I opened my mouth to say no. To say I wouldn’t do it. But before I could, Tina tore a hole in the space time continuum. Purple light spilled out across the gash in reality, and as it did, my mouth fell open in shock. How the flying frak was Tina this strong. It was crazy! And what’s more, if she could do that, why hadn’t she just magicked everyone to safety. Was it really because Sheev didn’t want Justin moved?
“Come on, sis,” Gordon whispered, pulling me to my feet and putting one arm around my waist. Maybe he was trying to be comforting, but I just didn’t care. “Sheev’s a bastard, but he’s right, and his plans get results.”
I wanted to argue. To tell him he was wrong, but I couldn’t. Why? Because I knew Sheev was right in this particular instance. I didn’t agree with what he’d done, but his plan was solid in this reality right now. If Justin came to power, he could heal the rift between our peoples.
But at what cost? I knew it would be immense, but at the same time, who knew how many had died. More would continue to die if Justin didn’t become king. Unfortunately, I knew of no way to make that happen, and Sheev did.
Sure, I could ignore this and run away, but if I did, who would be around to make sure Sheev’s plan never entered into “evil laugh” mode?
So to help Justin end the war, I decided to put my big girl pants on and go save his father. Wow, my life was seriously fucked up.
10
Too little time had passed for me to trust Gordon, but either way, my pathetic self was in front of the UCLA Medical center in Santa Monica with him and Tina. Even from our rather comfortable perch inside a not at all conspicuous flower delivery van parked across the street, I could see werewolves wandering around outside the hospital. Sure, they looked like regular guys. A dude smoking a cigarette. Another reading a newspaper. A girl eating some ice cream, but because of a spell Tina had cast, I could see them for what they were. It made me wonder how many of the assholes moved through the surrounding streets.
Justin “I’m a huge jerk and I’m leaving you for my first chance at power” Bailey had “wanted” to come, but unfortunately, in the end, he’d decided to stay with my snake of a master to learn some underhanded thing or another. Whatever. I didn’t care. Not even a little.
It was frustrating only because even though I knew he should stay with Sheev because, let’s face it, he had less spellcasting ability in his whole body as I did in my pinkie, I’d still wanted him to refuse to leave my side. It was ridiculous, I know, but I saw it for what it was. Our relationship was cracking, and we didn’t even really have a relationship.
I’d known it was going to happen. I mean, at the end of the day I was just a poor, geeky orphan, and he was a handsome, billionaire werewolf prince, and OMG, I was a walking cliché.
“So what’s the plan because what you’ve told me so far is stupid,” I growled. “Just, you know, putting it on record.”
“Then open the door and walk away, Annie.” Tina didn’t even look at me as she spoke. “We both know that’s what you really want to do.” She smiled at me in the rearview mirror, and I had the sudden urge to punch her in her stupid white teeth. “Or do you need a couple twenty siders? Need to roll for initiative before you run away?”
“Ladies,” Gordon said as he leaned against the driver’s side door of the van and rummaged around in his nearly empty bag of Doritos. He’d been eating chips for the better part of fifteen minutes, and I swear to god, I was about to shove that bag down his goddamned throat. It was bad enough that he chewed with his mouth open like a goddamned barbarian, but the crinkle of the bag was driving me insane. He was my brother, so I hadn’t murdered him into a puddle because I loved him, sort of. Still, he’d likely never know how close he’d been to death.
“Don’t ‘ladies’ me. Your sister has been bitching since we got here, and unless that’s her super power, I’m tired of it.” Tina spun in the seat and glared at him. It probably would have been more effective if they’d been sleeping together, but judging by the way it slid harmlessly off of him, I was guessing they weren’t. After a few seconds of no reaction, she harrumphed and shifted the glare onto me. “You do realize we’re going to go into a human hospital full of werewolf guards so we can attempt to kidnap their King to keep him from being murdered in secret by his first in command? No matter how you slice it, we’re going to look like the bad guys.”
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s why I said this was a stupid plan like forty times, but no one listens to me.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Stupid plans are stupid.”
“It’s also why you have a Glock 19 loaded with 9mm 147 grain jacketed hollow point silver ammunition,” Gordon replied, turning to look at the gun still in the lockbox on the seat next to me. “It’ll expand to over half an inch once it hits them. Trust me. They’ll feel it.”
“You know I don’t know how to use an actual gun. Besides, I have tricks up my sleeve,” I replied, shaking my head as I looked at the Glock. “I’ll just use my magic, thank you very much.”
“I really hope those tricks include using the damned gun,” Tina replied, shaking her head. “You’re an animator. Shooting werewolves with silver bullets is your jam. It’s literally why they hate you.”
“Anyway, what’s the plan?” I asked, ignoring both of them because there was no way I was using the damned gun. It would just lead to disaster.
“We’re going to go up to the top and secure the King. Once we do, I’ll give Tina the signal and she’ll create a distraction. Then we’ll get the King, and escape through a portal happy as clams.” He tapped the watch on his left wrist with his right index finger.
“See,” I said, looking at Tina. “Stupid plans are stupid.”
“I agree. This is a dumb plan, but I’m not sure how else to do it. Someone has to go inside, and for that we’ll need a distraction. It’d be so much easier if we could just level the building and scoop him out of the wreckage, but no, we have to worry about collateral damage because of humans.” She sucked in a slow breath that made me think she was seriously contemplating that plan, anyway. It did have points for simplicity, at least, but I was pretty much done with being associated with killing innocent bystanders just because it got results.
“Yeah, that’d be great,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “So how are we going to get close? Those wolves will find us the moment we get anywhere near the King.”
“Do you remember when we were kids?” Gordon asked, popping open his door and coming around to the back of the van.
“With much horror,” I said, eyeing him carefully when he pulled open the back door and rummaged around.
“There were fun parts,” Gordon replied, standing up and tossing a paper bag at me. “Like when we played dress up.”
“Honestly, if there’s a severed head inside this I’m going to be very upset,” I replied, catching the bag and waiting for him to reply.
“There’s not,” he replied, and I looked inside to see a Cubs’ jersey and a hat. “But you’ll probably wish it was.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said, pulling out a Cubs’ hat with a black ponytail wig attached to the back. A sudden pang of horror struck me when I realized I was about to play Sporty Spice.
“Hey, I’ve got a disguise too,” Gordon said, putting on a pair of Groucho glasses with a big nose and bushy eyebrows attached. Then he waved his hand over the contraption, using his power to turn it real. In a second it molded against his face like the best special effects in the world, and I had to admit, it made him look totally different.
“Wow, I can hardly tell it’s you,” I replied, somewhat awestruck by the quality of the illusion.
“Let’s go,” Gordon said, only instead of sounding normal, he sounded like he was from South Philly. Awesome. He came around to my door, opened it, and reached out a hand to help me out. “Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot.”
Gordon rummaged in his pocket and offered me a handful of those tree-shaped scented car deodorizers that were p
opular at car washes. “Toss a couple in your pockets. These are laced with a cocktail that messes up their sense of smell.” He grinned.
“Great, now I’ll smell like a carwash,” I said as I gingerly took the bubblegum-scented trees, stripped off the wrapping, and shoved them in my pockets. Then I pulled the Cubs’ jersey on over my shirt and put the hat on.
As I let him help me out of the van, I used my own powers to animate the hat. As I did, my pink hair turned black, meshing seamlessly with the ponytail.
“Nice,” Tina called, glancing at me from the van as I stood there wearing blue jeans and a Cubs jersey, which was totally uncool. I mean, seriously? I hated sports. Besides, we were in LA, and let’s just say, the Cubs weren’t especially popular here at the moment.
“Oh, come on,” I grumbled, but my voice came out in that fake Chicago mobster accent no one actually uses outside of gangster movies. Hey, it was the best I could do on short notice.
Gordon smirked at me before spinning on his heel and walking toward the corner. “You’ll get over it, don’t worry. Besides, who would expect you to be dressed like that?”
“You mock my pain,” I replied, following him across the parking lot. It was brisk out, and the sky was gray with the promise of rain even though it never rained in California. I always liked the feel of the weather like this. Not enough to move to Oregon or anything, but enough to want to sit on my couch and play video games all day without feeling guilty for avoiding the sunshine like a vampire. Priorities, right?
“I’m your brother. That’s like the entire job description,” Gordon said, crossing the street and approaching the entrance.
It was one of those whirling glass doors that always made me feel a bit claustrophobic because I always worried I’d get stuck inside or run over. I wasn’t sure who thought they were a good idea at a hospital, where unsteady walkers were likely to be at their apex, but then again, I wasn’t an architect. A grin crossed my face. If I was the architect, this place would have sweet airlock doors like in Star Trek.
“I’m surprised you’d know with your switch off,” I replied, following him into the spinning glass coffin. So far none of the werewolves had noticed us, which was good, but not enough. For all I knew, they were using weird werewolf telepathy to signal to the inside werewolves. “Mages at four o'clock in ridiculous costumes, but man, I could really go for some Bazooka Joe right about now. Wanna get some after we kill them?”
“Annie, are you coming?” Gordon asked as he stepped out of the spinning glass vortex of an entryway and waited for me. Unfortunately, I’d been too slow to make it and was forced to ride the thing around. I swallowed hard, hoping no one would notice me, but at the last second, the werewolf wearing the navy blazer that I’d spotted earlier stepped in with me. He pressed one hand against the wall of glass and shoved, moving it forward.
“Hey,” I mumbled, causing him to look at me, slightly shocked. Immediately, I regretted my decision to say anything because now he was looking at me as we spun toward the hospital side. Behind him I could see Gordon, and from the look of things, he was none too pleased. Plan meet contact with the enemy.
“Hey,” the werewolf replied, gaze still fixed on me. His nostrils flared just a touch, enough to let me know he was trying to smell me.
“Here to see someone?” I asked dumbly as the opening appeared. I wanted to dash past him into it, but he was blocking my way. I’d have to wait until either he got out or the pie slice of escape was wider.
“Yeah.” He shrugged, glanced at his watch, and stepped out of the entrance. I hurried to follow him, and as I cleared the threshold, he stopped. I crashed into his back, and as I did, my image flickered.
I wasn’t sure if he noticed because he was too busy stumbling forward a couple steps. My illusion settled back into place as he whirled to glare at me. I did my best to look sheepish, which wasn’t hard because I was totally embarrassed. I tried to slink past him, keeping my eyes down.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, but before I got too far, his hand snaked out, grabbing me by the shoulder. His fingers felt like steel as his grip tightened, and he spun me around to look at me closely.
“Name one Cubs player,” he said, gray eyes boring into me as his voice took on that predator’s edge. The one that was designed to let the humans subconsciously know they were in the room with the big bad wolf.
“Um…” I said, swallowing hard, and as I did, he moved in close to me, a smile creasing his lips.
“You can’t, can you?” he said, his grin widening as he pulled me closer. He was so warm I could feel the heat drifting off him in waves. That wasn’t good. Werewolves tended to get hotter the closer they were to shifting. That was the absolute last thing I needed.
“Excuse you,” I growled, poking him hard in the chest with my index finger. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” My voice scaled up an octave with each word so that by the time I finished speaking, people were looking at us.
The security guy by the desk looked up and mumbled something into his radio as the werewolf looked at me, confusion spreading across his face.
“Let. Me. Go.” I snarled and tried to pull away. His grip held me fast, but it didn’t matter. People were coming toward us now, and that’s pretty much when it dawned on him what was going on. We were in a crowded place, and he was a big guy accosting a tiny girl. He may have been a werewolf who could kill all these people without breaking a sweat, but at the same time, I was pretty sure that going all fuzzy in front of the humans wouldn’t be tolerated. At least, I hoped it wouldn’t.
Besides, it wasn’t like he knew I was an animator. If he did, maybe the other werewolves would forgive and forget a massive spectacle, but something told me, he’d still be in trouble for going all big bad wolf in a china shop.
“Sorry,” he said, and the word slid from his mouth like it was a rusty bear trap. His fingers released their hold on me, and I stumbled backward, rubbing my shoulder. It was definitely going to bruise.
“Jackass,” I muttered, turning away from him and flipping my hair in annoyance as the security guy, a big balding guy who could probably eat his way through an entire McDonalds’ menu, came toward us.
I ignored him, giving him my best, “I will totally freak the fuck out” look as I passed by him. It was probably unnecessary since he stepped right past me with barely a cursory glance and approached the wolf. Good, that meant security probably weren’t werewolves. If they had been, they’d have ignored their pack mate and all approached me.
A moment later, I could see why. Another security guard, this one a dumpy female with ragged brown hair and nails that she’d chewed to nubs, came toward me. Heh. They were splitting us based on sex, probably to avoid lawsuits.
“Come on,” Gordon hissed, urging me to move faster from across the lobby.
The security guardess turned toward Gordon as I hoofed it toward him, no longer caring about the werewolf seeing me since he was too busy with security. I, on the other hand, did not want to be in the same predicament. “Sorry, that jackass was being a jackass.” I shook my head, throwing a glance at the werewolf as I caught up to Gordon. “I think security’s got it so let’s just go,” I added a little louder.
“Okay,” Gordon said, glancing past me at the guard as she approached.
Thankfully, the elevator beside him dinged and opened. As we stepped inside, Gordon jammed his thumb on the “close doors” button. They slid shut just before the guard reached us, and I breathed a sigh of relief as we headed upward.
You know, right before the lights went out and something massive thumped against the roof of the elevator.
11
The metal ceiling shrieked as I dropped to my belly on the floor in an effort to create space. Pitch black darkness filled the enclosed space as the entire elevator shuddered to a grinding halt.
“Fuck,” Gordon said, and from the sound of his voice, I could tell he was still standing. Bad move. If whatever was up there went all T-1000 and started
stabbing through the ceiling, he’d get skewered.
Shadows danced across the tiny space as fear surged up inside me. I wasn’t sure what was up there, but I didn’t like our chances in an enclosed space.
“Get down here before you get stabbed you idiot,” I replied, staring up at the ceiling as it started to buckle under the repeated blows of something massive. I pulled my phaser free of its clip on my belt and pointed it up at the ceiling before calling upon my magic and firing a trio of shots.
A cry made up more of rage than pain split the air, moments before a fist-sized dent cratered the ceiling. You know, if the fist was the size of a large ham. Yeah, I wanted no part of that.
“Give me a second,” Gordon said as he backed toward the elevator doors and put his infinity gauntlet-clad hand on the steel. The power gem began to glow as he grabbed the edge of the door and pulled on it. His muscles strained, but the door was stuck firmly shut. Guess we weren’t going out that way.
“I’ll do my best,” I replied as another dent hit the roof. Given the state of the shrieking metal, we had three more hits at best.
“I don’t think this going to work,” Gordon said, releasing the door and looking at me. “Using the gauntlet is taking too much out of me.
“Let me try. Cover me,” I said as I got to my feet, holstered the phaser, and pulled my lightsaber free.
“Okay,” he replied, stepping past me and staring at the ceiling. I wasn’t sure what he was planning, but I’m sure he had a plan, or at least, I hoped he did.
I flicked the switch on the saber, causing the scarlet blade to spring to life in the enclosed space. The tip hit the door, and immediately, the metal started to melt. I stepped closer, plunging the blade deep into the elevator and swinging it around like Obi Wan and Qui Gon had done at the beginning of Phantom Menace. The metal turned molten and began to swirl when the thing above finally broke through the ceiling.
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