Authors: Dean Lorey
“Of course!” the golden bat shrieked. “But old Tyrannus knows what you did to Verminion. He could see it with his glittery, ghastly toy!”
The Artifact of the Nether on the Named beast’s finger strobed with red light from the four images engraved on it.
“You are NASTY creatures, full of deceit and wickedness, but you will not fool old Tyrannus. He knows what you’re trying to do with that poisonous little Guardian, where you want to BRING him, and now so do the others!”
They can see us, Charlie suddenly realized. He turned to the Headmaster.
“A long time ago, when I wore Barakkas’s bracer, I was able to look through the eyes of the other three Named who were also wearing Artifacts. If Tyrannus can see us here with the Guardian, so can Barakkas and Slagguron.”
“We must hurry then,” the Headmaster said grimly, “and attack before they have a chance to respond.”
They raced through the Nether as quickly as the Guardian could run on its short, stubby legs. Unfortunately, they couldn’t touch it to pick it up and carry it. As soon as they were out of range of the Anomaly, the Headmaster created a portal, and they all leaped through into the heart of the remains of the Nightmare Division, where they quickly reunited with their colleagues.
The moment the portal closed behind them, the Guardian’s aura in the Nether faded and, with a crazy cackle of triumph, Tyrannus the Demented sailed over the ruined ships of the BT Graveyard and shot straight up and into the churning red disc of the Anomaly.
“FREE!” he shrieked with a gale of laughter.
Seconds later, he used his great, golden wings to propel him up through the depths of the cold Atlantic before finally exploding out of the water and into the beautiful blue skies of Earth above.
After an eternity of waiting, Tyrannus, the Fourth Named, had escaped from the Nether.
High in the vast, frozen wasteland of the Himalayas, hidden from the prying eyes of humans, the icy lair of the Named was alive with activity. Sleet fell through a giant hole in the ceiling of the massive cavern while a blizzard raged outside, turning the sky above into an impenetrable blanket of white.
“Hurry!” Barakkas thundered at the hundreds of Nethercreatures that swarmed at his feet as he and Slagguron raced across the slippery blue sheets of ice covering every inch of their remote base of operations. “The humans are coming. We must leave immediately!”
“Why are you so fearful of them?” Slagguron asked. “Are we not Lords of the Nether?”
“I’m not fearful of them—it’s the Guardian I fear. I felt the touch of that horrible monster a long time ago, and I’m not eager to feel it again.”
“Even with the Guardian, the humans can hurt us only if they know where we are,” Slagguron reasoned. “We have no reason to think they do.”
“We have no reason to think they don’t.”
Suddenly, Barakkas stopped, noticing something:
The red light that issued from the Artifact of the Nether clamped around Slagguron’s middle was reflected brilliantly in the polished ice of the cavern wall, but something else pulsed in the reflection as well.
A tiny spot of blue.
“What’s this?” Barakkas growled, bending down to inspect the source of the light. As soon as he saw the tracking device that Theodore had planted on Slagguron’s metal belt, his orange eyes went red with rage. “They’ve been tracking you, you fool!” He grabbed the tiny mechanical object—in his fist, it was no larger than a grain of sand—and crushed it.
“That is unfortunate,” Slagguron said with a grimace. “You are right. We must leave now, before it’s too late.”
But it already was.
Purple portals snapped open across the lair like fireworks, allowing elite Nethermancers and Banishers to pour through—among them, Charlie and his friends.
“Do not touch the Guardian!” the Headmaster yelled at the other humans as she ushered the tiny, frail creature into the vast cavern.
“NO!” Slagguron shrieked as soon as he laid eyes on it.
Unimaginable pain suddenly slammed through his brain, and he collapsed on the ice next to Barakkas, who was already foaming at the mouth in agony. The hundreds of Class-5 Nethercreatures around them stumbled to the frozen ground as well, completely immobilized.
“It worked!” Charlie said, staring in awe at the creatures that lay scattered around them, writhing in pain. “The Guardian laid them out!”
“Sweet!” Theodore shouted. He extended his open palm to the Guardian. “Give me five, Hank!”
The Guardian raised its hand.
“Mr. Dagget…,” the Headmaster warned.
“Right. No touching. Sorry, Hank.” Theodore quickly withdrew his palm.
Pinch, meanwhile, walked through the lair like a conquering general, surveying the hundreds of deadly but now powerless creatures before him with smooth satisfaction. “Excellent. All is moving according to plan, just as I said it would.”
He shot a glance at Director Drake, who watched the proceedings with a scowl, arms folded. “Do not be so confident, Pinch. Even the best of plans have a weakness.”
“Absolutely true, which reminds me…” He turned to Charlie. “Please escort the Guardian out of the way, somewhere safe, so that we can begin.”
“Wouldn’t he be safer here with us?” Charlie asked. “Where we can keep an eye on him?”
Pinch shook his head. “Creatures of the Nether cannot hurt him—only humans can do that. We cannot take a chance that someone might touch him, accidentally or otherwise. As you well know, the urge is nearly impossible to resist.”
“Okay.” Charlie kneeled down beside the delicate creature. “Will you come with me, Hank? I’ll take care of you.”
“Yes, Charlie.” The Guardian followed him toward a winding pathway that led out of the main chamber.
“Oh, Mr. Benjamin,” the Headmaster called after him. Charlie turned back. “Return quickly please—without delay.” Her expression was stern and knowing.
Charlie nodded. “No problem.” Even the Headmaster was afraid that he might be overcome by the desire to lay a hand on the gentle creature. They left the main chamber and walked into a small, dark vestibule at the end of an icy hallway.”
“Do you think you’ll be okay here?”
The Guardian nodded, its wide eyes shining brightly in the gloom. “I think so. You are kind.”
“Thank you. So are you.”
“Will you hold me? It would be so wonderful to be held.”
“I can’t. You know that.”
The Guardian sighed in a remarkably human way. “I know. It just would be so nice for once.”
Charlie smiled at him.
“Mr. Benjamin!” a voice rang out, echoing down the icy hallway. It was the Headmaster. “We are waiting!”
“Just stay here, Hank,” Charlie said, “and when it’s all over, I’ll come back and get you.”
The Guardian nodded. “Be safe, Charlie Benjamin.”
“You, too.”
Charlie took one last look at the gentle creature—so small against the vastness of the dark, icy walls that surrounded it—and then headed back to the main chamber to begin the process of destroying the creatures of the Nether.
“I hate this,” Violet whispered as the Banishers and Nethermancers spread out across the cavern, waiting on Pinch’s command to begin the assault.
Charlie knew what she meant. It was one thing to kill a monster while it was attacking you—that was self-defense, after all—but it was another thing entirely to kill it as it lay there, defenseless.
It might not be wrong, but it sure felt wrong.
“I know exactly what you mean,” Charlie whispered back. “I get that it’s necessary—I mean, after what happened today at the zoo, it’s hard not to—but it just doesn’t seem right, somehow.”
Violet nodded in agreement. “At least Theodore seems happy.”
Charlie glanced over at him. Sure enough, the tall, skinny boy did seem happy. He was clearly excited to be there in the presence of his father, ready and eager to demonstrate his skill. Of course, as a Nethermancer, he wasn’t the one who had to land a killing blow.
“Nethermancers, listen please,” Pinch said walking among them. He wore a parka over his T-shirt to blunt the biting cold, and it dwarfed his small, boyish body. “With the exception of the two Named, you will systematically open a portal beneath all of the remaining Nethercreatures and return them to the 5th Ring.”
“You don’t want to kill them?” William asked, his breath coming out in great, frozen clouds.
“Of course not. You know we kill only when there is no alternative.”
Charlie could easily remember the exact day in Beginning Banishing when Rex taught them about the Rule of 3’s. For every monster you killed on Earth, three of them immediately spawned in the Nether. However, if you simply returned them to the Nether without killing them, no new monsters would spawn. That was the whole reason for taking the trouble to Banish the Nethercreatures back through portals to begin with, even though it would have been much easier just to destroy them outright.
“I know the rule,” William replied, annoyed. “This isn’t my first day at the dance. But this isn’t the time for delicacy. Now that you got us all here, we need to move fast and hard and get this thing done for good.”
“We will,” Pinch said. “But we must also be smart. Don’t worry, William, you’ll get to quench your thirst for blood today. We may be returning the regular monsters to the Nether, but the Named must still be destroyed.”
The Named.
Charlie glanced over at Barakkas and Slagguron, curled up in pain, unable to move. He knew that they were vicious and deadly and would kill every human in the place if they had half a chance…but there was still something so pathetic about the way they were just lying there, spread out across the ice, defenseless. It was clear what had to be done, and yet—Charlie didn’t want to do it. He just wished he could shut his eyes tightly and disappear.
Everything was moving way too fast. He was still just a student, for crying out loud! All his friends were. The good times he’d had with them—exploring the nooks and crannies of the Nightmare Academy; swimming in the warm, clear ocean beyond; and having playful swordfights on the beach—now seemed like a distant, hazy memory.
This was serious business, time to grow up, as Mama Rose said—and he didn’t like it.
Not one bit.
“All right, Nethermancers,” Pinch yelled, his voice echoing across the massive cavern. “Let’s begin!”
With grim determination, they began opening fiery purple portals beneath the crippled Class-4 and -5 monsters lying on the icy floor of the lair, allowing them to fall harmlessly into the Nether. Theodore easily kept up with the adult Nethermancers. Charlie noticed him glance over at his father for some sign of acknowledgment or approval. After a couple of tries, he finally caught his dad’s eye.
William shot him a wink.
Good, Charlie thought. Finally.
As the Nethermancers went about their business, Violet turned to Brooke. “Why don’t you get on out there?”
“Me? What are you talking about?”
“To help them.”
Brooke seemed confused. “How? You know I can’t portal anymore.”
“You can, Brooke. I know you can, and so do you. You’ve done it before. Now go on.”
“Well…okay. I’ll try.”
Unsure, Brooke walked out and struggled to open a portal. It didn’t come quickly or easily, but to her astonishment she finally managed to open a small one beneath a Class-4 Acidspitter.
It fell soundlessly into the Nether.
With a grin, Brooke glanced back at Violet, who gave her a supportive smile. Newly confident, Brooke went back to work opening another portal while Charlie and the Headmaster joined Tabitha and the rest of the Nethermancers as they solemnly continued to return the remaining monsters to the Nether. There seemed to be a million of them. Everyone was so focused on the task at hand that no one even noticed someone was missing from the main cavern:
The Director of the Nightmare Division was gone.
The Guardian saw the long shadow approach from the hallway, creeping along the icy walls like an oil slick.
“Hello,” the gentle creature said. “Have you come to see me?”
“Yes,” Director Drake whispered, his eyes pools of black in the dim light.
“Are you a nice man?”
“I am.”
“Good,” the Guardian said. “It’s so lonely here. And so cold. Will you hold me?”
“I will.”
The Director enfolded the small creature in his long arms, pressing his bare cheek against the top of its fragile head.
“Oh, thank you,” the Guardian said, smiling, as color began to leach out of its thin skin. “It’s so nice to be held after so long—living in the cold and the dark of the Nether. Are you a kind man, like Charlie Benjamin?”
The Director didn’t answer.
The Guardian’s wide, white eyes began to grow yellow as sharp ribs revealed themselves at odd angles in its sinking chest. Its breathing became shallow and ragged.
“Are you my friend?” the Guardian asked, a little tentatively now.
A cold wind blew down the frigid hallway as the blizzard raged high overhead. The Director, silent as a tomb, squeezed the tiny creature more tightly, pressing the poison of his skin against it and holding it there, even as it started to struggle.
A terrible awareness began to dawn in the dying creature’s eyes.
“Oh my,” it croaked softly. “You’re not my friend, are you?”
“No,” the Director whispered. “I’m afraid I’m not.”
The Guardian sighed then and whispered only three more words:
“Alone…always alone.”
It gasped once, then once more…and then finally was still.
While the Nethermancers continued their work, the Banishers grouped around the massive, immobilized bodies of the Named. Charlie stood next to Violet—mere feet from Barakkas’s tough, blue hide—while Rex and William took a position by Slagguron.
“We will do this as quickly and painlessly as possible,” Pinch said, drawing his sickle. It gleamed a startling blue. “I know many of you find this distasteful. We are not assassins, certainly, but sometimes dark deeds must be performed so that the light of peace can shine.”
The light of peace? Charlie thought. What kind of crazy talk is that? It was almost as if he were already campaigning for the job of Director of the Nightmare Division.
“After we complete our duty,” Pinch continued, “we will arise tomorrow in a safer world than the one we awoke in today.” Pinch raised his sickle in his small hand.
Following his lead, the other Banishers, including Rex and William, raised their weapons.
“Banishers,” Pinch said, “on my command—”
Charlie glanced at Violet, sick to his stomach. “I know,” she whispered, obviously just as upset as he was. “Let’s just get it over with.”
Charlie nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”
He raised his rapier, she raised her ax.
Pinch began to count down to the attack. “One…two—”
Suddenly, Barakkas twitched.
The Banishers glanced at each other, nervous.
“Am I seeing things?” Violet asked, “or did he just—”
Another spasm ran through the body of the mighty Named, causing a talonlike finger to curl up under his one good claw, ripping a giant trough in the ice beneath.
“He…he moved,” Charlie said.
“Uh-oh,” Rex muttered. “This is definitely not good.”
Barakkas opened his eyes and looked over at the humans. “Apparently, no one has checked on the Guardian,” he said with a grin. Then he leaped to his hooves with such thunderous force that ice fell from the cavern ceiling, raining down like broken glass on the monsters and humans far below.
Slagguron—also recovered—quickly raised up to his full height. He towered high above everyone, body curled into an S shape, dark eyes blinking, as the other creatures of the Nether regained consciousness around him.
Just like that, the humans were surrounded by fully awake, fully furious monsters ready to seek their revenge.
“This can’t be happening,” Tabitha said.
William turned to Pinch with fury in his eyes. “You’ve killed us all.”
“No,” Pinch protested. “This…this isn’t part of the plan…”
And that was when the monsters attacked.
Slagguron threw himself down onto the ice with stunning force, crushing humans and creatures alike under his awesome weight. Barakkas stomped the ground with his mighty hooves, fangs bared, eyes wild with rage.
“Now we get our REVENGE!” the massive beast thundered, hot spittle flying from his mouth. “Now you will all PAY!”
“Retreat!” the Headmaster screamed. “Portal away! We cannot win this!”
As hundreds of newly risen monsters descended upon them, the Banishers swung into action, trying to protect the Nethermancers, who frantically struggled to open portals so that they could all escape.
“You just do your best, sweetheart,” Rex said calmly to Tabitha, his lasso lashing and short sword flashing at the incoming creatures. “I’ll keep ’em off ya long as I can.”
While she worked at creating a portal in the midst of the chaos, Pinch stumbled through the vast cavern in something like shock.
“This is impossible,” he wailed. “My plan was foolproof!” Pinch grasped at the Banishers and Nethermancers, desperate for their forgiveness and acceptance, as they fought valiantly to save themselves and their comrades. “I couldn’t have known it would end like this,” he pleaded. “Remember, I killed Verminion. I’m a hero…”
But there was neither forgiveness nor acceptance in anyone’s eyes as they pushed him away and continued to fight their doomed battle.
Amid the screams and shrieks, Theodore’s father, William, ran from the main lair to see what had become of the Guardian. He found the gentle creature in the small, icy chamber where Charlie had hidden it.
The Director was lowering its still body to the ground.
“No,” William said. “What have you done?”
“Only what had to be done,” Director Drake replied. “But surely you can see that.”
William rushed up to the Guardian and pulled it from the Director’s hands, hoping for signs of life—but there weren’t any.
“Can you imagine if this little operation had been successful?” Drake said, as if the very possibility were incomprehensible to him. “The Double-Threats would have taken over the Division, William. They would have ruined us.” He shook his head sadly. “Clearly, something had to be done.”
“People are dying out there!”
“I know,” the Director replied. “And it’s terrible, it really is—but hard men must make hard choices, and sometimes sacrifices are necessary to protect the greater good.”
“The greater good? My son is out there!”
Suddenly, Theodore ran into the chamber. “Dad!” he yelled, “I’ll portal us out!”
With a wave of his hand, Theodore created a portal…and that was when he noticed the lifeless Guardian in his father’s arms.
“What are you doing?” Theodore asked softly, backing away, horrified.
“No,” William replied. “It’s not what you think…”
“You touched him? He can’t be touched—you know that. We all know that! Everyone knows that!”
William shook his head. “You don’t understand—”
“How could you?” Theodore screamed. “My best friends are in this fight! Because of you, I don’t even know if Charlie and Violet are still alive! I don’t know if anyone’s alive!”
Just then, a new sound echoed down the hallway and throughout the cavern. It was the bright and lunatic laugh of something monstrous.
“GREETINGS!” a booming voice cried out, “and many great hellos!”
Tyrannus flapped down on his great, golden wings, his wild eyes rolling crazily in their sockets. “Yum, yum, yum! I thought I missed all the fun!”
Oh no, Charlie thought as he fought off a Dangeroo. It just doesn’t end, does it?
Now there were three Named in the giant lair.
Rapier flashing, Charlie began to race around, desperate to find his friends before Tyrannus joined in the frenzy, but the air was thick with swirling snow and the ground was slick with monster blood. Through the freezing haze, he could see some portals winking into existence as others disappeared, taking with them desperate Banishers and Nethermancers. People were either escaping from this death trap or falling prey to the monsters of the Nether.
As Charlie fought, he ran down a mental checklist, trying to figure out where he’d last seen his friends. He knew Rex and Tabitha were working as a team near Slagguron, but that had been a while ago. He had no idea if they were still in the lair or if they’d been able to make their escape.
Please let them have gotten away, he wished desperately.
As for the Headmaster, Charlie had glimpsed her brilliant blue staff light up the far reaches of the frozen cavern while she cut down vast armies of attacking Nethercreatures. The last he’d seen of her, she was so swarmed by monsters that only her staff was visible. Whether she had survived or not, whether it was even possible to survive the terrible odds she faced, was anyone’s guess.
He was little more certain about Violet and Brooke. While he was fighting off a Hag, he thought he saw Brooke create a portal that both girls had escaped through—but he wasn’t a hundred percent sure. They were far away and his eyes played tricks on him in the crazy reflections of this icy maze.
And Theodore—Charlie had seen him run off a while ago, chasing after his father. But where were they now?
Be safe, Theodore, he thought fiercely, willing it to be true. Be alive.
From somewhere behind him, he could hear Pinch wandering through the madness, yelling about how sorry he was, about how none of this was really his fault. Charlie didn’t know whether or not that was true, and frankly he didn’t really care—not now, anyway.
Now was the time for survival.
“Pinch!” Charlie cried out. “Where are you? If you’re hurt, say so and I’ll come get you and portal us out!”
“They all hate me now,” Pinch wailed pitifully in the distance. “Just like before.”
“Hang on, I’m coming to find you!”
Charlie fought his way past a Class-5 Netherstalker as he headed in the direction where he thought he’d heard Pinch. In his frenzy he slipped on a frozen patch of blood and hit his head—hard—on an icy ledge. It didn’t seem too bad, at first—nothing he couldn’t shake off after a minute or two—but then his body began to feel distant, as if he were looking at it in a faraway mirror.
He tried to stand but his legs felt like rubber, and he slid back down to the ice.
Oh no, he thought, I’m fainting. I can’t believe it!
And soon blackness washed over him in a warm, wet wave.
When Charlie awoke, he was all alone in the lair of the Named.
As far as he knew, the other humans were gone—those who were still alive, anyway. His head throbbed and he was fighting the urge to vomit, but he stood on shaky legs and prepared to open a portal to escape, when he heard a familiar throaty voice:
“Charlie Benjamin,” Barakkas said.
Charlie turned.
Barakkas, Slagguron, and Tyrannus stood behind him like giant trolls from some ancient, evil fairy tale. Their Artifacts of the Nether gleamed brilliantly, reflected a hundred times over in the walls of ice that surrounded them.
“Yes?” Charlie replied. He was exhausted.
“It doesn’t have to end like this, boy,” Barakkas said pleasantly, stepping toward him. “Just because the rest of humanity will die at our hands doesn’t mean you have to.”
“Of course not!” Tyrannus chirped happily, flapping into the air with enthusiasm. The force of his wings sent the smaller Nethercreatures around him tumbling away. “There are no hard feelings! We are your friends, Charlie Benjamin—and friends always eat friends, don’t they!”
“Friends always eat friends?” Charlie repeated. He wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Slagguron said, his voice a low rumble, “that Tyrannus has lost his mind.”
“I have NOT!” Tyrannus shrieked. “After all, how could someone crazy clean his own ears with his tongue?”
Shockingly, he proceeded to do just that.
“Fine,” Slagguron said, “but you still cannot eat the boy.”
Tyrannus pouted. “Why not?”
“Because he is going to help us.”
“How?” Charlie asked. “How can I possibly help you?”
Barakkas tossed something down in front of him. As big around as a water tower, it hit the ground with a tremendous clang, and Charlie recognized it almost immediately.
“Verminion’s choker? What’s that for?”
“You wore my bracer once,” Barakkas said. “Which means you’re the only human who has ever been able to wield an Artifact of the Nether without being destroyed.”
“So?”
“So, Verminion may be dead—but you, Charlie Benjamin, can use the Artifact in his place to join us in summoning the Fifth.”
Charlie’s blood froze. “No…I thought you had to have all four Named to do that.”
“We needed all four Named,” Barakkas said, “because we needed all four artifacts. It is the artifact that is important, not the one who wields it.” He nodded to the choker on the ground with his great horns.
“YOU can be the fourth Named, Charlie Benjamin.”
Suddenly, Charlie understood what Slagguron had meant during the attack on the Nightmare Division when he had told Barakkas “there is still hope.” Verminion’s death wasn’t fatal to their plans as long as they still had Charlie.
He shook his head. “I won’t do it.”
“Oh, you will,” Barakkas replied, “or you will die.”
Charlie shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe I’ll be able to portal out before that happens. Wanna see who’s quicker?”
“Stop being so DIFFICULT!” Tyrannus shrieked, flapping forward. “You have to use it—you must! You’re the only human who can!”
“That’s not entirely true,” a voice behind Charlie said.
He spun to see Pinch standing there, bloodied and bruised. Pinch smiled grimly, and the combination of world-weary eyes on such a young-looking face was, at best, disturbing. “Charlie was able to put on the Bracer because he’s a Double-Threat…but so am I.”
“No, Edward,” Charlie said. “Don’t do this.”
“There’s nothing for me here anymore,” Pinch said softly. “They all hate me now—everyone at the Nightmare Division. They blame me for this.” He gestured to the massacre that surrounded him. “I can’t fault them, I suppose. I would hate me, too, if our positions were reversed.”
“They’ll forgive you, Edward,” Charlie said. “I’m sure they will. It just might take some time.”
Edward shook his head. “I may look like a child, but you are one, Charlie Benjamin. You have a lot to learn about people. They do not forgive and they do not forget.” He craned his head up to look at Barakkas. “If I do this for you, what will you give me in return?”
“Your life,” Barakkas replied with a smile. Charlie could see bits of meat hanging from his teeth. “And a place at our side. The Fifth will want you to remain here, of course, to open more portals to the Nether, to bring monsters to aid us in our fight.”
“They’re lying to you,” Charlie said. “You know they are. After you do what they want, they’ll kill you.”
“So what? I have nothing to live for anyway.”
The higher you go, the Headmaster had said, the farther you have to fall.
Pinch, who had started out as one of the most powerful Double-Threats ever born, had spent most of his life as a miserable, broken man after being Reduced. Then, through nothing short of a miracle, he had quickly risen to dizzying heights, regaining his Gift and slaying Verminion.
To lose all that now, again, was simply too much for him to bear.
He reached out his hand—smooth and small—and touched Verminion’s choker. It shrank down to a size that would fit him perfectly.
“Please don’t,” Charlie said. “It’s not too late, Edward. You can still make things right.”