A few minutes later, the mural spit her out. She lay on the ground in the lushly carpeted hallway, gasping for air. Harry helped her up.
She looked at him. “Ohmygosh!” she said.
“I know,” he answered.
Ari looked at the magic ring on her finger and then back up at Harry. “I’m supposed to be here,” she said. “Right here. In Arcturis, in Vega, helping Soda, everything. How on earth can an ancient mural know all of this?”
Harry shook his head. “I honestly have no idea. And what about that other stuff?”
Ari’s veins went cold when he asked that. “We’ll have to figure that out eventually.” The mural spit out Kirian, and Ari helped her up. “But hey,” Ari said to Harry, “silver lining. If we don’t make it past today, then we never have to deal with any of that.”
“That,” Kirian said, still woozy. “Meaning the non-magical Ari stuff?”
“Yes,” Ari said.
“No offense to you, Ari, but your stuff is way more terrifying than my stuff,” Kirian said. “Bring on monsters and tunnels, at least those are something I can deal with.”
“Glad to hear it,” Ari said. “Because that’s up next.” Ari turned to Harry. “I’m sorry that you had to grow up here and that those stories turned out to be true.”
“Oh, I guess I turned out alright anyway,” he said. “Let’s just stop by my office and get the map of the tunnels. We do not want to get lost in there.”
Soda slithered quickly back to where she had left Drexyl. She was quiet as a ninja, peeking around every single corner and checking for enemy aliens.
It would have been one of her finer moments, if not for the giant, clunky footsteps of Ray’s troll following behind her. Finally, she turned and glared at Ray.
Ray shrugged. “What? Sure, he’s not quiet. He’s obviously too big to be quiet. The upside is the minute we encounter enemy aliens, he’s going to squish them and be done with it. Welcome to life with a troll, it’s a double-edged sword.”
“Fine,” said Soda, rounding the last corner where she had left the others. “Drexyl?” she hissed. “Where are you?”
“Here,” another whisper rang out. It sounded like Drexyl, but she could barely hear it. She was whispering out of an abundance of caution, since she hadn’t seen a single alien in the building. Why was he whispering?
She peeked again. There, in the corner, was a hulking chess piece brandishing a sword. Judging by the sound of Drexyl’s whisper, he was boxed in. The chess piece was just waiting for him to come out so he could be cut down.
Soda backed up a bit to whisper to Ray and Chippy. “Okay. I have a plan, but I need Chipmunk. Can you communicate my plan to him with sign language or something?”
“What’s the plan?” Ray asked.
“I’m going out into the hallway to draw the attention of the chess man that’s waiting to kill Drexyl. The thing’ll come after me and then Chipmunk will squish it.”
Ray looked up at Chippy. He made a gesture of fingers walking behind what Soda could only guess was supposed to be her, legs everywhere. It was a terrible representation, even if Ray had been drinking. And finally, Ray brought his fist into his hand with a smack. Then he looked back up at Chipmunk.
Chipmunk nodded and pulled a heavy looking, hand carved club out of his clothes.
“Okay,” Ray said. “You’re good.”
“He’s ready?” Soda asked.
“Yes.”
Soda slithered into the hallway, checking behind her once to make sure that Chipmunk was there. Not only was he there, but he was sneaking. He could sneak? She couldn’t even hear him and he was right behind her. If he could sneak, why the hell didn’t Ray ask him to sneak before?
Fine. Steady on, she told herself. She was in the middle of the hallway now, and in full view of the alien chess man. Soda could see that he had the same blue sheen from before, which meant that he had a force field. She wondered which would win, the force field or the club.
“Soda!” Drexyl hissed. “What are you doing? He’ll see you.”
“I’m aware,” she answered. “Pipe down. I’ve got a plan.”
The chess man turned to her with a roar, sword out. Soda had to react quickly to avoid the blade which was swinging at her tentacles. Then she saw Chipmunk and jumped out of the way.
Chipmunk moved fast. He took a step forward and brought the club down with frightening force down on top of the chess man. His aim was true. Force field or no, the chess man became one with the floor with a sickening thud, and orange goo oozed out of his blue body. He groaned, but didn’t move.
“Ew,” Drexyl said, emerging from the shadows with Floyd.
“Is he the only one around?” Soda asked, pointing to the chess man.
“That’s the only one we know about,” Drexyl said. “He was sneaky. He almost got the drop on us.”
“Well, more are coming,” Soda said. “They know we’re here and inside. They have a drone army tracking everybody and more portals filling the courtyard.”
“That’s it,” Drexyl said sadly. “Hey, at least we got a few drinks in at the end.”
They heard a clattering in the distance. “They’re coming.”
A few seconds later, they were all hiding in the spot that Drexyl and Floyd had just emerged from. It was a cozy and clever area to hide. There was a large recess in the wall with a series of tall couches in the way to hide behind so that the area looked clear.
The only problem was Chipmunk. There was no hiding him. Ray cleverly got the idea for him to stand dramatically and lean on his club to the side of the recessed hallway, in full view of everybody and stand completely still. He looked the like biggest, scariest, and weirdest statue at the Galactic Ambassador Hotel.
Soda was absolutely, one hundred percent sure that would never fool anybody, not in a million years. And yet, the first wave of aliens went running by with barely a glance at the giant form. Huh, Soda thought, you really can’t underestimate how stupid some people are.
That’s when Ray started vibrating. Rude, she thought, turning to stare at him. “What is going on with you?” she asked. “Even your troll is nice and quiet, and you start causing a commotion?” She glanced down the hallway, but luckily for Ray, it was clear right now.
Ray’s face lit up. He looked happy and excited. Almost like he wasn’t trapped in a hotel of death and apocalypse surrounded by an alien extinction force.
“And stop being so happy,” she whisper-scolded. “This is serious.”
Ray pulled glowing dice out of his robe with a big grin on his face. “The dice,” he said over and over again. “The dice. They’re alive and awake.” He showed them to Soda. He showed them to everybody. “I wonder if that means that Ari got to the ring?”
“Are you going to roll them?” Drexyl asked, he sounded excited now too. “Because if you’re going to roll them, I’ll put two hundred galactic credits on the number sixteen.”
“I’ll take that action,” Floyd said.
“Shut up, all of you,” Ray hissed. “This is important.”
He rolled the dice. Even to Soda they looked electric and were glowing different colors all at once. Beautiful. They danced and bounced, and finally landed. In fact, all of them were so entranced by the dice they didn’t even notice they had rolled out from behind the couch into the hallway. Or that when they finally came to a stop, at least a dozen new eyes were watching them.
Soda, not caring what number the dice landed on, unlike Floyd and Drexyl, finally looked up. “Uh-oh. We’ve got company.”
“Chipmunk, now!” Ray screamed.
Soda jumped back out of the way of the wooden club which came down repeatedly. Ray grabbed his dice. Floyd turned into Mantix. And Drexyl, seeing one of the drones dart away, ran after it in pursuit.
“No,” Soda yelled. “It could be a trap.”
“Yeah,” Drexyl yelled, putting more distance between him and her every second, “or it could be running away to warn the others.”
Soda decided she would go after him. “Oh, hell.” While she slithered as fast as she could, random thoughts crossed her mind. There was the thought they should have stayed close to the giant troll with the wooden club, for one. That they had no idea what they were running toward was another good one. Also, she couldn’t help but be slightly curious about what number the dice landed on. Did Drexyl win?
She rounded the corner going fast. Too fast, as it turned out, because Drexyl had apparently come to a dead stop just feet in front of a group of at least a dozen of the aliens. She came in so fast, in fact, that she barreled right into Drexyl, sending him tumbling into the superior enemy force with a battle cry that sounded more like a surprised shriek.
The only thing great about it was that with one swish of his outstretched sword, he took out the one alien drone that had run back here to warn the others.
And then it was on. Several of the alien fighters pounced on Drexyl. Soda slithered over to him and spun, taking out the fighters in the general vicinity. Then she and Drexyl settled into a routine. Him slashing at them while she dispatched eight at a time.
After a few minutes, the two of them were busy chasing down stragglers and then, just as quickly as the fray had started, it was over.
“Sorry about knocking you into them,” Soda said, breathing heavily.
Drexyl broke into laughter. “It’s funny when you think about it now,” he said.
He was right. Soda gave herself a moment to laugh. Then she thought about it. “We really should get back to the others.”
“You’re right,” he said. Then he leaned in to her and kissed her. He grasped several of her tentacles and swept her off of her feet.
Soda leaned into it too. Here he was, kissing her, on purpose, at the end of the galaxy. It was so romantic. In fact, she was considering ducking into a nearby hotel room when he finally let go, grinning at her.
“What was that for?” Soda asked, breathing even more heavily than before and fanning herself with several tentacles.
“Thanks for following me. And saving me. There were way more of them waiting for me than I thought there would be. Whatever happens here, with the galaxy and all, I’ve had a great time with you. I’d really liked to have seen where it went, you and I.” He looked around. “All of it. Living here in Arcturis with you, having the cushy job. Dating the most powerful Cephalopod in the world. This galaxy really has bad timing, doesn’t it?”
“I don’t know,” Soda said, stroking his face with a tentacle. “Ari is annoying, but she always seems to come through in a pinch. Even when it feels impossible. She’s hard to defeat. And believe me I’ve tried. Plus, Ray’s magic dice are back. That can’t hurt.”
There was a thunderous sound of footsteps approaching again. Whoever was coming wasn’t very interested at all in being quiet, and that could only mean one thing, more killer bad guys.
12
Drexyl pulled Soda out of the way so they could see who was coming without being seen. When the group turned the corner and come into view, it was the very last thing they expected.
Drexyl and Soda both jumped into the hallway. “Fleek?”
The unexpected ambush caused several of the people in Fleek’s group to draw and aim weapons at the pair. Carpe put out a hand to them. “Stop. They’re with us.”
“Carpe!” Drexyl said. “It’s great to see you.” Then Drexyl looked around and saw familiar faces in the Regal crowd. He took a few steps back. The move didn’t go unnoticed from Carpe.
“Listen up, Regal,” Carpe said. “You guys may have thrown Drexyl here out of the casino, but here he’s now under the protection of Soda, the Neon Octopus and the rest of the Overlord Candidates. Nothing and I mean nothing happens to him. In fact, you mugs are to protect every single one of our new group. That goes for all the Overlord candidates including Mantix. We’re a team now, and we stick together no matter what.”
Drexyl smiled in relief.
Soda looked through the crowd and frowned. “Where’s Ari? Did she find the ring? She must have because Ray’s magic dice seem to have sprung to life. And also, Fleek, you no longer look like hell warmed over three days in a row.”
Fleek crossed to Soda. “She found it. It killed her.”
Soda’s face fell.
“Then it brought her back to life and told her to go hunt some monsters in the Regal basement or something.”
Soda had to fight the urge to punch him for telling her that Ari was dead even though she wasn’t. She now had like a million questions for him, but given his propensity to be dramatic, vague, and just plain weird, she figured she’d be better off getting the information later and from a more reliable source.
Then, as much as she didn’t want to, she thought of another pressing question. “Wait, so if Ari has the ring and Ray has his dice back, that must mean you’ve got fractals and stuff. Should we grab you a laptop?” Soda remembered that other than Ari’s powers, Fleek’s fractals had done the most damage to the alien invaders’ power. If he had his fractals back that might give them a fighting chance.
A broad grin spread out over Fleek’s face. “I’ll never need a laptop again. Ari gave me some sort of upgrade.” He made a fractal appear out of nowhere. And then he made it disappear.
“Very impressive. And good news,” Soda replied. “But what do you mean that Ari gave you an upgrade? You’re not a robot. I mean, are you a robot? You’ve always been odd, but I never pegged you as a mechanical type odd.”
“Not a robot,” he answered. “It was a magical upgrade. Apparently, the fractals and the Staars, and whatever the hell Ray’s dice are made of, are working together.”
Drexyl stepped forward. “Working together? You mean against this alien invasion? Do you mean to tell me we might actually have a chance here?”
“Probably not,” Carpe answered. “But he’s right, that’s what Ari said. What do we do now? Walk around finding aliens and letting Fleek hurt them with fractals and then finish them off?”
“That works for me,” Drexyl said.
“But what’s the plan?” Soda asked. “With new aliens streaming through the portal every second, we’re going to need a plan.”
“The portals.” If they could just do something about the portals, it would all get easier.
The trio went back to Harry’s office to get the map of the tunnel system underneath Regal.
As soon as they got there, Harry geared up, pulling an exotic assortment of weapons out of locked and secret drawers while Ari and Kirian watched.
“What?” he asked. “You meant to tell me that with all you girls have been through, you don’t have weapons stashed away?”
“Way ahead of you,” Kirian said.
“No,” Ari answered. “But honestly, I’ll take whatever you and Kirian can spare.” They both looked at her in surprise.
“But you’re wearing a super powerful magical ring,” Kirian said. “What would you need weapons for?”
“Yeah,” Ari said. “And it restored a weird assortment of magical communications. Do you think it asked me before it did that? Or that I had any control over it? You’re overestimating my ability to do anything magical. The ring is basically just doing whatever it wants. And I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”
Kirian and Harry handed her a few pistols, which she stuffed in her pockets.
“Thanks,” she said.
Harry looked at Ari. His face was a mask of concern. “But you said the ring was imperative. That the fate of the galaxy depended on it. Billions of lives and all.”
“That’s still true,” Ari said. “It’s good I have it, I just don’t know what any of it means or how to work it or what exactly about my past or lineage has prepared me for this. In fact, I’m done talking about it. It makes me feel stupid. Bring on the creepy tunnel with the monster, I say. At least that’s something I can see.”
“Hear, hear,” Kirian echoed. “You said we were in a hurry, so let’s get this show on the road.”
/> “Fine,” Harry said. “Creepy tunnel it is. You guys may be fine with it, but I’m not super excited about facing all of my worst childhood fears in one day.”
Ari put her hand on his. “Don’t worry,” she said, “we’ll let Kirian go first.”
They laughed and then headed out of Harry’s office and down the hallway toward the unknown bowels of Regal.
“Hey, Harry?” Ari asked. “Why don’t you tell me what you learned about this monster as a kid? What did they tell you? Any details you remember could be helpful since we’re about to meet it in person.”
Harry continued to weave his way quickly down hallways that Ari had never seen before. They even passed more murals. “Okay. Let me think. How did it go? Listen up, Harry, they would say. Down the hatch, down the hole, someplace you should never go. Suck you dead, suck you dry; no more blood, no more sky.”
“Good lord,” Ari said. “How mean were your cousins?”
“Hey, it worked. I never went down there. In fact, neither did they. I always, even as a kid suspected that it was bullshit, but I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that when they were talking about it, they were just as scared as I was, even though they were teenagers.”
“What are monsters doing under Regal in the first place?” Ari asked. “You’re running a luxury hotel here. What if the patrons found out you had things lurking underneath? What would the whale gamblers say?”
“Plausible deniability, my dear. It’s an old lawyer trick. That’s why we created our own urban legends. We put scary stories on the internet so obscure and unbelievable that only idiots would take them seriously.”
Ari stopped running behind Harry. “Do you mean to tell me the stories are on the internet? You might have freaking mentioned that before we went into the tunnels.”
“Well, I forgot about them. Besides, the ones on the internet are fake. And right now, under pressure, that little rhyme was all I can remember. That, and we’re out of time. We’re here.” He pointed to an actual hatch on the floor.
Overlord Alliance: Book 2 of the Neon Octopus Ally Series Page 8
