Nica of Los Angeles

by Sue Perry

  It came from the truck bed. I beat Anwyl out of the cab, but he vaulted over the side into the bed faster than I could move to join him. There it was again. Crying and scratching came from inside the built-in steel toolbox. Anwyl lifted the lid and we yelled simultaneously.

  "Dizzy! Were you trapped in there the whole trip?"

  "No, cat, begone!"

  28. Toto Was Not In Kansas Anymore

  Once free, Dizzy ignored us. She hopped out to sit on the pavement and wash her face. I reached for her but Anwyl grabbed my arm. "The cat remains here."

  If the choice were his, he would drop-kick Dizzy back to the rest stop and speed away, but I would never let him. True, the cat's behavior through Frames was unnerving, and we might not be confident we knew whose side she was on. But we weren't going to strand her hundreds of miles and who knew how many Frames from her home at the Henrietta.

  "We will look for her here on our return," Anwyl suggested, then realized he was outnumbered when Zasu looked out the window. Spotting Dizzy made her more elated than an escaped balloon.

  "I know this creature!" she enthused.

  "You had cats back home, I take it."

  "No - yes, but I know this cat. Desdemona visits Halcyon. She will ride in my lap," Zasu said.

  And so she did. For most of the journey, Dizzy purred in a tight ball on Zasu's lap - and Zasu did no more wailing. Whenever Anwyl glowered at the cat, she cleaned her private parts, but I'm sure that was a coincidence.

  "This creature is known to me," I reminded him.

  "So you believe," he replied.

  More miles elapsed. By now we were well past Sacramento and still heading north. When Zasu next slept, I took the opportunity to discuss topics that might have added to her distress. "Are we leaving California?"

  "We have done so many times, as you know," Anwyl replied, puzzled, then, "Do you inquire as to our destination?"

  "Bingo. That means yes. I want to know where we are headed. Are we taking Zasu to the Framekeeps?"

  "Not at this time, they first must grant audience. We take her to a being who is powerful enough to protect her until we bear witness to the Framekeeps."

  "Where is this being?"

  "In your Frame, it is called Shastina."

  "The little volcano next to Mount Shasta? Hey, I've been on both those mountains! Well, I never hiked them for long. Those are scary slopes. Where is your being exactly? Near that town - I used to know its name - near Weed?"

  "Our destination is the mountain."

  "Your being lives on the mountain itself?"

  "It is Shastina we seek."

  Wow. The mountain is a being. "Does the mountain talk?"

  "In most Frames."

  "And will we get to see it move around?" This just might surpass meeting the Watts Towers.

  "No. It is sentient in all Frames, but animate in none."

  "It doesn't move but it can protect Zasu from the Cysts? Those are some mad powers."

  "Indeed."

  "Is Shastina more powerful than Maelstrom?"

  "You ask me to compare ice and fire. In different circumstances, each may prevail. Shastina helped to capture Maelstrom, but that success involved luck as well as cunning and power."

  "Is Maelstrom anything like the Cysts?"

  "Where Warty Sebaceous Cysts are a breeze, Maelstrom is a hurricane."

  "Maelstrom is an extreme version of the Cysts?"

  "No. They do not appear alike. Warty Sebaceous Cysts crave power, and ally with the most powerful negative force they have found. Maelstrom uses power, but his need is to feed on the misery of others."

  "Now that he is cut off from others and can't feed, has he grown weaker?"

  "That is our hope, but we dare not enter his Frame to confirm."

  "So Maelstrom is a guy?"

  "That is unknown and of no import. Call him he, she, they, or it."

  "How did the Cysts and Maelstrom get together?"

  "Warty Sebaceous Cysts are not his only minions. Power attracts in all Frames."

  "Have there been other efforts to free him?"

  "None that have been detected."

  "The Cysts get released and immediately go to work to free Maelstrom. Isn't that kind of obvious? Wouldn't they be more discreet?"

  "Their boldness is a grave concern."

  "Has anyone ever escaped collapse before?"

  "In all the free Frames, a collapse has never been undone."

  "Everybody says 'in the free Frames'. Are there non-free Frames?"

  "There were when Maelstrom was unfettered."

  "Is my Frame the only one with a death penalty? If he's such a bad guy, why let him live? Why take the risk of his escape?"

  "That explanation I cannot give. I was not one who chose to spare him. But many within the Framekeeps - as within the Frames - hold all life as sacred," he said with scorn.

  "Anya is one of those," I said.

  "She is," he sighed.

  "I keep going back to the fact that Maelstrom once controlled Framekeeps."

  "Do not let that past concern you. Safeguards are in place and such control cannot happen again."

  "It must be nice to have your level of certainty about things."

  "Looking at matters from many perspectives impedes progress. I rely on reflex and certainty to remain alive and protect the Frames."

  "Are you a cop?"

  His laugh refreshed us both. "Rather, a warrior."

  "Maelstrom and the Cysts - are they warriors?"

  "They are strategists, primarily, but I do not wish to meet them in battle."

  "Do we have a lot of allies? Who else knows that this escape plot is brewing, besides the few I've met?"

  "The side of right is always strong," Anwyl hedged, and made a point of looking at Dizzy. I got the message. This wasn't a topic he would discuss around the cat.

  What had the Towers told me? Cats have only their own side. Self-serving didn't equate with evil, though. Maybe there were cats that would side with the Cysts, but I couldn't believe Dizzy would be one of them. I sure the hell hoped I was right about her.

  Miles elapsed and the day aged. Based on the sun's arc from right to left, we continued to head north. Anwyl's Frame changes remained subtle, until we found ourselves plowing through acrid purple smoke charged with yellow sparks.

  Some minutes later, we finished coughing and got the upholstery to stop smoldering.

  "What was that, the home Frame for fireworks?" I asked. Which would have been witty except only I knew what fireworks were.

  Tee waxed philosophical. "On a long trip, it's always something. My dream is a hand wax after a thorough detailing. That was a hint."

  I was warming up to Tee. She didn't let the situation darken her mood. I promised her, "I'll make sure Hernandez takes you to the truck spa."

  Tee revved her engine.

  The fireworks Frame was the first but not the only wonky Frame we moved through. In fact, we encountered them with growing regularity.

  From Chico to Redding, we enjoyed rolling hills covered with blonde grass that shimmered like cornsilk in the breeze. As we got closer to Shasta, we encountered several menacing permutations. In one Frame, fire blazed through the grass and conflicting wind gusts blew embers at us from both sides of the road. In the next Frame, the wind picked up long black thorns from the grass and speared these into the truck.

  "My tires!" Tee screeched, as Anwyl got us out of there, pronto, and into a Frame with no grass. There, wind swirled dust devils of gravel around us.

  We snapped back to my home Frame so rapidly I got mental whiplash. From there, Anwyl shifted us to a highway made of mirror glass. More slippery than ice, it reflected blinding sunlight and hurtling objects that promised imminent collisions, even after I figured out that the objects were illusory. Suddenly, the forested hills denuded themselves, sending enormous pines rolling to crush us.

  We returned to my home Frame and Anwyl grunted, "They know our destination. Zasu, it is
time to hide."

  "How may I hide if they can reach my thoughts?"

  "You must extinguish your thoughts when they are nearby. They are not yet close enough to read your thoughts. If they were close enough, you would see them."

  "My thoughts follow me everywhere, how can I separate from them?"

  "I shall make you sleep," Anwyl offered, and Zasu looked relieved. First, she turned herself into a yardstick, narrow, long and flat; next, Anwyl laid his hands on her, muttering; then he nodded and we tucked her into the wire frame under the seat. Through all this, Dizzy watched closely and - in my interpretation - protectively.

  "Is there a Frame where I could talk with Dizzy?"

  "I have never sought such a Frame." From Anwyl, disdain could be a weapon.

  When all this was over, I resolved to find such a Frame. I would love to have convo with the cat. I'm pretty sure.

  When Anwyl next shifted Frames, Tee had to swerve and floor it. We just missed getting trampled by a stampeding herd of late model sedans. Another herd crested the hill ahead of us and Anwyl returned us to my home Frame.

  "Seems like they want us to stay in this Frame." Home sweet home felt mighty treacherous if that's where they wanted us to be.

  "They know our every move!" Anwyl sounded frustrated and baffled. "Their ability to track us is uncanny."

  "There must be Frames they won't expect you to visit."

  "Those are Frames so alien that the journey would render you ill."

  "Will Zasu get sick if she's asleep?"

  "Eventually, but not as readily as one who is awake."

  "Then let's do it. Get us out of here. I can take it." Probably. We were so close to the mountain, we had to be talking minutes, not hours, of gnarly Travel.

  The steep brown slopes of Mount Shasta loomed outside, blocking Shastina from view. Shastina was a much smaller mountain than Shasta, funny that it was our main event. Funny that these were the only mountains I knew well. I had dated a guy who turned out to be one of those newfangled New Age crazoids. We spent a lot of time hiking around Shasta, until I learned that his religion worshipped the mountain and his intent was to impregnate me on sacred ground. My bad. Our sex had been so good, I had done inadequate background checking.

  Negative memories aside, Shasta symbolized excitement for me. Nothing rooted on Shasta's slopes because they were too steep and unstable. A rubble of rock blanketed the mountain, rock that was never stuck in the same place for long. From here, the rock looked like gravel, but many chunks were larger than mausoleums. Landslides were guaranteed, and any one of them could escalate into an avalanche. By now, landslides should have stripped Shasta to dirt, but somehow there was always more rock to shed.

  Someone who was no friend to interstate transport had chosen to wind Interstate Highway 5 around the base of this mountain. Every time I drive this highway, I duck and accelerate, to sneak by between landslides.

  The road curved us around and from our new angle, I realized that this was the mountain I had seen on my laptop the day that Anwyl used my computer.

  I opened my phone's map app and Anwyl showed me exactly where we needed to go: the top third of the mountain around the back side of Shastina. "Here no one can oppose Shastina's power without long effort and battle. Zasu will be safe here."

  "Even in my Frame?"

  "Temporarily in your Frame. When we reach this area, other Frames will be clear of interference and we can transport Zasu to a safe Frame."

  I looked out the window. "Wait, aren't we moving through my Frame, shouldn't I be driving instead of Tee?"

  "That precaution is no longer necessary. They have detected our journey."

  "Anwyl, I mean it. Take us to a Frame they won't expect. We are only a few miles from safety; we won't be in distant Frames for long. I'll survive. Go to whatever Frame you need to in order to deliver Zasu to Shastina."

  "You say that because you do not understand how it will affect you."

  "I promise to tell you if it gets too bad."

  "You could not hide it."

  "Do the Cysts mean to kill us all?"

  "Not today. They are not in a position of desperation. Our deaths would be indiscreet. They need to obtain Zasu so that they can dispose of her privately."

  "Somebody didn't get the memo about being discreet. Those ten wheelers are gaining on us and I don't think they intend to slow down." I showed him in the mirror. Another five seconds and they would run us over.

  Anwyl muttered and we shot from a cosmic slingshot. It was my first journey to a far Frame and it started similar to my Travels with the Guide - like an elevator plunging sideways - but now, my head stayed put while my feet plunged. My head was nailed in place and the weight of the world pulled against the nails. The strain exploded me and catapulted every molecule in a unique direction. Regrettably, the molecules reconstituted, glued together by pain. A searing white supernova bleached my vision, dissolved my spine, and fried every nerve in my body.

  I was astonished to find myself sitting next to Anwyl in the truck cab, with Dizzy still between us, grooming a paw. "Are we there yet?" I gasped. There was no need for him to answer - Elvis had left the building, Toto was not in Kansas anymore, and although I was delirious, I could tell we were far from my home Frame.

  The sky was a mottled green and purple bruise and the highway asphalt flowed uphill, taking us past a magnificent city that teemed with creatures who appeared like tiny humans except for their clawed wings. Their buildings were transparent skyscrapers and inside, the creatures flowed like platelets in blood streams.

  Amazingly, Shasta and Shastina looked exactly the same as they did in all the other Frames we had visited, and were the only recognizable features of the landscape.

  Tee shuddered and backfired, the dash lights flashed, and the engine kept hiccupping but did not fail. "Thanks for a smooth transition, that could have been so much worse," she told Anwyl.

  I felt too awful to figure out whether she meant to be ironic, but regardless, she made me laugh. In a way. My laugh came out as uncontrollable dry heaves. Dizzy jumped to the floor to increase her distance from me. Anwyl squeezed my hand and said to Tee, "Prepare to accelerate when we return to Nica's Frame."

  The return trip seemed faster - or I was too disoriented to register details of the journey. It replaced my bone marrow with sizzling lard, but was otherwise uneventful.

  Back in my Frame, I couldn't catch my breath. Between gasps I noted, "Nice! The ten wheelers are gone!" Tee rounded the next curve at 80 mph and swerved to avoid cop cars with red lights pulsing. The cars blocked all but one lane and that lane glittered with nail strips designed to blow out tires. Armed police shouldered rifles and took aim at us.

  "Continue to accelerate," Anwyl commanded. Once again, a searing supernova bleached my vision, the world dissolved, my ---

  I must have passed out. Gradually, I became aware that we were back under the bruised sky, as Tee hauled ass around the mountain. My leg felt wet and I stared at a red pattern on my thigh. A red drop hit my leg. Oh. My nose was bleeding.

  Shastina was close enough to dominate our view. Anwyl directed Tee off the highway and then off the paved roads. This slowed our progress, but at least the dirt roads didn't flow like the asphalt roads did in this Frame. Tee's tires slipped and popped on loose rock as we advanced a few hundred feet uphill on Shastina.

  On the horizon, birds appeared, flying atop a black rain, headed our way. Those weren't birds and they were raining text. "I see books," I whimpered.

  Anwyl cursed and shifted Frames, making brief hops through a dozen Frames along the way. The sense of being watched was strong in most of the Frames, but we had no encounters. There were so many dirt trails up and across the mountain, maybe they wouldn't find ours right away.

  Every trail was steep and treacherous. Tee's back tires slipped so hard, her front bumper smashed into the ground. Her engine revved in the red range and loose rock cascaded downslope behind us. If the Cysts were airborne, th
ey should spot us quickly.

  I could tell when we were back in my Frame - my headache pulsed differently there. Back in my Frame, for now we still had the trails to ourselves. I saw no sign of threat or impediment until we lurched past a trio of dirt bikes, parked askew. I braced for ambush, instead spotted the teenagers who belonged to the vehicles. A girl, a boy, and one I wasn't sure about. They were shooting at cans.

  "Hey! Decoys! Tee, stop. Pull over! I have a plan," I announced.

  Tee braked in a jerky screeching curve that spit rocks from her tires and engulfed all in dust. I rolled down the window and called to the trio, who were frozen, trying to decide whether they should run for their vehicles and take off. "Hi kids, want to earn a hundred bucks?"

  29. I Have A Toy Duck

  Fifty feet up the slope, we parked Tee in a turnout, then Anwyl, Dizzy, and I continued on foot. We left Zasu in Tee, which was incredibly difficult but essential for the success of my plan, such as it was.

  The plan was that we would split up and proceed separately, through different Frames, to the summit of Shastina. The Cysts wouldn't know who had Zasu. They'd have to hunt each of us, stop each of us. No matter whom they followed, we would lead them away from the truck with its precious hidden cargo. We had to hope Anwyl was right, that they weren't desperate enough to kill us all.

  Meanwhile, back in my Frame, I had paid the teenagers to drive the truck higher up Shastina. The teens would deliver Zasu to the area where Shastina had protective power in all Frames. We had to hope the teens wouldn't steal the truck instead.

  Actually, if the kids went the wrong way, or split with the hundred bucks, Tee would drive like hell to the protection of the summit.

  It might work in our favor that ours was a weak excuse for a plan. No one could see it coming, right? We had to hope I could keep the truth out of my head when the Cysts got close enough to read my mind.

  Another encounter with the Cysts looked inevitable. They had put considerable resources into delaying and diverting our arrival on Shastina. We hadn't given up and they wouldn't either.