Quitetly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself, ready for what was about to happen. It only took a few steps of creeping darkness until another shadow, this one much larger, appeared out of the night air. The massive beast loomed in front of him. Quiggly knew this creature. He'd seen it before. "Nox?" he said in disbelief. The dark monster turned its head and bared its teeth. "No! Not Nox," Quiggly said, thinking he must have been seeing things. The creature stepped forward, as though it were trying to take a bite of Quiggly. "Is he dead?" it asked, lowering its snout to the ground and then sniffing. Quiggly looked at his dead sister, shocked that she could be dead. Then he thought maybe it was he who had died, that this was what death really looked like. "No, he's not dead," the shadow creature said. "But he will be soon. I smell death. You taste like death. You smell like death." "Is that how you know me?" Quiggly asked. "As death?" The dark shadow gave Quiggly a look of absolute disgust. "Yes, I know you," it hissed. "And the sooner you leave my woods, the better. I want nothing to do with you. I have a message. If you wish to hear it, you must come with me." "Go on, then," Quiggly said, still feeling confused. "Who are you?" The dark shadow stepped forward with all the grace of a black panther, and Quiggly instinctively backed away. "I am . . . a messenger. Now come." The dark shadow moved toward a clump of nearby bushes and disappeared through the space. "You mean you're some kind of dark shadow creature that lives under the hills?" Quiggly said, following the shadow into the deep, dark forest, now even more confused. "No, I told you. I am the one who delivered the news," the shadow called out. "Then you're the dark shadow? The one I heard about? The one who makes the scary dreams?" "Yes," the shadow hissed. "I am he. Now, come." "I'm coming," Quiggly said, now starting to understand how strange this all was. It was like he was living inside a dream. "You must come. Follow me. Follow me or you will never hear the message," the dark shadow called out. "No! I want no part of it. You want me to see what is in the cave?" "Yes, come. Follow me now. No time to waste." As the darkness swallowed him up, Quiggly followed the shadow, leaving his own trail behind him. He didn't want the darkness to swallow him up. _What if the shadow is real and I walk into some sort of dream world?_ he thought. _Or the shadow is the one who makes the scary dreams,_ he added in his thoughts. It was all too much. He felt his guts twisting and turning inside of him. Was it real? Was he going to discover some sort of message and never be able to go home? His whole world was a mess and he wanted nothing more than to go back home to his mother. He wondered if the monsters were real and the night was a terrible place to be, when a few minutes before he was so sure he'd live forever. He started to run, hoping to get away from the dark shadow. But he couldn't outrun the invisible wind that followed him from the dark shadow, and he ran farther into the woods before tumbling over a fallen tree trunk and dropping to the ground. "This way, it's this way. Follow me. You must come with me now," the dark shadow called out. "No, please, no. I don't want to. Please, I just want to go home," Quiggly cried out, desperately begging the dark shadow to leave him alone. "You must listen to what I say. I cannot help you," the dark shadow replied. "I know you, don't I?" Quiggly said, recognizing the shadow from the nightmares. "You're the one who makes the scary dreams. You're the one who comes and tells the dreams. You're the one who frightens me." "I am nothing of what you say, I tell you," the dark shadow said with a pompous voice. "I am the messenger. And I am here to help you, to guide you, to take you to a place of great help. You are the one who needs help. You must come with me now." "No, I want no part of it," Quiggly said. "I want to go home." Quiggly had never felt so scared and so alone, in his entire life. His gut hurt and his head ached from whatever the dark shadow was putting into his food. "I am tired and you are making me very tired. I want you to go back to your home," he said, feeling hopeless. "You must listen to me, I tell you," the dark shadow said. "You are one with death, the dark shadow told me so." "Please, go away," Quiggly begged, wondering if there was any way to escape this invisible shadow. Suddenly the dark shadow paused. Quiggly felt his blood freeze in his veins. "Oh, I will. I will. Soon. Now follow me or . . . or . . . ," the dark shadow whispered, seeming to be in deep thought. "Yes, I see what must be done." "No, I want no part of it. You want me to see what is in the cave?" Quiggly asked, now certain the shadows was some kind of dark dream, and no doubt from being stuck inside his head while his father was dead. "Yes, you are a smart one, you see through my tricks. You are very strong. I can see that you are special. Yes, now follow me, boy, or I will make you go." Quiggly didn't know what to believe. The dark shadow had him tied up, but still he could see right through it. "How can you do that? I can't see you and I'm not being held by anything," Quiggly said. The dark shadow was silent for a moment. "I see you. I know you. I know you and you know me. So, you see that you cannot escape my tricks. I see you and you see me. We must come. Follow me," the dark shadow said. Quiggly didn't believe this creature or its tricks, but he felt like he couldn't stand up against it. He would follow it if he must. "I'm coming," he said. "Good, good," the dark shadow said. "Your grandfather is dead. Dead, dead, dead. He will never see you again. Or see your sister. Forget this world and never look back. You are the messenger. You were sent to bring a message. I have a message for you." The dark shadow turned around and strode forward. Quiggly followed and tried to take comfort in the fact that the dark shadow had told him to keep going, instead of hiding in his hole under the bridge. ## CHAPTER 5 QUIGGLY TURNED AROUND and followed the dark shadow out of the woods and into a dark forest clearing. "My message must be heard," the dark shadow called out. "You must go to the cave of the one who has been waiting for you. The one who has guided you this whole time, and sent you to me." As they passed the dark shadow in its black form, he reached out and clasped Quiggly's arm and held him still. "You must not be afraid of me," the dark shadow said. "I know you. I see what is in your head. I know all that is in your head and more, too. I know your whole life. I know you better than you know you yourself." The dark shadow released its grip. "What can you possibly know about me? I've done nothing wrong," Quiggly said, now in total panic. "No, you've done nothing wrong. It's what's inside of you that you need to know, the fear, the hatred, the anger. Hate is fear. Hate is fear. A black storm, a whirlwind, a storm of hatred." Quiggly had no idea what this dark shadow was talking about. He continued to follow and wasn't sure what the dark shadow meant, but something inside him seemed to know. "Now, come, follow me to the cave. Follow me into the night," the dark shadow called out. The shadow continued to walk, and Quiggly followed, wondering what he would find when they got to the cave. "The cave of the one who wants to frighten you," the dark shadow said. "The one who came to you in the woods. He will try