Uncle Laine waved a meaty hand. “They were skeptical. But you just proved them wrong.”
“She hit a fake goblin,” Allison snarled. “Big deal.”
I turned to her. “And how did you join?”
She met my eyes. “I found the same portal as your uncle when I was ten. I demanded they train me, and Eldon agreed. He wasn’t too keen at first, but I proved him wrong. I’ve been here since. Mostly protecting the Under Earth, but now apparently guarding you.”
I stared at Allison for a moment longer and then turned back to my uncle.
“Does Aunt Sandy know?”
“No,” he said quietly. “We’re forbidden to tell anyone or to move here permanently. There are a few of us who would like to, but it’s against the rules.”
I saw Liz glance at Eldon. Even Allison scowled.
“You want to live here?” I asked. “Why?” I paused, looking at Eldon. “No offence.”
“None taken,” he said bemusedly.
Uncle Laine gestured around the room. “We’re respected warriors here. We could have a big piece of land and a nice house. We’re something here. On the surface we’re just greasy line workers and waitresses, fighting to pay the mortgage. Understand?”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I guess I do.”
Eldon just listened quietly. “There is great honour in what you do here.”
“Just not great pay,” Laine said, smirking. “It’s fine. We made our choice, and I’m happy to help. I’ve seen what these monsters can do. We need to stop them now.”
“If only we had a real Monster Crusher,” Allison snarled.
“Enough,” Eldon said sharply, standing up. “Laura, you better be getting back. You need to get some rest tonight. I suspect we all have some long nights ahead of us.”
I followed Eldon out of the mess hall, and my uncle stood up to hug me goodbye.
“You’ll be fine, Laura,” he said, resting his hands on my shoulders and shooting me a comforting grin. “You’re going to be great.”
I smiled as he messed up my hair and went to sit down again. Allison just stared at me as I left. It was going to be fun seeing her at school tomorrow. It still didn’t make sense that she was a Sword. How could someone protecting the world be that terrible? And why wasn’t she nicer to me? She was supposed to be helping me.
“This is weird,” I said, shaking my head as we walked out into the courtyard.
Many of the warriors were training again, and I noticed that some of the Monster Crushers were looking at me with just a tiny bit more respect.
Eldon smiled. “I told you it would get weirder.”
“So what’s next?”
“We continue your training. I have scouts watching the monsters’ movements under Riverfield, and we will know if anything happens. They still can’t find our tunnels, so Derwin is safe. Trust me, they would love to destroy Arnwell if they could.”
I frowned as we passed through the gate and out onto the road, the white stones catching the artificial light of the sun sphere. I watched as a group of children chased a ball down the street. “Why can’t they find the tunnels?”
“All the entrances and exits are expertly hidden. Finding them in the darkness without knowing exactly where they are is almost impossible, unless you have the Sight.”
“The what?”
“The Sight. It’s exceedingly rare. There is only one man in the entire Under Earth who has it…one of the Brothers who you met earlier today. There hasn’t been another in a hundred years. We call them Shadow Sights. With the Sight, he can find tunnels that we would never see, but he is too old and frail to venture off and search for them. So we must continue to do the best we can without one.”
“Aren’t there any on the surface?”
“No,” he replied. “The Sight only comes to those who know the darkness.”
I thought about Tom. I knew Eldon would love to know about the strange doors of lights that Tom had seen, but I couldn’t tell him. There was no way I was getting Tom involved in all of this. It was too dangerous. So I just stayed quiet.
We walked slowly through the village, and I watched as a group of villagers sat together in the tall grass in a yard, laughing and talking. It was all so normal, and yet here we were, miles under the surface. The lake sparkled in the background, ships sailing lazily across the crystal-clear glass of its waters. It really was a beautiful place.
“Do you think I actually have what it takes to be a Monster Crusher?”
He looked out toward the distant cavern walls. “I don’t know. All we can do is prepare and see what happens. Tomorrow you will start training with your personal Swords. You will have to become a cohesive unit if you are all going to survive.”
He glanced at me.
“What are spiders afraid of?”
“Fire,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“What’s the best way to attack an ogre?”
“Get behind him.”
“And what’s the most important thing to remember when you see a goblin?”
I snorted. “They never attack alone.”
Eldon smiled and stopped at the edge of the village. “Good. At least you’ve been reading.”
“That I can do.” I paused. “It’s going to get worse, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said calmly. “And we will have to be ready.”
I thought about that as I walked to the elevator, watching the butterflies. This was all fine and good…training at night and fighting fake monsters and pretending I was a warrior. But could I actually fight real monsters? Could I go into those tunnels, into the darkness, and wield that Iron Hammer?
Suddenly the cavern looked dark, and I shivered in the warm air.
I had a feeling I was going to find out soon enough.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As expected, seeing Allison at school the next day was a little odd. I kind of expected
