by DM Fike
Avalon turned her head, face flushed, pretending to be absorbed in the myriad of gum choices on the rack. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Desert Rose tack the paper to the public notice board only a few yards away. Desert Rose continued to walk toward the second bored greeter on the opposite side of the store, retrieving another sheet from inside her suit jacket.
“Next!” the cashier called loudly at Avalon, waving to get her attention. The mother had finally finished her transaction.
Avalon tried to act natural while not revealing too much of her face to the cashier, a contradictory task. Luckily, the employee didn’t seem to care, focusing solely on scanning her grocery items. The minute the cashier finished, Avalon shoved the change into her pockets and grabbed the plastic bags with her items. She marched toward the first entrance, as far away from Desert Rose as possible.
As she passed the public bulletin board, she stole a quick glance at the paper Desert Rose had stuck there. The words “Person of Interest” jumped out next to a grainy black and white picture of Avalon’s driver’s license picture. Avalon did not dare stop to read more details as she made a beeline for the exit.
Avalon rushed past the greeter, who cocked his head but did not stop her. The moment she got back outside, she increased her pace to a trot, the plastic grocery bags biting into her palms. Behind her, she heard the automatic doors open and close.
“Ma’am?” The elderly greeter had followed her outside. “Ma’am?”
Avalon broke off into a run. She raced through the lot, jerked the driver’s door open, and threw the groceries inside. Most of the groceries hit the passenger seat, but some fell near the accelerator. She cursed, wasting precious seconds shoving them out of the way, then planted herself firmly in the seat, shaking as she shoved the car key into the ignition.
“Ee?” Vimp asked from the back seat.
Avalon glanced in the rearview mirror. Past the demon’s unkempt hair, Desert Rose sprinted toward them.
Vimp squealed as Avalon shifted into reverse, pushing the accelerator as far as it would go to the floor. The car jerked backward toward Desert Rose for a few heart-pounding seconds as Avalon maneuvered out of the parking spot. Vimp stuck his head up and shrieked as he caught sight of Desert Rose closing in on them.
“Get down!” Avalon thrust the car into drive.
Instead of obeying, Vimp popped out of sight. It took Avalon a few seconds to realize that he had teleported to a bank of carts ahead of her car. He pushed them forward, and they wobbled and rolled right into the path of her car. Avalon yelled and swerved the car sharply, barely avoiding getting hit.
When Vimp teleported back into the car, she glared at him in the rearview mirror. “What were you thinking?”
She got her answer when Desert Rose halted her sprint, unable to get past the shopping cart barricade.
“Oh yeah!” Vimp screamed as Desert Rose suddenly shifted her direction, running away from them.
“Nice job, Vimp!” Avalon peeled out of the parking lot, heading back toward the highway. She cut off a few cars and ran one red light in her haste to escape. She gunned her car down the highway so fast that she bounced in the seat. It was only then she realized she had never buckled her seatbelt. She did it with one sweaty hand on the wheel.
“Get strapped in, Vimp,” she warned as he bounced around in the back seat. “Who knows when she’ll catch up to—”
Avalon saw the beige sedan right before it slammed into the back of her car. The impact was so violent the air bag deployed, smacking Avalon hard in the face. The world flashed white and dust filled her nostrils. Avalon lost control of the car, feeling it skid over rumble strips, into the shoulder, and finally spinning onto a soft dirt incline before coming to a rest.
The next thing Avalon knew, hands slapped her belt buckle, dragging her out of the car in a heap.
“Get up,” a voice demanded as Avalon coughed and flailed. When Avalon didn’t comply immediately, those same rough hands hauled her into obedience.
Avalon’s vision finally focused on Desert Rose scowling down at her, her head framed by the sun behind her, creating a strange halo. “Nobody’s not here,” Avalon coughed.
“I’m here for you.”
Avalon squinted upwards. “What?”
Desert Rose leaned forward so that they were almost touching brows. “You’re coming with me.”
Avalon concentrated on a swirling sensation in her stomach. “No.”
“I don’t see how you have a choice.”
You have a choice, a voice whispered in her head.
“NO!” Avalon shouted again, releasing everything she had from inside herself. A wind gust flew from her palms, forcing Desert Rose to her knees. It also knocked Avalon onto her backside.
Avalon scrambled to her feet to run, but Desert Rose grabbed her by the shoulder before she could get far. The mercenary’s hand sizzled like a hot pan. Avalon screamed as it burned her skin.
“Oh yeah!” A dark ball of fury launched itself at Desert Rose. Avalon caught sight of Vimp’s bared teeth right before they sank into the woman’s forearm.
Desert Rose shrieked and let go.
Avalon took the opportunity to hobble away from Desert Rose, away from her wrecked car, away from the highway. As she made her escape, Vimp appeared in a poof of smoke grasping her neck, holding on for dear life. The two of them made it a considerable distance when her foot came down on something hard and slick, and she fell, squashing Vimp underneath her.
Her hands skimmed the ice as she tried to get back on her feet. Desert Rose had one hand clutched to her wound, the other one extended toward them, bits of ice crystallizing at her fingertips.
“You’re not going anywhere!” Desert Rose’s hand shifted to glow an angry red, the vestiges of ice burning off as steam. Avalon ducked as a fireball shot overhead and struck the dry grass behind her, setting the dry tinder of the desert immediately ablaze.
More fireballs erupted around her. As Avalon narrowly dodged each blow, she realized Desert Rose was not firing randomly. Within minutes, she had created a ring of fire around Avalon.
They were trapped with only one exit. Desert Rose stalked toward them through it.
Avalon snatched Vimp’s limp form and ran as close as she dared to the fire, the heat almost unbearable. She unleashed a gale from her hand toward the flames, but the haphazard wind only strengthened them. They surged even taller. Avalon inhaled smoke and she choked.
“Wind will do you no good!” Desert Rose yelled from behind.
Avalon snarled, raised her hand, and threw a powerful gale at Desert Rose, causing her to fly backwards straight into a bed of tumbleweeds.
With the agent occupied, Avalon focused on the other threat. The flames overwhelmed her sweat-drenched body, her throat burning. A sense of panic washed over her. Her father had died in a fire. Is this how he felt as the flames closed in on him too?
She forced that thought aside. It would do her no good. She forced herself to think of something else. Not her father. Her mother. Her mother and fire.
Camping with her mother. She remembered her mother hovering over a fire pit, teaching her basic science even on their “homework-free” vacations. Fire had two requirements: fuel and oxygen. The fire would die if deprived of either. Her mother tried to light a match, but an errant wind snuffed out the flame before she could place it in the pit.
Her mother smiled. Even with oxygen, you need the right conditions.
The right conditions. Maybe if Avalon spun wind fast enough, she might create a vacuum that deprived the fire of oxygen.
Avalon summoned a whirling ball of wind, small at first, spinning it tighter and tighter to gain momentum. It took some concentration, and the first ball vanished. Avalon gritted her teeth and drew back deep inside herself to create a second ball, holding it so tightly that her heart threatened to explode in her chest. She ignored the pain, pushing the wind forward, like a mini-tornado. Screaming, she released it to the flames.
The fire receded in the tornado’s wake.
Avalon jumped forward through the gap and found herself on the other side of the fire wall. The fire immediately refilled behind her, giving Avalon no time to see what happened to Desert Rose. Sirens filled the air and an ambulance parked by her car. More lights approached on the highway.
Avalon ran forward over a ridge, not daring to stop as she placed as much distance as she could between herself and the raging inferno behind her.
CHAPTER 19
AVALON HAD NO idea how long she ran into the desert, cradling Vimp. She kept expecting Desert Rose to hunt them down, but no one ever appeared on the horizon, no fireball ever streaked out across the rolling terrain. She almost stepped on a rattlesnake once, but other than that, she kept running forward.
“Ee.”
Vimp stirred in her arms. Her arms ached from carrying him, her legs burned from all the running, and she could barely catch her breath. She gently laid Vimp on the ground.
“You okay, Vimp?” She stroked his thick, coarse hair.
“Oh yeah.” The demon wobbled and would have fallen over if Avalon had not steadied him.
“Sorry I squished you back there,” she said.
Vimp wasn’t paying her much attention. He rubbed his white mitten-like paws together, muttering under his breath. Avalon jerked back when his body became coated in a thick dark substance, the absence of light. It enveloped him until she could only see his vague outline, a dark void.
Suddenly, the darkness receded. Vimp’s skin emerged from its depths. Once it was gone, Vimp flashed her a lopsided grin.
Avalon recoiled back from him. “What was that?”
“Oh yeah!”
“Maybe I don’t want to know.” Avalon considered picking him up but thought better of it, given that weird magic. “We might as well keep moving.”
Vimp surprised her by jumping in her path. He arched his back like a cat on all fours, growling.
“We can’t stay here. Desert Rose might find us.” She reached for Vimp, but he snapped at her fingers.
“Fine! You stay here by yourself.”
She stalked off four steps before her forehead smacked into a smoky wall. Head pounding, she kicked her foot and found a solid barrier. Hands outstretched, she followed it around in a tight circle that encompassed herself and Vimp.
“You’re doing this, aren’t you?” she yelled at a calm Vimp licking his fur. “Get rid of it right now.”
“Ee. Ee,” Vimp shrugged.
Avalon was about to strangle the little devil, fangs or not, when she heard a cawing in the distance. A comically huge black raven flew at top velocity through the desert toward them.
“Nobody,” Avalon breathed as the bird made a beeline for them, claws outstretched. She realized he might not spot the smoky barrier, so she waved frantically to warm him. The bird smacked into it anyway, bouncing off in a flurry of feathers and angry caws.
“Eeeeeeeee!” Vimp squealed, realizing his mistake. He clapped twice.
The raven hopped to his feet, shaking to clear his head. He tentatively hopped over to Vimp, who waved at him apologetically. The bird pecked the demon hard on the skull. Vimp squealed.
“I don’t have time for this!”
The raven flapped back into the air, nabbing Avalon by the shoulders and lifting her up before she could protest. Vimp disappeared on the ground below and reappeared in a puff on Nobody’s back.
The raven kept his path low over long stretches of desert and farmland, the afternoon sun a fiery ball to the west. Avalon wanted to ask Nobody a thousand questions but didn’t dare distract him. She could feel her weight pushing his limits, his flight patterns jagged as he balanced the awkward weight of two passengers. The turbulence made Avalon’s stomach sick, and she concentrated on not throwing up.
Avalon didn’t see Digs’s farmhouse until they were almost on top of it. Nobody dropped her six feet off the ground, and she collapsed on the front lawn. Nobody landed next to her, feathers molting and morphing back to his original form.
“What in Sadus is going on?” Nobody yelled, feathers stuck to his face. “I’ve been searching everywhere for you. Thank Omni Vimp went with you and sent a homing signal. There’s a huge desert fire near the highway.”
“Desert Rose set the fire,” Avalon interrupted.
“Whhhhhaaaaaaaaaat?” Nobody’s face matched the same shade of purple as his clothing.
“Desert Rose was at the store in Jerome. We barely got away.” She gave him a brief description of their scuffle.
Nobody smacked his palm against his forehead. “This is why I can’t trust you alone for five seconds. The minute you’re out of my sight, you get into trouble.”
“I was doing Digs and Helen a favor, ok?”
“Don’t even get me started with the dwarf.” A murderous scowl crossed Nobody’s face. “My head still hurts where I hit the floor.”
“I didn’t think it would be a big deal.”
“But it is a big deal. Now Desert Rose knows you’re around here somewhere. She’s in Idaho!” He fiddled with the green gem on his necklace. “How could she know you’re here? She couldn’t possibly know about this place. We haven’t made any outside contact since we got here.”
Avalon’s palms got sweaty. “That’s not entirely true.”
Nobody’s fingers stopped fiddling. “What’s that now?”
“I made outside contact.”
Nobody stared at her.
“I emailed James a few days ago.”
Nobody’s eyelid twitched.
“James left me phone messages to call him, but my phone died, so I sent an email instead.”
Nobody made a noise somewhere between a puppy who lost a toy and a tiger about to pounce.
“Look, I’m sorry. I sent the email to James before I knew about Saluzyme or Desert Rose’s connection to it.”
“I know. I know.” Nobody took a few deep breaths. He paced over the wet grass. “It just complicates things. We’ll have to leave. A saw goat.”
“A saw goat?”
“You know? A saw goat? A.S.A.W.G.O.A.T.?”
Avalon lost track after the fifth letter. “What does that mean?
“As Soon As We Get Our Act Together.”
Avalon decided not to point out that wasn’t a real acronym. “We can leave in the morning.”
“Not tomorrow. Right now. Desert Rose could be following us.”
“What about Kay?”
Nobody groaned. “Would you stop worrying about your boyfriend? We got bigger problems. Bigger, fiery problems that can also rain ice daggers.”
“But Kay’s in The Deep right now. Digs said it might take multiple sessions to get anywhere with his memories. He needs to stay here.”
“Let me put it in terms you can understand,” Nobody said slowly. “He can’t defend himself against that maniac. And what about Digs and Helen? Do you want Desert Rose coming after them too, marking them as enemies of Bedwyr? Why do you think I avoided going to Digs’s clinic in town? Bedwyr doesn’t know about our friendship, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
Avalon’s blood ran cold as she imagined Desert Rose attacking the farmhouse.
“I can see from the slack-jawed expression on your face that you might finally understand,” Nobody said, satisfied. “Besides, Digs and Kay could be in The Deep for hours, and we don’t have that kind of time.”
Kay’s scream of pain suddenly rang out from the house.
“Or not,” Nobody muttered.
Avalon and Nobody dashed inside. All the lights had been switched off, the farmhouse even dimmer than usual. They found Helen at the entrance to The Deep, peering in, concerned. Avalon inched past her and kneeled over Kay in the center of the room. He heaved huge gulps of air. Digs crouched next to him, face flickering in the single candle flame.
“Relax. Let yourself calm,” Digs said to Kay, his voice smooth like silk.
“But the emptiness,” Kay managed between
deep gulps.
“It may mean nothing,” Digs reassured. He rubbed Kay’s back, bits of light reflecting from the webs of his fingers, casting rainbows on the black walls as the light refracted through Kay’s wings like a prism.
Once Kay’s breathing returned to normal, the fairy locked eyes with Avalon. She gave him a smile, but he only scowled. Before she could analyze the look, Digs helped Kay to his feet.
Digs clapped twice and a floodlight seared the room, blinding everyone. “Ah! Digs, man!” Nobody complained. “You gotta warn us before you do that.”
“Everything is fine,” Digs said. “Just a little hiccup in The Deep. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
“Desert Rose is here,” Helen announced.
“What?” Digs leaped to his feet in alarm.
“Not ‘here’ here,” Nobody clarified. “In Idaho.” He cocked his head at Avalon. “Our secret shopper saw her in Jerome.”
“What happened?” Digs asked.
Avalon told her story again. She watched Digs and Helen tense with each detail.
After Avalon finished, Digs turned back to Nobody. “You must leave. Now.”
Nobody nodded. “Absolutely.”
“If she comes here—”
“She won’t,” Nobody promised. “She doesn’t know our connection.”
“But if she finds out—”
“She won’t,” Nobody repeated.
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I’ll take care of it. Remember Fjord.”
Digs paused for a second, then he too nodded. “I will trust you.”
“Yes, trust me,” Nobody broke out into a grin. “But keep your shotgun handy, will you?”
The next half hour was a flurry of gathering and borrowing some supplies. Nobody took stock of what he had left in his room, while Digs and Helen filled in the rest. Kay sat dazed at the kitchen table during the chaos, staring blankly at the tablecloth. Avalon spoke to him several times, but he refused to respond.
Digs pulled Avalon aside as they gathered on the front lawn to leave. He insisted they take the old gray sedan in the weeds out front, equally insistent that the metal monstrosity would run. As her friends loaded into the car, the dwarf presented her a jar of cream. “I made this for the fairy. You can apply this to his chest if he gets nauseous. A lot of Aossi do on long car rides. I am sorry I could not do more.”