There was the tatta tat tat of the clock above the large oak desk. Mrs. Moldune’s nails, as if on cue, tatta tat tatted with the ticking timepiece. Long red daggers on wrinkled fingers, offset only by the large sparkly rings that engulfed them.

“You see Mrs. Applegate, what I am talking about, and this is not the first time.”

Althea’s mother, Mrs. Applegate sat in a rickety chair on the other side of the desk. There was a stack of papers in her hands. She frowned slightly as she flipped through them, stopping only to brush aside the strands of curly hair that had escaped the messy bun atop her head. She held one of the pages up to the light, squinting so she could see it better.

From her own seat, Althea recognized the long blue crayon lines that shaped the arm of the creature she had drawn two days ago in Mr. Thompson’s art class.

“Shocking aren’t they?” Mrs. Moldune pursed her lips, causing the lines on her face to deepen.

“. . . Well. . . . “ Althea’s mother said softly as she continued to examine one of the drawings, “I wouldn’t exactly say shocking is a good choice of words. . . “

“Hmmph,” She smacked her lips disprovingly. “There are many others . . .” The nails thrummed on the table again, and she seemed somewhat impatient. “Surly Mrs. Applegate you can see that your daughter is. . . shall we say. . . somewhat disturbed.”

Mrs. Applegate looked up, strands of curly brown hair dancing erratically around her face, she looked tired, weary even. “Disturbed is a rather strong choice of words Mrs. Moldune. Althea has somewhat of an exceptional imagination.” Mrs. Applegate gave her daughter a reassuring look.

“Imagination!” Mrs. Moldune’s diamonique ring glittered as she raised her finger and pointed it disapprovingly. “She,” the red fingernail swiped at Althea, “is a VERY strange child!” The old principle glowered at her mother. “You have been too lenient with your daughter and the results are,” she swung the finger to point at the stack of papers still in Mrs. Applegate’s hands, “disastrous!”

Althea hunched low in her seat. A little girl, even for her age, the chair seemed to swallow her. She fidgeted for a moment with the two yellow ribbons that were tied on each long red braid that hung over her shoulders. Then she moved to the three yellow buttons on the front of her dress, but the old lady’s words hung in the air like a Vookarile’s whisper.

Mr. Thompson, her art teacher, had told them to draw anything they wanted as long as it was colorful and expressive. He had further told them that all forms of expression were art and that all art was important.

Her little fingers clutched the cool cotton fabric of the blue dress her mother had made. She glanced down at her feet and took comfort in the whimsical shapes on her yellow bobby socks.

Her mother set the stack of papers on the desk. From where Althea sat she could see the waxy blue color of the Galograth arm she had drawn, and then the green and red ooze pouring out of the stubby bottom. The picture under that was the one where it had turned completely and then exploded.

Although she thought it a fairly good likeness, Mrs. Moldune did not seem to agree, that much she had been able to decipher from the throaty cacklings. She tried hard not to listen. She used the trick, where if bad things were coming to think of other things, like the pretty white lace peeking out beneath the hem of her dress, or the ice cream cones on her bobby socks.

“She needs help!” Mrs. Moldune continued to croak. “This is a fine institution Mrs. Applegate, and if your daughter is to remain here, you must see that she receives some kind of counseling.” She picked up the stack of drawings. “Some of these are simply awful, very disturbing and well. . . abnormal.” She looked at Althea who was still hunched in her chair. “She” the finger slashed through the air, is an abnormal child.”

“Mrs. Moldune,” Althea’s mother protested, “I wouldn’t go so far as to say that,”

“Well I would!” the old lady snapped, “I would go further and say that your daughter is quite odd, NOT a normal child AT ALL,” she practically shouted the last words, “and I demand you seek professional help for her, or she shall not be allowed to continue to attend Cathebies School for Fine Ladies!”

“Mrs. Moldune, please consider,”

“I do realize,” the old lady interrupted, “that your family has fallen on some . . . er . . . difficult times, which is why your daughter was awarded a charitable scholarship to attend our school.” The red nails began to thrum again. “Her academics do remain excellent, however these other . . . disturbing attributes. . .?

Your mother-in-law, Lady Faldoon, who is the generous benefactor of your daughter’s scholarship, will not be pleased.” The finger swooshed again, this time pointing at Mrs. Applegate. “We simply cannot have this breach of etiquette in our halls.”

“I am sure that I can work with Althea,”

“Dr. McCarson,” she spat, “will work with her. He is a well known child psychiatrist and a dear” Ruby red lips wrinkled unattractively, “Friend of mine.” The creases on her nose deepened as she inhaled, and over puffed white hair swished as she moved her head.

“I have personally contacted Lady Faldoon who has been, if I forgot to mention, a patron of our school for years, and perhaps the only reason I am willing to overlook these. . . . abnormalities.” Mrs. Moldune’s eyes were piercing as she stared at Althea. “Out of the goodness of my heart, I shall ask Dr. McCarson to take your daughter under his wing, and see that this,” her finger swooshed at the stack of drawings “type of thing does not occur in the future.”

Mrs. Applegate looked weary, meekly nodding her head as she gathered her briefcase into her lap. A thick packet of papers jutted out of the side pocket along with a red scarf and an old paper sack. She tried to organize the cluttered case as Mrs. Moldune scratched Dr. McCarson’s phone number onto a piece of paper.

“I shall let him know that you will be calling.”

“Of course.” Mrs. Applegate slung the strap of her briefcase over her shoulder and reached for Althea’s hand. “I do apologize,” she said softly, “things have been hard since I lost my husband, and with my new job, and . . . “

“Things,” Mrs. Moldune pursed her lips in what appeared to be more of a pucker, “are difficult for us all Mrs. Applegate, that is no excuse to fail in the tutelage of your child.” She used her apple red nail to slide the slip of paper across the desk.

“As long as your daughter is here,” eyes peered over the rims of her bedazzledly gaudy glasses at little Althea, “she will reflect the very HIGH standards of our establishment.” The finger swooshed again, dismissing them. Mrs. Applegate took her daughter’s hand and made a hasty retreat.

It was a long quiet car ride home. Althea’s mother tried to console her, explaining, as she had so many times before how important it was to appease their newly acquired grandmother. “She has been very kind to us Althy,” she soothed, “Arranging a place for us to live, and paying for you and Davy’s education. We have to do whatever we can to please her.”

Althea looked out the window at the rows and rows of houses. Some of them were so close together that they seemed to be one long house with many different colors.

Lady Faldoon, had previously never been a part of their lives, except for an occasional letter informing her father of his many faults and the equally numerous reasons why he had been cut out of her will. One such reason was his decision, shortly after college, to embark on a career in the military, rather than the position he should have held with the Faldoon Shipping Company. His mother’s fury, however, reached its apex the year he’d decided to change his last name, marry a lowly secretary, and move as far away from the Faldoon Fortune as possible.

He had bought a little house in South Carolina, which was close to his military base. An officer and a soldier, he was not a businessman; at least that is what he had told his wife, not long before being deployed overseas.

Her mother pulled the car into the narrow driveway in front of the dilapidated old House that was fast becoming their home. Althea followed her up the stairs to the front door. A bit of plaster fell from one of the holes in the kitchen wall as they came through.

“Oh dear,” her mother said, “I will have to see about patching that.”

Althea grabbed her little stool and drug it over to the kitchen sink, climbing up to wash her hands. Even though she had turned seven a while ago, she was still small for her age and couldn’t reach the faucet without a stool.

When she was done, she took some plates out of the cupboard and began setting the table for dinner. Her mother had gone across the street to their neighbor Margaret’s house. Margaret ran a small daycare there during the week, where Davy, Althea’s little brother, stayed while Mrs. Applegate was at work.

Davy was asleep when her mother came home. She carefully extracted his little arms from around her neck, and gently set him on the couch to continue his nap. Dinner turned out to be soggy spaghetti. Mrs. Applegate barely looked at her food; her eyes remained glued to the open file folders she’d brought to the table.

Althea picked at the noodles with her fork, locating the buried meatballs. She stacked them on top of each other and made two little meatball snowmen, positioning them so they were facing one another on the plate. “You,” she mimicked under her breath, “are an abnormal meatball.” She took a spoonful of Parmesan cheese and made it snow.

“Althea!” Her mother lifted her head from the folders and gave her a look. Althea promptly popped the head of one of the snowmen into her mouth, a deed that seemed to placate Mrs. Applegate.

After dinner she took some crayons and paper from the drawer under the tall TV cabinet in the living room and carried them to the winding staircase that led to the second floor.

“Althy,” her mother called out, head still buried in paperwork, “remember what your principal said today. She looked up and gave her daughter a worried smile, “Draw some nice things, flowers and rainbows and such,”

“All right,” She said quietly.

She balanced the box of crayons with the other hand and made her way upstairs. The upstairs hallway was covered with large yellow flowered wallpaper. A hideous pattern whose age was marked by the peeling seams and missing corner pieces. She still hadn’t gotten used to the dilapidated old house. Unlike their home in South Carolina, this one had creaky stairs, broken plaster, leaky sink pipes, and broken windows through which you rarely caught a glimpse of the fog smothered sun.

Lady Faldoon owned the house, of course, and agreed to rent it to Mrs. Applegate for a “reasonable rate”. Built in the 1920’s, its last occupant had been one of her cargo managers who had been fired for stealing.

Althea reached her room and promptly set up shop on the thick camouflage print rug. The smooth white walls, and nice hard wood floors of her room strangely defied the houses ancient ambiance. The corner closet was so large that it was practically like another room, and had an entire wall of modern shelving that they’d used to store some of her father’s military gear. Some of the windows in other rooms of the house had boards nailed over them, as time had cracked out one or two of the panes. Not in Althea’s room, however. Her windows had double paned glass and modern latches.

She thought perhaps her grandmother had secretly made sure that she and Davy’s rooms were rehabilitated, as his room also lacked familiar flaws. But that thought was promptly shaken away, as Lady Faldoon did not seem the considerate type.

Althea turned her attention to the jumbo box of crayons in front of her, and began to scan the bazillion colors under the lid. She finally decided upon the plain dark blue one. She scratched her head and frowned for a moment before using the crayon to recreate the long line of the blue arm she had drawn in Mr. Thompson’s art class.

“There has to be something I am missing,” she muttered to herself, “Something that I just didn’t see.” She switched to a different color and went over and over the lines.

Finally, after some time and more than a little frustration, she gave up, crumpling the paper and tossing it into the trash. Before she put the crayons away, she made sure to draw a new picture, one with a big rainbow and a smiley face. She put the new drawing in an obvious place on her little wooden desk and then got ready for bed.

It wasn’t long after she had climbed under the covers that the door to her room opened and closed. She caught a whiff of her mother’s perfume, then felt a little kiss on her forehead. The lights flickered off and Althea drifted to sleep.

It was still dark when she awoke. Her eyes blinked in the darkness and she was only half awake when she heard a noise. At first very faint, she thought she was dreaming, but it grew increasingly louder and she realized it was coming from somewhere outside of sleep. She sat up.

There were footsteps padding down the hallway, then Davy’s voice - he sounded upset. “No no no no,” he whined, “I wanna sweep wif you.” He sniffled and sniveled in the hallway.

Althea fumbled on her nightstand for the light and then slipped out of bed. She cracked her door and could see her mother in the hallway bent over Davy. She smoothed his ruffled brown hair and wiped what looked like tears from his chubby cheek.

“There there sweetheart, I’m sure it is nothing.” She took his hand. “Here, let’s go and see.” They moved over to the door of Davy’s room. Her mother looked up suddenly and saw Althea through the partially open doorway. She gestured toward her “You come too Althy, we will show you Davy, there is nothing to be scared of.”

Althea trailed sleepily behind them. When she entered Davy’s room she saw them standing in front of his closet. Her mother flicked on the closet light. Rows of neatly hung sweaters were suddenly visible in the dark opening. “You see dear, there is nothing here. . . just your clothes.”

Davy sobbed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. “It der, I seen it!” He looked over at Althea. “Der a munter in der Tia,” he snivled, “a big wun!” He sobbed again, “I’s skared.”

“There there,” her mother hugged him. “There is no monster Davy, you see,” she pointed again to his sweaters hung in a neat little row. “Althea, tell your brother, there is no monster in his closet.”

Althea moved closer. She saw Davy’s little hats and coats on the top shelf, the boxes of pictures from their trip last summer, she saw his new suit for the Sunday visits with their Grandmother. And she saw something more.

“Tell him Althy, tell him there is no monster.” Her mother tried to mask her irritation.

To the side of Davy’s new suit, in the deep dark shadow of the closet’s dusky corner, Althea could see one big blue foot peeking out. It had long toenails, and burbling warts near the knuckles. As she leaned in for a closer look, she saw one of the giant toes wiggle.

“Althy!” Her mother was no longer disguising her annoyance. Tell your brother there is no monster!”

Little Davy was clinging to his mother and he looked fearfully up at his sister.

Suddenly the blue foot shuffled to the side and then retracted deeper into the closet. All that she could see then was the black shadow of the place where it had been.

“Althy!”

“I don’t see a monster Davy,” She told him plainly. “Just your clothes.” And indeed it was the truth, as the foot was no longer visible.

“Bu I seen im Tia,” Davy whined, “He come outta de cwoset.” He sucked his thumb nervously. “I seen im!”

“Well he’s not there now,” Althea told him matter of factly.

“You see,” her mother looked relieved. “There’s nothing there. Now climb back into your bed and I will read you a little story.” Davy sniffed a little but did as his mother told him.

Althea went back to her room and waited a while, until she heard his door close and her mother’s footsteps padding down the hallway.

She waited a few minutes more before sneaking back out. Her bare feet tiptoed down the hallway. Davey’s door creaked ever so slightly as she opened it. He let out a squeak.

“Shhhhhhhh” she put her finger to her lips, and closed the door softly behind her.

Davey was huddled in one corner of his bed, his sandy brown head barely visible above the fortress of pillows he had stacked in a semi circle around him. Althea moved some of them aside to crawl up next to him.

“The munter’s cuming Tia,” he wimpered, trying to keep his voice quiet. He pointed to the closet which was now a dark and ominous opening against the wall.

“I know,” she whispered, and set down the bottle she had been carrying. Davy stared at it for a moment, mesmerized by the thick green goo that sloshed inside of it.

“I just can’t figure it out,” she told him as she pulled a plastic bag from the folds of her nightdress. “I have gone over it a million times, and I just can’t figure it out.”

“The munter’s skay-wee Tia.”

“Yes, yes,” she said, opening the plastic bag to examine some of the ingredients she had brought. “It’s a Galograth Davy, of course it is scary.”

“What a Gawagat?” He asked, looking fearfully at the closet.

“Not a very complex monster, really,” she muttered as she took a pair of tweezers out of her pocket and started to pick through the ingredients. “A simpleton at best,” she picked up a pine needle from a Longleaf tree and examined it in the dim light of the room.”

“I’s kared of the Gawagat,” Davy whispered, and he stacked another pillow on the pile in front of him.

“Well,” said Althea, dropping the Longleaf needle back in the bag and picking up a green dragonfly wing with the tweezers. “That is why he can come out of the closet now,” She squinted and blew on it, watching the fibers move a little on the surface.

“You not kared Tia?” Davy asked her, looking sheepishly up at her.

“No Davy, I am not scared.” She dropped the dragonfly wing back into the bag. “I have defeated at least three or four of them.” She picked up the bottle she had set on the bed and held it up. “I just don’t understand why it isn’t working. It has worked on all of the others.”

She sighed and set the bottle back down.

Suddenly there was a shuffling noise, and then a deep slurping groan. “Oh no!” Davy whispered, clinging desperately to Althea’s arm, “It coming!”

The slurbing sound grew louder, and then a guttural wet belching noise emulated from the closet. The room filled with a putrid stench. Althea took a pinch of sea salt and put it under her nose to suppress some of the odor.

“Tia!” Davy cried out and he started to cry.

“Ssshhhhhhh!” she hissed at him, “Do you want mother to hear?”

“Oooohhhh” he sobbed quietly, “Wut we do?” Davy’s grip tightened on her arm.

Althea didn’t answer, but instead took a long crooked stick out of her pocket. In the light it looked twisted and old, as if it had sat on the forest floor for most of its life. A jagged crack streaked up the side exposing a soft layer of grainy wood. “Let go Davy,” she whispered trying to pull her arm out of his grasp. He whimpered once more, and then reluctantly released her, quickly ducking down below the mound of pillows.

“Turn out the light,” she hissed at him, still holding the stick, but he had buried his face in his hands and was no longer listening. She rolled her eyes and then let out an exasperated sigh. “Must I do everything myself,” she grumbled, then scootched across the bed. Her hand reached forward and flicked the switch of the light by his bed.

Instantly they were engulfed in darkness.

“Blluh blahh blluuh Blah,” a wet belch hit the air and the thick putrid smell began to grow stronger. “Blluh Bllaaah Blarrrrrrrrrrp!” it burbled.

A bluish light began to emulate from the closet. It pulsed eerily outward and then merged like liquid with the texture of the darkness. Davy lifted his head and let out a loud whimper. “Tia!”

“Shhhhhhhh! Davy,” she hissed, “You really must be quiet!”

He wanted to do as she said, but his heart started to thump like a drum in his chest. The eery blue light twisted and then rooted itself in the fibers of the floor. A grotesque shape slowly emerged; thick and porous, like an old piece of cheese left too long in the sun.

Althea looked with much distaste at the Galograth. It was by now so tall that the warts on the top of its head seemed to scrape the ceiling. Three goopy eyes sprouted from its forehead, huge and horrible, offset only by the pussy pimples of its flatulent cheekbones.

A long crooked finger unfolded and then probed upward to the cave like openings of its nose scraping off a burbling booger that had crusted to the inside.

“Watch out!” Althea ducked low. The finger flicked forward and the booger went flying. Like a distorted badminton birdie it arched over the bed and smacked wetly into one of the pillows on Davy’s fortress. The pillowcase seemed to melt as the snot around the booger emitted a stream of steaming funk.

Althea grimaced.

Galograths were notorious nose pickers, and they flung their crusted snot like little cannon balls wherever they went. From the corner of her eye she caught a flash of the monster’s finger as it went in for another one.

“Aaaahhhhh!” Davy put his hand over his mouth so that his whimper was muddled. The monster located another chunky booger and loaded it into its nailbed.

Althea clutched the stick in her hand. She took a deep breath and raised it high. The same blue light that had shaped the monster began to pour from the crack. As the light hit the air the stick appeared to glow, more and more until the wood became distorted. The blue deepened to a darker color and it was so lovely that Davy forgot about the monster.

The gnarled and twisted wood transformed itself. Out of the deep light came a long blue blade that split the wood sideways, the outer bark writhing backward to shape the burled base of a blazing red handle. There was a dark darkness around the light of the sword. The weapon shuddered for a short second and then one by one birthed slithering symbols which themselves looked like dark stone. Each one slid up the sides of the sword and settled on the long blade in an ancient pattern.

The Galograth also seemed to take notice of the spectacle, stopping in mid nose pick to stare stupidly at the sword. After a long pause it pursed its gargantuan lips, flicking its blue-black tongue to wet them. As it followed the outline of the weapon, it seemed to see for the first time, the person holding it. Althea!

“Blarrrrrppppraa blaaahhh blurrrrrrbbbbbbbb,” drool dribbled from the corner of its lips. An almost sinister smile cracked its face, and it expressed an interest by raising one of three brows. Not liking at all what it saw, it lifted its loaded finger and took aim.

“Tia!” Davy cried, but she saw it coming. The sword cut the air with a hiss “Mathocrath!” she whispered, and a red flame leapt like a tongue from the sword. It caught the booger in midflight, dissolving with a hiss.

“Barrrummph?” The monster looked confused. It hesitated only for a second and then launched another booger in the air.

“Mathocrath!” Althea called again, and the next booger went the same as the first.

“Hand me the bottle Davy,” She whispered.

Davy scooted past Althea and clutched the glass bottle with trembling hands. “Set it there,” Althea told him, and he deposited it in the middle of the bed.

“Mathocrath!” she cried out again, and another air born booger combusted before it could reach them.

“Take the cork out. . . hurry!” As Davy reached for the cork, the Galograth stopped picking his nose and glared. “Oh,” Davy whimpered as he undid the cork. “I’s so kared!”

“Stop being scared!” Althea commanded. “Your fear is giving him more power!”

Davy set the cork down beside the bottle and scurried back to the pillow fort to hide. The Galograth began to advance toward them. He smelled like rotten garbage and cow manure that had been left too long in the sun, and as he moved closer, Althea could see puss boiling over from the pimples on his arms and neck.

“Blarbady Blah Ballllahhhh Bluuuurrrp,” He stuck out his fat blue tongue as he spoke, and a warm wind of funk hit Althea’s face.

“Ohhhhh. . . . “ she shuddered!

She saw his finger dip in to his nose, and she raised her sword and pointed it at the bottle. “Griswalde!” The bottle lifted up off of the bed. The monster stopped digging and looked stupidly at her.

“Bara Grimordian, och li timor,” she spoke the name of each symbol on the sword, pronouncing them as clearly as if she were in French class at Cathebies Fine School For Ladies. “Barai limor,” as she said each symbol they lifted off of the sword one by one and hung in the air. “Obdoon, malai!”

When the last symbol was spoken there was a popping sound, then a woosh, and she watched, as she had so many times before, as the symbols swirled backward around her and then leapt into the throat of the bottle.

“Bumph,” the Galograth snorted and stumbled a few steps.

The symbols sloshed the green potion, mixing it around and around, and then lifted it out of the tall glass opening. It seemed to grow and expand as it left the bottle widening in the air until. . . .

Kersmack! It thrust itself against the Galograth, pummeling it backward from the force.

Althea didn’t waste any time. She flung herself from the corner of the bed and did a double summersault in the air, landing squarely on her feet next to the stunned beast. She used her sword to lift aside bit of the green ooze.

There! Swiftly she found what she was looking for and snip, snap snip, the blade of the sword cut the three long red hairs under the Galograth’s armpit. “Brrrrppppprapppp,” the monster belched, and another warm wind of funk hit her.

“Ooooooohhhh,” she gasped, “you horrid horrid monster!” and rolled backward on the floor, then up onto the bed.

The Galograth shuddered, his good arm flailing wildly beneath the ooze. He let out a long string of burbling belches, and Althea watched with some trepidation as the arm whose hairs she had clipped, began to shrivel.

“Is it working?” Davy whispered, peering out through a crack he had made in the wall of pillows.

“I can’t tell yet,” she answered, studying the monster’s reaction carefully.

The arm seemed to spasm and then the burbled blue color of its skin began to deepen. The fingers shriveled and the arm itself began to wrinkle, a big black bubble formed in the middle. More and more of the arm dried up, and it all seemed to be gathering in the middle, right near where the elbow would have been.

Fatter and fatter the middle of it grew, while skinnier and skinner the outer parts. The air was suddenly filled with a strained squeaking sound, rather like a balloon that was being filled with too much air. “Duck down Davy,” Althea called out, “It’s gonna blow!” She pulled the corner of the sheet over her head.

Kerpam!

As predicted, the Galogath’s arm exploded, spewing a ghastly blue and black liquid everywhere. The green ooze that had been covering the monster began to fade. The monster’s body steamed as the remainder of the potion melted and each ancient symbol slid out of the gel and back to their places on the sword.

Althea and Davy peered out from the pillow fort. The monster flubbered and flailed as the potion dissolved and then began to shift and sit upright against the wall. He rubbed at the arm stub, and stupidly fingered the black goo. One long fingernail from his remaining hand flicked forward and found a piece of a red hair that was still attached to the stump.

The tri eyes rolled around once. . . twice. . .then steadied themselves to stare directly into the wide eyes of the children. It burbled out what sounded like a laugh, and creased its lips to complement the sound.

“It didn’t work Davy!” Althea hissed. She reached out and grabbed at his sleeve. “Quick! We have to turn on the lights!”

Even as she spoke, the long red armpit hair, now free from the goo, began to squiggle and squirm as if it were alive. First it seemed like a worm, skinny and twisting, but then it thickened, looking more like a long scaly snake. Wrapping itself around the stub where the monster’s arm had been, it began digging into the flesh.

Though she had seen it before, Althea was still strangely fascinated by the way the stub transformed itself into the pulsing protuberance of what would be the monsters new arm.

“Davy!” she whispered urgently. . . she looked over, but Davy was frozen beside her. His wide eyes glued to the chunky arm that was fast growing from the monsters old stump.

“Again. . .everything myself. . . “ Althea mumbled for the second time that night. She quickly slid off of the bed and prepared to dash toward the light switch on the wall.

“Tia!” she heard Davy cry out, “Wun!”

The Galograth was standing up now and there was a mad glint in its rolling eyes as it turned toward her. “Wun” Davy cried out again.

Althea threw her body toward the light switch. Just as she thought she was mere inches from it, she felt something slam into her. Blue slime splattered across her chest, and she could see the warty skin of the Galograth’s good arm as he flung her across the room.

She hit the nightstand beside the bed, and sent a stack of books flying.

“Tia!” Davy screamed.

The monster took another swipe, and Althea flung herself upward, over the top of his ghastly arm and back onto the bed. She somersaulted above the wall of pillows and kerplunked down next to her brother.

“Blrrrrrppppllllll Blahhhhhbddddyyy blluuurppp,” the Galograth belched, and he paused for a moment to examine his new arm. The red hair had finished its job and began shrinking back down to its place beneath his armpit. The monster wiggled his new fingers and dopily picked at the pussy pimples on his skin. “Brrmmmmmmmm” he crooned, but then darted his head back toward Althea. He glowered and moved forward and raising his arms in the air.

“What in the world is going on in here?!”

The light switch clicked, and suddenly the Galograth was gone.

“Althea!”

A braided red head popped up above the pillows. Mrs. Applegate stood in the doorway, both hands squarely on her hips, frizzy hair sticking out in at least six directions. “What in the world?” She pushed the door open wider and moved into the room. “Where is your brother?”

Davy’s brown head barely rose above the fort and his eyes were wide as he mashed down some of the pillows with his nose so he could see better. “Davy!” her mother was furious, “do you know what time it is?”

“The munter came back,” he whimpered, “Tia twide to save me.”

“The what?” Her mother’s closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled a deep breath. She counted softly to herself as she exhaled and turned to look at her eldest child. “Althea. . . .?”

“Davy wanted me to stay with him,” she scrambled for some explanation, “he was scared,” she glared at her brother for selling her out so quickly..

Althea’s mother stiffly walked over to the wall of pillows and quickly deconstructed it, taking the pillows off one at a time and dropping them on the floor. “I have to be up in a few short hours,” she said, trying to contain her anger, “and both of you have to go to school early in the morning.” She dropped the last pillow on the floor and moved over to the bed to pull back the covers. She motioned for Davy to climb underneath them.

Mrs. Applegate turned her head as she finished tucking in Davy, and pursed her lips in disappointment. “Althea, I would have expected better from you.” She smoothed out the blankets over Davy’s chest.

“Momma,” Davy’s little voice rang out, “Can Tia tay wit me?”

Her mother inhaled another long breath. She gave a stern look, and then after a few moments let out a long sigh. She pointed at the covers. “Allright then. But no more of this nonsense.” She stood and waited while Althea climbed under the covers next to Davy.

“Look at this mess,” her mother pointed at the books that had been knocked off of the nightstand. “You will both have to clean that up in the morning.” Her mother moved back toward the doorway.

“Momma,” Davy used his sweet little boy voice again. “Pweese weeve de wite on. Or de munter will git us.” Davy’s mom smiled wearily. “Allright,” she sighed, “I will leave the light on.” She pulled the door halfway closed. “Please, please go to sleep children!” she sounded desperate, “I have a very long day tomorrow.”

Althea and Davy nodded obediently and watched as her mother left the room.

---

Morning came all too soon for Althea and Davy. It took longer than usual for them to brush their teeth and dress themselves for school. Mrs. Applegate also seemed tired, she poured milk on her pancakes instead of syrup and didn’t notice until she took a bite. “Oh dear,” she smiled wearily and ate a bite of pancake anyway.

At 7:00am sharp, her mother walked Davy over to Margaret’s daycare center. Althea waited outside for her ride- Dorthea Dixe and her big sister Dorris. Mrs. Dixe had four children, all of them girls. All of their first names started with “D”, a tradition that Mrs. Dixe, whose first name was Donna, carried over from her own mother. All “D’s” and not a smart one among them”, Althea had heard her mother mutter when she thought no one was listening. “Don’t you repeat that Althea!” She had quickly tried to cover up the comment. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Ever since then, Althea had come to believe that D was for ditsy. The Dixe’s seemed fonder of shopping and lipstick than they did of their schoolwork. Dorthea was in the second grade just like Althea, but she could barely read, and Mr. Dixe had finally insisted that the girls be tutored after school, instead of going to the mall with their mother.

Mrs. Dixe was one of Cathebies founders, and she and Althea’s grandmother both belonged to the Society for the Betterment of Humanity, an organization dedicated to humanitarian causes and public charities. When they first arrived to the city, Lady Faldoon made the Applegate’s attend a Ladies luncheon and lecture on world hunger. Althea didn’t understand why they focused on the rest of the world, when it seemed to her there was a shortage of food at the luncheon. The two tiny teacakes she had been served barely filled her tummy, and all of the skinny grown-ups at the table looked like they hadn’t had a good meal in months. Being a lady, it seemed, meant that you weren’t allowed to eat much.

It wasn’t long before Althea heard the telltale purr of Dorris Dixe’s silver convertible. It streaked up the street in the morning sunlight and looked like a diamond in the desert, against the backdrop of the Applegate’s run down rental house.

“Dearest little one,” Dorris cooed, “Where is your mummy this morning?” She leaned over the side of the car as she spoke, looking into the rearview mirror and patting her new hairdo. Dorris Dixe had turned 16 not two weeks ago and the day after her birthday, her parents had given her the shiny new car.

“Dropping off Davy.” Althea said quietly, smoothing the fabric of her little pink dress. It was the exact same dress she had worn yesterday, only a different color. Althea’s mother made all of her dresses, and they were each exactly the same style, puffy sleeves, gathered at the top, with a flared skirt and white islet lace peeking out from underneath the hem. Her mother had tried to get her to try a different pattern, but Althea would not wear anything else. This style of dress, she had found, was an irritant for many monsters. They did not like puffy sleeves, nor did they like the bright colors, and some even had a special aversion to white islet lace.

“Well,” Dorris brushed a hand through her over blonde hair, “in that case. . . “ She glanced around just to make double sure Althea’s mother wasn’t around, “Get in you little weirdo,” she used her little finger to wipe off a lipstick smudge under her lip, “and hurry up, I’m meeting my boyfriend before school.”

Althea opened the door and hoisted herself into the car. She set down the camouflage backpack her father had given her last year for Christmas, and slid into the seat next to Dorthea, who was putting on lip-gloss.

Dorthea barely looked over at Althea. “Why do we have to pick up the oddball every morning?” she complained as she smoothed her own over blonde locks and then reached to straighten the small gold earrings in her ears.

“Mom’s making nicey nice with her rich grandmother.” Dorris turned the steering wheel and the tires squealed as she reved out onto the street. “Anyways,” She patted her greased lips, “I don’t know why I have to take either of you brats. I can think of lots of other things I’d rather do before school, then cart you babies around.”

Dorthea tugged on a stray strand of her sister’s hair that had wandered above their seat and Dorris let out a squeal. Althea tried to ignore them both as they launched into another one of their squabbles. Every morning since her grandmother had arranged with Mrs. Dixe for Dorris to take her to school, she had had to endure the Dixe sister’s never-ending battles. When they weren’t fighting with one another, then things were even worse, as they turned their attention on Althea.

She unzipped her backpack and pulled out her grammar book. She went over some of the lessons they were learning in class and tried to drown out the squabbling Dixe sisters.

When they were one block from School, Dorris pulled to the side of the road. “This is your stop oddbird,” she said, popping the automatic button near her window, the passenger door on Althea’s side snapped open. Dorris snarled unattractively, “Out!” Before someone sees us with you.

Dorthea giggled and shoved her toward the door. Althea managed put her grammar book in her backpack before she landed on the sidewalk.

Dorthea had insisted Dorris drop Althea off a block away from the school every morning. She didn’t want her friends to see her with the new oddball kid.

Althea lifted the straps of her backpack over her shoulders and smoothed some of the wrinkles from her dress. She looked down. Blue bobby socks today, which matched the three little blue buttons on the top of her pink dress.

She tightened the strap on the backpack her father had given her. For a moment she wondered where he might be right now. Plowing through rocky hills, shimmying on his stomach through sand dunes, or hiding out in some far away cave?

She felt a familiar lump gather in her throat. She looked around at the concrete city streets, and the busy people walking here and there. Further down the street some of her classmates were arriving at school, the big sign “Lady Catherbies School for Fine Ladies,” sprawled out above the steps.

She remembered the green grass from their little country home, the fruit trees her father had planted for them, and the garden her mother had liked to tend. The lump in her throat seemed to get bigger, and she tried to swallow it.

She didn’t tell her mother, but everyday after the Dix sisters kicked her out on the curb and she walked that last block toward school, the only thing she could think of was how very much she wished that she could go home. Back to their real home, near the Congaree River and the canopy of trees that were so tall they seemed to touch the clouds.

Her eyes felt wet, and she wiped away a tear. She looked down at her blue bobby socks and tried to think of happy things.

As Althea’s feet carried her closer to Cathebies School for Fine Ladies, she began to recite the grammar rules they would learn that day, and go over the new vocabulary she had been studying. School was for learning about subjects, and she would do her best to ignore all of the other things.

-2-

It was supposed to be a beautiful day, but her grandmother’s mansion was perched too high on the hill and too close to the ocean. A thick San Francisco fog had rolled in, moistening the porous bread on the tiny teacakes and ruffling the loose hairs on Mrs. Dixe’s blonde bun. “Oh my,” she crooned, patting the little hairs that had successfully escaped conformity, “it has gotten chilly.”

“Hmmph,” Althea’s grandmother, Mrs. Agnes Molly Pantashima Faldoon, who since she had taken over her late husband’s shipping company had shortened her name to just “Lady Faldoon” or “your Ladyship”, or “My lady” or. . . well, you get the point. She dabbed at her plumped lips with a clean white napkin and squinted through the thick windows of her gold-rimmed glasses at the remaining teacakes. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“O. . oh. . of course,” Mrs. Dixe abandoned her coifed hair, “I meant that one breeze was chilly, it has passed now and . . . well. . . what a lovely day. . . and so nice to be having tea in your garden Lady Faldoon.”

“Hmph,” Althea’s grandmother squinted again then seemed to make up her mind, moving aside her glass of lemon water to scoop up the artichoke marinade sandwich.

Althea peered above the large brown Science book she was holding. For a second she thought she saw her grandmother’s teeth move in a slightly unnatural manner. “False teeth!” she gasped, and her mother promptly swatted her under the table. She quickly looked down and pretended to be studying.

“Such dedication,” her Ladyship remarked between petite bites of sandwich. “She must really be settling in to Cathebies”. Althea’s grandmother examined the last micro crumb of sandwich before popping it into her mouth. Althea marveled at the length of time it had taken her to eat the tiny tidbit.

Her grandmothers cheeks were gaunt and wrinkled, though in some places surprising plumped. There was unevenness about her skin as if it had been pulled and shrunk and then plumped out again. Though she was a lady of significant years, her hair was dyed a deep rust color, what had probably once been. . . well. . . close to her natural color. Althea snuck another look above the pages of her large book. . . . nope. . . she could not find a single gray hair on her grandmother’s head.

A servant came by to clear some of the dishes and smooth out the tablecloth in front of Lady Faldoon. “Everything okay mam’” the young woman asked.

“Everything except the sandwiches,” she answered. “The bread is too moist for my liking.” She dabbed at the corner of her mouth with the napkin and then tossed it on the empty plate that the serving girl had gathered up.

“Well Althea,” Her grandmother’s eyes seemed overly large through the thick lenses of her glasses, “It seems you are doing much better at school than the last report.” Lady Faldoon brushed some crumbs from the side of her plate and adjusted her posture. Althea marveled that a woman of her years could maintain such a rigid posture.

“She is really enjoying her subjects,” her mother said nervously, “especially English and Science.”

“Well. . . . “Lady Faldoon’s eyes narrowed as she turned her gaze to Mrs. Applegate, “Subjects are not always as important as learning to behave properly.” She pursed her plump lips and lifted her wrinkled nose, “after living such a. . . “ she seemed to struggle to find the right word, “primitive existence. . . her education as a lady, can take priority over such things as Science and English.”

“I couldn’t agree more with you your Ladyship,” Mrs. Dixe piped up, “Dorris said Althea is quite strange, probably based on your son’s well, strange lifestyle. I mean dragging a little girl with him to the swamps of South Carolina while he trains his men. . . of course the poor child must have been traumatized! Why no wonder she is so weird. I mean. . . “ She stopped suddenly when she noticed the look on Lady Faldoon’s face.

Her features seemed to be carved out of stone and with eyes that had turned dangerously dark. Mrs. Dixe stuttered, “I mean, of course. . . being deprived of your influence. . why. . she . . er. . well she is certainly doing much better!” She tried to end on a cheery note, but from the look on Lady Faldoon’s face, she knew she had gone too far.

Althea looked down at her book. The Science book was really a ruse, she had finished reading it last week, but it was large enough to hide the other book. A comic book her father had read to her many years ago when she was scarce old enough to say the alphabet. She turned the page and scanned the pictures. This one was volume 2. She only had three volumes of the series. The others were volumes 4 and 7.

“Mrs. Dixe,” Lady Faldoon drawled, taking a slight sip of her lemon water, “about that check you were requesting.” She set down the glass and used her little silver spoon to stir the lemon, as if somehow it would add more flavor to the sour drink. “I am not sure yet, how much I will be donating this quarter. Perhaps I can give you the check later.”

“Oh. . of…of course. . why certainly,” Mrs. Dixe stumbled, now acutely aware she had possibly offended her Ladyship. “I. . well. . of course there is no rush.”

“Of course,” Lady Faldoon continued to stir her water, then gave a sharp look over at Althea’s mother, “Tell me Maggie,” she squinted through her water glass at Mrs. Applegate, “has Althea been to see Dr. McCarson yet?”

Althea’s mother fumbled with her silverware, trying not to look up. “We have been a little busy this last week. Davy hasn’t been sleeping that well, and with my new job. . . “

“Hmph!” Lady Faldoon used her teaspoon to take a sip of the lemon water. She stiffened her posture and smoothed the floral silk collar of her blouse. “Mrs. Dixe, I believe it is slightly chilly. Be a dear and fetch my shawl from indoors.”

“Oh why of course!” Mrs. Dixe seemed overly excited, as if fetching Lady Faldoon’s shawl would be a chance to redeem herself.” The blonde bunned woman leapt eagerly from the table and hastily retreated toward the mansion.

Lady Faldoon was quiet for a moment. She moved her lips around, or maybe it was her teeth, and seemed to gather herself. “Maggie dear,” she said sweetly, although when she looked at Mrs. Applegate there was nothing sweet about her, “I know you want the best for my granddaughter.”

Althea snuck a quick look above the cover of her giant Science book. She wondered for a moment if she should pinch herself just to make sure the adults knew she was there. . . or perhaps she should pinch them? They talked about her as if she was invisible.

“Mrs. Moldune was very clear about her recommendations for Althea.” Her grandmother went on, “She believes that seeing a psychiatrist is in her best interest, and of course you want what is in the best interest for my grandchild don’t you dear?” Lady Faldoon’s voice crackled a bit. “You know dear, my donation to Cathebies is the only reason that Althea was admitted to such a high quality learning institution.”

Althea’s mother looked down at her plate. The sleeve of her cream colored blouse had accidentally dipped into a little blob of mustard, and she dabbed at it for a second before responding. “Yes, I do know that Agnes, and I am very grateful to everything you have done for us since James died. . . er. . well . . . you know. Giving us a place to live, finding me a job, Althy’s school, we really appreciate all of the things you have done for us.”

“Do you dear?” Lady Faldoon’s lip raised in a kind of snarl. “I don’t know how you and my son have parented your children, but Principal Moldune was clear that she believes that Althea has some very serious issues. Issues that need to be addressed by a professional.” She took another teaspoon of her lemon water. “I know dear,” her voice sweetened, “that you do not want to be without a home dragging my grandchildren through charity shelters because you did not have the foresight to accept my counsel.”

Althea’s mother dabbed uncomfortably at the spot on her sleeve. “Agnes. . . “

“My name is Lady Faldoon to you!” Her silverware clattered against the plate, she did not try to disguise her contempt. “I would like to feel sorry for you Maggie, to listen to your rational for further damaging the future generations of Faldoon’s, but I do not see and have not ever seen any rational for why you convinced my son to dissociate from his own mother and from his rightful place at the Faldoon shipping company by changing his name and playing soldier in some Godforsaken country!”

“It was what he wanted to do Agnes, I did not convince him,”

“I said I am Lady Faldoon to you!” Althea’s grandmother was furious. “Despite your indiscretions, I accept my grandchildren back into my life, but you. . . . “ The magnified glasses made her venomous eyes look huge. “You will have to earn your way back!”

“Grandmother,” Althea used her best little girl voice in a desperate attempt to distract her Ladyship from her poor mother, “do you think I could have some lemon water?”

Her grandmother blinked, as if she didn’t realize that children could talk. “Hmph!” she muttered and pursed her lips.

Mrs. Dixe was seen suddenly in the distance, scurrying across the lawn in her powder blue suit. “Yoo hoo. . . “ she waved, “I found it!” She was out of breath when she reached the table and lifted the black shawl proudly. “Oh it took me a while, but I finally got one of the servants to help me.” She draped the shawl carefully around Lady Faldoon’s shoulders.

“Thank you dear,” Althea’s grandmother slipped back into her rigid posture on the chair.

“Oh what a lovely credenza you have in the front hallway your Ladyship, I hadn’t noticed it before.” Mrs. Dixe began babbling about the furniture she had seen in Paris last year and a bunch of other things that Althea tuned out. She flipped another page of the comic book.

Her mother seemed nervous, worried even. She clenched her hands and picked at the sandwich with her fork. Every once in a while she would look at her watch, as if she were willing time to move faster.

The car ride home was long and quiet. Their old yellow van gasped to a stop in front of their house and Mrs. Applegate sat silent for a moment behind the steering wheel. Althea unbuckled her seat belt and got her backpack from the back seat. She looked down at the red bobby socks she was wearing while she waited for her mother, and enjoyed the swirly purple clouds that were on them.

“Althy,” her mother finally spoke. I am going to call Dr. McCarson and make an appointment for you to see him next week. Her mother mother’s hair was a mass of unruly curls and when she turned to look at back, and there were tears in her eyes. Althea wasn’t sure what to say. The only other time she had seen her mother cry was when the Army man had come to their front door.

“It’s okay mom” Althea smiled, “I don’t mind.”

Mrs. Applegate reached out and smoothed the collar on her daughter’s dress. A little tear slipped from the corner of her eye and trickled down one cheek. “We have to do as your grandmother says Althy, she . . . she just wants what’s best for you. She doesn’t really understand the way we lived, or what your father valued. We have to try and do our best to be nice to her and to respect what she is asking of us.” She wiped the tear away. “It’s for our own good Althy. And it won’t be so bad.”

Althea moved some of her mother’s curls out of the way and looked up at her. “He’s going to come home mommy,” she told her.

“Oh Althy,” her mother turned away and wiped at her eyes.

She felt a surge of anger, “He’s coming home!”

Althea grabbed her camouflage backpack and got out of the car. She waited at the top of the steps in rigid silence for her mother to unlock the door.

“Althea,” the keys jingled, her mother’s voice was quiet, “you have to come to terms with this.” She finished unlocking the door and then bent down to talk to her. “He is gone Althy, you have to accept it. We all have to accept it.”

Althea pushed her mother away and ran into the house. She darted up the stairs and slammed the door of her room behind her. She grabbed a pen from the dresser and drew on her backpack, the backpack her father had given her before he left. “M” she drew the letter on the camouflage fabric, “I” she pressed the pen harder, “A” she went over and over the letters with the pen. “M. . . . . I. . . . . . A”.

Missing In Action.

He was Missing her father was missing.

Missing was not the same as dead.

-3-

A little bird was mocking her. Althea could see him through the crack in the window that had been left open. The last thing she wanted to hear was the joyful sounds of the outside world.

Today she was wearing a teal colored dress and bright pink bobby socks with green frogs on them. The little frogs seemed to dance up her legs and then reach out with webbed feet to try and touch her knees.

Normally she would have been comforted by the goofy expression on their faces and the way they seemed to come alive on the socks. But not today. She was in a foul mood today.

“Uh-em,” Dr. McCarson cleared his throat loudly.

Althea looked blankly up at him.

He licked his bottom lip slightly and ran a hand through his thick brown hair. He had a yellow notepad in front of him, and scribbled something quickly before turning back to her. “Did you want to share something with me Althea? Anything bothering you.”

She continued to stare blankly.

He rifled through some papers on his desk.

‘Share something with him,” Althea thought to herself, “Sure, she would like to share.

It had been a week since she had tried to get rid of the Galograth and still no luck. Nothing worked, no matter how many times she went over it. She had even re-read the comic book just to make sure, but still the same results. Davy had taken to sleeping in her room. He would sneak out soon after his mother tucked him in. From Althea’s room they could hear the Galograth moving around. Throwing things, grunting and making those gurbling sounds. He couldn’t leave the room to follow. He had not attached himself strongly enough to Davy.

Althea suppressed a yawn and watched Dr. McCarson scribble something else on his yellow notepad. To add to her troubles, Davy kicked in his sleep and hogged the bed. She had to figure out a way to get rid of that Galograth.

What could have happened since they moved? What changed? Galograths had always been so easy.

Dr. McCarson smiled encouragingly at her. “It’s okay for you to share with me Althea,” he told her, “this is a safe place for you to express yourself.”

Althea remembered another grown-up who had said that same thing to her, Mr. Thompson in his art class. “Feel free to express yourself,” he had said, and that is what got her into this mess. If there was one thing she was learning from her Grandmother and Cathebies School for Fine Ladies, it was how to suppress self expression in front of untrustworthy grown ups.

“There now Althea,” Dr. McCarson pulled some papers out of a folder. “Perhaps we should talk about these.” He pushed them across the desk. She recognized her drawings. “Would you like to tell me a little bit about these?” He gave her another faux fatherly smile.

He held one of the pictures up to the light, “Mmmm. . . . “ he squinted as if it would somehow change what he saw. Althea noticed that Dr. McCarson had three brown freckles on his nose, and eyebrows that were rather bushy. He looked pretty young for a Doctor, with a cheerful face and boyish features.

“Looks like some kind of beast. . . a dog maybe?” He held the picture up higher.

“It is a Galograth.” Althea told him, tired of listening to his fumblings.

“Aaaaaahhhhhh. . yes. . of course, I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. A galagrape.”

“Grath,” she corrected him.

“Pardon?” he dropped the picture a few inches so he could see her.

“Ga-lo-grath,” she said louder so that he could hear. “A Galograth, not a galagrape.”

“Ahhh, yes. And a Galograth is a. . . “ he looked at her expectantly, but she did not finish his sentence for him.

“. . . A furry dog. . . mmm. . . a furry armless dog. . . ?”

Althea frowned. What was he talking about? She didn’t think her drawing was that bad. She pursed her lips the same way she had seen her grandmother and looked away.

“Hmm. . well, perhaps the Galograth is your imaginary friend. Do you have an imaginary friend.”

Althea felt a twinge of irritation.

“Or then it could be. . “

“A monster!” she gave him a glowering look. “A Galograth is a monster!”

“Ahhh, yes of course.” Dr. McCarson smiled. “How silly of me. A monster.” He set the drawing down and scribbled something on his yellow notepad. “A monster,” he muttered as he wrote, then seemed to catch himself, looking back at Althea with another of his smiles. He had a pair of glasses next to him and he put them on. The glasses overwhelmed his face and his youthful good looks disappeared behind them. “Now then,” he said seriously, pen still half poised above the paper, “What does a little girl like you know about monsters?”

She didn’t answer him. It was starting to occur to her that Dr. McCarson would probably be sending a report to her grandmother. That no matter how tiring he was, she should not speak to him. She should bite her tongue and say the things that little girls her age were supposed to say.

“Well,” she said, “I am too focused on my studies to remember”. She had brought the big Science book with her and she opened it, lifting it up in front of her so she could avoid the Dr.’s probing eyes. “My grandmother says I should try to do well at my new school.”

She lifted the book higher so the Doctor couldn’t see her face. She had forgotten about the comic book, it had been sandwiched in the book and the colorful pages were now looking back at her. Well, at least she could get something productive done today.

Suddenly the big brown book was lifted upward, out of her grasp. The comic book slipped out and made a little “smack” when it hit the floor. “Ahhhh,” Dr. McCarson loomed above her, the little freckles on his nose squinching as his brows furrowed. He looked down at the comic book on the floor, then stooped to pick it up. “I see you are studying very hard.” He smiled and patted the top of her head. “Well then Althea, you don’t need to study when you visit me.” He moved back behind his desk and set the Science book and the comic book on top of her drawings. “Your visits are about you and I talking. . . getting to know one another. You know,” he took off the big glasses and picked up the comic book, “becoming friends.”

He flipped through the pages. “I used to read comic books when I was your age.” He continued flipping through the book, “Superman, Aquaman, the. . whu. . ts, this?” He was looking at one of the pages. “This looks like, I mean. . . “ He moved the Science book to the side so he could get to Althea’s drawings. He held the drawing up next to the comic book. Back and forth his head moved from the comic book to the drawing, then he was still.

The room was quiet. Dr, McCarson set the book and drawing back on the desk. His face was blank for a moment. He looked down at the comic, this time flipping it over so he could see the cover. His fingers moved softly over the title.

“Monsters of the World by Lysander McGee.” He read aloud, his voice was soft, almost like a whisper, but not quite. He smiled, but this time it seemed to himself.

He looked up. “Monsters.”

Althea thought he was acting kind of funny. As if he had just put something together but forgot to read the directions. Like maybe a part got left out and he didn’t know where it went.

She looked up at the wall. “It’s 3 o’clock” she said blandly. Time for me to go. She stood, her black patton shoes clicking quietly on the wood floor. “May I have my books back please?” She tried to reach over the desk but wasn’t tall enough.

Dr. McCarson looked at her. “3 o’clock? Oh. . oh yes 3 o’clock, of course.” He picked up his big glasses and put them on again. “This has been a very productive session Althea, very productive. I think we have really started to get to know one another.” He handed her the big brown Science Book. “Your mother is waiting in the reception area.” He patted the top of her head affectionately. “I would like to see you again next week Althea, so we can continue our chat.”

“Dr. McCarson . . . “

“Your mother is waiting for you ,”

“Dr. McCarson . . . “

He opened the door to his office.

“Dr. McCarson!” She shouted. He looked down, a quizzical expression on his face.”

“Yes Althea, what is it?”

“My other book,”

He looked as if he didn’t understand.

“My comic book. May I have my comic book please?” She looked over at his desk.

“Ahh, yes.” He nudged her toward the door. “I’m afraid I am going to have to keep that. Just for a little while. I think it will help me understand your drawings better Althea, so we can . . . er, be better friends.” He smiled at her again, but the glasses were so huge on his face that all she could see were the panes and his thick brown hair spiking out around them.

“But I need that!” She tried to move around him, but he stood in her way. “You can’t keep it; it belongs to me!”

“Althy, whatever is the matter?” her mother was walking toward her.

“Mrs. Applegate,” the doctor took off his glasses and flashed Althea’s mother one of his winning smiles. “Perhaps I can see you alone, while little Althea waits in the lobby?”

The receptionist took Althea’s hand and before she knew it she was standing outside of the Dr.’s closed door. She could hear her mother’s voice in the Dr.’s office.

“Come now” the receptionist pulled her down the hallway, “I have a coloring book for you.”

Althea’s mother was in Dr. McCarson’s office for what seemed like a long time, but in actuality what was probably only 5 minutes or so. When she came out Althea saw her shake the Dr.’s hand. “Thanks you so much for all of your help,” she told him. “We will see you next week, same time.” The Dr. smiled warmly and walked her to the lobby.

“Come Althy,” her mother hoisted her overstuffed briefcase over her shoulder.

“But where is my comic book?” Althea’s heart was thumping angrily.

“Come dear, Dr. McCarson will be seeing you next week.”

“My book!”

“That’s enough Althy!” Her mother gave her a stern look. “Dr. McCarson will keep your comic book here for a little while. And that’s the end of it.” She pulled her along beside her.

Althea stewed in the car. Dr. McCarson had stolen the only thing she had left that might have helped her understand what was going wrong with the Galograth. Now what was she to do? No book, no solution. She began to feel anger bubble up inside of her.

She tried to swallow it back.

When they got home, She stormed past her mother. “Althea. . . “ her mother sounded tired. “Please, let’s talk about this.”

“I don’t want to talk to you!” Althea blew past her and stormed upstairs, slamming the door to her room. She threw herself face down on the bed and for a while just stayed like that. She heard Davy’s footsteps outside of her room, and then his breathing as he stood beside her bed. She rolled over.

Davy had a lollypop in his mouth and it must have been blueberry, because there were blue streaks across his chubby cheeks. “Wadamatta Tia?” He looked at her with big brown eyes, “howcm yous sad?”

“Not sad Davy,” she scowled, “Mad, I am mad.”

“Howcm?”

“Dr. McCarson took my Monster book.”

“Oh,” he took another slurp on his lollypop. “why you nee it?”

Althea sighed and sat up. “I need it because it has the Galograth in it. I need it because it has other monsters in it too. Monster’s I don’t know how to fight because nothing I am doing, and I mean nothing is working! That’s why I need it!”

Davy looked startled by her tirade, but then shrugged his shoulders and slurped some more on the pop. “I’s sowwy Tia.”

She stared at him, blueberry goo running down his chin and dripping onto his shirt. “Never mind Davy.” She grabbed her backpack from the floor where she had dropped it. “Out of my room – now!,”

“But Tia. . “

“Out!.”

She moved him through the door, and then closed it and locked it behind him. She put on new bobby socks and then slung her backpack over her back. She could hear him still shuffling outside.

“Go away Davy!”

“But Tia. . . “ He whispered through the crack.

“What!”

“I till sweep wit you? I’s cared of the munter”

She let out another long sigh, “Yes Davy,” she held her lips against the crack so he could hear. “You can still sleep in my room tonight.” She heard him slurping happily again on the lollipop. “Now go away!”

Althea went to her closet and pulled out one of her bins. She popped open the lid and took out a long rope that had a metal hook at one end. She took the rope to the window. Carefully she unlatched the outside screen and fastened the big hook to the ledge. Her room was on the second story and it was a long way to the ground. That fact did not bother Althea. In South Carolina her father had taken her on many trips to the swamps of the Congaree, and taught her how to climb down from the 16-foot Loblolly trees.

She looped one part of the rope around her waist and then hoisted herself out of the window. Down down down she climbed, scaling the crackled wall of their house like a rock climber, until she was finally able to drop down onto the ground.

It was still light out and it would be a few hours until her mother called her for dinner. Althea walked down the street toward the park. She wanted to be near trees and growing things for a while.

Eventually she entered the park and stood looking at concrete basketball courts and manicured green grass. At her old house she would have been in the forest by now, and there would be no people and no dogs running around. Just the tall trees and the deep sounds of the wilderness.

What would she do now that she had no powers, no ability to defeat the monsters. She would have to watch them slowly latch onto children. Bit by bit and day-by-day until they took over a little piece of them.

She had seen it once in Pre-school, when she had first encountered a Vookarile. A pretty longhaired monster with a warty nose, it had come one day during naptime to a spoiled and self-indulgent little boy named Tim. He was a chronic non-sharer, and even smacked other children who threatened his toy territory.

Althea had been the only person, other than Tim, who could see the Vookarile. She saw it fly in during naptime through the coat closet. It landed very near him and would just sit there, combing its lovely long hair, singing softly.

She didn’t know how to fight other people’s monsters then. Just her own. At that time she had battled many little ones starting from the time she was a baby, small insignificant fluff balls really. The Vookarile was the first she had seen that belonged to someone else. She had tried very hard to help Tim, but at the time she did not know about the ingredients, or how to mash the medicine and find the monsters weakness. She didn’t know what to do, so she stayed nearby him, and tried to convince him not to listen to the song.

Vookariles are so clever. They prey on spoiled children and know just how to latch onto them. This one sang to Tim, and told him all kinds of things in the songs. That he was better than other children, stronger, smarter. That he should not have to share, because he was so special. So much more special than any of the other children. It wasn’t long until Tim became hypnotized by her song, suddenly he had wanted the Vookarile closer to him, and started to be mean to Althea, telling her she was stupid and things like that.

He seemed a willing victim, and once the Vookarile latched onto Tim, it no longer needed to come through the coat closet. Or even to the school. It went home with him, and Althea never saw it again.

She did see Tim though. Every day at the preschool, and he stopped hitting other children, and even loosened up his toy territory. That puzzled her at first, but then she noticed other things. After the Vookarile latched onto Tim, he became clever and deceptive. He would share his toys with other children, but only for a price. He made them pay him with lunch money, or convinced them that his toys were the best ones and if they wanted to play with the best they had to do whatever he said. Many times he convinced them to play cruel tricks on the children that he didn’t like. Tim learned how to sing the Vookarile’s song to both children and adults to get what he wanted. It was a deceptive thing, and Althea felt that she had somehow failed him.

A little dog ran by her, barking at a tennis ball that was rolling in the grass. Althea watched the animal run off in the distance after the ball. A chubby balding man with a loose leash in his hands came panting behind it; he paused for a moment and then gave up, sitting on a bench near Althea.

She sat on the other side and unzipped her backpack.

She had two other volumes from the comic book series. Volumes 4 and 7. So far most of the monsters she had encountered had been in volume 2. The smaller ones, the ones she had defeated when she was a baby, those weren’t in the book, but they had been easy to defeat, she didn’t even need to mix anything.

She took out the other two comic books.

She had found them, not long after the Vookarile latched onto Tim. She had been digging around in the attic looking for dress up clothes, when she came upon a box of her father’s things from when he was a child. The comic books were there along with some pictures, a journal, toy cars and other stuff. She had noticed them right away because right smack on the cover of volume 2 was a picture of a Vookarile. A different one, of course, than the one she’d seen - different hair color, different sized wart on its nose - but it was unmistakably the same creature.

“Hey there!” the chubby man on the bench cried out. Althea was startled out of her thoughts. “You there! You shouldn’t be doing that!”

She looked in the direction he was shouting and saw a tall lanky kid near the rock wall by the park entrance. He was dressed entirely in black, and had a skateboard propped up beside him.

“I say!” the man cried out again, “Stop that!” Althea noticed for the first time that the boy had a spray can in his hands. His arms swooped back and forth as he sprayed the rock wall. He stopped for a moment, shook the paint can making a clankity clank noise, and looked calmly at the man on the bench.

A little smile lifted the corner of the boy’s mouth. He swiped once, twice more across the wall, painting black streaks on it.

“Little hoodlum!” the man muttered, and then got up from the bench and went to look for his dog.

The boy seemed satisfied and threw the paint can on the ground. He picked up his skateboard and got on it, launching himself down the short flight of stairs leading from the entrance. He did a little jump up in the air at the bottom of the stairs and landed on his board, then casually rolled over to where Althea was sitting. He stopped, and picked up his board, then sat down.

His skateboard looked well worn and was covered with stickers. One of them was torn and the edge of it was sticking up. He moved a loose lock of long black hair out of his face so he could see it better. He wore a pair of black knit gloves that had the fingers cut out of them and his nails were dirty. He used tried to pull off the sticker.

She put her comic books back in her backpack and zipped it, not wanting to lose all of them in one day.

“You,” Althea remarked, “are not a nice boy.”

He stopped what he was doing, “No,” he said flatly glancing at her, “I am not.” and went back to the sticker.

Althea pursed her lips. “What does that mean?”

He looked up again, his eyes narrowed. “What do you mean what does that mean?”

Althea blinked. “Does it mean that you are not, meaning that what I said was not true and you are a nice boy, even though you are doing un-nice things?” She paused for a moment to pull up one of her bobby socks. “Or. . . does it mean that what I said is true and you are not a nice boy and that is why you are doing un-nice things?”

The boy was silent. He ran his eyes over Althea’s red dress with its three white buttons, her two red braids, one falling neatly over each of her shoulders, her green bobby socks with brown squirrels holding little acorns. His eyes came back to meet hers.

“You are a strange little girl.”

Althea clutched the strap of her backpack in case the boy tried to steal it. “I would rather be a strange girl than a not nice boy.”

The boy ignored her and went back to working on his sticker. She noticed as he worked, that his jeans were ripped in several places, and she wondered if he had done that on purpose, or if he was simply too poor to afford a pair of unripped jeans. He was a bigger boy than the ones in her class, and Althea guessed that he was probably a 4th grader.

She looked back to where he had thrown the empty can of paint. “You really shouldn’t litter.”

The boy ripped the last piece of the sticker off of his board, and then used his fingers to smooth down the others on the surface. He set the skateboard on the ground and rolled it back and forth to test it, then got up from the bench.

“You really shouldn’t mind other people’s business,” he said over his shoulder as put one foot on the skateboard and used the other to propel him forward.

Althea watched him weave in and out of the metal posts along the walkway, until he disappeared in the distance.

“Well,” she said aloud, and for a moment sounded like one of her teachers at Lady Cathebies School for Fine Ladies. She got up from the bench. It was getting late, and her mother would be calling her for dinner soon.

She turned and headed home.

-4-

On Saturday Althea’s mother was called to work. They had a big project that had to get done and her mother was needed to help with the bookwork and filing. One of the girl’s at school was having a slumber party for her birthday, Chrissie Goodridge. Since her mother had to work, and Althea didn’t want to go with Davy to Mrs. Dixe’s house (who had volunteered to watch them) she agreed that Althea could go to the party.

Althea wasn’t sure why Chrissie had invited her, except that she remembered hearing at one of her Grandmother’s events that Mrs. Goodridge was unsuitable as a member of the Society of the Betterment of Humanity, and that her application had been declined. Perhaps Mrs. Goodridge convinced Chrissie to invite Althea to try and win a place with the Society.

More and more Althea was realizing that many of the mother’s at her school wanted desperately to be in her grouchy grandmother’s good graces. It was a curious thing, as Althea had to bite her cheeks to stop fidgeting from boredom when she was at the Society’s tea party’s or their monthly meetings. Thankfully, due to school, she hadn’t had to go that many.

Chrissie lived in a huge white house with beautifully trimmed windows. It was located only a few blocks from Althea’s school in a very attractive neighborhood. Mrs. Goodridge had tied purple balloons on the ivy trimmed archway in front, and Althea could hear the sound of a water fountain in the front garden as she made her way up the walkway.

Mrs. Applegate kissed her cheek and made sure there were toothpaste and a toothbrush in her backpack before saying goodbye. As the sound of the Applegate’s sputtering yellow van grew faint, Althea took a deep breath and went inside. She didn’t bother to knock as the door was already partially open.

“Oh, der you are my dear little Althea,” she heard someone squeal, and a woman dressed in a white sundress with a broad brimmed sun hat swooped into the front hallway.

Althea felt greasy kisses smacking on her cheeks and when she reached up her fingers came away plum colored from Mrs. Goodrige’s heavy lipstick. “What a leettle darling zyou are,” Mrs. Goodridge stepped back to look at her, her voice thick with a Brazilian accent. She was a soft roundish woman, more on the plump side than fat, perhaps partially accounting for her rejection notice from the Society.

“Oh what a cute leettle outfit you have on!” Mrs. Goodridge leaned down to finger the islet lace on the bottom of Althea’s dress. She was wearing Midnight Blue today with red buttons. “So cute! You mus come an meet de oder girls.” Althea fought back a sneeze from her heavy perfume, as she followed her into the other room.

The other girls were in the Entertainment room of the house, playing a video game called Princess and the Cake Tower on a giant wall television. Althea set her backpack on the elegantly carved coffee table and stood blandly by them. Dorthea Dixe was playing the game with Chrissie and another girl named Simone. Chrissie had blonde curly hair, almost the same color as Dorthea, but short and not as well groomed. She was a pretty round little girl like her mother, lacking only the thick accent and the dark hair. Simone was a gangly girl, skinny with braces, but she tried to “cool up” the braces by getting transparent colors instead of the normal silver ones.

Dorthea looked up. “Oh,” she said, “I didn’t know you were invited.” She gave a long look at Chrissie, communicating clearly the apparent social Pho-Pa committed by an invitation to the “oddbird”.

Chrissie looked embarrassed. Several other girls gave her equally snobbish looks and moved to the farthest side of the room, away from Althea. “I had to invite her,” Chrissie said, “because of her grandmother.”

“Oh,” Dorthea Dixe nodded sympathetically, “yes, I have that same problem.” She looked at Althea. “We are playing a game oddbird,” she sneered, “We will let you sit on that chair,” she pointed to a stiff yellow chair in the far corner, “and watch.”

“Or,” Chrissie adopted the same sneering tone as Dorthea, “you can go in the kitchen and help my mother make us sandwiches.”

“That’s a better idea,” Dorthea snickered, “I like mine with no mayonnaise, and the crusts cut off.”

Althea stood for a few moments expressionless. She watched them all huddled around the television screen giggling and talking amongst themselves. Then she watched the character on the screen, the princess in the long flowing dress, build cakes and pile them up, then try to bounce up the cakes to the top of the animated tower.

What is it like, she wondered, being a regular girl? How does it feel, she thought, to think about all the things they talked about? Presents and parties, shopping and a new pair of jeans, the sparkly jewelry their parents had given them, the horse ride at the fair, a movie they watched on TV last night.

Althea wondered if she could be a regular little girl. Now that she had no power, no ability to fight monsters anymore, maybe she should study them, these normal little girls. Study them like she used to study the monsters, and maybe learn about how to be more like them.

“What is she doing?” Simone whispered to Dorthea. “She’s just standing there staring at us.”

Dorthea turned to look at her. “She’s creeeepy,” she giggled. “A creepy little oddbird!” The other girls laughed. “My mother says that it’s her father’s fault.” Dorthea lowered her voice, as if Althea wouldn’t be able to hear, “he used to take her to the swamps and make her swim with the alligators. That’s why she’s such a weirdo!” More laughter.

Althea’s face remained expressionless. She looked at the girls huddled together, as if they were telling great secrets to one another. “My father is a Green Beret.” Her voice was quiet. “He taught me more than how to swim with alligators.” She picked up her backpack from the table.

“Your father is dead!” Dorthea’s lip curled. “So I guess it doesn’t matter what he taught you!” She flicked her starchy blonde braid and went back to playing the Princess game.

“Don’t be cruel Dorthea,” Chrissie’s voice was quiet.

“It’s your turn Chrissie,” Dorthea’s eyes were venomous. “You don’t want to fall behind, do you?” Chrissie lowered her head and went back to playing the game.

Althea spent most of the rest of the night in the stiff yellow chair, reading her English Grammar book. She was really reading the textbook this time. Studying sentence structure and what a noun was and what a pronoun was. She wished that she had brought a few other books, or a sketchpad.

The girls giggled a lot and jumped around. Mrs. Goodridge served cake and ice cream and everyone sang happy birthday to Chrissie. Well, everyone but Althea. She remained sitting in the tall yellow chair, and practiced holding her posture, the way her grandmother did at the tea parties.

At one point a piñata was brought in, and after the final bat struck the colorful donkey and candy spilled all over the floor, Mrs. Goodridge brought out a guitar and sang a few songs from Brazil.

Some of the candy had not been retrieved, and the bright wrappers winked wistfully at Althea. She shifted in the chair, turning so she did not see them, and tried to think of exciting action words that would drown out the noise from the party.

Eventually the girls grew tired. Chrissie’s mother brought out blankets and sleeping bags. Someone put on a Fairy Queen Movie and it wasn’t long before the heavy breathing of sleeping girls was heard. Only Althea noticed when the movie had ended. The blank grey screen caused the room to darken. She shifted the pillow Mrs. Goodridge had given her to the other side of the chair, and leaned back against it.

She was troubled. All she could think about were monsters, ingredients, and what she was doing wrong. She wondered if city monsters were different than country monsters, and maybe that was why she could not defeat them.

She tried moving the pillow again to make herself comfortable in the uncomfortable chair. She closed her eyes and tried to think of bright and happy things. It was almost working until something interfered.

It started out as a scrappy scraping noise. A soft scratchy sound almost like old wheels lightly skidding on the floor. It would start and then stop, start and then stop again. Each time she thought she was imagining it, listened to the silence, then just as she was about ready to go back to the sunshine and rainbows of happyland, it started again.

Scrip scrape, scrip scrape. There were little clicking noises as the sound seemed to grow closer. Almost like half hewn fingernails skimming over the walls.

Althea opened her eyes. The shadowy lumps of little girls in their sleeping bags littered the room. All of the lumps moved up and down, up and down in perfect sync with the sounds of breathing. Everything seemed as it should, except. . . .

One of the lumps was fidgeting. Tossing and turning. Not at all in sync with the other steady peaceful ones. She heard sounds from the lump, small ugh, and oh’s and other things.

Althea propped up on one elbow, resting slightly on the hard wood of the chair arm.

There it was again. Scrip Scrape, this time it sounded closer. She squinted in the darkness.

Scrip Scrape. And then the light thrumming on the walls.

“Aaaaa” the lump on the floor fidgeted, and then sat up.

Chrissie’s mass of curly blonde hair poked above the sleeping bag.

Scrip Scrape.

Althea watched as she scooted across the floor and then ducked down behind the couch. The blonde curls bobbed this way and that way and then turned facing Althea’s chair.

“Oh!” Chrissie gasped, smacking her hand over her mouth to silence herself. “I didn’t know you were awake,” she whispered.

Althea blinked and looked at Chrissie.

Scrip Scrape.

Chrissie turned her head toward the noise then back to Althea. Her eyes were wide and fearful. “I guess it’s hard for you to sleep in that chair,” she whispered. “Maybe you want to sleep in my room upstairs.”

Scrip Scrape

Chrissie startled and then looked toward the stairs. “I think that I will sleep there.” She hunched down low behind the couch. “I like to sleep with the light on.” Her curly head peeked around the corner of the couch.

Scrip Scrape Scrip Scrape Scrip Scrape

“Aaaaaaaaaaa” Chrissie whimpered, putting her hand over her mouth again.

“Where is it do you think?” Althea asked, her voice soft but not a whisper.

“Wh wh what?” the blonde head bobbed around to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“The monster? Where is it?”

“Th th th,” she stuttered, and then had a stunned look on her face.

Scrip scrape scrip scrape scrip scrape scrip scrape

“It’s getting closer.”

“C. . . c. . .can. . can you hear that?” Chrissie’s wide eyes looked at Althea. “I mean, you can hear that?”

Althea blinked. She sat up all the way in the yellow chair. “Yes of course I can, and it sounds like it is getting much closer.”

“But, I mean, I. . . . “ Chrissie moved down low and then crawled quietly on the floor toward Althea. She leaned up against the chair. “No one else can hear it. I mean, I’ve been out here before with my parents and in their room when I was scared and the didn’t. . . I mean they don’t. . “

Althea moved the blanket aside and scooted to the edge of the chair. She was wearing her nightdress, which looked exactly like her day dresses except that it had no buttons, no collar, and no white lace under the hem.

Scrip Scrape Scrip Scrape Scrip Scrape. The thrumming on the walls grew louder, then dropped off quite suddenly into a whisper, or rather a cross between a whisper and a high-pitched dog whistle.

“Oooooooohhhhh” Chrissie clung to Althea’s leg. “It’s coming. It is so close.” She grabbed her hand, we have to try and run for my room. It won’t come in there, and I can turn on the light!

As she spoke, a dark shadow rose up against the white wall of the hallway. Tall and oddly shaped, Althea couldn’t imagine what could make such a shape. “Please!” Chrissie begged, “let’s run for it!” She pulled her from the chair and the two girls flung themselves over the top of the couch toward the stairwell.

“What’s all the noise?” Simone sat up in her sleeping bag. She seemed to catch her tongue on her braces for a moment and stuck a finger in her mouth to release it. “What are you doing Chrissie?”

The tall shadow on the wall grew larger and rose up on the wall next to Simone. She seemed completely oblivious. The high-pitched hiss stung the air and resonated for a long time. Simone began talking over it. “Is that the weirdo with you? What are you doing with her?”

“I. . . I. . was. . . I. . “ The shadow moved out of the wall and swirled like a storm around it’s own shape. Chrissie watched in horror as a creature began to emerge from the shadow. Green scales, a long lumpy tail that looked like a thick serpent. The layers of scales swept upwards and then were lost beneath wrinkled skin. Further up the skin turned to a twisted mix of scales and fur. Snake like arms protruded from its sides and as it stepped closer, Althea could see that it had a face that was half human half. . .well. . weasely ferret. A single nubby horn had grown out of the center of its forehead.

“Oh. . . . aaa” Chrissie gurgled in fear. The creature’s tail slithered over the top of Simone’s sleeping bag, but she did not notice. As it moved, little red flames sparked out of its eyes, like a car reving it’s engines.

“Doesn’t she see it? Can’t she see it?” Chrissie’s voice was a desperate whisper.

But Simone did not see. Indeed she was entirely oblivious as she sat there with the monster on her lap, frowning at Chrissie. “I asked you a question,” she whispered loudly, “what are you doing with her.”

The creature moved from her lap, it’s arms seeming to smell the air like a snake flickering tongue, searching. . . . .

“I am afraid of the dark,” Althea spoke softly, careful to not wake the others. “I need to sleep with the light on. Chrissie is letting me sleep in her room.”

“Oh,” Simone looked suspiciously at them for a moment, and then seemed satisfied. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and scooted back into her sleeping bag. “Well, I guess that makes sense.” Suddenly, as if forgetting herself, she sat up, “little baby!” she sneered, before settling back down.

By now the creature had reached the edge of the couch. It flicked out a long forked tongue that smacked the carpet near Chrissies foot. “Come on!” She grabbed Althea’s hand and they ran up the stairs, down the long hallway, and finally into her room.

Chrissie turned on all of the lights and closed the door soundly. She hunched down, out of breath by her bed. “It can’t come in,” she panted, relieved. “I don’t know why, but it can’t come in my room.” She sat down on the yellow ruffled bedspread. Suddenly her head shot up and she looked at Althea.

“You. . . I mean. . you. . . you saw it didn’t you? That thing? You saw it?” For a moment a look of fear marked her face.

Althea looked at her and blinked. She didn’t say anything.

“You don’t think I’m weird? Do you?” Chrissie looked upset. “I mean I. . . well. . . “

Althea still didn’t answer

“I’m not weird. I just thought. . . I mean . . I was just pretending. . . I wanted to see what you would do.”

“I saw it Chrissie.” Althea said.

Chrissie immediately looked relieved. “You did? I mean you really saw it Althea?” she sat back down on the bed. Her shoulders were hunched and there were tears in her eyes. “No one else can see it. Even Simone, did you see her? It was right on top of her and she didn’t even know?” Chrissie wiped a tear from her cheek and looked back at Althea.

“How can you see it Althea, when no one else can?” She had missed the lamp by her bed, so she reached over and flicked it on. “I mean, not even my parents can. I slept with them when I was scared and it was right in their room, making all kinds of noise but they never noticed. They kept telling me to be quiet and it was my imagination.” Her little blonde curls bobbed up again as she looked at Althea.

“How do you see it Althea?

Is it because you are weird?”

Her eyes widened, “Does that mean I am weird like you?”

Althea looked around Chrissie’s room. Everything was yellow like her hair, and had ruffles and ribbons on it. The bedspread, the lampshade, the strips of wallpaper borders. Even the artwork on the wall had yellow painted ruffles.

She moved over to the seat by the window and looked out at all of the sparkling stars that dotted the night sky.

“Althea?” Chrissie sounded nervous, awkward.

She noticed a little tear in the lace on the bottom of her nightdress, and examined the hemline for a moment to see if it would be easy for her mother to fix. When she was finished, she turned to look at curly haired little girl, a little girl who only hours ago had been speaking to her most unkindly. She let out a long sigh.

“I see it because it is a monster. And I,” she hesitated for a moment, but then continued, “am a monster hunter.”

The room was quiet. Chrissie stared at her, a little frown wrinkling her forehead. “A what?” she asked.

“A Monster Hunter.”

Scrip scrape scrip scrape scrip scrape

There it was again. Chrissie jumped from the bed and looked fearfully toward the door. “It can’t come in my room, it can’t come in my room, it can’t it can’t it can’t.” she squinched her eyes shut and said it over and over again, as if she was hoping against hope that things hadn’t changed and it was still true.

When the noise didn’t stop, she opened her eyes a little and peeked fearfully out.

Althea, could hear other sounds. A metal vent rested on the floor of Chrissie’s room, the grate stood out against the white carpet that matched the rest of the house. It seemed to be connected to other rooms as she could hear grown ups talking. Their voices were muffled at first, but then grew louder. They weren’t really talking the way that grown ups do, on and on about one boring thing or the other. No, these grown ups were talking more like she did to Davy when he was pestering her, or the way she had talked to her mother after she’d let Dr. McCarson keep the comic book.

These grown-ups were fighting.

The more she listened, the more Althea began to feel uneasy. Not because of the monster outside the door, although that was a bit of a problem. These grown ups were angry, angrier than she had ever felt toward another person, angrier than she had ever heard any grown up be, even her grandmother who was often not very happy.

“Chrissie,” Althea whispered, “who is that? Who is that down there.”

Chrissie looked puzzled and then she saw that Althea was pointing to the vent. “Oh,” she said, and her cheeks flushed “that is. . . . .um. . . my parents. Their room is below mine.”

Althea frowned. “Do they always talk to each other like that?” she asked.

“Not always,” Chrissie replied, looking slightly embarrassed, “but usually lately. Her head swung back to the sounds outside her room; she wasn’t really paying attention to Althea or the vent, her eyes were glued on the door.

“What is it Althea, what is that monster? Why does it want to eat me?”

“It doesn’t want to eat you Chrissie. Monsters don’t eat people.” She told her, “it wants to attach to you, so it can have a permanent home in our world.”

“Oh.” Said Chrissie dumbly. “But what is it? Did you see the way that fire shot out of it’s eyes, and it’s tail,” Chrissie whimpered, “Oh Althea, it is a horrible horrible monster!!”

Scrip scrape scrip scrape scrip scrape

The noise outside grew louder

“Sssssshhhhhhhhhh” she warned. “You must never never never speak so terribly about a monster”.

“What? Why not?” Chrissie looked confused.

Althea looked down at the dull grey fabric of her nightdress. She never should have brought this one. She had much brighter ones at home. “Because,” she told Chrissie, “there is nothing a monster likes more than to hear people say terrible things about it.” She sat on the bed and lifted up her feet. She was wearing dancing bear leg warmers tonight, and each of the fat furry bears held a brightly colored umbrella. “You must look at my leg warmers Chrissie, and think of how funny these bears are.” Chrissie turned away from the door and sat down beside Althea.

“Do you think it will help”

“Yes”

Chrissie stared at Althea’s socks and tried to imagine how the bears would look in real life, twirling the umbrellas. Eventually she was able to see it in her imagination and it made her smile.

Scrip scrape scrip scrape, the sound outside the door grew fainter.

“There you see,”

Chrissie looked up at Althea in awe. “Yes! It’s really working!” she lowered her voice, “Will it make the monster go away?”

Althea shook her head. “No, that is a bit more complicated. But it will hold it off for a while.” Chrissie looked down at her socks again.

“What is it Althea? I mean what kind of a monster is it? And why me? How come it is after me?”

“I am fairly certain. . .although I have never seen one before, except in a book, that this monster is called a Snikerbaum,” she told Chrissie.

“Why does it shoot out flames like that, and the snakes tail?”

“Well,” Althea replied somewhat hesitantly, “I’m afraid I don’t have complete information about this monster. Just a half page, a blurb really. The rest of it must be in volume 5, and unfortunately, I don’t have that.”

Chrissie looked up from Althea’s leg warmers. From the look on her face Althea realized that she didn’t have the faintest idea what she was talking about.

“Sorry” she apologized. “This monster is more advanced than the ones I have seen. I only know a little about it.”

“What do you know about it Althea?” Chrissie looked anxious.

“Well . . . there is one thing I know for certain.” She looked over at the vent on Chrissie’s floor. The voices of Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge had faded and she assumed that meant they had finally gone to bed.

“What?” Chrissie asked

Althea gave her a grave look. “What I know for certain is that whenever a Snikerbaum is seen in a house by child like you or me that something will happen to that family.”

Chrissie looked scared again, her blue eyes were like little saucers in the bright light. “What is it Althea? What will happen?” She clutched at Althea’s hand.

Althea blinked and then answered.

“Destruction”

Chrissie’s eyes were wide. “Destruction,” she sounded upset, “what do you mean?”

Althea suppressed a groan. She had never had to go into so much detail before. Usually she was working with children like Davy who just went along and didn’t ask a lot of questions.

“Snikerbaums,” she replied, quoting from volume 4 of the Monsters of the World Series, “bring destruction to a home. This destruction can take many forms, depending on the magnitude of the monster. Typically they feed upon anger, and with time and deception cause a rift that cannot be repaired”

Chrissie looked slightly stunned. “Destruction . . . “ she stuttered. She looked around her pretty yellow room, and thought of the many days and weeks her parents had spent together, decorating the house. Imported furniture from Italy, tapestries from the Middle East, expensive art from esteemed auction houses. They had spent more than they should have, and ever since then, her father had seemed unhappy.

“Not ever? “ Chrissie whispered aloud.

“Mmmmm,” Althea took her English book out of her backpack and flipped through it. She had forgotten to dog-ear the page where she had left off. She quickly found it and folded down the little corner.

“Yes,” she went on, “depending on the size and the skill of the creature, they could also do much more.” She returned the book to her backpack. “Destruction of the house, financial ruin, unnatural natural disasters, chaos and permanent division. Some family members have even been booted into entirely different worlds, although that was undocumented, and in the Grecco Roman Period. Mother’s who became Amazons in particular.” She turned to look at Chrissie, and her face was quite serious. “The Snikerbaum is a VERY advanced monster. Although this is the first I have ever seen, yours looks . . . well. . . . quite impressive.”

Althea clicked off the lamp beside Chrissies bed. So many lights being on in the room was starting to hurt her eyes.

“Why us?” Chrissie asked, now fully focused on Althea. “Why did it come to our house?”

“A Snikerbaum is a monster that comes through a doorway that is made by fighting parents.”

“But everyone fights Althea,” Chrissie protested.

Althea plumped up some of the pillows on Chrissies bed and moved back to lie against them. She was starting to get tired, and all of these questions didn’t help.

“Yes, everyone fights, but not everyone has a Snikerbaum. In fact, I believe they can be quite rare.” She closed her eyes and shifted to her side, quoting again from volume four, “When a child of fighting parents sees a Snikerbaum, destruction is certain.”

“But if that is true,” Chrissie protested, “then why is the Snickermathingy coming after me? Why doesn’t it go after them?”

Althea rubbed at her temples. She had enough problems already with one monster and now here was a second. “Well, from what I know of monsters, they want a home in this world, that is their primary purpose. Adults are usually unsuitable or already occupied.

This monster, however, has two purposes.” She rolled over on her side. “That is how it is different than the others I have fought. More. . . . . “ she looked at Chrissie, not sure if she should say the word, “dangerous.” She turned back over, and sounded for the first time, remorseful. “One purpose, attaching themselves, can be stopped. But the second. . . . “

Chrissie was quiet for a few minutes, but then her voice could be heard, it was soft and unsteady. “I. . .is there no. . . nothing we can do?”

Althea was thoughtful. She did remember a certain passage at the end of the section, a footnote really. “Maybe,” she replied, “but improbable. What they call a long shot, really.”

“What is it?” Chrissie looked hopeful.

“I wish I knew.” She sighed.

“What do you mean? You said there was one chance? What is it?”

Althea was growing increasingly annoyed with all of the questions. Frustrated, she sat up, “I don’t know,” the irritation came through her voice. “I told you, I only had a blurb. The rest is in volume 5, and I don’t have that.”

She started thinking about Dr. McCarson, and the comic book he had taken from her. That, in turn, got her thinking about the drawings and the Galograth, and she suddenly felt very very tired. She lay back down and her eyelids drooped.

“Althea. . .” Chrissie’s voice was quiet.

“Yes?” Althea hoped she didn’t have more questions.

“I. . . I’m really sorry.”

Althea opened her eyes. “For what?”

“The way I made fun of you earlier. . . with Dorthea and the others,” she paused for a moment before continuing. “I didn’t mean it. . . I was just trying to fit in. . . I mean. . . I didn’t want Dorthea to pick on me because I wouldn’t go along. . .”

Althea felt her heart pull a little. “I understand. . . . I am kind of strange. At least. . . well. . . that is what people have told me.” She swallowed a lump that was rising in her throat. “Even my grandmother thinks so.” She turned back on her side.

“I don’t think you are strange Althea,” Chrissie told her. “Or even weird.”

“You don’t?”

“No.” She reached out and took Althea’s hand.

“I think you are a Monster Hunter!”

And with that, both girls settled under the covers and went to sleep.

-5-

Althea retied the bow that was fastened to the bottom of one of her braids. She heard the steady rhythmic ticking of the clock that was above Dr. McCarson’s desk.

“Well, it is certainly nice to see you again Althea,” McCarson tried again to break the silence. Her face remained expressionless.

“I have had a chance to look through your comic book.” Her brows furrowed in a well-disguised frown when she heard him mention the book. “A really wonderful publication. Tell me,” he held up her comic book, and it seemed to her that he was almost taunting her with it, “did you base your drawings from this?”

She didn’t answer him.

“Your drawings look very similar to the . . . er. . let’s see,” he flipped through the book until he landed on the page he was looking for, “G-a-l-o-g-r-a-t-h,” he pronounced carefully. “But they have some different detail, such as . . . the exploding arm for example, I didn’t see that in the book.” He smiled at her that warm fatherly smile. “Would you like to tell me about the Ga-lo-gr-ath?”

“No.”

The room was silent.

McCarson picked up his glasses and put them on, assuming the serious pose that by now had become familiar. “I understand this was your father’s book.” He looked at her, his big eyes jumping out at her from behind the lenses. “Would you like to talk about your father?”

“No.” said Althea.

More silence. McCarson eventually looked down and fidgeted with some of the papers on his desk. He appeared uncomfortable. Finally he looked back up at her. “What would you like to talk about today Althea?”

She looked back at him, her pale little face still expressionless. “I would like to talk about getting my book back.”

“Ah yes,” Dr. McCarson smiled, “the book. He brushed his hand over the cover, then leaned over the desk. His voice lowered to a hushed tone” It’s a funny thing about this book,” he pulled down the big glasses and peered over the rims at her, “they were written by one Lysander McGee. Somewhere around 1940 I believe.” He leaned back in his chair. “Lysander McGee” he took the glasses off completely now. “You know Althea, there are not very many copies of these comic books around today.” He held it up so he could see the cover, he seemed to be almost marveling at it, the colors, the texture of the paper. “Indeed,” he gaze swung back to her, “Not very many copies were printed of the series. So few in fact, that today they are considered quite rare, and quite valuable.”

“If you were to find a copy, chances are its owner wouldn’t even be willing to sell it. You couldn’t even buy it from them.” His furry browns squinched for a moment and his eyes narrowed. “How do you think it happened, Althea, that your father should come upon one?”

Althea didn’t answer him. She thought it rather odd that he was talking on and on about the comic books. Principal Muldoon had told her grandmother that she needed lots of help, lots of counseling, but McCarson seemed more enamored by the comics.

“Tell me Althea,” he looked at her very intensely, “Do you have any more of these.”

Althea’s heart began to beat a little faster.

“No.” she lied.

“I see,” There was a look of disappointment on his face as he slouched back into his chair.

“How do you know about them?” Althea asked suspiciously.

“Ah,” he was scribbling on his yellow notepad now and fumbling around with some papers on his desk. “Well,” he said still scribbling, “as it happens. . I wrote my thesis on it, er, on him, Lysander McGee.” He flashed her a smile, “Coincidence. . .I know, and to think you have a copy of one of his books!” He stopped writing and looked up at Althea.

“He had a daughter, you know.”

Althea studied him carefully. “Did you write about her too?”

“What? Er. . . . no. . . “ he put down a pen and flashed her a smile. He seemed relieved that she was actually talking to him. “Well, I suppose indirectly. She. . . well. . . she disappeared, when she was a little older than you. . . eleven I believe.”

Althea scootched a little closer to the desk, interested now, “how did she disappear?”

“Well, you see the thing about disappearing is sort of that no one really knows where she went. She. . . as I said . . . disappeared.. . vanished. . . kapoof!”

“Didn’t her father go and look for her?”

“Oh yes of course he did.” McCarson poured himself some water from a pitcher that was sitting on the counter behind him. “Would you like some?” he offered.

“Do you have any grape juice?”

“Well, you know I just might.” He opened the door of the little mini fridge under his desk and rooted around until he found a small juice box. “How about apple?”

“I suppose that will do.” She scooted even closer to his desk and took the box of juice.

“Now then, where were we?” McCarson seemed to be enjoying himself. He dropped a few ice cubes in his water and relaxed back in his chair. “Ah yes, little Rhiannon, that was her name, which ironically enough is also the name of a Fairy princess whose half human child was stolen by a gigantic claw like creature, an old Celtic tale. . . . but then I digress. . . “

Althea pushed the straw out of its plastic wrapper and poked it into the metallic circle on the juice box. She took a sip. For apple juice it was pretty good.

“The day little Rhiannon disappeared she had breakfast in the house with her family as usual, kissed her father on the cheek, left her doll in the kitchen for the housekeeper to repair, completed her daily lessons, and went upstairs for her afternoon nap. Time went by and no one really paid attention when she did not come down for tea. Then more time passed, and no Rhiannon at the dinner table. Her parents did worry then, but it was too late. Poof! She was gone. They searched the house, they searched the grounds. Nothing! No one ever saw her again.”

“They didn’t find any sign of where she went?” Althea took another sip of the juice.

“No sign at all!” The Doctor exclaimed, excited more about the fact that Althea was still talking to him, than the story itself. “It was as if she vanished into thin air.”

“But what about her father? He must have been very sad.”

McCarson poured himself more water from the pitcher and stirred the ice cubes around in his glass to make it colder. “Ah yes, her poor father, he was devastated of course. He searched many years for his little girl, but there was never any sign of where she had gone. He went through all of her things, including her journals and writings. Little Rhiannon liked to sketch things and she was fond of writing. She left behind many scribblings of her imagination. That is how her father came up with all of the books.”

“What books?” Althea had been so engrossed in the story that she had forgotten about them.

“The comic books of course!” McCarson chuckled. “These books,” he picked up the one on his desk and flipped through the pages again, “They are filled with the drawings from little Rhiannon’s sketch books. She had a strange infatuation with monsters, a much more complex infatuation that was normal or rather had ever been observed from a psychological standpoint in a child of her years. She drew about them, wrote about them, wrote about writing about them, it seems the poor child was obsessed.”

Althea stared at Dr. McCarson, the straw from the juice box hung from her bottom lip.

McCarson was still engrossed in the comic book, his fingers stroking the fibers of one of the pages. “In his later years Lysander McGee became consumed by his dead. . . er. . missing daughter’s writings and drawings. He wanted to save them somehow, to pass them along to future generations so that she wouldn’t be forgotten, something like that,” McCarson took a long drink from his glass. “Anyway, he found a publisher and was able to produce a small printing of a comic book series, this series,” he pointed to the book, “from his daughter’s writings and drawings.” He set his empty glass down on the table. His eyes were alight with enthusiasm.

“Fascinating stuff really, and a great topic for a thesis. I got an A + on that one. Published in a few journals.” He crossed his legs and rested his feet on the desktop.

“But poor little Rhiannon!” Althea cried, “Did no one ever find her?”

“Nope,” he said, “she was never found. Some say she was a fairy child herself, a quiet strange little thing always scribbling in her sketchbook. Others say she was kidnapped for a ransom her family couldn’t pay. . . .and well. . . they are many other rumors . . . . but the point is she was never found.”

“She was mia.” Althea said, and suddenly felt sad.

“What?” McCarson looked confused.

“Mia,” she said again, “You know M-I-A. Missing in Action, like my father.”

McCarson’s smile faded a little. “Oh, I see . . . yes, she was . . . mia.” He took his feet from the top of the desk. “You must miss your father very much,” he said softly.

She swallowed a lump that was rising in her throat. “He’s coming back.” She said, her voice was quiet.

“I see.” He responded.

“For my birthday.” She looked up at him. She tried very hard not to, but there was water in her eyes. She blinked it back. “He promised he would be back for my birthday.”

“Ahhh,” reached across the desk and patted her little hand. “Is that why you like the comic book so much Althea? Because it was your father’s?”

“No,” she said, and she looked up, looked into Dr. McCarson’s warm brown eyes. For a moment she didn’t see him as her enemy, flashing practiced smiles to get her to talk about herself, and then telling tales to her Grandmother.

For a moment she saw him as a friend, as someone she could trust. “I need it because it helps me,” she told him.

“Helps you? How does it help you?” His voice was soft and warm, and he patted her hand again

“It helps me to hunt the monsters.”

The warmth in Dr. McCarson’s eyes slowly disappeared. He was still smiling, still talking in that nice tone, but it changed almost instantly. He patted her hand once more and then leaned down and started scribbling in his notebook.

“That’s nice. . and . . well. . so. . the book helps you to . . . hunt . . . er. . monsters.” He looked up and flashed her a smile. “And how exactly do you go about this process of . . . um . . . hunting?”

Althea blinked. She scootched back in her chair, away from the Doctor’s desk. The stiff woodcarvings on the chair poked into her skin, but she slipped back into her grandmother’s stiff posture.

“Is this . . . did you get inspired by the book to do this . . . is this something you made up when you were smaller . . . “ he smiled at her again. “Tell me more about this . . er. . monster hunting.”

She blinked. The usual expressionless mask slid over her face.

Dr. McCarson was just another grown-up.

-6-

It was morning and Althea was walking to school. Dorris Dixe had tossed her out at the usual spot, so she sauntered along the cracked sidewalk leading to Cathebies School for Fine Ladies.

She hadn’t gotten very far when she could see a mop of blonde curls bobbing up and down in the distance. “Althea!” Chrissie Goodridge called out. “Althea!” she waved her little hands in the air.

Several of the girls standing out in the front lawn turned to watch as Chrissie ran down the sidewalk. “Althea!” she was out of breath. Her round cheeks flushed from the exercise. She flung her arms around Althea when she reached her, and then stepped back. “I am sooo glad to see you!”

Althea looked at her as if she were an alien. She felt awkward. Did Chrissie just hug her? And in front of other people? She stood uncomfortably, not sure what to say.

“Oh Althea!” Chrissie gushed, “That Snickermathingy is getting worse!” She wrung her hands anxiously. “Last night it wiggled the door handle of my room.” Her eyes were round. “It’s never done that before!” They heard the 5-minute bell ring from the school. Chrissie took Althea’s arm and they started walking toward the entrance.

“And it’s been showing up every night! Every night! That didn’t used to happen either, it used to be only every once in a while. . . well. . mostly when my parents were fighting.” A few girls who were loitering on the stairs pointed at Althea and giggled.

Chrissie lowered her voice, “You have to spend the night at my house! I will tell my mom we are having a sleep over. Movie night, like I do with the other girls.”

Althea stopped walking and bent down to straighten one of her bobby socks.

“You have to send it back Althea.” Chrissie whispered, “To the monster world like you said.”

She stood up and looked at Chrissie. “I can’t.” she said quietly at first, and then more emphatically, “I can’t send it back!”

Chrissie looked confused. “Of course you can,” she leaned close to her ear and whispered so the other girls couldn’t hear, “you’re the monster hunter, remember?”

“I can’t do it anymore Chrissie.” She felt the frustrations of the past few weeks, few months even, welling up inside of her. “You don’t understand!” Althea turned away. She pulled off one of the yellow bows on her braids and threw it in a nearby garbage can. “I can’t even defeat a simple Galograth, let alone the Snikerbaum.” She took off the other bow and threw it in the trash.

The final bell rang and the other girls ran up the stairs into the building. Chrissie and Althea remained. “But Althea,” she whimpered. “If you don’t help me, what will happen?” She looked terrified. “What if it. . .you know. . . attaches to me? What will happen?”

“You have to fight if off yourself Chrissie. Some kids can do that. Davy did once to a Persagoyn.”

Chrissie sat down on the steps, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her voice was quiet and scared. “I don’t think I am strong enough Althea,” she put her head in her hands. “Look” she lifted up the leg of her pants. “See.”

Althea looked down and she could not help it, she had to smile. Chrissie was wearing a pair of brightly colored bobby socks under her pants. They were purple with pastel swirls on them, and rainbow shapes.

“You see,” Chrissie said sounding defeated, “I tried, I tried so hard to think of happy things, but the Snikerthingy is really scary.” She put her pant leg back down over the socks. “And I think it is MUCH stronger than I am Althea. Even when I think of happy things, it doesn’t make it go away.”

Althea sat down beside her. She exhaled a long breath. “Yes,” she said, that is because it has found a doorway through your parents.” Althea felt as defeated as Chrissie sounded.

Chrissie was the kind of kid her grandmother would like for her to be friends with. The kind of kid they never had in rural regions of South Carolina. She was not, however, the kind of kid she had ever envisioned herself being around for long periods of time. Althea examined her more closely.

She was wearing stylish clothes from the designer store that many of the girl’s parents shopped at. She could tell because the labels were always on the outside. “LeChik for Kids” they read. One label was on her flare yellow and black plaid pants and the other on the side of the double lined silk and cotton blend top. She had a gold heart necklace fastened prettily around her neck with one glittering diamond on the inside.

Althea wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment.

She couldn’t just leave her. She had re-read the comic book last night, the last page of volume 4 that featured the first part of the section on the Snikerbaum. “A child infected with a Snikerbaum,” the comic book stated, “would grow to be a lonely, isolated and self deprecating adult, infused with self-doubt and cut off from the things that make them the most happy.”

She looked back at Chrissie; at her little round cheeks and sparkly eyes. Even though she seemed a lot like all the other spoiled rich kids at Cathebies School for Fine Ladies, she was also a radiant happy little girl.

She thought about her father and how he had always told her that it was his job to protect the innocent, and no matter how difficult the rescue mission seemed, he could never abandon those who depended on him.

It wouldn’t be right for her to not fight!

“Allright.” said Althea.

“What? . . . did you say allright?” Chrissie jumped up. “You’ll help me!”

“Yes.” She said. “I will. But if we have no ingredients, no way of defeating it, then you will have to help Chrissie.”

She nodded her head.

“You should come over to my house first. To practice.”

“Practice.” Said Chrissie. “How will we practice?”

“You’ll see,” replied Althea

With that the two girls started making their way up the steps into the school. As they did so, Althea heard a scraping, skidding noise. She looked to her left and saw a boy on a skateboard. He launched himself into the air, then landed on the railing. She gasped as she watched him edge down the banister of the stairs and then swoosh to the bottom of the steps below.

“Oh,” said Chrissie. “Keep walking, pretend you don’t see him.”

“You again,” the boy said loudly, and then Althea recognized him, his black torn jeans, black shirt, long black hair. The boy from the park!

“On your way to school like good little ladies,” he sneered.

“At least we go to school.” Althea responded dryly.

“Don’t talk to him,” Chrissie whispered, nervously twisting her heart necklace back and forth, “He is a bad boy.”

“You have seen him before?”

“Yes. He comes here to skate on the stairs.” She took Althea’s arm and they started back up the stairs. “My mom says to stay away from him. He is dirty and,” she whispered in Althea’s ear “poor”.

Althea looked back at the skater boy. He had taken a candy bar out of his pocket. He unpeeled the wrapper and threw it on the ground. “See,” Chrissie whispered again, “Littering! A bad boy. Come on.” She pulled her up the steps and into the building.

On the way to class, Althea wondered to herself what Chrissie would think when she saw her house, with the peeling walls and the cracked plaster.

What was she thinking taking on a friend at this snobby school?

Perhaps Chrissie wasn’t really her friend. Perhaps she was just a friend until they were able to defeat the Snikerbaum, and then she would go back to treating Althea like the other girls.

Her day at school went as usual, except that their Math teacher, Mr. Epsom scolded both girls for arriving late to his class. He went over the multiplication table with them, but Althea had studied that section on her own weeks ago, so she tuned him out and scribbled lists of possible ingredients for the Snikerbaum.

At lunchtime she took her camouflage lunch pail out of her locker and made her way to the furthest corner of the lunchroom where she usually sat.

“Althea!” Chrissie called out from across the room. “Over here!” She waived from one of the tables in the popular section. Many of the girl’s heads turned, and they looked at Chrissie as if she had sprouted corncobs for ears.

Althea stood there for a moment holding her pail.

“Althea!” Chrissie called out even louder, still waiving. The girls in front of her started whispering.

Awkwardly, she crossed the room, trying to ignore the many looks.

“There now,” Chrissie patted the seat next to her. “Sit here.” She seemed oblivious to the other girls.

Simone curled her lip at Althea as she sat down. To the right of Simone, Dorthea Dix was unwrapping the organic peanut butter and soy jelly sandwich that Mrs. Dixe had prepared. “Look Simone,” Dorthea said smugly, “Chrissie wants us to eat with oddbird today. That’s a fun joke on is, isn’t it?” She giggled loudly, making sure others could hear.

Althea, with some awkwardness and more than a little hesitation, put her lunch pail on the table. She carefully opened the lid, and tried to ignore the other girls as she took out her lunch.

“What shall we say to her today girls?” Dorthea’s voice was loud and sarcastic. She took a delicate bite of her sandwich before continuing. “As if we didn’t get enough ‘together’ time at Chrissie’s party.” She raised her hands to her face in a mock-frightened poise, “I’m afraid of the dark. . . I want my mommy!” The other girls laughed.

“I was the one afraid of the dark Dorthea,” Chrissie glared at her. “Althea was just covering for me.” Althea’s eyes widened and she slouched in her seat, wishing she had stayed at her usual table, hidden in the back.

Dorthea’s sandwich froze midair, the lips that had been about to take a bite snapped shut, and she looked as if she couldn’t believe what she’d heard. The dark blue eye shadow she was wearing squinched as her eyes narrowed to slits.

“We,” she said threateningly, sandwich still poised, “don’t want to have lunch with the oddball.” She slammed down the sandwich and bits of soy jelly smacked her cheek. She wiped at one of them with a glitter polished finger. “WE,” she emphasized when she had dabbed the other glops away, “want you to send her away, back to the bozarks where she came.” Dorthea used the soy jelly finger to pat at the gloss on her bottom lip.

“Send her away Chrissie,” she growled, and the table grew quiet.

“It’s allright.” Althea maintained her expressionless look. She put her lunch back in the pail and was about to flip the latch to secure it, when Chrissie grabbed her hand.

“WE,” Chrissie said to Dorthea, “Don’t really want to eat lunch with YOU Dorthea.” It looked like a blonde stare down as Chrissie flipped her curls aside to bear down on her fair weather friend.

Dorthea, in the meantime, haughtily smoothed the corner of her own overly starched hair while simultaneously sending Chrissie a viscous warning. “Then YOU,” she glowered, “should leave. I think the oddbird has a nice table in the dirty corner back there!”

“I don’t think so.” said Chrissie casually, her plump cheeks regaining their rosy hue. “This has been my table since the first grade, and I think WE will stay.” She popped the lid off of her orange juice and looked over at Althea. “What time should I come over to your house tomorrow night Althea?” She said loudly.

Dorthea looked like she had been smacked. The girls at the other tables were whispering. Her face was on fire as she threw the smooshed sandwich in her Designer Georgis Lupree Lunchbag and angrily got up. “I think I am finished here.” Chrissie didn’t seem to notice she had spoken, which made Dorthea even angrier.

“Come on Simone!” Simone gathered her own lunch and hastily stumbled after.

“Oh that felt so good,” Chrissie giggled when they were gone.

Althea blinked.

“Well, go on, open your lunch back up. The table is ours!” she raised her arm in victory, and giggled.

Althea cautiously flipped the top of her lunchbox open. She looked inside at the contents and then back at Chrissie. “You really shouldn’t have done that.” She said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Chrissie was munching on a carrot. She had opened Althea’s notebook and was skimming over some of her drawings.

Althea reached out and pulled the notebook away. “Look Chrissie,” she said, you don’t have to pretend to be my friend. I will still help you. I don’t mind eating my lunch at the back of the room. I don’t mind being by myself.”

“Don’t be silly Althea,” Chrissie pulled the notebook back and started reading her doodlings again. “I never liked that Dorthea Dixe. Ever since kindergarten when she cut off my long braid. She didn’t want there to be another person with long blonde hair like her. And now look,” she pointed to her mass of curls, “After she cut off my hair it grew back like this. It used to be straight.” She munched some more on her carrots.

“Chrissie,” “Althea tried to get through to her, “the other girls really don’t like me. It won’t be good for you, being around me at school. I mean, I won’t tell anyone. We can meet after school.”

Chrissie stopped munching on the carrot. “Althea,” she said, “these other girls have no idea who you are? What you can do. I mean. . .” she looked around at the other little girls who were chattering and eating. “You know Althea, they are so. . . boring. They talk about such boring things. I practically have to pinch myself to stay awake when I am around them.”

Althea didn’t understand. “But you seem to like being around them Chrissie. You seem to. . I . . . you fit in.”

Chrissie wrinkled her nose. “I know Althea, but my mother makes me. She wants to be in that stupid Society of your Grandmother’s.” She scootched closer to Althea and lowered her voice.

“She used to be poor.” She said it as if it were a bad word.

“Who?”

“My mother. She used to be poor, when she lived in Brazil. Before she met my father.” Chrissie looked around, afraid some of the other girls might have overheard. “Don’t tell anyone Althea! Not even your Grandmother.” Chrissie looked nervous, “Especially not your Grandmother!”

“But Chrissie, why does that . . . “

“Not just a little poor Althea,” she went on. “She lived in one of those metal and cardboard houses. She was like. . . beggar poor! Like that boy we saw on the street. That kind of poor.” Chrissie put down her carrot and started working on the little bag of cookies she had. “That’s why I have to go to this school. So I can fit in. It is very important to her.”

“Chrissie,” Althea felt bad. This is why it was better that she didn’t have any friends. It was better that she worked alone. “I don’t fit in. And if you hang around me . . . well . . . there’s a chance. . . I mean you might not fit in either.”

“Oh Althea! I have spent a lot of time thinking about the Snikermathingy.” She took a bite of one of the cookies, then took the top of it off and started licking the frosting that was on the inside. “I know that my parents fighting make it a strong monster. But I’ve been thinking . . . . maybe another reason why it’s so strong, why I can’t make it go away,” She popped the top of the cookie in her mouth and crunched for a second. “Maybe part of the reason is that I don’t feel like I belong with these girls.” She took a sip of her orange juice and then had a puckery expression.

“Sour!” She laughed.

“I feel alone here,” Chrissie looked around again at the girls in the lunchroom. “And Dorthea is mean. She has gotten me to do some mean things to other girls. Like what I said to you at the party.” She took another sip of orange juice and made another puckery face.

“You try.” She handed Althea a cookie. Althea took the top off the cookie and licked the inside the way she had seen Chrissie. When she was done, she took a sip of the orange juice.

“Woooooo!” she made her own puckery expression. “That is sour!” They laughed. Chrissie looked again at some of Althea’s drawings.

“You know what I think Althea?”

“What?” Althea had taken another cookie and was working on the frosting.

“I think happiness might be something different than fitting in.” Chrissie smiled and for the first time Althea noticed that she had dimples on her chubby cheeks.

“I think happiness is when you belong to your own self.” She pushed the orange juice back over. “That Snickermathingy knows it, and that’s why he is after me, because he knows I haven’t been my own self.”

“Yes.” Said Althea, “Monsters do seem to like it when people are unhappy.” She thought about the section in the comic book, that a child infected with a Snikerbaum would be cut off from the things that made them happy. Maybe Chrissie was right. Perhaps she could help defeat the Snikerbaum, just by being herself.

“Here. . “ Chrissie pushed the orange juice closer.

Althea took a drink and stuck out her tongue. “Oooooooooo. Sow-eer!” The two girls laughed.

“My turn again,” Chrissie giggled and took another cookie. “You know,” she said as she licked the frosting off the cookie. “I have an grandfather in Brazil, and he rides a donkey to work every day.”

Chrissie rambled on and on about Brazil and a trip she had taken two years ago, and about the music and the food. Even though Althea had had fun today, especially when Dorthea Dixe had to leave her own lunch table, as Chrissie talked on and on, and asked more and more questions about monsters, she kind of wondered if she was cut out for this friendship thing.

-7-

It was Saturday and her Grandmother was having another one of her tea parties. This time it was to discuss the Society’s upcoming charity event The Save the Poor Children of the World Ball. This was an annual event that the Society held to raise money for food, education, and other things for poor children. Mrs. Applegate was not a member of the Society, but she had been invited to the tea along with Althea and Davy, as her grandmother wanted them to participate in the ball. Davy was going to be dressed up in a cute little tux like a flower boy at a wedding, and Althea, well, Althea was going to give a speech.

She had tried to pretend she was sick, so she wouldn’t have to go to the tea, and subsequently wouldn’t have to give a speech, but she couldn’t fool her mother, and in the end, had to show up.

Althea sat at the table poking at her tiny teacakes. No sandwiches today, it was a mid afternoon event, not a luncheon. The teacakes had all kinds of weird things on them, like green cherries and foreign half dried fruit. They tasted like those gross cakes people gave out at Christmas.

Davy sat beside her in a chair that was five sizes too big for him and scratched at the collar of the uncomfortable shirt his mother made him wear. “I’s hungwee Tia,” he complained.

Althea perused the table. At the far end was a tray of white things that looked like they might not have as many disgusting ingredients in them. “Excuse me Mrs. Dixe,” she said politely, “can you please pass those,” she motioned to the tray.

“Oh . . . of course!” Mrs. Dixe exclaimed, her big red lips over greased with lipstick, sweat beads penetrated the thick surface of her make up in the sunlight. “And aren’t you a polite little girl! I can see your Grandmother’s decision to send you to Cathebies School for Fine Ladies is really paying off. And such good posture!” Althea had to bite her cheeks to stop from cringing at the overly complementary woman. Mrs. Dixe was a chronic “kisser upper” and would say practically anything to stay on her grandmother’s good side.

“Thank you.” Althea said politely as the white things reached her. She took one off the tray and handed it to Davy. He seemed to like it, as he munched contently without complaint.

“We are looking forward to your speech Althea,” Mrs. Loxilear crooned from the other side of the table. “Your grandmother mentioned that you will be speaking about the importance of saving the poor children of the world.”

Mrs. Loxilear was the Chief Social Organizer of the Society, and had been a respected member for many years. A middle aged bony woman, with a big chest and dyed black hair, she had two daughters who were Dorris Dixe’s age.

Althea smiled blandly. “Yes, my grandmother is helping me to write it.” She shuddered on the inside. Three painful hours had been spent that morning listening to the importance of a lady extending her hand to the community, helping the unfortunate. This is how, her grandmother had explained, a lady became respected and admired by others in her social group. It was, she had said, the proper and acceptable thing to do.

Mrs. Moldune’s gaudy jewelry glittered as she raised her teacup. The principal was attending to formally receive her grandmother’s charitable donation to the school. “I would agree with you,” she crooned before taking a small sip, “Althea is progressing very well. A reflection, I am sure,” she set the cup down on it’s dainty saucer, “of our fine institution, and of course,” she smiled and her face looked ridiculous surrounded by the puffy swooshed up white hair, “due to you, Lady Faldoon.”

Althea’s grandmother gave an acknowledgement nod, graciously accepting the complement.

“Yes.” Althea replied, “My grandmother is teaching me all of the important ways the Society is helping the poor children of the world.” She gave another bland smile.

Not to be outdone Mrs. Loxilear gave Althea’s grandmother her own dose of admiration. “I must agree, you are doing an excellent job Lady Faldoon, really.” Mrs. Applegate seemed to choke on a bit of teacake just then, coughing loudly while covering her mouth with a napkin.

Lady Faldoon gave a disproving glance, before responding to Mrs. Loxilear. “Yes she is a dear isn’t she,”

Her Ladyship had redone her hair this week. It had been dyed, still the same russet red only a little bit darker, and streaked with some light brown. Her stylist had swept it back artistically arranging it in a giant mass of little curls. It was odd to see such a wrinkly old face surrounded by such a modern do. “And so compassionate to the Society’s causes.”

Althea gritted her teeth. Ugh! She was only glad that her speech was finished being written and she wouldn’t have to go over it again.

Davy was whimpering beside her. “Gimmee nuder wun Tia. . .” He stretched his neck, trying to see over the top of the table where the white things were. She swiped another one off of the tray and was about to slip it to him when her grandmother gave her a look.

Her mother caught the exchange. “Don’t make a pig of yourself Althy.” She looked slightly apologetic as she said it.

“Ladies eat lightly at the table.” Dorthea Dixe smugly piped up.

Althea blinked at them, and then put the teacake back on the platter.

Mrs. Dixe had brought Dorthea to the tea party, as Dorthea had also been asked to give a speech at the Charity Ball. She was sitting across the table, her long blonde hair French braided in a new upside down weave, being careful not to spill any teacake crumbs on the new designer suit her mother had purchased for the occasion. Althea knew all about the purchase of the suit, as earlier Mrs. Dixe had rattled on and on about the shopping trip for what seemed like forever.

“Thank you Dorthea,” Althea said politely, “I appreciate the reminder.” Her grandmother’s eyebrows lifted and she nodded approvingly.

Althea was learning more about the rules of Fine Ladydom. False politeness and humility were key to a survival. As long as you said thank you and please, and you are too kind, pretty much anything that came after that would be fine.

“Thank you Dorthea, you are too kind, and I am sorry your mother decided to bring you today because I disliked these teas already but with you here I dislike them even more!” That is what she wished she could say.

“You will be happy to know,” Mrs. Dixe fondled the diamond circle pendant she was wearing as she spoke, “That Dorthea’s speech is simply touching. It is,” she dabbed at the nonexistent tears in her eyes, “heartwarming and everything that I am sure The Society wants to present to our members and guests.” She smiled a compassionate and well-practiced smile.

“My dear,” Mrs. Moldune gave a distracted gasp, “is that a new ring.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Dixe’s face lit up (for real this time) and she proudly displayed her gem to the other ladies, “From our trip to New York. My husband said the sapphires match my eyes!”

Blahbatty blah blah blah the Ladies of The Society for the Betterment of Humanity babbled on and on. About color schemes and fabric swatches and what dresses they were going to wear. Two more of them arrived just before the imported naturally decaffeinated Turkish tea was served, and then it was an even bigger circle of Blahbitty Blah Blah Blah blah.

On and on they talked, until Davy’s whining became much louder and her grandmother asked a servant to take him inside. Several of the other’s departed, including Mrs. Dixe and Dorthea, and soon just Althea, her mother and Grandmother remained.

“Well,” said Mrs. Applegate, “We ought to be going too, Althea has a friend staying over tonight.”

“Just a minute!” barked her grandmother. “I did want to discuss something with you.”

Althea sipped her Turkish tea, which was surprisingly good considering all of the other yucky things she’d had to eat.

“I had a long conversation with Dr. McCarson.” Her grandmother lifted her own teacup to her mouth.

Althea gulped. She looked over at her mother, who was smiling hopefully.

“Uh Oh.” she thought with some despair. Dr. McCarson had probably told her grandmother about the monsters.” A lump formed as she imagined the terrible things her grandmother was about to unleash.

“He was quite impressed.” her teacup clinked as she set it back in the pretty little saucer. “He seems to think that Althea is making real progress in dealing with her Father’s dea. . . err . . . disappearance.”

Mrs. Applegate looked relieved. She let out a long breath and relaxed into her stiff chair. “He seems very nice,” she said friendly, “Dr. McCarson, I mean.”

“Yes. Well he was recommended by Principal Moldune.” Her grandmother sat up a bit more in her chair, the long afternoon having somewhat eroded her posture. “He says there is nothing to worry about with the drawings, just a child’s imagination. But he would like to continue seeing Althea.”

“Oh . . . I . . . of course,” her mother responded, “If he . . . I . . . if you think it is necessary.”

“I do.” She looked sharply at Mrs. Applegate, almost daring her defiance. “He seems to think you are a fine . . . parent” she seemed to have hard time with that last word, “although I am not sure why, based on your history.” She put her napkin on the table, over the plate of half eaten teacakes. The old lady ran her eyes critically over Mrs. Applegate.

Althea’s mother was wearing a navy skirt and a nice blouse. The blouse however, had come untucked from her waistband and a part of it hung over the side of her skirt sloppily. Her hair, which had been neatly pinned up when they left the house, was now straggling wildly about her face.

“Hmmph!” Lady Faldoon grunted judgmentally.

Her serving girl came and took away her napkin and the plate of teacakes.

“Since Dr. McCarson seems to think that Althea is making progress with her social skills and . . . well . . . “ she turned scrutinizing eyes on Althea, “general eccentricities, I have decided to make certain . . . necessary repairs on the house you are renting from me.”

Mrs. Applegate looked surprised. “That is, that’s very generous . . . we certainly don’t expect. . .”

“Well,” her grandmother snorted, “don’t get too excited. They are just general repairs, fixing the cracks and things. I still expect you,” she pursed her lips disapprovingly, “to continue to earn your right to be a part of my life Maggie. You did, after all, take my only son from me.”

“Agnes” Mrs. Applegate said quietly.

“That is all!” She said, waving her hand to dismiss them. One of the servants came with a large black wheelchair. Lady Faldoon stood up with the help of her cane and moved into the chair. She was wheeled up the walkway back into her mansion.

-8-

Chrissie came over that night, and Althea’s mother made them hamburgers. At first she was embarrassed, Chrissie lived in a huge house near their school and they had a housekeeper who cleaned for them, and another servant who answered their door. She thought for sure that she would be bothered by the cracks in the plaster on the kitchen walls, and the exposed drainpipe by the sink, and of course the many other flaws of the neglected house.

“My grandmother. . er. . we are going to have that fixed pretty soon,” she tried to explain, as they sat at the small rickety kitchen table.

Chrissie gave her a beaming smile. “Oh don’t worry Althea, I think your house is lovely, and your mother is so nice!” she munched happily on the thick French fries Mrs. Applegate had made them.

After dinner the girls went upstairs to Althea’s room to play. At least that’s what they told her mother. Chrissie was very excited. She opened the door to Althea’s room and looked around. “Wow!” she exclaimed.

Her room was not at all like Chrissie’s. There were no yellow ruffles or foofy pictures. On her bed was a camouflage bedspread her mother had made. Camo netting was draped around like African mosquito netting. Pictures of Althea and her father in the Congaree Wilderness lined the wall. Chrissie moved closer to get a better look. There was a shot of Althea hanging by a rope from a giant Loblolly tree, another showed her in full camo gear next to her father in the swamp.

Chrissie looked at Althea in awe. “Is that you?” she examined another of the pictures where Althea was seen sitting inside a helicopter.

Althea didn’t reply. She wasn’t sure what Chrissie would think of her room, and she was even more uncertain if it had been a good idea to bring her here. What if she told the other girls at school, or her grandmother for that matter. Chrissie seemed to be her friend but she was still distrustful, not being used to having friends.

“That’s pretty cool,” Chrissie was still looking around. “What’s this?” She stood in front of the large hand carved trunk that was at the end of Althea’s bed. She tried to open it, but it was locked.

“What’s in here?” Chrissie asked.

Althea went to her dresser and opened the top drawer. She took out a long chain and on the end of it was a small golden key. “That,” she explained, “is where I keep the ingredients.” She moved over to the chest.

“Listen Chrissie,” Althea was serious, “I will show you what is in here, but you must not, under any circumstances touch anything.”

Chrissie nodded her head. “Sure,”

“It is very important,” Althea told her gravely. “Promise, you won’t touch anything.”

“I promise,” She looked eagerly at the trunk.

Althea used the little golden key to unlock the dangling padlock. She turned it carefully until it clicked, then opened the heavy lid.

“Ohhhh,” Chrissie exclaimed.

Inside were neatly organized bottles, jars, and little plastic baggies with writing on the outside. There were things inside of them, many different plants, dried insects, slimy stuff, dirt, tufts of fur, tree bark and other oddities. In one corner were several sticks of different sizes and shapes, some of them were old and twisted, some of them looked skinny and barkless.

Althea reached into her pocket and pulled out a pair of pretty white gloves. She put them on her hands and then reached into the trunk. She positioned herself in front of Chrissie so she couldn’t see and flipped the latch of a secret compartment hidden on the bottom. Her hand wrapped around a familiar leather pouch and she pulled it out.

“What is it?” Chrissie asked curiously.

Althea took a long look at her, sizing her up one last time before revealing one of her greatest secrets.

“Fairy dust.”

“Fairy. . . what?” Chrissie frowned. “Huh?”

Althea blinked. She squinted her eyes, and appeared quite seriously. “Fairy Dust.” She repeated. She spread a white cloth it on top of a nearby table, and deposited the leather pouch in top of it.

“Like tinkerbell?” Chrissie giggled. “Peter Pan and all of that.” Her giggles turned into a long laugh.

Althea seemed less than amused. “You must never joke,” she told Chrissie, annoyed at the lack of excitement she was displaying over what had only been the greatest discovery in her entire career as a Monster Hunter, “about Fairy’s.”

She carefully untied the laces holding the pouch together, then unfolded the leather, revealing a plastic bag filled with an odd brown powder. “They have amazing hearing, and can be quite temperamental.”

To Chrissie the contents looked like a bunch of dirt, but she didn’t say anything more, as she thought Althea might not like it.

“I found it,” she said, using her gloved had to open one part of the bag, “quite by accident.” She used her fingers to put a pinch of the dirty powder in her palm. The color contrasted sharply with her white glove, “in the Congaree, when I was trying to escape an alligator one night.”

She motioned for Chrissie to come closer. “I saw one of them, the only time I have ever been able to spot an actual real forest fairy, and by that I mean get a good long look. Needless to say,” Althea continued, “she was as surprised as I was, and accidentally dropped the package that she was carrying.” She motioned to the opened pouch on the table. “This package.”

“Oh. . . well. . . “ Chrissie gave a sideways glance at Althea, not wanting to further offend. “that’s . . . um . . . great . . .”

Althea pursed her lips again and looked like a stern school marm, “Not many people Chrissie, even Monster Hunters like me, come upon an entire bundle of fairy dust.” She looked at the tiny mound in her palm. “It’s like finding a leprechaun’s pot of gold, or a pirates buried treasure. It just doesn’t happen, except on rare, once in a lifetime occasions”

“That is totally. . . um. . . awesome.” Chrissie scratched her head, her blonde curls springing to the side as she did so. “I just . . . I mean . . . what does it do?”

Althea smiled then, and a little glint came to her eyes. “Well,” she told her, “it does what you wish it to do. That is the wonder of it. All you have to do is wish for something, anything. But . . .” she hesitated, “you must wish it for someone else. Fairies do not make wishes for themselves. They make wishes for the wilderness, for the things that grow, for the animals, and sometimes they do make wishes for people.”

Chrissie’s eyes did light up then. “Does it really work? I mean have you used it before?”

Althea blinked. The enthusiasm left her.

She had used it before, and it hadn’t exactly gone the way she’d thought it would. A little boy at her old school, Jimmy Lansford, had been very upset one day because he did not get the toy he’d wanted for his birthday. She saw him crying in the hall, and had used it then, just a pinch, thinking it would be a good deed, and a way to try the dust out.

The next day he came to school with the toy, it had shown up on his doorstep in a package tied with a big ribbon. He’d seemed happy, until he set the toy down by his cubbyhole, then tripped over it when he went to get his coat. His arm smacked into a nearby table and they later found out he had broken it.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the school nurse took the toy to the office and then while she was with Jimmy, it fell from the desk and smashed into a full cup of coffee, overturning it and causing all of the paperwork on the secretaries desk to be ruined. The permission slips for a field trip they were supposed to take that afternoon to Althea’s father’s military base were among the papers, so the school had to cancel it.

Althea had been planning to show off in front of her classmates and prove to them that she was a cool kid after all, but the trip never got rescheduled.

As the nurse had walked Jimmy out of the front door to meet his mother, she thought she saw, no, she was almost certain she saw a flurry of little wings near the office. It almost looked like a huge dragonfly with legs, but she knew better.

It had been a hard lesson, but she did learn it.

One had to be very careful using fairy dust.

Fairies didn’t wish for material things, they didn’t wish for things that would interfere in someone’s path or give them a false sense of happiness. There were rules. Althea wasn’t sure she understood all of the rules, so she had never used it again. Never, that is, until now.

“Althea!”

“What?” Chrissie was looking at her. “Oh. . . sorry. Yes, yes of course I have used it before.” She tried to give her a reassuring smile.

“And it works?” She was sounding more interested.

“It does,” She moved closer, “and we will need to use it today.”

“For what?”

“For you.”

Chrissie frowned. She looked suspiciously at the dust on Althea’s gloved palm. “Why for me? Are you going to make a wish for me?” She frowned again. “I’m not sure I want you to use that on me.”

Althea lowered her hand slightly. “Look Chrissie,” she explained, “We need to practice with a monster that is not as scary as the Snikerbaum. Davy’s monster.” Chrissie really looked befuddled now.

“Why do I need fairy dust to practice on Davy’s monster?”

“You remember Simone, don’t you? How she couldn’t see the Snikerbaum?”

“Yes.”

“Well, most people can’t see the monsters that don’t belong to them. Sometimes they can, if they share the same monster, or encountered it before. But for the most part . . .”

“Oh . . . so the fairy dust is for me to see?”

“Yes.” Althea gave her a grave look. “I think the fairy’s will be okay with this wish. I mean, it isn’t for a selfish purpose.” She seemed to be speaking more to herself than Chrissie, “Just so that you can practice by helping with the Galograth. It’s a . . . helpful wish” She said it loudly, just in case the fairy’s might be listening.

Chrissie looked at the dust again. She seemed to be thinking, and her face took on a serious expression. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally answered.

“Okay,” a smile lit her face and she opened her arms wide. “Let’s do it! Wish away!”

Althea took a deep breath. She held up her palm so that the little mound of dust was even with her lips, and faced Chrissie. She said a little prayer to herself “please don’t be mad fairy’s, please don’t be mad,” and then let out a long breath of air.

The fairy dust scattered outward toward Chrissie. As it took flight the dirt brown color changed to a glittering gold and it fluttered around her face like a golden shower. “I wish for Chrissie to see what I see,” she said aloud. “I wish for Chrissie to see into the monster world.” The dust fluttered and sparkled in the air for a moment and then fell upon her and disappeared.

“Ooooohhhhh!” Chrissie gasped in wonder. “That was so lovely! The loveliest thing I have ever experienced!” she exclaimed, and grabbed Althea’s now empty hand. “I am so sorry Althea. I should never have doubted you!”

Althea gave her a reassuring smile and then turned to the table to carefully fold up the leather pouch. She moved back to the trunk and made sure that Chrissie was not watching while she returned it to the hidden compartment.

“Do you think I will be able to see now?” her face was lit up. “Like you, all of the monsters?”

She saw a flash of wings in the corner and then heard a faint thrumming sound, like an insect zooming by. Althea nodded her head. “I think so.”

“Oh,” then a sudden thought occurred to her, “What if I don’t like it. . . I mean it’s hard enough just seeing my own monster?” Her smile disappeared.

“I thought of that,” Althea told her, “and I have plenty of dust left. So we can wish you back, to the way you were after we defeat the Snikerbaum.”

“Oh,” and she was back to her cheerful self, “well that’s okay then.”

Althea heard the door to her room click suddenly and she swung around.

“It me.” Davy said, he was holding a board game in his hand. “Mummy say ak if you pway wit me?” There was a pair of Althea’s shoes on the floor and as he walked into the room, he stumbled over them. He tried to get his balance but bumped into the wall, flicking the light switch off.

“Uh oh,”

“I’ll get it,” Chrissie told her and went to help Davy. After some fumbling she managed to turn it back on. “Here now, let’s see what game you brought.” Chrissie picked the board game up from the floor where it had fallen. “The Grocery Store Game, oh I like that one. Should we play Althea?”

Althea stood in front of the open trunk. She had a strange look on her face.

“Althea?” Chrissie frowned. “Are you all right.”

She was still looking at the trunk. “Turn the lights back off Davy.” She said, her voice flat.

“Why?”

She turned to look at him. “Please Davy, turn the lights back off!”

“Here, I’ll do it,” Chrissie hit the switch.

Althea stood staring.

“What is it?” Chrissie moved beside her. “Whatever are you looking at?”

“Why didn’t I check before?” She muttered to herself. “So stupid. I didn’t think to check. I had everything packaged to securely. Everything sealed. I didn’t think of it”.

“What is it!” Chrissie pulled at her arm, “What are you talking about.”

Davy turned on the lights. “I nawtt wike dark.” He whined. “De munter wikes dark”.

Althea turned to look at Chrissie. “Contaminated.” She whispered, as if she couldn’t believe it herself. “The ingredients have been contaminated.” She walked over to her bed in a daze and sat down.

“How do you know that?” Chrissie looked confused. “How do you know they’ve been contaminated?”

“I wanna pway de game.” Davy complained, sitting down on the floor next to the Grocery Store game. “Pweese. . . “

“Sssssshhhh Davy,” Chrissie put her finger to her lips. “Althea? How would they be contaminated?”

Althea looked at Chrissie. “Someone has touched them.” She said, and she shook her head, still in disbelief. “They are not all contaminated, but many of them are. Someone has touched them.”

Chrissie smiled as if she understood but her eyes were blank, “Can people not touch the. . .um. . the ingredients?” She sounded confused.

Althea was still in shock, but she managed to answer the question. “They cannot be touched by humans. If a person touches the ingredients, adult or child, they become useless. They are robbed of their power. . . dull, dim, utterly ineffective.” She shook her head again. “How stupid of me, not to think of it. But how could I know.” She got up from the bed and went back over to the chest. Althea closed the lid and leaned down to examine the lock.

“I locked it, before we moved, I locked it and I had the only key. Everything is contained. How could . . . “ but as she looked closer she noticed something. The lock on the chest looked rather new. It was shiner than she remembered. She picked it up and turned it over. There was a blue sticker on the back of it with a serial number on it. She didn’t remember that being there when they’d left their old house.

She opened the chest. She looked at the inside carefully. There were scratches on the inside, just under the ridge. She bent closer and then gasped. Her hand reached down and she pulled out something. Chrissie thought it was a scrap of paper, but as Althea unfolded it she could see that it was. . . . . . . . a gum wrapper?

Her mouth dropped open. She turned and looked at Davy.

He sat on the floor in front of the Grocery Store Game. He was sifting through the plastic vegetables, milk bottles and various other miniature sized products. He seemed to feel Althea’s gaze on him and he looked up. “Wut?” His chubby little fingers were holding a wad of play money.

“Davy,” Althea tried to be calm. “Have you been in my Ingredients Chest?”

He dropped some of the money. “I din dooit?” He whined, as more of the money fell from his grasp. “I din dooit Tia!”

Althea picked up the shiny lock. “Davy. . .” her voice was threatening, “do you want to sleep in your own room tonight? Or how about I lock you in the closet!”

Davy looked upset then. He dropped the rest of the play money and started to cry. Althea sighed. “All right all right . . I wasn’t serious”

“I din dooit . . . mummy did” He had his head buried in his hands and was laying on the game pieces.

Althea sat down on the floor beside him. “What do you mean Mommy did?”

“She dwopped it. She dwopped it win de moovers came.”

“She dropped the chest?”

“Mmm hmmm” he sniffed and wiped his eyes on his sleeves. “an bwoke de wok”. Davy sat up. He seemed relieved that Althea wasn’t angry with him anymore and turned his attention back to the scattered game pieces.

Ater much convincing and some threats, Althea was able to get the full story from Davy. It took a while as his speech was garbled, and he was distracted by the game pieces.

Mrs. Applegate knew how sensitive Althea was about her “Nature Collection”. When she dropped the trunk, some of the ingredients had spilled, and the lock had broken. She had to go to several hardware stores before she managed to find a duplicate. She put the new lock on the chest, and traded keys.

The locks were so similar, that Althea hadn’t even noticed.

Althea sat on the floor next to Davy, mad at herself for not realizing it earlier. At first she wondered why her mother hadn’t told her, at least then she would have known. Davy said it was because Mrs. Applegate hadn’t wanted to upset her what with them moving to a strange city and starting a new school.

“Well,” said Chrissie, “At least now you know that it wasn’t you.”

“What?”

“The monster. You said you couldn’t defeat the monsters anymore, but it wasn’t you. It was the ingredients.”

She looked up. Realization began to seep in. Chrissie was right! It wasn’t her fault that the medicine didn’t work, all along it had been the ingredients!

She was just beginning to feel better, when her elation faded.

Where in the world was she going to get new ingredients? They were in the city now, they lived next to a park, not a vast and unexplored Wilderness Reserve. What could she possibly find in the city that had not been touched by another human being?

She turned out the lights again and looked inside the trunk.

“Ohhhhh,” Chrissie exclaimed, and then moved over next to her, “Some of them are glowing!” Althea gave her a sharp look. Could Chrissie see the ingredients? She remembered then that she had wished for her to see what she saw. For some reason that gave her relief. She turned her attention back to the trunk.

The palmetto fruit was mostly contaminated, but there was one . . . she put on her gloves and picked up a small bag. One small fruit still glowed in the darkness.

“Will you be able to make more of the monster stuff?” Chrissie asked, eyes transfixed on the illuminated fruit.

“I think I have enough,” Althea told her, “but just barely. Somehow I will need to find new ingredients.” She muttered, “Ingredients that have not been contaminated by people.” She let out a long sigh. Chrissie was right, she needed to look on the bright side, at least she was now able to get rid of that pesky monster in Davy’s room. Or at least she hoped so.

She pulled the little table over and started working on the Monster Medicine.

It was late, and the three had crept back into Davy’s room. Althea’s mother had gone to bed quite a while ago, but they’d waited, until they were sure she was asleep.

While they waited, Davy built another pillow fort on his bed. He explained to Chrissie in great detail why it was important to have things to hide behind, and how to dodge the flinging boogers.

Althea, used the tweezers from her mixing kit to refine her Monster Medicine. A bit of this and a bit of that. She sloshed the ingredients around in the jar and then held it up.

“I think that is . . . just about. . . . there! I think . . . yes . . . that’s it.” She moved over to the bed, joining Davy and Chrissie.

“Althea,” whispered Chrissie, “Do you think I will be able to see the Gallothingy?”

“Well,” said Althea, “If you can see the ingredients, you should be able to see the monster.” She carefully set the Monster Medicine on the bed, and took out the knarled wooden stick. “Are you ready?”

They both nodded.

“Davy, hit the lights.”

“K,” his voice trembled. He made his way to the panel by the door and then looked hesitantly at Althea before flipping the switch. The room went dark. “Aaaaaaaa” Davy whimpered and ran to the bed, jumping up behind the pillow fort. Chrissie sat beside him, peering over the top of the pillow wall.

It was quiet. Althea could hear the sounds of their breathing. She began to think that perhaps the Galograth had gone away on it’s own, maybe it tired of searching for Davy night after night while he was hiding in her room.

Suddenly, as if it heard her thoughts, there was a creaking noise. It sounded like rusty hinges, a door creepily cracking. Then a blue light began to emulate from the closet. Faint at first, then brighter.

Davy ducked down, while Chrissie stayed where she was. They heard a steady scraping nose and then thudding, like a can of food being dropped over and over.

“Peeeeeeyouuu!” Chrissie exclaimed, then, realizing she had spoken aloud, smacked her hand over her mouth. “Something smells!” She whispered.

“De munter,” Davy responded from below. “He tinks wike poopoo.”

Althea took the knarled stick out of her backpack.

She gestured to the bottle of monster medicine. “Unscrew the lid.” Chrissie nervously reached down and took the lid off of the bottle. As she did so, she peered through the glass at its contents, somewhat intrigued by the gooey green liquid.

“Set it down, and be careful not to touch any of it.” Althea warned.

Christie set the monster medicine on the bed. There was more thudding and then rustling sounds.

“Blllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrppppppp” The monster let out an unnaturally long belch.

“Oh.” She jumped back behind the pillow.

“Now,” lectured Althea, “you must practice Chrissie. If you have any chance of defeating the Snikerbaum, you must practice not being afraid.”

A dark and looming shadow appeared from the doorway of the closet. “Bllarrpp. Burrrrrrelllllppppp. . . bllluuuaaahhhbbbb.” The deep wet voice could be heard.

“Ohhh. . . “ Chrissie was clenching the top of the pillow fortress with her hands. “Oooohhh kkkkkk.” She stammered, her eyes glued on Davy’s closet.

“Remember to think of happy things. Look at happy colors. Imagine funny things. Remember that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING that a monster likes more than someone who is afraid.”

The shadow transformed itself into a tall and volcanous creature. The smell, which had been somewhat contained in the closet, now permeated every corner of the room and it seemed to Chrissie that she was not in a little boys room at all, but rather in the middle of a rotten and moldering heap of old wet food.

The Galograth looked around, it’s three seeping eyes scanning the room. It had had night after night of frustrations, stomping and searching the room for Davy. It’s eyes fell on the pillow heap, and then Chrissie.

“Aaaaaahhhh!” Chrissie exclaimed.

“Practice!” Althea whispered, “don’t let it beat you so soon!”

“Uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh. . . “ Chrissie’s face turned sheet white.

“Gllllarrrrrbbbbbb. . . . Gallllaarrrrppooo. . . glleeppp” the huge lips of the monster moved. As it spoke, Chrissie felt like she was being sprayed by a giant skunk. The funk of its breath hit her skin and she began to sweat.

“Althea. . .!” she cried, “Oh help!”

“Look at your bobby socks!” Althea urged, she had lent Chrissie her best pair.

She looked down at the yellow socks that had little green aliens on them with bows in their hair. They had goofy looks on their faces and seemed to be swinging from candy canes.

“Bllllarrrppp,” The monster belched again and his big lips smiled a wicked smile. He reached into the caves of his nostrils and loaded his finger with a crusty booger.

“Wook out!” Davy whimpered. He had crept up to see what was going on, but when he saw what the monster was doing he quickly ducked down. “Wook out!!!” He called again. The Galograth launched the booger at Chrissie. It flew through the air like a little rubber bouncy ball and pelted the pillow beside her. Smoke and steam rose up from where it had landed.

“Ohhhhhhhhhh!!!!” Chrissie stared at the melting booger. “Althea help!”

“Look down Chrissie,” she cried to her friend. “Look at the socks!” But it was no use. She was terrified, petrified with fear.

Althea sighed.

The Galograth laughed a putrid laugh and dug into his nose.

She raised her stick and pointed it. A blue light shone around the wood, then little holes penetrated the surface. It peeled open, the wood morphing into the blue blade of the sword. It’s handle looked brighter this time, like a hot poker, and the deep ancient symbols cut the blade with primeval magic.

The monster turned, his finger loaded with a booger. He glowered. “Glrarrrrrrrrr!” he threatened, his bottom lip wet from the puss of a gargantuan pimple. He raised his giant arm and flung the booger.

“Mathocrath!” She shouted and dissolving it in mid air. She glanced at the Monster Medicine, then back at Chrissie.

“Are you sure you don’t want to practice some more?” she asked hopefully.

Chrissie moved her lips, but she was so terrified that no sound came out.

“Allright.” Althea sighed again. The Galograth raised himself up higher, the blue fur and bumpy warts on the top of his head scraping the ceiling light. He reached both arms out into a poise that was meant to be huge and horrible.

“Aaaarraooohhhhh” Chrissie ducked down below the pillow fort to join Davey.

Althea looked boredly at the Galograth. “A stupid surface dwelling creature,” she quoted from volume 2 of “Monsters of the World.” “A low level simplistic monster who will frequently attempt to use its size to intimidate.”

His three eyes narrowed and he spread out his arms even larger, moving closer to where she knelt. “Glllllllllooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” He blasted her with bad breath.

“Ohhh,” she shuddered and looked at the Galograth with disgust. She had had enough.

“Bara Grimordian, och li timor,” the symbols on her sword lifted off of the blade one by one. “Barai limor,” the Gralograth seemed to sense that he was in trouble and began to back up, away from Althea, “Obdoon, malai!”

The symbols hung in the air for a moment and then whooshed into the bottle of Monster Medicine. Chrissie peeked from behind the pillows and watched, fascinated, as they swirled around and around mixing the medicine. The thick green liquid expanded, swelling like rising bread dough. Finally it reached the top and launched itself.

“Bllrarrrrpppaaaa!” The monster startled, then tried to make a run for it.

“Galograthia!” Althea pointed her sword at the Monster Medicine, not wanting him to escape.

There was a sucking sound as the Monster Medicine smacked onto him, bamming him to the floor like a giant suction cup. His giant arms and legs flailed as he tried to escape.

Althea did a backwards sommersault off of the bed and landed on her feet in front of him. Just as she had done on previous occasions, she located the three red hairs under his armpits and sliced them off with her sword.

She stood back to watch.

“Althea,” Chrissie whispered, staring in awe at the brilliant blue sword. “Did you . . . . get it?” She crept out a little from the pillow fort. “I mean . . . is it over?”

“No.” said Althea and watched as the monster’s arm began to shrivel. A big blue ball formed at its elbow, just as it had before. It got bigger and bigger and bigger, until it looked as if it would explode.

“Tia!” Davy had crawled out, and was clinging to Chrissie’s side.

Althea blinked, and then pursed her lips quizzically as she watched the blue ball grow. She had checked the ingredients carefully this time, making sure they were not contaminated. A few of them had been weak, not at of the composition she would normally use, however. . .”

“Tia!” Davy cried out and he shielded himself with his arms, expecting the arm to blow.

It did not blow. Just as it reached the point where Althea believed that all was lost, and she had indeed lost her monster hunting powers, the ball seemed to spurt the opposite direction, at the Galograth himself.

“Bllllarrrrrpppp!!!!” the creature belched his rage. “Barllllllppallllllaappppp!” His arms flailed. Suddenly there was an explosive sound in the room, a loud “Pop!” as if a firework had been ignited on the fourth of July. And just like that, the Galograth was gone.

Davy looked up. “War it Tia? War de munter?”

The green blanket of Monster Medicine sunk to the floor; slowly deflating into the space where the Galograth had been. When it reached the floor it began to turn an unusual blue color.

“Gone.” Althea said, and she felt a profound relief. “Gone.”

“Davy,” she looked over at the bed, “bring me my backpack.”

Davy scrambled to the place where she had left it and brought it to her.

Althea took out several empty jars and set them on the ground. Then she used one of them and began filling it with the now blue Monster Medicine. Chrissie jumped down from the bed.

“What is that?” she whispered.

Althea screwed the lid tightly on the first jar and picked up the second. “Monster Ooze.”

“Oh.” Said Chrissie. As if it made perfect sense. She looked down at what had been Althea’s sword, but what now looked like an ordinary old stick, then back at Althea who was working on her third jar.

“What? I mean. . . How?” But she seemed suddenly all out of questions and sat down on the floor in a daze.

“Monster ooze,” Althea explained, “is a very useful tool for a monster hunter.”

Chrissie looked at the slimy blue liquid Althea scooped into the jar. “Where does it come from?”

Althea finished filling the last jar and put the lid on it. “It comes from the essence of an expelled monster.” She started putting the jars into her backpack. “An expelled monster,” she answered before Chrissie had a chance to ask. “Is a monster that has been thrown out of our world. As we just did, to the Galograth.” She zipped up her backpack.

Althea picked up her stick from where she had left it on the floor. “Now,” She said, “there is one more thing.”

She walked over to Davy’s closet and stepped inside. Chrissie jumped up from the floor and followed her. As she peered inside, she saw Althea had pushed away the clothes to stand against the back wall. She raised the stick. A blue light shone from it, but this time it did not change form.

“Siothal Ian, Siothal Slan” Althea said and touched the wall with her stick. The wall seemed to waver for a moment and then Chrissie gasped as it reshaped itself, grains of wood cracking across the plaster like tiny veins until it was smothered by them. When it was over they found themselves standing in front of a huge door. The wood looked old and weathered, like the entrance to a castle. There was a lock hanging on the outside from a broken chain.

Althea raised the stick again. “A peist,” she said, and the lock rose up from the thick chain it was hanging on. “Irim a thochtadh.” The lock shuddered and then seemed to repair itself. “Doithal Ian, siothal slan!” The broken ends of the chain merged, and the lock slammed down, securing the chain tightly across the door.

As soon as the lock was in place, the door changed. It went from a weathered grey, to a dark blue and Chrissie watched in amazement as it started to shrink. Smaller and smaller until it became a small dot on the wall and then it disappeared completely.

“Althea. . .?”

“I closed the door,” She answered, again anticipating Chrissie’s barrage of questions. “The door that Davy opened into the monster world.”

“But why. . .”

“So another one can’t come through.” She moved Davy’s clothes back where they had been hanging and left the closet.

Althea was strangely elated after defeating the Galograth. The fact that she would be able to hunt monsters again, that all along it had been the ingredients and not her that caused the mishaps with the Galograth. She felt excited and relieved and in no way tired or ready to go to sleep.

Davy and Chrissie seemed to be in the same state, as all they could talk about was blowing up flying boogers and monster ooze. The three decided to play the board game in Althea’s room and didn’t fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning.

-9-

Dr. McCarson was trying something new. Something he had probably learned in one of his child psychology books that were lined up on his bookshelf.

Classical music.

Althea blinked blandly at him while Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite played in the background.

“Have you had a nice week Althea?” he asked

“Yes.”

“How is school going?”

“Fine.”

He looked down at his yellow notepad. “Ah yes, and you are giving a speech I hear at a charity event?”

“Yes.”

He looked at the notepad again. Althea wondered how many of the questions on the notepad he had used up so far.

He fumbled through some other papers on his desk, then put on his big glasses and tried to look professional. “Anything you would like to talk about today?”

“No.”

His shoulder’s slumped and he took off the glasses. He fumbled around some more on his desk. “Ah. . yes. . “ he looked up at her. “And how is the . . . uh . . . monster hunting going?”

She startled for a second, but managed to regain her composure.

“Last time we spoke, you said something about needing your comic book. Do you still feel that way?”

Althea watched him carefully. She never knew when or if to trust Dr. McCarson. On the one hand, he hadn’t told her grandmother about the monsters, indeed he had apparently even said good things about her and her mother. But all it would take was one slip of the tongue and who knew what trouble could arise.

“I believe you said,” he looked down at his yellow pad again, “I need it because it helps me,” he quoted her, “Helps me hunt the monsters.” He smiled that practiced smile. “Would you like to talk some more about this?”

Althea blinked.

“I am very curious about your relationship. . .er. . how you go about. . . hunting a . . um. . . monster.” The Doctor seemed to be examining her as carefully as she was he.

“I was only joking about that.” She told him, and then looked down to study some of the cracks on the wooden floor. The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy was playing in the background, which she had seen on television at Christmas time. She imagined pink tutu clad ladies dancing around McCarson’s office.

“That’s a shame,” said the Doctor.

She looked up.

“I was hoping that you might be interested in. . . well. . . silly of me. . . “ he picked up something from his desk and looked at it for a moment before setting it aside.

“You know Althea, chatting with you last week about little Rhiannon and my thesis made me reminisce a bit. I went through some of my reference materials and then I remembered this.” He picked the object up again and Althea could see it was a thin book.

“You see,” he explained, “though it is exceedingly difficult to come upon the comic books produced by Lysander McGee, I was able to find one copy.”

Althea sat up straighter. Her heart began to beat a little faster. She stared at the book.

“Yes it was at an estate sale I ran across years ago, the poor woman didn’t know what she had. Just thought it was one of many old books belonging to her late Great Uncle. He ran his fingers softly over the cover for a second. “I could have told her, of course, but then she wouldn’t have sold it to me, and I have such reverence for Mr. McGee and his daughter’s writing of course. . . I mean who better to have it?” He looked more than a little guilty.

Althea tried to appear disinterested. She struggled to keep her face blank in front of the Doctor, but the more he waived the book in front of her, the harder it became.

“You know Althea, after talking to you last week, I really felt that you and I shared something very important,” he set the book down in front of him and then began to trace the shapes on the cover with his index finger. “I mean it isn’t every day that I meet a little girl, or even an adult for that matter who has such interest in the work of Lysander McGee.”

He gave her another of his smiles. “But. . . . Ah well . . . “ he sighed, “too bad.” He opened one of the drawers in his desk and put the book in it. “Now then, where were we . . . ah yes . . . school. How is your school going then?”

Althea looked at the place on the desk where the comic book had been. Which book was it, one she already had? Could it be one of the books she was missing? Her heart pounded. If it were then there would be a treasure trove of information inside!

“If I were. . . “Althea looked suspiciously at him, scanning his face for any flickering flash of betrayal, “interested in . . . monsters,” she said carefully, “that would be something that I am sure,” she looked at the Doctor plainly, “my grandmother would not like.”

He seemed taken aback for a moment, and then a spark of understanding in his eyes. “As I explained,” he said quietly, “What we discuss in my office remains here. It is,” he leaned closer and lowered his voice, “between you and I.”

Althea blinked. She spent a long moment just sitting there, keeping her face blank, her posture rigid. The Doctor could tell nothing about what she was thinking.

“Well then . . . “ she said finally, “I think I would like some grape juice.” He looked at her for a second, and then let out a laugh.

“Ah yes . . . grape juice.” He opened the little refrigerator under his counter. He dug around and then eventually came up with a box of juice. “Apple ok?”

Althea blinked. She looked undecidedly at the apple juice, as if she couldn’t believe that he had not stocked his refrigerator properly since her last visit.

“I suppose.” She said finally and took the juice from him.

McCarson was silent as she unwrapped the plastic straw that had been stuck to the side of her juice box. The wrapper made a loud crinkling noise. She poked the straw in the hole on top and took a sip.

“What do you want to know?” she asked, keeping her voice disinterested, “about monster hunting?”

“Yes . . . of course . . . “ He picked up a pen and scanned down the list on his yellow notepad, “what would I like to know . . . well . . . for starters . . . let’s see . . . “ he flipped to the next page and scanned some more. “Is there . . . are you. . “ Finally he looked up. He set down his pen and sat back in his chair. “What would you like to tell me?” he said, and relaxed into his ergonomic office chair.

Althea took another drink of her juice, before answering, “I would like to know which volume you have?”

McCarson looked confused. “Which. . . . . what?”

She pointed to the desk drawer, “Which volume is your comic book.”

His face was blank for a moment, and then a smile finally flashed. He chuckled out loud, and took the book out of the drawer. Althea’s inched forward until she was hanging on the edge of the oversized chair.

He glanced down at the cover. “Ah yes . . . . it’s . . . er . . .let me see . . . ah, yes . . . Volume 5.”

Her heart was like a drum. Volume 5? Did he say volume 5? She tried very hard not to look excited, she bit her bottom lip so hard that it left a mark . Try as she might she could not contain her excitement. The mask slipped from her face.

Dr. McCarson looked somewhat surprised. He picked up his pen and held it poised over the notebook. “And why,” he asked in that practiced voice, “does the volume number matter to you?”

Althea was fairly salivating. If only she could have a look at it, just a peek inside. Just to see. Not only was the Snikerbaum in that volume, but also probably other monsters, monsters she hadn’t even seen yet. Her eyes were glued to the book.

“Althea?”

She lifted her head. She tried to think of a lie, something to explain why she was interested. Her mind raced round and round, but all she could think about was getting her hands on that book.

“Because it has the Snikerbaum in it!” she blurted, and then slammed her mouth shut. Oops. That wasn’t exactly smooth.

“The Snikr. . “ McCarson frowned. He looked down at the book and then opened the cover and flipped through it. The frown remained on his face as he scanned the pages, suddenly he came to a stop. “Ahhh, why here it is . . . the S-n-i-c-k-e-r-b-a-u-m,” he read slowly, “Part two, ingredients and methods of defeat.” Slowly his head lifted. He studied her suspiciously. “And how,” he asked, “Did you know that the . . . er . . . Snikerburg, would be in this edition?”

Althea blinked.

“Ahhh,” the Doctor smiled a different smile, a kind of realization flickered into his eyes. “Althea . . . . “ his voice was soft and falsely understanding, “if you and I are to be friends, you must tell me the truth when we have our sessions.” He set the comic book back on his desk.

“Do you have other comic books at home?” He put on his big glasses again and tried to look professional. “Books like . . . oh . . . say. . . hmmm . . . let me take a guess. . . . Volume 4?”

“May I look at it?” Althea avoided his question, her eyes still glued to the book.

“Why certainly,” said the Doctor, “After we have had our chat.” He looked at her expectantly.

She blinked.

She willed herself to say nothing.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a lie popped into her head.

“I had Volume 4,” she told him, “but I lost it on a camping trip with my father.”

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed as if he wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her.

“I had it in the tent, but then there was a rain storm and everything got wet, including the book. My father threw it away”

She felt a twinge of guilt at the lie, but it was short lived. McCarson still had Volume 2 and she didn’t trust him not to steal the others.

Disappointment lit his face and for a moment he looked completely deflated. She realized that, behind his big glasses, he had been almost as hopeful as she was to see Volume 5, that he would be able to see another copy of the rare series.

“Oh,” he said, trying to sound unconcerned. He took off the big glasses. Though he tried to hide it, he looked so disappointed that Althea almost told him the truth.

He got up from his desk and pulled a chair next to her. “Clean hands?” he asked, and examined her hands before setting the book in front of her. “You may look at the book then,” he told her, still sounding somewhat deflated, “with supervision, of course.”

Althea could hardly sit still on the ride home. It was dark outside, a storm was blowing in and heavy clouds covered the sun. Though the city was dark, she was too preoccupied to notice.

The Doctor had let her spend the remainder of their session going over the comic book. She had tried to seem disinterested, a bland observer, but in the end she could not contain her excitement. She had even borrowed a pen from him and scratched down a list of the Snikerbaum ingredients. She knew she shouldn’t, because he had been watching her, and writing in that yellow notepad every so often. But it could have been her only chance, and she didn’t’ want to miss anything.

There had been so many new monsters in the book, so much information, she’d hardly noticed when the clock clicked over to 3 and the session was over. She hadn’t wanted to leave, she wished she could have another hour in the room with the comic book.

Dr. McCarson had been quiet when she left, introspective. “Well, I will see you next week,” he’d said with a smile, before sending her to reception.

She tried to listen to her mother’s questions on the way home, “How was this and how was that?” but she barely answered. She just sat there thinking about all of those ingredients. The Snikerbaum was going to be a very difficult monster indeed. There were ingredients on the list that she had never even heard of, and what with the recent contamination of her trunk. She slumped down in her seat.

“Everything allright Althy?” her mother asked.

“Yes.” She replied, “Seatbelt too tight. Better now.”

She looked out the window. They passed rows of dilapidated houses, an old pink hotel, run down little store. Her mother stopped at a stop sign. “Oh dear,” she said, pulling out a map. “Seems like I might have taken a wrong turn.

Althea looked further down the road. There was a tall fence in front of an empty plot of land and she noticed a big yellow bulldozer parked in one corner of the field. As her mother continued to search the map for the correct street, Althea noticed something else.

A tall, strange looking cluster of trees was next to the bulldozer, and as she looked up at the bushy top of them she saw. . . it looked as if. . . she turned away and then looked again.

The top of one of the trees, just under a big cluster of leaves, was a glowing light. The very same light she observed on all of the untainted ingredients of the Monster Medicine.

“Mom!” she exclaimed.

Her mother looked back

“What street are we on?”

Her mother told her and then went back to the map. Althea scribbled the street name down, on the backside of paper she had written the Snikerbaum ingredients.

-10-

Althea and Chrissie were sprawled out in front of the TV. Chrissie’s favorite show was on, but neither girl was watching. Instead, their attention was focused on the big box of crayons in front of them and the lines they had drawn on the large sheets of paper.

“I don’t know,” Chrissie looked at the waxy diagram. It seems like we might get in trouble for this.”

“A calculated, but necessary risk.” She responded.

“But I mean . . . won’t we be in there with the monster?”

“Probably.”

Chrissie gave her a look. “Explain again why we have to do this?”

Althea sighed. Since getting a look at the “Monsters of the World” comic book in Dr. McCarson’s office, she did not just discover a list of ingredients, but also the continuation of the footnote. It seemed, that the only way to avoid destruction was to get Chrissie’s parents to see the Snikerbaum.

“I told you Chrissie, the book said,” she quoted from the notes she had managed to scribble down, “When fighting parents see the Snikerbaum, it will restore the love they have for one another, and dissolve destruction.” Althea picked up her crayon and marked the box, which represented the closet in Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge’s bedroom, with a large black X.

“According to the book,” she continued, they won’t see the actual monster, as you and I see it, but rather a kind of monster in reverse.”

“What does that mean?” Chrissie asked as she drew yellow squiggly marks over Althea’s black X.

“Well,” said Althea, “I am not quite sure, but I imagine it will be something more . . . err . . . attractive than the version we experience.”

“Oh.” She put her crayon aside. “Well,” she continued thoughtfully, staring at the now partially yellow X on the map they had made. “I mean . . . can’t we think of another plan. Like luring the monster somewhere and then . . . uh . . .” she appeared to be thinking.

Althea felt a twinge of annoyance. She thought again of the old days of monster hunting, where preschool age kids just followed her instructions. “If you have another plan, feel free . . .” she pulled out a blank sheet of paper and set it in front of her.

“We could . . .” she drew a pink line on the paper. “If we . . .” she picked up a green crayon instead. “I mean . . .” Finally she set the crayon down. “When should we hide?” She sounded defeated.

Althea glanced at her Spylar V watch, a device that kept time in all 50 states and Europe in addition to being waterproof up to 50 meters. I would say at around 1900.

“Huh?” Chrissie looked confused.

“Seven o’clock.”

Seven o’clock came all too soon for Chrissie. The two girls gathered some supplies, which included a cloth grocery bag full of unhealthy snacks and Althea’s backpack of monster hunting supplies. They crept carefully down the long hallway to Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge’s room. The door creaked open and they slipped, rather inelegantly past the silk draped canopy bed into the oversized walk-in closet.

Althea tried not to sneeze as she brushed aside some of Mrs. Goodridge’s dresses, which seemed to be soaked in her designer perfume. They made sure the light was on before closing the big double doors. Chrissie took out a box of chocolate cookies and munched nervously. Her eyes shifted right to left as she perused the closet for monsters.

“It’s not here,” Althea informed her. “It comes when your parents are fighting.” She glanced at the doors leading to their bedroom. “Hopefully they will do that tonight.” She picked up one of the cookies and broke it in half, examining the fudge filling.

Chrissie took her iPod out of the bag and shared an earbud with Althea. They used some of Mrs. Goodridge’s big coats as pillows and passed the time by listening to an audio book. As the book droned on, their eyes drooped. Chrissie snuggled deeper into the coats, and soon drifted off. Althea did her best to stay awake, but even she found herself resting her eyes.

“I can leave my dishes anywhere I want!” Althea snapped awake. Mr. Goodridge’s voice boomed through the cracks in the closet door. “And,” he shouted louder this time, “I paid for this carpet, so I can drop anything I want on it, including ketchup!”

“Oh!” Something slammed down sharply. Mrs. Goodridge’s voice was now heard. “Filho da . . . !” her Portuguese was garbled, “how dare zyou!”

Althea sat up and, forgetting to take the earbud out of her ear, caused Chrissie’s Nano to fly upward and smack her in the face. “Uhhh . . .What!?”

“Ssshhhhhh” Althea put her finger to her lips, pointing at the closet door.

“Oh I dare!” Mr. Goodridge shouted. “In fact, you want to talk about stains . . . I will show you a stain!”

There was a rustling noise.

“Don zyou dare!” Mrs. Goodridge warned. “Don evin tink about it!” There was a popping sound. Althea crept up to the doorway and peeked through the crack. Mr. Goodridge held an open ketchup bottle over the white carpet. He had a dangerous look on his face.

“Oh, I dare!” he turned the bottle upside down and squirted a long line of red ketchup. “There!” he said with some satisfaction. “Now that is what I call a stain!!!”

“Va tomar . . . !” Mrs. Goodridge let out a long stream of Portuguese curse words.

Althea put her hand on the light switch. “Are you ready?” she whispered to Chrissie.

“Uh . . .” she looked a little pale, but managed mutely nodded her head.

She flipped the switch and the closet went dark.

Despite the immediate darkness, Althea noticed right a way that a red glow permeated from behind the row of evening gowns. “We were right!” she whispered “There is the door.”

Almost as soon as she said it a scuffling noise could be heard, scrip scrape . . . scrip scrape . . . scrip scrape.

Chrissie jumped up and clung to Althea. The evening dresses began to move back and forth almost in tune with the noise. Soon, they flew apart, and a long snaky arm snickered forward.

“Aaaahhhhhh!” Chrissie gurgled.

Althea looked curiously at the Snikerbaum. “A terrifying duo dimensional creature who uses destructive skill to gain access to the human world.” She quoted from volume 5. It certainly was one of the more . . . uh . . . unattractive creatures she had run across.

It’s half weasel half human face peeked out from behind a red sequined gown. “Uuuuuuhhhhhh!” Chrissie was now pressed up against the door.

“You must not do that!” Althea lectured. “Don’t give it power over you! It is only a monster.” She looked at it with disinterest. “And not even the ugliest one I have seen.” Her voice was calm.

Almost on cue, it turned its head and looked at her. Perhaps it was the half human side of its face, but as it stared, Althea felt sure that it knew exactly who she was, and exactly why she was here. It’s eyes were not the dense vacant pits of the Galograth, or the many other monsters she had battled. They were sharp and awake, windows to a deep intelligence that caused coldness to spread from the base of her spine to the top of her head.

“Open the door Chrissie,” She said without taking her eyes off of the Snikerbaum.

“But my parents . . .”

“Open the door!”

With trembling fingers Chrissie turned the handles and pushed it open. She stumbled out onto the carpet of her parent’s room.

“U tink dat is a stain,” Mrs. Goodrige was standing in front of the streak of ketchup, “I weel show u a stain!” She grabbed the bottle.

The Snikerbaum moved in the darkness, fully emerging from the row of dresses. Althea picked up one of the bottles she had brought with her. It wasn’t exactly what was needed, I mean some of the ingredients would have been difficult even if she had been back in South Carolina. It was different than the medicine, created from a section she’d found in the back of the new comic book called “Monster Tools.”

The Snikerbaum’s head shifted and it stared at her. “Ssssssssssaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” The tongue slithered out of its mouth. “Slllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiihhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaa,” it snickered softly.

She raised the bottle, but she felt like ice, she couldn’t move. A song slithered into her head.

Do you think I do not know you. Do you think I have not seen you.

The creature’s eyes seemed a million years old. It was a million years old, and she was just a little girl.

You are a monster hunter

The lyrics wove through her body.

But you cannot hunt monsters.

One of the snaky arms wrapped around her. It was almost holding her, like a friend.

You cannot hunt me.

“Ssssssssssssssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrr,” the tongue slithered, and she could feel it on her skin.

You are not a real monster hunter

It was on her neck, close to her ear.

You are just a little girl.

The eyes so close to her now, and the face that had fur on one side, but was human on the other. A human nose that looked kind of like her father’s. A human chin, pointed with a dimple on one side.

“SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllll”

A lonely little girl. You are a lonely little girl.

“Althea!” she thought she heard something, but it was far away.

There is no one, and nothing. You are no one and nothing.

“Althea!” something shoved her, causing her to ricochet off of a green polka dot dress and into the wall. The bottle flew out of her hand and shattered on the floor.

The song ended.

“Aaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” The monster screeched, and leapt out of the closet, hiding itself in one of the shadows of the room. The red liquid spilled onto the floor and then rose up like a kind of wall around Chrissie and Althea, protecting them.

“Are you okay?” Chrissie put her hand on Althea’s arm.

She shook her head, still in somewhat of a daze, and it took several minutes for her vision to clear. Finally she stood.

Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge were still fighting. Ketchup was all over his hair and face. “That!” she screamed at him, “ees what I call a stain!”

Fury marked his face, and the girls covered their ears as a stream of bad language followed. The adults were so busy fighting, that they had not even noticed the girls, nor the open closet door.

Chrissie’s face was red with shame.

Althea ignored it, scanning the room. “Where is it? Do you see it?”

“There!” Chrissie pointed to a corner by the bed. The creature hovered in a shadow, it’s eyes no longer blue, but red with flames. A shadowy arm streaked across the room and wrapped itself around Mrs. Goodridge. The monster’s head pushed out of the shadow, unable to shape itself fully in the light it looked as if it were covered in oil. They could see its features, and watched it smile, as it fed off of the anger of Chrissie’s parents.

“Oh!” Chrissie looked upset. “Do you see that?” She turned to Althea. “What should we do?”.

“We will follow the plan.” Althea told her. “When you hear me, shut off the lights.”

Chrissie looked serious. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” She gulped. “I mean, it seemed like you were frozen back there.” Now it was Althea who turned red.

“Yes. I am sure! We follow the plan.” She took another bottle out of her backpack. She straightened her orange dress, and took a long look at the bathing bananas that dotted her bobby socks. “I am the monster hunter,” she said to herself, “I am!”

She gave Chrissie one last look and then swiftly moved to the shadow. There was an immediate pull toward the creature, and she heard the first note of its song. Before it went any further, she smashed the bottle on the floor. The red wall rose up to protect her.

“Aaaaaeeeeeeeee!” It screeched unhappily, then turned to Chrissie’s parents.

“Well that is perfect!” Mr. Goodridge snapped, when his wife’s tirade had ended. He put his hand on the ketchup clinging to his face and smiled wickedly before using it to make a big red handprint on the carpet. “A real addition to the home deco!”

Althea took a deep breath. “Help!” she screamed, so loudly she thought even the distant neighbors might hear. “Mr. Goodridge Help!”

From across the room Chrissie’s hand was poised on the light switch.

“Not now dear,” Mr. Goodridge seemed unconcerned about Althea’s presence in his room.

“Zyou are going to pay for that!” his wife screamed. “I am going to put new carpet in the house. And Zyou!” she lowered her voice dangerously, “are going to pay for it!”

“Mrs. Goodridge,” Althea yelled, “Help!”

Chrissie’s mother turned to look at her daughter. “I tol zyou girls to watch a movie, now go!” She turned back to her husband. “I am getting zee most expensive one dey have!”

“Mrs. Goodridge!”

She did turn then, and at the same moment, Chrissie hit the lights. Even though it was dark, Althea could see that Mrs. Goodridge was not looking at the Snikerbaum, instead her attention was once again on her husband. Althea jumped forward and turned in time to see the Snikerbaum sniker a snaky arm around Chrissie’s mother. It’s tongue snikered close to her ear.

“And . . . “ Mrs. Goodridge went on, “eemported from France,” her voice grew angrier, “and I weel charge it to your credit card!”

“Mom,” Chrissie whimpered. The creature turned to stare at her.

“I tol you chreesie,” her mother sounded annoyed, “go watch dee movie”

Chrissie hit the light switch. “Let’s get out of here!”

It was Sunday afternoon, and the two girls had spent the entire weekend trying to avert destruction by getting Chrissie’s parents to see the Snikerbaum. Not only had the closet plan failed, but so had the living room plan, the outside of Chrissie’s room plan, and the kitchen plan. Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge were far more interested in fighting with one another, then they were in the children, or in any monsters that might be hanging around.

They were in Chrissie’s playhouse now, which was really more like a miniature mansion. A “Kid Vic” from Le Chick Structures for kids, it was a pretty little Victorian model painted bright yellow with white trim. It had hard wood floors, a little kitchen with a real sink, working lights, a refrigerator, and winding stairs leading to an upstairs loft where two twin beds fit nicely.

Althea and Chrissie were sitting in the main room downstairs, with her notes spread out in front of them and the many battle plan diagrams they had drawn. Both girls looked glum. Chrissie went into the kitchen and got some juice out for them to drink. She poured it in little teacups and brought them on a tray.

Althea took hers and moved to sit on the window seat. She brushed aside the lace curtain and glanced out over the lawn. “It’s no use. We have exhausted every idea.”

Chrissie poured some water into her juice from the creamer pot so that it wasn’t so strong, and stirred it with one of the spoons. “It is too fast. Too clever. By the time my parents break away from their fighting, it’s already gone.”

Althea used her spoon to make swirly patterns in her juice, then set it aside. “Well, it isn’t our fault. According to the book, it has been centuries since a Snikerbaum has been seen by a grown up, which is why it is listed as a long shot.” She straightened the curtain and sat up. “As I said before, it is a very complex monster; able to locate, not just it’s target’s weakness, but everyone around the target.”

“Assuming by target you mean me?” she looked a little perturbed.

“Ah yes, well,” She picked up her cup and took a drink. “The point is, it was able to get inside my head, attacking what is most vulnerable. Turning strength into weakness.

“That’s what it will do to me?” It was not really a question, and Chrissie looked depressed.

“No!” Althea jumped up. “We might not be able to stop the destruction of your home, but we can throw the Snikerbaum out of our world.”

“Where will we get the ingredients?” Chrissie looked worried. “Most of the ones in the trunk are contaminated.”

Althea gave Chrissie a soldiers smile. “Well,” she replied, “I do have one idea.”

-11-

“Special Ops 1 to Command Center. . . over. . “

Althea pressed the button clipped on her lapel, and spoke into the mouthpiece of her radio headset again. “Do you read me. . .over. . “

There was static on the line, then she could hear Chrissie’s faint voice. “Yes I can hear you. . I mean, I read you. . . where are you?”

Althea looked around. It was dark and a sliver of a moon hung in the sky. She had left Chrissie’s house 20 minutes ago. Mrs. Goodridge had put them to bed early, and she and Chrissie had kept quiet until Althea felt it was safe to sneak out.

“I am getting closer.” She took a handheld GPS system out of her pocket. She checked her coordinates. The red dot on the map beeped as she moved closer to her destination.

She pulled the night goggles back over her eyes so she could see. It was a dark night and even though the streetlights were on, she kept to the shadows. She didn’t want to encounter any civilians.

The goggles worked very well, although everything appeared green. Her mother had kept most of her father’s gadgets and other personal items in several storage bins. It had not been hard for her to locate what she needed.

There were footsteps on the concrete so she slipped into an alleyway. She was in full cammos tonight, her dress the same that she wore every day, except this one was a dark night cammo print. She had on little camouflaged combat boots. Even the bows fastening her two long braids were camo, and she had streaked her face with black and green hunters paint.

It was extremely important for a Green Beret to go unnoticed when on a mission. Tonight they were on a reconnaissance mission, intelligence gathering, or in her case, ingredients gathering.

The footsteps passed by, and she slipped out of the alleyway. “Command Center,” she whispered into the headset, “do you read me?”

“Yes,” she heard Chrissies voice. “I’m here.”

“I am approaching the target.”

“Oh Althea,” Chrissie’s sounded worried, “Do be careful!”

Althea looked up at the high fence looming on the edge of the empty field she had seen earlier in the week while driving with her mother.

She flipped up her goggles to see if it looked different without them. Nope. Chain link, approximately 8 feet high. A foot of barbed wire on top. She unzipped her backpack and took out the long rope with the hook on the end. She looked around for a moment and then tossed it upward, hooking the top of the barbed wire. The metal clanged against the spiky wire.

“What are you doing here?” the voice was behind her.

Althea swung around, adopting the Ninjitsu defensive poise.

A shadowy figure stood there, lanky and thin, he seemed to be holding something. It looked like a board. She flipped down her night vision goggles.

Dark hair, ripped jeans, fingerless gloves - the boy from the park! He was holding his skateboard.

“What are you doing here?” He repeated, looking around nervously. “This is not a safe neighborhood for a little girl like you?”

Althea looked at him with disdain. “It is not safe for a boy like you either.” He may have been bigger than she was, but he was still only a 4th grader. She turned back to the rope. He moved closer and watched with some interest as she took a bite of the rope and knotted it. She could see as she looked back at him, that he was smirking.

“You gonna climb that,” he chuckled, “that fence is like a mountain to a little girl like you.

Althea ignored him. She grabbed the top of the rope and used the side of the fence to hoist herself up. She put one of her feet on the knot and anchored them there, wrapping the excess rope around her waist. She completely ignored the boy, and began to climb.

He watched, incredulous, as the pint-sized girl shimmied up the rope. She stopped when she reached the top and examined the barbed wire.

“Come down from there!” he called out. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Althea turned a deaf ear. She used the open metal links on the fence for her feet, and freed herself from the rope. She grabbed the swinging rope and hen flung it over the top. It slithered down to the other side, still attached on the top by the hook. She inched over until her feet rested below the first layer of slanted barbed wire. Carefully, she calculated the distance and took a deep breath.

Bending her knees, she pushed off, launching like a spring into the air.

The boy gasped as he watched the little girl somersault over the top of the fence. Just when he thought she would go crashing to the ground, he saw her arms reach out and grab the dangling rope on the other side. She swung for a second or two back and forth, then stabilized. In no time, she had belayed down the rope and dropped to the ground.

His mouth hung open.

Althea turned to look at him through the chain links. “Go away!” She scolded, “You are jeopardizing my mission.” With that she began to walk toward the grove of trees and the big yellow bulldozer that was still parked beside them.

The machine had uprooted some of the trees since the last time she had seen them, and they now lay on their sides. Leaves and sawed off branches littered the ground. She took off the goggles and blinked away the unnatural light. Everything was quiet, except an occasional car honking in the far off distance, reminding her that she was still in the city. She started examining the trees.

“What are you doing here?”

It was the boy again, and this time he was right beside her. Althea startled, and then jumped back. She glared at him. “How did you get over the fence?” She looked him up and down, as if she couldn’t believe he had what it took.

He smiled. “Well, if you would have asked me. . .I could have told you. . . there is a hole,” he pointed to a spot farther down, “over there.”

She squinted and could just make out a dark shadow at the bottom of one of the sections along the fence line.

She blinked, then looked away- back to the trees. Hastily, she walked to the fallen top of one of them, and examined the long leaves and the balled out wood.

“What are you doing here?” the boy asked again. He sounded concerned. “I’m serious, this is no place for a little girl.”

Althea tried to ignore him, but then she looked back. “As I said, what are YOU doing here? It’s no place for YOU either.” She was irritated that this littering boy thought he knew her well enough to tell her where she ought to be.

“I live here!” He said equally annoyed. “Or at least, I stay here sometimes when my father is. . . . . “ He looked down. “When I have to.”

Althea felt something like guilt begin to seep in, “Oh,” she said softly.

“What about you? Are you trying to get away from your house too?”

She felt more that guilt then. “No.” she said. “I am . . well. . . I’m on a mission. Reconnaissance,” she said officially. “Ingredients gathering.”

He gave her a weird look, like she was an alien from another planet. “I see,” he said, but she knew that he didn’t. “My name is Jax,” he stuck out his hand. “Short for Jaxon.”

Althea looked at his hand. Even in the dark she could see the dirt under his fingernails, and grubby smudges on his palm. “Althea,” she said, and against her best judgment shook his hand. Suddenly she felt something. It was a tugging, pulling sensation, she dropped his hand and like a magnet was drawn further into the grove. Jax followed.

It was here somewhere, she could feel it. Not that one, she passed by one of the uprooted trees. No. . . Not that one. She climbed over a large rock. Her eyes squinted in the dark. There was something. . . then she saw it.

On the other side of the rock was a fallen tree, from the width of its trunk it looked to be an old one, with bark thickened and weathered by time.

“Sad isn’t it,” Jax muttered.

Althea kicked some of the branches out of the way and moved closer.

“Some environmentalists tried to save it, even protested here yesterday, but the men came in this morning and tore it all out.” Jax looked mournfully at the old tree, “it was pretty.” He seemed to realize what he was saying and backed up. He folded his arms and tried to act cool.

Althea moved some of the branches aside. “It has to be here somewhere,” she fumbled around with the branches, “I can feel it.”

Then she saw it. One of the large bumps on the bark looked like it was leaking; crying translucent tears that glowed in the darkness. She examined it closer. Her toes tingled as she touched a little drop of the liquid. It immediately turned dark, the strange light disappearing from the spot she had touched.

“This is it!” she looked excitedly at Jax.

“What?” He frowned, not sure what she was talking about.

Suddenly a fuzzy voice came from her headpiece. “Command Center to. . .um. . . to. . . . . Althea? Are you there?”

She pressed the button clipped to her collar. “Special Ops to Command Center” she responded.

“Oh. . .yes. . Special Ops. . . .” Chrissie’s voice came over the earpiece. “Where are you now Althea,” her voice sounded muffled, as if she was talking under a blanket.

“I found the target,” she told her, “I am in retrieval mode. Give me a few minutes and I will be ready to come in.”

“Oh that’s wonderful news!” Chrissie sounded relieved, “I am getting so worried.”

“Don’t worry,” Althea told her, “Special Ops out.” She unzipped her backpack and dug around until she found the wooden saw.

“What are you doing!” Jax looked surprised.

“I have to get the ingredient.” She sawed into the top of the fallen tree until the sappy liquid began to leak from the burl. There were several empty jars in her backpack and she used them as she began to collect the sap.

“Here,” Jax said resigned, “Let me help,” he leaned over.

“Don’t touch it!” She chastised. You will contaminate it. “Here,” she handed him the saw. You saw and I will collect.

Jax gave her a look, then took the saw and maneuvered the blade deeper into the wood, more sap flowed. It didn’t take long to fill up the jars. Althea made sure to secure the lids tightly on each one before slipping them into her backpack.

He handed her the saw, and looked as if he was about to ask her a question. She zipped up her backpack and moved past him. “Thank you.” She said briskly making her way back to the fence.

“Wait!” he called.

She kept on walking, but guilt got the better of her. She stopped and waited.

“I will show you where the hole is.” He volunteered, taking the lead. “Over here.”

Jax climbed through the opening first, then reached back to help her. She had just emerged on the other side, when she felt him grow tense. She looked up.

In front of them, ragged tennis shoes shuffling on the grungy sidewalk, were three young men. They were not boys, like Jax, she knew because some of them had mustaches, but when she looked into their eyes, she knew that they weren’t grown-ups either. Probably high-schoolers. One of them seemed to be the leader. He was wearing a black leather jacket and had thick gold chains draped around his neck.

“Whatcha doing here Jaxon?” His face was hairy and mean. “I told you to stay offa my corner. But here ya are. . . on my corner, and” his hard eyes looked over at Althea, “with a friend.” The big boy’s lips curled nastily, he looked at Althea, wearing her camouflage dress, with the night vision goggles perched on top of her head.

“What are you?” He looked back at Jax, “Playing make believe with your little friends now?” All of the boys laughed.

The large boy glared at her. “Gimmiee that!” He pointed at her backpack.

“Why don’t you leave us alone Ray!” Jax stepped in front of Althea. “We’re going now, so you can just leave us be.” He stayed in front of her, and inched backward.

The big boy, Ray, took Jax by his shirt collar and lifted him high into the air. He hung there for a moment before Ray dropped him. Jax slammed into the concrete, and grunted in pain. Ray stood looking at Althea. His eyes still on her backpack. “I said gimmee that!” He stepped forward.

Althea’s hand felt inside the hidden pocket of her dress. Her fingers curled around one of the small glass vials she kept there.

“Did you hear me!” his voice was nasty, he grabbed at her.

Smoothly, almost effortlessly, Althea darted to the side and then doubled back quickly so that when Ray lunged for her, not only did he miss, but his body was off balance and he stumbled into the fence.

“Why you little. . . . . .” he looked over at his two friend. “Get her!” he commanded.

Althea blinked.

The two boys reached their big arms out and began to close in.

“I don’t recommend that.” She told them calmly.

They looked at each other and laughed.

“Leave her alone!” Jax cried out from where he lay on the ground. He tried to sit up.

“You’re a funny little girl aren’t’ you?” one of them said while preparing to pounce.

Althea raised the vial. Even in the dim light the blue liquid glowed mysteriously.

Ray moved away from the fence to join his friends. The three towered over little Althea. “What is that?” Ray sneered. “Are you going to get us with the magical potion?” He laughed loudly. “Woooooooo” he made a mock expression of fear. “I am soooooooooo scared.”

Althea shrugged her shoulders. “Very well,” she said, “I did try to warn you,” She threw the glass vial on the ground and it shattered.

“Ooooohhh helpppp!” Ray cried out, “Noooooo” Then he turned to her and laughed. The other two boys also erupted in laughter.

Althea looked at the Monster Ooze that was streaming onto the ground. “Mogh Corb” she called out to it. The liquid moved, it beginning to squirm and squiggle on the ground.

Ray looked down. His eyebrows furrowed. “What is that?” he glared at her, “did you get that at a joke shop?”

Althea’s eyes did not leave the ooze. “Mogh Corb!” she called again, “Cas cliti sealaig!” She stepped back.

Steam rose from the squirming blue liquid. Ray was taken aback. “What is that?” he asked again and looked at Althea, this time with some trepidation.

“I did try to warn you,” she moved to stand beside Jax. “Oh well.”

Tiny blue flames rose from the steamy monster ooze. Ray and his friends lunged to get away, but they found that they couldn’t move.

Althea bent down, “Are you allright?” she asked Jax. A little drop of blood ran down his face from where his cheek had scraped the ground.

He didn’t answer. He was too busy watching the flames rising up from the ooze.

Ray looked over at Althea, his face lit with fear. “What are you?” his voice was shaky, not at all the blazing bully he had been before.

Althea blinked, then looked at Jax. “We have to go.” She put out her hand.

He looked at her, a spark of fear in his own eyes. “You should let them go.” He motioned to the boys.

She blinked again, then sighed. “I can’t let them go. It’s too late”

Jax looked at her hand as if it were a rattlesnake that was about to strike.

“It won’t hurt them,” she whispered so they couldn’t hear. “It is holding them,” she looked down the street. “So we can get away.” The blue flames leapt higher, and though they were not hot as one would expect flames to be, Ray screamed.

Jax appeared uncertain, but then seemed to make up his mind and got up off the ground. They ran down the street.

They were a good distance away when he snuck a look back.

The circle of blue flames surrounding Ray and his cronies appeared to have died down. One of Ray’s friends had moved to the side of the circle, but Ray was still standing there. Still frozen, but from fear not the monster ooze.

Althea reached the little ally and ducked into it for the second time that night, pulling Jax along.

“What was that,” he asked, when his breathing returned to normal. “What did you do?”

“I stopped them from attacking us.” She said, as if he were obtuse. “A basic monster ooze, I could have used the orange, that would have caused a nasty rash, they would have been bloated for weeks. I usually just try the paralysis as a first measure.” She peered out of the ally. “Looks safe. Follow me.”

He hesitated, then followed, hugging the shadows as she did until they reached a huge white house with blue trim. Chrissie’s house. “This way,” she whispered. He followed her through the unlocked gate in the back, and up a ladder of twisting ivy that led to Chrissie’s window.

-12-

“No way!” Chrissie’s arms were folded as she looked across the checkered picnic blanket at Jax. “I mean. . Althea. . just look at him!” She ran her eyes haughtily over his ragged clothing and long hair. “Do you really want him on our team?”

Althea was about to eat some of her cheese sandwich, but paused in mid air. Team? Did she just say team?

She tried to listen as Chrissie ranted on and on about how and why Althea could bring such a boy into her house, and what made him think he could be a part of their mission, but she was too distracted by the team thing to really pay much attention.

She had never spent much time around other children her age, other than when she had to go to school, or when she was after a particular monster. Most of them pretended they didn’t know her again once she defeated their monster, but now Chrissie was talking about a team, which was entirely foreign.

She frowned. So far it was kind of fun, eating lunch with Chrissie at school, instead of alone, and for the first time it felt like someone else in her life understood who she was, and what she had to do. She frowned again. Despite all of that, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be on any team.

“I can help,” Jax protested. “I did tonight didn’t I?” he turned to Althea for support.

She blinked.

Of course, from where she sat, Jax had been more of a hindrance than help, I mean, she did actually end up saving him from the mean boys. Of course, he had shown her about the hole in the fence, and that was a little easier than scaling it.

“You did spray paint that wall,” she lectured, remembering when she had first met him in the park.

He looked defensive. “That was only because Ray wrote something bad about me!” he protested, “I was painting over it.”

“Hmmph” snorted Chrissie, “He doesn’t understand,” she looked over at Althea, “about defeating the monsters, and besides. . . “ She glared at him, “who knows if you can even see them? I mean, not everyone can you know.” She raised her head superiorly and gave a secret wink at Althea.

“Well,” he said, “I have seen them before”

Althea looked surprised. “You have? Them? More than one?” The questions just popped out and she thought for a moment that she was picking up that habit from Chrissie.

“Yes,” he fidgeted with his gloves, “Once when I was younger, and I made it go away . . . at least I think I made it go away. . . it kind of lost interest once I wasn’t scared of It..”

“And the other?”

“Well, that . . .um. . . more recently. . . “ he seemed uncomfortable, and reached for the plate of crackers.

“I am sure that your monsters were NOTHING” Chrissie emphasized, “compared to mine. I mean even Althea has said. . My monster is VERY complex.” Althea wasn’t sure but she sounded a tiny bit jealous. As if she didn’t like it that Jax had seen monsters of his own, and definitely didn’t want to tell him about the fairy dust.

She took another bite of her sandwich. The three were sitting on the floor of Chrissie’s room, enjoying the picnic she had set up.

“I usually work alone.” Althea told them, chewing on her bite of sandwich.

“But Althea!” Chrissie protested, “You are in the city now. It’s not like the country. I mean even you said that these monsters are way more difficult.” Chrissie set down the lemon lime soda she had been sipping. “I mean really Althea. . . you need a team.”

“That’s right” said Jax, and he looked pointedly at Chrissie, “and a team is more than two people. Two people is only a pair.” He glanced at them skeptically, “besides, you are both girls.”

“Why,” Chrissie sounded offended, “what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

Jax grabbed a handful of chips from one of the bags and wolfed them down, it had been a while since he’d had anything to eat. When he was finished he picked up a sandwich and devoured that also.

Satiated, he relaxed against one of the cushions. “It means that a boy like me could come in handy.” He smiled sweetly, “to protect you girls,” he batted his eyelids like a damsel in distress and chuckled as he popped some more chips into his mouth.

“Althea! I mean really!”

She was about ready to tell them both to be quiet, when they were interrupted.

“What is that?” Jax asked turning his head toward the vent in Chrissie’s room. Loud noises were coming out of it, which soon turned to angry shouting echoing.

“Don’t touch that!” It was George Goodridge. “That is my favorite shirt.

“I weell do more dan tooch it!” Chrissie’s mother’s voice vibrated through the grate. “Here!”

There was a faint ripping sound.

“I can’t believe you!” Mr. Goodridge screamed furiously, “I can’t believe you did that!”

“Beelieve eet!” she responded, “and beelieve dees!” There was a slurpy smacking sound, like wet noodles thrown against a wall. Then Mrs. Goodridge’s wild laughter.

“You . . . . . . !” Althea plugged her ears, because she thought she heard the beginnings of some bad words. Suddenly Mrs. Goodridge’s panicked voice could be heard.

“Don touch dat!” she shouted. “That eez my mother’s vase!”

“Not any more!” Mr. Goodgridge shouted, and then there was the sound of glass shattering.

A string of Portuguese echoed through the vent.

“Ohhhh,” Chrissie stood up and backed away. There were tears in her eyes. She looked up and saw Jax staring at her. “Oooohhhhhh,” shame washed over her, and she started to cry.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, “Don’t cry.” He moved closer, “you should come to my house sometime. It would make this look like a picnic.” He gave an ironical laugh, but she turned away.

“It’s not your fault.” Althea tried to help.

“Yes it is,” Chrissie wept, “it is my fault.” Tears ran down her cheeks.

Suddenly, the children heard another noise, a noise that was not coming from the vent. To Althea and Chrissie it was familiar, and Jax seemed not to notice.

Scrip Scrape, scrip scrape, scrip scrape, scrip scrape

It was at first far away, but then grew louder and louder.

“What is it?” he asked, seeing their expressions.

They answered him together, “Snikerbaum!”

Althea and Chrissie looked at each other. “You said it right this time,” she patted Chrissie on the back. “Good job.”

Chrissie stopped crying and smiled.

Scrip scrape, scrip scrape, scrip scrape, scrip scrape.

The door handle wiggled. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “You see? You see Althea! See what it can do?”

Indeed she did. The Snikerbaum, it seemed, had grown much stronger since the last time.

There was the sound of more broken glass erupting from the vent. The fight below them escalated.

The door handle wiggled once more and then suddenly, inexplicably, a dark shadow slithered through the crack. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” Chrissie stared horrified.

“How is doing that?” she squealed. “How can it do that Althea? The lights are on. It can’t come in when the lights are on!!!!!!!” Chrissie was terrified.

Althea blinked.

She looked carefully at the dark shadow that was now moving along the wall. The faint outline of two eyes could be seen in the shadow and when Chrissie squealed, a long tongue snickered out of the side.”

“Is it the monster?” Jax asked, confused. “Where is it?”

Without talking, Chrissie pointed to the wall.

“In the shadow?” he squinted his eyes, but couldn’t see anything.

“Hmmmmm. . . . “ Althea thought for a moment. This was in fact, the first time she had ever seen a monster appear in a well-lit room. It had gotten much stronger since the last time they had seen it.. The Snikerbaum was certainly a different breed.

“Oooooohhhhhhh” Chrissie trembled. The shadow crept closer.

“Chrissie!” Althea turned to look at her, her face serious, “You have to overcome your fear.”

“But. . . lo. . .look at it!” She pointed at the snickering tongue; the red flickering eyes peering out of the dark shadow.

“It’s just a bully,” Jax bent down next to her. Though he couldn’t see it, he tried to reassure her. “It’s trying to scare you on purpose. Just think of it like a bully at school trying to steal your lunch money.”

Chrissie nodded bravely. She looked at the shadow again and then jumped back.

“Don’t look at it!” Althea warned. Chrissie looked down at her new bobby socks. There were little fish on them who floating on fabric waves having nice cups of tea.

The shadow moved backward, toward the door.

“You see!” Althea told her. “It is going away!”

Another smash erupted from the vent, startling the children. The shadow grew bigger.

“Althea!” Jax whispered. Though he could not see the monster, he did notice the shadow growing larger. “What should we do? Shouldn’t we try to fight it?” He looked over at her. “I mean. . . isn’t that what you. . . I mean. . . what WE do?”

Althea looked back at the Snikerbaum. Its face strained to lift out of the shadow, it seemed to be stretching the darkness. It couldn’t take form because of the light. She thought back to what she had read.

She’d brought some things with her, she could try to defeat it, but then. . . well. . . if she defeated the Snikerbaum, she couldn’t help avert the destruction that would come to Chrissie’s home. On the other hand, according to volume 5 of the “Monsters of the World” comic book, no Snikerbaum had ever been seen by grown ups for over 500 years.

Jax was trying to help Chrissie, standing between her and the giant shadow. Althea was about to reach over for her backpack of monster hunting supplies, when Chrissie looked over.

“I have an idea.”

“What?”

Her eyes looked fearful, but the rest of her features were stony and determined. She walked over to the vent. Mrs. Goodridge could be heard screaming in Portuguese at her husband.

Chrissie looked at Althea, “It’s my battle too!” She took a deep breath, and put her mouth to the vent.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooouuuuuuuuuuggggggggghhhhhhh!” she screamed, her voice so loud that the glass on the windows shook.

When it was over, everything was strangely quiet.

The Snikerbaum’s shadow stopped growing, but inside it was still straining to escape.

Suddenly there were footsteps in the hallway. It sounded like someone running. Realization flashed into Althea’s mind, and she backed up toward the light switch. The door was flung open.

Mr. Goodridge was in the doorway, his bald head shiny with sweat, and his few remaining tufts of hair had some type of goop in them which looked suspiciously like egg yolks. His face was beet red.

“What in the world is going on in here!” He looked around.

Althea caught Jax’s eye and gestured urgently.

His eyes flashed, and he nodded. Amazingly he seemed to know exactly what to do, positioning himself directly in front of the shadow. Mr. Goodridge’s head snapped around, his mouth gaped open.

“Is this. . . is there. . . is that . . . A BOY. . . in your room?” He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it.

There were more footsteps in the hall and Mrs. Goodridge appeared next to him. “What eez it?” She tried to see past her husband who was blocking the doorway. “What eez going on?”

“Just look at this Lucia!” he exclaimed and he moved aside. “Look at what is in Chrissie’s room!”

“Now!” Chrissie shouted as her mother came to the door.

The room went dark.

At the same time Althea hit the light switch Jax dropped to the floor, plastering himself against the carpet.

Mrs. Goodridge screamed.

Then there was a long stunned silence

She and her husband stood gaping in the doorway, looking at the place where Jax had been. “Whhhh. . . wh. . what is it?” she stammered.

There was another scream.

It was not a child’s scream, or that of a human being, but rather the cold bellow of a creature who was not of this world. A creature who could not believe that it had been seen.

The shadow had melted in the darkness causing the Snikerbaum to emerge completely. Chrissie and Althea saw the scaly snaky body, the long tail like arms, the half human half ferret-weasel face. In front of it, however, was something else. Something it had thrown up like a three dimensional hologram, to protect it from unwanted eyes.

To Jax and Chrissie’s parents, the monster looked like a translucent ghost. Instead of the short nubby horn on its forehead, they saw a slender ivory unicorn horn. Instead of a hairy and twisted face, they saw a beautiful Grecian man, whose features seemed chiseled out of the whitest marble. Instead of the slimy snake body, she saw a kind of centaur.

Mrs. Goodridge grabbed her husband’s hand. “Oh meu Deus!” she exclaimed “Jorge,” she said his name, “do you see it? Meu Deus!”

Mr. Goodridge clutched her hand in shock, because he could indeed see it. The two stared as if it were an angel.

Jax moved beside them and, able to see the monster for the first time (or some version of it) appeared just as mesmerized as the Goodridges.

Althea of course, could see the real Snikerbaum, and it turned it’s head and looked at her in rage. Fire sparked from its eyes as it screamed its humiliation.

Outside there was a flash of lightening. Through the window Althea saw it crash into a single wooden post, engulfing it in flames. She watched the flames dance and then die, as the heavy rain drops extinguished them. The destruction that threatened to divide Chrissie’s family was over.

Chrissie huddled on the other side of the room with her hands over her ears too scared to hear what was going on, or see for that matter.

From where she stood, Althea could see that the Snikerbaum was furious. She quickly flicked the lights causing the hologram to disappear.

Chrissie’s parents continued to stare at the place it had been. They stood for what seemed like an eternity and then turned to look at each other.

Mr. Goodridge had a big tear in his shirt and a long streak of what looked like mustard across his clothes and on his arms. Mrs. Goodridge had yellow stuff in her hair, and eggshells clinging to the sleeve of her blouse.

“Oh,” she said remorsefully, touching the rip in her husband’s shirt. “Meu amor. . . . I am so sorry.” She looked up at him, “and it was your favorite.”

Mr. Goodridge pulled a piece of eggshell from his wife’s hair. “I broke your mother’s vase,” he said. “How could I have done that.” His eyes were watery, and Althea wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe he was crying.

They began apologizing to each other, for this thing and that thing. On and on it went, and Jax began to peruse the room for an escape route.

A love that had been broken suddenly mended itself and the two began gushing like a fountains. Mrs. Goodridge was apologizing in Portuguese then English then Portuguese again. They hugged each other. They kissed.

“Yuck!” Jax shook his head in disgust.

“Double Yuck,” said Chrissie and the looked at Althea uncomfortably. “How long will this go on?”

“Probably for a while,” she whispered, moving to stand by them. “After all, it isn’t every day that grown ups get to see a Snikerbaum.”

The children had to endure it for some time, until the adults suddenly remembered that they were there.

Mr. Goodridge looked over at Jax. He frowned through the hazy layer of love clouding his eyesight. “Chrissie. . . ?” he looked at his daughter semi kindly. “Why there a boy in your room?”

Jax looked at the window, planning to make a run for it, but Althea grabbed his hand.

“Oh!” Mrs. Goodridge exclaimed, seeing Jax for the first time. She looked at his clothes, his hair, the dirt on his hands. She was incredulous, “A. . “ she lowered her voice as if she couldn’t bear to say the word, “. . . POOR boy.”

Jax inched closer to the window.

“Yes,” said Althea. “He is a poor boy.” She took his hand. “A poor boy of the world.”

“What?” Chrissie said it the same time as her parents

“You remember,” she looked pointedly at Mrs. Goodridge, “The Society’s upcoming ball.” She smiled warmly, the same way that Dr. McCarson did when he was trying to get her to talk about herself. “The Poor Children of the World Ball?” Althea patted Jax on the back. “Well, this is one of them.”

“One of what?” Mr. Goodridge asked suspiciously. Chrissie looked at her if she had suddenly spouted corn for ears.

“One of the poor children of the world. Sponsored by the Society.”

“Huh?” Jax frowned.

“Oh. Of course” Mrs. Goodridge acted like it made perfect sense. Anything that the Society did must be okay.

“But what is he doing here?” Mr. Goodridge looked around, “and so late?”

“Well,” Althea explained, marveling at her own ability to stretch the truth, “He is helping me with my speech, to be given at the ball, which he of course will attend. He did knock” she looked pointedly at Mr. Goodridge, “but no one answered the door, so Chrissie and I let him in. Maybe you were too . . um. . .busy to hear?” Mr. Goodridge’s face turned beet red, and for a moment he looked entirely embarrassed.

Althea tried to distract them further by pointing to the picnic cloth and food on the floor, “Chrissie and I were teaching him proper eating manners, and counseling him on his role as the Societies spokesperson for. . . er. . . the Poor Children of the World.” She finished. She had figured out by attending her grandmother’s tea parties that if you just kept saying Poor children of the world, it overshadowed practically everything else.

“Isn’t that wonderful! What wonderful children you are,” Mrs. Goodridge gushed, to help such a . . “ she lowered her voice again “POOR boy.” She looked at Chrissie, and for the first time, in what had been a long time, she seemed to see her daughter. Not just as an object in the house, or a cute little doll to dress up, but as a real little girl.

Her voice caught in her throat, and that fountain of love gushed over once more. “You are such a wonderful, wonderful daughter,” Mrs. Goodridge showered her with kisses and red lipstick marks were planted all over her face. “Minha fiha,” she gushed in Portuguese, “my daughter, I am so proud!” then showered her with more kisses.

Mr. and Mrs. Goodridge eventually left Chrissie’s room to do what they referred to as “late night cleaning”, but the children knew that they were really going to sweep up the broken dishes and food from their earlier argument.

-13-

“Can you believe it” Althea marveled, “How in love with each other they were?” She tried not to laugh as she remembered how Chrissie looked with red lips stamped all over her face.

Jax was not so polite.

“Well,” muttered Chrissie, fully aware of what why were laughing, “it wasn’t that funny.”

The three were camped out in Chrissie’s playhouse. It was the next day, and Mrs. Goodridge had let them take their breakfast to the “Mini Vic,” supposedly so they could work on Althea’s speech for The Society. She wanted Althea to make sure she told her grandmother how accommodating she’d been toward the project.

Jax took a bite of his banana muffin and looked over at Althea. “I did pretty good didn’t I.” He patted himself on the back in mock appreciation. “I mean I knew what you wanted me to do and I ducked right down!” He looked pointedly at Chrissie. “I guess that means I qualify to be on . . . the team.”

“Right Althea?”

She sighed. Again with the team thing.

He went on. “We really got him though! He must have been peeee ooo’d, I mean steaming dreaming mad that Snickerdoodle. We took care of him. . . . Ohhh Yaa.” He lay back against a yellow beanbag and crossed is legs smugly. “What’s next? Dragons? Or maybe those lake monsters I saw on TV.”

Althea and Chrissie were quiet.

“What?” he looked confused. “No victory tea party?” he looked sarcastically at the tea set Chrissie had used to serve their breakfast. He frowned. “I don’t get it?”

“It’s not over,” Chrissie explained, sounding deflated. “That was just part of it.”

“Whadayamean?” he sat up.

“There are two parts of a Snickerbaum,” Chrissie told him, taking Althea’s role. “The first, which was practically impossible, we did last night. The second . . .”

“We have to do tonight.” Althea finished for her.

“Tonight!” Chrissie exclaimed. “Why tonight?”

Althea blinked.

She reached over and took a slice of quiche from one of the plates.

“Yah . . why tonight?” Jax asked, “and what exactly is the second part?”

“It has to be tonight,” She finally answered after carefully chewing a bite. “because it is very very angry.” She picked a strawberry out of the fruit bowl and ate it. “Angry and irrational, which means it will come after the target in the worst way.”

“What is the target?” Jax asked as he got his own slice, not bothering with a plate, or a napkin for that matter.

“Me,” said Chrissie glumly. “I am the target.”

“Oh.”

Jax looked around the Mini Vic Playhouse. Lacy picture frames hung on the walls enshrouding scenes of princesses in yellow dresses and horses in fields of yellow flowers. There was a yellow flowered cushion on the window seat, a fold up table leaning against the wall, and yellow beanbags scattered around the rest of the room.

He had to admit - pretty cool rich kid digs. But so girly. He almost hadn’t come inside. Althea and Chrissie practically pulled him in. The only reason he had caved was that the Goodridge’s had a high wall around their back yard, and no one would be able to see him. He looked at the yellow tulips on the teacup he was drinking his juice out of. Humiliating!

“So what’s the plan?” he asked excited. This would be his first real monster hunt.

“You’ll have to make it so that he can see.” Chrissie told Althea.

She grimaced. She hated to use more of the fairy dust. As it was she felt lucky so far none of them had shown up to punish her for using it on Chrissie.

“Yes.” She said resigned.

Jax didn’t know what they were talking about, but he was game! “So that means I’m in!” He brushed a long strand of black hair out of his face. “I’m on the team?”

“Yes.” Althea sighed. “You are on the . . . uh . . . team.”

“Hooray!” said Chrissie, warming to Jax a little, and also thrilled at the idea that there would be a third person to help with her monster.

“I will have to go home and get some things.” She told them.

“Then we should meet back at our clubhouse before dark.” Chrissie said, elated.

“Clubhouse?” Jax frowned. “What clubhouse?”

“This one,” she gestured to the Mini Vic.

“Oh no,” he protested, “this can’t be our clubhouse!”

“Why not?” Chrissie sounded offended.

“Just look at it!” he stood up. “I mean please, princess pictures and lacy la la la. This is not a Monster Hunting clubhouse. It is fantasy froo frooo land.”

“That’s not nice,” Chrissie stood up and put her hands on her hips.

Jax looked at Althea for support.

She blinked.

“We need a place where the entire team can go,” he turned back to Chrissie. “And I would rather meet in the park than in here!”

“Althea!” Chrissie turned her nose up at Jax. “Tell him that this is our clubhouse.”

“I suppose,” she said carefully, “we could redecorate.”

“And paint the outside.”

“What! Althea!”

She took a last bite of her quiche, suddenly anxious to be on her way. “The outside will make a good cover,” she tried to sound enthusiastic, “for our . . .er . . . clubhouse.”

That seemed to make them both happy, so they sat down.

Breakfast was finished with no further arguments, and they made a plan to circle up before sunset. Chrissie promised to leave the back gate open, so Jax could sneak in.

Althea ate another strawberry. First a team, and now a clubhouse. She didn’t know how things had gotten so out of hand. It was only a few weeks ago that she was battling the Galograth by herself, and now all of a sudden . . .

She looked at Jax and Chrissie who were debating where to put on the clubhouse sign. What in the world had she gotten herself into?

-14-

Jax rubbed his eyes. “Whoa,” he said in a kind of daze, still recovering from the fairy dust. “That was cool. Do you think it worked?

Althea flicked off the lights and held up a bag containing one of the ingredients. “What do you see?”

“I . . . . holy cow! That thing is glowing!” he exclaimed.

“It worked.” She switched the lights back on.

They were in Chrissie’s room. Althea told her mother she was spending the night to help Chrissie study for the math examination. Jax had snuck in through the window. Chrissie was downstairs with her parents going over new household rules. Apparently not only were her parents back in love again, but they were also suddenly paying more attention to their daughter. This should have been a good thing, if only it did not involve rules and studying, and also a significant reduction of junk food.

Althea set a bottle of the monster tool on the table. “Last one.” She told Jax.

“Can’t you make more?”

“Ran out of ingredients.”

They both heard footsteps in the hallway, and Chrissie soon appeared.

“Jeeez!” she complained. “That took forever!” Though she looked decidedly put out, her blonde curls bobbed up and down. “I have to be in bed by 8. And,” she looked at Althea, “no more chocolate cookies. Whole wheat fig ones instead.” There was a torturous look on her face. “Yuck!”

Jax laughed out loud. “Poor baby,” he chuckled, not at feeling at all sorry for her. “I guess you’ll just have to sneak a stash out to your mini mcmansion.” His laughter grew louder.

Chrissie’s hands balled into fists. “At least I have food! Unlike you who has to dig in garbage cans.”

The laughter ended abruptly and a hurt look crossed his face.

“Chrissie!” Althea frowned.

“Sorry,” she muttered.

Jax looked as if he were about to lash out, but paused. “What’s that?”

Chrissie’s head turned toward the door. They began to hear a familiar sound.

Scrip scrape scrip scrape scrip scrape.

It was faint at first but soon grew louder and faster. In no time the door handle to Chrissie’s room began to jerk frenzically.

“What? . . . . “Jax looked confused. “Is that the . . . err? “

Chrissie backed up into the corner of the room and began to tremble. “Oh Althea, it is coming to get me for sure this time!”

Althea didn’t hesitate. She was all business as she unzipped her backpack, then searched for a place to mix the medicine. It had to be relatively dark, so she could see the ingredients. Her eyes fell on the dark space under Chrissies bed. She lifted the frilly bedspread, pushed her heavy backpack underneath, then followed.

Jax soon poked his head in and looked curiously as she took out one baggie after another. “That is so awesome!” he whispered, watching the beautiful white glow cast a magical light in the darkness.

She unscrewed the lid of an empty jar and began to thoughtfully put in a few ingredients. She had the list that she had made in Dr. McCarson’s office, however. . . . . She paused and perused the other ingredients.

“Can I help,” Jax asked.

“No she said . . . and don’t touch anything.” She used a little flashlight to scan the list. After a few moments she looked up helplessly. “I don’t have everything.” She looked back to the list hoping somehow it would change.

Jax looked at the jars. “Can you trade some of them?” he suggested. “I mean can you use a different thing than what’s on your list?”

“Substitute.” She corrected. “You can sometimes make substitutions in monster medicines,” she explained, “but there weren’t any listed in the book. I don’t know this monster. I don’t know how it works.” She looked at the items in front of her. She had brought almost everything that was still good from her trunk.

“You have to try Althy,” Jax used the nickname her mother called her. “Just try something. If it doesn’t work, then we can help you, I mean we can all fight him,” his eyes were deep and serious. “Together . . . as a team!”

Again with the team thing. But this time rather than irritated, she grew warmer inside. It was unclear exactly how this one was going to go, but at least she did not have to go it alone!

A look of determination crossed her face. She had to focus. They didn’t have much time.

Althea emptied the rest of the swamp slime into the mixing jar, she added a drop rainwater from a loblolly log, spots from a speckled spider, and the inner fur from a flytrap plant. She used a long glass straw to mix the solution. The ingredients melted together forming a thick black liquid.

She let out a long, disappointed breath. “It’s the wrong color.” She scanned the remaining ingredients again, but felt pulled toward none of them.

Jax tried to help. He reached into her backpack to see if she had forgotten anything, if there was something else they could use. Something brushed across his hands and he pulled it out. “What’s this?”

It was one of the jars of sap she had collected from the grove of trees. She had forgotten about that. Althea eyed it suspiciously. She wasn’t sure what that ingredient was. She had never come across it in the Congaree Wilderness, and there hadn’t been time to research it.

“We should just try it,” He urged, “I mean what do we have to lose?”

Althea unscrewed the lid. Slowly, carefully she poured a good amount into the mixing jar.

The sap sat on top of the other dark layer of ingredients, retaining the translucent glow. It looked rather like a layer of bright vanilla pudding, atop a thicker layer of chocolate.

“Mix it up,” he whispered, eyes transfixed on the jar.

She took the glass straw and slowly swirled the ingredients. The white layer streaked through the murky black liquid. Eventually the colors blended and took on a deep turquoise hue, almost like ocean water on a sunny day. The more she mixed, the more the color changed until finally it had blended. She held it up in the darkness. The thick liquid was like a turquoise flashlight, lighting up the space under Chrissie’s bed.

“Wow!” Jax exclaimed. “That’s it!”

“Yes,” said Althea excitedly, “It looks like whatever we gathered might be some kind of super ingredient. I have read about that, but I’ve never actually found one.”

She closer at the contents, and her face fell, “Oh. Looks like there is a problem.” She held up the jar so that it was in full darkness. As she did so, Jax could see that the turquoise color was streaked with tiny black lines. It caused the medicine to take on a kind of marbled effect.

“What is it?” he asked.

She looked serious. “Imperfection.”

“What?”

“It has an imperfection. Probably because it is missing some ingredients.”

“But it will still work?” Jax asked.

“I think so, but probably not as strong, and that will make it difficult for me. . . I mean. . . um. . . for us.” She took the old knarled stick out of her backpack and looked over at him. “I do not know this monster.” She looked uncomfortable.

“I heard you say that before. . . once or twice” He smiled. “C’mon Althea . . .” He took a finger and swiped some of the camo paint from her face. He ran his finger across his cheek, leaving a green mark there, then did the same with the other side. The green marks stood out in the turquoise light. He put out his hand.

“Let’s do this!”

The Snikerbaum was in a rage.

Though bound to it’s shadow, it loomed over Chrissie like a storm cloud, it’s face lifting and pulling- struggling to take form. It’s arms spreading whip like shadows across the room.

“Aaaaaaaaaaa,” Chrissie was huddled in the corner. The monster’s tongue licked out at her. “Aaaaaaaaaaa. . . . “

If Chrissie hadn’t been so terrified, Althea would have taken longer to look at it. She had never seen a monster struggle so intensely to emerge from the shadowland. Of course, this monster had suffered what must be the ultimate in monster humiliation. After all, it had just broken a 500-year streak for it’s kind, of avoiding being seen by grown-ups. A kind of monster humiliation that she was sure, it would have to endure for many centuries to come, if, she managed to throw it out of their world.

She set the Monster Medicine on the ground. “The lights!”

“Oh noooooo!” Chrissie cried out, managing to snap out of her shivering state. “Please Althea!” She hunched lower. “Please please please please don’t”

“I’ll do it,” Jax said, and made his way to the switch.

“Ohhhhhhhhhh!”

“Chrissie,” Althea tried to comfort her. “Try not to be afraid.”

“I have been trying,” she whispered, eyes bright with fear, “but I can’t do it.” She sobbed to herself, “I just can’t do it.” She buried her head in her hands so she couldn’t see.

Jax flicked the switch.

For a moment it was pitch black, so dark that the children could not even see one another. Then a shape began to emerge. Jax had never seen the Snikerbaum before, at least not in it’s true form. He watched captivated, as the half a human face took form, one blue eye pursuing the room with taciturn coldness. His skin crawled as the weasel face twisted into the human. Huge scales sprouted over furry skin and snake arms released themselves.

Jax took a step backward.

The Snikerbaum’s ancient eyes came to rest upon Althea, and the icy blue color disappeared, beneath flickering red flames.

“Snnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” The song began.

Oh you monster hunter . . . I will win tonight. I will win a place in this world.

“Sssssssssssssssssssssssslllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii”

You will pay for what you have cost me. This will be your last day. You have never met a monster like me!

Althea looked at her bobby socks, then back to the Snikerbaum. “I am not afraid.”

You will soon be. I have cast out your kind before. Be afraid of me monster hunter, or be a fool.

The fire leapt outward, and she watched, almost as if from someplace outside of herself. The creature moved closer.

Everything went black.

She thought she smelled smoke, then heard the sound of shattering glass. Someone pulled her backward and she fell.

“Are you okay?” It was Jax.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. Her vision was blurry and unstable. As it came back into focus, she could see a broken jar on the floor. Jax was kneeling beside her. In front of them was a thick red wall. The Monster Tool! Giant red flames licked upward from the other side.

“What happened?”

He touched her shoulder. “Ouch!” The fabric of her dress had been singed, a red spot was throbbing beneath it where she had been burned.

“You were on fire!” He picked up one of her braids and showed her the charred ribbon, and the singed ends of her hair.

She looked at the flames leaping above the wall. The heat was so intense she had to take a step back. “Chrissie’s room is on fire!” there was panic in her voice.

“I don’t think so.”

“But the fire?!”

He leaned forward, reaching over the protective wall.

“Jax!” she grabbed at him.

“It isn’t hot.” He moved his hand back and forth.

“But I feel it!” the room had become so hot that sweat was pouring down her face.

“Only to you.” He told her. “I think it is meant for you.”

She looked at the fire, dancing and leaping above her. She touched her shoulder where it had been burned.

“SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”

You see monster hunter? What kind of monster I am. I will have a place in this world. I will have a place with she.

The fire parted in the middle and they could see the Snikerbaum. It’s blue eyes bore into her. She saw them start to turn again, the color changing from blue to red.

“Don’t look at it!” Jax swung her around. “Don’t look into its eyes!”

Althea was trembling. For the first time in her entire career as a monster hunter, she felt real fear. Jax had a worried look, “Don’t let it win.” He whispered. “You can’t let it win Althea.”

“SSSSSSAAAAAAAA” there was a sound like a deflating tire. Chrissie was moving toward the creature, as if in a trance. The snickering tongue leapt out and wrapped itself around her once, twice. She seemed not to notice.

“Althea!” he whispered urgently.

She raised the old stick in the air.

As soon as she did so, a dim grey light began to shine through the wood. It cracked and the grey turned to pink. The pink to orange. There was a miniature sunset exploding inside the wood. Rays of light burst from the cracks and fibers, transforming the stick.

Althea had seen it happen many times over the years, but this time was different. Colors she had never seen blended, mixing magically in the darkness. A long handle split the wood like a banana peel. It was the color of fire, deep red with orange and yellow melted in the center. It sprouted outward, growing longer and longer. Then the top of it expanded, orange and yellow, white and red, all layered at the top into a blade that looked like embers of coal.

“Whoa!” Jax exclaimed. “It’s bigger than you are!”

She stepped back to look at it.

A Javelin!

She had expected to see a sword, as she had so many other times. Jax was right, it was, indeed, taller than she was. The shaft was like a thin broom handle, but instead of a bushy broom on the end, it had a blade that looked like a flickering candle.

The weapon felt awkward in her hands. The only time she had seen one of these was in books. She strained to glimpse the writing that marked the tip.

The Snikerbaum began to tighten his tongue around Chrissie. As it did so they could hear its horrible whispers.

“snnnnnnnnnnnnnnllleerrrrrrrryyyyyyy. . . . .ssssssssnnnnnallllllllllatttttikussssss . . . . . sssssssssuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”

It grew louder and louder until a heavy cloud washed over them.

You are alone.

Lonely little children, no one cares about you. . . no one understands you. . . . you are alone.

Althea’s breath caught, she felt as if she were withering. The flames outside of the wall melted a little. She looked over at Jax, his face was pale and sad.

“Chrissie.” Her voice was haggard.

Chrissie didn’t answer. The Snikerbaum’s tongue had slithered up her neck, to her ear, it was whispering in it, whispering the song of loneliness.

“Chrissie!” She called again.

“I am alone,” Chrissie answered. “I am alone and no one cares.”

“No!” Althea could not move. She was so filled with sadness, with the most incredible emptiness. She lifted her head, it was starting to feel as if nothing mattered. The shaft of the javelin began to twist and change. It was shifting back into wood.

“Help her!”

She thought she heard a voice.

“You have to help her!”

Jax. . . it was Jax’s voice. Through the fog Althea looked at the javelin. She could just make out a single blurry symbol. “Beofaidh” she whispered and the symbol sparked from the tip, flinging itself into the bottle of monster medicine, which was sitting on a table across the room.

The shaft of the weapon reemerged. Her mind began to clear.

“Brigh” she spoke the second, and it like its predecessor launched through the air. “Foirfidh Cach” the other two followed. The sadness was dissipating. Althea could see clearly again.

She saw the Snikerbaum’s tongue disappear inside of Chrissie’s ear and the monster began to fade.

“Chrissie!”

Althea dropped to the ground and rolled through the thin flames to the table where the medicine sat. Through the glass she could see that the symbols were confused, moving erratically and disorganized in the jar. Perhaps if she spoke them louder. She cleared her throat.

“Beofaide brigh foirfih cach!” she shouted, and like little soldiers, they snapped to attention then danced in a familiar swirl.

The flames licked forward toward Althea. She had left the protection of the wall. They reached her feet and burning the tips of her shoes.

Around and around the jar the symbols swirled until at last, they lifted the medicine. The turquoise liquid exploded from the jar and curled in the air like a breaking wave. The Snickerbaum’s head snapped around, but it was too late. With one swift burst, the medicine was flung against it.

“Aaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” She heard it cry out in surprise. It was jerked away from Chrissie and slammed against the floor. The monster medicine thickened over its body, writhing and bubbling.

Althea watched, stupefied, as a shape formed from the liquid. Long legs and a beautiful turquoise body, it looked like some kind of a sea creature. Soon it crystallized, and she saw that it wasn’t a creature from the sea, but rather a giant and luminescent spider.

The Snikerbaum’s arms swirled underneath, whipping and lashing.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” It screamed its fury, shooting long lines of fire its captor.

“Chrissie!” Althea dropped the javelin and ran to her. “Are you allright?”

Chrissie blinked her eyes tiredly, as if she had just woken up from a nap. “Wh. . wh. . what happened?” She looked past Althea at the struggling monster. “Ohhh!”.

“Chrissie,” Althea told her. “I don’t know how long it will be able to hold him.” She spoke very seriously. “You have to help me. You can’t let the Snikerbaum attach to you.”

“But I feel so alone Althea,” she told her, “I mean the feeling is so powerful as if no one will be able to help me.”

Althea grabbed her hand. “I can help you!” She looked over at Jax, who was still crouched behind the wall. “Remember what you said.” There was a sparkle in her eyes, “Remember what we are?”

She looked back and could see that the spider was struggling. The Snikerbaum had wrapped its slithering arms around it, then its snikering tongue. It was squeezing the spider more and more, tighter and tighter.

“We are a team!” Althea said it loud enough for Jax to hear. “We are a team!” The last time was for herself.

The spider began to crack, it’s beautiful sea colored body showing thin black lines. Jax moved to pick up the javelin. He tossed it to Althea.

“Let’s go!” he said, taking off his fingerless gloves, “Let’s do it!” He held his fists in a fighting stance.

Chrissie got up. She was still trembling but she also faced the monster. “I can do it,” she told them (and herself), “I am not alone!” The cracks deepened on the spider. The marbled black lines that Althea had seen in the Monster Medicine now showed up everywhere on its torso. The Snikerbaum squeezed it arms tighter until it cracked completely, the pieces melting when they hit the floor.

The monster rose up then, in a horrible poise; its whipping arms lashed out across the room. It curled its lip angrily at Althea before snickered out its tongue, wrapping it around Chrissie again. Flames licked up toward Althea, and the song was heard again.

“snnnnnnnnnnnnnnllleerrrrrrrryyyyyyy. . . ssssssssnnnnnallllllllllatttttikusssssssss. . . . . sssssssssuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy”

The fog returned. Althea raised the javelin. “We are not alone.” She said aloud. “We are not alone.” Chrissie gasped as the tongue slithered up her back, searching for her ear. “We are not alone,” she chanted with Althea, and then Jax was saying it too. All three chanted over and over again, “we are not alone,” and then they didn’t hear the song anymore, and the loneliness was not so thick, not so strong.

Althea pointed the javelin at the murky black Monster Medicine on the Floor. “Beofaide brigh foirfih cach!” she said while Jax and Chrissie kept chanting. The symbols sprung from the expired medicine back onto the javelin. She moved closer.

“We are not alone!” she chanted, but the closer she moved to the Snikerbaum, the more powerful the loneliness became. It was hard for her to breathe as she fought off the overwhelming infection of sorrow. “I am not alone, I am not alone, I am not alone.

Her feet felt as though they were on fire. When she looked down, she saw that indeed they were on fire, and hastily scooped up some of the monster medicine, dropping big glops on her shoes. The flames instantly went out.

She was so close now.

Sorrow ate at her senses. Sluggishly she searched the creature’s scaly body. One of its arms whipped around at her, but she managed to leap over it like a jump rope. I am not alone. . . . I am not alone. . . . .

Althea felt faint, at any minute she was sure she would pass out. I am not alone. The arm came back at her and she saw Jax’s fist slam into it.

“Aaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeee!” the monster screamed turning its attention on the boy. Jax tried to reach Chrissie, but the Snikerbaum was too fast. Its arms seemed at once all over the room.

“Althea,” Jax’s voice was ragged. He darted back and forth, beating back one of the lashing whips while at the same time trying to avoid being hit by the other one. “Hurry!!!”

Desperately she looked again at the scales on the Snikerbaum’s body. From up close they were sharp and dangerous and seemed to be oozing some kind of slime. She was about to give up, so close to collapse from the unbearable sorrow, when she saw a flickering flash of red.

There!

At the top of its torso, nestled ever so comfortably between the other jagged scales, was one of a very unusual color. Unlike the others it was deeply embedded and shaded a brighter red. It seemed contorted slightly, like a scrap of paper that had been folded and unfolded. The edge of it caught the light on the tip of her javelin, giving away it’s location.

Althea saw Jax fly through the air as one of the arms smacked into him, he bounced onto the top of Chrissie’s ruffled bed.

“We are not alone. . we are not. . we. . “ she could hear Chrissie’s voice fading as the monsters tongue reached her ear.

“Beofaide brigh” The symbols on the tip of her javelin came to life again. Althea pointed it at the glittering red scale, she staggered backward. “Foirfih cach!” The monsters arms swung toward her, trying to fling her in the same direction as Jax. Just as it made contact she launched the javelin.

Althea was flung through the air, in the opposite direction. She hit the bed and bounced backward into Jax. When she looked up she saw the Javelin flying toward its mark.

The monster shot out a stream of red fire as the weapon smacked into its torso like an arrow in a hay bale.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” it screamed, the tongue falling from Chrissies ear. The Snikerbaum’s twisted weasely face looked at Althea in disbelief. It’s eyes narrowed and it tried to shoot fire but only a few sparks spurted out. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeee” it screamed again, and whipped its arms around, but found that they were shrinking

The grotesque body also began to shrink, inverting into a pile of loose and scaly fibers. Further and further it dissolved, the whip arms disappearing into the mass of fur and goo.

“Aaaaeeeeeeee!” the monster cried out, but this time it was more like a squeak. Finally the shrinking stopped and the fur and scales mashed into to a bright orange ooze.

Jax jumped off the bed and moved beside Althea and Chrissie. “Look!” he exclaimed.

The two girls leaned in closer and then gasped in surprise. A tiny head peeked out from the folds of a lump of orange monster ooze. They started to giggle.

What had once been a fire flinging Snikerbaum now looked like a tiny water snake, it’s miniature tongue snickering comically out at them. Two thin worm-like arms whipping around it. “Aaaaeeeeee!” It cried, but all the children heard was “peep peep peep.”

They laughed hysterically at the absurdity of the critter, which seemed to make it angry. It stood up as tall as it could, which was really only about an inch, and flickered its tiny tongue at them. This caused even greater peels of laughter.

“Will it stay like that?” Chrissie asked when they settled down. “I mean, shouldn’t it go back? To the monster world?”

Althea looked thoughtful. “I suppose it can’t.” she said finally.

“But why?”

“Well,” she answered. “I am not sure, but. . . if I had to guess. . . I would say that perhaps it is a kind of punishment.”

“Punishment? queried Jax, he was still looking at the fierce little snake. “For what?”

“It has been over 500 years since any Snikerbaum has been seen by grown ups. I suppose he is being punished.” She knelt down and examined it closer, “A kind of monster humiliation. Instead of accepting him back into their world, they turned him into this.”

“Oh my,” Chrissie said, backing up from the snake. “Well whatever will we do with it? I mean it did try to get me.”

“Attach to you,” Althea corrected.

“Whatever,” Chrissie said, “I think we should smash it.” Here, she handed a book to Jax. “You do it. You’re the boy.” She told him, making him pay for his earlier comment.

“I don’t know,” Jax looked at the book. “I think it’s kinda cute.” He picked up one of Althea’s empty jars. “I’ll keep it.” He volunteered, “as a pet.” Jax used the empty jar to capture the little snake. “I mean how cool to have a former monster as our mascot.” He chuckled.

“What if it comes back to get me!” Chrissie protested.

“It can’t” said Althea. “At least it won’t be able to, after I close the door.”

“Oh said Chrissie,” remembering, “that’s right!”

Althea took some empty jars from her backpack and began scooping up the monster ooze. When she finished she put the jars in her backpack.

“I suppose I will need your help,” she told them. “Since we are . . .” she hesitated for a second and then gave in completely, “A team!”

The three set out to close the Snikerbaum’s door.

-15-

Jax scratched uncomfortably at the starchy new fabric of his shirt and looked down miserably at the tiny teacakes on his plate. Across from him on a platter of honor was Althea’s birthday cake, rising up from the long table like some kind of strange sculpture. It had sugar hats and frosting purses and all kinds of other things that he imagined little girls were supposed to like, but wasn’t at all convinced that Althea did.

He looked around at the table of babbling ladies and then back to Althea who was beside him. He didn’t know, when he begged her to be on the team, that he would have to endure this!

Althea seemed to read his mind and gave him sympathetic look. He knew then that she was just as tortured as he was, and that seemed to quell his irritation.

He picked up one of the little cakes and popped it into his mouth. His fingernails were sparkling clean, the cuticles even pushed back. Mrs. Applegate had spent a long time scrubbing them before they left. She also made him cut his hair, even though he tried to tell her that only babies had short hair. All the cool kids kept theirs long. It didn’t make any difference. Snip snap, she whacked away his long locks, until his boyish face had emerged. She had bought him new clothes, at the request of Althea’s grandmother, jeans with no rips and a new green shirt from “Le Chik for Kids” with a label on the outside.

Jax shuffled in his chair. He wondered how long these tea parties lasted, and hoped it would be over soon.

Althea felt sorry for him. After defeating the Snikerbaum, they had managed to locate the monster’s door, and she had easily been able to close it.

Unfortunately, not long after she and Jax had departed from Chrissie’s house, Mrs. Goodridge had phoned a few of the ladies from the Society, including Mrs. Dixe, gushing about the “Poor Child of the World,” that Althea’s grandmother was sponsoring, and raving about how humanitarian and how wonderful it was.

Word of course, shortly reached Lady Faldoon through the gossip chain, and she cornered Althea last week at their usual Sunday tea. It took quite a bit of backpedaling, but eventually Althea convinced her grandmother that Jax was just a friend and Chrissie’s mother must have misunderstood. By then, however, it was too late, and her grandmother was locked into the The Society’s desire to have a Poor child of the World Mascot at the ball, to show how generous they were with those in their own community.

The Society used some of their donations to purchase Jax new clothes, books for school, and a tutor who would pick him up every day after school and help him study. All of that, of course, meant that Jax actually had to go to school, which was a thing he had managed to avoid for some time.

Now he sat at the table of The Society’s Sunday Tea Party, which this week was also a birthday party for Althea. He reached across to take one of the slivers of sandwich off of the silver tray. Mrs. Dixe smacked his hand with her white glove. “No no,” she smiled as though he were a naughty toddler, “it is impolite to reach”

Jax withdrew and stared at her rather dumbfounded.

“You must ask,” she pronounced the last word loudly, as if he were hard of hearing or mentally impaired. “Ask to have the sandwiches passed to you, and say please.” She smiled again, the thick make-up making her look shiny in the sunlight.

He cleared his throat. “Please” he said, “can I have the sandwiches.”

Mrs. Dixe looked at him again, that patronizing smile still on her face, “Please may I have the sandwiches,” she nodded to him and looked to make sure the other ladies were watching, “may I” she repeated slowly, “that is the correct way to say it.”

The others leaned forward, on the edge of their seats. Will the foreign and untrained child be able to say it correctly? He felt their eyes pressing into him.

He glowered at Althea, then turned back to Mrs. Dixe. “Please may I have the sandwiches,” he said out loud, and grimaced as some of the ladies applauded. “Isn’t he a fine pupil,” Mrs. Dixe said properly, and passed him the sandwiches.

They started babbling again about tablecloths and napkin rings for the upcoming ball.

“I can’t believe you got me into this!” Jax leaned down and whispered to Althea. “I mean. . . this is torture.”

Althea bit back a laugh. “Just feel lucky” she whispered back, “that you do not have to do this every Sunday. . unlike me.” She took a sip of her sparkling water.

Chrissie was there also, sitting on the other side of Althea. Although her mother was not a member of The Society, Lady Faldoon had let Chrissie be included on the guest list, as it was also Althea’s birthday party.

Dr. McCarson had been invited, as her grandmother felt he had done so much to help Althea. He was wearing his huge glasses, and sat jovially in between the Lady Faldoon and Mrs. Moldune. Mrs. Moldune had been noisily thrumming her bright red nails on the rim of her porcelain plate, until Althea’s grandmother gave her a look.

Mrs. Loxilear, who was dressed in a pretty pink suit, was there to talk about the planning if the Ball, but was instead having an in depth discussion with Mrs. Moldune about the differences between polyester and polypropeline.

Chrissie looked at Althea’s giant birthday cake. “Do you think they will let us eat it?” she asked. “It is so pretty.”

Althea thought that was a good question. After all, the cake was huge, and the Ladies rarely let any food item of that size on their table, let alone their plates. She wondered if they would sliver the slices so thin that it wouldn’t even be worth eating.

“I don’t know,” she told Chrissie, but her mouth watered in anticipation.

Dorthea Dixe was also at the party, and so was her sister Dorris. Dorris had recently cut her hair in a movie star style, short in the back with the ends curled forward. Dorthea’s blonde hair was curled perfectly and piled on top of her head like a beauty contestant. Her stylist, Mrs. Dixe had announced during one of the blahbbaty blah blah conversations, was indeed the same that Lady Faldoon used. Big surprise.

Dorthea sat primly in her own chair, following all the rules her mother had taught her about kissing up to Lady Faldoon, as well as the rules of propriety for a young lady, such as prefacing everything with “you are so kind,” and “will you be so kind” and “thank you so very much”. Between rounds, she frequently glared at Althea and Chrissie, smoothly covering it up with a phony smile when her mother was looking.

“Ugh!” Chrissie whispered. “I wish you didn’t have to invite her!” She popped a teacake into her mouth as she spoke so her words were slightly muffled.

“Well,” Althea responded, “I didn’t,” and she looked pointedly at her grandmother and Mrs. Dixe.

It was a long and arduous lunch, especially for Jax who couldn’t stop himself from fidgeting in his chair, and even though his stomach was rumbling, was too terrified of Mrs. Dixe’s smacking white gloves to reach for the sandwiches again.

Finally, just when Althea thought her back would split from being kept straight for so long, Lady Faldoon announced it was time for birthday cake and presents. Althea, was surprised to learn that the Faldoons had a long standing tradition that the person who’s birthday it was, got to slice and serve the cake. Be the hostess she said, to the guests.

She took great pleasure in slicing the cake overly thin for the ladies of the society. When she put their pieces on the plates, it almost looked like chocolate paper, rather than actual pieces of cake. She sliced Dorthea’s piece especially thin, so that hers was more like a half of a sheet of paper, and Dorthea gave her another glowering look as she took her plate.

When she sliced Chrissie and Jax’s cake, however, she made the pieces so big that they looked more like thick paperback books, and then hid them under cloth napkins. Jax flashed her a grateful smile. She cut herself an equally big piece and the three were allowed to spread out a blanket on the lawn and eat their cake away from the ladies while they discussed Society business.

“Oh,” Jax let out a relieved sigh, “I am so glad to be away from them. How can you stand it?” he looked at Althea.

“I know,” said Chrissie, who had never been invited to a Society meeting before, “I can’t believe my mother wants to come to these every week.” She took a big bite of her cake and from the look on her face, Althea could tell that she was enjoying it enormously. “How’s the Snikerbaum doing?” she asked Jax and giggled. Chrissie had gotten over her fear that the monster would come back, once she had seen Althea close the door.

“He’s a cute little guy,” Jax chuckled, “still pretty mad though.” He unfastened the little pack that was clipped to his waist and then opened the zipper. “Here, you can see for yourself.” The tiny Snikerbaum poked its head out of the folds of the pouch.

“You brought him with you!” the girls exclaimed.

“Sure,” said Jax nonchalantly, “why not.”

“What if he escapes?” Althea asked. “I don’t think my grandmother would like that. The image of the little Snikerbaum snickering across her grandmother’s teacakes made her crack a smile.

“He won’t,” Jax insisted “Even though he is still mad, he is too scared to leave my pack. It’s like he’s more afraid of everything else then he is of me. Isn’t that right little fella,” Jax scratched the little creature under it’s chin and it gave a sort of half peep half hiss. The girls laughed.

“It eats grub worms I pick up in the park.” Jax told them, and as if to demonstrate, unzipped a pocket on his pouch and pulled out a fat wriggling worm.

“Eeeeeewwwww!” Chrissie made a face, “That is gross!” she scolded him, then positioned herself so she wouldn’t have to watch him feed the Snikerbaum while she ate her cake.

“What happened Althea?” Chrissie asked after a few minutes had passed, “when you were closing the door?”

Althea paused for a moment, a big chunk of cake hanging on her fork. “What do you mean?”

“I saw you pause for a second. . . well . . . actually longer than a second. . before you closed it. Like you were looking at something?”

Jax looked over at them, curious. He had been the lookout on that mission, so he hadn’t been in the closet.

Althea popped the chunk of cake into her mouth, buying her some time before she had to answer. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell them, or even if what she heard was actually what she heard.

Unlike the Galograth, and, well, all of the other monster’s whose doors she had closed, the Snikerbaum’s door had been. . . . ajar. Open, just a little. She hadn’t seen that before, it had surprised her. She’d used the stick to push it closed, but as she was doing so, she accidentally peeked into the opening.

It had been completely unintentional, as she did have the feeling that looking into the monster’s world was not such a wise thing to do. I mean, much better to keep the worlds completely separate.

But still, she had snuck a look.

“What did you see?” asked Chrissie, as if she were reading Althea’s mind. “You were standing there for a while.”

Althea was still chewing. Taking her time as she had seen her grandmother do so many times.

She had seen something, a tiny glimpse into their world. To her, it looked more like a desert. Sand and extremely bright light. It looked like a desolate and barren land.

Althea knew she had probably looked for too long. At one point she thought she could hear a voice. It had seemed far away, much further than she could reach from her place at the door.”

“Althea?!” Chrissie seemed a little frustrated at how long it was taking her to chew her cake. Jax on the other hand was unconcerned, casually playing with the Snikerbaum, feeding it another worm.

“I. . . “ she answered hesitantly, “I thought I heard a voice.”

“From inside the door?” Chrissie’s eyes were big and round. “Really? What was it saying?” Jax seemed interested also, as he put the Snikerbaum back in his pack and turned his full attention to her.

“I. . well. . I mean it was pretty faint. I am not exactly sure that I heard it correctly.”

“What do you think it said?” Jax asked.

Althea licked a bit of frosting from her finger.

“Help me.”

“What?” Chrissie looked confused.

“The voice. That’s what it said.” she dipped her finger in the frosting again. “At least I think. Like I mentioned. . . It was hard to hear.”

“Was it a monster voice?” Chrissie asked in a hushed voice. “Do you think it was another monster trying to get to the door?” Her eyes were big and round.

“I don’t know,” Althea told her, “It was too faint. Too far away.” She licked the frosting off of her finger. “Anyway, I shouldn’t have stood for so long at the door, it is their world and it should stay that.” She frowned slightly. “I got the feeling while I was standing there, that maybe I shouldn’t. That perhaps it was. . . dangerous to even look.”

She took Jax’s little waist pack from him. “Can I feed him one?” she asked, and he smiled showing her which pocket he kept the worms in.

Althea watched the Snikerbaum gobble up one of the grub worms. “Summer will be here soon,” she said. “That is prime season for monsters.”

“Really?” Chrissie’s eyes lit up with both excitement and fear.

“Well that stinks for me,” Jax said as he took another bite of cake.

“Why?” asked Althea.

“Cause the ladies,” he motioned to the table of women who were still chattering loudly, “Have decided to help cultivate me,” he used a phony British accent when he said the word cultivate, “by sending me to summer camp.” Jax looked miserable. “They are putting me with a bunch of snotty rich kids who will make me learn how to play golf and sing lame songs.” He stabbed his fork in his cake, and then looked accusingly at Althea. “As if,” he again motioned to the tea party, “this weren’t bad enough.”

“What did you father say?” Chrissie asked him, “I mean, you have a father . . don’t you?”

Jax looked down, for a second Althea thought she saw his cheeks turn red. “He signed off on it.” He said quietly, then went back to his cake.

“We can go too,” Althea told him, “that is if girls are allowed.”

“What do you mean?” Jax asked.

“I’ll ask my grandmother, if I can go to summer camp too. And Chrissie,” she looked over at her, “you can ask your parents. That way Jax won’t have to be alone.”

“Really?” he sounded surprised. “You would do that?”

“Sure,” she told him. “You are our . . . . friend,” the word still sounded somewhat foreign, but she was getting used to it. “Right Chrissie?”

“Right!” Chrissie said with enthusiasm. She stretched her hand out. Jax looked at it, then he did the same, and Althea followed.

“To monster hunting,” Chrissie said, and she gripped their hands together.

“To monster hunting,” Jax chimed in.

Finally it was Althea’s turn. She looked at her two new friends. “To monster hunting!” she completed the circle. The three hands clutched each other firmly and their eyes all met.

“And to the Monster Hunter,” Jax broke the silence. “That is you Althea. To you, and Happy Birthday.” They broke apart.

The three went back to munching happily on their cake. “Say. . .” said Jax after a while. “If we all go to summer camp together, maybe we can find new ingredients.”

Althea looked up.

“I think this camp is in the woods somewhere, by a bunch of mountains.” He continued, “Maybe we can find new ingredients there?”

The thought caused a flurry of discussion, and Althea started going over what she had in her trunk with them, what she needed, and how to go about finding various ingredients. They talked on and on until her grandmother made her rejoin the table to open her birthday presents.

-16-

Althea opened one ridiculous present after another until her face felt like play dough from smiling so much and saying thank you. Mrs. Loxilear gave her an ugly porcelain box from a very trendy store to hold all of the jewelry she did not have. The Dixes gave her a gift certificate at a stylish hair salon downtown, that could do wonders, Mrs. Dixe told her, to dim down overly red hair. Althea thought she could perhaps use a trim, as she had cut off the singed ends of her hair herself, and she’d noticed that when it was loose, it wasn’t exactly even on the bottom.

Her grandmother gave her music lessons with a “very well known pianist,” and Althea grimaced at the thought of the many afternoons she would have to spend learning an instrument she did not like.

Other presents included various books on table manners and etiquette for young ladies, a collection of disgusting tea flavored chocolates that were of course very popular in the gourmet circles, and Principal Moldune gave her a ghastly green handbag that was made by some designer in Paris.

She opened Dr. McCarson’s present last and after all of the other gifts, she dreaded what she would find under the pretty purple paper. Fortunately, McCarson seemed to have a sense of humor, as he had purchased Althea a case of the finest California grown grape juice, the boxes all packaged very nicely for children with dancing grapes and little straws on the sides. Her smile was genuine when she thanked him.

Chrissie and Jax left early and the ladies had more tea and continued to talk. Althea’s mother looked tired, but seemed resigned to stick it out, pouring herself another glass and rejoining them.

Althea managed to slip away before the second round of sandwiches. She snuck up the long spiral staircase leading to her grandmother’s bedroom. She flipped the lock on the sliding glass door, and stepped out onto the wide balcony.

She had only been in her grandmother’s room, one other time, and that was when they had first moved to the city. She and Davy had been able to sneak away from the grown ups and explore the mansion. She’d noticed one thing right away about her grandmother’s balcony. When a person stood out on it, they could see across the entire city.

She settled into one of the fancy iron chairs that circled the little table. Another thing that could be seen from this height, was the long and windy road that carved it’s way through the city. It led directly to her grandmothers looming front gates.

She was there for a long time, sitting in the chair, looking out at the road. At some point, She heard the door slide open behind her and the sound of her grandmother’s cane thumping on the floor.

“Althea!” she sounded more than a little irritated. “Where have you been!”

She didn’t answer, which seemed to annoy her grandmother even more. The cane thumped closer. “Do you realize that your guests are leaving? It is entirely improper for you to not be there to say good-bye.” The cane thumped even closer. “You are, after all the hostess.”

I am speaking to you Althea!” her grandmother sounded very upset now. The old lady looked around. “What are you doing up here on my balcony?” her shrewd eyes bore down.

Althea finally looked up. Her grandmother’s brows were furrowed in a deep frown and she had that commanding look on her face that she had seen so many times before.

“I am waiting” She told her quietly and looked back at the road.

“Waiting?” Lady Faldoon was still incredulous that the little girl would not do as she commanded. “Waiting for what?”

Althea did not look up. “I am waiting for him.”

There was a long silence.

It occurred to her that she might have left, as Althea did not hear the shuffling of her silk skirt, or the banging of her cane. Finally she was proven wrong, when a scuffling chair was pulled up beside her. Lady Faldoon sat down.

There was another long gap of silence and then. . . “Althea?” Her grandmother said her name quietly.

“He promised,” she said, without looking up. “Two things before he left. He would bring me a doll from one of the places he visited; and he would be home for my birthday.”

More silence.

“You really should say good-bye to your guests,” her grandmother said, but her voice was different.

“No.” said Althea, and she didn’t care if she got in trouble, or if her grandmother yelled at her mother later. “I am waiting for my father.” She hooked her feet into the sides of the chair, in case someone should try and pull her from it.

Everything was quiet for the longest time. Even the birds who had come out to feed on little insects in the garden, seemed to have lowered their chirping. Maybe they were waiting too, she thought.

Althea had almost forgotten that her grandmother was even there, until an old wrinkled hand reached out and took her own little one in its folds. She could feel the roughness of her grandmother’s skin, and the coolness of the rings she wore.

She looked up for a moment, and saw that her grandmother too was looking out, across the hills, across the rows and rows of houses that were stacked on top of them.

Looking out at that road.

They sat like that, in their iron chairs, on the wide balcony; the elder’s hand holding the child’s. They sat in silence until the sun dipped below the horizon and the stars began to peek out of the darkness.

-17-

Tick tick tock.

No classical music today.

Althea’s case of grape juice sat on McCarson’s desk. She thought she would give it back to him, so he could stock his fridge for her visits. That had amused him. She talked a little today. About her birthday party, and how much she enjoyed the cake. She figured she should give him at least that, he had after all, been nice to her at the party.

“Any news from the monster hunting front?” the Dr. gave her one of his winning smiles.

She took a long drink of her grape juice. “No,” she lied, “it’s been pretty quiet.”

“How did those ingredients work out? You spent a long time writing them all down. Did you try them out? Any luck?” He had the comic book on his desk. She could see it from where she sat. McCarson was pretty smart when it came to bait.

But Althea was not as desperate today.

She looked reflective. So far he hadn’t mentioned one whisper of what they talked about to her Grandmother. She wondered how long his silence would last. What it would take before he blabbed. “There is one thing.”

“Yes,” he fingered the comic book in front of him, curious as to why she was not as eager today to see it.

“I didn’t see anything in that book,” she pointed, “about fire.”

“Fire?”

“From the Snikerbaum. It shoots fire.” She told him, “but it didn’t burn everyone. Just me.”

McCarson looked for a moment as if he didn’t know what to say. “And did you see a . . . er . . . a Snikerbog lately?”

“Mmmmm,” Althea pushed her straw deeper into the juice box. “Everything went black when I was in the fire. I didn’t feel like I was in the same place, then someone pulled me out.”

“I see. . . “ McCarson looked quite serious at Althea. “And when was this . . . that you were in the fire, I mean.”

Althea blinked.

She took another drink of juice.

Tick, tick, tock. The clock hands moved.

McCarson looked down.

“It knew me,” She finally broke the silence.

“What . . . .er . . . who knew you?”

“The monster. ‘I have cast out your kind before,’ that is what it said. Like it knew who I was.” She looked perplexed. “No one else was hurt by the flames, just me.”

McCarson was quiet.

Althea was talkative. With all of the books he had collected, it was possible he knew something. “Did you ever read anything about that? Monsters who can cross worlds? Target monster hunters?”

“Did I . . . “ The Dr. looked perplexed. He frowned, his bushy brows furrowing. He seemed conflicted as to whether he should answer. “There was something,” he said finally after several minutes. He stood and went to his bookshelf. After rifling around, he came up with a tattered book.

“A copy of Lysander McGee’s journal,” he told her. He opened the book and flipped through it until he found the page he was looking for. “Based on his daughter’s research McGee did consider, although it is a widely discredited view, and in fact some of my peers consider it a psychological neurosis that he developed in his later years.” He brushed a strand of hair out of his face. “Anyway, he did consider some of his daughter’s scribblings. Particularly regarding The Fire of Asgard.”

“The Fire of Asgard?!” Althea sat up in her chair.

“Yes . . . well . . . according to Nordic legend there were certain humans who had the power to cross worlds, even as far as Asgard, which is the ninth world, the last world. Myth has it that Asgard was surrounded by a giant stone wall, but that the wall had a flaw. A place on it that was never finished.”

“And that’s how they got in? The humans?”

“Yes, at least that is what McGee wrote about.” McCarson sat in his chair. He put on his big glasses and scrutinized the book more carefully. “These humans were somehow able to cross worlds and they found a way into Asgard. They ate of the fruit there. They read from the library of secrets. But one day they were discovered. When that happened the sea turned to fire and it rose up against them.”

“How did they escape?” Althea asked.

McCarson was in storyteller mode now, taking pleasure in recounting McGee’s tale. “They escaped through the flaw in the wall, and fled through the other worlds until they reached Gimle.”

“Gimle?”

“Yes. Gimle. The only place in the other world that could not be touched by fire. A place so extraordinary that Rhiannon claimed it to be more beautiful than the sun. “ McCarson lifted the book and showed Althea a picture. It was a black and white sketch on one of the pages. In it a longhaired maiden was pictured standing in a beautiful city. The city was contained in a kind of ball or globe, and outside of the globe was an ocean of fire.

“That is lovely!” Althea exclaimed.

“She was a very good artist,” McGee agreed.

“So the humans were protected, from the fire?”

“For a time. When the ocean subsided, they managed to return to their own world, but they never went back to Asgard.”

“Could the fire come to them?” Althea picked up her juice box from the desk. She took a long drink and heard the static sound of the last drop being pulled up through the straw.

“What do you mean?” McCarson asked curious.

“If there was a monster who had access to both worlds. Perhaps it could bring the fire to them.”

McCarson’s face was blank. He struggled to think of something to say. He struggled to think of what he should say.

“Maybe that is what it meant when it said ‘I have cast out your kind before.” She pointed at the book, open on his desk. “Maybe it meant her.”

He looked down at the picture. “Are you saying that she . . . that you . . . “ He looked at Althea, his eyes magnified by the glasses.

Tick tick tock. The hands on the clock moved.

“Althea,” he finally spoke. “All of this,” he pointed to McGee’s journal, and the comic book on his desk. “It is just a story, a myth, created by an old man who lost his daughter. You do understand that don’t you?”

Althea blinked.

“I understand,” she said at last. And indeed she did.

Tick, tick, tock. The hands moved again, and soon the session was over.

-18-

Althea read through her English lesson while she waited downstairs. She had been ready for hours, dressed in an ivory colored satin dress, exactly like all of her other dresses, except longer. She had on plain bobby socks (her mother wouldn’t let her wear the prancing fairy ones she had originally picked out), and of course the ghastly green handbag, given to her two weeks ago by Principal Moldune.

She looked up at the clock, they would have to leave pretty soon.

Davy was dressed in his flower boy suit, sitting on the couch beside her sucking his thumb. “I’s wedy to weeve Tia,” he complained.

“Don’t look at me,” she told him annoyed, “It’s Jax who is taking so long.”

It was the night of the long awaited Poor Children of the World Charity Ball, and Jax was apparently a main feature at the event. The Society had rented him a very “Tre Chik” tuxedo and he had come over to Althea’s house a few hours ago, so her mother could help him get ready.

He was in a bad mood, for certain. He had been going to school regularly for one full week now and getting tutored after school so he could make up for all of the days he had skipped. He was finding that school cut into his ability to learn new tricks on his skateboard. Also, he had made the mistake, as he had been leaving Althea’s birthday party, of dropping his napkin on the ground, instead of the trash, and Mrs. Loxilear had seen him. Immediately after the party, she’d scheduled a field trip for him to the city garbage facility. Mrs. Loxilear had gone along, just to be sure he understood the cost to the environment, and the city garbage workers, of people who littered.

On top of that, they were now forcing him to wear, what he could only think was some kind of legalized form of child punishment, and Mrs. Applegate had spent the last two hours talking him into various pieces of the “Le Chik Tuxedo.” Jax felt sure that the ladies from the Society were really actually a teatime torture society and the tux was his evidence.

Althea could hear her mother pleading with him to put on the bow tie, when the doorbell rang.

“Althy!” she called downstairs, “Can you get that.”

Althea set her book down and went to the front door. When she opened it a uniformed deliveryman stood in front of her. “Delivery for Ms.” He looked down at his slip of paper, “Althea Applegate.”

“That’s me!” she said, somewhat surprised, and she signed for the package. The deliveryman handed her a medium sized box. She took the box into the living room and then unwrapped the brown paper it was packaged in.

“What it?” Davy slid off the couch and crouched next to her.

“Not sure,” she replied. She managed to get all of the paper off and then carefully opened the box. A long envelope was on top of a pile of spongy packing material. Althea opened the envelope.

As she pulled out the card inside the envelope a colorful brochure slipped out. She picked it up. It was a flyer for a summer camp. Her eyes widened slightly as she realized that it was the same summer camp she had asked her mother to let her go to with Jax and Chrissie. She opened the card.

My dear Althea, the card read, on behalf of The Society for the Betterment of Humanity, I would like to thank you for agreeing to give a speech at tonight’s ball, as well as proving your worth when it comes to representing the Society’s interests by assisting a poor child in your own community. I would like to reward you for this and of course the work you have done this year academically, by sending you to a highly regarded and exclusive summer camp. Your mother mentioned that you wanted to go, and I felt it was appropriate to reward your efforts.

Althea looked at the brochure excitedly. She was going to summer camp with Jax and Chrissie! “Davy I’m going to summer camp!” He didn’t seem to understand what she was so happy about and went back to sucking his thumb. Althea read more of the letter, which she now assumed was from her grandmother.

Further, the letter went on, I regret your recent disappointment regarding your father. Althea’s finger’s tightened on the letter. She had seen her grandmother several times since their moment on the balcony, and the elder woman showed no signs of any newfound warmth or friendship. Her demeanor had been as rigid and aloof as ever.

As you may know Althea, the letter continued, I share your disappointment. While I am unable to fulfill all of your father’s commitments, I can make restitution for some part of them.

I have thought long about it, and I believe you are at an age where I can consider passing on to you something that I do value and have kept very nice for many years. Enclosed you will find the said object. Please make sure that you take as good care of her as I have. She has been in our family for several generations.

Cordially,

Lady Agnes Faldoon

Curious, Althea peeled back the packing material. Underneath all the spongy packaging a small porcelain face peeked up at her. She reached in and lifted out what she saw to be a doll. It was old, she could tell from the tiny cracks on the surface of the porcelain. It had big blue eyes and curly red hair, and as Althea held her she was almost afraid to touch the lace on her hand-sewn clothes. It was a lovely and ancient doll.

She thought for a moment about her grandmother, the Lady Faldoon. Althea remembered telling her, on the balcony that her father had said that he would bring her a doll, and now here was a doll. She wondered at that. Her grandmother was so often so sour, but she had sent Althea a doll, and not just any doll, but one that was a treasure, that meant something to her.

She wondered to herself if somewhere in that sour old lady lurked a warm heart.

“Here we are!” Her mother walked into the room, she was nudging in front of her a very reluctant Jax. He looked positively miserable, his black brows scowling, and his usually relaxed mouth turned down in a definite scowl.

“Isn’t he cute!” her mother raved. “Althy,” Mrs. Applegate gave Althea a stern look from where she stood behind the boy, “Tell Jax how adorable he looks!”

“You look adorable.” She told him, but her voice lacked her mother’s enthusiasm.

“See!” Mrs. Applegate leaned down and patted him affectionately, “Nothing to worry about. Now wait here and I will go and get my coat.”

Althea gently put her grandmother’s doll back in the box and set it on the bookshelf for safekeeping. She turned back to Jax.

“Can you believe this?” his voice was low, so Mrs. Applegate couldn’t hear him, he sounded incredulous. “Can you believe what these ladies are doing to me?” He pointed to the red bow tie that was neatly, albeit uncomfortably fastened around his neck. Then down to the double-breasted jacket, the stiff and horrible white shirt, and the totally uncool double lined striped pants. “I mean I look like. . . . like some kind of a circus clown or something!”

Althea tried not to giggle. “It’s a Ball,” she explained, “Everyone dresses like this at Balls. . I mean. . .look at Davy.”

Jax looked down at little Davy, who was sitting on the floor sucking his thumb. His coat tails flopped out from behind him and he had undone part of his own little green plaid bow tie from scratching at it. Jax was quiet.

“You see? All the boys have to dress that way. And. . well. . . look at me?” She pointed to her long dress and the ghastly green bag on the couch.

Jax sighed. “I can’t wait till this is over.”

Althea got her handbag and then helped Davy stand up. “At least you don’t have to give a speech,” she grumbled.

“I can’t wait to get away from them!” Jax exclaimed, “I mean it’s like they’ve adopted me or something, and I haven’t been able to ride my skate board for a whole week because of all of this tutoring.” He helped her brush the lint off of Davy and put on his coat. “I can’t believe I am saying this, but that summer camp is looking pretty good right now. It’s my only hope of escaping them!”

Summer! That reminded her. She grabbed the brochure off the table and handed it to him. “I am going too!”

Jax looked at the brochure. “Awesome!” he exclaimed. “Chrissie too! I saw her yesterday on my way to the tutor, she said her mom has signed her up.” Jax flashed her a smile, his suit suddenly didn’t seem so bad. “Do you think there will be any monsters? At summer camp?” he asked hopefully.

She looked reflective. “Could be,” she said, “after all, who knew there would be so many in the city. I am sure summer camp may hold some surprises.”

Mrs. Applegate came back downstairs. She took Davy’s hand and herded the children out to the limousine The Society had sent for them.

Althea and Jax sat in the back seat of the limo and examined the brochure for their summer camp. They talked about how to get out of golf and tennis lessons, and where they might be able to find monster medicine ingredients.

It was going to be a great summer! Mostly because they would all be together. They would be a team!

Postscript and Excerpt from the Ladies Social Notoriety Magazine

This year’s Society for the Betterment of Humanity’s Annual Poor Children of the World Charity Ball was a smashing success. Chaired by Lady Agnes Faldoon the dazzling decorations and carefully integrated color schemes created an event to remember. Catered by Chef Gorgon DeGorgonzola, the food was a fine fusion of French and Indian cuisine, a sophisticated yet spicy palate complementing the brilliant design of the overall event.

Not only did the Society raise significant funds to save the poor children of the world, but Lady Faldoon’s granddaughter gave a touching and compassionate speech on reaching out to the poor children of your own community. The Society further introduced one of their sponsored children, a poor and unfortunate degenerate from the streets, whom the Fine Ladies of The Society have taken under their wing. We look forward to hearing more about the success of this admirable project.

Bravo to the Society for the Betterment of Humanity for another grand venture!