by Drew Hayes
She checked the author of the book and rose from her seat to go see if he had any more works on the shelves. She turned from the table and found herself looking into two sets of recently familiar eyes.
“My, what a coincidence running into you,” Justin said. He smiled at her, but Kaia noticed the way Dustin repositioned himself to block the nearest avenue of exit.
“Small world, I guess. What brings you two here?”
“We were just touring the islands now that our work is done. Seeing the local sights, you know.”
“Right. Well, be sure to check out the cherry tree forest. It should be blooming nicely this time of year.”
“I’m sure we will. At the moment we’re feeling a bit hungry, however; all the touring can work up quite an appetite. You don’t happen to have one of those Kenowai Pears on you, perchance? That would be simply… divine.”
Creepy and with little grasp of subtlety, Justin had all the makings of a great ex-boyfriend. She didn’t know how they’d found out about the pear or knew that she had it, but playing dumb clearly wasn’t even on the table. Justin was staring at her patiently while Dustin kept glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone was paying attention. They weren’t and they wouldn’t start any time soon. It seemed her options were quite limited.
“I’ve got the one from the altar yesterday. Something about the lightning messed with its coloration so I wanted to examine it. It’s actually pretty intriguing, want to see?”
“I’d love to.” Justin tensed as she reached into her backpack, ready for her to throw it in his face and make a break for it or some such idiocy. Instead her hand emerged with a pear that was indeed very strange-looking. One moment it seemed to be glowing, then the next he was sure it had just been a trick of the light, and then he’d flip-flop again.
“You need to hold it to really appreciate the curiousness. It’s almost like there’s a current running through it.” Kaia held out the pear, her eyes gleaming with intellectual passion.
Justin accepted it from her and thought to himself that for some girl with a Ph.D., she certainly wasn’t all that swift. Personally, if he’d been in her situation, he’d at least have tried something to hold on to this little chunk of the arcane. Maybe she really didn’t know what she had; he supposed it was possible.
“It certainly does seem to lo-GAAAAAH!”
Justin’s scream shredded the library’s sacred silence as Kaia whipped her now-free hand out of her bag and pepper-sprayed him in the eyes. Dustin rushed forward to help and got his own helping of mace for the trouble.
“You bitch!” Dustin began rubbing his eyes furiously; Justin was already too far gone to retain any sight. As he tried his damnedest to wipe away the chemical contagion, he realized at some point the pear had left his possession.
“I spent four years living in New York, you stupid fucks; you think I don’t know how to deal with thugs?”
Kaia hurriedly stuffed her mace and the pear back into her bag. She began to dash down the aisle, then paused and grabbed the book she’d been reading from the table. She threw that in the bag too and began making her escape. Other people were gathering at her section: even in a place as isolationally-minded as this, screaming and chemical attacks were going to draw interest.
“Sexual assault!” Kaia yelled as she dashed. “Those two foreigners tried to grab my breasts!” The glances that had once been speculative began to harden. Nobody doubted that off-islanders were morally bankrupt devils that would happily prey on defenseless damsels. To do it to one of their women, though, and here in a sanctum of education during the middle of the day, that was spitting in the face of the entire community.
Justin’s vision began to return and he immediately wished it hadn’t. The other people in the library were forming a tightening circle around them, the expressions on their faces leaving no question as to whether they believed Kaia’s outlandish claims. Justin was confident he could handle a couple of them, but there were more than a couple, and some had the looks, muscles, and tattoos of men who had once possessed less-peaceful interests before discovering the joy of literature.
“What’s going on?” Dustin asked.
“It is entirely possible that we might be in deep shit,” his brother replied. He couldn’t be sure due to his still-addled sight, but he was fairly certain he saw one of the larger people in the crowd, a dark-haired man with large shoulders and a tattoo of a shark on his neck, nod in agreement with his assessment. This did not bode well.
15.
Clint took in the scene before him. Falcon and April being restrained by burly men, Thunder lying on the ground with a trickle of blood running down his forehead, and three ruffians unencumbered and readying themselves to deal with this new minor threat. He felt something blooming inside his chest, a rush that seemed to fire through his blood and brain. All of a sudden his ears began to ring and his skull began to throb. It was anger surging through him, but a fiercer version of it than he’d ever experienced. This wasn’t just anger at some slight wrong or perceived injustice. This was the righteous rage of one who sees the innocent being hurt.
“I hope this works,” Clint mumbled under his breath.
Me, too. You’re sure you want to go through with it? There’s a lot of risk.
The blood from Thunder’s head was flowing down between the lenses of his aviators. Clint couldn’t tell if his friend was breathing anymore. He wasn’t sure when these people had become more than just traveling companions to him; maybe it was during the ceremony, or on the hill, or in the boat, but it had happened. They were his friends, whether he meant for them to be or not. Clint tightened his fist and his resolve. He didn’t answer Kodiwandae verbally. He didn’t need to; even if Kodiwandae couldn’t sense precise thoughts, there was no mistaking an intention that powerful building in the brain.
Clint’s skin began to tingle, a sensation altogether different from the blood rush he’d just experienced. This felt different, smoother, like some piece of him he’d never noticed was expanding. Kodiwandae began to form a word in Clint’s throat. Clint had never been more aware of the tremors of his vocal chords: each vibration sent ripples of burning heat through his throat. As the word rose toward his mouth, Clint would have sworn he was vomiting a cinder. It hurt unlike anything he’d ever experienced, but he didn’t try to cry out or tell Kodiwandae to stop. This was happening, for better or worse. As Clint opened his mouth to let the word escape, he was almost surprised when the sound reached his ears. He’d have sworn such a word would scorch the very air.
“RUN.”
There was a moment where the world seemed to slip a bit, a disoriented drunk momentarily losing its cosmic footing. Then everything righted itself and the thugs were dashing down the alleyway with a gusto one wouldn’t have imagined their slinking sullen forms could muster. April, Falcon, and heaven-only-knew-who-else’s things fell from their arms and pockets as they dashed, their legs pumping, their feet slamming the ground as though it had done them some great wrong. They disappeared in mere seconds but they kept on running for a very long time before they slowed and even then it would be quite some while before any of them ever felt truly safe.
Falcon rubbed her arms and stared at the young man who had so easily dispersed the villains. If not for Kodi’s voice, she didn’t think she would have recognized him as the same slacker she’d first met in the Camelot Burgers conference room only days ago. Part of the transformation was the way he held himself: his sullen slump had been replaced with the demeanor of a king walking among his subjects. Another part was the hard, outlined conviction that he wore across his face. Of course, the most noticeable part was probably the fact that his eyes were glowing with golden light, though that was slowly fading.
April didn’t notice anything besides the eyes, partially because she wasn’t as adept at reading people as Falcon and partially because she’d rushed to Thunder as soon as she was free. She took his pulse, opened his eyelids, and tested his breathing in rapid successi
on.
“I think he’s okay,” April said with evident relief. “But we should still get him to a hospital to be professionally checked out. It should be okay to move him.”
“We’ll get him there,” Falcon said. “Though it would be easier if the muscular boy were here. I don’t suppose you brought Mano with you?”
Clint shook his head. “I told him to keep up with the cat and gave him my cell phone so we could call when we were done. Let’s get Thunder to a doctor.” He stooped down and slipped an arm around Thunder’s shoulder, hoisting him to his feet while supporting his weight. April immediately flanked Thunder on the opposite side; the duo soon found they could haul their cargo around without too much strain if they kept the weight distributed between them.
They began moving down the alley slowly, making sure each had a firm grip as they progressed, fearful of losing their hold and doing more damage. Falcon walked alongside them, steadying anyone who looked a touch unstable. To her credit, they made it out of the alley before Falcon’s curiosity got the better of her.
“So, are you going to explain what happened back there? That seemed like more than just a terrifying voice, it felt like divine intervention. I thought Kodi couldn’t do anything without the pear?”
“He can’t. I can, though.”
“It’s a bit complicated.”
“Try anyway.”
“Let’s say that Belief and Wants are what give Kodi his abilities. Normally, he would draw that power from the realm he occupies, you know, from people who specifically Believe in him.”
“Like prayers?”
“Close enough for now. Anyway, not all Belief is directed. Some people put their faith in more general things, like positive thinking toward their goals or just hoping there is something indefinable out there. That stuff permeates the world; it’s a blank slate. It can be anything the user wants it to be.”
“What was it today?” April asked.
“A gentle nudge. You can give them to reality if you know how. I used it to suggest that those rogues really wanted to be running instead of mugging.”
“Pretty useful,” Falcon said.
“No kidding,” Clint agreed. “He says it’s what people with divine blood use to get their special abilities. Since I’m human and connected to the world, I can interact with it. It’s kind of like he uses me to draw the Belief in, then he can mold it as needed.”
“So it’s a team effort,” April summed up. “That might have come in handy a few times on our little trip, by the way.”
“I wasn’t aware the human could make use of such ambient energy until he began experiencing a premonition.”
“You what?” Falcon kept her voice from growing to a yelp, but not without some effort.
“Yeah, it’s why I showed up. I kept getting these bursts of terror about someone being hurt. I ran back to the fountain and then-”
Falcon’s phone began chirping an awful tune, interrupting Clint’s explanation. She pulled it from her purse and saw it was Clint’s number, which meant Mano was calling. She popped it open immediately.
“Hello, Mano… Yes, yes he told me… Uh-huh… Oh dear, you’re sure? No, I believe you… We’re taking Thunder to the hospital right now… Yes… We think he’s fine. It’s a long story… Okay, we’ll go to that one and meet you there.” She flipped the phone shut briskly and stowed it back in her pocket. “That was Mano; he is going to meet us at the hospital.”
“What about the cat?” Clint asked.
“That was why he called. A few minutes ago it stopped walking. It looked around for a bit, then sat on its haunches and stared at him. He thinks it lost the trail.”
“Uh-oh.”
“What uh-oh?”
“I did tell you there were risks.”
“Why would my thing affect the cat?”
“We dropped a mystical depth charge on the area. The trail of the pear has been weak from the beginning; that much power probably blasted away all the residual energy there was to follow.”
“So, what now?”
“Now we get Thunder some help,” April interrupted. “It sounds like our current lead has gone cold anyway, so let’s use the time to regroup and think of something.”
“You’re a curiously apt woman.”
“Flattery later, lifting now.”
The four progressed as such down the road, drawing many curious glances from passers-by. Elsewhere on the island, five rogue youths continued to sprint with a fervor that would have made Kenyan Olympians jealous.
* * *
Kaia almost made it out of her hotel safely. She dashed there from the library, books clutched in hand and breath panting from her mouth, to grab a few pieces of jewelry she’d been wearing last night and had known Alendola well enough to lock in the room safe this morning. She reasoned that she would be fine. They didn’t know where she was staying, and even if they did, there was no way they could slip away fast enough to intercept her. The islanders might put up with a lot, but their compassion for people who came after their women was legendarily nonexistent.
That’s probably why she was more concerned with determining her next move instead of scanning for familiar presences as she bounded out the lobby after checking out. She was so absorbed in the implication of what it could all mean if this pear really did hold the abilities of a god that she didn’t see the figure stealthily creeping up behind her.
She did, however, feel the sharp prick of a blade being pressed between her shoulders at the same time as a rough hand found rest upon her shoulder.
“Walk to the bathroom.” There was no room for argument in Justin’s voice; he clearly hadn’t taken the pepper spray thing so well.
Kaia obliged, altering her course toward the nearest lavatory. She wanted to go to the men’s and pray some strapping fellow with knife-breaking magic was conveniently taking a piss, but Justin steered her toward the ladies. As soon as they were through, Kaia felt him rip her bag from her shoulder and shove her forward. She landed hard, the audible crack from her wrist informing her she was injured before the pain could travel up the nervous system.
“I’m amazed you got away so quickly.”
“Dustin has his issues, but he is malleable. He dealt with the crowd while I slipped away.”
“You ran out on your own brother. I knew you guys were creepy but I thought you’d at least be loyal.”
“I am exceptionally loyal,” Justin said as he rooted though the bag, “which is why I never lose sight of the job. Especially the one that will pay for all of our busted equipment from your damn ceremony.” He pulled out the pear triumphantly then threw her bag over a stall door.
“How did you even know about the pear? I didn’t know what it was until an hour ago.”
“I might be more inclined to tell you had you not maced Dustin and me earlier. As it is, just be thankful I don’t have time to return the favor.”
Kaia sneered up at him with all the defiance she could muster. “I don’t know what you think you know, but it doesn’t matter who finishes the ceremony. There’s no reward to it for anyone besides Kodiwandae.”
“Finish the ceremony? Dear girl, you are mistaken. We’ve been contracted to ensure this little adventure goes uncompleted for as long as possible.” With that, Justin exited slowly, his eyes never leaving the fallen woman’s form.
She waited until she was sure he was gone then tested her wrist. Definite sprain, possibly a break. She’d have to go to a doctor. Kaia was experienced enough to know that a good setting would take care of the injury in a few weeks. The hole she was feeling in her gut, though, the pear-shaped one that had briefly held the ember of excitement over discovering something beyond her, that would take substantially longer to heal.
16.
April and Thunder were in the small doctor’s office, Thunder sitting on the table with an icepack held to his head and April pacing the room while chewing on a strand of her hair.
“What is taking so long? He already got
the X-rays, reading them shouldn’t be this hard.”
“Chillax, el cabesa de Thunder has taken hits way más awesome than that.”
“I can’t just ’chillax’; you could be seriously injured.”
“Nah, my gooey thought lump is just a little extra gooey.”
“You can’t possibly know that. You were out for several minutes. There could be brain damage, or a concussion, or a subdural hematoma, or a hundred other things wrong!”
“Just a noggin bump and eventually a bitchin’ scar.”
“How can you be so unconcerned? This is your brain we’re talking about.”
“You’ve got a good rile of worry on. That making you more soothed?” Thunder adjusted the ice pack to a different section of his throbbing skull.
“Well… no.”
“My way’s got me hanging on a smooth chill. Why fix what ain’t broke? Like my bro Squishins used to say, ‘Worry is the nemesis of productive thought. One must first decide that the tasks before them can be surmounted, and then the mind’s only preoccupation should be with devising the methodology to accomplish such a task’. Or something like that.”
April stared at him, his polo and shorts now dirty from lying in the street, half the side of his frosted tips matted with blood, and an unflappable smile slapped across his face. “One of your bros said all that?”
“Yeah, Squishins could go off the deep end when he had the right mix of Jäger and Kahlua running through him.”
“Uh-huh.” April didn’t quite believe him; however, she didn’t see any productive result in arguing the point. Instead, she quit pacing and hopped onto the table next to him. “I, um, I don’t know if I’ve said it yet, but thank you.”
