the bag would never hold the Skull Key now.
With the spheres stuffed into my pockets and the Skull key tucked under an arm, I charged into battle, screaming. I pulled out one shocker and flipped the switch on the bottom, then counted, “one, two, three,” and threw it into the air. The gadget sailed over Karl’s head, then sprang to life. The lid popped open, and four darts shot out, each fully charged. Two of the sharp points found a pair of imps. Sparks danced across red skin, the electrical charges like glistening bees stinging into monstrous flesh.
It brought the two monsters down.
The sound of something hard zipped past my ear. A gargoyle yelped in pain as something bounced off his head. Bobby moved to my side, his high-tech slingshot in his hand. Loading two marbles into the weapon, he fired at the airborne creatures, his aim deadly accurate. Firing as fast as he could load the pouch, Bobby pummeled the monsters. Marbles bounced off skulls, pierced wings, and slammed into an eye or two.
I tossed another shocker-ball into the air, this time over Leonard’s head. The tiny darts found a gargoyle and an imp, the stunned monsters plummeting to the ground. I threw another and another as Bobby kept firing his marbles at the Agarthans. Karl’s bat pinged again and again as a loud thwack sounded from Leonard’s hockey stick.
Elisa fired her arrows at the imps and gargoyles in the air, her arm shaking violently. She couldn’t aim, her arrows flying wide, missing the targets.
“How about you hit something?” Karl glared at her. “I could use some help.”
She gripped her bow tight and fired again, the arrow, like all the rest, missing the monster.
But with Karl’s bat, Leonard’s hockey stick, Bobby’s slingshot, and my shocker-balls, we held back the flood, for now. It seemed as if we were winning until . . .
“Cameron, that huge demon is coming!” Elisa shouted.
I knew it had to be Malphas.
The Demon Lord of Agartha emerged from the Crypt. He extended his dark wings and took to the air. Flying over the battle, the demon glared down at the five of us, his scarred beak pointed at us like the tip of a deadly spear. Malphas leaned forward and dove straight for Karl. The monster extended his muscular arms, the shining talons at the end of each finger glistening in the moonlight.
“Karl . . . look out,” I shouted, but Karl couldn’t hear. The growls and shouts of the monsters around him drowned out my voice.
I ran over and grabbed the back of his jersey, pulling him backward. “Leonard, we have to retreat.”
“What are you doing!” Karl shouted.
“We gotta run.” I pointed at the streak of terror descended from the night sky. “The demon . . . THE DEMON!”
Karl spotted the monster plummeting toward him and gasped. Turning, he fled from the imps and gargoyles.
Leonard turned and ran. He reached out to me, trying to take the Skull Key from my grasp, but Malphas hit the ground like a meteor, causing a shock wave to ripple across the grounds, knocking us backward. I tumbled to the ground, hitting hard, the blue skull rolling from my grip. Leonard lunged for it but was too late. Malphas had it in his clawed hands, a vicious smile painted across his hideous face.
“Thank you for finding my Skull Key, Earthers.” Malphas glared at me, then glanced up at the moon. “Next time we meet, it will cost you your life. Fortunate for you, human, time is short.”
I looked to the west. The moon kissed the horizon, the edge sinking below the roofline of distant houses.
“Agarthans!” the demon shouted. “Return to the doorway. The moon is about to set.”
The monsters retreated toward the cave, picking up their fallen comrades. They all rushed into the dark opening, a sense of panic painted on their faces. Another gargoyle flew out of the Crypt with a quartz skull held in its hand. It flew straight toward the cave and pressed it into the stone arc over the entrance. Instantly, the skull gave off a flash of light and glowed white.
“They got another one,” Bobby moaned.
Malphas smiled, then took to the air, the blue Skull of Longing in his hands. He flew to the stone arch over the cave and placed the skull next to the glowing quartz one. Instantly, the blue skull flashed, then gave off a sapphire hue, painting the grass and weeds. The demon stepped into the cave and disappeared.
“We lost.” Leonard dropped his hockey stick and knelt, breathing hard.
“No thanks to her.” Karl glared at Elisa. “You ever hit anything with that toy? I think you should go back to bow and arrow school. No, maybe pre-school instead.”
“It’s not a toy.” Elisa sniffled as she wiped away a tear. “It’s just that . . . sometimes I get nervous . . . and umm . . .”
“Umm . . . great answer.” Karl turned to me. “Is it so hard to hold on to one skull?”
“The impact of that demon sent me flying. It rolled out of my hands when I hit the ground.” I glanced at Leonard, hoping for support.
The football player said nothing.
“If I hadn’t pulled you back, the demon would have . . .” I lowered my gaze.
“So, you just gave them the thing we were supposed to be protecting.” Karl glared at me. “Good job, Techie.”
“It’ll be okay, Cameron,” Leonard said.
“How do you know?” I snapped.
The football captain shrugged. “I don’t.”
“This is my fault. I did nothing to help.” Elisa dropped her bow and quiver and walked away from the group, heading toward the stone wall at the edge of the grass.
“Elisa, wait.” I ran after her, then walked at her side. “This wasn’t your fault; it wasn’t anyone’s fault. The Agarthans got another skull. So what?” I put a hand on her shoulder. “We only need to keep one skull from them, and we win; any more is just a bonus.”
“Don’t you get it?” Elisa wiped tears from her face, then glared at me. “This was me failing, again.”
We reached the stone wall and sat, dangling our feet in the weeds.
“It wasn’t your fault.” I grabbed her hand. “They outnumbered us. If you had hit some monsters with your arrows, that demon would have still taken the skull, and maybe killed some of us as well.” I glanced at the cave entrance, the three skulls glowing bright. “The Demon Lord is too big and too terrifying. No one can stand up against a monster like that.”
“Then what? We should just give up?”
“No, we have to keep trying. If we give up, it guarantees the outcome. We can’t just surrender; we must keep fighting.”
“Those are fine words.” She turned toward me. “But why do you give in to your anxiety and let it take over?”
“That’s different. It’s—”
A moan drifted out of the weeds.
“Someone’s hurt.” She stood and turned toward the sound. “Come on.”
Elisa leaped off the wall and ran through the weeds, heading for the Crypt and the groans of agony. I followed her, letting the weeds and thistles whip across my pants. When she reached the entrance, Elisa skidded to a stop, then knelt.
“Who is it?” I asked, then was shocked at what I saw.
The little imp with the broken horn, the one I’d seen from the ropes course, lay on the ground. Ugly bruises covered his red skin, and dark blood dripped from an angry gash on his arm. The imp moaned, clearly in pain, but unconscious.
“We need to help this little guy,” Elisa said. “At least this is something I can do without failing.”
“But it’s an imp . . . a monster . . . our enemy.”
“This little guy isn’t our enemy.” Elisa knelt and scooped the demon up in her arms, then stood. “His master, the demon, Mal-something.”
“Malphas.”
“Right, Malphas.” Elisa nodded. “He’s our enemy. This little guy is just a pawn who’s been beaten nearly to death. Maybe he can give us some information about the other monsters of Agartha.” She glanced at Bobby, Karl, and Leonard. “We’re gonna take him to the barn and help him.”
Without waiting for a reply, Elisa walked through the thick weeds toward the gate, the creature’s pointed tail dangling over her arm.
“What have you got there?” Bobby asked.
Elisa walked past the other three, heading for the barn. “Someone who needs help.”
“We have a prisoner.” Karl smiled.
“He’s not a prisoner,” Elisa scowled at the baseball player. “He’s gonna be an ally, so all of you leave him alone. I’m taking him to the barn and help him get back on his feet again.”
“But Elisa, what if he doesn’t want to help us?” Leonard jogged to her side, then walked with her. “What if he wants to kill us like all the other monsters?”
“Then I’ll let him go. But until then, he’s under my protection.” She turned away from Leonard, flinging her blond hair through the air.
I glanced at Bobby and sighed. “Come on, let’s help her.”
“Absolutely.” Bobby nodded. “Did you see what that gremlin was doing to this little imp? That gremlin—”
“I think his name was Krak,” I said.
“Right. That gremlin, Krak, beat on the imp with that vicious whip.” Bobby glanced at Elisa, then back to me. “Krak is like every bully who ever picked on us. We aren’t gonna stand for that.”
“No, we aren’t.” I nodded to my friend. “Come on; follow Elisa.” I glanced at Karl. “Are you coming with us?”
The ball player smacked his bat into the palm of his left hand. “You bet. When that monster wakes up, it’ll give us some information or feel Number Three’s wrath. And when it’s done answering my questions, maybe I’ll bonk it on the head a couple of times, just for fun.”
“Don’t act too quickly with that bat.” Bobby glanced at the imp hanging limp in Elisa’s arms, then gave Karl a mischievous smile. “An ally is better than an enemy.”
Karl shrugged, then headed for the barn, Leonard following close behind. I glanced at the moon, the last sliver of its lunar face slowly ducking behind the western horizon.
“The Super Blood Moon is tomorrow,” I said to myself. “I hope we can survive this.”
A shudder slithered down my spine as I ran to catch up with the others, icy fingers of dread grasping my soul and starting to squeeze.