by Moira Murphy
“When was the last time you saw her?” he asked calmly.
“A…a…over a month ago,” she stuttered.
“Where?”
“Umm… in the forest.”
“Where?” he demanded. Tessa knew she couldn’t say anything about the dried up lake. It would lead them to the well. And she couldn’t say anything about the stone city, they’d find the Renegades. She, also, couldn’t mention Bindy’s house or they’d find her living plants and have questions.
“I don’t know… just…in the forest.” A tear fell down her cheek.
“Just in the forest? Near the city? Near the lake? Where?” He put his hands on the arms of the chair.
“I don’t know.” She avoided his gaze. Crawford stood up straight and exhaled. He crossed his arms and turned away from her.
“Well, maybe…” he spoke loudly. “Maybe I can help you remember.” He reached into his back pocket and removed a small blade. The dim light sparkled from its sharpest point.
Upstairs, Tucker slammed his fists into the door, “Mooney!” he screamed. “We have to find Tess.”
“I know. I know.” Niko replied. “But, how?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do!” Tuck yelled at himself. “What do I do?”
“Okay, Okay—Mooney won’t let anything happen to her, right? He’s with the good guys, the Renegades. He’s helping us.” Niko tried to provide logic in the situation. “Right?”
Just as he finished his sentence, a high pitched scream came from downstairs; long and drawn out. It was quickly followed by another. “Oh, God.” Niko said as Tuck’s eyes grew wide.
“Where the hell is Mooney?” Tucker’s face was red with rage. “Huh? Where?”
“I don’t know, Tuck!” Niko put his hands to his head. “I don’t know,” he breathed out slowly just as another scream came through the floorboards.
“He’s a Lavoc. He is not helping us!” Tucker punched the wall to the left of the door. There was an audible pop. “Ow!” He clenched his fist. “Shit!”
“Are you okay?” Niko asked.
“I’m fine.” He inhaled sharply.
Another scream from Tessa, louder than the others radiated through his chest; she screamed his name. They must have been just above the room where she was being held. Tucker turned around violently, “You have to blind them.”
“What?” Niko asked, scared that even if he did try, it wouldn’t work.
“You have to blind them.” Tucker pleaded with him.
“I don’t know how yet.”
“Try! You have to try!” Tucker became quiet. “Please, Niko. Please.”
Niko shook his head, terrified of failing and the possibility of losing Tess. He shut his eyes. He tried to remember the layout of the house and where Crawford had Tess.
He saw the black marble fireplace, and the hunter green walls. He breathed in deeply and begged himself to see Crawford. His hair appeared first, blood red and greasy. Then his face, thick eyebrows and a scowl. Next his white suit.
He tried to picture Tessa. She had a white shirt on and…what was she wearing on bottom? How was her hair styled? He couldn’t see her. He held his breath and thought of what was at stake. Tessa’s life. More than enough to fight for, to try for, but he just could not picture her. He could hear Tucker’s panting breath of eagerness and fear. It’s all he could hear. It’s all he could focus on.
“I can’t,” Niko said, keeping his eyes closed and still trying.
“Oh, God. Please Niko.”
“Stop! Please!” Tessa cried. Tucker turned to the door. “Tucker!” she screamed for him again.
“Mooney! You lying piece of crap!” He threw himself at the door. “I’ll kill you!”
Chapter 19
“It’s just over here.” Theo and the others had been walking since the first sun came up. It was much cooler than the day before. Sullivan hadn’t gotten much sleep, because of Theo’s last remark before falling asleep. While no kloogers showed up during the night, Sully was desperate to keep the fire alive. He didn’t sleep a wink. The rest of the group, however, seemed very well rested. Bindy hopped on a line of rocks near the forest. Palmer carried a pack next to him; his hands clasped around the straps.
“You alright?” Palmer asked.
“Ya, didn’t get much sleep.” He yawned.
“Why not?”
“Well, you all left me in charge of keeping kloogers away from the camp.”
“Kloogers?” Palmer asked. “There’s no kloogers in the forest.” He laughed. “Who told you that?”
“Theo!” he pointed. “What do you mean there’s no kloogers?”
“They live in the water.” He laughed, “he was messing with you.”
Sully gawked, “What?” He sighed, regretting spending his night tending the fire.
“Look!” Bindy pointed a few hundred feet ahead of them. There was a definitive line where the trees stopped and a desert started. A desert with no visible end. A wave of heat blew in over the sand. Bindy’s hair blew behind her shoulders. “I’ve never been past the forest.” She turned and smiled the first smile of the day. Sully thought he loved her. At the point where the forest met the desert, the wall had an opening.
“Here.” Theo stopped to look at the opening. There was a five foot tall hole at the base of the wall. A chain link fence was the only thing blocking the way. “This is the only way.” Sullivan was first to examine the fence. It was thin and had previously been broken. He assumed by the ones the Lavocs had killed. He turned.
“You’re sure there will be no more guards?” he asked Theo.
“Yes,” he nodded. “Not today.”
“Alright.” Sullivan knelt down. “Bindy, find a thick branch of a tree.” Bindy ran off quickly. “Theo send Shamus and Morris to guard either side of the entrance.” After a nod from Theo, they went.
Bindy daintily returned with a six foot long branch. “Perfect.” Sullivan strategically placed the eight inch diameter end against the chain link. “Push!” Sully shouted. Palmer, Theo, and Bindy all grabbed hold of the opposite end of the branch. “One… Two… Three.” They all heaved into the gate. The branch easily pushed through the scantily sewn up fence. However, the group wasn’t expecting just how easy it would be to break. They all toppled onto the branch. Bindy fell on Sully’s back, and Palmer onto Theo.
“Aye!” Theo shouted. “Get off!”
“Sorry. Sorry.” Palmer hoisted himself up. After allowing themselves to recuperate from the fall, they entered the doorway. The wall was thick; at least three feet. Sully thought to himself that it would have to be something very very large and heavy to take it down.
“That’d do it.” He accidentally said aloud as he saw what was behind the wall.
Water. A lot of water.
So much water that it stood high above the sand filled beach. A great invisible barrier held the water up as high as the wall; Sully was reminded of the aquarium back in Riverport.
“Holy Moses,” Palmer uttered.
***
“Sir!” Mooney entered the living room to see Crawford’s back bent over a chair. “I’ve just gotten word from the king.”
Crawford stood up straight, his hand dropped to his side. In it was a small knife; it dripped a single drop of blood to the floor.
“And?” he turned to look at Mooney.
Tessa sniffled, she was blocked from Mooney’s view. He craned his neck, hoping to see her.
“Mooney… what does he want?” Crawford was eager to continue his discussion with Tessa.
“He wants her,” he gestured to Tessa, “and the others… alive.”
“Ugh… of course.” Crawford rolled his eyes. “Fetch the others,” he told Mooney and turned back to Tessa. “Our little talk is put on pause, my dear.” He smiled.
Mooney slowly walked up the stairs to the room in which Niko and Tucker were being held. They were slamming their bodies against the door. Mooney took a deep breath b
efore opening the door. He was greeted by a fist to his jaw.
“Where is she?” Tucker laid another fist into his eye. Mooney remained calm and wiped the blood from his lip. He knew her blood was on his hands, “Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“Is she hurt?”
“Come with me. The King wants to see you all.” Mooney left the room with Tucker and Niko behind him. Crawford had left the living room by the time they reached it.
“Tessa? Tessa!” Tucker shouted down the stairs. He saw her.
She sat in a wooden chair in the middle of the living room. Her head was down and blood soaked the left side of her white tank top. Tucker ran to her and dropped to his knees.
“Tess? Can you hear me? Tess?” he put a hand on her knee and one her face.
“Mooney, what happened?” Niko looked at him, “Why didn’t you stop him?”
“I did stop him.” Mooney felt sick that he had allowed Crawford to take it as far as it had gone. But, Crawford was known to do much worse. “The King doesn’t even know you all exist.” He hadn’t thought Crawford would start with the torture so soon. He usually waited fifteen to twenty minutes; this time it was five.
“Well, clearly, not in time.” Niko joined Tucker.
“Tess?” Tuck lifted her face. Her eyes were open and she looked at Tuck. She breathed in, tears on her cheeks.
“I’m fine.” She tried to smile.
Below her left eye and her ear, all the way down to her chin was an opening in her flesh. Crawford had sliced a five inch cut into her face. It was deep and it needed stitches quickly.
“Oh… okay.” Tucker tried to be encouraging. “It’s not that bad.”
“Mooney get over here,” Niko said angrily. Mooney inhaled as he saw the gash in Tessa’s cheek. He pulled a clean handkerchief from his back pocket and gave it to Tuck.
“I’ll get the nurse.” He left quickly. Tuck pressed the handkerchief to Tessa’s cheek. She didn’t speak.
“It’s really not that bad,” Tuck assured her.
“It’s bad ass.” Niko added.
Tessa smiled. “Really?” she asked quietly.
“Hell, yeah.” Niko smiled. “Just like Picasso. Except you keep both ears and lose… a cheek.”
“Picasso.” She repeated.
“Picasso.” Niko confirmed. Mooney returned with a woman.
“The King will want her presentable,” he said. The woman pushed Tucker out of the way and examined Tessa’s cheek. She stitched it shut, blotted her face clean, and quickly left.
“We are getting a carriage and we are to fly back to the Queen.” Mooney informed.
“What about Cami?” Niko asked.
“You and I will return to the city after assuring the safety of Tessa.” Mooney said. “We will find Cami.”
He looked at Tessa with the bandage on her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Tessa,” he said sincerely. “So sorry.”
Tessa wiped a tear from her eye.
“The carriage is out front, can I assist you?” he asked her. Instead, Tucker took both her elbows and easily lifted her to a standing position. She clutched to his upper arm and avoided making eye contact with anyone in the room. She was afraid she’d see pity in their eyes and she’d be the passenger in this venture like she’d feared.
“Hey. Hey. Look at me.” Tucker didn’t let go of her arms. She looked up at his face. “You’re beautiful.”
“Come on, ya bad ass.” Niko said. They walked towards the door. Crawford came around the corner.
“Ready?” he asked Mooney.
“Are you accompanying us?” Mooney stopped.
“Absolutely,” he replied. “I was on my way there anyway, and these two are unruly.” He pointed at Niko and Tucker. “I’d also like to keep Ms. Tessa company.” He removed Tucker from helping Tessa. He slid his hand around her waist, and rested it slightly lower than Tess was comfortable with.
“Shall we?” he opened the door.
Chapter 20
Sullivan, Bindy, Palmer, and Theo sat with their backs against the rock wall. They stared up at the contained water fifty yards away. An orange shark swam by for the twelfth time since he started watching them. Sullivan wondered what sort of witchcraft held the water in place. There was no plexiglass, no attainable wall holding it back. No one had any ideas of how to get the water to the people.
“The water is how we knock down the wall.” Sully announced, “The force of the water being released will definitely demolish it.”
“But, how do we get the water out?” Palmer asked.
“I don’t know.” Sully wiped his brow, “I don’t even know how it’s staying there.”
“A spell?” Bindy asked.
“Maybe, but if that’s the case I can’t help.”
“Why not?” Theo asked.
“Because I’m an architect, not a wizard.” He sat back and stared, again, into the water. The shark returned to watch the group. He had a yellow friend this time. His mind flashed back to his sixth grade science class and the yellow fish they had as a class pet. His name was Tweety, and he only lived for a month. On the day of his untimely death, Mr. Stupmen directed the class in a ‘water bending’ science class. They controlled the water with static electricity; it actually bent around an object charged with electricity. “Maybe he electrically charged the water?”
“Electrically charged?” Palmer asked.
“Yeah, there was a science class in school where we controlled where water went and how it moved with—with static electricity.”
“How would he do that?” Bindy asked.
“Well, he’d need something to produce a ton of electricity and a giant magnet.” Sully thought aloud.
“Heat stroke.” Palmer stated.
“No. I’m serious.” He turned to the water. He looked around the bend in the water, as if there would be a wooden sign with the words ‘Giant Magnet This Way’ with an arrow. No such luck. “If the Renegades have an entire room filled with machinery to work with, what would stop the King from having the same--and then some.”
“With no end to money or power, he could have anything,” Palmer stated.
“What do we do?” Bindy asked, wanting to help.
“There would have to be a—a—control room, or an area where the magnet is being kept.” Sullivan directed. “If it were me, I’d put it under the water.”
“Under… the…ocean?” Palmer asked. “That’s absolutely crazy.”
“Like Nathayre?” Bindy raised her eyebrows.
Palmer shrugged his shoulders in agreement, “It’s impossible to get to, it’s difficult, it’s insane… It’s exactly what he’d do.”
“We’re gonna need Niko.” Sullivan nodded, reminding himself of Niko’s expertise with machinery.
“I can do it,” Bindy offered.
“I’ll go with her.” Sully began walking away from the water.
“You can’t.” Bindy stopped him. “Lavocs are searching all the carriages for humans, I’m the only one who can go.”
“I don’t like that.” Sullivan shook his head.
“Well, no one asked what you liked.” Bindy put a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
***
“Wake up, my friends. We are here.” Crawford sang. “I know you’ve been up all night, but we need to be presentable.” Tessa sat up from leaning against the wall. Her cheek hurt and she was afraid to move the surrounding muscles. She squinted her eyes as she sat up. Crawford was sitting next to her with his hand on her thigh. Tuck and Niko awoke across from them. Mooney was on the floor leaning against the door.
“Up. Up.” Crawford said louder. He moved his hand higher on Tessa’s thigh. She looked out a small window in the door. They were flying over a cement covered city steps. Only a few people walked along the streets. An empty fountain stood, at what she assumed, was the center of town. Large walls blocked the forest from invading. In the distance, on the other side of a giant castle, Tessa could see Alerden Ocean and the wall s
urrounding it. Both were massive. The water was still.
“Could you get your hand off her leg?” Tucker interrupted her thoughts.
“Why would I do that?” Crawford smiled.
“Because you just put a hole in her face, I thought she may not love you touching her.” Tucker seethed.
“Why would you mind? Humans and us mixing?” He grimaced. “Disgusting.”
“I’ll be the one who cuts that hand off. I promise you.” Tuck threatened.
“Mooney, you’re human is becoming inconvenient.” He turned to Mooney. “Take care of him.”
“Sir, the King wants them alive.”
“You work for me, Mooney. Do as I say.” He smiled at Tucker.
“With all do respect sir, I do work for you. But, ultimately I work for the King.” Mooney replied.
“Yes, the King is going to hear about your—your insubordination.”
“Oooh…such a big word.” Niko taunted. Crawford glared at the two humans, and slid his hand even higher on Tessa’s thigh.
The carriage began to lower. They were landing on the patio of the King’s castle. Mooney was visibly on edge. The King had no idea who these people were or that they were coming. Mooney had lied to the Lavoc captain and would surely be put to death for just that. The patio was empty, except for a lush garden and its caretaker. An plump older woman with gray hair and a brown apron stuffed with vegetables looked up to the incoming carriage.
“That’s odd,” Crawford said. “No one to greet us.” The gardener dusted her hands clean on her apron, and stretched her back. The carriage met the grass with a gentle thud. Mooney stood and opened the door. Crawford followed him with a puffed chest, as he released Tuck and Niko. The gardener, seeing the humans, ran into the great French doors. Tucker reached back into the carriage and helped Tessa exit. Two men in white suits threw open the doors,
“Ah… Veran, Erral good to see you.” The men nodded in return. “As you can see, we’ve brought the humans.” The men didn’t move but stared at the dull colored people in front of them. Crawford cleared his throat, “I’m sure the King would like to see them now.”
