by Jerry Hart
Owen hadn’t even realized how impossible his actions had been until after the explosion. The look on Chris’s face had scared him into realizing what he had done wasn’t normal.
Where did that power come from?
Who was Michael? Had they spoken before? Did that monster really know where Owen’s mother was?
There were too many questions he wanted answered.
Chapter 15. Nikki and Darlington
Chris drove down some highway Owen didn’t recognize; the buildings slowly disappeared, making way into dark country. Owen just looked out the window, taking in the sights—or lack thereof. He’d grown up in the country, so he should’ve been used to the lonely quietness of it, but he’d spent the last two years in the city, so this all felt alien to him now.
He could just barely make out the trees against the moonlit sky. It was an eerie and lonely sight. He quickly wiped away a tear from his eye and hoped Chris hadn’t noticed.
Owen’s thoughts dwelled on Alyssa. She would never see these trees, or the moon, or animals, or anything ever again. He still couldn’t believe what had happened to her. He didn’t want to believe. No one deserved to die like that.
Of course, it was hard to think of Alyssa and not also think of Michael. Owen wasn’t sure what he would do when he got his hands on him again. He didn’t care how strong and inhuman Michael was; Owen knew he was stronger than most people and if there was anyone who could stand up to Michael, it was him.
“Are you hot?” Chris asked him, but he couldn’t muster enough energy to answer.
He grew gradually colder and assumed Chris had turned on the air conditioner. After a few minutes, Owen could see his breath fogging the window on which he rested his head. The images outside of the window were getting harder to see now; it gave the woods an even dreamier appearance. He wished all of this were a dream. That way, his dad would still be here with him, Alyssa would still be alive, and there would be no Michael. He had told Chris and Daniel no bodies had been recovered from the alley. That had to mean Michael was still alive and had taken Alyssa’s body with him.
“We’re almost there,” he heard Chris say.
He had no idea who Nikki was, but they were going to see her anyway. Chris had only spoken of her once before. He had said she was someone he’d met a short while before meeting Owen. He said she “knew things,” things no one else knew. Owen couldn’t even guess what that meant and wondered why Chris had never introduced him to her before.
They were only twenty minutes away from the condo. Owen wished Daniel had come with them; he didn’t like the idea of Daniel by himself with Michael on the loose. But Daniel insisted on staying behind to work on D-18; with the robot in working order, it would make a welcomed addition to their fight. That was the only reason Chris and Owen had agreed to let him stay behind.
Trees turned into old dilapidated buildings. Owen looked around; he hadn’t even realized they weren’t on the highway anymore. He looked for the nearest street sign: Lorenzo Street.
“Where are we?” he asked Chris.
“A little town called Baker.”
Owen looked around again. The town seemed dead. Chris kept driving, passing every building in sight. Finally they came to what looked like the edge of town, where a wooded area loomed. Chris parked the car and turned off the engine.
“We have to walk from here,” he said.
They got out and started down a dirt path that led deeper into the woods. Owen grew nervous. The moonlight barely penetrated the thick canopy of trees. He walked slowly because he couldn’t see where he was going. Chris, on the other hand, walked with confidence, as if he’d walked this path many times before.
After several minutes, they were still walking. Owen started to wonder if Chris even knew where they were.
“Are we lost?” Owen finally asked.
“No, but I don’t blame you for asking. They’re supposed to be hard to find.”
“They?” Owen asked. “I thought it was just Nikki.”
After several more minutes, they finally came to a clearing, and what Owen saw made his jaw drop. What lay before them was what looked like an old amusement park. There was a box office in the front with a clown painted on it.
“You have any cash on you?” Chris asked Owen.
“What the hell for?”
“We have to pay to get in.”
Owen couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He looked around the amusement park. There were only a few buildings, and most were dirty with broken windows. He could see a Ferris wheel in the center of the park. He pulled out his wallet and gave Chris a ten.
“Don’t be cheap,” Chris said, gawking at the money Owen had given him.
Owen handed him more. He was about to jokingly ask on what Chris had wasted the allowance Alyssa had given him, but didn’t think his heart could take any more pain. Chris approached the box office slowly, and a slot in the window opened. A long, pale hand reached out. Chris, appearing apprehensive, reached out with the money as if waiting for the hand to take it. And it did. The money was gone in a flash as the hand forcefully snatched it out of Chris’s.
He jumped back in fear. “I hate when he does that,” he said to Owen.
“Who?”
“There’s something I have to tell you about Nikki and her...friend,” Chris explained as they entered the park, hopping over the turnstile next to the box office. “His name is Darlington. He’s a bit...strange looking. Nikki says it’s a birth defect. So, if we meet him, don’t stare.”
Owen looked back to the box office and said, “Was that him?”
“Yes.”
They approached a small building to their immediate right. It looked like a gift shop. They walked in. It wasn’t as dark as Owen had expected; candles were lit and placed all over the main entrance. A room with a thick, purple curtain was directly in front of them.
“Wait your turn!” a voice said from the corner, making Owen nearly jump out of his skin.
There were two girls in the corner: One had jet-black hair and wore a black tube-top with a purple skirt. The other was the complete opposite—blond hair, white tube-top and pink shorts. She reminded Owen of a cheerleader. But the two girls appeared to be friends.
“Who are they?” Owen asked Chris.
“People come here to have their fortunes read.”
“Nikki’s a psychic?”
“Sort of,” Chris said with a snort. “But don’t call her that to her face. She hates that. She doesn’t believe in psychics.”
Owen and Chris sat down on the floor. Someone came out of the room, pushing the thick purple curtain out of the way. It was a dark-haired boy in his late twenties. He was wiping away tears.
The two girls looked at each other apprehensively. They argued about who should go first, and then decided to go together. Owen watched as they entered the room through the curtain. As it flapped back into place, he could see a young strawberry-blond woman sitting in a big oval-shaped chair. Just before the curtain stopped flapping, she gave him a quick glance.
“Don’t peek,“ Chris warned. “She hates that, too.”
Owen faced forward again, watching the previous customer walk out of the building. He was still crying.
“Hey,” Owen said the man. “What happened in there?”
The man stopped crying instantly and stared blankly at Owen and Chris. “This is your first time here, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Owen replied.
“For him, not me,” Chris added.
“Here’s some advice: Be prepared for anything. She may tell you stuff you don’t want to hear.”
And he was out the door before Owen could say anything else.
For ten minutes, Owen and Chris continued to sit in the candle-lit foyer; a few of the candles had gone out, and it grew colder. Chris gripped his hoodie tighter; he was shivering.
“Are you all right?” Owen asked.
“Yeah. I feel like crap, but I’ll live.”
Another ten minutes went by. Owen suddenly realized he couldn’t hear anything that was going on inside the reading room, despite the fact only a measly curtain separated them.
“Do they go to a different room or something?” he asked Chris.
“No. They’re in there.”
“How come I can’t hear what they’re saying?”
“Magic,” Chris said in a creepy voice.
A few more minutes passed in silence. Owen looked out the windows and saw the trees lit up by the moonlight. A strong wind was swaying them. This place definitely used to be a gift shop. It was made up of mostly glass walls. A counter with a cruddy cash register sitting on top was next to the entrance.
“You don’t blame yourself for Alyssa’s death, do you?” he asked Chris.
“No. Why would I? Do you?”
“No.”
“Good. Glad to see we’re on the same page, then.”
“I was just wondering. In situations like this, people tend to blame themselves.”
“I place blame where it belongs” was all Chris would say, because after that, he lowered his head onto his knees and remained silent.
“We have to tell her father,” Owen finally said after a few minutes’ silence.
“I know. I will. And after we take care of this guy, I’m shutting us down.”
Owen didn’t say anything—he’d seen this coming. One of the Titans was dead, making everything much more real. This wasn’t a game. But what would Owen do now? He had no other life. And what about Chris and Daniel? Where would they go?
Thinking back, Owen suddenly realized he and the others had only worked together for the softball games. Before, it had just been him and Chris on the streets, where they had battled three of the vampire-creatures; then, he, Chris and Alyssa had battled one together before Daniel came on board.
Owen wondered why they had never fought a monster together, all four of them. There was no chance they would ever do so from this point on, but it was still a strange realization to suddenly come by.
“I guess we’ll have to get jobs now,” he joked.
Chris didn’t respond. Owen looked out the glass walls to the outside. After asking where they were, Chris told him the amusement park had been the dream of a young Baker resident who’d inherited a fortune from his deceased grandfather a decade ago. The young man had decided to build his own amusement park in a then-remote part of town. For selfish reasons, he refused to let the general public enjoy his park: only family and friends.
After Chris finished the story, silence fell on them again. Owen thought of the extraordinary things he’d done earlier. He had actually thrown a vehicle across a street like it was nothing. How on Earth had he done that? He feared that power had always been there and he just hadn’t known it; it just seemed too surreal.
“Let me do the talking,” Chris suddenly said, “and keep the whole car-throwing thing under the rug.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just pretend it didn’t happen. That crap was just too weird.”
Owen couldn’t understand why Chris would want to keep that secret. Owen himself wanted to know why he’d been able to do it, and if Nikki somehow had the answer, he wanted it.
Finally, the two girls came out of the room, giggling. They seemed happy with their readings.
Now it was Chris and Owen’s turn.
They stood up and walked through the purple curtain. The room was fairly small; windows lined the walls on either side, letting in small amounts of moonlight. The place looked like a storeroom—a tiny warehouse—except there were no shelves. There were candles in here as well. In the center of the room was Nikki. She was sitting at a table covered by a black tablecloth.
There were also two chairs across from her. She was dressed in a black-and-purple dress with her hair covered with a black kerchief. Owen and Chris sat down at the table.
“Hey, Nikki. Thanks for seeing us,” Chris said with a smile. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”
“I always make time for my friends. Also, quit giving me crap about the place; it’s not forever. That’s why I read for money—I’m saving up,” she said to him before fixing her eyes on Owen. “And who...are...you?”
Despite her dark appearance, she seemed upbeat.
“I’m Owen.”
“Chris has mentioned you a few times. I was wondering if I’d ever get to meet you.”
“Well,” Owen said nervously, “here I am.”
“There you are,” said Nikki admiringly. Owen grew uncomfortable.
“Nikki, we—”
“I know,” she said, interrupting Chris. “One of you is dead. I can hear it in your voice.”
Nikki suddenly became sympathetic. Her eyes dropped to the floor and for a moment, it looked to Owen like she could feel the pain he and Chris felt.
Then she said, “Tell me about your problem.”
Owen didn’t know what to say, so Chris spoke.
“It’s a kid named Michael—red hair, six-foot-two—only he’s not like a normal man. He...he threw Alyssa into a wall with no effort at all. He’s not like anything we’ve faced. He’s like some kind of demon—”
“He’s not a demon,” Nikki said suddenly, as if it had just come to her, but she spoke with certainty. “Your new threat is very much human.”
Now she looked at Owen, and he felt exposed, like he was standing on a stage in front of thousands of people. It was an unmistakable feeling he didn’t like, so he looked away.
“If he’s human, how is he able to do these things?” asked Chris.
“Don’t you know someone who can also do things that are...unexplainable?”
Nikki continued to stare at Owen. He stared back.
“Sure,” said Chris. “Owen is different. But this guy threw a dumpster at us. Owen can’t do that.”
By the look on his face, Owen could tell Chris did not feel comfortable about the lie he just told her. Owen wondered if Nikki noticed.
Just then, someone entered the room through the curtain divider. Owen saw immediately the long, pale form of the new occupant: His face was long and white, and his head was bald; it looked like a natural baldness, not shaved. His nose was pointy and thin, with lips almost as pale as his skin. His skin was smooth and so thin it was almost transparent, making it hard to tell how old he was, but he had the air of a teenager. He was wearing a white T-shirt and white jeans. Owen assumed this was the guy who had taken their money at the box office.
“Hello, Darlington,” said Nikki.
Darlington nodded as he moved swiftly behind her, never taking his eyes off of Owen, which made him feel even more exposed.
“Chris, do you want me to help you?” Nikki asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you need to tell me the truth about everything. That’s the only way I can see.”
Owen had no idea what she was talking about, but he trusted Chris and figured it would all make sense in the end.
“This guy,” Chris said, “wanted Owen for something. We don’t know what, but he’s clearly willing to kill for it.”
The room fell silent for a moment. Nikki sat back in her chair, thinking. Owen noticed she kept glancing over at Darlington. And then her gaze snapped to Owen. She looked as if she was going to speak, but she said nothing.
“What is it?” Chris asked.
“Do you remember what I said when you told me you planned on starting this monster-hunting thing?” Nikki asked.
“Yes. You said it wasn’t a good idea.”
“No; I said it was terrible idea. I told you nothing good would come from this. It was a noble effort, I’ll give you that. But you four were not meant to join together.”
Owen gasped. He had just been having similar thoughts moments ago, and now they were verified. Somewhat. “Ever since we started, we’ve never taken on an incident together, the four of us,” he said. Immediately he thought of the softball games, which had been the only things they had tackled together on a regu
lar basis. And they’d lost every game. Were they cursed?
“I know,” Nikki responded.
Owen was silent for a moment, and then said, “How do you know?”
Nikki stared at him for a long moment before responding. “I just do. This world is full of mysteries; not all of them have to do with space aliens or demons from hell. There are many people on this planet just like me, who can do extraordinary things. Like you, Owen.”
“And Michael?” he asked, trying to veer her attention away from him, per Chris’s request.
“I think,” she said to Owen, “you and this Michael are brothers.”
Owen gasped. There was no way that was true.
“I don’t mean blood-related,” she added, noticing his expression, “but you two are related in some fashion. You’re two halves, but you used to be whole.”
“What does that mean?” Owen asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t think of any better words to describe it,” Nikki said, frustrated. “I’ve never come across anything like this before. Usually people just want answers to their mundane lives. Like that guy from earlier: I had to tell him the girl he’s in love with doesn’t feel the same way about him.”
“The girl doesn’t love him back?” Owen asked, distracted.
“Not important!” Chris snapped.
“You’re right,” said Nikki. “It’s not important. What is important is what Michael wants.”
“What does he want?” Owen asked.
“I don’t know,” she said, looking at Darlington again, “but I have a feeling it’s not good.”
“What makes you think that?” Chris asked.
“Because of the orb,” she replied.
Owen’s heart skipped a beat. “How do you know about that?”
“What orb?” Chris asked.
“You dream about it a lot, don’t you?” she asked Owen.
“Yes, but I don’t know what it is.”
“Well, I don’t either, but I can only guess that’s what this is all about. I can see your thoughts dwell on this orb, but you don’t know what it is or what it does. Your thoughts aren’t complete. This is really all deduction, of course. Any kid can do it.”