Monster vs. Boy, page 13
The boy’s scent grew sharper.
She held her book tighter as he pushed between some bushes near the bottom of her tree.
“It’s here!” he called. “In one of these trees!”
The wailing sound came closer too.
Chapter 28
Sirens blared through the park as Dawz paced below the evergreen, anxious for Officer Rashmi and Ronny to catch up with him. He couldn’t believe he’d tracked the monster to this tree. He peered into the branches. He couldn’t see purple scales or gray fur anywhere, but the prickle at the edge of his left eye told him the monster was somewhere up there.
He hoped it didn’t drop on him. Those claws made him shiver. And the size of its jaws now. Even though it had petted Sparkle instead of tearing her to pieces, it was still dangerous.
The tree was halfway between the community center and the street corner where the Bear Beast stood. It was in a denser part of the park, surrounded by bushes he’d scratched himself on while trailing the monster. The tree stretched maybe fifty feet into the air, and branches from the nearby trees entwined with it. Obviously, the monster had climbed from tree to tree, so it could escape the same way.
“Hurry,” he urged the police. He was the only one standing between the monster and the rest of town.
Thea had told him not to go outside, not to follow the monster, but Dawz hadn’t listened. Now he wished Atlas had followed, but Thea had stopped him and Jayla too. Dawz knew he’d get in trouble later, but he didn’t care.
Then, finally, several police cars drove right into the park, stopping on the grass between him and the community center. Their headlights brightened the shadows that were already gathering as the sun set, and flashes from the red-and-blue emergency lights spiraled everywhere. Dawz was grateful to see Ronny’s Hug-a-Bug van rumbling to a stop near the street.
The drivers parked at random angles, and soon police officers and Ronny were streaming toward him from all directions, hurrying between bushes and cars like mice running in a maze.
Like the maze Luiza had said once stood on this spot. Dawz hugged himself, remembering her story. When the hero and monster battled, only one walked out of the maze. One absorbed the other.
“It’s up there!” He pointed as everyone converged on him. He wanted them to catch it and lock it away forever. He wanted to be done with it for good.
“You did well, lad.” Ronny’s hand on his shoulder was a relief.
Officer Rashmi appeared, shouting at her team to block off the park before making her way to Dawz.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
And Dawz did. While officers swarmed around them and lit up the evergreens with flashlights, he explained how the monster had come to Atlas’s place, how it had daggers for claws now, how Jayla had thought to throw flour on it, how it liked reading but he couldn’t fathom why, how it had petted a cat without hurting it, and how he was the bait—the thing the monster was after—so it was his fault that it was here, hunting people in their town.
“Whoa, slow down,” Ronny said. “None of this is your fault.”
“That’s right.” Officer Rashmi nodded, but she seemed distracted. “Where’s your father? We need to get you out of here.”
“But what are you going to do with it?” Panic rose in Dawz. “How are you going to get it down? What if the flour rubs off? How are you going to see it without me?”
“We’ll take care of everything. Trust me.” Officer Rashmi called over a nearby officer.
Trust her? He was trying to forgive her whispered conversations with Pop, but he wasn’t sure he trusted her again. Police officers were just grown-ups with badges.
“Make sure Dawz gets home,” she told the officer, who was even taller than Pop.
The officer put a firm arm around Dawz’s shoulder. “Come with me,” he said.
“Wait….” Dawz twisted sideways. He wanted to leave, but he really should stay. “You need me!”
The officer ushered him away, between the idle cars, flashing lights, and rushing police officers. Why didn’t the grown-ups understand? They couldn’t solve every problem themselves.
As they neared the community center, Pop raced around a corner of the building. His hair was messed up, and his eyes reflected the blue-and-red lights.
“What happened?” Pop grabbed Dawz and hugged him too tight.
Dawz’s thoughts swam like fish battling upstream, and he remembered the Bakers’ Brawl meeting. “It was canceled, wasn’t it?” He broke free of Pop, already despairing. Nothing could be normal. Not with the monster around.
Pop nodded. “I’m so sorry.”
Dawz’s hands became fists. The monster had infected everything.
“You need to leave the area,” said the officer.
“We’re going.” Pop pushed Dawz away from the park, away from the monster.
The prickle at the edge of Dawz’s left eye faded with each step, but it wasn’t enough. The whole town felt like a maze now. One he couldn’t escape.
Chapter 29
Trapped. Mim was trapped.
Trapped in a tree above a web of humans, cars, and lights.
Trapped with only her book for comfort.
Trapped with Dawz the Horrible moving farther and farther away, making her weaker.
Beneath her tree, voices shouted, shrill and piercing. Car fumes rose to tickle her snout. Red, blue, and white lights beamed into her tree, hurting her eyes and blinding her to the humans’ tricky plans.
Could they see the dust that still coated her in places? Would they try to attack? Mim hugged the tree trunk—sticky with sap. She felt the tug to follow Dawz the Horrible, who had known how to trail her and bring these troubling humans too. Her left heart tugged especially hard toward him, still thumping faster than the right one, although being near Dawz the Horrible had calmed it somewhat. She was grateful not to have to eat him, but would she ever be free of him?
Mim sniffed for his trail, wondering how she might get past the humans beneath her. Maybe she could drop down on them and fight her way through, but she wasn’t sure she could fight off several at once. Maybe she could slip past them. She watched clouds gather and the sun set, like they knew she needed shadows to hide—at least until she got rid of the dust. She kept an eye on the pesky humans, worrying about their plans. And she licked the patches of dust she could reach.
Raar-Sparkle’s scratchy tongue would be the perfect help right now, especially with the itchy dust trapped between Mim’s scales. The problem with making a friend was that you missed them when they were gone.
* * *
—
Then a beam of light burst through the needles and cones, as dazzling as sunlight and twice as painful. It swept back and forth, edging closer. Mim squinted and scooted around the trunk, but another beam burst through on that side. She snugged her face against the trunk, trembling. Her eyes could only see ghostly images of the lights, like floating purple circles.
Nasty humans! She squeezed her eyes shut, but the purple circles remained.
Mim felt her tree tremble. Her eyes popped open. Were they trying to shake her loose?
She glanced down, shading her eyes with her hands. A man! A man climbing her needle tree!
Mim’s hearts fluttered. Her tail flapped. He had to be coming for her.
She could see the helmet on his head. His arms reaching and pulling himself up. He strapped himself onto each branch as he climbed. He was steady. Relentless.
Mim gripped her book in her teeth again and scrambled up her tree. She was exhausted and not at full strength, but she had to get away.
Her tree swayed with the man’s movement. The lights followed her, one on each side. Her hooves—not meant for climbing—slipped.
Mim fell.
She slid through the branches, squealing. Down toward the man. The needles scratching. The branches clawing.
“It’s coming for you!” A woman’s voice rose.
“I see that!” the climbing man called.
Mim tumbled.
She lost her sense of up and down. Then her chest thumped onto a thick branch, stopping her fall and knocking the breath out of her. Her book slipped from her teeth, but she grabbed it in one hand.
The world spun. Within it, she could see the face of the man tilted toward her.
“Well, aren’t you something.” He aimed a stick at her. “I sure wish I could get a better look at you. The flour helps though.”
Mim panted and clung to the branch, desperate for the spinning to stop. She did not like sticks. She did not like them aimed at her.
The beams of light found her.
“Ten feet above you now,” yelled the woman. “Do you have a shot?”
“Now, this will hurt a bit,” the man said to Mim. “And it’ll make you sleepy.”
Mim felt a rush of fear. She knew it would hurt a lot. She knew she needed to flee.
She crouched on the branch—book in her teeth again—and leaped.
* * *
—
She wasn’t sure which way she’d jumped. It may have been up. It may have been sideways. But it was away from the man.
She streaked through a beam of light, hands out, ready for impact.
Thud. She hit a branch with leaves, not needles. Her hooves scrabbled for a hold. She grabbed with one hand, sliding down until she found her grip.
Now she knew which way was down. And down was where the circle of humans waited. Mim climbed up.
“It jumped!” shouted the man. “I’ve never seen such a jump!”
“Where is it?” The woman’s voice was fainter. Farther away.
“To the left!” A pause. “No, to my left!”
Mim was sore and panting as she clenched her book in her teeth. The beams were still sweeping the needle tree, back and forth, and that kept her climbing up her leafy tree, slow and steady.
Then she climbed sideways—to the next tree and the next. When she reached the highest high of the tallest tree, she sat among the thinnest branches that could hold her and hugged her book.
Raindrops began to fall on her horns and snout. Small at first. Then bigger. They wet her book, and she tried to protect it with her body. They speckled the beams of light that were still sweeping the trees for her.
Then the rain fell harder. It seeped into her fur and trickled between her scales. She felt the last of the dust loosen and wash away.
Good riddance. She used to like the small girl who nested with Dawz the Horrible. She had a fearless way about her that Mim admired. But no more. Not after she threw dust.
But the rain also soaked Mim’s book. It sent many of the humans inside their cars, even though they kept the lights beaming, sweeping.
The man climbed down the tree.
Mim watched, tense and panting. Above her, the sky was dark and heavy with clouds. Beneath her, the humans had stopped tromping among the bushes and peering up at her.
She leaped from treetop to treetop, her book in her teeth again, trying not to bend branches or rustle leaves, which were slick with rain now. She knew her book made her visible, but she wasn’t willing to leave it behind.
When she was far away from the circle of humans, cars, and lights, she lowered herself down a tree. She was at the corner of the green, where two streets met. She sensed for Dawz the Horrible’s whereabouts. And she headed toward him.
* * *
—
Her left heart tugged her forward, thumping fast, while the right one remained steady. She crept from shadow to shadow, avoiding the pools of light from the streetlamps.
The rain gradually slowed, then stopped.
Mim shook herself to dry her fur. She shook her book too, but it didn’t help much.
Soon, she neared the nest of Dawz the Horrible. She skulked down his street, wishing she was going anywhere else. The familiar scents from bushes and trees reminded her that she’d once been happy. She’d once had a closet nest. She’d once been the right size—with the top of her head the same height as the doorknob. Now she would be almost as tall as the whole door.
Her life had been perfect. Well, almost perfect. She remembered the ache of wanting a friend to share the joy of a book. She remembered how much it hurt to be alone.
Now she was stuck with Dawz the Horrible forever. He was her boy, and she was his monster. Even though he would use a book as a weapon and reading as a trick, she needed him. It was the ugly truth.
* * *
—
Mim climbed a dense needle tree in a yard across the street from Dawz the Horrible’s nest. She didn’t want to be close enough that he would sense her. She suspected their bond went both ways because he’d been able to find her cupboard nest and her garden nest.
Across the street, the light was on in the high-up room where Dawz the Horrible slept.
Right now, he would be in his bed. Right now, the grown-up and the small girl would be huddled with him, faces aglow in lamplight. Right now, they would be sharing a book. Sharing the stories and creatures that used to tumble into Mim’s closet to play. How she missed her story friends! How she wished those jumbies and wendigos could visit her now! How she wished she’d had a chance to try reading with Raar-Sparkle.
Mim sank onto a branch, grateful to finally rest, and studied her book. The cover now had her teeth marks in it, which made it look fiercer, but some of the pages were stuck together with wet dust.
She could hardly see the black marks on the pages, but a nearby streetlight helped. They had smeared together, no longer marching like ants. But, luckily, the pictures of the monsters didn’t look too damaged. She turned the pages carefully, hoping the book hadn’t lost its magic. She loved that each page showed a different monster on it. The one with spikes was a lovely shade of green. The one with tusks looked like a fearsome fighter. The one with three heads full of pointed teeth had all three mouths open and roaring.
This thing called reading was powerful. Powerful enough to make Mim love these monsters. Powerful enough to make her want pizza. Powerful enough to make her listen to Dawz the Horrible.
Mim’s scales tingled as an idea grew inside her. It was a big idea. Bold. Beautiful. Blossoming. Reading might be a powerful weapon against her horrible boy. Powerful enough to control him. To subdue him. To take all the strength she’d ever need from him.
But could she figure out how to read at him?
Mim hugged her book. She still didn’t understand the black marks, now smeared, although she could try to read the pictures at him. It could work, couldn’t it?
First, she needed to rest in this tree, near enough to gain strength from Dawz the Horrible. Then, when she was ready, she’d read at him—read pictures of monsters, proud and fierce like her.
Yes, yes, yes. Then Dawz the Horrible would cower.
He would bend to her will.
He would let her nest nearby without a fuss.
He would let her absorb his strength whenever she needed it.
He would never come at her with a glowing stick or steal her things.
It would be terribly glorious.
Mim collapsed into a lump with her snout against the trunk. Every muscle ached as she fell asleep. But not for long.
As the hours passed, Mim dreamed of this thing called pizza. She dreamed of books. She dreamed of a life where she controlled a horrible boy by reading at him. And she grew stronger. Maybe she even grew strong enough to break free from him forever.
Chapter 30
Dawz woke late on Thursday after a restless night. He’d hardly slept, wondering where the monster might be. What if it broke free from the adults and came for him? He felt a faint prickle that told him the monster might be nearby. But he didn’t know if it was just his nerves.
He got up, avoiding the Froot Loops he’d sprinkled on the floor around his bed. It was a poor defense system for someone who was monster bait, but Pop hadn’t let him build a bigger trap last night. “Officer Rashmi and Ronny will take care of us,” Pop had said.
Dawz had his doubts. Luiza had said the hero needed to battle the monster. That they were alone in the maze. That they were meant for each other. What if all of that was true?
A shiver took hold of Dawz and didn’t let go. Officer Rashmi and Ronny might never catch the monster. It might be his monster to defeat alone, just like his mother had been forced to face her monster by herself.
Dawz had to get the latest update on the monster hunt from Pop, but first he peeled off his bandage to check his cheek in his bedroom mirror, hoping it had miraculously healed during the night.
It still oozed disgusting pus.
If only he could be as lucky as Thea.
* * *
—
He rebandaged his cheek, then headed for the kitchen, still in his pajamas. As he passed Jayla’s room, he was surprised to see her there, drawing in her notebook.
“Why are you home?”
“School’s canceled today, so I’m working on my monster report.” She smiled up at him, holding out her notebook. “Do you want to see?”
“After breakfast.” If school was canceled, the monster must still be on the loose. Not that Dawz would’ve been allowed to go to school or anywhere else, especially after he’d disobeyed Pop and Thea.
Jayla’s smile drooped, and Dawz felt rotten. She’d been so helpful yesterday. Brave and smart. She wasn’t even mad at him, even though he’d been mean to her.
“Listen, you were great with the monster. That flour trick was brilliant. And reading was a good idea too.”
Jayla sat taller. “I know lots of stuff about monsters.”
