by DM Fike
“No, I’m sorry,” Avalon murmured. “I brought Desert Rose here. I threatened your family.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, lass. With Nobody as an ally, I’ve been through worse. We can take care of ourselves.”
As if to prove his point, Helen walked outside, a military grade rifle slung over her side.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.” Avalon threw her arms around Digs. “Thank you for everything.”
Digs gave her a bear-like embrace of his own. “Trust Nobody. He may be obnoxious and rude, but he means well.”
Avalon got into the sedan and twisted the key in the ignition. The car sputtered and died. Nobody muttered some choice words in the passenger seat as she tried again. Fortunately, the car clambered to life on the second try. The last thing Avalon saw in the rearview mirror was Digs waving at them, Helen holding her rifle, and Chia running circles around both of them. She prayed the mercenary would not find them.
CHAPTER 20
THE GRAY CAR drove like a boat, bouncing up and down even on smooth roads. Most of the roads were bumpy, though. They navigated the narrow country highways, away from the bustle of the direct freeway that would have a larger police presence.
Kay quickly became car sick. Avalon tried to convince Nobody to relinquish the front seat to the fairy knight, who obviously hated riding in cars and had turned ashen to boot, but Nobody dug his fingers into the seat covers and refused to budge. That’s why when Kay vomited in the back seat, Avalon pulled over to the side of the road and insisted that Nobody clean it while she crouched by Kay in the weeds.
“It will get better,” she whispered, trying to breathe through her mouth as Kay bent over and vomited again. She gently patted him.
“D-Don’t touch me,” he sputtered between heaves, jerking himself away from her.
“Sorry,” Avalon mumbled. She remembered the medicine Digs had given her and found it stashed away in the trunk. She offered it to Kay.
“What would you have me do with this?” he asked suspiciously.
“Digs said to rub it on your chest. It will make you feel better.”
Kay gave her a long, hard stare, as if she had asked him to cut off his own foot.
Avalon lost her patience. “What’s wrong with you?” She immediately regretted her words as Kay went from being wary to taking steps away from her.
“I have been through much today,” he said.
Avalon sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been through a lot today too, but—”
Kay heaved again, moving his head aside to discharge more fluid. Avalon shifted her head to avoid the sight and stench of it.
Nobody walked toward them. “Well, that was disgusting,” he announced pleasantly. “Done puking yet, Winged Wonder? We have places to go.”
“And where might that be?” Kay’s eyes narrowed.
“To Fantasma,” Avalon decided. “We’ll make it there well after closing. Hopefully my car is still there with all my stuff.”
Nobody parted his lips as if to argue but shut them quickly. “Okay,” he agreed.
Avalon re-offered the jar to Kay. “It’s a four-hour drive. It will take us forever to get there if you’re sick the entire way.”
Kay again hesitated, but he finally reached forward and took the medicine. He slathered it underneath his shirt, leaving a greasy film on his fingers.
“Smooth,” Nobody chuckled as they headed back to the car.
“Not so fast,” Avalon said as Nobody grabbed the passenger door handle. “You sit in back with Vimp.”
“Um, no.”
“Kay will feel much better up front with the window rolled down.”
“I will feel much better away from the sicky smell in the back.”
“It’s not going to be much different front or back,” Avalon said. “Either you sit in back, or I stay here with Kay on the side of the road.”
Nobody threw up his hands in disgust. “Fine. Whatever.”
Everyone rolled down the windows and Avalon managed to get the car started again on the third try. She didn’t even attempt conversation. Kay slid back into his sullen mood, Nobody pouted from the back seat, and Vimp defied all of their moodiness by sticking his head out the window into the cold night air, eating passing bugs. As the miles flew and the night sky darkened, everyone, even Vimp, fell asleep to the rocking of the car, leaving Avalon alone with the AM radio for company.
* * *
Everyone woke when Avalon pulled off on the exit leading toward Fantasma, city lights breaking through the darkness of the night. Not a car passed them leading up to the park. She drove into the employee parking lot. To her relief, Babe remained right where she had parked it in a back corner.
Avalon noticed the trunk ajar before she had even stopped the car. “Oh no,” she groaned as she ran toward the hatchback.
Her trunk, holding trash bags of her worldly belongings, had been ransacked. Clothes, kitchen supplies, and important documents lay dumped in clumps. Avalon frantically rummaged through her belongings, searching for her winter coat, the one she had lent Kay the night he came to life. She had to find it if she wanted to access her father’s storage unit.
“What’s got your G-string all twisted up?” Nobody asked.
“My coat.” She pushed aside scattered clothes and papers.
“Your coat?” Nobody repeated. “It’s a bit warm for that, isn’t it?”
Avalon didn’t answer, her mind racing. She thought she had thrown the coat in the trunk, but it wasn’t there. Why would anyone steal it? She peered over the back and broke out in a cry of relief when she spotted it behind the driver’s seat.
Kay winced as Avalon opened the door to retrieve it. “I’m not wearing that again.”
“It’s not for you this time,” Avalon assured. She patted inside the lining, unzipped the inside pocket, and found the storage key. It felt cool, like a soothing balm.
Less frantic now that she had located the key, she examined the mess the intruders had made of her trunk. "Here.” She grabbed an armful of clothing and shoved it into Kay’s arms. She motioned Nobody and Vimp over to help her. “Get this stuff into Digs’s car.”
For the next few minutes, everyone dutifully took handfuls of items from Babe back to the outdated gray car. At one point, Avalon placed a blue and green tunic in Vimp’s small paws. Nobody sauntered over, saw the tunic, and raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t seem like your style.”
“It’s Kay’s.” She threw Kay’s engraved belt on top. “He was wearing it as a statue. There you go, Vimp.”
Nobody snatched the belt out of Vimp’s grasp as the little demon walked past him. Vimp screeched and jumped to grab it back, but Nobody kept moving it out of his reach as he inspected it.
“What are you doing?” Avalon asked.
“I just realized something.”
Avalon stood up straight. “And that is…?”
“Why you call him ‘Kay.’” He pointed to the engraved ‘K.’ “Not very inspired, you know.” Nobody threw the belt on top of Vimp as the demon bared his teeth. Vimp sputtered unhappily as he stalked away.
Avalon opened her mouth to retort when Kay yelled, “My sword!”
No one had examined the front seat. Broken glass lay scattered on the ground around Babe’s front windows. The glove compartment was open with the registration, flashlight, and CDs normally stored inside in a heap on the passenger seat. As a final touch, someone had taken Kay’s sword and stabbed it straight through the driver’s seat.
“Well, that’s ominous,” Nobody said as Kay retrieved his sword. “Looks like someone’s sending a warning. I wonder who that could be?”
“Probably a bunch of teenagers,” Avalon said. “It happens since the park doesn’t have good security.”
Nobody coughed. “Um, yeah, that’s one theory.”
“You have a better one?”
Nobody counted on his fingers. “Well, given that 1) this is the last place Desert Rose knew you were before you disappear
ed, 2) Kay lost his sword during our fight with Desert Rose, and 3) we’ve had a camera pointed at us the whole time, I’d say it’s pretty obvious who did this.”
Avalon’s heart stopped as she followed Nobody’s crooked finger up to a lamppost a few feet away. Sure enough, a small cylindrical device pointed its lens directly at her car.
“What is that?” Kay asked.
“It’s a machine that records our movement.” Avalon had completely forgotten about the cameras that Logan was going to install.
“It’s a trap,” Nobody said cheerfully. “Bedwyr, Desert Rose, or Saluzyme flunkies should be coming for us any second now.”
Kay swung his sword, its tip inches away from Nobody’s Adam’s apple.
“Kay!” Avalon protested.
“How long have you known?” Kay growled.
“Since Avalon said we were headed here.” Nobody eyed Kay’s sword. “Of course Desert Rose would monitor this place in case we came back. I’m sure she’s the one who ransacked Avalon’s car too.”
“But the cameras weren’t ordered by Saluzyme,” Avalon said. “The new park owners installed them. She can’t see anything on them.”
Nobody made a “pbbt” noise with his lips. “Seriously, Avalon, you know how things work on Earth. Everything’s connected via the Internet, meaning everything can be hacked. Mark my words, Saluzyme will be here in minutes.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Avalon cried.
“He wants Desert Rose to locate us,” Kay answered her, jabbing his sword at Nobody’s neck. “He has been lying to you.”
“Hey now!” Nobody backed away from Kay’s sword.
“Why shouldn’t I cut you down right now?”
“Because it’s not what you think!
The fairy a step forward.
“No really! I’m doing this to draw attention away from Digs and Helen. If Desert Rose thinks we’re here, she’ll come back from Idaho and leave them alone.”
“You could have told us on the way here,” Avalon said.
Nobody shrugged. “True, I could have, but why bother? You still would have wanted your stuff, but you might have been too chicken to get it. This makes things easier. We’ve probably got a good twenty minutes before the goons from Saluzyme arrive.”
“Unless they’re stationed close by,” Avalon said.
Nobody smacked his lips in thought. “Unless they’re close by,” he conceded. “In which case, we have between zero and twenty minutes.”
“The scoundrel always lies to us,” Kay said. “We both know he has ulterior motives. Why do you give any credence to what he says?”
“Because she has no better reason to trust you, Winged Wonder,” Nobody hit back. “You’re a statue come to life with convenient amnesia. You’ve spent most of the last week knocked out cold, and your emo energy could power a train station. Get over yourself.”
The horizontal tornado that swept past Avalon nearly knocked her over. She grabbed hold of the open car door to keep from falling.
Nobody wasn’t so fortunate. The magical blast Kay conjured hit him squarely in the chest, sending him flying backward across the blacktop and through the chain link fence surrounding the park, and out of sight. Vimp squealed, vanishing in a cloud of smoke, presumably after Nobody.
As Avalon steadied herself, she glanced over at Kay. His chest heaved up and down, and he had a firm grip on his sword.
“What are you doing?” She gave Kay no time to reply as she rushed after Nobody.
Avalon found the gremlin not far from the carousel, the horses gaunt and pale behind him in the moonlight. Vimp was attempting to pull the gremlin into a sitting position.
“That smarts,” Nobody groaned, rubbing his head. “Someone call my chiropractor!”
“I’ve had enough of your jokes,” Kay snapped. He’d come up behind them, one hand crackling with electric energy.
Avalon winced. “Stop it.”
“Why? I am protecting you,” he snarled. “Isn’t that my ‘job?’”
“What’s gotten into you?” Avalon asked. “Did something happen in The Deep?”
For the first time since leaving Digs’s farmhouse, Kay’s expression softened. He opened his mouth just as Nobody said, “He can’t remember diddly!”
A sizzle flared up inside her own core. “Nobody!”
Kay whipped his sword next to Nobody’s head. “You will leave here at once.”
“Wait!” she shouted, but it was too late. Nobody vanished as Kay’s sword plunged into where his face had been. The gremlin reappeared behind the fairy. With one carefully aimed kick to Kay’s back, the gremlin sent him crashing face first onto the carousel floor.
Nobody grinned. “Don’t judge me if I got a kick out of that.”
Nobody’s smile faded as gale-force winds swirled around his body. A small dust devil formed around the surprised gremlin. Avalon lost sight of him as the wind pitched trash from the pavement in random directions, forcing her to cover her face. A scream rose in the air, and when she finally dared a look, she found Nobody at the top of the dust devil, spinning in a circle like a load of laundry fifty feet above the ground. Kay hovered in midair beside him, wings catching the moonlight.
The two exchanged words that she could not hear, and Kay’s face darkened. He made a lunge for Nobody with his sword, but Nobody teleported onto Kay’s back, weighing him down. With his concentration diverted, Kay could no longer maintain the dust devil, and he fell toward the ground with Nobody wrapped around him.
“No!” Avalon put her hands in the air as if she could catch them that easily.
Save them, a voice whispered.
A void opened in her gut, an empty darkness that threatened to swallow her whole. Avalon flung the sensation away from her. It passed through her chest, her arms, her palms, flying out of her hands toward Kay and Nobody.
A thick black smoke enveloped both Aossi, and they disappeared. Avalon didn’t know how, but she knew she could control their reappearance. She pointed at the ground in front of her, and they emerged in a new smoky haze, tripping into a heap over one another.
She trembled as she stared at her hands. “What did I do?”
“Oh yeah!” Vimp yelled as he bounced onto her shoulder.
“Dark magic now?” Nobody staggered to his feet. “What in the actual—?”
Kay swung his sword, cutting Nobody’s words off figuratively and almost literally. Nobody flung his arm out in front of him, and a long thin sword made of dark crystals twinkled into existence, protecting him from the blow. They hopped to their feet, and their swords clanged in the stillness of the night. Kay struck Nobody on the side of the cheek, drawing blood. In return, Nobody smacked Kay to the ground with the side of his weapon, then aimed for his exposed belly. Kay rolled out of the way at the last second.
“Stop it!” Avalon screamed. “You’ll kill each other!”
Neither of them gave her a second glance, too engrossed in their battle. Kay, obviously the better sword fighter, easily took charge of the duel, and Nobody was forced to withdraw or be cut to pieces. He chose to run farther into the booths. Kay kicked up into the air, pursuing in flight.
She yelled as she chased after them, but as Nobody morphed into a raven and Kay sped off after him, she knew she couldn’t keep up. Avalon doubled over as she caught her breath.
Vimp glanced up from beneath her knees. “Ee? Ee?”
The longer she stood there, heart pounding, anxiety rising, the angrier she became. Everything that had happened—the fights with Desert Rose, Kay’s amnesia, the accusations against Saluzyme and James, and Nobody’s half-truths—overwhelmed her nerves. She swallowed bile in her throat, her nails digging into her knees.
“How dare they?” she said, at first in a whisper but growing louder. “How dare they fight like children. They’ll get us all killed!”
Vimp squealed and jumped out of her way as she sprinted across the park toward the sounds of their fight.
She found the
two duking it out in front of the Octopus, a ride where park patrons sat in little cars on the ends of long tentacle arms, spinning round and round. Dirt clouded around them as metal clashed against dark crystal.
“I told you to stop fighting!” she screamed, but it did no good. They ignored her like before.
Something whispered in Avalon’s head, but she ignored it. Instead, she flung both her arms in front of her face. A wind caught both of them, thrusting them into one of the empty cars of the Octopus ride. Avalon then accessed the sizzle deep into her gut and let it loose, the electricity arcing and powering the ride.
The machine creaked to life. Kay and Nobody could only hold on by their fingernails as the Octopus revved up. The ride spun faster and faster as her electricity fueled it. Soon, all Avalon could see of them was a blur of red.
“Can’t ignore me now, can you?” she yelled up at them.
“Oh yeah!”
Vimp had appeared out of nowhere. He put his paws on her jeans and tugged. “Ee! Ee!”
Her pounding anger subsided in a flash. Dumbfounded, Avalon stood there for a minute, her hands still outstretched in front of her with electricity powering the ride, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing. Sure, she had stopped them fighting, but now she had no idea how to fix her cure.
She was brought out of her stupor by a shriek from Nobody. “I’m going to spew all over you once this eight-legged monster stops!”
Avalon retracted the electricity and ran toward the Octopus as it gradually slowed down. The two attempted to climb over the side, but dizziness and centripetal force impeded their exit. Avalon thought the worst was over when the Octopus ground to a halt, but the machine suddenly emitted a terrible screeching noise. The tentacle holding the pair snapped clean off, crashing to the ground. The smell of burnt wires and grease filled her nose as ran to where the car had landed.