The Journal of Curious Letters Read online

  The Barrier Wand.

  “It’s Annika!” Mothball roared as she jumped back onto her Windbike. “Quick! Fly to her—fly to her!”

  She shot into the air and down the path of the river, toward the running woman, who kept looking behind her, terrified. She shouted something as she ran, but they were too far away to hear. As Tick scrambled onto the Windbike behind Sato, he saw tall, gangly figures pouring through the castle doors, more and more as the exit opened wider. He couldn’t tell what the creatures were, but they seemed . . . wrong somehow. They were basically human in shape, but all comparisons ended there.

  Sato shot through the air and pulled up beside Mothball as they drew closer to Annika. “What are those things?” he yelled.

  The creatures’ skin was a putrid hue of yellow, like they’d been infected with a horrible disease. Clumpy patches of hair sprang from their bodies in random places and they wore only scant, filthy clothing that looked like tattered sheets that barely covered their thick torsos. Their eyes were mere slits, burning red pupils peeping out like a glimpse of hot lava. And their mouths . . .

  They were huge, full of pointy spikes of enormous teeth.

  “Them’s the fangen,” Mothball shouted. “Nasty beasties, they are. But we can fight ’em off with a bit of effort.”

  Even as she spoke, the hackles and cries from the fangen grew louder. Tick looked around in horror as he saw more of the sickly creatures appearing from everywhere, out of ditches, over the crests of the surrounding hills, out of the forest. They came from all directions, some bounding along on all four of their skinny arms and legs, others running upright; still others had things sprouting off their backs, membranous extensions resembling dirty sails, tautly flapping in the wind. With horror, Tick realized they were wings.

  “By the way,” Mothball yelled, readying herself to dive for Annika. “Fangen can fly.”

  ~

  High above the grounds, safe in her room, Mistress Jane sat next to the open air of her window, listening with glee to the horrific sounds of her attacking army. Amazing what the power of this twisted and evil Reality could create. This was her first practical use of the fangen. How wonderful.

  But with so many against so few, it hardly seemed fair.

  She looked down in her lap, where she cradled the Chi’karda Drive like a newborn baby. Without it, the pathetic band of Realitants could never use her Barrier Wand to escape. And she had already received word that Master George’s Wand had been damaged beyond repair in the battle at the Bermuda Triangle. Good news, all around.

  She did feel a little saddened by Annika’s betrayal. Jane had trusted her with so many trivial and demeaning duties. What a pity she’d have to be done away with.

  Mistress Jane screamed for something to eat. She had a show to enjoy before she sat down to strategize for her meeting with Reginald Chu in a few days.

  Her plan to make the universe a better place had officially begun.

  ~

  Sofia had fallen far behind the other two Windbikes, too shocked by the sight of the onrushing creatures to push ahead any faster. She spun in a slow circle as she took it all in. The fangen were everywhere. The sight of the tall, awkward creatures, with their bony arms and legs attached to a thick, solid torso and their disgusting skin and patches of greasy hair, made her sick.

  “Man, what are those things!” Paul shouted from behind her.

  “Your long-lost cousins!” Sofia yelled back, knowing there couldn’t possibly be a worst time to make a joke, but unable to stop herself.

  “Hilarious—now hurry and catch up with Mothball!”

  Sofia was about to push forward on the handlebars when something appeared right in front of them, shooting up from the ground.

  One of the creatures, its enormous mouth baring fangs the size of small knives, hovered in midair, blocking their path. It looked hungry.

  Sofia saw the wings for the first time, furled out behind the fangen like a horrific version of giant palm leaves.

  From behind her, Paul suddenly screamed.

  ~

  The fangen moved twice as fast as Annika could run, and they were almost on top of her as Mothball dove toward the ground like a hawk on a field mouse. Her heart hurt at seeing the terror on her old friend’s face as she ran, the fierceness in Annika’s eyes enough to turn water to stone. Mothball leaned on the handlebars, willing the Windbike to move faster. She wasn’t close enough to use a Sound Slicer, and even if she were, she couldn’t use it; the thing would turn Annika’s brain to jelly.

  A fangen jumped on Annika’s back, throwing her to the ground. Annika rolled, gripping the Barrier Wand with both hands and swinging wildly. She hit the creature in the face, a strange bark coming out of its mouth as it reared back in pain. Annika scrambled to her feet and kept running, the horde of fangen right on her tail. The clumsy things constantly stumbled over each other, but never lost ground due to sheer numbers.

  Mothball was almost to Annika, screaming at her to keep running. Though Mothball was bigger than the usual rider of a Windbike—leaving no room for another passenger—she felt sure she could somehow lift Annika up and away from the monsters. Of course, the disgusting things could just leap into the air with their warped Chi’karda-melded wings, but she’d deal with one thing at a time.

  About forty feet away, Mothball realized she was too late. Several fangen had caught up with Annika, flanking her to make sure she couldn’t fight her way out again. Her eyes met Mothball’s, and they seemed so full of fear that Mothball worried Annika might drop dead of it.

  Determined to fight her way into the melee and save Annika and the Wand or die trying, Mothball surged forward.

  She was almost there when Annika threw the Barrier Wand into the air as hard as she could, the shiny rod glistening in the morning sun as it windmilled end over end toward Mothball. An instant later, Annika disappeared under a mass of writhing yellow skin and claws.

  Mothball reached out and caught the Wand with her right hand, screaming with fury at the beasts below her, knowing it was too late to save her friend.

  ~

  Tick and Sato watched the entire ordeal play out from dozens of feet behind Mothball, flying in to help. Tick didn’t know if he should cheer or cry when their tall friend caught the Barrier Wand in her hand.

  He had time to do neither.

  A pack of three flying fangen attacked their Windbike in a swarm of sharp claws and spiky fangs and flapping wings.

  ~

  Paul screamed when the claws raked down his back, trying not to picture in his mind what it had done to his skin. On instinct, he gripped Sofia harder for support and kicked behind him with his right leg. He felt a solid thump as his foot connected, followed by a hair-raising shriek that faded as the creature fell to the ground.

  Sofia gunned the Windbike forward; it smashed into a flying fangen and sent it reeling to the side, hissing in frustration. Paul felt himself slipping backward and had to pull himself back onto the seat, all the while looking below them at the unbelievable sight. Everywhere he looked, more and more of the nightmarish creatures appeared, snapping at the air with their vicious fangs.

  “Use the thing Mothball gave us!” Sofia yelled from up front, pulling it out of her pocket as she spoke.

  “Sound Slicer,” Paul whispered to himself as he grabbed his own.

  Together, they aimed the little cylinders at the nearest pack of fangen and pushed the buttons. A low sound vibrated through the air, barely discernible but heavy, rattling Paul’s bones as if he’d been standing next to tolling cathedral bells. Below them, the fangen suddenly plummeted toward the ground like they’d been hit with an invisible tidal wave.

  “Whoa,” Paul said.

  In tandem, he and Sofia swept the area below them, firing the Sound Slicer at anything in sight. Hordes of fangen fell from the sky.

  “Find Mothball!” Paul yelled in Sofia’s ear.

  ~

  Tick had never really been in a fight his e
ntire life. He’d always walked away from them or taken the punishment or avoided them. But now he had no choice. With one hand clutching Sato’s shirt, he punched and kicked with his other three limbs, thrashing wildly as he frantically tried to avoid the fangs and claws of the fangen.

  Sato swerved back and forth with the Windbike, alternately accelerating and slamming on the brakes, popping up and down, trying his best to get away from their attackers. But for every one that fell away, two more seemed to show up.

  Tick felt his elbow connect with something solid, heard an eerie yelp. His feet kicked away a fangen on each side of the bike at the same time. He punched another one square between the small slits of its eyes. More of the beasts swarmed in. Tick reached into his pocket and pulled out the cylinder he’d received from Mothball, only to have it knocked out of his hands, falling to the ground below.

  He felt something sharp on his shoulder blade, turning around to see that one of the fangen had grabbed his scarf, pulling itself closer with jaws wide open. Tick had to let go of Sato with his other hand as he swung his elbow up and around as hard as he could, slamming it into the beast’s neck. It screamed and fell away.

  At that very moment, Tick’s stomach shot up into his throat as the Windbike suddenly plummeted toward the ground. He just barely grabbed the edges of the seat, turning toward the front of the bike.

  His heart skittered when he saw that Sato had disappeared.

  He looked up just in time to see two fangen flying away, Sato firmly in the grasp of their claws.

  Chapter

  48

  ~

  Double Doors

  Frazier Gunn watched the action from his perch high atop the walls of the Lemon Fortress. Seeing the swarms of fangen descend on the few Realitants—especially the big one who’d kidnapped him in the Alaskan cemetery—gave him a grim sense of satisfaction.

  His place in Mistress Jane’s hierarchy would surely skyrocket after this victory.

  He saw the tall woman, grasping the useless Barrier Wand, dodging and weaving through hundreds of fangen as she tried to escape. He worried slightly she might break it—even though it couldn’t be used without the Chi’karda Drive, the shell itself was a complex instrument in its own right that would take months to replace—but the army of creatures had direct orders to retrieve it safe and sound. Everything would be fine.

  Surprised by a sudden yawn, Frazier decided he’d had enough; the fangen were already boring him. He turned around and went back into the castle proper, hoping Mistress Jane might call on him for congratulations very soon.

  ~

  Tick knew Sato’s fate was sealed if Tick couldn’t gain control of the Windbike before it crashed into the ground

  below. The bike twisted and pitched back and forth as it

  fell, throwing his senses into complete chaos. He steeled himself, forcing his eyes and hands to focus on the leather seat, pulling himself toward the handlebars. Though he didn’t dare look, he could feel the lawn and river rushing up to smash him to bits. He only had seconds to live unless he . . .

  With one last grunt, he yanked himself upright and squeezed his legs on both sides of the bike’s body. He quickly grabbed the handlebars and bent them toward the sky. With a lurch that almost made his stomach implode, the Windbike slowed to a halt then shot straight back up into the air. As dozens of fangen repositioned themselves to attack him again, Tick looked in the direction Sato had been taken. He could just see his flailing body, resisting the two creatures that’d whisked him away.

  They were on a direct course for the top of the castle.

  In the next instant, a million thoughts seemed to flow through Tick’s mind, processing and reprocessing.

  A few months ago, he’d made a very difficult decision. Even though his life had become frightening—just as Master George had promised it would—and even though he could’ve made it all go away with a simple toss of the first letter into the fire, he hadn’t done it. Some courage he didn’t know he’d had, some sense of duty and right he didn’t know was so powerful, had swelled inside his heart and given him the conviction to make an extremely hard choice. He remembered thinking of his little sister Kayla, and what he might do if her life were at stake.

  And now, truly for the first time in his existence, Tick had a chance to risk his own life to save another.

  The question posed by Master George so long ago popped back into his mind.

  Will you have the courage to choose the difficult path?

  Tick screamed Sato’s name and slammed the handlebars up and forward, bulleting the Windbike in a straight path toward the fangen. Toward Sato.

  ~

  Sofia continued to fly the Windbike as crazy as she dared, swerving and diving and skyrocketing upward in an attempt to evade the countless creatures coming after them. Her head hurt from the effort; her stomach begged her to stop.

  Behind her, Paul continued to shoot as many fangen as he could with his Sound Slicer, defending her as she drove. He’d slipped and almost fallen several times, but she had no choice but to keep flying forward.

  She caught a glimpse of Tick streaking past her on his Windbike.

  Alone.

  Where was—

  Before she could finish her thought, one of the flying creatures slammed into them from the side, driving its head into the engine of the bike. Sofia lurched, barely hanging on as the body of the beast flipped under them and fell to the ground.

  She felt Paul squirming behind her to right himself on the seat. “What was that thing doing?” he asked.

  Unfortunately, they got their answer a second later.

  With a loud sputter of electronic coughs, then a low whine that sounded like a baby elephant caught in a trap, the Windbike quit working. Completely.

  This time, Sofia and Paul screamed in unison as they dropped toward the ground far below.

  ~

  Tick had halved the distance to Sato and his captors in a matter of seconds. Even though they could fly, the fangen were no match for the Windbikes when it came to speed.

  Tick leaned forward, keeping his eyes focused on his target.

  He tried not to think of what would happen if they suddenly decided to drop Sato.

  ~

  Mothball used the Barrier Wand like a staff, swinging it in wide arcs as she darted about on her Windbike, knocking the heads of the fangen, sometimes two or three at a time. She realized they’d be in a whole heap of mess if she broke the ruddy Wand, but Master George had always said the things were sturdy enough to withstand most punishment.

  She’d just landed a particularly nice hit on a creature when she caught a flicker of dark movement to her right. She looked to see Paul and Sofia—and their bike—plummeting toward the ground.

  She zoomed in that direction without an instant’s hesitation.

  ~

  Sofia’s Windbike sputtered sporadically, humming to life with a jolt for the briefest of moments before dying again. Paul hugged Sofia tightly from behind, probably hoping she’d never bring it up again should they somehow survive.

  But Sofia knew they’d be dead in seconds, and wondered what life as a Realitant might’ve been like. She thought she might have liked it.

  ~

  Mothball didn’t have time to think or ponder several options. Only one made sense, and she went for it, quickly stuffing the Barrier Wand through a belt loop with one hand while she steered with the other.

  In a nosedive that made her eyes water, she rushed toward Sofia and Paul, who clung to their useless Windbike as it plummeted in a downward spiral. Their present course would smash them against a group of boulders clustered close to the river. Mothball intended to change that course.

  At the last second before she caught up with the falling bike, Mothball swerved hard to the right then arrowed back in straight at Sofia and Paul, keeping pace with their rate of descent, knowing she only had one shot. As soon as she made contact, Mothball gunned her own Windbike, pushing the other one at an
angle as it fell.

  Toward the river.

  What had been certain death was now a chance.

  If the ruddy water was deep enough.

  ~

  Tick flew up and over the stone parapet bordering the massive crown of the castle, then skimmed along the loose gravel covering the roof. The two fangen had touched down, folding their wings behind them; Sato was clutched between them, his head hanging low.

  When they spotted Tick, the two fangen howled out a piercing cry, seeming to dare Tick to attempt a rescue. From both sides of the castle walls, more of the creatures charged in, hungry to join the fight.

  Tick never slowed down.

  “Sato!” he screamed. “Duck!”

  The boy showed no signs he’d heard or even planned to do as he was told, but Tick knew he had no other choice. He leaned forward, trying to envision in his mind what he was about to do.

  “Sato!” he screamed again, only thirty feet away. “Duck—NOW!”

  To Tick’s relief, Sato buckled his legs and fell toward the roof, catching his captors by surprise. Though they didn’t let go, both fangen looked down at Sato, their attention diverted for an instant, their heads high enough to serve as a perfect target.

  Tick yanked back and to the left on the handlebars, leaning hard to the left as the Windbike spun, slowing as the back end swerved around and slammed into the upper bodies of the two fangen. Tick felt a jolt of pain as one of the creatures bit at his right leg before it toppled over. Both of the horrible creatures let go of Sato, stunned by the sudden impact.

  Tick steadied the Windbike and lowered it all the way to the loose rocks of the roof. “Get on!” he yelled. Dozens of fangen were charging right for them.

  Sato was bruised and battered, his face still pale with the terror of being captured, but he crawled to the bike and pulled himself onto the seat, Tick helping him the last few inches.