Authors: Cameron Jace
Loki flipped through the tiny pages and saw a picture of a vampire lying on her back with a stake in her heart. A circle of candles surrounded the vampire, and two mirrors stood opposite to each other on both sides, tangent to the circle. A boy who was Loki’s age lay stretched on his back next to the vampire girl. The few lines written underneath the picture explained that the boy recited a spell to enter the vampire’s dreams to kill her. It didn’t make much sense, but the notebook was thick and Loki was excited that he had a lot to read concerning what he did before he was shadowed.
But when Loki finished reading the page, something strange happened. The page dissolved as if it had turned into sand, and was simply gone. Loki couldn’t believe what he just saw and gazed back at Charmwill for answers.
“The Dreamhunters Guide is a special kind of notebook that’s called a Book of Sand,” Charmwill explained. “Books of Sand have magical pages that once read dissolve into sand and never appear again.”
“Why?”
“To let you know how precious every word you read is,” Charmwill said, “and to prevent enemies from learning the skill. Any Book of Sand is only readable once every one hundred years. I see you’ve wasted a page already, and I hope you remembered what you’ve read and seen.”
“Wow,” Loki said. “This is magic happening to me,” he tucked his book safely in his pocket and intended to read it thoroughly later. “So I’m not a loser after all,” Loki smiled, staring at the daylight outside the window. “I’m a Dreamhunter. You heard that, Pickwick?”
The parrot fluttered its wings enthusiastically, and again, Loki thought it was harsh that Charmwill had turned it into a mute parrot. Of all the animals that talked to Loki, Pickwick couldn’t.
“And here is another little gift from me,” Charmwill pulled a backpack from under his desk and placed it on the table.
“You got me a backpack?”
“This one is different. It’s called a Wondersack,” Charmwill said. “And it’d better if you don’t open it now. When you read the Dreamhuter’s guide, you will know exactly what you need from this Wondersack and under what circumstances you will need them. Now, it’s time for you to start your journey, Loki,” Charmwill stood up and stretched out his hand. Loki stood up and shook his hand respectfully. He felt honored shaking Charmwill’s hand. “I hope you find what you’re looking for,” Charmwill squeezed Loki’s hand a bit too tight. “There are a few last words I feel like I need to tell you. It’s just a small piece of advice that I have learned through the years.”
“Please, tell me,”
“Follow your bliss,” Charmwill smiled. Loki thought it was a very short and vague smile.
“I will,” Loki said reluctantly. The advice sounded lame and he didn’t understand what it meant. “Aren’t you coming along with me?” Loki wondered, feeling lost for a moment. He’d never been anywhere without Charmwill nearby. It would be scary to go on his journey without him.
“I am afraid, not,” Charmwill said. “It’s your journey, Loki. Not mine. But I’ll always be in here,” he pointed at Loki’s heart.
“But—”
“Don’t say anything now, not even goodbye. ‘Goodbye’ is a word even worse than ‘sorry’, although it’s sometimes inevitable.”
Other than feeling scared without Charmwill, Loki suddenly realized how much he loved him, even with all that crap he told about fairy tales.
“I should also tell you that you’re not prohibited from responding to bullies or getting in trouble once you enter Sorrow,” Charmwill said.
“I’m not?”
“Sorrow is a place where you should find what your heart desires, and to do so, you’ll have to be whoever you choose to be. There would be no point of preventing you from responding to annoying Minikins in Sorrow. You’ll be facing your greatest fear by trying to kill a demon girl already.”
Loki liked the idea passionately. Finally, he’d be able to stand up for what he believed in.
“Now, go,” Charmwill said. “You have only a week to find what you’re looking for.”
Loki respected the fact that Charmwill didn’t want to say goodbye, and turned around, walking to the door. He did it abruptly before Charmwill noticed his moist eyes. He didn’t like anyone seeing him cry.
“One more thing,” Charmwill said before Loki left, having sat down at his desk, writing again.
“Yes, sir?” Loki had gripped the door and preferred not to turn around. He hoped Charmwill changed his mind and decided to accompany him.
“Is the squirrel safe now?” Charmwill asked unexpectedly.
“Excuse me?” Loki said.
“You said you couldn’t kill Dork Dracula because you had to save a squirrel,” Charmwill said.
“Yes, sir, I saved it, and set it free. It should be safe and sound somewhere,” Loki answered.
“Good,” Charmwill said. “Heroes always save the squirrel.”
A wide smile took shape in Loki’s heart as he opened the door and stepped out to begin his journey without Charmwill for the first time.
4
Leaving Snoring behind was like escaping a closet Loki had been trapped in for a very long time; yanking the door open and starting a new life was way past due. Even Carmen felt good about it. Being a clunky, almost shattered Cadillac didn’t deter her from helping Loki to reach his destination. She rattled and chugged on the bumpy highway while Loki tapped his fingers on the wheel, singing along with the radio. Today, Carmen played a song called ‘Highway to Hell’ by another imaginary—or deceased—band called the Sweet Pickleheads. The band was very good, even if they were all dead.
Loki had what looked like a cigarette between his lips. Although he didn’t smoke, and despised smokers, he thought the act made him look older, and seemed to make people take him seriously. The trick had worked before when clients doubted his ability to kill vampires due to his young age.
But that was in the past. He didn’t need to kill ninety- nines vampires anymore; only one special princess in a haunted castle was enough. He tried not to think too much about his weakness toward demon girls for the moment.
What excited Loki was the Dreamhunter’s notebook on his dashboard. He was curious about all the things he had to learn, and he planned to read it as soon as he got the chance. For now, he patted it while driving; assuring himself that he wasn’t a loser. He was a Dreamhunter. Although he didn’t know how a Dreamhunter killed Demortals exactly, it still felt amazing to be important.
Driving under the waning moonlight, Loki gazed into the mirror to check a pimple on his cheek.
“Aaahhh!” Loki screamed as he almost hit the brakes with his foot. His eyes nearly popped out of his skull, and his jaw dropped while the cigarette clung loosely to the drool on his lower lip. There was a ghost in a white hood sitting in his backseat.
The ghost had long, black hair waving from underneath the hood as if floating underwater. Its face was hollow and had two glowing-red spots where the eyes should be. For a moment, Loki’s scream startled the ghost; unexpectedly, it bounced against the windows like a ball in a pinball machine—Loki had assumed ghosts walked through walls, but there was no time to argue.
When the ghost finally settled in the middle of the backseat, Loki watched it reach for him. It had skeleton fingers that shimmered like a wraith out of a movie projector, and when it reached for his face, Loki tried not to wet himself.
The ghost snatched the unlit cigarette from Loki’s drooling lips then disappeared underneath the hood again. Loki heard a flicker of a match followed by the sound of the ghost drawing on the cigarette, finally puffing out spirals of curly smoke into the car.
“How many times have I warned you about cigarettes?” the ghost complained, talking in a heavy Russian accent, staring at him in the mirror. Loki watched the ghost’s face slowly turn corporeal.
Wait. I know that ghost!
Loki let out a long sigh. It was all right. The ghost was just his—
“Mom?” he squinted in the mirror.
“Who else scares you like I do?” she said, looking happy while smoking her stolen cigarette.
“You look…awful,” Loki said. “And scary,” he meant it as compliment. Ghosts love to look scary.
“Behave, Loki,” she pouted in her own monstrous way. “I don’t look awful. I’m only aging. I was the prom queen when I was your age.”
Yeah, yeah. Everyone’s mom was the prom queen.
“
You look more like my ex-mom,
mom
,” he mumbled, shying away from her hollow eyes. Although she was turning corporeal, Loki had always wondered why his mom was different from other ghosts. She didn’t have the ability to venture through walls, and she looked more like a zombie than a ghost.
“Naughty boy,” she slapped him on the cheek. “Didn’t I ask you not to call me ‘mom’? It makes me feel old.”
“You
are
old, mom—I mean Babushka,” Loki hated calling her by that name. His earliest memory of her was from just a year ago after Charmwill had unshadowed him. While Charmwill took care of him, she was rarely around. She only appeared when she felt like it, criticizing his sleeping habits, reminding him to brush his teeth before sleep, urging him to clean his car, knitting the holes in his trousers and socks, and pestering him about meeting an earthly girl he could fall in love with and marry. Calling her Babushka was silly; he needed to taste the word
mom
on his lips more often. It made him feel loved.
“I was just kidding,” Babushka killed the cigarette in the palm of her hand. It produced a funny odor that made Carmen cough a little. “You can call me mom all you want. After all,
I am
your mom, and you’re my little Loco.”
“Please don’t call me Loco. And by the way, what made you remember you actually had a son,
Babushka
?” Loki asked her, but she disappeared suddenly from the backseat and popped up next to him in the passenger seat.
He didn’t know why, but she freaked him out.
Relax, Loki. It’s just your mom.
“Wombles!” Loki banged his hands against the wheel. He didn’t know why, but
wombles
was the only word he used when he wanted to swear in his mom’s presence. “You can’t freakin’ sneak up on me like that, mom.”
Babushka teased him, tickling him under his chin before she swooshed, disappearing into the backseat again.
“Did I scare you, Loki?” she leaned forward, looking happy that she had.
Loki didn’t blame her. He knew that scaring him was an act of affection, more like cuddling to her. Even if it freaked him out, he knew she loved him dearly, and it wasn’t her fault she died and became a ghost—he had asked her once how she’d became one, and she told him she died trying to save a kid who was about to be hit by a truck while crossing the street. She saved the kid who crossed the street safely, and the truck ran her over instead, so she crossed a little too far to the
other side
.
“Not at all” Loki tightened his lips and pretended she didn’t scare him.
“Really? I didn’t?” Babushka was sad, leaning back. “I’m a terrible ghost,” she said, and Loki wondered if she thought she was a terrible mom as well. ”I don’t know what happened to me. I used to scare the bubblegums out of people. Now, I can’t even scare the residents of the haunted house I live in,” Babushka started sobbing. “I’m such a failure. I can’t even walk through walls.”
Loki felt sad for her, but he didn’t know what to do.
“Come, on, mom,” Loki said. “Don’t be like that. You’re an awesome ghost. You’re very scary. I get nightmares when I think of you,” it wasn’t true. He wished she was around all the time.
“Really?” Babushka leaned forward. “You do? Tell me how much I scare you? Does this scare you?” she turned her face into some gruesome kind of monster that resembled Cerberus, guard dog of Hades. Loki thought she looked laughable. However, he screamed, pretending he was scared. He felt silly lying, but if it pleased his mom, he didn’t mind.
“See?” Loki said. “You’re very scary.”
“That’s such great news,” Babushka said. “I’m going to leave now so I can go scare the residents of the house I live in.”
“Wait,” Loki waved his hand, looking at her in the mirror. “Did you just visit me to see if you’re scary? What was that all about?”
“Oh, I forgot,” Babushka pulled out something that looked like a stake, only it had a surface that resembled thin snakes spiraling around it. “Take this.”
Loki took the mysterious item and looked at it. “What’s this?”
“It’s an Alicorn,” Babushka said.
“What’s an Alicorn?”
“A rare unicorn’s horn,” Babushka said. “There are very few of them in the world.”
“From a real unicorn?” Loki didn’t know they really existed.
“Very real,” she said.
Loki wanted to keep his eyes on the road but couldn’t take his eyes off the white Alicorn. “Seriously? A unicorn’s horn? Does that mean someone cut if off a unicorn? That’s horrible.”
“You’re asking the wrong questions, Loki. If I were you I’d wonder why I gave it to you.”
“OK. Why did you give it to me?” Again, Loki hated beating around the bush. Why couldn’t she just tell him what it was for?
“It’s a stake, and it’s one of a kind,” Babushka said. “You see that spiral surface around it? It helps you drill into a vampire’s heart; it turns into a snake, a whip, and sometimes a sword. This Alicorn has been enchanted so it can kill the strongest of demons, Loki. Don’t ever let it out of your sight. Keep it within reach at all times.”
“So you know that I am going to Sorrow to kill that Snow White vampire,” Loki said. “How do you know that?”
“I’m your mother,” she slapped him on the back of his hand and he almost dropped the Alicorn. “Mom’s know everything.”
“Ouch, mom,” Loki arched his back.
“Focus, Loki,” she said. “I’m giving you a precious weapon that chooses its master, and I am hoping you can make it choose you.”
“What do you mean?”
“It chooses the master who deserves its powers.”
“That’s kinda lame, mom,” Loki said. “I admit it looks awesome, and I want to believe that it’s actually a unicorn’s horn, but all that mumbo jumbo about choosing its master is so clichéd.”
“Then give it back,” she reached for it.