by DM Fike
The rhythmic sound of sneakers hitting pavement caught her attention. A pair of joggers pounded their way through the park. “We can’t stay here, and I’ve got to be at work soon.”
“You are returning to Fantasma?” Kay asked as she gathered the night’s supplies. “Is that wise? Nobody could kidnap you.”
“He could try, but I doubt it, given how crowded the park will be. Plus, I can’t afford missing a paycheck.”
“I will not allow you to go on your own.” Kay reached for his sword hilt.
“I had a feeling you would say that. Don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”
* * *
“You want me to sweep this broom around all day?” Kay asked skeptically outside the employee break room at Fantasma.
“If you stick next to me, it will cause suspicion.” Avalon tucked his hair and ears inside the fluorescent colored employee cap. He had a noticeable hump underneath the extra-large uniform, but there was nothing else she could do about the wings. “No one pays any notice to the guys going around picking up trash. It’s a newbie job anyway, so they won’t think twice about a fresh face.”
“That’s a bit… demeaning.” Kay stared down at the cartoon dragon’s ridiculous grin on his shirt.
“Oh, it’s completely demeaning. I had to do it for the first two weeks on the job. Some of the jerks that run the kiddie rides threw food on the ground in front of me just to watch me pick it up. Those guys will try to break you. I’d avoid them at all costs.”
“Excellent,” Kay muttered.
Avalon flashed him a bright smile. “Was that sarcasm? See, with a little humor, every situation looks better.”
Avalon ignored his glare as she pulled out a map of Fantasma. “Okay, let’s go over this one more time.” She circled key areas of the park with her finger. “I work at the Hall of Mirrors here. You can keep tabs on me anywhere within sight distance of the exhibit. But don’t stay in one place too long because that will draw attention. Keep your head low. I’m on opening shift, so you can mosey back to the Hall of Mirrors after midday or so. I’ll find you. And if anything happens, you can always meet me back at my car. I won’t leave without you if we get separated.”
“And the kiddie rides?”
“Oh, right.” Avalon stabbed the area with her finger. “Avoid these guys. Seriously, they’re jerks.”
“I could always take my sword to them, if need be.” He patted his hilt, only half hidden under his shirt.
Avalon hoped people would find his sword and gauntlets a weird authentic touch to the medieval park theme, but that obviously wouldn’t work if he gutted someone. “I don’t think that—”
“Sarcasm,” Kay said with a grin.
Avalon frowned, causing Kay to laugh. His deep chuckle made her relax. Everything would be okay.
“All right.” She clutched Rubix’s bowl. She had nowhere else to leave him, so she figured she’d stash him somewhere. “Let’s do this.”
Kay lingered behind her, sweeping his broom as Avalon marched away. Her confidence persisted until she turned the last corner and saw the Hall of Mirrors.
Last night in the rain, the damage to the structure had seemed minimal, but daylight revealed the true extent of the lightning strike. One whole section of the roof had completely crumpled inward, leaving black scorch marks along the remainder of the back wall. The unfortunate mirrors beneath the blast lay scattered as shards of glass. A huge circular burn mark marked where Kay had stood before as a statue.
She felt stupid coming this way. Of course she’d have to be reassigned somewhere else. She needed to check back at the employee lounge.
“Excuse me?”
Avalon turned toward the unexpected voice. A dark woman with long pale blond hair pulled in a bun stood behind her. She wore eyeglasses over her slender face, a tan business jacket with matching miniskirt and practical pumps. She was tall, nearly six feet, holding a clipboard. She could have been a model, had she chosen better attire. Next to her, Avalon felt small and frumpy.
“Who are you?” the woman demanded, glaring at Avalon.
Avalon frowned. “I work here.” She pointed at her uniform and employee name badge.
“Avalon Benton,” the woman read. She examined Avalon top to bottom with disdain.
Avalon huffed at the woman’s attitude. “And you are?”
“Agent Brimestone.” The woman flashed a laminated card. “I’m investigating this scene.” She pushed Avalon aside so she could enter the Hall of Mirrors. Avalon gaped after her, astounded by her rudeness. She acted more like a frat boy on campus than a federal agent.
Logan came running up, out of breath. “Lady moves fast,” he wheezed.
“What’s going on?” Avalon asked as Agent Brimestone ducked past the security tape. The woman frowned, staring at the scorched hole in the roof.
“Agent Brimestone just showed up a few minutes ago,” Logan said. “She’s investigating a possible break-in last night.”
“A break-in?” Avalon’s face flushed.
Logan interpreted her reaction as fear for her own safety. “The whole thing is overblown. A freak thunderstorm hit the park last night. Look what it did to the Hall of Mirrors. Apparently it fried the Serpent, and it ran in the middle of the night too.”
Avalon glanced over at the roller coaster, but besides the “closed” placard out front, she could see nothing visibly wrong with it. “It looks okay to me,” she offered weakly.
“Surveillance video will tell,” Agent Brimestone interjected, stepping back out of the Hall of Mirrors. “I’ll need everything you got.”
Logan shook his head. “We don’t have cameras. We’re about to install some soon, though.”
Agent Brimestone grunted with displeasure. “Why would I expect professionalism in this dump?”
Logan scowled. “Who’s talking professionalism? Is this your first job fresh out of academy or something?”
Fury crossed Agent Brimestone’s face. Before she could act on it, though, she spotted something more interesting. “What’s that under your arm?” She pointed to the turtle bowl that Avalon still carried.
Logan flinched in shock. Avalon grimaced. She had forgotten all about Rubix. Agent Brimestone slapped on a smirk. “You know it is a violation of code to bring unauthorized animals into this facility.”
“I’m sorry,” Avalon interjected. “I’ve never brought my turtle in before, but my apartment’s air conditioning broke, and it was supposed to be hot today. I didn’t think anyone would notice.”
“Show me the animal,” Agent Brimestone commanded.
Avalon reluctantly handed the bowl over. The turtle sloshed around unhappily. Agent Brimestone put her nose right up to the bowl. Logan nudged Avalon with a disappointed frown, but she could only shrug in apology.
“I think you’d better come with me, Ms. Benton,” Agent Brimestone said after her inspection. “We can straighten this out back at my office.”
“What does a turtle have to do with a break-in?” Logan protested.
Agent Brimestone raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow. “Do you wish to be written up for an animal violation? I’m willing to let this infraction slide, but if you make me wait, I will be forced to file formal paperwork.”
Avalon stepped forward. “It’s okay, Logan. It’s my fault for bringing the turtle here.” She didn’t add that she didn’t want to jeopardize her job over this. She would be hard pressed to find another one without a residential address.
Logan folded his arms. “Well, I suppose Avalon’s free with the Hall of Mirrors out of order. But I hope you take her cooperation into consideration.”
Agent Brimestone nodded curtly. “Miss Benton, follow me to my vehicle.”
Avalon fell in step behind Agent Brimestone. Kay, sweeping away in the shadows of the game booths, gave her a startled glance as she headed toward the parking lot. Avalon pointed fiercely back toward the park, urging him to stay put until she returned. The last she saw of him, he had one hand
hovering over his sword hilt and the other on his broom, contemplating what to do next.
CHAPTER 9
AGENT BRIMESTONE DID not utter a word as they drove away from Fantasma in a nondescript beige sedan. She drove away from Salt Lake City toward the suburbs. Avalon had no idea where they were going as they headed east on a highway into the mountains. She tried to calm a frantic Rubix in his bowl.
How had everything gone so crazy in only a few days? First becoming homeless, then getting attacked, and now possibly in trouble with the law. If she lost her job as well, she had no idea how she would get by.
Houses and shopping centers slowly gave way to undeveloped land full of sagebrush. A sign declared that they were passing the last rest area for fifty miles. Avalon frowned when they exited the highway with no gas stations or any other signs of civilization, rural hills surrounding them on both sides.
“Who do you work for again?” Avalon asked.
“The government.”
“Which agency?” Avalon slowly grasped the door handle.
An ominous click filled the car. Agent Brimestone had locked the car doors. Avalon pushed the button to unlock the door, heart pounding.
Nothing happened.
“It won’t open.” Agent Brimestone steered onto a sketchy dirt road that led into the vast Utah wilderness. “You’re locked in.”
Frantic, Avalon tried to grab the steering wheel, but Agent Brimestone pulled a revolver from her jacket, pointing it at Avalon’s temple. “Halt,” she ordered, never taking her eyes off the road. Avalon noticed that Brimestone did not keep her finger on the trigger, instead wrapping her hand around the gun’s grip. Although finding that behavior absurd, Avalon didn’t want to take any chances with a gun directed at her.
They kept driving, going deeper into the desert. After a few miles, they stopped on a flat valley surrounded by hills and brush in all directions, making Avalon feel stranded in the middle of a dry ocean.
“Give me the turtle,” Agent Brimestone barked.
Avalon thrust the bowl into her free hand.
Agent Brimestone placed the turtle in her lap, unlocking all the car doors. “Get out.” She kept the gun pointed at Avalon.
Shaking, Avalon slowly crawled out of the car, careful not to make any sudden moves. Agent Brimestone also ducked out, gun never wavering from its target. The two women faced each other over the hood of the vehicle.
It was only then that Avalon saw, underneath her flowing blonde locks, that the tips of Brimestone’s ears came to a point. Just like Kay’s.
“Where is Nobody?” Agent Brimestone demanded.
Avalon tried to stall. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know you are with him. You have Vimp.”
“Vimp?” Avalon repeated, dumbfounded.
Agent Brimestone pointed down at the turtle, who was running circles in his bowl. “A homeless guy gave me that turtle.” Avalon realized how stupid she sounded the minute the words left her mouth.
Agent Brimestone reached inside the bowl and snatched the turtle by the throat, squeezing him in a vice-like grip. The turtle’s stubby legs flailed as she lifted him head-first out of the bowl.
“Stop!” Avalon yelled. She was about to lunge at Agent Brimestone when the turtle gave a child-like squeal.
“Eeeeeeeee!”
The turtle transformed. His shell dissolved into nothing. His body grew longer, roughly a foot in length. His skin lost its scales and bristled with royal blue fur. His pointed face morphed into that of something more or less human, with two pupil-less yellow eyes, a small circular nose, and sharp fangs. A pointed tail whipped around on the car hood, and turtle limbs morphed into white mitten hands and pawed feet. As black yarn-like hair spouted from his head, pointed ears protruded outward.
The turtle had morphed into a miniature blue demon.
Agent Brimestone grimaced at the sight of the creature. “Wherever Vimp is, Nobody is not far behind.” Her fingers turned pale blue where she held the demon by the throat. “I’ll ask you again, one more time, where is he?”
“I-I…” Avalon stammered, struggling with Rubix’s transformation into Vimp.
Agent Brimestone increased her grip on Vimp, a fractal of ice coating the creature’s torso. Avalon felt a cold blast even from across the hood, like opening a refrigerator. Vimp screamed in pain as the crystals spread.
“What are you doing?” Avalon yelled.
Agent Brimestone tightened her grip, causing the demon’s eyes to bulge. “I’m doing what needs to be—”
Agent Brimestone was cut off when Vimp contorted his frame so that his mitten-like paws could get underneath her thumb, thrusting it backward. She flinched, but that alone did not break her hold. Vimp used his new leverage, however, to sink his fangs between her thumb and index finger.
Agent Brimestone cursed as blood dripped down her wrist. Instead of dropping him, she flung him backward, shouting like a champion tennis player executing a serve. Fire burst from her arm, engulfing Vimp and launching him backward in a fiery ball. He flew several yards, shrieking, before landing in the brush.
Agent Brimestone swiveled her fiery arm back at Avalon. “Where is Nobody?” she demanded again.
Avalon knew she was screwed, so she ducked behind the car.
A fireball shot where she had been standing. Avalon scuttled on the ground as Agent Brimestone ran around the car to confront her. She had almost made it to the trunk when a blast of ice hit her in the back, spreading numbing pain throughout her body. She hit the ground, Agent Brimestone hovering over her. Her vision blurred as alternating waves of heat and cold rushed over her, horrible extremes that wracked her to the core. She stiffened, tried desperately to move, but her brain would not cooperate. Her vision darkened.
Reach.
It was the voice from before, when Nobody had attacked her at Fantasma. A sizzling surged in her chest. Avalon struggled but managed to lift a hand timidly upward.
“Stay down!” Agent Brimestone ordered above her.
Despite being a cloudless day, Avalon could feel the lightning arching inside her. She pushed that sensation outward, forcing it toward the sky through her outstretched hand. As the energy surged out of her, her eardrums vibrated in a frantic hum.
Agent Brimestone leaped backward a moment before a loud crack sounded overhead. Lightning struck the spot where Agent Brimestone once stood.
The hot and cold sensations dissipated. Avalon intended to run when she heard a gun cock. She found herself staring down the barrel of Agent Brimestone’s revolver, this time with a finger correctly on the trigger.
The agent gasped through her teeth. “You aren’t human.”
“Ha!” a voice cackled from behind Agent Brimestone. “Isn’t that a teapot calling the coffee machine black?”
Agent Brimestone whirled around only to get tackled by a mass of green hair and purple cape. Nobody landed a square kick on her arm, causing her gun to fall harmlessly to the ground. As Agent Brimestone regained her footing, eyeglasses lopsided, Nobody placed himself between the agent and Avalon.
“Oh, Desert Rose.” He clicked his tongue. “Picking on little girls and small cuddly creatures. What would your therapist think?”
“Finally decided to show, did you?” Brimestone tossed her glasses aside and shrugged out of the business jacket, exposing a tank top. As she planted her feet in a defensive stance, her disheveled attire made her only appear more dangerous.
“I didn’t realize I was invited anywhere you would be, dear. Oops, wait, you’re not working with the good guys anymore. My bad.”
“This isn’t personal, gremlin,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Riiiiiiight.” Nobody turned to Avalon, cupping his hand over his mouth and stage whispering loud enough for everyone to hear. “Mercenaries. They blame cash flow when they have mommy and daddy issues.”
Brimestone dashed forward in a scream of rage, an ice dagger forming in her hand. Nobody squealed as he
jumped backward and missed the blade by mere inches. “Whoa there! Bedwyr really upped his game with you, yeah?”
“He did,” Brimestone threw the dagger through the air, straight at the gremlin. Nobody disappeared in a puff of smoke before the dagger sliced through him. He reappeared behind Brimestone, attempting to force her arms behind her back. She struggled against him, shards of sharp ice zipping through the air.
“Hey, idiot!” Nobody yelled at Avalon as the two wrestled each other. “Run!”
Avalon stared at him in confusion, still trying to register what was going on.
“You, the one with the face!” Nobody managed to snap his fingers in her direction. “RUN!”
A shard of ice whizzed past Avalon’s head, nicking her cheek.
The cut finally brought Avalon out of her stupor. She bolted up a hill away from the fighting duo. She skidded through the brush and dirt, hoping to get over the summit on the opposite side, away from more stray ice shards. She heard them slashing through the air, but none struck her. A ball of fire struck to her right, lighting dry weeds on fire next to her. Avalon stomped them out before continuing.
Once at the top of the hill, she watched the two locked in a surprisingly graceful combat. Brimestone would shoot ice shards and fireballs at Nobody, who would pop in and out around her in smoky black ink, attempting to take her down. Although Brimestone was at a disadvantage with a moving target, she always managed to block Nobody before he could get close. He threw a few handfuls of conjured black goo at her, but she easily dodged them. She countered by aiming her frozen fingers at him, but he would disappear into the darkness and reappear somewhere else, repeating the dance over again.
This continued for several rounds, Nobody laughing and saying something to Brimestone that Avalon could not hear at this distance. Avalon realized this would be her only chance to get away from both of them. She turned to flee when she heard Nobody yell, “GET DOWN!
Avalon found Brimestone aiming her icy, sharp hands at something over Avalon’s head. Brimestone squinted toward the sun, hesitating with a strange, strangled cry. A shadow passed over Avalon. At that exact moment Nobody struck Brimestone’s arm. A few ice daggers zipped forward from her fingertips as a protective measure, the mercenary’s arms lowering.