29. Level Five- The Black Monster
CHAPTER 29
Level Five- The Black Monster
Moni
“ W here are we?” Lynx questions as we make our way through the woods without my sweet nectar of life, coffee. Oh, that will make this all better. I reach for my S.I.N. box only to find I can’t get into it. No! Now this is truly my version of hell. Holding back the burning tears threatening to escape, I shrug in answer to Lynx’s question. I look around, trying to get my bearings, but I’m as lost as he is.
“I don’t know. Knox?” I turn to glance at the big shifter. “Do you have a clue?” I ask, slightly pulling on my tail. It’s my first time without my Chestnut, and I’m on edge. I’m not even sure how we got separated when that ghosty lady showed up, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s okay, who’s with him, and if he’s getting along with everyone. I’m missing him like crazy. Even though I have two shifters with me, I need my own...maybe even as much as I need my coffee.
“By the smell of it, we’re close to water, at least,” he observes. We break through the tree line and out into a section that looks like old campgrounds, but a shrill voice calls out before I can react.
“There you are, Monikaloy. I see you tried to run off again. Good thing those barriers are up,” a camp counselor wearing an ugly tan outfit says, glaring at me.
“Moni? Want to explain?” Lynx motions to the counselor before us, but I don’t get a chance to answer.
“You’re at Camp Tanglefoot, and this is your trial, Moni. Everyone knows your addiction, but do they know what happens when you go without? Have they seen the monster yet? Are you willing to face your fear within a few hours to escape Despair?” She cackles as the area before us goes black.
“Ahh!” Screaming, I reach out blindly to grab a hand, finding Knox’s in the dark.
“I got you, Moni.”
“Is that a bonfire over there?” Lynx asks, and Knox turns me around to see familiar cabins and a fire in the distance.
“What did she mean about the monster?” Lynx’s voice falls away as I drift toward the dining hall, dropping Knox’s hand in the process.
As I slowly weave between the other cabins, my skin starts to itch as if tiny harbingers are crawling under my bark. As I dig into my arm, I notice my bark changing colors between red, yellow, and dark gray.
What is going on?
My tongue is heavy and thick in my mouth, and I realize I’m thirsty. Camp Tanglefoot might as well be called Cramp Straggle Soot with all its rules and regulations. Matthew sent JP and me to camp this year since Levi was spending his summer in Hell with Lilith. It’s not unusual for twenty-year-olds to attend before they go off to prep school. And of course I wanted to make him happy, but I almost threw a fit when we got here, being separated into boys and girls only to be put with a group of self- righteous shifters. JP was assigned on the other side of the lake, and we only saw each other when we had “group” activities. This place was hell.
Finding the dining hall unlocked and empty, I quickly and silently start to rummage through the cupboards.
“What are you doing?” Knox asks, coming up behind me.
“You’re here with me?” My eyes go wide as I see him and Lynx staring at me. I can’t think straight because I’m adrenalizing.
“Yeah. What is this place?” Lynx asks as he opens a cupboard, peeking inside, and Knox looks out the window.
“Umm…” I start, but my voice cracks. “It’s my first and last summer camp.”
“Why was it your last, and what are you looking for?” Lynx hops on the counter and starts kicking his long legs.
I blow out a frustrated breath and pull on my short tail as I look between my two friends. “I need coffee. And it was my last because they had me banned,” I tell them as I return to looking into the cupboards with a flourish. “Help me find coffee!” I call out in panic. My hands start shaking so hard that they turn into a blur as I zip around the room.
“Moni, I don’t even see a coffee machine. I don’t think they have coffee here. Don’t you have any coffee in your S.I.N. box?” Lynx unhelpfully points out.
“Moni, what monster was she talking about?” Knox’s stern voice pulls me back slightly from the cabinets, and I look at him in horror before shaking my head in refusal.
Zipping around the room, I dodge in and out of the rest of the cabinets before my body shakes uncontrollably, and I catch sight of myself in one of the moonlit windows.
My eyes are glowing a dark maroon color, and my rapidly changing bark slowly begins transitioning to black. I need coffee! Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee!
I tear through the last cabinets, ripping off the doors and shredding through the bags on the shelves. Disappointment flashes within me before uncontrollable anger at not finding my coffee takes over. Coffee becomes the only thing I can focus on. Coffee! The delicious aroma that this evil place has refused to give me. I even told the counselors I needed my coffee, and they just laughed and said no one needed it.
My joints pop, and my bark snaps as my muscles and limbs elongate to accommodate a new larger size. Thorns pop out of my tail as it finally grows long again and thrashes back and forth before I hear something crash behind me.
“Fuck. Watch out, Lynx. The fridge is plugged in and shooting sparks of electricity,” Knox warns.
The green vines in my hair whip around dangerously like Medusa with those crazy worms coming out of her hair. They were worms, right? But instead of green vines filled with worms, mine are pitch-black vines with blood-red thorns. My fingernails lengthen to sickly yellow claws, and the areas between my bark now have thick barbs protruding out, protecting any weakened areas.
“Coffee!” I hiss, turning and glaring at the two shifters in front of me. As they stare, I pull out my wings, and with a whoosh, something crashes through the window next to me. Gone are my small, soft, and delicate wings, and in their place are razor-sharp metallic switchblades.
“Holy shit! Moni’s turned into the Incredible Hulk but the demon version,” Lynx shouts with wide eyes.
“I think we’re in trouble,” Knox whispers.
Turning away from them, I fly through the room and into the pantry, tearing across the room and looking through the walk-in freezer, just in case they have some in there. The click of the freezer door momentarily has me stuttering. I turn and see Knox’s green eyes falter through the small window with remorse from locking me inside, but I’m not worried.
I turn my back to him and throw the boxes of meat away from the corner of the freezer, kicking the wall twice before an opening breaks free. I peer over my shoulder to give him a smirk before shrinking and disappearing through the hole.
Immediately, once I’m free, I enlarge to my new height and head to the only place I can get the substance of life. The counselors who have hidden the meaning of life from me and the sole reason I get up and breathe in the morning. The glowing light of the campfire beckons me like coffee raises the dead. I lunge forward toward one of the counselors roasting something on a twig, and someone screams, knocking them out of the way as I shoot past. I barely miss rolling into the fire and turn back, snarling. “Coffee!”
“Shit. What is that!?”
“It’s a monster, run!” someone screams, and everyone jumps up in panic.
“Moni, stop!” Knox yells, pushing against the crowd.
I scream in anger and turn toward a flash of tan as one of the counselors takes off toward their cabin. They have to have coffee. I have smelled it on them before; they might have some. I need that sweet, beautiful nectar of life. It will calm my soul.
Shrinking down, I allow my wings to whip out and propel me forward until I’m close enough to reach out and touch them. I pop up in size, grab him by the neck, and scream into his face before watching, unaffected, as tears stream down his face. “Please don’t hurt me,” he pleads, and I shake him like the ragdoll that he is.
“Coffee!! Give me coffee!” I demand.
His face drains of color, and his eyes go wide as he forcibly swallows down his fear. Giving up on him answering, I toss him to the side and slash through the screen door of the building he was heading to. The lights are dim, but I can make out the room well enough as I take in a deep breath, frowning as the stench of body odor overpowers any scent of leftover coffee, if there is any.
I tear through the cabin, overturning mattresses, shredding sheets and clothing, and ripping up floorboards and off cabinet doors. Nothing . There’s no sign of the nectar of the Fates or even the Gods. Who is playing this cruel joke on me?
“Moni!” A strict and dominating voice calls out, and a growl vibrates through my chest as I turn my head to glare at Knox. “Calm down and come here. You are scaring everyone.”
He obviously doesn’t think I have a brain in this form. I do, but it’s only thinking of one thing, and I want it. Forget friends or family; I want this pain to stop. This indescribable hunger and thirst is driving me crazy. Is this what it feels like to go without a drug? I want it—no need it. I am not myself without my coffee.
“And destroying the camp…oh, wait. This is why you were banned.” Lynx finally gets it, and I would laugh if I weren’t seeing red.
Zipping out of the cabin, I turn to the first cabin, but someone comes up to me, and I don’t even think before I grab them and chuck them out of my way along with the person behind them.
I turn the other way when the most delicious aroma reaches my nose, and I make an about-turn.
“Come here, you little crack fiend,” JP yells, lifting a thermos. I barely have a moment to recognize that he’s not the current JP I’m traveling through hell with before focusing on the heavenly drink in his hand.
Without being told twice, I slam into him, knocking him over and greedily grabbing the thermos. I devour the sweetest nectar ever made, not even caring that it’s burning my esophagus, before moaning as I lick my lips.
“Ahhh.” I lean back, sitting on my haunches, and look up to find JP looking down at me. “Here you go, crack fiend. Drink this one slower, and then come find me in my cabin.” He smiles and hands me another thermos. “I need to brew some more,” he admits before quickly running off.
As I take off the lid of this thermos, I feel someone approach, and I immediately tense up as I wonder who’s coming to take away my drink. Looking up, I find Lynx and Knox giving me twin looks of disbelief.
“So you really do need coffee to survive,” Lynx’s voice breaks.
“It seems so,” Knox agrees.
I feel the change instantaneously as I transform back to my normal self, but instead of my neutral greenish brown, I’m sporting my pink.
“Hey, hey, hey. There’s no need to be embarrassed,” Lynx assures me, pulling me into his lap. He squeezes me close and tucks me under his chin. “Oh, sorry. I bet you’re trying to drink your coffee,” he says and pulls away from me enough that I can sip my coffee.
“Lynx is right, Moni. There’s no reason to be embarrassed. Think of this as being a part of you, like my rage is a part of me and my animals. We’re family, and you share this with us so we can help you.”
I’m not sure if I agree with the comparison between my coffee and his rage. My coffee is to me like the sun is to magic…or something to that standing. I can’t breathe without my coffee, and it’s way more important than his rage or animals. Or maybe that’s just a me thing. Either way, he is right about us being family, and I’m glad they accept me and my coffee.
Feeling better, I rise out of Lynx’s lap and shift into my four-foot self, giving Lynx and Knox a small smile. “Thanks.”
“Besides,” Lynx says, bumping shoulders with me. “You’re a fucking badass. I’m not even sure Knox could take you.” He chuckles. I peek at my big brother, and he winks at me, making me blush.
“Hey, look,” Knox states, pointing over my head. Turning, I spot a timer in the sky, and below it, a path has formed.
One of the counselors limps out from the side of the trees, and I faintly recognize her as being the first person I threw.
“Congratulations on passing your trial.” She gives me a bloody smile before disappearing back into the trees.
“Let’s get to the safe house,” Knox beckons, and I couldn’t agree more.