Chapter Five

Gabriel stood in the tall grass and watched the sun setting in the east, rather than the west. He checked his compass again, and gave it a tap. A broken compass, a talking monkey, poisonous berries, and a creature with a gazillion eyes. Great. The day was worse than one of Gabriel’s worst nightmares, and he couldn’t help but blame himself.

Somehow, he’d have to find a way home. He wasn’t sure how he’d do it, but he had to try.

“Finley,” he started, “where do you sleep at night?”

“At home,” Finley answered with an expression that said, ‘Where else?’

“Yes, Finley, but where is home?”

“Me live in ky hut with Fegan.” Finley pointed to the sky. “Fegan my family.”

Gabriel nodded. “Well, I was wondering—I mean, since my friends and I are so far from home and everything. If, well—”

“It good, Gabrul. You human come with Finley. But be very quiet and hurry. Gruock come in dark.”

Piper stood slowly, the color slowly returning to her cheeks. “What’s a gruock?”

“Is it one of those things with googly eyes that screams like my mother when she sees my room?” Brent managed a weak laugh. Gabriel laughed, too. He was relieved Brent was starting to feel better.

“No,” Finley said. “Me no like eeker, but not eeker me fraid of.” He motioned for them to follow. “We leave now.”

“Wait,” Piper whispered to Gabriel as she held her stomach and walked along.

Gabriel looped his arm through Piper’s. “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. I’m just tired. But where is he taking us?”

Gabriel pulled her forward through the tall grass keeping close behind Finley. “I guess to his family or whatever—but hey, it’s better than being stuck out here at night, I guess. Lean on me if you need to, k?” He chewed his lip. “Finley’s our best hope right now.” They followed the talking monkey toward the sunset.

“Me know good trail!” Finley bounced along, leading them down a path through the tall grass, which offered some cover from whatever might be lurking beyond it.

“Keep head down,” Finley said. “Be quiet.”

Eventually, the path widened. Ahead of them, a grove of at least fifty trees with small, wooden houses sat perched among the leafy branches. “A whole tribe of talking monkeys,” Piper mused, sounding better.

Finley approached a tree in the middle and tapped a rhythmic beat upon its knobby trunk. A few moments later, a rope ladder dropped from the branches above them. “Hurry,” he urged, scrambling up the ladder.

Piper started up next, but slipped as the ladder swayed. Piper’s not feeling much better after all. Gabriel frowned and reached forward, grasping Piper by the elbow to help steady her.

Brent jumped, his eyes bulging as he spun around. “Did you hear that? It was like a wolf howl or something.” He darted a glance over his shoulder. “Get up the ladder, Piper. Fast!”

Zigzag growled and perked up her ears. Her fur stood high on the back of her neck. A loud, spine-tingling roar rang out. Zigzag barked back.

Piper shouted from the top of the ladder. “Something’s moving through the grass! I’m totally not kidding. Hurry up!”

“Gruock!” Finley screamed. Rustling and squeaking noises burst from the trees, and one after another, more monkeys hopped around from branch to branch. Gabriel figured they were the Fegans that Finley talked about.

Brent pushed Gabriel toward the ladder. “Hurry, Gabe, before it gets here.”

Gabriel wiggled the ladder. “You first.”

But Brent pulled Gabriel’s arm, twisting him around to face the ladder. “Dude, just go,” he insisted.

“What about Ziggy?”

“I’m stronger. I’ll carry her up. Just be ready to take her from me.”

Gabriel knew only Brent was strong enough to carry Zigzag up, so he grabbed hold of the nearest rung and climbed. In the distance, the growls grew louder and louder. Halfway up, he glanced back to see Brent climbing with Zigzag under one arm. The ladder groaned under the extra weight.

“Finley!” he shouted. “The ladder!” But Finley was making strange monkey sounds like all the others, and didn’t hear him.

Gabriel bit his lip. Hands, feet, hands, feet. The words rushed through his mind as he tried to climb at the same pace. As he neared the top, one side of the ladder began unraveling; the rope’s ripping sounds sending goose bumps shooting over Gabriel’s skin. He quickly scrambled to the plank of the wooden hut and twisted around to help Brent.

“Piper,” Gabriel yelled. “Grab hold of the ropes while I help Brent.” He stretched his hand into the growing darkness. “Hurry, Brent. Climb!”

The hair on Gabriel’s neck prickled as another gut-wrenching roar sounded out. He stared into the night and spotted a creature like a gigantic wolf with a thick red mane running toward the huts. Chills spread over Gabriel’s body like wildfire. The creature’s fluorescent green eyes pierced the darkness, focused unblinkingly on Brent’s dangling legs. Its mouth frothed.

Piper screamed and gripped the rope tighter.

“Don’t look back,” Gabriel warned Brent.

The creature pawed at the bottom of the ladder, making it sway left to right. The ladder shimmied and moaned as the ends of the ropes made a horrible shredding sound.

“I’m losing my grip,” Brent hollered.

Then one of his legs slipped off the ladder.

Piper shrieked. Gabriel yelled. Monkeys screamed.

Zigzag, who’d been growling and squirming in Brent’s arms, leapt to the ground. Even though she was considered big for a boxer, she was still not even half the size of the creature that stood in front of her.

“No, Ziggy, no!” Gabriel hollered. Gabriel’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped open, shock and horror ripping him apart.

The beast lunged at her, teeth bared. Zigzag darted away, barely missing its attack, then sprung back. Her teeth sank into the creature’s neck. It yelped and spun around, grabbing Zigzag by the leg and flinging her far into the darkness. The beast bounded away after her.

Gabriel strained his eyes, searching the thick grass for any sign of them. Howls and roars rumbled in the distance, but soon faded away.

Another beast sprang from the darkness, pressed its huge paws against the tree trunk, and gnashed its teeth. Just as Brent regained his footing, the rope ripped apart, sliding through Piper’s fingers. Piper cried out and lunged after the falling rope.

Finley clutched Piper’s leg, dragging her back. Another monkey grabbed the ripped rope. Monkeys surrounded them then—one hanging onto Finley’s tail, then the next onto his, and continuing down a line. From other tree houses, monkeys threw rocks at the remaining gruock.

Heart pounding, Gabriel stretched his arm down and grasped Brent’s hand. Brent clawed his last few steps up to the hut, and collapsed.

The Fegans dragged the ladder up and scattered away. Only a few stayed nearby with Finley. Gabriel couldn’t hear what they were saying over the hammering of his heart, but he figured Finley must be trying to explain who they were. One monkey seemed especially annoyed. He wore a red scarf with a thin white stripe around his arm. He scowled, looking angry, confused, and interested all at once. He made hand gestures while Finley spoke.

Must be their leader. Gabriel wrung his hands together, wondering if they’d be kicked out.

Finally, the stern looking monkey hopped away, and it seemed as though they’d be allowed to stay—for now. Gabriel and his friends called out for Zigzag for over an hour.

Brent rubbed his forehead and hung his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t hold on to her, dude. I really am.”

“She’ll come back, Gabe. Don’t worry.” Piper offered him a weak smile.

Yeah, you said that about my mom, too, and she hasn’t come back. Gabriel swallowed hard against the burning in his throat and tried to put on a brave face. He felt like he was about to puke.

“I know you tried. Man, this totally sucks,” Gabriel said. He scuffed the toe of his shoe against the floor of the tree house. “First my mom, then my dog, and now we’re in some freak land.” He shook his head. “It’s all my fault. I’m the one who convinced you guys to go on the hike. I’m the one who pushed Cedric. Because of me, you guys are sick from stupid berries, we’re talking with monkeys, and now we’ve been attacked by some Night of the Living Dead zombie wolves on steroids that probably just killed my dog.” The last words stuck in Gabriel’s throat.

Brent tugged a dangling leaf from a branch above him. “Hey, it’s not your fault. You were only trying to help me when Cedric whipped that branch in my face. It’s not like you meant to push Cedric into the water. He’s a scammer, we all know that. He’s probably home right now. And Ziggy … well, she saved my life.” Brent hung his head.

“She helped save all our lives. Some dog owner I’ve turned out to be.” Gabriel slumped to his knees, tears welling in his eyes. It felt like holes had been punched straight through his heart.

Piper hugged him. “Don’t worry, Gabe. We’re all right. Brent’s okay. I’m totally over the berry thing. And Ziggy? I really think she’ll come back.”

Gabriel’s mind swirled with flashes of glowing green eyes and what Zigzag must have faced.

Finley pointed to a pile of leaves. “You must eep. Lie there.”

Gabriel had a gazillion questions, but before he could get a word out, Finley jumped to a higher part of the tree house. “Eep, Gabrul, talk in morning. We good in ky. eep, eep!”

Piper motioned to the leaves, and they fell into a heap together. “I think he wants us to sleep. We should really try, Gabe,” she whispered. “We’ll work this out tomorrow.”

Work this out? Gabriel rubbed his forehead. My dog was just eaten by some half-lion, half-wolf creature. Hard to work that out. He searched the darkness from their tall perch, looking for Zigzag. Knife-sharp guilt jabbed him in the gut. He couldn’t lose his dog after already losing his mom. Gabriel’s thoughts drifted to his dad and how he was probably losing it right now, too. My dad’s alone. He must be freaking out—first Mom, now me.

With heavy eyes, he mumbled, “I have to find a way back to Willow Creek.”

***

Something tickled Gabriel’s face. He shooed it away, but in seconds, it returned. He opened his eyes to see Finley standing over him with a silly grin, holding a leaf.

Gabriel bolted upright. “Is Zigzag back?”

Finley’s face fell. “No Zigzag. Me orry, Gabrul.”

Gabriel fell back to the leaves, stomach churning. “It’s okay, Finley. It’s not your fault.” He poked his friends one-by-one. “Wake up. It’s morning.”

As the others stirred, Gabriel turned back to Finley. “What is this place?”

“Valta, Finley home.” Finley frowned. “It be odd here now.”

Ya think? “What’s odd to you?” Gabriel asked, remembering the tiger he saw in the crystal.

“Creature odd now. Night longer … ” Finley pointed to the sky. “Ky odd color, it bad rain, and eeker everywhere.” Finley made a face. “Finley no like eeker.”

Gabriel looked up at the mostly blue sky and narrowed his eyes at the dark, ominous streaks of orange scattered throughout. “So what’s the story with the eeker things?”

“Not bad like gruock … me no think, but me no like. They eat our berry.”

“There’s a few things here I don’t like,” Gabriel murmured, then said, “Finley, you said you have a master, right?”

Finley nodded. “Master know many thing. Take care Valta.”

Gabriel nodded back.

Piper stepped beside Gabriel, and Brent sat up, stretching. “Maybe we should try to talk to this master guy,” Piper suggested. “Maybe he can help us get home.”

“No,” Finley said. “Too danger. Master far away. Only come here one time in many, many eep.”

Brent chuckled. “Just how many sleeps is that, dude?”

“One hundred eep.”

“One hundred sleeps?” they asked in unison.

“We can’t wait one hundred days!” Brent tugged at his blond hair, like he planned to pull it all out. “We have to get home, like, now!”

Piper looked dazed. “But how will we get home?”

Another monkey swung down, landing on the wooden floor with a thud, scowling. He towered over Finley and was darker, with a very long tail and serious eyes. His red striped scarf was secured in a tight knot around his left arm. Gabriel recognized him from the night before as the monkey who looked like their leader. Finley motioned toward the stern-looking monkey.

“He Rakur, charge of Fegan.”

Rakur frowned at them and folded thick arms over his chest, his dark eyes darting from Piper to Brent, before finally settling on Gabriel. “The humans cannot stay here, Finley. Their scent is everywhere. It won’t be long before the gruocks return.”

Gabriel shuddered. “Our scent?” He clenched his trembling hands into fists. “I’m sorry for any trouble we’ve caused. But we’re totally lost and need to find a way home. Can somebody lead us to your master?”

Finley motioned toward the stern-looking monkey.

“It’s too dangerous out there,” replied Rakur. “I won’t let anyone travel the lands of Valta. Our world is sick, and the creatures are agitated. We see the seekers more often than ever traveling about the land and snatching up our berries. Valta is especially hazardous and uncertain.”

Gabriel thought for a moment and realized that what Rakur called seekers were the creatures with the gazillion eyes that Finley pronounced as eeker.

Finley patted his chest. “Me take them, Rakur. Finley go.”

“That is not wise, Finley.” Rakur’s voice was firm. His mud-brown eyes narrowed to slits. “You risk much for these human strangers.”

Finley glanced around at his newfound friends, his voice growing shaky. “Me found them. Me help them. They kind. Me help them.”

“I will not stop you. But you will be on your own. You may take them to Shataundra, to the palace. But there you must leave them at the gate.”

“But what bout prafaceee, Rakur?”

Rakur chuckled. “You mean, prophecy? Now, you don’t believe in Valtan tales now, do you? Go if you must. Take refuge at Carissa Springs on your way to Shataundra. Move swiftly and speak to no one.”

Rakur waved to other monkeys high in the trees. They hooted and screeched as they rushed across the branches. The monkeys gathered fruit, which they brought to the three friends. Gabriel ate eagerly, but Brent peeled back the banana and sniffed at the fruit before shrugging and taking a bite. He chewed slowly, then gave Piper a thumbs-up.

“Go for it,” he said to her. “It seems okay to me.”

Piper grimaced, but then sighed and took a small bite of her banana. After a few minutes, she grinned. “My stomach’s good,” she proclaimed.

Afterwards, they packed the leftovers in burlap sacks and thanked Rakur for his help.

Piper smiled at the monkeys. “Thanks for everything. Seriously, thank you.”

“Yeah, you guys totally rule!” Brent said around a mouthful of banana.

Gabriel wiped his sticky hands on his jeans and shook Rakur’s hand. “We’re very grateful for your help. I don’t know what we’d have done without Finley.”

“We’d have been road kill,” Brent mumbled. Piper scowled, and told him to be quiet.

“You are welcome,” said Rakur. “Stay close to Finley. He is a young Fegan, but well-trained and a good tracker. He will lead you to the palace in Shataundra. Go well.”