With that, she walked inside her pearly lair and was gone.
“OK,” Brooke said. “Nice creepy confrontation with the most deadly boss of the Nether. Now how were you planning on killing her exactly?”
“No idea,” Charlie replied. Unfortunately, that was true.
“There you are!” a familiar voice suddenly roared from somewhere high above. Charlie looked up to see a portal hovering in the air over the nautilus shell in the park. It was so far away that he struggled to recognise the person looking through it - until he noticed the weathered cowboy hat the man wore.
“Rex!”
The cowboy smiled. “We been lookin’ all over for you, kid. Shoulda’ known we’d find you exactly where you’re not supposed to be - messin’ around with Miss Mega-Monster.”
“I’ve got a lot of questions for you!”
“And I probably got answers for some of them, which is why you need to come see us! Portal over and do it quick - me and Tabby gotta get back to the Headmaster pronto.”
He turned to go, heading into the bluish landscape of the Nether.
“Wait!” Charlie yelled. “Where are you guys?”
“Well, I don’t exactly wanna shout out our super-secret location in front of the lair of the Fifth - but here’s a little hint…” Rex leaned back and threw something towards Charlie. The small object sailed through the air, glittering as it spun. “See ya soon, kid!” the cowboy shouted as the portal began to snap closed. “And hurry!”
Charlie leaped forward to catch the baseball-sized ‘hint’ that Rex had thrown.
“Well?” Theodore asked, leaning in. “What is it?”
Charlie showed them. It was a snow globe, and the plastic snow inside seemed to be swirling around a familiar-looking building.
“Isn’t that Buckingham Palace?” Violet asked.
Charlie nodded. “Looks like it. Hey, Theo - think you can whip us up a portal to take us there?”
“Can I whip you up a portal?” Theodore echoed with a snort. “Hello? This is Theodore ‘Portal’ Dagget you’re talking to - I whip up portals like pastry chefs whip up soufflés! One delicious, nutritious portal coming right up!” He closed his eyes and began to focus on his core fear.
As he did, Charlie looked out across the city to see many other portals popping into existence like embers from a windswept campfire - the Nightmare Division was clearly sending in the troops. Suddenly, a blue axe flashed in front of him, followed by two large, mosquito-like creatures that thudded to the roof, dead. Charlie recognised the beasts almost immediately - Bloodsuckers. They speared you with their long, sharp noses and sucked you dry, like a juice box.
“Thanks!” Charlie said, turning to Violet, who was wielding her axe. “I was sort of drifting and I didn’t even see—”
But Violet wasn’t listening to him. A cloud of Bloodsuckers boiled down towards them from the smoky sky and, as each one arrived, she chopped it up without thought or pity. Charlie loved to watch Violet Banish - a calmness descended over her as she moved with an almost machine-like precision: elegant, exact and lethal.
“How’s that portal coming?” Brooke asked, turning to Theodore. “No hurry, as long as you don’t mind getting carried off by giant mosquitoes or spending some close, personal alone time with Mr Tornado.”
She pointed to an Air Golem as it spun towards them from the destruction it had wreaked in Times Square. Its eyes were like twin hurricanes.
“Ye of little faith,” Theodore replied.
Just before the Golem slammed into the Plaza Hotel in a massive explosion of concrete and steel, he snapped open a portal. As the landmark structure collapsed around them, everyone leaped through the gateway, which hung in space like a balloon.
Moments later, the Plaza Hotel, which had stood for over a hundred years, was gone…and so were Charlie and his friends.
CHAPTER SIX THE HIDDEN HEADMASTER
Afiery portal snapped open on the red brick in front of Buckingham Palace. Charlie stepped through first, followed by Violet.
“So where do you figure they are exactly?” she asked, glancing around.
“Don’t know,” Theodore replied, stepping through next, followed by Brooke. “But I bet the guys in the hairy hats do.” He pointed to the main entrance of the palace. It was guarded by several bayonet-wielding men wearing red jackets and furry black hats. “Let’s just tell them to bring us to the Headmaster before giant monsters destroy the world.”
Brooke grinned. “We could do that…or we could try it my way.”
“And which way is that?” Violet asked.
“The pretty girl way.”
She walked over towards the nearest royal guard with her thousand-watt smile turned on full blast. “Hey there, soldier! I love your uniform…it makes you look so strong and tall.” She leaned towards him. “So listen, we think a good friend of ours is a guest inside the palace. Can you help us find her?”
The guard stared straight ahead, unblinking, not responding in any way.
Brooke glanced at Charlie, baffled - being ignored was clearly something she didn’t have much experience with. She turned back to the guard with a flip of her pretty blonde hair. “Hey, don’t worry. I get it. You’re just supposed to stand there like a statue. That’s your job, right? Totally cool. You’re rocking that look really well, by the way. So here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll tell you who I’m looking for and you just whisper where she is - it’ll be our little secret. Her name is Headmaster Brazenhope.”
No reply from the guard.
Charlie could tell from Brooke’s expression that she was getting frustrated and he knew that when she got frustrated, she got angry and when she got angry—
“Look here!” the tall girl snapped. “I don’t like this attitude! Now you better help us out this instant because if we don’t get in there and see the Headmaster right away, giant monsters are going to destroy the world - comprende?”
“Hey, that was my plan…” Theodore mumbled.
“Comprende?” Charlie asked, walking up to her. “He doesn’t speak Spanish, Brooke - he’s British.”
“Actually, I do know a little Spanish,” the guard said defensively. He held his thumb and forefinger a few centimetres apart. “Un poquito.”
“You talked!” Brooke shouted. “I knew you could!”
“Hey, kid!”
Charlie was startled by a man’s voice high above. He looked up to discover Rex Henderson hanging out of a third-storey window, waving cheerily. Against the majesty of Buckingham Palace, the cowboy’s glowing lasso and weathered Stetson made him seem like a page out of ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture’.
“Stop goofing around and get on up here! We got a lot to talk about!”
Charlie and his friends rushed inside, past the palace guard. As soon as they were out of earshot, the man sighed heavily. “Americans…”
Charlie had never seen anything as ornate as the inside of the palace. Elegant statuary and priceless paintings seemed to fill every nook and cranny.
“Hey, is that a Rembrandt?” Theodore said, pointing to a haunting portrait of a dour-looking man. He ran his fingers across it. “Look, you can feel the