“All right. Time for my act,” Vikki laughed. Talk about me taking this well. For a girl about to confront a pair of armed attackers, she was surprisingly calm. Maybe even excited.
“I wouldn’t move, if I were you,” Vikki announced as she revealed herself. Harris and Hanabell looked to her as she strutted into the bar.
“And you are?” Harris asked with teeth clenched as he swatted a snake away.
“Not very important,” she grinned. “I wouldn’t do that by the way. Hit them, I mean. Those tattoos are perfectly modeled after the Black Mamba, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.” She traced the edge of a table with her fingers. “Highly aggressive, deadly and precise, they may strike up to twelve times in a row, every one of them poisonous. They house a fast acting neurotoxin capable of killing twenty full grown men, delivering about a hundred and twenty milligrams of venom per bite resulting in death in as long as three hours to as short as fifteen minutes.”
“Harris!” Hanabell whimpered.
“She’s bluffing, she’s a damned Illusionist!”
“Do they feel like illusions to you? If you’re so sure, let one bite you. They’re very eager to try this theory of yours.” She shrugged and looked from Harris over to the terrified woman. “However if you’re not a fan of abdominal pain, tunnel vision, severe confusion, pallor, nephrotoxicity, paralysis, convulsions and or death, I’d keep a little bit stiller than that.”
Harris didn’t feel that brave, apparently.
Jaspit walked over to Hanabell, taking her gun. “Good work, Vikki.”
“Now,” Albert said as he walked over to the Spanish woman. He grabbed her by the throat forcefully. I cringed at the anger pouring from his being.
“You made a mistake coming in here. Sending in one Joined pair to take me on, I may not be bound but you shouldn’t make a habit of underestimating my family.”
His grip tightened and the woman gagged.
Harris was fuming. “Release her or I’ll-”
One of Vikki’s snakes lurched forward and buried its head into Harris’ mouth. He let out a muffled scream. I don’t think it was biting him. I think Vikki just wanted to shut him up.
“Albert, don’t. She could be useful.” Jaspit tried to keep Albert from doing much harm.
“I won’t. I’m not a monster, honey. I just need your help,” he mocked her before releasing her neck and walking away. She gasped for breath.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asked him.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“We can’t Albert. Killing her will just raise flags all over this bar. It’s the last safe place for us, it can’t be compromised.” Jaspit sounded as worried as Hanabell did.
“Well then keep them hostage.”
“Where? Here? Same issue, this bar is too important.”
“So what do we do with them?” Vikki asked. “I mean we can’t let them go, can’t kill them, can’t keep them hostage. What do you want to do, ship them to Africa?”
“Well now that you say it.”
“I was kidding Al.”
“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea,” Albert said as he cracked his neck.
Jaspit sighed and rubbed his head. “I guess there’s really no choice. Olivander’s been gone for months, I can’t-”
“Wait,” Vikki stopped him. “You knew Olivander was dead?”
“Now’s not the time, Vikki,” he replied sternly. “If we don’t want to let them go, I say we just call in a favor from the Misfits.”
Albert raised his eyebrow. “You think your old family’s going to be willing to help? I mean you haven’t talked to them in years.”
“They’d better after all the shitty situations I’ve gotten them out of.” Jaspit crossed his arms. “You get your things and… go. Get somewhere safe. These two will be fine here until I have them picked up.”
“You want me to leave you two here alone?”
“No offense Al but in your state, what could you really do?”
He mulled that thought over. “Yeah you’re right.”
“Better to get your situation squared away before you come in barrels blazing.” Vikki smiled. “We’ll be fine here, I promise.”
Albert smiled at both of them. “Thank you.”
I walked away from the crack in the door and sighed in relief. I made a dash for the kitchen. I didn’t know how we were going to get out of here without the two people seeing. But as soon as I came into the kitchen I bumped into Albert.
“Holy shit, you scared me.”
He smiled warmly. “There you are! I’ve got so many bones to pick with you it’s not even remotely amusing. But we have to go.”
“Jaspit and Vikki will be all right?”
“She’s got a swarm of Mambas bear hugging her victims. She’s fine.” He nodded to another door. “There’s a back way. Come on.”
I decided he was right. He took my hand in his and led me through the door and into the back lot. We walked around to the Prius as discreetly as possible and left the Freak Among Freaks faster than I’ve ever seen anyone drive before in my life.
CHAPTER 13: NEVER MIND, NEVER FIND
“Well that didn’t go as planned,” Albert said as we made our way back from the Freak Among Freaks. The two of us were still on edge, looking every which way for any Joined Pairs who might come after us.
“Understatement of the year.”
Albert shook his head. “We’ve got to go on the offensive here at some point.”
“How?” I asked. “I mean we don’t know who they are or where to find these people. For all we know they could be part of some Twined grand council bent on ruling the world.”
All he did was give me a strange expression.
“What, there’s nothing like that?”
“No. You watch way too many movies.”
I shrugged as I watched the trees along Dorsey Road pass us by. “I just wish we had something to go on. I mean our Joining, Jessica’s plans, we get one answer and ten questions jump our asses.”
A few minutes passed by of silence while my mind wandered. The quiet was a nice vacation for my many thoughts. Just thoughts about how I got into this mess, being chased by Twined crazies I mean.
“You’re scared,” he said to me in a soft realization.
I just looked at him at first. But I realized he was right. “Yeah.” I went to fidget with my necklace, but I touched bare skin.
“Oh shit.”
“What?”
“I left my necklace with Jaspit back at the bar.”
“Well maybe that’s for the best,” he said. “He’ll be able to figure out if the problem lies with us or the Marker to be.”
I sighed. “Yeah, if he’s not too busy dealing with the mess we left him with.”
“You know… I can’t help but wonder if this would all be happening to you if I hadn’t come along and complicated things,” he told me.
“No… these things wouldn’t be happening because if you hadn’t come along I’d be dead. Or carried off to God knows where.”
He tried to hide a smile. But I could feel the relief coming from him.
“So… you don’t blame me for all of this?” he asked.
I had to be truthful. “I mean… at first I did. But then again I wasn’t exactly Twined tolerant at the start. And I can’t ignore how many times you’ve saved my sorry ass, so I mean I owe you something awful.” I suddenly felt a pang of guilt erupt inside me. “Please don’t think everything is your fault just because I said that in the beginning. I was stupid and angry; I didn’t mean it, I just…” I trailed off as my train of thought hit a brick wall and exploded into flames. I was mentally exhausted from all this bullshit happening day after day after day. So much so that I didn’t ex
actly know where I was going with that thought. I was a little embarrassed. Well that is until the sensation of Albert’s hand on mine snapped me out of my daze. I looked down seeing his fingers touching my palm and I instantly got shivers.
“We’ll figure this out somehow. Don’t know how yet, I admit, but we’ll figure it out.”
I smiled at him. I could tell he was being as sincere as possible. It was actually very comforting to hear. There weren’t many times nowadays where I had a shelter against the storm, and this shit was a hurricane. But I began to realize that the person who had my back the most, the only person who could, was Albert.
“You’re right,” I said, spirits slightly renewed. “And then we’ll have a toast on the day we never have to see that deranged cat bitch or any of her henchmen again.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said. “We just need to figure out a game plan. After Jaspit and Vikki get the Misfits to hold those two attackers from earlier, our first step will be finding the solution to our Joining problem. Once we’re fully equipped to take on any Joined Pairs, we’ll work with Gray to find out what Jessica wants and where she is.” His eyes flared with a sort of angry excitement. “Then we make her regret.”
CHAPTER 14: WHAT YOU MUST, MARKER DUST
I was alone, again, in a dark room. I felt the air turn cold around me like I was just thrown into a bank of snow. I couldn’t feel anything, but I saw my breath brought to life in front of me by the chilling temperatures. I started making my way through the darkness until I saw a pair of tiny lights in front of me. As I peered closer to see what they were, a huge jaguar-looking animal glided towards me. I knew who it was. I knew it was a Shadow Lynx. And when I opened my mouth to scream-
I woke up.
Like a rake that was just stepped on I hurled my body forward as my lungs refused to breathe, causing me to gasp for air in the darkness of my room. I looked around me in a panic. Still here, still in my room. That was a plus. Disoriented, I heard a song playing around me. I figured out it was my ringtone, so I fished in my sheets for my cell and answered it once I found it. It was Gray’s number.
“Hello?” I said groggily.
“Avalin?” Albert’s voice rang clear. “I’m coming to pick you up. Be ready.”
“Wait why?” I rubbed my eyeball. “Did Jaspit fix our Joining?”
“No. It’s about the illusionist.”
“The one we captured?” I asked.
Albert sighed. “Not anymore. He got away.”
****
Albert picked me up about a half hour later, which would make his time of arrival about one thirty in the morning. So I had to leave discreetly to avoid waking up my dad and brother. When I got in the car, Albert filled me in on the details.
“He let himself out.”
“What do you mean he let himself out? Gray said she had moved him from the nurse’s office to her home. How did he get away?”
Al was obviously frustrated. He was in a sleeveless t-shirt and jeans, looking as if he’d just rolled out of bed. That’s probably exactly what had happened.
“I don’t know, damn it. Gray took him back to her house after we left to go see Jaspit yesterday. She went in last night to interrogate him and suddenly he was gone, and he took his Marker with him.”
This was the worst thing that could possibly happen. “He was our only chance on learning anything about Jessica or her plans.”
“I know. And now he’s gone without a trace. Gray thinks he used an illusion to get away.” He shrugged. “They’re such tricky little bastards, Illusionists. Hell all he had to do was make Gray believe she locked the door or something. Then he could just walk right out of her house and straight to freedom!”
“We have to find him. Teach me to Track Twined, I’ll find him!”
“Gray’s out with Kisuke and Mayuki Tracking him now. She told me to keep you safe. Until we’re Joined it’s too dangerous to go prowling the state looking for him. But I don’t know how much luck she’ll have. He’s probably out of range by now.” He looked at me, seeing how decimated I was by this news. “Don’t give up, Avalin. We still have options.”
And then it hit me. “The two people that attacked Jaspit’s bar! We still have them!”
Albert smiled. “You read my mind, Avalin.”
He explained to me that the people holding Harris and Hanabell captive were the Misfits, a famous network of Twined and Jaspit’s former family. But apparently a Twined family was different than a human’s. Basically it was more akin to a clan made up of Twined who were alone but didn’t wish to be. Twined who feel they needed to stick together form these families to look out for one another. Sometimes they can grow into the hundreds.
“They’re kind of like that famous human group. You know the one from Italy.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “The mafia?”
“Yeah. The Twined become part of a family and they protect that family with everything they have. They become loyal.”
“Which can lead to problems between rival families I bet?”
“That’s why Jaspit, Vikki and I try to stay peaceful… as much as we can.”
So we drove down to the Freak Among Freaks. It seemed Albert had already called Jaspit because he and Vikki were waiting for us at the bar’s entrance when we pulled up.
“Jaspit, are they still contained?” Albert asked.
Jaspit, dressed in what seemed to be his pajamas, nodded. “The Misfits are holding them inside.”
“I have to admit, I didn’t think they’d help.” Al didn’t seem to be too thrilled about that.
“They were more interested in this situation than I thought they would be. It wasn’t hard to get them to involve themselves.”
Albert grinned a bitter grin. “Because they make unstable situations so much easier.”
“Weigh the trouble of dealing with the Misfits against the potential knowledge you’ll get from these assassins,” Jaspit said as the four of us entered the bar. “I think this time they’ll actually come in handy.”
The bar was cleared of tables and chairs save the two that the captives were sitting in. The assassins Harris and Hanabell were both tied and gagged in the middle of the floor. Standing around them were three people that I didn’t recognize but assumed to be the Misfits, because their looks certainly matched that title.
One was a short and thin Asian woman, seemingly middle aged. Sporting a turtleneck, black hair and a bowl cut, she seemed relatively harmless. However her eyes had a cold and serious spark to them, hidden behind her thick glasses. The second mystery guest was a large muscular man who wore a black sleeveless shirt and leather pants. He was huge, I mean huge. Like six something and built like a brick shithouse. He had black tattoos all over his face. The last was a tall and lanky fellow. He had glasses and black hair pulled into a ponytail. He wore a business suit, a white one, and he held a golden cane in his hand. If he reminded me of anything it was that Swiper fox from Dora the Explorer. He just had this snide look about him, one that made me incredibly nervous.
All three of these people were freakier than anything, but it was that last guy who bothered me the most.
They all looked over at us as we entered the bar. Jaspit introduced us. “Lovelock, you remember Albert?”
The man in the white suit gave off a horrible grin. “Ah, Mr. Huntington. Still causing trouble for the Twined community I see? My how you cease to amaze, hmm?”
Albert didn’t say anything. But if looks could kill.
“Avalin, this is Randall Lovelock. He’s the head of my family and he owns Silent Night Services, a Twined representational company. Behind him are Misfit family members Orton and Xiang. Lovelock, this is Avalin Marsh. She’s Albert’s partner to be… and the human that these two assailants are after.”
I nodded at the Misfits briskly. They really didn’t seem like th
e friendliest people in the world. Even Randall Lovelock’s smile looked incredibly fake. But they were here to help and that’s all I needed… and wanted.
“Ah, the lovely Ms. Marsh, daughter to the famous Abigail Marsh. Or should I say Abigail Sweeney?” he chuckled in a high pitched voice.
“Just Avalin,” I replied.
“All right then ‘just Avalin’,” he said as he took his cane and smacked the end of it on the wooden floor. “It seems that you’ve gotten yourself mixed up in some Twined politics, hmm? Lucky for you our dear old comrade Jaspit has done more than his share for the Misfit family. You’ll need our help. A lot of nasty baddies are after you it seems,” he semi mocked me with a puckered lip.
“This seems more like assassination and abduction.”
He shrugged. “That is Twined politics.”
“Well then Twined politics kind of blows.”
The suited man smiled at me. I felt Albert’s emotions rise when he did.
Lovelock circled around Hanabell and Harris with a certain grace reserved for the clinically insane. He tapped his cane like a metronome in perfect rhythm. The two captives looked nervously at him as he tapped and walked, tapped and walked. I glanced around at Jaspit, Albert and Vikki. All of them seemed extremely on edge. That made me just as uneasy.
“Now, sweet thing…” Lovelock said as he took the gag out of Hanabell’s mouth. “You may or may not be familiar with me, Randall Lovelock, the wealthiest Twined philanthropist in all the states. But just in case you’re unfamiliar, let me let you know now how much of a mistake it is to get on my bad side, am I clear peach?”
Hanabell grinned. “You are wasting your breath and your manpower. Our leader will get what she wants one way or another. It is only a matter of time.”
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