“This is why you should be training,” she said quietly. “Two goblins should stand no chance against a Monster Crusher. Get up.”
“They were coming into my house—”
“They will never enter the house,” she cut in coolly. “They’re afraid of the Brotherhood’s spells. They wanted to draw you outside and ambush you. Which you foolishly fell for.”
I climbed to my feet, staring down at the dead goblin beside me. A light flicked on upstairs. “My parents are going to see the bodies—”
“I will take care of the bodies,” she snarled. “And I will be sure that we add a few extra Swords here to keep watch. Clearly you need the help. Lie to your parents. You don’t know how close you just were to putting your family in danger. When Eldon tells you something…listen.”
With that, she grabbed the goblin’s collar with one hand and dragged him toward the trees. I watched her disappear into the shadows and then hurried to the back door. I had just stepped inside when Stache and my mom rushed into the family room.
“Laura!” my mom gasped. “What were you doing outside?”
Tom stepped in behind them, looking very upset.
“Sorry,” I mumbled sheepishly, “I heard something back there. I thought it might have been the hiker. I went to have a look and a stupid bat flew right by and scared me.”
Stache hurried to the back door and looked outside, locking it as he did. I glanced outside, alarmed, but the girl had already removed the other goblin. Stache turned to me.
“Why didn’t you wake us?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t want to wake you for nothing. Sorry.”
My mom wrapped me in a quick hug and took my face in her hands, looking over me. “We’re just happy you’re okay. Please don’t go out there by yourself at night.”
“I won’t anymore,” I muttered. “It’s all right, Tom.”
He was giving me a weird look from the doorway. “You sounded really scared.”
“I don’t like bats. No offence.”
Tom didn’t look convinced, but he obviously decided to let it go. “Well, I’m just glad you’re all right, Giant Girl.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m going to get back to bed. Sorry again.”
We all headed back upstairs, and I gave them a little wave and closed the bedroom door behind me. I leaned there for a moment, trembling. That was too close.
Eldon could have warned me that the monsters were going to try to kill me so soon. But he was right: I was already involved, whether or not I wanted to be. I could try to get my parents to move, but what if the monsters followed? What if they started attacking Riverfield because I hadn’t done my job? And how could I possibly convince them to move without telling them about the Under Earth anyway? There’s no way Stache would just give up on his dream house.
No, I was definitely going to be here for awhile. Which meant I really only had one choice.
I threw on some light track pants and a T-shirt, grabbed the guide, and crawled through the panel into the elevator. If these monsters were going to come after me, I better figure out how to start crushing them. After plummeting back to Derwin—still shutting my eyes to try to keep from vomiting—I hurried into the meadow.
“Are you all right?” Porton asked, his stormy grey eyes narrowed in worry.
“Yeah,” I replied. “But only because that Sword was there.”
“That’s her job,” he said wryly, leaning back in his chair. “So what now?”
“I think I better start training,” I murmured.
Porton smiled grimly. “I agree. They’ll send more than two next time.”
Chapter Fourteen
An hour later I collapsed onto the cobblestones, sweat dripping over my shaking hands. Even though the air was cooler than I thought it would be, I was completely drenched. I’d gone through the Warrior’s Way three times now, and I wasn’t getting any better.
Eldon had actually looked concerned when I first walked through the gate, and he had reiterated to me to always stay in the house at nighttime, no matter what.
“The monsters are creatures of darkness. Why do you think we never dim the sun sphere?” he asked, pointing upward at the massive mechanical contraption on the cavern roof.
“What is it?” I asked curiously.
“A creation of the Brotherhood, thousands of years ago. Half magic and half alchemy, like I said, but the secrets of its creation were lost centuries ago. There are five sun spheres remaining in the Under Earth. They bring life, and they keep away death.”
“Where are the other five realms?”
“Scattered across the globe,” he said. “There are two under your North America, while the largest is the original, under Africa. There is one under your Antarctica, and the last is beneath your China.”
I shook my head, frowning. “And how do all these Monster Crushers get to Derwin every night?”
“Most stay for longer and then go home for a few weeks. But we have trains running throughout the Under Earth…different than yours, maybe, but similar. They run on coal and reach incredible speeds, so we can stay in relatively good contact with the other realms. You can take one to visit the other realms, if you complete your training.”
I thought about that, looking out at the sprawling cavern. It still seemed impossible that all this could exist. The sparkling lake, the forests, the wheat fields.
Eldon obviously guessed at my thoughts. “For surface humans, it’s hard to believe. They know the underground as dark and lifeless. But if you were born here, it’s frightening to imagine an open sky. A yawning blackness that sweeps over the landscape. For us, it feels like we might just float away into that darkness and never return.”
“I guess,” I murmured. “How many of you are there?”
“Derwin is the smallest of the five realms: there are
