Underworlds #2: When Monsters Escape (5 page)

“F
ASTER
!” J
ON SHOUTED UP AT THE
C
YCLOPES.

The giants lumbered powerfully through the waves, bound tightly in chains, tugging our boat behind them. I kept plucking the strings of the lyre, and the water stayed as peaceful as in a baby’s bathtub.

“At least we trapped the Cyclopes,” Jon said. “That should make Hades happy.”

“I doubt Hades is ever happy,” said Sydney. “And
he’ll be even
not
happier when he hears about Loki’s plans.”

That was true, but in that moment I felt like we had done something pretty incredible. We’d found and captured two enormous giants. Us! I mean, yeah, we had the help of a magical lyre, and some kind of superglove. But still. This was a real victory.

I also knew that this might be nothing compared to what lay ahead for our world, if Loki fulfilled his plans. Was he really going to use our world as a stepping-stone between the Underworlds and the house of the gods? And there was the other thing. Loki was sending his creatures to stop Dana’s parents from finding the Crystal Rune, the key to Asgard.

I turned to Dana. Her face was so pale. “You know that keeping you free is the most important thing right now,” I said.

She looked at me, questioning. “I keep thinking … my parents …”

“After you’re safe, we’ll find a way to stop Loki from … whatever he’s doing,” I said firmly.

“It will be dangerous,” she said.

“I know,” I said. “We all know. Sydney, have you figured out how to use the rune to shrink these guys yet?”

“Working on it,” she said, tapping on her cell phone.

“The electricity is still out,” said Jon, pointing to the darkness in Pinewood Bluffs. “Which should help us get the Cyclopes through the streets.”

“It’s getting colder,” Dana said, shivering.

I couldn’t feel it at first, because I was already so cold, but Dana was right. The rain had begun to freeze into little pellets. We’d already been through one snowstorm. If felt like we were heading into another.

Thanks to the giants’ big strides, it wasn’t long before we were back at the docks.

“Halt!” Jon called out. He was taking his job as captain very seriously. And as he predicted, the blackout across town turned out to be a great cover for us. We moved up the rocks, onto the bluffs, and along the empty back streets.

We almost made it the whole way, too.

Then, only minutes from the school, we heard the undeniable stomping of dead feet.

“Them again?” said Jon.

Them again. A dozen ghostly Draugs, four of them mounted, stomped out from behind a corner and stood in our way. Their axes were poised and ready for battle.

“How did they get here?” asked Sydney.

“They must have made it out of the plant somehow,” said Dana. “Or there’s another exit from the Underworld.”

“Which nobody wants to think about right now,” said Jon, groaning. “Anyone for running and hiding?”

Just then, the Draugs advanced.

“Quick, this way!” said Dana. “And that means you Cyclopes, too!”

We dragged the growling Cyclopes with us down an alley next to the movie theater. The Draugs chased us, heaving their axes. The blades clanked on the asphalt. We rushed to the other end of the street, next to the bank. From there, it was an open parking lot all the way to the grocery store.

“It’s too far to run in the open,” Jon said, looking around.

“We fight,” said Dana, giving me a grim face.

I sighed. “This is turning into a very long day. Earplugs!”

I blasted a solo on the lyre — the same one I’d used to put Argus to sleep. It didn’t have the same effect on the ghostly Draugs, but it did slow their advance. This gave Dana time to whip her gloved hand in a circle. A spiral of light shot through the air like an angry whip and caught one Viking on the neck. He flew off his feet with a scream and tumbled into the Draugs behind him. While Jon and Sydney hustled the giants behind the bank, Dana and I took on the group of dead men like a couple of real heroes.

We held the sluggish Draugs off for a while, too, but they kept picking themselves back up. Even with Dana’s glove blasting everywhere, the Draugs pushed us across the parking lot, finally trapping us between the front of the store and a delivery truck.

That’s when I heard the sound of thumping in the air behind us.

The Valkyries.

Three enormous winged horses emerged from the clouds. On their backs, in sparkling armor, sat three spear-toting warriors.

“Ho
yo
-to
ho
!” the riders cried in unison as their massive horses swooped down like lightning. The one called Doom Rider, otherwise known as Miss Hilda, the head lunch lady, jerked her spear into the midst of the Draugs. “You shall go
back
where you came from!” she cried. Then she uttered some words to the dead Vikings, who seemed to understand her. (Which made sense, since they were from the same myth.) But when Soul Snatcher — Miss Marge — charged her steed directly into the ghosts, the dead guys broke ranks and fled into the streets.

“Sisters!” cried Miss Lillian — otherwise known as Death Maiden. “Attack without mercy!”

A barrage of icicles shot from the tips of the ladies’ spears like the blast of machine guns.
B-b-b-b-b-bam!
Windows shattered all along Main Avenue. Jon and Sydney cried out as the Cyclopes tried to break free, but Dana ran back to secure them.

Eventually, the Valkyries were too fast for the troop of dead men. They swooped on the Draugs and ran them down, every one — horses, too — snaring them in an iron net the size of my house. Then they dragged them across the parking lot to the grocery store.

“We will return these outlaws to face judgment in Odin’s court,” Soul Snatcher said through her frightening winged helmet.

“There are dire events in all of the Underworlds, and Loki is the cause,” said Miss Hilda.

“He has released dragons from the Norse Underworld of Niflheim. The dragons have mercilessly destroyed a village in your world,” added Death Maiden, staring fiery-eyed.

“Loki said he was releasing creatures,” Jon said.

“Where is the village?” said Sydney.

“Iceland,” said Soul Snatcher.

“Where my parents are!” said Dana.

“And exactly where Loki intends to fight Odin,” I said.

“It is only the beginning,” said Doom Rider.
“Loki’s war threatens to overwhelm us with monsters from below. All three worlds shall suffer. The Underworlds. The homes of the gods. And the world in between — your world. Be ready!”

With that, Doom Rider, Soul Snatcher, and Death Maiden reared their massive horses and rode back into the sky, hauling the net of snarling Draugs between them.

Speechless — and frightened to our bones — we turned back to the two Cyclopes.

And as our only allies disappeared into the night sky, we began our final march to school.

W
E TOOK THE BACK STREETS, KEEPING AWAY FROM
any signs of activity, though there wasn’t much. Only work crews busily repairing the power lines.

“You Cyclopes really did a good job of shutting everything down,” said Jon.

The giants grumbled angrily.

“We need to hurry,” I said. “There’s no telling when the power might come back.” I kept thinking we needed a plan to get the giants back through the
school to Hades, but so far we’d been making everything up as we went along.

When we rounded the last corner and saw the school building — and the full parking lot — I turned to Dana. Her face was tight with pain. “Does it hurt all the time?”

Dana nodded, but that was all. She was tough. “Sydney, do you have the rune command worked out yet, to get the Cyclopes down to size?”

Syd breathed out a long puff of air. “I think I do. But we have to speak the names of the runes in the right order or it won’t work.”

“Put this back on!” I yelled to the hairy giant, holding up the rune. Under the threat of Dana’s glove, he looped it around his neck.

Sydney stood squarely in front of both Cyclopes. She swallowed once and said, “Thurisaz … Gebo … Laguz … Sowilo … Wunjo … Ingwaz … I think?”

She thought right. The Cyclopes instantly shrank to the size of little kids, just right for getting into the Greek Underworld.

“You couldn’t have figured that out earlier?” Jon asked Sydney.

She grinned. “Perfection takes time. Now, what are we waiting for?”

We entered the school from a side door without anyone seeing us. The emergency lights were beginning to dim. Good. We moved quietly. We were careful and quick, tiptoeing from hall to hall toward the stairs to the basement boiler room — and the entrance to Hades’ realm.

We almost made it, too.

Then, just outside the crowded gym, at the worst possible place and the worst possible time, the worst thing happened.

The lights flashed on.

Spooked by the sudden light and sound, the Cyclopes roared and broke the bonds that held them. Shouting the runes’ words, they started to grow, knocking Sydney away with a single push. Her cell went flying through the open gym doors.

“No, you don’t!” cried Dana, swinging her gloved hand around. Too late. The hairy giant snatched
Dana off her feet. Jon lunged at his huge knees, but the other Cyclops swung around and scooped Jon off the floor. Baldy lurched into the gym with Jon in his hand.

Not surprisingly, everyone shrieked and started running in panic.

“Owen!” My little sister, Mags, ran toward me.

This was bad.

“Sydney!” I shouted. “The runes —”

She barreled through the crowd in the gym, pushing aside our classmates to get to her phone, yelling even before she got to it. “Thurisaz … Gebo … Sowilo … no … Ingwaz … Laguz … no … ahhh! Gebo! No. Thuri — I need my phone!”

I rushed the bald giant and caught him off balance. He threw me off, then rose to his full, ugly height. Everyone was freaking out, screaming and running. A blade of light sliced across the air from Dana’s glove as she struggled to escape from the hairy giant’s hand. The light blasted the podium to bits. The principal dived for cover.

Blam!
Another blast.

“Dana, not here!” I cried. It was chaos. I had to do whatever I could. I pulled out the lyre and got ready to strum the strings. “Sydney! Use the runes to get them back to pint-size. Hurry!”

Sydney finally found her cell under our math teacher’s foot. She spoke the runic codes on the screen, and the Cyclopes bellowed at the top of their lungs, shaking the light fixtures — but they shrank. Landing on the floor, Dana used her glove to wind the two giants in chains again.

“Downstairs — now!” I hollered.

As Sydney, Jon, and Dana hustled the giants away, everyone in the gym stared at me. It was dead silent.

“Just fooling around,” I said, backing out slowly until someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned, and my heart leaped into my throat.

“Mom, Dad,” I said. They looked at me as if they didn’t know who I was.

Mags popped her head between them. “Owen, what’s going on? What’s happening?” My little sister’s voice was full of fear. Her eyes were wet. Mom’s and Dad’s were, too.

I wanted to tell them everything. But there wasn’t time. I held up the lyre and plucked two strings slowly. Mags burst out with a laugh. My parents smiled. Everyone in the room began chatting as if nothing was wrong. As if there were no monsters in their school. As if Loki was just a mythological being. As if it was all just a game.

“Good kids!” the crowd cheered. “You go and play!”

My dad patted my shoulder. “See you at home, Owen,” he said.

“You, too,” I said, giving him a hug. I hoped I would see my family at home, but there was so much to do first. Home seemed so far away. I left the gym and ran downstairs.

Jon, Sydney, and Dana were waiting outside the boiler room door. They leaned against the wall, exhausted, while the Cyclopes stood bound together and scowling.

“There’s only one thing left to do,” Jon said. “And it better be the last thing, because I’m ready to collapse. Owen, play that lyre, and let’s bring these small giant dudes back to the Underworld!”

My fingers twitched nervously, but I finally hit the right strings — second, fourth, first, fourth. I plucked them gently, and as my head went dizzy once more, the sound flowed over us, over the miniature giants, and over the door in front of us until it swung open.

We saw red flames and the darkness of Hades’ Underworld beyond.

“Cyclopes, face your destiny!” Jon said. “March!”

Reversing the order of strings — fourth, first, fourth, second — I played the lyre again, and the door closed behind us.

“Let’s go,” Dana said, pointing to the River Styx up ahead.

Once there, we saw the grouchy old ferryman Charon standing near the riverbank. His floppy hat was pulled low, and his mouth was twisted in anger. I dug one of the pennies from my pocket and dropped it into his upturned palm. He grunted noisily.

“What’s wrong?” Sydney said. “We did what Hades asked. We have the Cyclopes. A couple of days early, too.”

“What’s
wrong
?” growled Charon as we stepped
aboard his raft and he pushed off. “Just the end of the world, that’s all. Why do you think I’m working this late? I’ll be working day and night for years, now that a war’s brewing. Pah! Let the big red guy tell you.”

And there he was, pacing on the black shore when we pulled in, the big red guy.

Hades.

Hades took one look at the runes around the giants’ necks and snarled. “Loki’s servants! So! My Underworld wasn’t good enough for you?” He yanked the runes away amid a shower of sparks, threw them to the ground, and crushed them under his heel. As the Cyclopes grew back to their normal height, Hades called out to a large troop of Myrmidon warriors. “Take them away. Far out of my sight!”

The black-armored Myrmidons forced the two sulking giants away at spear point. Soon they were lost in the darkness.

Hades turned back to us, his face grimmer than I had ever seen it.

“So. You’ve completed your task. Well done,” he said joylessly.

“Is Dana allowed to go now?” I asked. “Is she free?”

Hades breathed in and glared down at us. When he saw Dana’s glove, his eyes burned white. “That glove may help you. You had better hope it does. Loki will want it back.”

I had a feeling that was true. I remembered again about paying the price for magic.

“Dana Runson,” Hades went on, “you are free to return to your home. Not that it — or you — will be safe from Loki’s war. To assault Asgard itself and topple Odin from his throne, Loki must wage his war in the world above … your world. Your home is Loki’s battlefield.”

We could see vast armies marching toward the northern horizons. Torches streamed in long wavering lines into the far distance. I felt as if my breath had been sucked out of me.

“So it’s really happening?” I said.

Hades nodded somberly. “As we speak, our villages nearest the Norse Underworld are burning to the ground. The children of Loki — the fire dragons
of Niflheim — are loose. Parts of my empire are already nothing but ashes.” Hades paused to gaze at the red glow on the northern horizon. “Loki has always wanted Odin’s throne for himself. Now that Underworld monsters have joined his army, war is upon us all. Perhaps now the lyre of Orpheus will prove its deepest worth. Go, all of you. Prepare yourselves!”

With that, Hades dropped a great red helmet over his head, held up a sword that must have been fifteen feet long, and walked away.

We watched silently for a few minutes. More and more of Hades’ forces gathered, and the whole ground began to swim with the movement of armies. The Myrmidons. Armored horses, beasts with wings, beasts with horns. Bands of ancient heroes. Hercules. Jason. Odysseus. Achilles. Aeneas. We saw them all.

Your home is Loki’s battlefield.

Over and over, those words echoed in my head as we watched the unimaginable. My heart was thundering like a crazy drum as we turned and made our way to the riverbank. All the while, my brain was
still trying to calm itself down, trying to find at least a shred of something to make me feel good about our victory today. My ears throbbed with the sound of marching feet.

“At least you’re back with us now,” Jon said to Dana as we reached Charon’s raft.

“Hades may have let me go, but Loki will be back,” said Dana, staring back at the red horizon. “For me, for my parents, and for this glove.”

“But you’re not leaving us,” Sydney added fiercely. “We’re sticking together.”

I was about to add something when Dana grasped
her wrist, stared into her silver palm, and held her breath.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“He’s … he’s … here!” she whispered. She pointed up the riverbank not far from where we stood, and we heard the sound of something sliding over the black ground beyond.

“I don’t like that sound,” said Jon. “We should get on Charon’s raft right now. We have to go. It’s really late —”

I heard the lapping of the River Styx on the shore behind us, and I knew Jon was right. But I couldn’t help it. I crept carefully to the top of the riverbank. Sydney and Dana joined me.

Finally, with a soft sigh, Jon followed.

Together we peeked over the top of the slope.

Just as I thought the roller coaster of our day was ending and we were home free, we saw him.

The Dark Master.