“Go to Grandma’s and join your family. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
He met my eyes, and then he turned and ran into the woods. I watched him go. I was still stunned. It was bad enough that the monsters had Tom. But my uncle was responsible. It was almost too much to deal with.
A minute later, Eldon climbed out of the tunnel. “We’re clear…where’s Laine?”
“Get the others,” I murmured. “We’re at the wrong place.”
Eldon narrowed his eyes. “Laine?”
I nodded. He immediately disappeared, and a few minutes later the other Swords had all filed back through the portal, looking very confused.
“What happened?” Allison asked.
“We’ve been betrayed,” I said. “My uncle made a deal with the monsters.”
The Swords looked at each other darkly. Eldon stared out into the woods. I could already tell he wanted to go after Laine.
“The leader is a troll named Dungan, and if my uncle was telling the truth, he is currently marching on Riverfield with an army,” I said.
Eldon turned back to me. “Why?”
“My little brother…he’s a Shadow Sight.”
Eldon and the others looked stunned. “What?” he whispered. “How can that be?”
“I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want anyone to know. I’m sorry. But Dungan knows, and he’s using Tom to show him the tunnels. He’s going to use them to invade Derwin. And I’m guessing he’s going to burn Riverfield to the ground on the way.”
“How are we going to stop an army?” Laren murmured.
I turned to him. “We’re going to crush the leader.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
We raced through the woods, heading directly for the massive line of hydro towers at the north end of town. As we hurried across Main Street in the darkness, I listened for screams, but I heard nothing but cars in the distance.
Obviously the attack hadn’t happened yet. We still had a little time.
“I should have suspected something earlier,” Eldon said grimly as we picked our way into the forest on the other side of the road. “He’s been acting strangely for months now. I just thought he was worried about his family.”
“He was,” I said quietly. “Part of it, anyway.”
Eldon glanced at me and then darted forward, slipping through the night like a mountain lion. I thought about Tom as I followed closely behind, knocking branches out of my way as we weaved in and out of the trees. I missed, and one sliced across my face, just missing my eye. The only thing giving me hope was the fact that if they were using Tom to find the portals, that at least meant he was all right. For now.
But if Uncle Laine was right, and there was an army gathering outside of Riverfield, then I still had to fight through hordes of monsters to get to him. Considering we had five Swords and myself, that was not going to be easy.
“What happens if the monsters take over Riverfield?” I asked.
Eldon paused. “They will flood through the tunnels, killing everyone in their way. They’ll emerge in Derwin, behind our defence lines. The battle will be over in minutes, and the monsters will claim Derwin and use our trains to attack the rest of the Under Earth. Even with the other Monster Crushers, the Under Earth will probably fall. And from there, the monsters only have one more place to attack. The surface.”
He looked at me.
“If we lose tonight, both our worlds may be destroyed. Mine tonight.”
We continued on, and I caught sight of the hydro towers through openings in the canopy, a few blinking red lights marking their place in the darkness. We were getting close now. My sweating fingers tightened on the hammer, itching to fight.
Allison suddenly fell in step beside me, her eyes darting to mine.
“I’m sorry about your uncle,” she said.
“So am I,” I replied. “But right now I just care about my brother.”
Allison nodded. “Then let’s go get him back.”
I saw the last comforting orange lights of Riverfield passing to our right, just visible through the trees. We were very close now. The night was cool and still; even the animals seemed to be hiding, as if they could feel the building tension in the air. And then I heard them: voices, rasping and cruel, shouting orders in the distance. Ahead, the trees suddenly opened onto a sprawling, grassy field, cleared away for the line of hydro towers that swept from Riverfield to a power station miles away. Secluded and enormous.
The perfect spot to gather an army.
We stopped at the edge of the trees, hunching in the brush. I pushed a low-hanging branch aside, trying to get a better look at the monsters. My eyes widened.
The field was littered with monsters. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. To the left, I saw them pouring out of the ground in a seemingly endless line before scurrying to join the others. They were forming ranks, gnashing their teeth and waving their shields and clutching their crooked swords. Yellow eyes sprinkled the field like fireflies. I looked toward the back of the army, searching for Dungan. It didn’t take long. The massive troll was standing in the midst of the horde, five times as big as any goblin. Even from there, I could hear him shouting orders. His horrible, booming voice shook the ground.
“Now what?” Allison whispered behind us.
Eldon scanned the area. “If we cut around the forest farther down, we can sneak behind the army and go straight for Dungan—”
He was interrupted by a piercing horn blow. The monsters suddenly straightened, tightened their ranks, and began to march toward Riverfield. In the background, the massive creature lifted someone up with his right hand, clutching him by his shirt.
It was Tom.
I knew there was no time. If we tried to go around, the monsters would reach
