Devil's Punch by Ann Aguirre Page B

opened up in the earth. An enormous thing rose before me; it had a lizard’s body and a worm’s head, and no eyes, but instead, its mouth ran allthe way across its face. It turned its blind head toward me and a white forked tongue licked out. I froze, staring at the creature I’d called.
    â€œThe Gorder awaits your orders,” Greydusk said softly.
    In some ways, it reminded me of ancient renderings of Chinese dragons, only with a more reptilian body. I had no idea if I had any control over this beast. By reversing the charm, I’d called it, but my mother hadn’t written command spells. Therefore, I could only guess how to proceed. Magick had drawn it to me, and something was keeping it from attacking.
    I summoned just enough power to lend my words weight, pushing it out as I spoke. “Lead us to safety.”
    Its head tilted this way and that, and I feared it had decided to eat us, but then its gigantic body twisted in the tunnel, and it scrambled out of sight. Shocked out of my stillness, I charged after it. Greydusk followed me. Chance paused to grab his backpack and my Butch-filled purse; afterward, he slid down into the burrow. It looked like the Gorder had chewed its way to us, and if it lived on rock and dirt, maybe it didn’t crave flesh after all. That would be a nice surprise. I ran along the rocky channel; it was more than large enough for us to move upright, but the least movement caused dirt to crumble down, giving me some fear that we’d end up buried alive. But that might be better than waiting for whoever had trapped us. I felt sure they didn’t have friendly intentions.
    Every now and then, the Gorder angled its neck to ensure that I was still with it. We ran I don’t know how long, until the space widened into what I’d call a lair. Interesting things lay scattered around the ground—shiny objects, old weapons, gemstones, gold, and sadly…bones. So it didn’t eat rocks. Bummer.
    The Gorder trilled.
Shit. Yeah.
This qualified as one of those
out of the frying pan
moments. For the time being, the demons hunting us wouldn’t be able to find us and if they did, I suspected my new pet lizard-worm would eat them. But this wasn’t what I had in mind as a final destination.
    â€œWhat now?” Chance asked.
    God, I wished I knew.
    While I watched in alarm, it curled into a ball on top of its treasure pile. This was how I imagined a dragon would behave, but this thing wasn’t
exactly
a dragon. They always wanted virgins in the stories, but the Gorder didn’t appear to hold my experience against me.
    â€œThere are other tunnels,” Greydusk said. “Perhaps one of them leads to the surface?”
    â€œI’m willing to try, provided Scary doesn’t object to us leaving. Chance, can you find a way out?”
    â€œAlready on it.”
    The air around him gained a subtle charge, as if each particle had a little lightning in it. It raised the hair on the nape of my neck, and the Gorder cocked its sightless head as if it sensed the change in the atmosphere. It trilled deep in its throat, followed by a growl. It showed teeth, aiming its head at Chance, and I motioned for him to stop.
    â€œI guess it wants to keep us,” I said tiredly.
    â€œWhen they arrive, your would-be captors will be able to follow the tunnels,” Greydusk said. “Therefore, time is of the essence.”
    I frowned at him. “Yeah, but Dragonface doesn’t want us to go!”
    â€œTalk about a rock and a hard place,” Chance muttered.
    Since we were surrounded by tons of the stuff, I wondered if that was supposed to be funny. I moved closer to the Gorder. “Could you seal the tunnel behind us? Bad demons might come and try to steal your stuff.”
    The monster perked up with a disapproving roar and I scrambled backward. “Hey, not me. I’m a good guy. See? This is me, not stealing your hoard. I won’t touch