High above the cavernous glass roof of The Poison Gardens, the crimson skies of Pandemonium swirled lazily over the city. Inside the greenhouse, the spiked black branches of the Nemesis Tree swooped and darted like kraken tentacles searching for ships. The sap oozing from the Tree's trunk was bright yellow and smelled uncannily of mouldy trainers. Any creature unlucky enough to get too close would be swept up before being slowly crushed to death.
I knew all this because I was hanging upside down from the treetop. All the branches round my ankle were really starting to pinch. A small crowd had gathered below. They gaped up at me, open-mouthed. In the middle stood Mr Crumble, my biology teacher. Mr Crumble was a rotund, jolly-looking demon with blue skin and a blue bowtie. That jolliness did not extend to his personality.
'Kyle D'Evil, you calamitous, crack-handed carbuncle! How the devil did you get up there?' he thundered.
It's hard to shrug when you're upside-down. 'Bad luck?' I mumbled, trying not to dribble onto my horns.
I never did have much luck on field trips.
That morning, before we'd trooped off the school bus, Crumble had pointed threateningly at us. 'Don't touch anything unless I say so, and whatever you do, don't go hear the Nemesis Tree. It's the last of it's kind in Hell and a protected species. Also, it'll eat you for breakfast.'
The bus load if red-skinned, black-winged twelve-year-olds muttered vaguely back at him.
'But in case of emergency, you all have the antidotes you made last week, right?'
We dutifully waved the vials of liquid we'd prepared in the previous lesson. My eyes grew wide. Oh, brimstone. Purple. They were all purple. Mine, on the other hand, was a sludgy brown. Oh well, it wasn't likely I'd have to use it. Crumble clanked open the bus door. 'Ok follow me. I think you'll find The Poison Gardens both educational and exciting.'
I looked down past my dangling arms. Crumble's eyes were nearly popping out of his blue face. I don't think he'd expected quite this level of excitement.
By this point my whole class was there, every tiny horned figure hollering and jeering up at me. I'd never exactly been popular. Two voices cackled louder than the rest - Benny and Arael, the demons who'd thought it'd be funny to trip me just as we were walking past the Tree. The Tree was not my only nemesis. I tried to dribble in their general direction.
'Waterfalls Kyle' yelled Arael. 'Think waterfalls. And lakes dripping showers, and splashing waves.'
Oh, brilliant. Now I need to pee. Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse.
That was worse.
Did I mention I hate field trips?
My eyes were watering and my head felt like it was about to explode. A long teardrop ran down my brow and plopped to the ground.
'Aw, crying for daddy are we?' Sneered Benny.
I decided if I fell to my death I would aim for him.
'Use the antidote D'Evil!' Shouted up an increasingly panicked-looking Crumble.
The antidote. Yep. Right. The antidote which was meant to be swallowed if you were born by a grabbersnatch plant, or spiked by a verlinder petal. Not as a weapon against something which could actually pick you up and eat you. But since no one seemed to be coming to my rescue with a chainsaw, I didn't have much choice.
I reached up into my thankfully zipped jacket pocket, grabbed the vial and yanked the lid off. An evil smell wafted out. Ugh. Well, maybe it will startle the tree enough for it to loosen is grip on my ankles. I took a deep breath and flung the brown mixture into the nearest branches.
Unsurprisingly, nothing happened.
Brilliant. Not what?
The tree shrieked.
Ok, that was surprising.
It shrieked again, and the branches holding me shook. Then, before my eyes, the Nemesis Tree began to change. Spikes shrivelled and dropped off, and the colour of the bark turned from inky black to healthy brown.
Then little link flowers burst out everywhere.
'What in Lucifer's name...?' Squawked Mr Crumble. The branches holding me were suddenly smooth and flowery, and smelling of.. ..bubblegum?
Oh no. I'd really done it this time. The Nemesis was no longer a monstrous bringer of death. I'd turned the must evil tree in Hell, good.
But who cared? I was saved! I would live to see my thirteenth birthday after all. A broad grin spread across my face. I was so relieved I forgot I was still fifty feet up in the air.
Until the tree, which was now humming gently to itself, dropped me.
Uh oh. Flying was so not my strong suit. I flapped my wings frantically, rose a foot into the air, then went into a tailspin and whirled down, and down... and landed with a crunch.
On top of a blue-skinned, blue-horned demon wearing a bowtie.
'D'Evil!' He bellowed. 'I am going to skin you and make you into a handbag! A handbag, do you hear me?'
So much for being happy to be alive.A/N ~ hey guys! How you liking this?
It's more of a pre-teen sorta book but idk, enjoy!!
I wanna write something about bts but I wouldn't know where to start. Thanks for reading.
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D'Evil boy
RandomIt's not his fault he's a useless demon - but that's a bit of a problem when your Lucifer's youngest son. So Kyle runs away, and he hasn't gone far when he discovers a conspiracy which could destroy the underworld. Now the fate of hell rests in the...