Page 39 of Dead End

Steven held the door open for Goran, who burst through the doorway with an armful of weapons. “I didn’t know which one you wanted.” He lowered the bundle to the porch.

“He’s lucky he didn’t cut off his own nose carrying sharp blades like that,” Ray said.

I chose the crossbow. We watched the brighter sky for signs of the bird’s return.

“Do you know what it is?” Nana Pratt asked.

“Not yet.” Although I had a fairly good idea, I wasn’t ready to share. I cocked and loaded the crossbow as the monstrous bird descended for another pass.

“It dropped something in the yard. Everybody hit the deck!” Ray shouted.

I crouched down and braced myself for an explosion that didn’t come.

Ray cringed. “Oops. My mistake.”

“Maybe it was a rock,” Nana Pratt suggested.

“I’ll take a look.”

“Not yet,” I warned Ray. “It’s circling around to come back.”

The bird skimmed the ground, opening its beak and devouring everything in its path. Stones. Grass. Flowers. All gone.

“My azaleas!” Nana Pratt clapped her hands over her cheeks.

The bird left nothing except overturned earth in its wake. My stomach dipped to my knees.

“It’s Ziz,” I said. “The great devourer of vegetation.” I had no doubt he’d been sent by The Corporation.

“Why would someone send a bird to mess up your garden?” Ray asked. “That seems petty.”

“If they’re trying to get under our skin, it’s working,” Nana Pratt complained. “I worked tirelessly on the flowerbeds to get them ready in time for spring and summer and now they’re ruined.”

“I don’t think that crossbow will do the job,” Goran said. “Do you have any cannons?”

“They were fresh out of those at the hardware store, I’m afraid.” He was right, though. Ziz would scoop me up in his beak before I had the chance to do any real damage. There had to be another way.

“Everybody inside. I have a plan, and I don’t want you to be collateral damage.”

“I’m dead,” Ray said. “What harm can it do to me?”

“I’d rather not test that boundary.”

We retreated behind the walls of the Castle. I stood at the window in the library that overlooked the front yard to admire the handiwork I was about to unleash.

Steven observed me with interest. “What are you going to do?”

“We call it Home Alone: Castle Edition.” Mages from the Assassins Guild had planted traps in the yard, but they had to be set off by yours truly.

I waited for Ziz to make his turn. The giant bird was now headed for the strip of land between the moat and the gate. Perfect.

Nana Pratt covered her eyes. “I can’t watch.”

The giant bird fanned its wings as it descended. I held my breath, waiting for the beak to open.

The earth exploded, sending up a cloud of dust that obscured our view. An anguished screech shook the windowpane. When the dust settled, the bird remained on the ground, his beak broken into pieces. Blood streaked his feathers. The right wing was so long that it bridged the moat.

Ashley pushed in front of her brother for a glimpse. “Is it dead?”

---