Wicked Hungry

“A little hungry,” I say.

What did your phone say?” Blaine asks.

“Just half an hour until the gate closes.”

“Let us ride, then,” Nye says. “You will have to wait to feed, Stanley. But ride with us, if you will.”

“We’ll run, thanks,” I say, and whistle to my friends.

“Dude, you should have seen it,” Jonathan says, breathless. “It was sick. There were ghouls everywhere, and the knights were getting chomped, and the ghouls picked up their weapons and chewed on them like they were food. I thought we were dead. Then Rewsin came up and started ripping them apart.”

“WHO SPEAKS MY NAME?” bellows the demon.

But we ignore him for a moment.

“I’m just glad you guys are all right,” I say.

“Yeah, we let those black knights tangle with the ghouls,” says Enrique. “Although my brother was shooting a lot of crossbow bolts with Andres.”

Andres, though, is staring at the Whelans’ house.

“Some bad vibes coming from that building,” Andres says.

“It’s just covered with sigils,” Carver says. “Those are good vibes, actually.”

“If you say so, Carver. You’re the expert.”

“What’s the plan?” Enrique asks me.

“We’ve got to save Meredith and Carolina,” I say. “They’re somehow trapped on the other side of the gateway, and we need to get them out. And the demon will help us if we help it go back through the gateway.”

“Where is this gateway?” Andres asks.

“It’s in the pit for the new mall,” Blaine says. “The digging disturbed things that should have been left alone. Look, can we go?”

“What’s the hurry?” Andres asks.

“Meredith,” I say. “And Carolina. The gateway is closing. We’ve got to find them.”

“Go ahead,” Andres says. “We’ve got your back.”

“Thanks,” I say, but I’m terrified, really. Terrified of what we’ll find. Or not find. But that’s crazy thinking. We have to find them.

“Rewsin,” Blaine bellows. “We run. Can you follow us?

The demon rushes up to us. “I’m ready to kick some butt. Just tell me what it is: zombie, ghoul, or vampire? Where we going, chief?”

It takes me a moment to realize he’s talking to me.

“To the gateway,” I say.

“All right,” the demon says. “Faerie butt, then, maybe? They’re even tougher than vampires, but I’m ready. Follow me.”

And he’s off running, tearing through the trees, breaking branches and flattening shrubbery. There’s no chance of losing his scent trail, either, with his winning combo of dead dog stink and demonic sulfurous reek.

Blaine, Enrique, Jonathan, and Connor run with me as we follow the demon through the woods. There is a buzzing in the air that resonates in my teeth, and it grows as we go on.

“Can you feel it?” Blaine growls to me as he matches me stride for stride. “That’s gateway energy. Backing up. There must be a tremendous blockage.”