The Otherworldlies (21 page)

“Your integration initiative?”

“It’s a plan I developed, and the reason I believe I’ve gained so much respect within the Alliance.”

“What is it?” Sam asked. Chief Quagmire jumped at the question.

“Given the right strategy, I believe humans and Otherworldlies can live side by side, without persecution.” Chief Quagmire beamed. “It’s what all of us here at the headquarters are working toward. We won’t need a place like New Tartarus—we will no longer have to hide underground like animals.”

“Why are you telling us all this?” Fern asked suspiciously.

“Because my hope, Fern, is that you’ll be actively involved in all this. I think you’ll be an instrumental force of change.”

Fern put her head in her hands. The words swirled in her mind.
An instrumental force of change?
She hadn’t even passed geometry yet. How could people possibly be expecting such things from her?

“Where does Vlad fit into all this? Is he opposed to the integration initiative?” Sam asked.

“Vlad is another matter entirely.”

“He sucks blood, though, right?” Fern said, instinctively grabbing her neck.

“I’ve never seen it firsthand, but . . .”

“But he does?”

“He believes that Otherworldlies and Normals were never meant to live side by side. He is a Blout through and through.”

“What’s he planning, then?” Sam said.

“No one is sure,” Quagmire said, putting his pen down on his desk. “But we’re pretty certain it has something to do with Fern and the other ten Unusuals. Which is why you were both met with such curiosity at the tram hub.”

How did Chief Quagmire know about that? Sam looked at Fern, who was wearing her fear on her face.

There was a knock at the door. Chuffy stuck his head into Quagmire’s office.

“Excuse me, sir, but are you quite done with the children? I didn’t know if a reasonable amount of time had passed.”

“Why must you always insist on bothering me and questioning my authority? If I were done, Chuffy, I would have
called
for you. Sometimes I think that you’re simply not worth the trouble and that I should send you back where you came from.” Chief Quagmire rolled his eyes as Chuffy shuddered. “Because you’re already here, I suppose you can start the tour.” Chief Quagmire got up from his chair and pointed Sam and Fern toward the door. “They belong to you for the afternoon. Don’t do anything foolish, Chuffy, or you know exactly where I must take you,” he said threateningly, but with a smile still on his face.

“Anywhere but there, sir,” Chuffy said, practically trembling. “I will not diverge from the planned activities.”

Fern looked at the ancient shadow of a man before her and was repulsed. She didn’t want to belong to him for one second, let alone the whole afternoon. Silently, they followed Chuffy down the long corridor and toward the tram. She looked at Sam, appreciative once again that she wasn’t all alone. Soon she would have reason to be even more grateful.

Chapter 17
the heck

F
ern let out an unintentional shriek on first spying the huge hairy being. She knew there was thick plate glass between herself and the creature, but that didn’t stop her heart from jumping and her stomach from churning each time the thing moved slightly. Although the hairy giant was clearly sleeping, it still qualified as the scariest thing she’d laid eyes on since they’d arrived at the Preserve.

The Preserve, Chuffy had explained, was run by the Institute for the Study of Indigenous Creatures and included a huge cavernous area covered with all sorts of vegetation, closed in by plate-glass windows. Chuffy, it turned out, was a magnificent tour guide. For the first time since Fern and Sam had arrived at New Tartarus, they felt like they were not being talked down to. He eagerly told them about the newest expansions to the Preserve, the rehabilitation wing, and the number of watts it took to imitate the bright light of day. He seemed to know every inch of the place, and it became easier for the twins to overlook his ghastly appearance.

The oddest part about the whole compound was that it looked like sunshine was radiating from the ceiling. Fern could not spot where the Preserve ended through all the flowering bushes, trees, and ivy. The ceiling was white and sloped upward at least thirty feet. It reminded Fern of the avian habitat at the San Diego Zoo, except that it was larger and had monsters instead of birds.

Next to Fern, Sam put his head to the glass so he could fully see into the Preserve. The monster Fern had spotted was sleeping under a banyan tree. Each time it took a breath, its whole body would rise up and then come crashing back down. Scales the color of midnight covered its whole body, culminating in a human-looking head with red hair.

“It must be twenty feet tall,” Sam said, crouching by the edge of the slanted glass.

“Seventeen feet and ten inches, to be exact,” Chuffy exclaimed, peering down at the slumbering creature.

“What in the world is it?”

“A giant,” Chuffy said.

“A giant? Like a giant human?” Sam asked. Chuffy laughed at Sam. His face turned childlike as his skin stretched out when he smiled.

“No, no. Giants are not human.” He chuckled.

“Where did he come from?”

“The East.”

“What’s his name?”

“He calls himself Lagog,” Chuffy explained.

The pitter-patter of dress shoes came echoing down the hallway. A man in a white coat stopped in front of Chuffy and the children.

“Can I help you?”

“We’re just having a gander at this magnificent creature,” Chuffy said. “I’m in charge of their tour,” he said, nodding his head in the direction of Sam and Fern. He put his shaky hand into his coat pocket, pulled out a pink slip of paper, and handed it to the man in the white coat, who grabbed it anxiously.

“How do you get all the plants to grow underground here?” Sam asked.

The man in the white coat ignored Sam. As soon as he laid eyes on the writing on the pink slip, his eyes bulged from his head.

“I hope the chief knows what he’s doing,” the man mumbled. “After what happened the last time, I’m beginning to wonder if he fully comprehends the danger here.”

“What do you mean, doctor, sir?” Chuffy asked as worry spread across his face. “The children aren’t in any danger, are they?”

He handed the slip of paper back to Chuffy and stared at the McAllisters. “Hmph. Good luck to you,” he said, looking right at Fern before walking down the white tile hallway. “You’ll need it.”

“What did he mean by that?” Sam said to Chuffy and Fern.

Fern felt uneasy now, as if they were in danger they couldn’t yet detect.

“Not to worry, children. The Preserve is one of the safest places in all of New Tartarus. The doctors get very cranky with visitors, I’m afraid,” Chuffy said.

The glass was very thick. The monsters were being carefully looked after. She and Sam were
not
in danger, Fern repeated to herself.

The outer hallways of the Preserve that formed the barrier between the wildlife and the observers were completely sterile. Like a hospital without the clutter, every inch of the place smelled and looked like it had just been scrubbed with Lysol concentrate. The white tiled walls and floors gleamed.

“Giants are very rare,” Chuffy explained, taking his coattails and flattening them with his one arm. “There are only a few left on the planet.” He crouched down to Sam’s level. Sam hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the creature.

“In fact, we have giants to thank for all of New Tartarus,” Chuffy said, trying to bond with Sam, giving him a warm look and revealing his yellow teeth.

“Really?” Sam said skeptically.

“Young miss and young sir, this whole place was a former giant habitat. The first Tartarus was occupied many, many years ago by all types, including giants, who were banished from the Earth. Everyone in Tartarus was a reject. Like me, you might say,” Chuffy said, laughing so hard the empty sleeve of his coat flapped up and down.

“You’re a reject?” Fern asked.

“Some think so,” Chuffy said. “Why, take a look at me!” he said. “I look half-dead.” Chuffy smiled. Fern and Sam looked horrified. “Oh, don’t worry children. I don’t take it personally. When you’re as old as I am, you’re just happy to still be here.

“Anyhow, many Otherworldly underground places of occupation exist thanks to the power and strength of giants. You see, once aggressive hunting forced giants, much like the Cyclopes, underground centuries ago, they started building habitats like these across the globe. The one thing a giant can do better than anything is dig. New Tartarus was their most advanced and significant underground structure. It became a refuge for those who no longer had a place in the modern world.”

“They were forced underground?”

“Yes, exactly. Normals feared the giants as a threat to their power,” Chuffy said, bowing his head in thought for a moment. “Otherworldlies and giants have been allies for millennia. Look around! It’s a marvel. Of course, it’s been thoroughly modernized since then, as you’ve probably noticed.”

“Why aren’t giants still living here? I haven’t seen any except this one.”

“They’ve been on the brink of extinction for several hundred years now. It’s all very sad,” Chuffy said, furrowing his already wrinkled forehead to convey his sadness. “They are really quite peaceful creatures, unless upset, of course.”

“Why’s that one in the Preserve and not out here with us if giants are friendly and peaceful?” Sam asked, inching closer to the glass slope, mesmerized by the giant’s huge mouth.

“Depression,” Chuffy said casually, limping down the hallway. “They can be very difficult to handle at times. The institute specializes in creating underground habitats that treat depression and many other diseases that come from prolonged exposure to underground climes. It’s one of the reasons that the Preserve was built.” Chuffy laughed raucously again. “I sound very knowledgeable, don’t I? I should after knocking around for a dozen centuries!”

Sam and Fern stole a flabbergasted look at each other. He didn’t look a day older than five hundred.

“What else is in the Preserve?”

Chuffy gestured for them to follow him. They turned the corner once more. They were now closer to the back of the habitat. Here there were fewer trees and more plants and shrubs. This part of the habitat looked more like the chaparral of the hills of San Juan. Creatures roamed in the underbrush. Sam and Fern ran up and down the hallway looking for wildlife. Fern’s fears deserted her. She got caught up in the majesty of seeing things that had only existed in stories.

“Fern! Look at this one!”

“That’s a goblin, young sir.”

The goblin was more wrinkled than Chuffy, with slimy green skin and eyes so large they left little room for his squished mouth and nose. He ran to the glass and let his greasy hands slide down it in front of Sam. Fern turned around from her window and screamed with impish delight.

“
You
come over here!” Fern shouted louder than was necessary. “A chimera! It’s so small!”

Sam ran to Fern’s side of the hallway. The scraggy thing was the size of a small cat, with the fluffy brown mane of a lion and a snakelike tail. It looked positively domesticated. It ran around a low bush, chasing its own scaly tail, as smoke poured from its nostrils.

“As with most creatures who dwell in the dark recesses of the globe, how the thing looks is the least of it,” Chuffy said. “Put that there chimera in the right conditions and it becomes one of the most fearsome things you’ll ever encounter.” Chuffy shuddered at the thought, bringing his shriveled hand to his face. “Of course, all these creatures you see here have something amiss. That’s why they’re here—so they can be properly monitored. This chimera is a young orphan with behavioral problems. And the goblin you saw, for instance, made its way out of an underground habitat and attacked a Normal. Not that I blame him,” Chuffy said, chuckling.

“Hey now!” Sam said defensively.

“Young sir, I meant no offense, I truly did not,” Chuffy said, running in front of Sam with a sad look on his face. “You do not represent those Normals I have come into contact with. I should not have generalized.”

“It’s fine,” Sam said, though Fern could tell he was still a little bitter.

Down the hallway, something thundered toward them. Sam and Fern scurried to catch up with Chuffy, who had continued to walk down the hall after issuing his heartfelt apology. Both knew he wouldn’t offer much in the way of protection from whatever it was that was causing such an extraordinary cacophony.

A beastly creature that looked much like Telemus, but was four times his size, turned the corner.

“Greetings!” The creature’s voice sounded as if it had traveled through miles of gravel and dust in order to reach his mouth, which was not at all what Fern expected—Telemus’s voice had been high and shrill. Then again, Telemus wasn’t the size of three upright oxen. This creature’s brown tufts of hair and large cloudy black eye made him look the part of the beast.

“Greetings, Telemor. I have with me two esteemed guests: Sam and Fern McAllister.”

Telemor took his green-clawed foot and placed it behind him. Ceremoniously, he lowered his torso until it was parallel with the floor. Telemor bowed in front of the McAllister twins.

“Welcome, Fern and Sam. I will hold a fond hope that you enjoy your sojourn here.” He unbent his body and stood upright once more. He began walking past the group, and each step he took caused a small reverberation.

“That, young sir and young lady, was the head caretaker of New Tartarus. His whole extended family has a hand in the day-to-day operations of this place.”

“Telemus?”

“Yes, Telemus is Telemor’s youngest. They don’t make them in the mold of Telemor any longer. He is a holdover from the old guard.”

“The old guard?” Fern asked, her mind swimming with a hundred questions.

“Those that came before Mister Kenneth. Not that I do not loyally serve Mister Kenneth. I will for all my days. You see, I do. Do not say otherwise.” Chuffy paused before stammering, “I mean no disrespect to Mister Kenneth.”

Though Fern had been repulsed by Chuffy originally, she was beginning to harbor a fondness for him. His time-riddled face and body aside, he seemed loyal and honest—two qualities in short supply in her current world.

“We know. Don’t worry, Chuffy. What were things like before Mister Kenneth?” Fern said, realizing that Chuffy was the first person she’d met recently that she sort of trusted. He was the only person who didn’t seem to
want
something from Fern.

“They were merely different.” Chuffy’s dried-out face almost appeared as if it would crack in half. Before long, he smiled sheepishly. “Don’t pay too much mind to a foolish old man and his musings.” Chuffy leaned his cane against the tile wall as he matted down his stringy white hair with his one good hand. They had reached the end of the hallway, which stopped right in front of a massive cave that was built in the side of the retaining wall of the Preserve. Piles of thick black hair were scattered around the outside of the cave, and a grimy pool of murky water lay in front of it. In this corner of the Preserve there was no vegetation—just dark, flat earth. The artificial sunlight was dimmed, almost as if this part of the Preserve had been long neglected.

“What in the world lives there?” Sam said as he snuck up to the glass.

“The hecatonchire, or heck,” Chuffy marveled. “It has a hundred hands. It’s the most fearsome creature the world has ever seen!”

Fern wondered if there was anything housed in the Preserve that was not fearsome. She crouched and twisted her head so she could view the top of the outermost part of the cave.

“Oh . . . my . . . ,” she murmured. Vlad’s Legion of Hundred-Handers! Was this beast somehow connected with all that?

A huge furry mass had attached itself to the edge of the top of the cave. It slowly crept out into the light. Soon the hecatonchire had filled the entire entrance to the cave. It crawled along the edge of the cave—using a hundred brown woolly arms connected to woolly hands. They were everywhere. The sight of the thing made Fern sick to her stomach. It was roughly the size of a small trailer.

“What is it, Fern?” Sam said, crouching near his sister. His jaw dropped. “Whoa. What
is
that?” he asked, backing away. Fern made out the back of a round head amongst the fleecy web of arms and hands.

A dull wail began and soon turned into a deafening screech. The hairy mass jumped down from the top of the cave. With a motion that looked like a windmill of appendages, the wall of screaming fur quickly approached the children and Chuffy. Once it reached the pool of water, it stopped.

A hundred fists pounded the pool with furious anger. Water splashed high up in the air, dousing the plate glass in brown liquid. The dirty water obscured the onlookers’ view of the creature.

The pounding soon stopped. The water stopped spewing forth like a fountain, and the spray lessened.

The heck had disappeared.

“Where’d it go?” Sam said, panicked.