by DM Fike
Vimp, she noticed, did not seem at ease in this family. Instead of riding on Nobody’s shoulder like usual, he walked slightly behind Kay, hiding in the shadows of trees and bushes whenever he could. A few of the gremlins scowled at him, and he would burrow deeper into the darkness. Avalon tried to coax him into her arms at one point, but Nobody stopped her.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“They don’t like Vimp,” Nobody stated.
Kay, acting more like a bodyguard than a guest, piped in. “Vimps are rare and feared creatures. Not much is known about them. The fact that they use blood contact to boost dark magic spooks most Aossi.”
“Gremlins think it’s cheating.” Nobody’s tone clearly showed he could care less of that opinion. Still, he snapped at a few people who glared at Vimp.
After the last introduction, Avalon turned to ask Kay if he needed to rest when she found he had vanished. Startled, she scanned the grounds. It took a minute to find that he had taken a seat on a log some distance from the fire, far away from the gremlins. He discreetly yawned behind his hand.
Nobody followed Avalon’s gaze to the fairy. “’Bout time he took a break.”
Avalon nodded. She intended to take Vimp to sit next to Kay, but the changing drumbeats caught her attention. Cued in by the slower, more rhythmic percussions, the gremlins all came closer around the raging bonfire. Some stood a few arm’s lengths away from the flames, while others teetered at the fire’s edge. They stared blankly into the fire, the bouncing light reflecting off the various hues of their skin.
Someone shrieked. Avalon flinched, looking for an attacker.
The gremlins howled in response. The ones closest to the fire began to dance, slowly at first. Though not completely in synch, they appeared to perform the same graceful and looping motions with their arms, a primal display.
“It’s Midsummer Eve and the moon is about to rise in the shadow of Mt. Hornley,” Nobody explained. “Legend says it’s the most powerful time and place on Llenwald for dark magic casters.”
As if to prove his point, a few of the dancers disappeared. They reappeared in spots where another dancer had vacated. More dancers teleported like bits of live popcorn jumping around the fire.
“Are they teleporting?” Avalon asked.
“Yep,” Nobody said. “It’s the dark magic ritual.”
“Why don’t you dance?”
Nobody stiffened. “No.”
“But this is your tribe, right?” Avalon teased. “You should join them.”
“No,” Nobody repeated, cutting her off with the finality of his tone.
Avalon lifted an eyebrow at him but did not attempt further banter.
One much older dancer reappeared almost on top of a very young gremlin. She had a tangled mess of teal hair and ratty, dirty clothes. The two bonked heads, the younger one crying out. The elder gremlin hissed at her. Most of the onlookers chuckled.
“How rude,” Avalon said. “He intentionally bumped into her.”
Nobody’s jaw tightened. “She decided to join the dance, even though she’s never shown any magical talent. It happens every year.”
Avalon glanced back at Kay, wondering what he thought of this strange ritual. He had fallen completely asleep, his breath slow and even.
The tempo of the music rose slightly. The dancing became more urgent, less grace and more angular and jerking. Gremlins teleported at a frantic pace, making it difficult to keep track of any one individual. The young girl got knocked down again by another girl nearer her age. The teleporting girl kicked dirt in her face. The crowd cheered.
“She should get out.” Avalon sympathized for the girl. “Why put up with the ridicule?”
“Because she’s got something to prove,” Nobody said. “Because she’s tired of not living up to her potential. And she’s hoping, beyond hope, that tonight as she gets knocked down again and again, the dark magic will stir inside her and release itself for the first time.”
“Will it? Does she have a chance?”
Nobody shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to see.”
Avalon studied Nobody’s tense face as the rest of the gremlins continued to laugh at the poor non-magic casting girl. The crowd cheered each time the girl got hit by a teleporting gremlin. It felt a bit like a boxing match, only this girl was in the ring against all the other dark magic casters of her tribe.
The music swelled to a fever pitch, the crowd howling as the teleporters now popped in and out in a circle around the fire, their shadows barely forming before they disappeared again. Sweat beaded their foreheads, and their tongues wagged from the exertion. The girl became lost under a sea of these ethereal bodies, getting pushed and shoved back and forth, sometimes barely standing before getting smacked down again by another teleporter. She had two long cuts on one side of her face that dripped blood onto the forest floor.
Avalon took a step forward, wishing to intervene, but Nobody stopped her with a firm grip. “It is not your place.”
“But she might die.”
“She will be more humiliated if you intervene.” The edge in Nobody’s voice gave no room for argument.
The girl stood and got kicked immediately across the face by a gremlin boy. He jeered as she flailed in the dirt on her back, not even bothering to try to stand. The crowd booed and hissed.
Avalon dug her nails into her palms. Nobody’s grip on her wrist grew tighter. She looked from him to the dancing girl. Despite his resolve, Nobody’s expression betrayed his concern for the child.
The girl dodged the next blow by rolling over onto her stomach. Another teleporter kicked her in the ribs. She buried her face in the dirty grass.
The moon peaked over the top of Mt. Hornley. The crowd and dancers reached their pinnacle, the screams deafening. All the gremlins faced the rising moon, but Avalon could only watch the poor gremlin girl.
She lifted her head, trying to stand and barely missing a teleporting kick to the head. As the drumbeats built to a final crescendo, she howled, a cry that cut through the crowd, cut through the dancers. She leaped to her feet, face bloodied, clothes torn, arms flailing as she executed the dance. She knocked over the gremlin who teleported next to her, keeping her feet firmly planted on the ground. She raised her arms to the moon.
And she teleported a few feet to the next available dance spot.
The crowd erupted in whistles and laughter as the drumbeats faded. The dancers all stopped teleporting, many of them bent over to their knees in exhaustion. But not the new magic caster. Bruised and beaten, she faced the throng with a victorious grin and made a dainty curtsy, which only brought the decibel level up another notch.
Nobody’s hold on Avalon cut off blood flow.
“You can let go of me now.”
Nobody released his grip. He gave a few half-hearted claps, but the smile on his face did not quite reflect in his eyes.
After the dance, Nobody got caught up in conversation with Mutt and four other gremlins. Wary of how they cast furtive glances at Vimp, she scooped him up and brought him over next to Kay, away from the tribe. Staring at the fire, mind reeling from thought to thought, she managed to follow Kay’s example and fell asleep next to him.
* * *
Rough hands shook her awake. “Avalon?”
Avalon rose to a dawning sky, multicolored rays shining from the rising sun. Vimp stretched out like a baby doll on her lap, snoring and numbing her legs. Kay hovered above her, still drowsy from sleep.
“When did the gremlins leave?” Kay pointed down toward where the fire had been raging last night. The entire clearing was deserted, save for trampled grass and dying embers.
“I don’t know.” Avalon gently shook Vimp awake. “I fell asleep not long after you.” Vimp growled as he slid off her legs. Pins and needles prickled her calves.
Kay got to his feet and walked down to the ashes. He kicked over the blackened shadow of a log with his boot. “This has been left to smolder.”
“I wonder
where they disappeared to,” Avalon mumbled.
“To the next adventure!” a voice called. “Gremlins don’t stay in one place for long.”
Avalon and Kay whipped around to find Nobody emerging from the forest, hair damp and dripping on his dry clothes. He kneaded his fingers through his scalp, causing it to frizz up and sending droplets of water in every direction.
“Did you fall into a pond or something?” Avalon asked.
“I bathed,” he replied.
“Gremlins do that?” she asked with a smirk.
“Ha ha,” Nobody replied humorlessly.
Kay folded his arms. “As much fun as it is hanging around with the Gadabouts, we made a deal. When are we returning to Earth?”
“I will have you know, Mr. Taskmaster, that we weren’t just ‘hanging around.’ I picked up something I needed to get to Earth.” He tugged on his necklace, revealing the emerald sparkle affixed to the end.
“How will your jewelry get us anywhere?” Kay demanded.
Nobody broke out in a vicious grin. “It is not jewelry. It’s a piece of the Jaded Sprite Statue.”
Kay’s faltered as if slapped in the face.
“For something you think was destroyed, there are sure a lot of pieces of it left,” Avalon said.
“The Guardians kidded themselves thinking they could get rid of it.” Nobody laughed. “The statue is ancient, created by Gaea herself and predating even our written history. You can’t destroy such an object. You can only break it down into small pieces and hope no one will find it. But even that’s useless. Determined people will find it.” He stared Kay dead in the eyes. “Desert Rose did.”
“What are you implying?” Kay snarled.
“I heard rumors that the Guardians kept a piece for themselves. It makes sense given Shivant’s proclivity for experimentation. Don’t you find it odd that Desert Rose suddenly found a way to visit Earth? You saw her create a portal, which doesn’t seem like her normal magic.”
“You think she stole top secret material from her own kingdom?” Kay demanded.
“I think someone willing to become a mercenary for the enemy will do many things,” Nobody said.
Kay visibly fumed but could not argue.
Avalon could care less about the logistics of getting back to Earth. She just wanted to go. “How does this work?”
“It’s not as easy as clicking together your sapphire slippers,” Nobody said. “Even using a piece of the statue requires high-level magic, which you all fortunately have in me.” He took a deep bow. “Next, the Aossi needs to find a place with personal meaning where magic on Llenwald is particularly strong.”
Kay sucked in his breath. “Mt. Hornley.”
Nobody nodded. “What better place than Kryvalen’s old stomping grounds.”
Avalon frowned in confusion. Kay explained. “Mt. Hornley is where Kryvalen created his dragon army during the Second Reformation.” He settled his gaze on Nobody. “If we’re close, we might as well get going.”
Nobody took them first to a clear stream nearby to eat a light breakfast. He handed out bits of berries and vegetables, and they filled water pouches he had acquired from his tribe. Nobody led them up a steep incline, straight out of the valley and back toward the mountain. Avalon huffed as she struggled to keep pace with her sturdier companions.
Nobody and Kay waited as Avalon slushed through the foliage. Once next to them, she glanced behind her. She barely recognized where they had camped last night, a small dot of land far below. She set her gaze on Mt. Hornley.
Her heart stopped in her throat.
A wide field stretched below, heather billowing in a light summer breeze under a magnificent blue sky. Birds chirped to one another, a pair of swallows chasing each other in a merry dance before zipping into the pine trees. Like a sleeping sentry, Mt. Hornley loomed, snow-capped but all rocks and angles on the slopes.
It looked like it always did in her dreams.
Vimp jumped onto Nobody’s shoulder as he descended into the field, but Kay paused by Avalon’s side. “Is something wrong?”
“Ladybug visits me here,” she breathed
Nobody heard her, pausing in his tracks. He did not turn around, but he clenched his hands into fists so tightly, one of his jagged fingernails broke into the skin of his palm. A trickle of blood formed under his thumb.
“Nobody?” Avalon called.
He said nothing, moving forward.
Kay grabbed Avalon by the wrist, urging her to wait as Nobody moved out of hearing range. “Mt. Hornley is where the Guardians confronted Kryvalen in the final battle,” the fairy whispered. “His sister died here.”
Nobody heard him anyway. “She was murdered!” he yelled back to them.
“How could you exploit your sister’s death like this?” Kay yelled right back.
Nobody finally zipped around, pupils darkened into little black beads. “I will do anything,” he said, a weird haze forming around him. Vimp squealed and jumped off him. “Anything to get her back.”
Avalon as she took a step toward the gremlin.
“Don’t go near him.” Kay warned.
Avalon ignored Kay’s protests. The knight followed as she jogged to Nobody until she was only a few feet away. The haze continued to gather, shrouding him in a smoke that made it hard to see his features.
“I know you love your sister,” she told him.
Nobody said nothing, his pure black eyes piercing right through her.
“Lead us there.” Avalon pointed toward Mt. Hornley, down toward the spot where Ladybug would always greet her in the middle of the heather. “Bring me home.”
Nobody blinked. Without warning, he clutched the gem on his necklace. Screaming, he extended his hand. The haze around him flowed down his arm, flung off his hand, and landed squarely where Ladybug always appeared in Avalon’s dreams. The mist swirled above the ground, forming a shimmering oval, almost like a mirror but somehow not reflecting anything.
“The portal’s open!” the gremlin yelled. “Let’s go!”
Nobody ran forward and leaped into it, his body disappearing.
“Oh yeah!” Vimp cried as he too flung himself over to the other side.
The shimmering wavered. Avalon made a dash for the portal. She could hear Kay on her heels. They jumped through before the haze disappeared.
CHAPTER 41
AVALON’S FEET HIT the dirt, Kay not far behind, kicking up a cloud. The portal faded from a slight shimmer into nothing. In its wake, a round clay building with no ceiling rose above the desert, an observation deck built onto one side. A sign reading “Marfa Lights Viewing Area” pointed toward the deck. The modest parking lot held only one vehicle to the far side, a beat up 70s sedan with Texas license plates and a “For Sale” sign stuck in the dashboard. Beyond the building spread miles of desert, ending only in the far distant mountains.
Avalon took a deep, cleansing breath. Earth.
“Where are you going?” Avalon asked as Nobody kicked around in the sagebrush.
“To find the key!” Nobody located a cantaloupe sized rock, shook it, and dropped it back on the desert floor. “It’s here somewhere.”
Vimp skittered through the brush behind him. He pawed around the dirt, then tried to lift something. “Oh yeah!”
“Ah, there it is.” Nobody snatched the rock Vimp had found. Nobody rolled it around before finding a discreet button that popped open a small compartment. It was a fake. A key fell out into his palm.
Nobody skipped over to the sedan. Someone had broken the glass window on one of the back windows. Nobody cursed, opened the door, and flung the glass onto the pavement as best as he could. Satisfied with his work, he unlocked the driver’s side door and removed the “For Sale” sign. He popped the trunk, threw the sign inside, and lifted the spare tire to reveal a dirty envelope.
The gremlin grinned. “All that work to break into my car, and they didn’t even steal my money.”
“Does that thing run?” Avalon too
k care not to step on any scattered glass.
“Of course it does.” Nobody threw the keys to Avalon.
Avalon slid into the driver’s seat. The car’s interior felt like the center of the sun. Everyone piled into the car, taking care as they sat on the almost molten vinyl seats.
“Sadus,” Kay cried as he brushed against the blazing belt buckle on the passenger side.
“Where’s the air conditioner?” Avalon scanned the front panel.
Nobody laughed. “Air conditioning? This thing?”
“Perfect,” Avalon muttered. “Kay, try not to touch anything metal. And roll down your window.” Kay couldn’t figure out the handle, so she had to crawl over Kay to do it for him. She almost burned herself on the window handle. She learned from her painful mistake by wrapping her hand around her shirt to buckle both herself and Kay in.
Sweat rolled down Avalon’s brow. “Let’s get out of here.” She turned the key in the ignition.
The car sputtered and died.
Avalon glared at Nobody in the back seat.
“It’ll start. It just takes a couple of tries.”
Avalon tried the ignition several more times. She was about to declare the car a lost cause when it roared to life, the engine rattling the front seats. A strange gasoline smell filled the air. Everyone coughed. Vimp pinched his nose.
“See,” Nobody said. “Told you.”
Avalon resisted the urge to fire back a retort. It wasn’t like they had another option. “So, where are we, and where are we going?”
“We’re near Marfa, Texas,” Nobody answered. “We need to get to Sierra Blanca. It’s about an hour and half away. I know a guy who can fix us up.”
“Fix us up with what?”
“Another car,” Nobody said. “Seriously, I’m surprised it even started. You didn’t think we’d take this junk heap all the way to Salt Lake City, did you?”
Avalon squeezed the steering wheel to keep her sarcasm in check. The action burnt her fingertips.
Nobody slapped the back of the car seat. “It’s not going to get any cooler until the car starts moving and we get some air flow.”
Avalon threw the car into reverse. It lurched even though she barely touched the accelerator.
