by DM Fike
“Kay?” Avalon called. “Nobody?”
Something swooshed to the ground behind her. Kay touched down, his wings flapping open and shut. He did not say a word as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward him.
A figure reached out from a puff of smoke and grabbed her opposite hand, jerking her in the other direction. “I hope you can find your way to the dry cleaner’s fast,” Nobody warned, pretending to vomit. He paused when he saw Kay on the other end of Avalon’s body.
The two had her at both ends, glaring at each other.
Avalon realized that despite everything that had happened, the two were more than willing to pick up where they left off. She narrowed her eyes and declared, “If you two so much as think about drawing a sword, using magic, or making any other sort of ridiculous violent move, I will do something so horrible that the Octopus will feel like a kiddy ride.”
Both Kay and Nobody dropped her arms as if spiders had burst from her ears.
“That’s better.” She nodded her head in satisfaction. “Now—”
“Ee! Ee!” Vimp squealed. He grabbed Avalon’s head and forced it back toward the road leading into the park, far on the horizon.
A line of cars had driven off the highway, heading in their direction, headlights gleaming like little ants in the distance.
“Looks like our twenty minutes are up,” Nobody said with a drawl. “Yeehaw!”
CHAPTER 21
THE MYSTERIOUS CARS steadily made their way toward Fantasma. They would be at the park in a few minutes.
“C’mon.” Avalon ushered them forward. “We’ve got to go.”
For a second, both Aossi hesitated. Avalon wondered what she would do if they resisted. Fortunately, they both seemed to decide the cars were a more immediate threat than each other and trailed her to the parking lot.
As Avalon dove behind the steering wheel of Digs’s car, she steeled herself. “The only way out of here is through those cars.”
“Just go for it,” Nobody said from the back seat. “They won’t see us. Leave it to me.”
Kay grunted. “What can you possibly do?”
“You’ll see.”
Avalon was relieved that the car started the first time. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I always know what I’m doing.”
Kay fumed but remained silent as the car floated out of the parking lot. Avalon gave one last pitying glance at Babe in the rearview mirror as she sped away toward the main road.
The oncoming cars’ headlights brightened as they approached. Avalon’s knuckles turned white as she continued a steady pace on the opposite side of the road, waiting at any second for one of them to cut off her path, fire a weapon, or do something to indicate they had been spotted.
But each black van passed quietly without so much as slowing down. Tinted windows obfuscated the occupants’ faces, but there was no mistaking the hexagon logo painted on either side.
Avalon held her breath. “Nobody, why are the Saluzyme vans passing us?”
“Shh!” he hissed. “I’m hiding the car.” She glanced in the rearview mirror, finding the gremlin shimmering in and out of visibility like a mirage of water on a scorching hot day.
Everyone in the car remained quiet until they cleared the last vehicle. Then Avalon gunned it for the freeway. Once surrounded by several lanes, Nobody finally let go of his magic, his body covered in sweat. “Woo! I don’t think I’ve ever cloaked that big of an object before. Level up for me!”
In the aftermath of Nobody’s celebration, an awkward silence filled the air. Avalon drove without purpose, biting her lip, her vision roving from Kay, sword clenched in his grasp, to Nobody, rubbing a bruise on his chin. Vimp was the only one in the car who seemed at ease, chewing on a corner of his Rubik’s cube.
They drove over the heart of Salt Lake City, then beyond. The black vans did not return. City gave way to country again. An occasional roadside gas station stood amid the sagebrush. Avalon saw a blue sign indicating hotels at the next exit. “I think we’ve had enough adventure tonight. Nobody, do you still have that wad of cash?”
He patted his side pocket. “Never visit Earth without it.”
She took the next exit. “I’m going to find us a place to stay for the night. We can talk tomorrow.” She emphasized the word ‘talk,’ hoping the two understood that meant ‘not fight.’
“So that’s the end of it, then?” Kay spit out beside her.
“It’s not the end of anything. We’re all tired and need some rest.”
“Your wisdom prevails, as always, great leader,” Kay said, sarcasm oozing from his words.
Avalon parked in front of a roadside motel before she rounded on Kay. “What exactly is your problem?”
“I would assume my problems are obvious, and many stem from you.”
Avalon sputtered. “What?”
“Have you not noticed how my presence conveniences you? How I sprang to life when you were nearly kidnapped by this miscreant.” He motioned toward a wide-eyed Nobody, who flipped his head back and forth as if watching a tennis match. “How I saved you at the perfect opportunity when Desert Rose appeared?”
“Kay, I’m grateful that you—”
“How you ignore my warnings about engaging with this scoundrel?” he cut her off, voice rising. “And yet, I feel compelled to protect you?”
Blood flushed her cheeks. “I thought that—”
“And how I have no memories whatsoever? As if I had been summoned by you, for you, for your own purposes?”
Nobody’s head butted in between them from the back seat. “I wish I had popcorn,” he squealed. “This is so good!”
Avalon brought her electrically charged hand to Nobody’s face before Kay could maneuver his sword around. “Get. Out.”
Green hair standing up, Nobody scurried out of the car. Avalon turned her lethal gaze upon Vimp. He screamed, “Oh yeah!” and followed Nobody’s lead.
With the peanut gallery gone, Avalon faced Kay again. “Kay, what is going on with you?”
Kay slumped low in his seat. “Have you ever woken up from a dream with no memories and a feeling of dread?” His lifeless tone scared her more than his previous anger. “The Deep was like that. Only hours and hours of dread. I can’t remember all of it, but I know I was searching for pieces of memories, anything. I could identify feelings. An overwhelming desire to find someone, to protect them. But no visuals, nothing sensory. Nothing to hear, smell or touch. Only those feelings and that overwhelming dread.”
Avalon swallowed the lump in her throat. “Digs said it might take multiple sessions before your memories returned.”
Kay shook his head. “It is as if you brought me to life in a flash of lightning.”
“But I didn’t.”
Kay gave a derisive chuckle.
He might as well have slapped her across the face. Avalon gulped. “You think that I created you?”
“At one point in The Deep, I almost lost myself. I could feel myself fading, vanishing, into a bottomless pit. Digs had to fight to keep me alive. The timing coincides perfectly with your quick jaunt to market. As if I could not live without you, not even with a great physical separation.”
“No, it’s not possible.” But her voice wavered.
“Many things about you are not possible. You are a human who wields magic. And not just one type of magic. Wind, lightning, and now dark magic.” Kay pierced her with his angry gaze. “Can you tell me, without any uncertainty, that you did not create me? That I, indeed, had an identity before becoming a statue?”
Avalon gulped, thinking about how she had projected all of her loneliness, anger and frustration on him as a statue. “You know I can’t prove anything.”
“I may as well be a puppet, a toy that you can bend to your will.”
“I do not treat you like a toy,” she said, growing angry.
“Prove it. Abandon Nobody.”
“So you can feel better about yourself? No.” Avalon f
olded her arms. “I know we all didn’t get off on the right foot, but I don’t think he’s the bad guy here. He’s obviously got his motives, but so far, he hasn’t harmed either of us. He’s also our only option for uncovering the truth.”
“Then you have made your decision to stay with him.” Kay pushed open the passenger side door.
Avalon jostled out of the vehicle. “Where are you going?” she asked as he stalked around the side of the motel, toward the hills in the back, away from the parking lot.
Kay pulled off his jacket, wings unfolding like two huge kites. “You may think we have one option, but you cannot force me to accept it.”
Wind magic stirred around him, lifting him off the ground. Without thinking, she raised a hand, summoning her own wind magic, pointing it toward Kay.
He folded his arms, as if daring her. She immediately forced her hands to her sides. They both knew she would prove his point if she kept him from leaving.
“So what?” she yelled. “You’re going to just fly off and if you cease to exist, you proved yourself right?”
He beat his wings skyward, heading outside the range of electric lights. He sailed out of her vision over the hill adjacent to the motel.
Avalon stood there for quite some time, staring at the spot she’d last seen the fairy, until Nobody walked over. “Yeesh, I thought I was dramatic.”
Nobody’s quip snapped Avalon out of her stupor. “C’mon, I’ll check us in.”
“Done and done.” Nobody threw her a dirty key that said Rm. 204.
“They let a green-haired dude with purple clothes rent a room in northern Utah?”
“I told him I was in town for a comic book convention,” Nobody said. “Dude took it all in stride.”
“Well, okay, then. Let me get a few things out of the car. I’m done for the night.”
“What about Winged Wonder?” Nobody called as she walked back toward the car. “Don’t you need to tell him what room we’re in?”
“I don’t think he’s staying with us tonight.”
Nobody sprinted to catch up. “You mean, that was an ‘I’m leaving you’ huff? You’re letting him flitter off into the night?”
“I don’t have much choice.” She grabbed a few handfuls of clothes from the trunk for tomorrow morning.
“Brr,” Nobody shivered. “That’s cold.”
Avalon slammed the trunk shut. “He’s a man with his own free will, ok? He’ll either come back or he won’t.”
“Sure. Got it. Sorry.” Nobody followed as they climbed the outside staircase toward the second floor. Vimp was already waiting next to Rm. 204.
The room contained no surprises: muted carpet, two lumpy queen beds, and a tiny little bathroom. Nobody flung himself onto the bed nearest the TV and grabbed the remote off a worn dresser. “I love these things.”
Avalon collapsed onto the adjacent bed, staring at the ceiling. Kay’s words stung as she recalled them. As Nobody whirred through the channels, though, she found she could barely think over the noise.
“Can’t you pick something and watch it?” Avalon complained.
Nobody paused on a station. “How about your television debut?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Avalon sat up. Nobody pointed his thumb toward a local news station. A sharply dressed anchorwoman poised behind a wide news desk, a picture of sagebrush on fire appearing in the little box next to her head.
“…strange desert fire in Idaho off Highway 84,” she was saying.
All warmth drained from Avalon’s face as the camera showed scenes of firefighters running toward a familiar scene. Nobody’s car had caught fire as the flame spread through the dry brush. The firefighters yelled to each other as they hosed it down, but the water had little effect on the flames. They called for more hoses in confusion.
“The blaze seemed nearly uncontrollable,” a familiar female voice came over the scene. The TV changed to show Desert Rose, blond hair rumpled from their fight and her badge prominent on screen. A reporter in a suit had a microphone pointed at her chin.
“It did not burn like a normal fire.” Her eyes turned toward the camera, as if staring straight at Avalon. “This was an act of terrorism.”
“It was a miracle.” The report now cut to a firefighter, covered with soot, wheezing into the camera. “At first we couldn’t stop it, and then, just like that, the flames died. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The fire acted normal when I was there,” Avalon protested.
“It was totally normal,” Nobody said. “Desert Rose controls fire, so she probably made it so the firefighters couldn’t extinguish it. She’s up to something.”
As if on cue, the scene went back to Desert Rose. “Our agency has reason to believe this incident is connected to vandalism at Fantasma a few days ago. We have a person of interest who should be considered armed and dangerous. We have reason to believe she may be heading toward the Salt Lake City area.”
Avalon stifled a shriek as her driver’s license photo came onscreen, alongside a list of her physical stats.
Nobody squinted at the image. “That’s a fake smile if I ever saw one. And you definitely weigh more than that.”
The anchorwoman’s voice drifted over the photo. “If you see Avalon Benton, consider her armed and dangerous. Please contact your local police office or the number below.”
After the news shuffled to the next story, Avalon said, “Desert Rose posted flyers for me in Idaho too. She’s trying to find me.”
Nobody shut off the TV. “And now she has more eyeballs out looking for you, doing her work for her.”
“What are we going to do?” Avalon whispered.
“Nothing tonight.” Nobody yawned. Beside him, Vimp had drifted off, spread-eagle in the middle of the bed. “We’re all physically beat. We can discuss our options tomorrow morning.”
Avalon robotically settled into bed as Nobody switched off the light. She wanted to do something about Desert Rose, but like Nobody said, she needed rest. Ignoring thoughts of Desert Rose and the police took some effort, but forgetting Kay’s accusation proved impossible. She hoped he was just moping under the cold bright stars somewhere out there, but she silently feared he’d vanished, absorbed back into wherever she had conjured him from.
She fell into a fitful sleep, a rock-hard lump in her throat refusing to go away.
CHAPTER 22
AVALON WOKE UP lying in heather, birds chirping as they passed overhead. She brushed bits of grass from her hair and torso. A wind whipped her frizzy hair into her face. When she brushed it away, she saw the gigantic mountain.
“Back here again,” she said with a sigh.
“You come and go a lot,” a voice said behind her.
Avalon spun around to find the cloaked girl only a few feet away, shrouded as usual. “Who are you?”
The girl moved backward and laughed. “I am me.”
“Why won’t you show yourself?”
The girl tilted her head to the side. Avalon thought she would flee, so she was surprised when the girl lifted her thin fingers to remove the hood. Bright orange hair spilled outward, almost comical as it formed a halo around her head, betraying only the tips of long ears. Her smile betrayed crooked teeth, large for her face like the Cheshire cat. A spattering of freckles raced across the bridge of her nose.
She seemed somehow familiar, but Avalon knew she had never seen her before.
“Are you the one talking in my head?”
The girl shrugged.
Avalon gritted her teeth. “And this place.” She threw her arms out wide. “Where is it?”
“It’s where we are.”
“Why won’t you give a concrete answer?”
“Because we’re both in enough danger.”
Avalon was about to reply that she didn’t need another Nobody in her life when an unexpected, loud pounding shook the ground. It bored deep into her body, vibrating in her bones. Avalon braced herself by widening her stance.
&nbs
p; “What is that?” Avalon yelled at the girl, but she had vanished.
Her skin crawled as the pounding grew louder. She crouched low toward the flowers, her head between her knees, hands over her ears, trying to mute it.
A whisper broke through the noise. It became louder. Words formed through the vibrations.
“Wake up!”
Avalon opened her eyes at the same moment that Nobody doused her with water. She sputtered and coughed, trying to dislodge water from her nose.
She was back in the hotel. Muted rays of morning sunlight illuminated the dingy room.
Nobody put a hand on her shoulder. “What happened?”
Avalon coughed a few times before managing, “A dream.”
“What dream?”
“The cloaked girl.”
Nobody’s grip tightened. “Ladybug?”
“What?”
Nobody shook her. “The girl in your file?”
She hiccupped. “Give me a second.”
“What was she doing?” Nobody almost yelled.
Avalon’s coughs vanished under Nobody’s crazed gaze. She detected a desperation she had never seen in him before. All his muscles were tense, even his fingers.
“You’re hurting me.”
Nobody let go. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “You were convulsing in your sleep.”
“Convulsing?” Avalon asked. “Like a Miasmis seizure?”
“Oh yeah,” Vimp snuggled into her lap. A dull stab of pain on her left arm ached where two puncture wounds had formed.
“Did you bite me, Vimp?”
“He was trying to help you,” Nobody interjected quickly.
Avalon nodded, not upset at escaping that awful pounding. She shivered, absentmindedly rubbing the green bruise, which twinged with pain.
“My symptoms are getting worse. The hallucinations. The pain at the injection site. The voices.”
“Voices?”
“When I’m overwhelmed, I can sometimes hear a voice. I’m pretty sure it’s the cloaked girl.”
Nobody went visibly pale.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“It’s hard to know for sure.” Nobody rubbed the back of his head. “But you might be talking to a Child of the Statue.”
