“EMF pump? It should still be in your room.” I said, and realized immediately that I’d just said the absolute wrong thing.
Janine’s body flickered in anger. “Give me my EMF pump…NOW!” Suddenly the lights began flickering and the dresser lifted up and shot across the room. Danika and Penny caught the dresser, but the momentum slid them back into the rest of us. Katy raised her hand and the room began glittering. Danika and Penny threw the dresser back at Janine’s body. It passed right through her and imbedded into the wall. It was clear that nothing could actually stop the ghost, but luckily, the glittering substance started burning Janine’s ghostly form. Janine ran for the door, opened it, and then disappeared down the hallway.
“Go Katy! What was that anyway?” Niki asked.
“It’s a spell that I normally use to clean negative energy from a room before I practice my spells. It’s not very powerful, but considering Janine’s body is made entirely of energy I thought it might be useful. It really worked much better than I ever could have imagined.” I really didn’t understand magic, and I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of it, but right now I was just glad that it saved our bottoms.
“So Grim’s been poisoned, Danika’s been attacked by werewolves, we all got attacked by Dullahans, Janine’s soul has been separated from her body, and Janine’s body has gone full-on psycho and might just try to kill us. Did I forget anything?” Niki grumbled.
“The EMF pump is missing.” Grim said.
“Oh yeah, the EMF pump is missing. Anything else, or can I just snap and start screaming hysterically now?” Niki’s voice was shrill.
Penny raised her hand up, “I lost the internet, and my Panderan Priest was inside a dungeon. So he’s probably dead by now.” Penny’s lower lip quivered, and she was in full pout mode. I suppose that explained her scream earlier.
Niki huffed sarcastically, “Oh yes…Penny’s Panda thingy in World of Warcraft is dead…how horrible!”
“Don’t be a jerk. I worked hard on my Panderan.” Penny snapped.
Grim raised his hand, “Focus, people. We can argue some other time. Right now we have to figure out how to get Janine’s body back.”
“Maybe I could build some type of magic containment spell. We’d have to get her into it, and that won’t be easy, but a little teamwork and we might be able to catch her. Then we can work on getting Janine’s body and soul back together.” Katy’s suggestion sounded like a long shot, but it was the best idea we had so far.
“Can you do it?” I asked.
“I’ll need some help, but lucky for us there is a coven of wannabe witches that would probably jump at the chance to do some real magic.” Katy answered.
“I thought you said they didn’t have any power.” Niki said.
“I don’t need their power. I have plenty of power, but what I don’t have are enough people to form the circle needed for a spell like this. It’ll be a lot easier with their help, and it’ll save me the hassle of trying to train you guys to carry out the spell.” Katy smiled.
“A containment spell? So it could keep Janine’s body from escaping?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ll tell them what to do, and then I’ll spend my time with my Mom and Dad. They shouldn’t have much trouble getting things set up. The rest of you should probably stay in the hotel and try to think of some way to lure Janine to our trap when we have it ready.” Katy was in her element, and she sounded much more confident than I felt.
“It sounds like someone has already done something like that. Janine’s body couldn’t pass through the walls, and her soul is stuck on that flash drive. Do you think it could be that coven?” I asked.
“No, they’re just wannabes. They don’t really have any magic on their own. The only real use they could have is to help carry out ceremonial magic. None of them have anything near the horsepower to do what you’re describing.” Katy said calmly.
“Okay, so on top of all our current problems, we may have a wizard or witch of significant power coming after us.” I groaned.
“Yep, must be the weekend.” Grim laughed. When no one joined in, Grim shrugged and then chuckled, “Damn, tough room.”
“How can you be so relaxed about this?” I screamed, and then had to fight the almost irrepressible urge to bop him on the head with something. I mean, I love the big guy, but sometimes he just takes this stuff way too easily.
Grim smiled, “What am I going to do? I don’t know magic so there isn’t really anything I can do to fix the situation with Janine. We seem to be getting hit from all sides by these Darkness creeps. I don’t know the future so I can’t really predict who is going to attack us next, and the freaking chicken dance song has gotten a little louder. I have no control over any of these things. What I do have control over is how I choose to spend my life. I can spend this time stressed out over it, or I can enjoy whatever time we have left, and trust that God has a plan for us.”
I stood there staring at him in shock. He just counts on God to pull us through? What kind of crazy talk is that? “You can’t be serious? I mean you just said that the song is getting louder, and that means we’re getting closer to death. Doesn’t that scare you?”
“Why?” He said it so calmly, and the crazy thing is that he actually means it. I always knew he was a little different, but I didn’t really believe he had a death wish.
“Well, I don’t want to die! How can you be so calm about this? Are you crazy?” I was screaming, but I couldn’t really stop myself. How can he just be okay with all this? I’m racking my brain trying to think of ways out of our situation, and he’s just treating it all like it’s a normal day at the office. I felt the anger building inside me. I took another look at him. Grim was pale, sweaty, and looked like he was going to beat us all to the grave. It only made me more incensed since he’s been sort of our leader in a lot of ways. Now it felt like he was leading us right off a cliff. Before I really knew what I was doing, I slapped him…hard. I stared in horror, as my hand was still stinging from the impact, and my hand-print began showing on his face.
Suddenly, I was pinned against a wall. My feet were dangling. How did Grim move so fast? Then I looked over at the bed, and Grim was still in it. A look of shock was etched on his face, but if he was still there then who had a hold of my throat? I turned my eyes downward, and stared into two blood red obs. Penny’s fangs were already snapped forward. Rage was flowing off her in waves, and I realized that she was fighting back some part inside of her that wanted to rip me apart.
“Penny. Put her down. She’s just scared.” Grim’s voice was soothing, and calm as could be.
Penny hissed, actually hissed at me, like some kind of angry cat or snake. When my feet touched the ground I felt the adrenaline start to leave me, and I became distinctly aware of how much my throat was hurting. “If you ever put a hand on him like that again, I’ll tear it off and mail it back to your sisters just so they have something to mourn after you’re gone.” She was just inches from my face, and she was just aching to carry out her threat. I’d never been so afraid in my life.
The closest I’d ever come to something like this was when I watched Doctor Nowitski get shot down by my old boss. I was horrified, and pretty scared, but then it had been directed at someone other than me. Now…I knew that even the slightest provocation, a misspoken word, even a suspicious twitch, and Penny would tear me apart. I prefer being on the sidelines, and now here I was standing on the fifty yard line, nose to nose with someone that I didn’t even stand the slightest chance against. So while it was pretty embarrassing, I can’t say I was too surprised when I felt the front of my sleep pants get soggy, or that I was standing in a puddle. I’m not ashamed of any of that, but I am a little ashamed of the fact that I started bawling like a baby.
I’m not really sure what happened after that. I know I was crying, and Grim asked everyone to leave except for me. He sent Niki to go find me some more sleep clothes. I don’t know if there was any discussion, but when I finally snapped
out of it. Grim was on the floor cleaning up my piddle with a towel. He could barely hold himself up, but he was taking care of me. I felt awful.
“You shouldn’t be up.” I stammered.
“No, I shouldn’t.” Grim looked up at me and gave a weak smile. Then he went back to cleaning the floor. “When Niki gets back with your clothes I’ll have her put them in the bathroom with you. Now go take your shower and then come back. You and I have a lot to discuss.”
I nodded, and for the first time in a very long time I felt like a little kid. Not that I was happy, but that I felt like I had really messed something up, and now I was about to have a long, and very overdue discussion. I nodded and waddled my way into the bathroom. I had to waddle because if I tried to walk normally the clothes would stick to me and drag across my skin. Urine soaked clothing is definitely in my top ten of terrible sensations. It was right up there with having a bug climbing on you, and that gross feeling you get when a dog licks your face right after you saw him lick his junk.
I stripped down, and then turned on the shower. A couple minutes later I heard muffled voices from the bedroom. I think Niki and Grim were having an argument about something, but I couldn’t really tell. Then after a few minutes Niki came in and set my clothes down. “Thank you.” I said. Everything about this was just embarrassing.
Niki just stood in the bathroom silently glaring at me. I tried to pretend it wasn’t happening, but she was practically boring a hole into me with her eyes. Finally, she spoke, “My brother is a lot of things. He’s kind, he’s gentle, and he loves people if they let him. I also know that he’s not perfect. He can be mean, cruel, and can be a little evil sometimes when the circumstances require it. That being said, he didn’t deserve what you just did to him.”
I hung my head in shame. The water from the shower struck my head, and ran down my body. I couldn’t even find comfort from it. “I’m sorry.” I sniffled.
“I’m not the one you should apologize to. My brother talked the others into letting you back after you betrayed them. We joke and kid, but every single one of us knows that you betrayed us once. Don’t get me wrong. We all know it was to help your mother. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have done the same thing, but don’t think for a second that what you did back then was okay. You sided with the bad guys once, and a lot of people got killed because of it. Innocent people died because of your handiwork. I still consider you a friend, but you need to understand that you aren’t just in a bubble DD. You can try to avoid being a part of everything, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t neck deep in it with the rest of us.” Her words twisted something deep inside me, partly because of the cold anger in her tone, but mostly because what she said is absolutely true.
I try not to think about the fact that my work on those clones made the attempted overthrow of the government possible. I try not to think about the hundreds of people that were killed when General Eisen Terwillicker led my creations on a rampage through Washington D.C. I try to not relive the last few moments of Doctor Nowitski’s life. I keep telling myself that I didn’t know they would kill her, but really what else did I expect? I knew she wouldn’t have gone along with Elizabeth’s plan, and as much as I like to tell myself that seeing her shot came as a shock, I know that deep down a part of me expected it.
For all my attempts at just standing on the sidelines, my decisions had ruined a lot of lives. It nearly cost me the life of the man that’s become my very best friend. I’d let Elizabeth send him down into a trap, and I can’t pretend that I didn’t at least suspect something would happen. I may not have sent him down myself, but I didn’t warn him that something might be a little fishy, either. Of course, that was the rub of it. Grim was ready for it, or at least was ready enough to work his way out of it. He seems to do that a lot, and yet I still see him as this goofy big guy from Texas that’s sneaky, but not exactly a thinker. He outsmarted a general, and led the team that saved the day. Even now, a part of me felt like he’d done it almost accidentally. Even now he looks after me like I’m practically a part of his family. He went to bat for me with the government, and even lied to them. He told them that I was working behind the scenes for him. I was a sort of double agent. How they didn’t laugh him out of the room is beyond me. It’s not like I could ever pass for Double-0 DD. That being said, those officials treated the big guy with such respect. If he hadn’t stepped in for me, I’d be rotting in a jail cell right now, and deserving every moment of it.
What was I missing? I love the big lug, but I just didn’t see him as an intellectual equal. Then it just clicked, oh my god, I’ve been so wrong about him. I’ve been nice to him, but I treated him like he was stupid. I could admit to myself that he was sneaky, and smart in a certain non-intellectual way, but I just couldn’t bring myself to think of him as an intellectual peer. I just saw the goofy guy that had a really great butt and a chest that just begged to be snuggled up to. It was then that I felt so incredibly small and petty.
“Niki, I really haven’t treated your brother very well at all, have I?” My voice was a tiny squeak.
“Do you mean, have you been nice to him? Yeah, you’ve been pretty nice to him. You’re probably the nicest person out of all of us, or are you asking if you’ve treated the man with the basic respect and dignity that he’s damn well earned by now. Well, what do you think?” Niki spat.
“I’m sorry.” I sobbed.
“Again, I’m the wrong person to be telling this to. I like you DD, but if you had done to me the things you did to my brother…” She was kind enough to leave it at that, and I was smart enough to let her.
Niki stomped out, and I was left alone. It was just me, the shower, and a whole lot of cowardice on my part. At some point I had to step out and go face the music with Grimmy, but there was still hot water, and if I scrubbed really slow, then maybe he’d be asleep before I got out.
Chapter 21
I took as long as I could reasonably justify. Then I stepped out, dried off, got dressed, and took a look in the mirror. It was one of my older shirts. It used to have a woman dressed like an angel on it with a halo that didn’t quite hide her horns, and then text that said “Good girls just never got caught.” Most of the letters had faded away, and the woman was so faded you couldn’t even tell what she was supposed to be. I probably should have thrown it away a couple of years ago, but my mom bought it for me, and it was so soft that I didn’t want to get rid of it.
I stepped back into the bedroom. Grimmy looked pale and sickly, but he was still wide awake and waiting on me. He was holding my computer and looking at something. I moved around the room and saw he was watching a movie.
Janine laughed, “So let me get this straight. They are aliens?”
Grim laughed weakly, “Yep.”
“They look like clowns.”
“Yep.
“And they are killing everyone.” Janine said in disbelief.
“I’m telling you, it’s much better than you think.”
Janine laughed, “Well, it couldn’t be any worse.”
“What are you two talking about?” I said as I slipped into the bed next to him.
“Killer Klowns from Outer Space.” Grim smiled.
“What?” I didn’t believe my own ears.
“It’s a silly horror comedy. Grim keeps telling me it’s a classic. We’ve been watching it together while you were in the shower. It’s had a few cute moments, but it’s far from being a classic.” Janine’s voice came out over the speakers. I still had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that she was somehow in my computer.
“It’s not silly. I loved this movie when I was a kid.” Grim was talking with Janine like nothing had changed. He was talking with her like she was still just the ghostly nun she’d always been, and that’s when I realized that he was talking to her like that to keep her calm. Grim was doing his best to make her comfortable in a very stressful situation. It was sweet, and thoughtful, and…just like him.
“It is silly,
and stupid, but I will admit it has its moments.” Janine sounded much calmer. She’d been about ready to have a panic attack earlier.
Grim sighed, “Okay, maybe it wasn’t the classic I remembered as a kid. How about we just call it really entertaining crap or better yet…craptacular?”
“Craptacular, I like it. It describes it perfectly.” Janine laughed.
Grim hit pause on the computer, “Janine, if you don’t mind. I’m going to have DD plug you in in the bathroom for a while so she and I can talk. She’ll come get you after we finish our discussion.”
Janine sighed, “Fine, but don’t make me wait forever.”
Grim handed me the laptop, and I plugged it into the bathroom. Then I came back. I had a huge knot in my stomach. “So…I guess we’re going to have that chat now huh.”
“I figure it’s about time, don’t you.” Grim smiled. He was still trying to comfort me.
“Listen, I’m sorry about slapping you. I panicked, and-“
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time a pretty girl has slapped me, and it probably won’t be the last.” Grim was being so nice about it. Of course, it only made me feel like that much bigger of a heel.
“Grim, can we just pretend tonight didn’t happen?” I asked hopefully.
“Sure, but don’t you think we’ve done enough of that?”
“Honestly, no. In case you haven’t noticed, I kind of prefer to ignore things and hope they go away.” I sat down on the bed and stared at my feet. I just couldn’t look at the big lug.
Grim laughed, “DD, look at me.”
I shook my head, and started fidgeting nervously.
“DD…please?” I turned around and Grim sat there smiling. He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t looking for an argument, he just sat there patiently waiting for me. He wasn’t going to push me, but he wasn’t backing down either. Grim was treating me like a scared animal, letting me come to him.
Midnight Squad: The Ties That Bind Page 35