“Mmm,” he yawned. He opened his eyes. And screamed. A hideous green head was right in his face!

Dark backed away. The shock of seeing a Grendel for the first time quickly made him sober again.

The Grendel punched Dark in the stomach. “Silence,” he ordered.

Some more Grendels appeared. “Gruah! What dis?” one of them asked gruffly.

The first Grendel poked Dark again. “It looks like Nell,” it said.

A murmur aroused from the crowd. One of the Grendels peered at Dark closely. “One of her kind,” he grunted. “But thiz got different fur color. And thiz is a male.”

“Shap we oger take bibble she kind to illper Galywag, Angles?” an adolescent Grendel asked, half in English, half in Grendlish. Dark could not understand what he was saying, and then from the Grendel’s guestures he realized they wanted to take him to Galywag, whoever that was.

The first Grendel, Angles, shook his head. “We do that layter,” he growled as he smacked the teenager Grendel. “Galywag and Nell are bibble discussing the coconut shortage on the island. We talk ‘bout this new creature tonight.”

The Grendels whispered with each other for a moment in their native tongue. Then Angles, who seemed to be the best at talking in English, walked up to the Dark.

“You,” he grunted. “Who you be?”

“Uh, Dark,” said Dark, swallowing his fear. He didn’t want to show any weakness to the Grendels.

Angles smiled, and the other Grendels seemed to be nodding in agreement. “Dat good name,” said Angles. “Dark is a nice, evil name.”

The Grendels talked a little more in Grendlish. Finally, they seemed to reach some kind of agreement. All the Grendels left except for a large female, who seemed to be in charge of guarding Dark.

Once all of the other Grendels had left, the female turned around.

“Mee Dorris,” she said slowly and with a strange accent. “Me foo Dark.”

Suddenly, and without warning, Doris reached her green, bony arm into the cable car. Dark tried to back away, but Doris touched him. She forced something into his hand. It was a moldy piece of cheese.

Dark jerked his head back in disgust, but then he saw Doris staring at him. She had given the cheese to him as a gift. Dark knew he needed all the friends he could get.

“Thanks,” he said quietly, and he meant it.

Doris laughed. It sounded terrible; more like a bubbly gurgle then a laugh. “Eeeet, now,” Doris ordered. Dark cringed.

“Eat? Now? But I’m not hungry…” he started.

Doris threw her body into the cable car and shrieked, “Eeet! NOW!” She punched him twice before backing out.

Dark shuddered. Doris seemed to like him okay, but a Grendel was a Grendel, and she was very violent. Slowly Dark ate the moldy cheese, concentrating on not gagging.

Doris smiled. “Dark eat? Yess.” She said approvingly.

Kalin and Marie were riding on a raft towards the cellar to get Dark. For a while Marie was silent, but before long she began tugging on Kalin’s leg again.

“You like Monica, don’t you Unkie Kaly?” asked Marie.

Kalin looked down. “Huh?” he asked, surprised. His face started getting hot. “Well I—Um...”

“I like Monica, too,” Marie answered.

Kalin didn’t know what to say to that, so he just smiled.

They arrived at the cellar. Kalin and Marie went up the lift and walked over to the windmill. Suddenly, Kalin’s eyes got very big.

“What’s wrong, Unkie Kaly?” asked Marie innocently.

“Dark! He’s gone!” Kalin gasped. “And so is the cable car!”

“So?” said Marie indifferently as she followed a bee around. “Dat means he’s at the waterfall or the lighthouse.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Kalin said sharply. He looked towards the Grendel territory. “You don’t understand. It means that he is with the Grendels, and they have the cable car now.” He was so shocked, he felt like someone else. This hadn’t happened since he and Dark were little kids. It happened to a little baby named Calissa. She was never seen again. Now it was happening to someone he cared about.

Marie turned around. “But the cable car is always over there…” she said. She gasped, and her tiny hands covered her mouth. “It’s gone! The Grendels have unkie Derk!”

“I’m afraid they do,” Said Kalin slowly as he slowly realized the meaning of what was happening. He felt frozen, as if this was all a bad dream, and in a minute he would wake up and everything would be okay. For a horrible moment, he just stood there gaping.

Marie woke him out of it. “We hafta warn everbody,” she declared. “We hafta tell Aries that the Grendels kin come over here! Aries will know what to do!”

“You’re right!” Kalin said quickly. He bent down to look at Marie in the face. “Then I guess you know what we have to do?” he questioned.

Marie wasn’t even looking at him. She grabbed his hand as she shouted, “Come on Unkie Kaly! We gotta get Aries!”