Shawn went to bed early. He felt exhausted from running in the rain and getting lost and from such a frightening afternoon. He kept picturing the wall of tiny skulls. And he kept hearing Ranger Saul’s warning: “Be careful. Be very careful.”
Shawn was just drifting off to sleep when he heard the howls outside his window.
He sat straight up, instantly alert. He could feel his muscles tensing, his whole body stiff with fright.
A long, mournful howl poured into the room from his open bedroom window. He held his breath and listened.
“Shawn … Shawn …”
Someone whispered his name. He hugged himself to keep from shivering. He sat up. Dropped his feet to the floor. Turned his gaze to the window. Only darkness out there. Like a black curtain. No moonlight at all.
Shawn … Shawn … Shawn …”
“Who … who is out there?” He tried to shout but the words came out in a whisper.
Is it Zeke? Is it Decker?
“Shawn … Shawn …”
He forced himself to stand. His legs were trembling, but he made them move. Across his small room. Out into the hall. To Kelli’s room.
Kelli, I need your help.
He pushed open the door without knocking. He dove across the room to her bed. And let out a sharp cry.
She was GONE.
Shawn stood in a square of gray light, staring at Kelli’s empty bed. The covers were tangled. The pillow was creased.
He gasped as he heard a sound behind him. A soft footstep.
I’m not alone in here.
He spun to the door — and let out a cry.
Kelli stood in the doorway, her nightshirt down to the floor, her hair wild about her face. “Shawn? What are you doing in my room?”
“I … I had to see you. I …” he stammered. “Where were you?”
“In the kitchen,” she said. She raised a glass of water in one hand. “Getting a drink. It’s so hot tonight.” She saw the frantic expression on her brother’s face, the wide eyes, the trembling chin. “Shawn, what’s your problem?”
“It … it’s out there,” Shawn stuttered.
Kelli narrowed her eyes at him. “What is out there? You heard something?”
He nodded. “The Shaggedy. It’s come for me, Kelli. It’s out there and it’s come for me.”
“Were you dreaming?” she asked. “Having a nightmare?”
He shook his head. “It called my name. It kept calling me. It’s out there. It knows my name and — and —” He trembled violently.
Kelli scrambled into her sneakers. “Stay here,” she told Shawn, motioning with both hands. “Stay in the house. I’ll see what’s going on.”
“No. Kelli —” He reached for her but she slipped out of his grasp. “Don’t go out there. Please —”
But she was already to the door. She pushed it open and darted into the steamy, hot night. Greeted by a symphony of chirping crickets and tree frogs. The hot wind making her nightshirt swirl.
She ran to the side of the little house. She could see Shawn’s open bedroom window in the back, the curtains fluttering inside the room.
“Who’s there?” Kelli called, her voice hollow on the night air. “Who’s there? Is anyone out here?”
In the shifting breeze, the tall swamp grass swayed one way, then the other. The trees at the back, tall on their stilted roots, shook and made whispering sounds.
Despite the heat, a chill ran down Kelli’s back. She froze when she heard a cough. A crackle of dried weeds on the ground.
She saw something move behind the thicket of trees at the end of the yard. A flash of black moving quickly between the tilted tree trunks.
“Who’s there?” Her voice cracked. She couldn’t stop herself. She didn’t think about the danger. She leaned into the wind and trotted toward the trees.
And saw him. Saw him clearly. Kneeling to the ground, examining a fallen tree limb.
“What are you doing out here?” The question burst from her throat.
Ranger Saul turned and looked up from the tree limb. His eyes were silvery in the dim light. He locked them on Kelli. “What are you doing out here?” He repeated her question. “It’s not safe to be out in the swamp at night.”
Again, his words didn’t sound like friendly advice. They sounded to Kelli like a threat. And the way he stared at her without blinking, his expression so dark and grim, sent another chill down her back.
“I … know it isn’t safe,” she said, taking a step back, keeping her distance from this strange man. He was dressed all in black, as if he didn’t want to be seen. A black hoodie covered his white hair.
They stared at each other in silence for a long moment. Saul climbed to his feet and brushed off the legs of his black pants with both hands.
“My brother heard noises,” Kelli told him. “He says someone was whispering his name.”
“Maybe he was dreaming,” Saul said. “Is your brother scared down here? Is he scared all the time?”
“Pretty much,” Kelli answered. “Were you whispering at Shawn’s window?”
“Of course not,” Saul replied. “Do you think I go around scaring people?”
“Then why are you out here behind my house in the middle of the night?” Kelli demanded. She brushed a large winged insect off her cheek.
A strange, unpleasant smile spread over Saul’s bearded face. “Night is the best time to hunt in the swamp,” he said.
“Hunt what?” Kelli asked.
His smile faded as fast as it had appeared. “That’s my business,” he snapped. He tightened the black hood around his head.
“Do you know about the Shaggedy?” Kelli blurted out. “You said you know everything about the swamp.”
Saul’s face lit up. “The Shaggedy? What have you heard?” he asked eagerly.
“Some kids at school say they saw it. I don’t believe them.”
Saul shook his head. “It’s not a joke, Kelli. The Shaggedy is real.”
“Huh? He’s real? Have you seen him? What have you heard about him?”
Saul rubbed his beard. “The Shaggedy lives in a cavern in the deepest water. Down so far underwater, no one has ever been able to see anything but the purest blackness. He lives in his own world down there with many other strange swamp creatures.”
Kelli studied Saul’s face as he talked, trying to decide if he believed what he was telling her, or if he was making up a fairy tale to frighten her.
“Have you seen him?” she demanded. “These boys at school … They say they saw him when he came up from the water and walked around town.”
“I’ve never seen him,” Saul said. “I’ve read reports. And I’ve spoken to people who claim to have seen him.”
A long, mournful bird cry made them both jump. Kelli heard the flapping of large wings in a tree above her head. The chirping of the crickets stopped for a moment, then picked up again, a steady, whistling drone in her ears.
“People have reported that the Shaggedy is half man, half monster,” Saul continued. “He stands on two legs, taller than any man. His head is huge. His face is ugly, his features gross and deformed. He has hands and feet like a man, only larger. And his skin is reptilian, lined like lizard skin. Wherever he walks, he drips the muck and slime of the swamp.”
Kelli realized her mouth was hanging open. She had been holding her breath as she listened to this frightening description. Now she let it out in a long whoosh.
She tried to picture the creature Saul had described. She imagined this half man, half reptile rising up from the swamp water and stomping onto land. And once again, she pictured the enormous footprints dug into the ground around her school.
“Do you want to know all about the Shaggedy?” Saul asked.
The crickets stopped chirping suddenly. The wind died. A hush fell over them. Kelli wanted to be inside her house. She didn’t want to be out here in the woods with this frightening man, listening to this story about a living swamp monster.
She k
new she should call her father. She knew she should go inside. But instead, she said, “Yes. Go on.” She had to know everything.
“This is the legend,” Saul began. “If you take the blood from a dead animal, and you use it to make fifty smears on a sheet of black paper … And if you yell ten times the words Here comes the Shaggedy … That’s all it takes. Drip the blood fifty times and call his name, the Shaggedy will rise from the swamp. The creature will come to you and do whatever you tell it to.”
Kelli thought about it for a moment. “The Shaggedy will be your slave?”
Saul nodded.
Kelli felt sweat run down her forehead. Sometimes the swamp was steamier at night than during the day.
“Do you believe that story?” she demanded.
Saul nodded. “I believe everything I hear about this swamp.”
Kelli squinted at him. “And you really believe if someone takes fifty drops of blood —”
“Everything,” Saul repeated. “I believe everything.”
And before Kelli could react, he suddenly dove forward. Lurched toward the trees. Swiped his hand low — and grabbed a long, fat snake off the fallen tree limb.
The snake hissed in protest. Snapped its jaws. Once. Again.
The snake curled itself around Saul’s arm. Saul grunted as he wrestled with it. It snapped its fangs at his wrist. Just missed.
Saul tightened his grip, then snapped the snake’s head back. The snake uttered a faint hiss and went limp. Saul held it tightly in one hand, his grip just below the big snake’s head.
Kelli struggled to catch her breath. The wrestling match had been terrifying. “How did you do that?” she cried. “How did you see that snake in the dark?”
Saul kept his eyes on the snake. “I’ve been in the swamp so long,” he said, “I can see like a snake.”
He’s not normal, Kelli thought. The way he moves. The way he prowls around. The way he likes to KILL. Saul is like a swamp monster himself.
“Uh … I’d better get back inside,” she stammered. “My brother was so scared. I have to tell him it was you out here — not a swamp monster.”
Saul nodded. He wrapped the snake tighter around his arm. “Take care,” he said. “No one is truly safe here.” He turned and disappeared into the darkness behind the slender trees.
Kelli hurried back to the house. Her head was spinning with pictures — dark, frightening pictures. Again, she saw Saul grabbing a snake in the dark. And she pictured the Shaggedy, half man, half creature, rising up on the surface of the water.
Like a horror movie, she thought. Swamp Beast III. But now we’re living in it!
* * *
The next morning was Thursday. Kelli woke up feeling really hungry. She stepped into the kitchen to make pancakes. Her dad sat at the small kitchen table, reading the news on his iPad. Coffee was bubbling in the coffeemaker. Shawn wandered in, still in his pajamas, yawning and stretching.
“You look like something the cat dragged in,” his dad told him. “What’s your problem, Shawn?”
“We don’t have a cat,” Shawn said.
Their dad frowned at him. “It’s an expression. What do cats usually drag in? Dead mice, maybe. Dead birds …”
“It’s a dumb expression,” Shawn said.
“I can see you’re in a great mood,” his dad said.
“I couldn’t get back to sleep,” Shawn told Kelli. “I was too scared. I was up all night.”
Dad set his iPad down on the table. “What happened? Why were you scared?”
“Shawn heard voices outside his window,” Kelli answered. “Someone calling his name. I didn’t want to wake you. You’re such a sound sleeper, it’s impossible to wake you anyway. So I went outside and looked around.”
“And?” her dad asked.
“And … it was that creepy guy. Saul, the guy who said he was a park ranger.”
Her dad squinted at her. “Really? He was outside our house?”
Kelli nodded. “Prowling around in the trees, looking for snakes, I think. He said he didn’t whisper Shawn’s name or anything.”
“Do you think you had one of your nightmares, Shawn?” his Dad asked.
Shawn shrugged. “It didn’t seem like a nightmare.” He turned to Kelli. “I don’t want pancakes. I just want cereal.”
“Are you going to be difficult all day?” Kelli asked him.
He nodded. “Definitely.” He pulled open the fridge door. “Hey, there’s no milk.”
“Would you two run and get some?” their dad asked. “Walk to that little general store on the path behind our house. It’ll only take five minutes. You’ll still have plenty of time to get to school.”
“No problem,” Kelli said. She lowered a stack of pancakes onto her dad’s plate. He handed her a five-dollar bill. “Hurry back.”
Kelli motioned to Shawn. “Quick. Get out of your pajamas and get dressed.”
He groaned. “Why can’t you go? Why do I have to go, too?”
“Because I’d miss you,” Kelli teased.
A few minutes later, they stepped out the front door. The morning sun was still a red ball just above the trees. The swamp grass shimmered, still wet from the early dew.
The path to the little store was not far behind their yard. Kelli turned and led the way along the side of the house.
“Oh, wow.” Shawn stopped and grabbed her arm. “Oh, wow.”
They both froze and stared in shock at the ground in front of Shawn’s bedroom window … stared at the two huge footprints sunk deep in the grass.
“I knew it,” Shawn murmured. “I knew the Shaggedy was here. Those are the same footprints we saw around school.”
Kelli stared wide-eyed at the round prints dug deep in the ground.
They heard someone approaching, and turned to see their dad trotting after them. “What’s up?” he asked. He blinked as he saw the two footprints. “Whoa.”
He squatted low and studied one of them, running his fingers along the smooth dirt. “Can’t be real,” he muttered. “No way.”
“They’re real,” Shawn insisted in a trembling voice. “It came for me. Last night. I heard it whispering my name. The Shaggedy was here last night.”
Their dad climbed to his feet. “No, Shawn —” he started.
But Shawn did his shoulder thing and went very pale. “We … can’t stay here, Dad,” he stammered.
Dad put a hand on Shawn’s shoulder. “It isn’t real, Shawn. It has to be a joke. Do you want me to go talk to those two boys from your school? They must be the ones trying to frighten you.”
“NO!” Shawn cried. “No, Dad. That would only make it harder for us. This isn’t a joke. Look at these footprints. The Shaggedy was here last night. I know it was.” His whole body shuddered.
“Maybe he’s right,” Kelli said softly. “Maybe it’s too scary here. Maybe we should go back home.”
Their dad hugged Shawn. He ignored Kelli’s remark. “I have an idea,” he said. “Something to take your minds off all this monster talk. It’s a beautiful day. Let’s take a boat ride on the river.”
“A boat ride?” Shawn’s eyes grew wide with fright.
Their dad waved a hand. “No fishing. Just a calm, smooth ride. Forget school today. Go back inside, get changed, and we’ll take the boat out. I promise you’ll enjoy it.”
Shawn continued to eye him. “Promise?”
His dad raised his right hand. “I promise.”
* * *
The clear blue sky reflected in the water as they let their boat drift with the river current. The sun warmed the morning air. Two red hawks swooped gracefully overhead.
Kelli smiled and tilted her head back, feeling the sun on her face. A large black-and-yellow butterfly fluttered over her face, then darted away.
“That’s a swallowtail butterfly,” her dad said. “Beautiful markings. They are tropical butterflies.”
He turned to Shawn. “Are you feeling calmer? What are you staring at?”
Shaw
n leaned over the side, gazing down into the water. “An orange snake,” he said. “It’s way big. Look, Dad.”
“It’s a salt marsh water snake,” his dad said, catching sight of it. “It won’t bother you.”
“I’m keeping my hands inside the boat,” Shawn said.
His dad snickered. “You’re getting smart.”
They began to row as the current slowed. The water grew darker.
“Getting into deep water now,” their dad told them. “We’re lucky it’s so calm today. We’re very close to Deep Hole. The most exciting and mysterious part of the river.”
A sudden wave rocked the little boat. Shawn cried out. Kelli gripped the sides.
The world’s deepest cavern, she thought. It’s right beneath us now.
Her mouth dropped open and she pointed with a trembling finger. “Dad — look. Something is bubbling in the water.”
“Huh?” Shawn gasped.
Their dad lowered his oars. “I don’t see anything, Kelli.”
“Don’t you see it? It’s kind of churning, splashing back and forth. Like something is right below the surface.”
“No!” Shawn screamed. “Let’s get away from here!”
Their dad flashed Kelli a stern look. “Stop scaring your brother. I mean it.” He gazed at the water. “I don’t see what you are talking about. All rivers have currents, Kelli.”
“It … didn’t look like a current. Seriously,” she replied. “The water was churning. Like something was coming up.”
Their dad sighed. “That’s enough. You two are determined to live in a horror movie. Did you forget you’re New Yorkers? You’re not supposed to be afraid of anything.”
“Remind us when we get back to New York,” Kelli said.
They rowed back home in silence.
Shawn kept his head down, his eyes on the water. Kelli hummed softly to herself. She saw a bunch of little dark brown rabbits hunched on a spit of sand that jutted into the water. “What are those, Dad?”
“They’re called Lower Keys marsh rabbits.”
“They’re so cute,” she said.
Her dad didn’t answer. He seemed to be thinking hard about something. She wondered if he was thinking at all about going back to New York.