The God Wheel

by Brian Clopper

  Lorna’s god wheel chamber melted away.

  We stood in the back of a bus filled to capacity. Every seat was occupied. All wore colorful leis like you’d have draped around your neck if attending a luau. Quite a few wore Hawaiian shirts. Everyone carried cameras, not cell phones. This was clearly a tour bus of vacationers.

  To seal the deal, the driver’s voice came through on the bus speakers. “Our second stop is a chance to stretch your legs and take a waterfall trek. Please stay on the path and follow Margo. She’s got some wonderful Hawaiian lore for you about Pele.”

  I looked out the windows. Tropical plants passed by on either side.

  Mnemon tucked his phone away and smiled. “Don’t worry. No one can see or hear us.”

  A small blond girl with three leis around her neck and a pink one in her hand ran toward us. A slightly older girl gave chase, clearly upset. From their strong resemblance, they had to be siblings.

  “Give that back, bozo!” the taller blonde growled.

  Lorna gasped and studied the faces of the pair. The youngest ran through us, followed by her sister.

  It was unsettling to be immaterial. Although, I did feel a chill when the two had moved through me. From Lorna’s expression, she must have as well.

  She pointed at the girls. “This is crazy.”

  The driver looked back and requested the unattended minors return to their seats.

  “Mom and Dad already gave you theirs. Don’t be greedy.” The older girl grabbed the pink lei and then wrapped her arms around the thief. She hoisted her up and carted her toward the back of the bus. Both flopped into a shared seat and laughed at each other, not at all upset or embarrassed. Two red-faced parents scolded them from the seat behind.

  Something struck me as familiar about the girl. She was tall and pretty. Déjà vu came crashing down on me. My parents had taken us to Hawaii when I was thirteen. We’d been on a tour bus much like this, traveling around and seeing the sights. I even recalled the sisters making a scene. I smiled. Well, actually I just remembered the older one. She’d been cute and caught my eye.

  Lorna groaned. “Why did you take us here?”

  “I was about to say the same thing,” I said. “Do you know this place?”

  She pointed at the sisters. “That’s me. The older one. Wendy took my lei. You knew this was from my past? How could you? I don’t look anything like that anymore.” She huffed, blowing a stray curl away from her face.

  Mnemon studied mine for a reaction.

  I’m sure I gave him a winning expression of absolute incredulity. “No, this bus, I was on it.”

  “What? No way.”

  I moved up the aisle, searching for my younger self. I spotted my dad and mom first. Two seats behind the driver, my thirteen-year-old self looked back, his eyes devoted to the girl resituating the pink lei around her neck. He stared at her in a far too obvious way.

  “That’s me.” I pointed at my ogling self.

  Lorna gawked, recognition flashing across her face. “You, that’s you?”

  The bus stopped, and the driver made another announcement that neither of us listened to. The bus emptied out. Almost all the tourists walked through us as we stared at each other, dumbfounded.

  Lorna had been my Hawaiian dream girl.

  ****

  Mnemon didn’t say a word. He worked his phone again, and the scene changed. It was later in the day, and the tourists were back on the bus. Most of the younger children were conked out, their heads in their parents’ laps. Wendy was out cold. Lorna and my younger self were not among the dozing.

  Lorna and I watched the pair stealing glances at each other. When one caught the other, it resulted in a smile that was either returned or provoked the recipient to duck down, their cheeks red.

  I drew up close to Lorna and whispered, “We actually knew each other before we started dating. This is wild. You were my vacation crush.”

  She smiled at me and squeezed my hand. “Me too. I remember we kept seeing each other wherever we went. The gifts shops, the hotel.”

  That had been true. “The luau,” I said. “I almost got up the nerve to talk to you there.”

  “But the one I still remember so clearly—”

  Mnemon interrupted, waving his phone between us as he tapped on its screen. “Nope, please don’t deny me the pleasure of revisiting that moment. It’s so much better in person.”

  We appeared in a pool. It was weird. The three of us stood in the four-foot end, immersed in the water but not feeling soaked to the bone in the least. Mnemon even tucked his phone in his pocket, dunking it in the water, with no concern at all.

  I knew why we were here. The beach ball transaction.

  Lorna didn’t waste any time in scoping out our new setting. She spotted her younger self tossing a beach ball back and forth with her mom in the deeper end, close to the large artificial rock formations that had made the pool so memorable.

  The swimming area extended into caves hollowed out from fabricated rocks. Inside one of the numerous spaces was a bar where the customers could sit on submerged barstools in the water and sip at their drinks. Many spaces were cozy little alcoves that I’d explored, finding young couples lip locked within on numerous embarrassing occasions. That hadn’t dissuaded me from diving into the nooks because it had been so much fun.

  We waded closer, which was really just us walking at a normal pace with no liquid drag in the least. It was weird watching us navigate so swiftly through the pool, while those here in the memory were so bogged down and sluggish in their movements.

  Lorna pointed at me emerging from one of the grottos. “There you are, diving under constantly. It was pretty obvious you were trying to impress me with how long you could stay underwater.”

  “Guilty as charged.”

  “Wait for it,” Mnemon said, leaning in between the two of us in a slightly predatory fashion.

  Lorna punched the beach ball hard, sending it sailing past her mom. It landed, and the breeze hastened it toward my smaller, scrawnier version. In just a swimsuit, my pointy elbows and knees, wafer-thin arms, and barely-there torso were on full display.

  Young Lorna waded toward the wayward ball. “I got it, Mom.”

  My mini-version surfaced near it.

  I said, “I knew exactly whose ball that was.”

  My past self scooped up the ball and handed it to the teenaged Lorna.

  She blushed and said, “Thank you.”

  “And here’s the most romantic response in the history of all things lovey-dovey,” Mnemon said with a smidgen of emotion.

  “Uh, okay.” My tongue-tied self immediately dove under, swimming into the nearest grotto.

  Two words, but even then, my voice had managed to crack. Just the same, I wasn’t ashamed of the memory in the least. If anything, it made me feel closer, more tied to Lorna.

  Young Lorna watched my aquatic self disappear into the clear, chlorinated waters, smiled and sighed, and then rejoined her mom.

  Mnemon produced his phone and changed our venue.

  We were back in Lorna’s cave, Hawaii and young love very much in the rear view mirror.

  “That was a sweet memory,” Lorna said. “And it turned out to be you.”

  Mnemon said, “Oh, that wasn’t a memory. I took you back to experience your mutual past.”

  I stared at Lorna. “This is crazy. You were my first crush. I mean, I don’t count Cindy from first grade. I only agreed to be her boyfriend because she always forked over her Twinkie at lunch.”

  Lorna rushed toward me.

  I swept her up in my arms, and we kissed.

  When we separated, she still kept close, resting her nose lightly on mine. Her warm breath played over my chin as she said, “This is crazy. How is this possible?”

  Mnemon said, “It was a connection granted because of your happenstance deities. Having such an early connection makes your pairing now that much stronger. It kind of imparts you both with more chronal sway.”
>
  “I don’t know what that means,” I said.

  Lorna added, “Me neither.”

  Mnemon waved dismissively at us as he shook his head. “Not important right now. It will come into play later. You’ll need me one more time, trust me on that. I can’t see the future like Mitch, but I have a comprehensive view of history. I know that where we just were in Hawaii and where you are now with the Entropy Queen business isn’t all there is to your stories.” He nodded at the wheel. “Go ahead and spin who you want. It’ll work this time. I sort of forced my appearance on you, but it was the right time to look back at such a special moment.”

  Lorna said, “Thank you.”

  I looked at the god. He seemed to be expecting a response from me.

  Before I could thank him, he smushed his index finger to my lips, silencing me in the most embarrassing way. “You don’t need to say it. I already know.” He grinned wickedly and then his voice changed, mimicking my younger self down to the voice crack. “Uh, okay.”

  Chapter 22

  The Eyes Have It

  I decided not to visit my god wheel. I didn’t want to trade Yolla for another deity. As appropriate as it would be to summon my goddess of war, I thought good fortune would be a steadier influence and companion. Kni was still at Lorna’s beck and call.

  When we returned to the exiled gods, it was early morning. I looked all around, fearful a farmer would crest one of the surrounding gentle hills astride a tractor, but our luck seemed to hold. Our little army remained undiscovered.

  I texted my neighbor, Greg, a widowed veteran, while Lorna checked in with her parents. When my neighbor responded, we both expressed relief that neither of us were comatose or walking around with glowing eyes. I asked him to check in on Marty and walk him several times today as long as it was safe to go outside. Greg commented on the crazy stuff he’d seen on the news. I lied and told him I was trapped out of state, Virginia to be specific, and would try my best to get home as soon as I could. He insisted I be safe and not foolish, that he would mind Marty until things returned to normal. I thanked him and promised I woud treat him to lunch when I got back.

  Lorna was still on her phone with her parents, doing her best to calm them down.

  Mitch and Vardislek stood with Kni and Yolla, getting each other up to speed.

  I’d consult with them next. I pulled up several news sites and checked on just how sideways things had gotten in the last few hours. I didn’t make it past the first page. The disturbing headline told me our next move.

  I rushed over to Lorna and held up my phone for her to read. Her eyes widened, and she quickly ended her call.

  “This is happening too fast,” she said.

  “I know,” I replied.

  Yolla and Mitch marched up to us, clearly having registered our alarm.

  The goddess said, “It has begun?”

  “Yes.” I skimmed the first few lines of the article. “A large portal opened up over the National Mall in D.C. just about twenty minutes ago. Guard troops engaged the possessed.” I looked at everyone crowded around me.

  Kni and Vardislek joined us.

  “That’s what they’re calling them, the possessed.” I kept skimming. “There’s talk of a woman in black leading the charge.”

  “We have to go,” Lorna said, doing her best to contain her panic. “Your dad and Wendy might be there. Is there any other place they’re attacking? Paris? New York?”

  “Only D.C. right now.” I swallowed, hating how my hysteria simmered just below the surface. I looked at Mitch. “It’s time to go. Tell everyone to portal to Washington.” I clicked on a live stream. I recognized the Air and Space Museum in the background. The possessed surged past it. The cameraman’s narration was laced with fear. Understandable, he was in the thick of the madness. One of the possessed passing by tried to claw at him, but he batted her away with his camera. He decided to get some distance and retreated, filming as he moved in reverse. At one point, he veered left, perhaps fending off another attacker. It was hard to tell as the sound had cut out when the possessed had attacked him. I caught a shot of an empty stretch in front of the Reflecting Pool.

  That would have to do as our beachhead.

  “Tell them to picture the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.” Remembering our earlier arrival to this remote spot and how some deities had wound up in the pond, I added, “Land in front of it, not in it.”

  Mitch and Vardislek ran off, rallying our army with stunning speed.

  Yolla noticed my surprise. “They are eager to exact change. Remember why these gods were exiled, after all.”

  “Yes, but will they—”

  She nodded and smiled. “They will honor your wishes and do no harm.”

  “Good,” I said.

  Kni held up a pair of canvas knapsacks. “Inside are twenty no-go spheres. Toss them at an attacker and they generate a five-foot-wide stasis field. Anyone inside will be frozen for a few minutes. The bigger the target, the less time it will contain them.” He looked back at the exiles. “We’ve been busy fashioning as many non-lethal tools as possible while you were gone. Stun rods, swarm nets, and a few others. Just know that we armed almost half. The others will resort to their powers or hand-to-hand combat.”

  As the deities readied themselves for their dimensional jaunts, I spotted the rods and nets, even what I assumed to be the equivalent of magical tasers.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I reached into the satchel and felt around. My hand scooped up two of the spheres. They were about the size of eggs and weirdly warm.

  I made sure the metal clasp on the bag faced outward, and reminded Lorna to do the same. While I didn’t think the metal would heat up too much, I didn’t want to have a repeat of what had happened to Lorna with her father’s gun.

  Kni summoned a large portal. I watched the exiles rolling out, disappearing into their rifts, each summoned in wildly different ways. No two snowflakes alike.

  We leapt through the rift.

  ****

  It was impressive to watch everyone spill out of their portals. None of the rifts overlapped or intruded on each other. Probably some aspect prevented that outcome. Unfortunately, several gods collided upon vaulting out of their gateways. I watched a walrus-headed brute body slam fairly hard into a green-skinned goddess with four arms. She crashed into the ground head first, but her limbs did lessen the impact somewhat. The god who’d knocked into her had the decency to help her up.

  The exiles wasted no time surging forward and taking on the rear of the possessed army.

  Lorna and I took off too, our four gods in tow.

  “We need to get to the queen. We take her out and all these slaves break free, right?” I asked Mitch.

  “That sounds fitting,” he replied.

  His answer had been curt, as if he didn’t want to delve into the topic.

  We waded into the fight.

  Lorna was the first of our small band to use a no-go sphere. A biker with a scraggly beard charged at her. She flung the sphere hard at his belly. When it bounced off his leather jacket, the projectile hung in the air and a globe of light blue energy expanded outward from it. The biker, as well as a man dressed in a black suit, froze in place within its confines.

  Kni pushed back several possessed with a stun rod, giving each paralysis with a touch of the staff’s blunt end.

  Yolla had a swarm net at the ready, but I didn’t get a chance to see her put it to use as a possessed pounced on me, landing on my back and driving me into the grass. I rolled to my left, swatting at the hanger-on.

  The possessed eventually leapt free.

  It was a boy, no more than ten or eleven. Dressed in Star Wars pajamas that were ripped at the knees, he glared at me, the yellow glow from his eyes intensifying.

  Yolla yelled, “Watch out, Felix!”

  I caught movement from my left.

  Lorna tackled me hard, driving me into the ground.

  Yellow beams shot out of the li
ttle boy’s eyes, vaporizing the ground where I’d been standing just a second ago.

  “The queen is taking her chaos to the next level,” Kni said.

  I reflected on whether to credit Yolla’s good fortune or Kni’s happenstance or both, but knew it was Lorna who had pulled out the win.

  The boy swept his head left, causing his eye beams to cut a trench as they moved toward us.

  We scrambled to our feet. I threw a no-go sphere at the deadly tyke barely in time. The second he froze in the stasis bubble, his eyebeams cut out.

  We pressed forward. Exiles mounted a defense along our flanks, while we worked on taking out the possessed in front of us. Not all used their eyebeams, but enough did that it was a growing concern.

  Sadly, two gods disintegrated to our right. Vardislek took out the perpetrator of their deaths with his taser. He poured more magical current into the limp mortal than I thought necessary, but he was obviously in a maddened state at the loss of his fellow celestials.

  The exiles didn’t relent. We continued forward. I surveyed the battlefield ahead. The National Guard was putting up a good fight, but, with more and more of the possessed employing their eyebeams, casualties were mounting. The military were armed, but I had no idea if they were shooting to wound or if their bullets were rubber, designed for crowd control. Once those overseeing the assault saw the possessed using such deadly force, I doubted the soldiers would continue employing non-lethal methods.

  Lorna shoved me down. Eyebeams stabbed through the space my head had just occupied.

  She tossed two spheres at a crowd preparing to unleash their eye energy. She nabbed six.

  I charged forward and tackled the seventh, a young woman in a black evening gown and only one high heel, who looked more of the bar-hopping genus than of a species that would wield death from their eyeholes. Guess her night on the town wasn’t going exactly as planned. My impact snapped the woman’s head back and sent her eye beams into the sky.