IT WAS A NORMAL-LOOKING HOUSE. But it was all alone in a neighborhood of giant gas tanks, rent-a-car lots, and rusty, abandoned machines. Nearby, about a hundred railroad cars waited on weed-infested tracks.
We turned onto Knacke's street and a jet went over, so close my teeth rattled.
"You sure this is right?" Butt asked. "He's got a good job. He could live in a way better place than this."
"Maybe he likes to be alone," I said.
All around his house were empty lots. "Maybe this was a good neighborhood in the olden days. Probably everyone else sold out. But he hung on 'cause nobody will bother him here." Even with the windows rolled up, I could smell nasty fumes. Jet exhaust, or spills from the gas tanks.
"Now what?" Butt asked.
"Knacke's still at school."
"So we just go in the front door?"
"I don't know. Gimmee a minute to think." The Buttmobile had no heat. The longer we sat there doing nothing, the worse it got. Already, my feet were numb.
"If they kidnapped Relly then it's not against the law to go in there and save him, right?"
Butt shrugged. "It's probably breaking and entering."
"That doesn't matter though, right? We came here to save Relly."
He shut off the motor and we went up the crumbling driveway. Another jet went' over. The huge roaring shadow sliced across Knacke's yard.
The screaming thunder dwindled down. But a growling kept on, even after the plane had landed. "Crot Almighty," Butt groaned.
He'd seen the dog first, a huge, shiny, black monster with raging purple-red eyes. I stood there, frozen, as the beast lunged. He stopped, snapped back in midair, at the end of his chain. This made him even madder, and now my fear was like poison pumping through my veins.
"Let's go, let's go!" Butt yelled, running for the van.
I was sick with fear, ready to throw up. Still, I didn't back away. "We came to save Relly," I yelled. "I'm not going home without him."
The dog's chain was long, and as he raced back and forth, it dragged in the frosty stubble of grass. He lunged again, jerked back again, and then bolted to one side. Butt dodged back. We were safe. Only we couldn't get near the house.
The monster dog ran from side to side, and everywhere his paws touched the ground, he left a puff of steam. Was he a creature of fire like Knacke? Was that stinking steam that blew from his nostrils just breath, or smoke from some inner fires?
"We can stop him," I said. "Water and earth. You and me together. Water and earth makes mud."
I thought of rain and the rivers coursing underground. I thought of endless water, and the ground under the dog's feet became softer. Butt saw what I was doing, and I guess he turned his thoughts inside, too. The god of dirt and the god of water, making Knacke's yard into a lake of raw mud.
The dog was stuck, jerking and twisting, trying to get free. His legs were sinking into the ground. His paws were gone now, deeper and deeper.
"All right," I whispered. "Stop." I let go of the watery thoughts.
The ground, which had been frozen till we made it soft, went back the way it was. The dog was trapped, all four legs buried in the rock-hard earth.
"Now! Let's move!" I said. We ran up the driveway to the front door.
"We'll just go in fast, get Relly free, and then we're gone. Two minutes, that's all it'll take," I said.
I grabbed the doorknob and another plane came in, close enough I could have hit it if I threw a rock straight up. My teeth rattled, and so did the screen door. The booming went way lower all of a sudden. I heard the plane hit the runway as I twisted the doorknob.
Like a hundred-pound fist, another dog slammed out of nowhere. The huge jaws snapped and slavered, about an inch from my face. There was glass between us, and I guess that's all that kept me from getting my eyes torn out of my head.
Butt was swearing, I was screaming, the dogs were snarling, one behind and one in front.
Again the dog inside threw himself at the glass door. Flames shot out of his nostrils. Smoke and ash were swirling around his head.
Butt grabbed me by the shoulder and got me away from the door.
We ran for the van. By the time Butt had the motor going, the dog in the yard was free. He bolted toward us. His chain stopped him dead in midair again. Butt put on the gas and we were gone, with the scream of jets and the wild yapping of Knacke's fire dogs chasing us down the road.