War from Under the Bed

Questions, No Answers

Sadie watched as Sam knelt over Jenny, green light flowing from his fingers, feeling refreshed and replenished after her bath, getting to wear some of Jack's clean clothes they found lying around,, and eating lunch. The magic was calming and helped her sort through the many questions that were accumulating inside her head. What were they going to do now? Was she supposed to do something? How were they going to stop the war? All these spun around in her mind until she felt like she was going to puke.

"Got something on your mind?" Grandma asked softly as she sat down.

Sadie sighed and winced as more visions flashed into view, "When do I not have something on my mind..." She hugged her knees as she stared at Sam's healing magic, "How am I supposed to save the world?" She asked softly, "I can't even face my own monster. How am I supposed to take on a whole army of them?" She felt small compared to their enemies and she was sure that the universe had chosen the wrong hero for the job.

Grandma sighed softly, "Well Sadie, that's a very good question. I'll tell you a little story as an answer." Sadie looked up at her, hoping it would relieve some of the stress that was building up her in chest. "Back when I was a little girl, I was adventurous. I would go explore out in these very woods, finding long forgotten trinkets and holes I could use as hideouts. The thing is that, I wanted to expand that exploring to the monster world. My angel decided to tell me about it early and told me specifically to stay away from it. Well, considering that I can't even enter it by myself, she wasn't exactly worried I would try; however, I had figured out a way to get there. I just had to get a monster to take me. My plan was a bit elaborate so I won't go into the details, but in the end, I got a monster to take me to their realm by dragging me there forcefully. I was obviously excited, but once I got there, I found that I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything except helplessly get dragged along. My angel luckily got to me in time to take me back." Her story ended and Sadie frowned slightly.

"You couldn't move?" Sadie muttered.

"No humans can move in the monster world." Grandma expanded, "We don't quite have the body to do it."

Sadie's frown deepened, "How does that help me? Going into the monster realm is a bad idea and plus, I wouldn't be able to move either, right?"

Grandma chuckled softly, "You're not entirely human Sadie...Henry explained. You've got monster blood running through your veins."

Sadie hummed, "So I can move in their realm...Henry said something about them getting their energy from generators in their world...but I don't know how I can destroy them."

Grandma pursed her lips and reach forward, holding up Sadie's locket, "This...where did you get it?"

"My dad gave it to me before he..." She said softly.

"It's very warm...warmer than most lockets." She observed, running her thumb along the shining metal. She let it go and peered at Sadie, "It might hold some magic." She smiled slightly as Sadie's face showed surprise, "Has it grown warmer when it's near certain items or perhaps when an action is made?"

Sadie played with it as she thought. She could think of plenty of times when it got warmer, but she wasn't sure what triggered it exactly. "Uh...well I guess when people are being brave...it grows a bit warmer."

Grandma's smile widened and she stood, "This is just a guess, but there might be some courage stashed in there and that locket of yours is collecting more and more." Sadie frowned slightly as she thought about it. It could make sense, but how has that got to do anything with defeating the monsters.

Grandma seemed to read those thoughts on her face and sighed, "There's one other thing that monsters are weak to other than paint thinner. It's courage." Sadie jumped slightly as the connection clicked.