Monster War

For more ferocious monster fun log on to www.nightmareacademy.co.uk

To three people who helped and encouraged me when it meant the most:

Dr Jean Fant

Tim Schoch And, most of all, Francesca Rizzo

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

Dedication

Part One Attack of the Fifth

Chapter One the War Begins

Chapter Two Monster in the Mall

Chapter Three No Place Like Home

Chapter Four Exiles at the Academy

Chapter Five the Central Mystery of Central Park

Chapter Six the Hidden Headmaster

Part Two Sword of Sacrifice

Chapter Seven the Netherforge

Chapter Eight the Chasm Wrym

Chapter Nine the Test of Sacrifice

Chapter Ten Theodore Takes His Turn

Chapter Eleven A Reluctant Reunion

Chapter Twelve the Final Turn is Taken

Part Three the Poisonous Plot of Director Drake

Chapter Thirteen the Fight Begins

Chapter Fourteen Bad Day in the Gorgon Maze

Chapter Fifteen Escape from the Shredder-sharks

Chapter Sixteen the Return of A Beautiful Lady

Chapter Seventeen Charging the Sword

Part Four the Queen of Nightmares

Chapter Eighteen the Slumber

Chapter Nineteen the Lair of the Fifth

Chapter Twenty the Core of the Matter

Chapter Twenty-One DRAKE

Chapter Twenty-Two an Old Friend

Copyright

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE THE WAR BEGINS

Like most big and terrible things, the war between the people of Earth and the monsters of the Nether started out small.

At first, there were just a few isolated attacks. A group of hikers in Maui were set upon by a pack of Dangeroos. The filthy, kangaroo-like beasts stuffed the screaming humans into their pouches and then hopped off into the dense and humid jungle beyond.

The hikers were never seen again.

Several postal workers in the small town of Conyers, Georgia were bitten by one-eyed serpents that lay coiled in mailboxes. The shiny purple beasts came to be known as Yeller-Swellers because their bite caused people to yell loudly in pain and then swell up like giant marshmallows. Fortunately, the swelling was only temporary. Unfortunately, when the victims shrank back down, they didn’t stop shrinking until they were half their original size.

Even the President of the United States was a victim of Monster Attack.

Although he had some of the best security of anyone on the planet, nothing could protect him from his own nightmares. While sleeping in the presidential suite in the White House, he dreamed that he was walking through his old school completely naked. In the dream, everyone pointed at him and laughed - his teachers, his parents and even his dog, Herbert. In fact, Herbert’s laughter was so cruel and mean-spirited that it caused the President to have a panic attack and, quite unconsciously, he opened a fiery purple portal to the Netherworld.

A Mimic slithered through.

Using its long arms and fingers, it quickly abducted the man, stashed him in a cupboard and then changed form to ‘mimic’ him so precisely that even the President’s wife couldn’t tell the difference, although she did mention that he smelled strongly of cinnamon -a common trait of Mimics.

That afternoon, the thing that looked like the President held a press conference. In front of the entire world, it began rhyming like an insane Dr Seuss, telling everyone that the “Monsters are why, we’re all gonna die - so let’s just eat pie. Goodbye!” Then the creature did backflips through the astonished throng of reporters until its true identity was revealed when it knocked over a water bottle and the resulting splash of liquid caused its skin to melt away like candle wax.

After the monster was captured and destroyed, the real President was rescued. The shaken man wasted no time before holding another press conference to explain to the world that no one should panic and that things were completely under control.

But they weren’t.

Sitting in his parents’ apartment in Brooklyn, Charlie Benjamin watched TV with growing anxiety as CNN showed endless reports of Nethercreatures rampaging through cities around the globe. Flocks of Hags spiralled out of a night-time sky to snatch entire football teams from their stadiums - the starting line-up of the Dallas Cowboys was the most recent casualty. Gremlins gorged themselves on power cables at plants throughout the world, plunging entire cities into darkness. In fact, Tokyo was just recovering from a Gremlin-caused blackout.

The fear brought on by these attacks caused millions of nightmares in people across the planet. In turn, those nightmares opened portals to the Netherworld, allowing an incredible influx of new monsters to pour through. Charlie had been taught in his ‘Monster Invasion: What You Can Do About It’ class that this was called the ‘Snowball Effect’. But to learn about it in a schoolroom was one thing - seeing it in action was something terrifyingly different.

“Horrible, horrible…” Charlie’s father Barrington muttered as he watched the attacks unfold.

“Yes, indeed,” his wife Olga agreed. She smoothed her dress and sighed heavily. “Why are they doing this to us, Charlie?”

“Because they can.”

He knew the answer wasn’t very satisfying, but it was true. The monsters were attacking because it was in their nature to attack - it was simply what they were born to do, and they were doing it now with terrifying gusto.

And all because of me, Charlie thought glumly, although he didn’t say it.

The attack of the monsters of the Nether wasn’t his fault, not really, but he’d certainly contributed to their getting to Earth in the first place.

For six months, he and his friends had studied Banishing and Nethermancy at the Nightmare Academy, honing their skills in preparation to one day go to work for the Nightmare Division - the organisation charged with controlling the Nethercreature population on Earth. During their final exam, they stumbled across a plot to bring the last two Named Lords of the Nether out of that terrible land of monsters and here to our world.

Despite Charlie’s best efforts (or maybe because of them, depending on who you talked to) the Named succeeded in their evil scheme and managed to summon the Fifth - a creature of unimaginable power. She promptly destroyed all the Named Lords and established herself as the General of the Army of the Nether, sending her ferocious minions out across the planet to wreak havoc on humanity.

Someone had to take the blame, and Director Drake of the Nightmare Division blamed Charlie and sent him into exile.

As much as he was desperate to leave his parents’ apartment and return to his friends at the Nightmare Academy, Charlie didn’t see how he could. If he left his mum and dad alone, they would most likely be monster food within minutes. Plus, there was that sticky matter of his being ‘exiled’. He didn’t know what it meant exactly, but he suspected it involved him being banished from the Academy - maybe for ever.

Not that a little thing like ‘banishment’ was going to stop him. As far as Charlie was concerned, nothing was going to prevent him from seeing Violet, Theodore and Brooke again after he was sure his parents were safe from the monsters of the Nether. And then…something miraculous happened.

The monsters gave up.

As quickly as the attacks on humanity had started, they stopped. For a full week, there were no monster sightings anywhere on planet Earth. Across the globe, people celebrated and rejoiced. They even went back to their old routines, sure that the Monster War was finally over.

“Charlie, you’re too thin,” his mother scolded as he nibbled at his burger. Charlie kept glancing at the door of the restaurant, sure that some horrible beast was going to lurch in - but the place remained calm and quiet.

“I’m fine, Mom. Really.”

“There’s nothing wrong with him,” his father said, gulping down a chocolate milkshake. “The boy is just growing taller. Children are like toffee - as you stretch them, they get thinner.”

“Well, I think it’s stress. For almost a year now, he’s been expected to save the entire world from monsters all on his own. I mean, he hasn’t even kissed a girl yet.”

“Mom!”

“Well, it’s true.”

Not really, Charlie thought, thinking of the quick kiss he’d shared with Brooke on the beach in front of the Nightmare Academy six months ago, but he didn’t say anything. He glanced again at the front door.

“Will you please stop doing that?” Olga snapped. “Nothing is coming through there! Goodness gracious - no one has seen a monster in over a week.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean they’re not around…hiding…waiting to attack.”

“And why is that your problem?” His mother angrily jabbed a French fry into her ketchup. “Let the adults in the Nightmare Division handle it - you’re still a child! My child! And as long as you’re with us, we will protect you - not the other way around. That’s just the way it works in the real world.”

Yeah, right, Charlie thought. The image of his parents protecting him from monsters was so laughable that he couldn’t even conjure it up.

“Well, we may be the adults,” his father said, “but the fact remains that Charlie is an extraordinarily good monster hunter. He’s a…what do they call you?”

“A Double-Threat.”

“Double-Threat! Yes, indeed! The boy can both Banish and Nethermance - most children can’t do either.”

“Well, he didn’t ask for this horrible ability,” his mother replied icily. “I’m just thankful the monsters have stopped attacking so we can stop worrying about it.”

Charlie shook his head. “It’s not over.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. I can…I can feel it. Something is coming, something bad and I’ve got to…” He hesitated. “I’ve got to leave you and go and find my friends at the Academy - I’ve got to get ready to fight” were the words he knew he should say - but the panicked, desperate look in his mother’s eyes stopped him.

“Charlie Benjamin,” she said with a sigh. “You know I love you more than life itself…but you can’t possibly get rid of all the monsters in the world.”

And that was when a Netherbat crashed through the large front window of the restaurant.

I may not be able to get rid of all the monsters in the world, Charlie thought as the crimson beast sailed inside with a shriek, furiously flapping its leathery wings as startled customers dived for cover from the terrible spray of glass, but I can get rid of this one.

He reached under the table and drew his glowing blue rapier - it felt good in his hand. With another ear-piercing shriek, the Netherbat snatched a screaming, stocky man in its talons, then spun around and flapped towards the broken window, trying to escape with its flailing prize.

Charlie leaped into the air and, with one quick, smooth move, brought his sizzling rapier down on the beast’s left wing. The Netherbat fell to the ground in a fountain of black ichor and, off balance now, careened into a table in a gloopy explosion of mustard and ketchup. Still flapping with its one remaining wing, it flipped on to its back and slammed into the restaurant wall. The nearby customers scrambled to crawl away as the beast snapped at them - until Charlie put a quick stop to that by chopping off the Netherbat’s head.

“Th-thank you!” the stocky man exclaimed as Charlie yanked him from the dead creature’s spasming talons. But before Charlie could mutter “You’re welcome”, two more monstrous bats sailed in, searching for tasty human prey. Charlie gutted one of the beasts as it soared above him and then quickly dispatched the other as it flew into the kitchen. The creature’s carcass slammed down on to the grill, where it cooked and sizzled alongside the burgers and fried onions.

There was silence then, broken only by the popping of frying meat. After a moment, it was joined by another sound.

Clapping.

Charlie turned to see the customers in the restaurant applauding as they struggled to their feet. “Oh, it was nothing,” he said, turning a bright shade of red, secretly pleased. But then he heard screaming. A great crowd of people were rushing out of the nearby shopping centre. Something was inside.

Something bad.

“Don’t,” his mother pleaded.

“I have to,” Charlie replied and, without another word, he ran out of the restaurant and towards the monsters in the mall.

CHAPTER TWO MONSTER IN THE MALL

Screaming customers flooded from the entrance in waves, and pushing through them was like trying to break through heavy surf. Somehow Charlie managed. Once inside, he tried to distance himself from the cries of the panicked people to figure out the cause of their terror. His first clue came from a woman just outside a clothes shop. People streamed past her - mothers clutching children, elderly people hopping along on sticks - but for some reason this woman wasn’t moving.

That’s strange, Charlie thought. And then he realised why.

She was covered, from the neck down, in a clear, gummy mass that completely immobilised her, anchoring her to the floor. Charlie glanced around and saw that she wasn’t the only one encased in the gluey mess. A security guard in the food court on the second storey was trapped against the cash register of a Chinese restaurant and two children in the play area were stuck to a giant foam ladybird.

Only one monster does that, Charlie thought. And then he saw it.

A Ravenous Sticky-Spitter.

The large, lizard-like creature clung to the outside of a glass elevator that was making its way back to the first floor. The beast was incredibly hard to spot - Sticky-Spitters had terrific camouflage; the pigment in their skin mirrored their surroundings so perfectly that most people could only see them when they moved. Charlie didn’t think he’d ever come into contact with a Sticky-Spitter before, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t. Before his training at the Nightmare Academy, one could have been sleeping right next to him without him ever seeing it.

As the elevator landed on the first floor, the Sticky-Spitter opened its wide mouth and spat out a large wad of glistening goop that shot through the air and snagged a fleeing shoe-shop assistant.

At least his face isn’t covered, Charlie thought, before remembering that Ravenous Sticky-Spitters (or RSSs) preferred to swallow their food alive, so they carefully aimed their spit to immobilise prey, not suffocate it.

With his rapier glowing fiercely blue, Charlie rushed towards the RSS, intent on putting an end to its attacks before feeding time could begin. But as fast as Charlie was, he wasn’t faster than the gluey phlegm that the RSS hurled his way, sticking him to the floor like a fly to flypaper. His arms were pinned to his sides and his face was spattered with flecks of glistening spittle - they had the sour smell of a burp that had been fermenting inside a belly for far too long.

OK, Charlie thought calmly, if I can’t Banish it, I’ll just Nethermance it away.

As one of only three people in existence who could both Banish and Nethermance (although not at the same time), Charlie had options available to him that most people with the Gift could only dream of. He had just begun to open a portal beneath the creature when several Netherstalkers suddenly burst through the air shaft in the ceiling above him, quickly descending on long strands of spider-silk. The double eyestalks that waved on their heads told him they were only Class-2 creatures, which wouldn’t normally present a problem - but this situation was far from normal.

Normally, Charlie wasn’t trapped in a glob of Sticky-Spitter phlegm.

How am I going to get out of this one? he wondered as their large, spidery bodies arrowed down towards him, sharp fangs snapping.

Just before the first of the Netherstalkers pounced on his head, Charlie noticed his father running out of a sports shop, wielding a large baseball bat.

“Get away from my boy!” the tall man shouted. With one mighty swing, he knocked the nearest Netherstalker away. It made a crunching sound, like a snail being crushed underfoot, then swung wildly into the air, still tethered to the thick silken line that spun out of its abdomen.

“Thanks, Dad!” Charlie shouted.

“No time to talk, son,” Barrington replied as he swung at another of the descending creatures. Again there was that peculiar crunching sound and the Netherstalker soared away with a squeal. “You may have noticed,” Barrington continued, eyeing another of the approaching beasts, “that I’ve chosen to use a baseball bat made of wood. Why not aluminum, you ask? Because aluminum doesn’t compare to the feel of a solid length of northern white ash, that’s why.”

He shot Charlie a friendly wink just as the hairy bristles on the leg of another Netherstalker landed on Charlie’s shoulder. Barrington prepared to swing as Olga rushed up with a can of insect spray.

“Get off him, you filthy bug!” she yelled, spraying the creature right in its waving eyestalks. The Netherstalker shrieked and crashed to the slippery floor.

“Olga Benjamin!” Barrington roared. “Excellent work! Where did you get the bug spray?”

“The chemist’s,” she replied. “Best thing to get rid of bugs, don’t you think?”

Barrington smiled fondly. “My girl…”

The two of them went to work dispatching the rest of the Netherstalkers so that Charlie could go after the Ravenous Sticky-Spitter, which was now moving rapidly towards them. Because its skin was camouflaged so perfectly against the wall of the mall, Charlie had trouble judging exactly how far away it really was.

If he opened a portal behind it, there wouldn’t be enough time to open another and the monster would get them and eat them. If he opened a portal too far in front of it, the monster would have time to swerve around the trap and still get them and eat them. But if he opened the portal just right, directly beneath the rampaging creature, then maybe—

Purple fire blazed across Charlie as a wide portal snapped open right below the fearsome beast. The RSS let out a wail of surprise and then plummeted through the portal and into the Nether, tumbling wildly through the air before crashing into the icy waters of the 4th Ring, where it was consumed by a passing Hydra. Charlie quickly closed the portal and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the purple flame on his body had melted the thick gum of the Sticky-Spitter, freeing him. With a couple swipes of his rapier, he killed the few remaining Netherstalkers, then turned to his parents with a smile.

“You two are…you’re Leet!”

Barrington grinned. “I have no idea what that means, but I’ll take it as a good thing.”

“It is. Trust me.”

Olga smiled primly. “I’d better get to work helping out the other unfortunates that have got caught in the big lizard’s spit. I’ll be in the supermarket getting peanut butter. It helps remove chewing gum from hair, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be useful in this situation.” With that, she strode off.

“Terrific, isn’t she?” Barrington said proudly once Olga was out of earshot.

“Yeah. She really is.”

And that’s when they heard a scream.

What now? Charlie thought as he and his father raced in the direction of the sound.

The screaming woman stood in front of an electrical store, pointing at a widescreen TV in the window. Charlie pushed his way through the crowd of people around her to see an aerial view of Central Park in Manhattan - or what Charlie knew should have been Central Park. But the wide lawn of Sheep Meadow and the rippling waves of the toy-boat pond were now gone from view, covered by a thick, impenetrable white mist that had settled over the place like an Otherworldly shroud.

“What is that weird fog?” a small boy asked, awestruck.

“And where did it come from?” an older man in a baseball cap added.

Charlie thought those were both perfectly legitimate questions, but he had another more urgent one: what is it hiding?

Olga Benjamin’s peanut-butter idea didn’t help free the captured shoppers from the Sticky-Spitter’s slime balls, but it turned out that vinegar did - also her idea. After she had finished helping the last of the victims escape their gluey prisons, she met up again with Charlie and Barrington. They were waiting for her in the mall car park, keeping a careful watch on the sky.

“See any Hags?” Olga asked as she walked up.

Charlie shook his head, amused that his mother knew that if they were looking up, they might be searching for Hags. “It looks clear.”

“That’s good news.” Olga smoothed out her dress, which was spotted with monster goop, then turned to Barrington. “It appears that things are finally under control. Ready to head home?”

Barrington nodded. “I am…” He seemed hesitant.

“But?”

“But Charlie has something to tell you.”

Olga turned to her son. “Go ahead, Charlie. Don’t be shy.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Mom, but I can’t go with you. The monsters are going to keep attacking us - until they’re all dead or we are. I just…I need to do what I can to help.”

“Of course you do,” his mother replied promptly.

Charlie wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. Where was the explosion of dismay? The pleading that he come to his senses and return home, where it was safe?

“You have a destiny,” his mother said, cradling his cheeks in her warm hands. “I didn’t want to acknowledge it before, but now that I’ve seen how skilfully you handle yourself and how much good you can do for others, I can’t deny it.” She smiled gently. “You go on and do what you need to, son.”

“I wish I could stay here and protect you.”

Olga shook her head. “Your father and I will be fine.” Having just seen them in action, Charlie knew it was true. He hugged her then and she whispered, “Be safe.” He could feel her breath tickling his ear.

“I will,” Charlie promised. Then he turned to his father and extended his hand.

Barrington laughed. “A handshake? You’ve got to be kidding me!” He snatched his son up in his arms. Charlie could feel his father’s stubble on his cheek and he smelled his aftershave. “You go get ’em, son. Then you come back to us, safe and sound, you hear?”

Charlie nodded, then stepped back and opened a portal. The war with the creatures of the Nether had taken a new and unexpected turn and Central Park - with its monstrous mystery - was clearly going to be the next battleground. The real fight was about to begin, and for that Charlie Benjamin needed his friends.

He had to return to the Nightmare Academy.

Charlie waved goodbye to his parents, then jumped through the fiery gateway and was soon gone from view.