The Demon Conspiracy (9 page)

A six-legged demon with two ugly,
spine-covered heads climbed onstage. It rushed toward the man with
claws and teeth bared. The other demons cheered it on.

He’s going to be
sacrificed!
I cried inside Travis’ head. I
didn’t want to see the poor guy be torn to shreds by the monsters,
but I’m human, and when there’s going to be blood, humans just
watch. I stayed out of his head, too. No need to get caught up in
the middle of somebody’s gory death.

Remarkably, the man watched the charging
beast with nerves of cold steel. He never flinched. It was going to
be a bloody massacre. I mean, what were the options?

Quick as a snake the Demon Boss swung the
heavy staff. It cracked the charging beast in one of its skulls.
The beast fell off to the side, away from the Man. Then the Boss
kicked it offstage like a soccer ball, out into the audience. It
crashed into several other creatures and lay on the floor, rubbing
its head with one of its feet.

The Boss pounded the staff
on the floor three more times.
Boom! Boom!
Boom!
“Knnsylk!!” The place went
completely quiet.

“Knnsylk,” I repeated. “That must mean shut
up.” Jon shook his head at me. He knew I had a fascination with
languages, though the only one I’d ever taken was intro French last
year in the seventh grade.

The man stepped forward to the edge of the
stage. From his coat pocket he withdrew a small device, which could
have been a tiny microphone. He attached the device to his coat
lapel and smiled with perfect, white teeth. He cleared his throat
and jerked his head from right to left, cracking his neck. When he
spoke, his voice echoed throughout the cavern in a proper British
accent.

“I know you can all understand me, so to
make it easier for me to understand you, I want you to eat the
sugar cube you were given when you came in. Each cube has inside it
an XB7 universal translating chip. Now don’t wreck it by chewing
it. Let the cube melt in your mouth. It’s quite tasty.”

The demons on the floor growled and yelled.
But the Boss raised one hand high above his head. Between two thick
red fingers he held a tiny, white sugar cube. The place grew silent
again. A moment later, all the creatures on the floor raised up
their own sugar cubes. Travis panned the camera to take in every
creature in the underground room. The Boss dropped the cube into
his mouth and waited. He made a face and nodded agreeably. The
floor demons looked at each other then reluctantly followed their
leader’s example. Except for slurping sounds made as the sugar
cubes melted in their mouths, the room was silent. The demons all
nodded to each other approvingly. Travis licked his lips and looked
back at me.

We haven’t ate since
breakfast!
he thought to me.

Eaten
, I returned. Apparently the foster families he’d stayed with
hadn’t thought good grammar was important. I tried to correct him
when he needed it most, but not too often.

“Give it another ten seconds,” said the Man,
checking his wristwatch as he counted silently. “There. Now
speak.”

“What do yer want us ta say?” shouted a Gray
Demon with nine eyes.

“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” called a Blue
Demon with two horns in its head and an extra arm.

Travis and I looked at each other in total
shock.

“Are you picking up
sound?” asked Jon. Travis nodded. “Good. Don’t miss
any
of this, Trav. This
is good stuff.” Jon shook his head. “I hate to say it, kids, but I
think we’re in deep doodoo.”

The demons were still upset about the way
their fellow had been treated by the Boss. Apparently, it wasn’t in
good taste to help a human.

“Why’d you defend ‘im, Boss?” cried a
Multi-colored Demon with long tusks and seven horns in its head.
“We should be cookin’ that one! He looks tasty enough!” That got
some laughs, but most of the other demons were still mad.

A Green Demon up front pointed one of its
tentacles at the Man and got personal. “Yer a human! Why shouldn’t
I rip out yer heart and eat it in front of ya? What’s to stop
me?”

“I say slap ‘im in irons!” cried a husky,
Blue Demon with three noses. “We need more slaves! After all, who’s
gonna brush my teeth?” The Blue Demon grinned horribly. Its
enormous mouth was full of sharp, yellow teeth. “I say get
‘im!”

“Yeah! Get ‘im!”

Maybe demons had really
short memories. Or maybe they just didn’t get it. They
still
wanted to attack
the man. I guess demons were like some people. They didn’t learn
something unless they learned it the hard way.

After much prodding and shouting, the Green
Demon gathered its nerve. It climbed onto the stage and raced
toward the man, tentacles flapping. The Boss scowled and raised the
staff again. But this time the man signaled to the Boss to stand
down. The Boss lowered his staff and leaned on it, apparently
content to enjoy the show.

Unruffled, the man watched the attacker.
When the Green Demon was a few feet away, the man finally did
something. He raised one finger and pointed at the demon. The
charging demon froze in mid-stride. I couldn’t believe it. It was
like watching some kind of stop action in a movie!

The Green Demon struggled vainly against
whatever invisible force the man wielded. But the only thing it
could move was its head. It looked at its comrades in the audience,
helpless and rather embarrassed.

Travis mind-spoke to
me.
What’s goin’ on?

I have no
idea
.

The man dropped his
nice-guy attitude. He threw the clipboard hard on the floor. It
landed with an echoing
SPLACK
, which got their complete
attention. Then he marched to the front edge of the stage and
looked down on the demon hoard just below him. He’d clearly had
enough.

“Go ahead, all of you. Attack me! See if I
care. Rest assured, just like this fellow here, not one of you will
even touch me! But if that happens, I will take away from you the
most exciting bargain of the millennia!” I could feel the power of
his voice reverberating throughout the cavern. The demons held onto
their anger. The man looked them over. He frowned. “Forget it! You
don’t deserve this offer! Good day!”

He turned and marched off the stage, leaving
the silver fire hydrant.

Suddenly, the Green Demon was able to move
again. It looked around, feeling foolish. Then it leaped back into
the audience.

The Boss got very upset. “You fools! Listen
to him or I’ll lop off your foul heads and put them in my soup!”
The Boss hurried after the man, returning a moment later. He
beckoned the man to come out and try again. If it hadn’t been so
terrifying, I might have laughed. That giant demon acted like a
humble servant to the much smaller human. The Boss made a
threatening gesture at the audience then stepped aside.

“Listen to him!”

The man stood before the
horrific mob, confident and now in control. “I’m here with a
serious business proposition and I will
not
be disrespected again. I
represent a business group called The Concern and I’m going to
offer you something you haven’t had for a very long
time.”

Jon shook his head. “That guy acts like a
salesman!”

Travis wasn’t worried about job
descriptions. He was more concerned about the danger. “Jon, we
gotta to get outta here! They’re gonna see us, an’ you know what
they’ll do to us.”

“You’re right,” said Jon. “Keep taping,
don’t miss a second. Come on, Kelly, let’s see what we can do about
Chris.” We crawled back to Chris, while Travis taped. We were only
a few feet away, but I didn’t like leaving Travis alone on that
ledge.

Jon looked over the splint and nodded. “It’s
a good splint, Chris. Do you think you can climb if we help
you?”

“No,” said Chris. “I’ve never climbed
before. My head is busting and the pain in my leg is really bad.
I’m afraid I’ll yell, or something.”

“That wouldn’t be good with those things
down there,” I said.

“What are those things?” he asked. “I don’t
understand what’s going on?”

“Neither do we, Chris. It looks like some
guy is trying to sell them something.”

“
A guy? Who’s he trying to
sell to at the bottom of a cave? What’s he selling?”

Jon looked at me gravely. “I don’t know, but
Travis is taping it all. We’ll figure it out later. What do you
weigh, Chris? One-sixty?”

“One-seventy-five. Are you thinking of
pulling me up with the rope?”

“I doubt I’m strong enough, even with
Kelly’s help. I weigh ten pounds less than you. If we had a pulley
we could get you up, but then we’d need a lot more rope.”

“Find Mark,” said Chris. “He could pull me
up by himself. The man’s a bull.”

“That’s just it. We don’t know where he
is.”

At first I was curious about what Jon had
planned for Chris. But the Salesman became louder and more
animated. I crawled back beside Travis who was still taping.

“You are Demon Nation! You are mighty! But
when was the last time you stayed on the surface in your own
bodies? A thousand years ago? Ten thousand years?”

The Green Demon called out. “Ever since the
frickin’ sun popped up! Forever!”

Other demons agreed. “Yeah, forever!”

“Yes,” said the Salesman. “The sun. Your
dire enemies, the humans, stay on the surface while you remain
trapped down here in these caves. And it’s all because of the sun.
The sun is your nemesis. If you take my offer and do everything
you’re supposed to, in a very short time the surface will be yours.
And humans will live in the caves!”

The applause was deafening. But the Green
Demon wasn’t completely sold.

“What’s the timetable on this, eh? Another
thousand years? Maybe two thousand? ‘Ow do we know it’s worth our
effort?”

I heard a low growl and even without looking
I knew it was the Boss. The Salesman spoke.

“A good question, your Lordship. You have a
smart, young demon there.”

The Green Demon stood up taller. It stuck
out its chest proudly. Some of the other demons patted it on the
back. The Salesman was winning them over.

“I’m here to make it happen with a timetable
you can live with. For thirteen of you, it will happen very soon.
And if those thirteen do their jobs on schedule, your Demon Nation
will rule the surface in less than sixty moons.”

A low murmur spread through the ranks. Sixty
moons. Barely five more years!

“But what about the sun?” called out a Gray
Demon. “We can’t live on the surface with that hangin’ over our
heads.”

The Salesman smiled. He paused dramatically.
“My friends, listen to my promise. The surface will be yours again,
dark and filthy, just the way you like it. If humans survive at
all, they will be entirely underground.”

The cheering was explosive; it made my ears
throb. I looked up, expecting the heavy sound to bring the ceiling
down on all of us. The creatures shouted in unison, “Demon Nation!
Demon Nation! Demon Nation!”

Through it all Travis kept recording. This
was incredible. That man—a human!—was offering evil demons a chance
to overthrow mankind! I decided the tape had to be shown to the
police as soon as possible.

“Kelly,” Chris whispered as loud as he
dared. “Are they terrorists?”

“They’re monsters, Chris! I’m not kidding,
either. They’re monsters, like demons. All except for that salesman
guy. He looks like us.”

“Maybe he can help us get out?”

“I don’t think he’s on our side.”

A forceful, loud noise erupted from our
left, like a huge sheet of canvas flapping in a stiff wind. I
looked. Two great winged demons flew down from the ceiling not far
away. They descended toward the stage area carrying something
between them. Whatever they carried must have been alive because it
put up quite a struggle. Travis followed the flying demons with the
camcorder. They dropped their burden on the stage near the Boss. It
was a man. One demon bowed and presented it to its leader.

“We found it up top, your Lordship. It must
have been trapped in the quake.”

Travis gasped when he finally saw the man’s
face through the viewfinder.

“They got Mr. Edwards!” he said.

Jon and I raced to his side.

“Who has Anton?” said Chris. “Who?”

We turned and shushed him. Travis adjusted
the camcorder so the three of us could better see what was going
on.

Anton stood up slowly, looking at the
Salesman in wonder. He was about to speak when he apparently
realized something quite large was beside him. He spun quickly. His
gaze traveled slowly from the Boss’ huge clawed feet, upward to his
massive head. The Boss grinned at him. Anton gawked in terror. He
shook his head in disbelief.

“No!” he said, just loud enough for us to
hear. “It can’t be.”

“Oh, but it
can
,” said the Boss. The
great demon leaned over toward Anton, as if to share a secret. Then
he shouted, “BOO!”

Anton scrambled close to the Salesman. He
looked from the Salesman to the Boss, confused and in shock. He
heard mocking laughter from offstage. He turned again, very slowly,
terrified at what he might see. When he faced the hordes of demons,
he dropped to his knees.

“I must be dreaming.”

“Your absolute worst nightmare,” said the
Salesman.

Anton pleaded with the Salesman. “Help, me,
sir! Please, in the name of God!”

The instant he said God, demons from the
audience erupted in angry growls and threats. They started throwing
rocks at him. Two larger ones near the front got in each other’s
way trying to climb onto the stage. They wanted to get to Anton,
but they got into a fistfight instead. The Salesman was amused and
clearly saw an opportunity to close the deal.