Ben Braver and the Vortex of Doom Read online

  Donnie dived after it but missed. Noah shot fire bullets from his fingertips, but none of them hit the Reaper.

  ‘Your aim needs work!’ Penny said, leaping for the alien just before it reached the edge of the forest, landing right on top of it. Noah and Donnie jumped in just as I got there.

  The three of them wrestled the Reaper, but it was eight tentacles against three kids, and the tentacles were winning.

  That’s when the four of us realised the same thing at the exact same time – that the Reaper wasn’t a weak little squid – he was extremely strong.

  Headmaster Kepler was wrong.

  Very, very wrong!

  The Reaper slipped his tentacles around my friends, pulling each kid off his body one at a time. Noah was the last to get tossed, and then the alien went for the forest again.

  Without thinking, I dropped onto the squid, pinning him under my legs. He squirmed a bit but stopped when we made eye contact.

  That’s when the weirdest thing happened.

  A little slit opened under his eyes, and he smiled.

  I sprang back, but the alien was attached to me, wrapping its creepy tentacles around my arms.

  ‘No, no, no, no!’ I screamed. ‘Help me!’

  Noah, Penny and Donnie grabbed his body and pulled in the opposite direction until every last suction cup popped off my skin.

  The Reaper shook himself free and came at me again, but I was gone, sprinting through the forest like crazy to get away.

  It didn’t matter how fast I was. The Reaper was faster. He dashed in front of me and behind me, jumping from tree to tree, using his tentacles to swing and slingshot himself all over the place, like a cartoon character hopped up on too much caffeine.

  He was playing with me.

  Suddenly, Noah grabbed me from behind and lifted me up, leaving a stream of fire behind us as we flew towards the sky.

  The Reaper swung higher to keep up with us. When we were past the top of the forest, I thought we were clear until I looked at my foot.

  He was on my ankle!

  AND HE WAS STILL SMILING.

  I kicked my foot, but it didn’t do much.

  The creature climbed my leg as I wriggled in Noah’s grip. I tried to pry him off, but there was no way I could compete with eight different tentacles snaking around different parts of my body.

  I freaked out, twisting and turning and trying my best to keep the alien from making it to my head.

  ‘Ben, stop!’ Noah said. ‘I can’t hold you when—’

  Noah’s grasp slipped, and I dropped.

  The Reaper enveloped his tentacles around me like I was a mummy. Then he slid himself over my face just like he did when we were Outside. I was powerless to stop him.

  My body was suddenly yanked upwards like it was attached to a yo-yo and everything became a blur of white and blue colours that quickly faded to black.

  I clenched my eyes shut, hoping that whatever was gonna happen would happen fast. And I hate to say it, but now that the Reaper was on my head, a quick and painless death would’ve been the best-case scenario.

  The last thing I heard was the sound of his voice, not from my ears, but from the inside of my skull.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  When my body came to a sudden stop, I finally opened my eyes. Crazy that the whole thing lasted ten, maybe fifteen seconds, but somehow it was nighttime, and there were stars in the sky.

  Even crazier was that I wasn’t in any pain.

  There were no signs of my friends anywhere.

  And as for the Reaper … there wasn’t any sign of him either.

  I pushed myself up, feeling light-headed.

  Literally.

  My head felt lighter.

  Actually, everything felt lighter.

  A barren grey desert surrounded me on all sides, and my arms floated like I was underwater even though I wasn’t.

  No forest. No plants. No colours.

  No nothing.

  I was definitely NOT in Colorado anymore.

  I tried jumping to my feet, but I drifted off the ground like I was weightless. Then I tried running, but my body barely moved, like I was stuck in some kind of slow-motion nightmare.

  None of it made any sense.

  That is, until I looked up.

  … And saw planet Earth floating silently in the night sky.

  And if Earth was up there, it could only mean …

  I panicked.

  It couldn’t have been real.

  It had to be a dream.

  I wasn’t even wearing a space suit!

  How was I on the moon without a space suit?

  I was in pure freak-out mode when things got even worse. I heard that voice in my head again. The one I had heard when I was falling through the trees not even a minute ago. The voice of the Reaper.

  ‘HELLO, BEN,’ he said.

  The fact that I could hear his voice inside my skull meant he was still on my head.

  ‘STAY CALM,’ he said with a low, creepy voice. ‘EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY.’

  ‘Get off!’ I said, feeling his body right on my face.

  He was squishy and completely draped over my dome. I slid my fingers up my cheeks, under the Reaper’s gross squid body, and started pulling him off my skin.

  ‘No, no, no, don’t!’ he shouted in my head. But his voice wasn’t so scary this time. It was bright and earnest, kind of like it came from a kid.

  I stopped for a second, surprised at his change in tone, but then it went back to being all goth.

  ‘Uh, I mean, stop that at once, thick-skulled human!’ the Reaper commanded.

  But I didn’t listen.

  The Reaper’s tentacles wrapped around my wrists and yanked my arms back. ‘You’re acting like a baby!’ the Reaper shrieked, dropping the Darth Vader voice completely.

  ‘Takes one to know one!’ I said. I knew I needed a new tactic, so I tried face-planting into the ground, but the low gravity made that idea worthless.

  Then he used my own hands to punch me in the face over and over again.

  We both screamed as I shook my head back and forth. When I stopped, the moon was spinning, and the Reaper was groaning. I looked at Earth.

  Every single person I knew and cared for was on that little blue marble. And there I was on the surface of the moon with the chance to save ALL their lives.

  It just meant that I’d have to give up mine.

  And I was okay with that.

  I grabbed his squishy body again. ‘Get your butt off my face!’ I said, squeezing hard.

  ‘Stop!’ the Reaper said, laughing. ‘That’s my ink sac!’

  Black fluid shot out from under him and splattered down my cheeks. Little blobs of dark liquid floated in front of us.

  The Reaper howled with laughter as I sat in shock. It was so gross, but I wasn’t exactly sure how gross, y’know what I mean?

  What is squid ink?

  Is it pee?

  Like … did the bad guy just pee all over me?

  I was probably better off not knowing.

  The Reaper caught his breath. ‘Are you finished?’

  I tried to be brave. ‘You might as well kill me now, because there’s no way you’re using me to destroy the world!’

  ‘I’m NOT going to kill you,’ the Reaper said. ‘I used you to fly us out here, but I can’t control you if you’re dead. Dead bodies don’t work the same, don’t ask how I know. So if you die out here, I’m sort of stuck.’

  ‘So I’m your ride back?? Why’d you bring us out here at all then?? Why wouldn’t you take us somewhere else on Earth??’

  ‘Well, maybe I wasn’t thinking clearly since that fire kid was trying to kill ME!’

  ‘Noah wasn’t trying to kill you! He was trying to catch you!’

  Dang it!

  I said too much, and now the Reaper knew Noah’s name. I stopped talking, but did that matter? Could that thing on my head read my mind?

  ‘Just so you know, I can’t read your mind. O
ur bond doesn’t work like that,’ the Reaper said.

  ‘Then how’d you know I was thinking it?’

  ‘It kind of FELT like you were?’

  Fine.

  He couldn’t read my mind.

  I could use that to my advantage.

  I sat on the ground, folded my arms, and pouted like a baby. We’d see if the Reaper liked the silent treatment.

  ‘Good! Don’t talk!’ he said, annoyed. ‘All you need to do is listen. I’m not going to hurt you. You’d already be dead if I wanted to kill you. It PAINS me to say this, but I need your HELP.’

  ‘Yeah right,’ I said. ‘You need my help with destroying the world.’

  Obviously, I’m not very good at giving the silent treatment.

  ‘I know you don’t want to hurt anybody,’ the Reaper said. ‘I know you won’t hurt ME.’

  ‘What’s that mean?’ I asked.

  ‘You’re not like the ones who captured me. The ones who locked me in a cage to study me. Kept me from returning to my home. My friends. My family. They chopped my tentacles off over and over to study my DNA.’

  ‘But they grew back!’ I said like that was a good reason.

  ‘Which is how they did it hundreds of times,’ the Reaper said. ‘But you’re not like them. You won’t do that.’

  ‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘That’s … pretty uncool.’

  ‘I know YOU just want to get rid of me, Ben. Which is why I can trust you because you only want me to GO AWAY.’

  I hated that I had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. I was forced to have this conversation with the Reaper.

  ‘You’re not wrong,’ I said. ‘But what do you want?’

  The alien squid paused. ‘I just want to go home.’

  ‘I see what’s going on here,’ I said. ‘You dragged me out to the moon, and now you need me to get you back, but then you’re gonna use me to murder billions of people!’

  ‘WHAT are you talking about?’

  ‘You’re gonna give me powers and then use me to destroy the world! You already did that with Headmaster Kepler, but I’m not gonna fall for it!’

  ‘What do you mean I already did that?’

  ‘When you invaded Earth! Headmaster Kepler told us all about it!’

  ‘What, the guy with the eyebrows? I wasn’t INVADING! I was EXPLORING!’

  ‘No! You used Donald Kepler to destroy the world! He told us everything! That’s why he went back in time and caught you before you could … do … the thing … and so you …’

  Okay, wait …

  Headmaster Kepler went back in time and caught the Reaper before any of that happened. So technically the Reaper never did anything wrong.

  At least not yet.

  ‘But don’t you want revenge for what they did to you?’ I asked. ‘I mean, your name is the Reaper because you murdered the world.’

  ‘My name is NIX, you jerk,’ he said. ‘And all I wanna do … is find my ship and go home.’

  I didn’t know what to think, because it didn’t sound like he was lying, but most good liars don’t.

  ‘How do I know I can trust you?’ I asked.

  ‘You don’t, I guess,’ Nix answered honestly. ‘But I never did anything wrong. The only thing I’m guilty of is being curious about your planet. And for that, they chopped me apart repeatedly and then abandoned me in that dark place.’

  He was talking about the Outside.

  There I went, feeling sorry for the bad guy again, just like I did with Abigail. With Angel. And with Coach Lindsay.

  I had no idea what to do.

  I know what Headmaster Kepler would’ve done – he would’ve torn the alien off his head and let them both die in outer space.

  But I wasn’t Kepler.

  I was me.

  And if there was any chance the squid wasn’t the villain everybody thought he was …

  Wasn’t that a chance worth taking?

  ‘I want to make you a deal,’ Nix said bluntly.

  I took a deep breath, hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. If I was wrong, then humanity was doomed. But if I was right …

  I mean, I fully understood the weight of my decision, but I had to go with my gut on this.

  ‘I’m listening …’ I said.

  ‘I’ll give you powers for the day. Free rein. But in return, you help me find my ship so I can go back to my planet.’

  Powers for the day would be awesome, and there was still the Abandoned Children to worry about …

  ‘And what if I say no?’ I asked.

  ‘I mean, it’ll be easier if you work with me,’ Nix said.

  I wasn’t sure if that was a threat or not.

  I sighed. ‘What time is it? How long have we been on the moon?’

  ‘Only a few minutes,’ Nix said.

  Donnie took us back to the funeral around noon. The Abandoned Children were going to attack at eight p.m., and I had no idea where they were at the moment, so that gave me about eight hours until they hit the school.

  That was eight hours for me to learn how to be a kick-butt superhero.

  Nix’s deal suddenly sounded a little sweeter.

  Obviously, I wasn’t sure if he could be trusted.

  But I guessed I was about to find out.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Noon.

  Eight hours until the attack.

  I zoomed through space like a rocket, going so fast that I could actually see planet Earth growing larger. Every molecule in my body screamed for joy as I held my arms over my head, flying like Superman.

  My bond with Nix gave me superpowers. I could fly, I had superstrength, and I could control his tentacles with practice. As a bonus, he kept himself camouflaged on my head so nobody could see him. He was basically invisible.

  And so, after two long years of watching kids at Kepler Academy level up their powers – of getting left behind, of being a nobody – I was finally getting my shot.

  I wasn’t just another kid anymore.

  I finally had superpowers.

  Nailed it.

  As I entered Earth’s atmosphere, I spun, twirling a trail of fire behind me. I didn’t care if anybody saw – actually, I wanted them to see – because if a tree falls in the forest and nobody’s around to hear it, does it make a sound?

  I thought about finding Penny and Noah first, but then it would turn into this whole big thing where I had to explain what was going on with Nix. And I don’t know, I just figured I’d wait until after I saved the school from the Abandoned Children to say anything to them.

  Plus, I wanted to practise my powers on my own without anyone telling me what to do, which seemed to be Noah’s new life goal.

  I flew over mountains, followed rivers, and dipped into valleys until I was over the ocean. I don’t know which one. I actually had no idea where in the world I was, but I didn’t even care.

  I went above the clouds, looking for a city where I could be a superhero. It didn’t take long.

  ‘You should probably slow down,’ Nix said as I flew towards the city.

  ‘Roger, roger,’ I said, trying to ease up a little.

  ‘No, FOR REAL, slow down!’ he shouted.

  It was harder than I thought.

  Like, way harder.

  So hard that I actually lost control and started tumbling through the air like a rag doll.

  ‘No, no, no, no, no!’ Nix said.

  I could feel him try to slow us down, but it was too late. We hit the ground like a cannonball, kicking up an explosion of dirt right in the middle of a park full of screaming people.

  I lay there for a second, feeling almost no pain at all.

  I should’ve been squashed like a bug, but I wasn’t!

  ‘You’re gonna have to work on those landings,’ Nix said.

  ‘I’ll get it,’ I said, shooting back into the sky.

  I needed action! Excitement! Someone to save! And as if the universe could read my mind, I found exactly what I was looking for as I flew over the dow
ntown area – a robbery at the First Bank of Portland!

  How cool was that? A bank robbery!

  I mean, that wasn’t cool at all.

  But it was cool for me.

  Not that I wanted bad things to happen.

  Because I didn’t.

  Except I kiiind of did, but only that one time.

  Um, anyway, I landed on the roof of the bank, its alarms blaring, just as the robbers scrambled towards their getaway car.

  They were typical comic-book baddies – big dudes in ski masks, waving guns around, and carrying bags of cash. Their car’s tyres screeched as it took off.

  ‘What do I do?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, you can do it the easy way,’ Nix said. ‘Or the hard way.’

  ‘Let’s start with the easy way.’

  ‘Now we’re talkin’. Let’s go kill them and get the heck outta here.’

  ‘What!? No! I’m not killing anybody!’

  ‘But …’ Nix paused. ‘That’s the EASY way.’

  ‘Nope. Gotta go with the hard way then.’

  ‘Okay, well, that means I’m all out of ideas.’

  I jumped off the building and zipped past the getaway car, landing in the road in front of the robbers, and then I put my hands up to stop their car.

  I meant to do it gently, but I kind of miscalculated how fast they were going. Their car buckled when it hit me. The whole front end wrapped around my body as bits of broken windscreen shot past my face.

  In the blink of an eye, it was over.

  And I was fine.

  Their car was so bent up that I had to pry the engine apart just so I could move. As the dust settled, I made my way around to the driver’s door.

  I was about to rip it off and say something heroic until I saw the guys inside. They were groaning in pain. None of them reached for their weapons or tried to escape. They were just sitting there, horribly, horribly injured.

  I kinda felt bad about it.

  ‘Nice!’ Nix said. ‘You took ’em out without even touching them! I might be a fan of the hard way now.’