Chapter 35
Jessica called out to Raymond from the bathroom of the motel room as she finished dressing. “I need the flyers.”
She heard Raymond sigh. In her mind she should see him sitting at the little window by the table rolling his eyes.
“He’s not going to like this,” he said. “The flyer constructs are his favorites. If something happens to them…” He started tapping nervously on the table next to his chair.
“I know, but I think it’s the only way,” she said. Jessica knew this was a risky move. She hated the thought of what the Master would do to her if something happened to his beloved flyers. He only permitted the cult to create a few flyers at a time and they had to account to him personally for every mission the flyers were a part of.
Yes, they were big and loud and they did draw a lot attention. They usually ended up killing anyone who saw them because the flyers left such an impression that a simple mind wipe spell wasn’t enough to make people forget they saw them.
The only thing worse than losing a flyer was the thought of not capturing the Bringer. She was going to have to take the chance.
She opened the bathroom door and leaned on the doorjamb looking at him. “I need two sniffers and two flyers. The Bringer is still in this town, I can feel it. They can’t be far.”
He let out a breath before speaking. “Maybe…you should let me take over. You still look exhausted. I can take care of these bratty little kids you’ve been chasing. Then we can go to the Master together.”
The Keeper brushed her hand through her hair to calm herself. Now she knew why Raymond had been so nice, he wanted to take over. He wanted to go to the Master and take all the credit. “Raymond you are too kind, worrying about me the way you do. I appreciate it. I really do. But all I need for you to do is get me my demons,” her voice hardened. “And then when I’ve dealt with our bratty little kids, as you call them, I’ll make sure and let the Master know how helpful you’ve been.”
Chapter 36
“Well, can the earth spirit get us out of here?” Jerom asked.
“Um, yeah,” said Brynn.
“Great, what do we do?” Jerom bounced a little ready to go.
“You aren’t going to like it. I mean, Miranda isn’t going to like it and you get to tell her.”
His lips thinned out as he pressed them together unhappily, “Okay, what do we have to do?”
“We all clasp hands and the earth spirit pulls us through the earth and out. Not a big deal right? It’s not really that far. Yeah, okay, a little claustrophobic I admit, but it will be all over soon.” She made a shooing motion toward Miranda and said, “Soooo, why don’t you just run over there and wake Miranda up and we’ll get out of here.”
Jerom waved his hand vaguely in the direction of Miranda, “Just run on over there and wake Miranda up and tell her we are going to walk through dirt. Not even a nice tunnel this time, just dirt. Dirt sliding past us, totally engulfing us and she’s supposed to be okay with this?”
“Nope,” Brynn shook her head, “she is going to kill someone. That is why you are going to go talk to her and I’m going to stay way over here.”
He growled something under this breath giving her a look, then walked over and woke Miranda up while speaking quickly and quietly to her.
Miranda’s eyes grew really big, “Oh no, no, no, no. I am not doing that!”
“It’s the only way out and it’ll go quick. Just a few steps and we’ll be out of here. There just isn’t another way.”
She gave Brynn a very dirty look, but Brynn had suddenly discovered a great need to inspect the wall behind her.
“Fine!” she said and let Jerom pull her up and they walked over to Brynn.
Jerom, in the middle, took Brynn’s hand and Miranda’s and then Brynn clasped the spirit’s hand. It was surprisingly soft, like a garden bed before it has been planted.
He pulled Brynn right up to the wall. He didn’t make an opening like a tunnel or even a crack, he just kept pulling her and she imagined herself slamming into the hard-packed dirt of the wall. She started to make a little whining noise back in her throat, but then she saw her hand slide into the wall. It was just gone. She felt a little earth, but it wasn’t tight against her hand, just lightly brushing her.
He kept pulling and her arm disappeared and then she closed her eyes as her body made contact with the wall. Behind her she could hear Jerom and Miranda.
"Oh, man. That is just not right," Jerom sounded repulsed.
"I don't think I can do this, Jerom. This is way worse than the tunnel," Miranda’s voice rose in pitch.
Brynn squeezed Jerom's hand trying to let him know it would be okay. It wasn't that bad, really. She opened her eyes hesitantly and saw the dirt move out of their way. The spirit glowed very faintly, but it was enough for her to see that they were just inches away from the soil all around them. She turned to see Jerom and Miranda fully surrounded by earth as well. Miranda was panting, trying to stay in control. She turned backed around and noticed that the spirit wasn’t gliding like he was when she saw him earlier in her mind. He was walking upright and then she noticed they were also walking upright. Then she wondered why she was so surprised.
She started to feel them moving upward, then it got steeper and steeper, but the dirt formed into rough steps around them.
“We are almost to the surface, Bringer. I am going to move to the back, but just keep going. Don’t let go of each other. The earth will let you out.”
“Thank you, spirit,” she said. He smiled at her as he passed, keeping a hand touching her shoulder. She watched him as he reached out a hand and grasped Jerom by the shoulder. Jerom looked down at the spirit’s hand and shivered just slightly. She kept watching as the spirit passed by Jerom and gently brushed his hand against Miranda’s cheekbone before laying his hand on her shoulder. The spirit then turned and nodded at Brynn. She turned back around and kept walking up the formed dirt steps. The earth around her seemed to thin out and daylight penetrated to her face. She stretched her free hand up toward the light and pushing free of the earth, stumbled out pulling Jerom and Miranda with her.
She threw her hand up to shade her eyes from the sun. Her eyes started watering from the intense change in brightness from the tunnel.
“Hey, who are you?” she heard. They were all still shaking dirt off of themselves when they realized they were standing at the back of someone’s yard and in the middle of a barbecue.
“I guess my directions were off just a little,” said Jerom stamping his feet trying to shake loose more dirt. “Are those like police uniforms?”
“Yeah, and guns!” said Brynn.
Miranda yelled, “This way!” and Brynn felt a tug on her hand. She glanced over and saw a gate just past Miranda. The police and all the rest of the men were running towards them. Jerom turned and made a shoving motion with his hands and muttered something under his breath. The men were pushed backwards, most of them off their feet.
They ran through the gate and up the side of the house into the street. Brynn stopped and looked both ways, “Which way?”
“It doesn’t really matter, just run!” Miranda yelled back and took off down the street.
Jerom and Brynn followed her through the neighborhood. It was all kind of a blur. Brynn noticed an occasional flower or a porch swing as they ran past and then she heard cars starting and sirens screaming.
The police were coming fast and there didn’t seem to be a place to hide. Brynn caught herself thinking “why me” and “I can’t believe I’m going to get arrested.” She wanted to yell at Jerom how she’d never had anything like his happen to her until she met him but she didn’t have the breath.
Miranda turned into a park at the end of the block and ran toward a building that looked like it had bathrooms in it.
They heard car doors slamming and men yelling “Stop! Police!”
Miranda ran toward the cover of a group of trees and bushes. She pulled up behind a large tree. All three of them
bent over trying to catch their breath.
“Why are they still chasing us?” asked Brynn in a pant. “I mean really, what did we actually do, upset their barbeque by climbing up out of their backyard?"
"I know! What are they going to charge us with anyway, felony tunneling?” Miranda panted back. "Let's keep going,"
Miranda took off running dodging in and out of the trees until they came to the edge of the park.
“Hey look, what about that alley over there!” Jerom squeezed out between gasping for air. They looked where he pointed.
"We'd better move. I can hear them coming," Brynn said.
There weren’t any cars coming so Miranda ran out into the street. The police were getting closer. They could hear them shouting to each other through the trees.
Brynn was about to follow Miranda when Jerom turned around. "What are you doing?" she shouted.
"I'm going to try to buy you guys some time," he answered and put his hands up. She could feel him gathering his strength.
"I can help too," Brynn started to draw in the energies that existed all around them when a backwash of air almost knocked her off her feet.
Jerom felt it too and stumbled. They both turned toward the street.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Brynn yelled.
“Flyers!” shouted Jerom while trying to protect himself from the backwash coming off their wings.
Their wings were huge and attached all the way down their backs. The skin was stretched so tight over the wings that you could see the bone structure underneath. Their bodies were lean which made the muscles more prominent. The heads of the flyers were almost bat-like with pointy ears and sharp little teeth. The tails had a sharp pointed hook on the end like a scorpion.
The one hovering over Miranda reached out and grabbed her with its claw-like feet.
Brynn ran into the street, trying to focus her energy on Miranda to try to get her back when she heard a weird, buzzing sound.
It felt like two searing hot pokers had been jabbed into her back. Her muscles were on fire as she fell to the ground shaking and convulsing. Then she blacked out.
Chapter Thirty-five
“I was only able to get the sister,” Jessica said over the phone to Raymond. “The police closed in on the Bringer and the boy.”
“You lost them again? You must be terribly disappointed.”
Jessica glared at the phone, really hating him. “They’ll come for the sister. We just have to wait and they’ll come right to us.” She heard him snort into the phone.
"I'll need several more constructs to deal with the Bringer and that boy. She might be able to call forth an angel or two. She hasn't had time to develop her skills past that yet I'm sure. So, I'll need the best and the biggest you've got, preferably ones with quite a bit of experience.
“Just let me know where to send them. We won’t talk about how many demons you’ve gone through in the past day and a half. We won’t, but the Master might.”
“Everything is going to work,” Jessica said trying to reestablish her authority.
“It better,” he said and ended the call.
“Yes, it better,” she whispered to herself.
Chapter 37
Brynn woke up inside the police car, her back stinging and her body even more bruised than before. Her hands were cuffed behind her straining her shoulders.
“Hey, you okay?” Jerom asked in a whisper.
She nodded. “What happened?”
“Tazer, I think,” he said as he squirmed around trying to find a position that didn’t hurt.
“No talking!” shouted a cop from the front seat and the car started to move. It didn’t take long to get to the police station and they were pulled from the car. Brynn hit her head getting out of the car.
"Ow!” Brynn tried to reach up to rub her head only to realize she was still handcuffed.
Inside the front doors, there was a booth with a door to the side. The guy inside the booth pressed a button and the door unlocked. Then they were led to the back of the station, the cuffs removed, and they were thrown into a room marked “Interrogation 1”.
“Just stay put until I decide what to do with you,” the meaner looking of the two cops said as he slammed the door. Brynn ran up and looked through the little window in the door and watched them walk down the hall and turn a corner. She couldn’t see anything beyond the hallway.
“What are we going to do about Miranda?” She threw herself down into a chair behind the only table in the room, rubbing her wrists.
“We can’t do anything until we get out of here,” Jerom said taking the chair on the other side of the table. Their clothes had stiffened from all the mud that they had been through. If I look anything like Jerom, Brynn thought, my hair is matted with filth and my face is coated in slime.
There was a quick knock on the door and they both swiveled in their chairs. The door opened and a policewoman and policeman entered carrying clean clothes and towels.
“Come on, let’s get you guys cleaned up, you smell worse than a sewer,” the man said.
The woman just nodded in their direction and motioned out the door with her head. Brynn looked to Jerom and he shrugged and stood up to follow. They were taken to separate locker rooms. The woman walked Brynn over to the showers and she sighed in relief. There was a small individual dressing room separating the shower from the locker room and she went behind a thin curtain and got undressed.
“Here’s a garbage bag, just throw all your clothes in here and then you can get in the shower,” she said to her as Brynn started to undress. She practically had to peel her clothes off they were so stuck and crusty. The hot water set her skin stinging as it sprayed across her cuts and abrasions. She winced then turned the knob to an even hotter setting. The water hurt in that good kind of way as it rinsed away the grime. She washed her hair four times before it felt clean. The towel was small and rough, but did the job and she was soon dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, which she was relieved didn’t say anything like “Property of County Jail” on it. It was plain white, but clean and the cool cotton was soft against her aching body.
She walked out of the dressing room holding the towel and comb they gave her for her hair. “Thanks, I feel much better,” she smiled at the nice woman who provided things like showers and clean clothes.
“You’re welcome. You actually look human again. Let’s see if we can find you some shoes and then I’ll take you back to interrogation,” she said with a kind look on her face, but Brynn noticed her hand was never far from the gun on her hip.
Jerom was back in the room before Brynn. They looked like twins in matching clothes. “How do you feel?” he asked.
“So much better. How about you?”
“Yeah.” He sighed, looked around the room and leaned forward with his arms resting on the table. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Can you sense which way is out?” Brynn tried not to think about how his senses hadn’t worked so good for them last time. “We need a back door or something, a window, maybe?”
“I can tell outside is that way,” he pointed behind him. She went over and looked out the little window in their door and she could just see a door at the end of the hallway.
“Shall we try and make a break for it?” she said trying to make a joke.
“Not likely.” He sounded muffled. She turned from the little window and found him with his head down on the table resting on his crossed arms. “I’ve really screwed things up this time.” The misery in his voice made her heart sank. She walked over and sat on the table next to him, bumping his arm with her hip.
“Hey,” she said to get his attention. “We’re alive and maybe even better than that, we’re clean.” He raised his head just enough look at her. She stuck her tongue out at him and grinned. “Quit feeling sorry for yourself, time enough for that later.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the door. “Can you unlock it?” He put his hand over the knob for a few
seconds and then moved his hand over to the wall next to the door.
“Nope, they’ve got one of the keypad security locks on the other side of the wall. I can’t manipulate it from this side. I’d have to be touching it. We’re stuck.”
“Somebody will be coming to talk to us soon. We could overpower them or something,” she said to his back as he walked to the table.
He sat down in the chair again, and Brynn sat up on the table facing him dangling her feet.
“What do you have in mind?” he asked. “Adding assault to our list of charges probably isn’t the best idea.”
“What about a sleep spell?”
“I have to be touching the person for it to work and it’s not instantaneous. I need contact for like a second.” He stopped talking as the door opened and a policeman walked in. He didn’t look that scary. He wasn’t even very tall, but he had a look, like he had judged them already. Not good. Brynn felt Jerom use his power, but she couldn’t tell what he had done.
The cop sat down in the chair opposite them. “Would you mind taking a seat, young lady?” Brynn figured this was more of a command than a real question so she sat. He pulled out a notebook and a pen. Not the kind of pen you click, but the kind that you have to twist to use. And, for some reason seeing him twist his pen open slowly while he stared at them felt quite ominous.
“Let’s just start with the easy stuff shall we, like names and addresses.” He pointed to her with the end of his creepy twisty pen and said, “Ladies first.”
She had this overwhelming need to get away from him. She couldn’t stand the feel of his eyes looking her up and down. She drew in energy from all around her, even from the man across from her. It was easier for her this time. She focused on the legs of his chair down near the bottom just where they touched the floor. In her mind she felt her hands wrap around them and the she pulled, a quick, sharp tug.
She didn’t actually touch the chair, but it felt as if she had. His eyes went big and his arms flailed around as he tried to regain his balance, but it was too late. She gave one last hard yank on the chair and he went down backwards. His head hit the floor with an audible crack and Jerom leapt up and stretched himself out over the table. He grabbed the cop around the ankle and the cop was too stunned to shake him off. It took just a second or two for Jerom to cast the spell and the cop’s whole body relaxed.
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