Chapter 19

chapter nineteen Thrull? What would Thrull be doing here? Bardle was the one who seemed to have some hidden knowledge of The Shrieking. "Oh no!" June says, snapping me back to attention. "Alfred!" Through the trees, I spot Alfred's flashing bicycle helmet. He's shuffling into the clearing. Shuffling in, to be eaten... My butler! No evil tree eats my butler! Quint grabs at my shirt. "Jack, no." I shake him off and begin sneaking around the edge of the clearing. Every other moment there's a sickening SCHLURP and a howling moan as another zombie brain is devoured by the tree. Thrull's chanting grows louder and louder... I tiptoe out into the clearing. I come up behind Alfred like I'm doing some Assassin's Creed–type stuff, but I'm not executing him—I'm saving him. I

flex my fingers, feel the chain mail against them, and then— Alfred instantly bites down on my hand—and I really, really hope Quint's chain-mail gloves are as strong as he promised. Alfred's heels trace two rough tracks in the dirt as I drag him back into the darkness. When every last zombie has been swallowed— except for Alfred—Thrull stops chanting and begins to speak. And what he says is just—wow...

TREE OF ENTRY, HEAR my WORDS I PLANTEP You WEEKS AGO you HAVE FED ON UNPEAP HUMANS S0 THAT YOU MAY GROW. AND Now, YOU ARE FULL. NOW I gasp. Holy. Ravioli. .e...c. the Ancient? That's the bad dude Bardle was talking about. And Thrull is trying to bring him here?!? Thrull is a servant of .e...c. the Ancient, just like Blarg was! And Thrull is using this tree to bring .e...c. into our world!

The two large branches atop the tree pull apart, cracking, like ancient fingers separating. They slowly rise to form a V high above the tree. The branches glow red and blue as beams of energy begin to jump back and forth between them. In this strange window of glimmering, flickering light, a dim, blurry face appears. An inhuman face. And as it begins to speak, I realize, with horror— I'm staring at the face of .e...c. the Ancient, calling to Thrull from another dimension. WHAT OF THE KEY? WHAT KEY WILL BE USED TO OPEN THE TREE OF ENTRY AND BRING ME INTO THE WORLD?

I look across the way to Quint and mouth, "Key?" Quint just shrugs. ".e...c., my lord," Thrull says. "I am your servant." "What of the key?" the voice repeats. "I must see this world for myself, and I cannot until you open the door." "A group of human children are completing a bestiary," Thrull says. "I have filled the bestiary with magical energy. When the bestiary is full, the essence of the creatures inside will transform the book into the key." There's a hard lump in my throat as realization floods through me... Thrull used us! "I hunger," .e...c. says. "Our old world is bare. When I enter this new world, I must eat." "Yes, .e...c.," Thrull says. "There are many monsters close by that you can feast upon. I have gathered them. They know nothing of this. I alone am your servant."

Does he mean the monsters at Joe's? Are they in cahoots with Thrull—or is he going to feed his friends to .e...c.?! "Good," the voice growls. "Goooood. SoooooN. SoooooN you shall bring me forth..." And with that, the energy snaps away. The tree crackles and the window closes and the branches become still. This strange, evil, magical ceremony is over. Thrull uses my hockey stick to slowly stand. Seeing that, it hits me. That's why Thrull was at the mall! He was hunting for monsters to fill the bestiary himself. And that's why the bestiary already had entries in it when Thrull gave it to us. But then he was injured. Thrull's injury is no trick. He knew he could not fill the bestiary by himself anymore. And then the moment he saw the Louisville Slicer, the moment he realized that I "felled" Blarg—he knew we could help. Upon receiving the bestiary, we began doing his foul deeds for him. We were never simply documenting or recording. We were loading the magic book up with monster essence—so the book