On the way home, some of the tension we'd felt on our trip to Ben’s melted away. At the same time, finding out the truth about The Pit and the creature gave me a peculiar, mixed feeling. We had asked some heavy questions and had rid ourselves of a few uncertainties. Old Ned, or whatever he was called, did exist, but we didn’t have to fear it if we followed some simple rules. At least that’s what Ben wanted us to believe. He said we shouldn’t be afraid for him, but how could we help it? He told us the creature had already thrown everything it could at him. “More’n three whole months have gone by without hide nor hair of that thing. Besides, I ain’t even used my trump card yet – the shotgun. I think we got ourselves a Mexican standoff here.” I think he was just trying to make us feel better because we knew beyond a shadow of doubt that there was something to fear.

          So, an edgy, yet curious mood settled over us on our return trip to Carbonado.

          “No wonder Ben was so anxious to get us home safe on Monday. It all makes sense now. And I’ve got more respect for him than ever – choosing to live out near The Pit with that thing on the prowl.” Charlie made her comment in a reassuring way. “Yet, it’s kind of scary too,” she said as an afterthought.

          “I wonder what that thing looks like. Ben only talked about bein’ able to see its big eyes glowin’ in the dark. Heck, it probably has big teeth too.” Brian wanted to speculate about the creature right away. Anything weird or out of the ordinary fascinated him. Let’s face it, whatever Ben tangled with interested all of us.

          Jason still wasn’t ready to jump to fantastic conclusions. “First of all, the eyes didn’t glow. They just reflected the light. And what makes you say that about teeth? There’s no proof. For all we know, it could look like a human with bigger eyes.”

          I sided with Brian. “I don’t think so. Since it killed a deer, it probably needs sharp teeth to eat it, especially if it doesn’t cook its meat.” Noticing the lateness of the afternoon, I decided on a plan. “Hey, why don’t you guys stay overnight at the clubhouse. Then we could talk and figure things out all night if we want to.”

          “I guess that lets me out,” groaned Charlie. “Sometimes I hate being a girl.”

          “Yeah, I’m sorry,” I said. “I see your point. I don’t think your mom and dad would let you go on a sleepover with three guys.”

          “To be fair,” she snickered, “I don’t think my mom would invite you guys to a pajama party at my place either. But I don’t have to like it.” She set her jaw and lowered her eyelids.

          Trying to make her feel better, I added, “We’ll tell you everything we talk about. We’ll make sure that you don’t miss any of our brilliant ideas.”

        “Nice try, Nathan, but you know it’s just not the same, and who said that you guys are capable of brilliant ideas without me.” She turned her verbal knife, clearly unhappy with her situation and my remark, and I winced.

          We parted company with Charlie as we entered the Carbonado town limits; her home, Mountain Heights, was still a good quarter mile uphill. Brian decided to eat at my house, and Jason promised to come over to the clubhouse after he’d fixed his father dinner.

          Brian and I gobbled down our meal and excused ourselves, carrying our dessert of apple pie and vanilla ice cream to the clubhouse. Although chomping at the bit to share our ideas about the underground creature, I turned on a battery-powered lantern that hung from the wall, and we passed time playing cribbage until Jason arrived just past nine. He stepped through the entrance, and we stopped mid-game, shoving the cards into a sloppy pile next to the cribbage board on the shelf.

          I perched on the top bunk while Brian nestled into the bottom one. At the opposite end of the shed, Jason snuggled into his sleeping bag on an air mattress. Getting comfortable, our thoughts shifted to the creature.

          Bear couldn’t wait a second longer. “You sure the mine explosion let that thing out from under the ground?”

          I knew we’d been over this before. “Yes, I’m pretty sure. All the disappearances took place after the accident.”

          “I just don’t get it. If the blast at the mine set that thing free, it would be really old – like at least ninety years. Wouldn’t it be too old to hunt and kill animals, like deer?”

          “Shush,” I hissed almost under my breath. A faint, shuffling sound from outside broke through Brian’s words as something crept across the grass – and it was getting closer. We lay in our beds like mummies listening . . . and then it stopped.

          “I’m gonna close the door,” whispered Jason, still in his Levis. He crawled out of his sleeping bag and tiptoed to the doorway.

          “You’d better not lock me out,” muttered a voice just beyond the arc of light. Jason flew back to end of the shed. Bear and I gasped in unison, a surge of adrenaline coursing through our bodies, when Charlie stepped through the opening.

          “Hi, guys. Have you started your ghost stories yet?” A huge smirk lit up her face.

          “Charlie,” panted Brian, “you almost scared the crap outta us.”

          “Yeah, Charlie,” I said, my heart just beginning to stop its pounding, “I thought you couldn’t come tonight.”

          "Keep it down, will you?" Charlie hissed. "Nathan’s parents might hear.” Jason, Bear, and I settled back down in our beds. “I wasn’t going to come, but I just couldn’t resist. I told my mom I had a headache, went to bed early, and then sneaked out. If I get caught, they’ll lock me in the basement for the rest of the summer.”

          “Well, since you’re here, make yourself at home.” I pointed at the lawn chair. “We were just starting before you – made your grand entrance.”

          Charlie folded up the lawn chair, leaned it against the wall, and rolled out her sleeping bag. Perfect planning, I thought. Just enough room between the bunks and Jason’s bedroll. Stuffing herself inside, she put an object on the floor and fussed with it for a moment.

          “Hey, what’s that thing?” Brian pointed at the square gadget sitting next to her sleeping bag.

          “It’s my trusty, wind-up alarm clock. I set it for 5:00. Since I need to sneak back into my room, I can’t afford to oversleep. I’m certainly not going out in the dark again, and it should be getting light by then. Okay, that’s enough about me. Where did you guys leave off before I so rudely interrupted?”

          I explained, “Bear was saying if that creature was set free by the mine explosion, then it would be awfully old – even too old to hunt. And I was thinking that maybe it ages different than humans. Ninety years might just be part of its life span.”

          “Yeah, that could be. Maybe the creature doesn’t get old the same way we do,” Jason said. “Ninety years might make him only a teenager. The thing could be like that Bible character . . . what’s his name, Methuselah. And vampires live forever, don’t they?”

          “Yeah, unless you pound a stake through their hearts,” I answered. Although I was being a little sarcastic, I had no right. Old Ned was every bit as weird and deadly as vampires.

          However, Jason’s comment about age stirred up our imaginations. “You know how stuck up people can be,” Charlie said, “judging everything else by their own experience. Fact can be stranger than fiction.”

          A strange notion flew into my mind. “Who knows? It might be an alien that was left here way, way back in time. I’ve read science fiction stories where these aliens from some planet outside our solar system landed here on earth thousands of years ago. They laid millions of eggs in caves. The eggs hatched, and their babies were supposed to take over the world. This creature could have come from an egg – or even a cocoon.”

          “I know those were just stories, but what happened?” Jason asked.

          “Well, it depends upon the story, but one time the army and some scientists found the eggs and destroyed them. Another time they hatched, and the air wiped them out because it was poisonous to them. I guess they breathed a different mix of gases on their home planet.”

          “When it comes to this ‘alien’, he seems to breathe air just fine, even damp, musty coal mine air.” A mocking note sounded in Charlie’s voice.

          A moment of silence lingered after her words as we lay in our beds deep in thought. Then Brian broke the stillness. “How could it hunt food if it got trapped in an underground cave before the explosion?”

          “Bear, you’re just full of good questions. It sure seems to have a pretty big appetite,” Jason mused, looking off into the darkness outside.

          Like a lightning bolt, an answer shot through my mind. “Could be another entrance somewhere. I’ll betcha these tunnels run underground for miles . . . way out past The Notch maybe. They might even lead to a cave entrance in Mount Rainier National Park. Back in the 1800’s, and even today, not many people live way back in the hills.”

          “You could be right,” said Charlie, “but if those tunnels travel miles under the ground, there could be a regular nest of them under Carbonado too. There could be an underground opening in the cellar of one of those old houses on Pershing Street.”

          Brian let out a little moan. He and Jason both lived in houses with cellars on the main street of Carbonado.

          I came to their rescue. “No, Charlie, there can’t be entrances around here. No disappearances have been reported in Carbonado.”

          “Well, you’re probably right. But . . . the more I think about it, the more I’m really worried about Ben. I don’t care what he says. I wouldn’t stay out there at night even if it was the most gorgeous place on earth. That creature might be able to dig tunnels. Who knows, maybe it caused the mine cave in.”

          Who knows? A good question, I wondered. “There’s only one thing for certain . . .” I paused so long that everyone turned to stare in my direction. “We just don’t know very much about it.”

          A jittery stillness filled the inside of the clubhouse as we sorted out what we really knew about Old Ned. It lived underground; it hunted and ate meat; and it was afraid of the light. That was the sum of our knowledge. Pretty slim pickings.

          “Just one more question.” We all turned toward Jason. “You think it got a taste for humans after the blast opened its caves to The Pit?”

          “Now you’re really creepin’ me out. I don’t want to talk anymore. I just wanna go to sleep.” The bunks quivered, and I looked down to see Bear shudder and pull his quilt up to his chin.

          Although safe and secure in our clubhouse, the overcast sky blanketed the moon, and a thick curtain of darkness hung just beyond the circle of light created by our battery-powered lantern. No one teased or made a joke when I lowered myself from the top bunk, closed, and latched the clubhouse door.

          I lay awake a long time, and when sleep crept over me, it was fitful and filled with dreams. I remembered clambering up a steep, sandy slope toward a bead of light. Moving like I was trapped in molasses, a muffled, clanging noise brought me inching back to my senses. Charlie’s alarm clock was ringing.

          My eyes blinked open. I saw her turn it off, gather her things, put her sleeping bag over her shoulders like a shawl, and open the door wide. She peered out into the dim, pearl gray morning sky and shivered. She looked back once and our eyes locked. A brief smile flickered across her face, and she waved goodbye, mouthing the words “Wish me luck”. I knew what she meant, but another meaning flashed through my mind for a moment. Then trudging toward home, she disappeared into the morning twilight.