Sinclair’s cronies scattered, dropping their guns as they sprinted for the stairs. None seemed to spare a second thought for Sinclair, who became pinned underneath one of the thick branches of the fallen tree, unable to move himself from the rapidly deflating couch that lowered his body unceremoniously toward the flammable shag carpet.
The sounds of the storm were deafening as Melono and Notmie struggled in vain to free themselves of their ropes.
Melono felt like she was dreaming when she began to feel someone untying her from behind. The smoke clouded her thoughts. Her mind was set only on getting out of the inferno, so she didn’t bother to look behind her and see who it could be undoing her ropes. The only person she could possibly think it might be was Camille. However, when she glimpsed back to give a quick thanks, she saw that it most definitely wasn’t Camille. But how…?
Sinclair screamed for help, but as all his friends had left him, there was no one remaining in the room interested in helping the maniac who had just driven Captain Alex to the point of pulling the trigger.
And speaking of The Captain, he presently began to work on Notmie’s ropes. “Hold still, idiot. I’m trying my best here!” he yelled over the unharnessed winds.
“I don’t care if it’s your best! The fire’s spreading, and it’s almost cut off our exit completely! Hurry up, Cap… Captain!” Notmie’s eyes went wide. “You’re alive! You’re alive? How the hell are you alive?”
The ropes finally fell loose around his body, and he jumped up from the chair, staring at The Captain, wishing he were smarter so that he might understand what was going on.
“I have no idea, Notmie, but I feel fine. In fact, I’m not even dead, and I don’t think now’s the time for discussion on the topic, seeing as how we’re about to be engulfed by flames!” He coughed then pulled his cape around to cover his mouth and nose.
Melono’s legs felt unsteady beneath her from being tied up so tightly for so long. She tried to speak, but the thick smoke filled her lungs. Captain Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the stairs. Before they could descend a single step, Notmie called out to them.
“Wait, I can’t leave yet. I haven’t broken the curse! I can’t leave until I do!”
“You’re crazy!” Captain Alex hollered back from behind his cape. “We’re going to get trapped up here if we don’t leave now! Come on, Notmie, I’m sure you can break the curse just as well downstairs. Let’s go!”
“No, I can’t. You two go… and hurry!”
“But—” Melono couldn’t say anything else before the coughing began again.
“Don’t, Melono, just get out of here! Cap’n, take her out of here!”
Captain Alex led her down the stairs as her voice trailed off with choked shouts of protest.
Now it was just him and Sinclair, who’d given up on calling for help and was struggling to free himself under the weight of the branch that pinned him to the floor.
Crap. What was the next step? He’d almost completely lost any hope of escaping as the fire ate away at the floor on which he could safely stand.
Come on, Notmie, put together the clues, you can do it! You have to do it! There’s no other way!
It was as if leaving himself no other option was what set off the train of thought that so suddenly began to pull together all the separate pieces in his mind.
Lynchton, why did Larry make sure we went through Lynchton? What was it that was so special about it? Why did we need to be there?
Bill’s words began to surface in his mind. The story Sinclair had told him… about the pebble… the reflection in the pond. Next the memory of the magnetic poetry flashed into his mind.
He remembered the phrase of the dream it was from. Some things are made to break apart.
The story, the dream, and lastly, the mirror. That was it! Why else would Larry have given him that stupid mirror? Larry hadn’t been helping Sinclair after all. He’d been helping Notmie and Melono the whole time. Yes! Yes!
Panic now flooded through his veins. In all his thinking, he’d almost forgotten about the inferno surrounding him. He had to act quickly.
He spotted it. Without a conscious thought in his skull, Notmie lunged for his hand mirror and held it up to his face. “It’s so simple! I should have figured this out ages ago!” His mother’s warning about breaking mirrors raced through his mind, but he put it aside. He knew what he had to do.
Notmie’s fist reared back and he paused only a second before he thrust it forward. There was an unearthly ear-splitting shatter of his fist through the glass, and then the rain ceased.
But nothing felt any different to him. Had he not broken the curse after all? Was he completely off in his piecing together of the puzzle? Why, oh why had he trusted his brain?!
He watched as the floor in front of the stairs burst into flames, cutting him off completely from his exit.
Uh-oh, that’s gonna be a problem for me.
Sinclair’s shrieks were now fully audible with the sudden passing of the storm.
“There’s no way I’m going down like this,” Notmie said. “Not here, not now, not with this asshat!”
Notmie reached across the coffee table and wrapped his fingers around the bottle of vintage wine. The Captain had left it, but it hadn’t found its use yet. Larry wouldn’t have given Captain Alex a gift that he was never destined to use. That meant that this bottle’s story wasn’t over. Someone had to carry it out of the warehouse, and Notmie was the only one left who seemed likely to do it. That boded well. “Sweet.”
And with that, he darted toward the flame-licked staircase, suspecting that fate might actually be on his side.
Part 28
Just Plain Beautiful
Captain Alex and Melono had just reached the foyer when they heard an ear-splitting shatter and were knocked to the floor. As they scrambled to their feet and darted through the front doors, something miraculous had happened: the rain had stopped.
They looked toward the top of the building and saw smoke still billowing from the far side. If Notmie was up there, it seemed highly unlikely to them that he would still be conscious amidst all that smoke.
“We have to go get him!” Melono yelled hoarsely, but Captain Alex wrapped her up in his arms before she could get away.
From behind them, a girl began hollering.
“’Ee is still up zere! ’Ee is still up zere! We ’ave to ’elp ’im! Somebody must go back up zere!”
Captain Alex and Melono turned just in time to see Camille curse and then rush past them, sprinting back into the building.
No one tried to stop her.
The enmity that had existed between Captain Alex and Melono and Sinclair’s people vanished as they watched the building gradually become enveloped in flames. Each seemed to be waiting for something, and everyone—unearthly beautiful, balding, and French alike—stared in gaping-mouth horror as the top story of the warehouse exploded into a fireball, and the fallen tree continued its progress through the second story and into the lower level of the building.
Nobody spoke. There was nothing to say. Three people had just been obliterated in front of them and they had done nothing to help. It was too late now.
Melono could feel her eyes start to well up, but before a drop could fall, a shape emerged from the smoke.
“Notmie!”
It was Captain Alex who yelled it, and ran forward, throwing his arms around the ash-covered person.
Pulling away to get a better look at his friend, Captain Alex suddenly paused.
Crap, he thought. Did I just hug the wrong person?
“Notmie?”
“Yeah, what’s up, Cap’n?”
“You look… beautiful.”
“Why, thanks, I—wait, what did you say?”
Melono came rushing over to get a better look at her cousin. She stopped dead in her tracks five feet from him.
“Notmie… you look—you look—you did it! You broke the curse!”
“Then how
come you still look unearthly beautiful?” he whined, inspecting Melono from head to foot.
“Guys,” Captain Alex interrupted, “how about we get away from the flesh-eating fire before we begin our chit-chat. What say you?”
The cousins agreed, and they pushed their way through the group of Frenchman who still remained terrified and entranced by the burning building.
“Nathan still here?” asked Notmie.
“Looks like it,” replied Melono pointing down the street to a limo parked outside of a bar.
“Is he even old enough to drink?” Captain Alex asked.
“Does age matter here? He’s our limo driver. The only thing he should be drinking is water,” Melono said, aggravated.
“Or juice,” Notmie added.
“Maybe soda, too,” Captain Alex threw in for good measure.
“Or any non-alcoholic beverage,” Notmie finished.
“Except poison,” The Captain corrected.
“So true.”
They walked down the street toward the bar, and Notmie remembered the bottle of wine he still had clutched in his fist. He smiled to himself, but knew it still wasn’t time to use it. Soon, though.
Melono strode into the bar and quickly came out, following behind a grouchy-faced Nathan.
“I was just about to win that hand! I could have been rich!” he protested.
“You should have thought about being rich before you picked being the chauffer of a crappy limo as your occupation,” Melono scolded. She had him close his eyes with his feet together and his arms extended and then bring his fingertips, one at a time, to touch his nose. When she was satisfied, she dismissed him to go start up the limo.
The three of them packed into the back and flopped onto the seats.
As soon as Nathan started the car, Notmie cleared his throat. “I believe it’s time for a victory drink.”
He held up the bottle triumphantly for the others to see.
“Are you serious?” Captain Alex asked. “You actually put forth the effort to carry that thing out of the burning building?”
“Well, yeah! If I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have anything to drink.”
Melono shrugged and chuckled. “He’s got a point, Alex. I mean, I am rather parched, and after a day like today, I could definitely use a drink.”
The Captain sighed and his shoulders relaxed. “Boy, oh boy, me too.”
Notmie popped open the bottle and handed it to Captain Alex, who grabbed the wine glasses from the side of the limo and began to pour everyone a drink.
“Cheers,” said Captain Alex once each had a drink in hand.
“Cheers,” Notmie said.
“Here’s to not dying,” Melono added, and they all clinked glasses.
Once Notmie had taken a sip, he puffed out his lips as a thought began to take shape. “Hey, speaking of not dying, what happened back there? Did you really pull the trigger?”
The Captain paused and scrunched up his face. “Yeah. I did. I don’t know what happened.”
Notmie’s mouth hung open. “Whoa, so you were really about to kill yourself to save us?”
Captain Alex thought about it. “Yes. I guess I was. Man,” he said, starting to laugh, “that would have sucked.” His laughing ended abruptly as his expression turning to one of complete horror. “Oh my God! I tried to kill myself! Do you know what that means? I could have died! ” Just as his hysterics seemed to be ramping up, they subsided into thoughtfulness. “…Why didn’t I die?”
Notmie slapped him jovially on the back. “Beats the hell out of me, Cap’n! We both thought you were dead, especially when you collapsed on the floor after it. Which brings up another interesting question…”
The Captain seemed to understand where Notmie was going. “Yeah, about that. Um, I guess my brain just expected to be dead, and falling limply to the ground goes along with being dead. That must be it. My brain must have been tricked into thinking I was dead for a second.”
Melono remained quiet throughout the whole exchange, trying hard to process the fact that Alex had killed himself to save her and Notmie. Sure, he wasn’t actually dead, but that wasn’t the point.
Sipping his wine, Notmie asked, “So, do I really look beautiful?”
“Yes, Notmie. You look beautiful,” Captain Alex replied.
“Damn.”
“Damn? How is that a ‘damn’?” The Captain asked. “You nearly died trying to break the curse and now you’re bitter about it?”
“Well, I’m glad I did it, but it’s going to be hard to get used to only being beautiful. Speaking of which, how come Melono is still unearthly beautiful?”
The three of them considered it over their Champagne before The Captain said some of the truest words he’d ever spoken. “Well, I guess it’s because you ain’t the boss of her.”
“Too true, Cap’n, too true.” Notmie took another sip, pausing again right afterward when another thought occurred to him. He looked at Melono suspiciously. “So when are you going to break the curse for yourself?”
“Don’t know yet,” she said. “I mean, I wasn’t the one so concerned with it. It’s not so bad for me, actually.” She avoided looking directly at Captain Alex or Notmie as she spoke.
“But you might die an untimely death because of it!” The Captain protested.
Melono shrugged sheepishly. “True. I mean, I’ll get around to breaking it eventually, but why hurry? I have a few more things I need to get done before I lose the upper hand on all the males in the world.”
Captain Alex laughed at her unabashed honesty. “But even if you break the curse, you’ll still be a woman, so no matter what, you’ll always have the upper hand over men.”
“That’s good to know,” she said, giving Alex a look she’d never given him before.
And was that his imagination, or did she just inch closer to him on the seat?
Notmie stared out of the tinted windows just in time to see the warehouse crumble to the ground behind them. He bid one final goodbye to the curse, leaving it forever in his wake.
Epilogue
Some More Stuff
“Notmie, I’m home,” called Melono from the front door. She tossed her keys onto the side table in the entryway and made for the kitchen. It’d been a long day and evening, and she could smell something delicious being baked.
When she entered the room, she found Notmie wearing an apron and making funny faces in the toaster.
“I thought you’d gotten over not being unearthly beautiful anymore,” she said, thunking the newspaper down on the kitchen table and finding herself a seat.
“Oh, I’m over it. Completely over it, in fact,” Notmie said, continuing to view his face from different angles.
“Then why are you still examining yourself in reflective appliances?”
Notmie turned suddenly to face her. “Oh, I almost forgot. You haven’t decided to break the curse yet, so how could you possibly understand?”
“You’re right, Notmie. There’s no way I could possibly understand why you’re checking yourself out in a toaster.”
“For your information, I’m just trying to find my good side again. It used to be so defined, and now I think it might have changed.”
“But I thought both sides were your good side when you were unearthly beautiful, so how can it change?”
Notmie sighed. “See, I knew you wouldn’t understand.”
“I guess you were right.”
Melono opened up the paper and began browsing through the sections.
“Do you want some quiche?” asked Notmie as he leaned over the oven.
“You mean pizza,” Melono corrected out of habit.
“No, I meant quiche. Like, the French food.”
Melono’s eyes immediately darted from the newsprint to Notmie’s face.
“Are you serious? After all we went through you still want to each quiche?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess the flavor’s kind of grown on me, you know? I’ve been pr
acticing the fine art of quiche-making during my breaks from a job search. It’s really helped me relax.”
“Whatever you say, Notmie.” Melono’s eyes drifted back to the newspaper. “Speaking of the job search, how’s it coming?”
Notmie grunted as he lifted the quiche out of the oven and placed it onto the stovetop to cool. “Not so great. I don’t think I ever realized how hard it could be to find a job if you’re only regular beautiful. Of course, I do have a resume to die for with all the careers I’ve walked into and all the great references I’ve acquired, but you know how the job market is today…” He untied his apron and hung it on a nearby hook then took a seat across the table from Melono while he waited for his quiche to cool.
“I finished de-surveillancing the house today,” he said. “Or at least I’m pretty sure I did.”
“Good, good,” replied Melono off-handedly.
Notmie stared at her across the table, one question burning in his mind. “So,” he said assertively enough to make Melono lower the paper and give him her attention. “How was the date?”
“Oh, Alex, it wasn’t a date,” she replied sheepishly.
Notmie grinned victoriously. “What did you call me?”
The color drained from Melono’s face, quickly replaced by a deep red.
“Notmie! I said Notmie!” But it was too late to cover her slip.
“Looks like someone’s got the ol’ Cap’n on the mind,” he teased.
She shuffled the newspaper and opened to a new section. “Oh, shut up,” she mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
“Since you can’t get him off your mind, does that mean it was a date?” he asked, winking repeatedly across the table until she finally looked up again and saw him.
“Oh, all right. It was a date. But it was just one date. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like we’re together now. We’re by no means a couple or anything official like that, so get that out of your head.”
The Fraud Page 33
