by Obert Skye
“And that’s why the ground is kind of tipping?”
“Yeah, and it’s going to get worse,” Leven predicted.
“Do you think Geth and Winter made it out?”
“I hope so,” Leven said. “They should be on their way to Oklahoma by now.”
“It’s a nice place,” Clover remembered. “I like those burgers from that one store.”
“Now all we need is to be there,” Leven said. “It’s weird, when I close my eyes I can see myself fighting there, but I have no idea how that future is going to come about. I’m here.”
“Well, you’re almost to the tree,” Clover tried.
“How do you know?”
“Look at the sky,” Clover pointed. “If you squint, you can almost see a center of it where everything radiates out. The oldest tree stands directly below that center.”
Leven looked carefully. “That’s not too bad. We should get going.”
“Fine with me,” Clover said. “I can sleep a bit more on your head.” He turned to the twelve nits, who were still discussing their options. “What about them?” he asked.
“Their future is theirs,” Leven said.
“You think they’ll keep to the stone?”
Leven nodded and sat up as the Ring of Plague began talking louder. Something was bothering them.
“Hey,” Glen said, “where’d you come from?”
Leven stood up and listened.
“Who do you think we are?” another Ring member said. “We used to be respected.”
Leven walked around the trees that divided their camps and up to the stone ledge. He could see a middle-aged man being taunted by the Ring of Plague. The man’s clothes were soaked.
“This is our space,” Glen insisted.
“I’m . . .” the man tried to say.
“You’re what?” Leven asked.
“I’m trying to figure out how I got here,” the man said angrily, turning to face Leven. “I was working my way down into the cavern when suddenly I was swirling though the air and slammed down here. So this is Foo? Or am I still in Reality?”
Leven looked closely at the stranger. He saw the dark hair and the strong chin and the eyes and knew exactly who he was talking to.
“And why were you working your way toward Foo?” Leven asked, his body shaking slightly.
“I had to see it,” the man insisted. “I’m somewhat of an authority on it.”
“Really?”
The man stood up and straightened his wet shirt and tie. He held onto his stomach as if it were a package.
“Listen,” he demanded, “I’ve got important business here. I insist you take me to someone in the know.”
“Someone in the know?” Leven questioned.
“Like your king, or your president.”
“We don’t have any of those,” Leven said.
“So who runs this place?”
“Well,” Leven said coolly, “dreams used to. But now that so many of ours have slipped into Reality, we’re in chaos.”
“And who are you?” the man asked snidely.
Leven looked at him and let his gold eyes shine. “I’m your son, Leven.”
If Leven was thinking something wonderful was going to happen, he was dead wrong. If he suspected that his father might open his arms and embrace him, he was misguided. And if he thought his dad was going to begin crying and beg for forgiveness—well, he must have been really surprised when Elton jumped forward and hit him as hard as he could beneath the jaw. Leven teetered and then righted himself. He rubbed his jaw and looked at his father.
“Nice to meet you, too.”
Elton Thumps just stood there flexing his fists and staring directly at Leven. His face was red and he looked like he could bite through metal. The Ring of Plague sat there watching in shock.
“What was that for?” Leven added. “I should be hitting you.”
Elton took another swing, his body shaking. Leven ducked and punched him right in the stomach. Elton screamed. He bent over and then spun around, kicking Leven in the side of the head. Leven shifted and missed the brunt of the blow. Elton spun again, and this time Leven intercepted his foot as it was coming around to kick the other side of his face. Leven squeezed Elton’s foot and pushed him back. Elton had to hop on his one foot trying desperately to pull his other one free.
“What are you doing?” Leven demanded.
“You’ve ruined my entire life,” Elton shouted, his body sick from the Dearth’s bite. “You killed Maria and left me for dead.”
“What?” Leven asked, confused. “I was a baby.”
“It makes no difference.”
“I think it does,” Leven said. “You abandoned me.”
“They took me from you,” Elton said. “They took me from you and made me spend the next fourteen years of my life trying to figure you out.”
“Well, then, attack them,” Leven said adamantly.
Elton twisted his captured foot and his shoe popped off, freeing him. He charged toward Leven and slammed into his waist. The two of them flew backwards and onto the ground. They rolled twenty feet before Leven’s head hit a square stone that stopped them.
Elton jumped up and kicked Leven’s rear, sending his face down into the dirt. He was about to kick Leven again, but suddenly he was flying. Glen had Elton by the shoulders and was carrying him off.
“What are you doing?” Elton screamed.
“You can’t kick a man when he’s down,” Glen insisted. He dropped Elton back onto the ground about thirty feet from Leven.
Leven jumped up and looked at his father. “This is crazy.”
Elton grabbed his stomach and ran toward Leven again. This time Leven yanked Elton’s wrist and bent it back under his chin, holding him in a headlock.
“We should talk this through,” Leven said. “Because this will—”
A good-sized stone smacked Leven on the side of his head. He let go of his father and stumbled backwards. Another rock hit him in the stomach.
“It’s those Plague guys,” Clover whispered to Leven. “One’s levitating and throwing rocks.”
“Well, could you stop him?” Leven asked, just as Elton was leaping on top of him.
Elton had grabbed Leven’s kilve and was now banging it on the right side of Leven.
“You killed Maria,” Elton screamed.
“She was my mother,” Leven yelled back, deflecting the blows the best he could. “You left me with horrible people.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Elton said stubbornly. “I was ripped from everything I had.”
Leven stood up as tall as he could and faced his father. He walked slowly backwards, trying to stay out of the reach of the kilve that Elton was now swinging.
Swish.
The kilve missed Leven and he stepped back farther.
“We can settle this,” Leven insisted. “We were both used. Why can’t you see that?”
“They didn’t want me,” Elton seethed. “Your grandfather didn’t think I was the one. I was defective and lacked what was needed. So they waited for you, the great Leven, while I was stuck in an office trying to make sense of something that is impossible to make sense of. Now where are you? Are you going to save the world, Leven?”
“Not if you kill me first.”
“Good,” Elton said, his brain mad. “Then maybe it’ll be me that saves them all.”
Elton stepped forward and swung the kilve as hard as he could. He would have hit Leven for sure except that Leven, stepping back, fell into a newly burrowed hole that one of the Ring members had just dug.
Elton swore.
Using his own new ability, Leven dug quickly under his father and popped up behind him. Elton turned just as Leven wrapped his arms around his father. He lifted him up, and Elton screamed and bucked.
“I didn’t ask to be picked,” Leven pointed out. “You’re my father. I’m your son.”
“Big deal,” Elton screamed. “We know nothing of each other.”
<
br /> “That could change, couldn’t it?”
Elton threw his head back, cracking his skull against Leven’s nose. Blood began to squirt all over as Leven hollered.
“This is ridiculous,” Leven said angrily. He opened his mouth and fire shot out, wrapping around Elton’s legs.
Elton jumped up and down screaming as lightning ripped through the sky, striking the ground directly in front of Leven.
Leven flew backwards and landed on his rear, tangled in ivy.
Clover materialized and began rubbing his shoulders. “It’s those guys. One threw the lightning,” Clover said, sounding like a coach giving his fighter instructions. “It’s the Ring of Plague.”
“Whose side are they on?” Leven asked.
“I think they’re just keeping the fight fair,” Clover said.
“I’m not going to fight my father,” Leven argued.
“That’s obvious,” Clover said, embarrassed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Leven said defensively.
“I mean, you’re the Want—and you’re getting your butt kicked.”
Leven looked at Clover. He then jumped up. He could feel all the changes and storms inside himself. He could feel the abilities he was growing into and begged his body to work right.
He had forgotten who he was.
Elton was standing and holding the kilve, his eyes bouncing back and forth. Leven marched toward him and then faded, only to reappear closer to him. Leven waved his hand, and the kilve flew out of Elton’s hands and into the bushes.
Leven stared at his father, his gold eyes sweeping up and down him like a scanner. One of the Ring members came from the side to interfere; Leven simply turned and lit the guy on fire.
Leven then returned his gaze to his father.
Elton backed up as Leven pushed him down with his eyes. His father was now sitting on a round stone, trying not to cower. Leven shoved up the sleeves on his shirt and growled slightly.
One of the Ring members came running in at super speed to knock Leven down. But Leven stepped back and extended his right leg. The Ring member tripped over the leg and went flying.
“Knock it off,” Leven yelled to any listening Ring member. “I don’t care if you think you’re making it fair. You’re making me mad!”
A couple of members mumbled something about just wanting to keep things even, but they all retreated into the background.
“Now,” Leven said to his father, “I suppose if you had asked me before this all happened if I had father issues, I would have said yes. I wanted nothing more than for you to be alive and to come save me. But you’re not a father, and there are others in my life who I look to now for love and wisdom. So I suppose you were unfinished business, but not any longer. You’re a man who was mistreated and who is too stubborn to ever get over it. Don’t look for me. Don’t send me cards on my birthday. And don’t forget that it was you who wanted it this way.”
Leven motioned to Glen. Glen walked over, looking like a child who had been busted.
“We were just making it interesting,” Glen said defensively.
“I don’t care about that,” Leven smiled. “Do you mind doing me a favor?”
“Not at all,” Glen said.
Leven gave Glen a few simple instructions, and then Glen wrapped his arms around Elton. Both Leven and Clover watched as Elton was lifted up and carried far, far away.
“So that’s your dad?” Clover asked.
“I guess,” Leven answered. “In title.”
“I don’t see much of him in you.”
“Thanks,” Leven said.
“Do you think that business is finished now?” Clover asked.
“Definitely,” Leven said, picking Clover up and placing him on his head.
“He wasn’t a very nice dad,” Clover observed.
Leven was quiet.
“Hey, if you need someone to play catch with, or toss around a ball, I’d be happy to help.”
“I’m a lucky guy,” Leven smiled.
“I’ll say,” Clover agreed.
Chapter Thirty-Four
You Don’t Know What You’ve Mocked Till It’s Gone
“Look over there,” Geth pointed.
Winter looked down out of the helicopter and saw herds of avalands busting through a small town far below. She and Geth could also see a bunch of firefighters spraying their hoses, trying to subdue a telt. And, of course, they saw cows and other livestock being pulled down beneath the soil by black strands of the Dearth.
“Where are we?” Winter yelled.
“Someplace over Texas,” Geth yelled back.
Geth, Winter, Phoebe, Ezra, Dennis, and Lilly were being flown by two pilots to Burnt Culvert, Oklahoma. One of the pilots, Captain Coin, had skin so white you could see his veins beneath it. The other was just plain white; he had been introduced as Captain Bubble. General Lank had arranged the ride but had stayed back at Blue Hole Lake to fight there. The helicopter was large and army green, with open sides. Everyone was strapped in tightly.
Lilly materialized in Winter’s lap behind the seat belt. “Is Texas a good place?”
“I think so,” Winter said. “But we’re not stopping there.”
Lilly disappeared.
Ezra was riding in Geth’s hand. He hopped forward to Captain Bubble’s shoulder and started bossing him around because he had been on a helicopter before and felt that made him an expert. After explaining to the pilots what he felt a certain button did, he pointed out the front window and asked, “What are those?”
The pilots looked out the window at the large, gray clouds that appeared to be racing across the sky toward them.
“Those clouds don’t look right,” Captain Coin said.
“Those aren’t clouds,” Geth hollered. “They’re hazen.”
Both pilots swore, apologized, and then told everyone to hang on. The hazen had been giving people grief all over the world. They had been messing with planes, tall buildings, kites, windmills, and even one blimp at a sporting event in Cairo. They looked like thick, gray clouds, but they had facial features and arms that became better defined when they were attacking. In Foo the hazen were sort of shy and reserved, but those here in Reality were mischievous and territorial.
“Maybe they haven’t seen us?” Dennis hoped.
Ezra slapped his own forehead. “That’s Dennis’s solution to everything: hope they never saw us.”
“Well, it’s possible they haven’t,” Geth said, trying to be kind to Dennis.
“Now that you put it that way,” Ezra agreed, “maybe they haven’t.”
Dennis and Winter stared at Ezra. It seemed pretty obvious that he was enamored with his human counterpart. Just a few hours ago, he had been vowing to find and kill him, but now he was kissing up to himself more than he was hating Geth.
The hazen shifted their course a tiny bit and began charging.
“They’ve seen us,” Phoebe said.
Ezra lifted his hands and waved, but he had no effect on the hazen.
“Let’s see if we can outrun them,” Captain Coin said with enthusiasm.
Captain Bubble pulled the helicopter to the side, racing at an angle away from the clouds. The hazen saw their movement and picked up speed.
“They’re coming faster,” Dennis said.
The helicopter pushed forward.
Winter heard it first. “Are they yelling?”
The speeding hazen were screaming as they drew closer. Their words were ominous and vulgar.
The wind in front of the hazen rocked the helicopter violently.
“Hold on,” Captain Bubble commanded.
The helicopter tilted sideways and blasted out across the sky. Large hazen swiped at the copter as it moved away.
More vulgarity.
Captain Coin pushed forward at full speed.
“You can’t outrun it,” Geth yelled.
“We’re gonna try,” Captain Coin yelled back.
As if on cue, one huge
hazen reached out and wrapped itself around one of the landing skids on the helicopter. The poor machine whined and screeched as it tried to move forward.
“How do you fight hazen?” Winter yelled to Geth.
“I have no idea,” he yelled back. “In Foo they behaved.”
The helicopter tilted to the side and its blades sliced right through the dark cloud. The hazen released its hold and the copter lurched forward, jerking its passengers around.
“Go,” Captain Coin yelled at his copilot. “Go!”
“I’m going!” he yelled back.
Phoebe looked out the side to witness the entire west sky turning dark and moving toward them. “There are thousands of them now.”
Dennis looked down at the robe he was wearing. “Can this robe do anything?”
Ezra looked embarrassed to know him. “Yeah, jump out and it will act as a parachute.”
“I was just trying—”
Thick, dark hazen crowded around the helicopter and pushed in the open sides. They batted around the passengers, pushing and pulling at them. Gray, swirling strings of cloud grabbed Winter’s and Phoebe’s hair and yanked hard.
Both women screamed with equal volume.
Geth tried to tear at the hazen, but they had no real substance. “Land this thing,” he yelled to the pilots.
“We’re trying to go down,” Captain Coin yelled back. “But they seem to be pushing us up from below.”
A thin string of black cloud reached in and pressed the release on Dennis’s seat belt. The belt flew open, and Dennis was thrust forward and halfway out of the helicopter door. Geth reached to grab him and got ahold of the robe.
“What are you doing?” Ezra yelled, as if Dennis had chosen to fall out.
Dennis was too busy trying to find something to hold onto to reply. Geth lost his grip, and Dennis slid all the way out. His face slammed against the edge of the copter and he fell onto the left landing skid. Dennis shifted and was now hanging by his arms as the helicopter whizzed back and forth.
“Do something!” Ezra commanded.
Everyone looked at the toothpick, wondering if he had a suggestion.
“He’s not completely worthless,” Ezra added.
Geth unbuckled his own belt and fell to the floor of the helicopter onto his stomach. He scooted to the edge and looked out and down at Dennis. Winter unbuckled and grabbed Geth’s legs.