by Gabi Moore
“Greetings!” a loud voice said to them. “I am Baron Sam and I rule here!”
They turned to face a tall black man who wore a top hat. He handed each of them menus and asked them if they’d ever been inside his establishment before.
“I don’t believe so,” Dion told him. “At least not me. I don’t think any of my friends have ever been here either. I see you specialize in New Orleans food?”
“Yes,” he laughed again. “We serve food from Louisiana and also from Haiti. Have you ever tried blackened catfish? It is one of our specialties?” Baron Sam quickly found them a table and had a waiter bring them water.
Through the PA system Dixieland jazz music played. From one wall extended the branches of a tree with imitation Spanish moss. Dion expected to see a fog machine unleash a mist at some point. The girls took it all in and looked at the set-up before them. After reading the menu, they made their order.
Before the food was served, Baron Sam came back to see them. “Excuse me,” he asked them. “Did you by chance visit the bookstore down the concourse? It’s run by a relative of mine and he let me know three young people who fit your description might come by.”
“In fact,” Dion said to him. “We were just there before we came here. He gave me a special map I needed to find my way around the hidden sections of the mall.”
“Ah, you must be the young man on the quest. This explains those cleaners out in front of the pharmacy. The lady who owns it is Athena West and you will need to see her. I’ve been on the phone already with the mall management and told them to get the cleaning crew moved. Not only are they causing people to avoid the pharmacy, but customers will also stay away from this side of the mall when they see all of them outside. People will just assume some kind of disaster has taken place and won’t go near here.”
“So you must know about who the cleaners are,” Emily said to him. “Have they always used ghouls to take care of the building maintenance?”
“Ever since the mall opened,” he told them. “They are normally spread through all sections, but they have their base of operations out of this part of the mall because it’s the element which governs them. I know the management threatens them all the time with gnome replacements if they have problems. However, today is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with them doing anything unusual. I’m guessing they really don’t want you to meet up with Mrs. West.”
“They’ve stalked me earlier in the day,” Dion explained. “They know I’ll be able to bind them if the Earth Element Grandmaster bestows her powers on me. But I really don’t know what they have to worry about.”
“They don’t want to lose their place in here,” the man explained. “The ghouls have no desire to hiding out around graveyards and forced to avoid humans. They’ll do just about anything to stay away from the way they used to live. Personally, I think the mall management takes advantage of them, but they don’t seem to mind the arrangement. At least for now.”
The food arrived and they finished their chicken dinner in less than half an hour. Dion had money with him that day and paid for all their meals. It was delicious food and they complemented Baron Sam on his cooking. He thanked them and quickly handed the trio change so he could return to the kitchen. As they left, Lilly could hear him barking out orders in Creole to the cooks in the kitchen.
The ghouls were still outside blocking the entrance to the pharmacy. They seemed to have an attitude that they could wait there as long as anyone else could. The three friends stood there and watched them continue to polish and clean the floor outside the pharmacy. Anytime anyone would attempt to enter it, they would stare at them and shake their heads.
“Can I have a look at that map?” Emily asked Dion. “Maybe I can figure out a way out of this mess.”
“You can try,” he told her while handing it over to her. “But I don’t see how you’ll have any better luck than I did. Remember, it’s all written in Coptic.”
“Whatever,” she said as she untied the scroll and spread it out on a nearby table. “I can figure it out from the layout. I scored the highest in my class on mechanical reasoning. I have a good head when it comes to abstract reasoning too.”
As the others sat down at the table with her, she traced a hand down the corridors and concourses marked on the scroll. “Funny thing,” she said, “not only does this map list a restaurant which isn’t supposed to be here, but it shows a separate service entry for it too.”
“I guess the werewolves don’t want it obvious what they serve,” Lilly said to her. “I’m sure it would cause all kinds of trouble with the health board.”
“Look,” she said while pointing out a few other eating establishments on the map. “If this means the same thing, there are at least five places scattered through this mall which are restaurants, but aren’t open to the general public. This one is pretty big and looks like some kind of a cafeteria. But why is it located in the basement?”
Dion looked at the map with her. “It’s for the ghouls. I’m guessing they don’t want anyone around to see what they’re eating. When you consider they have the same nutrient requirements that a vulture has, it makes sense. I’m sure the smell must be horrible down there.”
“But not to the ghouls,” Lilly said as she looked at it with her friends. “It probably gets a very different response from them.”
“Now that is something we can use,” Dion said as if he’d just had and epiphany.
“What do you mean?” Lilly asked him.
“All we have to do is find some roadkill outside to distract the ghouls. Shouldn’t be too hard with all the cars speeding past the mall.”
“Yuck,” Emily turned her face in disgust and tossed her blond hair over one shoulder. “You can go find some roadkill and bring it inside; I’ll try and locate another path around the ghouls.”
They looked at the map for another ten minutes, but nothing emerged that made any sense. The ghouls continued to block the front of the pharmacy and acted as if they were doing some kind of advanced cleaning. Anyone who approached them found a reason to leave after they glared in response. Even with the sunglasses on, the ghouls could be imposing.
“If they are paralyzed by strong light,” Lilly said, “might there be a way to direct some powerful sunlight on them and get through to the Earth Grandmaster?”
“Where are we going to find the arc lights?” Dion said. “You have to rent those things and I have no idea where we’d find one.”
“Get a mirror of some kind and shine it in their direction?” Lilly suggested as she continued to search through the map. “It might blind them long enough to get past.”
“Same issue,” Dion said. “We have to find one. Where would you find a mirror large enough to shine light on the whole group? In addition, there is the problem of finding a beam of intense enough sunlight to direct in their direction. I don’t see one handy.”
They continued to stare in the direction of the ghoul cleaning crew who returned their gazes with contempt.
At one point, the owner of the pharmacy opened the door and walked out to confront the ghoulish crew in front of the store. This had to be the Athena West, The Earth Grandmaster, they realized, although they could only see her from a distance. She stepped out and nearly slammed the door behind her.
“So this is why we haven’t had any business in the last hour,” the woman thundered at them. “Can’t you finish up whatever you are doing and move on? Look, I have bills to pay and you need to get this wrapped up.”
The ghouls stopped working but continued to stand in place. Finally, the storeowner realized they blocked the entrance to her pharmacy for a reason.
“Oh, trying to keep someone from coming to me for elemental help, is that it?” she said. “Do you have any idea what I can do if you keep this charade up? All it takes is one phone call to the center and you will all be scampering under the moonlight trying to survive. You have fifteen minutes and if you aren’t gone, I will go directly to the mall mana
ger.”
She stood there and maintained the standoff.
The pharmacy owner was a tall woman, who appeared to be of African ancestry. Dion stood there and thought he’d never seen a woman so black in all his life. She was the color of anthracite coal in a mine at midnight. He didn’t think it was possible to make a person so dark in complexion. She wore a lab coat over a short dress and had a pair of boots, which were made from tooled brown Moroccan leather. Her hair was teased out but tied back by a black wrap that descended down to her shoulders. She was tall and had to be a good six foot two in height, and the boots she wore made her appear that much taller.
“Fifteen minutes, you hear me?” she said to the ghouls. “You are gone in fifteen minutes or else.” The door shut hard behind her as she returned to the pharmacy.
“That’s her!” Dion said to his friends. “It has to be the Earth Element Grandmaster! She matches the description on the map! And Baron Sam told us about her!”
“What description?” Emily said to him as she rolled the map up. “I didn’t see one.”
“It’s there if you read Coptic. And I felt the power from her. Didn’t you?”
“Oh, I felt something all right,” Lilly said, “but it was mostly her wrath.”
“If she’s the Elemental Grandmaster,” Emily said, “then why don’t we just go over and meet her? The heck with those idiots trying to keep us away from the pharmacy.”
Still carrying the map, Emily leaped up from the table and walked in the general direction of the pharmacy. Dion and Lilly tried to say something, but her mind was made-up. Emily had a reputation for being headstrong and nothing was about to stop her from going in the direction of the ghoul cleaning crew.
She got as far as the first line of the ghoul crew.
Before he could do a thing, Dion watched Emily being grabbed by two of the ghouls. It wasn’t so obvious as to attract the attention of the shoppers. They were incredibly organized and coordinated, better than he ever thought possible.
The first ghoul acted as if he was ready to let her pass. Emily ignored him and walked right into the middle of the ghoul assembly as another ghoul innocently dropped a bucket of water in front of her. Emily stopped at the puddle, which formed in the floor as another ghoul took her by the shoulders and pushed her in the direction of yet another one. She started to say something but the final ghoul grabbed her by the shoulder as the one before him took the other shoulder and walked her to the nearest service exit. The doors swung behind them as they vanished into it. The remaining ghouls finished cleaning the floors and fixtures, picked up their cleaning implements and followed their brethren into the service corridor.
The entire episode took less than thirty seconds.
Lilly looked at Dion in disbelief. “What are we going to do? They just kidnapped Emily!”
Chapter 6
“We’ve got to stop them!” Dion said and began fast walking to the service corridor, just in time to be confronted by officer Karanzen and four of his security guards.
The guards materialized out of nowhere, blocking him as he approached the service door and stopped both him and Lilly from walking further.
“Bella, Bert, Bayer and Izzy,” Dion said to them as he remembered their names. “Let me guess, you ran out of B’s and had to make with a last minute replacement?”
“Check this out,” Bert said, his bad breath already assaulting the nose of Dion. “The kid remembers our names. We have a real smarty here.”
“Yep,” Izzy agreed, “he’s so smart we may have to find him a school. Who gets to take the smart boy to detention?”
“That is my job.” It was officer Karanzen who’d materialized out of nowhere. “We have a problem here, guys? Something I need to know about?”
“Our little friend was causing a commotion,” Bella announced as he continued to fidget. He slowly withdrew his nightstick from the holder on his utility belt. “Did you see him throw a punch at me? I think the little punk just swung at me.”
“Put the stick back,” Officer Karanzen snapped at his guard. “Nobody starts anything unless I give the order. Get fresh again and I’ll send you back to where I found you.”
Karanzen’s words had the right effect. Bella returned his stick to the belt and became glum.
“So what really happened?” he demanded from Dion and Lilly. “I come around the corner and my boys are ready to stomp you flat. Now talk!”
“Emily was grabbed by the cleaners,” Dion told him. “She tried to walk across them and they took her down the service corridor.”
“So that explains the call I had from Mrs. West. She just let me know the cleaners were out in front of her store preventing anyone from coming inside. I called management and they told me it would be handled. I came over myself to see what was going on.”
He turned to his men. “Did you see anyone with these two?”
“Nope,” said Bert, “Not a soul.”
The other three agreed with him.
“I don’t see anyone around either,” Officer Karanzen said. He turned to Dion and Lilly. “If they took the girl, and I only have your word on this, it had to be cleared with the management. Now, the management of this mall may not be the Ace of Spades, but one thing they would never do is abduct a local girl. A local girl could cause them trouble. A local girl would involve investigations and all sorts of things bad for business. So if the cleaners took her it means the management wanted to see her for some reason. In other words, she’s safe and will be released soon. Maybe one of the cleaners saw her lift something. I don’t know, but I’ll call the main office and find out by the end of the day.”
“I don’t believe one word of what you just said,” Dion told him. “You’re covering for someone.”
“I’m here to keep the mall safe!” Karanzen snapped back. “Safe means dealing with punk kids who try and cause problems. Sometimes an example has to be made. This mall has the lowest thefts and least safety issues of anyone in the country. I plan to keep it that way.”
“You’re such a model employee, Officer Karanzen,” Dion said. “I’m sure you’d haul your own grandmother off if it meant a promotion.”
“Never had a grandmother, Junior. Or parents for that matter, so don’t try that angle either. I will warn you to stay out of my way. I’ll find out what happened to your little girl friend, but on my own schedule. And don’t cause problems looking for her. Don’t mess with the shoppers or cause any issues because if you do I’ll have you tossed out of the mall. And my boys would like nothing better than to bounce a smart kid off the pavement.” The guards behind him gave Dion a sinister grin.
Officer Karanzen and his guards turned and walked away from the two and vanished down the concourse.
“What do we do?” Lilly asked. “Can you go to the Earth Grandmaster and get her help? Aren’t you supposed to see her anyway, to get your power?”
“No. Not until we rescue Emily. If she finds out I didn’t go help a friend in need, she’d most likely consider me unworthy and refuse to grant me the power. We have to locate Emily and get her back before we can do anything else.”
“The problem is,” Dion said, “we don’t have the map. She was carrying it when they grabbed her. I’m tempted to go after them in that service corridor, but it could lead anywhere. Make a wrong turn down there and you might have the whole ghoul clan waiting for you. As a matter of fact, some of these doors are…”
Dion stopped when he noticed the service door was gone. He walked up to the blank wall and put his hand on it. Solid. Yet, there was a door there twenty seconds ago.
“Gone?” Lilly asked. “But I just saw them take her through a door that was mounted in the wall!”
“Temporal door,” Dion said. “The ghouls have access to doors they can slap anywhere they need them to be. The door has a mate they keep wherever they want. The door they took her through redirects to the other one. I suspect it is down in their part of the mall, but I’m not entirely sure.”
> Dion was staring at the wall when a familiar face appeared next to him. It was Sam Vestal, an old friend of Lilly.
“You been here long?” he asked. “I just got here. Need to buy some shoes. Say why are you looking so glum?” he said, deliberately ignoring Dion.
Sam was one of the benchwarmers in the local football games. He liked to think of himself as a serious player and starter, but he just wasn’t big enough to make the starting line-up. He also possessed a mouth that made him the object of scorn throughout the school. Sam moved to the district at the start of the term last year because his dad accepted a position as athletic coach. Sam had played for a rival school the years previously. He had a better position on the other team’s line-up, right guard, but they put him a little further back in the new school. It didn’t matter as his current used him as decoy after it was noticed the other team’s school would ignore the plays to pummel him down the field. The same thing happened with the every school they played. It soon was apparent Sam hadn’t made himself very popular over the area.
“We were with Emily,” she told him. “We’re trying to find her.”
“Emily,” he said trying to put a name to a face. “Oh, her. Cute chick, don’t know why she doesn’t get around better than what she does. I used to see her at that store she worked at all the time she worked there. Place closed down when the new mall opened. I’m surprised she didn’t come to work here.”
“Emily doesn’t like working retail,” she told him. “I’m here because I had to help with a banquet they were having last week.”
“You should come out to The Montebello with me some night, I could get some beer and have some fun.”
The Montebello was the local Drive-In. One of the first Drive-In movie theaters in the area. It was known as the local “cultural center” by the police who often had to visit it to break-up fights or escort kids home who tried to get inside for free.
Dion remembered driving past it with his aunt and uncle and noticed the line of cars, which ran down the road for a good mile. On some clear nights, you could even drive by close enough and see the images of whatever movie played on the screen. Only the top guys in the school could entertain bragging rights after taking their dates to The Montebello. However, the local mating games had no interest to him, as his number one goal was to locate his parents.
