May Bird Among the Stars Page 17

  The ghouls shouted at their captives, directing them forward.

  May and Kitty waited until they’d all gone ahead, then crept into a niche to the left and, hidden, took in the incredible sight around them.

  They had come to an enormous cavern lined on all sides with rocks, smelly black water dribbling down their jagged edges. The walls of the cavern rose so high that no ceiling was in sight—only a gray, filmy mist. Slimy dark algae clung to the rocks and hung down in soppy wet strings. And here and there, nestled into crannies in the rocks, were what looked to be a thousand or more goblins.

  Some were sleeping, some were gathered in groups listening to music or watching holo-vision, some were doing their nails or modeling clothes for one another. They smiled at each other with their impossibly long fangs, then occasionally tried to push each other off the rocks. One succeeded from time to time, its victim dashing against the rocks below and then slowly climbing back up again, laughing and pretending to think it was a good joke. And then it would reach the perpetrator and try to gnaw off one of its limbs.

  A gaggle of them was dangling from the ceiling doing circus tricks.

  Trash was strewn everywhere: shopping bags, dirty socks, discarded clothing, old tiaras. The prisoners dispersed among the trash and began to pick it up, dropping it into heavy black sacks.

  Her heart pounding. May kept her eyes on Lucius, whose back was still to her. He was picking up one of the old socks sluggishly, too defeated to be disgusted. He merely let go of the sock and swiveled toward the next piece of trash.

  May looked at Somber Kitty, wondering what to do to get Lucius’s attention. But Kitty saw what she wanted and acted quickly, backing his hindquarters up to the edge of the crevice that hid them and waving his tail at Lucius. Lucius turned his dull eyes toward the motion, curiosity crossing his face briefly. He looked at his captors, who had sat down to a game of pinochle.

  May and Kitty sank back into the crevice and waited with bated breath. Presently, an arm appeared in the open space, picking up a pink feather boa that was lying on the ground. And then Lucius’s face appeared, peering in at them surreptitiously. His eyes widened, and at the same time, a tiny hint of a glow lit him up from the inside.

  There was no time to lose. May leaped forward and, stretching as far as she could, grabbed him by the collar of his blue jacket, slapped a hand over his mouth, and pulled him backward.

  Lucius tried to let out a startled yell, but Somber Kitty leaped on his chest, with back arched, and the yell died in his throat.

  Lucius lay there, flat on his back, his eyes moving to May’s. For a moment a big, mischievous smile started creeping to his face, but then something else seemed to dawn on him, and his face went dark and stormy.

  “What are you doing?” he hissed. He swept Kitty aside and stood up, glaring at May.

  She held her finger to her lips. “Saving you. Shhh.”

  Lucius took this in, then shook his head furiously. “Uh-uh. No thanks. You’ve done enough already.”

  Somber Kitty, who’d run to the head of the crevice to keep watch, gave them both an annoyed look, and they both shut their mouths tight. Lucius backed up against the wall opposite May, looking alarmed and unsure whether to stay or flee.

  May stared at the opening until, eventually, she felt Lucius eyeing her. Her cheeks burned.

  “Something’s different about you,” he finally whispered.

  “I’m deader than before,” May murmured, annoyed. She had never told Lucius she actually wasn’t dead at all—and she wasn’t about to now.

  Lucius considered this, then shrugged. “I don’t really fancy being rescued by a girl, half dead or all dead. Especially one who got me trapped in an underworld of eternal torment and misery.”

  May rolled her eyes at him. He kept his profile to her. He had the same messy blond hair, blue eyes, and flushed cheeks that May remembered. He was still taller than her, still older than her. But the smile was missing.

  May softened. What he’d said was true.

  “Especially one as inept as you,” he added.

  May crossed her arms in front of her stomach. She didn’t even know what the word “inept” meant. “I think you’re the one who’s inept.”

  Kitty looked back over his shoulder and again scolded them with his glare.

  “Sorry,” she whispered to Kitty.

  They stood awhile, listening to the sounds of the goblins echoing around the cavern, nobody knowing quite what to do next.

  “What are you doing with a cat, anyway?” Lucius finally asked.

  Somber Kitty pulled his small death shroud closer with his teeth.

  “Long story.” May gave Lucius a hard look. “Now, do you want to escape or not?”

  Lucius looked surprisingly indifferent as he thought about it. Finally, he shrugged. “All right. I’m in. We should stick something in their ears,” he said. “I have all sorts of things I’ve nicked. Ecto-spasm syrup, Specter Spew shampoo, Soul Shrinker …”

  “That’ll never work,” May said. She didn’t know what those things were, but she knew it was crazy to try to confront all those goblins. They’d have to sneak out. It couldn’t be that hard, since they’d snuck their way in. “How do we go down from here?” she asked.

  Lucius stuck his chin in the air. ‘“Why would we go down?”

  May paused. “Um. I need to get something.”

  “From where?”

  “The Bogey’s bedroom.”

  Lucius’s faint glow flickered. His pretty blue eyes turned wide and scared, and then his eyebrows descended darkly.

  “You must be joking.”

  Somber Kitty eyed him to let him know they couldn’t be more serious.

  Lucius shook his head and began to back away. “No. Definitely not. I won’t go.”

  “But …”

  Lucius quickly drifted backward toward the mouth of the crevice. At the same moment Somber Kitty let out a hiss, and May swiveled to look behind her, a tiny yelp escaping.

  She was faced by a creature directly in front of her, floating at shin height.

  It was black and fluffy, with a pink bow in its hair. It stared at her and let out a tiny mew.

  “Poor thing!” May whispered, reaching out toward it. Where were all these cats coming from? This one looked a lot like the one they’d seen at Risk Falls. Behind her, Somber Kitty growled.

  “Mew?” the cat asked sweetly, tilting its fluffy head, its pink bow leaning jauntily to the right.

  “Here, little kitty,” May whispered. “I won’t hurt you.”

  She expected the cat to either run away or float toward her shyly, but she did not expect what happened next. The small creature floated higher and higher into the air and began to puff out like a balloon.

  In another second Somber Kitty had leaped between May and the black cat, his fuzz standing on edge, his tail straight as a flagpole, his teeth bared.

  “Kitty? What—?” She reached for him, but as she did, something yanked her backward by the waist, and she let out a scream. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Lucius, squirming and struggling in the strong, stubby arms of a goblin.

  “Kitty!” May’s eyes shot to where Kitty had been floating just a moment before. But he—and the cat with the pink bow—were gone.

  Ellen Bird stood on the lakes edge, mesmerized by something she saw inexplicably far beneath the surface. It appeared to be a point of light floating up toward her.

  As it got closer, the light took the shape of a figure. And the figure got larger and larger, like it was coming from somewhere very deep, deep down. It looked to he a woman, now that it was closer A beautiful woman with hair swirling all around her. The woman flipped and twisted as gracefully as a water dancer.

  When the mysterious swimmer was only a few feet away, her eyes met Ellen's. She smiled, and all of Ellen's worries and fears and sadness of the past months seemed to melt away. The frown on Ellen's lips—that frown that had been there since the day May had gone
—slipped off of her face. Ellen Bird sighed, feeling amazingly peaceful. The woman’s smile seemed to say, I see you. I understand you. I know.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  The Dangeons of Abandoned Hope

  Many looked about. She was in a colorless, square room, open on one side. Lucius lay in a ball in the corner, hiding his face. Kitty was nowhere to be seen.

  Posters hung on one of the walls covered with phrases like: WHY TRY? and ALL WE ARE IS DUST IN THE WIND. A book sat on a tiny table nearby: Life: A Whole Lotta Trouble For Nothin’. May stood up on wobbly legs and walked toward the side of the room where there was no wall, but as soon as she reached the threshold, there was a loud zap!

  “Ouch!” May grabbed her elbow and backed up.

  “Invisible bars, silly.”

  May swiveled. Lucius had sat up and was gazing at her forlornly.

  “I’ve got to get Somber Kitty,” she said, turning back to the invisible bars. She reached out to push against them. Again, they zapped her hands. Undefeated, she kicked them. Then she tried to ram them, getting her shoulder and her back zapped over and over.

  Finally, she stood back, clenching her fists. “No!” she yelled. “No! No! No!”

  She felt Lucius’s arm go around her and pull her away from the bars. They sat down next to each other. “My cat,” she said, looking at him mournfully.

  “These dungeons are impossible to break out of,” Lucius said. “The prisoners whisper about it. They say the one wall’s invisible just to tease you.”

  At that, without warning, May burst into tears.

  Instead of scolding her or telling her she sounded like a baby or saying she had gotten them here in the first place, Lucius patted her knobby left knee awkwardly.

  “I won’t go home without him,” May murmured.

  “Where’s home?”

  May looked up at him. He was looking at her with the utmost earnestness.

  “Home is where my mom is.”

  Lucius stared at her solemnly.

  She swept back the cuff of her shroud and showed Lucius her arm—not translucent, not glowing. “I’m alive.” She pulled back her death shroud to reveal how colorful she was, how solid.

  Lucius took this in calmly, almost sadly.

  “Aren’t you surprised?”

  He shrugged. “Disappointed.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, being dead seemed to be the only thing we had in common.” He grinned.

  May didn’t laugh. She just hung her head.

  “Look on the bright side. At least the goblins thought you were dead.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Well,” Lucius folded his hands, “if they knew you were a Live One, we’d be getting a visit from the Bogey right about now.”

  They both looked down the corridor as if the Bogey were about to appear in front of them.

  “Look.” Lucius shifted. “You may be surprised by how things turn out. Take me, for example. Yesterday I thought being a slave to ghouls was the worst thing that could happen to me. Now I’m in a dungeon.”

  “I’m so sorry. For everything.”

  Lucius’s eyes sparkled the way they had back in the Catacombs. “It was brave of you to try.”

  May rolled her eyes. “Yeah.”

  “Anyway, seeing you makes me feel more like my old self.” Lucius shifted again and cleared his throat. May smiled, trying to be optimistic. She wondered where Fabbio, Beatrice, and Pumpkin were at that moment. Hopefully, far out of Hocus Pocus. At least they were safe. But still, being away from them made her feel very alone.

  May and Lucius were quiet for a while.

  “So, did you come all this way just to find me?” he eventually asked.

  “Well …” May fidgeted. “I was hoping I would find you. But actually, like I said, I’m trying to get home. The Lady of North Farm told me there’s a way, under the Bogey’s bed.”

  Lucius tilted his head thoughtfully and turned to face her. “I thought that was just a tall tale.”

  “What?”

  Lucius blinked. “Well, that the Bogey has his own personal portal to Earth. Everybody whispers about it. Gosh, and to think it’s been there all this time.” Lucius’s eyes brightened, along with his whole body. “I could go back to Earth with you.” And then, just as quickly, his glow faded. He seemed to wilt like a flower. “It was 1942 when I died. I suppose I wouldn’t have much to go back to now.” And then another thought seemed to occur to him, and he went a shade or two even dimmer. “I suppose that’s how the Bogey got me. By coming through that portal of his.”

  May felt anger bubble up. She remembered hearing how the Bogey had stolen life from Lucius and the other luminous boys, by entering their nightmares. She took the fabric of her death shroud in both hands and picked at it.

  Lucius tugged on the tie of his private school uniform. “It’s a shame really, about the bars. There’s a great shortcut just down the hall there.” He pointed. “The Lazy Way Ladder goes straight to the top, with an entrance on each level.”

  May followed his gesture skeptically. “How do you know?”

  Lucius grinned, puffing out his chest. “I know this place backward and forward. Picking the Fruits of Bitterness here. Digging ditches there. I’ve had to carry ghoul laundry”—he wrinkled his nose—”through half the hallways and corridors down here. I don’t need a girl to rescue me.”

  May tried to ignore how annoying he could be. “Well, if that’s true, why haven’t you escaped already?”

  Lucius considered this seriously for a long moment. “Hope, I guess.”

  “Hope?”

  “Well, when you don’t hope for anything, I suppose you don’t really bother, do you?”

  “No.” May shook her head. “I guess not.”

  “I mean”—Lucius leaned back and stared at the low, colorless ceiling—”it’s silly, but I’ve sort of just stopped hoping to get out. Maybe it’s the air here.”

  “Or a shadow,” May said, thinking of the heavy darkness that seemed to fill everything Bo Cleevil and the Dark Spirits touched.

  “And then, of course, there’s the Bogey,” Lucius added.

  May leaned toward him sympathetically, not quite bold enough to touch his hand. She knew that he had been petrified of the Bogey ever since he had died.

  They sat and stared at each other for a while.

  Then, suddenly, Lucius slapped himself on the forehead. “I know how we can get out of here!”

  May looked at him like he’d grown a third head. “Really?”

  “Yeah, come on. Let’s go.”

  May looked around. “How?”

  “Well, we’ll just asport.”

  “Asport?”

  “Asport, silly. You know, disappear and reappear. It’s not easy, but if you practice enough, any spirit can do it. It’s like whistling or blowing a bubble.”

  May looked around. “But wouldn’t the Dark Spirits know that? Wouldn’t they make sure you couldn’t asport out of here?”

  Lucius thought about this. “Well, you can asport only a few feet. And most spirits don’t know how.”

  May nibbled her pinky nail. “Well, I don’t think I can asport anyway. I’m not a spirit.”

  Lucius wilted immediately. “Oh.” He looked about. “Right … I hadn’t thought about that.” For a few minutes his glow dimmed. And then he knelt in front of her and gave her his old devilish smile. “Just try it.”

  “Oh, I don’t—” Just then the thought Why try? crossed her mind. May looked at the poster across the dungeon. And then she looked back to Lucius, who was staring at her earnestly.

  “If you think about it,” he continued, “being here in the lowest depths of South Place is the pits. But it is also something else.”

  “What?”

  “It’s the closest you can get to the Bogey’s bedroom.”

  Through the empty hallways of South Place, Somber Kitty and Commander Berzerko careened like pinballs. When Somber Kitty zipped le
ft, so did the commander. When he zipped right, the commander was right behind him.

  The chase took them up the spiral of South Place, along the Corkscrew River. As Somber Kitty zipped past them, Dark Spirits of every walk of the Afterlife let out shouts of surprise. And then, when they saw Commander Berzerko coming fast behind him, they ran to hide.

  It wasn’t until he reached the Swamp of Swallowed Souls that Somber Kitty slowed down, realizing that he could not outfloat his pursuer.

  “Meay.” He looked behind him. For the moment the commander was out of sight. A noise behind Kitty made him turn. The swamp bubbled and howled, and many of the bubbles were shaped like Black Shuck dogs. They seemed to claw toward him, trying to pull him in.

  Panting, he turned. He could hear Commander Berzerko coming down the corridor. He could hear the tap, tap, tap of her claws.

  She came slowly. Clearly, she knew that Somber Kitty had reached a dead end.

  May closed her eyes for the thirtieth time.

  “Just concentrate on being over here instead of over there. It’s easy.”

  “I’m trying,” May said.

  Lucius stood outside of the bars, looking in at her. He had asported in and out of the dungeon about twenty times, showing off.

  “It’s not really that easy,” May said, frustrated. She tried to picture herself in the hallway beyond the bars where Lucius stood. She closed her eyes, then opened them. Again, she was still in the same place. “I just don’t think it’ll work for me, Lucius.”

  “It will. Just forget where you are. You have to believe you’re here and not there.”

  May concentrated again. She could picture herself standing next to Lucius, outside the dungeon. She tried to believe it. She kept trying.

  And suddenly, a very empty feeling came upon her. May mistook it for disappointment and opened her eyes. When she did, she let out a scream. Standing next to Lucius was … herself At least, a version of herself The girl looked like May, but she was as drifty and translucent as Lucius, and she was levitating about five feet from May.

  Lucius studied the drifty spirit beside him and then studied the flesh-and-blood May Bird still standing inside the cell with her heart pounding.