by DM Fike
“Digs is Nobody’s friend. We wouldn’t be here without him.”
Instead of placating Kay, the fairy pushed himself away from Digs. “So we cannot trust him either.”
“I beg your pardon?” Digs huffed.
Avalon knelt at Kay’s side. “You were out cold, injured. Nobody offered to take us here to heal you. He didn’t force me. I accepted.”
“You trusted him?” Kay asked. “The person who tried to snatch you?”
“I never kidnapped anyone,” Nobody declared. “I only ever wanted to talk.”
Avalon ignored him, focusing on Kay’s incredulity. “What choice did I have? I needed answers, and Nobody has some. And so far, he’s kept his word on all accounts.”
“And he has not harmed you?” Kay asked, staring at her with unwavering intensity.
Her cheeks flushed. “No, not a bit. And there’s other good news.” She stood back up. “Digs can help you with your amnesia.”
“I will try,” Digs clarified.
Kay glared at Nobody and Digs but eventually relaxed. “I hope you did not make a deal with Sadus in order to aid me.”
Avalon shook her head. “I’m obviously mixed up in something strange. I’m in over my head. I’ve learned things about my past that may help me.”
Nobody perked up at this news.
“Well that’s fantastic. Huzzah,” Digs said sarcastically, raising both palms in the air. “Now can the two of you”—he pointed to Avalon and Nobody—“please leave the room so I can finish my treatment in peace? This is why I hate bringing work home.”
“I’ll be waiting outside,” Avalon promised as she left the room. Nobody followed on her heels.
“So, learning things about ‘your past,’ eh?” Nobody elbowed her in the ribs as she closed Kay’s door. “You read the folder, didn’t you?”
Avalon pursed her lips but nodded.
Nobody pumped his fist. “Woot! I knew curiosity would get the better of you and you’d see something froggy is going on at Saluzyme.”
“I need to think things through first.”
“Of course, sure. I get it. Now’s not the time. But once you understand what’s happened to you—”
“Nobody,” Avalon yelled. “Not now!”
“Hush out there!” Digs’s muffled voice came from the other side of Kay’s bedroom door. “You’re bothering my patient!”
Nobody backed away from a fuming Avalon. “Okay, message received. I’m leaving. Man, it’s a good thing looks don’t kill.” He continued to mutter as he lingered at the kitchen entryway. “I would have been long dead before now.” Avalon did not doubt it as she heard the screen door open and slam shut as the gremlin went outside.
* * *
Avalon managed to avoid Nobody for the rest of the day by skipping dinner. She said she wasn’t feeling well and lay in her bed, not doing anything except thinking in circles. She waited until she heard the sounds of dinner conversation winding down, then silence. At that point, she ventured into the kitchen for leftovers. To her relief, she found only Helen at the sink, drying a few mugs. Avalon opened the cupboards and refrigerator, finding them mostly bare save for some staples, uncooked pasta, and a box of ancient crackers.
“You got anything else to eat?” she asked Helen.
Helen grunted, pointing one square finger at a long list on the fridge.
Avalon ate a few stale crackers, trying to fill that hungry void in her stomach. She glanced out the sink window. Two worn parallel dirt paths in the weeds marked where pickup tires had scraped the earth over and over again. The tracks led deep into the desert, toward one of the fields on the horizon.
“Is it okay if I take a walk?” Avalon asked.
Helen grunted again, her only affirmative response. Avalon put on her sneakers and stepped outside. Chia lifted her head from her paws near the base of the porch stairs. Avalon patted the dog’s head as she walked past.
The tracks led through dry plants that tickled her bare legs as she forded forward. It did not take her long to reach the neighboring farm, filled with row after row of small leafy plants. Avalon cast a long shadow over the ground in the dusk light, a monster lumbering over the crops.
A white butterfly flitted across the path. Avalon watched it sink into the depths of one flowering plant, its wings peeking from between the petal folds. Who was Kay? Where had he come from? Why could he wield magic? For that matter, why could she? The bruise on her arm ached a bit, so she rubbed it absentmindedly. Was it because of Miasmis? Was Miasmis really a crazy magical experiment from another world?
More than the Aossi, more than magic, Avalon tried to wrap her mind around what might be going on at Saluzyme. James, kind James, who had put so much effort into her mother’s and her care. How much did James know? Maybe James had lost track of the research side of the business as he took over more CEO and funding duties. Was it possible that Bedwyr had infiltrated the company during this time and conducted experiments under James’s nose?
Or did James know?
And what about her father?
Avalon gritted her teeth, pushing that thought aside. Impossible. The unknown “B” was the key. “B” must be Bedwyr. There was no one else at Saluzyme that made sense.
Maybe there was another angle. Nobody. She didn’t know him, not really. He’d stalked her, scared her half to death at Fantasma. He obviously knew more than he was telling. She heard Kay’s voice in her head. Why did she trust him?
Because he had never intentionally harmed her. Nobody saved both her and Kay from Desert Rose, who’d tried to kill them. Nobody never took her anywhere she refused to go, always giving her a choice to leave. And even though Nobody didn’t like Kay, the gremlin had almost died helping Avalon save the fairy from his own wild magic.
Avalon stuck her hands into her shorts’ pockets. She had so many questions and so very few answers. Kay with amnesia couldn’t help her, but maybe Digs could revive his memories. She would have to treat Nobody as a possible enemy, keeping him close but not too close. And Saluzyme? She had to figure out who completed the Entelegen. She didn’t know how she could do that short of either breaking into the Saluzyme building, which carried heavy risk, or calling James, which seemed even riskier at this point.
Unless she could get some info about the Entelegen elsewhere. Avalon remembered her father would sometimes bring work home with him, especially if the hours crept past midnight and she had school the next day. There might still be a box of his Saluzyme stuff in his storage unit back in Salt Lake City.
There was just one problem. The key to the storage unit was in her coat pocket. And that, in turn, was in Babe back in the Fantasma employee parking lot.
Avalon reached both the end of her wits and the trail’s end. The field gave way to the vast Idaho desert, full of sagebrush and critters that scattered before you could see them. The sun sank low behind hills to the west, leaving streaks of orange in its wake. Avalon lifted her hands to the breeze, letting it blow between her fingers like sand.
A familiar ache formed in her gut. On a whim, she concentrated on one hand and pushed out gently with her mind. To her delight, the wind pushed back against her, cool on her brow.
Emboldened, Avalon pushed further, drawing in wind from all around her. It hit her in an invisible wave, sending strands of her red hair flying around her face. Her stomach churned in a similar pattern, flowing in circles at her very core.
Avalon gathered all that energy and sent it outward, releasing one full burst into the sky. The light breeze around her surged into a gale, causing the weeds to crackle as they bent over one another, as if a helicopter hovered overhead.
“Avalon!” someone yelled over the din.
Avalon whipped around but saw no one on the trail behind her. Movement in the sky caught her attention. Shimmering wings zipped wildly across the painted clouds, caught in the wind she had summoned.
“Kay?” Avalon calmed the wind down, and the fairy managed to steady himself in the air.
“What are you doing so far from the house?” she asked as he landed in the dirt. He wore a Helen-sized pink T-shirt with the back split to account for his wings. It had a V-neck that dipped almost to his belt.
“Helen indicated you had gone this way. I wanted to check up on you.”
“Kay, you’re the one who’s been injured. I’m the one who’s supposed to check on you.”
“Nevertheless, I feel responsible for you.” Kay paused to give her a thorough once over. “And it appears that the rumors are true.”
Avalon blushed. “Rumors?”
“Nobody”—the name sounded like a curse on Kay’s lips—“said you could wield magic, even though you are human.”
Avalon turned away from him. “Yeah.”
Kay watched her stare off in the distance. “This must be why you avoided everyone at dinner tonight.”
Avalon hadn’t known she’d been that obvious. “I have a lot on my mind.”
“You are, of course, welcome to your solitude, but it would please me to escort you back.” He held out the crook of his arm.
Avalon latched on. “I’d love the company.”
Kay fumbled at first, obviously still tempered by his recent injuries. After walking several yards, he set a rhythm that allowed them to walk at a fair pace.
“You seem to be doing better,” Avalon said.
“Indeed. Digs believes I am well on the mend. Thanks in no small part to you, Avalon.” Kay stopped his gait to face her. “You risked your life to bring me here.”
She ignored the heat in her face. “I didn’t have much choice.”
“You did have a choice, and you chose to put yourself into harm’s way for my well-being.”
“I don’t see it that way. Nobody may be crazy, and I don’t trust him completely, but I don’t think he’s trying to harm me.”
Kay snorted.
Avalon pulled the fairy forward, encouraging them to continue. “I know he wants something from me. He’s not trying to hide that at all. I just don’t think he’s out to get me.” She explained the Saluzyme files and Nobody’s insistence that she was experimented on.
“He’s manipulating you to get at this Bedwyr fellow.”
“Maybe. I wonder if it’s in my own self-interest to follow along. I have so many questions myself. About you, about Miasmis, everything that’s happening.”
“You could be walking straight into Nobody’s trap.”
Avalon sighed. “I know you two met in an… awkward situation, but I don’t understand where this hatred comes from.”
“My instincts scream that he is not to be trusted.” Kay placed his hand over hers. “I will keep you safe.”
The two lapsed into silence for the final yards back to the house. While Avalon could not fathom Kay’s motives, she couldn’t help but feel content.
For once, she didn’t feel alone.
CHAPTER 18
AVALON THOUGHT IT odd that Nobody and Vimp didn’t eat breakfast with them the next morning but said nothing as she, Kay, Digs, and Helen sat down to tea. Small talk went around the table, each person confirming they had gotten a good night’s sleep. Digs in particular grilled Kay. How did you sleep? Did you dream at all? Any memories about your past? Do you feel at all fatigued from walking around yesterday? When Digs appeared satisfied with Kay’s upbeat answers, he announced he would take Kay into The Deep to tackle his amnesia.
“What’s ‘The Deep?’” Avalon asked.
“Remember the room with the black walls?” Digs asked. “That’s The Deep room, a place that provides complete sensory deprivation to perform complex healing magic. I will have to expend serious magical energy to delve into Kay’s mind.”
“Is it safe?” she asked.
“As long as everything stays quiet, it should be perfectly safe.”
Avalon took a large swig of tea. “Good luck getting Nobody to shut up.”
Digs didn’t even glance up from his mug. “That’s why I drugged him.”
Avalon nearly spat her tea out. Some of the liquid went down her windpipe. Helen whacked her soundly on her back as she coughed.
“You did what?” Avalon finally managed.
“I got up early and put a sleeping aid in his coffee. His body hit the floor pretty hard after a few sips. I’m surprised you didn’t waken.”
Kay snickered.
“I would have done the same to his little demon, but the accursed beast has been gone all night. I don’t know where he is this morning.”
Even as Avalon struggled with the ethics of drugging Nobody, she couldn’t doubt its necessity. She turned to Kay instead. “You ready for this?”
He nodded. “I am eager to see what I will learn.”
“Fair warning to you all,” Digs said. “This could be only the first of many sessions in The Deep. Even then, there is no guarantee I will uncover any memories. Healing the mind is not my specialty, but I will do my best.”
“That is all I can ask for,” Kay replied.
Digs asked Avalon to help him prep The Deep room. As per his instructions, she brought in a few jars of oils and powders from the living room shelves and placed them in the center of the dark room. She escorted Kay into the room and had him sit cross-legged on the floor. She gave him a massage, her fingers kneading the knots around his shoulders. When Kay seemed as limber as he was going to get, Digs entered the room wearing a simple black robe. He sat in front of Kay next to the oils and powders, lit a candle between them, and closed his eyes.
Avalon whispered “Good luck” into Kay’s ear. He squeezed her hand softly in reply. She felt glad for the darkness covering her concern as she left the room.
Avalon tried to keep her mind off The Deep. She went for another walk in the fields but marched through it so quickly, she returned within a half hour. She used the painstakingly slow computer to read a few things online, but that didn’t distract her either. She ended up sitting at the kitchen table, staring off in the distance, as Helen came in and out periodically.
At noon, Helen somehow conjured a pasta with the last ingredients left in the house. It was plain, but Avalon wolfed it down.
After clearing the dishes, Avalon was set to stare off into space again when Helen slapped the grocery list in front of her along with two hundred-dollar bills.
Avalon jolted out of her stupor. “Whoa! What’s up?”
Helen pointed down at the list.
“You want me to go grocery shopping?”
“Might as well be useful.”
Avalon glanced at the clock. Four hours had already passed since Digs and Kay had begun. “Kay’s going to be a while, isn’t he?”
Helen grunted.
She supposed moping around wasn’t doing her much good. “Okay, sure. Tell me where to go.”
Helen gave Avalon a worn state map and traced the route from the farmhouse back to the highway and toward a large superstore. Avalon grabbed the key to Nobody’s car and took off down the road. Once she made her way back to the freeway, it took a solid twenty minutes to make it to Jerome, population 8,000, half of which must be cows if the smell was any indication.
Avalon found the store right off the exit, parking a reasonable distance from the main entrance. As she pulled the keys out of the ignition, something popped up in the back seat like a zombie rising from the dead.
“Oh yeah!”
Avalon screamed, smacking the car horn on accident. Whirling around, she came face-to-face with Vimp.
“Oh yeah!” the little devil greeted again.
“What were you doing back there?” Avalon found a red and white blanket on the car floor. She vaguely recalled that the backseat window had been rolled down when she entered the vehicle, and that the blanket had been on the seat. Vimp must have been sleeping underneath it.
“You sneaky stowaway. I’ll roll down the window. You wait in here.”
Vimp pouted, shaking his head.
“Well, I’m not taking you inside looking like that.” She
tugged on his pointed tail.
Vimp clapped, sending a black plume of smoke into Avalon’s face. She coughed, blinking to get the sting out. Through the haze she saw that Vimp had transformed into his turtle form.
“I’m not taking you in like that either.”
The turtle bobbed its head furiously.
Avalon raised an eyebrow. “Should I tell Helen you stole a ride in the car?”
The bobbing immediately stopped, and he morphed back into his devilish form.
“Didn’t think so.” Avalon grinned in victory. As a consolation prize, she found the Rubik’s cube on the passenger floor and mixed it for him. He squealed with delight as she tossed it to him.
“I’ll be back soon,” she promised, heading toward the store.
Avalon took her time finding the items on Helen’s list. Grabbing sugar off the shelf and waffling over cereal brands felt reassuringly normal. She indulged by browsing the latest books, reading a few jacket covers and making a mental note of which ones she’d like to borrow from the library later.
She passed by the men’s workout clothes on her way to check-out, her cart brushing against a rack of hooded jackets similar to the one she had bought Kay. She wondered how long her car would remain in the Fantasma parking lot. She’d been gone days now. She would need to move it because she lost all her worldly possession, especially her father’s storage key.
With the grocery list fulfilled, Avalon picked a short line with relatively few customers, which of course meant she chose the wrong line. The harried mother with the screaming toddler in front of her wanted to pay for six items with two separate credit cards. The second card didn’t work on the first try, so the woman said she would pay with a check. As the customer shuffled through her purse, Avalon stifled a groan and let her eyes wander about the store.
That’s when she spotted Desert Rose.
Avalon’s heart slammed in her throat. She put the toddler between herself and Desert Rose’s line of sight while tracking her movements. The mercenary wore a black suit jacket and pants, a badge pinned to her chest. She chatted with the elderly store greeter, showing him a piece of paper. The man lifted his bifocals to read it. He shook his head, to which Desert Rose replied with a curt nod. She then headed down the end of the cashier aisles toward Avalon.