“The Headmaster!” Geoff laughed mirthlessly. “Is that old relic even still alive? No one’s seen her in a week! I heard she croaked.”
Even though Theodore wasn’t strong, he was fast, and his small, bunched-up fist connected with Geoff’s jaw almost instantly. Taken by surprise, Geoff dropped to the ground and Theodore pounced on him like a terrier, throwing punch after punch in crazy, windmill fashion.
“You take that back!” Theodore shouted. “She is not dead!”
Suddenly, Theodore felt a strong hand on his back as Mama Rose snatched him by the shirt and yanked him off the older boy. “Calm down, ya runt! I agree he needs a good butt-kickin’, but now is not the time!”
“I’m going to knock you into tomorrow, idiot!” Geoff said, leaping towards Theodore. But before Geoff could make contact, a strand of spider-silk snaked through the air and wrapped around his leg. Professor Xix quickly reeled him in, slamming Geoff to the ground and dragging him backwards across the floor.
“Save the fighting for later, child,” the Professor said calmly. “We’ve more important things to discuss.”
Mama Rose turned to William. “Yeah, important things like what a sad and stupid piece of work you and the Director are. If I didn’t have to protect these boys and girls here at the Academy, I’d join Charlie and his friends in exile!”
“Duly noted,” William said softly.
“And you can add me to that list,” Professor Xix seconded. “I would join them as well, if I didn’t have to stay and care for my beasts.”
“Well, we all have our priorities,” William replied. “For me, it’s the safety of all the human beings on this planet. For you, it’s…well, I guess it’s your beasts.”
Xix’s eyes darkened with anger and he was about to respond when a fiery portal popped open next to William and an adult Facilitator ran through.
“General Dagget?”
“Yes?”
“We need you right away, sir. There’s been a development.” The Facilitator suddenly looked very serious. “The fog over Central Park has lifted, General…and there’s something there.”
CHAPTER FIVE THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF CENTRAL PARK
A purple portal snapped open on the roof of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Charlie Benjamin stepped through, followed by Violet, Theodore and Brooke. The tall, pretty girl sighed dramatically. “Well, this is typical. We’ve only been exiles a couple of minutes and already we’re in trouble.”
“How do you work that out?” Violet replied, barely even glancing at her.
“You heard General Dagget. He said that exiles aren’t allowed to interfere in Nightmare Division business. Well…here we are. Interfering.”
“We are not interfering!” Theodore said. “We’re just looking. Heck, everyone on the planet is looking.” He gestured to the news helicopters buzzing noisily overhead.
“Well, they’ve definitely got something to look at,” Charlie replied, staring off at something the others couldn’t yet see. “You better come and check this out. You won’t believe it.”
Everyone joined him at the edge of the hotel roof and looked down. A gigantic nautilus shell, easily five storeys high, towered over Central Park - its gleaming, pearly exterior stretched nearly from one end to the other. Thousands of snail-like creatures swarmed across it, secreting a glistening ooze from their bellies. The slime quickly hardened in the afternoon sun, adding yet another layer to the massive spiral. It was as ominous as it was beautiful.
Violet shook her head in amazement. “What is it?”
“Their new lair,” Charlie replied. “At least that’s my guess. But I don’t know what those things are.” He pointed to the snail-like creatures that were now slithering off the side of the shell and heading into the large opening in the end that faced the hotel.
“Shellweavers,” Brooke replied. The rest of the group stared at her blankly. “Don’t worry, there’s no reason you’d know about them. I never saw one until Professor Xix showed them to us in our ‘Building The Nether: Deadly By Design’ class.”
Charlie nodded. “OK. So what do they do?”
“Basically, they build things. Their slime dries as hard as steel. Harder maybe. Apparently, they constructed a couple of the palaces in the Inner Circle.” She shrugged. “They’re not dangerous.”
“Maybe not,” Theodore said. “But there’s definitely something down there that is. Check out the soldiers.”
He pointed to the hundreds of soldiers that ringed the park. Some stood - rifles at the ready - while others kept watch inside their tanks and military vehicles. The entire area was on lockdown. There were no civilians anywhere.
“Wow, they really want to keep people out,” Brooke said.
“Or keep something else in,” Theodore added. “Something like that.”
He pointed to the entrance to the colossal shell. Something walked through the pearly curves, something regal and fierce.
“The Fifth,” Charlie whispered.
Even from this distance, her alien beauty drew all eyes like a magnet. She was tall - nearly two metres - and her great mane of silver hair flashed brilliantly in the afternoon sun, spilling over crimson skin like a rain of steel on an ocean of blood. Her legs were long and strong and she had four arms, each ending in purple talons - the exact colour of her cat-like eyes. The Shellweavers that slithered past her cowered as they tried to escape into the lair to shield their moist bodies from the heat of her ferocious glow.
The soldiers circling the park were instantly aware of her presence and they quickly grew quiet. Even the distant roar of traffic and the drone of the helicopters circling overhead disappeared, as if some giant creature drew in its breath and inhaled all sound and noise and clamour.
All silent. All still.
The Fifth opened her mouth and began to speak.
“Good people of Earth, I bid you welcome.” Without even seeming to strain, her silken voice boomed up the sides of the skyscrapers and down the cavernous arteries of the city. “I have known many names. Some call me the Fifth; to my monstrous babies I am known as Mother; others call me Pearl - in honour of my marvellous new home.” She gestured to the spectacular shell behind her with a flick of her top right hand. “But I invite you to call me by my real name - the Queen of Nightmares.”
She smiled slyly. Charlie knew from grim experience that there was death behind that smile - death and suffering.
“She’s beautiful…” Theodore whispered. Violet stared at him incredulously. “In a totally creepy and evil way, of course,” he quickly corrected himself.
“I understand you’ve all had a…difficult…week,” the Queen of Nightmares continued with mock sympathy. “I’m told my darling babies visited you in the dark of the night with their pointy teeth and sharp stingers and caused you no end of trouble - children screaming, grown-ups carried off into the blackness. Terrible times…”
She shook her head sadly, although Charlie detected more than a hint of amusement.
“I am here today to tell you that the misery you have experienced is only the beginning. You have barely begun to taste the doom that will descend upon you. Today, this minute, things are going to change. And when they do, when you realise the full scope of the horror that is coming to your world, you will scream for the gentle days when all