Young Writers Society

The four of them in the car, Mia, Monica, Finnley, and Uncle Fred were racing the impossible: a demon. In the backseat, Monica had gone hard as steel with determination, and Finnley would stick his head out the open window to keep an eye on the demon. Mia was helping her uncle out with the fastest way back home, and he was flooring the gas pedal. Somehow, amongst all this, Uncle Fred told them, in bits and pieces, about the monstrous shadow they had let loose.

"Ever since your grandfather died, see, I've been studying in the forest, studying our history, tracking down and hunting what creatures I could," he started, speaking mostly to Mia, but about things that concerned them all.

"How do you find them?" Monica asked quietly, staring at the headrest of the seat in front of her. She refused to meet anyone's eye. Her shoulders were thrown back, and she looked for all the world like she was ready to face that demon. She was different from Mia, however, who was leaning forward in her seat with an almost hungry look in her eye. Her shoulders were loose and, despite her dressed up appearance, she didn't like she would even remove a single piece of jewelry, let alone her heels.

"I go out into the forest," Fred explained, glancing over his shoulder at Monica and Finnley in the back, "and I set out traps. Some go for human scents, and I would cover up mine as best I could and put some sweat covered smelly clothes in a clearing and watch and wait. I do all sorts of things like that, with little drops of blood or specific foods and other such things. I don't catch them all, and I certainly don't kill them all, but I'm able to observe a bit and catalogue them.

"For the demon, it was the same process. When it came down into the clearing, I was able to temporarily bind it into a small jar I had on hand. I had looked into some ancient spells, and I wasn't entirely sure they would work, but the books I was reading claimed that the demon would be able to fit in whatever container you bound it in and would not be able to come out unless someone let it out."

"Hard left!" Mia exclaimed suddenly, interrupting. "There's a shortcut this way." Uncle Fred did as she said, the car tires squeaking in protest as they took the turn. Finnley made a grab for the handle on the ceiling; they had turned on a rough gravel road.

"I think we'd be able to go faster on pavement-" Finnley began, but cut himself off when he caught sight of the speedometer. "I guess it is a shortcut, if you drive that fast," he murmured to himself.

Fred continued on as if nothing had occurred to interrupt him. "I took the jar into the house and set up the house with the same sorts of spells. I'd be in there with the dang thing, but it wouldn't be able to hurt me. I thought I'd have a chance at killing it. I'd only just released it from its jar, though, when you three came knocking at my door." He squinted at them again, turning around briefly to look them all in the face.

"You said earlier that you needed information, that things were happening in the forest," he said, and he heaved a great sigh. "I've been noticing as much. I've no doubts that you tried to find out more about it, with Mia hanging out with you." She straightened a little in pride at that. "I suspect her parents weren't too happy about it, though. And that's why you... snuck off? Your parents don't know that you're here, do they?" It was more an accusation than a question.

Finnley slowly shook his head, and Mia grinned a little bit sheepishly. Monica said nothing at all, though she looked at the others with interest. Finnley was curious about her- he really wanted to talk with her about all this once it was over.

Fred grinned ruefully at them all, one corner of his mouth pulling up more than the other. "It was just the same with me when I was of that age," he said, "sneaking out and the like. But I've never heard of dressing up to sneak out!"

"It's homecoming," Mia explained. "Finnley and I pretended that we were going as a couple, but came here instead. We found Monica hiding in the car and she came with."

"Excellent plan," Fred said, smiling at Mia. "But did you by chance bring a change of clothes?"

"I think I'm fine," Mia said airily, but she turned back to Finnley and mouthed the word 'Shoes?', looking at him imploringly. Finnley unbuckled his seatbelt and turned around, kneeling on his seat so he could reach all the way in the trunk. At that moment, the car hit a large pothole, and Finnley's head cracked against the ceiling. His vision went black for a moment, and when it came back, Monica was leaning towards him, seeing if he was alright. Finnley almost cried out, for she was as white as a ghost. She wasn't pale, she was just... white. As if all the color had been sucked out of her, as if the essence of Monica had disappeared. He blinked rapidly and shook his head, then it was gone. Everything was back to normal.

"Are you alright?" Mia asked, turned around in her seat with concern. She reached a hand back to him, but he gently pushed it away.

"I'm fine, it was just a bump," he replied, rubbing his head. He reached all the way in the back and grabbed Mia's tennis shoes, which she took gratefully. But Monica was staring at him, like she knew what he had seen. He gave her a look that meant, 'We'll talk later', and she gave him one in return which meant, 'I know.' Whatever had happened, it didn't give him a bad feeling. It didn't frighten him. There was something about it, though, which made him very, very sad.

"Mia, there's one last thing you need to know," Fred said, looking directly at his niece. "And the rest of you can hear it, since you're all wrapped up in this too, somehow, but this isn't really about you. It's about us. Mia: you, me, our family, we have a destiny, a fate. I know you've felt it tugging at you; I can see it."

"We're not an ordinary family, are we," Mia whispered.

"No, Mia," Uncle Fred replied, equally softly but with a spark of something in his voice. "We're monster hunters."