Jeremy Chikalto and the Demon Trace (Book III of The Hazy Souls) (19 page)

“Quack! Quack!”

The crocodile lunged into the water with the
ducks and there was a flurry of quacks and wings as the flock began
to rise above the stream. The crocodile leapt out of the water and
snapped into a slow duck and brought it down. The rest flew
away.

“Hey!” yelled Tina. “We need those
ducks!”

“Then go chase 'em,” said the crocodile,
chewing a wing. “Maybe if you hustled a little, you'd have some
dinner too,” the crocodile said with a mouth full, and then began
to tap off a beat on the bank.

Tina raised her index finger in the air and
was about to tell off the crocodile, but Jeremy nudged her
forward.

“Thanks,” he said. “Come on ladies, if you
please.” Jeremy picked them up and they each hugged a side of him.
He lifted up and raced forward. His pace quickened, and then slowed
dramatically.

“We're in the thick of them now,” said
Jeremy. “Look.”

Maren and Tina turned their heads and saw
the ducks flying all around them.

“Listen,” said Maren.

The ducks seemed to be quacking the word
“salmon.”

“Salmon?” Tina looked to Maren for
confirmation.

“Hold on, ladies.” Jeremy veered to the
right and set Maren and Tina down. He took off back into the air
and snatched a duck by its legs and brought it back to them.

It was flapping multi-colored feathers
everywhere. “Quack! Salmon! Quack!” The duck flung its head
about.

“Let the poor thing go,” said Maren.

Jeremy released the duck and it flew
upstream to join the others. “Are there salmon in this stream?”

Maren walked to the water's edge. “A whole
school of them.”

Tina ran over to the water, and rolled up
her sleeves. “Jeremy, don't even think about helping me.” She
crouched and snatched at a few fish, but they darted away. Then she
saw a slow, fat one swimming by, and she pounced on it and held it
up victoriously. The fish flapped around.

“Hey salmon,” said Jeremy, eyeing the fish
up. Its puckered lips gasped for air.

“Put me back in the water!” the fish
managed.

Tina lowered the fish back in the water, but
didn't release it. She brought it up again. “All right, now
what?”

Maren stepped forward. “Salmon, where are
you going?”

“Upstream, to my birth place. Water!”

Tina lowered it again and brought it up.

“Where were you born?” asked Maren.

“The water is so clean and new. The plants
are lush.” The fish gasped. “Must go back to the garden to
die!”

The salmon leapt up from Tina's hands, and
came back down and slapped her face with its tail. It splashed into
the water and swam away.

“That salmon is saucy!” said Tina.

Maren's eyes widened and she pointed at the
stream. “We follow the salmon to the garden.”

“Do we really want to go to a garden?”
Jeremy sighed. “I know who we'll find there.”

“Jeremy, everyone we care about is depending
on us. We have no other choice.” Maren walked into the swift-moving
stream and Tina hopped in and followed her.

“Maren, wait!” Jeremy ran into the water and
gripped her by the shoulder. “I have to tell you something.”

Maren and Tina stopped and turned
around.

“Don't be mad at me for
not telling you earlier
—
but, well I found Lyrna. Lyrna told
me why the spirit animals are attacking people. They are trying to
extract the soul because everyone is already dead.”

Maren just stared at him.

“What do you mean, 'everyone is already
dead?' I feel fine.” Tina frowned at Jeremy.

“Ever since the Apocalypse started, the dead
haven't been passing through the Haze. And then the Haze collapsed
into this world. No one can survive for long in the Haze, except
for me.” Jeremy stared at the ground. “The spirit animals are here
for the sorting.”

“So... we're dead, and so are our parents?
Is it all in vain?” asked Maren. She watched the salmon leap.

Jeremy drew a deep breath. “I don't know for
sure.” He frowned. “We'd have to bring Lyrna down here to find out.
If she claws at you, she's only trying to sort you.”

“Don't bring her!” said Tina. Her cheeks
reddened and tears dripped down her cheeks and into the stream. “I
need a drink.”

Jeremy leaned in and hugged Maren and Tina.
“Fedonis told us that we can save our families from the webs. But
we can't bring them back to life. We have to help them.” Jeremy
knelt down in front of Maren and kissed her belly. “He's still
kicking, right?”

“Yes,” said Maren. “And growing too, by the
looks of it.”

Jeremy tried his best to smile at her.
“Time's sped up.”

The sound of the flowing stream should have
been peaceful, but instead the splashes of the salmon as they leapt
and swam back to their birth place to die made it seem a dreadful
place.

“We have to go to the garden then,” said
Maren at last. She lay her hands on her belly and looked
upstream.

“We're going to Mantel,” said Jeremy.

“It's where we're supposed to be,” said
Maren.

Chapter 38

Return to the
Garden

It took several hours to make their way
through the dirt tunnel, wading upstream against the current. The
tunnel finally opened up into a bright cavern with a small bay. A
shoreline with a white sandy beach lay across the water, and beyond
that there was a thicket of fruits and vegetables. Jeremy had
refused to assist Maren and Tina and hasten their journey. He
wanted them to feel each moment—the sloshing of the water, the slap
of the salmon on their thighs. Each sensation felt more and more
precious the closer they came to the garden. Who knew what the
Apocalypse had in store for them.

Maren was the first to step onto the shore.
Mantel's garden stretched as far as the eye could see, with tidy
columns of white stone punctuating the vastness, joining the cavity
in the earth to the bedrock that separated the mantel from the
crust. The place was well-lit by torches arranged on the ceiling.
Rows upon rows of vegetables and low-lying fruit lay before them.
Jeremy and Tina stepped ashore, and they crept down a row of
eggplants and into a patch of watermelons. Soon, they met some
spinach. Maren stooped and pulled off some leaves. She ate it in
silence, and Jeremy and Tina joined her.

“Mantel's Garden is supposed to tell us how
to bring our family back,” said Maren. “If we're all dead, I
suppose it's not so bad to live, er, to be dead like this.” She
lifted up her arm and examined it.

“Sounds like something Mantel would say,”
said Jeremy.

They moved further inland, until at last the
sloshing of the water on the bank disappeared. “There are so many
torches here,” said Maren. “But nothing can replace the sun. How
can these plants grow?”

Jeremy shrugged. “Hey, look over there.” He
pointed to a nearby column that had a subtle outline of a door.

“How did you even see that?” asked Tina,
squinting at the stone.

“Let's go in,” said Maren.

Jeremy held up his hand. “After we
rest.”

Maren and Tina saw the wisdom in that, and
quietly arranged a bed of lettuce. They lay on it, fidgeting for a
time, and finally fell asleep.

Tina was the first to wake up, and she
nudged the two lovers with the tip of her purple moccasin. Jeremy
and Maren rolled over and their eyes fluttered open: Tina had set a
small pile of berries, carrots, and peaches in front of them.

“Thanks,” said Jeremy, and he picked up a
peach. Maren did the same. Tina nibbled on a carrot. After they'd
finished, they threw their scraps into the distance (it was all a
compost heap, anyway) and faced the fated door.

Maren approached the column and Jeremy
nudged the door open. “It's clear,” he said. Tina stared wistfully
back in the direction of the stream, and Maren had to pull her
forward.

They tiptoed in and walked through a dim,
rectangular room with a door on the other side. Jeremy eased the
door open. It was Mantel's banquet room. In the middle of the room
were two long silver tables set with silver cutlery, and a large
crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Towards the back end was
a gold statue depicting a harvest scene. The room was lined with
huge plants, and smelled like rose water. In one corner was a
fountain and there were three doors. What seemed like so long ago,
they were sitting at the table when a horde of monsters ambushed
them and burst through the door. “I wonder what ever happened to
ol' Serious Steven,” mumbled Jeremy. He looked at Maren.

“Let's just have a seat.”

“Yeah, let's just redo what happened last
time, sounds like a plan. Or we could leave!” said Tina, crossing
her arms.

Just then, they heard heavy footsteps
outside the door by the statute. They all dove behind massive
potted plants, and the door swung open. Ms. Fritz and an entourage
of ogre-like creatures walked in. The ogres stood by the doorway
while Ms. Fritz lifted a golden goblet off the table and made for
the fountain in the corner. She filled up the cup and set it down
in the middle of a table, and then left the room, ogres in tow.

When they were gone for a minute, Tina stuck
her head out of the leaves and gestured to Jeremy and Maren. But
they heard footsteps again.

The door swung open, and
Mantel hovered into the room in a long black cloak. He looked like
a pink frog with stunted appendages, and his skin was a flowing
membrane, faces bubbling to the surface and then receding. He
raised an arm in the direction of the golden goblet. Black smoke
gathered around him, intermingling with his black cloak brushing on
the floor. Ms. Fritz followed, careful not to step on his cloak,
and Jasmine behind her, carrying her baby. The goons followed, and
then these were followed by a whole host of characters. A crowd
gathered around the tables, and Mantel took a seat at the head.
Jeremy and Maren watched the scene unfold from behind the bush.
Standing right in front of the bush, facing away from them was
Serious Steven
—
their one-time mysterious camping buddy long ago. His Reeboks
were extra white, as if polished for an auspicious
event.

“Bring me my bowl,” croaked Mantel from his
throne.

Ms. Fritz disappeared behind another door
and returned with a cart of fresh vegetables. She wore gloves that
glistened all the way up to her elbows, and began to load an orange
clay bowl with squash, eggplants, tomatoes, and bell peppers. When
the bowl was full, she strode over to Mantel and placed the bowl in
front of him. She bowed and then took her seat beside him. The seat
on his other side remained empty. Then servants with carts of
vegetable dishes wheeled the feast into the room, and set it on the
table.

“Where is he?” asked Mantel.

“He should be here soon,” said Jasmine in
reassuring tones.

There was a sneeze behind a shrub, followed
by a terse “damn it!”

Jeremy squeezed Maren's knee. They were
about to discover Tina.

“How interesting,” said Mantel, turning to
the potted plant ten feet away in the corner of the room.

Just then, an old man with
a cane hobbled out from behind one of the plants, and approached
the table, mumbling to himself. He was wearing his finest
sackcloth. “Ten paces, then turn, another forty? Forty-seven, I
believe. That should have brought me
—
”

“Fedonis!” said Ms. Fritz. “Have a
seat.”

Fedonis paused, and raised his bushy white
eyebrows. “Aha! Tut, tut.” He shuffled over and sat at Mantel's
right.

“Fedonis shall have the parsley soup,” said
Mantel, nodding to Ms. Fritz.

“Should I then? Hrm, I'll be the boss of my
own soup, I should think.” Fedonis was cleaning his ear with one
pinky.

“Sire,” began Ms. Fritz, “should we say a
few words?”

“No!” Mantel lay his hand on a squash and
brought it up to his pink, bubbly lips. “We eat in silence.” He bit
into the flesh of the squash.

Everyone in the room sat down at the tables,
and began to eat in silence, save the ogres and Fedonis, who chewed
with their mouths open.

Everyone ate their fill, and then waited in
silence as Mantel continued to eat. Fedonis belched, and then Ms.
Fritz snuffed with displeasure. At last, Mantel set his fork down
and took one last, long swig from his golden goblet. He set it
down. “You may come out now, Jeremy Chikalto.”

Jeremy laughed to himself and emerged from
behind the tall, leafy plant. “Hello, Mantel. Fedonis.”

“Apollyon, you're late to dinner,” replied
Fedonis. He patted his belly. “It was a good one, shouldn't have
any problems in the old piping.” Fedonis patted Mantel on what
might have been a shoulder and stood up with his cane. He hobbled
over to Jeremy, who was quite tense and beginning to glow an
electric blue.

“Is this a betrayal?” said Jeremy.

The old man squinted at him and leaned in.
“No, just a prophecy.” He winked, and then made for the exit. “I'm
through here,” he said, waving his hand behind him. “I'd like some
peace and quiet now, if you don't mind. Rapscallions.” The door
closed behind him with a forceful thud, and Jeremy faced
Mantel.

“Yes?” asked Jeremy.

Mantel floated up from his seat.

“I invite your friends to join me as well.
Tina? Maren?”

Tina hopped out from behind her plant and
crossed her arms.

Maren stepped into view as well.

“Maren Nononia,” said Mantel with relish.
Jeremy flashed and was beside Maren. Tina joined them. He formed a
dome around them and sent a few rings of sparks into the room. A
couple of Mantel's party guests yelped.

“If you test me, you will regret it,” said
Jeremy.