The Three Furies (Erec Rex) (40 page)

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put the zombies on high alert. Perhaps it is just a visitor coming, of course. But maybe someone on the inside has gotten loose. If that girl escapes, the Shadow Prince will have our heads."

Ghoulish laughter came from one of the other cloaks, and a skull-like head popped out and rolled down the slight hill where they stood. "Speaking of heads, it's time for a new one," it said.

"Get yourself a new right arm, while you're at it," Master Vetu said. "That one's about to drop off."

Master Vetu and the other cloaked creature drifted toward the front of the castle. The remaining Vetala raised an arm and uttered a high-pitched groan that sounded like a huge rusty hinge opening. Three zombies approached him, and in a minute he had shredded them into pieces. "Now . . . let's see which arm is the best. I think I'll take yours, thank you. And this head looks all right." He inserted the head and arm into his cloak and marched off.

"Wow," Griffin whispered. "Those things make manticores look like house pets."

"Ow!" Melody's arm was twisted into the air above her, elbow up and palm out, like she was a rag doll. "Make it stop!"

A wisp of white wavered in the air above her, and she lifted from the rooftop into it. "Help! Ow!"

Griffin slashed his sabers through the thing to no avail. The white wind drifted right around his blade and yanked Melody a foot into the air.

Erec jumped and grabbed her around the shoulders, but his weight didn't pull her down. Instead they both lifted higher. He stretched an arm up and waved it into the specter, trying to grab her arm back.

Everywhere Erec touched, the specter let go as if he had repelled it. In a moment the spirit drifted off and Erec and Melody plunked onto the roof.

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"Ugh. That thing was so cold!" Melody hugged herself. "Thanks, Erec."

Kyron eyed the sky warily. "We better hurry, before we get swarmed by those things."

"Okay, plan," Jack said. "We dodge the zombies, try to hide from everything, make our way to the front door, open the laughter vial, and sneak inside while the Vetalas are still confused."

The plan sounded awful, but everyone nodded their heads. Staying where they were wasn't any better. They took turns jumping down into a bush and then hid behind it while a parade of zombies walked by.

"Look," Jack whispered. "They're all walking in the same direction on this side. The ones farther out are walking the other way. I bet that's so they don't bump into each other all of the time. They'd probably shred one another."

"Let's find a gap between the zombie groups and stay behind them."

A loud snorting pant with a gurgling growl came closer to their bush. A hairy wolflike creature shuffled toward them, clicking its claws together.

Jack tumbled back away from it, knocking Jam down, and Kyron whipped out his sword.

"Wolfsbane," Erec hissed. "See if it works."

Everyone whipped out a handful of leaves and waved them toward the werewolf. The thing whimpered, backing away, and then ran off.

"Good thinking, Erec," Kyron said. "How did you know to bring this stuff?"

"I actually took it because I brought my dog with me. Wolfboy turns into a wenwolf when there is a full moon." He gulped. "Oops. I forgot to tell Spartacus Kilroy about that. I hope we get back before the next full moon."

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Nobody answered, maybe because they were feeling as doubtful as Erec. They waited for a gap between some zombie groups streaming by, then popped out of hiding, following their path.

"The zombies behind us can see us," Jack whispered. "They're only about thirty feet back."

But it seemed that the zombies could not tell Erec's group apart from the other zombies. Kyron and Griffin held sword and sabers out, close to their sides. "Not that bright, cap'n, are they?"

A gunshot rang out, and a bullet whizzed past right in front of Erec. He jumped backward, shaking, but Jam tugged him along. "Sir! The zombies are behind us. Keep moving."

Another shot blasted, this time almost hitting Melody. It cracked against the stone wall behind them.

"What
is
that?" Jack's voice shook.

"Look!" Kyron pointed at two spirit warriors squatting nearby, aiming their rifles at them. Jam jumped and darted forward at the sound of another gunshot.

Erec stood between his friends and the spirit warriors, arms out, shielding them.

"What are you doing?" Kyron sounded furious. "Making yourself a target?" He tried to pull Erec back.

"No. Ghosts can't hurt me."

"Maybe ghosts can't, but those are real bullets, kid. Now get down."

Two more shots whizzed by. Erec was glad that they spirit warriors weren't better marksmen. Maybe they had been bankers when they were alive. Eventually, though, one of these shots would hit a target.

"Be right back." Erec left the group and hurried across the field, just a few feet in front of an incoming group of zombies. He could smell their stale breath as he ran by. A minotaur watched him,

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snorting, and some lions licked their lips from a distance. Before the spirit warriors could take another shot, he dove on both of them, tackling them.

His body clunked straight to the ground as he passed through them. But because they were unable to touch him, the ghosts split apart into pieces around him. Their parts fizzled into the air, leaving the guns behind on the dirt.

Erec picked up the guns, not sure if they would help or not. He had never touched one in his life. But as the minotaur started closing in on him, followed by two hungry looking manticores, he held it up and considered it. The minotaur didn't seem to care one bit about the rifle, however. It pawed the ground, then charged at Erec, horns down.

Erec froze. He had no idea how to shoot the gun. Something silver sailed past his ear, knocking the minotaur flat.

One of Griffin's sabers stuck up from the minotaur's neck. Erec darted back, slamming to a stop to avoid running into a group of zombies, then raced ahead to join his friends.

They had managed to step back into a niche behind another bush to wait for him. Melody threw her arms around him and Jam patted his head.

"Young sir. Do be careful, please."

Jam's warning sounded so tame compared to their dreadful surroundings that all of them laughed for a moment.

"If only we can laugh like that around the Vetalas," Jack said.

Looking out, they slipped back into a gap between the roaming zombies, but by now they had attracted the attention of more minotaurs, and some lions and manticores. They crowded together, approaching steadily.

"Oh, dear," Lalalalal said. "Here we go."

A tiger sprang out of nowhere, but was too close to an incoming group of zombies. With amazing speed they closed in, reminding Erec

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of the phantom piranhas in the water, and the tiger was devoured.

The lions paced back and forth outside the zombie group. As soon as a gap opened, one of the lions sprang at them--but it was knocked to the side by a humongous manticore with huge, ravenous jaws.

Melody began rubbing her arms and fingers together, creating a haunting melody that seemed to slow the manticore down. Kyron was waving his sword out in front of everyone. He stabbed the manticore again and again, pushing it away. Of course, being a manticore it was impossible to destroy, and its wounds healed almost as fast as they were made. Kyron glanced back and forth between the manticore and a group of zombies that was coming closer. With a final stab he pushed the beast right into them.

As the zombies closed in, slashing away, Erec's group dashed toward the front of the castle. Erec looked back and saw the manticore tear itself away from the zombies, unharmed. "C'mon, guys. More zombies are getting closer behind us."

Kyron and Griffin shouldered the rifles. "Not too much farther, cap'n," Griffin growled. "If we can just make it around yon corner ahead, the doors may be within sight."

"Oh, no!" Melody shouted. "Look!"

The group of zombies in front of them finally noticed they were being followed. A half dozen of them had turned around and stood waiting, arms stretching toward them. The zombies behind them were closing in as well, and others walked by along the path beside them.

Gunfire resounded as Kyron shot into the zombie group. Griffin followed suit, shooting the ones behind them. A few of them staggered away, but then returned, coming toward them even with missing limbs.

"Go for their heads!" Kyron shouted. "It's the only way to stop them."

Griffin blasted the head off a zombie, and it staggered off to find it. They were close now on both sides, and there were

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no shrubs by the wall of the fortress to hide behind.

Erec felt dizzy. His knees buckled. This was it, he thought. He was about to pass out, and they'd never survive now.
Poor Bethany
, he thought. But instead of dropping to the ground a strange feeling came over him. His clothing was getting tight. He slipped off his backpack as something sharp pricked his back.

Even though it was dark out, everything turned a vivid green. His dragon eyes were out--they could see as well at night as in the day. Scales coated his skin. He felt wings flap. He had grown bigger than Griffin.

It was a cloudy thought. No vision appeared this time, just commands.

J
ump.

K
ick.

B
reathe fire.

He knocked down a group of zombies with his breath and set fire to another horde. Several minotaurs closed in.

Spin, then pounce.

He knocked the minotaurs over with his tail, then dove on the approaching lions, sending them scrambling away.

M
ore fire.

He breathed streams of fire into approaching zombies, burning them into smoke, and into manticores, making them run. Kyron

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and Griffin battled beasts behind him, with Jack, Melody, and Jam hiding between them. Melody continued to play a sweet refrain that slowed the beasts down a little.

R
oll.

Erec rolled over a group of spirit warriors, disintegrating them. He discovered that specters were pulling Jam and Kyron into the air. They were clinging onto Griffin, who was lifting too.

F
ly.

With a flap he spun in the air right where the specters drifted, and they whipped away, dropping Jam, Griffin, and Kyron to the ground.

F
ly.

Swarms of specters zoomed in now, looking like the northern lights. Erec soared into them and they flew into all directions like fireworks.

F
ly.

With a final sweep around Erec knocked out an approaching group of spirit warriors and scared away another minotaur. He hurried back to the group, stumbling as he returned to his normal size. In grave silence, Jam gave him his backpack. Melody had stopped playing music as the living beasts backed off, now afraid of them. Jack wiped sweat off his brow and handed the vial of laughter to Erec. "You dropped this."

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Griffin was stunned. "Do you do this . . . often, cap'n? I didn't know you were part-dragon."

Kyron's jaw hung open. "You were so . . . even more . . . than the last time I saw you. Does it hurt?"

"Nah. I think we're okay, actually. No more spirit warriors have seen us, and I'd guess they're the only ones who might talk and tell the Vetalas that we're here."

"Good guess, but not exactly correct." Erec heard his own voice. In front of them stood an exact replica of himself.

He gulped, stunned. Everyone else looked back and forth between him and his look-alike.

"You're a . . ."

"You are right," his mirror image answered. "I am a shadow demon." It smiled warmly. "I can see you've had quite an evening. Very interesting, mind you. We don't get this kind of entertainment very often."

Erec took a breath. "Okay, guys. All you have to do is walk right through this thing."

Griffin stepped forward and the shadow demon morphed into a giant sea monster with three heads swaying from long necks. "I wouldn't do that." Its teeth snapped at them. "You'll die a horrible death." It shrank back into a boy that looked like Erec, except with two sea monster heads waving from his shoulders. "You see, I'm a lot more reasonable than that. I can help you all, you know. Just hear me out--I'm on your side. You just have to trust me. I'll get you right in to save your friend. Bethany, isn't it? I've been wanting to help her escape. Now that you're here, I can do it with you."

Kyron was nodding. Even Erec was starting to feel convinced, but an old memory struck him. Shadow demons manipulated people's thoughts. He had believed one once and almost died. Never again.

"Follow me, guys. Just walk right through him." Erec took a step