Book 2 - The Angel Against Revolution

XLVI - The Ringing

The monster stalks closer to the building, rolling over the grass and leaving a greasy path behind it.

"It's like a giant, gross slug," America comments.

The thing keeps getting closer to the house ominously. It emanates a strange gurgling. The ground rumbled as it slithered over the grass. Soon, it looms over the first windows.

'And the second story windows,' Russia assumes.

Russia backs up, hunching over into a defensive stance. He holds out an arm to herd the kids and America away from the windows. He glares out the window, masking his fear as best as he can.

He tries to see anything out the window other than the blob and he notices the shape flattening against the glass.

'Shit.'

He ignores the sore spots on his hip and the pulling across his chest as he readies himself to fight. He snarls, baring his teeth. He clenches his hands into fists, ignoring the stinging it causes, and scans the windows, watching for breaks.

'I will not let anything hurt the states.'

America walks up beside him and takes on an offensive stance, knees bent, and eyes narrow. There is a shout upstairs, but before Russia or America can react, a loud CRACK takes over his thoughts.

Russia's head whips from the stairs back to the windows. he scans them and sees the window he had been standing at now stands with a huge crack. The fissure starts at the top of the frame and creeps down, growing as it does.

Russia's mind races and his eyes grow wide.

'What do we do? What do we do?!'

He looks to America, whose eyes light up with an idea.

"Georgia! Get the biggest plastic bin you can, now! York, get the salt. Lousiana and Mass, magic the plastic and make sure it won't break. Del, make sure the inside is completely coated in salt. The thing didn't like salt before, so it definitely won't like it now. Let's GO!" America orders, clapping his hands to punctuate his demands, his voice ringing out over the panicked talking and shouts of the states.

The states scramble over each other in a panic to follow the directions.

The window screeches as the cracked glass rubs against itself. The window bends inward, and Russia holds his breath. The crack spreads from just going down to completely spreading across the pane, looking almost like a spiderweb.

"STAND BACK!" America demands, causing the remaining kids and countries in the room to scramble to the back wall.

Massachusetts rockets into the room with a glowing transparent box, leaving a trail of salt.

"DAD!" Massachusetts shouts, throwing the bin.

The plastic soars over the heads of those in the room and America spins around and, with a practiced motion, catches it and covers the window with it.

"Russ, help me," America tells him.

Russia doesn't need to be told twice. He braces his weight against the plastic bottom. He can sense the magic radiating off of it, and leaning against it makes him feel the static of the conflicting magic swirling around it.

"Flo!" America shouts.

Florida sprints forward and, with something Russia doesn't recognize, goes around the edges as if to seal the bin's edges to the wall.

America nods before directing Florida back to the group with an exaggerated head nod.

At first, Florida doesn't respond.