Emma and the Minotaur (17 page)

Lucy Leroux was wandering around the Penhurst Mall. She planned to visit the Wilkins residence in the afternoon but she didn’t feel like sitting at home all day until then. When she was alone, she couldn’t help but miss her parents.

She walked past an ice cream shop near the food court and saw that a woman behind the counter was watching her. It was the third time that she had walked through that area already.

She headed toward the little shop in order to buy something, just a small thing because she wasn’t ever hungry anymore, but then she heard some sort of commotion from around a corner.

Lucy followed the sound and saw a good number of shoppers who were standing around and looking toward a jewelry store. People were coming out from inside it and then running away. They looked terrified.

Lucy moved closer to the store and she saw what she could only describe as goblins. There were six of them and they were breaking the glass displays and taking the jewelry that was inside and putting it into sacks. There was a befuddled security guard standing there while the store manager yelled at him and pointed at the goblins.

It didn’t take long for the creatures to clear the place out. When they were finished, they ran out of the shop and left the mall.

1:00 PM.

The widowed Mrs Welcher was on her lawn watering her begonias when she saw a tiny man come walking up the sidewalk. He was no more than three feet tall. He wore a red hat and sported a long beard.

Mrs Welcher stared as the little man walked to her and tipped his hat. He said something in a language that she couldn’t understand. She could only frown and wave. The little man seemed satisfied and he walked on until he reached one of her garden gnomes.

The little man poked the ceramic ornament and then tilted his head back in laughter. He then turned back toward Mrs Welcher, said something that sounded apologetic, tipped his hat once more, and continued on his way down the street.

5:00 PM.

Out of Glenridge Forest there came a fox. He emerged onto the grounds of the University of Saint Martin and ran across the soccer field until he was near one of the student residences. A group of students emerged from it and they walked toward a parking lot.

The fox was not seen as he walked to the entrance. He looked into the building, through the glass door, and became curious about what was inside.

The kitsune assumed human form, pulled the door open, and walked through.

8:00 PM.

Madelyn Edinburgh was working at the University of Saint Martin. She was frustrated as she marked first year English papers. There were too many students in the course and not enough teaching assistants to go around.

She put down her red pen and sat back a moment to take a sip of her tea. After a shake of her head, Madelyn decided that she would have to come in the following day to finish her marking.

The professor packed up her things and left her office, locking it behind her.

Madelyn was outside, on her way to the parking lot, when she saw a group of people who were standing around on the soccer field. They were looking toward the forest. There were dozens of students there and even a few faculty members. Madelyn couldn’t see what was so interesting.

She walked toward the group and soon realized what it was that they were doing. They were listening to music. Madelyn joined the throng and stood with them. They all stared into the darkness of the forest.

Madelyn noticed that some of the people in the front of the group were walking into the woods, but most of them seemed content to simply stand and listen.

8:10 PM.

Arnold Thornton was driving home from the University of Saint Martin. He’d had to come in on this Saturday evening to prepare some laboratory samples for experiments that would be conducted by first year students on Monday.

There were too many students, he thought, and not enough faculty. Everyone seemed overworked lately.

Arnold didn’t notice it at first, as he drove down The Hill, but when he neared Lockhart Road it became obvious. There were an unusual number of people walking the streets for this area of the city, at this time of night. Stranger still, they all seemed to be heading in the same direction: toward Glenridge Forest.

He turned onto Lockhart Road and saw a long line of people that were standing at the edge of the tree line. Arnold squinted into the trees but he could see nothing but darkness. There were people along the entire length of the road and most of them were simply standing there, staring, although some of them were venturing into the woods.

He shook his head at the many strange things that had been happening lately.

8:20 PM.

Emma was sitting on the floor of her living room with Lucy Leroux, who was telling her all about the goblins that she had seen earlier that morning. Jingles was lying on her lap, snoring away. Will was sitting with Mr Wilkins at the kitchen table reading a comic book, but he was also listening to their conversation.

Mr Wilkins was reading a thick hardcover and listening to the radio. There was a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 on the public radio station.

Lucy was describing the appearance of the goblins. They were maybe four to five feet tall, brownish green, and they had long fingers.

Emma sat straight up and interrupted her.

“He’s here!” she said.

“Who’s here?” Mr Wilkins said.

“Domino. He’s calling me.”

Emma stood up and ran out to the backyard. She saw the faun waiting there. He was standing just beyond the light that escaped from the house.

“It has begun,” Domino said. “It’s too late. Minotaur is too strong. He is strong enough now to remain awake and to go anywhere he pleases. The forest no longer confines him.”

Mr Wilkins came up behind Emma. Lucy and Will followed.

“What did you say?” he asked of the faun.

Domino shook his head slowly. “We’ve lost,” he said. “It’s over.”

8:30 PM.

Madelyn Edinburgh was transfixed. The music of the forest was the most lovely thing she had ever heard and she never wanted it to stop.

None of those remaining alongside the edge of the woods made any move. All the ones who wanted to seek the source of the music had already gone.

It seemed like the music would go on forever, but Madelyn was startled by another sound. It was like the heavens had fallen. The ground shook and there was a noise like the end of the world. It sounded like a stampede of titans. Madelyn’s heart raced and she thought of running away, but the music was still there, beneath the rumbling, and it was as sweet as ever.

She listened carefully and felt the delicious music mix with her sudden fear and she found that the result was pleasing. It was fun and frightening like a roller coaster, and beautiful like a painting. She saw doubt in the faces of others followed by resolution and she knew that they had gone through the same battle that she had. No one fled.

Madelyn smiled and closed her eyes and let the music fill her. She swayed left and right slowly and tears began to pour. She had never been so happy.

There was a scream.

She opened her eyes and saw that from the forest there had emerged hulking creatures of many sorts, and that they were grabbing anyone they could and taking them back into the darkness.

There were great trolls and orc-like beings. There were centaurs and chimeras and ogres. Some of the bigger creatures carried off more than one person.

There were some who tried to fight, but they ended up screaming in pain as the creatures snapped their bones or tore their flesh.

It was a scene of violence and horror. Madelyn turned to run but she found her way barred by the most terrifying creature of all. It was a minotaur. He was the largest of all the monsters and he moved as though he had lightning in his veins. His eyes were red like fury.

The minotaur picked up Madelyn Edinburgh with one hand and threw her toward a passing centaur.

Sheer terror made her lose consciousness.

Sunday. 6:00 AM.

Phillip Matthews woke up to the ringing of his cell phone. He picked it up from the bedside table and squinted to look at the number that was calling.

“Hello,” he said, picking up.

The voice on the other side was alarmed. Phillip thought that it must be a prank or that maybe he was dreaming. He turned on the lamp beside the bed and sat up.

“Is this a joke?” he said.

He was assured that it certainly wasn’t a joke.

“Fine,” he said. “Set up an emergency meeting as soon as possible. I will be in right away.”

He hung up and dialed Doug Peterson’s number. Laura Matthews stirred in the bed beside him.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Trouble,” he said. Then into the phone: “Yeah, Doug, looks like you were right.”

“I hope it’s nothing too bad,” Laura said sleepily.

Phillip only nodded as he listened to what the Chief of Police was saying.

“Yeah,” Phillip said into the phone. “I guess you’d know about all the reports. Anyway, we’re meeting now. It looks like your plan is our only option.”

11:00 AM.

Emma was sitting on the grass in her backyard with Mr Jingles, trying to talk to him. She was still too slow but over the past week she had managed to get her time down to a couple of minutes.

“It’s no good anyway,” she said to the jackalope, and that was as much as she could say in one go. It was much better than in the beginning when she had only been able to say one word.

“Don’t be sad, Miss Emma,” said Jingles. “There is hope.”

Emma was about to meditate again so she could respond but Will called her from the house.

“Emma! Dad says to come see this!” he said and ran back inside. Emma and the jackalope followed.

They went into her father’s office where he was watching something on his computer.

“Come look,” he said and moved aside to let them see. There was a video on the screen from the local news. Mr Wilkins clicked a button and the video filled the screen.

“For this reason I called an emergency meeting this morning,” the man on the screen was saying. Underneath him a caption identified him as Mayor Phillip Matthews. Emma had never seen him before. Underneath his name, written in big letters, were the words: “State of Emergency.”

“Last night,” the mayor went on, “the City of Saint Martin suffered an unexplained and horrible tragedy. Emergency lines were overloaded and this has continued throughout the day. We ask that you refrain from calling about missing persons. Instructions about what to do will be given shortly.

“There have been reports of strange occurrences and disappearances everywhere throughout the city. There are, early counts show, hundreds of residents missing. The nexus of this activity appears to be Glenridge Forest.

“It is due to these conditions that I am now declaring a State of Emergency. Citizens are advised to stay home. Schools and public areas will be closed while we deal with this crisis.

“Please do not panic. You will be safe as long as you remain indoors. As we speak, there is a plan being put into motion to find the missing persons and to get to the bottom of this.”

The mayor went on to instruct those who knew of anyone missing to fill out a form at a page on the city’s website that had been set up specifically for this emergency.

When he was finished, he introduced the Chief of Police Doug Peterson. He moved off the screen as the new speaker took his place.

“What can they do?” Will said.

As if in response, Doug Peterson outlined a plan for a search of Glenridge Forest.

“We have put together a massive search party comprised of police, firefighters, army, and civilians. They are all armed and they are gathering at the Paigely construction site as we speak.”

“What do you think will happen, Dad?” Emma said.

“I don’t know,” he said. “We are close to the end, it seems. Emma, call Lucy and Jake then we’ll get in the car and pick them up. His mother too. We’ll be safer together. At least here we’ll have Domino to help us, if he will.”

“Won’t he help?” Emma said.

“I don’t know,” Mr Wilkins said. “He might have his own troubles. Soon we all will. Maybe we’ll have to leave town, though that would only delay the inevitable. Still, it would buy us time.”

He shook his head and sighed.

“But at some point we’ll probably find ourselves under siege,” he said. “That’s inevitable now, I think. This town will be overrun, starting with that search party, and then the next and the next. Then maybe the world.”

13

The Lost

The streets of Saint Martin were nearly abandoned.

Emma and her family were in the car on their way to pick up Jake. Will was riding in the front passenger’s seat while Emma was sitting in the back with Jingles.