Chapter 17

chapter seventeen When we finally get back on the road, the sun is starting to go down. Everything is drenched in a soothing, creamsicle orange and even the awful vines sparkle gold. It's beautiful. And we all must think so because, for a moment, we're all quiet. Except for Neon. Now that he's bandaged up, Neon has a lot more spring in his step. I mean, he's practically prancing! It's a whole lotta cute, a little bit out-of-control, and kinda painful.

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Neon is exhausting—but the longer I'm with him, the more I'm sure that he's not evil. Evil monsters emit a stench, always. Blarg, Thrull, Ghazt—they all stank. Like how the smell of bad milk tells you "don't drink me!" the odor of evil practically screams "RUN FAR AWAY!" But Neon pretty much just smells like water balloons and magic markers. What if Winged Wretches aren't destined to be evil from the moment they're hatched? Maybe they just turn evil because they're raised to be evil? Or... maybe they have, like, a big "YOU'RE EVIL NOW!" party when they hit a certain age, like a quincea.era or a sweet sixteen....

I'm thinking about important stuff like birthday parties and the nature of evil when we reach a railroad crossing. The tracks stretch out endlessly to the east and the west. "Ahh, yes," Johnny Steve says. "Now we are getting close." "He's right," Globlet says. "Look." Squinting, I see something in the sky—way, way off in the distance. It takes me a second to realize that they are Wretches—they're so far away they don't look any bigger than seagulls. There are a dozen of them, lazily circling in the sky, like buzzards.

"We simply follow these tracks," Johnny Steve says, pointing. "Thataway." I look down at the train tracks. "Thataway" leads east. But I have to wonder.... Railroad tracks are like man-made rivers—you follow them long enough, and you'll always get someplace helpful. And I wonder what someplace helpful might lie in the other direction. There is a sign at the crossing. Moss has grown over it, and it's covered in caked-on dirt. I step toward it, reach out, and wipe it off. Beneath the grime, I see the words: Shady Side. Two miles west. Shady Side. That rings a bell. I've seen that name before... Of course. THE MAP! After the Monster Apocalypse, during the months when I was alone at the middle school—I spent endless hours poring over a map of Wakefield and all its surrounding towns and cities.

I was looking for places where survivors might have ended up, like army bases. I didn't find any. But man, I looked at those maps for so long. I'd never forget a single town name. The reason I know the name Shady Side: it's on the same train line as Wakefield! If I follow these tracks west, I will GET BACK HOME.