The Monster of Creasy's Hollow (Defenders of the Rift Book 1) (10 page)

The orb suddenly began to pulse, it's blue light
streaming in and out like a strobe light at a dance party. There was
a slight hum audible with that pulse, and Chip watched the monster
turn his head to see what was making the noise.

Chip was looking right at the monster when it realized
what was happening. The look of confusion turned to one of surprise,
and then of anger. The monster roared in rage, turning back to face
the puny human before him.

Only to find the puny human gone.

Monusuol was left alone with the orb.

*****

Chip had fled the instant Monusuol's eyes had left him,
running as quietly as he could back into the woods where his mother
was waiting. Reaching her, he turned to look back.

As long as he lived, Chip would remember what followed.

*****

The orb pulsed brighter, larger, and the hum grew
louder. Monusuol hesitated only a few seconds before he turned to
run.

It was enough.

The orb lashed out suddenly, no longer pulsing. Instead
it had grown to the size of the picture window at the library. A
tentacle of blue light from the orb reached out and wrapped itself
around the leg of the the fleeing Monusuol, tripping the beast and
bringing him crashing to the forest floor. Then, slowly but steadily,
the tentacle began to drag Monusuol toward the orb.

Bellowing in rage, Monusuol grabbed at anything within
his reach, searching for something, anything, to anchor himself to.
Anything that would help him resist the pull of the orb.

There was nothing. Rocks, small trees, even the dirt
itself were dragged right along with him toward the rift that the orb
held open for him. Screaming in impotent fury, Monusuol was steadily
pulled to the opening between the planes. His roars shattered the
night, and the human's covered their ears as the sound threatened to
burst their ear drums.

But it changed nothing. The orb was far stronger than
the monster, and there was nothing Monusuol could do to fight it.

As Chip watched, it seemed as if the rift and the orb
ate the beast, slowly consuming the screaming monster and erasing him
from their world.

The last he saw of the monster was a hand/claw reaching
out desperately from the rift, searching for a handhold, a last
second reprieve from the doom he knew was coming.

There was none to be found. The hand slowly disappeared
from sight, dragged into the rift along with the rest of the beast.
The orb stayed for a few seconds, as if searching for more like
Monusuol, then flashed once, illuminating the woods brighter than any
full moon ever would. With a sound similar to a low flying plane
streaking overhead, it slammed shut, leaving the woods in darkness
once more.

The trap had worked. Monusuol was gone.

*****

Chuck and Alfred used flashlights to round up everyone.
The two men made sure than no sign was left of what had happened here
in the woods, save for the goat carcass. Both looked at it, then used
leaves to cover it after dragging it far from any trail. Scavengers
would do the rest of the work for them, and what was left would
return to the earth, as was natural.

There was silence among the group for several minutes.
Then, as if someone had turned on a tap somewhere, everyone wanted to
talk at once.

“
What were you thinking!”

“
Why couldn't you be quiet!”

“
This was your fault!”

“
Who made all that noise!”

Chip sat down on a nearby rock, listening to everyone
try to talk at once. He was so tired. His legs were almost too weak
to hold him up at this point. He realized too that he was drenched in
sweat. He covered his face in his hands for a few moments, trying to
rub off the tired. He felt, rather than heard, someone walk up to
him, and looked up to see Donna standing over him.

“
Thank you,” she said softly. Chip didn't
ask what for.

“
You're welcome,” he smiled weakly.

“
My stupid mom almost got us all killed,”
Donna grumped, sitting heavily beside him.

“
No, I almost did that,” Chip sighed. “This
was all my fault, Donna. I played around with something I didn't know
anything about, and we almost died because of it.”

“
We all helped you, Chip,” Donna told him.

“
More like I talked you into it,” Chip shook
his head. “I have to be honest, Donna. This was my fault. I
caused this.”

“
Well, it's over now,” Donna sighed, leaning
on him a little. “We can go home.”

“
I heard that,” Donny's voice came to them
from the dark as he, Angie and Alvin walked up to join them. Behind
the trio, the adults were almost arguing. Again.

“
I think we may have ruined our parent's
friendship with each other,” Alvin noted sourly.

“
It does seem that way,” Angie admitted.
“But their 'friendship' was apparently based on the same stuff
that let us bring that thing here. Maybe it's best if they do go
their separate ways, you know?”

“
Something else I did,” Chip nodded
mournfully. “If I hadn't brought that stupid book to you guys,
then none of this would have happened.”

“
Oh, stop it,”
Angie hit his shoulder. “You're such a martyr. We
all
agreed to try and get Waldo back, Chip.”

“
That's right,” Alvin nodded. “We all
should have known better, Chip. Not just you. We all messed up.”

“
I wonder what's going to happen over there,”
Donny said aloud, nodding in the direction of their assembled
parents.

*****

“
What do you mean, we're through?” Valina
demanded, looking at Chuck angrily.

“
I'm not telling
any of you what you can or can't do,” Chuck raised a hand to
ward off any more retorts.
“I'm
telling you that Stacey and I are done. Finished.”

“
Damn straight,” Stacey nodded, anger in her
voice.

“
If this is about what we said before,”
Alvin started, but Chuck cut him off.

“
You mean about
how this was all my fault, and my son's, and that it was my problem
to deal with, and you didn't want your children around Chip anymore?”
he demanded, his own anger coming to the fore. “If
that's
what you mean, then yes,
that's got a lot to do with it.”

“
We've been
working together for years,” Stacey's anger was even more
evident. “Every time one of you needed something, you came
running to Chuck, wanting his help. The first time, the
very
first time
that something bad
happens, you dump it all into his lap, and abandon him! Friends like
that we can do without, thanks very much!”

The others had enough shame to look away at that, hit
hard by their friends' anger. Belinda was the first to speak up.

“
Look, I'm sorry,” she said. “I
shouldn't. . .I mean, I was scared, that's all. But we can't stop! I
depend on our arts for my business!”

“
So do we,” Alfred and Valina spoke almost
in one voice, and Kat nodded her own agreement.

“
Well, you better
either learn to do without it, or learn to do it yourselves,”
Chuck warned them all.
“No
one sits in my own home and lays the blame for a five person
incantation on my son's shoulders. Did I know what he was doing? No,
or I would have stopped him. Did I leave my books where he could find
them? I admit that I did. He had never shown an interest in them.
He's a teen-age boy, so any book that doesn't have the word 'comic'
as part of it usually doesn't interest him.”

“
This was all over that dog,” Stacey pointed
out, managing to keep her anger more in check this time. “All
of them wanted that dog back, and worked together to try and make
that happen. More importantly, they worked together to correct the
mistake they made. We should all be proud of all five of them.”
The others nodded.

“
But that doesn't
change how you turned on us at the drop of a hat,” she
continued. “
All
of
you,” she glared at Kat, who had, until now, been possibly her
best friend. “So far as I'm concerned, that means you'll do it
again, even when one of
you
is to blame for something going bad. And that's not going to happen!”
Her tone indicated that as far as she was concerned, the conversation
was over.

“
Stacey, I'm sorry,” Kat said earnestly.
“Please, don't do this. Either of you,” she looked at
Chuck.

“
As far as I'm concerned, it's already done,”
Chuck told her. His voice wasn't unkind, but it was firm. “I
decided this last night, to be honest. I'm not willing to risk all of
you turning on me again. The next time it might be something much
worse. Something that we can't fix.” He paused for a moment
before continuing.

“
And, I realized
that maybe we shouldn't be doing this anyway,” he admitted. “I
didn't see the harm in
it at
first, and to be honest I still don't, as far as anything we've ever
done. But a simple thing can easily
turn
into something bad. Or worse. So I'm done. Finished. You guys can
keep on if you want to,” he told them. “But I'm out.
We're
out,” he
added, indicating Stacey.

“
So what are we supposed to do, then?”
Valina asked bitterly. “You're abandoning us!”

“
Just like you did us,” Stacey nodded, and
Valina had the grace to look embarrassed.

“
We can stand here all night and argue, but it's
not going to change,” Chuck said finally. “And it's late.
Not to mention that all the noise, and light, may have attracted
notice. I've got a teen-age son to get home. One that I'm very proud
of,” he said firmly. “You should all be proud as well.
They've done something remarkable tonight. I doubt we could have done
this at their age.” He turned to walk toward his son.

“
We're going home.”

It was subdued 'gang' that gathered in front of the high
school the next Monday. Their parents, as a group, were on the outs
in a major way. Chip's mom and dad were adamant in their declaration
that they were through, and the entire next day spent trying to
convince them otherwise had failed.

That left the remaining parents arguing among themselves
over who was more to blame for the loss of Chuck and Stacey and their
knowledge and experience. By Monday morning, when the kids assembled
as usual for their morning 'conference', most of their parents were
not on speaking terms any longer.

This had led to a brief period, lasting about ten
minutes, where each parent or set of parents had informed their child
or children they were no longer allowed to associate with the others.
Not a single one had agreed to that. Chip's parents were the
exception, telling Chip only that things were tense between the
former friends, and to use his own judgment. They had added that it
might not be a good idea to visit his friends at home for a few days
to allow things to settle down, but otherwise, to carry on as he
desired.

And he was, of course, grounded for life. Or maybe just
graduation. Stacey hadn't made up her mind yet. The rest had endured
similar punishments, but had flatly refused to stop associating with
each other. The parents were angry, but there wasn't much they could
do about it other than be angry.

“
Well,” Angie said as the five sat down on
and around their bench.

“
Yeah, that about sums it up,” Donna nodded,
sighing.

Everyone around them was talking about the sounds and
lights from Saturday night. The five of them tried to act like they
weren't aware of anything.

“
I'm sorry, guys,” Chip sighed.

“
Stop apologizing,” Angie ordered. “It's
not as if our parents are acting like grown-ups, now is it?”

“
Mine sure aren't,” Alvin said miserably. He
was grounded from his online gaming until further notice. That was
almost as bad as anything he could imagine.

“
Our mom sure ain't,” Donny agreed.

“
Yeah, mine too, neither,” Angie snorted,
getting a laugh out of them at last with her bad grammar.

“
Well, since I'm grounded until I graduate college
I guess I should be mad at my parents, but. . .considering what I
did, I can't complain,” Chip told them. “It could be
worse.”

“
At least your parents are acting like parents,”
Donna snorted. “My mom is acting like a teenage girl who didn't
get the prom dress she wanted.”

“
Yeah,” Donny backed his sister up.

“
My mom isn't any better,” Angie agreed.

“
My folks are worse,” Alvin said glumly.
“After they got through blaming all of your parents, they
turned on each other last night. I'll be surprised if they manage to
get through the day without ruining their business.”

“
Well, they can't stay made forever,” Angie
announced, as if making a royal decree.