Free The Monster of Creasy's Hollow (Defenders of the Rift Book 1) by N.C. Reed

monster. . .unless.
    Chuck slowly shook his head in admiration of his teenage
son. Knowing Belinda as he did, Chip had surmised that the flighty
woman would be one step short of fleeing in terror before Monusuol,
and so had distracted the beast.
    Of course, now Chip and Stacey were the beast's target,
instead of Donna and Belinda.
    He was about to tell Donny to stay put when the teen
began whispering again. Chuck had to marvel. Chip had managed to do
all this at one time. He definitely needed to pay more attention to
his son's abilities when this was over. Multitasking didn't begin to
cover this.
    Chuck left Donny to do his part, and moved slightly away
from the teenager, picking up a large piece of broken branch as he
did so. He stopped twenty feet or so from Donny and threw the branch
as hard as he could behind Monusuol, directly opposite of where his
wife and son now hid.
    The monster whirled at once, looking for the source of
the sound behind him. Chuck could tell that Monusuol was wary now,
obviously expecting a trap of some kind. The trap was so big, and the
kids so spread out, however, that Monusuol would have a hard time
discovering what was going on.
    I hope, Chuck mentally crossed his fingers.
    *****

    Monusuol was becoming agitated. More so with each
passing second. Not only had someone dared interrupt his feast, but
now they were simply annoying him. It passed through his mind that
there must be a reason behind this, but anger clouded his judgment.
    Had he been thinking more clearly, Monusuol would have
wondered who would have the courage to tempt and try him, especially
this close to nightfall, traditionally the time that humans would
fortify themselves against his kind until sunrise. In his anger, the
beast forgot the observation he had made that very day. Forgot his
uncertainty of the beasts that prowled the human settlement without
fear. Forgot the way that humans went about unconcerned for their
safety.
    For the moment, there was only a monstrous beast who was
accustomed to humans showing him fear. To all other creatures
standing aside from his path, paying homage to his strength and his
dominance.
    He was being taunted. And that made Monusuol angry. Very
angry indeed. Angry enough to throw caution aside.
    Angry enough to act stupidly.

    *****

    One more to go, Chip thought to himself as he
began the final stanza. He was able to recite the last stanza by rote
memory, which in turn allowed a small part of his mind to keep track
of what the beast was doing. He was fairly certain that his father
had just distracted the monster somehow, and was quietly thankful.
    Chip watched Monusuol move to investigate this latest
affront as he finished the final stanza. He fought back a sigh of
relief as he realized that his part was finished. As long as everyone
else did their part, things should be okay. They would have gotten
rid of the monster they had mistakenly summoned.
    He promised himself, then and there, that he would never
again delve into something like this. He knew that his intentions had
been good, but good intentions were the cause of many a problem. You
know, like summoning an angry, hungry, hideous, eight foot monster
from another plane of existence into their world. Good intentions had
caused them to do that. And no amount of good intentions could make
up for the fact that they had drawn this vicious monster into their
presence.
    Thing happen for a reason ,
he reminded himself of Alvin's words before they had performed the ceremony. Maybe the reason
that Waldo had died was to prevent one of the gang from being hit by
the car. Waldo's death might have saved one or more of his friends,
or himself. By trying to undo that, they had belittled that
sacrifice.
    And now Chip was looking at the ugly,
misshapen result, standing right in front of him.

    *****
    Chuck heard Donny finish the last stanza, and allowed
himself a silent breath of relief. They were done. Now all that
remained was keeping the monster inside the