The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 15

“That’s it?” Maria questioned as a small, black cat emerged from the flowery fencing and perched itself on a pumpkin. “That’s the monster?”

“Don’t be fooled by its appearance!” I cautioned the girls. “Sometimes dangerous things pose as stuff that’s harmless and adorable! Not as adorable as Jett, but still!”

The cat began licking one of its paws, and all of the adults (except Casper) gazed at each other for cues on how to proceed. Casper had his eyes closed as if he were waiting for something, and we ignored him as we tried to figure out what to do. Finally, Osra spoke up, “There’s only one way to know the truth of its nature…”

Casper disagreed, “Wrong! There are several methods of detecting supernatural entities! Unfortunately, most of them can’t be utilized due to my tools being stored in my classroom, which we won’t likely have access to out here. However, we do have one advantage in this situation- any deception can get rooted out with my third-eye abilities!”

“Oh, jeez! This dope believes he’s psychic now?” Fletcher grumbled.

“I’m seeing… I’m seeing…” Casper kept his lids shut as he allegedly scanned the animal’s aura, and he apparently arrived at a conclusion when his peepers flickered wide open. “It’s a Howler in disguise! Don’t worry, this one is benign, we’re safe!”

Corvina started to enquire, “What’s a H-?”

Aleck interrupted her, “Don’t ask any follow-ups to his nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!” Casper reacted in offense. “I have been awarded a gift, and… Okay, so I had to do a lot of honing to activate it, but even so, it is my gift, and I choose to share it with you! And how am I repaid? By-?”

“Hey, if you’re so sure it’s harmless, why don’t you go over and test to see if it’ll let people pass?” I challenged him.

Casper boldly accepted my dare, “I’d be happy to!”

As he approached the feline, Kendra softly chided me, “I understand that you don’t like the guy, but don’t risk him getting killed over it!”

“He won’t get killed! Maybe really hurt, but…” I espied her reproachful stare, so I begrudgingly agreed, “I’ll stand by just in case!”

“Hello, wayfarer from Beyond!’ Casper prouncedly greeted the kitty. “We mean you no ill will, so, will you grant us passage into your territory?”

The animal ogled at him judgmentally, and that led me to cast it as an excellent judge of character. All of a sudden, there was more rustling in the sunflowers, and I regretted joining Casper for this dumb venture! I despised that I would most likely have to fight to save this pompous dork’s life, but seeing how I basically put him in peril’s path, I didn’t have much of a choice! Besides, I didn’t want whatever was there to attack the children present! The entity there had a more considerable size than what we were standing before, so I braced myself to defend everyone… somehow! It’s hard to truly prepare for a barrage when the perpetrator is a total mystery!

A young lady in a bonnet poked her head in, and she looked alarmed by our activity. “What are you doing to my cat?”

“Did you realize your pet is a monster in an assumed form?” Casper pressed her.

“Pardon?” The young lady eyeballed him as though he was completely devoid of sanity, which made me snicker but also gave me an idea.

I went up to Casper and apologized to the young lady, “We’re so sorry, ma’am! We’re in charge of this patient, and he recently escaped from the asylum!”

Casper denied that allegation, “We’re not from an asylum! We’re from the twenty-first century, and we came to combat otherworldly beasts as well as convince General Carnotes to take his pants off!”

“Does that sound like something a sane person would come up with?” I posed to the young lady.

“I see… Well, carry on then!” The young lady parted her plants and permitted us passage.

Fletcher, Jasper, and I forced Casper to put his arms behind his back, and as we paraded him out, Casper claimed, “We were sent on a quest by a malevolent spirit!”

Eamon ruefully regarded her, “Sorry for our intrusion!”

When we exited onto a dirt road, Donna canvassed the young lady, “Do your parents escort you everywhere?”

“Of course not!” the young lady affirmed. This surprised the girls, but not as much as what she followed with, “But my husband does.”

“Huh? But, you’re our age!” Donna exclaimed.

The young woman chimed, “Oh, are you also fourteen?” Donna, Maria, and Corvina’s jaws nearly hit the floor from that tidbit, but their appall only heightened when she brought something else up, “Say… My husband has a brother who is unwed…”

Prior to the girls expressing their horror at that concept, Eamon as well as Kamali and Aleck linked arms with them, and Eamon informed her, “Forgive us for disappointing your kin, but we’re courting these ladies!” Ironically, the girls seemed rather grateful to have adults escort them at this juncture!

We walked down the lane for a while, and then Kamali wondered, “Where are we going?” 

I shrugged. “Down this way ‘til we find someone who can tell us where General Cartones is.”

Osra squinted her eyes, and then she determined, “It looks like we’re coming to the entrance of a town.”

“Please, let the general be right there at the entrance!” Aleck crossed his fingers on both hands and beseeched this desire to the universe. My ancestors, Fletcher, and I peered at him skeptically, and he defended his actions, “Hey! What’s wrong with hoping for the simplest solution?”

“There is something there!” Covina noted. “Maybe it’s his horse? Wait, it’s super pale!”

We grew closer to the entity, and as I studied it better, I came to a realization, “It’s a ghost! Also, it’s a moose! Wow, random!”

Jasper remarked, “A Ghost Moose? That doesn’t sound too bad!” As it stood in the archway bordering the hamlet’s perimeter, it glowered at us and emitted a guttural growl. “Hmm! I always heard these creatures were gentle!”

“It’s blocking the only route inside!” Kaleva observed.

“Alright, Mister Occult Expert! How do we get rid of it?” I quizzed Casper.

Casper tapped his noggin as he contemplated the matter. “Under typical circumstances, one could use tangerines or blue paint, but I distinctly recall a unique quality attributed to this form…”

The Ghost Moose continued with its menacing stance, so I proposed, “What if somebody distracted it while the rest of us snuck in? I mean, that person would have to race inside when they got an opening, but…”

“That’ll never work!” Casper belittled my proposition.

“Do you have anything better?” I retorted.

Casper resumed his rumination. “Perhaps… We’ll need a bag and breakable glass though…”

Eamon opined, “It couldn’t do any harm to give it a chance!”

“Thank you! See, I told you I was brilliant!” Casper pridefully commented.

“I wasn’t referring to you! Connor is on a decent track with his suggestion, although, once again, we’ll need someone nimble to pull it off, so, once again, I’ll volunteer!” Eamon steeled himself up to perform this task, and then he marched over to the Ghost Moose.

The Ghost Moose snarled at him, and Eamon taunted it, “Come hither, Moose! Whoo!” Eamon’s lure tempted the Ghost Moose enough to leave its post, and we initiated our sneaking in. Eamon soon tripped backward on a branch, and as he fell onto the floor, he discouraged the Ghost Moose from reaching him, “Turn around! They’re getting away!”

Natalia dryly stated, “Thanks, nimble one!”

The Ghost Moose dove for Eamon, and I sped to both of their proximity preceding any contact. The Ghost Moose aimed to bite him, so I strove to block its jaw from touching Eamon. I stretched toward it, and… It shocked me to watch my grasp go straight through the Ghost Moose’s mandible! “What the-? Oh, duh! It’s a ghost! They’re transparent!”

“I’ll save you, friend!” Casper valiantly threw himself in front of Eamon and stood in a heroic fashion. His pathetic attempt to garner admiration made us all shake our heads in disappointment.

“Alright, let’s go! Everyone ignore the Ghost Moose!” Aleck replayed his words in his mind, and he articulated, “Huh! There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say!” 

We all moved forward, and the Ghost Moose persisted in its efforts for a while, but eventually, it became discouraged and morosely gave up. I almost felt sorry for it! Almost!

We saw several citizens of this city browsing fruits and vegetables outside of a market, and Fletcher esteemed, “We should ask these folks for directions. Unfriendly people don’t take forever to pick out produce!”

Kamali argued, “I don’t think that’s true! How could there be a correlation between-?”

“Who cares? We gotta ask someone!” Jasper quarreled. He then addressed the marketplace patrons, “Excuse us! We’re visitors to this region, and we could use some assistance.” They gladly turned around to respond, but when they took a gander at our crew, their eyes went wide and they all ran inside. Jasper took exception to this behavior, “What? Do we smell or something?”

“Everyone smells here!” Natalia asserted.

A woman behind an adjacent window shouted, “How rude!”

Natalia blushed at this development. “Oh, you heard that?”

“Don’t expect us to show remorse! You didn’t even let us complete our question before you fled from us!” Jasper confronted them.

“We weren’t fleeing from you!’ The woman indicated to something behind us.

A strange, low-pitched howl emanated from our backside, and I mumbled, “Why didn’t we guess it was a monster?” We swiveled around, and we beheld shaggy beasts with bodies like bears and faces like cats with inverted noses. “What the hell are those?”

While using a barrel as a shield, a man illuminated us, “Why, they’re the Howlers, of course!”

“Ha! Didn’t I say that there were Howlers around?” Casper folded his arms triumphantly.

“Yeah, but you didn’t say how to defeat them!” I riposted as the Howlers crawled off the rooftops and towards our locale.

Casper’s proud grin faded as he attempted to recall this vital info. “I dunno! But I will! I haven’t revisited my research on them since college, so give me a minute!”

Corvina pointed out, “Uh, we don’t exactly have a minute…!”

“I wrote a song about paranormal defense,” Casper recollected. The Howlers got within inches of us, and we all grabbed whatever was handy to defend ourselves. A few from our lot snagged some rocks, but the rest of us resorted to the ware from the store’s bins! At the precise instance I was praying a lemon would save me from getting mauled, Casper belted out a tune: 

“Granite, quartz, and running water,/

Can get used to combat beings from the hereafter!/

And make no mistake,/

You can also use a stake!/”

“Holy smokes! It’s working!” Kendra observed as the Howlers seemed repulsed by his crooning.

Casper sullenly spat, “My musical ability isn’t a magical deterrent!”

The Howlers resume their voracity when he quit warbling, so Maria urged him, “Keep singing, Mister Von Dutchman!”

After uttering an exasperated exhale, Casper went on:

“Some cannot cross a bed of roses,/

And some can be kicked in their noses…/”

I realized that he wrote this jingle, but it still bore the hallmarks of getting sung off-key! And rhyming mistake with stake? As much as I disliked his ditty, I appreciated it tremendously at this moment! The Howlers writhed in agony at the noise coming out of Casper’s mouth, and thankfully, after several seconds of this, the Howlers let out a final shriek and quickly scurried off!

The onlookers cheered, and Kendra complimented him, “You did it!”

I would’ve expected Casper to lap this fond focus on him up, but he stunned me when he grew miffed and pouted, “Yes, but I can’t brag about how I did it! What was the purpose if not that?” He stormed off, and we tailed him down the avenue.

At the other end of this borough, we viewed a field with tents and Revolutionary soldiers on it, and Osra breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness! We don’t have to get directions from anyone else! But, no one is outside! There must be another subhuman threat lurking about!”

“Maybe this one won’t be so bad!” Aleck tried to buoy our spirits. “I can’t imagine anything worse than the Howlers!” As if on cue, a dark horse came into our range of vision. Its rider had ornate clothing and no head, which caused Aleck to amend his previous sentence, “Yes, I can!”

“How does he see where he’s going with no eyeballs?” Corvina cried out as the Headless Horseman circled us fast enough that no one could budge. 

The Headless Horseman brandished an axe, and I advised Corvina, “Let’s figure it out later and assume he can see his targets for the time being!”

Suddenly, the Headless Horseman raised his weapon up, and…