The Oneiro Rangers: First Night (7 page)

Chapter 8

The Withering Woods had lost a lot of land over the years, eaten
away by housing and side streets. Its massive trees towered over the Oneiro
Academy’s walls, making it the only scenery the world had to offer — harrowing
as it was. The ground below was nothing but barren dirt, not even a crumpled
leaf from the bare branches. Normlock’s soil contained just barely enough
nutrients to create life, but not nearly enough to continue it. The irregular
rainy days merely prolonged the inevitable; if trees could express their
suffering, they’d scream.

Their pale branches curved in every-which-way, desperately
searching for sunlight. Only four hours of such light wasn’t enough to allow
leaves to grow and their shallow roots made it worse. The bright moon gave out
just enough for them to continue living, but not enough to be healthy and
beautiful as they wished. Vermin and insects scurried among the fallen logs,
hidden in the dark. There was active wildlife in the woods, but finding it was
the real challenge.

Sova sat on a high branch of one of the larger trees, leaning
against its smooth trunk. He paid attention to a large nachthirsch nibbling on
some purple foliage, the antlers connected to its shoulder blades hovering over
its back like folded wings. After it called out while it ate, other nachthirsch
 galloped over, one about the same size and two others that were much
smaller. The family of four grazed in the small clearing, enjoying their family
dinner. He had to look away, the memory of being back home tugging at his
heart.

Instead, his eyes crossed over to the old pocket watch in his hand
— the glass cracked near the bottom from an accidental drop long before he
owned it. At the hour it was, it would be time to wake up back in Gothina, the
time different still keeping him up at night. That and the lack of human
contact. The bottom of his black leather trench coat hung off the branch,
swaying in the light wind. The cold around him was nothing compared to the
coldness he felt inside.

In the close distance, a voice called out into the night air. A
girl’s voice.

“Er-rol!” Angelica shouted, cupping her mouth as she ducked under
some low branches. “Er-rol!”

Sova rolled over on his stomach, seeing the girl searching for the
one she was calling. “A girl. Here? I might as well help. Who knows what could
be amiss.”

She was getting close to the tree he was lying on, but still had
no clue he was there. Sova slipped the pocket watch back into his leather vest
pocket and started descending from branch to branch, climbing down them like a
latter. About halfway down, his foot went right through the limp branch he put
all of his weight on. At the unforgiving mercy of gravity, he fell back to
catch the next branch with his back. The force tossed him off to have him hit
another one with his stomach.

Bouncing back and forth the rest of the way, his painful ordeal
ended with a dust-filled crash, landing face down. Angelica was startled by the
sudden impact, and even more so when she realized how he got there. Waving the
dust cloud out of her face, she hurried over to him. Groaning, Sova rose up to
have her help him stand up straight. Her soft warm touch took him by surprise
and he would have flinched away if he didn’t enjoy it so much.

“Are you okay?” She asked, concerned. “Can you walk?”

“Of course,” Sova answered without thinking. “I don’t get trained
to fall at the pass of a feather, now, do I?”

Sova slapped the dirt gathered in his coat creases, Angelica
helping to clean off his shirt and vest. “What were you doing up in that tree?”
She asked, coughing from the dust in the air.

“Nature helps me sleep. This
is
the only way to find it in
a big city like Normlock.”

“You got that right. Wait a minute.” She finally noticed his
clothes were like nothing she’s seen at the mall, or anywhere else in Normlock
for that matter. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

Sova chuckled to ease up his nervousness. “Yes, you’ve got
that
right.”

Angelica also chuckled, giving him a flash of her glistening
braces. “Well, ain’t that something.”

They stood there smiling for longer than was needed, Sova deciding
to break the silence and end the slight awkwardness. “... I couldn’t help but
overhear you calling a name. A lost dog perhaps?”

Angelica sucked in air with a tsk, rolling her eyes to the ground.
“Close. It’s my brother Errol. The big dummy got himself lost in here.”

“Why did he go in here just to get lost?”

Angelica shrugged. “Beats me. Say, you want to help me look? That
is…if you’re not too busy.”

Sova laughed, scratching the back of his head. “No, no, I’m not
busy a’tall. Oh, how foolish of me...” He paused for a second and then bowed
down before her. “Sova Vanhala. A pleasure to meet you.”

She did a quick curtsy, holding the bottom ends of her shorts as
if they were a skirt. “Angelica Karloff.” She giggled, covering her mouth with
both hands. “Come on Malory, play along.” She looked around behind her, but
couldn’t see Malory anywhere. “Uh-oh... Now she’s lost too! Malory?!”

“Don’t worry,” Sova assured, “we’ll find them. It’s only ten
o’clock.”

“Ten o‘clock!” Angelica’s eyes flew to the sky to see the stars
being swallowed up by an oncoming darkness from the west. “Then we better
hurry.” She grabbed his hand and started running. “It’ll be darktime soon. Once
that starts, we’re toast. Come on!”

Sova looked at their locked hands as he followed behind her, the
sweet flowery smell of her hair blowing against him. Despite the terrible rush
they were in, time seemed to stand still as long as she kept her hold.

.  .  .

Being so deep in the Withering Woods and so far into the night,
there was still no sign of Errol or Malory. Sova and Angelica were done
running, but they still trekked past the endless amount of trees. Angelica
yawned loudly, stretching her arms out wide as she walked along the forest
floor.

She smacked her lips and scratched her side, struggling to keep
her eyes opened. “Boy am I sleepy...” The wind started picking up, making her
rub her uncovered arms. “... and I’m cold!” She shivered, giggling in-between.

“You want to use my coat?” Sova offered, already taking it off.

“Won’t you be cold then?”

“I’ll be fine. I’m used to being outside.”

“Well,” she tilted her head down happily, “just for a little bit.”

Sova helped her slip into the coat. “Have it on as long as you’d
like. It’s the least I could do.”

“If I knew something like this would happen, I would have worn
more than a t-shirt,” she added, flapping the collar out. “Golly, this thing
sure is soft on the inside!”

“I lined it with satin when I was sewing it. I’ve always fancied
the feel of satin.”

“You sewed this yourself?” Angelica asked in surprise.

“Of course. It’s not like you can find something like it in
Normlock, now, can you.”

“Wow...” The sleeves were too long for her arms, making her roll
them up a little as they walked. Near her feet, she noticed the bottom of the
coat sliding against the dirt. “Goodness me, I’m so sorry! Oh, I hope your coat
is not ruined. I put it on for a second and already I get it all filthy.” She
pulled up the tail and held it in her hands, balling it up in front of her.

Sova chuckled, “Don’t worry, it’s made to last. A little dirt just
comes right off.” He pulled his neck forward, a flash of light from the
distance getting his attention. “Hey, I think I see something!”

“It better be Errol,” Angelica hurried past him, homing in on the
light instantly. “And if it is, he’s going to get it!”

Sova jogged behind her, “Hey, wait up!”

The three of them stood by a fallen tree leaning over a large rock
formation. Roland leaned against one of the boulders, both his legs and his
arms crossed. Errol stood there with a foot on a stone, ready to leave when his
friend was finished. Keeping the flashlight on Malory, Errol urged Roland with
his eyes. But, like the good brother he was, Roland wouldn’t move until he knew
his sister wouldn’t follow them.

“Please come back, Roland,” Malory begged, her hands laced
together under her chin. “
Please
! You can’t give up on your ranger-ly
duty. Come back to the academy — I’m begging you!”

“We told you,
no
,” Roland stated sternly. “Now, we’re not
gonna stay here and argue. You go back to beddy-bye and we’ll call you in the
morning.”

Malory dropped down to her knees, grabbing at Roland’s pant leg.
“But Roland...”

Angelica stepped right past Malory to get up in Errol’s face,
dropping her coat’s end with an angry huff. “I want a good answer
right now
!”

“I don’t want to go through with the ranger thing,” Errol
explained. “Roland and I decided to live in Down Town. It’ll be better that
way; better for us, at least. There are already enough rangers out there taking
care of things. What’s two less rangers going to do?”

“And you should come with us,” Roland added. “What we saw today
was something that changed our minds for the better. A
whole lot
better.”

Angelica crossed her arms, raising one of her thin eyebrows.
“What, oh what, could you have possibly seen that made you change your mind —
especially now of all times?”

“We were in the metransistor class, see,” Roland began, “and the
morpheus took us all down to the basement—”

“There’s a basement?” Angelica interrupted.

“Yeah, there is,” Roland answered quickly, “it’s hidden though. As
I was sayin’, we were in the basement and–get a load of this–there was a entire
place right under the academy. And it wasn’t any day care neither, I can tell
ya that. It was an insane asylum, filled with more nuts than squirrel treasure.
Turns out that if any of us fight a Nightmare, there’s a chance of us going
mental. Then they lock you up in a padded room while you roam around like some
rabid dog. In the end, you get a memory wipe and you gotta go through the whole
thing again. Wash, rinse, repeat; and nothing else after.”

Everyone was silent, the sound of crickets seeming louder between
the pause.

“Now,” Roland continued, “I don’t know about all of you guys, but
Errol and I don’t want any part of that twisted cycle. We’d rather make our
living playing poker than go through that nonsense. At least then we can
remember how we got there, instead of being bossed around and being told to go
out and fight more monsters and have them clean out our brains because of it.”

“Gee wiz,” Angelica said quietly, “is that really what happens to
the Oneiro Rangers? I had no idea — my morpheus said we were going to do it
next class. Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m going with you!”

Roland and Errol jumped back in unison, surprised. “You are?!”

“Me too,” Malory joined, jumping up and down as she waved her
hand. “I don’t want to be a potato!”

Roland patted his sister’s head hesitantly. “Uhh… right.”

Sova stepped forward from behind Angelica. “I’m going too.”

Roland jumped back, pointing at him. “Dahh, where did you come
from?!”

Angelica took a quick glance at Sova. “Oh right. This is Sova
Vanhala. I found him in the woods.”

“Of all the terrible things you find in the woods and it had to be
a Gothnian,” Errol teased his sister, almost scowling.

“Well that didn’t sound very welcoming,” Sova grumbled curtly.

“It wasn’t meant to,” Errol retorted, refusing to look in his
direction.

Sova ignored his comment, speaking to the rest of the group. “We
better hurry though,” he glanced up at the sky, “we only have a little more
than an hour before darktime.”

“He’s right,” Roland agreed. “Once it’s midnight, everything’s
going to be too dark to see.”

“We’ll be fine,” Errol said, already walking. “As long as this
flashlight doesn’t run out of battery, we’ll be able to find our way out with
ease.”

Roland smacked his head, following the beam of light with everyone
else. “Why did you have to say that? Now the lights going to go out for sure!”

“I just put in a fresh battery in this thing,” Errol countered. “There’s
no way it’s going to die already. You watch too many movies.”

Just then, the forest floor filled with a choir of loud booming
howls, unlike any animal they’ve heard before. A flash of something shiny
skittered across the flashlight’s beam; Errol jumping back, barely noticing it.
Tree branches cracked and snapped as more of their attackers came in low and
quick. Within seconds, the teens were surrounded, the dog drones’ eyes glowing
red. One of them slid in front of the flashlight’s glow to stand in their way,
its legs bent and ready to strike.

A prerecorded voice exploded out of its snout speaker. “Pubescent
life forms detected! Halt, you are surrounded. Resistance is futile.”

Roland held up a fist, passing Errol while the rest of the teens
stayed frozen. “Oh yeah?! Resist this!”