Monster War (7 page)

C
harlie fell into the abyss.

He had no idea how deep it was, but he knew that he had to find some way to safely bring himself to a stop or he would die. He thought about opening a portal to one of the oceans on Earth so that he could use the water to slow his fall, but quickly realised that that wouldn’t work - at this speed, the water would be as hard as concrete and hitting it would kill him instantly. There had to be another way…

Strangely, his mind flashed to an image of Spider-Man slinging webs through canyons of skyscrapers, never having any problems with the treacherous falls he took.

Must be nice to shoot webs
, Charlie thought as he plunged through the terrible dark. Then:
Shoot webs.
Spider-Man. Spider shoots webs.
And he knew what he had to do.

Charlie waved a hand and opened a portal directly beneath him. Through it, he had a bird’s eye view of the Nightmare Academy. He plummeted into the portal and was soon hurtling through the air back on Earth, towards the great tree far below.

“XIX!” he screamed as the cold wind tried to steal the words from his mouth. “PROFESSOR XIX! ARE YOU THERE?”

Charlie saw several students from the Academy staring up at him in confusion - but Xix was nowhere in sight.

“XIX, IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, I NEED YOUR HELP! THIS IS CHARLIE BENJAMIN!”

The top leaves of the Nightmare Academy whipped past his face as he plunged through them, only seconds from slamming into the hard sand below.

“PLEASE, PROFESSOR! HELP ME!”

He was out of time. Either Xix was there and could save him or he was going to—

Something scuttled across a tree limb. Charlie saw a sticky strand of white webbing shoot out from between the leaves. It snaked around his feet and wrapped around a thick branch as he fell, pulling taut, stretching like a
rubber band, slowing his descent.

“Thanks, Professor!” Charlie yelled, catching just the briefest glimpse of his old friend and teacher before hurtling past him towards the ground below.

“My pleasure, Charlie Benjamin!” Professor Xix shouted back.

Even though the silken strand was slowing his fall, Charlie realised it wouldn’t be able to bring him to a stop before he slammed into the earth. Just as the hard sand rushed up to meet him, he opened another portal and dipped through it into the Nether, just a few metres above the wide ledge where the Smith stood. The webbing attached to his ankle stretched to its breaking point, slowing Charlie to an almost complete stop. With another wave of his hand, he closed the portal above him, snapping the silken strand in half, and dropped the remaining few metres to land harmlessly on the ground next to Theodore in a puff of dust.

Everyone stared at him, shocked.

“That was simply ridiculous,” Theodore said finally. “Truly outrageous.”

Charlie staggered to his feet, then turned to the Smith. “Well, does that prove to you I’m a Banisher
and
a Nethermancer?”

The bloated creature laughed its thick, phlegmy laugh.

“So you ARE a Double-Threat, BOY! Good. You have earned the right to TRY for the sword.” It leaped towards the dark tunnel that snaked its way into the mountainside. “Follow me, ALL of you. It is time -
crooooak!
- for the Test of SACRIFICE!”

Charlie and his friends blindly groped their way through the blackness of the tunnel. The walls were moist and the air had a chalky smell.

“I can’t see a thing…” Brooke complained.

“Yeah, well, just be careful you don’t bump into the big, ugly frog,” Theodore whispered. “It’s probably not too far up ahead and, remember, Rex said touching it would be - and I quote - ‘bad’.”

“The big, ugly frog can HEAR you,” the Smith croaked.

Charlie was startled to discover that the beast was only a couple of steps in front of him. “Are we close?” he asked.

“Almost THERE…” They heard a grinding of stone as an unseen door rumbled aside, allowing a shaft of blue light to spill into the tunnel. “Now…enter the CHAMBER of Ancient WEAPONS.” They followed the creature inside.

The chamber glowed dimly blue, illuminated by the
same kind of lava that they had previously seen bubbling up from the well in the Netherforge. It ran through cracks in the floor. Charlie noticed that the Smith was careful to avoid touching the stuff.

“What is that?” he asked.

“The MAGMA? It rises from the -
crooooak!
- CORE of the Nether. It causes EXCRUCIATING pain to the monsters here. That’s why they AVOID the Forge…and that’s why we temper the BLADES in its terrible fire. The Ancient Weapons are filled with its POWER.”

The Smith hopped from the small chamber into a large cavern. Charlie and his friends followed and were left literally breathless by the astonishing sight before them. Easily five storeys high, blue magma dripped down the sides of the rough stone walls, creating the impression of a star-streaked sky, an exploding constellation of glowing cobalt that rained down around them like fireworks.

And that wasn’t even the most impressive thing. In the centre of the cavern stood a massive amber crystal, shining like a sun. And in the centre of the crystal was a sword of unequalled magnificence.

“The Sword of SACRIFICE,” the Smith said darkly.

Charlie walked towards it, amazed by the craftsmanship. Seen through the crystal, the metal of the blade gleamed a brilliant turquoise and the hilt was
fashioned from a wood so dark it looked almost black. There were carvings on it as well - pictures of monsters that Charlie had never seen before. A two-headed thing with hooks for hands. Something that looked like a snake walking upright.

What were these creatures?
he wondered. Were they other Named? Beasts the blade had previously killed? Or something else entirely?

“It’s incredible,” Charlie whispered.

“AYE,” the Smith croaked. “It IS. As the seeker of the blade, we begin with YOU. Come.” The creature hopped to the far wall. Charlie followed and, as he neared it, he noticed a hole in the rock, about the size of a man’s fist. “Put your hand INSIDE.”

Charlie hesitated. The hole was dark and he couldn’t see where it led. He put his ear to it. There was a buzzing sound.

“Uh, Charlie,” Theodore said, walking up. “My dad wasn’t around to tell me much when I was growing up, but one of the things he
did
tell me was ‘never stick your hand in a dark hole, stupid’. Or something like that. Point is - if it were me, I wouldn’t be putting my hand anywhere near that thing.”

“Good ADVICE!” the Smith cackled. “Let’s just end this charade and -
crooooak!
- go HOME.”

Charlie glanced at Violet. Even though she was clearly concerned, she gave him a small, supportive nod.

Taking a steadying breath, Charlie stuck his hand in the hole, all the way up to the elbow. The buzzing sound intensified and, suddenly, he felt something on his hand. It was feather-light and had four feet that dug into his flesh like pinpricks - not painful but definitely unpleasant.

“There’s something on me,” he said, trying his best to stay calm. “I can feel it crawling around.”

“Let’s have a LOOK,” the Smith replied. The others all leaned in as Charlie pulled his arm out.

“Ugh, gross!” Brooke exclaimed when she got her first look at the oversized purple wasp that clung to the back of Charlie’s sweaty hand. Veiny wings spread out from a bloated abdomen that ended in a curved, needle-like point. It buzzed ominously. “Does that thing sting?”

“Oh, YES,” the Smith said pleasantly. “Indeed, it DOES. It’s called a SHOCK WASP.”

The Shock Wasp crawled around Charlie’s hand and on to his palm. A clear fluid oozed from the stinger on its back.

“Well, get it off him!” Theodore yelled. “It’s going to hurt him! Here - I’ll do it…” As he reached forward to swat the hideous thing, the creature suddenly reared back
and plunged its stinger deep into Charlie’s open palm.

“No!” Violet screamed.

The pain was immense - a red-hot spike of torment. Charlie could see the wasp’s abdomen beating like a small heart as it pumped him full of poison. A horrible throbbing spread from the wound until it consumed his entire body, quickly followed by a welcome numbness. Charlie collapsed to the ground, unable to move.

“What’s happening to him?” Violet demanded. “Is he dying?”

“He is PARALYSED,” the Smith replied. Charlie’s breathing came in harsh gasps as the wasp took wing and flew back into the darkness of its hole. “Do not WORRY. It wears off in time. He is quite -
crooooak!
- SAFE. Far safer than you are about to be, I’ll WAGER.”

“But why?” Theodore said. “Why did you do it to him?”

“So that he cannot -
crooooak!
- interfere with what is to come. His part in this little test is OVER. Yours is just BEGINNING.” With one giant leap, the Smith hopped to the crystal that housed the sword. “The Sword of Sacrifice gets its name not from the SEEKER’S sacrifice - but from YOURS. If Charlie Benjamin is to -
crooooak!
- obtain it, you must prove he is worthy of the gift by giving up the thing that is most VALUABLE to you.”

“How?” Theodore asked.

“I will TAKE it from you.”

Brooke stormed up to the creature. “And what does that mean? The thing most valuable to us - how are we supposed to know what that is?”

“YOU don’t,” the Smith replied, a devilish gleam in its bulbous eyes. “But I DO. I will ask you if you wish to SACRIFICE. If you say yes, then you will LOSE something, something PRECIOUS, something…IRREPLACEABLE. So…who goes FIRST?”

Theodore and Violet glanced uneasily at each other. They both opened their mouths to speak, but Brooke beat them to it.

“Me.”

Violet turned to her. “Are you sure? We don’t know what’s going to happen here. Maybe I should go first.”

Brooke shook her head. “You two have helped Charlie in a million ways with your skills. Me? Going first is the…well, it’s the least I can do.” She turned to the Smith. “I’m ready.”

Charlie was desperate to yell out: “Wait…let’s consider this! We need to find out more! He’s not to be trusted!” But his muscles wouldn’t obey him and all that escaped his lips was a weak moan.

The Smith leaned in nauseatingly close to Brooke. “Do
YOU, Brooke Brighton, agree to SACRIFICE that which is most important to you so that Charlie Benjamin can -
crooooak!
- wield the SWORD?”

Brooke took a deep breath to steady her nerves. “I do.”

Silence. No one moved. No one spoke.

What’s happening?
Charlie wondered.

A second later, he found out. With a gesture as quick as the strike of a snake, the Smith reached out and stroked Brooke’s milky-white cheek with the tip of a pus-covered finger. She leaped back in disgust.

“Ugh, what did you do that for?”

She quickly wiped the slime off with the palm of one hand…but the damage had already been done. The skin the Smith touched began to change. It bubbled and darkened and then spread like wildfire across her exquisite face, leaving behind a pocked, greenish landscape of pitted flesh.

“Oh, no…” Violet gasped.

“What?” Brooke shrieked. “What’s going on?”

“Your BEAUTY has always been the thing most important to you,” the Smith said softly. “And now you have SACRIFICED it.”

Brooke looked down to see that the horrible brackish colour was now spreading across her arms and hands. Her beautiful blonde hair fell from her head in thick
clumps. “No! This can’t be happening!” she moaned, turning to look at her reflection in the crystal beside her. A grotesque, reptilian face stared back - pocked, rubbery lips on a protruding mouth, bulging eyes, slits for ears.

Don’t let the Smith touch you
, Charlie thought with dismay and now he knew why. All along, Brooke had relied on her beauty…but that was gone. He wanted to hold her, comfort her, but he couldn’t. Summoning all his strength, he managed to gasp out one word: “Sorry…”

“You’re, you’re SORRY?” Brooke shrieked, spinning round on him. “I look like a frog! I’ve been turned into a big, horrible, green
thing
just so you could get some stupid sword and now you’re just -
crooooak!
- sorry!” She clamped a hand over her sticky lips. “Oh, my God, I just croaked! I croaked! I CROAKED!”

“Well, here’s the good news,” Theodore said. “True, you may have just croaked - which, I admit, is a little creepy. And you’re definitely green and sort of reptile-ish, but you’re not actually a
frog
. Not like he is, I mean.” Theodore nodded to the Smith. “You look just like you did before, except now you’re bald and have froggy-looking skin, but you’re definitely
not
the kind of frog that lives in swamps and jumps over logs and eats flies. Definitely not
that
kind. You’re the good kind.” Theodore did his best to smile comfortingly.

“The
good
kind?” Brooke shrieked and, weeping, she ran to a corner of the room and curled into a ball.

“Good work, Theo,” Violet said with a sigh.

“What? I was trying to be
nice
.”

The Smith turned its large, bloated head towards him. “It’s now YOUR turn, boy. Do YOU, Theodore Dagget, agree to SACRIFICE that which is most important to you so that Charlie Benjamin can wield the SWORD?”

Theodore swallowed hard.

T
heodore started to reply, but Violet clamped her hand over his mouth before he could.

“Don’t say anything!” She walked up to the Smith, her face glowing amber in the light of the crystal. “Why are you making us suffer like this? Why are we playing games? Why don’t I just kill you now and
take
the sword.” She raised her axe threateningly.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Brooke said, looking up, her pocked skin streaked with tears. “Wait a minute -
now
is when you decide to take a stand? Unbelievable! I mean, where was all this bravado two minutes ago when I still looked like a
human being
?”

“I’m sorry, Brooke. When he said he was going to take something valuable, I thought he meant an actual
thing
- an object. I didn’t realise he meant…this.” Violet
gestured to Brooke’s discoloured skin.

“Well, that’s quite a -
crooooak!
- mistake! I’m so glad you saw the error of your ways before something bad happened to you and Theodore!”

“It’s not like that…”

“Oh, really? You’ve always envied my beauty and now look at me! I’m hideous! This is probably the happiest moment of your life, isn’t it? This is everything you’ve ever dreamed of!”

Violet shook her head. “No. I
hate
that this has happened. I just don’t want to make it worse.”

“Worse? Worse than
what
?” Brooke ran towards her. “This is no fairy tale! I’m not some transformed princess that’s going to get kissed by a handsome prince and magically become beautiful again! Don’t you -
crooooak!
- get it?”

“I do. And if there was anything I could do about it, I would. Tell me what you want me to do.”

Brooke glared at her…but had no answer. “Just make him pay,” she said before glaring at the Smith and skulking away.

“You’re welcome to KILL me, young Banisher,” the Smith croaked. “Or to TRY, but it won’t help. The sword will only release from the crystal at MY command. Even if I am dead, the price SHE paid—” the creature glanced
at Brooke “—will STAND, the weapon will be lost to you for ever and the world of HUMANS will most certainly FALL!” The Smith leaned in close, its diseased nose nearly touching Violet’s. “Go ahead, girl…make a MOVE.”

Violet glared at the beast and Charlie was pretty sure she was going to take a swing…but common sense seemed to get the better of her. Without another word, she turned and walked away.

The Smith chuckled and then focused its burning red eyes on Theodore. “Once again, BOY, I ask - do YOU, Theodore Dagget, agree to SACRIFICE that which is most important to you so that Charlie Benjamin can -
crooooak!
- wield the SWORD?”

What could the horrible creature want from Theo?
Charlie wondered.
Brooke lost her beauty, but what could it take from
him
? His relationship with his father? Maybe…but that was already lost, wasn’t it? What else could it be?

“ANSWER!” the Smith demanded.

“I do,” Theodore said softly. “I agree to sacrifice.”

“Don’t do it!” Charlie screamed - or
tried
to - but the paralysis in his throat only allowed the first word to escape his lips.

“Too LATE,” the Smith said. It leaned back its bulbous head, parted its wide, rubbery lips, filled its throat to bursting point and then let out an enormous “
CROOOOAK!
”

The whole cavern echoed with its thunder.

Theodore looked around, wild-eyed. “What’s happening?” he gasped, checking himself out in the reflection of the crystal. “Am I changing? Am I turning into something?” Then, panicked, “Do I look
green
?”

Violet shook her head. “No. I don’t see anything yet.”

Yet.

The cavern was silent and still. The Smith stood there quietly, betraying nothing.

“C’mon, what?” Theodore shouted. “What did you do to me? The waiting is worse than the result!”

“No, it’s not,” Brooke moaned. “Trust me.” And that was when they heard the cackle.

Manic and definitely female, it drew closer with surprising speed. Soon Charlie could make out another sound - the frenzied beating of wings. Within moments, that horrible, shrill laughter was so loud that everyone instinctively clamped their hands over their ears - everyone but Charlie because his arms wouldn’t obey. There was something familiar about that cackle and it took him only a moment to recognise where he had heard it before.

It can’t be…
Charlie thought.
Not now. Not
her
…

The Hag Queen soared into the chamber on wide, leathery wings. Her pink ballgown was filthy and
tattered. A tarnished tiara rested atop the stringy hair that hung round her face and her long, hooked nose nearly touched the warty protrusion of her chin. She grinned, her mouth a forest of teeth.

“You called?”

The giant frog nodded. “I have a little TREAT for you.”

“It had better be good. You interrupted me while I was feeding my Gorgons. The poor dears never get to eat any of the humans that get lost in their maze because they always turn them to stone before they
can
.” She sighed dramatically. “Of course, it’s not the
monsters’
fault. As soon as a human so much as glances at them—” the Hag snapped her fingers “—it’s statue time. And to make matters
worse
, people are constantly coming in and trying to decapitate my snaky-headed little darlings in order to revive their friends. I mean, really! It’s absolutely
brutal
being a monster these days. Don’t you agree?”

The Smith grunted. “ENOUGH chatter. I called you here, HAG, because I have a JOB for you. Something you might -
crooooak!
- ENJOY.”

The Hag Queen glanced at Charlie and his friends. “Oh,
them
again? Not long ago, they paid me a visit - along with that delightful cowboy.” She licked her black lips and then pranced forward, as if she were as thin and delicate as a ballerina. “So which one of these tasty little
morsels may I dine on? Or, wait! Do I get to
choose
? Yes, that’s it! Delicious…delicious…”

She pointed at each child in turn with a crusty fingernail. Charlie noticed that there were too many knuckles on her finger - as many as five. “Eeeny, meeny, miny, mo…drain a human, let it go! Or maybe I
don’t
let it go! Maybe I just drain the miserable thing and then eat it all up! I mean,
look
at me - I’m positively wasting away…” She rubbed the rolls of fat on her belly.

“ENOUGH,” the Smith said, leaping forward. “There’s only ONE child available to you today. THIS one.”

He nodded towards Theodore. The Hag Queen surveyed the boy with an arched eyebrow, clearly disappointed.

“He’s such a little fish - and he’s all bones. Why not just give him to me and let me fatten him up a bit?”

“NO. He must stay here and you must take his sacrifice NOW.”

She stuck out her bottom lip in a mock pout. “Spoilsport!” Then, with a gentle flutter of her wings, she flew to Theodore. “Why don’t you tell that mean old frog to leave us alone so you can come and play with me, sweetie? Would you like that? Would you like to live in my glorious mansion, your every need attended to by my Ladies-in-Hating?” She batted her eyes at him flirtatiously. “Hmmm, child?”

“I, uh…” Theodore’s voice was raspy with revulsion. “I don’t think so, ma’am. In fact, I’m going to say that’s a definite NW - no way.”

The Hag’s eyes hardened. “Too bad.” She turned back to the Smith. “So what’s it to be then? Which memories am I to drain from the child? Tell me quick - he bores me.”

The Smith grinned. “Then perhaps this will interest you. You will take away every last vestige of his FRIENDSHIP with the boy known as Charlie Benjamin.”

“No…” Theodore gasped.

No!
Charlie thought.
Not that!

The Smith continued. “You will drink deeply of every experience they have ever HAD, every -
crooooak!
- moment they have ever shared. Charlie Benjamin is the most important thing in his life and now he will SACRIFICE their friendship.”

“You can’t do that to him…” Violet said.

Definitely not!
Charlie thought, although he couldn’t say it out loud.
Don’t, Theodore. Don’t let her do this…

Theodore backed away from the Hag Queen, panic rising in his eyes. “Please, pick something else.
Anything
else.”

The Hag became excited. “Yes! Look how it frightens him! These memories must mean a great deal to the
child…Ooooh, just think how they’ll taste!” She began to drool. “Mmmmmm, delicious! Delightful!
Delectable,
even!” Her black tongue flickered in and out and she eagerly licked her fingers. “Oh, my! I will drink all his tasty memories, yes, indeed -
every last drop
- and when I am done, the boy will no longer even be able to remember Charlie Benjamin’s
name
…”

She snatched Theodore up in her strong arms, then enfolded him in her wings and unfurled her tongue to its full, horrible length - it whipped through the air like a putrid worm.

“Say goodbye to Charlie…” she cackled.

“Forget this,” Violet said. Raising her axe high, she reached out and snatched the Hag’s tongue, preparing to chop it off at the root.

“Wait!” Theodore shouted.

Violet paused, her body thrumming with rage. Theodore continued.

“You can’t stop this, Violet. At least you
shouldn’t
. Brooke has already suffered and so will you. We’ve all got to do this to give Charlie a chance - because if
he
doesn’t have one,
no one
does.”

Violet considered. “I really don’t care.”

She chopped off the Hag’s tongue. In a fountain of black ichor, the meaty, severed tube dropped to the
ground, where it spasmed and writhed like a python.

Well, that’s that
, Charlie thought.

Even though he was thrilled to see his friend spared the terrible kiss of the Hag, that thought was soon pushed aside by another - one more darkly practical.

If Theodore doesn’t sacrifice this, how in the world are we ever going to get the sword?

Suddenly, to everyone’s horror, the nub of tongue that remained in the Hag’s mouth began to grow, shooting from between her scaly lips like fishing line playing out. Within moments, it was the same length as before.

“No more games!” the Hag Queen screeched and Charlie was surprised by the fierceness in her voice - usually, she liked to toy with people more. “No more bargains. No more delays. It’s time to feast.”

Theodore turned to Charlie then, fighting back tears. “Goodbye, DT. You were my best friend. Seriously. Remember that.”

And before Charlie could let Theodore know that the feeling was mutual, the Hag plunged her hideous tongue deep into his friend’s ear - down, down, into his brain - and began to suck. Memories rushed away from Theodore, like an express train leaving a station, and he savoured each one in the fleeting seconds before it was gone.

The first time he and Charlie had met, high up in the pirate ship at the very top of the Nightmare Academy. How lost Charlie had looked then, sitting quietly on the worn, wooden bench. How very
alone
. Theodore had known instantly that the two of them would become friends. That it was, somehow…inevitable. He had never made friends easily - most people considered him far too strange - but in Charlie, he had finally, after all these years, found a soulmate.

As soon as Theodore thought it, the memory was gone, followed by another one - this one tied closely to a single emotion.
Pride
.

The pride Theodore felt on the beach at the Nightmare Academy, as he shared with Charlie the details of the extraordinary courage and quick thinking he had displayed during Slagguron’s terrible attack on the great tree. His portals had saved Mama Rose, along with countless other students, from the rampage of that foul worm. That was the day he had come into his own as a Nethermancer, the day he had finally embraced that great and difficult art, and the pride he had felt from his accomplishment was unparalleled. Charlie had been genuinely thrilled for his friend’s success and, to Theodore, that had meant, well,
everything
.

Gone.

The Hag sucked it away and stored it in her monstrous brain along with all his other memories of Charlie - the tears of failure and the shouts of laughter during moments of great happiness, all the frustrations and the joys and the tragedies and triumphs that make up the intricate fabric of any true friendship.

All gone now.

Stolen - by a monster - to give a friend Theodore could no longer even remember a chance to save the world. The Hag Queen let him go then, sucking that long tongue back into her mouth. She licked her lips in something like ecstasy. “Yes! Good! Wonderful, in fact! Tasty! Tasty! TASTY!”

Theodore crumpled to the ground and Violet rushed to his side. She held the trembling boy, who stared up at her in confusion.

“Where am I?” he asked.

She wiped a tear from her eye and did her best to smile comfortingly. “With friends.”

“Really?” He looked around, glassy-eyed. “I don’t recognise anyone.”

“Not even me?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Maybe…You look
sort
of familiar, but it’s hard to…” He focused intently on her, clearly struggling to figure out where he might know
her from. Then he finally gave up and shrugged. “Not sure. Sorry. Have we met?”

“We have.”

“Huh. Weird.” Theodore turned to Charlie with a quizzical look in his eyes. “And you - I don’t recognise you at all. Do I know you?”

It took all of Charlie’s effort to break through the paralysis from the Shock Wasp and reply, although he could only manage one small word: “No.”

Just saying it made him sick - but what other option did he have? Why torment his friend? Why make him struggle to recall memories and connections that were now lost? Charlie was sure that no was the right answer…and yet it broke his heart to say it.

Theodore nodded. “Yeah, didn’t think so. Too bad. You’re definitely missing out. I’m actually pretty spectacular.” He rose shakily to his feet. “So can I go home now? I think I need to get back to the Academy. They’re going to be declaring us Banishers or Nethermancers pretty soon and I definitely don’t want to miss that. I’m going to be a Banisher obviously, just like my dad. He’s one of the greatest Banishers of all time, you know - just like the rest of my family. I mean, that’s just a
fact
. Hey, maybe you can meet him sometime!”