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“Mama Rose!” Charlie yelled as the Housemistress of the Nightmare Academy stepped into view. “Great to see you!”
“I wish I could say the same,” the large woman sniffed, her meaty hands on her thick hips. “You’re skin and bones, Charlie Benjamin! Now follow me so we can get some grub into you pronto.”
Before Charlie could resist, Mama Rose roughly ushered them up to the pirate ship at the very top of the Academy - ever since Slagguron’s attack had destroyed the galley, the students had been using it as their new mess hall. Steaming piles of pancakes were heaped in towering stacks on a great wooden table.
“Pancakes for dinner?” Charlie asked with a grin.
“And why not?” Mama Rose replied, her southern accent as thick as the maple syrup that dripped off the food. “They don’t call them ‘breakfast cakes’, do they? They call ’em pancakes and pan is just the Greek word for ‘all’, which means you can eat ’em all the time.”
“Are you nuts?” Theodore howled. “They call them pancakes cos you cook them in a pan. Duh.”
“Well, don’t you just know everything, Theodore Dagget!” Mama Rose shot Charlie a wink and he couldn’t help but laugh.
It was good to be home. Or at least Charlie felt that way until he saw Geoff Lench - Brooke’s too-handsome, too-strong, too-everything boyfriend. The tall, blond boy bounded over. “Well, look who’s back. It’s Charlie Benja-traitor.”
“Benja-traitor?” Theodore replied with a snort. “Was that supposed to be a joke? Because usually jokes have some element of humour in them.”
“Shut up, Theo-dumb.”
Theodore shrieked with fake laughter. “Theo…dumb! Genius! In fact…it’s so funny that…I’m dying…from…hilarity…”
Theodore laughed so violently that he fell off the bench and on to the floor, where he twitched a few times and then went still.
“Ha, ha,” Geoff said as he sat down next to Brooke. “Your friends are morons, you know that?”
“They’re funny,” she replied, “and I like them.”
“Well, you’re the only one. You really need to stay away from these clowns, Brooke - particularly the exile.” He shot a withering glance at Charlie. “I leave tomorrow morning to start my job at the Division - Facilitator, Rank 1, thank you very much, hold the applause. They’ll be asking you to come and join me soon, Brooke, if you just don’t blow it.”
“I haven’t decided what I want to do yet,” Brooke said, looking away.
“There he is!” a cheerful voice boomed out and Charlie turned to see a flash of colour scrambling up one of the giant branches of the Academy, partially obscured by wide, green leaves. “Charlie Benjamin, monster hunter!”
“Professor Xix!”
The giant, friendly Netherstalker leaped from the branch and on to the deck of the pirate ship. “Indeed it is. I’ve been missing you, lad. Good to see you whole and well!”
“I was just thinking the same thing about you! Hey - this is the first time I’ve ever seen you up in the tree.”
“Because it’s the first time I’ve ever been able to come here! With the Guardian’s aura no longer preventing Nethercreatures from getting near the Academy, there’s nothing to stop me any more. I quite love it, actually - so peaceful, so much fun. It makes me realise what I’ve been missing all these years, down in those dank Banishing caves, tending to my beasties.” He absently cleaned one of his five eyestalks with a black, bristly foreleg. “To tell you the truth, I don’t think I ever want to leave.”
“Then don’t,” Charlie replied with a smile. It was good to see the Academy’s Beastmaster so happy.
“Would you like some dinner, Professor?” Violet offered, gesturing to the pancakes.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
Quick as a blink, Xix snagged a cockatoo in mid-flight with a sticky line of webbing then yanked the squawking creature into his mouth in a colourful explosion of feathers.
“Delicious,” he said, chewing loudly.
Geoff turned to Brooke in disbelief. “And this is who you want to hang out with instead of me? A bunch of dorks and a bird-eating monster? Unbelievable.”
Suddenly, a portal snapped open beside them and several adults stepped through, all dressed in the starched uniform of the Nightmare Division.
“Charles Benjamin,” a deep voice said. It was a voice they all recognised.
“Dad…” Theodore said weakly.
CHAPTER FOUR EXILES AT THE ACADEMY (#ulink_62441129-3817-5905-adf2-6ad3f29fd756)
Theodore’s father, William, stepped through the portal and on to the deck of the pirate ship. The medals on his black uniform gleamed in the sun, identifying him as the General of the Nightmare Division.
“What are you doing here?” Theodore demanded. Charlie had never heard him take such a stern tone with his father. It made him sound…older somehow.
“Why I am here does not concern you.”
“But it concerns me,” Mama Rose said, stomping up to the much bigger man. “In the Headmaster’s absence, I’m the head honcho and I don’t like fools portalling in and out of my tree. Now state your business or be on your way.”
“All right,” William said, then turned to Charlie. “Mr Benjamin, your presence at the Nightmare Academy suggests you are under the impression that you can return to your studies. Clearly, you do not understand the terms of your exile.”
“I guess not,” Charlie replied, “probably because no one has ever bothered to talk to me about it.”
“Then let me clarify. You are no longer allowed on any property owned or controlled by the Nightmare Division - which includes the Nightmare Academy. You are to have no contact with anyone associated with either of these places, including your former fellow students.” He glanced warningly at Theodore. “Further, you are forbidden from interfering in our battle against the monsters of the Nether. You may fight them in self-defence, but that is all. If you have any questions, everything is spelled out here in great detail.” William held up a document with the words ‘ORDER OF EXILE’ written in bold at the top and signed by Director Drake at the bottom. He handed it to Charlie. “Read it carefully and follow it to the letter.”
“Or what?”
William blinked, still holding the orders. “Excuse me?”
“I said ‘or what’? What if I don’t follow it? What are you threatening?”
Even Charlie was surprised by the depth of his anger. How dare Director Drake tell him where he could go, who he could hang out with and what he could and couldn’t do to protect innocent people in this terrible War of the Nether? Drake was just a bureaucrat, a pencil-pusher - he didn’t even have the Gift himself, but he certainly had no problem bullying people that did!
“If you violate any of the Rules of Exile, you will be Reduced,” William said simply.
Charlie shrugged. “So what? Do you know how many times Drake has called for me to be Reduced? He’s like a playlist with only one song.”
Charlie expected William to argue back, but was surprised when the Banisher gently pulled him to one side, away from the others. “That may be, Charlie - but he really means to do it this time.” For just an instant, Charlie could see through the tall man’s gruff façade to the human being underneath. It was a welcome sight. “Most people were on your side before - you were just a child and the Headmaster was highly regarded. But no more. They’re frightened now. The stakes are too high and almost everyone in the Division agrees that you’re just too great a threat. They all want to see you Reduced, Charlie, and Drake is looking for any excuse to do it. If you violate these rules—” he held up the Order of Exile “—the Director will call on me to carry out the punishment and I will do it, do you understand?”
The General thrust the Order at Charlie, then turned to address the others. “From this moment on, Charlie Benjamin is never again to set foot here at the Academy and is forbidden from having contact with any of its students.”
“That’s not going to work for me.”
Charlie stared in surprise at Violet. She was glaring at William with a hand on her hip and an expression that said, quite clearly, ‘You don’t scare me’.
“Whether or not it works for you, young lady, is irrelevant. It is simply a fact.”
“No one is going to tell me I can’t be with Charlie - I don’t care what kind of ‘orders’ you have.”
William frowned. “Well, you’re welcome to join him in exile…although I do not recommend it.”
“Then consider me exiled.”
“Violet!” Charlie cried. As gladdened as he was by his friend’s support, he couldn’t bear the thought of being responsible for her getting kicked out of the Academy. Her mother was dead and her father was nowhere to be found. Without the Academy, what did she have left? “Don’t do this. Really. I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll be all alone.”
“That’s OK. It won’t be the first time.”
Violet shook her head. “No, it’s not OK. When you want to open a portal, what’s the fear you summon up?”
Charlie hesitated. “Being alone, I suppose.” He hated saying it out loud. It made him feel too…vulnerable.
“I won’t let that happen to you, Charlie. Not now, not ever.” She turned back to William. “You can tell Director Drake that I stand with Charlie.”
“Me too.”
All eyes turned to Theodore. He held his father’s gaze with steady conviction. “Charlie’s my best friend. I won’t leave him. That’s TI - Totally Impossible. You should know that.” Charlie was about to protest when Theodore threw up his hand. “And don’t even bother telling me ‘no’. You know you’re not going to change my mind, so don’t even try. This is a Double-D.”
“A Done Deal?” Charlie asked.
Theodore nodded and a smile broke through his stormy expression. “That’s just the way I roll.”
Charlie knew Theodore well enough to know that once his mind was made up, he wasn’t easily persuaded to change it.
“OK,” Charlie said. “And thanks. Seriously.”
“Don’t do this, Theodore,” William said with a sigh. “Consider your actions carefully. The choices we make can have great and terrible consequences.”
Theodore’s eyes blazed with anger. “You mean like the way you chose to kill the Guardian and then decided to blame it on Charlie!”
The other students gasped in astonishment. There it was, out on the table - the real reason for Charlie’s exile. William shifted uncomfortably, and Charlie was surprised by how unsettled the General looked in the face of his son’s rage.
“That’s not what happened.”
“I saw you, Dad. I saw you there in the lair of the Named, killing the Guardian.”
“You saw me holding it.”
“Which is what killed it!”
It had been several weeks since Theodore had stumbled across his father in the icy lair of the Named. Charlie hadn’t been with them then - he’d been in a nearby cavern, fighting the monsters of the Nether - but he could easily imagine the sight that had so tortured his best friend.
William, tall and strong, holding the limp body of the Guardian - a frail creature of great power, yet so desperate for human touch. But just as the Guardian’s aura was poisonous to the creatures of the Nether, the touch of a human was poisonous to the Guardian.
“The Guardian was already dead when I got there, Theodore. I told you that.”
“I know you did. And you also told me that Charlie killed it.”
“The Director said that.”
A small distinction, Charlie thought. But a very important one.
“So does that mean you deny it?” Theodore pressed. “Or do you agree with the Director? When Charlie took the Guardian away from the rest of us, did he touch it and kill it?”
William’s answer seemed to bring him pain: “Yes.”
He’s lying, Charlie suddenly realised. He’s not just mistaken - he’s actively lying. He knows he’s wrong, he knows I’m innocent, but he’s doing it anyway. Why?
And then the answer struck him like a thunderbolt.
Because he knows who really killed the Guardian - and he’s protecting him. Charlie knew there was only one person in the world, aside from Theodore, that William Dagget would gamble his reputation to protect…
Director Drake.
No one saw who really killed the Guardian, but that was only because no one saw Director Drake slip out of the icy lair of the Named and enter the safe haven where the Guardian was holed up. No one saw him embrace the frail creature and press the poison of his skin against it, knowing that it would mean the Guardian’s death.
No one…but Theodore’s father, William.
“I don’t believe you,” Theodore said, staring at his father as Charlie and the rest of them looked on silently. “Whether or not you killed it, you had something to do with it. It definitely wasn’t Charlie. Definitely.”
“Son, listen to me…” William replied, clasping Theodore’s shoulder with a strong hand.
Theodore shook it off. “Don’t call me that. Never call me that again. I’m not your son.” He turned to Charlie. “Let’s go. Let’s leave here and never come back.”
Brooke stood up. “Well, if you’re going, I’m coming with you.”
“Are you crazy?” Geoff cried out. “Don’t be stupid, Brooke! You’re a Leet Facilitator - you’re going to graduate in a few weeks and join me at the Division! Do you seriously want to throw that all away to go prancing around in exile with this…Noob?”
He spat the word ‘Noob’ at Charlie like it had a bad taste.
“He’s not a Noob,” Theodore said, stepping threateningly close. “He’s an Addy, just like the rest of us. The Headmaster promoted us.”
“The Headmaster!” Geoff laughed mirthlessly. “Is that old relic even still alive? No one’s seen her in a week! I heard she croaked.”
Even though Theodore wasn’t strong, he was fast, and his small, bunched-up fist connected with Geoff’s jaw almost instantly. Taken by surprise, Geoff dropped to the ground and Theodore pounced on him like a terrier, throwing punch after punch in crazy, windmill fashion.
“You take that back!” Theodore shouted. “She is not dead!”
Suddenly, Theodore felt a strong hand on his back as Mama Rose snatched him by the shirt and yanked him off the older boy. “Calm down, ya runt! I agree he needs a good butt-kickin’, but now is not the time!”
“I’m going to knock you into tomorrow, idiot!” Geoff said, leaping towards Theodore. But before Geoff could make contact, a strand of spider-silk snaked through the air and wrapped around his leg. Professor Xix quickly reeled him in, slamming Geoff to the ground and dragging him backwards across the floor.
“Save the fighting for later, child,” the Professor said calmly. “We’ve more important things to discuss.”
Mama Rose turned to William. “Yeah, important things like what a sad and stupid piece of work you and the Director are. If I didn’t have to protect these boys and girls here at the Academy, I’d join Charlie and his friends in exile!”
“Duly noted,” William said softly.
