The Demon Conspiracy (39 page)

I ran from my room to join Melissa in the
hallway. It took a moment for me to realize, I’d left my cell phone
in my locker at school. I stood desperately beside my friend, who
kept the pipe directed at the stairs.

“We need to get your phone,” I said.

“I know.”

The house wasn’t as dark on the second
floor, because the window at the top of the stairs had no blinds.
As a precaution, I reached around Melissa, and raised the sash.

“What’s that for?” asked Melissa.

“
Just in case. Do you see
‘em?”

“No. Maybe that’s all there were.”

“Maybe.”
But that would be lousy
strategy
, I thought to Melissa.
You can’t just send two demons after us. Are
demons really that stupid?
I glanced to
our right down the hall. Still nothing.

“I guess we shouldn’t have messed with the
Ouija board,” said Melissa reluctantly. “Angie was right. That
thing’s dangerous.”

“This has nothing to do
with the Ouija board,” I said. “This is
personal
.”

A set of sickly, yellow eyes blinked open a
few feet in front of us. Some kind of distorted creature hung
invisibly in a coal-black shadow on the stairway ceiling. I gasped
when I saw it. The creature had been hanging directly over us, when
we came up the stairs.

“Oh…!” Melissa saw it too. We watched the
demon calmly lower itself from the ceiling with two strong arms, as
two more arms hung freely from its thick shoulders. The four-armed
demon dropped to its feet on the stairs and stood before us, eyes
glowing grotesquely. When it grinned, its nasty long teeth showed
white as ivory, as if they glowed in the dark, like its eyes.

I spotted motion in the
hall. This time something
was
there. The demon creeping toward me was also
man-sized, but it had a dozen tentacles instead of arms. Its head
was triangularly shaped, almost like a crocodile, with long, wicked
teeth and catfish-like barbels protruding all around its
mouth.

I nudged Melissa. She turned and saw the
other demon.

What do we do?
I asked inside Melissa’s head.

Get
crazy
, said Melissa.
Everyone’s afraid of crazy people, even
Donnivee
.

What if it doesn’t work?

If it doesn’t work we’re
gonna miss out on the smores
.

The demon with tentacles had a foul, fishy
smell that permeated the hallway. It narrowed its cruel, green eyes
and pointed at me with one of the longer tentacles. “What’s yer
name, human? Be quick about it!”

“Why?” I asked in a shaky
voice. I stood sideways to the demon, holding the bat out of sight
behind my legs. I couldn’t believe what was happening. Here I stood
in my own home having a conversation with a demon from Pandora’s
Cave. There were other demons in the house as well. The evil
creatures had come all this way just to find
me
, and probably Travis, too.
Apparently demons didn’t like witnesses to their existence, which
meant Melissa was now in danger as well.

Use someone else’s
name!
I was surprised to hear Melissa
inside my head when I hadn’t even been tuned into her. The idea was
a good one.

“My name is Donnivee Fox.”

“Donnivee?” The demon shook its ugly head.
“Bahh! Whut about you?” It pointed at Melissa. Slime droplets slid
off the pointing tentacle and landed on the rug. I screwed up my
face at the repugnant smell.

“Manson Stanfield,” said Melissa, never
taking her eyes off Four-arms, who glared at her from the
stairs.

“They ain’t right!” cried Tentacles.
“Whud’we do with ‘em, Grund?”

The four-armed demon, apparently named
Grund, was still on the stairs with Melissa’s pipe aimed in its
face. Grund smiled with an odd glint in all three of his yellow
eyes. “We can’t believe a thing these lying human scum say.”

“Yeh,” agreed Tentacles. “But whut’da’we do
with ‘em?”

“I say get ’em! We can sort out who’s who
when Lipsludge wakes up.”

“Yeh. Lipsludge’ll know whut ta do.”

I considered what they were saying.
Lipsludge must be the smaller demon I bonked on the head with the
bat. So I hadn’t killed him after all, just knocked him out. He
must be the leader of this group. I was about to ask what they
wanted when suddenly three slimy tentacles darted toward me.

Apparently the creature
didn’t realize I planned to fight back. I swung the bat at its
head.
Crack!
The
grotesque green demon staggered back and fell against the wall. It
screeched loudly, like a car hitting the brakes on dry pavement. I
covered my ears at the piercing, irritating sound.

At the same time Grund grabbed one end of
the pipe that Melissa was holding. The four-armed demon must have
expected her to pull back on it, but she surprised him. Instead of
pulling it, she jammed it forward into the demon’s startled face.
Grund lost his balance and toppled over backwards. He rolled down
the stairs and slammed hard into the front door.

Tentacles was stunned, but he wasn’t as dumb
as he was smelly. In what must have been a standard defense
reaction, he extended all his tentacles straight up and out, like
the fur on a cat when it’s about to fight. It made him look huge
and terrifying. I gasped. Then I slammed the bat down onto one of
his feet. Tentacles released his irritating scream again and
hobbled away from me down the hallway.

I started after him, but Melissa caught my
arm. “What do we do?”

“Maybe we should hide?”

“I don’t know. Those things can hide a lot
better than us.”

At that moment headlights flashed across the
front of the house, which could only mean one thing. I looked at
Melissa.

“Angie’s home!”

***

With Angie home I felt a wave of hope. Maybe
it was childish of me to believe that the mere presence of an adult
would make the monsters go away, but right now it was all the hope
I had. I was about to rush down the stairs until I looked below.
From where we stood the foyer was pitch black.

I checked my pace and began the slow
terrifying descent toward the front door. I took it one wary step
at a time, keeping the bat cocked and ready. Melissa followed,
allowing enough distance between us to be able to swing our
weapons.

“It fell against the door,” said Melissa,
pointing with the pipe. “Right there.”

I nodded. “It’s too dark. I can’t see the
floor.” When I reached the bottom step I heard the crunch of broken
glass under my shoes. I poked cautiously at the shadowy area in
front of the door. All I touched was hardwood floor. “It’s gone.”
As an extra precaution I tapped the floor at the den entrance
searching for the smaller demon the others had called Lipsludge.
More hardwood. “They’re both gone.”

“I guess demons don’t stay hurt for
long.”

“I guess.”

“I don’t like the way those things can move
in the dark. It’s not natural.”

“
Nothing
about them is natural. Watch
our backs. Don’t let ‘em outflank us.”

As Melissa kept a wary eye on both the den
and living room, I released the bolt lock and slowly opened the
door. Once again moonlight flooded through the storm door into the
foyer. Surprisingly, we were just in time to see Angie come up the
steps carrying a bag of groceries and a box of drinks.

Angie smiled when she saw the door open.
“Thanks, Kelly. Why are the lights off? Are you two getting braver
with the Ouija board?”

I paid no attention to her. I was looking
for the giant demon. I scanned the big oak tree as well as the rest
of the front yard. Nothing.

Angie noticed the weapons. “What’s
wrong?”

“The power went off.” I blocked Angie from
getting inside.

“Really?” Angie looked at the house next
door. Dr. Parrish’s house was brightly lit up. “It’s not a
neighborhood problem so it must be a circuit breaker. I’ll check on
it. Can one of you take the drinks? My fingers are about to fall
off.”

Melissa took the twelve-pack of canned
drinks and set them on the floor inside the door. I leaned forward
and whispered to Angie. “They’re in the house. We need to get out
of here as fast as we can. Get your keys ready.”

Angie also lowered her voice. “What’s going
on?”

“We’ll tell you in the car,” I said it
firmly, guiding Angie back off the porch.

“We should go next door,” said Angie. “Mark
and Matilda are there. Did someone break in?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Melissa. “They’re in there
all right.”

Angie fiddled with her key chain and held up
a tiny can of pepper spray. “Come on.” My confidence grew a little
as we followed Angie off the porch. Pepper spray had been added to
our meager arsenal of weapons. And now we had an adult with us.

As soon as we reached the
sidewalk that confidence was shut away by an overwhelming sense of
dread. Somehow I understood what the giant creature behind the tree
would do. I couldn’t see it anywhere, but apparently its job was to
keep us in the house for the other demons to deal with. Certainly,
it would try to do its job. In my mind I counted down.
Three-two-one
….

A broad shadow obstructed the light almost
like a switch had turned off the moon. I raised the bat. The
creature was right on time. Demons could be predictable—something
worth remembering. The freaky part was I’d been alert to its
presence, even to the exact moment it would show up. Yet I still
hadn’t gotten a glimpse of it before it was suddenly in front of
us. How could something so huge appear out of nowhere?

It moved around the tree and blocked our way
to both the minivan and to Dr. Parrish’s house. Angie froze up when
she saw it, swept by terror. She had never experienced anything
like this before and wasn’t able to process it. At first she
thought it must be some kind of wild animal. But when it became
visible in the moonlight and stood up to its full height, she
recognized its humanlike form—except for the hands. A palpable
dread flooded Angie’s mind. I heard every confused and terrified
thought.

“Stay calm,” I said, not feeling calm at
all. I would have screamed, but my vocal cords were twisted into
knots of fear. I could barely speak. “We’d better go back in the
house.”

Angie and Melissa nodded. They returned to
the front door with me. But this time the huge demon seemed to have
a different agenda. It lumbered forward, great claws snapping. I
saw it first.

Duck!
I sent the order directly into the minds of Melissa and
Angie. The massive claw swept over us. At that instant we all
dropped to our faces on the porch. But the creature was faster than
it looked. It missed grabbing Angie by mere inches. The claw
smashed through one of the front windows. Glass showered over us.
Blinds and drapes were ripped from inside the house and dropped on
the lawn. I crawled as fast as I could toward the storm door. I
reached for the handle.

“Look out!”

Melissa had yelled it. I looked back. The
other claw rushed at me like a small car. I rolled away from the
entrance just as the claw smashed through the storm door. The beast
tore the storm door off the house and tossed it aside like a toy.
It focused on me. The demon’s eyes lit up with excitement. I
thought I saw it smile.

“It’s coming back!” Melissa scrambled for
the doorknob.

Angie cried out. “Oh my God!”

I rose quickly, making for the door. But I
stepped on shards of glass and slipped. I landed hard behind the
wooden post that held up the porch roof. The demon had me
trapped.

“Yer mine!” Its voice was husky, deep. I
thought it sounded hungry. The claw came in fast. I closed my eyes.
I hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much to be crushed and eaten
alive.

TRAVIS

Travis sat on his bedroll by the wall making
sure everything was just right in case he and Mathew ever decided
to go to sleep. Mathew’s bedroll was next to his with enough space
between them for flashlights, food and drinks. They had plenty of
everything, including extra batteries, a box of gram crackers, a
bucket of popcorn, some twinkies, and a two-liter bottle of soda.
He nodded with satisfaction at what might be the perfect set
up.

“
What’dya think, Mathew?”
said Travis. “Should we move everything under the window, or leave
it here?”

“
This is good,” said
Mathew. “I’m not gonna sleep anyway. I’m gonna stay up all
night.”

“
That’s what I’m talkin’
about! Me too.” Travis shuddered with excitement. This was so cool!
Here he was sleeping over with his best friend in Dr. Parrish’s
house. The house didn’t have carpet or anything so it was kind of
like indoor camping. Mathew was right, they weren’t ready for sleep
yet. Heck no, Travis couldn’t sleep if he tried, he was way too
excited. All kinds of things could happen.

Crash!
The sound of shattering glass tore through the night. Travis
jumped to his feet, eyes wide with surprise. He and Mathew
exchanged looks of alarm. Did Dr. Parrish or Granny break something
downstairs? Then it happened again, only this time it was much more
than just glass.
Smash! Crunch!
Boom!
A moment later a desperate scream
pierced the air.

“
Kelly!” cried Travis.
“That came from
my
house!” Both boys ran to the window. To Travis it sounded
like his whole house was being torn down. That scream was
definitely Kelly. He pressed his face against the glass, but there
was too much glare from the ceiling light in the room to see
anything. Mathew ran to the door and turned off the light.
Instantly the view outside was clear. Mathew returned to the
window.