Monster Madness by Dean Lorey

I’d like to eat you.”
    “We can’t allow that, I’m afraid. Is there anything else?”
    “Yes. I have the bones of an Acidspitter stuck between my teeth. Would you kindly climb inside my mouth and yank them out?”
    “I would, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might just be a clever ruse to eat us.”
    “Oh, you’re TRICKY,” Tyrannus roared with a sly grin. “Can’t fool you! You’re too sharp for old Tyrannus—sharp like a Hydra’s tooth!”
    “What is it you want?” the Headmaster asked, the playful tone now gone from her voice. “We have much to do.”
    “Oh, I know,” Tyrannus replied. He suddenly became quite serious. “The Guardian is dying and you wish to save it. I, on the other hand, want that foul little beast dead. Therefore, I cannot permit you to leave.”
    “How, exactly, do you plan to stop us?”
    “By killing you, of course. If you get far enough away from the Anomaly to portal out, you’ll also be out of range of the Guardian’s protection—and then I’ll eat you.”
    He gave them a jolly wink.
    “So, it’s a standoff?” the Headmaster said.
    “Only until the Guardian dies, and then it will be a ‘head off,’ as in I’ll rip your heads off.” Tyrannus smiled pleasantly. “So…how shall we pass the time?”
    The Headmaster turned to Charlie and whispered, “I’m about to do something and when I do, I want the rest of you to run out of range of the Anomaly and portal away.”
    “How will we know when it’s time?”
    The Headmaster’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, you’ll know. Now…get ready for the wetwash.”
    Suddenly, she ran forward, unprotected, straight at Tyrannus.
    The reaction from the Named beast was instant.
    The great creature rose up to his full height and fanned out his wings. From this close, their size was staggering. He let out a screech that dropped Charlie to his knees, but the Headmaster didn’t falter. She continued to run toward the monster—looking, for all the world, like a mouse attacking a lion.
    She’s gonna die, Charlie thought. There’s no way she can survive this.
    Tyrannus rushed toward her. A heartbeat before they made contact, the Headmaster waved her hand, and a giant portal snapped open between them. Ocean water roared out of it with such force that it knocked Tyrannus backward, causing him to tumble end over end in a tangle of wings, washing away the Class-5 creatures that tried to come to his aid.
    She opened a portal to the middle of Earth’s ocean, Charlie realized. Now he understood what the term “wetwash” meant: It was a last resort, designed to clear away everything when the odds were too long and escape was the only thing that mattered.
    “Come on!” he shouted to his friends. “Let’s do it!”
    They all ran toward Tyrannus, trying to get out of range of the Anomaly as the Named beast struggled to regain its footing. Every instinct in Charlie told him to run away from the deadly creature, not at it, but he knew that the chance the Headmaster had given them was the only chance they were likely to get.
    As he ran, he extended his right hand, closed his eyes, and tried to open a portal. Usually it was easy, but not this close to the Anomaly. He could feel its alien power smothering him like a wet blanket on an ember. He focused harder, trying desperately to access his personal fear: the dread of being an outcast, alone in a world that despised him.
    I’ve led my friends into danger for nothing, he thought. And why? To impress a girl? How could I be so stupid? They’re gonna die because of me, and then I’ll be left here, all alone….
    Alone.
    To Charlie’s great relief, that ember of fear started to grow into a brightly burning flame. As he ran toward Tyrannus, he could feel the power of the Anomaly begin to lessen, and moments later he opened a portal back to the Nightmare Academy.
    “You did it!” Brooke yelled and Charlie flushed again with embarrassment—embarrassed that she had singled him out like