by MJ Fletcher
Anger surged through me and it took tremendous restraint not knock her teeth out where she stood.
“Back off now or you’ll regret it,” I seethed, my hand clenching around my doorknob tightly.
“Your cousin isn’t here to protect you this time,” she spat and I heard the door of Mike’s Tavern slam as more Guilders walked out and stood ready to fight. Things were going badly very quickly.
“You think I need my cousin to take care of a bug like you, Guilder?” There I go shooting my mouth off and making the situation worse.
“Take off the jacket,” she yelled and some of the others joined in mumbling about me wearing Nightshade’s leather.
I grinned and looked her straight in the eye. “Never.”
She stepped forward, her hand snaking out and grabbing the cuff of the jacket. I twisted my hand around forcing her to lose her grip and grabbed her wrist. I turned to the side; thrust my leg out giving her a hard kick in the gut that lifted her off the ground. She gurgled like a fountain spigot, moaned, and stumbled backward. I stood with my fists clenched ready for an attack, but the stunned looks on the faces of those around me held more fright than fight.
“Who’s next?” I shouted.
“You bitch.”
My would-be assailant had regained her footing, though not her senses, and had her hand on her skeleton key ready to activate her powers.
“Don’t do it,” I warned. But she didn’t listen, she flicked her hand and I felt the flow of energy as the key began to glow and tendrils of energy dripped off it.
“You don’t deserve to wear his jacket.”
The energy leaped from her key forming a long curved blade that she spun around as if showing off her skills. It was obvious that she was well-practiced, but one thing I’ve learned is that practice and a genuine fight are two totally different things.
“Get her, Darla!” One of the bystanders shouted and with a quick cursory look around I saw that the crowd had grown considerably larger. I needed to end this and get out of Dodge quickly.
“Not so tough now, huh?” Darla smirked.
The fool took my brief hesitation to evaluate my options for the next best tactical maneuver as a sign of weakness. She was in for quite a surprise.
“Surrender the jacket and I won’t have to hurt you,” she sneered and the crowd laughed and hollered their approval.
Surrender. Wrong word to use on me. I didn’t bother to respond. I twisted my wrist and my azure energy whip shot out from my doorknob. I spun it up over my head in an arc and brought it down towards her face. Darla raised her blade just in time to deflect the hit, the force of the blow forcing her to step back. I used it to my advantage rushing forward while cracking the whip back and forth on either side of her, forcing her to retreat as she attempted to defend against each hit. Her blade matched my strikes at first deflecting them but I didn’t let up the assault and soon her strength weakened and started to dissolve.
I brought the tail of the whip down in a twisting arc and shattered the energy of her blade into shards of shimmering red light that disappeared like flames in the wind. Darla stood in front of me trembling as I floated my whip around me in circles ready to strike again.
“Please don’t,” she begged.
I realized at that moment just how much she feared me, though I didn’t have much time to think about it. The surge of energy came barreling at me from the right. It seemed that some of Darla’s friends decided it was time to intervene. I twisted just in time deflecting the blast with my whip. I turned to see a boy not much younger than myself, and certainly not skillful, attempting to use his key to attack me with blasts of portal energy. They weren’t very powerful but they were sufficient to do damage and I was already angry and annoyed by this whole scene. This just tipped me over the edge.
I screamed and cracked my whip; the end snaked out and cracked his hand forcing him to drop his key. I spun sensing more energy building behind me and wasn’t surprised to see more Guilders retrieving their keys to attack me. My anger took over flowing through me like molten lava growing ever stronger and ready to wipe out anything in its path. My energy whip crackled with electricity and I raised it up and brought it down again and again shattering a section of the street.
“I’m ready whenever you are,” I shouted at them, portal energy crackled around me, waves of it flowing off in all directions.
“Stop this right now!” An authoritative voice cut through the rumbling crowd and I watched a man push past everyone to stand in front of me.
I recognized him immediately, his caramel skin catching the shimmering blue of my energy whip and giving him a ghostly appearance. It was DeAndré’ Morgan the man who had tracked me the other night.
“They started it,” I said with a deadly calm.
“It seems you’ve finished it, now stand down,” he insisted, his energy bubbling just under the surface and from the feel of it and recalling the other night, he was much more powerful than any of these Guilders.
Still I wasn’t about to take orders from him. “You don’t tell me what to do.”
“It would appear that few people do, but I don’t think you’re looking to start a war... now power down.” He took a step toward me and I lifted my arm readying the whip to defend myself.
“Stop it!” Jess pushed through the crowd and moved past Morgan to stand in front of me. “Chloe, you need to stop.”
“They started this, Cuz, I’m ending it.”
“It doesn’t matter who started what, you need to stop.”
“Why? Why the hell should I?” I screamed, my anger finally erupting and completely consuming me.
“Because,” Jess said softly, “I’m asking you to, please.”
I could see myself reflected in her eyes. I glowed a startling blue and lines of pure energy streaked out of the corners of my eyes. I looked like some avenging angel bent on destroying everything in my path and it scared the hell out of me.
My shoulders sagged as energy drained away like a wave being drawn back out to sea. A deep sigh rushed out of me and Jess’s shoulder slid under my arm to keep me from collapsing. If someone attacked me now, I doubted that I could defend myself, though it didn’t mean I wouldn’t try. I’d never go down without a fight.
“Traitor!” The shout shocked me and I looked up to see Darla surrounded by the other Guilders. They weren’t staring at me; they were staring accusingly at Jess. I glanced at my cousin, her mouth drawn in a tight line and her jaw clenched.
“You’re a disgrace to the Guild,” another screamed.
“You’d best get her out of here.” Morgan ushered us away as he took up a position between us and the ever growing crowd that shouted increasingly nasty and threatening remarks at my cousin. We moved down to the next block and Jess activated her Skeleton Key, opened a portal, and helped me through.
We stepped out into my living room and she helped me to sit on the couch. She rushed into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water, handing it to me. I took it and sucked it down not realizing have thirsty I had been, but then an energy drain would do that to you. Jess was staring at me with worry and anger, and I knew I owed her an apology.
“I’m sorry.” I placed the empty glass on the coffee table.
“Don’t, Chloe, I’ve been dealing with all your moods; sadness, depression, irrationality and even your crazy disappearances and I haven’t asked any questions or tried to be anything but supportive. But this is too much, you were out of control, I’ve never seen you wield that much power. You could have hurt someone or worse gotten yourself killed. The truces are off. What would you have done if it had been real Guilders who attacked you instead of students?” Hand gestures peppered her every word as if empathizing her point.
“I would have stopped them,” I replied confidently.
“Have you lost it? I mean seriously, Cuz, what the hell is going on?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged and leaned back against the couch crossing my arms.
“What are you wearing?” she asked so quietly that I almost didn’t hear her. But I knew why that was; she had been friends with Nightshade long before I ever knew him. And she had had feelings for him. It wasn’t until that fateful night just before he died that they had discussed their relationship and chosen to remain friends, nothing more.
I didn’t know how I was going to explain this, all I knew was that Jess didn’t deserve lies and I shouldn’t be keeping secrets from her.
“Nightshade’s jacket.” “Where did you get it?”
“His mother gave it to me.” I could see that she was churning over the answer, trying to figure it out.
“When?”
“I stopped by his house and talked with her.”
“You asked her for his jacket?” Her voice trembled. “Why?”
“I didn’t ask for it, she gave it to me.”
“Why would she do that?” Jess shook her head as if it made no sense. She reached back grabbing the edge of the chair to steady herself and I knew she had an idea why I had been given the jacket.
“Because.”
“Because why?” she demanded.
I didn’t want to hurt her and so words failed me. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her that I loved the guy she had also thought herself in love with. And even though their relationship never got off the ground, it didn’t matter, it would hurt Jess anyway. All I could do was tilt my head and cast a sorrowful look at her. That was all I needed to do; she knew.
Jess’ knuckles turned white as she clutched the arm of the chair. “Oh God, how could I have not seen it? The way you and Nightshade constantly were at each other yet still kept talking. The way he endlessly talked about you when you weren’t around.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t make the images in her mind go away. “I’m going to be sick.”
“Jess.” I stood up and she held her hand up to stop me, her face losing all color and her body trembling.
“How long had it been going on? The truth, Chloe.” She interrogated me as if I was a criminal who had stolen something of great value from her. But then hadn’t I?
“Nothing was going on.”
“Right! I may have been blind then, but not now. God, how could I have been such an idiot?” Her eyes turned wide. “Were you two carrying on behind my back, is that what was happening?” Her hands shook and I was afraid she might actual be sick right in front of me.
I tried to reassure her. “It wasn’t like that at all.”
“Right, you and Nightshade felt for each other, but it was all innocent. I’m not an idiot, though right now I feel like one. Damn it, Chloe, I just went against my Guild for you. How could you do this to me?” She ran from the room tears streaming down her face and sobs wracking her body.
“It wasn’t like that,” I repeated to the empty room. “It wasn’t like that at all.”
Chapter Seven
Status: I suck at fixing things.
I talked at Jess’s door for about thirty seconds before she drowned me out with music. The next few days were a blur as she made herself so scarce in the house I wasn’t even sure if she still lived there. I talked to Gran and Dad and they both told me to give her time and space. I called Val about it as well and apparently she hadn’t been talking to Jess either. I felt like crap her finding out the way she did, especially after she had just helped me against her own Guild. And what do I do? I drop a bomb on her. I was beyond a crappy friend and all I wanted to do was fix it, but that wasn’t really possible with her avoiding me the way she was.
I figured the best thing to do was to take everyone’s advice and give her time. Eventually, she would come around... at least I hoped she would. I had a deep-seated fear that maybe I had ruined things so badly that they were beyond repairing and I didn’t want to consider that possibility. Jess was more than my cousin; she was my best friend.
A week later I was sitting in the library at school when Edgar appeared at my side and dropped down beside me with a sigh. He pushed over the books I’d taken out on the Tavern at the End of Time and spread out a map he’d been working on and started scribbling on it furiously.
“Problem?” I asked knowing Edgar always worked harder when he was trying to deal with an issue.
“More than a few,” he said under his breath as some Guild kids walked past and gave me their best death stares. I, of course, smiled and waved at them, you know because I couldn’t resist being antagonistic.
“What is it, maybe I can help?” I nudged his shoulder and he glanced at me with a weak smile.
“Have you talked with Slade yet?”
I dropped my head back and I let out a long breathe. I knew I had forgotten to do something and that was it. I had told Val I would talk with Slade about us not being a couple and I’d gotten wrapped up with all the drama going on in my life that I had completely forgotten about it.
“Damn it.” I closed my eyes and wanted to stick my head in the sand and not think about anything anymore. I seemed that I was out to destroy all my relationships. Had I become that self-destructive? Gavin had even called me, angry about what everyone was referring to as my blow up at the Diesel Factories. I could have set off the war we were trying to prevent. I had no excuse; I apologized to him and told him it wouldn’t happen again.
“Don’t beat yourself up over, it’s not that big of a deal,” Edgar said “I think Val was more excited about trying to set Slade up than anything else. I think she’s worried I’ll embarrass her.” He ran his hand through his hair and nibbled at his lower lip.
“Are you okay?”
“No, not really. I mean what if she’s right. What if I don’t know how to act around regulars? I mean what do I even talk about to them; they all seem so strange to me?” His eyes darted back and forth from me to the map.
“Look it’s not that big of a deal, just let them do most of the talking and if you’re not sure what they’re talking about just fudge it.” I smiled and gave his shoulder a rub to try and reassure him.
“Thanks, Chloe, I don’t want to disappoint Val.”
“It’ll be fine.” I didn’t want him to spiral out on me so I grabbed the edge of his map and pulled it toward me. There was always one sure way of getting Edgar to focus and not worry. “What’re you working on?”
“I’m trying to recreate a map from an old story that supposedly led to the Tavern.” He leaned forward and pointed to the calculations he had written on it earlier. “This is the great expanse and I was able to attach it to the Infinity Library. Now according to the story there were four markers on the map that lead you to the Tavern. I figure if I can get the four and then use the Legend we could learn the location.” He nodded to himself as if it made perfect sense.
“What’s this story you’re talking about anyway?” I was hoping we weren’t pinning our hopes on an old wives tale.
“The Tale of the Darkwatch.”
I’d heard of the Darkwatch but for the life of me I couldn’t remember where. “Darkwatch?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at me and tilted his head when he saw the blank expression on my face. “I figured you would know the story by heart?”
“Why would I?” I shrugged not comprehending.
“Because the Darkwatch was a splinter group a hundred years ago and it was your ancestor Ichibod Masters who defeated them.”
That’s where I had heard of them, in the Doorknob Society Handbook. There was a story about Ichibod Masters defeating the Darkwatch. “You mean the story in the DS manual?” I asked relieved to have made the connection.
Edgar leaned forward and gave my sleeve a yank.
“The story is in the handbook?” His grin was far too wide.
“Yeah, why?”
“The story has a description of the map. I’ve only heard about the story, I, never had the opportunity to r
ead it myself. You, on the other hand, have read the whole story thereby giving us what we need to try and recreate the map.” Edgar beamed, spun his head to the side and started scribbling madly, recalculating his theories.
“That’s great so I bring you the Doorknob Society Handbook and we can get to the Tavern.”
“As long as we’re able to get our hands on the Legend,” Edgar reminded with a smile.
I’d forgotten about that part. I had a hard time believing that with the truces falling apart that the Mapmakers would be magnanimous and let anyone that included a student Mapmaker have a look at one of their most sacred artifacts. This was not going to be easy.
“Hi, guys,” Slade called out and joined us.
Edgar kept writing and I smiled. “Hi.”
“How’s it going?” he examined Edgar’s map in an effort to seem interested.
“I need another book on the Great Expanse,” Edgar exclaimed as if it was of the utmost importance, stood, and walked off leaving his maps.
I shook my head and turned to Slade who was looking at me with those damn puppy dog eyes.
“Can we talk?”
I guess it was now or never so I nodded. “Sure, I think its past due.”
“I meant it when I told you that I would earn your trust again, but it’s hard to do when I can’t even get to see you. I know things are all messed up, but I need to know where we stand.” He rushed through a brief speech that I had a feeling he had been rehearsing for a while.
“I think we’re in different places in our lives, Slade.” I pushed at Edgar’s maps with my fingers trying to keep myself from fidgeting.
“What does that mean?” he asked pointedly.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Slade, but I can’t look at you without thinking you were more concerned about the Engineer artifact than me. You didn’t have to surrender your life for mine, but you could have at least made an effort to show that you cared. You rushed through the portal as soon as you could, while Nightshade remained with me.” I didn’t go further than that. I may have confessed the truth to Jess, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to do that with Slade.