Chapter 19

chapter nineteen We're getting close. I can feel it. I can SEE it. The world is getting stranger.... Our path is overrun with glowing green plant life. Odd, unknown noises burp and chirp from the shadows. It begins to feel like we're on some sort of apocalyptic walkabout.... Join me, Jundal Toro on an ends of the world Walkabout. Observe zombies. Witness vine thingies experience the dangerous danger of the horrible rifters search for the elusive. Maybe in impossible to find wretches nest and never, ever, ever make it home?

No one laughs. Everyone seems to have lost the energy to chit-chat. We walk on in silence.... I smell the monsters before I see them. The odor of evil. The wind carries the scent, unfiltered and raw. It's foul. And so are our surroundings. Everything is warped and burnt. Homes lean back, away from where we're headed—it's like if they had legs, they'd get up outta there quicker than you could say "Wretches' nest." There are huge claw gashes across sidewalks and streets, like the Wretches have been using them as a scratching post. "There it is, up ahead," says Johnny Steve, sounding a little sad. "Their nest."

I squint into the distance. Moonlight is throwing dark shadows everywhere. I see the nest—a towering silhouette, like some sort of homemade volcano. Then I see the Wretches, in shadow. They look like gargoyles come to horrible, nightmarish life. "It's too dark now," Johnny Steve says. "Your slow human legs took too long." "Well, I really didn't want to wait until tomorrow," I say, hoping they don't hear the lie. "But if we have to, we have to." "HAVE TO, HAVE TO!" Globlet exclaims. "CAMP OUT! Can we watch Now and Then? It's everyone's favorite! Please!" Instantly, everyone's mood brightens. We'll say our good-byes tomorrow. Tonight, we just relax. We set up camp. I gather pine needles and kindling to build a fire. Neon "helps" by tearing chunks of siding off of houses and dropping them at my feet.

We huddle around the cozy fire. Johnny Steve hung on to some chocolate drizzle from the ice cream truck, and I show everyone how to make bootleg s'mores. Johnny Steve is super impressed by the fire. "How did you make that?" he asks, his rubbery lips hanging open in awe. "Building fires actually is a human skill," I tell him. "When I lived in the school, I made a fire using only a science lab magnifying glass and a pile of ungraded quizzes." "Cool story," Globlet says. "You should brag about it." I poke Globlet in the side and she squeaks and giggles. Neon must not have been this close to fire before, because he inches toward it, curious. Ash blows off, his eyes water, his nose crinkles, and then—

Neon leaps back, confused. He shakes his head and paws curiously at his snout. "No, Neon. You didn't breathe fire. You just sneezed," I say, laughing. "You're not actually a dragon. You just kinda look like one." He brightens at the sound of my laughter. He does it a few more times, sniffing the air until his nose crinkles, then sneezing and making the campfire roar. He looks at us for

approval each time, and hops from foot to foot when Globlet giggles. "Neon's a natural sneezer!" Globlet says. "Way better than you, June." Johnny Steve struts over, swinging his walking sword. "Human sneezes are notoriously lame." I glare at the two of them, then: "Neon, how about you show Johnny Steve your biggest, best sneeze?" Neon smiles. Then there is a booming— ACHOO! The stream of fire catches the blade of Johnny Steve's walking sword, and he starts waving it around, trying to extinguish it—