by DM Fike
“What do you want with me?” Avalon asked.
The raven cawed. “As I was trying to say before, I’m Nobody, and I—”
“Nobody? What do you mean, ‘nobody?’”
“That’s my name.” The raven said each word slowly, as if explaining to a child. “No-bod-ee. Proper noun.”
“Nobody’s kidnapping me?” Avalon repeated.
“I admit, it’s ironic. It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need… but no. Here’s the thing, dear Avalon—a fine name I will add—I have this problem…”
“I don’t care what kind of problem you have!” Avalon shrieked. She couldn’t tell if it was the change in elevation or her own hysterics that made her short of breath. “Let me go!”
Avalon yanked the gemstone around his neck as hard as she could. The raven’s head bent almost to his chest. He screeched, and they jerked midair as he tried to rip himself free of her hold. Avalon released the necklace and smacked his downturned head with her free hand. She landed one solid blow near his beak, which finally loosened his claws, and she plummeted back down toward the tiny park.
“Come on, Kay,” she prayed as the wind whipped around her. Her ears painfully popped. “Come on.”
Right when she thought she had doomed herself, something swooped below her. Her body whiplashed as Kay grabbed her. She stifled the impulse to vomit.
Kay steadied his pace as he located a firmer grip on her body. Avalon wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her head into his shoulder, taking deep calming breaths to steady herself. Kay bounced when his boots touched ground. With her own feet firmly planted, she pried her sore grip from him. He kept one arm around her.
A loud caw caught their attention. Avalon and Kay backed away from each other as they craned their necks upwards. A small speck of black gyrated in the sky like a fly on a television screen. There was a loud pop like a firecracker, and even that disappeared.
Kay drew his sword and held it pointed at that spot. There was a tense silence as Avalon crouched behind Kay, waiting for the intruder to reappear. But as the wind whipped across their faces, she realized he had vanished for good.
Avalon cleared her throat as Kay continued scanning the sky. “Thanks for saving me,” she tried, her mouth dry.
Kay said nothing, staring at her, and then down at his tunic, his sword, and the surrounding areas: the Hall of Mirrors, the now lit roller coaster, the dart booth across the path.
“Are you okay?” Avalon asked.
Kay shook his head, his brows furrowed in confusion.
“Maybe I should introduce myself.” She extended her hand. “I’m Avalon.”
Kay frowned at her hand.
Avalon took her hand back awkwardly. “What’s your name?”
Kay remained mute. Avalon was about to conclude that he didn’t understand her, when he replied.
“I don’t know.”
CHAPTER 7
AVALON DIDN’T WAIT for Nobody to return for a second attack. She grabbed her belongings and Rubix before ushering Kay out of the park. They drove around for a while, Avalon lobbing Kay questions, but he became pale-faced and tight-lipped. As far as she could tell, he didn’t remember much.
With few places safe in the middle of the night, Avalon decided they could at least find Kay some clothes he could wear to blend in. Avalon pulled Babe into a 24-hour superstore parking lot and cut the engine. The storm had dissipated quickly during their drive, a full set of stars twinkling in the blackness above. She parked far enough away from the store entrance that when she turned off her headlights, it threw them into complete darkness.
Beside her in the passenger seat, Kay’s fingers clutched the door handle for dear life, his face pale.
“See, we’re okay,” Avalon tried to reassure him.
“This is madness,” Kay breathed.
“Wait until you see rush hour,” Avalon muttered. She exited the car while Kay fiddled with his seatbelt. She had to open his door and unbuckle him.
Kay visibly relaxed once on solid ground. His wings spread out in all their glory behind him, and he straightened his sword hilt. Avalon grimaced. With the metal gauntlets adding a final touch, Kay had all the subtlety of a goth teenager in church.
“We need to do something about your wings.”
“What’s wrong with them?” he asked as she opened the trunk.
“There are no other fairies on Earth. People will freak out.”
“Freak out?”
“Go crazy. Think you’re a monster. That sort of thing.”
“Oh,” Kay answered as she pulled her dark winter coat out of a duffel bag.
“I’m not going to lie, you’re going to look weird, but we can at least get you inside so we can buy you something more appropriate.”
It took some convincing, but he removed his metal gloves and put on the coat. It stretched down to Kay’s mid-thigh. Avalon covered his wings but left the coat unzipped so he would be more comfortable. His wings formed a horrid hunchback, but at least he passed for human. Pulling the attached hood over his head hid his long, pointed ears.
“Okay, that works,” Avalon said. “Next, your sword.”
Kay gasped as if she’d slapped him in the face. “What?”
“You can’t bring a sword inside.”
“Absolutely not.” Kay’s grip tightened on his weapon. “I am already exposed as is. Who knows what manner of evil lurks in a merchant house that sells wares past midnight?”
“Trust me, the evil inside a discount department store cannot be battled with swords.” When Kay appeared confused, she replied, “We’ll be fine, I promise. The sword will cause problems if you bring it.”
“I cannot in good faith leave it behind.”
“Then why don’t you stay with the car? I’ll hop inside and buy what we need.”
A scowl darkened Kay’s face. “You are in grave danger, Avalon. What if that scoundrel returns? I cannot let you go in alone.”
Avalon’s heart skipped a beat. “Okay, fine, but we’ve got to at least try to conceal that sword.”
It took a bit of rearranging, but they finally managed to cram most of the hilt underneath the coat’s padded lining. There was nothing they could do about the tip of the blade, so Avalon made Kay promise he would keep that side of his body away from view as best he could.
“We’re going to go in, get some food and clothes for you, and get out. Okay? It’ll be quick.”
There were no greeters in the middle of the night, so the pair managed to avoid running into anyone as they trekked to the men’s clothing department. Avalon had to pull Kay forward a few times because he stared at everything. He craned his neck backward and shielded his eyes from the bright warehouse lights above. He paused at a display of sparkling purses and backpacks. Avalon had to convince him that a life-sized cardboard cut-out of a dragon from a popular kids’ movie did not warrant drawing his sword.
“This is a most bizarre bazaar,” he breathed.
“Well, at least we’ve established you’re not from the United States.” Avalon led him through the maze of circular clothing racks. She selected a few colorful XXL hoodies. “Which one do you like?”
Kay chose a black hoodie, fingering the aglet at the end of the lace used to tighten the hood. “Is this some kind of charm?”
“I’ll show you how it works later. Let’s find food and leave.”
Avalon grabbed a box of turtle food sticks from the pet aisle, then led Kay toward the grocery section. She grabbed a few boxes of crackers and bottled waters.
“Can’t you retrieve water from a river?” he asked.
“Not easily.” She guided them toward the check-out stands. She was about to get in line when she realized Kay hadn’t followed her. She doubled back to the produce, where Kay lingered over a display of apples.
“Now this seems familiar.” He cupped one round fruit. “Much more like food than whatever you have in those colorful crates.”
Avalon grumbled but gr
abbed a plastic bag and filled it with a few apples. She made Kay walk ahead of her toward the check-out lines so she wouldn’t lose him again.
There was only one cashier open, and four people in line ahead of them. Avalon urged Kay to stay quiet as they took their place in line. Kay saw a box of prophylactics someone had tossed in between the gum and candy. It had a symbol of a helmeted man on the cover. He examined the box thoroughly. Avalon grabbed the box and put it back on the shelf.
“We don’t need that,” she hissed.
The grizzled man in front of them in line chuckled.
The middle-aged cashier was in a talkative mood as she rang up everyone’s items. Her painted fingernails clacked whenever she touched the keypad. She commented on the storm, the lateness of the hour, and each item as she scanned it. Avalon prayed for patience when it came their turn to buy.
“Hello there.” The cashier laughed as Kay shuffled forward in the woman’s coat. “You cold or something?”
“He’s got a condition,” Avalon said curtly.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. My grandma had osteoporosis. Walked stooped over for years. At least you got your youth, sweetie.”
Avalon said nothing, debit card in hand, ready to end the transaction as quickly as possible.
When they got to the last item, the hoodie, the cashier declared, “Uh oh, there’s no tag on this. Let me call for a price check.”
Avalon groaned, and the line of people behind her visibly shifted in irritation.
As everyone in the store waited for the slowest stock boy in the world to return with a price check, the cashier held the hoodie in front of her. “It’ll look much nicer on you than that coat, dearie. You want to put it on now?”
“No!” Avalon said at the same time as Kay reached out for it. As everyone stared at her, she mumbled. “He… he really shouldn’t. His condition and all.”
The cashier frowned. “Miss, if I think you’re stealing something, I can call loss prevention and they can bring a security guard here.”
Her insides twisted. “No, that’s okay. We’re not hiding anything.”
“Then give the poor boy the hoodie.”
Kay gave Avalon an uncertain glance, and she nodded. His ears stuck out a few inches as he uncovered his head. Slowly, he shrugged off her coat, his fairy wings popping from his back like a tent released from its canvas bag. One wing hit a cardboard display of batteries and nearly knocked it over. Kay managed to grab it but lost his sword in the process. It rang out like a bell as it hit the floor.
The cashier gasped. The people standing in line murmured.
“I told you, he has a condition,” Avalon said. “He refuses to leave the house unless he’s in full cosplay.”
Kay waffled between the dumbfounded cashier and the queue line. “I do not wish to cause a freak out.”
Silence engulfed the line. The cashier pointed to the sword. “Is that real?”
A young woman in the back of the line called out, “His wings look so lifelike!”
The stock boy finally came back with a price. Kay threw the hoodie over his head as Avalon hastily inserted her card into the machine. “To each his own, I guess,” the cashier mumbled as she handed Avalon the rest of her items.
“They did not seem threatened by me,” Kay said loudly as Avalon made a beeline toward the exit. “No one cared about my weapon.”
A gush of cold wind hit Avalon’s face as the automatic doors opened to the parking lot. Avalon refused to glance back as she dashed toward Babe, pulling Kay alongside her.
* * *
“You honestly don’t remember anything?” Avalon asked as she shook some food into Rubix’s bowl. “Not where you’re from? Not a childhood memory? Why you have a ‘K’ on your belt?”
Kay shook his head as he bit down on his third apple. “Nothing. I have a vague impression there should be more, but I cannot conjure anything. My memories start with you at… What do you call it, Fantasma?”
The Wasatch Mountains developed a faint glowing halo as the night receded. It would be daylight soon. Her quilt grew damp with the wet grass underneath but kept them mostly dry. She had taken them to an isolated neighborhood park close to where she and her father had last lived, only a few miles from Saluzyme’s offices. Avalon came here often to sit on a bench and listen to music when she wanted to feel close to him.
“Do you know where this statue of me came from?” Kay asked, throwing the apple core into the bushes.
“No. You just showed up one day. You were so obviously out of place, but I thought the new owners bought you. Now I’m not so sure.”
“And I animated in a flash of lightning?”
“There was a lightning storm. A bolt struck you and you came to life.” She couldn’t believe she had manipulated the lightning herself. It must have only appeared that way in the extreme stress of the moment.
“Lightning.” Kay stared at the spreading purple and pink hues to the east. He planted his feet shoulder width apart, bent his knees slightly, and threw his hands in front of him, palms out. His eyes closed.
A slight breeze tickled Avalon’s neck. Then the wind gusted, causing an empty cracker sleeve to blow away. Avalon caught it as the wind continued to rise, blowing her hair into her face.
“Lightning,” Kay whispered again. Suddenly, his eyes opened, and he flung one hand into the air. Avalon jumped backward as a crack filled the air, surrounding Kay in a flash of light.
Avalon screeched as Kay relaxed from his stance, stretching his arms backwards and frontwards. “Was that you?”
“Aye,” Kay sat back down, shaky and dazed. The sky remained cloudless and the wind disappeared.
“You okay?”
He took in deep breaths. “Just give me a chance to recover.”
Avalon could swear she could still feel electricity buzzing in her core. “My poor logical parents would turn in their graves to hear me say this, but this is magic. You must have used lightning to release yourself as a statue. Nobody changed into a raven too. It’s magic, but it shouldn’t exist.”
“Why not?” Kay tilted his head. “I’ve seen magic here. The strange carriages. The bright lights hanging from the ceiling of the merchant house.”
“Those things can be explained by chemical reactions, mechanics, and physics.”
“I do not understand any of those words, but I know wind.” He lifted his hand again, and the breeze kicked up. “And lightning. They feel natural to me as breathing.”
“It’s crazy,” Avalon whispered. “But crazy good. It means you’ve remembered something. Maybe more of your memory will come back.”
“Perhaps,” Kay said as Avalon opened a box of crackers.
She offered him a sleeve. “Try one?”
“I am hungry.” He examined the circular disc and licked off some salt before taking a bite. “It tastes fair.” He chewed tentatively. “But it makes me thirsty.”
Avalon offered him a bottle of water and a few more crackers. “You’ve got to be connected to Nobody in some way. You both have the same ridiculously pointed ears.”
Kay scowled. “I am nothing like that scoundrel.”
“But maybe you’re from the same place. Or maybe he knows more about you.”
“He tried to kidnap you, Avalon. He does not seem like one you should place your trust in.”
Rubix caught her attention by splashing around in his bowl. She placated him with more turtle sticks. “But why me? I’m a college drop-out with absolutely nothing going for me. How could I possibly help him?”
“I do not pretend to comprehend the ravings of a lunatic, but I swear I will not let him harm you.”
Avalon lay back on the blanket, birds calling to each other with their first morning cries. Her mind was full of questions, but sleep deprivation squashed her ability to think. Her eyelids grew heavy.
The fairy said nothing as he sat cross legged on the other side of the blanket, scanning their surroundings. Avalon knew he would keep watch over
her as she fell asleep, just like he had as a statue.
CHAPTER 8
A WIDE FIELD stretched before Avalon, heather billowing in a light summer breeze under a magnificent blue sky. Birds chirped in pleasant conversation, a pair of swallows chasing each other in a merry dance before zipping into the pine trees several yards away. An enormous mountain loomed above, towering upward at an incredible angle, its snow-capped tip barely visible from this angle.
The grass stirred behind her.
Avalon whirled around. A figure wrapped in a cloak stood not far away, her face completely enveloped in darkness. The tips of cracked fingernails poked from her sleeves. The figured tilted her head to one side, bringing a finger up to her pale green lips.
“Shh…” the girl whispered.
“Avalon?” a voice called as if shouting from a tunnel.
Avalon blinked, and the scene vanished. Instead, she found Kay hovering over her, his face scrunched in concern.
Avalon bolted upright, taking in the surroundings of the park. It was clearly morning now, a wild wind whipping around them, the leaves dancing in a fury on their branches.
“Avalon?” Kay asked again.
“Was someone here?” she asked him.
“Nay. You were dreaming. I have been here the entire time.”
Avalon shuddered. The cloaked girl. It had been ages since Avalon had dreamed of her. The cloaked girl had been a regular fixture in her dreams during Miasmis treatments, appearing most often after a violent seizure. Seeing her again after such a long absence made Avalon tremble.
“Is something the matter?” His fingers gently grazed her upper right shoulder.
Avalon hissed as a sharp pain seared where Kay touched. The fairy quickly withdrew his hand. She rolled up her shirtsleeve to find a splotchy green bruise.
Her insides went cold. The bruise occupied the very spot where James had injected her with Miasmis treatments. She hadn’t seen it in so long, and it should not have reappeared while in remission.
“Do you require aid?” Kay asked.
“No.” Avalon covered the bruise back up. The pain slowly faded. Maybe it was nothing. James had recently given her a clean bill of health.
