Chapter 7

chapter seven IN OUR PIMENSION, THERE WAS A LEGEND, A STORY TOLD TO KEEP YOUNG ONES AWAKE AT NIGHT. THE STORY OF A BEING KNOWN AS REZAC, THE ANCIENT DESTRUCTOR OF WORLDS. "How ancient is he? Older than you?" June asks. Bardle chuckles. "Oh yes. Much. .e...c. the Ancient comes from the time before time, when great battles were fought in our lands. After an age, .e...c. was defeated. And for millennia, he was gone. We lived in peace.

"But he returned. Throughout the ages, there have been rare, evil creatures who strive to bring about the return of .e...c.. One of these servants of .e...c. awakened his spirit. And .e...c. came like a summer storm, hard and fast, wielding magic more powerful than we had ever known. In his sleep, his hunger had grown strong." "I know the feeling," I say. "Sometimes when I wake up, I'm just craving a Baby Ruth, like—" "Jack!" Quint whispers. "Oh. Right. Story time." Bardle chuckles. ".e...c. did not crave 'Baby Ruths.' .e...c. craved death. He is the destructor." I gulp. That sounds bad. ".e...c.'s magic had grown strong," Bardle continues. "And then, at the peak of his power—it happened. In an instant, our world turned dark. The skies clouded. The atmosphere crackled. Doors opened—portals of energy. I do not know how. I do not know if it was .e...c. himself who opened the doors—or something else..." Quint shoots me a nervous look. None of this is sounding good.

Bardle continues, "But I know that next, we were sucked through those doors. All of us: the wild vines, the undead who carry and spread the zombie plague, my friends whom you see here—all of us, in an instant, propelled through a thousand doors, into your world." "Wait," I say. "And then this bad guy, .e...c. the Ancient—he came through these energy door portal gate things? HE'S HERE?!"

Bardle shakes his head. "No. The doors closed before .e...c. could come through. .e...c. the Ancient was left behind. For us, it is a relief—we suffered under his rule. But now we are here, in a new, strange world." "Oh," I say softly. "But, so—are we safe from this .e...c. fella?" Bardle nods. "It seems that way. For now. He was left behind in our world. We are now in yours." Phew. Bardle smiles. "And we owe you a great deal of thanks for defeating Blarg. He was a servant of .e...c.. One who worshipped him. One who would do his best to bring .e...c. into this world." Thrull takes a break from chomping on something that looks like fried rat tail. "You are building a bestiary?" he grunts. "How did you know?" I ask. "I see your friend writing and writing. And you have a device for image capture, correct?" I look down to the camera around my neck. Before the Monster Apocalypse, I took photos for the school paper. I wasn't half-bad, either.

Photography is kinda my thing—photography and monster slaying. "Yes," I say. "May I see this bestiary?" Thrull asks. Bardle cocks a sharp eyebrow at Thrull, but Quint shrugs and hands over his notebook. I watch as Thrull feels the weight of it in his massive hands. He opens it up and examines the three-ring binder like an infant touching something for the first time. At last, he shakes his head and says, "No, no—this won't do at all." Quint and I frown. He's bad-mouthing our bestiary? Thrull reaches into one of the bags draped over his shoulder and removes a thick, dusty tome. He holds it out. As I reach for this new book, I feel something like energy leap into my fingertips. My hands are tingly. Sound seems to fade, like someone is turning down the volume. My breaths come short and quick. My hand trembles as I lift open the heavy cover. And immediately sneeze. "Uh, sorry," I say, feeling really doofy.

No one says anything. My friends stare, eyes wide, at the book. The cover is made of something hard, like old monster skin. The pages are yellow and thick and textured. Each one is covered with creepy sketches of strange, terrifying creatures. Words scrawled in monster writing. And stuff. Things. Teeth and fingernails and hair and—eww—a flattened eyeball. "Um... what is this disgusting but awesome book?" I ask. Thrull grins proudly. "THAT is a bestiary. A true bestiary. From our world."