“No way. You can’t send dreams to another person through the use of a magic amulet,” I scoffed.
“I use advanced science, not magic.”
I stood up, my face as disbelieving and angry as I felt. Roland had a fascinated expression on his face. Jerry had already shown his negative opinion of these goings-on.
Diabolical Dave continued to lecture. “The amulet is a connection to my brain. The amulet and the dreams merely follow the science of the other world I created.”
I shuddered. “My life could have been much more pleasant lately if I had tossed the amulet in the trash the moment I received it.”
My stupid sentimental need for a father who cared about me had dragged me into this mess. Who knew donning a simple present of jewelry would have such a result? Only Diabolical Dave, and he didn’t warn me. Barb helped him do this to me. I should have moved farther away from her. To Kazakhstan, maybe.
“What does the Purple Menace want with our world?” Roland asked.
“To rule it, of course,” Diabolical Dave replied. “Contact with another dimension filled him with evil ambition.”
“And he wants the amulet so he can come here on his own schedule,” I summed up.
“Forget about the amulet,” Dave said. “He doesn’t need it anymore.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“He gained new power.”
“Since eleven this morning?” My expression must have shown my doubt.
“My brain senses many things,” Diabolical Dave said.
Before I could phrase another objection, he continued. “Your job is to stop the Purple Menace.”
“My job? I’m a webcomic artist, not a superhero,” I cried. “How did saving the world suddenly get to be my job?”
“You already know the answer,” Diabolical Dave replied dismissively. “You have routed the Purple Menace many times.”
“Those were only dreams. Dreams,” I insisted.
Diabolical Dave regarded me like a stern teacher with a recalcitrant pupil. “You dreamed, and through the amulet, your actions prevented catastrophes. I dreamed the same dreams, and sent you the drawings that proved your actions were successful.”
“What I said,” Roland burbled. “You’re a superheroine.”
“I don’t even have the amulet anymore. Eric Wood took it,” I said.
“You’ll get it back,” Diabolical Dave replied, dismissing my objection. “Once you vanquish the Purple Menace, I can safely make the transition to live in my new dimension.”
Roland looked at the eccentric artist with undisguised admiration.
I had no words.
“Chloe, this follows a classic mythic pattern,” Jerry said. “None but a prince of the blood can fulfill the quest and vanquish the enemies.”
“I’m all the prince you’ve got?” I asked, turning back to accuse Diabolical Dave.
He nodded, “I’m pleased you’ve finally figured it out.”
“You’ve ruined my life. I lost my job and my apartment because of you. Not to mention a lot of sleep and my peace of mind.” Plus the breakup with Roland wouldn’t have happened. Maybe.
Dave listened without flinching. In fact, he seemed disappointed in my accusations. “You’re fine, girl. You are strong and resourceful. Determined. Look at how much you have already accomplished in life, and you’re only twenty-five. You have your own webcomic, drawn the way you want it, and not interfered with by crass commercialism.”
Or profitability.
“You’re pretty good with power bolts, too,” Roland added helpfully.
“Ah,” Dave said, “You’ve already discovered you have superpowers. All to the good.”
“You’re completely nuts,” I said in disgust. “The worst of it is, you’ve somehow pierced the supposedly mythical space-time continuum. Now we have a supervillain from another dimension attacking our world. Somehow.”
I gazed at Jerry. “Do you believe him?”
Jerry temporized. It was his stock in trade, not committing to anything. “You and Roland both claimed you visited another dimension. Plus you showed me your evidence to prove it.”
“Or else we’re all crazy and hallucinating.”
“If we were, the dreams would be better,” Roland joked.
“You got that right,” I said. “There would be regular meals, too. And sleep.”
“Are you finally convinced of the urgency of your mission?” Diabolical Dave asked, with an impatient edge to his voice.
“I guess,” I said unwillingly.
“Good. Let’s not waste any more time in explanations or recriminations,” he said briskly. “Go see this Wood fellow and get back the amulet. Cross the portal to the other dimension and put the Purple Menace out of business.”
“How?” I lifted my hands in a helpless gesture and asked everyone in the room. “I managed to knock him out with my bolts earlier today, but that’s not enough to stop him for good. And I don’t exist in that dimension so I can’t have him arrested for attacking me. What else can I do? Does he have a weakness I can exploit? Give me something to go on.”
“You have to find it yourself. It’s part of the hero’s quest,” Dave said, without even a hint of reaction to my urgency.
“If that’s the way you’re going to be, I quit right now.” I threw my pillbox hat down on a table, and prepared to storm out. “I never asked to be the hero of your nightmare world. I won’t be your temporary superheroine without some help,” I threatened. I headed for the door.
“Wait.”
To my surprise, it was Jerry who called me back. He looked determined yet rather uncomfortable. “I worked with Dave for many years. I know this man. He’s too stubborn for his own good.” Jerry glanced at Dave and gave him an admonitory frown. “Dave hasn’t refused to tell you how to defeat the Purple Menace. He’s too proud to admit he doesn’t know.”
“You don’t?” I asked Diabolical Dave, dismayed.
He slowly shook his head. “No.” His demeanor was mechanical and cold. His way of protecting himself from the pain of admitting failure? A few minutes ago he’d had no trouble admitting other shortcomings. Could he be hiding fears about sending his unknown daughter into danger?
“Oh, boy,” said Roland, unhappily.
“I’m supposed to wing it?”
Silence.
“I don’t even know where the Purple Menace is in his own world.”
“I know where his men took me,” Roland said. “Maybe you could draw it, sir, and see if the Purple Menace is there,” he addressed Dave eagerly.
Dave nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps. Many of the panels I’ve sent Chloe have been inspired, almost automatic drawing.” He bustled about, removing his current art piece and pinning a new page of Bristol board to his art table, sharpening pencils with his automatic sharpener and locating his art eraser. We all helped by moving pages of artwork out of his way. I glanced at one in passing. It was of my apartment, with me in it.
My hand shook from my rage as I confronted him with the drawing. “You’ve been spying on me,” I accused. “What gives you the right?”
“Barb told me what your place looked like,” he shrugged. “I needed to contact you.”
“Argh. I’ll be very glad to send you to another dimension for good,” I shrieked. “I hope you and the Purple Menace rot there together.”
“You won’t get your wish unless you defeat him,” Dave returned indifferently. He put his pencil on his empty page.
Roland was in heaven talking to yet another of his idols as he described details of the buildings where the Purple Menace’s henchmen had taken him. If all the action came through dreams, how could Dave draw anything relevant while he was awake? I didn’t ask, but Dave answered my question anyway. He was almost expansive as he explained his technique.
“First, I do a location shot,” Diabolical Dave explained, as he swiftly drew a panel showing the Manhattan skyline. “Then I narrow it down.” His pencil hesitated for a minute. In pa
nel two, a nineteenth century Romanesque revival industrial loft building on a slightly seedy looking street began to take shape.
“Now don’t say anything. I have to concentrate,” he muttered. Slowly, one digit at a time, Dave lettered in the street address over the entrance. The next panel showed an elevator door opening onto a room filled with machines. As I peered over his shoulder, I suppressed a gasp. I saw grandiose control panels running from floor to ceiling. Did Dave know these days a mere laptop could have the computing power to control everything? He must have seen rooms full of computers decades ago and that’s what he still thought computers were like.
This could be to my advantage in the coming quest. So many aspects of that other dimension seemed as if they were frozen in time from fifty years ago, when Diabolical Dave had been young. The other dimension’s Barb had told me their world didn’t have personal computers. Perhaps the Purple Menace was limited to the computing power of the outdated machines Dave drew. It couldn’t be much—if computers were relevant to this situation. So far, brute force was the Purple Menace’s weapon of choice.
Dave seemed to go into a trance as we watched, drawing more and more complex machines. He had quite a rhythm going, but he started to nod off. As he did, his hand continued to draw. A desk and a figure sitting at the desk. It was the Purple Menace.
“Dave. Wake up!” I cried.
“Huh? I told you not to talk,” he said, irritated, as he straightened up. I could see a fine bead of sweat running down Jerry’s face. He hadn’t said a lot, but this whole ordeal was getting to him.
“Look. Look who you’re drawing.”
“Wow. He’s staring out from the panel,” Roland shook his head in awe.
“He sees us,” I added, shaken. “A few more strokes and he could have been here.”
Dave quickly used his art eraser, although the pencil details of the Purple Menace’s face appeared to resist erasure. Finally, he was gone.
“Whew. Too close,” Roland said.
“I’ve seen enough detail to find the building,” I said. “Is Mr. Diabolical here going to take an afternoon nap and let the Purple Menace back into our world?” My tone was deliberately offensive.
Dave didn’t rise to the bait. “You must hurry. I stayed awake all last night, attempting to keep the Purple Menace out of our world. I’m not a young man. This morning I dozed off.”
Jerry attempted to reassure me. “We’ll keep Dave awake. You should be on your way.”
“Get the amulet back from Wood. Those corporate types are always stealing from us independent artists,” Dave fumed.
“It’s not that bad, Dave,” Jerry temporized.
That sounded like part of an old dialogue between them.
“Am I supposed to find Eric and ask for the amulet nicely?” I asked, with renewed dismay. “I don’t think it’ll be easy. He must have taken it for a reason.”
“I’ll call him,” Jerry volunteered. “We’ve worked together several times.”
In a minute, he’d arranged it. “Eric is waiting for you at his office. He says to come alone.”
“Alone. No.”
“No way.” Roland echoed my dismay, but I suspected for different reasons than mine. I was afraid if I was alone with Eric, I would be easily swayed by his physical blandishments. By sex. Come to think of it, maybe Roland was afraid of the same thing.
Still, after more fruitless argument and discussion, it was settled. I would see Eric and get my amulet back. Alone. Roland was pretty upset, and wanted to go with me and guard me. Dave and Jerry both told him to stow it. In fact, they forcibly restrained him from following me to Eric’s office. I wish they had forcibly restrained me, too.
I had to play it as it lay. What if the Purple Menace finally killed someone? It was a miracle he hadn’t already. I didn’t want anyone’s death on my conscience. Except possibly my mom’s, for telling Diabolical Dave where I lived so he could send me the amulet and the dreams.
“There’s one more problem,” I said as I hesitated at the door. We’d thoroughly hashed out what I was to do next. Simple enough. Find the Purple Menace and cause him to be arrested in his own dimension for a major crime. Dave was convinced the Purple Menace could be linked to something heinous enough to put him in jail and keep him there for a while. Long enough for Dave to make the transition to that dimension. He hadn’t explained how, but that was his problem. My job was a tall order, but doable, I supposed.
Roland had handed over all the tools we’d collected during our dimensional foray a couple hours ago. I was equipped to leave. Why was I delaying?
They looked at me questioningly. “Eric and I—” I searched for a tactful description of what apparently had been a one-time hookup, “We’ve been—ah—dating.”
Roland gave me a wounded look.
“Your relationship doesn’t matter,” Dave said.
“Wait a minute. Yes, it does,” Roland protested. “We still don’t know why Eric took the amulet in the first place. He could be a partner of the Purple Menace. He might take Chloe off guard because she—she likes him. It could be a trap.”
“I doubt it,” Jerry said. “Eric’s a reasonable fellow.”
It was settled. No more excuses. Before I turned to leave, I charged Roland sternly. “Don’t let our genius here fall asleep.” I cocked my head to indicate Dave. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”
I was not in a good frame of mind. The man who should have been a father to me all these years had gotten our world into a heap of trouble. He didn’t know how to fix it. Now it was up to me, his temporary superheroine.
Chapter 15
Getting in to see Eric was easy. All I had to do was give my name to the reception dude, and a casually garbed guy my age came immediately to escort me directly to Eric’s office. We walked through a main office area. It featured walls thicker and taller than the usual cubicles, and some partial ceilings. People were leaving for the day, but true to comic book fandom mania, many others appeared to be hunkered down for the duration—including the two editors who had caused us trouble in Queens. They didn’t even look up as I walked by.
Eric’s aerie was on an elevated level behind a large glass wall, looking down to the editorial area. His own office wasn’t easily viewed from below. He could see them, but they couldn’t see him. I hadn’t thought he was this grandiose. But what did I know about Eric? He did sex very well indeed. He was the kind of guy who acted cold to you the next day. He was a jerk I’d better be wary of.
Eric rose from behind a desk he must have ordered custom-quarried in a fossil bed. There were fish embedded in it. Bits of mica in the prehistoric mix sparkled in the slanting afternoon sun streaming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows. His whole office reeked of money and luxury. Corporate profits mined from the ideas and sweat of exploited creators, I reminded myself. I tried to keep a firm hold on my indignation.
“Chloe.” Eric determinedly came close to me so our breaths began to mingle. He eyed me with warmth and put a large hand on my shoulder, leaning in as if to kiss my cheek in greeting. I shrugged off both. I hadn’t forgotten he had snubbed me this morning. A lifetime ago.
“Chloe,” he repeated insistently, and leaned down and kissed my lips lightly, before I could fend him off again.
At the touch of his lips, secret parts of me started to melt. I feared they weren’t secret from him. I steeled myself and stated my mission. “I came for my amulet, which you stole.”
“I knew you would.” Eric smiled his predatory smile.
Ignoring his effect on me wasn’t working. I melted even more.
“I even told Bodacious Barb to make sure to tell you I had it,” he said.
“Why?” I was mystified. Eric was always a step or two ahead of me. In addition to all his worldly advantages, he simply was an ace manipulator.
“To bring you back to me,” he said. “I wanted to apologize for my cold shoulder this morning.”
“When you dropped me like a used tissue.” Sinc
e he’d given me the opening to talk about his behavior, I didn’t see any reason to sugarcoat it.
He had the grace to wince. “Is that how I came off? Sorry. I recognized the amulet last night while we were—ah…” He paused, obviously seeking a polite way of saying we were having sex.
“While our clothes were off,” I said flatly. “Continue.”
His expression was charmingly rueful. “I wanted to. So I didn’t question you about the amulet then. You wore me out, girl, then disappeared too fast.” He gave me a frank look. “I always thought women liked to cuddle afterwards, but when I woke, you were gone.”
My face had turned hot as he reminded me of the details of our time in his bedroom. Which had been too wonderful and had scared the hell out of me. Could my vanishing act have bothered him? My experience with men told me he was giving me a line of bull. When they’re done, they want you gone. At least the guys like Eric who can have any woman, because they are physically attractive and have money and power. He radiated virility. He could regularly sample a variety of women. I didn’t flatter myself that he cared about me.
“So?” I asked, refusing to soften at his confession. I wanted to hold onto my anger at him. Then he wouldn’t be able to play me. Again.
“This morning, I didn’t know what to think, and I backed off.”
“Oh, cut the crap, Eric.” I glared at him. “You didn’t give a shit. We’d hooked up and you were sending me the classic message not to assume that meant we had a relationship. Fine. I got it.”
I paced his spacious office, passing a luxurious leather couch and two small end tables of such high-end design they could belong in a modern art museum. Possibly they were on loan. There was an Indiana Jones style leather hat on one, beside an enormous copper-based lamp. The other had a tasteful arrangement of recent comic books published by Fantastic Comics and an antique ivory telescope. Aw, hell. I needed to focus on my mission, not let my artist’s eye distract me.
“Let’s get back to why I’m here. You took something of mine. I want it.” This last was said between clenched teeth. I didn’t like being toyed with. He hadn’t explained anything I didn’t know or could not have figured out on my own. Especially his interest in all this.
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