The Croche Method

Prologue

It may have been over a month ago since it happened, but to me, it felt like yesterday. The darkness, the death, the shadows... all of it had led to this single moment in time, where I, Hallet Croche, had to face one of my biggest fears; full-on confrontation with a monster that was bigger, stronger, and ten times less fearful than me...

Maybe I should start from the start, as that is usually where stories start...

One Month Ago

Our car, rumbling across the dirt road, was spitting dust and small rocks behind it. Potholes and puddles littered the ground in front of us, like holes in a wall, as I stared out into the shimmering, hot horizon, where the sun was just beginning to sink westward. The land out in front of us was barren and dirty, with trees occasionally crossing our view, and cars rumbling on the opposite lane next to us, clouding our vision with dust before finally settling calmly onto the ground. My sister sat next to me in the back seat. My mother was sitting in the front, navigating her way between the potholes and ruts that were most likely to get us bogged.

My sister, Cauley (one of the reasons I like to call her Crawley), fanned her hand toward her face. "Mom, could you please turn the A/C on? I'm boiling here."

"Well, if you're boiling, Crawley, why don't you turn it on yourself? It's just within reach of your arms," I retorted.

"Oh, shut up, Mallet, you're part of the reason I am boiling."

Mallet, admittedly, is a new insult. I wondered if she had been itching to use it on me. The rest of the dirt road drive was quiet, with Mum turning on the A/C, cool air blasting in our faces, and Crawley sighing with relief from the heat.

After a while, we slid onto a more busy road, with cars rushing back and forth on two lanes. This road led to the city which was where we were going. Mum had gotten a new job in the city, at an experimental facility; specifically, a facility that "explores the reaches and possibilities of magic", as was stated on the pamphlet Mum came home with one day, a few weeks ago. Now, we were on our way to our new apartment, the one provided by the facility. The good thing about the move was that I could explore more of the city, particularly the parts that I hadn't explored during my younger years. The downside; I had to go to a new school.

After lots more driving and a few stops (those were not my call; Crawley needed "a break", though I couldn't possibly know what from), we made it to the city, Surus, just as the last light from the sun disappeared from the sky. The tall skyscrapers loomed over us, casting shadows that passed over our car, breaking the shine of fancy fluorescent arc lamps lighting the roads and alleyways between the buildings.

Mum navigated the roads with a superhuman sense, almost as if she knew what she was doing, where she was going in this confusing labyrinth of streets. We eventually made our way to the facility, housed smack dab in the middle of the city. Not many buildings surrounded the facility, and only dim lights, much dimmer than the ones lighting the streets we saw before, cast a small, pallid yellow glow onto the tarmac.

The facility itself was not really impressive, one of the things that would make it so easy to not notice. People could just cast their eyes over it, and they wouldn't even notice it. I guess that's kind of the point, since no one in there would want outsiders trespassing and peeking in on what they were doing.

When we entered the facility, it was nothing like what I had expected, nor was it anything like I had seen in the movies. There was a grey hallway, with a reception desk to the right of us, next to the doorway.

Mum showed the receptionist her identity card (fresh out of the press, I would say), and she let us pass.

When we came to what looked like a waiting room, Mum stopped us. "Now, I want you two to sit on those chairs there'' - she gestured to two plastic seats against the wall, - "and I don't want to see any fighting, alright? NO fighting. There are security cameras, not to mention guards. Do NOT move or touch anything." I glanced at a pile of books on the side table next to me.