The Three Furies (Erec Rex) (41 page)

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closer, and the shadow demon changed into a huge Vetala with a stack of drooling heads with long fangs.

Erec shuddered and stepped back. "Careful, Erec!" Melody grabbed his shoulder. "Just listen to what he has to say. Maybe he can help us."

"No!"
Erec was fighting his own thoughts as much as hers. He wanted to believe, to trust ... but then he remembered how he had put his and his own mother's life in danger because he fell into this trap before.
"Never again!"

Erec grabbed Griffin's and Jam's arms--the two people who were most likely to follow him anywhere, even to a sure death. "Hold on to the others. We're all going through.
Now!
"

The shadow demon hissed and swayed. It held its arms out to them, and in its deep Vetala voice it said, "That's right. Come right here. I'm hungry for a snack now. Unless you want to make a bargain and save your friend. Otherwise I'll enjoy this meal."

Erec pulled Jam and Griffin toward the demon, going against every instinct in his body. He started to doubt his own memory of the shadow demon he had met in the past, but he kept moving forward.

"That's right," the Vetala shadow demon hissed. "You're confused, aren't you, Erec? The shadow demon you met before was your friend, wasn't he? Just like I am. I only want to help, and now you're leading all of your friends to die. Tsk, tsk."

"Don't listen to it!" He yanked Jam and Griffin, and they pulled Jack, Kyron, and Melody behind, protesting all the way. "Come on!"

It started winning over his mind, confusing him. But he fought hard. As long as he thought about his mother and what had almost happened to her in the past when he made this mistake before . . .

The thing radiated heat and fear, and stepping close to it was

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almost more than Erec could handle. He fought against his entire being and stepped forward, face-to-face with the three sets of sharp jaws, tongues licking their chops, red blazing eyes burning down on him with fury.

He almost jumped back when it let out a screeching roar, but he held his ground. The others tugged behind him, but he would not let go. It was hard to remember even what he was doing this for, but he knew he had to keep going. He could not listen to it, or even to himself now.

Erec clenched his eyes shut, and with bravery that he never knew he had, he stepped straight into the beast.

The image of the Vetala dissolved around him as he passed through, turning into a clear, shimmering vapor that hung in the air. Griffin and Jam could still feel his hand, but seemed not to see him. They still gazed where the Vetala image had been, their faces masks of fear.

Its voice said, "There. Your friend is gone now. A tasty snack. Which of you would like to be the next course? Or would you rather reason with me?"

Erec tugged on their hands. "I'm here, guys! I'm okay! Trust me and walk through this thing."

He tugged, hearing the shadow demon saying that his voice was a fake. But Jam and Griffin must have believed him. Erec was amazed they would follow him into the jaws of death, but in a moment both of them were at his side.

Jack, Melody, and Kyron still stared at the image that had disappeared to the rest of them. "Yum," it said. "Are you going to be fools as well, or will you save yourselves and your friend Bethany?"

Erec, Jam, and Griffin all shouted at once that they were fine, which was all the others needed to hear. Jack took the longest to come through, but soon stood next to them.

They all hugged one another, most of them with tears in their

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eyes. Erec knew that even the last group to pass through the shadow demon needed tremendous courage and belief. The vision had disappeared, and a thin voice rang in the air. "Interesting. Well, I do say I'm disappointed. I would rather have enjoyed devouring you. But at least I'll have the pleasure of seeing you torn apart by the zombies, if the Vetalas don't want to do it themselves. I suppose you'll all make some nice new body parts for them."

"Do you . . . get a lot of company here?" Erec's friends looked at him strangely when he struck up a conversation with the shadow demon. "I mean, does it get boring for you?"

The thing sighed. "I suppose so. Always interesting starting fights between the Vetalas, spying in the fortress." It chuckled. "Just because you managed to walk through me doesn't mean that I don't know what you're thinking anymore, Erec Rex. That's me--mind reader extraordinaire. I know exactly why you are talking to me right now. You want to wheedle information out of me. Find out how to get inside the front door of the fortress. Like I would tell you that."

"Well," Erec said, deciding to push his luck, "why wouldn't you? Are you a slave of Baskania's? Do you have to follow his every command?"

"Pathetic attempt at manipulating me, boy. Even if I couldn't read your mind, I would not fall for that line. But to answer your question, I do what serves me best. Right now, since I can't consume you, you will serve for entertainment. Why would I help you? That wouldn't be interesting. Much more amusing to see you shredded."

"Wouldn't it be more fun if we had a chance to succeed? Then it would be more exciting--you wouldn't know how it would turn out."

"But there is only one way this can turn out," it said. "And that is with you shredded. There's no hope for you. . . . Ahh, I see . . . You have something else up your sleeve. You brought some bottled laughter with you. Even more exciting."

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Erec wanted to kick himself. He should have gotten away from this thing sooner. Now it knew about the only chance they had of surviving. And if it told the Vetala about it--

"That's right. I know your secret now. But I doubt it will work. You don't even know how to use it. Maybe you'll get lucky. I can read minds, but unfortunately I can't read the future."

"How about a bet, then?" Kyron said. "If we get past the Vetala and the zombies, then you let us get inside the fortress."

"That's not for me to do," the shadow demon said. "But I will tell you this--for my amusement and benefit only. The one key to the doorway hangs on a chain around Master Vetu's neck. If you can get your hands on that, which I highly doubt, I will not stop you from entering the fortress."

"Aye," Griffin huffed. "You couldn't stop us anyway now. Even if ye wanted to."

"That is true, of course. But I did tell you where the key is. Remember, this is only for my personal gain, I assure you."

Somehow, chillingly, Erec knew that he was telling the truth.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Blind Followers

HEY STEPPED OVER piles of zombie parts as they wound their way toward the front of the fortress. The ground looked like a war had been fought there. Most of the zombies on this side of the building were gone, but more were coming, marching over the bodies of their comrades without noticing.

A brief peek around the corner to the front side of the fortress

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showed more zombies marching closer. A pack of wenwolves closed in, snarling around them.

"Wolfsbane!" Erec had dropped his, but everyone else made up for that, waving fronds toward the drooling beasts. The wenwolves backed away, whining, and trotted off.

A manticore watched them, pawing the ground. It looked like it was trying to decide whether to attack again. Erec bared his teeth at the thing and growled, holding his hands out like claws, and the manticore stepped back.

"Even that thing is afraid a ya." Griffin looked at Erec like he was scared of him too.

"We better hurry." Jack gulped. "No use waiting around here."

They headed toward the building entrance on a path that had been worn by zombies. The fortress was huge, so it was a while before the front doorway came into view. Erec felt a little better than before. At least they had survived this long. And if danger struck, maybe he'd get another cloudy thought. Without Griffin and Kyron warding off attacks and Melody making music, he might not have made it.

Lalalalal stepped onto Griffin's other shoulder to get farther from Erec, throwing him a wary glance.

"Hey, Lala. At least I'm on your side. Leave me alone."

A pointed gothic stone archway formed the entrance to the huge turreted castle. The three black cloaked Vetalas stood on the steps in front of it, talking. Their voices carried in low, hushed murmurs, and the red glow from their eyes blazed into the night.

Erec gripped the vial of laughter. "Listen, guys. I don't know if this will be enough. I know it sounds crazy, but try to see the funny side of this. Okay? I mean, if we can laugh, too,
really
laugh, that might help."

Everyone nodded, but not one of them was able to so much as crack a smile. Nothing seemed remotely funny about where they were

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now. Kyron and Griffin held weapons at the ready as they advanced, until finally all three Vetalas swung to face them.

"Well." Master Vetu stepped forward. His deep voice was slick and cold, and only his middle head spoke. "Looks like that shadow imp was right. Or maybe not. The thing said something was wrong. But I would have to disagree. This is something quite
right
." The bloodred mouths of all three of his hideous faces grinned, revealing dripping fangs. "Fresh flesh. How delightful. And a nice supply of parts, too."

"I get the girl's face," another one gargled.

Erec almost threw up picturing Melody's face in one of their cloaks, with those eyes and fangs. He tried to block the image from his mind. Before they could say more he twisted the cap and opened the vial.

There was silence. The vial vibrated in his hand but no sound came out.
No!
That was it? Was it was really empty? This was their only hope.

A blue mist curled in the vial and started to waft away. That was his laughter, then? Disappearing before his eyes? In a desperate attempt to stop it, not knowing if it would help, he raised the vial to his face and breathed in the mist.

"Hmp-he. B-ha!" His body shook like he had sneezed. Then he burst out in a fit of laughter so hard his sides hurt. He passed the vial to Kyron, at his side, who looked at him like he was insane. Erec doubled over, wanting Kyron to breathe in the mist but he was laughing too hard to speak. Finally he shoved it to Kyron's face.

Kyron's face lit with amusement and he laughed too, until he was pounding his fist into his legs. The others saw what was happening and passed the vial around until the thick blue mist was finally gone.

Not only was Erec laughing, but everything around him seemed hysterically funny. Melody's high fluttery laughter and Griffin's

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snorting were hilarious. Even the grotesque Vetalas ogling them with their rotting body parts and stacked heads were amusing. It seemed like someone had put them together for a Halloween costume show, but had completely overdone it. He looked at them, pointing, tears rolling down his face.

The others looked where he was pointing and joined in, doubling over at the sight of the Vetalas. Erec wiped the tears that were streaming down his face. His head and sides ached from laughing so hard, but this was the most fun he'd had in a long time. They would have to come back to this place. It was great.

It seemed comical that they had to take the key from Master Vetu's neck. Erec staggered forward, hooting with glee. Master Vetu glowered at him, drooling and baring his teeth. But this only made Erec laugh harder. He sniffed a few times and, chuckling, reached over to grab the key dangling from a chain around the Vetala's neck.

It was hard to control his movements, as he kept bending over in hysterics, so the first time he reached, his hand went too far into the Vetala's black hood. The back of his wrist banged into something slimy. A moment later, one of Master Vetu's heads was rolling on the ground near his feet.

"Oops!" Erec chortled. It seemed that nothing more amusing had ever happened in his life. "Look at that!" he screeched, pointing at the head. "It came off!" He doubled over, crying in laughter. Everyone behind him was guffawing just as loudly.

"Ohh-ahh." He grasped his side and stood again, in pain from his hysterics and barely able to breathe. Shaking in laughter, he reached one more time for the key on the chain. Master Vetu stood immobile watching them, stunned by their behavior. Erec pushed his hand into Vetu's hood again, but failing to look carefully, he again overshot and banged into something hard. A second head shook loose and fell out, rolling away.

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"Aaaaah! Oh!" Erec felt like he was going to die of laughter. This could not have been staged better, he thought. One of the Vetala's heads was at his feet, glaring up at him angrily. He almost stepped on it by accident as he rocked in hysterics.

"Do it again," Griffin gasped, tears rolling down his red face. "Do the . . . third . . . one!" His snorts of delight filled the air.

Erec could not resist. He stuck an arm into the Vetala's hood and smacked the remaining head, which fell to the ground. "Eek!" He kicked it toward Griffin, whose face was contorted, snorting nonstop.

The key dangled in front of him, so he whisked it off the headless neck, which also was very amusing, and staggered back to his friends.

All of them looked to be in pain, gasping and rubbing their jaws and sides as they chuckled. Erec felt himself start to calm down. He waved his friends up the steps, thinking they should go inside while they were still laughing. But there didn't seem to be any urgency. The Vetalas were like some kind of a joke.

A voice came from the headless Master Vetu. "You think this is funny, do you? Let's see how funny you think this is." He raised a finger and pointed, to a chorus of appreciative chuckles, but nothing happened. This inspired more mirth.

But Erec realized that the Vetala was regaining his strength. They were laughing much less now. He fumbled the key into the lock, twisting.

A horrifying roar filled the air, coming from Master Vetu. Erec froze for a moment, then turned the key more, waiting for a latch to click. Nobody was laughing now. Kyron grabbed the key from Erec and jiggled it in the lock.