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That’s strange, Charlie thought. And then he realised why.
She was covered, from the neck down, in a clear, gummy mass that completely immobilised her, anchoring her to the floor. Charlie glanced around and saw that she wasn’t the only one encased in the gluey mess. A security guard in the food court on the second storey was trapped against the cash register of a Chinese restaurant and two children in the play area were stuck to a giant foam ladybird.
Only one monster does that, Charlie thought. And then he saw it.
A Ravenous Sticky-Spitter.
The large, lizard-like creature clung to the outside of a glass elevator that was making its way back to the first floor. The beast was incredibly hard to spot - Sticky-Spitters had terrific camouflage; the pigment in their skin mirrored their surroundings so perfectly that most people could only see them when they moved. Charlie didn’t think he’d ever come into contact with a Sticky-Spitter before, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t. Before his training at the Nightmare Academy, one could have been sleeping right next to him without him ever seeing it.
As the elevator landed on the first floor, the Sticky-Spitter opened its wide mouth and spat out a large wad of glistening goop that shot through the air and snagged a fleeing shoe-shop assistant.
At least his face isn’t covered, Charlie thought, before remembering that Ravenous Sticky-Spitters (or RSSs) preferred to swallow their food alive, so they carefully aimed their spit to immobilise prey, not suffocate it.
With his rapier glowing fiercely blue, Charlie rushed towards the RSS, intent on putting an end to its attacks before feeding time could begin. But as fast as Charlie was, he wasn’t faster than the gluey phlegm that the RSS hurled his way, sticking him to the floor like a fly to flypaper. His arms were pinned to his sides and his face was spattered with flecks of glistening spittle - they had the sour smell of a burp that had been fermenting inside a belly for far too long.
OK, Charlie thought calmly, if I can’t Banish it, I’ll just Nethermance it away.
As one of only three people in existence who could both Banish and Nethermance (although not at the same time), Charlie had options available to him that most people with the Gift could only dream of. He had just begun to open a portal beneath the creature when several Netherstalkers suddenly burst through the air shaft in the ceiling above him, quickly descending on long strands of spider-silk. The double eyestalks that waved on their heads told him they were only Class-2 creatures, which wouldn’t normally present a problem - but this situation was far from normal.
Normally, Charlie wasn’t trapped in a glob of Sticky-Spitter phlegm.
How am I going to get out of this one? he wondered as their large, spidery bodies arrowed down towards him, sharp fangs snapping.
Just before the first of the Netherstalkers pounced on his head, Charlie noticed his father running out of a sports shop, wielding a large baseball bat.
“Get away from my boy!” the tall man shouted. With one mighty swing, he knocked the nearest Netherstalker away. It made a crunching sound, like a snail being crushed underfoot, then swung wildly into the air, still tethered to the thick silken line that spun out of its abdomen.
“Thanks, Dad!” Charlie shouted.
“No time to talk, son,” Barrington replied as he swung at another of the descending creatures. Again there was that peculiar crunching sound and the Netherstalker soared away with a squeal. “You may have noticed,” Barrington continued, eyeing another of the approaching beasts, “that I’ve chosen to use a baseball bat made of wood. Why not aluminum, you ask? Because aluminum doesn’t compare to the feel of a solid length of northern white ash, that’s why.”
He shot Charlie a friendly wink just as the hairy bristles on the leg of another Netherstalker landed on Charlie’s shoulder. Barrington prepared to swing as Olga rushed up with a can of insect spray.
“Get off him, you filthy bug!” she yelled, spraying the creature right in its waving eyestalks. The Netherstalker shrieked and crashed to the slippery floor.
“Olga Benjamin!” Barrington roared. “Excellent work! Where did you get the bug spray?”
“The chemist’s,” she replied. “Best thing to get rid of bugs, don’t you think?”
Barrington smiled fondly. “My girl…”
The two of them went to work dispatching the rest of the Netherstalkers so that Charlie could go after the Ravenous Sticky-Spitter, which was now moving rapidly towards them. Because its skin was camouflaged so perfectly against the wall of the mall, Charlie had trouble judging exactly how far away it really was.
If he opened a portal behind it, there wouldn’t be enough time to open another and the monster would get them and eat them. If he opened a portal too far in front of it, the monster would have time to swerve around the trap and still get them and eat them. But if he opened the portal just right, directly beneath the rampaging creature, then maybe—
Purple fire blazed across Charlie as a wide portal snapped open right below the fearsome beast. The RSS let out a wail of surprise and then plummeted through the portal and into the Nether, tumbling wildly through the air before crashing into the icy waters of the 4th Ring, where it was consumed by a passing Hydra. Charlie quickly closed the portal and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the purple flame on his body had melted the thick gum of the Sticky-Spitter, freeing him. With a couple swipes of his rapier, he killed the few remaining Netherstalkers, then turned to his parents with a smile.
“You two are…you’re Leet!”
Barrington grinned. “I have no idea what that means, but I’ll take it as a good thing.”
“It is. Trust me.”
Olga smiled primly. “I’d better get to work helping out the other unfortunates that have got caught in the big lizard’s spit. I’ll be in the supermarket getting peanut butter. It helps remove chewing gum from hair, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be useful in this situation.” With that, she strode off.
“Terrific, isn’t she?” Barrington said proudly once Olga was out of earshot.
“Yeah. She really is.”
And that’s when they heard a scream.
What now? Charlie thought as he and his father raced in the direction of the sound.
The screaming woman stood in front of an electrical store, pointing at a widescreen TV in the window. Charlie pushed his way through the crowd of people around her to see an aerial view of Central Park in Manhattan - or what Charlie knew should have been Central Park. But the wide lawn of Sheep Meadow and the rippling waves of the toy-boat pond were now gone from view, covered by a thick, impenetrable white mist that had settled over the place like an Otherworldly shroud.
“What is that weird fog?” a small boy asked, awestruck.
“And where did it come from?” an older man in a baseball cap added.
Charlie thought those were both perfectly legitimate questions, but he had another more urgent one: what is it hiding?
Olga Benjamin’s peanut-butter idea didn’t help free the captured shoppers from the Sticky-Spitter’s slime balls, but it turned out that vinegar did - also her idea. After she had finished helping the last of the victims escape their gluey prisons, she met up again with Charlie and Barrington. They were waiting for her in the mall car park, keeping a careful watch on the sky.
“See any Hags?” Olga asked as she walked up.
Charlie shook his head, amused that his mother knew that if they were looking up, they might be searching for Hags. “It looks clear.”
“That’s good news.” Olga smoothed out her dress, which was spotted with monster goop, then turned to Barrington. “It appears that things are finally under control. Ready to head home?”
Barrington nodded. “I am…” He seemed hesitant.
“But?”
“But Charlie has something to tell you.”
Olga turned to her son. “Go ahead, Charlie. Don’t be shy.”
He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Mom, but I can’t go with you. The monsters are going to keep attacking us - until they’re all dead or we are. I just…I need to do what I can to help.”
“Of course you do,” his mother replied promptly.
Charlie wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. Where was the explosion of dismay? The pleading that he come to his senses and return home, where it was safe?
“You have a destiny,” his mother said, cradling his cheeks in her warm hands. “I didn’t want to acknowledge it before, but now that I’ve seen how skilfully you handle yourself and how much good you can do for others, I can’t deny it.” She smiled gently. “You go on and do what you need to, son.”
“I wish I could stay here and protect you.”
Olga shook her head. “Your father and I will be fine.” Having just seen them in action, Charlie knew it was true. He hugged her then and she whispered, “Be safe.” He could feel her breath tickling his ear.
“I will,” Charlie promised. Then he turned to his father and extended his hand.
Barrington laughed. “A handshake? You’ve got to be kidding me!” He snatched his son up in his arms. Charlie could feel his father’s stubble on his cheek and he smelled his aftershave. “You go get ’em, son. Then you come back to us, safe and sound, you hear?”
Charlie nodded, then stepped back and opened a portal. The war with the creatures of the Nether had taken a new and unexpected turn and Central Park - with its monstrous mystery - was clearly going to be the next battleground. The real fight was about to begin, and for that Charlie Benjamin needed his friends.
He had to return to the Nightmare Academy.
Charlie waved goodbye to his parents, then jumped through the fiery gateway and was soon gone from view.
CHAPTER THREE NO PLACE LIKE HOME (#ulink_22dae6a9-5c06-594d-b59c-5b628fbf229b)
Theodore Dagget and Violet Sweet were repainting the outside of the broken yacht that housed the Addy students at the Nightmare Academy when they heard a familiar voice.
“Thought I’d find you painting,” Charlie said cheerfully as he walked towards them over the rope bridge that was strung between two huge branches of the mighty banyan tree.
“Charlie!” Violet squealed, running over to him. She hugged him tightly - then quickly drew back.
“What’s wrong?” Charlie asked, surprised.
“You shouldn’t be here. You’re exiled. What if someone from the Nightmare Division sees you? It’s not safe.”
Charlie shrugged. “Nowhere’s safe right now - not with all those monsters out there. I’m not going to hide; I’m going to fight. Besides, no one’s keeping me from my best friends - no one - not even the Nightmare Division.”
Violet burst into a sunny smile and hugged him again, more tightly this time.
“Geez, calm down,” Theodore said with a grin, “or you’ll knock him off the bridge before he has a chance to save the world.”
Charlie laughed. “Yeah, right…” He gestured to Theodore’s clothes, which were covered in blue paint. “You get any on the ship or just yourself?”
“Hey, don’t give me any grief, OK? I’m a precision instrument! A finely crafted tool for Banishing! Painting is beneath me.”
“Yeah, beneath you, above you, in your hair, on your clothes - you’ve got paint everywhere but where it’s supposed to be.” Charlie inspected the Addy yacht. There was fresh wood on one side - it looked like it had been recently repaired. “Is that damage from Slagguron?”
Violet nodded. “We’ve been doing our best to fix things up, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Just a few weeks earlier, Slagguron, one of the four Named Lords of the Nether, had slammed his wormlike body against the trunk of the massive tree, knocking several boats from its branches and damaging many more. Charlie still found it hard to believe that the raging colossus was dead now - he and all the Named - killed, in an instant, by the Fifth.
“You’re thinking about the Fifth, aren’t you?” Theodore asked. Charlie always found it eerie how good his best friend was at reading his mind. He nodded.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“Well, stop it! You don’t have to kill the most deadly monster the world has ever known right this second. Heck, you can relax for five or ten minutes before you go after her…”
“How generous,” Charlie grinned. But his grin quickly faded. “Look, I know I’m not supposed to be here right now - being exiled and all - but I think the Fifth is up to something, something big, and we need to check it out.” But before he could continue, a new voice suddenly cried out.
“Charlie Benjamin!”
Charlie turned to see Brooke Brighton waving to him from a platform high above. Even from this far away, he was amazed by how pretty she was.
“Hey, Brooke!”
“Stay right there.”
With an excited whoop! she slid down a vine strung between her platform and the Addy yacht far below, her long, blonde hair whipping freely in the wind. She landed next to Charlie with the nimbleness of a cat. “I missed you!” she said, then hugged him tightly before giving him a quick, friendly kiss.
There, Charlie thought, remembering his mother telling him he’d never even kissed a girl. Now I’ve been kissed twice.
“Hi, Brooke,” Theodore said expectantly. “You miss me too?”
“Lame,” Violet said, pretending to cough.
“I am not lame!”
“I didn’t say anything. Just had a little tickle in my throat.” Violet coughed again and said, “Desperate.”
“Hey!”
“Of course I’ve missed you, silly,” Brooke said with a smile. She gave Theodore a quick hug, then turned to Charlie. “So where have you been? Tell us everything.”
“I will…but you go first. Has anyone from the Nightmare Division been to the Academy?”
Brooke nodded. “Yeah. They checked out the damage that Slagguron did and said they were going to come up with a plan to protect the place. We’re completely exposed to the monsters of the Nether now that the Guardian’s dead.”
The Guardian.
A pang of sadness hit Charlie upon hearing the name of the small, sad creature whose aura had always protected the Academy from Nethercreatures. Its shocking death had set into motion the horrific chain of events that was still unfolding.
“I still think about him, you know,” Charlie said. “How needy he was. He just wanted a friend really.”
Violet nodded. “Ever since his death, the Nightmare Division has wanted to station some Banishers and Nethermancers here to protect us.”
And to keep me away, Charlie thought. Even though he didn’t exactly know the terms of his exile, he knew they wouldn’t want him anywhere near the Academy.
“So why did you come here, DT?” Theodore asked. “Is it about what’s going on in Central Park?”
Once again, Charlie found it freaky how easily Theodore could read his mind. He nodded. “What do you know about it?”
“Well, what I heard,” Brooke said, “is that, apparently, the Division used some kind of X-ray equipment to look into the mist.”
“And there’s things in there!” Theodore exclaimed. “Gross, snail-like creatures. And something else too. Something big is growing in the fog. Something giant.”
Something giant growing in the fog. That didn’t sound good.
“Someone needs to check it out,” Charlie said. “And I figure that someone is us. Who’s with me?”
But before they could answer, a familiar voice rang out.
“What are y’all yappin’ about?”
