by T Paulin
Eli slowed down as he imagined being part of the beast. The eyes gave him a beseeching look. As he fell under its spell, Eli’s will to murder ebbed away. The creature swung its massive head, and blood sprayed from its wounds, splashing Eli’s face, momentarily blinding him.
“Thirty more seconds!” cried Valentine.
He tried to blink the blood away. He had to keep fighting. He advanced, swinging blindly with the sword. The sword swished easily through smoky air.
His eyes watered and cleared the blood enough for him to find Valentine’s form. She sat huddled within the smaller alcove, curled up at the back of the cubby between the bags of winter driveway salt. Eli strained to see what she was doing, but his view was blocked by more blood spraying from the creature.
It whipped around, its long, hideous tail narrowly missing his head, and went after Valentine.
The alcove was low to the ground, too low for the massive, tall creature. The gleaming red beast couldn’t get its terrifying jaws on Valentine, so it snapped and growled at the opening.
The fire in its belly was roaring now. Eli could smell it, and see orange light through cracks in its body. He didn’t know why Valentine thought she had thirty seconds. It could blast her with flame at any moment. In a second, it would.
Eli dropped the smoking shield, grabbed the sword handle with both hands, and started lashing at its hindquarters, two-handed.
“It’s me you want!” he screamed. “Take me, not her. I’m much bigger, with more bones and muscles.” He cut into its flanks messily, carving away meat and bone.
The creature lifted one leg and swatted him to the ground. He cried out in shock as his body hit the hard concrete floor. His bones groaned, but none broke.
Beady eyes on the creature’s body glared down at Eli, as if to say, we want her, because she has the brains we need. With her, we will be unstoppable. We’ll take you second.
Brains. Yes, Valentine had brains, but so did Eli. And he had to use them to save her.
He got to his feet and crouched, his sword lowered for a moment.
The creature was changing its shape, not just growing and regenerating, but lengthening its neck and elongating its head.
Its front legs shortened, lowering its height so it could better snake its head into the alcove to get Valentine.
Eli saw his opportunity and seized it. With both hands on the sword, he lifted it high over his head, charged at the beast, and brought the sword down with all his might.
It took three chops to sever the creature’s neck. Tendrils of flame licked out of its neck hole as the body crumpled to the ground.
Eli ran to the head and kicked it, to prevent reattachment. He kicked it again, sending it on top of the smoldering wreckage of the stairs. The bloody pieces fell apart.
Eli turned back to continue fighting the larger mass of its body. Without its head, though, the body had lost its fight. The body fell apart, into piles of meat and bone.
The violet-hued grid that filled the cellar grew brighter. The air temperature in the cellar dropped, the smoke cleared, and the piles collapsed in on themselves. The beast’s vaguely dog-like remains became pools of red syrup, motionless at first, and then shrinking, draining away through unseen cracks.
Eli set down the sword and knelt to catch his breath. He watched as the final red droplets disappeared into the cellar’s concrete floor.
“All done,” Valentine said.
Eli was startled to hear her voice, even though he’d been fighting to save her.
He turned and found that she’d moved out of the alcove. She sat cross-legged, next to the shelving unit filled with computers. She had her laptop plugged into one of the computers with a blue cable.
“All done,” she said again. There was a huge smile on her face.
“That’s a bit rude,” Eli said. “Here I am, slaying a dragon, and what are you doing? Checking your email?”
She frowned at Eli like he’d taken a few blows to the head and wasn’t thinking straight. The truth was, he had taken a few blows, and would have bruises and lumps in the morning, but didn’t realize it now, with all the adrenaline in his system.
Coolly, she replied, “I’ll check email in a minute. But first, I had to prevent the next world war.”
“Of course,” he said sarcastically. “You were playing a video game. Well, why didn’t you say so?”
She stifled a grin, pressing her lips together tightly, and closed her laptop.
“Game over already?” he asked.
“Good job with the dragon, Eli.”
“Thanks,” he said. “That’s all I really wanted to hear.”
“You’re my hero, Eli Carter.”
He shrugged and tried to look modest while also looking heroic. “If you say so.”
Chapter Eighteen
It felt good to be called a hero, even if Valentine was teasing.
Was she teasing?
After being knocked around, Eli’s thoughts were still muddled, his head shook up. He reached one hand up to wipe some fluid from his face, unsure if it was his blood or the creature’s.
Valentine re-opened her laptop and started tapping away.
He could hear Khan talking, somewhere in the house.
“We’re still stuck down here in the cellar!” Eli called out. “Did you find a ladder?”
“Almost,” Khan called back. “Keep your shirt on!”
Eli stared down at the spatters on his red T-shirt. The poltergeists were never this messy. Was that a tooth stuck to his shirt? He plucked it off the fabric. Yes, it was a tooth. Was it his? He ran his tongue around the interior of his mouth, then let out a sigh of relief.
A clattering noise drew his attention to the doorway, up above. Khan was there with Joey, who was helping him lower a ladder down into the cellar.
“Hey, I missed all the good stuff,” Khan grumbled. “And I’m hungry. It smells like barbecue down here.”
They got the ladder lowered, but made no move to come down themselves. Joey stood at Khan’s side, uncharacteristically quiet. He looked like he might have some nightmares from this experience, but Eli had a gut feeling the kid was resilient, like him, and would be okay.
Valentine walked past Eli and climbed onto the bottom rungs of the ladder. “I could go for some barbecue,” she said.
Eli’s stomach grumbled. He climbed onto the ladder and followed Valentine up, keeping his eyes respectfully off her bottom.
When they reached the hallway, they surveyed the boxes and mess all around them.
Valentine reached down and gave Joey’s hair a tousle. “You did a great job. You were very brave to bring Eli the sword and shield right when he needed it.”
Joey shrugged, still mute.
Eli knelt down to look into Joey’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Nigel ran away,” he said. “He chewed a hole in the bag, and now he’s gone.”
“Probably for the best,” Khan said. “Hell hounds don’t make the best pets. Get a hamster next time you go to the pet store.”
Joey looked up at Khan. “Nigel didn’t come from the pet store. He just showed up one day. Like all the other dogs. I kept finding them in the house, but I only kept one.”
“Hamster,” Khan said. “They’re excellent pets. Very loyal, and they don’t have much personality, so if you lose one, you can—”
Valentine cut him off with a whack on the chest. “Listen,” she said. “No barking. I think every last one is gone. The site is clean.”
In the silence, something whistled as it approached. The whistling grew louder, like a kettle boiling. A comet, bright and sparkling, whizzed by their heads and shot down into the cellar.
Eli stood and took a shocked step back, nearly tumbling down into the cellar. “What was that?”
There was another whistle, and another comet whizzed by. Eli followed it with his eyes, all the way down into the cellar, where it sparkled and dove down into the floor.
“Sparklers!” Joey
said.
“Hold your celebrations,” Khan grumbled. “I’ll bet you anything that was our Monday job.”
Another comet whistled by them, followed by three more in rapid succession.
“There goes Tuesday,” Khan said.
Valentine sighed. “No good deed goes unpunished. There go all the jobs I had lined up for the week.”
Three more comets streaked past them.
Eli nodded with understanding. He didn’t get how it all worked, but the poltergeists had appeared along with the dogs, and now that the dogs were gone, the poltergeists were returning to wherever they’d come from… along with their potential earnings.
Khan was right. They’d stuck their nose into someone else’s business, and now they had no jobs for the week ahead. On the plus side, the week would also be free of piranha bites.
He turned and watched the light show as the comets sparkled through the Dark Grid and slipped into the ground. He was forgetting something, but couldn’t put his finger on it. The lights were pretty.
“She’s dazed, but awake,” Khan said to Valentine.
Eli cringed inwardly. He’d forgotten about Joey’s mother, and now he felt bad for not asking about her.
“She needs to rest,” Valentine said.
“Would you?” he asked.
“No, I’d pack a bag and get away from here.”
“That’s exactly what she’s doing. She says she’ll hit the road tonight, along with this one.” He gave Joey a playful nudge with his knee. “Which is too bad, because he was growing on me.”
“What’s happening?” Joey asked.
“You’re leaving this city and going home,” Khan explained.
Joey seemed to consider this news for all of ten seconds before saying, “Good.”
Two more comets whizzed by.
Eli turned and looked down at the shimmering lines of the Dark Grid. “Guys, why do they call it a Dark Grid anyway? It’s so purple, it should be called the Purple Grid.”
Valentine stared at Eli, her ocean-glass green eyes wide with astonishment. “You’ve got a visual on the Grid?”
He reached in and flicked off the light switch. “There. You can see it better with the light off.”
Khan leaned in and looked around the cellar. “I don’t see anything.”
Valentine was still staring at Eli. “What are you?” she asked breathily.
Khan elbowed his sister. “Manners, Val.” He nodded for them to move along down the hallway. “Let’s get some barbecue.”
“Mom!” Joey cried out.
They turned to see Joey’s mother, awake and standing near the front door. She had a suitcase in each hand. She looked exhausted and malnourished, but her eyes were no longer emotionless. Her eyes showed panic.
Eli was relieved to see her out of the Crasher-like state, but concerned about her panic. He thought everything was resolved, but the woman seemed to know something they didn’t.
“Are you from the agency?” she asked.
“Yes,” Khan answered without hesitation. “We are from the agency, and we’re shutting down this project because there was a gas leak in the neighborhood, and some people have reported hallucinations. One guy swears he saw a dragon. Do you have somewhere you can stay for the night, ma’am?”
She blinked in that way smart people do when they catch you talking to them like they’re idiots. “You’re not from the agency,” she said.
Eli answered, “No, we are not. But we do have business cards. I’m Eli Carter. I killed a dragon in your cellar.”
She gave Eli the not-buying-it blink, then gestured for her son to step away from the strangers in her home.
“Joey, get over here,” she said. “Get your tail in gear and get outside of this house right now, before it falls down on your head.”
Her voice was full of so much mom-authority that all four of them tripped over each other in their haste to follow her orders.
They stepped out of the house, into the cool night air. The freshness was in stark contrast to the fetid home interior.
An owl hooted. Doors up and down the street squeaked open, and people called for their dogs, sounding more concerned by the minute.
Joey’s mom walked toward the sidewalk and stopped when she reached the van. It was the only vehicle parked on the street, and was in violation of the local neighborhood regulations.
Eli could see it from where he stood that someone had tucked a parking violation notice under his windshield wiper. Oh, it was fine for people to adopt whatever mysterious hell hounds showed up on their doorsteps with no paperwork whatsoever, but heaven forbid someone parked a licensed vehicle on a paved street.
Joey’s mother looked up and down the street, frowning, then turned to her son. “Where’s my car?”
“It’s in the garage,” Joey answered. “Remember?”
She set down the suitcases and smacked on hand to her forehead. “Yes, I remember now. It’s all coming back to me.”
Softly, Joey said, “I missed you, Mom.”
She dropped to her knees and grabbed him in a hug. Sobbing, she said, “Can you ever forgive me?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Joey said. “They made you work all that overtime. It’s okay, Mom. Did you know we had a dragon in the cellar?”
She looked straight at him, wiped her eyes, and said, “We shouldn’t talk about these things in front of strangers.”
“They’re my friends.”
“You can see your old friends soon. People your own age. And you’ll go to school. And… what on earth are you wearing? Is that tie-dye?”
Valentine took a step toward them. “Yes, it’s tie-dye. We took him to the Renn Faire today. We had a good time.”
The mother hugged her son again, then spoke directly to Valentine. “Thank you. I don’t know who you are, and I don’t want to know. It’s probably better that I don’t.”
“I reversed your transactions,” Valentine said. “You had some really good encryption, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
“I shouldn’t have taken this job.”
Valentine shrugged. “A job’s a job.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
Joey interrupted, “Mom, we’re all going for barbecue, right?”
She swept his hair from his forehead and tucked it behind his ear. “We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
“You’re leaving now?” Eli asked.
“Yes and no,” she said. “If anyone asks, I was inside the house when it happened.”
She reached into her shirt and pulled out an object hanging from a necklace. It looked like a garage door opener.
“Is anyone still in there?” she asked.
“We’re all accounted for,” Valentine answered.
The woman lifted the device and pressed the button. Loose roof shingles flew off and landed on the lawn next to them. The house bulged outward, cracking and snapping, then suddenly crushed in on itself.
More sparkling balls of light dove at the ball of construction materials, collapsing in tighter and tighter. The ground beneath their feet shook, and all but Khan fell to the ground. Eli landed on his tailbone, but didn’t even feel it.
There was a loud pop from the balled-up house, and the ground stopped shaking.
Silence for ten seconds.
In the distance, an owl hooted. People down the street were no longer calling their dogs, but gathering on the sidewalks to ask each other about the earthquake.
Eli jumped to his feet and walked over to where the brown house had been a minute earlier. Everything was gone. The Dark Grid was no longer visible. All that remained was a rectangular hole in the ground, where the cellar contents had been.
Eli was reminded of a favorite childhood story about a tornado that flew a Kansas farmhouse to a magical land.
Joey tackled Eli’s legs in a big hug. “Bye.”
“Bye,” Eli said.
“I have to go be with friends my age,” Joey said. “Sorry I
can’t stay and be your friend.”
“I’ll miss you.”
Joey pulled away and looked up at Eli, his eyes gleaming. “You’re not like other grown-ups. I’m going to tell all my friends about you.”
Eli managed a smile. That sounded nice.
Joey’s mother said, “One more minute to say goodbye, then we’re going.”
“Yes, Mom.” Joey ran over to hug Valentine goodbye.
Joey’s mother walked toward the back lane with the suitcases, giving a wide berth to the hole in the ground.
The garage behind the house was still standing, unharmed. She opened the garage door, got into a dark-hued mini-van, and backed it out. Joey finished his goodbyes by giving Khan a hug, then ran to meet his mother in the mini-van.
Once he was buckled in, his mother drove away, not looking back, and not even tapping the brakes once. Eli waved until their red taillights were no longer visible.
They were gone, along with a little piece of his heart.
Khan slung one arm across Eli’s shoulders. “Don’t be sad,” he said. “We did a good thing tonight. I didn’t want to, but I’m glad I did.”
“He was a neat kid,” Eli said.
Khan squeezed his shoulders. “Cheer up, my man. The world is still full of friends you haven’t met yet.”
Eli turned to him and smiled, because it was true.
Chapter Nineteen
They arrived at the barbecue restaurant at five minutes to closing, but Khan convinced the owner to stay open by ordering one of everything on the menu.
As the waitress led them to the best booth in the empty restaurant, Khan bragged, “My man here, Eli Carter, slaughtered a dragon tonight.”
The waitress giggled, then asked what he meant.
“We’re the city’s top software developers,” Khan said. “Mostly gaming applications. This guy created a level where you battle a fire-breathing dragon with nothing but a snow shovel and your wits.”
“It’s more of giant hell hound,” Valentine added. “Dragons aren’t real.”
