“She’s wearing long sleeves, and a lot of makeup,” he said. “Contacts to change her eye color to go with it. It wouldn’t be that hard to make a spryte appear human.”
“How sure are you?” asked Tapestry.
“Not at all,” he said. “But it’s a… possibility.”
His mouth fell open as he looked back up at the stage. Golden Joab was in the middle of explaining the details of the trick, and the woman was standing next to him, looking attentive. Behind him, however, two familiar faces were walking out from backstage.
“Behind you!” shouted Malcolm. Golden Joab didn’t react in time, and Fantasy, clad in a pink t-shirt and yoga pants, managed to get an arm around his neck.
Rose pointed at the other woman and said something. The crowd burst into murmured conversation, nobody having any real sense of what was going on. Tapestry and Malcolm were already moving, pushing past the people seated next to them and then charging up the main aisle. Malcolm let his illusionary disguises drop, not needing them anymore.
“Show’s over, folks,” said Fantasy. “You can all go home now.”
When nobody moved, she sighed and waved a hand through the air. A massive dragon burst into existence in the auditorium, scaring the wits out of the crowd, which retreated in a massive wave of people.
Malcolm and Tapestry pulled themselves up on stage. Fantasy whirled to face them, still holding Golden Joab around the neck, now with a gun in one hand.
CHAPTER 24
For a few moments, nobody on stage did anything. The crowd was still in the process of filing out of the auditorium, and all six participants in the standoff were content to eye each other warily. As soon as most of the audience was gone, Malcolm made the first move, stepping forward and jabbing a finger at Fantasy.
“Let him go,” he said. “This is ridiculous. He’s just a magician.”
“He might be,” said Fantasy. “But… we’re acting on information related to her. The anonymous crowd member, more commonly known in the monster scene as Jade Portal.”
“Jade…” said Golden Joab, clearing his throat nervously. “Do you mind… getting me out of here?”
The woman, who was apparently a spryte, looked from person to person, trying to judge if she was about to be attacked. She closed her eyes for a split second and a green portal appeared in front of her.
It looked like someone had taken a bright green light and used it to illuminate water from underneath. The surface of the portal wavered, making a slight, humming noise. It had no thickness, and as Malcolm took a step to observe it from the side, it disappeared from his point of view.
“Jade!” shouted Golden Joab. Jade dove through her portal, disappearing from the stage. Rose tried to follow after her, but the portal disappeared a second after Jade had gone through it. She frowned, bringing her hand to her mouth and looking thoughtful.
“Well,” said Rose. “This could be interesting.”
“We have her boyfriend,” said Fantasy. “We can just threaten him until he cooperates.”
“Have you forgotten about us already?” asked Malcolm. “We aren’t going to let you touch a hair on that man’s head.”
Fantasy made a show of plucking one of Golden Joab’s hairs free from his man bun.
“I don’t think he… meant that literally,” said Golden Joab. “Just that, you know… you probably shouldn’t kill me. Please?”
Tapestry had her gun pointed at Fantasy’s head. Malcolm was reasonably sure that she would have taken the shot, if not for Fantasy having a gun herself.
“We’re just here to speak with the spryte,” said Rose. “Jade Portal, just come out and talk with us for a bit? We have an offer to make, and we’d like you to hear us out.”
“The two of you certainly have an interesting way of presenting your offer,” said Malcolm. “Remind me to never open my door if you show up selling something.”
Rose’s lips turned up into a small smile, which she quickly suppressed. She was in jeans and a brown leather jacket. Malcolm wasn’t sure if she had a gun on her, like Fantasy, but then again, she didn’t really need one, with her powers.
“Malcolm,” said Tapestry. “I’ll keep an eye on Golden Joab and the kidnapper. You go after that one.”
“Uh…” He shrugged. “Sure thing.”
Rose had an amused expression on her face as Malcolm turned to face her. There was enough room on the stage for them to circle around each other without getting in the way of the hostage situation. Rose licked her lips and waved a hand at him.
“Well,” she said. “Are you going to attack me?”
“Ladies first,” said Malcolm. “Come on. Show me what you got.”
The smile on Rose’s face wasn’t exactly reassuring, but Malcolm still found himself getting a little excited as he watched her. They’d fought before, and she’d made it clear that she could beat him in a battle if it came down to the pure strength of her powers.
But this is a different situation. And I don’t have to win, just distract her for long enough for Tapestry to get Golden Joab free.
Malcolm summoned the wind, swirling it around himself and waiting for Rose to make her move. The theater was still sparsely illuminated outside of the stage, and she summoned her shadow tendrils from several different directions.
Malcolm managed to dodge the first one, using the wind to throw himself forward into a dive roll. He came up within striking range of Rose. His gaze met hers, and instead of attacking… he hesitated.
He realized that he had no interest in hurting her. She was on the other side, but she wasn’t his enemy. Rose seemed to be having a similar dilemma, pulling back one of her shadow tendrils just as it came with inches of him.
A gunshot rang out. Malcolm glanced over at the others. Fantasy had her gun pointed at Tapestry, and Tapestry was holding her shoulder with one hand, still managing to keep her own weapon trained on the spryte.
“Stay back!” shouted Fantasy.
Rose seemed to come to a decision. She threw herself forward, tackling Malcolm off the stage. Malcolm reflexively cushioned their fall with the wind. He dodged a shadow tendril as they landed in the space in front of the first row of seats, rolling and trying to pin Rose underneath him.
“She’s not going to join up with you!” he hissed, keeping his voice low. “Not if it requires you to take a hostage to get her to cooperate.”
“It wasn’t exactly my idea!” replied Rose. “But don’t think for a second that I’m going to let you and your blonde girlfriend kill a spryte, just for existing.”
Malcolm managed to pin one of her arms. A shadow tendril cuffed him across the shoulder as he struggled to get a hold on the other. He pushed Rose flat against the ground with the wind. She wrapped her legs around him, the two of them coming into even closer contact as they writhed for supremacy. Rose let out a high-pitched groan, and Malcolm grunted as he tried to physically dominate her.
Uh-oh. This… could get weird.
Rose kissed him. It caught Malcolm so off guard that he did the only thing that seemed logical, and kissed her back. They were out of view of Fantasy and Tapestry on stage, and for a couple of heated, passionate seconds, their struggle turned sexual.
Malcolm felt Rose bite his lip as he pulled back. He had hold of both of her wrists now, and gave them a small squeeze. Rose glared at him, wrapping a shadow tendril around his neck, but making no move to tighten it and suffocate him.
“You’re an idiot, Malcolm,” whispered Rose. “The only reason you’re siding with the champions is because they found you first. You’re a stubborn idiot.”
“And you’re following the orders of a killer,” said Malcolm. “Does he just send you to recruit for him, Rose? Or did he finally break down your resolve and get you to be one of his leg spreading sycophants?”
He was surprised by his own sudden anger and jealousy. Rain Dancer had been obvious with his leering and flirtation toward Rose back when Malcolm had been imprisoned in their underground
base. But she’d rebuffed him. Of course, that was before he’d left.
“You’re an idiot,” said Rose. “You really think that little of me, that I’d just… hop into bed with anyone?”
She twisted, managing to get her hand free and elbow him in the side of the face. Malcolm tried to get her pinned again, but she slid out from under him, pushing him back with her shadows.
“Rose…” said Malcolm, taking a step toward her.
“Malcolm…” said Rose. “You’re making a choice right now. You’re choosing to be my enemy.”
“Right back at you.” He smiled, though on the inside, his heart was hurting. “It doesn’t have to be this way, you know…”
“Malcolm!” shouted Tapestry. “Get up here! Now!”
“Yeah,” said Rose. “It does.”
She shot her shadow tendrils out at him. Malcolm moved fast, jumping into the air and using his wind manipulation to maneuver up and around them. He landed back on stage in time to see Jade Portal rushing toward Fantasy and Golden Joab.
Fantasy aimed her pistol at Jade, but didn’t fire. Jade slammed her shoulder into Fantasy and her hostage, knocking them loose. She closed her eyes for an instant and created a portal, which she immediately started pulling Golden Joab toward.
“No!” shouted Tapestry. Malcolm fell into step alongside her, using the wind to push both of them in a mad dash toward Jade and Golden Joab.
Tapestry tackled Golden Joab. Malcolm slammed into Jade. All four of them went through the new portal she’d created.
CHAPTER 25
Malcolm landed on top of Jade in the shadow of a massive sand dune. She tried to slap him, but he caught her hand. In the instant that he held it, he felt a tingle, and knew that he’d just absorbed her power.
The portal was still open. Golden Joab had broken loose from Tapestry and was backing toward it. Several shadow tendrils slipped out through the portal, like weighted fishing lines slipping underwater. Malcolm gave a wordless shout, but not in time to stop Golden Joab from being pulled back through by Rose.
“Damn it!” he shouted. Tapestry was slowly pulling herself to her feet. Malcolm looked around, seeing nothing but sun heated dunes and desert in all directions.
If the sun is out here, we must be on the other side of the world. Seriously?
He stood up, pulling himself off Jade. Immediately, he realized his mistake. She created another portal and rolled through it faster than Malcolm could grab her. The portal disappeared behind her, and the first one was gone, too.
“What… just happened?” asked Tapestry.
Malcolm sat down in the sand. He let his hand rest on it for a second, pulling it back almost instantly. The sand was ridiculously hot, as was the air, hot enough to make the air shimmer in the distance.
“I think we lost that round,” said Malcolm. Tapestry scowled and made a frustrated noise.
“How the heck are we going to get out of here?” she asked.
Malcolm wiped sweat from his forehead. He took off his heavy suit coat, still feeling ridiculously hot even with it off.
“We can get back,” he said. “I absorbed Jade Portal’s power. I just need to figure out how to use it.”
“Can you please hurry?” Tapestry let out a groan. “I can’t take this heat.”
“I’ll try,” he said.
It was harder than Jade Portal had made it look. Malcolm spent a couple of minutes trying to feel for the new power, but it just wasn’t there. It reminded him of when he’d copied Savior’s power, the mechanism of how to make it work hidden from his own awareness.
“Malcolm…” Tapestry was suffering in the heat. There was nothing around them other than dunes, and it only took a couple of minutes for both of them to realize that they would die within a few hours if they didn’t get out of there.
“I’m trying,” he said. “I don’t understand it. I know I absorbed her power, but I just… can’t feel it in me.”
“I can’t take this heat,” said Tapestry. “That’s it. I’m taking my dress off.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Malcolm glanced up at the sun. “The only thing worse than being hot in this kind of weather is getting a sunburn.”
“Are you trying to convince me to keep my clothes on, for once?”
She makes a good point…
Malcolm watched as she slipped out of her dress, keeping her high heels on and looking a little silly in just them and her underwear. She walked over to him, spread it out on the sand, and sat on top of it, her body glistening with sweat.
“Focus, Malcolm,” she said.
“Sorry.” He took a deep breath, and tried again to conjure a portal into existence. Nothing happened.
“We’ll be lucky if we even survive, at this point,” muttered Tapestry. “Jade Portal and Golden Joab will be long gone by the time we get back.”
“Not necessarily,” said Malcolm. “Rose and Fantasy grabbed Joab as their hostage again. If they manage to hold out for long enough, the fight might still be ongoing when we get back.”
Tapestry frowned at him.
“How do you know their names?” she asked.
“Uh…” He shrugged. “That’s what they were calling each other. I just overheard them.”
She let it drop, probably for the sake of letting him concentrate. Malcolm sighed. He closed his eyes and tried one more time. Tapestry made a surprised noise.
“You did it!” she said. “Alright! Phew, I was starting panic, to tell you the truth.”
“Uh…” Malcolm shrugged. “I guess I did? It seems like I just… have to have my eyes closed for it work.”
Tapestry stepped toward the portal. Malcolm reached out and grabbed her arm.
“I’m not… positive where this portal leads,” he said.
“Probably to wherever you were just picturing,” said Tapestry. “The casino, right?”
“Yeah, but…” He stepped forward, stepping up to the edge of the portal. The surface of it was shimmering, wavering green, and showing nothing of what lay beyond it. He pushed his head through.
The portal had appeared several hundred feet in the air, giving them a view of the casino from half a mile or so away. Malcolm had been picturing the casino, as portrayed on the tourism pamphlet.
“Hold on,” he said. “Let me–”
“Whoops!” Tapestry took a wrong step in her high heels crashing into Malcolm from behind and knocking them both through the portal.
Why does something always have to go wrong?
Tapestry screamed as she fell, still clad only in her bra and panties. Malcolm called for the wind as soon as he had the mind to, pushing himself toward her with all the speed he could. He grabbed onto her, feeling her legs wrap around him as he held her tight.
“Hold on!” he shouted.
His manipulation wasn’t quite strong enough to let him fly easily, even on his own. With Tapestry in tow, it was barely enough to slow their fall. They hurtled toward the ground at too fast of a speed for a safe landing. Tapestry fingernails dug into his back in terror.
“Why are we still falling?” she shouted.
“I don’t know,” said Malcolm. “How much to do you weigh?”
“Malcolm!”
He gritted his teeth and put more focus into using his power. A part of him was thrilled by the need to push his wind manipulation to its limit. Malcolm felt a rush of excited glee at the sensation, which was only amplified by Tapestry’s mostly naked body clinging to the front of him.
“Think we have time to join the mile-high club?” Malcolm laughed. “Or… two hundred feet high club?”
Slowly, their speed of descent leveled off, until they were falling like two tangled feathers. Malcolm rolled so Tapestry was on top of him. He met her eyes for a moment, seeing both her fear and excitement. He cupped her cheek and gave her a deep, passionate kiss.
Tapestry pulled back at the end of it, shaking her head.
“I’ll let that slide,” she said, sternly.
“You need to calm down as soon as we hit the ground.”
“I can think of a few things that would help me.” Malcolm reached his hand up to her cheek again, but she gently slapped it away.
They touched down alongside the road to the casino. Malcolm didn’t have his suit jacket to offer, but did have his dress shirt. He took it off, feeling slightly trashy in his sleeveless undershirt and dress pants. Tapestry pulled on the shirt he offered her, looking a bit like a half-naked secretary after a session of afternoon delight.
“We don’t have any time to waste,” she said. “Can you use a portal to get us back into the theater?”
“You’re barely even dressed,” he said. “Maybe we should regroup?”
“We don’t have time!” snapped Tapestry. “Can you, or can’t you?”
“I think so,” said Malcolm. “But that’s assuming that Golden Joab and the sprytes are still there.”
“It’s worth a shot,” said Tapestry.
Malcolm nodded. He closed his eyes, pictured where they’d been sitting in the theater, and created another portal.
CHAPTER 26
The two of them stepped out into the theater, and into a scene that was almost unchanged from when they’d left it before. Fantasy and Rose had Golden Joab under guard on stage. From the wariness in their expressions, they were still in the middle of a fight, though Jade Portal was nowhere to be seen.
Fantasy immediately opened fire on Malcolm and Tapestry. The two ducked behind the row of seats in front of them, staying low and out of the path of the bullets.
“I’ll distract these two,” said Tapestry. “See if you can get behind them.”
“It’s too dangerous,” said Malcolm.
“Not for you!” she hissed. “Use a portal, stupid.”
“Hey,” said Malcolm. “Easy with the name calling, you big meanie.”
He pictured what he’d seen of the backstage area and made a portal on the floor. Malcolm rolled through it, immediately coming out on stage, just behind Rose and Fantasy.
He was about to tackle Fantasy and get the gun out of her hand when something hit him hard from the side. Malcolm had just enough time to get a glimpse of Jade Portal before being knocked through, unsurprisingly, another portal.
Wind Runner: The Complete Collection Page 46
