A horrid smell of dead fish and waste filled the air. Royden coughed and grabbed the wall for support. His body got used to the smell a little and he was able to continue. The only sound was that of dripping. Royden listened carefully for anything else. He expected to see the great monster that came out of the pool that morning. He remembered that it also had a small form. He shook his head. That thing could be anywhere.
Nothing seemed to be in there. Royden followed the light. He came out in the inlet near the building. Hundreds of sailboats were tied up to the docks nearby on his right. On his left the ocean glittered in the afternoon sun. Surely Pooly wouldn’t be out there somewhere.
Royden turned around. The way he came was still just as quiet and empty. He sat down on the edge of the hole and looked out at the inlet. A few boats glided lazily around in the warm spring afternoon. Nothing at all seemed out of the ordinary.
Royden felt a little relieved. Maybe the siren was only joking. The painters might have never been taken at all. It was all just a big misunderstanding.
He jumped down from the hole and started toward the beach. He took a quick glance back. The hole was gone. The side of a restaurant took its place. He went back and looked. The wall of the building was as hard and solid as any wall he had ever seen.
Royden looked around the inlet. Nothing seemed out of place, and then he saw something that was. A hole appeared across the inlet. It looked to be floating in the air next to another building, a marina of some sort. Royden moved slightly to the left. The hole vanished. His head inched to the right. It appeared again.
By this point nothing should have surprised the boy, and yet everything did. Even the normal boats and water seemed different to him now. He walked the long way around the inlet. It took twenty minutes but he finally made it to where he saw the hole.
There was no sign of it. He lined himself up so he would be exactly across the way from the wall he came out of. He turned around. Still no hole. Royden sighed and shrugged, stepping back.
He backed into something and fell back. It was the hole.
“They can’t make things easy, can they?” He whispered to himself.
The hole led to another long dark stony tunnel. This one dipped down underground. Royden followed it for a while and came to an enormous cavernous room.
It was so large that it appeared to go on endlessly. The ceiling was covered in blue crystals, mysteriously lighting the gigantic cavern. They glistened in the light they produced. The floor was rough and brown. As he stood there taking it all in the walls on either side moved back silently. They gathered speed and disappeared. Royden stood in a seemingly endless space with only a ceiling and ground. He tried to see the ends but it was far beyond his eyes’ range. There was no way out, even the tunnel behind him was gone now.
He stepped carefully around, trying to figure out what to do next. His footsteps echoed loudly through the space.
His ears caught a sound. He stopped and listened. It was a grunting of some sort, followed by a voice. It was hard to distinguish, but it was definitely a voice. Royden listened hard, attempting to find where it originated from.
“Hello?” He said. His voice echoed loudly throughout.
A voice answered.
“Where are you?” Royden whispered. It carried far.
“Here.” The voice said.
“Keep talking.”
“Here.” The voice repeated every few seconds. “Here.”
Royden started toward where he thought it might be. His ankle still hurt, but it didn’t keep him from following the voice. After a few seconds he thought it came from elsewhere. He tried several different directions before finally sticking to one.
“Here.” The voice kept saying.
A few minutes later Royden made out lumps on the ground a ways in front of him. As he got closer he distinguished the lumps as people. He ran up to them.
Three men in jeans and t-shirts lay on the rough ground. They looked tired and weak, but otherwise unharmed.
“How did you find us?” The one who had been talking said. He was bald. His head glistened with sweat.
“I made a deal with a siren.” Royden said simply. “Now come on, we need to get you out of here before Pooly shows up.”
“You mean that monster?” One of the others said. He had short gray hair. He was much older than the others.
“Yes,” Royden said, “now come on before it gets here.”
The painters stood up and they started back to where Royden started from hoping to find an exit. They introduced themselves on the way. James was the bald one. Mack was the older one. And Jim was the third. He was the weakest and didn’t say much. All three were starving and had given up hope of ever getting out of that place. They tried everything they could when they were put there by Pooly the day before.
All together their footsteps and talking filled the air. Nothing else could be heard. Royden thought he felt something and stopped them. The ground shook slightly. And then again, and again. All the mystery disappeared when a great roar forced them all to clamp their hands over their ears.
“It’s Pooly!” Royden shouted. “Run!”
The four of them sprinted through the endless space. The roar seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was impossible to tell for sure where it came from. And then, just like before, the mystery ended when a great creature appeared suddenly before them. It was definitely Pooly, but something was different. Its front was brown and it had bright gold scales all over its back and arms. Its long snout opened wide and with great speed it came down over the humans. They ran and Pooly’s teeth found only hard ground. It roared louder than ever.
Royden sprinted away from the great beast. He remembered the painters and looked back. Two of them, James and Mack, were right behind him. Where was the other? Royden tried to remember his name but couldn’t.
“Hey!” He shouted. “Where are you?”
Pooly had been following Royden but as soon as he shouted it stopped and looked around. Jim, the third painter, could be seen running in the wrong direction. He must have been turned around in all the chaos and confusion. Pooly started after him instead.
Jim turned around. He stared up at the giant creature coming for him and froze.
“Jim!” Mack shouted. “Run!”
Jim didn’t hear him. He simply stared in fright at the monster.
With one swift movement Pooly tore Jim from the ground and crunched down. Royden turned and ran. Mack and James stood rooted to the spot, unable to comprehend what they just witnessed.
“Come on!” Royden bellowed.
Mack and James returned to reality and followed.
Royden didn’t want to end up like Jim. His mind disregarded everything going on. All Royden knew was that he needed to find a way out. His legs carried him faster than ever. His eyes scanned the endless void in front of him for some way out.
Nothing presented itself. No holes appeared this time. There would be no flashlight on a shelf to save him now. The only hope for survival was to somehow find a hiding spot while Pooly took out the painters. But that wasn’t like him. He survived tiny arrows and sharp clawed gremlins for the privilege of trying to find the painters, and now one was already gone. He couldn’t let the others die as well.
He took a quick look back. Jim and Mack ran as fast as they could away from Pooly, who closed the gap fast. Royden slid to a stop and before he knew what he was doing he let the painters run past him. Pooly opened its mouth and giant sharp teeth appeared. Royden saw it in slow motion, the teeth coming down, Pooly’s mouth moving toward him with pieces of Jim still in it. Royden closed his eyes.
He could feel the hot nauseating breath of Pooly blow on him. At first he thought everything was still go
ing in slow motion. And then the breathing stopped.
Royden opened his eyes. Pooly stood over him with its mouth closed. The monster watched carefully.
Royden waited for it to continue, for the teeth to return and for the pain of being eaten to begin. Only it didn’t. Pooly simply stood over him, staring down with its great big golden eyes.
The boy suddenly had an idea. He plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out the pendant. Pooly made a slight noise. Royden held it up. Pooly sat down with the force of a small earthquake.
It could smell the siren on the pendant and comb. It knew its master was near. For the moment Royden had the power. He had the flashlight from the beginning this time.
The boy took a few steps back. He looked over his shoulder and saw the painters watching from afar. Royden backed up to them. Pooly got on its hands and crawled slowly toward the pendant.
Royden was afraid Pooly could understand him and so didn’t want to say anything. He pulled the comb out of his pocket and threw it to James. James caught it and shrugged, very confused. Royden nodded to James who held the comb up. Pooly glanced at it and made another small noise.
That may have been a mistake. Pooly glanced quickly from the pendant to the comb. How could its master be in two places at once? Royden understood the mistake and ran over to James, and grabbed the comb away. Pooly continued to crawl toward them, looking confused. Royden gestured with his head to tell the painters to get away. They did.
“Pooly.” Royden whispered. The monster fixed its gaze on him. “I need you to let us out of here.” Pooly continued to stare. Royden held up the comb next to the pendant. “Let us out of here Pooly.”
Pooly flashed its eyes back and forth between the comb and pendant and Royden. It looked more confused than ever. Very slowly it rose up to its full height and let out another roar. This one wasn’t terrifying like the others. Royden felt a breeze that quickly turned to a very strong wind. He held on tight to the comb and pendant and tried not to blow away.
The walls came back with great force and the endless void returned to a large cavernous room.
The tunnel that Royden came through beckoned warmly from nearby. The painters went over to it.
“Pooly, I want you to stay here.” Royden said.
Pooly sat back down with another small Earthquake. Royden backed up into the tunnel. He continued until Pooly was out of sight. He put the comb and pendant back into his pocket and started back the way he came.
The three of them walked silently through the tunnel. They came out in the inlet. They walked all the way around until they were back at the brick wall. The hole didn’t return. Royden led the way back to the Discovery Apartments the long way. He led them to the pool room.
The water was back up to its normal level. The siren sat in the hot tub with her head back. When the door opened she looked up. She looked surprised.
“You’re alive?” She asked.
Royden stared angrily at her. “We lost one.”
“Only one?” She said, smiling.
“Shut up!” Royden screeched. The siren looked taken aback. “You wanted us all dead. If ever I get a chance I’ll come back down here and let you know how that feels.”
The siren looked unimpressed.
The door opened and a man around thirty years old came in. He looked from Royden to the painters to the siren. Royden hadn’t seen this man before.
“Oh my, what happened this time, Beth?” The man said.
The siren cringed. “Pooly needs to eat doesn’t he?”
“Where’s the third painter?” He asked.
“Like I said.” The siren sneered.
The man ran his hands through his hair. “Not again, Beth. We’ve talked about this. You can’t keep doing whatever you want. We are trying to keep a low profile. Do you know how hard that is when you keep having your pet eat people?”
“It’s not my fault you keep letting them in.” The siren, evidently name Beth, said. “And now you’re even letting humans live here, my goodness can this place go downhill any more than that?”
“I don’t know if you’re aware,” the man said threateningly, “but this is a human city.”
Royden didn’t know who this man was, but he liked him already.
“Well I don’t approve.” Beth said nastily.
“I don’t care.” The man retorted. He turned to the painters. “I’m very sorry for your loss. If you would please go to room 106 now. We can get everything sorted out there.”
“Okay.” James said.
The painters left the pool room, looking way past confused.
The man clapped his hands together. “Royden Doble, it’s very nice to meet you.”
Royden shrugged, not sure what to do. He was still dazed from everything that had recently happened.
The man chuckled. “I’m sure this must all seem very strange, why don’t we go up to my office and chat.”
Royden nodded. The man led him out of the pool room.