“What on Earth are those?” J.J. cried out as a flock of birds with the body of an ostrich and the face of an eagle barreled towards us.
“Who cares? Just run!” Ginger avidly recommended.
I had no clue where we were running to, and I saw nothing in the immediate area that suggested we could exit out of this building either! I scanned our surroundings to pinpoint some sort of refuge, and I spotted some trees with branches that were gnarly enough to climb each of them as easily as a ladder, so I did. The others followed suit, and mercifully, these fowl foes couldn’t fly! Actually, their wings were so comically small that I wondered what Mother Nature had in mind when designing these creatures, and I wasn’t surprised they became extinct well before the modern time period!
Osra breathed a sigh of relief, “Phew! We’re safe up here!”
“Are we though?” Kamali challenged her. “Sooner or later, we’re going to need to get down!”
“I wish Aleck was here!” I lamented. “He probably has an encyclopedic knowledge of these things! I don’t know why we would’ve taken him dress shopping with us, but it would’ve been convenient!”
Miriam commented, “And I wish Blaise was here so that we could sacrifice him to these beasts!” J.J., Nick, and Cricket gazed at her in shock, so she clarified for them, “He’s a zombie, so he’s already dead! Of course, most of these guys are spirits, but unlike with my ex, I wouldn’t wanna risk them getting permanently erased!”
Ellie suggested, “How about we stop speculating on what we wish we’d have and start thinking of what we do have to get rid of these ugly monsters! Hmm… No coconuts or anything!”
As the feathery fiends pawed at the base of our stronghold, Natalia suddenly had an epiphany, “Hey! Our clothes are made from animal fur, so maybe that’ll count as flesh to them!” She removed her slipper and tossed it down to their level. The odd birds sniffed it, which I thought was impossible since they had no noses, and they apparently assessed there was not a sufficient amount of sustenance and resumed their pursuit. Natalia posed to us, “If we lose a garment here, it doesn’t count as losing it in real life, right? I doubt the Big Guy will be quite so forgiving again…”
“Seriously, what in the heck did you all do to be so afraid of him?” I probed. “Aren’t you on the same side as him?”
“Uh, Connor? Could this conversation maybe wait for a while?” Kendra shot back as she eyeballed our avian adversaries.
Cricket frustratedly yelled, “Does this place have anyone working here, or do they just let these freaks roam free without supervision?”
Jasper put forward, “Maybe they’d get repelled with water…”
“We don’t have any water!” Eamon pointed out.
“Yeah, but we do have other fluids in us!” Jasper argued.
Eamon winced at that notion. “That is the most ungentlemanly proposal I’ve ever heard! And I’m including all of the drunkest fellows’ ideas in the seediest of taverns! …Which I’ve only passed by…”
Jasper contended, “But, we have nothing else!”
“There has to be some other method that’s far less crude!” Eamon quarreled.
“Uh, guys…!” I vied to get their attention as I observed the odd birds slowing down.
Jasper bickered, “How are you alright with slaying a beast but not peeing on it?”
The odd birds had outright ceased their movements, so I tried again, “Guys…!”
“It’s a fair fight!” Eamon disputed. “This… well… it could liberate us from danger, but… to perform such a feat with ladies present…”
“Oh, I’d be fine with it!” Miriam put in. “I’ve seen it a million times after dealing with my late husband’s inebriation! You two never met Blaise, did you?”
Jasper relayed to her, “We’ve seen him! We watch over Connor, and since he’s dealt with him a lot, so have we! He’s safe in Hell… I’m pretty sure…”
Miriam balked at that last phrase, “Pretty sure? You mean, you’re not completely sure he’s getting the eternal damnation that he deserves?”
“Well, he’s been known to escape,” Jasper admitted.
“Guys!” I waved my hands around in this instance, but I couldn’t get them to shift their focus to me whatsoever!
Miriam’s eyes went wide upon hearing Jasper’s statement. “You mean there’s a chance he’s out right now? Where could he have gone? Who is-?”
Nick cut her off, “Woah! The birds are asleep!”
“Wow! Why didn’t you tell us?” Jasper accosted me. I threw my hands up in exasperation as a response.
“How soundly do you think they sleep?” Ginger posed to the group.
I canvassed the others, “Who wants to test it out?” Eamon eagerly volunteered, but given his recent history with this, I canvassed the others, “Anyone else?”
Nobody budged an inch. Cricket affirmed, “Not me! I won’t be the guinea pig!” She folded her arms definitely, and in so doing, she lost her balance and plummeted to the ground beneath us! “Or maybe I will!” she nervously muttered as she lay in a heap on the floor. She glanced up at the flock, and none of them stirred from her graceless entrance into their proximity, so she slowly rose up. “It seems fine!” Cricket determined in a soft tone.
We cautiously crept down, and while it appeared as though they weren’t going to stir, we didn’t want to take any risks. When we all descended to their level, Ellie nearly sneezed, and several fingers went to her nostrils to block it. She managed to stifle it while simultaneously flicking off everyone’s touch, and then we went back to tiptoeing out of their circle. Kamali stepped on Kendra’s foot by accident, and numerous palms flew to her lips to muffle her outburst. She swallowed the remainder of her exclamatory utterance, but she glared at an apologetic Kamali for a lengthy stretch. One of the slumbering avains randomly stretched out its limbs, which almost tripped Osra. We all caught her prior to her making contact thankfully! At last, after a panicky few minutes, we were able to return to a normal gait and flee that spot!
A significant amount of traveling later, we beheld the opposite end of the edifice! A glass observation window loomed over the treetops, and somewhere below that was a door marked, “Employees Only.” J.J. read that and then remarked, “Oh, and the rest of this joint is totally fine for the public to explore?”
“Finally! We found it!” Kendra rejoiced.
“Found what?” Ellie questioned. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for!”
Kendra didn’t get daunted by her presentation of this fact. “Yes, but someone in there is bound to give us some directions to the Eye! Whatever it is!”
Eamon exclaimed, “In any case, no one shall prevent us from progressing in this journey!” All of a sudden, a Tyrannosaurus Rex at least twelve feet tall positioned itself in front of that entryway and roared at us! Eamon casually dismissed this, “He’s nobody!”
“Everyone scatter!” I directed. “It can’t get us all at once!”
“I dunno about that! I’m pretty positive when I was a kid I was able to squish a bunch of ants that scattered on a sidewalk! I dunno why I did that!” Ginger shouted as she raced from the dinosaur’s reach.
Nick hid behind a bush and bemoaned, “Man, I would’ve stayed in the jungle if I knew we’d wind up in Jurassic Park!”
Miriam recalled, “Oh! I heard they can’t see you if you stand perfectly still!” She struck a motionless stance, and the T-Rex made a beeline for her. Once it got pretty close, she determined, “Well, that theory’s wrong!”
J.J. crashed into some brush, and a spear fell out of the branches! “Alright! We’re gonna live!” He expertly hurled the spear at the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and for a flash, we all grew hopeful that this nightmare would conclude! To our dismay, the spear bounced off of the dinosaur’s skin like a ball on a hard surface! “We’re all gonna die!” J.J. sobbed.
It got close enough that it could’ve swallowed J.J., and I simply couldn’t allow that to occur! I mean, I didn’t know anything about the dude, but it was as though he was a bad person! Or maybe he was a bad person in reality, but I was fairly certain that if he did anything heinous, he still didn’t deserve to get eaten by a monster! I threw a rock and hit its eye! It left its hunt of J.J., and I victoriously expressed, “Yes!” It started to chase me, so my tone altered completely. “No!”
To keep track of its activities, I hurried away from it backward, and in hindsight, this wasn’t such a fantastic plan! I did alright for a while, but soon, I wound up tripping over a stick and falling onto my rear! Nick denoted, “Wow! That’s a family trait, isn’t it?”
“Not helpful!” I snapped. The dinosaur approached me, and I deduced that its breadth surpassed my range of motion to dodge its advances. “Someone do something!” The massive creature grew closer and closer, so I manically repeated, “Do something! Do something! Do something!” It didn’t seem like anything was transpiring on their part, so I readied myself to punch and kick in hopes that this activity would annoy it enough to make me less palatable. My body braced itself for a struggle, but then…
“Bad Lilith!” a man with gray hair, glasses, and a beard that nearly reached his belly scolded the behemoth as he sprayed a misty, red liquid at her. She recoiled, and he echoed his sentiments for emphasis of this chastisement, “Bad! Bad Lilith!” The T-Rex repulsively reacted to the substance (I didn’t get the impression his berating had much of an impact on her!), and she scurried off in sheer irritation.
I supposed I ought to have conveyed gratitude for him saving my life, but all I could do was snicker, “Lilith?” I chortled over this bit of unexpectedness until I caught his confused ogling, and then I briefed him, “That was my ex-wife’s name! A totally different kind of maneater!”
The man got slightly shocked by that information. “Really? Her name was Lilith? That’s a strange name for a human! …I’m Doctor Oogha Oogha, by the way!” I was about to introduce everybody, but a hideous shriek sounded from afar, so he advised us, “Let’s get you inside!” We swiftly complied with that prompt and tailed him through the doorway.
It astounded me to learn that this society had an elevator system! Albeit, it was a somewhat primitive pulley system, but still, their advancements perpetually astonished me! As he carted us up, he articulated, “Don’t play around- I know exactly why you’re here!”
“You do?” I got baffled by his assessment. I didn’t esteem that anyone from any era knew about the Rainbow Tektites’ existence let alone the least evolved one! It relieved me to postulate that someone in this world understood our plight- it certainly would’ve saved precious minutes as we discoursed with a knowledgable ally! Or was he? He did not instantly indicate that he was friendly to our cause, and given Damon’s ability to gain support somehow, I speculated on whether or not we would’ve been safer with Lilith! I fretted over the possibilities, but there wasn’t much I could’ve done about any negative circumstances coming into fruition! Seriously, there wasn’t exactly anywhere to escape to in this shaft!
“Naturally!” Doctor Oogha Oogha confirmed. I feared the worst, but then he merrily stated, “I know a teacher when I see one!”
I chuckled, “You got us!” I couldn’t help but laugh- we didn’t have to lie to him about our identity! At least not completely, we still couldn’t reveal why we arrived at this facility…
Doctor Oogha Oogha tittered, “You can’t fool me! Observation is my specialty- I’m a scientist!”
When we got to the top level, we beheld an extensive laboratory with various workstations that had a view of the landscape that was rather breathtaking! I disliked that it enchanted me given all of the different manners in which we could’ve gotten snuffed out, but hey, what could I do? “Welcome to the Center for Enigmatic Discoveries!” Doctor Oogha Oogha pridefully beamed at us. “I’m excited that you’re considering this organization for your next field trip!”
“Yeah, this seems like a great place to bring children!” Ginger dryly kidded as she witnessed a Spinosaurus terrorizing a pack of small reptiles.
“What’s in that stuff?” J.J. catechized as Doctor Oogha Oogha set his repellent down.
We all anticipated hearing about a mysterious formula comprised of complicated and possibly impossible-to-understand ingredients, but instead, Doctor Oogha Oogha imparted to us, “What, this? It’s a blend of chili powder and other spicy ingredients. That species hates this scent!” He ignored our dumbfounded visages and persisted with his tour, “I founded this institute forty years ago, and it went through about a dozen name changes before I settled on this one! The other ones kept spelling out naught subjects with their acronyms!”
I grinned as I recollected Ismeray going through the same ordeal with what she called her covens, and I would’ve presumed he was her ancestor if we were on the same timeline! I spotted a book on an adjacent table, and it swayed my mind to Phoebe. If she had been present, I felt she would’ve reminded me to keep my focal point on the important task imposed on us, so I shook off this rumination and requested, “I heard the Eye of Stonerac is here! Could we see it?”
“Yes, you..” Prior to Doctor Oogha Oogha getting to finish his sentence, he noticed an empty cage on the carpet. “Where did he go?” He rubbed his chin contemplatively, and while a part of me was curious about what he kept up here, another part possessed no desire to find out. I would’ve rather it stayed a secret and never have had to contend with it, but I had a hunch I would find out in the most startling fashion possible! If he kept it in his quarters, it couldn’t have been dangerous, right? A knob on the opposite side of the room turned, and…
When we landed in a jungle terrain, I expected the newbies to this whole realm-traveling gig to get frightened by this development. Most of them did, but what I didn’t expect was for Cricket to stare at her leopard-print duds and cry out, “Oh, uh-uh! This is the product of animal cruelty! I refuse to wear it!” She nearly tore it off, but many of the luggage store attendees eagerly anticipated this exploit, so she ceased that action and pouted, “Why couldn’t I wear environmentally friendly clothing for this hallucination?”
“Well, ‘cause they didn’t exactly have synthetic fur in the caveman days!” Jasper informed her as my ancestors manifested to our locale. “And trust me, that’s about to be the least of your problems!”
“My ex had something to do with this! I just know it!” Miriam vehemently expressed. Damon materialized in front of us with a cape made of mink, and Miriam iterated her assertion, “See! Blaise is friends with that guy!”
Damon cringed at that allegation. “Ugh! That cretin wasn’t my friend! He was my incompetent servant when I still had a spot in Demons’ Strait! And then these assholes came along and got me kicked out!”
I sarcastically responded, “Sorry we didn’t let you disembowel us!”
“Good! You should be!” Damon indignantly addressed me. “I’m pleased you wound up here! There aren’t any angels to prevent you from getting your insides torn out by vicious creatures in this era!”
“Just FYI, there aren’t any dinosaurs from my generation!” Osra frustratedly brought up. “There wasn’t anything more vicious than what exists today! Humans never got in contact with dinosaurs… unless you count alligators or emus!”
Damon leered, “Don’t forget, not all of the realms fall onto our timeline! There may be some surprises in store for you! Speaking of which, let’s discuss your quest! You shall-!”
The man who was trying on that vest in the shop next door blurted out, “Hey, J.J.! Isn’t that the dude who kidnapped all those kids?”
J.J. shook his head. “Nah! That idiot died!” He mulled that concept over, and then his eyes went wide. “Wait, Nick… Are we dead?”
“No, but you might be if you’re not careful here!” Kendra warned them. “Don’t pet the gigantoraptors! They may have faces like turkeys, but from what I’ve read, they were pretty vicious!”
“Dinosaurs weren’t around in the caveman days!” Osra shouted. “How did that rumor even get started?”
Reciting from memory, Ellie illuminated her, “Fossils of small primates who could have evolved into humans as we know them were found, so people associated all unevolved humans with-.”
Damon interrupted her, “Excuse me! Quest Master talking here!” They begrudgingly gave him their attention, and then he dramatically announced, “Your mission today: destroy the Eye of Stonerac!”
“When you say eye, you don’t mean the actual organ, right?” Ginger posed to Damon.
“Sounds like you have some boning up to do!” Damon clearly thought he was being clever, but his smile vanished when some of the witnesses giggled at his keyword. “No, I was making a play on words! Because it’s the Stone Age… Ah, screw you guys! I’m leaving without giving you any hints! Good luck!” I wasn’t certain if he had sincerely intended to dole out any more helpful tips for us, but I hid my disappointment in this unfolding until after he was gone so I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction!
Once again, I expected the bystanders of this misadventure to grow frightened, but one of the luggage store patrons vociferated, “Pass!”
I became quite flabbergasted by that move. “What do you mean, pass? You can’t pass! We gotta do this in order to go back to Terra Belle!”
“Yeah, pass!” the luggage store patron echoed his previous sentiments. “I’m gonna sleep this trip off!”
“Let it go!” Kamali advised me prior to us getting the chance to quarrel with him further. “We don’t have time to convince everyone to do what’s in their own best interest! I had to do that frequently when I was still alive! Do you know how many of my patients refused to quit eating foods that they were obviously allergic to? Sometimes, you gotta let them figure it out on their own!”
I disliked the premise of leaving anyone behind, but I recognized that he had a valid point. I couldn’t spend precious minutes bickering with stubborn jerks, but I didn’t believe everyone from that store was like that, so I projected to them all, “Listen, this assignment could get dangerous, but so could standing around in this area! You never know when you could get ambushed by a…” I glimpsed at Osra standing beside me, and I opted to avoid her wrath by suggesting that dinosaurs existed in this period. “…something! I don’t know about you, but I have a lot back in the Earthly Realm to return to, so I’m gonna fight for them! If you wanna stay here, fine! But the sooner we complete this job, the sooner we can leave, so anyone who wants to join us is welcome!”
Nobody budged an inch at first. I didn’t predict a large number would volunteer, but I presumed it would be larger than zero! After a few seconds, Nick stepped forward! J.J. stared at him in shock, and J.J. justified himself, “I’m not sticking around here! What if that kidnapper dude shows up again?”
“Well, I’m not going!” Cricket folded her arms adamantly. “This whole expedition sounds messy, and I want no part of it!” A giant dragonfly glided past her, and after emitting a blood-curdling scream, she jumped into Ellie’s side and wailed, “Don’t leave me here!”
Ellie huffed, “Fine! But I’m not carrying you!” She pushed her to the grassy floor and then commanded, “Let’s go! I wanna get back to the mall before it closes!” Cricket got up, and we all headed away from that site.
Following several minutes of travel, we espied a streak of smoke in the sky. Ginger remarked, “Oh, look! We must be getting close to a village! Thank Heaven! Now, we just gotta hope whatever’s guarding that Eye isn’t too complicated to defeat!”
“I’m not worried!” Eamon boldly asserted. “We have the advantage of having someone from this generation with us, so this quest should prove itself as rather simple!”
“Yeah! I don’t care what that brat says- I really doubt this society is that different than mine!” Osra grumped. All of a sudden, a vehicle comprised almost entirely out of stone zoomed past us! “What the-?”
We ran ahead, and we were confronted with an unforeseen spectacle… A vibrant metropolis lay before us, and nearly all of the buildings and structures were assembled from a rocky material! Citizens read a newspaper at the bus stop, bought snacks at the kiosk in the corner, and even played ball at a nearby field! It almost appeared like a normal section of civilization if you didn’t count the folks walking small dinosaurs on leashes! “I’m not admitting the brat was right!” Osra obstinately insisted.
Natalia muttered, “There goes our advantage!”
“Hey, guys! I found it” Nick declared.
“You found my original outfit? Thank god!” Cricket rejoiced.
Nick stared at her incredulously. “Uh, no! I found Stonerac!”
He indicated to a sign by the city’s entrance, and we flocked over to it. A giant slab had the words, “Welcome to Stonerac,” etched onto it! We marveled at this discovery until J.J. observed, “There’s no eye on this thing!”
“Of course not! It’s not gonna be that easy for us to find!” Ensuing that sentence that I uttered, I spotted a small shard with a kaleidoscope hue, and I reversed course, “Or maybe the way out will be that easy!” I ran over to the shard, picked it up, and requested, “Please, take us to the Earthly Realm!”
“Mommy, why is that man talking to a lawn decoration?” a child queried to his mother as they passed by me.
I glanced around, and I then realized I had wandered into a yard whose perimeter was lined with rocks that were eerily similar to the Rainbow Tektites! I tossed the one in my hand down and wondered, “How are we supposed to find the portal home under these conditions?”
A small raptor emerged from the abode and charged towards me like a guard dog, so I hurried off of that property. Osra griped, “We had normal pets back then!”
Ginger forlornly assessed, “It’s gonna take a miracle for us to get through this!”
“Did someone ask for a miracle?” A fellow with a long, luscious mane and a toothy grin put his arm around Ginger’s shoulders and quizzed her, “What’s the matter, little lady? Are you lost?”
“No, but I’d like to be!” Ginger threw his limb off of her, and as she distanced himself from him, she commented, “Gosh, I thought this community was supposed to be more evolved!”
The fellow’s visage bore a very hurt frown, and he dismally regarded us, “I’m sorry! You seemed rather confused, so I was going to guide you to my church! I’m Pastor Aage! That’s my parish behind us!”
Ginger felt a little guilty, but Osra still saw red. “We didn’t have any organized religions!”
“Excuse me?” Pastor Aage blinked in confusion.
“And by that, she means could you give us directions?” I cleaned up that snafu as best I could so that we could proceed. Preceding him getting to question this awkward interaction, I petitioned him, “Can you tell us where the Eye of Stonerac is?”
Pastor Aage somewhat hesitantly filled us in, “The Eye of Stonerac? It’s in the Center for Enigmatic Discoveries at the other of this boulevard. But…. surely, you’re not going there!”
Natalia reacted in intrigue, “We are! Why?”
Once he took a moment to shudder and then collect himself, Pastor Aage stated, “I’ll pray for you!”
“Why? What’s wrong with the other end of the boulevard?” Cricket called after him as he scurried into his chapel, but he didn’t respond. After he shut the door, Cricket moaned, “Oh no! We’re gonna have to deal with something gross, I’m sure of it!”
“Gross if we’re lucky! Which we’re not! Let’s go!” I directed everybody as I began moving in that direction.
The entire group tailed me timidly except for Miriam. I gazed at Miriam in surprise, but she shrugged it off. “I had to see Blaise naked! After that, nothing scares me!” It seemed like an absurd notion in the beginning of hearing it, but in the end, I kind of saw her point and didn’t press it any longer as we trekked on.
Several minutes elapsed, and then we came across a giant, glass building with a myriad of tropical trees and plants in it. When we got close enough, we were able to distinguish a placard that labeled the edifice as, “The Center for Enigmatic Discoveries!” J.J. breathed an alleviated exhale, and then he opined, “Phew! That pastor made it seem like it was gonna be so difficult, but we…” His tone changed when he noticed a message of caution above the entrance, “Warning: Untamed Species Present… Oh, crap!”
“Isn’t there a back door we could use?” Nick catechized.
“A back door to what? It’s not like that Eye thing is gonna be located in a nice, safe room!” Ellie retorted.
I opened up the aperture, but my feet planted themselves on the path below me when the juncture to go inside arrived. So did everyone else’s! A considerable stretch of silence transpired, and eventually, Eamon brazenly proclaimed, “This task requires the bravest and most nimble of us all! Therefore, I shall initiate this perilous feat!” He audaciously marched into the architecture, and we less confidently mimicked his movement.
It may have been an enjoyable experience if it weren’t for the threat of deadly entities hovering over us! Nothing immediately jumped out at us though, and I dared to hope that this pursuit wouldn’t turn out so problematic for once. I didn’t truly buy that the Eye would wind up becoming effortless to uncover, but since we had a bout of downtime, I was going to suggest we make an attempt at scoping it out. In that instance, a realization fell upon me… “Uh, keep your eyes peeled for hints as to what exactly the Eye actually is…!”
“What?” Almost the entire crew uttered in unison upon learning that none of us knew what were looking for.
“Say again?” Eamon had gotten so wrapped up in his heroic role that he was hardly paying attention to the rest of us. Once he heard my admission to our primary objective having a mysterious status, he swiveled around to verify this fact. In so doing, he didn’t heed the trail ahead, and he wound up tripping on a stick! As he lay on the surface, he assured us, “I am still in peak condition, never fear!”
Out of nowhere, a herd of giant kangaroos with short snouts emerged and ogled at him inquisitively! Eamon picked himself up and avowed, “I’ll slay these vicious animals, worry not, friends!” One of them growled, so he piteously groveled to them, “What do you want? Jewels? We can get you jewels…!”
Natalia pondered, “Why do we keep letting him lead the pack?”
More of the odd kangaroos emerged and surrounded us! Their reddish hairs glistened like blood, and their sharp toenails alluded to our bunch that they could readily tear apart flesh. As a couple of them sniffed over Kamali in a voracious manner, Kamali asserted, “Perhaps we should’ve grabbed some spears before we went in!”
“Shoo! Go on, boy!” Jasper urged the odd kangaroo facing him. It tried to bite him, so Jasper amended his statement, “Sorry! Go on, girl!”
“Why is this open to the public?” Kendra probed as a few started pawing at her.
An odd kangaroo went within inches of Cricket, and based on her behavior, I assumed she was going to faint. Instead, she belted out a visceral scream! To our astonishment, the noise she made didn’t enrage it! On the contrary, it grew so alarmed that it ran off! She aimed her hollering at the remainder of the odd kangaroos, and they too vacated the vicinity! Upon seeing that the coast was clear, Cricket celebrated, “Yeah! The sounds coming out of my mouth made a real impact!”
I kidded her, “Wow! You really are gonna be a politician someday, aren’t you?” Prior to her giving an answer, a cacophony in the distance told us we were far from finished…
“What is this?” Roxy marched right up to us as soon as we arrived, and before I had a chance to reorient myself from that interdimensional stint, she shoved a voluminous tome in my face! “Care to explain?”
“That’s called a book, Roxy!” I couldn’t resist that highly sarcastic response. “It’s like a website on paper!”
Aleck tittered at my quip, but Roxy was not amused. “I was doing research for my final project in history, and suddenly, the page changed! You did this! I just know it!”
I didn’t want to encourage this deranged behavior, but my curiosity got the best of me. I peered at the passage she referred to, and I roared in amusement. There was a section titled, “The Pantless Battle,” and it had a censored picture of General Cartones and his troops standing in formation with their lower halves exposed in a triumphant fashion! “No way!” I cried out in delight.
Fletcher and Aleck dashed over to check it out, and they were tickled pink too. In an accusatory tone, Roxy shouted, “I knew it!”
“What? This doesn’t prove anything except we have the sense of humor of middle schoolers!” I attempted to justify our actions. I wasn’t certain if I could assuage her suspicions, but I definitely had to try! If Roxy grew wise to our plans, she might have wound up tagging along on our otherworldly expeditions! I mean, it wouldn’t have prevented us from completing our missions, but considering her tendency to assist our opposition, she would’ve been annoying to bring along! Like we needed more obstacles slowing us down!
“But, it wasn’t there before!’ Roxy contended. “And you guys went somewhere!”
I had no desire to keep lying, but thankfully, not all of the travelers remembered this trip! “Uh, no one went anywhere!” Maria quarreled.
Donna added to that, “We were trying to go somewhere though! Come on, I feel like I’ve had to pee for twenty minutes now!”
“No! None of you were here a minute ago!” Roxy insisted.
“Where else would we have gone?” Corvina shot back. “I was in the gym the whole time! I think! I can’t recall why I came here, but I would’ve recalled leaving! Wouldn’t I?”
Even though Aleck, Fletcher, and I enthusiastically agreed with that, Roxy didn’t budge on her position. “Then why did these paragraphs appear out of thin air?”
Casper furrowed his brows at that premise. “This wasn’t there previously? It seems so familiar…” He read a bit of it, and then he reiterated his theory by citing, “This definitely sounds familiar! ‘Inspired by his distaste for confining garments, General Cartones surprised their enemies with an innovative attack…’”
“What?” I pored over the text, and it stunned me to see no mention of us! That was my idea, how did I not get credit for it? “They didn’t include-!” I caught myself preceding my slipup of our rule of secrecy in this endeavor, but now I had to concoct an excuse for my outburst. “They didn’t include the little bird who told him what to do? Hmm, maybe that was only in the movie version…”
“Isn’t your friend a history teacher?” Maria queried.
I retorted, “Doesn’t your friend need to use the toilet?” The two cheerleaders hurried to the bathroom, and I gently addressed Roxy, “Listen, I know senior year is rough, but you need to rest! Yes, there’s a lot to do in your final semester, and it’s important to get everything done, but if you don’t get a solid night’s sleep, your memory will start playing tricks on you!”
Roxy bristled at this tactic I deployed. “I didn’t forget anything! You did something in the past, and I’m positive it had something to do with spoiling my honey-bunny’s plot! Mark my words, I’m gonna double my efforts in surveilling you, and when I do, I’ll figure out what you’re up to and put a stop to it!”
“When do you get any homework done?” I pondered. Truthfully, the concept of her hanging around more bothered me, but I wasn’t about to show her that! She gave me a contemptuous glare, and then she stormed out. However, she didn’t go far- she could be seen peeking through a small window on the door! I let out an exasperated exhale at this development.
“Can I go now?” Corvina inquired.
Aleck replied, “I don’t see why not!” When she was out of earshot, Aleck whispered to Fletcher and me, “Those realms involve real historical events?”
Casper joined our circle and pried, “What are we discussing here?”
I reached my limit with that dude! He may have accidentally come in handy for one set of monsters, but on the whole, he had been a huge nuisance! Without giving it much consideration, I snapped, “Nothing!” He appeared stunned by my animosity, and it then registered to me that he didn’t recollect anything about our Revolutionary War jaunt! I needed to make a quick repair, and I spouted out the first thing that popped into my mind, “It’s a surprise for the guests at our wedding…”
“Oh, that’s exciting! I’m gonna go share this with Kaleva!” Casper eagerly ambled out of the gymnasium.
“Great! Now I gotta plan something extra for our nuptials!” I grumped as we headed out of the side door. “We don’t even have the location picked out yet!”
Fletcher disagreed with my argument, “You don’t gotta do anything to please that prick! If he asks about it later, you can just say you couldn’t fit it in the schedule or tell him to shove it up his…!” He trailed off when he espied the boys’ soccer team, who had apparently been running around the field the entire duration of our absence! Fletcher blew his whistle and decreed, “Practice is over! Nice job, fellas!”
Jimmy objected, “But, we didn’t even play the game!”
“Do you really want to after all that?” Fletcher probed. Jimmy’s spirit clearly wanted to, but following an honest evaluation of his body’s status, he had to shake his head. “Alright then! Go home! And get plenty of hydration!”
“I could use a drink too!” I kidded, but in all actuality, it wasn’t a joke! I said goodbye to Aleck and Fletcher, and as I went to my car, I could hear Roxy trailing me on her bicycle. I sighed, but I did find some solace in all this- if Roxy was truly committed to stalking me again, she was bound to get caught up in our realm shifts, and I would get some gratification in seeing how disturbed Damon would get from her showing up!
The next day, I entered into the mall with Phoebe. We went up to a bench by this ornate fountain that somehow failed to bring more class to the joint, and once we were there, we beheld Ellie and Ginger pouting as well as a woman that resembled an older version of my fiancé sitting there with a sheepish expression. Based off of what I saw, I inferred, “You told them, Miriam?”
Miriam differed slightly, “I didn’t exactly say it, but when they grew jealous of me not having to perfectly match anyone, I may have slipped that Paloma would get that honor…”
“It doesn’t make sense! Your stepmom is gonna be the Mother-of-the-Bride, and your actual mother is gonna be the Maid-of-Honor?” Ellie huffed.
“I couldn’t choose between the two of you, so…” Phoebe caught sight of Ellie’s irate face, so she asserted, “Well, you didn’t make me Maid-of-Honor at your wedding either!”
Ellie pointed out, “Victor and I got married in eighty-nine! You were… what? Three?’
Ginger argued, “How could you do this? After all we’ve been through!”
“What? And I haven’t been through a lot with her?” Miriam challenged her. “Did you take thirty-six hours to give birth to her? Or stay up all night when she wouldn’t quit crying? And then massage her tummy for hours ‘cause it turned out you can’t have gassy food when you’re breastfeeding? If I knew all that garlic would make her constipated…”
“Oof!” Phoebe clutched her stomach. “Don’t remind me! I’m glad I’m not trying on gowns today!” The ladies still seemed miffed, so Phoebe swiveled herself to me and queried, “Did you have this much trouble picking out your best man?”
I shrugged. “Not really! Rowan was glad to do it!”
Ginger reacted in astonishment, “Rowan? Rowan’s your best friend?”
“Not really. When Aleck and Fletcher found out they had to give a speech, neither of them wanted to do it!” I sensed some hostility still, and the last thing I wanted to do was listen to bickering the entire evening, so I made a bid to alleviate the situation, “Listen, we’re all here ‘cause we love Phoebe, and she included all of you ‘cause she loves you too. The title you get for the ceremony doesn’t matter- we simply need to focus on doing what’s best for Phoebe! So, let’s pick out some dresses without any more fuss, ‘kay?”
“You sound excited to go shopping!” Miriam raised her eyebrows at my statement. “You only do that when you’ve run out of booze or you’re trying to escape from some frustration at home… Is everything okay? My ex isn’t here again, is he?”
I reassured her, “No! Everything’s fine!” That was an odious lie, but I didn’t want to reveal the truth to her! She was the one outsider I could have disclosed details of our supernatural snafus to without sounding crazy since she was privy to that world thanks to her undead former husband, but I still wanted to avoid doing so if I could help it! This whole gig was already complicated enough, I didn’t want to complicate it further. Besides, she was at peace not knowing our situation, so it seemed kind of mean to involve her. She didn’t deserve that kind of punishment! Perhaps I should have let Casper get in on this after all!
Miriam eyed me distrustfully. “What’s going on?”
My imagination reeled with different explanations that would plausibly support my actions, but when I spotted Roxy watching me from behind a trash can, I articulated, “I’m trying to forget I’m getting followed by a dumb blonde!”
“I heard that! I’m not dumb! I-!” As Roxy marched toward me, she slipped and fell head-first into the garbage bin!
“Hurry!” I ushered the ladies out of the vicinity preceding her recovery.
As we headed to our destination, Ellie brought up to Miriam, “You know, your ex is gonna be at the wedding…”
Miriam waved that off. “You mean Gene? Oh, I don’t care about that! I think I can handle him after dealing with over a decade’s worth of Blaise’s bullshit! Gene looks like a saint compared to that asshole! Seriously, who frickin’ lies about being a zombie?” She noticed a girl with a tray staring at her in startlement, but Miriam was undeterred. “What are you looking at?”
“Free sample?” the girl timidly offered small cups with a brown beverage in them to us. “It’s our new Olive Oil Espresso!”
“Olive oil and coffee? Isn’t that basically a laxative?” Phoebe mulled that concept over, and then she eagerly grabbed several cups. “I’ll share it with them, I swear!” As she guzzled down the first one, the barista girl indicated that she clearly didn’t believe her and was miffed about it.
Minutes later, Phoebe’s abdomen lurched, and she observed, “That was fast!”
The rest of us waited in the hall, and I was prepared to scroll through my phone when I overheard a familiar female’s voice yell, “I should sue you!”
“What’s going on, Cricket?” I asked the angry female by the kiosk.
“I told that man no, and he continued to pester me about the lotion he’s selling! That’s harassment!’ Cricket bellowed.
I sardonically catechized, “How’s that pre-law major treating you? Real stress-free, huh?”
Cricket chimed, “I love it! Why wouldn’t I?”
“Nice try!” Roxy conveyed to me with messy hair and used gum on her collar. “I’ve caught you! I’ll stop you from ruining my Day-Day’s scheme! You-!”
“There’s nothing going on, Roxy!’ I refuted her claim. “We’re gonna have a nice, normal day in the mall, and there won’t be any-!”
To my horror, Cricket’s eyes turned into that kaleidoscope hue! It baffled me since neither Mrithan nor anyone else from the school was present to hand out consumable goods! Cricket was a college student now, so she hadn’t gone onto Rosemary King’s campus in ages! I wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery, but prior to that occurring, I had another issue to tackle… “Hey! There’s a monster hiding in that shoe shop! Let’s get it!”
Roxy exclaimed, “Oh, no you don’t!” She zoomed into the footwear emporium and avidly scoured the grounds for the non-existent beast.
While she was distracted, I pushed Cricket down the aisleway. “Take her to the luggage store! That place is always empty!” Ginger directed. When we arrived, it was actually pretty packed! “Really?”
“What’s happening?” Cricket wondered. I strove to unearth a rationale that wouldn’t upset her, but before I could cook up any stories…
“Bleck! I hate it!” A guy in the space next door glimpsed at his buddy as he tried on a vest from a nearby rack in disgust. “You look like you belong in the caveman days!”
I wailed, “Nooooo!” It was too late to prevent it though…
“Please, don’t!” Maria begged as she braced for impact. We were all prepared to defend against this assault, but before we could move an inch…
“Wow! Even with death imminently approaching, you acted politely!” The Headless Horseman put down his axe and leaned against it in a relaxed repose. “Manners are in such short supply these days, it’s refreshing to see!”
The entire group gazed at each other in confusion over this abrupt change in demeanor, and no one was sure how to proceed. Everyone seemed too afraid to do anything, but someone had to do something! Finally, I summoned up a bit of bravery and asked him, “So… you’re gonna let us go? … Sir?”
After a pleasant chuckle, the Headless Horseman answered, “I have no quarrel with such kind individuals, so yes, go forth and do good in the world!”
It was tempting to question his sense of morality considering he was perfectly willing to murder us a few seconds ago, but everyone clammed up as we very cautiously passed by him. Nobody dared to turn their backs to him in case this was a ruse, but he simply watched us in a congenial fashion, so evidently, he was telling the truth! Even though he didn’t have a visible noggin, I swore he was smiling! Once we gained a considerable distance between him and us, we hurried off a little quicker.
Minutes later, we were out of range for his invisible ears to hear us, so we collectively released a sigh of relief. “We’re going to be alright!” Kendra rejoiced.
“Are we though?” Aleck pondered. “Shouldn’t we have defeated him?”
“No! We’re supposed to talk to that Cartoons fella, and then we’re supposed to get the hell out of this realm!” Fletcher asserted. “He’s the villagers’ problem now! We’re not going back there!”
Aleck articulated, “I know! But, I feel kinda bad leaving them in danger like that!”
Maria assured him, “They’ll be fine if they were paying attention to what we did! I can’t believe I saved everyone by being respectful! Wait ‘til I tell my parents! Oh, wait! I can’t mention any of this without sounding like a complete lunatic, can I?”
“Welcome to my world!” I muttered.
“Gosh, teachers lead such interesting lives outside the classroom!” Donna remarked. “I didn’t know this is what you do in your free time!”
I was about to relay to her that I did not do this as a hobby or even a real choice, but then Casper butt in, “We certainly do go on extraordinary adventures! Did I ever tell you about the staker I partook in to search for the Bog Behemoth?”
Donna groaned, “Ugh! You’re not gonna sing again, are you?”
I bursted out in laughter at her comment, but Casper now bore a very pronounced glower. He appeared to be on the verge of ranting, but luckily, a set of soldiers blocked our path with their bayonets! Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly lucky, but it did shut Casper up anyway! The first soldier notified us, “Civilians aren’t allowed in military territory!”
“You don’t understand! We’ve gotta go in there!” Jasper argued. “We have a mission of the utmost importance at hand!”
“Oh?” The second soldier looked intrigued. “And what might that be?”
Jasper clearly blanked out at that reaction, so he sputtered, “It’s… uh… so urgent that we…” He turned to the rest of our lot to get some clues on how to finish that sentence, but we were at a loss too, so we decided to go with, “…we can’t even discuss it out loud!”
The soldiers were highly skeptical of this rationale, and so Osra stepped in, “You see, we’re here to… deliver a message!” She obviously just concocted that excuse on the spot, and she seemed quite proud of her ingenuity.
“Hand us the message, and we’ll deliver it to the appropriate party,” the first soldier decreed.
“No…” Osra refused. “We… We have to chat with General Cartones ourselves!”
The second soldier scoffed at her, “Psh! You can’t merely meet with the general for a casual discussion! He’s a busy man, and…!” He cut himself off when he beheld Corvina, and then his tone completely altered, “Hold on! Are you his daughter?”
Corvina blinked in bewilderment at that characterization. “Um, no!” Since I saw a window of opportunity for us to complete our quest, I nudged her with my elbow to indicate that she should change her tune. Thankfully, she was smart enough to figure out what I meant with that gesture! “No… I’m his princess!”
After the two soldiers heartily tittered, the first soldier queried, “Why didn’t you tell us that in the first place?”
Corvina had no inkling how to respond to that, so Eamon stepped in, “Thank you for mentioning that and making us feel foolish!”
“Who are your companions?” the second soldier posed to Corvina.
“Spirits visiting from the Heavens!” Corvina conveyed that in a sarcastic enough tone that it sounded as though she was kidding. “Are you gonna keep asking me idiotic things, or do I need to let my dad know you two were interfering with our mission?”
The two soldiers hastily moved aside, and, once again, I was grateful for the utility of teenage attitudes during these chaotic misadventures!
As we trekked through the sea of tents, Fletcher complained, “All these look the same! How are we supposed to know which one is General Cartoons’?” We subsequently came across a big canvas shelter with a sign that depicted his name, and Fletcher was startled by the unexpected ease of this discovery. “Oh! Oh, good! We can get this moronic goal done in time for supper!”
Aleck gently reminded him, “Yes, but don’t call him Cartoons!”
“Right! We don’t wanna insult the guy!” Fletcher concurred.
“No! Cartoons don’t even exist yet!” Aleck corrected him.
Fletcher huffed, “If he doesn’t know what it is, then he won’t get insulted if I call him that! Why can’t I say it?”
A middle-aged man with dark hair in a ponytail and piercing blue eyes that mirrored Corvina’s poked his front half out of his flaps and petitioned us, “Why can’t you say what?”
We all jumped from shock at his unforeseen appearance, but we quickly collected ourselves given the high stakes of this diabolical but dumb objective. I formally communicated to him, “Sir, we have a serious proposal we’d like to go into detail with you.” He seemed surprised to hear this, but he permitted our entrance nonetheless.
I distinctly remembered learning about this man in history books, so I thought I knew him well. As I stared at him, I realized I didn’t have much background on him at all! He had a shorter stature than I pictured, and he didn’t walk as majestically as I imagined he would! As far as I could make out, he was an ordinary person! It was a strange revelation since he was always portrayed as larger than life!
“What is your proposal?” General Cartones catechized.
“Oh! Uh…” At that juncture, it registered to me that we didn’t have a plan for this eventuality whatsoever! It seemed stupid at that moment, but to be fair, it’s a little hard to contemplate anything when monsters are trying to kill you! He looked at me with the expectation of getting a reply, but I couldn’t formulate a proper sales pitch under that sort of pressure, so I just blurted out, “We want you to go into your next battle without your pants on!”
General Cartones’ eyes grew wide at that proposition, and the others ogled at me in dumbfoundment. I cringed at my action, and I prayed that I didn’t blow the whole operation with my tactlessness! To my relief, General Cartones erupted in a merry guffaw! “You said your proposal was serious!”
Casper placed himself at the forefront of our assemblage and carried himself with the air of feeling superior with the solution he dreamt up in his cognizance. “Listen, my friend may sound preposterous with that concept, but there is a simple explanation for this line of thinking! We believe you should do this because…” He opened his mouth as if he had something thoughtful to express, but evidently, he couldn’t conjure anything up either. I was glad that he fumbled his shot at showing me up, and my appeasement made him fold his arms and pout.
I wouldn’t have blamed General Cartones for kicking us out of his tent after that display, but after glimpsing at us in perplexion for a spell, he decreed, “I’ll give you a minute to figure out how to explain yourselves!” He went over to a full-length mirror in the corner and glanced at his image in disgust. “I hate these garments! They’re so confining! And, I dislike not being able to express my individuality wearing them!”
Corvina’s face lit up at the topic he brought up. “I said the same thing!”
“I’m glad someone agrees with me!” General Cartones turned around, and when he caught sight of Corvina’s visage, he inquired, “Are we related?”
“Very distantly!” Kamali replied with a wry smile. We all found that humorous, but we had to suppress our mirth so that General Cartones wouldn’t get weirded out! Well, even more weirded out than he already was!
Preceding General Cartones broaching the subject any further, I articulately orated, “But, this is exactly why you should go into battle pantless!” He gawked at me with a baffled intrigue, and I produced a more ardent and persuasive appeal. “How can you perform at your peak if you’re not comfortable? Let yourself be free! That’s what this struggle is all about, isn’t it? Liberate yourself! How stunned would your enemies be to see such a spectacle? They would freeze from disbelief of this vision, that’s for sure! And, you can use this momentary distraction to attack them unopposed! So, what do you say? Will you deploy this unconventional advantage or not?’
I stupefied everyone (including myself!) by making that ridiculous notion come across as a logical strategic technique! General Cartones shifted into a reflective stance, and I grew hopeful of ending this quest immediately! I also became curious- at what point would the realm consider this mission as complete and send us home? Would we have to actually see them engage in combat, or would his agreement to this circumstance suffice? Regardless of the scenario, General Cartones seemed as though he was on the verge of announcing his decision when…
“General Cartones, I have the intelligence report from your lieutenant!” Damon unceremoniously entered into the space wearing an American uniform, and my blood instantly boiled at his this intrusion! It was inconceivable for him to have a presence at the precipice of our victory, and if it weren’t for an innocent bystander in our proximity, I would’ve unleashed my fury on that scoundrel!
“Excellent! Set it on the table,” General Cartones directed him. Damon very willingly obliged, which was undoubtedly a sign he was up to something devious. As he unfurled his parchment, I speculated as to how long his subservient act would last! General Cartones peered at the paper and frowned. “Who wrote this? This handwriting is atrocious!”
Damon got insulted by that statement. “It seems pretty clear to me!”
As General Cartones strove to decipher the markings, Damon subtly slipped low and reached underneath the surface. He inched closer and closer to a small chest, and persisted in this effort until General Cartones demanded, “I give up! Since you can read this chicken scratch, you explain what is on there!”
It was entertaining to witness Damon swallowing his pride like that! He very reluctantly stifled his indignation over his slur, and then he mustered as much cordiality as he could as he verbalized, “The enemy is just beyond the ridge adjacent to the northern end of our camp!”
“Oh, dear!” General Cartones exclaimed. “We don’t have a plan for an attack at the base!” Damon resumed his attempt to seize the content of that chest, and I couldn’t fathom what he was seeking, but I recognized that it must have held a huge significance for him to resort to this antic. We all gathered that we needed to intervene, but nobody could concoct a method inconspicuous enough to thwart him without upsetting General Cartones. General Cartones frantically quizzed him, “What did Lieutenant Van Halen recommend we do?” I got too enchanted by that reference to one of my favorite classic rock bands to notice that Damon had opened his mouth to, most likely, dole out some bad advice. Thankfully, someone else was quick on their feet…
“Don’t listen to him! He’s evil!” Donna implored.
Yet again, we left General Cartones dumbfounded. It would’ve been better if she had done something slightly more low-key, but since the cat was out of the bag, we had to provide him a reason for that outburst that would make more sense to him than a Hellian escapee was trying to rip apart the fabric of society with time-traveling stones! I recollected our conversation with that paranormal pest prior to the onset of this eighteenth-century journey, and I revealed, “He’s a loyalist!”
General Cartones looked at him in aghast. “Is this true?”
“Of course it is!” Natalia reiterated this fact. “He’s from Romania, and they’re allied with Germany!” She replayed her words in her mind, and then she softly bemoaned, “That’s the wrong war, isn’t it?”
“You’re a Hessian?” General Cartones seethed. “You’ll pay a price for your treachery!”
General Cartones pulled out a sword, and Damon belted out a high-pitched scream as General Cartones chased him out of the vicinity. Fletcher pondered, “You reckon him and his army’ll get that S.O.B. out of our lives forever?”
Osra grinned. “That’d be nice! In the meantime, let’s see what he was so desperately after!”
Casper and I both dove for the chest, but I beat him to it. When I opened the lid and saw something familiar at the top, I had to laugh, “We should’ve guessed!” I held the Rainbow Tektite in the air, and everyone but Casper, who was pouting, celebrated in alleviation. I didn’t even bother to ask if everyone was ready to return home, I just assumed and gazed at the stone as I requested, “Please, take us back to the Earthly realm!”
The vortex took us out of that era, and we gracefully landed back in the gym. But we weren’t alone…
“That’s it?” Maria questioned as a small, black cat emerged from the flowery fencing and perched itself on a pumpkin. “That’s the monster?”
“Don’t be fooled by its appearance!” I cautioned the girls. “Sometimes dangerous things pose as stuff that’s harmless and adorable! Not as adorable as Jett, but still!”
The cat began licking one of its paws, and all of the adults (except Casper) gazed at each other for cues on how to proceed. Casper had his eyes closed as if he were waiting for something, and we ignored him as we tried to figure out what to do. Finally, Osra spoke up, “There’s only one way to know the truth of its nature…”
Casper disagreed, “Wrong! There are several methods of detecting supernatural entities! Unfortunately, most of them can’t be utilized due to my tools being stored in my classroom, which we won’t likely have access to out here. However, we do have one advantage in this situation- any deception can get rooted out with my third-eye abilities!”
“Oh, jeez! This dope believes he’s psychic now?” Fletcher grumbled.
“I’m seeing… I’m seeing…” Casper kept his lids shut as he allegedly scanned the animal’s aura, and he apparently arrived at a conclusion when his peepers flickered wide open. “It’s a Howler in disguise! Don’t worry, this one is benign, we’re safe!”
Corvina started to enquire, “What’s a H-?”
Aleck interrupted her, “Don’t ask any follow-ups to his nonsense!”
“It’s not nonsense!” Casper reacted in offense. “I have been awarded a gift, and… Okay, so I had to do a lot of honing to activate it, but even so, it is my gift, and I choose to share it with you! And how am I repaid? By-?”
“Hey, if you’re so sure it’s harmless, why don’t you go over and test to see if it’ll let people pass?” I challenged him.
Casper boldly accepted my dare, “I’d be happy to!”
As he approached the feline, Kendra softly chided me, “I understand that you don’t like the guy, but don’t risk him getting killed over it!”
“He won’t get killed! Maybe really hurt, but…” I espied her reproachful stare, so I begrudgingly agreed, “I’ll stand by just in case!”
“Hello, wayfarer from Beyond!’ Casper prouncedly greeted the kitty. “We mean you no ill will, so, will you grant us passage into your territory?”
The animal ogled at him judgmentally, and that led me to cast it as an excellent judge of character. All of a sudden, there was more rustling in the sunflowers, and I regretted joining Casper for this dumb venture! I despised that I would most likely have to fight to save this pompous dork’s life, but seeing how I basically put him in peril’s path, I didn’t have much of a choice! Besides, I didn’t want whatever was there to attack the children present! The entity there had a more considerable size than what we were standing before, so I braced myself to defend everyone… somehow! It’s hard to truly prepare for a barrage when the perpetrator is a total mystery!
A young lady in a bonnet poked her head in, and she looked alarmed by our activity. “What are you doing to my cat?”
“Did you realize your pet is a monster in an assumed form?” Casper pressed her.
“Pardon?” The young lady eyeballed him as though he was completely devoid of sanity, which made me snicker but also gave me an idea.
I went up to Casper and apologized to the young lady, “We’re so sorry, ma’am! We’re in charge of this patient, and he recently escaped from the asylum!”
Casper denied that allegation, “We’re not from an asylum! We’re from the twenty-first century, and we came to combat otherworldly beasts as well as convince General Carnotes to take his pants off!”
“Does that sound like something a sane person would come up with?” I posed to the young lady.
“I see… Well, carry on then!” The young lady parted her plants and permitted us passage.
Fletcher, Jasper, and I forced Casper to put his arms behind his back, and as we paraded him out, Casper claimed, “We were sent on a quest by a malevolent spirit!”
Eamon ruefully regarded her, “Sorry for our intrusion!”
When we exited onto a dirt road, Donna canvassed the young lady, “Do your parents escort you everywhere?”
“Of course not!” the young lady affirmed. This surprised the girls, but not as much as what she followed with, “But my husband does.”
“Huh? But, you’re our age!” Donna exclaimed.
The young woman chimed, “Oh, are you also fourteen?” Donna, Maria, and Corvina’s jaws nearly hit the floor from that tidbit, but their appall only heightened when she brought something else up, “Say… My husband has a brother who is unwed…”
Prior to the girls expressing their horror at that concept, Eamon as well as Kamali and Aleck linked arms with them, and Eamon informed her, “Forgive us for disappointing your kin, but we’re courting these ladies!” Ironically, the girls seemed rather grateful to have adults escort them at this juncture!
We walked down the lane for a while, and then Kamali wondered, “Where are we going?”
I shrugged. “Down this way ‘til we find someone who can tell us where General Cartones is.”
Osra squinted her eyes, and then she determined, “It looks like we’re coming to the entrance of a town.”
“Please, let the general be right there at the entrance!” Aleck crossed his fingers on both hands and beseeched this desire to the universe. My ancestors, Fletcher, and I peered at him skeptically, and he defended his actions, “Hey! What’s wrong with hoping for the simplest solution?”
“There is something there!” Covina noted. “Maybe it’s his horse? Wait, it’s super pale!”
We grew closer to the entity, and as I studied it better, I came to a realization, “It’s a ghost! Also, it’s a moose! Wow, random!”
Jasper remarked, “A Ghost Moose? That doesn’t sound too bad!” As it stood in the archway bordering the hamlet’s perimeter, it glowered at us and emitted a guttural growl. “Hmm! I always heard these creatures were gentle!”
“It’s blocking the only route inside!” Kaleva observed.
“Alright, Mister Occult Expert! How do we get rid of it?” I quizzed Casper.
Casper tapped his noggin as he contemplated the matter. “Under typical circumstances, one could use tangerines or blue paint, but I distinctly recall a unique quality attributed to this form…”
The Ghost Moose continued with its menacing stance, so I proposed, “What if somebody distracted it while the rest of us snuck in? I mean, that person would have to race inside when they got an opening, but…”
“That’ll never work!” Casper belittled my proposition.
“Do you have anything better?” I retorted.
Casper resumed his rumination. “Perhaps… We’ll need a bag and breakable glass though…”
Eamon opined, “It couldn’t do any harm to give it a chance!”
“Thank you! See, I told you I was brilliant!” Casper pridefully commented.
“I wasn’t referring to you! Connor is on a decent track with his suggestion, although, once again, we’ll need someone nimble to pull it off, so, once again, I’ll volunteer!” Eamon steeled himself up to perform this task, and then he marched over to the Ghost Moose.
The Ghost Moose snarled at him, and Eamon taunted it, “Come hither, Moose! Whoo!” Eamon’s lure tempted the Ghost Moose enough to leave its post, and we initiated our sneaking in. Eamon soon tripped backward on a branch, and as he fell onto the floor, he discouraged the Ghost Moose from reaching him, “Turn around! They’re getting away!”
Natalia dryly stated, “Thanks, nimble one!”
The Ghost Moose dove for Eamon, and I sped to both of their proximity preceding any contact. The Ghost Moose aimed to bite him, so I strove to block its jaw from touching Eamon. I stretched toward it, and… It shocked me to watch my grasp go straight through the Ghost Moose’s mandible! “What the-? Oh, duh! It’s a ghost! They’re transparent!”
“I’ll save you, friend!” Casper valiantly threw himself in front of Eamon and stood in a heroic fashion. His pathetic attempt to garner admiration made us all shake our heads in disappointment.
“Alright, let’s go! Everyone ignore the Ghost Moose!” Aleck replayed his words in his mind, and he articulated, “Huh! There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say!”
We all moved forward, and the Ghost Moose persisted in its efforts for a while, but eventually, it became discouraged and morosely gave up. I almost felt sorry for it! Almost!
We saw several citizens of this city browsing fruits and vegetables outside of a market, and Fletcher esteemed, “We should ask these folks for directions. Unfriendly people don’t take forever to pick out produce!”
Kamali argued, “I don’t think that’s true! How could there be a correlation between-?”
“Who cares? We gotta ask someone!” Jasper quarreled. He then addressed the marketplace patrons, “Excuse us! We’re visitors to this region, and we could use some assistance.” They gladly turned around to respond, but when they took a gander at our crew, their eyes went wide and they all ran inside. Jasper took exception to this behavior, “What? Do we smell or something?”
“Everyone smells here!” Natalia asserted.
A woman behind an adjacent window shouted, “How rude!”
Natalia blushed at this development. “Oh, you heard that?”
“Don’t expect us to show remorse! You didn’t even let us complete our question before you fled from us!” Jasper confronted them.
“We weren’t fleeing from you!’ The woman indicated to something behind us.
A strange, low-pitched howl emanated from our backside, and I mumbled, “Why didn’t we guess it was a monster?” We swiveled around, and we beheld shaggy beasts with bodies like bears and faces like cats with inverted noses. “What the hell are those?”
While using a barrel as a shield, a man illuminated us, “Why, they’re the Howlers, of course!”
“Ha! Didn’t I say that there were Howlers around?” Casper folded his arms triumphantly.
“Yeah, but you didn’t say how to defeat them!” I riposted as the Howlers crawled off the rooftops and towards our locale.
Casper’s proud grin faded as he attempted to recall this vital info. “I dunno! But I will! I haven’t revisited my research on them since college, so give me a minute!”
Corvina pointed out, “Uh, we don’t exactly have a minute…!”
“I wrote a song about paranormal defense,” Casper recollected. The Howlers got within inches of us, and we all grabbed whatever was handy to defend ourselves. A few from our lot snagged some rocks, but the rest of us resorted to the ware from the store’s bins! At the precise instance I was praying a lemon would save me from getting mauled, Casper belted out a tune:
“Granite, quartz, and running water,/
Can get used to combat beings from the hereafter!/
And make no mistake,/
You can also use a stake!/”
“Holy smokes! It’s working!” Kendra observed as the Howlers seemed repulsed by his crooning.
Casper sullenly spat, “My musical ability isn’t a magical deterrent!”
The Howlers resume their voracity when he quit warbling, so Maria urged him, “Keep singing, Mister Von Dutchman!”
After uttering an exasperated exhale, Casper went on:
“Some cannot cross a bed of roses,/
And some can be kicked in their noses…/”
I realized that he wrote this jingle, but it still bore the hallmarks of getting sung off-key! And rhyming mistake with stake? As much as I disliked his ditty, I appreciated it tremendously at this moment! The Howlers writhed in agony at the noise coming out of Casper’s mouth, and thankfully, after several seconds of this, the Howlers let out a final shriek and quickly scurried off!
The onlookers cheered, and Kendra complimented him, “You did it!”
I would’ve expected Casper to lap this fond focus on him up, but he stunned me when he grew miffed and pouted, “Yes, but I can’t brag about how I did it! What was the purpose if not that?” He stormed off, and we tailed him down the avenue.
At the other end of this borough, we viewed a field with tents and Revolutionary soldiers on it, and Osra breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness! We don’t have to get directions from anyone else! But, no one is outside! There must be another subhuman threat lurking about!”
“Maybe this one won’t be so bad!” Aleck tried to buoy our spirits. “I can’t imagine anything worse than the Howlers!” As if on cue, a dark horse came into our range of vision. Its rider had ornate clothing and no head, which caused Aleck to amend his previous sentence, “Yes, I can!”
“How does he see where he’s going with no eyeballs?” Corvina cried out as the Headless Horseman circled us fast enough that no one could budge.
The Headless Horseman brandished an axe, and I advised Corvina, “Let’s figure it out later and assume he can see his targets for the time being!”
Suddenly, the Headless Horseman raised his weapon up, and…
“Will you two stop acting like babies?” Fletcher shouted to us from the soccer field. “It’s not like it’ll happen twice within twenty-four hours with nearly the same set of students!”
“Yeah, we know!” Aleck responded as we stood by the gym’s side entrance. “We… We’re just… enjoying the shade!”
Fletcher, understandably, didn’t buy that claim. “Whatever you’re scared of, hurry up and get over it! These agility hurdles aren’t gonna set themselves up!”
I griped, “Oh, why not? It’s the twenty-first century- why doesn’t equipment like that exist?”
As we grabbed the rods that bore the appearance of monkey bars that were separated and three-dimensional, Aleck pointed out, “If they did exist, we probably wouldn’t have the budget for it!”
“Oh, yeah!” I acknowledged the accuracy of his statement. As we began setting the agility hurdles up, we kept glancing at the boys’ team practicing passes close by. Eventually, I asked Fletcher, “How does everything look out there?”
“Totally normal!” Fletcher huffed. Jimmy put a bouquet of dandelions in his mouth and motioned for his teammate to aim there, so Fletcher blew his whistle. “Spit those out! What did I say about eating crap off the ground?”
Jimmy argued, “I wasn’t gonna eat them! Well, not on purpose anyway!”
Fletcher gritted his teeth, and then he relayed to us, “See! That’s totally normal!”
“That’s true! ‘Kay, you win! We’ve gotta stop!” I acquiesced to his argument. “It’ll be nice to think about something else for a change! Okay, no more talk about spooky stuff!”
“Hey, Connor!” Casper approached the field. “I wanna talk to you about some spooky stuff!”
I let out a frustrated breath, and then I grumbled, “So much for that idea!” When he joined our group, I relented, “Alright, Casper! What is it?”
Casper narrated, “So, I was on my search for the source of that dark magic, and my divination rod led me to the English department. It suddenly jerked when I came to Room One-Three-Nine, so I opened the door. Do you know what I found in there?”
“Imelda grading papers?” I presumed.
“Yes!” Casper confirmed. “There weren’t any signs of the fairy folks anywhere, but I knew they must be around there somewhere! When I sought Imelda’s permission to search the area, she told me no! Can you believe that?” I responded, “Uh, yeah!”
Casper seemed affronted by my lackadaisical attitude regarding his revelation. “Really? I thought we were on the same page with this matter! How are you not outraged?”
“What do you want me to do?” I shot back. “Scour the space without her permission? Consent is important, Casper! A woman has a right to say no!”
“Kaleva never tells me no!” Casper folded his arms and pouted.
Aleck clicked his tongue in complete skepticism of his remark. “I don’t believe that for a second!”
Casper looked miffed, so, to end this potentially long spat, I humored him, “Fine! When we get the chance, we’ll check out her room.” Aleck gazed at me quizzically, so I gestured in a manner that indicated that I wasn’t serious. I attempted to finish this conversation by telling him, “We can’t do anything today, so you can go home. That concludes the spooky business for today!”
“Mister Fenmore!” Corvina ran up to me with a frantic frown. She appeared to be in a panic, but she oddly kept a tight grip on the sunglasses she was wearing. “I was just in the girls’ restroom, and… I think something’s wrong!”
“Oh, gosh! That sounds like something you should bring up to a female teacher! Coach Huppert is in the wrestling loft running cheer practice…” I had enough knowledge of medical lore that I probably could’ve advised her with this issue, but it made me uncomfortable to do so! I mean, there was a reason I dropped my pre-med major!
Corvina insisted, “No! I need to show you now!”
We all shielded our eyes, but when we dared to have a peek, we realized she wasn’t referring to any feminine problems! Our relief in that was short-lived though- Corvina had kaleidoscope eyes! Our skin paled, and all I could determine to do was to put her sunglasses back on her head. We found the latest victim (well, technically, she found us!), and as much as we anticipated this event, we still didn’t have a plan for what to do with the afflicted, so, for a lengthy stretch, we were at a loss of what to do!
“Hey, Coach Jackson! What’s going on?” Jimmy craned his neck in an attempt to catch a glimpse of our activity.
“Nothing! Everyone go run laps!” Fletcher directed them with his voice at a slightly higher octave than he typically had it.
Aleck decreed, “I cannot go on another trip with them! Let’s get her away from here!”
I suggested, “The gym is empty. Come on!” As we steered her away from the field the boys were now running around, I requested to Casper, “Can you watch soccer practice real quick?” We dashed into the gym prior to getting an answer.
“Nothing!” I espied her disbelieving expression, so I altered my assertion slightly, “Not yet anyways” I turned to Aleck and Fletcher, and I ruefully commented, “Out of all the medication I saw developed during my stint at Novak Neander, I don’t recall seeing anything that’d cure this!”
Casper perched himself in the doorway of the gymnasium and posed to us, “What is this?”
I grimaced at his presence, and since I was aggravated, I accidentally blurted out my honest opinion, “Ugh! You are truly useless!”
“Ouch!” Casper didn’t seem to relish that insult, but he didn’t seem deterred by it either. “Nice try, but I’m not leaving ‘til I understand what’s going on! Tell me, Corvina, did you encounter any individuals with webbed hands and blue skin?”
“What?” Corvina stared at him in confusion.
Aleck recommended, “Don’t ask!” He shifted his attention to us and theorized, “Maybe we can get the cure if we track down the person who fed her the-.”
I cut him off, “Shh! Don’t give him any information about the… you-know-whats!” I lowered my volume and entreated them, “Let’s minimize the amount of people who know about the other realms! Him especially! If he learned about this, he’ll always get involved with our plans, and we’ll never get rid of him!”
“I disclosed my findings to you, so I demand you give me the same courtesy!” Casper badgered us. “We’re part of a collective that combats the occult, so it doesn’t benefit any of us to cause rifts with one another! When I played football, my fellow players and I never-!”
“Will you shut up for a minute?” Fletcher rubbed his temples in exasperation. “I can’t conjure up a solution with all your yapping!”
Corvina clutched her stomach and moaned, “I don’t feel so good…”
This behavior struck me with a bolt of inspiration. “Real fast while you still have your memory, what did you eat and drink today?”
I eagerly awaited her response, and I avidly anticipated the notion of finally obtaining a clue to the culprit responsible for carrying out Damon’s demented misdeeds for him! Unfortunately, my strategy only perplexed Corvina further. “Huh? Why am I gonna lose my memory?”
“It’s a part of the spell, undoubtedly,” Casper put in.
“No! It’s not a spell! It’s… Argh!” I emitted a noise of sheer annoyance, but I fully intended to continue with my interrogation… until…
Two cheerleaders emerged from the entryway to the loft, and one of them exclaimed, “So, yeah! Now, my abuelo wants to have a ‘chat’ with my date before we leave for prom! Can you believe that, Donna?” The pair of them spotted us, and they justifiably ogled at us in bewilderment. Donna’s friend inquired, “What’s going on?”
“Detention! She was tardy to all of our classes!” I fibbed. They appeared mollified by that explanation, and when I sensed Casper readying himself to deny that statement, I pinched him to shut him up. I was glad they were appeased, but the girls’ arrival caused me to wonder if this would become a trend, so I catechized, “Is cheer practice over already?”
“Oh, no! We gotta use the toilet, and someone clogged the drains up there!” Donna shared with us.
Fletcher recollected, “That’d probably be Stevenson! He carbo-loads before wrestling matches, so when he goes, he goes! Ooh, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned his name…”
The two cheerleaders were clearly at a loss for words from that exchange, so I sagaciously communicated to them, “In general, if you don’t know what to say, you should just walk away!”
“I believe that, Maria!” Donna heeded my advice and headed towards the bathroom as though she hadn’t witnessed our oddity whatsoever. “My parents wanted to escort me to the prom!” They nearly exited the arena, which would’ve garnered us more time to unearth a remedy for this catastrophe, but then Donna scoffed at her folks’ intention, “I’m, like, what is this? Colonial times?”
As the swirling vortex manifested above us, Fletcher vexedly uttered, “Gosh darnit! This is not what I wanted to do with my afternoon!”
Casper differed, “It isn’t? Why not? We’re off to an adventure!”
I got the impression that if the vortex hadn’t swallowed us up, Fletcher would’ve toed the line of letting himself smack Casper! Not that I would’ve blamed him, and not that the interdimensional travel provided us any real benefit, but at least in this instance, perhaps it prevented one bad scenario from unfolding!
We gently landed on some vines, and a tri-corner hat fell over my vision prior to me getting to scope out our new surroundings. Once I readjusted myself, I saw that we were all donning eighteenth-century garb in the middle of a pumpkin farm. Corvina gawked at her outfit in disgust. “I can’t wear something so utterly conventional like this!”
“Trust me, in a minute, your wardrobe will be the least of your worries!” Aleck knowledgeably addressed her.
My ancestors materialized by us, and Natalia proudly showed us her footwear. “Look! The Big Guy gave me new shoes! Thank goodness! For a while, I was worried He’d make me go barefoot!”
My brows furrowed at the image she raised. “Why wouldn’t He give you another pair?” Natalia’s visage shifted in a slightly guilty fashion, but preceding her ability to explain herself…
Damon sat on a giant pumpkin as if he was lounging on a comfortable recliner, and he taunted her, “Yes, Natalia! Why wouldn’t he want to do you a favor like that?”
Natalia glared at him, but Kalmali was the first to react, “What? Like you’re so righteous! Didn’t you steal property belonging to Heaven?”
“Maybe…!” Damon snickered.
“Why did you do that?” I probed. “I mean, other than trying to get petty revenge against our town! You have such a grudge against Rosemary King High School- what did that place ever do to you?”
I’m not sure why I expected Damon to actually reply to that! It did make his expression sour though, so I deemed my effort as worth it. Damon seethed, “We’re not here to discuss my past! Only your future… in the past! Are you ready to hear your quest?”
Maria anxiously articulated, “I don’t even understand what this is all about! Are we in some sort of dream?”
“Some sort, yeah,” Osra stated.
“Your goal for this mission: persuade General Carnotes to go into battle pantless!” Damon dramatically announced.
Kendra threw her hands up in puzzlement. “You can’t be serious!”
Damon laughed, “He was the American Rebels’ most trusted military leader aside from George Washington, and not only will this humiliate him, but it’ll cause his men to lose a hundred percent of their confidence in his competency! Therefore, the British will become the rightful victors of this war!”
“You’re a Loyalist?” I questioned. “I don’t see why a nihilist like you would have a stake in this conflict!”
“If the colonists don’t win, then Terra Belle will cease to exist!” Damon leered. “Ha! And you probably all thought I lost my mind!”
Eamon verbalized, “We still do! Why expose the poor chap’s undergarments like that?”
Damon shrugged. “Well, I was going to have you kill him, but I assumed you do-gooders would’ve refused to do that!” We all recognized the accuracy of that accusation, and since that objection got resolved, he wrapped up our interaction, “Have fun!”
“Yes, we shall!” Casper enthusiastically avowed. Damon gave him a peculiar stare as he disappeared.
“Gosh, I hope this General Carnotes has nice legs!” Donna gushed as she and Maria giggled.
Aleck warned them, “Don’t get too excited! Before we judge whether or not this historical figure has a cute butt, we gotta survive the monsters first!”
The girls grew terrified at that concept, and Corvina implored us, “What kind of monsters are we gonna face?”
We heard some rustling in the sunflowers on the crops’ perimeter, and Jasper proclaimed, “We’re about to find out!”
“Hey! That’s cheating!” I yelled as I viewed Damon in the cave. “You can’t sneak in there before we get a chance to complete the quest!”
“I’m not sneaking in so much as I’m trying to escape out…” Damon disputed my assertion. “It’s been a little difficult with Torcaness blocking the only exit!”
I queried, “Who’s Torcaness?” That mystery got solved when a massive, green-scaled dragon opened its red, reptilian eyes and emerged from its lair. I retracted my enquiry, “Got it!”
Torcaness let out a ferocious roar, and Kalmali admonished it, “Was that necessary? You don’t have to be so loud, we’re right here!”
It dove in our direction, and thankfully, we were all able to dodge its advance! Fletcher ordered, “Everyone, spread out!”
“Isn’t that what they said in that horror movie before everybody got killed?” George pondered.
“When we get back, you’re getting detention!” Fletcher barked.
As Aleck eluded the vicious creature, he reminded Fletcher, “He won’t remember any of this when we get back to the Earth Realm!”
Fletcher stubbornly insisted, “I don’t care!”
Kendra esteemed, “These bushes look pretty thick. They’ll keep us safe from the wretched beast!” She changed her tune when she pulled out a slightly singed knight’s armor from the branches. “Never mind!”
The sun reflected off of the mail, and it caught the dragon’s attention, so Kendra had to run from it as it neared her. It chased after the shiny object, and Kendra darted back and forth, keeping it distracted. Ginger wondered, “Is there somewhere unsafe we can lure it to?”
“We could probably find a cliff and trick it into plummeting off the edge!” Osra mulled that brainstorm over for a moment and then frowned. “Oh, but these things can fly!”
“Take your time! This situation is fine!” Kendra sardonically regarded us as she fled from Torcaness.
Out of the corner of my periphery, I caught sight of Damon attempting to tiptoe out of the cave, so I instructed the others, “Figure out a way to slay the dragon! I’m gonna go get the Gilded Pheasant!”
When I grew closer to Damon, he rushed back into the cave as if I wouldn’t dare to enter those quarters. When I followed him inside, he let me know, “I don’t have your precious bird! See?” He alluded to a golden fowl roosting at the top of a pile of coins and jewels.
My vision flickered between the Gilded Pheasant and Damon seemingly unopposed to the premise of me retrieving it, and my suspicion got roused. Getting that feathery treasure would satisfy our goal for the mission, but it was definitely out of character for that devilish dope to permit us to gain a victory so easily. After weighing my options, I finally decided the risk involved with this venture was too high to trust his integrity, and when I realized he had none, I felt compelled to ask him, “Alright, what’s the catch?”
“Nothing!” Damon answered with a shrug.
“What was that?” I probed as a luminescent glow flashed off of his hand when it was visible.
Damon hid his arms behind his back and acted innocently, “I have no clue what you’re referring to!”
From outside, I heard Phoebe propose, “Why don’t we strangle it?”
I chased after Damon to uncover the truth, and Eamon objected to Phoebe, “How would we do that? Our grip would be useless against its massive neck!”
Damon tripped over a tiara, and he exposed his fingers- one of which had turned into a glittery yellow hue! Damon unwillingly admitted, “That’s what happens if you touch it apparently!”
“What if we use a rope?” Jasper posed to the rest of them.
“A rope would help in this scenario!” I noted. “But I doubt Toraness would have any in this-!”
Ginger determined, “We’d need something that’s at least forty-four inches long!”
Damon demonically laughed at me, “It looks like you’re about to fail your quest!” As he cackled, he stretched out his limbs victoriously, and in so doing, he knocked a pile of trinkets down. At the top of the heap, a new set of valuables got revealed, including the Rainbow Tektite! Damon and I each got the same idea, and as we strove to reach the summit, we inhibited each other from moving forward.
While all this was occurring, Ellie remarked, “Forty-four inches? That’s my waist size! Oh, why did I say that out loud?”
“Hold on! That means we can use your corset to choke Torcaness!” Aleck exclaimed as Damon managed to push me off of the heap.
“Nuh-uh!” Ellie refused as I used Damon’s cape to pull him off of the rubble. “You can’t use my clothes to… Wait, none of this is mine! Here!”
I reached for the Rainbow Tektite, but Damon pulled my leg so that I couldn’t reach it. As this struggle went on, I heard commotion blaring out from the exterior, and I couldn’t discern whether or not our side was winning. It was inadvisable to entertain any negative possibilities at that juncture, so I presumed that someone was able to get Ellie’s corset around the dragon’s neck. I wished I had a second to spare to commotate on what a bizarre plan that was! If Damon prevented us from getting home, we would be doomed to remain in this realm forever! We would’ve missed our family, lost out on our jobs, and had to buy Ellie another corset without any of their currency at our disposal! I had to unearth a method of shaking Damon off immediately, but I was at a loss of what action to take… until…
Our brawl pushed a bronze egg from its lofty position and nearly whacked Damon in the noggin! Damon swirled out of the peril’s path, but he had to loosen his hold on me to do so. I garnered the ability to speed to the Rainbow Tektite, and mercifully, I was able to obtain it! Precisely when I grabbed it, Aleck entered and proudly proclaimed, “We slayed the dragon!” He spotted the Rainbow Tektite in my palm, and he somewhat sourly observed, “Evidently, we didn’t need to waste our efforts!”
I would’ve normally reassured him that they pulled off a magnificent feat, but seeing how everyone had convened in the cave, I judged it to be more prudent to flee from the medieval realm as soon as possible. I requested to the Rainbow Tektite, “Please, take us to the Earthly Realm!” The twirling vortex appeared, and I was delighted to catch a glimpse of Damon pouting prior to our departure from the land!
We manifested in the gym in the same spots we previously stood, which made the Ancestral League breathe a sigh of relief. The boys of Fletcher’s P.E. class gazed at each other perplexedly though. “Did something just happen?” Huey questioned no one in particular.
“What happened? Volleyball happened, that’s what!” I conveyed this to him. That wasn’t even a total lie- we did use a volleyball to defeat a monster in part of our journey!
“Why do I have this burn mark on my arm?” Jimmy catechized while peering at a scorched blemish on his skin.
Phoebe fibbed, “That’s a haphazard of the sport!”
George stated, “Why do I get this weird vibe like I did when Rakey was around?”
“You were in trouble then, and you’re in trouble now!” Fletcher articulated. “Detention after school today!”
“For what?” George reconsidered his protest, and then he accepted his fate. “Eh, I probably deserved it for something! Besides, the day is going by fast anyway! It’s already almost third-period!”
Ginger, Ellie, Aleck, Phoebe, and I all glanced at the clock, and we were horrified at the accuracy of his comment. Without saying goodbye or giving one another accolades for a job well done on that mission, we barreled back to our classrooms.
It wouldn’t have surprised me to have seen my students in the hall after dealing with whatever potential disaster Mrithan manufactured, but I did get surprised to encounter Casper in the foyer! He eyeballed me suspiciously, and then he grilled me, “You’re doing another paranormal investigation, aren’t you?”
“No…” I did my utmost to make that sound convincing, but I lacked confidence in my persuasive skills in that instance.
“How could you neglect to seek my advice once again?” Casper upbraided me. “Don’t forget, the occult is my specialty! I’m the expert in this field! Every person in town knows that! Especially Kaleva- that’s actually how we met! You see, we were on this ghost-hunting tour, and she… Where are you going?”
With my hand on the doorknob to my room, I couldn’t resist giving him a sarcastic response, “The North Pole! Actually, that wouldn’t shock me at this point!”
Casper grew indignant about my attitude. “Here you’re making jokes while I’m sincerely attempting to resolve the problem plaguing the school! Not listening to my wisdom and experience will-!”
“No one’s stopping you from doing your investigation!” I brought it up in hopes of ending this tedious conversation.
“You’re right!” Casper’s visage lit up in furor of the truth I inadvertently spoke. “I’ll conduct my own research, and, as a courtesy, I’ll share with you anything I find.”
Without a hint of authenticity, I verbalized, “Sounds great!”
Casper rubbed his chin contemplatively. “I need to uproot the fairy folks from their hiding spot! Where did I put my divination rod?” Preceding him explaining what that tool was or why he was so certain the culprits behind these attacks were fairy folks, I went into my classroom.
To my startlement, I walked into my space only to behold Mrithan hanging from the ceiling! He had evidently gotten tangled up in the projector’s screen holder, and all of the kids from second-period were in the midst of a mirthful uproar. Mrithan noticed my presence, so he requested, “Assistance, please!”
“They didn’t see any of the film?” I reacted in dismay as I pulled him down by his ankles.
“No, no, no! I mean, yes! They saw all of it!” Mrithan swore as I wrestled with freeing his sweater from the contraption. “I was merely trying to create a larger aisleway for everyone as the period ended!”
The bell rang, and as the pupils piled out, I shook my head in disgruntlement. I supposed I ought to have felt grateful that he kept the lesson plan running in my absence, but it irked me that I was forced to tend to his foolishness when I could’ve spent my few minutes of pause between second and third period to consider remedies for the existential crisis of the Rainbow Tektites appearing in our realm. I wasn’t clear on what I could’ve come up with in that short stretch, but still! I could’ve considered the suspects and who may have slipped the mystical rock shards into consumable goods that Aniela, George, and others all partook in. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the fix to my difficulty was literally staring me in the face…
With as much nonchalance as I could muster, I petitioned Mrithan, “So, are a lot of children gonna miss out on your special brew since you’re away from your desk?”
“Huh?” Mrithan obviously wasn’t expecting that topic to get raised on this occasion. “Oh, that! Nobody usually gets that unless it’s the start of the day or lunchtime.”
“I heard there’s a secret ingredient to your espresso that isn’t found anywhere else on this planet. Is that true?” I pressed him as he became dislodged from his ensnarement.
Mrithan’s brows considerably furrowed at that concept. “There is? Hmm! I never thought about reading the ingredients before, but since you mentioned it, I’ll take a gander at it! Well, unless I missed a bunch of calls again! See ya!”
I wanted to interrogate him further, but the bell rang again, and I would’ve appeared insane if I delayed the teens’ learning to chat about coffee! I watched him leave, and I was glad I arranged to show a short flick today- I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything that required any sort of thinking as I soaked all that transpired in!
After school, I went to the grocery store and put two bottles of wine on the conveyor belt. Once I was through, my phone rang. Assuming it was Phoebe needing something from the supermarket, I picked it up, “Hello?”
“Hey, Connor!” my dad greeted me. “Just a friendly warning- your mom is coming to your house this Saturday to introduce you to the wedding planner she hired.”
“Okay!” I sighed. With all of the recent tumult, I nearly forgot about the whole marriage ceremony undertaking! It was aggravating that I didn’t have a valid excuse to postpone it, but I certainly couldn’t reveal that I needed to wait to do this until I thwarted an escaped Hellian’s apocalyptic scheme!
My father reluctantly added, “There’s more… She’s bringing a couple of family members too! Sorry!”
I groaned, “Relatives wanna visit too? Ugh! Well, thanks for the heads up!”
Following another exasperated exhale, I put four more bottles of alcohol onto the counter. The clerk guessed, “Your relatives are heavy drinkers?”
I affirmed, “No.” She raised her eyebrows but didn’t broach the subject any further. As I took off from that locale, I beseeched the universe to keep that paranormal pest away from my abode until my loved ones concluded their stint in Terra Belle!
“Hey, Coach Jackson!” Huey nervously communicated to Fletcher as he glanced around the tall trees and thick fog.
Fletcher maintained a cautious eye on the path ahead of us, but he still responded to Huey, “What?”
Huey relayed to him, “I changed my mind! I wanna play volleyball now!”
After rubbing his temples in a frustrated fashion, Fletcher articulated, “It’s too late for that now! But I want you to remember this experience when we get back, and-!”
“Their memory of this experience will get completely wiped out when we go back to the Earthly Realm,” I informed Fletcher.
“Lucky them!” Aleck muttered as he untangled himself from a pointy branch. “I wish the monsters would hurry up and bother us already! Sam only agreed to watch my students ‘cause I told him I’d be back in a minute!”
Phoebe remarked, “No one is watching my kids! I said I was going to the bathroom real fast… which I still need to do!” She clutched her stomach, and then she notified us, “I’ll be right back!”
Ginger critiqued her decision to run into the thicket, “You can’t go potty in the woods! There are bugs there!”
“And possibly monsters!” Kamali added.
“Oh, come on! What are the odds she’d run into a monster at this precise moment?” Jasper pushed back against that notion.
From the spot Phoebe chose to occupy, we heard a male’s voice cry out in anguish! Phoebe reemerged, and after hoisting up her pantaloons, she announced, “I found the next monster! Maybe if we run, we can-!”
A statuesque wolf in people’s clothing entered onto the scene walking on his hind legs and glowered at us. “You humans are disgusting! You think you can leave your droppings just anywhere, huh?” As the boys huddled together in fright, he threatened, “You’ll pay for your misdeeds!”
The adults prepared to fight the wolf, but the children whimpered at this terrifying development. Jimmy exclaimed, “Oh no! We’re gonna get eaten by the Big Bad Wolf!”
“Hey! Who are you calling big?” The wolf shielded his guy from our view as much as he could.
“Isn’t that your name?” George inquired.
Quite affronted, the wolf replied, “Wow! Who taught you your manners?”
Huey indicated to my friends and me standing behind him. “These guys did!”
The other five awkwardly waved at him, but this interaction struck me with interaction, so I hurried over to the boys and whispered, “Forget all the rules of politeness we gave you! Be as mean as possible to this wolf!”
“Are you giving us permission to bully someone, Mister Fenmore?” Jimmy incredulously asked.
“No, in this instance, I’m encouraging it!” I answered.
The wolf bristled at their rudeness. “Ooh! I’m going to thoroughly enjoy killing you!”
I urged the boys, “Do it! Now!”
“How are you gonna kill us?” George somewhat timidly spoke to the wolf. “Are you gonna breathe your nasty breath on us?”
“My breath doesn’t smell!” the wolf indignantly stated.
The boys began to pick up on the wolf’s vulnerability, so Huey more jocularly jeered, “Maybe that’s his nasty feet we smell! He’s not even wearing shoes!”
Getting rather depressed, the wolf spat, “It’s hard to get footwear for paws!”
“Guys, he’s probably too poor to afford any shoes!” Jimmy snickered. “I mean, who’s gonna hire this nasty creature? He can’t draw a salary!”
“You’re all just… cruel!” The wolf busted out into tears and ran back into the knotty trees as the entire class laughed at him.
Ellie amusedly noted, “Teenage callousness has its place!” As the boys celebrated their victory, Ellie advised them, “Let’s not give him a chance to rebuild his self-esteem! Get a move on!”
We soon came to a babbling brook with a stone bridge above it. Prior to anyone setting foot on the span, I held my arms out so no one could embark on it. “Hold on! If I remember my fairytales correctly, there’s a troll underneath that bridge!”
“Who said we were in a fairytale?” Ginger challenged me.
“I dunno!” I shrugged. “The Big Bad Wolf thing made me go the fairytale route I guess!”
Jasper opined, “Seeing how it’s our only route forward, it couldn’t hurt to see if there was some sort of trap there.”
Natalia declared, “I’ve got this!” She took off a shoe and hurled it onto the span. Within seconds, a creature with brown fur, pointy ears, fangs, and a portly belly sprang out and ravenously devoured her footwear! When it realized it had been tricked, it glared at us and retreated into its shelter. Natalia bemoaned, “Oh, great! Now, I gotta get another pair!”
“Wow! I’m not used to hearing a woman complain about having to go shopping to expand her wardrobe!” Aleck commented.
“I’m from Heaven- there aren’t exactly a lot of malls in a place that doesn’t use money!” Natalia huffed. After I emitted a noise of disappointment at the premise of a favorite hangout of mine not having any residency up there, she continued, “I gotta get another pair from the Big Guy!”
George puzzled, “The Big Guy? Do you mean…?”
Osra elucidated, “He goes by many names! God, Spirit, Lord, Zeus, Brahma, the sun, Yahweh, Jeff…”
Ginger questioned that, “Jeff?”
After sighing, Osra clarified, “It was a cult thing!”
“Maybe we can ask him nicely to let us pass,” Phoebe suggested.
“I don’t think we have time to ask Him for a favor right now!” Kendra put in.
Connor gently corrected her misimpression, “I think she meant the troll.”
Kamali scoffed at that notion, “Who’s gonna volunteer for that death trap?”
“Aren’t you guys dead?” Jimmy pressed him.
“Yeah, but our spirits can still perish!” Kamali shot back.
Eamon audaciously asserted, “This task requires someone that’s nimble and quick enough to flee should things go awry, and none of you possess that quality! And, while I do, I cannot possibly perform this feat because…” When he realized the fault in his logic, he dismally went forward. “Alright, I shall make this attempt!”
He gingerly approached the troll’s proximity at the foot of the bridge, and he politely addressed it, “Excuse me, dear chap! My companions and I would like a hasty use of your domain. It seems mutually beneficial to not quarrel with one another, so I propose a peace agreement between both parties. What say you?” The troll did not come out or even acknowledge that it heard Eamon, so Eamon begrudgingly accepted that he would have to broach the beast’s terrain. As he carefully approached the span, he kept striving to negotiate with the troll, “If there is some other toll we must pay, we-.”
Prior to him getting to finish that sentence, the troll scurried out from its site of refuge and charged at Eamon at full speed! Eamon sprang off the structure in time to stay safe, and he rejoined our group with a visibly shaken visage. Fletcher tersely posed to everyone, “Now what? Do we gotta kill the varmint?”
“What if we built our own bridge?” Ginger propositioned.
“That’ll take too long!” Aleck argued.
Ginger contended, “I don’t mean anything fancy! We could use a tree trunk or even some large rocks! I see some over by the bank there…” As she went to retrieve them, she tripped over an unknown commodity behind a bush! “Man, I wish they didn’t put me in a skirt for this!” The boys rushed over to catch a glimpse of this sight, but preceding their arrival, Ginger already stood back up. After they groaned from disappointment, Ginger announced, “This is what tripped me!”
She held up an archaic volleyball, and George perplexedly regarded Ellie, “Missus Wayan, didn’t you say they invented that sport in the eighteen-hundreds?”
“Oh sure, now you’re paying attention to the facts I present!” Ellie pouted.
“Property of the Three Little Pigs!” Osra read some writing off of the volleyball. “I guess that other beast really was the Big Bad Wolf!”
At that moment, a lightbulb went off in Fletcher’s head. “Hey! We can use this to clock that sucker! We can lure him out, and then- bam! We can move on!”
Natalia folded her arms defiantly. “I’m not using my other shoe! Someone else can sacrifice their footwear!”
“What if we use this long stick?” Kalmali picked up a slender and lengthy twig high enough so we could all see it.
“Oh, fine! Make me look foolish!” Natalia sulked.
Fletcher instructed, “Alright, you three reach that branch out as far as you can, and as soon as that troll comes out, serve the ball to him, Huey!”
Huey objected, “Why me? I know I said I wanted to play volleyball earlier, but… Why can’t he do it?” He indicated to George. “He’s the one who brought us here, and you said his form was so awesome!”
“He was only saying that to distract him from his weird eyes!” Jimmy disputed. “Besides, you’ll be a big hero, so you should cherish this honor!”
“Okay, you do it then if it’s such a big honor!” Huey tried to hand the ball to Jimmy.
Jimmy threw his hands up in refusal. “No way, man!”
The boys began to bicker, so Fletcher intervened, “Shut it! You wanna know why you, Huey? This nonsense! Quit it and let’s get this over with already!”
Kamali, Phoebe, and I guided the narrow piece of lumber to the bridge, and Huey nervously readied himself to complete the task. When our sprig finally reached far enough on the span, the troll shot out with its usual fervor. Huey launched his projectile, and…
“Wow! You missed the bridge completely!” Kendra noted.
“I told you not to let me do it!” Huey vehemently reacted. “I choke under pressure!”
Ginger asserted, “It’s all about angles! If you hit it from the right point, your trajectory will follow a motion that-!”
Cutting off her geometry lecture, I directed everyone, “Hey! Look at the ball!”
“I get it! My aim sucked!” Huey grumped.
“No! See how it’s sitting in the river…” I alluded to the spot it rested at, and everyone could discern it was only partially submerged.
Osra raved, “It’s been shallow all along! Ugh! Let’s go!”
We all heeded her decree and crossed the wet ravine. Ginger tossed the ball out of her pathway, and we heard the unmistakable sound of it landing on the Big Bad Wolf! We eagerly trudged through the brook to avoid dealing with that annoying foe once more!
“Are we there yet?” George moaned as we trekked through a shadowy sector of the woods.
“Yeah, but we kept going for the fun of it!” I sarcastically verbalized to him.
George’s eyes widened at that concept. “Are you serious?”
I irritably assured him, “No! You’ll know when we’ve found the Gilded Pheasant ‘cause we’ll have to fend off the dragon guarding it!”
Aleck probed, “How do you know it’ll be a dragon?”
“Because that’s the ultimate boss in fairytales,” I reasoned.
“Not necessarily,” Phoebe differed. “There could be a blood-thirsty giant or a witch with powerful spell-casting abilities! Gosh, I don’t know what to root for!”
Aleck opined, “We’ve dealt with giant creatures and jinxes before, and we know we can deal with them with whatever random crap is at our disposal. We were only able to defeat that dragon ‘cause I concocted a substance that combusted in its digestive system. We don’t have any of that at our disposal unless we happen to come across Merlin’s hut!”
Kendra protested his imagery, “Merlin didn’t live in a hut! He shared residence with us in Tintagel! A hut would’ve been nice for him- he was clumsy and destroyed several vases and small tables!”
Everybody except for the rest of my ancestors garnered so many questions about that revelation, but prior to any of us getting to delve into that subject, a puff of gray smoke blocked our route! We heard some guttural growling, and the entire collective understood what that implicated. Ginger tried to encourage us, “Maybe it’s a little dragon!”
We tiptoed around some hedges bordering a rocky crag. When we reached the edge, we warily peeked around the corner to behold what we were destined to duel. We all hoped for Ginger’s prediction to manifest, but in reality, we all expected a giant monster to greet our view. What we didn’t expect to espy was…
Peter threw his arms up in a totally flummoxed manner. “I told you all I know! I was heading to class, and suddenly, I… was in the same exact spot! But it felt different! It was like I did manual labor or something! I’m glad I don’t remember any of it!”
“You have to remember something!” Roxy blocked his path to the hallway. “You were in the presence of my Day-Day darling! I need to find out where he is and what he’s doing! TELL ME!!!!!”
“Roxy, don’t make him late to second-period!” I warned her. “If he pushes you out of the way, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see anything!”
My statement steamed Roxy up enough that she marched right up to my desk without noticing that Peter slipped out! She glowered at me in a furious fashion, and she seethed, “I don’t know what you did, but I’m positive that you spoiled my poor Damon’s plot! Mark my words- I’ll figure out what you did and get revenge! Wait, why am I waiting? I should come up with a plan for vengeance since I already have the knowledge you’re interfering with his efforts again! Be afraid! Be afraid!”
I took out my cell phone during her tirade and purposely scrolled through it to show complete disinterest in her pathetic, little attempt to intimidate me. The bell rang after she finished ranting, so without glancing up from my screen, I notified her, “There’s a tardy sweep going on- you better run!’ Roxy glared at me as she backed out of the room, but once she was in the corridor, I heard her sprinting. I tittered at the concept that she probably had no inkling that Damon most likely instructed his ally to strike when she wasn’t around! Not that she would’ve recalled anything her “Day-Day” would’ve said or done, but she would have roiled to know he was intentionally avoiding her!
“I found it!” Mrithan popped in as the students settled in.
“Huh?” With all that transpired in the last twenty-four hours, I couldn’t drum up what Mrithan was referencing there!
Mrithan explained, “The paper I forgot yesterday! It’s a permit to hold your wedding here, and it doesn’t have any coffee stains this time!” He peered at the sheet, and he amended his sentence, “Well, not much anyway! This one is loads more visible!”
Inwardly, I weighed whether or not I ought to act with honesty and express my disinterest in tying the knot on Rosemary King High’s campus or display some kindness by thanking him for his effort, which would have ultimately been the fastest route to ending this interaction and starting my lesson. I hadn’t reached a conclusion yet when I saw a text from Fletcher in our group chat- it read, “S.O.S.!” That was short for “Save Our School” in this instance, and it meant he spotted a teen afflicted by the Rainbow Tektite!
“I gotta go!” I immediately jumped into action, but prior to me dashing out the door, I informed him, “They’re just watching a video- all you have to do is push play!”
“Okie dokie! I can handle that!” Mrithan avowed. As I hurried towards the gym, I wasn’t sure how he could screw that up, but I still doubted that he could adhere to his guarantee.
When I arrived at the gymnasium, I saw that Ellie, Aleck, Ginger, and Phoebe got there around the same time as me! I relayed to them, “Only one of us needs to respond to these things!”
Aleck concurred, “Yeah! So, if this happens again, the first person to respond with “O.M.W.” takes care of the rescuing! That stands for ‘On My Way’ incidentally. My son had to explain that to me when I was picking him up from band practice…”
“Uh, maybe this can wait ‘til later…” Fletcher interrupted as he indicated to a boy by one of the volleyball courts.
“Hey, Coach Jackson! Why is everyone staring at me?” George asked.
We tried not to flinch when we beheld his kaleidoscope-like eyes. Fletcher feigned as much cheer as possible when he answered, “Just your great form, buddy! Keep it up! And Jimmy, remember to keep your palms flat! Don’t forget how you broke your finger by attempting to pass it with your hands straight up!”
Jimmy didn’t seem to have heard Fletcher- he remained transfixed on George’s peepers. I recommended to the others, “Alright! Let’s move quick or Jimmy’s gonna get hit in on his skull or something!”
“Sure thing, babe!” Phoebe readily complied. “What do we do?”
“Uh…” I had to mull that one over. With Damon’s past dimwitted schemes, it was easy to eke out a solution. Well, eventually! In the past, merely encountering his monsters and ghouls for a couple of minutes made the key to solving the problem work itself out somehow. With the banshee, I simply had to ask her to leave, and with the walking pumpkin, we only had to bash it in the head. With the radioactive bunny, we defeated it by getting it stuck in a narrow ally, but the remedy for the Rainbow Tektite ingestion hadn’t become clear yet. It was maddening to be so close to the pending disaster and not have the ability to do anything to prevent it from occurring! There had to be something, but I had no clue how to find it out!
Ginger suggested, “What if we keep him away from the other students? We could isolate him until… I dunno! He consumed it, so sooner or later, it’ll pass through his system, right?”
We all agreed to separate him from the rest of the P.E. class, and we collectively beseeched the universe that we could uncover a cure for this strange ailment sometime afterward! Fletcher blew his whistle and decreed, “George! You’re out!”
“Aw! Why can’t I be out?” another guy whined. “I don’t wanna play this old-timey game anymore!”
“Old-timey?” Ellie balked at that notion. “It’s only been around since eighteen-ninety-five, which isn’t that old really! Lots of sports are loads over than that! Like tennis- that’s been around since medieval times, which is…”
Suddenly, George became stiff and started chanting, “Medieval times! Medieval times! Medieval times!”
Over his speech, I directed the rest of the children, “Run! Run! Run!”
Jimmy whined, “But we ran the track yesterday!”
I gritted my teeth, but I didn’t have a moment to spare in straightening out his misimpression. In a trice, the swirling vortex appeared, and all of the occupants in the gym got sucked inside!
As we stepped out onto a cobblestone road, I was preparing to canvass the others about whether or not they expected to float around in nothingness as we traveled between realms too, but we were immediately greeted by an overpowering odor! The stench was so awful that it caused us all to gag, and Phoebe remarked, “It smells like my stepdad multiplied! I forgot they don’t have underground sewers! Bleck!”
“Pardon the intrusion, but are you all ill? Do you need me to fetch a physician?” a young lady in a corset dress with a matching veil queried.
“No, thanks! We’re…” I got distracted from my polite refusal when I caught sight of the shift in my outfit- my slacks, polo, and loafers morphed into a loose, puffy shirt beneath a cloth vest that tucked into baggy pants with boots over the bottom cuffs! I glimpsed at the others, and we were all donning peasant garments! I confusedly gasped, “What the-? Why did our clothes change?”
The lady hesitantly addressed us, “I… I shall go fetch that physician for you!”
After she rushed off, Jasper filled me in, “The rules are different for each realm. Sometimes, the universe cares about us blending in, and sometimes it doesn’t. No one knows why!”
“Who are these guys?” Fletcher inquired.
“They’re my ancestors,” I replied.
Fletcher griped, “Oh, great! More people to keep track of! This is gonna be a disaster!”
Bearing the appearance of a feudal lord, Damon manifested before us and delightfully cackled, “Having fun already?”
The kid who took issue with playing volleyball chirped, “Yup! This beats exercising! And it reminds me of this video game I played called-!”
“Let’s see if you’re still having fun when you hear what your quest is gonna be!” Damon huffed with clear signs of getting miffed that the youths got some enjoyment out of his deranged arrangement.
“So, it is like a video game!” Jimmy reacted in glee.
Natalia briefed him, “Yes, but if you die here, you don’t get any more lives! You’re just gone forever!”
Damon became pleased at the juveniles’ worried visages, so I added, “Don’t sweat it! He’s a moron, and you can definitely outsmart him!”
My snide comment made his mirth sour, so I snickered. Damon ignored my merriment and dramatically revealed, “Your mission today: collect three feathers…”
“Done! Easy!” George espied a nearby chicken and began chasing it around the plaza.
“I’m not done yet!” Damon snapped. “I didn’t mean any old feathers! You must get the feathers of the Gilded Pheasant! It’s not a bird you’ll find hanging around the village, so good luck finding it!”
George chimed, “Thanks! This dude is so nice!”
Damon almost corrected him, but instead, he chose to emit an exasperated exhale and fold his arms as he disappeared.
“I got here as soon as I could!” A man in a robe and a bird-like mask arrived on the scene and set his bag down as he visually scanned over our group. “What seems to be the problem?”
“We’re fine! We…” I mulled it over for a second, and I realized he actually could provide us with some assistance. “Well, physically, we’re alright. But, we could use some advice… Can you tell us where the Gilded Pheasant is located? Please say it’s walking distance!”
The physician, who had begun digging into the trinkets he brought, dropped a wooden hammer in shock at my enquiry. “It is guarded in the Driscoll Cave centered in the Belician Forest, which is due north of our hamlet. But surely, you did not forget this! After the horror that has emerged from those woods, you could not have let that slip past your memory!”
Kendra pretended to recall, “Oh, that cave! Of course! Well, we best be off!”
With eyes bulging wide enough to see through his mask, the physician articulated, “Please, do not tell me you intend to seek it out!”
Aleck affirmed, “Okay, we won’t tell you…”
“Oh my!” The physician shook his head in dismay. “Wait here! I shall retrieve a priest to expel whatever demon that’s afflicting you!”
“Sounds great!” Aleck planted on a fake grin. As soon as he was out of sight, Aleck advised the boys, “Let’s get out of here!”
George catechized, “Hold on! What about the priest? Wouldn’t his blessing be beneficial to us?”
The boy who didn’t want to play volleyball posed to him, “If that’s what the doctors wore, do you really wanna see what the priests wear?”
“Huey’s right! Let’s go!” George stated with a harried expression on his face.
“I said that!” Aleck objected.
Ginger verbalized, “Who cares? Let’s go!” We all sprinted in the northern direction before it was too late.
After a while, we got tired and switched to a slower gait. If we weren’t in mortal danger, I would’ve savored the scenery quite a bit. The architecture of the structures in this neighborhood was quaint, and the games that the children played in the street were rather inventive. The bread displayed in the bakery window looked delicious too! I assumed everyone was relishing our surroundings until Ellie complained, “Ugh! That’s not historically accurate!” We all stared at her in confusion, so she illuminated us, “The addresses on the buildings! No one attempted to number any houses until fifteen-twelve!”
“Do you really want this place to be a hundred percent accurate?” Ginger challenged her. “They used to burn women as witches for knowing how to read!”
“We’re not in the exact era that occurred on Earth,” Osra filled Ellie in. “A lot of the traditions stayed intact, but not everything is a replica.”
Phoebe puzzled, “So, this universe had a modern postal system but not modern plumbing?”
Prior to anyone providing a reaction to that, we reached a vast expanse of trees behind a wooden sign that read: “Belician Forest. No trespassing! Surviving violators shall be prosecuted!”
“That’s new!” Eamon observed. “I used to do trade all over this land, and on the many occasions I traveled through these woods, I never once saw anything that warranted a cautionary message like that!”
“You probably never saw monsters lurking in the shadows either!” I shot back. “But, if you did, could you describe them? Please? That’d be great!”
Jimmy griped, “We gotta fight monsters?”
Kamali conveyed to him, “We gotta find the Gilded Pheasant or the Rainbow Tektite, and I doubt either of those would be free of perilous creatures guarding them!”
“It’s either that or go through a strange ritual with the bird man’s priest!” Kendra kidded. One boy made a bid for the village plaza, so she grabbed him preceding him from getting too far. “Woah! I wasn’t serious! If you want to see your precious video games again, we must do this!” And, with that, we set foot onto the murky path.
“Is this the Rainbow Tektite?” I queried as I held the kaleidoscope-like rock in the air. One of the snakes lunged at it as if it was trying to grab it with its mouth, so I deduced, “It must be if they want it! How do I make it take us home?”
“You gotta talk to it!’ Kalmali informed me as he fended off a couple of serpents. “Make a request to return to the Earthly Realm.”
I felt pretty silly speaking to a hunk of mineral like that, but I had no choice but to risk looking stupid at this juncture! We were losing this battle to get Queen Reanestec’s spoon for that dastardly dolt, and if we could avoid seeing Damon again for a while, all the more better! I put it close to my lips as if it were a microphone, and I requested, “Take us back to the Earthly Realm!”
Nothing occurred! For an instant, my heart broke into pieces thinking that I may get stuck in Ancient Egypt trying to defeat a monster that showed no interest in leaving us alone, and I almost started to search the treasure room for our dumb Quest Master’s moronic demand, but then Kendra advised me, “Use your manners!”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” I grouched. I held the Rainbow Tektite up to my lips yet again, and I cordially beseeched it, “Take us to the Earthly Realm… please!” We didn’t have to wait long for the swirling vortex to appear! It swallowed all of the humans present into its whirl, and, once more, I expected to float around in a strange void for a significant stint, but before I knew it…
“What the hell happened to you three?” Sam the hall monitor ogled at us in perplexion.
At first, I thought his arithmetic was off, but as I surveyed the hallway of Rosemary King High, I realized that my ancestors had vanished. I could only assume they were safe wherever they disappeared to, and I strove to shift my focus to the situation at hand, but I couldn’t fathom a response that would make our haggard appearance seem reasonable. Thankfully, Peter’s cluelessness (admittedly justified right then!) came in handy for a change! “I have no idea! Why do I feel so winded? Am I late for class?” The bell rang, and as his peers streamed out of their classes, Peter became even more mystified. “Wait, I’m early? Then why…?”
Aniela gazed at me for an explanation, and I threw my hands up as though I couldn’t recall a thing. A twinge of guilt surged through me for lying to her, but I was also fairly positive that the truth would’ve been more disturbing than this slight deception! Sam’s eyes focused between the three of us in an investigative manner, and when he could discern no rationale for our odd circumstances, he exasperatedly exhaled and trudged away. I was grateful that I dodged his scrutiny, but I couldn’t relax quite yet…
“Oh, Connor! There you are!” Mrithan jovially ambled over to me, and then he reported, “I went to your room to deliver another form about your wedding, and when you didn’t show up, I kinda figured you got lost into the nothingness, so I stayed and listened to the presentations. Everyone did so wonderful that I gave them all A’s!”
“Great!” I privately doubted that all my students had merited high marks, but I couldn’t take away something they were promised, so I begrudgingly accepted this development. “So, where’s the paper?”
Mrithan pat himself down in search of that sheet. “What did I do with that? Did I leave it on your desk? Oh, Manuel is gonna get mad! Well, don’t let me make you tardy!”
I began sprinting towards the classroom when something clicked in my brain- someone was slipping children Rainbow Tektite dust in consumable goods, and my prime suspect was right in front of me! Keyword: was! I circled back, and even though I was out of breath, I pressed him, “Hold on! …Is… there… something… different… about… your… coffee?”
“Well, there is something…” Mrithan seemed alarmed by this conversation initially, and I imagine it may have stemmed from my wheezing. Now that it appeared he was willing to fess up, I inferred that he grew nervous about what he intended to reveal. My own nerves flooded with the excitement of putting this misadventure to rest at the beginning of it, and then Mrithan leaned in and whispered, “It’s actually decaf! Don’t tell anyone!”
“Oh!” As the campus emptied again, I stood there feeling like a deflated balloon. He didn’t show any hints of dishonesty, so either he rapidly became adept at concealment or I took a total misstep with this direction! As I slumped back to my room, I pondered what my next move ought to entail.
In Phoebe’s classroom, I sat with Aleck, Fletcher, Ginger, and Ellie as Phoebe held a discussion with a small group of teens at the opposite end. Slightly miffed, Phoebe explained, “No, Dennis! We can’t have live birds at the prom! Even if we had the budget for that, it’d be impractical Do you know how hard it is to get birds out of the gym?”
Dennis objected, “But it’d be such a cool photo op!”
The other four were becoming restless in anticipation of the news I was set to deliver, and I grew anxious to tell them. What was occurring with the Rainbow Tektites was far more intense than any of us previously pictured, and I sincerely hoped to receive some insight from any of them that would guide us to a path that would get us out of this mess faster. Yes, I realized that was a long shot, but hey, it was at least vaguely possible that my experience could have provided the key to solving this puzzle! To dissipate some of my fidgety energy, I pulled out the Netherworld key and twirled that spoon around with my fingers. After a minute or so, I mused, “Out of all the stuff he could’ve used to unlock that door, including an actual key, why did he pick an eating utensil?”
“Maybe Damon was hungry when they were coming up with the design,” Aleck thoughtfully articulated.
“Wasn’t he a vampire when the door was made?” I brought up.
Aleck argued, “They could use a spoon to feed themselves! Imagine if their prey was already bleeding out- they could grab the silverware, and…” Aleck became aware that the youths’ attention tuned into the conversation at that point, so he fibbed, “We’re discussing animal behavior. Specifically, cercoithecidae since they’re primates with the capability to-.”
Phoebe interrupted him by addressing the athletic male in the front row, “No, we’re not doing a drum circle, George! No one would hear it above the music!”
“Drum circle?” Fletcher’s brows furrowed. “What in tarnation is the theme of this dance?”
“Uh.. it’s Woodstock,” Phoebe sheepishly relayed to Fletcher.
Fletcher’s eyes widened upon that revelation. “Oh, no! No, no, no! I’m not chaperoning no damn hippie fest! You have to change that immediately!”
George proposed, “What about ‘An Enchanted Evening?’”
“We did a magic theme last semester,” Phoebe apprised George.
“Yeah, but I liked it!” George contended.
Imelda popped her head in and stated, “I couldn’t help but overhear…”
Phoebe muttered, “I bet you could’ve tried!”
“What about a theme that teaches everyone about upright behavior?” Imelda continued as if she didn’t catch Phoebe’s slight. “Imagine if everyone dressed appropriately, used polite language, and maintained a healthy distance from one another!”
“That sounds boring!” Dennis expressed with frankness.
Imelda was not deterred by this slur. “You haven’t seen the refreshments yet!” She held out a tray of red circles that were centered around a bowl with a mushy, white substance in it. “It’s a nutritious substitute for nachos! You see, you take these radishes and pour on this dip made of Greek yogurt, tahini, and-!”
Fletcher griped, “Bleck! I’d rather do the hippie fest!”
His insult caused Imelda to glare at him, but prior to a battle of words commencing, Phoebe let Imelda know, “Listen, it’s too late to change the theme now, but feel free to suggest that for our Homecoming!” Once Imelda left, Phoebe espied the juveniles’ worried visages and assured them, “Don’t freak out! I said she could suggest it, I didn’t say we’d do it!” She then glanced at the clock and decreed, “We’ll pick it up from here on Friday. We gotta start ordering supplies, so please, no more expensive ideas!”
“Define expensive!” George demanded. Phoebe gave him a reproachful look, so he slinked out of the room.
“Seriously though- why Woodstock?” Fletcher catechized. “Is that dumb trend coming back or something?”
Phoebe responded to him, “Oh, who cares? I wanna hear what Connor went through today! It must’ve been crazy for him to not put it in a text!”
Everyone gave me rapt attention, and I took a deep breath as I dramatically narrated, “On the way back to my class after lunch, I saw…” My cell phone rang, so I declined the call and went on, “…by the water fountain, I saw…” It rang again, so I peeked at the screen. When I saw the source of the persistent communication, I groaned, “It’s my mom! I gotta take this!” The other five protested, so I had to insist, “I already made her mad! It’ll get worse if I don’t!” Much to their chagrin, I answered it, “Hello?”
“Oh, you’re ignoring my calls now?” my mother accosted me.
“No, Mom! It was an accident!” I lied.
She didn’t quite seem like she believed me, but for whatever reason, she decided not to press the issue. “Whatever! Guess what? I’m about to make your life a whole lot easier!”
Given the subject we were just on, I automatically assumed she obtained some sort of intelligence that would help us in toppling that supernatural pain in the neck’s scheme, so my interest piqued by her assertion. It did perturb me a bit that she found out about our paranormal problem, and I garnered a ton of questions on how she did so, but I tabled that notion to ready myself for what she planned to disclose. “Oh, that’s awesome! What did you find?”
I envisioned all sorts of messages that she might have delivered to me, but what I didn’t predict was… “I found you a wedding planner!”
“Oh!” Her announcement felt super anticlimactic to me. With the apocalyptic nature of our current conundrum, I could hardly care about issues related to our upcoming nuptials! I instantly regretted not adhering to my buddies’ advice and dearly wished I could hang up on her!
“What do you mean, oh?” my mother challenged me. “I’m doing you a huge favor here, and… Ah! I forgot to mention that the expenses are taken care of! Your dad and I agreed to pay the bill!”
Somehow, I doubted that my father had much of a say-so in the matter, but I refrained from bringing that up. “Yup! That’s what I was disturbed about!”
My mom affirmed, “Perfect! I’ll set up a meeting between you, him, and Phoebe! Oh, and he needs to know who your Maid of Honor is.”
We swiveled to view both Ellie and Ginger, and they both stared at each other probingly. Ellie eventually proclaimed, “It should be me! I’m her oldest friend!”
“Maybe physically!” Ginger retorted. “I’ve definitely known her longer! Plus, you’re married- I’m the only one who’s still a maid!”
“Please!” Ellie scoffed at that argument. “You and Brielle have lived together long enough that you technically have a common-law marriage!” Ginger opened her mouth to bicker with that, but she closed it when she recognized that her allegation had some merit.
I told my mother, “I’ll get back to you on that!”
My mom chirped, “Yes, do that as soon as possible! And I’ll send you the details of your meeting after I arrange it.”
“Cool! Well, I better get back to my current meeting! Bye!” After she bade me farewell, I complained, “I don’t know why that couldn’t have been a text!”
“Who cares?” Phoebe repeated that phrase. “Tell us what happened before something else bugs us!”
I broadcasted the Ancient Egyptian story to them, and their stunned silence spoke volumes! It became evident that none of us possessed an ounce of insight on how to move forward from there…
I expected something horrific to emerge from his lips (if mummies still have those!) like a noxious gas or swarms of bugs, or I also considered that he would emit some sort of utterance that would unleash monsters or anything that would do us harm really. What I did not picture occurring was a warm welcome! “Hey, Connor! Nice to see you again!”
Everyone turned to me in befuddlement, and I threw my hands up to convey my cluelessness. “Don’t look at me for an explanation! I’ve never been to this place- I don’t know anyone here!”
“Aw, sure you do!” the mummy jocularly disagreed. “You killed me last year when I went to your realm!”
“Oh! You’re that mummy!” I couldn’t have forgotten having to fend off that monstrous entity from the kids in Casper’s class, but it never registered with me that I’d ever run into him again! Partly because I hoped to have been done with battling supernatural forces, but mostly I presumed that my stint with him came to a finish after taking away his life! It was odd to see him again in another form, but what was odder was… “I’d apologize for killing you, but you seem to be tickled pink about your death!”
The mummy laughed, “Are you kidding? Being a ghost is great! I can travel through solid surfaces, fly around, scare trespassers who can’t touch me- I’m having a blast! Besides, you had every right to do me in! I mean, I was causing a lot of trouble in your land!”
We both shared in a bit of mirth, and the mummy’s comrades stood behind him in perplexion. A female mummy inquired, “So, are we still gonna terrorize this guy or what?”
“Nah!” the mummy I apparently knew replied. “He’s obviously on a quest to get home, that’s stressful enough! Believe me! What does your master have you doing? Stealing the queen’s jewels?”
“That would’ve made much more sense!” I huffed. “We have to get her spoon!”
The mummy puzzled, “Why a spoon?”
I exclaimed, “That’s what I said!”
“Well, since you know where it is, could you please spare us the hassle of overcoming inevitable paranormal barriers and bring it to us?” Kendra reran that line through her logic filter, and she took back her request, “Never mind! I just realized why that’s impossible!”
“Why is it impossible?” Peter scratched his noggin in confusion.
Osra beseeched the mummy, “Can you point us to the safest route to get the spoon?”
The mummy sadly notified us, “Unfortunately, no! I float through the walls, so I can say what’s the least booby-trapped. I can tell you that if you keep going down this pathway, you’ll get there eventually. Well, assuming you survive the hidden dangers lurking throughout this facility!”
“That’s a pretty big if!” Natalia remarked.
“There’s a skeleton a few feet away,” the mummy reported.
Jasper petitioned him, “What does it do to people?”
The mummy assured him, “Nothing. It’s the corpse of this burglar who saw something in the floor of the first trip and had a heart attack. His buddies ran off and didn’t look back when he fell out of fright of whatever pursued them!”
“Great! This is destined to be a fun excursion!” Eamon muttered.
“It is? Thank goodness! I was worried this would be really difficult and scary!” Peter breathed a sigh of relief.
Kamali appreciatively bade the mummy, “Thanks for the tip!”
The mummy waved to us as we departed, “Good luck!” As we trekked on, I inwardly prayed that this would be the extent of the curse of the ill-fated pyramid.
When we traveled a small distance from the mummy, we beheld a slightly larger area covered in an ornate rug. I assessed, “That’s probably the monster pit.”
“No way!” Aniela disagreed. “The mummy told us that there was a skeleton near that trap, and there isn’t any-!” Prior to her having the ability to complete that sentence, Aniela tripped over an arm bone.
“Wow! He was a tall lad!” Eamon commented.
Aniela tumbled onto the carpeted spot, but fortunately, Jasper got her before she went too far. “I gotcha, kiddo!” Suddenly, the covering disappeared, and a flash of green swooped her out of his grasp! “Let the record show I tried!”
We all peeked inside, and we were shocked to see an individual with the form of a man and the head as well as the skin of a crocodile! He held onto Aniela defensively, and Natalia shrieked, “Get your hands off of her, you predator!”
“Hey, what are you implying?” the crocodile man countered. “Do you think I would do something salacious to a child?”
“I wasn’t thinking that! But now that you brought it up, are you that kind of predator?” Natalia posed to him.
Kamali challenged the crocodile man, “What do you want?”
The crocodile man informed us, “I want you to answer a riddle!”
“Oh, jeez! Why? Why could you simply permit us to pass?” Kendra complained.
“I could obliterate you all right now instead,” the crocodile man shot back.
Kendra irritatedly relented, “Fine!”
The crocodile man dramatically communicated to us, “If you give the correct response, I’ll release the child and deploy the bridge. If you’re incorrect, I shall-!”
“Obliterate us all, we got it!” I realized it was reckless to interrupt a powerful foe, but my anxiety got the better of me. I wanted to get back to Rosemary King High as fast as possible! I’m fairly confident that I have never been more anxious to get back to work!
“Very well!” The crocodile clearly didn’t want to tolerate my rudeness, but he let it go so he could deliver his conundrum. “This once had eyes, but it didn’t see. It once had thoughts, but now it’s empty. What is it?”
We all gazed at each other, and evidently, no one had any inkling about what it could be. Aniela catechized the crocodile man, “If you were gonna threaten us all, why did you hold me hostage?”
My ancestors, Peter, and I all huddled together, and Osra canvassed the lot, “What once had eyes and thoughts? A potato?”
“Potatoes can’t think!” Kamali refuted that.
“What if they can?” Peter stared out into the distance in a horrified fashion.
Kendra directed everyone, “Focus! What else has eyes? A needle! Oh, but those definitely can’t think!”
Natalia suggested, “A computer has I’s and thinks! But they wouldn’t know that in this era…”
The crocodile man barked, “Time’s up!”
“Nuh-uh! You didn’t state that as a rule!” Jasper objected.
“Gah! This is pointless! Let’s just knock him out!” I proposed. “It worked for the gargoyle who did this death riddle thing! Well, I guessed it by accident, but it would’ve worked if I didn’t do that!”
Eamon apprised me, “If you do that, you may hit the child!”
I dejectedly deduced, “Oh, that’s why he held Aniela hostage!”
“I’m getting tired of waiting!” the crocodile man whined.
“Oh, shut up! You’ve got nothing better to do than sit around in a pit all day! Don’t act like we’re keeping you from an appointment!” I snapped. I, too, lost my patience though, and I impulsively made a decision, “Screw it! I’m taking my chances!” After grabbing the deceased’s skull, I charged up to the chasm and raised my projectile up to strike, but preceding any trajectories taking flight…
The crocodile man wailed, “Noooo! How did you figure it out?”
I glimpsed at the skull curiously, and rather than admit my dumb luck, I proudly articulated, “I went to medical school for a short while! I quit ‘cause the sight of a cadaver got me sick… And here I am touching corpses willingly! I’ve come a long way! Anyways, give us our bridge, you loser!”
The crocodile man glared at us, hurled Aniela back to our level, and put a lengthy board above his pit. As we crossed that span, Peter pondered, “So, what was the answer to the riddle?” No one illuminated him about it as we moved on.
Several paces later, we noticed a vast expanse full of gold, intricate vases, and other treasures, which prompted Osra to opine, “That was easy! A little too easy! What’s the catch?”
“I reckon the coffin guarding the entrance will hassle us!” Jasper indicated to the sarcophagus by the entrance.
“Is that a real mummy? Hah! Not very original!” Eamon scoffed. The sarcophagus became ajar, and a shapely woman’s leg stuck out. “Huh! That’s different!”
A gorgeous lady was revealed leaning against a tunnel behind her enclosure, and she beckoned us, “Congratulations! You’ve done well on your crusade! Join me for a celebration!”
Jasper, Eamon, and Pater all chimed, “Okay!”
The three men lunged towards her, but Kendra, Osra, and Natalia all grabbed onto their arms. Natalia scolded them, “You glupis! This is obviously a trap!”
“She can trap me!” Peter enthusiastically expressed.
“Knock it off!” Kamali stood in front of her to block the other guys from viewing her. “No more stopping unless we discover the site of the spoon or the Rainbow Tektite!”
The lady claimed, “I have the Rainbow Tektite!”
Kamali spun around with great interest. “Really?”
“Don’t be stupid!” Aniela advised him. “This isn’t a real method to get back home!”
“Yes, it is!” the lady swore.
Aniela grew significantly more hopeful. “Really? Thank the heavens! I’d much rather learn algebra than be here!”
Osra recited from memory, “The Ancient Egyptians had a form of algebra actually!”
“Not helpful!” I asserted. I then addressed the lady, “We’re not interested! Bye-bye!” I pushed her inside that tunnel and shut the sarcophagus door. Flames sounded from beneath the barrier, and we heard the lady screaming. I would’ve felt sorry for her if she hadn’t tried to murder us! I turned my attention to the others, “What was so tough about that?”
“You weren’t tempted by her whatsoever?” Eamon looked at me with incredulity.
I shrugged. “Not really! But I do wanna find that outfit for Phoebe when we get back to Terra Belle! Alright, let’s go in there and get Damon his stupid spoon!
Kendra bravely broadcasted, “Yes, maybe if we hurry, we can avoid whatever trap they have in store for us in there!” She dashed into the treasure room, and something massive barred her from advancing forward. “Damn!”
“Fret not, damsel! I shall rescue thee with my superior swordsmanship!” Eamon avowed as he pulled a gilded sword out from a pile of embroidered trinkets.
“Since when do you have sword skills?” Kendra probed as she dodged the advances of an enormous, horned snake.
Eamon retorted, “Do you want to get rescued or not?” Kendra clammed up as Eamon barreled towards her and her adversary. After gauging the serpent’s movements for a second, Eamon found a window to strike. With one clean blow, he was able to sever the beast in half! “Nothing to it!”
Suddenly, the two pieces convulsed, and a new head formed on the tail! Shortly after both halves sprung to life, Eamon cut each into two, and all four segments became animated! When Eamon repeated this process and it happened again, I commanded, “Quit doing that!”
“How do we kill these things?” Osra asked as she grabbed a scepter and swung at them with it like a baseball bat.
“Uh… I dunno… Aren’t you supposed to be guiding me?” I grumbled as I used a gaudy plate to fend them off.
Natalia declared, “I’ve got it!” She kicked one into the sarcophagus, and it lit up in the inferno! Unfortunately, the fire spat it out in a larger, newly red color! “I don’t got it!”
Peter decreed, “I’ll call my father! I’m sure he knows someone who can tackle this problem!” He pulled out his cell phone and queried, “Do you think they have a place that can get a signal around here?”
I gritted my teeth at his inane enquiry, but I didn’t have a moment to spare on voicing my opinion on his ineptitude. Another snake darted towards me, so I dove to evade it. I landed on something hard, and when I espied the culprit of my discomfort, my eyes grew wide…
“What?” Aniela queried as though nothing was wrong. Evidently, she had no inkling that something drastic had occurred, and I was pleased she didn’t seem to have any other side effects besides the swirling vortex eyes! I had no doubt that I found a victim of the Rainbow Tektite consumption scheme, but I possessed many doubts on how to proceed from here!
“Nothing!” I lied. I wasn’t certain on what would activate the portal for interdimensional travel, but I didn’t want to gamble on any potential triggers, so I deemed it best to ensure that she wouldn’t gain any awareness of the issue.
Peter passed by, jamming out to a tune blaring from his ear pods, so I stopped him, “Hey, Peter!”
He paused his song and inquired, “Yes, Mister Fenmore? Am I late?”
I replied, “No!” I glanced around at the empty hallway, and I amended my remark, “Well, yeah! But that doesn’t matter right now! I need you to go to the front office and talk to Principal Palillo!”
“Oh, ‘cause I’m in trouble for my lateness?” Peter surmised.
“No!” I couldn’t prevent myself from losing patience there! He was putting a needless delay in this process, and I needed to deal with Aniela immediately! I couldn’t decipher what exactly I needed to do since it wasn’t like I could take her to the school nurse to fix her, but I needed to do something quickly and didn’t appreciate this setback!
Aniela guessed, “There is a problem, isn’t there?”
Peter noticed her peepers for the first time, and his visage contorted into shock. “Woah! Your eyes! They’re-!”
“Beautiful!” I finished his sentence to avoid her cognizance of the dilemma. “You have beautiful eyes!”
“Thank you!” Aniela graciously responded. “They’re green like my uncle’s! You have eyes like his, that’s one reason I mistook you for him!”
I chuckled in a fashion that I hoped wouldn’t give away my unease over this situation, “Ha, ha! Isn’t that neat!” I turned to Peter and whispered, “Tell Principal Palillo or Mrithan that I need one of them to watch my fourth-period class!”
To my dismay, Peter appeared too transfixed by the ocular quandary to heed my word. “Why are they like that? And why do I feel like I’ve seen this before?”
“It’s called makeup, Peter!” I did my utmost to cover up his comment. Aniela grew concerned, so I assured her, “You did a lovely job on your cosmetics! Peter is probably getting déjà-vu ‘cause of your eyeliner. It’s historical, they did that wide outline thing in Ancient Egypt!” I wished Phoebe, Ginger, or Ellie were there at that instance to assist me with beauty terminology, but suddenly, my lack of maquillage vocabulary wasn’t a huge deal…
“Ancient Egypt! Ancient Egypt! Ancient Egypt!” Aniela chanted as the kaleidoscope in her pupils twirled faster and faster.
Peter fretted, “What’s happening?”
I commended him, “That’s an excellent question!”
“Thanks! No one ever says that to me!” Peter looked proud of himself.
“Uh…” I intended to advise him to run, but that statement threw me off! Prior to me having the ability to halt it, a giant vortex appeared and sucked us into its depths!
As if we had gotten off of a shot elevator ride, we softly landed onto a sandy floor! I opined, “Huh! That’s interesting! I wouldn’t have expected to have traveled through a space tunnel full of clocks and freaky stuff!”
Jasper relayed to me, “You watch too many movies!”
After the rest of my ancestors manifested, I canvassed them, “Would it have been too much to have shared the whole colorful eye thing with me?”
“Where are we?” a normal-eyed Aniela asked.
“It’s a mystery! Let’s solve it together!” Peter suggested. “Hmm… We appear to be in front of a building made of stone… It’s triangular in shape… There are markings on it! One is a bird…”
I snapped, “We’re in Ancient Egypt, detective!”
Peter probed, “I know she said that, but is that where we really went?” I gritted my teeth, but before I could make a retort to his ineptitude…
“Yes, you most certainly are in Egypt!” a pale man in a white kilt and cape, a hairstyle not seen in a hundred years, and facial features that still somewhat resembled an old vampire spoke to us with a thick, Eastern European accent.
“You-!” My first reaction was a bubbling fury at his presence, but I didn’t act upon that sentiment because it was exactly what he wanted. Knowing his undeserved ego would thrive on anything else I did, I pretended to be totally unimpressed with this feat, “Oh! It’s just Damon!”
To my relief, Damon fell for this ploy. “What do you mean, ‘just Damon?’ I’m your mortal enemy!”
With a sly grin, I badgered, “Mortal enemy is a bit of a strong phrase for you! You’re more of a paranormal pest!” It delighted me to see how irked that made him, and I crossed my fingers that I had taken the wind out of his sails for whatever plot he intended to unleash upon us at that juncture. I continued, “Yawn! Alright, whatever half-brained scheme you’ve got in store, get it over with! We’ve all got things to do!”
“Ugh!” Damon gritted his teeth. “You’re the worst! I’m glad I caught you- you’ve been a thorn in my side long enough!” I laughed derisively at him, and he seethed, “Go ahead and have your fun! Let’s watch how much you’ll amuse yourself after you find out that I’m your Quest Master!”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I blinked in confusion.
Osra explained, “He gets to set the mission we must complete in order to get out of here.”
I deduced, “You mean, if we don’t do what he wants, we’ll get stuck here forever?”
“If we survive,” Osra affirmed.
“Hold on! Hold on!” Aniela beckoned us with furrowed brows. “You all know each other?”
I reassured her, “Don’t worry! In a few minutes, you won’t remember any of this!”
Damon scoffed, “Psh! Do you really think I’d be dumb enough to send you on a quest that would get completed in a matter of minutes?”
I shot back, “Oh, good point! Minutes, that’s giving you way too much credit! We’ll be done in a few seconds!”
Damon winced in annoyance, and then he vexedly announced, “I hereby edict that if you want to return home, you must bring me the Spoon of Queen Reanestec!”
I ridiculed that concept, “What’s with you and spoons? Never mind, don’t explain ‘cause I don’t care that much! Let’s just get the stupid thing and go home! Which way to the palace?”
“Queen Reanestec isn’t in a palace anymore! You want to know her current home? Well, you’re looking at it!” Damon maniacally guffawed as he pat the pyramid he currently lounged on.
“Why would she live in a pyramid?” Peter puzzled. “It’s full of dead stuff!”
Damon stared at him in disbelief, but then he shook off his perplexion of that assertion and leered at me, “Good luck!” He cackled as he disappeared.
I pouted, “Oh, great! We’re stuck obeying that demonic jerk!”
“Aw, there’s no use in agonizing over the affair!” Eamon consoled me. “We’ll only prolong our stint here if we dwell on that rapscallion’s absurdity! Let’s simply begin our mission, shall we? Now, we need to get inside of this building- how do we do this? We need someone who’s been here before… Kamali, you’re from around here, how do we-?”
“Excuse me, but I’m from a very different country in a completely different era!” Kamali folded his arms in offense to his remark.
Natalia exasperatedly sighed, “Can we argue about this later? I don’t want my soul to expire in this godforsaken land due to you two dupeks!”
Aniela’s ears perked up at that. “You’re from Poland? So am I!”
“Really?” Natalia gushed. “What part do you…? Wait, you’re-!”
“How about we search for a door?” Kendra recommended. “There has to be at least one, so… Eek! Scorpion!”
Kendra jumped onto Jasper’s shoulders in trepidation, and Jasper grumped, “What do you care? You’re not alive, their venom can’t harm you!”
She argued, “Yeah, but they’re gross!”
“Hey! I’ve been here before!” Peter recalled.
“Oh, thank Heaven! We can follow you!” I replayed that sentence in my brain, and I became alarmed. “Hang on…!”
Osra mandated, “No more delays! Let the boy lead the way!” I groaned, and we all tailed Peter as he trekked through the desert sand.
Those pyramids were bigger than I pictured them! Or maybe a certain Las Vegas casino’s structure misled me on the actual measurements! Regardless, I was relieved when we finally found the entrance, which was roped off. Peter gasped, “Wow! This place was off-limits back then too? Gosh, that’s too bad! Well, I guess we’ve gotta make ourselves at home here! Where do you think we can find some decent sushi in this neighborhood?”
After slapping my forehead and shaking my head, I grouched, “I’m so glad I won’t have any recollection of this soon!”
“Actually, since you were given prior knowledge of the existence of other realms, you won’t forget anything,” Kendra educated me.
“Oh, thanks for that!” I tried to show appreciation, but I was still rather vexed about this whole scenario.
Natalia corrected my misimpression, “Well, we’d love to take credit, but the Netherworld Guardian was the one who revealed this knowledge to you.”
I smiled slightly. “Ha! I bet Babelsama regrets trying to kill me now!” I sobered up, and then I decreed, “Alright, let’s go in.”
We got up to the ropes, and I held one up so the others could go in, but prior to any of us getting a foot into the perimeter, a couple of nearby guards commanded, “Halt! You’re about to trespass onto sacred grounds!”
“That sounds more like a guideline than a real rule!” I quarreled.
“Okay, fine! But it’s cursed, and we don’t want more to get more chaos sown throughout this land!” one guard nervously verbalized.
Aniela moaned, “I don’t want to go onto cursed grounds! I’ve had enough bad luck this year!”
I contended, “Yeah, but what choice do we have?”
“We do have one alternative,” Kamali elucidated. “We could retrieve the Rainbow Tektite that brought us here. They reassemble and get put somewhere random within the realm.”
“You want us to find a small stone in Ancient Egypt?” I wondered. “I don’t recall all the details of my homework on this chapter, but I’m pretty sure this area is frickin’ big!”
Jasper thoughtfully articulated, “So, it seems like we’ve got two options: one, we can take our chances in the pyramid, or two, we can stay in this era! They don’t have electricity or toilets, and women use crocodile dung as tampons! You wanna talk about curses, there’s your curse!”
The other guard ordered, “Stop! Go no further, or else!”
“Or else what?” I challenged him. “Is anyone gonna go after us if we go in?” The guards exchanged scared glimpses, so I asserted, “That’s what I thought!” I lifted the rope, and I pressed the guards, “Why don’t you seal this joint up if it poses so much peril?” The guards shrugged, and I rolled my eyes as I entered into the interior.
“So, now we’ve got the curse?” Peter catechized as we explored a dimly lit, narrow passageway.
Osra expressed, “I haven’t gotten the curse in thousands of years!” She mulled her verbalization over, and then she changed her tune, “Oh, you mean the metaphysical kind! It’s not likely to bring sincere misfortune. They mostly just spread that rumor so no one would break in and steal they always buried with their royalty.”
All of a sudden, ghostly figures began seeping out of the rocky walls! Kendra griped, “Oh, come on! We barely got here! You gotta release your dark magic already?”
The spectres each shifted into the shape of a mummy, and Eamon petitioned the rest of us, “How exactly are we to fight a phantom army of mummified soldiers?”
Preceding any of us having the ability to summon an answer, one of the mummies stepped towards us, opened his mouth, and…
Jett rubbed herself against Osra’s legs, and Osra cooed, “Aww! Hello again, friend!”
Phoebe puzzled, “Again? I thought Connor just met you!”
“It’s his first time meeting us, but it’s not our first time meeting him,” Natalia explained. “We’re constantly around watching over our descendants!”
“Oh, you’re always around except in private moments?” Phoebe presumed.
Kamali let her know, “Not necessarily.” Phoebe looked bewildered at that notion, so Kamali defended that practice, “Hey! We have to! Sometimes, that’s when the most precarious situations strike! Don’t forget, the king died on the toilet!”
Phoebe inquired, “What king?”
Kamali replied like it was obvious, “Elvis!”
“Wait, you guys could’ve told us how to defeat Damon ages ago and didn’t?” I sullenly exclaimed.
“We can provide hints, but we can’t directly talk to you under normal circumstances,” Kendra educated me. “If it’s an emergency, we can intervene. Like, do you recall that ski trip you took, when you were seventeen? I personally stepped in to prevent you from falling down the mountain!”
I quarreled, “That was you? You knocked me into a tree, and I wound up breaking my leg!”
Kendra pouted, “Yeah, but did you die? No! You’re welcome!”
“Uh, thanks for that!” It felt strange to show appreciation for getting a pretty painful injury, but I deemed that I ought to have been more grateful that it wasn’t worse. If circumstances were normal, I may have delved more into how this spiritual guidance worked, but I wasn’t certain how long I would have this resource, so I canvassed them, “So, you’re not supposed to get seen, but you made an exception today. He must be up to something really bad!”
“Only if you consider the apocalypse a bad thing!” Jasper reacted with sarcasm.
While giving Jett a belly rub, Osra filled me in, “It appears that he has stolen the Rainbow Tektites from Heaven’s Gate, and now they are in the hands of someone giving them to children, who are using them without realizing it. Aren’t they, Miss Fuzzy-Wuzzy, Itty-Bitty, Pretty Kitty? She reminds me of the pet I had when I was alive!”
I found that tidbit surprising. “Really? I didn’t think sabertooth tigers were that friendly!”
“Cave people didn’t exist ‘til millions of years after the dinosaurs died out!” Osra vehemently pointed out. “Isn’t your friend a history teacher?”
“Yeah. Can you not mention this to her?” I requested.
Phoebe steered the conversation back to the original subject, “The Rainbow Tektites are making the kids disappear? But, they’re from Heaven! I thought Heaven only made beneficial stuff! Why are they sending out monsters?”
Kamali relayed to us, “Rainbow Tektites are stones, and they get used for interdimensional travel.”
“Our students are going to other realms?” I gasped. “How do they do that by accident?”
“We suspect they’re being ingested,” Eamon stated. “Don’t ask us how!”
I probed, “Why can’t I ask that? I really wanna know!”
Eamon retorted, “Yeah, so do we!”
“Alright, so I gotta figure out who’s getting them to eat or drink rocks. That seems easy enough! In the meantime, I just gotta convince teens not to eat weird junk! Oh crap, that’s gonna be impossible!” I fretted.
“You can assist those who’ve already been afflicted! All you have to do is look into their eyes, and you’ll know who’s in trouble!” Natalia advised.
Osra assured me, “Don’t worry! We’ll be there to lend a hand when the timing is right!”
They all began to disappear, and I tried to stop them, “Wait! Now’s a good time! You can lend a hand now!” Once they were gone, I grumped, “That’s it? That’s all I get? Look into their eyes to know if they ate an interdimensional stone? What do I do when I find the victim who has that in their system?” Phoebe shrugged, and Jett happily snoozed on her back. I frowned, totally unsure of what I was going to do with this ambiguous revelation.
“Okay, who wants to go first?” I petitioned my initial class of the day. As usual, no one volunteered except for Roxy. I questioned Roxy, “Do you plan on giving a presentation on business, or are you gonna gush about Damon again?”
“I need to talk about him!” Roxy raved. “He can’t get forgotten! I need to keep his spirit alive, and I’m not sure if talking will do that, but I’ll do anything for my Day-Day!”
Ismeray brought up, “Couldn’t you keep his spirit alive by talking to a shrink instead of us?”
Her peers laughed at her insulting jest, and I wanted to join them, but as the adult in the room, I had to discourage this sort of behavior, so, after hiding my snickers behind my textbook, I returned with a straight face and gently chided Ismeray, “Thaat’s not very nice!”
“I wasn’t trying to be nice!” Ismeray countered. “Everyone was thinking it, and someone had to say it!”
“Damon is not a joke!” Roxy snarled. “Aside from being the love of my life, he is our future overlord as society succumbs to his wrath, and during his reign of power, he-!”
Corvina volunteered, “I’ll go first! Anything to end… all this!” She took a position at the head of the rows of desks, and she read aloud from a piece of paper in her hands, “Mister Johnson paced around his office, wondering how on earth he would get the word out about his amazing new invention. ‘I’ve got an idea, sir!’ his protegé shouted as he ran into his chambers, his eyes brimming with hope!”
I cut her off, “Did I tell you to make this into a short story?”
“No, but I miss my creative writing course, and you didn’t tell me I couldn’t!” Corvina shot back.
“Touché! Proceed,” I permitted.
As she prattled on, I probably should have been paying attention to the accuracy of the facts she belted out between her characters’ lines, but I couldn’t help but study the pupils of my pupils. Everyone seemed regular, and by regular, I mean they were engaging in their typical behavior. Some students in particular could never get described as regular in any context though! Peter’s seemed a little too perfect, and I reckoned that he was wearing contact lenses specifically designed to improve their appearance. Yurei’s were glazed over, and Roxy’s were glaring in defiance, as usual. Corvina’s were a bit bloodshot, but I didn’t think that was significant until she yawned. “Can I get a drink real quick?”
I acquiesced, “Sure!” I didn’t expect to get through all of the presentations that day, but I began to worry that I wouldn’t be able to return to an activity that would allow Manuel to sub and me to roam the halls once more any time soon. I let it go and tried to relax as she hurried back to her desk. I expected her to take a swig from a water bottle, but instead, she had a paper cup of coffee on her desk! “Did you spend a long night rehearsing again?”
“Yeah. I was with the band…” Corvina’s gaze shifted guiltily. I didn’t press the issue any further because, quite frankly, I didn’t want to know! She gulped down some of her hot brew, and then she blissfully commented, “Ah! Thank god for Mrithan’s shitty cappuccino machine!” My eyes grew wide upon hearing that verbiage, but Corvina obviously thought I had grown alarmed by something else. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to swear!”
“Huh? Oh, right! Don’t do that!” I scolded her without any real effort. As she resumed her presentation, my brain reeled from the insight she unintentionally provided. The Rainbow Tektites were being consumed by youths at Rosemary King High, and coincidentally, Mrithan had a new beverage dispenser. Mrithan swore he was afraid of Damon now, but could that have been a front for him to get away with this latest plot? How tasty could the coffee be with rocks in it? These were enquiries I had to investigate immediately!
Well, I wanted to do it immediately anyway! At lunch, I was tempted to skip eating to scope out this lead, but it never seemed to go well when I missed a meal! I begrudgingly headed to the teachers’ lounge, and just as I was in the midst of a self-pity party, commotion suddenly erupted from the cafeteria! I anticipated another disappearance was imminent, and I raced to try and prevent that from occurring!
Or, at least, I hoped to get a clue that was a bit more concrete than what I currently had! When I swung the door open, I wasn’t positive what to expect, but what I didn’t predict to see was a small bird getting chased by a bunch of excited juveniles! As Mary strove to get them to calm down, I recognized that she distributed food to students quite frequently. She never struck me as the evil-doer type, but truthfully, I didn’t know much about her, so who knows, maybe she was! I couldn’t fathom how I would hover around the cafeteria without rousing suspicion, but I vowed to find a way to do it if Mrithan turned out to be a dead end!
I sped into the teachers’ lounge as fast as I could in order to swiftly convey to the others what I learned. I was so laser-focused on revealing this news to the m that I didn’t see it coming- Imelda abruptly got into my periphery and queried, “Want a date?”
“No, thanks! I’m engaged!” I politely declined. Privately, I thought I would’ve responded in the same manner if I were single, and I stood there cringing in fear that she wouldn’t take the rejection with composure.
“Uh, I didn’t mean that sort of date…” Imelda waved a plate of fruit so I could more easily view it.
I felt foolish for assuming she meant a romantic excursion! I grabbed one and sheepishly regarded her, “Thank you!”
To my astonishment, Casper strolled up to her and verbalized, “I, too, would not like to engage in an amorous affair since I have a girlfriend, but I would be delighted to partake in this nutritious snack since Kaleva is into healthy eating! Did I tell you she’s a model?”
“Yes! A hundred times!” Fletcher pounded his fist on the table out of irritation.
“Forgive me! I can’t resist bragging about her!” Casper imperiously roosted himself at our seating arrangement as he spoke.
Ginger growled, “Could you try harder?”
Casper chuckled as he scrolled through Phoebe’s phone, and then he proclaimed, “No, no, no! None of this will do any good against warding off the Fairy Folks!”
“Fairy folks?” I echoed incredulously. Casper had made some pretty far-out-there assertions, but this one really took the cake!
“They’re not the cute, little pixies you see in movies!” Casper narrated while chewing on the date. “They’re vicious creatures who like to punish any mortals who enter into their territory! All of these disappearances are proof that fairy folks are prevalent and intend to cause as much mayhem as possible! So, what you need is some cold iron! Or perhaps a plant like ivy or boxwood…”
Phoebe faked a grin at that concept. “Yay! What wonderful gifts this will be for our wedding!”
Casper smugly articulated, “It is, isn’t it? I’m so thrilled that my expertise in ghosts and other paranormal practices can… What?”
As he babbled, it occurred to me that Imelda had repeatedly doled out edible morsels to people! I couldn’t comprehend how anyone would hide stony shards in produce, but perhaps that was the ideal coverup for the crime! Or, perhaps not. I monitored his peepers to distinguish any compelling changes, but all this did was make it appear as though I yearned to glimpse longingly at him! I had to hastily manufacture a distraction from this ineptitude, so I asked, “Hey, can you share with us that memory of how you won that football championship back in the day?”
My friends balked at that suggestion, and as he elatedly answered, I mouthed my regrets to everyone. As I listened to him ramble on and on about this recollection, I bitterly noticed that his eyes remained unaltered. It wasn’t as though I wanted him to wreak havoc on us, I just got upset that my efforts had proved to be a waste of time!
I disappointedly headed back to my classroom, and I rued not spending lunch with Mrithan and getting to the bottom of this conundrum! Precisely as I was contemplating an early morning visit with him, I spotted Aniela hovering around the water fountain. Remembering her penchant for pranks, I started to wonder if this entire episode had been the result of a humorous escapade gone wrong. I wasn’t about to tarry with this one, I had to check on it straight away! I posed to her, “Whatcha doing?”
“Listen, I know I haven’t picked a venue yet, but I haven’t had time to look into doing it at the school,” I lied. I could have done research on that if I wanted to, but Phoebe and I already decided we weren’t interested in saying our vows there. I just didn’t have the heart to tell Manuel that!
“I’m not here to discuss that,” Manuel let me know. “Although, we should put a pin in that ‘cause I think the theatre department has some props leftover from a wedding scene…” I liked the cost-effectiveness of that idea, but I wasn’t positive about how elegant any of the stuff would have been if it was made by children! Manuel seemed tempted to stay on the subject, but then he remembered why he sought me out in the first place. “Okay, well, I heard rumors you’ve had entanglements with otherworldly things…”
I articulated with a slight glare, “You mean the same rumors the staff used against me last semester to try and convince you I was crazy? The same rumors that caused you to send me to a psychiatrist? Those rumors?” I didn’t mean to have an attitude with my boss, but I was still a bit salty about what transpired months ago!
Manuel guiltily shifted in his chair. “Crazy is subjective! The reports I received about your behavior were distressing, but…” He espied the growing glower on my visage, so he swiftly followed that with something more acceptable to me, “…but, so is the current situation! There is no rationale I can generate that explains what’s occurring at this school, and the only thing that does is maybe something from the supernatural has invaded the campus!”
“It took you two school years to realize that? Am I the only one that didn’t need a kid buried alive without a person around to shovel the dirt to realize that we had a paranormal problem?” I threw my hands up in frustration.
“No, but I was hoping the exorcism would’ve solved the problem,” Manuel responded. “Actually, Casper has expressed concerns about this kind of activity too, but truthfully, I suspect he sometimes makes claims up just to get attention!”
I chortled at his remark, and I felt less resentful about assisting him knowing that it would really anger Sir Pompous Dorkington. “Alright, so what do you want from me?”
Manuel detailed to me, “I want you to find out what’s going on around here! Aside from the brief disappearances being disruptive, it’s potentially dangerous! Mary said a group of kids who were early to lunch disappeared from the cafeteria, and when they came back, one kid had a broken leg! I don’t know what’s happening, and quite frankly, I don’t wanna know! I just want it to stop! So, I’m giving you permission to roam the halls during your classroom hours. I’ll cover your classes whenever you need it. Or maybe I’ll make Mrithan do it & keep him out of trouble for a while…”
“Well, if he gets himself stuck in something or whatever during a lesson, my students can get him out of his jam!” I chuckled, and Manuel did too, but then I leveled with him, “Look, I don’t have the foggiest notion what’s occurring here! I wouldn’t even know where to begin! The students who vanish can never recall where they’ve been or what they were doing, so how can I get any clues to this mystery?”
“There’s gotta be something somewhere!” Manuel proclaimed. “Nobody commits a crime without some sort trace of their actions! If somebody is using dark magic, there’s evidence of it someplace! Don’t give up! The future of these young people is in your hands! And that’s not hyperbole- we’re depending on you here!”
I kidded, “So, no pressure, right?” I tittered, and then I mulled over this proposal. There wasn’t any question about my desire to spare these youths from a terrible fate, but I felt reluctant to pull time away from my lessons so close to finals! Of course, if my lecture attendees never returned, then I wouldn’t have had anyone left to take my tests! I disliked the prospect of extra work on my plate, but I agreed to do it, “Fine. I’ll see what I can do!”
Manuel gave me one of his very fatherly smiles. “Excellent! Thank you so much! I… Oh, I fixed your crane!”
After I ogled the origami he mended, I queried, “How did you do that?” Before he could reply, my fourth-period class manifested into their seats drenched in water (I hope it was water anyways!). I notified Manuel, “They’re doing popcorn reading for chapter fourteen.” As Manuel fumbled with my textbook, I exited the room.
“Okay, I’ve calmed down!” Phoebe declared as we went into our tiled mudroom. “I don’t need to feel guilty for leaving my class to throw up! That didn’t cause my students to disappear! They had sting marks all over them, but they’re all healthy still! No one was seriously injured! Everyone is well!” As soon as we entered the house, Phoebe asserted, “I’m gonna be sick!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’m getting it!” I barked at my impatient cat. As I pulled out her bag of food, I apologized, “I’m sorry! I just had a bad day! I spent all day searching for clues on how to prevent the kids at my school from disappearing, and I came up blank!” I sat next to Jett as she merrily munched, and I continued, “I actually saw the children in Ellie’s fifth period vanish, but I have no idea why they left! One guy had to go to the hospital ‘cause he had a spear-axe thingy stuck between his shoulder blades! I mean, his backpack caught the brunt of that assault, but still! People are getting hurt, and I can’t figure out what to do to protect them! I need a miracle! How do I get it?” Jett gawked at me quizzically, and I questioned myself, “Why am I asking you?”
I emitted an exasperated exhale, and as I gazed at the ceiling, I saw a speck of light reflecting off of my cell phone. It kind of reminded me of the stained glass I saw in the church I went to during my early years. I kneeled before the light, and it felt insane to do so, but hey, I was conversing with my cat seconds ago, so my sanity seemed fleeting anyways! I prayed, “Hello, Lord! I know, it’s been a while since I gave you a ring, but better late than never, right? Well, this isn’t about me! Innocent souls are suffering, and that’s bad! You probably already understand that, but it’s, like, really bad! And… I’m not very good at this! In sales, it was easy to convince people to side with me ‘cause I could make out what they wanted, but you’re the Lord, and you can make whatever you want happen! Oh, I got it! You probably don’t want undeserving victims to go through torment, correct? Can you provide me with the key to saving them? Please?”
Feeling like that was a totally lame plea for assistance, I stood up feeling rather remorseful for not doing a better job when lives were depending on it. I let out a sorrowful sigh, and in an effort to block my anxiety over the matter from overrunning me again, I shouted, “Phoebe! Do you want a glass of wine too?” I heard some retching, so I assessed, “Alright, maybe later when you…”
Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I beheld at that juncture! Six strange individuals were sitting in my living room! And I mean strange in every sense of its meaning! One woman had eyebrow ridges, bushy hair, and a ragged dress made of animal skin, and another woman wore a maxi skirt with a corset over a long-sleeved shirt and flowers in her hair. There was a man in a brown tunic as well as tan tights and a matching cape, and another man with bronzed skin donned a striped vest that went to the floor and a turban. Another lady wore an ornate gown with long and very wide sleeves as well as a coordinating bonnet-like hat, and the last fellow had on a fairly modern sweater and slacks. None of these individuals appeared like they belonged either let alone in my domicile, so my brain locked up simply trying to comprehend what was going on right then!
“Babe! I think our house got broken into!” I yelled to Phoebe over her vomiting. I peered more closely at their unique garments, and I supplemented my sentence with, “…By members of the community theatre?”
“It was a halberd,” the bushy-haired woman informed me.
I puzzled, “Huh?”
The bushy-haired woman elaborated, “The weapon you described earlier. They were used in Europe in the sixteenth century up until about seventeen-ninety-three when they were replaced by spontoons.”
“That’s great! So, I don’t mean to be rude, but what the hell are you all doing here?” I did not intend to come across as mean, but I couldn’t resist that enquiry! They didn’t give off the impression that they were dangerous, but their motivation for this unauthorized visit became more and more confusing as this interaction went along!
“Boy, the guy asks for a miracle, and then he freaks out when he gets one!” the sweater fellow chuckled.
I examined his visage to discern whether or not he had arrived as an answer to my imploration or if he merely overheard my clumsy verbalization, and something deep in my memory indicated that I had seen this fellow before! “You’re gonna help me? You didn’t help my Grandma Dotty much after you left her, Jasper!”
Jasper defended himself, “I didn’t leave! I was taken away! By the FBI!” He saw my stunned expression, so he elaborated, “I had multiple wives! But, in all fairness, divorce was still very taboo in my generation!”
“And bigamy wasn’t?” the man with the turban scoffed.
“Well, the legal system didn’t like it much!” Jasper pouted.
As they bickered, I studied them further, and I noticed that the lady in the animal print had my nose, and the woman with the ornate gown had my eyes! I was on the brink of piecing everything together, but I still possessed one troubling thought, “Phoebe! Can you come in here, please? Hurry!” I called out.
Phoebe griped, “What? What’s so important that I can’t clean out my barf breath first?” She saw the six strangers, and she scolded me, “Why didn’t you tell me we had company over?”
“You can see them too? Phew! For a second, I thought Doctor Cifarelli was right about my hallucinations!” I breathed a sigh of relief, and when Phoebe stared at me peculiarly, I elucidated, “I think they’re my family!”
“We’re your ancestors!” the man in the tunic illuminated us. “Hello! I’m Eamon of Fenmore! I hale from Ireland in the year six hundred. I was a prominent merchant until I got put to death for stealing a horse!”
I reacted in aghast, “You were executed just for stealing a horse?”
Eamon stated, “You have to understand, people relied on horses for their livelihood!”
“But the horse was fine?” I catechized.
“Yes!” Eamon confirmed. “I had one drink too many, and, well, they say alcohol kills!”
The man with the turban winced at that characterization. “I’m a doctor, Doctor Kamali Nur, and that’s just… wrong! Oh, hi! I did well in the region now known as Yemen until the British took over! To clarify though, I wasn’t a big of fan of the colonization of the nineteenth century, but I fell in love with an English woman who had me murdered so she could steal my fortune!”
The woman in the gown regally jumped in, “Not all of your ancestors from Cornwall were criminals! Greetings! I’m Lady Kendra of Tintagel! I’m delighted to me you, and I’m delighted to see that the men of our lineage have maintained the same exceptional taste in female companionship that they always have! Your bride-to-be is quite lovely!”
“I’m glad you still have that view after hearing me hurl!” Phoebe blushed.
“My name is Natalia Melchior!” The woman in the skirt curtsied. “I emigrated to Southern England from Poland to escape political exile in eighteen-thirty-one, and I wound up dying of tuberculosis a year later! Go figure!”
I conversed, “That sucks! We have a vaccine for that now!”
Natalia folded her arms resentfully. “Hmm! Must be nice!”
“And I’m Osra,” the bushy-haired woman introduced herself. “I lived in ten thousand B.C., and I’m what you might call a ‘cave woman,” but I actually lived in a small hut!”
“This is fascinating!” Phoebe exclaimed. “Most folks have to pay decent money to get a family background like this!”
I somewhat concurred, “Yeah, it’s interesting and all, but…” I couldn’t unearth a polite fashion of wording this, so I chose to blurt out what was bugging me, “You still haven’t said what the hell you’re doing here!”
Jasper repeated, “I told you, dear boy! We’re here ‘cause you wanted a miracle!”
“We also need your aid!” Eamon brought up. “There is an evil plan afoot, and we must put a halt to their scheme prior to disaster unfolding!”
“It’s Damon, isn’t it?” I guessed. “I knew that S.O.B. was up to something! Tell me! I’ve been dying to learn what his plan is!” The six of them glanced at each other, and finally, Osra stepped forward. She opened her mouth, and…
“What’s this?” I gestured towards the entrance to the Literary Arts wing where Aniela had her arm sticking in the doorway in a manner that suggested she was gazing at something in her hand.
“I dunno! Maybe it’s some sort of social media trend?” Phoebe gestured in a fashion that portrayed her lack of insight on this subject.
After emitting an exasperated exhale, I concluded that someone needed to address this peculiar behavior, and that someone might as well have been me. I strolled up to her, leaned on the wall beside her, and opened the entrance. She nearly fell in from the shock of the moment, and when she recovered from this stumble, I noticed she was carrying a mirror. I puzzled, “Isn’t that easier in the girls’ room?”
Aniela explained, “I was using the reflection to per into the classrooms. I wanted to make sure no monsters popped out to get me! One boy said he got chased by a fire-breathing chicken!”
“I didn’t breathe fire!” I objected to this characterization. I realized how that must have come across to her, so I swiftly changed course, “Listen, don’t let one kid’s fear of birds scare you!” I gently steered her into the hall and assured her, “There isn’t anything too creepy at our school!”
“Have an apple, dear!” Imelda offered as she darted in front of our path with a bowl of fruit.
Aniela looked to me for a rationale for this oddity, and at first, I had none. Eventually, I stated, “I did say there wasn’t anything too creepy!” She seemed rather nonplussed, so I fibbed, “Well, she’s a British Literature teacher- obviously, she’s doing a bit from Snow White!”
Imelda corrected me, “Actually, that’s a German story originally!”
“You’re not helping!” I snapped. Aniela resumed her safety measure, and I sighed.
“I feel a little bad telling my students there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Phoebe quietly brought up to me as teenagers weaved around us to get to their classrooms. “Damon could strike at any second, so maybe they should act with more caution!”
Whispering, I argued, “Yeah, but we can’t tell them that! The mass hysteria this would create would make everything worse! Probably! Well, it certainly wouldn’t help!”
Phoebe softly debated me, “But, if we don’t warn them about potential danger, we’re potentially leaving them as sitting ducks!”
“What are we supposed to do?” I hushedly contended. “Somebody is gonna do something somewhere? We don’t even know what to watch for, so how can we give them a heads up about anything?”
“You’re right,” Phoebe faintly relented. “But, I’m still feeling guilty ‘cause that demented dolt is going to attack soon, and he always attacks children first!” That concept tied my stomach into knots, but the correct remedy to this conundrum wasn’t clear. Before I could respond though…
“Hey! How come the teachers get to make out in the halls and we can’t?” a nearby girl accosted us.
I disputed her accusation, “We weren’t making out! We were just talking!”
She didn’t appear to buy that. “Uh-huh! Well, excuse me while I go find my partner and do some talking!”
Prior to me getting a chance to scold her for that plan, the bell rang. I gave Phoebe a kiss, and the girl smirked victoriously. “You can smooch your partner all you want when you get your teaching certification!” I had to leave it at that and race to my class.
The final bell rang as I reached my room. As I went inside, I reminded my pupils, “Me being tardy doesn’t give you permission to do it! I had-!”
My eyes grew wide as I beheld the space- it was completely empty! I glanced at the clock, and I verified that I wasn’t even an entire minute late! It perplexed me as to why not a single soul had arrived, and then I figured it must have been some sort of joke, so I sat at my desk and waited for them to emerge with their gotchas. No one did though, so I pulled out a book. Finally, after a few minutes, the knob turned. I expected to see a bunch of smiling youths, but instead…
“It’s not my fault this time! My mom got into an argument with a deer, and-!” Roxy cut off her own sentence when she finally noticed the absence of her peers. “Did I miss something?”
“No, this is totally normal!” I sarcastically responded. “It was like this when I came in, and… Wait, did you say your mom argued with a deer?”
Roxy speedily elucidated, “She almost hit it, and it wouldn’t get away from her van!” She then interrogated me, “So, you didn’t dismiss anybody?”
I shot back, “Why would I stick around if I let everyone go?”
“So, they disappeared!” Roxy inferred with a twinkle in her irises. “That means some magic happened! My sweetheart has finally resurfaced!”
“Oh, please!” I disagreed with that premise. “What makes you suspect it’s a spell and not some sort of walkout they excluded you from?”
Roxy debated my assertion, “A walkout from what? These guys stuck around despite the dragon invading the quad and the Grim Reaper sliding around the gym! They’re pretty ride-or-die, so they’re not gonna stage a walkout!”
Her reasoning had some validity, and I started to fret about this notion. What if Damon did manifest here and held them hostage somewhere? I didn’t imagine that he would do so without bragging about it first because he was vain like that, but I had to consider that perhaps the dolt actually learned his lesson and acted with more stealth! I wasn’t certain on how I should have proceeded if he finally grew some brains! “You’ve got a point!”
“Aha! I knew it! He has returned, and his plot has unfolded right in front of us!” Roxy celebrated.
“That’s not what I meant!” I lied. “Yeah, it’s strange to have a few dozen teens disappear, but that doesn’t mean they were forcibly removed by magic! They vanished, but they didn’t vanish into thin air!”
In that precise instance, the majority of my first-period attendees materialized into their seats! Their visages were all frozen in fear, and their clothing was disheveled and torn! Undoubtedly, something drastic occurred, and I was burning with curiosity to obtain details regarding their ordeal, but unfortunately, so was Roxy. “O-M-G! You were in the presence of my beloved’s grand scheme! Did it inspire horror and nightmares? Ooh, you have to tell me everything!”
Peter filled her in, “Alright! We were in class, and then… I think we left!”
“You think?” Roxy scathed at that verbage. “How do you not know if you were drawn out of the building or not?” She made another fair point, but I wasn’t about to tell her that!
“I dunno! My mind’s a total blank!” Peter scratched his noggin in confusion.
Roxy banged her fists on the table in frustration. “I realize that! Don’t change the subject- where did you go?”
I snorted at Roxy’s inadvertent quip,, which garnered some addled stares. I hurriedly shifted back to a more serious tone and petitioned the juveniles, “So, none of you recall where you were?”
“No! But, I’m pretty positive we didn’t get these marks just sitting in our seats!” Yurei ogled at her sweater in bewilderment. “Oh man, my parents are gonna kill me!”
“Ha! I knew it!” Roxy triumphantly shrieked. “My baby struck again! He’ll wreak havoc on this disgraceful campus once more, and after he finally gets the revenge he deserves, we’ll stay together forever!”
A part of me instinctively shied away from encouraging her madness, but I couldn’t miss this opportunity to delve into an important clue into Damon’s background and motivation! I asked her, “Why does he hold such a grudge against Rosemary King? What went on here that pushed him over the edge?”
Roxy indignantly answered, “You are unworthy of this knowledge!”
“You don’t know, do you?” I guessed.
“I will not stand for this!” Roxy attempted to storm out, but she slipped on a rock by Covina’s foot and tumbled to the ground!
Ismeray cradled herself and expressed, “Someone used an enchantment against me, and I have no recollection of it! I’m, like, seriously freaked out! What do I do with myself now?”
I couldn’t drum up any solace for this bizarre situation, so I simply handed out a piece of paper to each of them and instructed, “You’ll distract yourselves by studying the vocabulary from Chapter Thirteen! Since we lost several minutes, I’ll allow you to cheat and use your phones! Just this once though!” As they worked on this assignment, I hid behind my textbook and contemplated the significance of this transpiration.
“Something happened, guys!” I announced as I arrived in the teachers’ lounge.
“What? What happened?” Phoebe peered at me with concern. The others followed suit and gave me rapt attention.
I confessed, “I don’t know!”
Aleck inquired, “Okay… Do you at least know who was involved?”
“Other than my first-period class, I don’t know!” I replied. “They were gone, and they came back with signs of a struggle!”
“Where did they go?” Ginger catechized.
I shrugged. “No idea! They can’t remember a thing!”
Ellie posed to me, “Can you give us any clues more than that?”
“No! But something definitely happened!” I surveyed their skeptical faces, and I surmised, “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“We believe you!” Fletcher reassured me. “But, you didn’t give us much to go on!”
A woman with a curly mullet and a gym ensemble commented, “Senior pranks go too far sometimes!”
I refuted that statement, “This wasn’t a prank! The jerks that do that are usually very amused by the reactions they get, and these kids were seriously scared! I think dark magic was involved!”
“Dark magic?” Imelda echoed as she approached our table.
“Oh, no!” I muttered as I sensed a lecture on morality brewing within her.
To my surprise, she somewhat alarmedly relayed to us, “It happened to my class too! Just now in third-period, I stepped out briefly to offer the custodian caffeine-free, sugarless soda to replace the awful energy drink he was gulping down, and when I went back inside again, everybody was missing! When they reappeared, they had sting marks and pieces of vine all over them!”
Up until that juncture, I didn’t care much for Imelda due to her prudish tendencies, but right then, I was super grateful to have that prude in my corner! Only one aspect of her narrative baffled me. “Hmm, it sounds like wherever your students went, they faced different obstacles than mine!”
“What does this all mean?” Coach Huppert wondered.
“It means I’m not gonna retire anytime soon! I can’t with all this weird stuff going on!” Ellie shook her head in dismay. No one else spoke after that because, well, nobody could comprehend how to deal with this seemingly supernatural mystery.
Now, this part is full of accounts that were told to me, so I can’t vouch for their accuracy, but I really doubt that any of us could make these events up! Yes, the creative writing teacher might have been able to, but she transferred to stupid Julieth High… Anyways, the next day, Coach Huppert observed dozens of girls go into their locker room, but they didn’t exit until they resurfaced with shards of glass stuck in their garments and hair. Later, the physics teacher reported that a group of boys that used the restroom to wash their hands reentered with more grime than ever. That Friday, the woodshop instructor thought he was catching a few folks smoking cigarettes, but in actuality, their outfits were singed! Ginger’s class got lost hours later, and on Monday morning, Phoebe lost her second-period pupils. Everyone experienced different side effects, but no one remembered what transpired. None of the staff had any inkling on how to handle this dilemma!
During fourth period, I sat in my empty classroom trying to follow instructions on how to do an origami crane. “Step fifty-two, fold down the wings on both sides, and… voila!” I gawked at my work, and I frowned at how lopsided it looked. “Hmm… that’s not right! Where did I go wrong?”
As I unfolded it and tried again, Manuel entered and assessed, “Oh good! You’re not busy!” I opened my mouth to object to that characterization, but ultimately, I saw that he was technically correct. He sat beside me and declared, “We need to talk…”
I walked into a large classroom with long, rectangular tables, science posters that covered the walls, and small aquariums with little snakes that lined the border only to hear Fletcher proclaim, “Maybe they’ll remember bleeding from their rectums and think twice about going to bed with every boy they meet!”
“I don’t wanna know!” I commented as I took a seat.
“His girls have hemorrhoids,” Ellie filled me in. “It’s really common to swell up down there when you’re knocked up! It happened to me, actually! They were causing me so much pain, I had to get them surgically removed! You should see the scars!”
I squeamishly reacted, “I’d rather not!”
Phoebe remarked, “The more I hear about pregnancy experiences, the less I wanna go through the process! I mean, I’d like to be a mom, but I’d like my butthole to remain intact!”
“Symptoms vary from person to person though, so it’s not like you’d necessarily have the same experience as Loretta and Lynn,” Aleck knowledgeably imparted to Phoebe. “A lot of women don’t notice anything ‘til their final trimester! You could be pregnant right now and don’t even know it!”
“Was that supposed to make me feel better?” Phoebe questioned him.
I conversed, “Fertility issues run in my family. I got conceived through IVF, and I was going to do the same with Lilith, but she had some scarring in her uterus that made her a poor candidate for implementation. Thank god! I nearly had to deal with her for the rest of my life ‘cause of that! If I hear from… Nope! I’m not gonna even say her name anymore! I heard somewhere that it could jinx them into your life by saying their name! Wait, where did I hear that? Oh, yeah! Mrithan just said it! Speaking of whom, check this out!”
After I plopped a piece of paper onto a counter, everyone eagerly peered at it. When they beheld its appearance, they all frowned. “That looks like coffee!” Ginger observed.
“It is coffee,” I confirmed. “Mrithan’s a nervous wreck, and he spilled a cup a student left in the front office! But, look what’s beneath the stains!”
“A permit for special events?” Ginger read the document quizzically.
I regaled everyone, “Yup! Manuel had him give this to us. He wants us to hold our wedding here!”
Phoebe’s visage appeared totally aghast at that notion. “No way!”
“Listen, I’m no romantic, but holding a marriage ceremony at a normal high school sounds completely devoid of sentimentalism!” Fletcher opined. “But, to do it at one that gets invaded by ghosts and creepy crap is lunacy!”
“Speaking of which, did Mrithan give you any clues about what Damon is doing?” Ellie wondered.
I reported, “No, not at all. Since the voices he used to hear worked for that dumb demon, I suppose we should’ve figured they wouldn’t have provided him with anything that could possibly be used against Damon!”
Ginger posed to us, “So, now what? Do we just wait for him to unleash some mayhem to understand what his plan is?”
“We could investigate the portal to the Netherworld,” Aleck suggested. “We could see if it survived the fire or not. If it’s gone, we have nothing to worry about! However, if it’s there, then we… I dunno! Ask Babelsama if Damon’s passed by his quarters as he escaped from Hell?”
“I don’t wanna take a trip to another realm right now!” Phoebe objected. “I like this skirt, I don’t wanna get scorch marks on it!”
Ginger concurred, “Yeah, me either! Plus, Brielle and I have a date planned tonight, and I don’t wanna be late! Maybe we can battle his devilish army tomorrow. I have a power yoga session scheduled, and I don’t really wanna go!”
Fletcher inquired, “Isn’t there a solution that doesn’t involve going to the brink of the abyss?”
“Yes!’ I ardently stated. “What that is, I don’t know! But, there’s gotta be something! Besides, after the fire damage, there’s always the possibility the property will get visited by Lilith and her new hubby, and… Oh, no! I said her name again!”
“Oh, stop! You’re not gonna jinx it!” Ellie declared. As if on cue, my cell phone rang! The others seemed spooked, but Ellie hissed, “It’s not gonna be her!” I showed her the Caller ID, and when she beheld that it read ‘Lilith’s Minion,’ she folded her arms and pouted, “I was still technically correct!”
I initiated the conversation, “Hello?”
The man on the other line professionally greeted me, “Good afternoon, Mister Fenmore! It’s Hadeon Thanatos, Esquire.”
“Yeah, I know. I have your number saved on my phone,” I dryly responded.
“How are you?” he genially asked.
I scathingly answered, “That depends. What do you want?”
Hadeon seemed slightly affronted by my somewhat hostile attitude. “Yikes! You’re always so grouchy, you know that?”
“Forgive my rudeness! I’m simply not that receptive to slimy worms who frequently try to wriggle my ex out of paying alimony!” I retorted.
“I don’t do it that frequently!” Hadeon protested. He paused, and then he added, “But, about that alimony…”
After I emitted a derisive chuckle, I expressed, “Here we go again! She accumulates more wealth through her new husband, but she claims she’s too poor or too ill to pay up! She’s getting creative with her excuses, I’ll give you that! I thought the dog eating her checkbook was a cute one! Alright, go ahead! What’s the excuse this time?”
A few days later, the six of us all sat on a church pew wearing entirely black clothing, and Fletcher quietly articulated, “Well, at least she finally has a valid excuse for not paying alimony!”
“Why are we here? She didn’t even like us!” Ginger complained.
“We’re supporting Connor,” Aleck reminded her.
Ginger acknowledged that, “Yes, but why did Lilith request us to attend her funeral? We’re taking real estate from people who might actually feel sad she’s gone!”
Aleck pointed out, “Uh, Ginger- in case you didn’t notice, the service starts in two minutes, and there are still empty spaces!”
“Wow! All that money couldn’t buy her any friends, apparently!” Ellie denoted.
“Not true!” a guy behind her disputed. “We’re only here ‘cause her widower paid us fifty bucks to fill seats!”
Fletcher huffed, “What? Where’s that old geezer? He owes me money for this favor!”
Phoebe pat my knee and checked in, “How are you feeling?”
“I don’t need the fifty,” I assured her. “It’s nice enough that Engelbert agreed to pay me her spousal support! He seems like a decent dude! I wonder what he ever saw in Lilith!”
“Probably the same thing you saw in her when you first met,” Phoebe brought up.
I nodded in concurrence with that logic. “That’s fair! In the beginning, she wasn’t a bitter, money-hunting harlot! She was supportive and a lot of fun! I mean, I didn’t know it was ‘cause she caught her prey, but still! It’s not like I was miserable all of the twelve years we were married! Of course, I was gone most of the time…”
Phoebe probed, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. But, it’s weird to think she won’t be randomly turning up to try and fail at petty vengeance attempts! I already gave her my goodbye in the divorce, really! However… well, her death does bother me quite a bit!” I confessed.
“It’s natural to mourn the loss of a former love!” Phoebe assured me.
I shook my head. “Nah, it’s not that! There’s something disturbing about her dying, but it’s not because her presence will be missed! It almost feels like unnatural interference! It’s the same sensation I get each instance I learn about one of Damon’s stupid plots… I’m not saying he had anything to do with this, but it’s got the aura of a paranormal manipulation forming! Does that make sense?”
Phoebe affirmed, “Absolutely!”
“Really?” I gazed at her in surprise. “Maybe you can explain it to me then since I don’t get it!”
“Actually, I don’t either! I was just being polite,” Phoebe admitted.
I rested my chin on my palm and contemplated this matter. I didn’t believe that foul play was involved in her demise, but something about her departure sincerely didn’t sit right with me! I didn’t comprehend what it signified exactly, but I was certain it didn’t bode well for us! Was it a mere coincidence that she was lost around when Damon was set to be found? That would’ve been nice, but I really doubted that I had that kind of luck!
Suddenly, an older priest with wispy, white hair, a bushy mustache, and a frail but short body manifested at the podium, which made me jump out of my stupor! He spoke to everyone with a thick, Russian accent, “Welcome, my children! Well, technically, you’re not my children since this is a non-denominational ceremony! I am Father Barbelo, and it was requested that I do this funeral in a non-Catholic manner for time purposes, which I’m a little offended by… But, it’s alright! I serve my community however I’m called to! Today, we mourn the loss of a very rich soul! She had lots of money, and this wealth was much deserving to this woman of means… Oy! Who wrote this drivel? Oh, the departed did! Eh… It kind of goes on and on like that. Let’s just skip ahead, shall we? Her surviving husband would like to say a few words.”
A fellow with heavily wrinkled, olive-toned skin, a stringy crown of gray locks, and a gaunt frame hunched over a walker slowly ambled to center stage. As he inched along, he croaked out, “Thanks for waiting, young man!”
“No problem!” Father Barbelo waited patiently for a moment, and then he verbalized, “Okay, now I understand the non-denominational request!”
“Hello!” Engelbert addressed everyone. Father Barbelo hurried over to the dais and lowered the microphone for him. Engelbert then continued, “It seemed like fate when Lilith showed up in my life!”
I muttered under my breath, “It wasn’t fate! She probably found the oldest-sounding name in the business section of the phone book!”
Engelbert reminisced, “She found me in the phone book, and I thank the heavens each day she did! She put a little bit of excitement into this centenarian’s day! I could’ve done with less excitement the day we exchanged our vows though! If I knew it was going to be stormy, I would’ve moved it away from Camael’s Gardens!”
“Right, so tell your mom that place is out!” Phoebe whispered.
“Goodbye, mon petit chou! I’ll take good care of your legacy as soon as we find the rest of it in the rubble!” With that, he scuttled off of the platform.
Once Engelbert cleared the main area, Father Barbelo petitioned the throng, “Would anyone else like to go next?” The room remained silent, so he pleaded, “Come on! Someone must have something to say to the guest of honor!”
A small hand went up, and after Father Barbelo permitted her to go up, I was shocked to see it was Roxy! She and Lilith crossed paths occasionally, but I didn’t expect her to have enough of an acquaintance to even attend her funeral! Although, she had more of an established bond than the paid seat fillers! Nonetheless, I was struck by the fact she was upset enough about her passing that she felt compelled to pipe up! I couldn’t fathom what she wanted to articulate, but whatever it was, I thought it was bound to be a doozy!
“Ahem!” Roxy commenced. “Hi, Lilith! Thanks for letting me use your place while I stalked the jerk fighting with my beloved!” Roxy threw me a pronounced glare, and the entire congregation stared at me questioningly. I awkwardly waved at them because, well, what else was I supposed to do in that situation? Roxy went on, “Now that you’re amongst the fallen in the realm of the dead, I just have to warn you… If you go anywhere near my Day-Day, I will find you and kill your spirit! I swear, you better keep your hands off! He’s mine!”
“Uh…” Father Barbelo was at a loss for words following that outburst, and the attendees were too bewildered to provide him with any hints on how to carry on. Finally, Father Barbelo decided to canvass the lot, “Anyone else?” Somehow, the mass got even more motionless than before! “Please! One more, and we’ll end this proceeding!”
With an avid eagerness to go home, I readily volunteered, “I’ll do it!” Murmurs spread throughout the space, and I could hardly blame them! Not only did I get divorced from Lilith, but Roxy told them seconds ago that I was fighting her unalive paramore! I was glad that everyone assumed she was crazy! Once I was in position, I realized I had no clue what to discuss! Eventually, I decided to just wing it, “Hey! What did the Grim Reaper-?” Phoebe cut my joke off by strongly indicating I shouldn’t do it, so I changed course, “Never mind! So, how does one tell their first love farewell? I’m actually asking! No takers? Whatever! Um… Oh, I got it! Well, Lilith, your physical form may be gone, but you’ll always live on through the memories you’ve left behind! I’ll never forget you, and I’m sure someday we’ll meet again! See you down the line!”
As I exited the orator’s station, I felt slightly haunted by my own speech. Even though I was pulling garbage out of the depths of my imagination, I couldn’t help but ponder if I would run into her in some form once more…
“That better not be an invitation to our own wedding! I know your mom is getting impatient, but if she picked our venue for us… I haven’t gone bridezilla yet, but I swear I…!” Phoebe snatched the ornate stationery out of my hands, and when she viewed the communication on it, her eyes went wide in shock. “Seriously?”
“How long are you two gonna keep us in suspense?” Ellie probed.
I read out loud, “Miss Lilith Fenmore Adrannelech cordially invites you to her union with Engelbert G. Orlagh on May… Oh, it’s tomorrow, actually!”
Everyone who was in the vicinity of hearing my words stared at me in astonishment. For several seconds, my listeners simply strove to absorb this development, and then Aleck broke the silence by asserting, “Ha, ha Funny! What does it really say?”
“He’s not kidding! Does that sound like a dad joke to you?” Ginger prodded Aleck.
“Ah, who cares if she’s marrying another old codger?” Fletcher grumped. “She only sent you that letter to try and piss you off! Let’s not worry about her!”
Richard brought up, “Do you think it’s a mere coincidence you heard from the homeowner the same day her house burnt down?”
I responded, “God, I hope so!” Even though I had been anticipating a catastrophe preceding Damon’s reentrance into our realm, I was truly hoping to get proven incorrect about that! I would’ve preferred to have saved my anxiety for normal things like fixing my ceaselessly breaking abode and convincing my students the monsters they previously endured aren’t coming back! Okay, maybe normal wasn’t the right term for this, but still! As much as I wanted to get our inevitable confrontation over with, I also dreaded going through it again! I was mentally prepared for this battle, but I wasn’t… if that makes any sense!
“But, why would any spirits care if she marries this guy?” Rowan challenged Richard. “They were hoping to keep her single so they could date her?”
“The spirits have a new owner for their land, and they don’t like it! Why they don’t like him, I can’t tell you, but we’ll all have to keep our eyes peeled! Something scary’s gonna occur at any moment!” Richard wildly gestured for that final point, and his grip on his towel got lost! We all shied away from that unsightly spectacle, and after he covered himself back up, Richard pouted, “Wish they’d hurry and clear that smoke already so I can go back inside and conceal my tallywacker!”
Our focus switched between the nuptials’ announcement and the scorched edifice across the street. None of us were quite sure what it signified, but we all recognized that we were on the precipice of something huge! After a small stretch of inwardly contemplating different theories of what today’s incidents represented, Phoebe posed to me, “So, we’re RSVP’ing no to that unholy union, aren’t we?”
That evening, I sat at the small, circular dining room table that rested between the kitchen bar and the slightly lower elevation of our living room grading papers. It was pretty silent other than the guitar solo blaring in the background, and right when I noted how enjoyable it was to have a peacefully boring night, Jett sat down on my work with a toy mouse. “Not now!” I snapped. She didn’t budge, so I attempted to seize the contents beneath her bottom. That was an impossible feat, so I grabbed her plaything and threw it off of the table. I presumed that would be the end of it, but she resurfaced and plopped her plush rodent onto the ungraded quizzes once more! I gave it another go, and she repeated the same action! “You play fetch? Since when?”
My cellphone rang, and when I beheld who was calling, I groaned. I hurled Jett’s entertainment farther, held my documents on a notebook that rested on my legs, and begrudgingly pushed the speakerphone on. “Hey, Mom! Just your periodic reminder, texting is always an option for your lectures!”
“Oh, no! You’re not getting away from this that easily!” she scolded me. “You can’t keep avoiding this! If you’re gonna tie the knot in June, you should’ve picked the site for it in April at the latest! This is completely irresponsible!”
“Nuh-uh! It’s life, which changes a lot!” I clapped back. “We had a place in mind, but we had to leave ‘cause-.”
My mother interrupted me, “Why? Just ‘cause it wasn’t perfect? I’ve got a newsflash for you: nothing is gonna be perfect! Sometimes, you gotta work with what you’ve got and make the best of it! Whatever the issue was, overlook it and enjoy your marriage! If you hurry, you can get your reservation back before they fill it! Give them a call, quick!”
I sardonically stated, “Gosh, I’d love to, but the health department shut that joint down. Maybe the government will still let us use it if we sign a waiver for the toxic mold! Gotta overlook imperfections, right?”
“Oh, toxic mold? I see… Hmm, there’s gotta be something else in your area…” my mom contemplated this matter for a bit.
“This time, it was constipation!” Phoebe announced as she emerged from the bathroom. “I’ve got the bubble guts, but nothing will come out! My stomach keeps accumulating more and more gas, but nothing comes out! It’s the worst! Gosh, I never thought I’d miss the diarrhea!” She glanced at my phone, and her visage paled. “Oh no! You’re on a call?”
My mother assured her, “Oh, don’t sweat it, kiddo! My husband was a doctor, and I’ve heard worse at the dinner table! Besides, after you become a mom, poopy stuff doesn’t phase you much! Once, I was listening to Tom Petty’s new album while cleaning the bathtub, and both these things made it so I didn’t hear or smell anything. Connor took his diaper off, and-!”
I cut her off, “Can we discuss something else?”
“Of course! So, about your wedding venue…” my mother conversed.
“Actually, why don’t you finish telling her about the mural I created?” I didn’t expect that to work, but I had to try! It wasn’t like I could reveal any supernatural entanglements we had to my mom! For real, how could I say we were scared to pick another location due to the threat of a paranormal pest’s remanifestation? It might’ve been humorous to witness her reaction at first, but the consequences that were certain to follow wouldn’t have proved to be worth it! I sincerely prayed that she would drop the subject so I could give my brain a break from endeavoring to manufacture plausible rationales!
My mom ignored my invitation to relay an embarrassing story from my youth and suggested, “Ooh! What about the Arioch? William had a conference there before- it’s classy!”
Phoebe disagreed, “No, it’s not!” I knew exactly why she had said that, and neither of us wanted to narrate the sordid tale of how a giant, pornographic film company rented the facility and its star was Phoebe’s little sister! Mara also attempted to seduce me in that hotel, so that locale was tainted! From memories- she wasn’t successful! I decided to save this recollection in my back pocket though in case I needed to distract my mother again! Phoebe concocted a fabrication for her outburst, “I mean, it used to be, but after the mudslides, the entire facility is a mess!”
“Goodness! I didn’t realize the rain got that bad in the suburbs!” my mom confundedly expressed. Phoebe and I gazed at each other in apprehension of the feasibility of our claim, but luckily, my mom propositioned, “What about Camael’s Gardens? That’s nowhere near the mountains, so it should be fine!”
“No, that’s… too close to our rival high school! It’d be too awkward having it in their territory!” I cringed at my own creation. It was a lame justification, but it was all I could drum up on the spot like that.
My mother scoffed at that, “Wow! What nonsense! I’m gonna set up an appointment for you two to tour the premises- no ifs, ands, or buts!” Phoebe and I both opened our mouths to object, but we didn’t dare disobey an edict with that much authority! Even at forty, I still feared my mom’s wrath from my intentional rule-breaking! “And Phoebe, dear, drink some prune juice! It works better than a laxative! You’ll need to get better fast ‘cause your wedding day will roll by faster than you expect!”
After she hung up, I reluctantly concurred, “She’s correct!”
“About the prune juice or our wedding day?” Phoebe wondered.
“Both!” I sighed, and then I concluded, “We need to figure out what Damon’s up to ASAP! We can’t move on with our plans if we don’t know his!”
Phoebe quizzed me, “How are we supposed to do that? We don’t have any clues what form he’ll even appear in!”
Jett perched herself on more materials from my class, and one page in particular struck me with inspiration. “Maybe someone else can help give us some clues…”
“Thank you for calling Rosemary King High School! This is Mrithan speaking. How can I assist you?” I overheard Mrithan greet a person who contacted the campus by phone. I waited at the side of the front desk while a fairly young man with neatly parted hair, business casual clothes, and a warm-tan complexion listened to someone speak with a receiver supported by his left shoulder while holding a large stack of folders in his arms. He listened politely, but I could discern that Mrithan did not care for this conversation. “Uh-huh, uh-huh! Yes, ma’am! Yeah, I… Uh-huh! Hold on, let me save you some time! I… And, you’re continuing anyways, great! Mmm-hmm… Okay! So, we don’t handle class reunion stuff! That’s all done through a committee on ClassBook! Yes, even the sixty year folks! You don’t know what ClassBook is? Uh, do you have grandkids? Perfect! Ask them! You’re welcome! Bye-bye!”
“Hi, Mrithan!” I pleasantly regarded him as soon as he hung up.
Apparently, Mrithan didn’t realize my presence there until right then since he jumped from fright! His entire stack tumbled to the floor, and Mrithan somewhat timidly conveyed to me, “Hi, Connor!”
As I aided him in cleaning up that disarray, I inquired, “How’s it going?”
Mrithan shrieked and swiftly dove away from the counter’s structure, and he became relieved after making an assessment, “Oh! It was just a cord!” He renewed his concentration in reorganizing his heap, and he replied to me, “Fine! Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Well, I assumed things would get better for you once Damon got out of your-!” I tried to verbalize to him.
“Shh!” Mrithan dropped more of his belongings as he put his finger up to his lips. “Don’t ever utter that name again! I have no idea what’ll bring him back, but I don’t wanna risk doing anything to invite his return! At least not ‘til the summer when I go on my family’s trip to Bora Bora! Surely, with all the happiness and sunshine of the islands, no demon would find me there, don’t you think?”
“Uh… naturally!” I didn’t imagine that Damon would have any boundaries if he harbored a deep desire to attack somebody personally, but Mrithan was obviously too agitated to hear this, so I gingerly broached the topic I came to chat with him about, “So, do you know how he’ll strike, or-?”
Mrithan shuddered. “No, but with a vast access to the spiritual realm, it’s bound to be horrible! And I don’t wanna be around when it arrives! After I allied with you and, well, general sanity, he’s probably super upset! I betrayed my ancestor who got kicked out of the Karro lineage by siding with the town that supported the previous patriarch of our relatives, and now, he’ll seek out revenge for this choice!”
I made a bid to offer him solace, “Nah! He’s not the vengeful type! He’s so sweet and even-tempered!” As Mrithan carted his paraphernalia to a cabinet, he gave me a look of total disbelief, so I changed my tune, “Alright, so we can stop him before he ever gets started! Maybe if we discovered what triggered this madness, we can use this information to… I dunno! Scare him, maybe? What occurred to him at this school when he was attending it?”
“He went to this school?” Mrithan gasped.
“You didn’t know that?” I pondered.
While Mrithan put his materials away, he leveled with me, “When I was still hearing the voices, they mostly just barked orders. I couldn’t ask questions, they always seemed like they were in a rush! In a rush for what, I haven’t the foggiest notion! They’re all dead, why rush?”
I summarized our interaction, “So, you don’t have anything that might benefit me in my quest to destroy that otherworldly jagoff permanently?”
“Not unless you’d like me to get off my medication and see what happens!” Mrithan asserted.
“God, no! Don’t do that! Well, if you think of anything that could lend me a hand, give me a ring!” I forlornly readied myself to exit.
Mrithan halted me in my steps by shouting, “Wait! I may have something that could be useful to you…”
“Donuts?” a somewhat squeaky voice broadcasted loudly from a rather short woman with a tiny frame. Coupling that with her mousy, brown hair, fully buttoned-up shirt, and a skirt that draped over her shoes, she was the last person I would’ve expected to have had a temper, and while a judgmental attitude didn’t seem out of the question, loud & contentious opinions seemed out of the realm of possibility for her! And yet, here she was marching up to a box of pastries and hollering, “Don’t they know how bad these are for the body? It’s full of sugar and artificial ingredients!”
Fletcher inquired, “Are there any left?”
She swiveled toward him, ogled the French fries on his plate, and replied, “Why are you dressed like a PE teacher?”
“I am a PE teacher,” Fletcher informed her.
“You? You’re in charge of fitness?” She gawked at him in disbelief.
Fletcher stood up rather aggressively, and when Ginger as well as Ellie made a bid to hold him back, he huffed, “For Pete’s sake, I’m not gonna hit a woman! If I had that policy, I’d smack my twins for not knowing who their baby daddies are! How do they not know? How many men go to that university?” He stomped over to the donut box, grabbed the entire thing, and proceeded to eat them in full visibility of his objector.
She glared at him, and we all predicted a huge verbal altercation to ensue in the immediate future, but instead, she went to the fridge and addressed our colleagues, “Not to worry! I brought enough carrot sticks for everyone!”
After several faculty members turned down her offer, I took some and briefed her, “Listen, we kinda got off on the wrong foot! I’m Connor, and this is my fiancé, Phoebe. And, these are our friends: Ginger, Aleck, Ellie, and… Well, you’ve met Fletcher.”
“My name is Imelda, Imelda Wymond.” She extended her hand, and I almost shook it, but I still had the carrots in my grip, so she simply stated, “Nice to meet your acquaintance!’ She then sat at the opposite end of the table, pulled a book out of her bag, and began to read with a serene expression on her face.
“And Manuel dubbed her the least creepy candidate for Martha’s old position!” I whispered.
Ginger quietly put in, “I’d hate to meet the people she beat for the job!”
Ellie softly determined, “Eh! She can be as weird as she wants! As long as she doesn’t aid that otherworldly jerk in coming back to life, I’m not concerned!”
That concept laid heavy in our group. Imelda gave off the impression that she was too uptight for that sort of undertaking, but we all inwardly speculated whether or not that was merely the perfect coverup for an ulterior motive. Perhaps we were being paranoid, but it was hard not to feel like that when it was a matter of when, not if, Damon returned!
That lull was broken when a man who resembled a football player well past his prime burst into the room and pompously greeted me, “Hey, Connor!” He became aware of the quiet he interrupted and asked, “Who died?”
“Madeline Usher despite Roderick’s belief she’d live forever,” Imelda answered.
“Is that from a soap opera?” he pondered.
Phoebe educated him, “It’s Edgar Allen Poe.”
He quizzed them, “What’s he on? Days of Our Lives?”
Both of the English teachers’ brains locked up at the profound ignorance of his enquiry, but preceding any meltdowns, I probed, “What do you want, Casper?”
“Glad you brought that up!” Casper haughtily strolled up to us and announced, “I’m RSVP’ing yes to your wedding invitation, but you’ll have to make it plus one. I am bringing my girlfriend, Kaleva!”
“Good for you!” I disinterestedly responded.
Casper, as usual, didn’t notice my tone and went on, “Yes, she is! She’s a model, but I’ll make sure she doesn’t outshine the bride too much!”
Phoebe’s lips shifted into an uncertain frown. “Uh… thanks?”
“Do tell me and my girlfriend where the ceremony will be!” Casper requested.
“Will do!” I grinned until he removed himself from the room. Once he was out of earshot, I pressed Phoebe, “Did we actually invite him?” She shrugged, and I sighed. I couldn’t fathom how we were going to both plan a wedding and combat a paranormal pest in the coming weeks!
I yawned as I left my classroom that day. It hadn’t been an overly taxing day, but just trying to wrap my head around all I had to do outside of my lessons drained me! I walked to my car and savored the idea of taking a long, overdue nap, and I nearly made it to the parking lot when…
A tall girl with auburn pigtails and green eyes ran up to me and gushed, “Witaj, Wujku! Co Ty tuta, robisz?”
“I’m sorry?” I blinked in befuddlement. I was so exhausted that it took me a minute to register that she hadn’t spoken in English!
“Oh, I apologize!” The girl blushed from embarrassment. “You appear so similar to my uncle! I guess I should have known that I wasn’t deserving to have such a pleasantry in my place of punishment!”
My brows furrowed at that notion. “Are you supposed to be in detention or something?”
The girl wailed, “No! I was attending courses at Samwise K. Julieth as part of a foreign exchange student program, and I got in lots of trouble there, so they sent me here! They were saying it got too full of transfer students and they had to make some changes, but I am positive they didn’t want me there anymore!”
“Aww, you seem like such a sweet person! I’m positive they were sad to see you go!” I consoled her.
“I spiked the water fountain with laxative juice,” the girl disclosed to me. “And, in another instance, I iced the walkway and laughed at everyone sliding Apparently, they were not viewing it as comical, and now I’m paying the penalty!”
I found this insight startling. Once again, a female I got a pure and wholesome aura from turned out to have a shocking amount of venom within them! “Oh! You had some pranks go wrong! I’ve seen worse… Hey! Hold on! They’re sending kids to our school for disciplinary purposes? Ugh! That campus fancies itself as so prestigious just ‘cause they got the title of a magnet school! Psh! They’re so uppity, they-!”
The girl catechized, “Did you say you’ve seen worse? What have you seen?”
“Nothing!” I fibbed. “Don’t believe the rumors! This campus is safe! There isn’t anything scary or abnormal here!”
“Hi, Aniela! I accidentally ordered the wrong size PE uniform, but Coach Huppert suggested I give it to you. I…” Roxy moved her feather boa away from her backpack, and in so doing, she got a mouthful of plumes that she struggled to spit out! “Sorry! I gotta wear this style ‘til my true love returns from eternal damnation!”
Aniela gazed at me questioningly, and I had no clue what to tell her. “I can explain!” I can’t comprehend why I uttered that sentence since it was a blatant lie! I had every intention of concocting some sort of rationale for this oddity that would quell Aniela’s angst, but then I got a text notification. I assumed it was Phoebe waking me from the slumber in my car that I never got, but it wasn’t, it was something far more pressing! As I sped to my vehicle, I hastily regarded Aniela, “Actually, no I can’t! Gotta go! Nice to meet you!”
I met up with a slender, pale man with his medium-length, bronze mane in a bun as he stood in the street with several of our other neighbors glimpsing at the towering flames currently engulfing the remains of Lilith’s mansion. “You got my message?” Rowan inferred from my entrance.
“No, I received a telepathic communication to arrive at this exact location at precisely this hour!” I sarcastically reacted to his statement.
“Really?” Rowan’s eyes sparkled with intrigue.
I corrected my misimpression, “No.” Rowan grew disappointed, and if this occurred in any other circumstance, I would have acted with more remorse, but I couldn’t with a house on fire! Especially that house! “What happened?”
Rowan relayed to me, “I dunno! I was in the middle of a sound bath when I smelled smoke!”
“Wow! So, it…? Wait, what’s a sound bath?” I posed to him.
“I was taking an actual bath when the incineration started!” An old man with knobby joints approached us wearing nothing but a towel. “It wasn’t any subtle build-up either- that inferno manifested out of nowhere! evidently, something angered the spirits that inhabit that land!”
Rowan conjectured, “But Richard, no one has lived there in months! No one has even set foot onto that land in seven months after that tree collapse forced the occupants out!”
My eyes shifted in a knowing manner from the last part of that speech. I knew full well that the deep chasm in that building stemmed from a hellhound that got magically induced into going unconscious, but I couldn’t tell anyone that- obviously! I was so grateful that the dwellers of this block didn’t witness that atrocity, and everyone came up with a reasonable account for what actually transpired thankfully! I disliked lying about the facts, but I also disliked everyone concluding that I lost my marbles, so I kept my mouth shut in scenarios like this!
“I’m telling you, that property is cursed!” Richard theatrically opined. “Ever since the Armand family resided there, it hasn’t stopped doing abnormal things! No one was supposed to mess with it, and that broad changed everything! The spooks are angry, and they’ve been waiting for a while to enact their revenge! It seems as though that juncture has come!”
“That’s a bit dramatic!” Rowan remarked.
Richard countered, “So is a giant blaze coming out of nowhere!” Rowan nodded in acknowledgment of this valid point, and Richard went on, “We haven’t seen the end of this mayhem! I swear, more is yet to come!”
Phoebe materialized beside us and commented, “Gosh, I hope Lilith has some decent homeowner’s insurance for this joint!” Her abruptness startled me, and she gave me an icy glower. “Why didn’t you come get me for this?”
“I didn’t wanna interrupt your meeting!” I justified myself.
“It already got interrupted by what my mom calls ‘potty problems!’ Gosh, if my digestive issues don’t exit my body one way, they got another!”
Fletcher chimed in, “I was on the toilet too! All those donuts I ate took a toll on my gut! Totally worth it!”
Aleck canvassed us, “Did Lilith ever turn off the electricity there? I wouldn’t be surprised if old wiring had something to do with it igniting like this!”
“Nope! It was the ghouls that haunt this acreage!” Richard insisted.
“I’m glad I didn’t take those curtains! They probably absorbed that cursed ju-ju!” Ginger shuddered envisioning the possibilities.
Ellie ardently expressed, “Who cares who started it? I’m glad it’s there! I hope it burns everything down! Every wall, every nail, every door…” She really emphasized that last part of her phrase, and the six of us recognized exactly why she did that. I hadn’t explored that prospect until right then- would this scorching destroy the entryway to the Netherworld? Would this put a finish to our nightmare? Clearly, since there’s more to this book beyond this page, it wasn’t, but it felt nice to entertain the fortuity! I contemplated throwing the key into the tinder to see if it would get obliterated too but then…
Whistling was heard as the mailman rolled his cart down the cul-de-sac! The gathered crowd stared at him in astonishment as he continued to deliver letters as though nothing were happening, and it was hard for any of us to understand how he could carry on as normal under these far-from-normal circumstances! He even put some ads in the burning abode! It was also incredible to see that the rotting newspapers in the receptacle remained untouched! The masses were at a loss for words, and even the firefighters were mystified! Was this typical in this dude’s world?
“Good afternoon, Mister Fenmore!” he chirped.
“Is it?” I retorted out of disbelief.
The mailman shrugged. “It’s a little hot I suppose…” I couldn’t conjure a response, but luckily, I didn’t need one. He handed me a small stack of correspondence and genially conveyed to me, “Have a blessed day!”
I shook my head from bafflement, and as I watched him hand a pile of posts to Rowan, Phoebe piped up, “What’s that?”
She indicated to an embossed envelope in my hand. I became slightly intrigued by its unusual formality, so I opened it. When I saw the contents within, I cried out, “Oh my gosh!”
Okay, here we go again! Yes, again! I know, I know! But, before I explain how I wound up on another misadventure, I have a question for you… What do you call it when an ancestor loses control of their descendant? A bad heir day! Get it? Well, I thought it was clever, but certain individuals I know probably wouldn’t find it funny at all since the fate of the world got threatened by an evil soul trying to get revenge for… Well, it’s a long story! Usually, my opening jokes aren’t so accurate, but in this scenario, it’s right on the nose I inherited from someone who technically got this whole thing started…
Before I get into the not-so-epic saga, I should probably explain who the heck I am for those of you who haven’t read my first three novels. I highly suggest checking out the rest of the Terra-Belle series, but if you don’t have that kind of time, here’s a quick recap: My name is Connor Fenmore, and I’m a high school teacher in a suburb of Philadelphia called Terra Belle. It’s a nice, old-fashioned town with white-picket fences, mom-and-pop ships, and the occasional monster invasion! More details on that later. I moved there shortly before I turned forty for a lifestyle change, and no, it wasn’t a mid-life crisis! My ex-wife, Lilith, left me for another man, so it was just a regular crisis! In an effort to win her back, I lost everything that used to define me: a high-powered sales executive job in the city with a penthouse apartment and loads of disposable income. I lost out on that opportunity, and I could not be more thrilled about that!
No, seriously! I ended up getting a teacher job at Rosemary King High School, and I didn’t think I’d actually enjoy it, but I made the best friends I’ve ever had working there! They’ve been to Hell and back with me (literally!), and I couldn’t feel more grateful! Fletcher the PE Coach has always bent over backwards to help even when his knees hurt, and Ginger the Math Teacher isn’t afraid to get stains on her perfectly manicured outfits! Ellie the History Teacher has infinite wisdom to assist even the dumbest predicaments, and Aleck the Biology Teacher is short in stature but big in loyalty and hard work! And then there’s Phoebe…
Phoebe the American Literature Teacher left me speechless the moment I met her! For real, it was pretty embarrassing! I was instantly hooked on her looks alone, but the more I got to know her, the more I fell in love with her! She’s so clever, sweet, and funny, and even if she doesn’t care much for my humor anymore, I don’t care! I’ve never had more fun in my life! Whether we’re having a quiet night at home listening to our favorite classic rock music or stopping a dastardly villain from destroying humankind, I love having her company and can’t wait to make her my wife!
…About that dastardly villain… I met Damon when he posed as a student in his vampire form, and my friends and I have foiled his plots as a ghost and a demon too. He holds a grudge against the inhabitants of this region, and he relentlessly pursues vengeance against the populous using countless harebrained ideas! He’s evil, not smart! He harbors a special bitterness against RKHS, and apparently, it stems from something deeper than his former lover and British Lit. Teacher, Martha, dumping him! I know that sounds insane, and it is, but it gets weirder, so buckle up and enjoy the ride on this crazy train!
On a sunny, Spring morning, I stared out the window of my asymmetrical home to watch the ruins of a gaudy McMansion across the street. That abomination never fit in particularly well in this block of older, single-floored homes, but it became worse with the giant hole now exposing the innermost foundations of the abode! I could handle the terrible facade, but what lay beneath the bowels of this beast disturbed me more! Bowels of the beast? That’s actually a pretty gross metaphor! Whatever! I kept an eye on it waiting for some sign of change, but everything remained exactly the same! It drove me insane! Not that I was eager for another supernatural episode, but I anticipated it coming eventually, so I hoped I could just get it over with! As I twirled a silver spoon around in my hand, I wondered how much longer I would have to endure this restlessness for action.
“Gosh, it’s beautiful today!” I asserted in hopes of spurring a conversation that would distract me from these relentless thoughts. The weather was a pretty lame route to go, but it was all I could drum up at that juncture! I heard Phoebe retching in the bathroom adjacent to our bedroom, and while it contradicted the statement I just made, it did give me something else to focus on. “Are you okay?” I went into the bathroom with every intention of tending to her needs, but I got sidetracked by my reflection. My dark locks had more gray highlights and fewer strands that wanted to stay combed, my green irises were surrounded by red lines, and my arms and stomach were slightly more doughy. I still bore a fairly in-shape physique, but my lack of exercise was starting to become more pronounced. This was exactly the precursor to the previous mayhem…
“Really?” Phoebe stood up and put her hands on her thick curves. Her golden-brown eyes glared at me in annoyance, and her light-beige skin grew slightly flushed. I didn’t enjoy making her angry, but I kind of did because it truly highlighted her best features! “I’m hugging the toilet and puking up a storm, and you’re studying your appearance?”
I lied, “No…” She gazed at me in disbelief, so I gave up that gimmick and defended myself, “What was I supposed to do? You’ve got a ponytail on, so I couldn’t hold your hair back or anything!” She flipped the bits of her coffee-colored mane that crept over her shoulder back into place, and suddenly, the fact that she just vomited got erased from my brain completely! I wrapped my arms around her waist and smoothly offered, “Don’t worry, I’ll make you feel alright!” I leaned in for a kiss, but her breath woke up my senses! “Woah!”
As she grabbed her toothbrush, Phoebe explained, “It’s my nerves! My digestive system gets all out of whack when I’m really stressed! I had no clue planning a wedding would be so difficult! We’re a month away from the big day, and we haven’t even picked a venue! Every site that tempts me into a decision holds me back when I imagine all the ways that Damon might interrupt the ceremony! It can’t have a chandelier ‘cause he’d totally knock it down onto our guests, and it can’t be on a hill ‘cause he’d probably initiate an avalanche! Nothing seems safe! What are we gonna do? Are we gonna be okay?”
“No!” I sternly admonished the black cat pawing at the spoon still in my hand. I espied Phoebe’s surprised face, so I quickly rectified the situation, “I was talking to Jett! We can’t have her bury it again! Who knows what’ll happen if Damon got a hold of it!” Phoebe’s expression grew more fretful, and even though I entertained those same fears, I didn’t want her to succumb to her woes! I pulled her to my side and reassured her, “We’re gonna get through this exactly how we got through everything else- a mixture of fast reflexes and dumb luck! The right solution will come to us, you’ll see!”
“Aw, Connor! Do you-?” She pulled her electric toothbrush out of her mouth, and toothpaste flew everywhere! Including my blue dress shirt! Phoebe sheepishly opined, “I’m sure no one will notice!”
I disagreed, “I can’t go into a room full of teenagers with white stains on my clothing! Man, I knew we should’ve done laundry this weekend! Why didn’t we?”
Phoebe reminded me, “I bent down to load the washer, and then you got all frisky.”
“Oh, yeah!” I recalled with a mischievous grin. My visage contorted into a grimace when I remembered my task at hand. “I suppose I could simply wear a tie. I doubt anyone would find it that odd!”
“Connor! You’re wearing a tie!” a man with mocha skin, round glasses like a cartoon owl, a fatherly smile, and a checkered sweater vest observed in the crowded hall. “What’s occassion?”
I advised him, “Don’t ask!” To change the subject, I queried, “Substituting for Martha again?”
Manuel shook his head dismally. “No, but I still can’t believe she retired the way she did! No notice, merely a phone call from a cruise ship! I don’t see how falling back in love with your husband could make you retire early!”
“Uh…” I wasn’t certain on how to respond. For several months, she was hellbent on getting her dead lover back, and I sincerely thought she was going to be the reason that Damon returned and unleashed his bothersome chaos on us. When she departed out of nowhere, I was relieved a connection to Damon was gone! I hadn’t given a lot of rumination to her motive for relinquishing this ambition, but as far as I was concerned, we were better off without that devil’s mistress around! Of course, I wasn’t going to tell my boss that! He had some awareness of a paranormal presence there (it was kind of hard to ignore the monstrosities that lurked through the campus!), but he had no inkling about the origin of these disturbances. I didn’t want to spill the beans and have him conclude I’d fallen off my rocker… again…, so I veered off the topic, “So, you found a new British Lit. teacher? That’s wonderful! The kids will be thrilled to have some stability!”
“Yeah… maybe!” Manuel shifted uncomfortably. “Ms. Wymond is… Well, she’s not creepy at least! I never pictured our school being a beacon for weirdos, but a lot of the candidates were pretty… unique! I put in the ad that all the buildings were exorcised, but that didn’t seem to help! You should’ve seen this one guy! He had a bone in his hair, and…” The bell rang, so he rushed off. “We’ll chat later!”
As he scurried off to Ms. Wymond’s classroom, I peered in to catch a glimpse of her. His description intrigued me, and I was burning with curiosity about who filled Martha’s vacancy! I was flabbergasted that he managed to employ a “normal” faculty member after the county-wide rumors of us being haunted swirled, and since our last hiree turned out to secretly have a strong connection and a strong desire to help that persistent fiend, I wondered if someone else had managed to slip past Manuel’s scrutiny and planted themselves in a position to do his bidding. Was this the reason my instincts indicated that something nefarious was afoot?
A gothic girl with blue streaks in her jet-black hair spoke into her cellphone, “I gotta go, Hudd! I’m already late!” She beheld my presence in the hall, and she reacted incredulously, “Oh! Maybe I’m not actually!”
Once it dawned on me that I was tardy, I gave a quick smooch to Phoebe and dashed up the stairs. I beat Corvina to the door, and I felt it necessary to act as though nothing transpired between us seconds ago. That didn’t appear to be effective since Corvina smirked at me in the entryway and chirped, “Good morning, Mister Fenmore!”
“I’d be more excited if I didn’t have to switch electives mid-semester! Couldn’t they have just found a replacement for the creative writing teacher?” I took a deep inhale, and Corvina changed her tune, “Never mind! I’m not that curious!”
As she took her seat, a young lady in purple, medieval-inspired garments gasped, “Oh no! He’s wearing a tie! We must be getting, like, a really hard test or something!”
Her friend sitting next to her disputed that, “Ismeray, chill! He wouldn’t do that to us!”
“Yurei is right! I wouldn’t put on special clothes to give out an extra difficult test!” I paused, and then I added, “I am giving out a quiz on public relations though…” The students all appeared horrified, so I attempted to solace them with, “It’s a regular quiz, I swear! Nothing too nutty!” Immediately following that declaration, a short female with her platinum-blonde hair in a feathered headband, long gloves, and a fringed dress entered the space, and I mumbled, “Speaking of nutty…”
“I belong in my beloved’s world!” Roxy affirmed in an ethereal voice. “When he sees me in an outfit from his era, he’ll understand that and take me home!”
A boy with a sandy mane and a ridiculously expensive set of designer duds puzzled, “Isn’t her ‘beloved’ that weird student who died after kidnapping his classmates?”
I reacquainted him, “Peter, what’s my policy on Roxy’s ramblings?”
“Not to ask! Oh, right! Sorry!’ Peter gave me a thumbs-up in compliance.
“You very well can ask! He shall return, and when he does, he-!” She got cut off when a piece of her headdress got stuck in the hinges of the entryway! “Why does this keep happening?”
As I handed her a piece of paper and a pencil, I remarked, “That’s a good question!”
In the teachers’ lounge, a middle-aged man with messy, strawberry-hued locks, an obtuse potbelly, and reddened, sunburnt skin broke the silence at his table by requesting, “Pass the salt.” No one made a move, so he prodded, “Uh, Aleck…”
“Hmm? Oh sorry, Fletcher!” a guy with thin, brunette strands and was at least five inches shorter than the tawny woman with ultra-feminine garb next to him hastily tried to send the shaker down, but instead, he accidentally spilled the contents in front of that woman. “Sorry, Ginger!”
“Ugh! That’s bad luck!” Ginger cringed. She grabbed a pinch and tossed it over her shoulder.
An older lady with umber flesh, brightly colored outerwear over a larger frame, and gray braids grumped, “For heavens’ sake! Be more careful! We can’t afford more misfortune!”
Aleck muttered, “I said I was sorry, Ellie! Jeez! I’m nervous too! The new person could be…”
He desisted his speech as the door swung open, but it was just me. “Did I miss her yet?”
“Not yet,” Phoebe confirmed for me. “I tried to peek into her room as I passed. I didn’t see anyone, but I heard her striving to get a child to eat fruit instead of the pizza getting served in the cafeteria! She has a high-pitched tone, but she-!” She froze as the entrance became ajar once more. Our eyes all grew wide as it happened…
For anyone missing my regular posts, don’t panic! I’m developing a new story, & it’ll take some time to do the research, so stay patient! It’s a sequel to the Terra-Belle series, and the idea seems like so much fun, so stay tuned! Meanwhile, check out another sci-fi comedy for sale on Amazon & Kindle!
Carmen winds up with a powerful enemy, but she gets help in dealing with them from unexpected places. Seriously, she never would’ve guessed a random reporter & a space alien would become her allies! But she’s glad she has them- it’s her only chance of exposing the truth about that evil organization so that no one else will suffer from their wicked ways! Can this odd trio survive long enough to defeat these nefarious jerks? Read Sabotage by Dana Lee Burton to find out!
“Hold on!’ Michelle urgently relayed to Megala. “We cannot simply run off to the battlefield! Not yet anyway. Their numbers far exceed our own at the moment! If we try to fight them now, they will win by sheer volume alone!”
“Having a large army does not mean much if they do not possess the intelligence necessary to compete!” Megala argued. “Our skills could outmatch theirs easily!”
Michelle countered, “Don’t underestimate the enemy! They may not be as adept in their ability to wield magic, but if each one of us is surrounded, they could distract us enough to annihilate their opposition!”
Megala posed to her, “What do you propose we do then? We cannot stay in here and wait to get slaughtered! They’re on our turf, we must defend it!”
“We need reinforcements!” Michelle opined. “We ought to call upon our allies to lend support! If we go alone, we won’t survive!”
“Time has run out!” Megala disputed her premise. “If we had gotten more warning, it would have been done by now! We may perish in the foray, but it’s far better to die in battle than cower in fear!”
Michelle bit her lip, and then she sighed, “I suppose there really is no other option!”
Noah observed the grim expression on the Water Mystics’ faces, and it pained him to witness this! This tribe took him in like one of their own- he didn’t want to see them suffer! Gwyneira looked heartbroken, and that devastated him further. He wouldn’t allow anyone to embark on such a futile venture, but this would have been truly soul-crushing to observe! Not only would the love of his life get lost, but an entire race that didn’t deserve that fate would fall! He had to do something, but his mind went blank… until…
“There is not this or that! Do not listen to that voice! No matter what anyone tells you, there is always a choice!” Noah recalled. Everyone stared at him in confusion, so he explained, “That was a verse my mom wrote from a poem called, ‘The Only Road.’ Things aren’t always so black and white! There is almost always a gray area- if we think about it for a while, we can conjure up something!”
“There isn’t a minute to spare for thinking!” Gwyneira contended. “Dawson and his followers are at our doorstep, and it’s not as though we can request a pause so we can brainstorm!”
A lightbulb went off in Noah’s head. “We can’t request it, but we can force a delay…” Gwyneira as well as her peers raised their eyebrows to that notion, but clearly, they found it intriguing…
Dawson eyeballed the cavern entrance in the distance, and he asserted, “They aren’t going to emerge! I was so certain they would put on a false front of bravery and succumb to our will!”
“Should we just invade their headquarters then?” Iagan wondered.
“Are you crazy?” Dawson gawked at his comrade. “They could easily take cover and strike us unexpectedly! Besides, it’s pretty idiotic to send your Fire Mystic brethren into their watery realm! We have to lure them out somehow…”
KB suggested, “We could destroy part of the Verner Mountains. They might scurry out if they believe we’re going to dismantle their home!”
Dawson barked, “Seriously? You would dare to destroy precious rocks? You’re no different than those stinking sapiens!”
With a mean mug, KB sauntered up to Dawson as though he was going to square off with him, and Dawson seemed more than willing to spar with him! Before either of them could deliver a blow, Iagan intervened, “Guys! Look! The entryway is moving!”
They resumed their positions, and they eagerly awaited their foes. After much anticipation, it shocked them to see Noah go out solo! When he returned the doorway to its original place, KB inquired, “Is this a trick?”
“No, it’s a strategy!” Dawson replied. Some of the fighters behind him readied themselves to begin, and Dawson ordered them, “No! Not yet! They’re up to something, so let’s hear what they have to say!”
“So, this is why you left the shovel behind!” Noah articulated as he surveyed the multitude.
Out of all the phrases that could’ve come out of his mouth, Dawson obviously hadn’t anticipated that! He blinked in befuddlement, and then he responded, “Huh?”
Noah clarified, “In your buddy, Demek’s, basement. Demek could move boulders if he wanted to, so why did he need a shovel for a bit of dirt? I never could figure it out until right now! That shovel was never meant for Demek! You knew eventually I’d make it into that house- you wanted me to dig up Megala ‘cause you knew Demek would purposely or accidentally implicate you in his crimes, and you saw a vulnerability in the courthouse. The act of putting a shovel next to someone buried alive may seem trivial to most people, but it was actually the key to your freedom! Everything makes sense… except why you’d throw your lieutenant under the bus like that!”
“Psh! You really believe I would let him stay imprisoned for too long?” Dawson scoffed at his remarks. “He’ll be here shortly, don’t you worry!”
“Don’t worry? Is that what you truly expect that I’d do? You’ve got a band of warriors hellbent on destroying society, and you imagine I’d be calm at this juncture?” Noah riposted.
Dawson bristled at that idea. “I’m not the one doing the destruction to this planet! It’s you and all the other filthy Sapiens that inhabit this world! You’re demolishing the environment, and in our lifetime, we could witness the end of Earth as we know it! I’m taking out you primitive beasts so the rest of us stand a shot at survival! If your abode was getting consumed by termites, wouldn’t you exterminate each and every one of them? I’m merely doing the same for the realm we occupy!”
Noah staunchly objected to that characterization, “You’re comparing us to vermin with no rationale other than to indulge in our hedonistic ambitions! Sapiens have a lot of work to do to improve the habits that are devastating our climate, but we’ll get there if we’re allowed to survive! You’re not giving us an opportunity to get better! Face it, you have no interest in punishing humans- you’re just trying to weaken the population so that it’s easier for you to take over! You’re bringing hundreds of people into a war simply to satisfy your lust for power! You’re tricking so many individuals into worshipping your word, and they have no inkling that they’re getting manipulated into becoming pawns for your little apocalyptic game!”
“You’re lying!” Iagan denounced Noah’s speech. “Dawson has every intention of benefitting our kind! You’re telling mistruths only to save your rotten hide!”
“He’s using you!” Noah insisted. “He’ll toss you aside at his earliest convenience! If you don’t buy that, then ask yourself this: where is Demek currently?”
To Noah’s horror, Jareth manifested into this space along with Radley Brisco and several Mystics who got arrested after the confrontation in January! Jareth leered, “Aw! Did you have confidence that prison walls would hold us? Didn’t you learn from visiting with that traitorous Kerkunn that we’re masters at building secret tunnels?”
Dawson taunted Noah, My clan keeps growing, and-!” He cut off his own sentence when he espied three white doves fly into the Verner Mountains and disappear within ts hilly depths. “What are those birds doing? Ugh, I should’ve known that you joined us outside to pull some sort of stunt! Why did I permit you to have a platform?”
“You’re freaking out over a few small creatures?” Noah ogled at him judgmentally. “What precisely do you envisage us to do to an entire militia with a small flock of feathery animals?”
“Enough of this blather!” Dawson snapped. “You and all your wicked friends will get obliterated! Starting immediately!”
Dawson raised his palms up to attack Dawson, but then he spotted the three white doves take off in three different directions. He paid enough attention to their movements that it caught him off guard to hear Gwyneira declare, “You shall not harm him or anyone else anymore, Dawson!”
After snarling at Gwyneira, Dawson noted that the entire Water Mystic Tribe as well as Kalanie had gathered on the cracked, desert floor. Each side fervently glared at one another for several, very long seconds, and eventually, Dawson addressed his militia, “Well? What are you waiting for? Get them!” His side let out a war cry, and their opposition emitted their own rallying cry, and, with that, the battle had begun!
The Fire Mystics spouted flames at their foes, and while the Water Mystics easily extinguished them, it became difficult to do when they originated from totally different directions simultaneously! The Wood Mystics got some decent hits here and there, but it wasn’t hard for the Water Mystics to repel those. The Earth Mystics hurled all kinds of blades and stones at their enemies, and that was much more of a rough undertaking for the Water Mystics since they couldn’t view their attackers from a three-hundred-sixty-degree vision needed for the range they fired from. Noah participated in the clash with his taser, but mostly, he had to dodge various blows. He noticed that Kalanie was extremely effective with her wind, and he wished that they had more members of her tribe present…
As if on cue, a slew of Air Mystics flew in from the east! They proved exceedingly useful in contending with the Earth Mystics, but their alliance didn’t pan out to a victory since Dawson still had more men and women than his opponents. The Animal Mystics soon arrived from the west, and their ability to manipulate humans provided some ample protection, but many of them didn’t engage in the altercation because of the wounded they attended to. Despite the aid they received, they still seemed to be losing… until…
“Dawson! Cease this violence!” Kerkunn entered into the vicinity from the south and commanded this to his former subject.
“You have no authority over me anymore!” Dawson defiantly reacted to this pronouncement. “If you won’t assist us, you can cease to exist like the rest of them!”
It stunned Noah to watch Earth Mystics assaulting some of their own, but he was grateful for their support. The conflict shifted in that instance, and now it appeared to be much more even-handed! Noah glanced around to discover how Dawson was taking the news, but he was nowhere to be found! Noah weaved between a myriad of weaponry, but as far as he could tell, Dawson had disappeared! This infuriated Noah, and he vociferated, “Dawson Kolbyr! You coward! You’re really gonna hide and allow your devotees to die for you? This is your fight, not theirs! You selfish asshole! You’ll-!”
Preceding Noah having the chance to finish his sentence, he heard the familiar sound of metal whooshing towards him! He wouldn’t have had time to respond, but fortunately, he didn’t have to! Gwyneira stood between Noah and the oasis that Dawson sought refuge in, and she froze the swords! As she did so, she got ambushed by daggers that zoomed in from another direction! They hit her, and she fell to the ground! “Nooooo!” Noah wailed.
Jareth maniacally laughed at this feat. Little did he realize that as Michelle passed by him, she ducked from a barrage of burning embers, which wound up hitting him! He plummeted to the floor, and he moved no more!
“Don’t you quit on me!” Noah used his belt as a tourniquet while Michelle healed her wounds. “Is she gonna be okay?” Noah beseeched her. She frowned slightly, but preceding her judgment on this…
“Your days of troubling me are over!” Dawson cackled as he hovered over them. He lifted his limbs to send a trajectory, and Noah reached for his taser. He wasn’t sure if he could retrieve his armament hastily enough, but he refused to give up so readily! He partly braced himself to endure this impact, and he begged the universe not to let it end in this manner! It seemed inevitable though…
Dawson’s wrists abruptly got twisted to his back! Initially, Noah assumed it was a spell, but then a man in his sixties wearing a Master at Arms uniform authoritatively expressed, “Dawson Kolbyr, you’re under arrest!”
Hundreds of other naval officers surrounded the scene and proceeded to cuff the offenders with zip-ties. Dawson’s brain obviously couldn’t comprehend this development, and he shouted, “What are you dirty Sapiens even doing here? This isn’t the ocean, you have no sovereignty over us!”
“I do when you have one of my soldiers killed!’ the man conveyed to him with a smirk. “One of the boys murdered in that concert massacre was in the Reserves! And don’t think that you’ll escape from our prison- we had one especially made for you!”
“Oh, please! This means nothing! I shall return! Mark my words!” Dawson bellowed as he got carted away. Noah would have enjoyed this victorious spectacle more, but…
The man asked Michelle, “Is my daughter going to be alright?”
Michelle assessed, “I imagine so, but she needs a lot of care to make that happen…”
“Lennon!” Megala delightfully remarked.
“Megala! I missed you!” Lennon greeted her with a kiss. “I heard they’ll let me retire soon…”
Beck went up to Kalanie fixing her own injury, and he posed to her, “So, dinner and a movie then?” Kalanie beamed gratefully at him.
As Maurice, Lynn, Robin, and Margaret entered into the scene, Margaret marched up to an officer and interrogated him, “One of my victims was getting his homicide investigated by the NCIS, and no one told me?”
“We were about to!” the officer swore. “Everything just happened so fast!”
“How is she?” Chief Argus sympathetically quizzed Noah.
Gwyneira groggily petitioned them, “How is who?”
Noah’s heart overflowed with joy! He wanted to immediately embrace her, but her parents beat him to the punch. He waited for them to have their moment, and after a small stretch, they gestured for him to join them. Gwyneira and Noah smooched each other passionately, and then the four hugged each other tightly. As awful as this ordeal had been, it all seemed to have melted away at that point! He did not lose any more family that night!
The next day, Mayor Richardson and Mayor Froth stood on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall, and behind them, Noah as well as Gwyneira, Megala, Lennon, Michelle, Kalanie, Beck, Lynn, Margaret, Maurice, Robin, Kerkunn, Nova, and several Mystics from various tribes stood with medals on their chests. Mayor Richardson spoke to the large crowd that had gathered, “Let’s have another round of applause for the heroes of this unbeknownst war!”
The spectators roared with admiration, and Noah was pleased that there weren’t any divisive groups in attendance for once! When they quieted down, Mayor Froth added, “In one way or another, each individual here saved lives and contributed to instilling peace to our county! Let’s thank them for bringing a conclusion to this dreadful saga!”
Noah appreciated the sentiment, but he had to disagree with Mayor Froth on one aspect of his oration: Dawson may have been at bay for now, but Noah very much doubted that their saga with him had truly concluded…
Gwyneira urgently relayed to Noah, “We need to get out of here! Any minute now, we’ll get ambushed by-!”
“Look what we have here!” Demek delightfully cackled as he strolled down the stairs. “My two greatest adversaries are cornered! I don’t know which I’d enjoy more- ending your miserable existences in a flash or watch you get punished for illegally entering into my home!”
“Your home? This is Jareth Thurio’s home!” Noah pointed out. Demek’s posture shifted into something more panicky, and a lightbulb went off in Noah’s head. “Wait! You’re-?”
Preceding Noah getting to finish that sentence, Demek raised his palms up and emitted a bunch of swords! Gwyneira froze them all, and Noah attempted to seize him during this momentary distraction. Demek released a series of series of rocks. Noah got hit, but Gwyneira was able to block the rest. Noah went to the edge of her watery force field and tried to aim his taser at him, but Demek blocked him by magicking a tree. Gwyneira had no choice but to let up her protection, and as soon as she did, Demek sent some stones her way! She ducked, and while the weaponry didn’t hit her, she slipped on some dirt and hit her skull on the basement wall! Noah raced to defend her, and he was ready to counter his attack… until…
Suddenly, Demek’s hands froze solid! He ogled them in astonishment, and Megal shouted, “You’re lucky you didn’t get worse than that, you bastard! Don’t mess with my family!”
Megala became a little faint, and Gwyneira rushed to brace her. “Mother! Please, stay well! I just got you back- I can’t lose you again so soon!”
“There’s no purpose in hiding yourself anymore!” Noah declared as he unhooded Demek.
“Yeah, it’s me!” Jareth confirmed. “I couldn’t allow my work for Dawson’s cause to go untouched as I sought power in the Sapien government!”
Even though Noah had determined that Demek and Jareth were the same person, it was hard for this fact to fully sink into his brain! Jareth had actually been the one who tried to kill him! Jareth nearly murdered Mayor Richardson, and Jareth slaughtered slaughtered those three boys! Jareth encouraged his followers to ransack City Hall, but he also participated in it too! He hurt people as Demek and Jareth, and it boggled Noah’s mind that he closed so many cases in a single night! Including kidnapping…
Noah probed, “What was your reason for holding the Chieftess of the Water Mystic Tribe against her will?”
It wasn’t clear that Jareth was going to give him a straight answer, but prior to him verbalizing any of his thoughts, a cacophony arose from upstairs! “Where are they?” an Earth Mystic shouted.
Jareth nearly hollered to him, but Megala froze his jaw shut. Gwyneira instructed the others, “Get ready to swim!” She closed her eyes to fully concentrate, and water came gushing out of her fingers at an extraordinary rate! Soon, Gwyneira as well as Noah, Megala, and Jareth all floated higher and higher, and when the fluid flowed out of the cellar door, several Earth Mystics got knocked off of their feet! Everyone else got taken with the flow out of the various doors and windows, but Noah clung to a pillar until the tidal wave subsided. When the rest of the cabin occupants were outside, Noah immediately made a phone call…
Dozens of police cars surrounded the dwelling. Megala thawed out Jareth’s joints, and Officer Letes queried, “Having been read your rights, do you still wish to speak to me?” Jareth did nothing more than glare at him, so Officer Letes advised him, “Get yourself a good defense lawyer!” Jareth remained mute as he got led off of the property.
“Impressive!” Chief Argus complimented Noah. “I think you set a record for crimes solved in a day!” Noah humbly beamed at him, and then Chief Argus inquired, “But, help me out, when his attorneys ask why you broke into his house, you’ll say…?” “He heard my mother’s scream,” Gwyneira replied for Noah. “That’s probable cause, isn’t it?”
Chief Argus seemed startled that she came up with that rationale so swiftly, and when Noah nodded in agreement, Chief Argus smiled. “Good enough!”
He walked away to tend to other officials on the scene, and Noah wondered, “This isn’t over, is it?”
“We’re still in the beginning,” Gwyneira opined as they surveyed the aftermath of their venture.
“Why are we here?” Michelle posed to Kalanie as they sat down in the crowded courtroom audience.
Kalanie explained, “Aside from doing my job, you mean? Well, they feel that Noah and Gwyneira’s presence could trigger the defendant, so the judge doesn’t want them to attend until they’re called upon to testify. By us viewing his arraignment, we can fill them in on everything that occurs.”
Michelle breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness! I thought you may have requested my accompaniment because of a dreadful premonition! I was starting to fret about this event, but if you’re not fretting…” She glanced over to Kalanie, and when she espied her visage shifting in a guilty fashion, she grew alarmed. “Oh no! Your intuition is bothering you too, isn’t it?”
“Would it have made a difference if I disclosed this?” Kalanie challenged her.
“It may well have!” Michelle argued. “We could have come better prepared!”
Kalanie countered, “Prepared for what? We have no clue what may transpire!”
Michelle considered this notion, and then she quarreled, “Well, we could have invited more of our brethren here and ensured our safety with numbers!”
“We couldn’t fill the courtroom with Mystics!” Kalanie reasoned. “Besides, most of his followers are wanted criminals, so they wouldn’t have the ability to get anywhere near this site! I don’t sense any other Mystics in the area, so we should be fine!” Kalanie’s tone seemed to indicate that she was trying to convince herself as much as Michelle, and Michelle opened her mouth to contend this issue further, but…
“All rise!” the bailiff ordered. “The Honorable Marina H. Jordan is now presiding!”
Judge Jordan entered with her black robes and burgundy locks swaying behind her as she marched to her seat. Once she stationed herself, she addressed the attendees, “You may be seated.” Once everybody resumed their perches, Judge Jordan directed the bailiff, “Let the defendant in.”
Two guards escorted a plastic-shackled Dawson into the chambers. As Aaron, Brynn, and Pierce tailed him, Dawson spotted Kalanie and Michelle amongst the spectators. He didn’t articulate anything to them, but his stare spoke volumes. He bore an expression of wicked joy in seeing them there, but the two Mystic women refused to break eye contact or show him any sort of fear. Once he faced Judge Jordan, Michelle and Kalanie exchanged glances of heavy concern.
“Dawson Kolbyr, you’re here today to respond to additional charges to the long list of grievances against you. You’re already serving fifty years for murder and contract killing, but you could potentially add on conspiracy, kidnapping, and several other murder charges. Has your legal counsel briefed you on each charge?”
“Yes, we have, Your Honor,” Aaron affirmed.
Judge Jordan governed, “Mister Kolbyr, please rise.” Dawson gawked at her resentfully, but once he complied, his stance emitted a completely cocky aura. “How do you plead?”
With every ounce of sincerity that he could muster, Dawson swore, “Your Honor, I am not guilty!”
Kalanie and Michelle expected this reply, but they still scoffed at its utterance. Judge Jordan decreed, “Very well. Trial is set for January 6, 1999. Court is-!”
Before she could bang her gavel, a corner of the wall burst into flames! The occupiers of these quarters grew frightened, but they were dumbfounded when, in a matter of seconds, the entire perimeter erupted into a blazing inferno! Kalanie used her powers to extinguish the fires, but they continually reemerged! Suddenly, Iagan and several of his cohorts crossed through the burning structure as though they were doing nothing more than completing an ordinary task! Michelle strove to create a shield to prevent them from invading any further, but they manifested from several different directions! The guards made a bid to seize them, but Iagan sent embers to them. Michelle and Kalanie watched helplessly as Iagan picked Dawson up and strutted out of the building! Once the miscreants all exited the singed space, Kalanie and Michelle vacantly stared into the distance in a lost and horrified manner.
Gwyneira and Noah had hardly set foot into the public sphere of the Water Mystic Tribal Headquarters when they got bombarded by dozens of members brimming with enquiries! One person petitioned Gwyneira, “Where have you been?”
“Did you get my request for a bigger unit?” another individual catechized.
“Our grandmother is interested in knitting sweaters for the community; how much yarn would you be able to order?” someone in the group pondered.
Brooke edged up to the front of the pack and entreated the masses, “Come on, everyone! Gwyneira cannot possibly entertain each question at once! Use your logic!” The congregation quieted down, and then Brooke remarked, “I’m so glad you’re back! Nothing gets done in your absence! The only decision Beck made was to ask his love interest out on a date!”
Beck defended himself, “That wasn’t the only decision I made! Besides, it’s not as though I planned that! She seemed so scared of the upcoming battle, I wanted to boost her spirits by giving her something to look forward to!”
“Whatever!” Brooke grinned and shook her head at his justification. “Anyways, since I did you a favor of instilling calm into your subjects, I get to utilize your time first, right? The MIC is really lacking in membership, so I have an idea I would like to run by you to improve the situation. May I tell you now?”
“No, you may not!’ Gwyneira declined. “I will not field anyone’s concerns today! Not tomorrow either! I am done with my leadership role!”
Each citizen present became aghast by her declaration until Noah and Gwyneira glimpsed at each other with a slight mischievousness. They stepped aside and revealed that Megala had returned! An excitement reverberated throughout the hall, and several folks flocked to her. Megala chuckled in appreciation, and then she greeted them all, “Hello! I missed this place!”
Brooke fervently interrogated her, “Chieftess! What happened to you? Were you hurt? Who committed this offense against you? How did you survive this ordeal?”
“I will regale you all with the details later, and I’m eager to learn what occurred while I was gone! I’m particularly curious about Beck’s new love interest! However, all of that will have to wait… No more merriment, we have distressing news to share…”
“Dawson has escaped from prison!” Noah announced.
The entire establishment fell into an eerie silence. All that was heard was several drippings echoing in the distance. After a minute or so, Beck canvassed him, “How?”
Noah elucidated, “Iagan and a multitude of Destructive Mystics broke him out of a courtroom. It’s just lucky we had an Air and Animal Mystic there so we didn’t have any casualties and only minimal injuries! But, this dilemma appears to be escalating rapidly! We believe that a battle against Dawson and his allies is imminent!”
“No!” Beck cried out in disbelief.
“Listen, I can understand your apprehension, but we do not have a second to spare on our anxieties! We must ready ourselves! Dawson and his army could strike at any moment!” Megala soberly addressed the entire array.
Beck objected, “Surely not that soon! He would need to plan out a location and logistics, correct?”
Michelle and Kalanie dashed into the cavern expanse, and Michelle notified the populace, “Apparently, Dawson has already plotted this out: they’re here in the Badlands!”
After there was a collective gasp, Megala edicted, “Prepare yourselves! Tonight, we fight for the future of humanity!”
“Hello! Thank you for calling the-!” a friendly receptionist in a turquoise polo chirped.
“Bring me Noah Raymond!” Chief Argus gruffly demanded on the other line.
The receptionist blinked in confusion. “Noah Raymond? I don’t think he’s here today. What’s this about?”
Gwyneira suddenly appeared behind the desk, and she directed the receptionist, “Give me that!” The receptionist seemed very bewildered by her presence, and she handed her the phone out of sheer nervousness. Gwyneira pleasantly addressed Chief Argus, “Sorry if you’ve been trying to reach us for too long! The receiver in Grandpa’s room is broken! I was just coming to report it. Noah was wondering why you didn’t update him yet!”
“How is Grandpa?” Chief Argus wondered.
“Actually, he’s much better than they originally thought!” Gwyneira reported. “We’re heading back to L.A. tonight!”
Chief Argus breathed a sigh of relief. “Good! Can I talk to Noah real quick?”
Gwyneira laughed, “I can’t imagine you’d want to under his current condition! He went into the restroom, and he took a newspaper with him…”
“Understood! Have him radio me on your return trip!” Chief Argus requested.
“Will do!” Gwyneira acquiesced. After she hung up, she glanced over to the receptionist, who looked more perplexed than ever, and she advised her, “Don’t ask!” The receptionist stared at her in befuddlement as she walked out the front door.
Noah peeked around the corner of a dilapidated shed, and he spotted the red hoodie in the distance. His back was turned, so Noah tiptoed closer with his taser ready to deploy. Demek turned around, so Noah hid behind one of the many cherry trees nearby. After a few seconds, he dared to check on his target. He lost sight of him, so he assumed he mimicked his move of hiding behind a tall trunk. He inched closer and closer to the site where he last saw him, and his pulse raced from anticipation. He couldn’t wait to ambush this reprobate and put this saga to rest! He took a deep breath and then jumped around that barrier…
Nothing! Noah furrowed his brows, but once he beheld a hole in the ground, he bellowed, “Damn it!”
“He took the cowardly way out, didn’t he?” Gwyneira inquired as she approached him.
“Yes!” Noah resentfully confirmed. “He acts brave when he pulls stunts like attacking us at the police station, but when we fight back, he runs off with his tail between his legs! He puts up a courageous front, but really, his cowardice knows no bounds!” His anger still roiled from this loss, but he knew there wasn’t any benefit from dwelling on it, so he shook it off and posed to Gwyneira, “Were you able to appease the chief?”
Gwyneira let him know, “As much as he could get satisfied at this juncture. He’s fine, but it may be awkward with the staff the next time you visit Grandpa though…”
As they trekked back to his vehicle, Noah grinned a little. “I can’t wait for the day when that’s my worst problem!” He savored this bit of merriment, but it was pretty short-lived…
Maurice’s voice broadcasted on the radio, “No, we can’t! The judge denied our warrant for his residence since the blood we found hasn’t been proven to have been shed from violence. We’re proceeding to interview possible targets.”
“Ugh!!!” Noah cried out in overwhelming frustration. “Someone was bleeding in a location associated with him, and they still won’t let us search his home? He’s up to something horrific, and he’s gonna get away with it ‘cause of some stupid technicality!”
As Noah irately put his key in the ignition, he vehemently decreed, “I’m sick of following guidelines that will ultimately get us all killed! For survival’s sake, we’re breaking some rules this evening!” Gwyneira looked stunned by this decision, and as he drove out of the parking lot, he chuckled, “Yeah, I’m surprised those words came out of my mouth too! But, I mean! We’re ending this today!”
Michelle and Kalanie strolled through a busy mall, and after Michelle scoped out their vibrant, bustling surroundings, she commented, “It’s funny- they’re all here for joyful purposes, but we’re buying supplies for an apocalyptic battle to save humanity!” Kalanie gave her a half smile, but she didn’t give much of a reaction beyond that. Michelle examined her as though she was trying to read her thoughts, and then she probed, “So, what store are we getting this ‘urgent’ supply?”
“Forever Flirty,” Kalanie confessed.
“Seriously?” Michelle exclaimed. “With all of the dire circumstances unfolding around us as we speak, you’re going to buy something so lacking in vitalness?”
Kalanie paused her gait and ardently articulated, “Yes! I’m buying a dress for my date night with Beck, and you’re going to help me pick it out! Because we’re going to live through this ordeal, and we need a reminder of that by doing something so ordinary as clothes shopping for a romantic rendez-vous!”
Michelle gazed at her rather abashedly. “I’m sorry! I should have… Of course, we’re going to live through this! I simply… Sometimes, it feels like the darkness is destined to overthrow our societal norms, but I cannot allow myself to believe the-.”
She cut herself off when she saw Maurice and Robin coming to their locale. Neither Kalanie nor Michelle fancied that they sought them out for amicable purposes, so they both groaned. Kalanie folded her arms and huffed, “What crime are they accusing us of now?”
“Your blood was found in the office of Jareth Thurio,” Maurice notified them.
“That’s impossible! We were never in there!” Michelle objected.
Robin filled them in, “You weren’t in there, but your DNA was. I was baffled as to why Sidero rejected your saliva samples until now!”
Michelle gasped, “He planted evidence? Wow! So, what happens next?”
Prior to Robin or Maurice getting to explain this concept, someone seized Michelle from behind and held a knife up to her neck! Maurice pulled out his pistol, and everyone in the vicinity screamed! The man who committed this offense barked, “No one move an inch or the witch gets it!”
“What do you want?” Maurice asked him.
“I want you to remember this!” the man answered. “You picture yourselves as powerful individuals by aligning yourselves with these demons, but look at them now! Both of these bitches are cowering in fright! Go on, you hussies! Use your dark magic against me! Do it! Go on!” Kalanie was reluctant to budge due to how close he held his weapon to her friend’s throat, and Michelle seemed decidedly lost on how to proceed. Maurice glimpsed at Robin, and the two of them appeared stumped on how to act. Spectators were mortified… until…
Swifter than the man could register what was occurring, a pair of hands smacked his wrist and lowered his blade simultaneously! She then elbowed him in the face, and when he separated from Michelle, she did a handstand and flipped him over with her legs! Maurice swooped in and cuffed him, and he, along with everyone else, was floored to hear Nova rapturously shout, “See? I told you I know judo!” Her director’s jaw dropped as low as it could go, and Nova stooped down to the man’s low position and challenged him, “What were you saying about power, bud?” He did nothing more than growl, and as she got up, camera flashes lit up all around her. She sheepishly conveyed to Michelle, “Forgive me for being the one to have rescued you!”
Michelle beamed at her. “Why? Due to a little extra attention? I can live with it!” Kalanie laughed at her quip, and the witnesses to this feat all clapped and cheered for them.
“Quiet!” one Earth Mystic commanded to the other. As he listened to the activity of the forest around him, he assessed, “Something is heading in this direction!” They peered through the adjacent brush, and…
“We better take cover!” the second Earth Mystic recommended as a bout of torrential downpour cascaded onto them.
The first Earth Mystic stopped his comrade from vacating their position, “Hold on! There wasn’t even a cloud in the sky a minute ago…” He crept closer to the bushes, and, all of a sudden, Gwyneira popped out! The Earth Mystic sent swords in her direction, and she easily froze them.
While Gwyneira and the Earth Mystics combatted each other, Noah snuck onto Jareth’s property. He felt uneasy about leaving her alone like that, but he couldn’t contemplate that too much. A lot was at stake in this venture, they couldn’t fail! He convinced himself that her promise of having the ability to handle both of these guards at once was valid, and he fully concentrated fully on the vital task in front of him.
Noah kept his taser at the ready in case any of Jareth’s henchmen manifested out of the shadows. For Jareth to have gone this length, Noah knew he had to have been hiding something significant in there! The door was locked, and he figured that was the most likely scenario, but he had to give it a shot anyway. He took a hairpin out of his pocket, and as he attempted to pick the lock, he kept watch over his shoulders to ensure that no one would catch him in the act. To his horror, the hairpin broke! It devastated him to view his only method of getting inside falter, but as Gwyneira battled it out with those Earth Mystics thugs, he recognized that he couldn’t permit that to have been his only chance! He observed that a glass pane hung over the knob, so he used the handle of his armament and busted the window. Thankfully, the ruckus transpiring outside shielded his entrance into the abode.
Using a flashlight, Noah scanned over the living room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for a male’s domicile… so far… Keeping his protection upright, he searched every corner of this space. The floor creaked slightly, and each step filled him with more and more anxiety. He had no clue what sort of security Jareth may have had in there, but he dreaded waking it up! He pinpointed a desk leaning against the opposite wall, and slowly, he inched over to it. As soon as he opened the rolltop…
Two Earth Mystics emerged from the entryway to the basement! They aimed dozens of rocks at him, but Noah was able to pick up a small trash bin before anything impacted him! The metal in the receptacle caused the stones to reverberate back to their origin. One Earth Mystic fell unconscious, and the other fired more rounds at him. Noah ducked and emitted his volts at the Earth Mystic’s chest. He fell to the ground, and as Noah detached the probe, he heard a woman scream!
His heart nearly leapt out of his chest! His knee-jerk instinct was to assist Gwyneira in the exterior, but then it dawned on him that the shriek didn’t emanate from there. He scrutinized the stairs to the cellar, and he heard it again. When he was certain that it came from the lower level, he sprinted down the steps. Following a quick sweep of the nearly barren place, he didn’t see anyone in there let alone a person in trouble. Yet, he felt positive that someone had shouted from this area! He called out, “Hello?”
“Noah!” Megala’s muffled speech yelled out to him. “Help me!”
“Where are you?” Noah questioned as he eyeballed these chambers in confusion.
Megala instructed him, “Grab a shovel!”
Noah gawked at the floor until he espied loose dirt! He had no idea why an Earth Mystic would need a spade, but he was grateful it was handy! He dug and dug, and he prayed that he could unearth her prior to another adversary barraging him. Finally, he hit a hard surface! He beseeched the heavens that this wooden box wasn’t locked, and to his immense alleviation, it wasn’t! Megala sat up and gasped for air, but she wasn’t going to get a lot of time to recover…
“Noah? Where are you?” Gwyneira hollered.
“Gwyneira! Get down here! I have wonderful news!” Noah implored her.
As Gwyneira rushed to him, she revealed, “It will have to wait! I have terrible news…”
“Why?” Gwyneira bemoaned. “Why are there so many cars? It’s the weekend, so why are so many people out right now?” She grumpily leaned on the window and stared at the heavy traffic.
“The suburbs probably get boring for a lot of the residents here, so a lot of them are probably heading to San Francisco to have some fun,” Noah conversed as he kept his eyes on the road.
Gwyneira complained, “We’re not even moving now! Why do Sapiens put up with this?”
Noah chuckled, “Well, ‘cause we weren’t spoiled with powers that could propel us from point to point in no time flat!” Gwyneira didn’t look amused, so Noah attempted to buoy her spirits, “Oh, come on! It isn’t all bad! If you travel too fast, you miss all the beautiful scenery along the way! The One-o-One goes right by the bay too! You’ll love it!”
“I would enjoy it if it wasn’t a distraction from all of this needless delay! At this rate, we’re not going to arrive until it’s close to sundown!” Gwyneira let out an exasperated exhale.
“Do they not talk to visitors around dinnertime or something?” Noah queried.
Gwyneira explained, “I don’t know! I’ve never been to Brackish Hollow. I don’t like that we may disturb them during supper though- it makes us lose favor with them, and we need to do all we can to build it up again! Our tribe hasn’t been on good terms with theirs since they decided to adopt the Destructive Cycle! But, honestly, you’re so charming that you could sway even the most inhospitable hosts, so that’s only a minor worry of mine. I just… I don’t know! My intuition has been bugging me for a while now! It wants us to get there immediately before… I’m not certain! It’s almost as though something else is heading there, something would do us a great disservice if we allowed it to beat us to their headquarters!”
Noah got chilled by that dark pronouncement, and although he knew that her instincts were nearly always infallible, he didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to believe in the chance of success for their mission, and it disturbed him that she got stricken with such a grim prediction. It made his body want to prepare for disaster, but he refused to relent to that concept. He turned to Gwyneira and reassured her, “It’s going to be fine! You’re simply getting nervous ‘cause we’re getting so close! I’d prefer to get difficulties done and over with, but sometimes you can’t shake yourself loose of roadblocks, so you gotta make the best of it! Like, we rehearsed different scenarios for our conversation with this tribe during our trek here, so we’re far more ready for this moment than we would’ve been if we had a quick journey, don’t you think?” Gwyneira remained unmoved, so he started to add, “If the worst part of our trip is this jam, then we’re gonna have a fantastic… Uh oh!”
“What? What’s going on?” Gwyneira frantically asked as her eyes darted around the vicinity.
“No big deal! We’re doing alright, but we gotta stop for gas at the next exit though,” Noah informed Gwyneira. “I was hoping it could wait ‘til we got there, but…” Gwyneira groaned, and Noah patted her knee reassuringly. “Hey! Try to find the bright side in this! Maybe when we’ve finished refueling, the highway will clear out a bit!” Gwyneira didn’t appear convinced, and, in reality, neither was he.
As Noah filled up his tank, he surveyed his surroundings. He noticed some dark clouds forming, but they didn’t daunt him much. If the downpour got too heavy, he presumed that Gwyneira could take care of obtaining an unobstructed path for them. The icy wind bothered him a little though, so he kept studying the area to keep his mind occupied. He watched as a bus pulled up to the corner by the station, and as one passenger entered onto the coach, he lamented, “Oh no! I forgot to break this five!”
Noah volunteered, “You need some change?” He reached into his pocket, but to his horror, all of his coins were bent! “Never mind!” He lost track of that passenger’s activity as he swiftly scoped out the environment. He reassured himself that it probably occurred during his last interaction with Demek or possibly Jareth, but when he heard the sound of jeans fastly rustling, he had to convince himself someone was merely in a hurry for reasons that had nothing to do with the Earth Mystics. Despite his best effort, he still felt somewhat spooked, so when he returned the nozzle and went back into his vehicle, he entreated Gwyneira, “If we park this somewhere safe, do you think you can transport us there right away?”
A giant wave entered onto a rocky shore, and once it simmered down, Noah and Gwyneira gently stepped off of it and onto a small tuft of grass. Noah somewhat nervously remarked, “We left the car at a police station, so it should be safe there, right? Sunnyvale seems like a pretty secure locale, doesn’t it?”
“A criminal would have to be pretty bold to steal or damage a vehicle there!” Gwyneira responded as she glanced around at the dirt. “Chief Argus would certainly have some questions about that move, but he’d only find out if there was some sort of GPS on board!”
“There is a GPS on board! Oh shit! What if they need assistance with Jareth, and the chief tries to contact me? He could learn where we parked it, and…!” Noah bit his lip while he contemplated all of the various consequences of his travel to the Bay Area, and he pondered if he permitted his emotions to persuade him to act against his better judgment.
Gwyneira’s expression plainly indicated that she instantly regretted her choice of words at first, but then she put her arms around his waist and consoled him, “It wouldn’t evoke the apocalypse if he learned the truth! But an Earth Mystic certainly could do that, so let’s focus on discovering their whereabouts instead! Try to pinpoint some loose dirt or-.”
Noah guessed the completion of her sentence, “…Or a hole in the ground?”
They ran over to examine it, and once Gwyneira confirmed some facts in her head, she cursed, “Damn it!” After a split second, she chided herself for her actions, and then she lowered her voice to pronounce, “They’re already here! We’re too late!”
“Maybe not,” Noah quietly disagreed. “Let’s see what they have to say to the Water Tribe. Perhaps they won’t be so receptive to this individual under the current circumstances!”
“You mean we should eavesdrop?” Gwyneira reacted in startlement. “That’s madness! However, we really have no other option! We can’t give up after coming this far! Alright, let’s do it!”
After nodding in agreement, Noah tiptoed alongside Gwyneira as they followed the faint footprints to the ocean’s edge. Gwyneira did a hex to conjure enough water to lower the two of them to a small ledge on the cliff. A voluminous cave emitted an aura of cool, refreshing hydration, but Noah also got the sensations of static electricity. He felt positive that either Demek or Jareth was in there, but he didn’t dare air this opinion. He had no inkling on whether or not these Water Mystics would greet them with hostility or not, so he assumed he should proceed with caution. Gwyneira’s tribe wasn’t an aggressive bunch, but they weren’t so welcoming upon his initial appearance. This memory caused his pulse to race, but he couldn’t cater to his trepidation at this juncture! It was vital that they discover what was occurring in there, so he deemed it worth the risks. He took a deep breath and escorted Gwyneira into the shadowy interior.
Their steps echoed throughout the cavern tunnel, and Noah cringed each inch they took! His anxiety insisted that eventually a couple of guards would emerge out of nowhere and seize them! As they crept closer to the middle of this mass, they heard a flurry of excited speech, and Noah couldn’t discern if this boded well for the two of them. At last, they broached a large expanse that seemed to serve as a meeting room. Dozens of men and women in black gathered around a dais where a guy with short, brunette hair and long bangs that sort of hid one of his eyes stationed himself. He wasn’t brawny or flashy, but based on the manner in which he stood, Noah gathered that he was in charge. Gwyneira and Noah shielded themselves behind a couple of stalagmites and tuned into the discussion where the brunette guy commanded, “Silence! Please, dear guest, go on!”
“Thank you, Baran!” Demek appreciatively regarded him. “Now, I realize it may come off as a shock that I suggested going after my own brethren, but hear me out! It’s well within your rights to pursue the Earth Mystics in your efforts to prevent them from enacting their plans, but you should be aware that a group of us defected from them! We disavowed their intentions, and we formed our own faction! Please, spare us from the tribulations you intend to inflict! But, do go after the Earth Mystics of El Poder! They’re a menace to society, and they must be stopped!” Noah became incensed by his flagrant mischaracterization of Demek’s former tribe, but he held his tongue since creating a scene wouldn’t help their cause. Luckily, it didn’t seem like he needed to defend anyone after all…
“What exactly have they done that is so terrible?” Baran inquired.
Demek replied, “They’re destroying our very fabric of being! They say that they’re combating the Animal Mystics due to the Sapiens’ mistreatment of the natural world, but in actuality, they’re allowing it to occur! If they’re not defeated by a force as impressive as yours, then we’ll all cease to exist!”
Baran stayed silent for a minute, and Noah noticed that Gwyneira didn’t display an ounce of apprehension, so he trusted that this was a sign that the meeting wasn’t going well for Demek. Baran confirmed this by catechizing, “What solution does your faction propose that the rest of the Earth Tribe of El Poder isn’t doing?”
“Taking a hard stance against the Sapiens!” Demek passionately relayed to him. “Their existence threatens to extinguish our own, so we must hinder their endeavors by any means necessary!”
“You mean by violence?” Baran surmised.
Demek repeated, “By any means necessary!”
Baran rolled his eyes in disapproval. “Demek, did it occur to you that Sapiens are part of the environment?” Noah couldn’t view any of Demek’s features, but based off of his posture, he could tell that this enquiry had been a slap in the face for him! Baran went on, “We at Brackish Hollow have taken on the Destructive Cycle, but our goal is the deconstruction of certain ideas! We’re not prepared to shed any blood over this or any other matter! Nothing is with the loss of innocent lives!”
“Not even to defend yourselves?” Demek countered.
“You can’t call it defensive if you’re the aggressor!” Baran retorted. “The Sapiens may be participating in behavior that is unwittingly hurting themselves, but we will not harm them or obliterate their species because of their errors! Education is the key to winning this, not warfare!” He paused and then queried, “Does this spell out my response to your request, Gwyneira?”
Gwyneira and Noah grew alarmed to hear themselves get referred to directly like that! Noah had no clue that Baran even knew they were present, and he wasn’t sure how to react to this recognition. Demek frantically scanned the space, and it amused Noah to see him stricken with fear over their appearance, but he didn’t deem it as valid to remain clandestine. Noah and Gwyneira emerged from their barrier, and curious whispers cascaded throughout the chamber. Noah didn’t know what to expect going forward until Demek clenched his fists threateningly. Gwyneira readied herself to fight back, but then…
Baran stepped in prior to anyone making a move, “Do not use combat in my land! Demek, leave now, or we will imprison you!” Demek shot him a dirty expression, but he worked out that he was heavily outnumbered, so he stormed out. It was tense as Demek passed Noah and Gwyneira, and he walked backward as he exited the establishment. Demek gave off a taunting vibe, and Noah itched to pursue him in order to arrest him, but their business in Brackish Hollow wasn’t over.
“Chief Baran, we came to inform you that Demek’s faction has reinforcements from another region,” Noah announced. “They’re gearing up to do battle, and we need as many numbers on our side as possible to minimize casualties and to spare the blameless!”
“I’ve sought an alliance with the Los Angeles Badlands for quite a lengthy stretch,” Baran thoughtfully articulated. “I cannot commit my citizens to any contention outside of the realm of verbal! That is unless you joined our quest and aided us with our own goals…”
Gwyneira asserted, “I cannot commit my brethren to the Destructive Cycle! It is not our belief, and actually, it isn’t really my call to make! My mother has been kidnapped, and I don’t esteem it to be fair to make a major decision without her consent.”
Noah tacked onto that, “All she wants to do is to protect her people! And we’re trying to thwart a madman from taking over all of civilization! It’s a lot to ask, but the consequences of inaction would prove dire for everyone! So, what do you say? Will you do your part in saving the world from total disaster? Or will you allow massive suffering to overtake the planet?” Baran rubbed his chin contemplatively, and they waited for his determination with bated breath…Leave a ReplyEdit
“Bon Appetit!” a cafeteria worker merrily bade a prisoner in a room that was nearly completely walled up.
“Spaghetti again?” the prisoner complained in a window on the doorway. “That’s the third time this week!”
The cafeteria worker shrugged. “I don’t create the menu, dude!” The prisoner shook his head in disapproval, and the cafeteria worker rolled his cart to the next cell. The man in there remained sleeping, so the cafeteria worker rolled on to the next one without another word. He expected to exchange pleasantries with the next guy, as usual, but when he glanced into the room, he gasped.
He grabbed his radio and urgently announced, “Cell six in Solitary Confinement has a person gushing blood in it! I’m gonna perform first aid!” The cafeteria worker grabbed his keys and rushed into the cell where a man with a bald head and deep, umber skin was bleeding profusely. The cafeteria worker used his own belt as a tourniquet and applied pressure to the wound, and that stopped the outpouring, but the man remained unconscious. Just as medics arrived on the scene…
“Do you smoke?” The man’s lids flicked open, and he stared at the cafeteria worker with his dark, cold eyes.
“Uh… yeah!” The cafeteria worker gazed at him in confusion. He couldn’t quite understand why someone would ask such a thing under these conditions… until…
The man snickered, “I thought so!” He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the lighter in the cafeteria worker’s pocket burst into flames! The fire spread so quickly that the cafeteria worker couldn’t react with enough alacrity to save his own life! In an instant, the entire room got engulfed! The sprinklers soon went off, and a couple of medics used some nearby extinguishers to snuff the rest. When the blaze was gone, the medics realized the prisoner was too! They saw a hole in the corner, and the prisoner was running from the building!
Sirens blared, and the guards locked everything down. A voice on the loudspeaker broadcasted, “Attention all personnel! Be on the lookout for Iagan Endellion! Do not let him leave! This person is armed and dangerous!”
Iagan hurried toward the front of the facility, but when he got to the front gate, heard the sound of a couple of guns getting cocked. He turned around, and two police officers aimed their pistols at him. “Hands up!” one of them commanded.
“Okay!” Iagan put his palms up, but prior to the officers getting to approach him, flames shot out of Iagan’s hands! He set their weapons ablaze, and as they dropped them, the grass they fell on ignited! As they strove to put it out, Iagan burned a hole in the fence and slipped out.
“Damn it!” Gwyneira exclaimed as she beheld the search party around Tesca. “We’re too late!”
Noah assured her, “Don’t worry! He couldn’t have gotten far!”
Gwyneira spotted some K-9 units preparing to get deployed in the woods behind the prison, and she fretted, “He’s going to hurt those poor creatures!”
“Don’t go after him!” Noah warned her. “There’s no light in that forest- he could ambush you and hurt you too!”
“Fine! I’ll flush him out!” Gwyneira put her arms in the air, and rain clouds formed above the trees. It poured down rain, and everyone watched with hope gleaming in their eyes. When no one fled from the area, the K-9 handlers were ready to use their dogs… until…
An explosion sounded from the parking lot, and its impact knocked everyone in the vicinity off their feet! When Noah and Gwyneira swivelled off of their downward position, they espied Iagan emerge from under a vehicle! He hurled fire in their direction, but Gwyneira easily deflected that hex. Iagan used that quick second to flee, and Noah along with prison guards pursued him, but he was able to use his magic to rid them of their armament. Noah discerned that he was crossing a bridge over a creek, so he grabbed a garbage lid and flung it at Iagan’s skull. Iagan fell into the water and screamed in pain, but preceding anyone getting to seize him, he boiled the water. When the steam cleared it had become evident that Iagan had vanished into the shadows.
Mayor Richardson rubbed his temples as the noises of construction loomed in the background. Amy knocked on on the door, and a chunk of it fell onto the floor. Mayor Richardson grumpily invited, “You may as well come inside!”
“Is this a bad time?” Amy gingerly asked.
“Yes, but it’s not gonna get better any time soon, so you may as well join me,” Mayor Richardson answered.
Amy sat down on a chair before his desk, and then she encouragingly told him, “It could get better soon! The right solution could be just around the corner! You can’t give up!”
Mayor Richardson ogled at her incredulously. “Amy, a few days ago, we had this place trashed by insurrectionists, and now there’s a felon who can magically incinerate things on the loose! I actually requested that they fix my window while I’m on the clock simply so I don’t have to hear the protestors! It’s not that I don’t wanna give in to their demand to make the city safer- I literally have no clue how to fix this! How do I capture a man who already escaped from somewhere that’s supposed to have the best security in the world? We even put in extra water pipes in his cell walls to overpower him! If we actually capture him, how are we supposed to contain him going forward? And I’ve done all I could dream up to spread more peace amongst my constituents, but their anger is only getting worse! I can take measures to discourage violence, but I can’t stop free speech! I can’t force anyone to quit taking steps towards their own demise! If they won’t listen to a pop legend like Nova, who could possibly influence them? If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears!” After shaking her head, Amy responded, “I pray for advice myself, and I’m coming up blank. I don’t accept that doing nothing is the correct route to go, but I also need some sort of starting point! Since I don’t have one, I’m doing business as usual. I’ll keep going ‘til I get some kind of sign of what to do next! So, keeping in that spirit, here’s my latest budget proposal. Can I get your signature?”
“I can’t approve of this!” Mayor Richardson objected. “It’s already costing a fortune to fix the damage already done, and this nightmare that’s heading for us next is bound to be pricey! Everything may have to go to disaster relief- how can I approve of new stoplights and recycling programs if I have to rebuild houses and schools? I can’t give my approval to anything ‘til I know what exactly is going on!”
“Listen, Roald, I’m not gonna lie and say that scenario isn’t possible, but it hasn’t happened yet! You can put FEMA on speed dial if you want, but don’t prepare for absolute doom! You’ll drive yourself crazy with possibilities, but if act on actualities, you can feel more empowered! Stoplights and recycling may sound trivial in the grand scheme of things, but life is comprised of a bunch of little stuff! That murderous crowd tried to prevent us from doing our jobs, so I can’t picture a better method of proving they didn’t win than to do all the tiny details of our positions!” Amy passionately verbalized.
Mayor Richardson took a minute to drink in her words, and then he acknowledged them, “You’re right! They want us to be afraid, so we can’t show any fear!” He grabbed a pen, but before he could add his signature to her document, the construction crew paused. The cacophony of outraged citizens reverberated into his office, so Mayor Richardson pled with the crew, “Can’t you guys keep going ‘til the safety protests are through?”
The foreman filled him in, “Sorry, gotta follow union rules! Oh, and also, they’re not protesting anything safety related…”
As the crew exited the office, Amy and Mayor Richardson ran to the broken pane. When they caught a glimpse of what was outside, they cried out in aghast. Scores of people were holding up signs that were ordering the mayor to free Dawson Kolbyr, and the participants in the throng chanted the same message! Amy and Mayor Richardson stood there with their mouths ajar, totally unsure of how to proceed from here.
“Hello?” Noah picked up the receiver and strove to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“Hi, Noah! It’s Chief Argus. I’m so glad to hear that you’re taking a Saturday off! You’ve worked so hard lately, you deserve a break!” Chief Argus remarked.
Noah reacted with a slight suspicion, “But…?”
Chief Argus catechized, “What makes you assume there’s a but?”
“Oh, come on! With all due respect, sir, I highly doubt you called me to only express that!” Noah riposted.
“Alright, there’s more,” Chief Argus admitted. Noah said nothing, so Chief Argus inferred that he wasn’t surprised by that revelation. He cleared his throat a bit, and then he went on, “I wanted to inform you that Jareth Thurio has gone missing!”
This report filled Noah with intrigue. “Really? Geez, he disappeared immediately after Iagan Endellion escaped from prison- that’s not a coincidence! So, is he his victim or an accomplice of his?”
Chief Argus relayed to him, “Well, we can’t officially start searching for him ‘cause it hasn’t been forty-eight hours since he was last seen. His campaign manager, Demi, attempted to file a case on him after the twenty-four-hour mark. I have the paperwork she filled out though- apparently, he already missed a photo-op, and he seems to be a no-show for another event scheduled for today.”
“That’s interesting!” Noah commented. “I thought this treasury election was part of the plan! I doubt he grew a conscious overnight, so he probably isn’t gonna drop out. But, something made the plans change…”
“I agree,” Chief Argus concurred. “And he’s already doing a lot of damage with this political venture! If he voluntarily altered the agenda, whatever he has in store for the public can’t be good!”
Noah grimaced at that concept. “Yeah, that would be awful!” This occurrence was daunting, and a twinge of guilt coursed through his veins. He had a feeling where this conversation was heading, and he wasn’t going to be able to aid him in this endeavor. It was an important task, but Noah had something equally vital up his sleeve… “Well, that was fascinating! Thanks for briefing me on the situation, sir!”
Chief Argus entreated him, “Wait! Don’t hang up!” Noah complied, but he cringed as he did so. He foresaw that he would have to disappoint his boss, and he really hated the premise of doing so! “I realize you’re limited with your interactions with Mister Thurio, but you’re so adept at finding where criminals are hiding! You know Mister Thurio better than anyone, so I was wondering if you could participate in a search for him as a consultant. You’d have to hand it off to Maurice or Lynn for any questioning or arrests, but I know they’d really appreciate it if you lent a hand! So, what do you say?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Noah sighed. “I can’t. Not today. I… I have a prior obligation to attend to!”
“Is there any possibility of postponing that obligation?” Chief Argus probed. “I wouldn’t ask if we weren’t at the precipice of an apocalyptic disaster getting unleashed in Los Angeles! Can it get rainchecked for another day?”
Noah gritted his teeth, and then he fibbed, “My grandfather is ill. He doesn’t have long… I can’t abandon him at his hour of need! He raised me after my parents were killed!”
Chief Argus groaned, and Noah’s remorse was overwhelming. It wasn’t as though he was doing anything immoral, but he couldn’t permit him to have access to the truth. If his colleagues had any inkling of his real intentions, they would’ve tried to dissuade him from such a dangerous mission! So, he had to stay silent about it until it was done. Chief Argus disappointedly articulated, “Okay! But take your police-issued vehicle in case we need to reach you.”
“But, Chief!” Noah panicked a little. This move had the potential to under what they had planned out!
“What’s the problem?” Chief Argus inquired.
Noah replied, “I… Nothing! I’ll talk to you soon!” Noah hung up, and after slumping on his couch, Noah defended himself, “It wasn’t a total lie! My grandpa is in hospice…”
Gwyneira suggested, “We should visit him when we’re done! But, since we gotta get there the slow way, we better get going!” Noah still appeared dismal, so she encouraged him, “Don’t worry! Everything’s going to be fine! We’ll take a quick ride to San Francisco, and then… Everything will be fine!”
Not wanting to dishearten Gwyneira, Noah smiled and squeezed her hand. “Hey! I did say we outta take a trip together! Not that I’m trying to get out of going to Maui or anything…” Gwyneira pleasantly chuckled as they went out of his apartment door.2 RepliesEdit
Noah stormed out of the station and marked toward his car. He was so outraged that he didn’t even realize that Chief Argus was so close behind him. Before he could even get close to his vehicle, Chief Argus Argus called out, “Noah, you’re forgetting something!”
Chief Argus held a manila folder up in the air, and Noah didn’t look at it or his boss. Instead, he spat, “That’s not my case! That’s a mistake!”
“Come on, Noah! It’s not so bad!” Chief Argus consoled him. “The Umbra Murder was too stressful, you deserve something nice and simple after all you’ve been through!”
“I was making progress there!” Noah argued. “If I had a little more time, I could’ve gotten enough info to get a warrant! How could you do this?”
Chief Argus assured him, “Listen, I know I had my doubts about you staying on this case previously, but after reviewing the evidence you gathered, I wanted to let you remain on this. Unfortunately, Mister Thurio complained about harassment, and he threatened to sue the department! Our legal advisors gave me no choice!”
Noah roared, “This is bullshit! He was the one doing the harassing! I couldn’t just let him do that to a grieving widow, so I-!”
“So, you fell into his trap!” Chief Argus completed his sentence. “You knew he already made that claim twice! Clearly, he was baiting you!”
“I…! I didn’t think about that!” Noah realized he was correct, and he upbraided himself for not making this observation himself. He had to cast that thought out of his mind though since what was done couldn’t be changed. He turned to Chief Argus and contended, “But still! I didn’t do anything wrong! This isn’t fair!”
Chief Argus surprised Noah by agreeing with him, “You’re right! It’s a real shame ‘cause the person I pass this case to is gonna take a considerable stretch orienting themself with the facts you’ve gathered, and we really can’t afford to lose even a minute with this investigation! Who knows what’ll happen between now and then with these suspects! But, rest assured, whoever takes over will catch the prick that caused this! Your work won’t have been in vain!”
Noah quarreled, “But they won’t solve this case! This case is… complex! Not a lot of people will understand it, and they’ll jump to an incorrect solution!” Noah didn’t mention the Mystic involvement to avoid extenuating his predicament with Chief Argus, but it weighed at the forefront of his worries. Not everyone believed in the existence of their supernatural abilities, and oftentimes, the ones who did theorize that they originated from dark sources. The next in line may go in a totally erroneous direction, and it would give free reign for Dawson and his followers to commit more atrocities! Jareth would win that special election for sure, and terrible events would occur as a result of that! Plus, Megala’s disappearance was connected to this case, but not everyone would see that! It filled him with dread to picture what would occur due to this move!
“What? You mean ‘cause magic is involved?” Chief Argus questioned. Noah’s eyes went wide at that mention, and he was prepared to make excuses for it, but Chief Argus stunned him, “It’s okay! I recognized that Gwyneira and her tribe weren’t associated with it ‘til one of your suspects drew her in. It was unfair for me to say you couldn’t work any case involving Mystics! They’re not all connected! However, don’t hide anything from me again! I was once a detective like you! I can figure stuff out!”
“Alright, Chief!” Noah tried to smile at this reprieve, but he couldn’t quite get it out. His stomach lurched at the concept of anyone but him taking over this dangerous mystery, and he feared to envision what would transpire because of it!
Chief Argus put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “I can’t promise everything will turn out hunky-dory, so I suggest doing something to distract yourself. If you aren’t ready to take on a new case, why don’t you take the day off?”
Margaret entered into the vicinity and interjected, “This guy doesn’t take breaks, Chief! Besides, he’s a secondary on my homicide from the concert massacre! He’s gotta help me sole mine, and we have an interview to go to!”
Initially, Noah was perplexed by this plan. He recalled that she hadn’t closed the case in the killing of three boys, but that was only because the culprit was the elusive Demek. Suddenly, it clicked for him what she was trying to do! “That’s true! Let’s go!” Flooded with relief, he grabbed her arm and merrily escorted her to that interview’s locale.
“Gwyneira!” Michelle urgently addressed her as she and Kalanie entered into the cavernous chambers of Lake Marical. Gwyneira put down the papers she was studying and gave them the utmost of her attention. Michelle began to relay to her, “We found something in El Poder that you should be aware of!”
“What is it? Is it my mother? Please, tell me she’s alright!” Gwyneira panicked. Her heart beat so rapidly that she thought it would jump right out of her chest! Her gut always indicated that she was continuing to survive, but simultaneously, she always worried that someone would report that they found her mother’s body somewhere! She got queasy even entertaining this possibility, and she inwardly prayed that her anxiety would prove to be wrong!
Kalanie reassured her, “Your mother is fine! At least, as far as we can tell, she’s still alive. However, we may have discovered something equally as disturbing! As we were walking down a trail leading off Tempest Shore, we heard… Oh hello, Beck!”
The tension Kalanie recently held instantly vanished as she coyly greeted Beck, and Beck, who had identical marks of stress a second ago, stammered, “I… uh… Hi!”
Michelle and Gwyneira knowingly grinned at each other, and then Gwyneira broke their awkward exchange, “What do you want, Beck?”
“Oh! Right!” Beck shook off his more pleasant disposition, and then he informed her, “We have a visitor.”
“Send them in,” Gwyneira directed him.
Beck apprised her, “It’s a Sapien.”
Gwyneira repeated, “Send them in.”
Quite frazzled at this notion, Beck catechized, “Really? You would have an outsider visit these sacred grounds?”
“My father visited Lake Marical,” Gwyneira pointed out. “So did Noah! He even drank from the water!”
“Yes, but this is a different situation,” Beck differed. “She’s here strictly for business, and not business that benefits us, so…”
From outside of the vicinity, Robin probed, “What am I? Chopped liver?”
Gwyneira illuminated Beck, “Friends are never denied!”
“Thanks!” Robin entered with a small toolkit. “But, I’m not here for social purposes, unfortunately.” She handed Gwyneira a set of documents, and she sheepishly expressed, “I’m just glad all three of you are in the same room so I can get this over with!”
“You have a warrant for our DNA?” Gwyneira reacted in aghast.
Robin explained, “I didn’t petition the judge for that! And I wouldn’t have! Sidero says he wants to eliminate you as suspects, but I’m fairly positive that’s not what he’s doing. He says he wants to have comparisons for when they recover Megala.”
Gwyneira made a noise of indignation. “Ugh! So, he’s simply assuming that he won’t find her alive and that a Mystic was behind her death?”
“I’m sorry!” Robin ruefully regarded them. “Chief Argus put him on her case ‘cause his hunches are usually solid. He’s recovered hundreds of people throughout his career, but in this instance… Well, my prediction is that Noah will locate her first! I’m assuming that’s what he and Margaret are working on right now since he got taken off of the Umbra murder.” She paused, and then she instructed Michelle, “Swab both sides of your mouth, and put your sample in this tube.”
“This is pointless!” Gwyneira complained as she collected her request.
Kalanie brought up, “Since we’re all friends, there’s something you all should know… Scores of Earth Mystics from Mount Charleston were in the woods practicing. It appears that Dawson has recruited them for an upcoming battle!” The entire space grew eerily silent as they digested this news.
Noah and Margaret walked into Mayor Froth’s office, and they beheld him cradling his noggin on his desk. When Mayor Froth noticed their presence, he stood up and held his wrists out towards them. “Go ahead and arrest me now! It’s my fault he’s dead!”
“Brennan Umbra?” Noah furrowed his brows. Admittedly, he suspected him for a while, but Jareth’s behavior was far more indicative of culpability. He acknowledged that it was entirely feasible that he missed the mark completely, but his logic refused to accept this development as true. “Are you sure?”
“I’m talking about my son!” Mayor Froth dismally corrected him. “He’s dead ‘cause of me, so go ahead and take me away!”
Margaret obviously had the same instincts as Noah since she hesitated too. She ogled at him peculiarly, and then she inquired, “You killed all three boys?”
Mayor Froth emitted a sigh of morose frustration, and he clarified, “I didn’t kill anyone! But I may as well have done the deed myself! I told my boy not to go to college in LA, but I paid for his schooling anyway! Maybe if I tried a little harder to discourage him from doing that, he’d still be alive!”
“We’re not gonna arrest you for being a supportive father, Mayor Froth!” Margaret gently lowered his limbs down. As she took a seat, she comforted him, “You didn’t cause your child’s death! But, someone did! We’re here to figure out who that might be!”
“I don’t know anything!” Mayor Froth glumly asserted. “He didn’t tell me much about his life out there, so I don’t know anything about who may have wanted him to die!”
Noah sagely articulated, “You may know more than you realize! Did you discuss your kid much at work?”
Mayor Froth recollected, “Oh, of course! I was very proud of Irenio! I bragged about him constantly! He was so bright, top of his class! Then, when his mom went to rehab, a lot of my colleagues pitched in to offer him support. Actually, Brennan used to ask how he was doing before he found out how I was! I could only imagine how he would act after finding out how he passed! Poor Brennan! Man, everyone around me has succumbed to a horrible fate! Maybe you two should go and avoid this curse!”
“You’re not cursed!” Margaret emphatically insisted. “But, someone around you may have the ability to do such a thing. Did anyone hold any grudges against you or threaten you at all?”
“Here and there, but they were usually nuts with too much time on their hands. Wait, are you implying that the murderer did this to punish me?” Mayor Froth’s eyes went wide with alarm.
Noah responded, “That’s what we’re attempting to decipher. Did you have any issues with your staff members? Did anyone behave oddly or suspiciously?”
Mayor Froth appeared mystified. “No! We’re a pretty tight bunch! No one did anything odd! Well, unless you count Jareth! He was a weird loner, but he didn’t seem dangerous! He couldn’t have hurt anyone! Heck, that guy was scared of the freakin’ wind! Have you heard of something so ridiculous?”
“Yes!” Noah’s pulse raced as he remembered his interactions with Dawson. Noah used wind against him since it was part of the Destructive Cycle, and even Link deployed this method as he was defending himself against Dawson’s venomous ire! If Jareth had an aversion to wind, that could only lead to one conclusion… “Did you do a background check on Jareth?”
“I’m sorry, sir!” a secretary apologized as she entered into the quarters. “She said it was urgent!”
Laverna went in, and Noah put his hands on his hips as he verbalized, “If this is a ploy to get a story, I swear, I-!”
She interrupted him, “This isn’t for an article, but it is related to The Mink Observer! Listen!”
After plopping a tape recorder onto the table, Laverna pushed play. Demek’s deep voice echoed out, “Go to the Tesca prison tonight. You’ll capture the headline of a century!”4 RepliesEdit
“Mayor Richardson!” a radical shouted as he kicked open the door to his office. He and the people behind him glanced around, and when they saw no evidence of his presence there, the radical queried, “Mayor Richardson, where are you?”
As a belligerent bunch burst into the city council’s chambers, an agitator insolently called out, “Aaaaaamy! Where are you, Amy?”
A revolter stood in an art gallery and brazenly proclaimed, “This is our house now!”
Several police officers were scattered throughout the vicinity, but before they could pull out a weapon to defend themselves, the raucous participants pounced on them. A few even grabbed whatever objects they could reach and proceeded to beat the law enforcement closest to them! Windows were breaking, and debris was strewed everywhere. A myriad of valuables were carried off the property, and an American flag even got replaced by a GLADA one!
“This is awful!” Noah remarked as he and his colleagues watched the scene in horror.
“Yes, it is!” Chief Argus concurred. “So, go in there and make it less awful!” As the detectives put on extra protective gear, Chief Argus apprised them, “I’ll be right there with you as soon as I get some… reinforcements…” Noah wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, but there wasn’t a moment to spare to mull it over. He mentally steeled himself up, and then he entered the foray.
He approached a group of individuals barging in through a broken pane, and he commanded, “Hands up!” The group snarled and charged towards him, so he streamed his pepper spray into their faces. They fell down in agony, and after fending off an attacker from behind him, he dashed inside.
A man jiggled a doorknob, and when it wouldn’t budge, he announced, “Hey, guys! I think they’re hiding in here!”
“Don’t move!” Noah ordered as more of the masses flocked to that locale.
“Are you really gonna shoot us?” a woman mockingly challenged him. They snickered until Noah cocked his pistol. Their skin paled, and Lynn came up and cuffed them.
Noah heard a crash in the distance, so he ran to that site. He beheld Maurice getting pinned down by a bookshelf, and preceding a person having the ability to throw a potted plant on his head, Noah shot the pot. The dirt cascaded onto the person’s vision, and Margaret arrested that person as Noah freed Maurice. “Thanks!” Maurice gratefully expressed.
Before Noah could react, they received the reverberation of a male screaming in pain from a neighboring room! Noah sped to it, and he was shocked to discover Officer Jones on the floor bleeding profusely! When he kneeled to check on him, Officer Jones warned him, “Look out!” A malcontent nearly stabbed Noah in the back, but Noah flipped him off! Officer Letes immediately grabbed him, and Noah was about to administer first aid when…
A familiar sound of metal fastly flying in the air hit Noah’s eardrums! His muscles went rigid with fright, but knowing what that malefactor was capable of, he rushed over to thwart his efforts. He espied the red-hooded Earth Mystic, and his pulse instantly surged with adrenaline. He bellowed, “I got you now, Demek!”
“Oh, do you?” Demek chuckled as he faced away from Noah. “You’ve done your homework, I see! Too bad it won’t do you much good!”
“Like hell it won’t!” Noah disputed. “I’ll have an official name to list on your record when I take your ass to prison! Your buddy, Dawson, is waiting for you there!”
Demek slowly turned around, and Noah raised his taser. If Demek so much as lifted a finger towards producing a hex, he was more than willing to deploy his weapon. Noah couldn’t discern any of Demek’s features, but he could tell he was sneering at him. “I’m glad we could finally meet so I could get rid of you once and for all!”
Noah retorted, “Psh! You can try!”
“Okay!” Demek raised his palms up and emitted his swords. Noah fired his taser as he ducked, and he was successful, but it didn’t deter Demek much! Demek swiftly deployed more blades, and while Noah was able to evade them, Demek projected more and more. Noah continuously dodged it all, but he had to move so rapidly that he didn’t have a second to retaliate! The weaponry stuck to the ground, so Noah had to watch out for those too! He eventually found himself cornered- he was trapped! He didn’t want to show that vile villain any fear, so he bravely positioned himself to utilize his armament. Demek still deemed his predicament as humorous, so he maliciously chortled, “Say goodbye!”
“Goodbye!” Gwyneira articulated as the sharp edges destined for Noah froze in midair. Noah spun around, and his body cascaded in relief to view Gwyneira standing there with a dozen of her tribe members! Demek’s movement suggested that their appearance troubled him. He sent out trajectories towards them, but they easily deflected them. Demek clearly worked out that he was outnumbered, so he switched tactics. He aimed his palms at the ceiling, and prior to anyone getting to prevent this from occurring, several lights in the grand chandelier exploded! Sparks rained down the foyer, and everyone in this proximity had no choice but to take cover.
When the peril subsided, they discovered that Demek had vanished! Noah was certain that he had fled to the staircase, so he raced to catch him. He zipped down the steps, and he could hear Gwyneira and the other Water Mystics closely tailing him, but Noah’s furor propelled him vastly ahead of the others. It astonished Noah that he didn’t unearth him during the descension, and it deeply disappointed him to not espy him on the lower level! He surveyed the scenery to identify his whereabouts, but a delinquent advanced towards him. He effectively tased him, but he could hardly count that as a victory, not when Dawson’s lieutenant managed to escape!
Once the Water Mystics got involved, the mayhem started to calm down. First responders were able to transport the wounded out of there, and law enforcement brought out criminals in droves. One female shouted, “This is our building! We have the right to remove the mayor!”
“They’re letting our region decay!” a guy growled as he got shoved into a vehicle.
“Vote for Jareth Thurio! He’ll fix everything!” someone else vehemently declared. Noah bristled at this comment- not only did that reprobate assault the love of his life, but he encouraged his followers to behave violently! He doubted that he would get permitted to have the honor of capturing him for his influence in this chaos, but he savored the concept of Jareth finally facing accountability!
A detainee in Chief Argus’s custody held his frozen hands in front of himself and griped, “This is brutality!”
Chief Argus disagreed, “You tried to kill somebody I deputized! You were lucky you didn’t get worse!”
“You deputized the Mystics?” the detainee cried out incredulously. “Did everyone hear that? He deputized the witches!”
“The takeover has begun!” a lady nearby boldly asserted. Chief Argus groaned as he continued to escort this captive.
Out of the corner of his eye, Noah observed Laverna documenting this affair. Even though her composure was much meeker, it still incensed Noah to have her in his sight. He marched over and inquired, “What exactly are you gonna tell your audience about this?”
Flustered, Laverna uncertainly replied, “Uh… I dunno!”
Noah advised her, “Think about it carefully! Words have consequences!” He returned to closing up this episode, and Laverna bit her lip from incertitude on how to have her crew go forward.
“She was here!” Michelle assessed with her lids shut.
“Recently?” Kalanie pressed as they walked along a trail leading off of a rocky shore.
Michelle contemplated the matter more, and she determined, “Oh, yes! I can feel her anguish! She was unconscious, but her spirit sensed that she was in danger!”
Kalanie recalled, “This route stretches all the way to Santa Clarita, so Megala’s kidnapper could’ve switched to a different path there that leads to El Poder! Oof! Don’t tell me we’re hoofing it the entire duration!”
“No one is going anywhere!” Sidero proclaimed from the rear of their location. Michelle and Kalanie cringed as they swiveled to meet his gaze, and he smugly roosted himself on the dirt road as he addressed them, “I’ve been staking out the crime scene ‘cause we got reports of someone doing magic behind the rocks. Perhaps they were using it as they were searching for their next victim?
“How would we know? We weren’t there!” Kalanie riposted.
Sidero accosted them, “What did you have against the Water Mystic chieftess? Were you wanting your buddy, Gwyneira, in charge so that you could gain more power, or did she inhibit a scheme you were plotting?”
Kalanie growled, “How dare you, you-!”
“Please, sir!” Michelle appealed to him. “I recognize that you’re frustrated and anxious to put a close to this case, but we’re only here to track down our friend! We-!”
“I’d advise you two to not say anything more without an attorney present,” Sidero recommended.
Michelle blinked in bafflement. “You’re serious!”
Sidero sternly verbalized, “You two are coming with me! I-!”
All of a sudden, Sidero’s jaw froze shut! Michelle and Kalanie gasped, and Beck emerged from the bushes! “Beck! What are you doing? You assaulted a policeman!” Kalanie exclaimed.
“I know! I know! I just couldn’t listen to that crap anymore!” Beck explained. “And I couldn’t let you take the fall for this! I did the spells he described! I was getting frustrated! I wanted to find Megala too! After dealing with that fiasco, I hoped to restore her to her rightful place so that maybe we could deal with Sapiens a little less. No offense to Gwyneira, but I miss the more peaceful days!”
“Don’t we all?” Kalanie tittered. “But, I think those days are done. As long as there are those who seek to disrupt the natural order of things, we won’t get our tranquility restored!”
Beck nodded contemplatively. “That’s a valid argument! …See, that’s why I always admired you! You’re so thoughtful and brilliant!”
Kalanie blushed slightly. “You admire me?”
“Your intelligence, not your looks! Not that you don’t have good looks! Oops! I mean…!” Beck stumbled on his utterance enough that he was sort of glad that Sidero put shackles on his wrists. “I got to go to jail now. Best of luck in finding her!” They watched as Sidero sullenly carted him away.
“What are you grinning at?” Kalanie asked Michelle.
Michelle answered with a giggle, “Nothing!” They resumed their trek through the woods, and Michelle giggled once more. “Still nothing!” she claimed. Kalanie smiled but buried herself in her jacket.
In a cozy sitting room, Noah catechized, “So, Missus Umbra, did your husband ever mention any enemies?”
“No!” Missus Umbra reflectively reported. “Everyone loved Brennan! At least, they used to! With this stupid election coming up, everyone seems to have forgotten him!”
“I didn’t, Missus Umbra! I’ll get the culprit behind this injustice! I swear!” Noah avowed. “If you can recall anything that might be helpful, don’t hesitate to-.”
Noah cut off his own sentence when a roar of applause thundered outside. He peeked out the window, and he caught a glimpse of denizens gathered around a gazebo at a park across the street. To his appall, Jareth was orating, “Democracy is a fickle beast! Not tamed properly, it can prove dangerous!”
Completely outraged, Noah yelled, “Uh-uh! Absolutely not!” As Jareth went on, Noah made a beeline for that spot. He didn’t bother with any courtesies and interrupted, “Knock it off! You got a lot of nerve trolling the widow of the previous treasurer!”
“I had no idea she lived here!” Jareth alleged.
“If you keep harassing her, I’ll arrest you in an instant!” Noah vociferated. “And watch what comes out of your mouth! People believe you, and their beliefs can drive them to do horrendous acts! I’m pretty certain that yesterday showed that!”
Jareth kidded, “Why? What happened yesterday?” He viewed Noah’s glare, so he clarified, “It was a joke! Jeez, you cops don’t like to have fun!” The congregation cackled, and Jareth directed them, “Alright, guys! Let’s move it to the shopping center up the block!” As everybody followed him, Noah gritted his teeth while his head filled with Dawson’s diabolical laughter.3 RepliesEdit
The councilwoman banged her gavel and commanded, “Order! Order! All those in attendance must wait their turn to speak!” A dozen unruly people in the audience begrudgingly sat down and shut their mouths. Once civility was restored, the chairwoman addressed the lady at the podium, “You may continue.”
“Thank you, Councilwoman Bolivar,” the lady responded somewhat nervously as she glanced back to the rowdy group behind her. She cleared her throat, and then she went on, “As I was saying, the road on Margarita Drive is in desperate need of repair! The cracks and potholes bear the risk of-.”
“Oh, who cares?” a male from the rowdy group griped. Councilwoman Bolivar banged her gavel again, and the man protested, “Oh, come on! This crap isn’t important! We have something vital to discuss, and you-!”
Councilwoman Bolivar warned him, “If you interrupt one more time, we’ll throw you out without hearing your proposal! Is that clear?” The male folded his arms and pouted, and Councilwoman Bolivar urged the lady, “Go on!”
The lady seemed rather intimidated by the angry whispers stemming from the rowdy group, so she hastily spouted, “The cracks and potholes are big, and that’s bad! Thank you!”
Councilwoman Bolivar let out an exasperated sigh, and then she somewhat irritably decreed, “Motion to repair Margarita Drive is granted. Next on the docket, Farmer Iris would like to discuss waste removal issues.”
“Councilwoman Bolivar, I’d like to skip my turn and allow these guys to speak.” Farmer Iris eyeballed the rowdy group with trepidation and swiftly sat down.
“Ugh! Fine!” Councilwoman Bolivar gave in. “The council now recognizes Wood You Just for their appeal.”
The male smirked as he and his cohorts approached the podium, and the male adjusted the microphone for his short stature prior to beginning his oration, “Good afternoon! My name is Kesteven Blakely, but everyone calls me K.B. Wood You Just was formed ‘cause a bunch of us have witnessed a grave injustice, and we’re not leaving ‘til this wrong is righted.” Councilwoman Bolivar and the other members looked frightened by the threat of them possibly not leaving, and K.B. seemed pleased to see this. “Today, we bring you irrefutable proof that our fellow Wood Mystic, Radley Brisco, was falsely imprisoned!”
Councilwoman Bolivar refuted that claim, “Radley Brisco confessed to murder to the police, and then he bragged about it at his trial! He’s guilty as charged!”
“You don’t understand!” K.B. snapped. “He was forced to make that confession! This document shows that the LAPD blackmailed him into taking the fall for that murder!”
“Blackmail?” Councilwoman Bolivar puzzled. “What could possibly have been worse than going to prison for multiple homicides?”
K.B. asserted, “Ah ha! I’m glad you asked that! The answer is right in front of you! A retired government official went into the GLADA chatroom and spilled the beans on the plot to relinquish control of the region to the Animal, Air, and Water Tribes! If Radley didn’t comply, they were gonna bulldoze our entire tribal headquarters! He did it to save us!”
The other Wood Mystics heartily concurred with that statement, but the council’s faces remained skeptical. Councilwoman Bolivar stated, “That doesn’t even make sense! Why would the government cancel any plans just to nail a random person for a crime they didn’t commit?”
“They wanna stick us with a bad reputation so our adversaries will be the only ones who can get respected by the public! It’s all about power!” K.B. grew miffed that no one was taking him seriously, so he spat, “Just read it!”
“Yo! I’m a former assistant to the dude who runs the county, and I saw with my own eyes they’re corrupt as hell! They wanna have the wrong peeps run Los Angeles… I’m sorry, is this person supposed to be retirement age?”
K.B. yelled, “Read the whole thing!”
Councilwoman Bolivar refused, “No! This testimony is obviously fraudulent!”
“You’re not being fair!” K.B. vehemently complained. “Our brethren is serving a sentence for something he didn’t do, and you won’t consider evidence that’ll exonerate him!”
“Listen, in case you didn’t already know, anyone can go on the internet and pretend to be whoever they want!” Councilwoman Bolivar educated him. “You can’t use the web as a reliable source! Besides, even if I found your evidence credible, we don’t have the power to pardon anyone!”
K.B. quarreled, “But you can recommend this gets investigated by the District Attorney!”
Councilwoman Bolivar shook her head. “We would never do such a thing based on such flimsy reasoning!”
“Where’s the real mayor?” K.B. fervently demanded.
“He had a medical matter to attend to,” Councilwoman Bolivar informed him. “So, as the pro tempore, it’s up to my judgment on how the council proceeds, and, based on what I’ve seen, my decision is to deny your request.”
One of K.B.’s lackeys muttered, “Didn’t I say they were gonna turn out to be total sympathizers?”
Councilwoman Bolivar inquired, “We’re a what?”
“You’re a witch sympathizer!” she maniacally replied. “You want these evil beings to take over the land! You are-!”
“Oh, this is ridiculous! Leave these chambers or I’ll have you escorted out!” Councilwoman Bolivar directed.
The rowdy group chanted, “Sympathizer! Sympathizer! Sympathizer!” Councilwoman Bolivar motioned for the police in the room to usher the disrupters out, and the majority of the lot continued to shout as they got carried out. K.B. complied, but he kept shooting her acrimonious glares as he walked out.
A couple of reporters had stationed themselves outside, and one of them posed to the ousted party, “What happened in there?”
“We showed the city council proof that exonerates a guiltless man, and they ignored it!” K.B. dramatically announced. “It fits their narrative to have Radley Brisco locked up, so they forced us to vacate the premises without even taking much of a peek at our facts! They pretty much admitted to their sympathizer agenda, and-!”
“Cut the feed!” the reporter instructed his crew. K.B. appeared dumbfounded by this move, so he clarified for him, “What? As journalists, we can’t ethically air untruthful or misleading comments.” As the media members departed from the vicinity, K.B. watched them with a small, sinister smile slowly forming on his visage.
In a backstage area, the director apprehensively expressed, “I dunno, Nova! This doesn’t seem very safe!”
Nova disagreed, “No one knows I’m here! They couldn’t have planned for what they don’t expect!”
“Yeah, but there isn’t much security here!” the director contended. “What if someone takes advantage of your vulnerability and attacks you?”
“I took several judo lessons when I was a little girl,” Nova relayed to him. “A lot of my dance moves come from that, didn’t you know?”
The director maintained his apprehension, “Okay, but the thugs who ambushed you before had weapons that I’m certain they didn’t teach you to disarm in judo…”
Nova ogled at him impatiently, “Oh, come on! Somebody would have to travel all over town with a weapon in the off chance that I coincidentally popped up where they were! I’m probably safer here than I was at Arnav Theatre!”
“If you wanna cancel your tour, I’ll totally understand…” the director very concernedly articulated.
“Weren’t you the one telling me to keep singing ‘cause those radicals were trying to silence me?” Nova countered. “I have to do this! Not just for me, but for my fans who they punished for being in favor of peace and tolerance! Besides, I got my start on small stages like this, it’ll be fun!” The director didn’t seem totally sold, but he nodded in acquiescence and exited those quarters.
As mall patrons went about their business, Nova emerged and spoke, “Hey, everyone! It’s Nova here! I’m raising money to benefit the victims of the concert massacre, so, if you’re a fan of me or simply a fan of love, please, give big!” The spectators were visibly leery at first, and Nova worried she wouldn’t incur enough donations to truly help her cause. This broke her heart to think, but she belted out a lively tune anyway. To her delight, a ton of folks flocked to the spot, and her director’s bin overflowed with cash within minutes of this endeavor!
As Jareth studied his cue cards by a staircase leading up to a platform, a female approached him and grimly proclaimed, “Sir, I have bad news…”
“Can’t it wait ‘til after my speech?” Jareth irritably wondered.
“No! If we don’t discuss this, your numbers will plummet, and you can kiss this campaign goodbye!” the female notified him.
Jareth emitted a frustrated exhale, and then he huffed, “Fine! Go ahead and tell me, Demi!”
Demi revealed, “Nova performed at the Paxton Mall. She promoted a message of togetherness and harmony, and she brought in a lot of dough for the dead guys. Now there’s tons of buzz about this, and a significant portion of your constituents are proposing measures to ensure safety for Mystics and their allies! And, several suggestions have been made about them living in dignity!”
“Shit!” Jareth reacted in an animated dismay. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” He cooled himself down, and then he consoled himself, “You know what, it’s alright! I can still use this speech- I just gotta insert a tidbit about Nova aligning with witches and sympathizers.”
“That’s not gonna work, sir!” Demi disagreed with that premise. “You’ll come off as a dick for not respecting the fallen!”
Jareth groaned, “Ugh! Well, this speech is pointless then!” He tossed his cue cards to her, and he ruminated on this subject. After several seconds, a lightbulb went off in his thoughts. “I’ve got this!” Preceding Demi getting to grill him on it, Jareth strutted up to the platform.
Scores of eager men and women enthusiastically greeted him, and Jareth beamed at them as he strolled over to the microphone. Once the cheers quieted down, Jareth orated, “Good evening,, El Poder! What a beautiful night! At least, it is for Mayor Richardson!” He paused for boos, and then he carried on, “He’s resting easy tonight! He doesn’t even have to physically be present for his bidding to get done! They’re all in compliance with his control!”
“Psst! What are you doing?” Demi hissed. “You’re not running for office in Los Angeles!”
“He doesn’t have to lift a finger so long as Amy Bolivar and her goons issue injunctions on his behalf!” Jareth verbalized as though he hadn’t heard Demi. The masses jeered at that concept, which inspired him to leer. “This is why voting for small offices is crucial! Amy Bolivar, for example, has the authority to decide something as important as a man’s fate! Did you know that? She could’ve helped free an innocent soul from a lifetime in Tesca, and she wouldn’t do it! She wouldn’t even study the evidence brought to overturn his conviction!”
A male in the throng vociferated, “Kill the sympathizer!”
Many shared that view, and Jerrith merrily chuckled, “Now, now! We don’t wanna go that far! Especially when it wouldn’t do much good! Mayor Richardson would still be at large, and he’d replace her with more sycophants! Mayor Richardson is the one who needs to go! If you elect me, I’ll do what I can to keep our town from following in LA’s footsteps! We cannot condone this behavior! Let’s take back our region!”
“You need to discourage violence!” Demi strongly recommended.
“And you need to shut your mouth or you’re fired!” Jareth retorted. “Can you believe it? This gal wants me to act kindly towards the sympathizers! I will not! Radley Brisco deserves justice, and you all deserve a treasurer who takes a hard stand against indecency! This election, vote for me, Jareth Thurio!” The congregation roared in vehement approval of his words, and Jareth brushed past Demi and off the platform.
In the morning, Noah interrogated a clerk, “Did you ever interact with him?”
She recalled, “No! He was pretty silent mostly. And he gave off kinda a weird vibe! Once, I-!”
“Calling all units! Calling all units!” Noah’s radio urgently paged. “We need every available law enforcement officer at LA City Hall immediately!”Leave a ReplyEdit
Gwyneira pulled the hood on her cloak tighter as she crept through the forest. She illuminated her path just enough for her to see what was ahead, and she moved as nimbly as possible. She didn’t have any factual evidence that anyone’s presence may have been there, but her intuition insisted that someone precarious had stationed themselves in the shadows. She followed the orchids once more, but when she arrived at the entrance to the Earth Mystic Tribe, she paused. Something was off- not about them, about the unknown assailant behind her mother’s disappearance. The tribe seemed genuine in their claim that they didn’t approve of Dawson or his cronies’ plans, so it seemed unlikely they would allow anyone to keep a captive there or reside there if they did! However, it didn’t make sense for a person to lead a path to this location if it didn’t hold some key to their crime…
As she pondered this notion, the door on the tree creaked open! Gwyneira hid behind a bush, and while she remained hidden, there was an opening in the branches that allowed her to view what transpired. Kerkunn poked his head out slightly, and he glanced around at his surroundings. Gwyneira felt intensely intrigued about his purpose in emerging. She couldn’t discern whether or not he had detected her movements or if he had some other motivation that drew him out there. If he hadn’t come to deal with her, she couldn’t fathom what would have possessed him to leave his land so late at night. Suddenly, his eyes lingered in her direction! She panicked slightly and readied herself to use self-defense if necessary, but to her astonishment, he continued to scope the scenery! Seconds later, he ducked back inside and closed the door! She became quite confused and wondered why his vigilance had manifested and disappeared so rapidly.
After about a minute or so, she deemed it safe enough to abandon her protective layer. Logic would presume that he suspected that an intrusion occurred and left when it hadn’t, but something deep within her told Gwyneira that he had more cause to go outside than a mere investigation of a trespasser of some sort. She felt inclined to satiate her curiosity about this, but she couldn’t waste her time on this matter since it had nothing to do with her mission to uncover facts about her mother’s kidnapping. She was ready to continue, but she didn’t know where she would go to do that until…
A twig above her began to sway as though it were caught up in a circular draft, but currently, no wind had been blowing. As the wood twirled, Gwyneira understood that Kerkunn aimed to communicate something to her, and it confirmed her theory that a perilous entity roamed the nearby territory somewhere since he wasn’t speaking to her directly. When the sprig ceased its activity, it pointed to the left side. Gwyneira could tell that he was giving her the guidance that she had sought, and while she couldn’t ascertain any hints of a significant commodity existing close to them, she was positive that something was in their proximity. Gwyneira nodded to portray her comprehension of this hint, and she avowed to thank Kerkunn when this was all over.
The ground beneath her was fairly treacherous, but Gwyneira charged forth with vigor. It didn’t appear to be a frequently used trail, but she was sure that Kerkunn wouldn’t have sent her this way if it weren’t for a valid reason. Her dress caught onto a stick, and for a second, she worried that the sound had given her away. Nothing occurred as a result of that though, so she went forward still. The site seemed rather empty initially, but she soon spotted a rooftop ahead of her!
Gwyneira tiptoed towards the building, but it was enveloped by enough plants that she couldn’t see the exterior. She frowned, and she inwardly debated on how to proceed when she unexpectedly beheld an item that made it so clear…
She examined it more closely, and it was, indeed, much like what she produced when she created her artwork in the Badlands! In her mind, this could only signify one thing- her mother was close by! She scoured the floor for more, but she didn’t find any. Her work had not been in vain though- she chanced upon the entrance to this estate! It appeared to be a fairly ordinary vacation lodge, and with all of the lights off, she guessed that it was vacant. Kerkunn recommended that she visit this establishment though, so she set a foot onto the acreage…
“Get away from my home!” Jareth bellowed as he pulled Gwyneira back. He pinned her to a tree, and he was able to recognize her from this vantage point. “You! You dare to trespass onto my property!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was yours!” Gwyneira apologized. She delivered her words truthfully, but she also strove not to show this thug any fear.
Jareth didn’t appear appeased at all. “What were you doing here?”
Gwyneira didn’t let herself get intimidated by his fury, but it was troublesome. She didn’t want to engage in any violence, but she didn’t feel confident that she could calm him down enough to release her from his grip. She wished that she had brought Noah, he was so adept at charming people enough to relinquish their stronghold in a variety of situations! She resolved to negotiate with him, but she didn’t predict success in this predicament!
“You didn’t run into this place by accident!” Jareth frantically insisted. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve been combing the region to find my mother! I didn’t anticipate encountering any home here let alone yours! My only interest is in reuniting with the only parent I’ve got right now!” Gwyneira explained herself in such a fashion that she meant to induce pity in him so he would lessen his animosity, and she gazed at him pathetically in an attempt to iterate that sentiment.
Jareth, unfortunately, was not quelled by this tactic. “Oh, right! Out of all the locations in LA County you could’ve picked, you just happened to pick where I live?”
Gwyneira adamantly asserted, “Well, she wasn’t anywhere near Tempest Shore, and these woods are close to another crime scene, so it seemed natural to explore it! It never crossed my mind to look for you! And I would’ve estimated your residence to be a posh pad somewhere in the El Poder city limits! Believe me, I’m flabbergasted that you and I collided in these quarters!”
“What did you see?” Jareth pressed her.
“Nothing!” Gwyneira honestly attested. “Seriously! I got the impression that this cabin was abandoned!”
Jareth grilled her, “What did you hear? Feel? Touch?”
Gwyneira repeated, “Nothing!” She began to wonder if she should have noticed more, but she was not foolish enough to voice that concern aloud!
“Alright, fine! I accept your claims of innocence.” Jareth loosened his clasp on her slightly. “But, if I hear reports that paint me in a bad light anywhere, your mom will return and start searching for you!”
“What could I possibly say negatively about you?” Gwyneira queried with as much sincerity as she could muster. It was truly a chore not to utter any snark to this reprobate at this juncture! Everything about this interaction was alarming, and his abode screamed of sketchiness! However, for the sake of everyone leaving this altercation in one piece, she bit her tongue.
Jareth released her in a manner that caused her to tumble into the rocky debris adjacent to his lawn, and he upbraided her, “Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot! I know what game you and your boyfriend are playing! You don’t want me to win, but I refuse to lose!” He trudged toward his front stoop, and he vociferated, “I’m glad your mom is gone! One less bitch to bother with!”
That last sentence riled Gwyneira, but her instincts thwarted her from behaving rashly. She hurried from that sector as fast as she could, but she was burning inside during the entire duration. The insult was loathsome enough, but more importantly, it was obvious that Jareth had a secret vital enough to compel him to threaten her! She acknowledged that he may have fretted about campaign-related dirt, but, somehow, she envisaged that his ire formed over graver feats than that! She wasn’t absolutely steadfast that this related to her mother though. She obsessively desired to uncover what he was protecting, but she couldn’t entertain that possibility safely! As she passed the entrance to the Earth Mystic Tribe again, she deliberated on whether or not Kerkunn had sent her on this undertaking as an assistance or a trap!
“Dawson! In my office! Now!” Chief Argus snapped before Noah could even sit down in his cubicle. Noah obeyed his command, but he cringed while doing so. He dreaded the delay in his duties since he was involved in such a high-stakes venture, but he supposed that this was inevitable, so he hoped dealing with it early would expedite the tedium of this process.
“What did she say about me?” Noah catechized.
Chief Argus puzzled, “Huh?”
Dawson elaborated, “Margaret and I interviewed Laverna Maximon, and she turned it into some hogwash about corruption, right? Whatever she released from that recording isn’t true! She’s angry ‘cause we accused her of being involved in-.” Chief Argus plopped a manila envelope onto his desk, and Noah asked, “What’s that?”
“Your new case potentially,” Chief Argus gruffly answered. “You have two minutes to explain your operation from last night!”
“What operation?” Noah questioned. “After I got to my apartment, I fed my cat and I crashed onto my bed! I didn’t even get a chance to check my messages! I-.” Preceding his ability to finish that sentence, a cloud of water whooshed in with a piece of parchment on it. Noah’s brows furrowed- he knew that it originated from Gwyneira, but it seemed so unlike her to interrupt him during his shift! He seized it immediately, and after he read it, he groaned, “Oh no!”
Chief Argus inquired, “What is it?”
Noah filled him in, “Gwyneira was in the forest near the swamp, and she unintentionally set foot onto Jareth Thurio’s property! He threatened her not to reveal what she witnessed there. But what did she witness? Oh, I wish I could send a letter through magic like she can! I better call her and…” Something clicked for him, and he posed to Chief Argus, “Is this the operation you were referring to?”
“Potentially.” Chief Argus folded his arms as he addressed Noah. “Why did you send a civilian to badger a suspect?”
“I didn’t!” Noah emphatically refuted. “I wouldn’t have sent anyone there without a warrant, and I definitely wouldn’t have sent her into a dark woodland alone! I’m gonna have to have a chat with her about that actually! Ugh, the number of things that could’ve gone wrong…! It hurts my heart to picture it!”
Chief Argus quizzed him, “So, why is Jareth Thurio complaining that you two are harassing him?”
Noah grumbled, “That crook is trying to turn himself into the victim to get himself out of this bind! The guy’s a hateful prick, but I’d never resort to any illegal methods of silencing him! Come on, Chief! I wouldn’t risk throwing away twenty years of service over this!”
“And it’s only a coincidence your Mystic girlfriend got herself involved in a case where another Mystic might be involved?” Chief Argus stared at him sternly.
“Yes!” Noah affirmed. He recalled that Gwyneira previously said that there was no such thing as a coincidence, but he wasn’t about to bring that up! He wasn’t totally lying- he didn’t esteem that Gwyneira would’ve gone rogue for this case! Perhaps another one though… “She probably got impatient with Sidero’s progress! She really misses her mother, so I’m guessing she was out searching for her when she wandered into Jareth’s yard.”
Noah was relieved to see Chief Argus appearing to be contemplating this possibility. “Sidero theorized that Megala was the murderer in Brennan Umbra’s homicide.”
After rolling his eyes, Noah remarked, “If he finds a shred of evidence against her, I’ll arrest her myself!” Chief Argus grew shocked by this pronouncement, and Noah went on, “Listen, there’s a lot of prejudice and intolerance going around. It’s spreading into our politics, and it’s even seeped into our station! A lot of people are gonna act out of a deeply embedded toxicity, and there’s just gonna be a lot more acts of animosity until more individuals choose peace over anything else!”
Chief Argus considered this concept for a moment, and then he relented, “Alright, I believe you! You can stay on this case, but don’t bother Jareth Thurio ‘til you’ve got some irrefutable facts to arm yourself with! What are your plans for today?”
“I’m gonna check my answering machine, and then I’m gonna interrogate some of Brennan Umbra’s associates,” Noah relayed to him.
“Okay. Get out of here!” Chief Argus calmly dismissed.
Noah rushed back to the bullpen as quickly as he could. As he settled onto his chair, he froze. He wanted to hear if Gwyneira spoke about this incident, but his brain was reeling as he pondered what Jareth was trying to keep concealed…2 RepliesEdit
“GLADA forever!” a man with a machete ardently shouted while Officer Letes swiftly cuffed him.
“Political prisoner!” a woman in the crowd hollered.
A guy next to her yelled, “He’s innocent!”
Officer Letes watched as that section of the throng had to get forcibly held back by the riot police, but when he glanced over to the other side, he observed a lot of crying and shaking. It stunned him to see such polar opposites to the same event, but he couldn’t dwell on that much- he had a job to do! He got onto the radio and desperately paged, “Chief Argus! Send the entire homicide division! It’s a bloodbath out here!”
As Noah ducked under the crime scene tape, he heard a familiar voice call out his name, “Detective Raymond!” Noah turned to see Laverna standing there with a camera operator and a microphone, and she quickly pressed him, “Word on the street is that there are at least fifteen dead bodies on the roads neighboring Arnav Theatre. Can you confirm this?”
“How did you get here before us?” Noah eyed her suspiciously.
“I… Uh…” Laverna’s focus fluctuated wildly. “I came to cover Nova’s concert… you know… just in case something happened…” Noah would’ve guessed that she was hiding something even if he was a rookie! This must have been evident on his face since Laverna added, “I didn’t see anything! My team and I were packing our stuff up in our van when we heard screaming! Look, we’re an old newspaper but a new broadcast channel- I was simply trying to gain an edge to build credibility for The Mink Observer!”
Noah still sensed that she had a secret up her sleeve, so he ordered her, “Don’t go far.” She cringed, but he walked away prior to her getting to say another word.
At the peak of dawn, Noah and Margaret headed to the same area, and Margaret gratefully regarded him, “Thanks for lending a hand with this one! Every other scene had tons of witnesses and the assailants still on the scene, but this one… this one’s different…” They viewed three blanketed corpses in front of a row of apartments, and Margaret filled him in, “Three males with large lacerations on their necks, but the wounds are clean as if the cuts originated from projectiles. Pretty different, huh?”
“Different but very familiar!” Noah remarked. “I can understand why you sought me out specifically now!”
“That’s not the only reason,” Margaret divulged as she indicated to a spot nearby.
Officer Jones spoke to a set of crying parents, a woman consoling two small children, and Mayor Froth, who stood there as still as a statue with a blank expression on his visage. “My witness from the Brennan Umbra murder!” Noah noted.
Margaret informed him, “One of the victims is his son.”
“Interesting…” Noah had seen plenty of family members in shock over their loved one’s demise, but this didn’t look like a surprise. Noah could have sworn he was seeing a sensation of guilt, so he declared, “I gotta talk to him!” He approached Mayor Froth, and he asked, “How are you doing?”
“I told him not to come!” Mayor Froth hollowly answered. “I begged him to transfer to the community college in El Poder, but he insisted on staying in L.A. He was having too much fun. I tried to show him recent articles from The Mink Observer about Mayor Richmond’s lax policies on Mystics leading to an increase in crime, but he wouldn’t listen! It didn’t help that Brennan was always encouraging him to stay since he graduated from Emerson! Then, when he revealed that Nova was set to perform blocks away from his dorm, oh, forget about it!”
Noah discerned, “You seem to be harboring some resentment towards your late colleague!”
Mayor Froth gave him a biting glare. “Are you a father?” Noah shook his head, so he went on, “Try it sometime! If anything ever happens to your baby, call me and tell me I’m wrong for feeling this way! Excuse me, I gotta inform his mother her son is dead!” Mayor Froth marched out of the locale, and Noah wondered if he was too fast in naming Jareth as his prime suspect.
“Where did you park?” the nurse wheeling Kalanie queried Michelle.
“Uh… Just a bit down the lane…” Michelle fibbed.
The nurse halted the chair and relayed to Michelle, “You’ll have to pull up here. I can’t release the patient on foot.”
Kalanie objected, “I can walk!”
“Physically, yes. Legally, no,” the nurse responded.
“Code blue! Room eight-four-eight! Code Blue!” a loud voice urgently announced on the intercom.
The nurse sprang into action over this matter immediately, but she instructed Kalanie and Michelle, “Wait here!”
Once the nurse was out of sight, Kalanie got up and grabbed Michelle’s wrist. “Let’s hurry!” Michelle seemed alarmed, so Kalanie justified herself, “What are they gonna do? Arrest me for leaving after I got discharged? “ Michelle still appeared reluctant, but Kalanie dragged her out the door.
“How’s your head?” Michelle inquired while they traveled along the sidewalk.
“Fine!” Kalanie assured her. Michelle looked skeptical, so she clarified, “Alright, it’s a little sore, but I’ll be fine! Where are we going?”
Michelle let her know, “There’s a field behind the library we can use. But, it seems advisable that I should take charge of transportation. Your method might remove your bandages or even your stitches!”
Kalanie argued, “Oh, come on! I don’t even get a hair out of place!” Michelle remained adamant, so Kalanie relented, “If it’ll make you feel better, we’ll use your method! But make sure whatever you summon takes me to my tribe- I’m not ready to return to my apartment!”
“I don’t blame you! Do you have any allergies?” Michelle canvassed her.
“Shellfish. Why?” Kalanie pondered. Preceding Michelle getting to respond to that, they went onto the small avenue where the library was situated and observed that a lot of vehicles surrounded the building. “Huh! I’ve never seen so many people interested in reading material!”
Michelle suggested, “Maybe we should try somewhere else.”
Kalanie disagreed, “What are the odds there’s a bunch of folks on the outside of the library?” Michelle didn’t become totally persuaded, but she followed Kalanie nonetheless.
As it turned out, a bunch of individuals had gathered on the grassy quarters bordering a little forest behind the library! Kalanie shot Michelle an exasperated contortion, and Michelle threw her hands up defensively. “Hey! It’s not as though I wanted to be correct on this!” She espied some smoke billowing from the center of the congregation, and it really drew out her intrigue. “What are they doing?”
“Let’s go find out!” Kalanie brandished a pen that came from her pocket and made a beeline for the masses.
“No! You’re on medical leave!” Michelle grabbed her arm to prevent her from going forward.
Kalanie shook her off. “The truth doesn’t rest!” Kalanie advanced towards the horde, and Michelle closely tailed her.
A man stood above the pyre and displayed an ornate tome. “The Seven Feathers… Apparently, the hero of the story is a Mystic!”
“Burn it! Burn it! Burn it!” the spectators chanted. The man dropped it into the fire, and everyone cheered.
“They’re incinerating books!” Kalanie conveyed to her pen.
A lady overheard her, and she emphatically iterated, “Of course we are! We can’t allow our kids to absorb dangerous ideas!”
The lady snarled, and after she got a closer inspection of Kalanie, she proclaimed, “It’s that reporter who got Dunstan locked up!”
“Get her!” an angry person vociferated. The majority of their comrades agreed with that sentiment.
“Stand back!” Michelle commanded.
A girl sneered, “Or what? You’ll use your stupid protective spell? You can’t shield yourself forever!” Her cronies cackled at that.
Michelle pressed her palms together and pointed them to the sky. A powerful wind enveloped the surface around them, and, all of a sudden, dozens of white birds flew into this sector! The force of their gale extinguished the blaze, and their pursuit of the miscreants sent everybody running. Michelle targeted the woods, and a bear charged into the tumult. It lowered itself before Michelle and Kalanie, and they climbed on. As they rode away from the fracas, Michelle swore, “My avian friends will leave in a few minutes!”
Kalanie didn’t care so much about the radicals’ fate, but she didn’t dare voice her lack of concern for the attackers to Michelle! Instead, she apologized, “Sorry for getting us into that!”
Michelle shrugged. “At least we saved some knowledge from getting destroyed!” Kalanie grinned at that concept as the bear carried them deep into the thicket.
“Have a seat,” Laverna gestured toward two chairs.
“This is a television studio!” Margaret gasped as she surveyed all of the wires and lights. “When you invited us to meet you at your headquarters, I assumed you had an office!”
Laverna sat on her cushy chair behind the desk with an air of imperiousness. “I do have an office! But do you really believe I’d permit an interview that I couldn’t use to my advantage? Oh, don’t worry- it’s not live! I’m not stupid! I know you might have some questions that could make me look bad! If you don’t like it, tough! These are my terms for cooperation!”
It incensed Noah to watch her rapturously swivel on her perch, so he grabbed it, gazed at her directly in her eyes, and sternly stated, “It’s not up to you whether or not you cooperate in this investigation! You’re a suspect in multiple homicides, and if you don’t voluntarily answer our questions, we’ll get a subpoena and compel you to come to the station! How would that look if all your peers were there to film you entering there like that?”
After her mug soured into a pronounced frown, Laverna meekly petitioned him, “Can I still record it?”
“Since your attorney isn’t present, I highly recommend it!” Noah affirmed.
“Wait, wait, wait! You’re talking attorneys and homicides! This is serious?” Laverna paled as they positioned themselves before her.
Margaret briefed her, “You can eliminate yourself from our list if you can provide an honest account that can be corroborated.”
Laveran exclaimed, “This is crazy! All I do is report the news!”
“That’s debatable!” Noah shot back. “You’ve been broadcasting a lot of rumors and conspiracy theories…”
“Ah! So, that’s what this is about! You’re mad ‘cause I’m making you look bad!” Laveran began to regain her swagger.
Margaret slammed a copy of The Mink Observer onto the desk. “This is your publication where you have an article describing the dangers of Mystics’ integration into the community.” She thrust a piece of paper onto the surface next to it. “This is a copy of a conversation between the admin of the GLADA chatroom and their followers. They use nearly identical language- coincidence?”
Laverna disputed this, “Excuse me! I didn’t manufacture any of these ideas! I simply publish them! I’m only trying to be fair and discuss both sides of these issues!”
“Both sides?” Noah cried out incredulously. “There isn’t more than one side! There’s only the truth and not the truth!”
“The truth is subjective!” Laverna contended. “Some citizens live in a different reality than the rest of us! I didn’t create this monster, I’m merely profiting off of it!”
Margaret catechized, “So, you’re okay with ripping apart the fabric of society as long as you wear the best cloth?”
Laverna’s lips twisted in a smidgen of shame, but she did not seek forgiveness for her actions. “I… present a variety of concepts, but I don’t direct anyone to commit violence! Once I put a story out there, I can’t control what anyone does with it!”
“But, how far would you go to grab a sensational headline?” Noah pressed her. “Don’t give me any more innocent bullshit! You beat law enforcement to a crime scene- you got the notion to do that from somewhere!”
“It was an anonymous tip!” Laverna unwillingly confessed. “I didn’t know there’d be a massacre, they just said it’d be huge! And I didn’t even get the call, ask my secretary! I don’t have a minute to spare for chatrooms either! I run a studio and a newspaper, I rely on someone else to go through my emails and stuff! There! Can we be finished now?”
Noah decreed, “Get us the tipster’s phone number, and we’ll keep in touch with you.” Laverna slumped on her furniture in defeat.
As they left that location, Margaret posed to Noah, “What do you think?”
“I think the mastermind could be anyone at this point!” After Noah made that verbalization, he heard Dawson’s maniacal laughter ringing out in his head. “Or maybe that’s exactly what they want us to think…”2 RepliesEdit
Lynn took a deep breath and entered the building. It bore the appearance of a small video rental establishment that recently shut down. Its shelves were pushed to the back, but a lot of old movie posters still clung to the wall. Lynn stared at the interior in amusement; the eye-catching film promotions were misleading to the truly dark occurrences getting perpetrated by the new owner of this establishment! She saw that a couple of campaign flyers got dispersed throughout the vicinity, and their generic appearance didn’t seem very persuasive. It sort of perplexed Lynn that this guy was somehow the front-runner for this race!
“What do you want?” a middle-aged man barked at her from behind a glass counter with an empty till.
“Hi! I’m, like, here to volunteer!” Lynn chirped in a voice that was a couple of octaves higher than her normal tone. As Noah listened to this transaction on the receiver radio, he couldn’t help but feel impressed by her talent at undercover work, and he began to wonder if his doubts about the possibility of success with this operation were unfounded.
The man seemed surprised at this development. “You are?”
Lynn cheerily articulated, “Yeah! My sorority has our Helping Hands Week going on currently, and since I’m a poly-sci major, I came here! A bunch of my sisters are at Becky’s family’s stables, but when I heard I’d have to scoop up horse poop, I’m like, ew! No thanks!”
The man maintained his skepticism, but one of his peers came over and elbowed him. “What are you doing? Don’t kick out the hot blonde!”
“She has the eyes of a witch sympathizer,” the man whispered to him. Luckily for Noah, he didn’t have the capacity for a lower volume!
“Dude! Why are you checking out her eyes?” his peer probed.
The man relented, “Alright! Come on in!” He lifted a small barrier, and Lynn clapped as she went inside.
About half a dozen individuals of various ages were parked on the floor stuffing envelopes. She jovially greeted them, “Hi! I’m Josie!” It stunned her that almost no one responded to her. A couple of men ogled her with a salacious interest, but nobody spoke to her. She didn’t let this awkwardness deter her though as she found a spot to roost herself on and queried, “Okie dokie! So, what are we doing here?”
“Here! Stuff these envelopes with pamphlets,” the front desk man huffed as he plopped a box before her. “Think you can handle that, sweetheart?”
“If you can’t, I’d be happy to pitch in!” the amorous peer offered.
The front desk man pushed him away. “Don’t harass her! This campaign has gotten enough pigs paying attention to us, we don’t need more!” The amorous peer defeatedly returned to his station.
The group worked in silence for a minute, and Lynn took advantage of this quiet to study the material at her disposal. It had a picture of a woman she didn’t recognize dressed as a sorceress, and Jareth was at the other end snapping a broomstick in half. Only so Noah would have an idea of what she was seeing, she spoke up, “Oh my gosh! This is cute! So on brand for Halloween!”
“That’s not a Halloween scene!” a woman snapped. “That’s a profound statement on Jareth Thurio’s stance against the witches! His opponent, Keddy Manavi, is a total sympathizer!”
“What do you mean by sympathizer?” Lynn petitioned her.
The woman snorted, “Huh! They’re not teaching you the truth at your college apparently!”
Another lady filled Lynn in, “Keddy Manavi is siding with the magical heathens who wanna take over society! That’s why we depicted her in a witchy costume. We want the people of El Poder to know where she stands!”
“Wow! She said she wants to support those jerks?” Lynn inquired.
“Well, she didn’t actually say that,” an older fellow replied. “But she wouldn’t denounce them either, so we figured we could still run with that angle.”
Lynn feigned confusion, “But, why wouldn’t she wanna denounce anyone who wants to destroy society?”
The older fellow gladly filled her in, “The witches have tricked a lot of idiots into buying the claim that these so-called Mystics are the victims! Magic is a dark art, and they said their souls to obtain these powers so they can annihilate us all!”
“Gosh! That’s scary!” Lynn reacted with aghast. “It’s awesome Jareth Thurio is doing his part to stop all this! But… I dunno, it doesn’t seem like enough! It’s not like being treasurer of El Poder can prevent all this destruction from unfolding!”
“You gotta join the GLADA chatroom, Josie!” an elderly female advised her. “GLADA has all kinds of plans in the works! Just be careful though- Dunstan was impatient, and he got himself arrested! Apparently, he attacked that reporter while she was on the phone with a pig! What an idiot!”
Noah shifted in his seat- after this was all done, he would have to confess to Lynn she made the correct call with him not being in the room with them during this mission! It was maddening to hear them speak of Kalanie’s attempted murder so casually! He would’ve squirmed at the reference to himself too! He had to agree with their point about that moron’s mindset during the assault though! He leaned in to listen to the rest of the conversation with great interest because he predicted that Lynn was on the verge of getting them to reveal something highly relevant!
Lynn remarked, “Surely, GLADA came up with better plans than that, didn’t they?”
“Of course they did!” the older fellow affirmed. “We’re working on getting some of these alleged heroes in trouble without getting our fingerprints on it!”
“How are you gonna do that?” Lynn asked.
The elderly female answered, “It’s nothing that’d get them in legal peril, but it’d persuade the public not to trust them! You see, we have this white powder…”
All of a sudden, an office door busted open, and Jareth burst out with a look of pure acrimony etched all over his visage! He seethed, “You fools! Never trust strangers with your secrets!”
“She seems alright though!” the amorous peer objected.
“Oh, you think so, huh?” Jareth stomped over to Lynn. Noah sat at the ready- he wouldn’t leave his vehicle until she indicated she was in true danger, but it seemed obvious that a need for rescue was imminent!
Jareth picked Lyn up by her shirt collar, and he patted her underneath her collarbone. Lynn rather anxiously catechized, “How are you doing, pumpkin?” Noah withdrew his weapon and bolted out of his car.
After throwing her to the ground, Jareth confirmed, “Yup! There’s a wire there!”
The campaign volunteers gasped, and Lynn challenged him, “How did you know that?” Jareth glared at her for having the audacity to enquire about such a subject, and Lynn knew that she had struck a nerve since he refused to provide her with a response. A thought instantly hit her, and while a part of her realized it was an enormous risk to bring this up, she couldn’t resist grilling him, “Is it ‘cause it’s metal? Do you have a connection with this earthy substance?” Jareth’s lips curled up in a snarl, and Lynn mentally prepared herself to evade whatever advances he had in store for her…
“Freeze! Hands up!” Noah commanded as he aimed his armament at Jareth.
“Is that a taser?” Jareth eyeballed Noah’s weaponry peculiarly.
Noah smirked. “Uh-huh! No gun, no bullets, no manipulation from Earth Mystics.” It pleased him that Jareth’s expression grew far less confident upon hearing this, and as his cronies complied with his command, Noah was eager to witness how Jareth would wriggle out of this predicament…
Jareth seemed worried initially, but he abruptly let out a noise of annoyance. “This is harassment! You don’t like my viewpoints, so you’re doing anything you can to trap me!”
“We got proof of a conspiracy!” Noah argued.
“They did stuff, without a doubt! But, you have no proof I had knowledge of any of this!” Jareth folded his arms triumphantly.
The front desk man protested, “Hey! You can’t do this to us!”
Jareth shot back, “Complain all you want! I gotta recruit more election staff!” He returned to the office and slammed the door, and Noah gawked at him furiously. It was seriously astounding that someone with such obvious involvement couldn’t get convicted of any of his infractions!
“Damn!” the director bitterly lamented as he peeked at the quick change area backstage.
“If she’s not coming, I’m going home!” A backup dancer put her hands on her sparkly donned hips as she aired her opinion, and her coworkers heartily shared her sentiments.
The director assured them, “She’ll be here! Just stay in your places!” The dancers gazed at him skeptically, but they complied. As soon as the director turned around, he gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to lose his cool, but resisting that urge was growing less and less tempting…
Before he could leave the staging quarters, the stage manager tapped his shoulder and demanded, “Where the hell is she?”
“She’s around here somewhere!” the director irately conveyed. The stage manager didn’t seem convinced, so he added, “Gawd, give the kid a break! She’s been through hell, so forgive her if she needs a few minutes to compose herself!”
“Forgive her?” the stage manager repeated dumbfoundingly. “The show starts in five minutes! The theatre is sold out, that’d be a shit-ton of tickets to refund! And we’re not gonna get a refund on the extra security we paid for! What the f are-?”
The director adamantly reaffirmed, “She’ll be there, alright! Calm down, and let me go get her!” He marched into the hallway prior to the stage manager getting to argue further, and as the director stomped his way down the corridor, he fumed that she put him in this position. He furiously thought that she had better have a valid excuse for the grief she was putting him through!
After swinging the door open, the director bellowed, “Nova! Get your butt out there and-!” He espied Nova sitting on the floor with her arms cradling her legs, and he became very alarmed. “My gawd! Are you okay?”
“I can’t do it!” Nova reported to him in a barely audible timbre.
“What are you talking about?” The director’s skin paled to observe Nova in such a fragile condition. He sat next to her, but he was sort of afraid to touch her in case he inadvertently set her off. He peered at her tear-stained cheeks, and he reminded her, “You’re Nova! You’ve sold over two hundred million records, you’ve performed in forty-five countries, you’ve made sixty-one music videos! You can do anything!”
Nova ruefully disagreed, “I can’t tonight! I… I dunno! I have this really bad feeling about this gig! I should just cancel this tour…”
The director dared to put an empathetic hand on her shoulder, and thankfully, she didn’t get triggered! He couldn’t allow this extraordinary talent to quit at the top of her game, so he consoled her, “Nova, if you don’t do this concert, you’re letting them win! Don’t you see- this is exactly what those thugs wanted from you! They were trying to silence you! You can’t permit them to gain a victory here! Don’t give in to your anxiety! You gotta show them what you’re made of!”
“You’re right!” Nova accepted his argument. “I survived, and they’ve gotta know it!”
“Five more minutes!” the director snapped at the stage manager. The stage manager hesitantly left, and the director instructed Nova, “Touch up your makeup, and go put on a helluva show!”
Nova determinedly freshened up, and when she got to her platform, she still had an ill sensation at the pit of her stomach. She ignored that, and as the platform rose to meet her audience, the roar of their jubilee invigorated her senses! As she belted out a high note, she couldn’t understand why her gut was gnawing at her! Everything appeared as solid as ever…
As three friends strolled down the street, one boy exclaimed, “That was amazing! I’ll be deaf for a week, but it was worth it!”
“Dude, she’s the bomb!’ the second boy gleefully commented.
“What?” the first boy joked with his hand cupping his ear.
The third boy merrily verbalized, “I could die happy tonight!”
A hooded man emerged from behind a lamppost and growled, “That’s nice to know!” Swords emerged from his palms, and the boys screamed as the blades zoomed toward them…1 ReplyEdit
“Wow!” Robin exclaimed as she observed the large pool of blood that trickled across the simple but elegant living room. “It’s amazing that Kalanie survived this attack!”
“Yeah, but she still has to undergo some intense surgery,” Lynn sadly conversed as she scoped the area out. “And we’ll have to watch out for some cognitive decline due to where she got injured. She… Don’t touch that!”
Noah withdrew his hands from the tall, decorative vase he was about to open, and as he threw his hands in the air, he anxiously objected, “I’m sorry, but do you really expect me to stand here and do nothing while my friend is hurting and her assailant is still out there?”
Lynn insisted, “Yes! You have to, you’re a witness in this case! Technically, you’re not even supposed to be at the crime scene!”
“Well, it’s not like I can take my buddies to get some celebratory drinks after a thing like this!” Noah shuddered at his recent memory. “I knew it was a bad idea to do anything festive for my birthday! I probably lured her to her killer!”
“You did her a favor!” Lynn disagreed with him. “She’s lucky someone caught this incident! You being on the phone with her probably made the culprit leave in a hurry, and you know what happens when culprits do that! He or she made a mistake, and we can use that to find them and make them pay!”
Noah acquiesced to her logic, “You’re right! I constantly tell people in my cases that it isn’t their fault, but it’s so hard to not blame myself here! I’ve ruffled so many feathers that they’re gonna go after everyone I care about!”
Robin argued, “You’re making an assumption here! Trespassers ambush the occupants of a building for lots of reasons! Like, it could have been a robbery gone wrong, a hate crime, an attempted rape…” She discovered a small piece of paper near the site of her DNA collection, and she groaned, “Or maybe it’s related to the War of the Mystics after all!”
“Let me see!” Noah demanded.
“Bag it and tag it first!” Lynn ordered.
As Robin marked her evidence, she muttered, “I thought this guy was smarter than this!” She emitted an exasperated sigh as she handed it over to Noah.
Noah’s intense curiosity propelled him to snatch it up voraciously, and his pulse quickened as he read the content of the business card. “The campaign headquarters of Jareth Thurio! Of course! I never could trust that son of a bitch!”
“Is he the Earth Mystic?” Robin wondered.
“I dunno! Maybe!” Noah responded. “He’s connected to Brennan Umbra’s murder, and he uses a lot of the same language as Dawson and his supporters, but it’s hard to say if he’s the mastermind or merely a sycophant! I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when we question his election staff!”
Lynn queried, “We? Oh, yeah! Our cases are connected now!”
Noah put on some gloves and delightfully declared, “Yes! And given that fact, I can examine the crime scene as much as I please now!” Lynn smiled as she shook her head, and he cheekily grinned at her prior to turning his attention back to that decorative vase. He didn’t expect to chance upon anything significant, but…
As soon as he lifted the lid, a person emerged from the vessel with a hammer swinging at Noah! Noah evaded his assault, and the manner in which the man lunged caused him to lose his balance and topple over! The two women screamed while the vase fell down and shattered, and Noah immediately apprehended him. “No! Please, don’t!” the man whimpered.
“You expect me to show you mercy?” Noah cried out in amazement. “You certainly didn’t give your victim any!”
“This wasn’t supposed to occur!” the man wailed. “I only wanted to talk to her! I was gonna get her and the other witches to confess to heresy, and if they didn’t comply, I was gonna break their knees! I never meant to seriously hurt anyone, but then she got that call, and I just panicked!”
Noah surmised, “You’re a member of GLADA, aren’t you?”
The man confirmed, “Yes! That’s why I volunteered to help that candidate, but it didn’t feel like enough! Someone had to do something, didn’t they? I mean, they’re destroying society, aren’t they?” Noah could discern so many aspects of that dialogue that he could have disputed, but his fervor made him at a loss for words. He gazed at Robin and Lynn for a response, but all they could do was gawk at the man with faces as pale as ghosts!
Gwyneira sat at a desk staring at a single document surrounded by lofty piles of them. Her expression became increasingly frustrated, and eventually, she mumbled to herself, “I just don’t remember how much of this we need! What did we order in the past? There’s gotta be a reference for this somewhere…”
“Acting Chieftess!” a woman close to her age entered into the room.
“Yes, Brook?” Gwyneria addressed her while still rifling through the stacks.
Brook inquired, “Have you signed off on that press release yet?”
Gwyneira replied, “Not yet. I’ll get to it soon!”
“How soon is soon?” Brook pressed her.
“I don’t know! Soon!” Gwyneira strove not to snap at anyone in her community, but it was difficult to avoid it when she found herself in the middle of important tasks and others constantly interrupted her to badger her about trivial matters! She had no memory of her mother ever losing her patience, and she now regretted not learning how she managed to do that!
Brook clearly did not favor Gwyneira’s reaction- her visage became aghast, and she astoundedly shouted, “You don’t know? I have to do a promotion for the MIC in two days, and if there is anything that needs to get rewritten, two days isn’t a lot of time for this! I-!”
Gwyneira interrupted her rant, “Yes, it’s important, but so is ensuring that our tribe receives critical supplies! How would you feel if your press release was complete but your brethren didn’t have food to eat or-?” She hadn’t been using her entire focus on locating the form she sought, and she wound up bumping into a heap in the wrong fashion, which sent it all plummeting down!
Brook stared at the strewed sheets with a guilty conscience, and she ruefully regarded Gwyneira, “I’m so sorry! Please, allow me to assist you in reorganizing this mess!”
“Do whatever you feel you must! I need a minute alone!” Gwyneira vacated the vicinity prior to Brook getting the opportunity to react to that.
“Acting Chieftess?” Beck joined her on the cracked, desert floor that lay before the olive-drab hills, and he watched her as she shot pieces of ice that formed artistic images by the verdant oasis across from their doorstep, and he patiently waited for her to cease her efforts to continue the communication.
Eventually, Gwyneira huffed, “What is it, Beck?”
Beck conveyed to her, “It’s almost midnight! Usually, you’re in bed by now…”
“Usually, my mother takes care of these stresses, but these are not usual times!” Gwyneira retorted.
“Perhaps you have too much on your plate,” Beck conjectured.
Gwyneira agreed, “I definitely have too much on my plate! I have no inkling how I will be able to handle this when I’m much older and take over my mother’s legacy!”
Beck suggested, “Why not serve yourself less?”
“You say that like it’s so easy to shed vital work!” Gwyneira articulated. “I’m trying to save our world and theirs, how can I quit essential duties with so much at stake?”
“Why not choose our priorities and forget about everyone else’s?” Beck probed.
Gwyneira became so shocked to hear this that she paused her pursuit. She ogled at him appallingly, and she gasped, “You want us to abandon our obligations to the constructive cycle?”
Beck debated this, “What good have we done with it? The Water Mystics aren’t any safer than before, and Sapiens seem hell-bent on obliterating the planet! Why not adopt a more neutral stance?”
“So, you’re proposing that we stand by and do nothing while humanity crumbles at our doorstep?” Gwyneira challenged him.
“We can’t rescue everyone!” Beck contended. “We used to have a positive impact simply by combating the Earth Mystics trying to unjustly make Sapiens extinct. Our direct involvement with their affairs has brought us nothing but trouble!”
Gwyneira quarreled, “We are all part of the same universe! Suffering by some affects us all! We cannot maintain the stability of life if we live on shaky grounds! If we eternally isolate ourselves, we will invite everything to collapse!”
Beck countered, “Link used to spew that same philosophy, and look what resulted from that!” Beck pointed his hand at the palm trees, and he illuminated a gravestone.
“You dare to disparage my cousin’s name!” Gwyneira seethed. “You-!” Prior to her getting to divulge the rest of that thought, a silhouette emerged from behind the tomb! A set of blades instantly manifested from their fingertips, and Gwyneira as well as Beck froze these swords preceding them nearing the two enough to damage them, but once they recovered from that siege, the silhouette disappeared!
“Damn it! Where did they go?” Beck growled as he searched the terrain.
Gwyneira directed him, “Take a team to search the Badlands. Do not allow your furor to propel you to fall into a trap! This individual may not have come here alone!” Beck nearly went inside, but then Gwyneira added, “Don’t forget this moment if you start to think that inaction will keep us safe again!” Beck cast her a resentful glare, but he could not dispute her reasoning, so he bitterly stomped out of sight.
Noah relayed to Lynn, “I dunno about this plan! If you get caught, you could undermine their confidence in us and they won’t wanna tell us anything!”
Lynn used the mirror on the passenger’s sun visor to accurately secure a microphone onto her chest. “The chief recommended we go this route for security purposes. It’s not like we can disobey him!”
“It’s not disobeying if he didn’t officially give us an order,” Noah brought up.
“But it’s not a bad idea!” Lynn differed. “These GLADA folks are very anti-authority, so how much would they tell us if they knew they were talking to a member of law enforcement?”
As Lynn put her hair into a bun, Noah verbalized, “True! But, I dunno! I just don’t like obtaining information so dishonestly!”
Lynn retaliated, “Oh really, Mister I’m Not Permitted to Work Mystic Cases But I’m Gonna Do It Anyways!”
“Touché!” Noah acknowledged the validity of that argument. Lynn chuckled as she put on a light-colored wig, and Noah asked, “You’re not worried about getting recognized wearing such a simple disguise?”
“Nope!” Lynn adamantly affirmed as she put on some ruby red lipstick. “They may recognize Detective Lynn Porter, but they’re not gonna find anything suspicious about a bubbly blonde who supports their agenda! They’re not expecting any of us to alter our appearances! No, seriously! I got a serial killer to confess once while I wore a red wig and fake boobs! He actually thought he was gonna impress me with that garbage!”
Noah tittered, but as she put on the final touches to her getup, he propositioned, “Maybe you should let me go instead!”
Lynn declined that offer, “Nuh-uh! You’re far too honest to be convincing! You’d cringe at the first slight against the Mystics!”
“That sounds pretty likely! But, what happens if they stumble onto your ruse and try to hurt you?” Noah posed to her.
“Then I’ll say the word ‘pumpkin.’ That’s your cue to go inside and get me out,” Lynn filled him in. “Oh, stop looking so gloomy! Everything will be fine!”
Noah expressed his faith in her, “You’re right! Don’t let my nerves get you nervous! Go get ‘em, kiddo!” Lynn beamed at him as she exited the vehicle, and he echoed her sentiments until she was out of his periphery. Noah couldn’t prevent himself from fretting about this arrangement- a lot was on the line, but he disliked his friends risking their lives for it!2 RepliesEdit
“Bon Appetit!” a cafeteria worker merrily bade a prisoner in a room that was nearly completely walled up.
“Spaghetti again?” the prisoner complained in a window on the doorway. “That’s the third time this week!”
The cafeteria worker shrugged. “I don’t create the menu, dude!” The prisoner shook his head in disapproval, and the cafeteria worker rolled his cart to the next cell. The man in there remained sleeping, so the cafeteria worker rolled on to the next one without another word. He expected to exchange pleasantries with the next guy, as usual, but when he glanced into the room, he gasped.
He grabbed his radio and urgently announced, “Cell six in Solitary Confinement has a person gushing blood in it! I’m gonna perform first aid!” The cafeteria worker grabbed his keys and rushed into the cell where a man with a bald head and deep, umber skin was bleeding profusely. The cafeteria worker used his own belt as a tourniquet and applied pressure to the wound, and that stopped the outpouring, but the man remained unconscious. Just as medics arrived on the scene…
“Do you smoke?” The man’s lids flicked open, and he stared at the cafeteria worker with his dark, cold eyes.
“Uh… yeah!” The cafeteria worker gazed at him in confusion. He couldn’t quite understand why someone would ask such a thing under these conditions… until…
The man snickered, “I thought so!” He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the lighter in the cafeteria worker’s pocket burst into flames! The fire spread so quickly that the cafeteria worker couldn’t react with enough alacrity to save his own life! In an instant, the entire room got engulfed! The sprinklers soon went off, and a couple of medics used some nearby extinguishers to snuff the rest. When the blaze was gone, the medics realized the prisoner was too! They saw a hole in the corner, and the prisoner was running from the building!
Sirens blared, and the guards locked everything down. A voice on the loudspeaker broadcasted, “Attention all personnel! Be on the lookout for Iagan Endellion! Do not let him leave! This person is armed and dangerous!”
Iagan hurried toward the front of the facility, but when he got to the front gate, heard the sound of a couple of guns getting cocked. He turned around, and two police officers aimed their pistols at him. “Hands up!” one of them commanded.
“Okay!” Iagan put his palms up, but prior to the officers getting to approach him, flames shot out of Iagan’s hands! He set their weapons ablaze, and as they dropped them, the grass they fell on ignited! As they strove to put it out, Iagan burned a hole in the fence and slipped out.
“Damn it!” Gwyneira exclaimed as she beheld the search party around Tesca. “We’re too late!”
Noah assured her, “Don’t worry! He couldn’t have gotten far!”
Gwyneira spotted some K-9 units preparing to get deployed in the woods behind the prison, and she fretted, “He’s going to hurt those poor creatures!”
“Don’t go after him!” Noah warned her. “There’s no light in that forest- he could ambush you and hurt you too!”
“Fine! I’ll flush him out!” Gwyneira put her arms in the air, and rain clouds formed above the trees. It poured down rain, and everyone watched with hope gleaming in their eyes. When no one fled from the area, the K-9 handlers were ready to use their dogs… until…
An explosion sounded from the parking lot, and its impact knocked everyone in the vicinity off their feet! When Noah and Gwyneira swivelled off of their downward position, they espied Iagan emerge from under a vehicle! He hurled fire in their direction, but Gwyneira easily deflected that hex. Iagan used that quick second to flee, and Noah along with prison guards pursued him, but he was able to use his magic to rid them of their armament. Noah discerned that he was crossing a bridge over a creek, so he grabbed a garbage lid and flung it at Iagan’s skull. Iagan fell into the water and screamed in pain, but preceding anyone getting to seize him, he boiled the water. When the steam cleared it had become evident that Iagan had vanished into the shadows.
Mayor Richardson rubbed his temples as the noises of construction loomed in the background. Amy knocked on on the door, and a chunk of it fell onto the floor. Mayor Richardson grumpily invited, “You may as well come inside!”
“Is this a bad time?” Amy gingerly asked.
“Yes, but it’s not gonna get better any time soon, so you may as well join me,” Mayor Richardson answered.
Amy sat down on a chair before his desk, and then she encouragingly told him, “It could get better soon! The right solution could be just around the corner! You can’t give up!”
Mayor Richardson ogled at her incredulously. “Amy, a few days ago, we had this place trashed by insurrectionists, and now there’s a felon who can magically incinerate things on the loose! I actually requested that they fix my window while I’m on the clock simply so I don’t have to hear the protestors! It’s not that I don’t wanna give in to their demand to make the city safer- I literally have no clue how to fix this! How do I capture a man who already escaped from somewhere that’s supposed to have the best security in the world? We even put in extra water pipes in his cell walls to overpower him! If we actually capture him, how are we supposed to contain him going forward? And I’ve done all I could dream up to spread more peace amongst my constituents, but their anger is only getting worse! I can take measures to discourage violence, but I can’t stop free speech! I can’t force anyone to quit taking steps towards their own demise! If they won’t listen to a pop legend like Nova, who could possibly influence them? If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears!” After shaking her head, Amy responded, “I pray for advice myself, and I’m coming up blank. I don’t accept that doing nothing is the correct route to go, but I also need some sort of starting point! Since I don’t have one, I’m doing business as usual. I’ll keep going ‘til I get some kind of sign of what to do next! So, keeping in that spirit, here’s my latest budget proposal. Can I get your signature?”
“I can’t approve of this!” Mayor Richardson objected. “It’s already costing a fortune to fix the damage already done, and this nightmare that’s heading for us next is bound to be pricey! Everything may have to go to disaster relief- how can I approve of new stoplights and recycling programs if I have to rebuild houses and schools? I can’t give my approval to anything ‘til I know what exactly is going on!”
“Listen, Roald, I’m not gonna lie and say that scenario isn’t possible, but it hasn’t happened yet! You can put FEMA on speed dial if you want, but don’t prepare for absolute doom! You’ll drive yourself crazy with possibilities, but if act on actualities, you can feel more empowered! Stoplights and recycling may sound trivial in the grand scheme of things, but life is comprised of a bunch of little stuff! That murderous crowd tried to prevent us from doing our jobs, so I can’t picture a better method of proving they didn’t win than to do all the tiny details of our positions!” Amy passionately verbalized.
Mayor Richardson took a minute to drink in her words, and then he acknowledged them, “You’re right! They want us to be afraid, so we can’t show any fear!” He grabbed a pen, but before he could add his signature to her document, the construction crew paused. The cacophony of outraged citizens reverberated into his office, so Mayor Richardson pled with the crew, “Can’t you guys keep going ‘til the safety protests are through?”
The foreman filled him in, “Sorry, gotta follow union rules! Oh, and also, they’re not protesting anything safety related…”
As the crew exited the office, Amy and Mayor Richardson ran to the broken pane. When they caught a glimpse of what was outside, they cried out in aghast. Scores of people were holding up signs that were ordering the mayor to free Dawson Kolbyr, and the participants in the throng chanted the same message! Amy and Mayor Richardson stood there with their mouths ajar, totally unsure of how to proceed from here.
“Hello?” Noah picked up the receiver and strove to sound as nonchalant as possible.
“Hi, Noah! It’s Chief Argus. I’m so glad to hear that you’re taking a Saturday off! You’ve worked so hard lately, you deserve a break!” Chief Argus remarked.
Noah reacted with a slight suspicion, “But…?”
Chief Argus catechized, “What makes you assume there’s a but?”
“Oh, come on! With all due respect, sir, I highly doubt you called me to only express that!” Noah riposted.
“Alright, there’s more,” Chief Argus admitted. Noah said nothing, so Chief Argus inferred that he wasn’t surprised by that revelation. He cleared his throat a bit, and then he went on, “I wanted to inform you that Jareth Thurio has gone missing!”
This report filled Noah with intrigue. “Really? Geez, he disappeared immediately after Iagan Endellion escaped from prison- that’s not a coincidence! So, is he his victim or an accomplice of his?”
Chief Argus relayed to him, “Well, we can’t officially start searching for him ‘cause it hasn’t been forty-eight hours since he was last seen. His campaign manager, Demi, attempted to file a case on him after the twenty-four-hour mark. I have the paperwork she filled out though- apparently, he already missed a photo-op, and he seems to be a no-show for another event scheduled for today.”
“That’s interesting!” Noah commented. “I thought this treasury election was part of the plan! I doubt he grew a conscious overnight, so he probably isn’t gonna drop out. But, something made the plans change…”
“I agree,” Chief Argus concurred. “And he’s already doing a lot of damage with this political venture! If he voluntarily altered the agenda, whatever he has in store for the public can’t be good!”
Noah grimaced at that concept. “Yeah, that would be awful!” This occurrence was daunting, and a twinge of guilt coursed through his veins. He had a feeling where this conversation was heading, and he wasn’t going to be able to aid him in this endeavor. It was an important task, but Noah had something equally vital up his sleeve… “Well, that was fascinating! Thanks for briefing me on the situation, sir!”
Chief Argus entreated him, “Wait! Don’t hang up!” Noah complied, but he cringed as he did so. He foresaw that he would have to disappoint his boss, and he really hated the premise of doing so! “I realize you’re limited with your interactions with Mister Thurio, but you’re so adept at finding where criminals are hiding! You know Mister Thurio better than anyone, so I was wondering if you could participate in a search for him as a consultant. You’d have to hand it off to Maurice or Lynn for any questioning or arrests, but I know they’d really appreciate it if you lent a hand! So, what do you say?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” Noah sighed. “I can’t. Not today. I… I have a prior obligation to attend to!”
“Is there any possibility of postponing that obligation?” Chief Argus probed. “I wouldn’t ask if we weren’t at the precipice of an apocalyptic disaster getting unleashed in Los Angeles! Can it get rainchecked for another day?”
Noah gritted his teeth, and then he fibbed, “My grandfather is ill. He doesn’t have long… I can’t abandon him at his hour of need! He raised me after my parents were killed!”
Chief Argus groaned, and Noah’s remorse was overwhelming. It wasn’t as though he was doing anything immoral, but he couldn’t permit him to have access to the truth. If his colleagues had any inkling of his real intentions, they would’ve tried to dissuade him from such a dangerous mission! So, he had to stay silent about it until it was done. Chief Argus disappointedly articulated, “Okay! But take your police-issued vehicle in case we need to reach you.”
“But, Chief!” Noah panicked a little. This move had the potential to under what they had planned out!
“What’s the problem?” Chief Argus inquired.
Noah replied, “I… Nothing! I’ll talk to you soon!” Noah hung up, and after slumping on his couch, Noah defended himself, “It wasn’t a total lie! My grandpa is in hospice…”
Gwyneira suggested, “We should visit him when we’re done! But, since we gotta get there the slow way, we better get going!” Noah still appeared dismal, so she encouraged him, “Don’t worry! Everything’s going to be fine! We’ll take a quick ride to San Francisco, and then… Everything will be fine!”
Not wanting to dishearten Gwyneira, Noah smiled and squeezed her hand. “Hey! I did say we outta take a trip together! Not that I’m trying to get out of going to Maui or anything…” Gwyneira pleasantly chuckled as they went out of his apartment door.
Noah stormed out of the station and marked toward his car. He was so outraged that he didn’t even realize that Chief Argus was so close behind him. Before he could even get close to his vehicle, Chief Argus Argus called out, “Noah, you’re forgetting something!”
Chief Argus held a manila folder up in the air, and Noah didn’t look at it or his boss. Instead, he spat, “That’s not my case! That’s a mistake!”
“Come on, Noah! It’s not so bad!” Chief Argus consoled him. “The Umbra Murder was too stressful, you deserve something nice and simple after all you’ve been through!”
“I was making progress there!” Noah argued. “If I had a little more time, I could’ve gotten enough info to get a warrant! How could you do this?”
Chief Argus assured him, “Listen, I know I had my doubts about you staying on this case previously, but after reviewing the evidence you gathered, I wanted to let you remain on this. Unfortunately, Mister Thurio complained about harassment, and he threatened to sue the department! Our legal advisors gave me no choice!”
Noah roared, “This is bullshit! He was the one doing the harassing! I couldn’t just let him do that to a grieving widow, so I-!”
“So, you fell into his trap!” Chief Argus completed his sentence. “You knew he already made that claim twice! Clearly, he was baiting you!”
“I…! I didn’t think about that!” Noah realized he was correct, and he upbraided himself for not making this observation himself. He had to cast that thought out of his mind though since what was done couldn’t be changed. He turned to Chief Argus and contended, “But still! I didn’t do anything wrong! This isn’t fair!”
Chief Argus surprised Noah by agreeing with him, “You’re right! It’s a real shame ‘cause the person I pass this case to is gonna take a considerable stretch orienting themself with the facts you’ve gathered, and we really can’t afford to lose even a minute with this investigation! Who knows what’ll happen between now and then with these suspects! But, rest assured, whoever takes over will catch the prick that caused this! Your work won’t have been in vain!”
Noah quarreled, “But they won’t solve this case! This case is… complex! Not a lot of people will understand it, and they’ll jump to an incorrect solution!” Noah didn’t mention the Mystic involvement to avoid extenuating his predicament with Chief Argus, but it weighed at the forefront of his worries. Not everyone believed in the existence of their supernatural abilities, and oftentimes, the ones who did theorize that they originated from dark sources. The next in line may go in a totally erroneous direction, and it would give free reign for Dawson and his followers to commit more atrocities! Jareth would win that special election for sure, and terrible events would occur as a result of that! Plus, Megala’s disappearance was connected to this case, but not everyone would see that! It filled him with dread to picture what would occur due to this move!
“What? You mean ‘cause magic is involved?” Chief Argus questioned. Noah’s eyes went wide at that mention, and he was prepared to make excuses for it, but Chief Argus stunned him, “It’s okay! I recognized that Gwyneira and her tribe weren’t associated with it ‘til one of your suspects drew her in. It was unfair for me to say you couldn’t work any case involving Mystics! They’re not all connected! However, don’t hide anything from me again! I was once a detective like you! I can figure stuff out!”
“Alright, Chief!” Noah tried to smile at this reprieve, but he couldn’t quite get it out. His stomach lurched at the concept of anyone but him taking over this dangerous mystery, and he feared to envision what would transpire because of it!
Chief Argus put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. “I can’t promise everything will turn out hunky-dory, so I suggest doing something to distract yourself. If you aren’t ready to take on a new case, why don’t you take the day off?”
Margaret entered into the vicinity and interjected, “This guy doesn’t take breaks, Chief! Besides, he’s a secondary on my homicide from the concert massacre! He’s gotta help me sole mine, and we have an interview to go to!”
Initially, Noah was perplexed by this plan. He recalled that she hadn’t closed the case in the killing of three boys, but that was only because the culprit was the elusive Demek. Suddenly, it clicked for him what she was trying to do! “That’s true! Let’s go!” Flooded with relief, he grabbed her arm and merrily escorted her to that interview’s locale.
“Gwyneira!” Michelle urgently addressed her as she and Kalanie entered into the cavernous chambers of Lake Marical. Gwyneira put down the papers she was studying and gave them the utmost of her attention. Michelle began to relay to her, “We found something in El Poder that you should be aware of!”
“What is it? Is it my mother? Please, tell me she’s alright!” Gwyneira panicked. Her heart beat so rapidly that she thought it would jump right out of her chest! Her gut always indicated that she was continuing to survive, but simultaneously, she always worried that someone would report that they found her mother’s body somewhere! She got queasy even entertaining this possibility, and she inwardly prayed that her anxiety would prove to be wrong!
Kalanie reassured her, “Your mother is fine! At least, as far as we can tell, she’s still alive. However, we may have discovered something equally as disturbing! As we were walking down a trail leading off Tempest Shore, we heard… Oh hello, Beck!”
The tension Kalanie recently held instantly vanished as she coyly greeted Beck, and Beck, who had identical marks of stress a second ago, stammered, “I… uh… Hi!”
Michelle and Gwyneira knowingly grinned at each other, and then Gwyneira broke their awkward exchange, “What do you want, Beck?”
“Oh! Right!” Beck shook off his more pleasant disposition, and then he informed her, “We have a visitor.”
“Send them in,” Gwyneira directed him.
Beck apprised her, “It’s a Sapien.”
Gwyneira repeated, “Send them in.”
Quite frazzled at this notion, Beck catechized, “Really? You would have an outsider visit these sacred grounds?”
“My father visited Lake Marical,” Gwyneira pointed out. “So did Noah! He even drank from the water!”
“Yes, but this is a different situation,” Beck differed. “She’s here strictly for business, and not business that benefits us, so…”
From outside of the vicinity, Robin probed, “What am I? Chopped liver?”
Gwyneira illuminated Beck, “Friends are never denied!”
“Thanks!” Robin entered with a small toolkit. “But, I’m not here for social purposes, unfortunately.” She handed Gwyneira a set of documents, and she sheepishly expressed, “I’m just glad all three of you are in the same room so I can get this over with!”
“You have a warrant for our DNA?” Gwyneira reacted in aghast.
Robin explained, “I didn’t petition the judge for that! And I wouldn’t have! Sidero says he wants to eliminate you as suspects, but I’m fairly positive that’s not what he’s doing. He says he wants to have comparisons for when they recover Megala.”
Gwyneira made a noise of indignation. “Ugh! So, he’s simply assuming that he won’t find her alive and that a Mystic was behind her death?”
“I’m sorry!” Robin ruefully regarded them. “Chief Argus put him on her case ‘cause his hunches are usually solid. He’s recovered hundreds of people throughout his career, but in this instance… Well, my prediction is that Noah will locate her first! I’m assuming that’s what he and Margaret are working on right now since he got taken off of the Umbra murder.” She paused, and then she instructed Michelle, “Swab both sides of your mouth, and put your sample in this tube.”
“This is pointless!” Gwyneira complained as she collected her request.
Kalanie brought up, “Since we’re all friends, there’s something you all should know… Scores of Earth Mystics from Mount Charleston were in the woods practicing. It appears that Dawson has recruited them for an upcoming battle!” The entire space grew eerily silent as they digested this news.
Noah and Margaret walked into Mayor Froth’s office, and they beheld him cradling his noggin on his desk. When Mayor Froth noticed their presence, he stood up and held his wrists out towards them. “Go ahead and arrest me now! It’s my fault he’s dead!”
“Brennan Umbra?” Noah furrowed his brows. Admittedly, he suspected him for a while, but Jareth’s behavior was far more indicative of culpability. He acknowledged that it was entirely feasible that he missed the mark completely, but his logic refused to accept this development as true. “Are you sure?”
“I’m talking about my son!” Mayor Froth dismally corrected him. “He’s dead ‘cause of me, so go ahead and take me away!”
Margaret obviously had the same instincts as Noah since she hesitated too. She ogled at him peculiarly, and then she inquired, “You killed all three boys?”
Mayor Froth emitted a sigh of morose frustration, and he clarified, “I didn’t kill anyone! But I may as well have done the deed myself! I told my boy not to go to college in LA, but I paid for his schooling anyway! Maybe if I tried a little harder to discourage him from doing that, he’d still be alive!”
“We’re not gonna arrest you for being a supportive father, Mayor Froth!” Margaret gently lowered his limbs down. As she took a seat, she comforted him, “You didn’t cause your child’s death! But, someone did! We’re here to figure out who that might be!”
“I don’t know anything!” Mayor Froth glumly asserted. “He didn’t tell me much about his life out there, so I don’t know anything about who may have wanted him to die!”
Noah sagely articulated, “You may know more than you realize! Did you discuss your kid much at work?”
Mayor Froth recollected, “Oh, of course! I was very proud of Irenio! I bragged about him constantly! He was so bright, top of his class! Then, when his mom went to rehab, a lot of my colleagues pitched in to offer him support. Actually, Brennan used to ask how he was doing before he found out how I was! I could only imagine how he would act after finding out how he passed! Poor Brennan! Man, everyone around me has succumbed to a horrible fate! Maybe you two should go and avoid this curse!”
“You’re not cursed!” Margaret emphatically insisted. “But, someone around you may have the ability to do such a thing. Did anyone hold any grudges against you or threaten you at all?”
“Here and there, but they were usually nuts with too much time on their hands. Wait, are you implying that the murderer did this to punish me?” Mayor Froth’s eyes went wide with alarm.
Noah responded, “That’s what we’re attempting to decipher. Did you have any issues with your staff members? Did anyone behave oddly or suspiciously?”
Mayor Froth appeared mystified. “No! We’re a pretty tight bunch! No one did anything odd! Well, unless you count Jareth! He was a weird loner, but he didn’t seem dangerous! He couldn’t have hurt anyone! Heck, that guy was scared of the freakin’ wind! Have you heard of something so ridiculous?”
“Yes!” Noah’s pulse raced as he remembered his interactions with Dawson. Noah used wind against him since it was part of the Destructive Cycle, and even Link deployed this method as he was defending himself against Dawson’s venomous ire! If Jareth had an aversion to wind, that could only lead to one conclusion… “Did you do a background check on Jareth?”
“I’m sorry, sir!” a secretary apologized as she entered into the quarters. “She said it was urgent!”
Laverna went in, and Noah put his hands on his hips as he verbalized, “If this is a ploy to get a story, I swear, I-!”
She interrupted him, “This isn’t for an article, but it is related to The Mink Observer! Listen!”
After plopping a tape recorder onto the table, Laverna pushed play. Demek’s deep voice echoed out, “Go to the Tesca prison tonight. You’ll capture the headline of a century!”
“Mayor Richardson!” a radical shouted as he kicked open the door to his office. He and the people behind him glanced around, and when they saw no evidence of his presence there, the radical queried, “Mayor Richardson, where are you?”
As a belligerent bunch burst into the city council’s chambers, an agitator insolently called out, “Aaaaaamy! Where are you, Amy?”
A revolter stood in an art gallery and brazenly proclaimed, “This is our house now!”
Several police officers were scattered throughout the vicinity, but before they could pull out a weapon to defend themselves, the raucous participants pounced on them. A few even grabbed whatever objects they could reach and proceeded to beat the law enforcement closest to them! Windows were breaking, and debris was strewed everywhere. A myriad of valuables were carried off the property, and an American flag even got replaced by a GLADA one!
“This is awful!” Noah remarked as he and his colleagues watched the scene in horror.
“Yes, it is!” Chief Argus concurred. “So, go in there and make it less awful!” As the detectives put on extra protective gear, Chief Argus apprised them, “I’ll be right there with you as soon as I get some… reinforcements…” Noah wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, but there wasn’t a moment to spare to mull it over. He mentally steeled himself up, and then he entered the foray.
He approached a group of individuals barging in through a broken pane, and he commanded, “Hands up!” The group snarled and charged towards him, so he streamed his pepper spray into their faces. They fell down in agony, and after fending off an attacker from behind him, he dashed inside.
A man jiggled a doorknob, and when it wouldn’t budge, he announced, “Hey, guys! I think they’re hiding in here!”
“Don’t move!” Noah ordered as more of the masses flocked to that locale.
“Are you really gonna shoot us?” a woman mockingly challenged him. They snickered until Noah cocked his pistol. Their skin paled, and Lynn came up and cuffed them.
Noah heard a crash in the distance, so he ran to that site. He beheld Maurice getting pinned down by a bookshelf, and preceding a person having the ability to throw a potted plant on his head, Noah shot the pot. The dirt cascaded onto the person’s vision, and Margaret arrested that person as Noah freed Maurice. “Thanks!” Maurice gratefully expressed.
Before Noah could react, they received the reverberation of a male screaming in pain from a neighboring room! Noah sped to it, and he was shocked to discover Officer Jones on the floor bleeding profusely! When he kneeled to check on him, Officer Jones warned him, “Look out!” A malcontent nearly stabbed Noah in the back, but Noah flipped him off! Officer Letes immediately grabbed him, and Noah was about to administer first aid when…
A familiar sound of metal fastly flying in the air hit Noah’s eardrums! His muscles went rigid with fright, but knowing what that malefactor was capable of, he rushed over to thwart his efforts. He espied the red-hooded Earth Mystic, and his pulse instantly surged with adrenaline. He bellowed, “I got you now, Demek!”
“Oh, do you?” Demek chuckled as he faced away from Noah. “You’ve done your homework, I see! Too bad it won’t do you much good!”
“Like hell it won’t!” Noah disputed. “I’ll have an official name to list on your record when I take your ass to prison! Your buddy, Dawson, is waiting for you there!”
Demek slowly turned around, and Noah raised his taser. If Demek so much as lifted a finger towards producing a hex, he was more than willing to deploy his weapon. Noah couldn’t discern any of Demek’s features, but he could tell he was sneering at him. “I’m glad we could finally meet so I could get rid of you once and for all!”
Noah retorted, “Psh! You can try!”
“Okay!” Demek raised his palms up and emitted his swords. Noah fired his taser as he ducked, and he was successful, but it didn’t deter Demek much! Demek swiftly deployed more blades, and while Noah was able to evade them, Demek projected more and more. Noah continuously dodged it all, but he had to move so rapidly that he didn’t have a second to retaliate! The weaponry stuck to the ground, so Noah had to watch out for those too! He eventually found himself cornered- he was trapped! He didn’t want to show that vile villain any fear, so he bravely positioned himself to utilize his armament. Demek still deemed his predicament as humorous, so he maliciously chortled, “Say goodbye!”
“Goodbye!” Gwyneira articulated as the sharp edges destined for Noah froze in midair. Noah spun around, and his body cascaded in relief to view Gwyneira standing there with a dozen of her tribe members! Demek’s movement suggested that their appearance troubled him. He sent out trajectories towards them, but they easily deflected them. Demek clearly worked out that he was outnumbered, so he switched tactics. He aimed his palms at the ceiling, and prior to anyone getting to prevent this from occurring, several lights in the grand chandelier exploded! Sparks rained down the foyer, and everyone in this proximity had no choice but to take cover.
When the peril subsided, they discovered that Demek had vanished! Noah was certain that he had fled to the staircase, so he raced to catch him. He zipped down the steps, and he could hear Gwyneira and the other Water Mystics closely tailing him, but Noah’s furor propelled him vastly ahead of the others. It astonished Noah that he didn’t unearth him during the descension, and it deeply disappointed him to not espy him on the lower level! He surveyed the scenery to identify his whereabouts, but a delinquent advanced towards him. He effectively tased him, but he could hardly count that as a victory, not when Dawson’s lieutenant managed to escape!
Once the Water Mystics got involved, the mayhem started to calm down. First responders were able to transport the wounded out of there, and law enforcement brought out criminals in droves. One female shouted, “This is our building! We have the right to remove the mayor!”
“They’re letting our region decay!” a guy growled as he got shoved into a vehicle.
“Vote for Jareth Thurio! He’ll fix everything!” someone else vehemently declared. Noah bristled at this comment- not only did that reprobate assault the love of his life, but he encouraged his followers to behave violently! He doubted that he would get permitted to have the honor of capturing him for his influence in this chaos, but he savored the concept of Jareth finally facing accountability!
A detainee in Chief Argus’s custody held his frozen hands in front of himself and griped, “This is brutality!”
Chief Argus disagreed, “You tried to kill somebody I deputized! You were lucky you didn’t get worse!”
“You deputized the Mystics?” the detainee cried out incredulously. “Did everyone hear that? He deputized the witches!”
“The takeover has begun!” a lady nearby boldly asserted. Chief Argus groaned as he continued to escort this captive.
Out of the corner of his eye, Noah observed Laverna documenting this affair. Even though her composure was much meeker, it still incensed Noah to have her in his sight. He marched over and inquired, “What exactly are you gonna tell your audience about this?”
Flustered, Laverna uncertainly replied, “Uh… I dunno!”
Noah advised her, “Think about it carefully! Words have consequences!” He returned to closing up this episode, and Laverna bit her lip from incertitude on how to have her crew go forward.
“She was here!” Michelle assessed with her lids shut.
“Recently?” Kalanie pressed as they walked along a trail leading off of a rocky shore.
Michelle contemplated the matter more, and she determined, “Oh, yes! I can feel her anguish! She was unconscious, but her spirit sensed that she was in danger!”
Kalanie recalled, “This route stretches all the way to Santa Clarita, so Megala’s kidnapper could’ve switched to a different path there that leads to El Poder! Oof! Don’t tell me we’re hoofing it the entire duration!”
“No one is going anywhere!” Sidero proclaimed from the rear of their location. Michelle and Kalanie cringed as they swiveled to meet his gaze, and he smugly roosted himself on the dirt road as he addressed them, “I’ve been staking out the crime scene ‘cause we got reports of someone doing magic behind the rocks. Perhaps they were using it as they were searching for their next victim?
“How would we know? We weren’t there!” Kalanie riposted.
Sidero accosted them, “What did you have against the Water Mystic chieftess? Were you wanting your buddy, Gwyneira, in charge so that you could gain more power, or did she inhibit a scheme you were plotting?”
Kalanie growled, “How dare you, you-!”
“Please, sir!” Michelle appealed to him. “I recognize that you’re frustrated and anxious to put a close to this case, but we’re only here to track down our friend! We-!”
“I’d advise you two to not say anything more without an attorney present,” Sidero recommended.
Michelle blinked in bafflement. “You’re serious!”
Sidero sternly verbalized, “You two are coming with me! I-!”
All of a sudden, Sidero’s jaw froze shut! Michelle and Kalanie gasped, and Beck emerged from the bushes! “Beck! What are you doing? You assaulted a policeman!” Kalanie exclaimed.
“I know! I know! I just couldn’t listen to that crap anymore!” Beck explained. “And I couldn’t let you take the fall for this! I did the spells he described! I was getting frustrated! I wanted to find Megala too! After dealing with that fiasco, I hoped to restore her to her rightful place so that maybe we could deal with Sapiens a little less. No offense to Gwyneira, but I miss the more peaceful days!”
“Don’t we all?” Kalanie tittered. “But, I think those days are done. As long as there are those who seek to disrupt the natural order of things, we won’t get our tranquility restored!”
Beck nodded contemplatively. “That’s a valid argument! …See, that’s why I always admired you! You’re so thoughtful and brilliant!”
Kalanie blushed slightly. “You admire me?”
“Your intelligence, not your looks! Not that you don’t have good looks! Oops! I mean…!” Beck stumbled on his utterance enough that he was sort of glad that Sidero put shackles on his wrists. “I got to go to jail now. Best of luck in finding her!” They watched as Sidero sullenly carted him away.
“What are you grinning at?” Kalanie asked Michelle.
Michelle answered with a giggle, “Nothing!” They resumed their trek through the woods, and Michelle giggled once more. “Still nothing!” she claimed. Kalanie smiled but buried herself in her jacket.
In a cozy sitting room, Noah catechized, “So, Missus Umbra, did your husband ever mention any enemies?”
“No!” Missus Umbra reflectively reported. “Everyone loved Brennan! At least, they used to! With this stupid election coming up, everyone seems to have forgotten him!”
“I didn’t, Missus Umbra! I’ll get the culprit behind this injustice! I swear!” Noah avowed. “If you can recall anything that might be helpful, don’t hesitate to-.”
Noah cut off his own sentence when a roar of applause thundered outside. He peeked out the window, and he caught a glimpse of denizens gathered around a gazebo at a park across the street. To his appall, Jareth was orating, “Democracy is a fickle beast! Not tamed properly, it can prove dangerous!”
Completely outraged, Noah yelled, “Uh-uh! Absolutely not!” As Jareth went on, Noah made a beeline for that spot. He didn’t bother with any courtesies and interrupted, “Knock it off! You got a lot of nerve trolling the widow of the previous treasurer!”
“I had no idea she lived here!” Jareth alleged.
“If you keep harassing her, I’ll arrest you in an instant!” Noah vociferated. “And watch what comes out of your mouth! People believe you, and their beliefs can drive them to do horrendous acts! I’m pretty certain that yesterday showed that!”
Jareth kidded, “Why? What happened yesterday?” He viewed Noah’s glare, so he clarified, “It was a joke! Jeez, you cops don’t like to have fun!” The congregation cackled, and Jareth directed them, “Alright, guys! Let’s move it to the shopping center up the block!” As everybody followed him, Noah gritted his teeth while his head filled with Dawson’s diabolical laughter.
The councilwoman banged her gavel and commanded, “Order! Order! All those in attendance must wait their turn to speak!” A dozen unruly people in the audience begrudgingly sat down and shut their mouths. Once civility was restored, the chairwoman addressed the lady at the podium, “You may continue.”
“Thank you, Councilwoman Bolivar,” the lady responded somewhat nervously as she glanced back to the rowdy group behind her. She cleared her throat, and then she went on, “As I was saying, the road on Margarita Drive is in desperate need of repair! The cracks and potholes bear the risk of-.”
“Oh, who cares?” a male from the rowdy group griped. Councilwoman Bolivar banged her gavel again, and the man protested, “Oh, come on! This crap isn’t important! We have something vital to discuss, and you-!”
Councilwoman Bolivar warned him, “If you interrupt one more time, we’ll throw you out without hearing your proposal! Is that clear?” The male folded his arms and pouted, and Councilwoman Bolivar urged the lady, “Go on!”
The lady seemed rather intimidated by the angry whispers stemming from the rowdy group, so she hastily spouted, “The cracks and potholes are big, and that’s bad! Thank you!”
Councilwoman Bolivar let out an exasperated sigh, and then she somewhat irritably decreed, “Motion to repair Margarita Drive is granted. Next on the docket, Farmer Iris would like to discuss waste removal issues.”
“Councilwoman Bolivar, I’d like to skip my turn and allow these guys to speak.” Farmer Iris eyeballed the rowdy group with trepidation and swiftly sat down.
“Ugh! Fine!” Councilwoman Bolivar gave in. “The council now recognizes Wood You Just for their appeal.”
The male smirked as he and his cohorts approached the podium, and the male adjusted the microphone for his short stature prior to beginning his oration, “Good afternoon! My name is Kesteven Blakely, but everyone calls me K.B. Wood You Just was formed ‘cause a bunch of us have witnessed a grave injustice, and we’re not leaving ‘til this wrong is righted.” Councilwoman Bolivar and the other members looked frightened by the threat of them possibly not leaving, and K.B. seemed pleased to see this. “Today, we bring you irrefutable proof that our fellow Wood Mystic, Radley Brisco, was falsely imprisoned!”
Councilwoman Bolivar refuted that claim, “Radley Brisco confessed to murder to the police, and then he bragged about it at his trial! He’s guilty as charged!”
“You don’t understand!” K.B. snapped. “He was forced to make that confession! This document shows that the LAPD blackmailed him into taking the fall for that murder!”
“Blackmail?” Councilwoman Bolivar puzzled. “What could possibly have been worse than going to prison for multiple homicides?”
K.B. asserted, “Ah ha! I’m glad you asked that! The answer is right in front of you! A retired government official went into the GLADA chatroom and spilled the beans on the plot to relinquish control of the region to the Animal, Air, and Water Tribes! If Radley didn’t comply, they were gonna bulldoze our entire tribal headquarters! He did it to save us!”
The other Wood Mystics heartily concurred with that statement, but the council’s faces remained skeptical. Councilwoman Bolivar stated, “That doesn’t even make sense! Why would the government cancel any plans just to nail a random person for a crime they didn’t commit?”
“They wanna stick us with a bad reputation so our adversaries will be the only ones who can get respected by the public! It’s all about power!” K.B. grew miffed that no one was taking him seriously, so he spat, “Just read it!”
“Yo! I’m a former assistant to the dude who runs the county, and I saw with my own eyes they’re corrupt as hell! They wanna have the wrong peeps run Los Angeles… I’m sorry, is this person supposed to be retirement age?”
K.B. yelled, “Read the whole thing!”
Councilwoman Bolivar refused, “No! This testimony is obviously fraudulent!”
“You’re not being fair!” K.B. vehemently complained. “Our brethren is serving a sentence for something he didn’t do, and you won’t consider evidence that’ll exonerate him!”
“Listen, in case you didn’t already know, anyone can go on the internet and pretend to be whoever they want!” Councilwoman Bolivar educated him. “You can’t use the web as a reliable source! Besides, even if I found your evidence credible, we don’t have the power to pardon anyone!”
K.B. quarreled, “But you can recommend this gets investigated by the District Attorney!”
Councilwoman Bolivar shook her head. “We would never do such a thing based on such flimsy reasoning!”
“Where’s the real mayor?” K.B. fervently demanded.
“He had a medical matter to attend to,” Councilwoman Bolivar informed him. “So, as the pro tempore, it’s up to my judgment on how the council proceeds, and, based on what I’ve seen, my decision is to deny your request.”
One of K.B.’s lackeys muttered, “Didn’t I say they were gonna turn out to be total sympathizers?”
Councilwoman Bolivar inquired, “We’re a what?”
“You’re a witch sympathizer!” she maniacally replied. “You want these evil beings to take over the land! You are-!”
“Oh, this is ridiculous! Leave these chambers or I’ll have you escorted out!” Councilwoman Bolivar directed.
The rowdy group chanted, “Sympathizer! Sympathizer! Sympathizer!” Councilwoman Bolivar motioned for the police in the room to usher the disrupters out, and the majority of the lot continued to shout as they got carried out. K.B. complied, but he kept shooting her acrimonious glares as he walked out.
A couple of reporters had stationed themselves outside, and one of them posed to the ousted party, “What happened in there?”
“We showed the city council proof that exonerates a guiltless man, and they ignored it!” K.B. dramatically announced. “It fits their narrative to have Radley Brisco locked up, so they forced us to vacate the premises without even taking much of a peek at our facts! They pretty much admitted to their sympathizer agenda, and-!”
“Cut the feed!” the reporter instructed his crew. K.B. appeared dumbfounded by this move, so he clarified for him, “What? As journalists, we can’t ethically air untruthful or misleading comments.” As the media members departed from the vicinity, K.B. watched them with a small, sinister smile slowly forming on his visage.
In a backstage area, the director apprehensively expressed, “I dunno, Nova! This doesn’t seem very safe!”
Nova disagreed, “No one knows I’m here! They couldn’t have planned for what they don’t expect!”
“Yeah, but there isn’t much security here!” the director contended. “What if someone takes advantage of your vulnerability and attacks you?”
“I took several judo lessons when I was a little girl,” Nova relayed to him. “A lot of my dance moves come from that, didn’t you know?”
The director maintained his apprehension, “Okay, but the thugs who ambushed you before had weapons that I’m certain they didn’t teach you to disarm in judo…”
Nova ogled at him impatiently, “Oh, come on! Somebody would have to travel all over town with a weapon in the off chance that I coincidentally popped up where they were! I’m probably safer here than I was at Arnav Theatre!”
“If you wanna cancel your tour, I’ll totally understand…” the director very concernedly articulated.
“Weren’t you the one telling me to keep singing ‘cause those radicals were trying to silence me?” Nova countered. “I have to do this! Not just for me, but for my fans who they punished for being in favor of peace and tolerance! Besides, I got my start on small stages like this, it’ll be fun!” The director didn’t seem totally sold, but he nodded in acquiescence and exited those quarters.
As mall patrons went about their business, Nova emerged and spoke, “Hey, everyone! It’s Nova here! I’m raising money to benefit the victims of the concert massacre, so, if you’re a fan of me or simply a fan of love, please, give big!” The spectators were visibly leery at first, and Nova worried she wouldn’t incur enough donations to truly help her cause. This broke her heart to think, but she belted out a lively tune anyway. To her delight, a ton of folks flocked to the spot, and her director’s bin overflowed with cash within minutes of this endeavor!
As Jareth studied his cue cards by a staircase leading up to a platform, a female approached him and grimly proclaimed, “Sir, I have bad news…”
“Can’t it wait ‘til after my speech?” Jareth irritably wondered.
“No! If we don’t discuss this, your numbers will plummet, and you can kiss this campaign goodbye!” the female notified him.
Jareth emitted a frustrated exhale, and then he huffed, “Fine! Go ahead and tell me, Demi!”
Demi revealed, “Nova performed at the Paxton Mall. She promoted a message of togetherness and harmony, and she brought in a lot of dough for the dead guys. Now there’s tons of buzz about this, and a significant portion of your constituents are proposing measures to ensure safety for Mystics and their allies! And, several suggestions have been made about them living in dignity!”
“Shit!” Jareth reacted in an animated dismay. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” He cooled himself down, and then he consoled himself, “You know what, it’s alright! I can still use this speech- I just gotta insert a tidbit about Nova aligning with witches and sympathizers.”
“That’s not gonna work, sir!” Demi disagreed with that premise. “You’ll come off as a dick for not respecting the fallen!”
Jareth groaned, “Ugh! Well, this speech is pointless then!” He tossed his cue cards to her, and he ruminated on this subject. After several seconds, a lightbulb went off in his thoughts. “I’ve got this!” Preceding Demi getting to grill him on it, Jareth strutted up to the platform.
Scores of eager men and women enthusiastically greeted him, and Jareth beamed at them as he strolled over to the microphone. Once the cheers quieted down, Jareth orated, “Good evening,, El Poder! What a beautiful night! At least, it is for Mayor Richardson!” He paused for boos, and then he carried on, “He’s resting easy tonight! He doesn’t even have to physically be present for his bidding to get done! They’re all in compliance with his control!”
“Psst! What are you doing?” Demi hissed. “You’re not running for office in Los Angeles!”
“He doesn’t have to lift a finger so long as Amy Bolivar and her goons issue injunctions on his behalf!” Jareth verbalized as though he hadn’t heard Demi. The masses jeered at that concept, which inspired him to leer. “This is why voting for small offices is crucial! Amy Bolivar, for example, has the authority to decide something as important as a man’s fate! Did you know that? She could’ve helped free an innocent soul from a lifetime in Tesca, and she wouldn’t do it! She wouldn’t even study the evidence brought to overturn his conviction!”
A male in the throng vociferated, “Kill the sympathizer!”
Many shared that view, and Jerrith merrily chuckled, “Now, now! We don’t wanna go that far! Especially when it wouldn’t do much good! Mayor Richardson would still be at large, and he’d replace her with more sycophants! Mayor Richardson is the one who needs to go! If you elect me, I’ll do what I can to keep our town from following in LA’s footsteps! We cannot condone this behavior! Let’s take back our region!”
“You need to discourage violence!” Demi strongly recommended.
“And you need to shut your mouth or you’re fired!” Jareth retorted. “Can you believe it? This gal wants me to act kindly towards the sympathizers! I will not! Radley Brisco deserves justice, and you all deserve a treasurer who takes a hard stand against indecency! This election, vote for me, Jareth Thurio!” The congregation roared in vehement approval of his words, and Jareth brushed past Demi and off the platform.
In the morning, Noah interrogated a clerk, “Did you ever interact with him?”
She recalled, “No! He was pretty silent mostly. And he gave off kinda a weird vibe! Once, I-!”
“Calling all units! Calling all units!” Noah’s radio urgently paged. “We need every available law enforcement officer at LA City Hall immediately!”
Gwyneira pulled the hood on her cloak tighter as she crept through the forest. She illuminated her path just enough for her to see what was ahead, and she moved as nimbly as possible. She didn’t have any factual evidence that anyone’s presence may have been there, but her intuition insisted that someone precarious had stationed themselves in the shadows. She followed the orchids once more, but when she arrived at the entrance to the Earth Mystic Tribe, she paused. Something was off- not about them, about the unknown assailant behind her mother’s disappearance. The tribe seemed genuine in their claim that they didn’t approve of Dawson or his cronies’ plans, so it seemed unlikely they would allow anyone to keep a captive there or reside there if they did! However, it didn’t make sense for a person to lead a path to this location if it didn’t hold some key to their crime…
As she pondered this notion, the door on the tree creaked open! Gwyneira hid behind a bush, and while she remained hidden, there was an opening in the branches that allowed her to view what transpired. Kerkunn poked his head out slightly, and he glanced around at his surroundings. Gwyneira felt intensely intrigued about his purpose in emerging. She couldn’t discern whether or not he had detected her movements or if he had some other motivation that drew him out there. If he hadn’t come to deal with her, she couldn’t fathom what would have possessed him to leave his land so late at night. Suddenly, his eyes lingered in her direction! She panicked slightly and readied herself to use self-defense if necessary, but to her astonishment, he continued to scope the scenery! Seconds later, he ducked back inside and closed the door! She became quite confused and wondered why his vigilance had manifested and disappeared so rapidly.
After about a minute or so, she deemed it safe enough to abandon her protective layer. Logic would presume that he suspected that an intrusion occurred and left when it hadn’t, but something deep within her told Gwyneira that he had more cause to go outside than a mere investigation of a trespasser of some sort. She felt inclined to satiate her curiosity about this, but she couldn’t waste her time on this matter since it had nothing to do with her mission to uncover facts about her mother’s kidnapping. She was ready to continue, but she didn’t know where she would go to do that until…
A twig above her began to sway as though it were caught up in a circular draft, but currently, no wind had been blowing. As the wood twirled, Gwyneira understood that Kerkunn aimed to communicate something to her, and it confirmed her theory that a perilous entity roamed the nearby territory somewhere since he wasn’t speaking to her directly. When the sprig ceased its activity, it pointed to the left side. Gwyneira could tell that he was giving her the guidance that she had sought, and while she couldn’t ascertain any hints of a significant commodity existing close to them, she was positive that something was in their proximity. Gwyneira nodded to portray her comprehension of this hint, and she avowed to thank Kerkunn when this was all over.
The ground beneath her was fairly treacherous, but Gwyneira charged forth with vigor. It didn’t appear to be a frequently used trail, but she was sure that Kerkunn wouldn’t have sent her this way if it weren’t for a valid reason. Her dress caught onto a stick, and for a second, she worried that the sound had given her away. Nothing occurred as a result of that though, so she went forward still. The site seemed rather empty initially, but she soon spotted a rooftop ahead of her!
Gwyneira tiptoed towards the building, but it was enveloped by enough plants that she couldn’t see the exterior. She frowned, and she inwardly debated on how to proceed when she unexpectedly beheld an item that made it so clear…
She examined it more closely, and it was, indeed, much like what she produced when she created her artwork in the Badlands! In her mind, this could only signify one thing- her mother was close by! She scoured the floor for more, but she didn’t find any. Her work had not been in vain though- she chanced upon the entrance to this estate! It appeared to be a fairly ordinary vacation lodge, and with all of the lights off, she guessed that it was vacant. Kerkunn recommended that she visit this establishment though, so she set a foot onto the acreage…
“Get away from my home!” Jareth bellowed as he pulled Gwyneira back. He pinned her to a tree, and he was able to recognize her from this vantage point. “You! You dare to trespass onto my property!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know it was yours!” Gwyneira apologized. She delivered her words truthfully, but she also strove not to show this thug any fear.
Jareth didn’t appear appeased at all. “What were you doing here?”
Gwyneira didn’t let herself get intimidated by his fury, but it was troublesome. She didn’t want to engage in any violence, but she didn’t feel confident that she could calm him down enough to release her from his grip. She wished that she had brought Noah, he was so adept at charming people enough to relinquish their stronghold in a variety of situations! She resolved to negotiate with him, but she didn’t predict success in this predicament!
“You didn’t run into this place by accident!” Jareth frantically insisted. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve been combing the region to find my mother! I didn’t anticipate encountering any home here let alone yours! My only interest is in reuniting with the only parent I’ve got right now!” Gwyneira explained herself in such a fashion that she meant to induce pity in him so he would lessen his animosity, and she gazed at him pathetically in an attempt to iterate that sentiment.
Jareth, unfortunately, was not quelled by this tactic. “Oh, right! Out of all the locations in LA County you could’ve picked, you just happened to pick where I live?”
Gwyneira adamantly asserted, “Well, she wasn’t anywhere near Tempest Shore, and these woods are close to another crime scene, so it seemed natural to explore it! It never crossed my mind to look for you! And I would’ve estimated your residence to be a posh pad somewhere in the El Poder city limits! Believe me, I’m flabbergasted that you and I collided in these quarters!”
“What did you see?” Jareth pressed her.
“Nothing!” Gwyneira honestly attested. “Seriously! I got the impression that this cabin was abandoned!”
Jareth grilled her, “What did you hear? Feel? Touch?”
Gwyneira repeated, “Nothing!” She began to wonder if she should have noticed more, but she was not foolish enough to voice that concern aloud!
“Alright, fine! I accept your claims of innocence.” Jareth loosened his clasp on her slightly. “But, if I hear reports that paint me in a bad light anywhere, your mom will return and start searching for you!”
“What could I possibly say negatively about you?” Gwyneira queried with as much sincerity as she could muster. It was truly a chore not to utter any snark to this reprobate at this juncture! Everything about this interaction was alarming, and his abode screamed of sketchiness! However, for the sake of everyone leaving this altercation in one piece, she bit her tongue.
Jareth released her in a manner that caused her to tumble into the rocky debris adjacent to his lawn, and he upbraided her, “Don’t treat me like I’m an idiot! I know what game you and your boyfriend are playing! You don’t want me to win, but I refuse to lose!” He trudged toward his front stoop, and he vociferated, “I’m glad your mom is gone! One less bitch to bother with!”
That last sentence riled Gwyneira, but her instincts thwarted her from behaving rashly. She hurried from that sector as fast as she could, but she was burning inside during the entire duration. The insult was loathsome enough, but more importantly, it was obvious that Jareth had a secret vital enough to compel him to threaten her! She acknowledged that he may have fretted about campaign-related dirt, but, somehow, she envisaged that his ire formed over graver feats than that! She wasn’t absolutely steadfast that this related to her mother though. She obsessively desired to uncover what he was protecting, but she couldn’t entertain that possibility safely! As she passed the entrance to the Earth Mystic Tribe again, she deliberated on whether or not Kerkunn had sent her on this undertaking as an assistance or a trap!
“Dawson! In my office! Now!” Chief Argus snapped before Noah could even sit down in his cubicle. Noah obeyed his command, but he cringed while doing so. He dreaded the delay in his duties since he was involved in such a high-stakes venture, but he supposed that this was inevitable, so he hoped dealing with it early would expedite the tedium of this process.
“What did she say about me?” Noah catechized.
Chief Argus puzzled, “Huh?”
Dawson elaborated, “Margaret and I interviewed Laverna Maximon, and she turned it into some hogwash about corruption, right? Whatever she released from that recording isn’t true! She’s angry ‘cause we accused her of being involved in-.” Chief Argus plopped a manila envelope onto his desk, and Noah asked, “What’s that?”
“Your new case potentially,” Chief Argus gruffly answered. “You have two minutes to explain your operation from last night!”
“What operation?” Noah questioned. “After I got to my apartment, I fed my cat and I crashed onto my bed! I didn’t even get a chance to check my messages! I-.” Preceding his ability to finish that sentence, a cloud of water whooshed in with a piece of parchment on it. Noah’s brows furrowed- he knew that it originated from Gwyneira, but it seemed so unlike her to interrupt him during his shift! He seized it immediately, and after he read it, he groaned, “Oh no!”
Chief Argus inquired, “What is it?”
Noah filled him in, “Gwyneira was in the forest near the swamp, and she unintentionally set foot onto Jareth Thurio’s property! He threatened her not to reveal what she witnessed there. But what did she witness? Oh, I wish I could send a letter through magic like she can! I better call her and…” Something clicked for him, and he posed to Chief Argus, “Is this the operation you were referring to?”
“Potentially.” Chief Argus folded his arms as he addressed Noah. “Why did you send a civilian to badger a suspect?”
“I didn’t!” Noah emphatically refuted. “I wouldn’t have sent anyone there without a warrant, and I definitely wouldn’t have sent her into a dark woodland alone! I’m gonna have to have a chat with her about that actually! Ugh, the number of things that could’ve gone wrong…! It hurts my heart to picture it!”
Chief Argus quizzed him, “So, why is Jareth Thurio complaining that you two are harassing him?”
Noah grumbled, “That crook is trying to turn himself into the victim to get himself out of this bind! The guy’s a hateful prick, but I’d never resort to any illegal methods of silencing him! Come on, Chief! I wouldn’t risk throwing away twenty years of service over this!”
“And it’s only a coincidence your Mystic girlfriend got herself involved in a case where another Mystic might be involved?” Chief Argus stared at him sternly.
“Yes!” Noah affirmed. He recalled that Gwyneira previously said that there was no such thing as a coincidence, but he wasn’t about to bring that up! He wasn’t totally lying- he didn’t esteem that Gwyneira would’ve gone rogue for this case! Perhaps another one though… “She probably got impatient with Sidero’s progress! She really misses her mother, so I’m guessing she was out searching for her when she wandered into Jareth’s yard.”
Noah was relieved to see Chief Argus appearing to be contemplating this possibility. “Sidero theorized that Megala was the murderer in Brennan Umbra’s homicide.”
After rolling his eyes, Noah remarked, “If he finds a shred of evidence against her, I’ll arrest her myself!” Chief Argus grew shocked by this pronouncement, and Noah went on, “Listen, there’s a lot of prejudice and intolerance going around. It’s spreading into our politics, and it’s even seeped into our station! A lot of people are gonna act out of a deeply embedded toxicity, and there’s just gonna be a lot more acts of animosity until more individuals choose peace over anything else!”
Chief Argus considered this concept for a moment, and then he relented, “Alright, I believe you! You can stay on this case, but don’t bother Jareth Thurio ‘til you’ve got some irrefutable facts to arm yourself with! What are your plans for today?”
“I’m gonna check my answering machine, and then I’m gonna interrogate some of Brennan Umbra’s associates,” Noah relayed to him.
“Okay. Get out of here!” Chief Argus calmly dismissed.
Noah rushed back to the bullpen as quickly as he could. As he settled onto his chair, he froze. He wanted to hear if Gwyneira spoke about this incident, but his brain was reeling as he pondered what Jareth was trying to keep concealed…
“GLADA forever!” a man with a machete ardently shouted while Officer Letes swiftly cuffed him.
“Political prisoner!” a woman in the crowd hollered.
A guy next to her yelled, “He’s innocent!”
Officer Letes watched as that section of the throng had to get forcibly held back by the riot police, but when he glanced over to the other side, he observed a lot of crying and shaking. It stunned him to see such polar opposites to the same event, but he couldn’t dwell on that much- he had a job to do! He got onto the radio and desperately paged, “Chief Argus! Send the entire homicide division! It’s a bloodbath out here!”
As Noah ducked under the crime scene tape, he heard a familiar voice call out his name, “Detective Raymond!” Noah turned to see Laverna standing there with a camera operator and a microphone, and she quickly pressed him, “Word on the street is that there are at least fifteen dead bodies on the roads neighboring Arnav Theatre. Can you confirm this?”
“How did you get here before us?” Noah eyed her suspiciously.
“I… Uh…” Laverna’s focus fluctuated wildly. “I came to cover Nova’s concert… you know… just in case something happened…” Noah would’ve guessed that she was hiding something even if he was a rookie! This must have been evident on his face since Laverna added, “I didn’t see anything! My team and I were packing our stuff up in our van when we heard screaming! Look, we’re an old newspaper but a new broadcast channel- I was simply trying to gain an edge to build credibility for The Mink Observer!”
Noah still sensed that she had a secret up her sleeve, so he ordered her, “Don’t go far.” She cringed, but he walked away prior to her getting to say another word.
At the peak of dawn, Noah and Margaret headed to the same area, and Margaret gratefully regarded him, “Thanks for lending a hand with this one! Every other scene had tons of witnesses and the assailants still on the scene, but this one… this one’s different…” They viewed three blanketed corpses in front of a row of apartments, and Margaret filled him in, “Three males with large lacerations on their necks, but the wounds are clean as if the cuts originated from projectiles. Pretty different, huh?”
“Different but very familiar!” Noah remarked. “I can understand why you sought me out specifically now!”
“That’s not the only reason,” Margaret divulged as she indicated to a spot nearby.
Officer Jones spoke to a set of crying parents, a woman consoling two small children, and Mayor Froth, who stood there as still as a statue with a blank expression on his visage. “My witness from the Brennan Umbra murder!” Noah noted.
Margaret informed him, “One of the victims is his son.”
“Interesting…” Noah had seen plenty of family members in shock over their loved one’s demise, but this didn’t look like a surprise. Noah could have sworn he was seeing a sensation of guilt, so he declared, “I gotta talk to him!” He approached Mayor Froth, and he asked, “How are you doing?”
“I told him not to come!” Mayor Froth hollowly answered. “I begged him to transfer to the community college in El Poder, but he insisted on staying in L.A. He was having too much fun. I tried to show him recent articles from The Mink Observer about Mayor Richmond’s lax policies on Mystics leading to an increase in crime, but he wouldn’t listen! It didn’t help that Brennan was always encouraging him to stay since he graduated from Emerson! Then, when he revealed that Nova was set to perform blocks away from his dorm, oh, forget about it!”
Noah discerned, “You seem to be harboring some resentment towards your late colleague!”
Mayor Froth gave him a biting glare. “Are you a father?” Noah shook his head, so he went on, “Try it sometime! If anything ever happens to your baby, call me and tell me I’m wrong for feeling this way! Excuse me, I gotta inform his mother her son is dead!” Mayor Froth marched out of the locale, and Noah wondered if he was too fast in naming Jareth as his prime suspect.
“Where did you park?” the nurse wheeling Kalanie queried Michelle.
“Uh… Just a bit down the lane…” Michelle fibbed.
The nurse halted the chair and relayed to Michelle, “You’ll have to pull up here. I can’t release the patient on foot.”
Kalanie objected, “I can walk!”
“Physically, yes. Legally, no,” the nurse responded.
“Code blue! Room eight-four-eight! Code Blue!” a loud voice urgently announced on the intercom.
The nurse sprang into action over this matter immediately, but she instructed Kalanie and Michelle, “Wait here!”
Once the nurse was out of sight, Kalanie got up and grabbed Michelle’s wrist. “Let’s hurry!” Michelle seemed alarmed, so Kalanie justified herself, “What are they gonna do? Arrest me for leaving after I got discharged? “ Michelle still appeared reluctant, but Kalanie dragged her out the door.
“How’s your head?” Michelle inquired while they traveled along the sidewalk.
“Fine!” Kalanie assured her. Michelle looked skeptical, so she clarified, “Alright, it’s a little sore, but I’ll be fine! Where are we going?”
Michelle let her know, “There’s a field behind the library we can use. But, it seems advisable that I should take charge of transportation. Your method might remove your bandages or even your stitches!”
Kalanie argued, “Oh, come on! I don’t even get a hair out of place!” Michelle remained adamant, so Kalanie relented, “If it’ll make you feel better, we’ll use your method! But make sure whatever you summon takes me to my tribe- I’m not ready to return to my apartment!”
“I don’t blame you! Do you have any allergies?” Michelle canvassed her.
“Shellfish. Why?” Kalanie pondered. Preceding Michelle getting to respond to that, they went onto the small avenue where the library was situated and observed that a lot of vehicles surrounded the building. “Huh! I’ve never seen so many people interested in reading material!”
Michelle suggested, “Maybe we should try somewhere else.”
Kalanie disagreed, “What are the odds there’s a bunch of folks on the outside of the library?” Michelle didn’t become totally persuaded, but she followed Kalanie nonetheless.
As it turned out, a bunch of individuals had gathered on the grassy quarters bordering a little forest behind the library! Kalanie shot Michelle an exasperated contortion, and Michelle threw her hands up defensively. “Hey! It’s not as though I wanted to be correct on this!” She espied some smoke billowing from the center of the congregation, and it really drew out her intrigue. “What are they doing?”
“Let’s go find out!” Kalanie brandished a pen that came from her pocket and made a beeline for the masses.
“No! You’re on medical leave!” Michelle grabbed her arm to prevent her from going forward.
Kalanie shook her off. “The truth doesn’t rest!” Kalanie advanced towards the horde, and Michelle closely tailed her.
A man stood above the pyre and displayed an ornate tome. “The Seven Feathers… Apparently, the hero of the story is a Mystic!”
“Burn it! Burn it! Burn it!” the spectators chanted. The man dropped it into the fire, and everyone cheered.
“They’re incinerating books!” Kalanie conveyed to her pen.
A lady overheard her, and she emphatically iterated, “Of course we are! We can’t allow our kids to absorb dangerous ideas!”
The lady snarled, and after she got a closer inspection of Kalanie, she proclaimed, “It’s that reporter who got Dunstan locked up!”
“Get her!” an angry person vociferated. The majority of their comrades agreed with that sentiment.
“Stand back!” Michelle commanded.
A girl sneered, “Or what? You’ll use your stupid protective spell? You can’t shield yourself forever!” Her cronies cackled at that.
Michelle pressed her palms together and pointed them to the sky. A powerful wind enveloped the surface around them, and, all of a sudden, dozens of white birds flew into this sector! The force of their gale extinguished the blaze, and their pursuit of the miscreants sent everybody running. Michelle targeted the woods, and a bear charged into the tumult. It lowered itself before Michelle and Kalanie, and they climbed on. As they rode away from the fracas, Michelle swore, “My avian friends will leave in a few minutes!”
Kalanie didn’t care so much about the radicals’ fate, but she didn’t dare voice her lack of concern for the attackers to Michelle! Instead, she apologized, “Sorry for getting us into that!”
Michelle shrugged. “At least we saved some knowledge from getting destroyed!” Kalanie grinned at that concept as the bear carried them deep into the thicket.
“Have a seat,” Laverna gestured toward two chairs.
“This is a television studio!” Margaret gasped as she surveyed all of the wires and lights. “When you invited us to meet you at your headquarters, I assumed you had an office!”
Laverna sat on her cushy chair behind the desk with an air of imperiousness. “I do have an office! But do you really believe I’d permit an interview that I couldn’t use to my advantage? Oh, don’t worry- it’s not live! I’m not stupid! I know you might have some questions that could make me look bad! If you don’t like it, tough! These are my terms for cooperation!”
It incensed Noah to watch her rapturously swivel on her perch, so he grabbed it, gazed at her directly in her eyes, and sternly stated, “It’s not up to you whether or not you cooperate in this investigation! You’re a suspect in multiple homicides, and if you don’t voluntarily answer our questions, we’ll get a subpoena and compel you to come to the station! How would that look if all your peers were there to film you entering there like that?”
After her mug soured into a pronounced frown, Laverna meekly petitioned him, “Can I still record it?”
“Since your attorney isn’t present, I highly recommend it!” Noah affirmed.
“Wait, wait, wait! You’re talking attorneys and homicides! This is serious?” Laverna paled as they positioned themselves before her.
Margaret briefed her, “You can eliminate yourself from our list if you can provide an honest account that can be corroborated.”
Laveran exclaimed, “This is crazy! All I do is report the news!”
“That’s debatable!” Noah shot back. “You’ve been broadcasting a lot of rumors and conspiracy theories…”
“Ah! So, that’s what this is about! You’re mad ‘cause I’m making you look bad!” Laveran began to regain her swagger.
Margaret slammed a copy of The Mink Observer onto the desk. “This is your publication where you have an article describing the dangers of Mystics’ integration into the community.” She thrust a piece of paper onto the surface next to it. “This is a copy of a conversation between the admin of the GLADA chatroom and their followers. They use nearly identical language- coincidence?”
Laverna disputed this, “Excuse me! I didn’t manufacture any of these ideas! I simply publish them! I’m only trying to be fair and discuss both sides of these issues!”
“Both sides?” Noah cried out incredulously. “There isn’t more than one side! There’s only the truth and not the truth!”
“The truth is subjective!” Laverna contended. “Some citizens live in a different reality than the rest of us! I didn’t create this monster, I’m merely profiting off of it!”
Margaret catechized, “So, you’re okay with ripping apart the fabric of society as long as you wear the best cloth?”
Laverna’s lips twisted in a smidgen of shame, but she did not seek forgiveness for her actions. “I… present a variety of concepts, but I don’t direct anyone to commit violence! Once I put a story out there, I can’t control what anyone does with it!”
“But, how far would you go to grab a sensational headline?” Noah pressed her. “Don’t give me any more innocent bullshit! You beat law enforcement to a crime scene- you got the notion to do that from somewhere!”
“It was an anonymous tip!” Laverna unwillingly confessed. “I didn’t know there’d be a massacre, they just said it’d be huge! And I didn’t even get the call, ask my secretary! I don’t have a minute to spare for chatrooms either! I run a studio and a newspaper, I rely on someone else to go through my emails and stuff! There! Can we be finished now?”
Noah decreed, “Get us the tipster’s phone number, and we’ll keep in touch with you.” Laverna slumped on her furniture in defeat.
As they left that location, Margaret posed to Noah, “What do you think?”
“I think the mastermind could be anyone at this point!” After Noah made that verbalization, he heard Dawson’s maniacal laughter ringing out in his head. “Or maybe that’s exactly what they want us to think…”
Lynn took a deep breath and entered the building. It bore the appearance of a small video rental establishment that recently shut down. Its shelves were pushed to the back, but a lot of old movie posters still clung to the wall. Lynn stared at the interior in amusement; the eye-catching film promotions were misleading to the truly dark occurrences getting perpetrated by the new owner of this establishment! She saw that a couple of campaign flyers got dispersed throughout the vicinity, and their generic appearance didn’t seem very persuasive. It sort of perplexed Lynn that this guy was somehow the front-runner for this race!
“What do you want?” a middle-aged man barked at her from behind a glass counter with an empty till.
“Hi! I’m, like, here to volunteer!” Lynn chirped in a voice that was a couple of octaves higher than her normal tone. As Noah listened to this transaction on the receiver radio, he couldn’t help but feel impressed by her talent at undercover work, and he began to wonder if his doubts about the possibility of success with this operation were unfounded.
The man seemed surprised at this development. “You are?”
Lynn cheerily articulated, “Yeah! My sorority has our Helping Hands Week going on currently, and since I’m a poly-sci major, I came here! A bunch of my sisters are at Becky’s family’s stables, but when I heard I’d have to scoop up horse poop, I’m like, ew! No thanks!”
The man maintained his skepticism, but one of his peers came over and elbowed him. “What are you doing? Don’t kick out the hot blonde!”
“She has the eyes of a witch sympathizer,” the man whispered to him. Luckily for Noah, he didn’t have the capacity for a lower volume!
“Dude! Why are you checking out her eyes?” his peer probed.
The man relented, “Alright! Come on in!” He lifted a small barrier, and Lynn clapped as she went inside.
About half a dozen individuals of various ages were parked on the floor stuffing envelopes. She jovially greeted them, “Hi! I’m Josie!” It stunned her that almost no one responded to her. A couple of men ogled her with a salacious interest, but nobody spoke to her. She didn’t let this awkwardness deter her though as she found a spot to roost herself on and queried, “Okie dokie! So, what are we doing here?”
“Here! Stuff these envelopes with pamphlets,” the front desk man huffed as he plopped a box before her. “Think you can handle that, sweetheart?”
“If you can’t, I’d be happy to pitch in!” the amorous peer offered.
The front desk man pushed him away. “Don’t harass her! This campaign has gotten enough pigs paying attention to us, we don’t need more!” The amorous peer defeatedly returned to his station.
The group worked in silence for a minute, and Lynn took advantage of this quiet to study the material at her disposal. It had a picture of a woman she didn’t recognize dressed as a sorceress, and Jareth was at the other end snapping a broomstick in half. Only so Noah would have an idea of what she was seeing, she spoke up, “Oh my gosh! This is cute! So on brand for Halloween!”
“That’s not a Halloween scene!” a woman snapped. “That’s a profound statement on Jareth Thurio’s stance against the witches! His opponent, Keddy Manavi, is a total sympathizer!”
“What do you mean by sympathizer?” Lynn petitioned her.
The woman snorted, “Huh! They’re not teaching you the truth at your college apparently!”
Another lady filled Lynn in, “Keddy Manavi is siding with the magical heathens who wanna take over society! That’s why we depicted her in a witchy costume. We want the people of El Poder to know where she stands!”
“Wow! She said she wants to support those jerks?” Lynn inquired.
“Well, she didn’t actually say that,” an older fellow replied. “But she wouldn’t denounce them either, so we figured we could still run with that angle.”
Lynn feigned confusion, “But, why wouldn’t she wanna denounce anyone who wants to destroy society?”
The older fellow gladly filled her in, “The witches have tricked a lot of idiots into buying the claim that these so-called Mystics are the victims! Magic is a dark art, and they said their souls to obtain these powers so they can annihilate us all!”
“Gosh! That’s scary!” Lynn reacted with aghast. “It’s awesome Jareth Thurio is doing his part to stop all this! But… I dunno, it doesn’t seem like enough! It’s not like being treasurer of El Poder can prevent all this destruction from unfolding!”
“You gotta join the GLADA chatroom, Josie!” an elderly female advised her. “GLADA has all kinds of plans in the works! Just be careful though- Dunstan was impatient, and he got himself arrested! Apparently, he attacked that reporter while she was on the phone with a pig! What an idiot!”
Noah shifted in his seat- after this was all done, he would have to confess to Lynn she made the correct call with him not being in the room with them during this mission! It was maddening to hear them speak of Kalanie’s attempted murder so casually! He would’ve squirmed at the reference to himself too! He had to agree with their point about that moron’s mindset during the assault though! He leaned in to listen to the rest of the conversation with great interest because he predicted that Lynn was on the verge of getting them to reveal something highly relevant!
Lynn remarked, “Surely, GLADA came up with better plans than that, didn’t they?”
“Of course they did!” the older fellow affirmed. “We’re working on getting some of these alleged heroes in trouble without getting our fingerprints on it!”
“How are you gonna do that?” Lynn asked.
The elderly female answered, “It’s nothing that’d get them in legal peril, but it’d persuade the public not to trust them! You see, we have this white powder…”
All of a sudden, an office door busted open, and Jareth burst out with a look of pure acrimony etched all over his visage! He seethed, “You fools! Never trust strangers with your secrets!”
“She seems alright though!” the amorous peer objected.
“Oh, you think so, huh?” Jareth stomped over to Lynn. Noah sat at the ready- he wouldn’t leave his vehicle until she indicated she was in true danger, but it seemed obvious that a need for rescue was imminent!
Jareth picked Lyn up by her shirt collar, and he patted her underneath her collarbone. Lynn rather anxiously catechized, “How are you doing, pumpkin?” Noah withdrew his weapon and bolted out of his car.
After throwing her to the ground, Jareth confirmed, “Yup! There’s a wire there!”
The campaign volunteers gasped, and Lynn challenged him, “How did you know that?” Jareth glared at her for having the audacity to enquire about such a subject, and Lynn knew that she had struck a nerve since he refused to provide her with a response. A thought instantly hit her, and while a part of her realized it was an enormous risk to bring this up, she couldn’t resist grilling him, “Is it ‘cause it’s metal? Do you have a connection with this earthy substance?” Jareth’s lips curled up in a snarl, and Lynn mentally prepared herself to evade whatever advances he had in store for her…
“Freeze! Hands up!” Noah commanded as he aimed his armament at Jareth.
“Is that a taser?” Jareth eyeballed Noah’s weaponry peculiarly.
Noah smirked. “Uh-huh! No gun, no bullets, no manipulation from Earth Mystics.” It pleased him that Jareth’s expression grew far less confident upon hearing this, and as his cronies complied with his command, Noah was eager to witness how Jareth would wriggle out of this predicament…
Jareth seemed worried initially, but he abruptly let out a noise of annoyance. “This is harassment! You don’t like my viewpoints, so you’re doing anything you can to trap me!”
“We got proof of a conspiracy!” Noah argued.
“They did stuff, without a doubt! But, you have no proof I had knowledge of any of this!” Jareth folded his arms triumphantly.
The front desk man protested, “Hey! You can’t do this to us!”
Jareth shot back, “Complain all you want! I gotta recruit more election staff!” He returned to the office and slammed the door, and Noah gawked at him furiously. It was seriously astounding that someone with such obvious involvement couldn’t get convicted of any of his infractions!
“Damn!” the director bitterly lamented as he peeked at the quick change area backstage.
“If she’s not coming, I’m going home!” A backup dancer put her hands on her sparkly donned hips as she aired her opinion, and her coworkers heartily shared her sentiments.
The director assured them, “She’ll be here! Just stay in your places!” The dancers gazed at him skeptically, but they complied. As soon as the director turned around, he gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to lose his cool, but resisting that urge was growing less and less tempting…
Before he could leave the staging quarters, the stage manager tapped his shoulder and demanded, “Where the hell is she?”
“She’s around here somewhere!” the director irately conveyed. The stage manager didn’t seem convinced, so he added, “Gawd, give the kid a break! She’s been through hell, so forgive her if she needs a few minutes to compose herself!”
“Forgive her?” the stage manager repeated dumbfoundingly. “The show starts in five minutes! The theatre is sold out, that’d be a shit-ton of tickets to refund! And we’re not gonna get a refund on the extra security we paid for! What the f are-?”
The director adamantly reaffirmed, “She’ll be there, alright! Calm down, and let me go get her!” He marched into the hallway prior to the stage manager getting to argue further, and as the director stomped his way down the corridor, he fumed that she put him in this position. He furiously thought that she had better have a valid excuse for the grief she was putting him through!
After swinging the door open, the director bellowed, “Nova! Get your butt out there and-!” He espied Nova sitting on the floor with her arms cradling her legs, and he became very alarmed. “My gawd! Are you okay?”
“I can’t do it!” Nova reported to him in a barely audible timbre.
“What are you talking about?” The director’s skin paled to observe Nova in such a fragile condition. He sat next to her, but he was sort of afraid to touch her in case he inadvertently set her off. He peered at her tear-stained cheeks, and he reminded her, “You’re Nova! You’ve sold over two hundred million records, you’ve performed in forty-five countries, you’ve made sixty-one music videos! You can do anything!”
Nova ruefully disagreed, “I can’t tonight! I… I dunno! I have this really bad feeling about this gig! I should just cancel this tour…”
The director dared to put an empathetic hand on her shoulder, and thankfully, she didn’t get triggered! He couldn’t allow this extraordinary talent to quit at the top of her game, so he consoled her, “Nova, if you don’t do this concert, you’re letting them win! Don’t you see- this is exactly what those thugs wanted from you! They were trying to silence you! You can’t permit them to gain a victory here! Don’t give in to your anxiety! You gotta show them what you’re made of!”
“You’re right!” Nova accepted his argument. “I survived, and they’ve gotta know it!”
“Five more minutes!” the director snapped at the stage manager. The stage manager hesitantly left, and the director instructed Nova, “Touch up your makeup, and go put on a helluva show!”
Nova determinedly freshened up, and when she got to her platform, she still had an ill sensation at the pit of her stomach. She ignored that, and as the platform rose to meet her audience, the roar of their jubilee invigorated her senses! As she belted out a high note, she couldn’t understand why her gut was gnawing at her! Everything appeared as solid as ever…
As three friends strolled down the street, one boy exclaimed, “That was amazing! I’ll be deaf for a week, but it was worth it!”
“Dude, she’s the bomb!’ the second boy gleefully commented.
“What?” the first boy joked with his hand cupping his ear.
The third boy merrily verbalized, “I could die happy tonight!”
A hooded man emerged from behind a lamppost and growled, “That’s nice to know!” Swords emerged from his palms, and the boys screamed as the blades zoomed toward them…
“Wow!” Robin exclaimed as she observed the large pool of blood that trickled across the simple but elegant living room. “It’s amazing that Kalanie survived this attack!”
“Yeah, but she still has to undergo some intense surgery,” Lynn sadly conversed as she scoped the area out. “And we’ll have to watch out for some cognitive decline due to where she got injured. She… Don’t touch that!”
Noah withdrew his hands from the tall, decorative vase he was about to open, and as he threw his hands in the air, he anxiously objected, “I’m sorry, but do you really expect me to stand here and do nothing while my friend is hurting and her assailant is still out there?”
Lynn insisted, “Yes! You have to, you’re a witness in this case! Technically, you’re not even supposed to be at the crime scene!”
“Well, it’s not like I can take my buddies to get some celebratory drinks after a thing like this!” Noah shuddered at his recent memory. “I knew it was a bad idea to do anything festive for my birthday! I probably lured her to her killer!”
“You did her a favor!” Lynn disagreed with him. “She’s lucky someone caught this incident! You being on the phone with her probably made the culprit leave in a hurry, and you know what happens when culprits do that! He or she made a mistake, and we can use that to find them and make them pay!”
Noah acquiesced to her logic, “You’re right! I constantly tell people in my cases that it isn’t their fault, but it’s so hard to not blame myself here! I’ve ruffled so many feathers that they’re gonna go after everyone I care about!”
Robin argued, “You’re making an assumption here! Trespassers ambush the occupants of a building for lots of reasons! Like, it could have been a robbery gone wrong, a hate crime, an attempted rape…” She discovered a small piece of paper near the site of her DNA collection, and she groaned, “Or maybe it’s related to the War of the Mystics after all!”
“Let me see!” Noah demanded.
“Bag it and tag it first!” Lynn ordered.
As Robin marked her evidence, she muttered, “I thought this guy was smarter than this!” She emitted an exasperated sigh as she handed it over to Noah.
Noah’s intense curiosity propelled him to snatch it up voraciously, and his pulse quickened as he read the content of the business card. “The campaign headquarters of Jareth Thurio! Of course! I never could trust that son of a bitch!”
“Is he the Earth Mystic?” Robin wondered.
“I dunno! Maybe!” Noah responded. “He’s connected to Brennan Umbra’s murder, and he uses a lot of the same language as Dawson and his supporters, but it’s hard to say if he’s the mastermind or merely a sycophant! I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when we question his election staff!”
Lynn queried, “We? Oh, yeah! Our cases are connected now!”
Noah put on some gloves and delightfully declared, “Yes! And given that fact, I can examine the crime scene as much as I please now!” Lynn smiled as she shook her head, and he cheekily grinned at her prior to turning his attention back to that decorative vase. He didn’t expect to chance upon anything significant, but…
As soon as he lifted the lid, a person emerged from the vessel with a hammer swinging at Noah! Noah evaded his assault, and the manner in which the man lunged caused him to lose his balance and topple over! The two women screamed while the vase fell down and shattered, and Noah immediately apprehended him. “No! Please, don’t!” the man whimpered.
“You expect me to show you mercy?” Noah cried out in amazement. “You certainly didn’t give your victim any!”
“This wasn’t supposed to occur!” the man wailed. “I only wanted to talk to her! I was gonna get her and the other witches to confess to heresy, and if they didn’t comply, I was gonna break their knees! I never meant to seriously hurt anyone, but then she got that call, and I just panicked!”
Noah surmised, “You’re a member of GLADA, aren’t you?”
The man confirmed, “Yes! That’s why I volunteered to help that candidate, but it didn’t feel like enough! Someone had to do something, didn’t they? I mean, they’re destroying society, aren’t they?” Noah could discern so many aspects of that dialogue that he could have disputed, but his fervor made him at a loss for words. He gazed at Robin and Lynn for a response, but all they could do was gawk at the man with faces as pale as ghosts!
Gwyneira sat at a desk staring at a single document surrounded by lofty piles of them. Her expression became increasingly frustrated, and eventually, she mumbled to herself, “I just don’t remember how much of this we need! What did we order in the past? There’s gotta be a reference for this somewhere…”
“Acting Chieftess!” a woman close to her age entered into the room.
“Yes, Brook?” Gwyneria addressed her while still rifling through the stacks.
Brook inquired, “Have you signed off on that press release yet?”
Gwyneira replied, “Not yet. I’ll get to it soon!”
“How soon is soon?” Brook pressed her.
“I don’t know! Soon!” Gwyneira strove not to snap at anyone in her community, but it was difficult to avoid it when she found herself in the middle of important tasks and others constantly interrupted her to badger her about trivial matters! She had no memory of her mother ever losing her patience, and she now regretted not learning how she managed to do that!
Brook clearly did not favor Gwyneira’s reaction- her visage became aghast, and she astoundedly shouted, “You don’t know? I have to do a promotion for the MIC in two days, and if there is anything that needs to get rewritten, two days isn’t a lot of time for this! I-!”
Gwyneira interrupted her rant, “Yes, it’s important, but so is ensuring that our tribe receives critical supplies! How would you feel if your press release was complete but your brethren didn’t have food to eat or-?” She hadn’t been using her entire focus on locating the form she sought, and she wound up bumping into a heap in the wrong fashion, which sent it all plummeting down!
Brook stared at the strewed sheets with a guilty conscience, and she ruefully regarded Gwyneira, “I’m so sorry! Please, allow me to assist you in reorganizing this mess!”
“Do whatever you feel you must! I need a minute alone!” Gwyneira vacated the vicinity prior to Brook getting the opportunity to react to that.
“Acting Chieftess?” Beck joined her on the cracked, desert floor that lay before the olive-drab hills, and he watched her as she shot pieces of ice that formed artistic images by the verdant oasis across from their doorstep, and he patiently waited for her to cease her efforts to continue the communication.
Eventually, Gwyneira huffed, “What is it, Beck?”
Beck conveyed to her, “It’s almost midnight! Usually, you’re in bed by now…”
“Usually, my mother takes care of these stresses, but these are not usual times!” Gwyneira retorted.
“Perhaps you have too much on your plate,” Beck conjectured.
Gwyneira agreed, “I definitely have too much on my plate! I have no inkling how I will be able to handle this when I’m much older and take over my mother’s legacy!”
Beck suggested, “Why not serve yourself less?”
“You say that like it’s so easy to shed vital work!” Gwyneira articulated. “I’m trying to save our world and theirs, how can I quit essential duties with so much at stake?”
“Why not choose our priorities and forget about everyone else’s?” Beck probed.
Gwyneira became so shocked to hear this that she paused her pursuit. She ogled at him appallingly, and she gasped, “You want us to abandon our obligations to the constructive cycle?”
Beck debated this, “What good have we done with it? The Water Mystics aren’t any safer than before, and Sapiens seem hell-bent on obliterating the planet! Why not adopt a more neutral stance?”
“So, you’re proposing that we stand by and do nothing while humanity crumbles at our doorstep?” Gwyneira challenged him.
“We can’t rescue everyone!” Beck contended. “We used to have a positive impact simply by combating the Earth Mystics trying to unjustly make Sapiens extinct. Our direct involvement with their affairs has brought us nothing but trouble!”
Gwyneira quarreled, “We are all part of the same universe! Suffering by some affects us all! We cannot maintain the stability of life if we live on shaky grounds! If we eternally isolate ourselves, we will invite everything to collapse!”
Beck countered, “Link used to spew that same philosophy, and look what resulted from that!” Beck pointed his hand at the palm trees, and he illuminated a gravestone.
“You dare to disparage my cousin’s name!” Gwyneira seethed. “You-!” Prior to her getting to divulge the rest of that thought, a silhouette emerged from behind the tomb! A set of blades instantly manifested from their fingertips, and Gwyneira as well as Beck froze these swords preceding them nearing the two enough to damage them, but once they recovered from that siege, the silhouette disappeared!
“Damn it! Where did they go?” Beck growled as he searched the terrain.
Gwyneira directed him, “Take a team to search the Badlands. Do not allow your furor to propel you to fall into a trap! This individual may not have come here alone!” Beck nearly went inside, but then Gwyneira added, “Don’t forget this moment if you start to think that inaction will keep us safe again!” Beck cast her a resentful glare, but he could not dispute her reasoning, so he bitterly stomped out of sight.
Noah relayed to Lynn, “I dunno about this plan! If you get caught, you could undermine their confidence in us and they won’t wanna tell us anything!”
Lynn used the mirror on the passenger’s sun visor to accurately secure a microphone onto her chest. “The chief recommended we go this route for security purposes. It’s not like we can disobey him!”
“It’s not disobeying if he didn’t officially give us an order,” Noah brought up.
“But it’s not a bad idea!” Lynn differed. “These GLADA folks are very anti-authority, so how much would they tell us if they knew they were talking to a member of law enforcement?”
As Lynn put her hair into a bun, Noah verbalized, “True! But, I dunno! I just don’t like obtaining information so dishonestly!”
Lynn retaliated, “Oh really, Mister I’m Not Permitted to Work Mystic Cases But I’m Gonna Do It Anyways!”
“Touché!” Noah acknowledged the validity of that argument. Lynn chuckled as she put on a light-colored wig, and Noah asked, “You’re not worried about getting recognized wearing such a simple disguise?”
“Nope!” Lynn adamantly affirmed as she put on some ruby red lipstick. “They may recognize Detective Lynn Porter, but they’re not gonna find anything suspicious about a bubbly blonde who supports their agenda! They’re not expecting any of us to alter our appearances! No, seriously! I got a serial killer to confess once while I wore a red wig and fake boobs! He actually thought he was gonna impress me with that garbage!”
Noah tittered, but as she put on the final touches to her getup, he propositioned, “Maybe you should let me go instead!”
Lynn declined that offer, “Nuh-uh! You’re far too honest to be convincing! You’d cringe at the first slight against the Mystics!”
“That sounds pretty likely! But, what happens if they stumble onto your ruse and try to hurt you?” Noah posed to her.
“Then I’ll say the word ‘pumpkin.’ That’s your cue to go inside and get me out,” Lynn filled him in. “Oh, stop looking so gloomy! Everything will be fine!”
Noah expressed his faith in her, “You’re right! Don’t let my nerves get you nervous! Go get ‘em, kiddo!” Lynn beamed at him as she exited the vehicle, and he echoed her sentiments until she was out of his periphery. Noah couldn’t prevent himself from fretting about this arrangement- a lot was on the line, but he disliked his friends risking their lives for it!
Crimes of the Fay is now available on paperback & Kindle. Shannon Vidette is a rookie detective whose little bike theft case uncovered an apocalyptic plot! Now, finding the culprit behind the stealing will help save the world! Can she rescue humanity from a terrible fate? Read Crimes of the Fay by Dana Lee Burton to find out!
“Gah! It’s the ugliest monster of them all!” I exclaimed as I stared at the newly opened doorway.
Damon gazed at me quizzically. “Uh… It’s me!”
I smirked at him knowing precisely how much my snide attitude would irk him. “I know!”
“Ooh!” Damon boiled at my derision. “You’re just petty! And, you’re insane! Have you explored much of this realm? I’m far more attractive than all of the inhabitants of this cesspit!”
“Mmm… No! I think Lilith is loads better looking!” I needled him. Truthfully, I resorted to messing with him since his presence always signified a monumental disruption, and resorting to this measure soothed my riled–up nerves! Besides, getting under his skin would disarm him a bit, which would make it easier to impede him from… whatever he had in store for visiting this establishment!
Damon appeared rather puzzled by my assertion. “Lilith is here? I thought she… Oh, you meant the dinosaur that failed to consume you!”
I peered at him suspiciously. “Why would you believe my former wife was here? Didn’t you pass by her as you escaped from Hell?” For a brief instance, I fretted that perhaps Lilith’s spirit had taken a cue from Damon’s and decided to haunt me in some form, but then I recalled that this action would require a pledge to service, and my ex was way too pampered to ever reach an agreement of that sort! Still, his reaction was somewhat perplexing, and I wondered if it stemmed from more than his mere stupidity…
“Uh, excuse me!” Doctor Oogha Oogha jumped into the interaction and sternly addressed Damon, “Who are you? And, what are you doing here?”
“Me? I… Um…” I could practically see the wheels in his head furiously turning as he raced to unearth an excuse for arriving at this location, and it amused me to recognize that he hadn’t planned this venture out properly. Eventually, he gave it a shot, “Here’s the thing: I’m their boss, and I…” He espied the expression of disbelief on Doctor Oogha Oogha’s face, and he decided to abandon all pretense. “Ah, screw it!”
Damon dove for something under a microscope, but I managed to stop him by grabbing onto his mink cape and pulling him toward us. He unclasped it, but he couldn’t get far since I was close enough to wrap my arms around his abdomen, which rendered his upper limbs as useless. He strove to stomp on my feet, but he wound up losing his balance and took us both to the floor. He wriggled out of my grasp, but I grabbed onto one of his ankles. He could hardly move, so he cried out, “Why are you doing this? The Eye of Stonerac is here! You could complete your mission and destroy it right now! Don’t you have that meddlesome fiancé to go home to? Forget what I’m doing- get that Eye!”
I pointed out, “Maybe I would have already, but you never told us what the Eye is! Great plot, genius!”
“You want to destroy my Eye?” Doctor Oogha Oogha glimpsed at him in appall, and then he protectively stood before a primitive telescope. “Pastor Aage sent you, didn’t he? He keeps saying I’m playing God by studying the Heavens, but I’m doing a lot of good for humanity by examining the cosmos! For example, what if a comet hits Earth without warning? The results could be catastrophic!”
“Ugh! You dick!” I castigated Damon. “You were gonna destroy their planet? Why? We’re not even on the same timeline, so it wouldn’t have destroyed Terra Belle!”
Damon leered, “No! But, it would would’ve destroyed you to know you played a part in their demise!”
He cackled manically, and we resumed our struggle. He, unfortunately, was able to gain some traction, and as he dragged me along as he trudged forward, I advocated to the others, “Feel free to step in at any moment!”
Ginger and Ellie rushed toward the table he was heading to, but Damon grabbed the large reptile repellent and sprayed them. Doctor Oogha Oogha guided them to an eye-washing station, and our other travel companions seemed unsure of how else to proceed. “We could call the police!” Kamali suggested.
“And say what? A trespasser interrupted our efforts to destroy someone else’s property?” Kendra riposted.
“I got this!” J.J. seized a nearby broom and explained, “I was just going over how to throw javelins to my class too! …I’m an assistant P.E. coach at Julieth.”
This revelation made me bristle, but prior to me uttering a word about it, Ellie forewarned me, “Uh-uh! He’s helping, so you hush!” She mulled it over for a brief instance, and then she griped, “Hold on, how does our rival high school have the budget for teacher assistants?”
J.J. either didn’t hear her remark or chose to ignore it since remained in full concentration as he aimed the broom. He finally threw it, and it would’ve hit Damon perfectly if he hadn’t rolled out of the trajectory! Incidentally, it bounced off of the wall closest to his projection, and the fibers from the bottom hit me on the nose! I spat dust out of my mouth, and then Damon victoriously held a Rainbow Tektite in the air and declared, “I win!”
Instantly after he said that, a baby Sabertooth tiger emerged from behind some crates and roared at Damon! I’m fairly certain that most people wouldn’t have gotten the least bit intimidated by such a cute baby animal, but Damon is not most people! He emitted a high-pitched scream and jumped from fright. He lost his hold on the Rainbow Tektite, but he hardly paid attention to where it fell- he was cowering from it as if it was one of the prehistoric behemoths that sent after us! Personally, I found its growls and hisses adorable, but Damon fled from it like his life depended on it! We heard him lumbering down a staircase, and he bellowed, “The game isn’t over yet!”
“Oh, shut up, loser!” I called back. I guffawed as I imagined the grimace he must’ve bore upon receiving that slight, but I frowned slightly as a thought occurred to me. “Wait, there are stairs going from the outside? So, we didn’t need to go through the tropical garden of death to get here?”
“I really need to start locking that door!” Doctor Oogha Oogha noted as he picked the cub up and put it back in its cage.
Nick peeked at the rainbow Tektite in bafflement. “What’s so special about this rock anyways?”
I snatched the Rainbow Tektite out of his palm and snapped, “It’s not a rock! Well, it is, but…” I cut myself off when I remembered that a stranger was in the vicinity. “It’s nothing!”
“Uh, I have some questions…” Doctor Oogha Oogha relayed to us.
“Yeah, I’m sure you do!” Natalia responded. “But unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of time for explanations! We left a bunch of individuals in the jungle, so we should really go check on them!”
While we dashed out, Osra jovially bade him, “Thanks for the help! We appreciate it!” Doctor Oogha Oogha clearly wanted to reply to that, but we left prior to him getting to speak to us anymore.
Preceding our return to the jungle, I felt nervous about what condition the luggage store patrons might have been in. I pictured that they would have been rattled from contending with whatever creatures or conditions they had to endure, but what I couldn’t have predicted they’d be doing was… “That’s right, folks! It’s the bargain of a lifetime!” A cave woman pointed to an image of a stoney apartment complex, and the luggage store patrons listened to her intently. “It won’t last forever though, so buy immediately or you might miss your chance!”
We stood there stunned by this development for a minute, and then one of the patrons became aware of our entrance to this locale and articulated, “Hey! It’s the dude in charge!” He ran up to our group and beseeched me, “Can you get us some money?”
I let out an exasperated exhale, and I was too flabbergasted to formulate what to say back! Luckily, Jasper took the reins by nudging Cricket and encouraging her, “Go get her!”
Cricket marched over to the saleswoman and demanded, “Do you have a permit to sell in this territory?” The saleswoman sputtered but didn’t have an answer, so Cricket berated her, “How dare you perform an illegal operation on us! There’s a reason these rules exist! If we didn’t obey the law, the world would erupt into pure chaos…” Cricket continued to castigate her as she packed her belongings, and she didn’t quit until she was well out of our proximity.
“You jerks! We were interested in learning more!” another luggage store patron accosted us.
“Sigh! Let’s do this before I give into the temptation of leaving these jagoffs in the Stone Age!” I pulled out the Rainbow Tektite and requested, “Please, take us back to the Earthly realm!” Not everyone was happy to see the vortex appear, but I ignored their objections knowing that, in a few seconds, their memory of this would get completely obliterated.
A clerk glanced around at his array of suitcases and related accessories, and he assessed, “Eh, I don’t think we’re gonna get anyone else. What do you say we close early today?”
After he turned to his coworker at the register, her eyes went wide as a giant thump was felt. He turned back around and nearly fainted when there was suddenly a store full of shoppers! The patrons seemed confused by why he gawked at them like that, and one of them probed, “What?”
After blinking in addlement, the clerk posed to his coworker, “Didn’t they all leave when we were doing inventory?” His coworker shrugged.
Nick repulsively took off the caveman-looking vest, and J.J. concurred with his sentiments, “Good choice! …Why do I suddenly feel like canceling javelin practice?”
Phoebe tittered, but Roxy sat beside her with a very unamused expression. I rather entertainedly regarded her, “Don’t expect me to apologize!”
“You spoiled another one of my poor Damon’s plots, didn’t you?” Roxy seethed.
“No! This was a totally normal occurrence!” I sardonically stated.
Roxy got incensed by my gibe. “You won’t always be able to trick me with non-existent monsters! I’m gonna tag along for one of your disappearances, and I’ll upend your interference with my true love’s scheme! Did you view me as relentless previously? Well, you haven’t seen anything yet! Just you wait! Nothing will stop me!”
A man with a square haircut, glasses, and a white lab coat yelled, “Roxy? There you are! If you don’t come home now, you’ll be grounded for an entire month!”
I couldn’t resist chuckling at this unfolding! Roxy glowered at me and avowed, “This changes nothing! I’ll be back!” She began to storm off, and then she swiveled around to convey to Phoebe, “Thanks for the lotion, Miss Caracy!”
Ellie, Ginger, and I gazed at Phoebe in surprise, so she elucidated, “I was trying to figure out where you were, and the guy at the kiosk over there wouldn’t tell me anything unless I bought one of his crappy products!”
“I remember lecturing him!” Cricket abruptly recollected. “But, I don’t remember why I stopped! And, why am I here?”
“What? You don’t remember going to the…?” Miriam attempted to jog her memory. She saw Ellie, Ginger, Phoebe, and me vigorously shaking our heads, so she fibbed, “You were gonna go speak with the manager of the mall about him.”
Cricket accepted that rationale, “That sounds like something I’d do! See you all later!” As she walked toward an office, she clutched her stomach and muttered, “Blah! I shouldn’t have gotten that smoothie!”
I perked up at that notion. Damon’s ally was lipping his realm-traveling victims Rainbow Tektite shards into something consumable, and she drank a smoothie that made her nauseous? While I couldn’t work out how the culprit successfully snuck that feat into such a public place, it did seem connected! Someone from Rosemary King High must have known I was going to visit this establishment, and they sought out someone connected to the school to lure me into the portal! I truly believed I was close to rooting out the perpetrator, and all I had to do was ask her where she bought her beverage! I sped to catch up to her, but then…
“Assistance, please!” Mrithan wailed.
“No! Not now!” I moaned. It annoyed me to have to come to his aid when I was on the brink of discovering a vital clue to this cumbersome mystery, but then it dawned on me that discussing it with my prime suspect might have been better…
When I shifted to face him, I expected him to have gotten himself tangled up in some contraption as usual, but instead, he stood there in a totally normal semblance! He leaned in and communicated in a low tone, “If Imelda talks to you about where I went, can you make up an excuse for why I went home? We went on a date, and… well, she’s pretty boring! Apparently, she’s teaching The Scarlet Letter, and the author’s related to a famous villain, so now all she wants to do is discuss genealogy! I can’t do that for obvious reasons, so we were just kinda sitting there…”
Once I got over the fact that two unlikely candidates for a relationship became an item, I wracked my brain to acquire a method of connecting this discourse to my mission. All I could produce though was… “Say, were you hanging by the smoothie stand prior to meeting her?”
Mrithan’s eyebrows furrowed, and I waited for his story in anticipation. Was it sheer coincidence that he arranged for a romantic rendezvous right where Cricket got her tainted drink? Preceding Mrithan uttering a word, Imelda’s voice rang out, “Mrithan?” He zipped out of sight, and I lamented my luck in this scenario. Imelda approached me and inquired, “Have you seen Mrithan?”
I couldn’t think of how to reply, but then I noticed that she was slurping a smoothie! I instinctively slapped it from her hand, and when she ogled me in a peculiar fashion, I could see how odd that would appear out of context! I blurted the first idea on how to handle this that emanated from my gut, “Mrithan doesn’t want a second date!” I sensed heavy emotions emerging from her, so I fled the scene. I instantly regretted my behavior because it got me nowhere close to a solution to these tedious misadventures, but it was too late now!
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