Monster Rundown Part 2: Intermediate

Monster Rundown Part 2: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The best time to return to the spot of the Halloween necromancer ritual was during lunch. Trying to go before or after school would make it difficult since guards watched the school at all hours. At least during school the guards had other students to worry about.

It was possible to sneak in since the park was so wide open, but the curfew made it too complicated. Henry knew he probably wouldn't return in time for class, which was too bad because he was actually trying to get good grades this year.

"I take it Mel isn't happy that you're doing this without him," Charlotte said.

Henry laughed as he bit into his sandwich while they watched one of the guards. "We didn't talk about it. I know he's disappointed, and he knows I have to go as soon as possible."

"I'm glad you're dragging me along even though I'll probably get suspended."

"There goes your perfect attendance."

She fluttered her eyelashes. "I'm turning into a bad girl."

"Here we go." Memphis approached the guard and led him around the edge of one of the entrances to the school giving them a clear shot to the forest. Henry and Charlotte dashed across the open field. Once they reached the cover of the scrub oak, they slowed. "So far, so good."

"What are we looking for exactly?"

"I'm not sure. Probably nothing. Tacket's message was so vague." Henry examined his crushed sandwich. "I'm kind of working on the assumption that he was trying to help us. There was something about him when he 'interrogated' me. At the time I thought he was just trying to trick me into trusting him."

"Technically, he was. The question is whether he was trying to help or hurt." Charlotte was eating pasta salad out of a bowl with a fork while they walked, skillfully dodging under and around branches without using her hands to push them away.

"It's more about whether our goals aligned or not."

"Because in his mind wanting to help might have come in the form of killing all the mages in the city."

"The thing that keeps giving me pause is that he had no reason to tell me they were looking for doors. Mighty trusting of him, almost desperate." Henry finished the last piece of his sandwich before checking his phone's map.

"Sounds like he was looking for allies."

"That's my best guess as well." Henry looked back at her as he stepped into the clearing. Charlotte stared at the dark circle of ground near the boulder. No plants had grown inside it and wouldn't for some time. "Have you been here since?" Henry said.

"After Eli died, Lucy convinced me that we shouldn't go." She walked to the edge of the circle, a passive look on her face. "What exactly are we looking for?"

Henry took a drink from his water bottle and set it down near the log where he and Beatrice sat when he told her about Katie. "If something is here, I bet it's going to be inside the circle." Henry remembered Tacket digging at a specific spot with the toe of his shoe, so he checked where he thought that was first, but there was nothing obvious.

Using his sword's sheath, he walked around the circle, pushing the dirt and dead plants around. This could take a while. After twenty minutes of searching the boulder and the rest of the clearing, he said, "I don't know. I'm probably way off." Charlotte was staring across the clearing at the woods with her gun drawn. He drew his and walked towards her. "What is it?"

"Something moving in the forest."

"Let's climb the rock." They ran to it, and Henry watched the forest while she climbed. "What did it look like?"