by J. A. Pitts
I looked at Julie quickly. Holy crap. Was she losing her mind?
Bub blinked a few times, and then slunk off to the side of the house, his head down and his long arms dragging on the ground.
“Stop her,” I said to Julie and ran after Bub. He was around the corner before I could catch him. I raced around the side along the back, but he was gone. Damn it.
I walked past the dragon statue and the rest of the warriors. None of them had been moved, other than the one in the carport. I heard a screen door slam as I entered the carport from the backyard. Anezka and Julie must have gone inside the house.
I examined the warrior who had been holding the balloons. Bub had cut a big smile into the otherwise blank sheet of steel that made up the face. It was sweet, if somewhat destructive to the piece.
Still, not an excuse to fly off the handle like that. I wandered into the house, and Anezka was seated at the kitchen table drinking a beer. Julie was getting a glass of water out of the tap.
“Don’t start,” Anezka said when I walked in. “You’ve made yourself at home here, but you don’t get to defend him.”
I glanced at Julie, who just shrugged.
I pulled out a chair and sat opposite Anezka. “Did it occur to you that Bub did all this?” I pointed out the window to where ribbons were hanging down. On the counter was a sheet cake that read WELCOME HOME. “It was his idea for the cake.”
She watched me, her eyes hard while she took another long drink of beer. “What are you playing at?” she asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“You come in here, disrupt my life, steal from me, use my home like you own it.” She waved her hand in the air, stabbing at me with clinched fingers. “You have no right; this is my place. You are a snake, a lowlife…”
I sat there, dumbfounded. What the hell was going on with her? She was happy and laughing in the car. Sure she was upset about the statue, but this was nuts.
Julie pulled a chair out and sat down at the end of the table. “Grow the fuck up,” she said, slamming her water glass down on the table.
Anezka and I both jumped. Water sloshed from the glass and began to spread across the yellow Formica tabletop.
“Like I want to hear from a cripple,” Anezka spat.
Julie picked up the glass and tossed the water onto her.
I stood quickly, knocking over the chair and holding my hands in the air, like a little water would make me melt.
Anezka sat there, blinking, her mouth open like a landed fish.
Julie walked to the sink and began refilling her water. I stood there, watching Anezka, who didn’t move but just sat there while the water dripped off her face and hair.
Once Julie was seated again, she took a sip of the water and cleared her throat. “Frank Rodriguez speaks very highly of you,” she said as if she and Anezka hadn’t been cutting up for the last few hours. “But where I come from, we don’t treat our friends,” she motioned to me, “or our loved ones,” she pointed out to the carport, where Bub had reappeared, taking the ribbons off the statue—“like scoundrels and villains.”
“The little bastard…” Anezka growled, but stopped at the look Julie gave her.
“I don’t know who you have in your life,” Julie said matter-of-factly, “but that little guy out there has missed you as much as any friend or family member I’ve ever known.”
“He’s a menace,” she said. “Those statues are important.”
“I’ll fix it,” I said, leaning against the doorframe, my hands behind my back to bear the weight.
“That’s not the point,” she said. “Everything that’s gone wrong here is because of him.”
How easy that was, blame everything on the little demon dude. Yeah, he was odd, and could eat a truck, but he loved her, would kill for her, and she suddenly didn’t give a shit about him. What happened?
“You know he’d take a bullet for you, right?”
“Justin told me you were running wild here. Said I should watch my back.” She made a face and took a long pull on her beer. I wanted to smack her, shake her, knock some sense into her … I could feel the anger rising, the heat building, and realized it before I reacted. This place was a hot spot, and with her and Bub both hurt, doubly so. “You saw Justin?”
She laughed. “He called me, warned me about your meddling.”
What the fuck? “You know he’s screwing with you, right? Remember how he took your stuff, stole your designs?”
She stared at me a minute. “He said you’d be defensive, worried he’d see through your schemes.”
“I’ve never met the bastard,” I said, defensive. “But he was mixed up with Duchamp, dabbled in some nasty shit.”
“You’re just jealous of him,” she said, sounding more and more like a lunatic. “You don’t understand his genius.”
Julie leaned forward. “This is the young man who hurt you?”
Anezka turned her head slowly toward Julie and shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. He’s not important.”
“Look,” I said. “You’ve been through a lot in the last week or so. Maybe you’re just tired.”
“Yeah, maybe,” she said, pushing back from the table. She drained off the last of her beer and sat the bottle in the middle of the table. “But I need to get laid and drunk, not necessarily in that order.”
Julie raised her eyebrows. “Don’t look at me.”
Anezka looked at me, and I winced. Seriously?
“Drunk it is,” she said and turned to the fridge.
I crossed to the table and pushed the door closed before she could get it open. “I’m not sure beer and your meds go together too well.”
She looked at me: hurt, anger, fear, and lust warred on her face. “Kiss me,” she said. I stepped back, and she laughed, opening the fridge. She grabbed a beer and walked toward the back of the house.
Julie looked at me, stunned. “What the hell was that?”
I glanced around the room. “There’s something seriously fucked up about this place, and it seems to be getting worse.”
I knew what I had to do. I only knew one person with expertise in magic. I needed to call in the big guns. Best way to find out if Nidhogg was involved as well.
“I’ll make a call.”
Julie nodded at me, took her water, and walked into the living room.
Careful who you owe a favor to, huh? I hadn’t talked to Qindra since the night of the Flight Test meeting. She’d been very personable at the bar afterward.
I reached for my cell phone, cursed colorfully since I didn’t have it, damn it all. Who else had her number?
Jennifer … Flight Test had records for all board members. I walked to the back of the house. “Anezka, you okay?”
She came out of the bedroom, naked, and sat on the beanbag chair, drinking her beer.
“Lovely,” Julie said.
“I’ll be okay,” Anezka said. “As soon as the acid kicks in.”
And I didn’t think this could get any worse.
“Can I use your cell phone?” I asked Julie, specifically avoiding looking at Anezka.
“Please,” Julie agreed, fishing it out of her pocket. “Whoever you are calling, tell them to hurry.”
I walked out the front door and to the carport, calling to Bub. He and I had to come to an agreement before I could call Qindra. Some things needed to be kept secret; I just had that feeling.
Fifty-one
It took me three phone calls to track down Jennifer. Don’t know why I didn’t try Carl’s place first. Silly me. They were so much in the goofy stage of lurve, it was hard to listen to. I only got off the phone by promising to bring Katie by for dinner sometime soon. Sheesh.
I called Qindra’s number. She answered on the first ring and didn’t even pretend to be a normal person. “Hello, Sarah,” she said. “I see you are in need of something major.”
That wasn’t creepy, nope. Not one little bit. “Hello, Qindra. Yes, I need a favor.”
“That makes
two of us.”
Awesome. I couldn’t imagine a favor I could do for her. “Could I bother you to take a road trip?”
“Yes, well.” She paused. “How far out?”
“Chumstick, out Highway 2, out past Leavenworth.”
There was some movement on the other end, and I thought I heard glassware clinking. Crystals, maybe?
“I need to show you something anyway,” she said. “Easy enough for me to come to you. Can you be more specific about exactly where you are?”
I told her, and we wrapped up. I had the strangest idea that she was put out that she didn’t know where I was. Was she tracking me, somehow?
Next I needed to let Bub in on the game plan. I spent the next few minutes talking him off the roof of the house. “She’s sick,” I told him, “but I’ve called in some help.”
He looked at me, alarmed. “If she is broken, who did you call?”
Another thing I hadn’t considered. Who’d he know?
“Someone who can deal with magic and other odd things.”
He shook his head from side to side. “No,” he said, wringing his hands. “No, no, no…” He began pacing back and forth across the carport. “You cannot bring them here.”
“Who do you think I mean?”
“Her…” he said, his voice quavering. “She who must be obeyed.”
“Who?”
“The ancient one?” he asked, confused. “The Corpse Gnawer?”
Nidhogg … ah. Okay, he’s heard of her.
“No, not her.”
He relaxed visibly, slumping against the warrior statue, sliding to the ground, nearly deflating.
“But,” I said, causing him to look up. “I called one of her people.”
“The Eyes?”
I shook my head.
“Mouth?” He was panicked.
I nodded. Qindra had mentioned being the mouth of Nidhogg when we first met. I took it to mean she was her spokesmodel—the talking-head portion of the team. Nidhogg probably didn’t get out much these days.
“She is hard, that one,” he said. He turned once on the spot, sniffing the air. “I should not be here.”
Before I could stop him, he vanished. I didn’t know where he went in those moments, but it was damn unsettling.
I continued taking down streamers and crepe paper. It would be a mess once it started raining again, and for this area, that could be any second now. I shivered as a wind kicked up. It was definitely growing colder. May not be rain too much longer. This far into the mountains it would be snow, and likely lots of it.
I could see the appeal of the isolated life here, but it didn’t seem to be serving Anezka very well these days, all this alone time. Maybe it was time for her to move into town. Not that she’d listen to me.
Qindra pulled onto the shoulder across from the house, looked at her map, and got out of her little Miata. She’d been close, I think. Probably in Leavenworth when she’d answered the phone. So, she was out looking for me. This just kept getting more interesting.
As she climbed out of her car, it struck me as a little creepy that she drove the same car as Katie. She looked around, appeared bewildered. I called to her, and she spun around, searching for my voice, but couldn’t see me just across the road. Odd.
I dropped the last bunch of pink and white paper into the large burn barrel and crossed the yard. Once I was into the street, she spun in my direction, like she could sense me.
“Sarah?” she asked, a little shock and annoyance in her voice.
“Hey, Qindra.” I waved, crossing the distance to her, and held out my hand.
She looked relieved as she took my hand. Her grip was firm enough, but her hands were soft. She did no physical labor, that’s for sure. Oh, I had no doubt about her powers.
“What the hell’s going on around here?” she asked.
I think she was not scared exactly but disconcerted, shaken.
“Part of why I called you,” I said, stepping back and putting my hands in my pockets. I could feel the amulet there, tucked in behind my wallet in my front left pocket. I had my keys in the right, along with my loose money. What has it gots in its pocketsses…? I laughed. This place definitely made me feel strange.
We stood at the car, and I explained a few of the recent events. I kept Bub out of it, but she’d probably pick up his taint. Didn’t want to prejudice her on this. Let her come to her discoveries as she could.
Besides, once I showed her the carvings, she’d pick up on the aura of bat-shit crazy.
She listened intently. “Does this have anything to do with what happened in the spring?”
I shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of, why? You think this is dragon business?”
She jerked her head around to stare at me, choosing her next words carefully. “This place is heavy with magic, protective charms, and…,” she paused, touching her left temple, “… other things.”
Her nails were not all painted like the time I’d seen her in the past. They were plain, shiny with a clear coat, but no magic runes adorned the nails. She was not prepared for battle or anything. Well, as far as I could tell. I knew so little about her.
“How’d you get here so fast?” I asked.
“I was shopping in Leavenworth,” she said, smiling. “Woke up this morning jonesing for one of those fantastic gingerbread cakes and a set of crystal glasses.”
I gave her my best “Spock is confused” look. “Seriously?”
She shrugged. “I have a life.”
“Now, for this place…” She drew a long wand out of her jacket and wove an intricate rune in the air. It blossomed in front of her, and I stepped beside her to see through it. It was like the magic mirror on Romper Room. Who do I see in my magic mirror? She glanced at me, her eyes questioning, but she did not stop me from pressing my shoulder against hers to get a better view.
The rune expanded into a sphere about three feet across. It was like looking through a huge magnifying glass, only this one didn’t make things bigger, just clearer.
“There is some distinctly distasteful power at work here,” she said.
The buildings were there, just as you’d expect, but there was a red and black haze over everything. The carport was exceptionally bad, but the back corner of the house was freaky nightmareland. It was horrible, nauseating. There was a palpable evil there, something oozing and hungry, and there was a tendril drawn taut from the house to … I looked down … my midsection. I took a step back, and the tendril grew thinner but did not break. I looked back to the house, to the churning miasma of bruises and blood—the steady pulse that undulated against the gathering storm clouds. I felt a hitch in my stomach as the coffee I’d had earlier soured. I had to look away and concentrate real hard not to vomit. Holy shit.
“That what you asked me out here for?”
“Oh, god.” A final glance through the rune set me off. I bent over, hands on my knees, and tried to breathe. My brain couldn’t really describe what I saw. It was more a feeling, or a smell, but it was definitely nasty. Death, decay, evil. Grade-A evil, dude. Saliva flooded my mouth, and I knew what was next.
I stepped away from her and fell to my knees vomiting. My vision wavered, and I closed my eyes. My stomach heaved, and I heard the splatter of sick on concrete. I heaved a couple of times. There was nothing much in there beyond coffee, but I was thinking about tossing out a spleen. It hurt, the muscles spasming and my throat burning. For a second, I thought I would drown in it.
Then I felt Qindra’s touch, and a coolness washed through me.
“You have been infected,” she said. “This place is like a virus, a living thing looking to spread its hold onto anyone who is exposed.”
When I raised my head again, the house looked normal, but I was terrified. “My friends are in there.”
“They shouldn’t be,” she said matter-of-factly. “We should see what we can do to fix this.”
She strode across the road, stopped briefly at the barrier, and said a few w
ords, swishing her wand around like she was clearing away smoke. A gong sounded in my head, and a great moan reverberated from the house.
“Did you hear that?” I asked, but the look on her face told me she had.
The next moment, Julie slammed open the front door and hobbled out, looking over her shoulder at the house. “She’s losing it,” she called. “Better get in here.”
The barrier was gone. We ran toward the house, and Anezka came out, covered in blood, screaming like a banshee and brandishing a large knife. Julie saw her at the last moment and dove sideways, swinging her cane up to block the knife as Anezka flung herself at her.
“Not prepared for this,” Qindra said, looking over at me. “I’m not equipped.”
Got it, no magic fingernails, nothing to stop a screaming psycho. Fuck.
I launched myself at Anezka, catching her in a full-body tackle and carrying both of us into a hedge. She was naked and bleeding; cuts crisscrossed her torso. Julie scrambled out of the way.
Anezka hadn’t dropped the knife. I remembered enough of my martial-arts training to know I was screwed. I tried to block her knife hand, but she jerked back at the last second. I missed her wrist. The blade sliced the side of my hand, sending a flare of pain up my arm—hurt like hell.
I brought my knee up, catching Anezka in the breadbasket. She rolled to the side, swinging the knife. I saw it in slow motion. The blade was going to catch me in the thigh: I was trying to move, but a shrub tangled me.
Julie brought her cane down on Anezka’s arm out of nowhere. Anezka screamed and dropped the knife. Julie swung the cane a second time and clocked Anezka in the side of the head, sending her back onto the lawn, stunned if not unconscious.
“Nobody move,” Qindra called, and I looked up in time to see Bub. He’d appeared out of nowhere. He looked from me to Qindra, and finally to Anezka.
“Sorry,” he mouthed. He lunged forward and grabbed Anezka. I tried to reach her, grab her by the leg if nothing else, but I was too late. Bub wrapped her in his thin, scaly arms and vanished, carrying her away with him.
Didn’t see that coming.