Chapter Thirty-One - Seeing the Problem
That evening they went back into the office and Hugo worked on the delivery system for the new inhibitor. It was a makeshift air pistol that could produce enough pressure to send the small, inhibitor-releasing dart into an armored car. It was hard to say how much force would be necessary, since they knew very little about Vitaly’s expanded abilities, but the pistol would be enough to puncture marble, so Hugo hoped that was good enough.
He was worried about Thoth. If Vitaly had gone after Maggie and Crysta, then the time traveler couldn’t be far behind. But what could he do about it? If he moved Thoth before Vitaly showed up, the precog would likely have seen that already. He would need to move Thoth right when Vitaly showed up, which seemed impossible if even Thoth didn’t have enough time to do anything before Vitaly had a hold of him. His only options seemed to be to find the precog, or to be there before it happened and hope Vitaly didn’t go after both of them at the same time. The former seemed the less deadly option, but he didn’t know how much time he had, or even where to look. Just thinking about it was giving him a headache. He would just have to go see Thoth. The decision seemed to relieve the pain in his head.
Hugo glanced at Crysta, smiling apologetically, “I’m going to go visit Thoth for a moment. I’ll be right back.” She frowned at him. He didn’t want her to worry, but he’d just discuss his ideas briefly with Thoth, and then they could decide together what to do.
“Ok…” She replied warily.
He gave her a light kiss on the forehead, created the portal, and then stepped through. Hugo glanced at his watch. He’d time it; he wouldn’t be gone for more than five minutes.
Thoth looked up at him from a bench, setting down the book he was reading, before standing to greet him, “Hugo, what’s wrong?”
“I think Vitaly will be coming after you soon. I want to-” Hugo froze as the large blue monster appeared behind Thoth. Even as he screamed the man’s name, Vitaly was wrapping a tentacle around his neck. He lifted Thoth off the ground, and then, as Hugo was opening a portal, Vitaly suddenly appeared in front of him, wrapping his fingers around his neck. The portal dissipated as Hugo choked. He clawed at the arm that was lifting him into the air, but he wasn’t even making a dent in the surface of the cool, textured skin. Vitaly was smiling at them both with yellowed, jagged teeth.
Then everything was dark. Hugo opened his eyes again. He was on the floor of the lab. Crysta had propped him up, her arms wrapped around him. She was crying. “Crysta?” He said groggily.
She jerked, staring down at him, “Hugo!” Her eyes brightened and the tears stopped.
“How long have I been out?” He felt a little disoriented and tired as he slowly drew himself into a sitting position. Crysta didn’t let go.
“I-I don’t know. Five minutes maybe? I should have taken you to the infirmary, but I…”
“It’s ok, I think I’m fine now. Sorry to freak you out.”
Crysta let go of him to wipe her eyes. “I can’t fix it,” she finally said in a small voice.
“I’m sorry,” Hugo returned quietly.
Crysta gave her head a slight shake, her gaze falling to the hand she was slipping into his. He followed her gaze and saw what time it was.
They had 6 seconds. “Crap!” Hugo jerked them both into a standing position, creating the portal as he did. Thoth looked up at them, slowly setting his book down. “Vitaly’s going to be here in-” Hugo dropped the rest of the sentence because suddenly the three of them were on a street in Cairo. He blinked several times, looking up at Thoth.
The man just had a small smile. “Sorry. I stopped time because you mentioned Vitaly and looked panicked, which turned out to be a good thing because he’d just appeared behind me. So I moved us all here.” Thoth smiled, “I’d like to thank you.”
“Uh, it’s alright,” Hugo fidgeted, then frowned, “Do you think Vitaly will come after you again?”
Thoth continued to smile, “I’m not sure, he’s never needed to before, but I’ve been observing, and he has a lot on his plate right now.”
Hugo chewed on his lip, “Yeah, but you could be a huge threat to him, I don’t think he’s going to give up. He came personally.”
Thoth sighed, “Yes, I imagine it would be wise to stay somewhere else for now.”
Hugo made a thoughtful noise, staring upwards at the sky as he considered their options, “Oh! See if Maggie will let you stay with her until this is over. I won’t have to worry about Patrick coming back for her, and you’ll have someone else to warn you if Vitaly shows up.”
Thoth’s cheeks reddened at that, “I don’t think…”
Hugo nodded, “Yeah, she might say no, but just ask.” Crysta giggled before Thoth worked up the courage to stutter a response. Hugo squeezed her hand, turning towards her slightly, “And this is Dr. McFadden. I don’t know if you’ve ever met her before.”
Thoth bowed slightly, “It’s a pleasure, Doctor.”
Crysta nodded, smiling, “Likewise.”
Hugo shifted, looking off to the side, “Uh…”
“You’d like to check to see if Vitaly’s going to come after me again, right?” Thoth was still smiling, his tone gentle, “Go ahead.” He held out his hand to Hugo. Hugo shifted, slightly embarrassed that his intentions were so clear, but then he took Thoth’s hand. The man was wearing a dark blue suit with a Forget-me-not pinned to the breast pocket. But the thing that really drew Hugo’s attention was the fact that the suit jacket was being briskly pushed off of him by Maggie, who was wearing a shimmery pink dress, as they kissed, backing into a dark bedroom.
Hugo quickly dropped Thoth’s hand, both of them blushing, “Uh….yeah. Uh…sorry, that was inappropriate. But…um…” Hugo let out a small laugh, “I guess that answers my question.”
Crysta looked between them, her eyebrows drawn together as she tried to figure out what they’d seen, but was too polite to come out and ask.
Thoth looked slightly bewildered, “That certainly answers one question. But…” He coughed.
Crysta just started laughing.
The Sound of Wind Page 112