Wild Ride

by Jennifer Cruisie

  “Kharos let Vanth out, and they went into the park to ... celebrate. Your dad found us all, brought us together - he was a hell of a leader, Ethan - and we went hunting. Fufluns gave up pretty easily. To tell you the truth, I don't think he wanted all five out. We tracked Selvans down pretty easily, too. He doesn't move fast. Then we went hunting for Tura at the Tunnel of Love and that's when Kharos caught us. He didn't even use magic to kill Petra, just backhanded her in the body he was in and broke her neck. He and Vanth went into the crowd near the Tunnel because without a Sorceress we couldn't -”

  “Mab's parents,” Ethan said.

  Gus looked surprised. “What?”

  “Mab's parents were taken in the Tunnel of Love.”

  “Maybe,” Gus said. “That's where Delpha found Glenda, scared out of her mind because she'd just been called and she didn't know what was going on. It was bad, trying to explain what was going on, what your father had never told her, right before she had to go into battle for the first time. She was scared out of her wits but she was a fighter. We caught Vanth first as they came out of the tunnel, and Kharos went crazy. Everybody thought he was just a drunk, but then he took off down the midway and we had to follow, back to the Devil's Drop. He climbed. We followed.”

  Gus fell silent and Ethan felt a cold wind blow across the park.

  “We caught him at the top, trying to smash the key so he couldn't be put back in his statue,” Gus finally said. “Glenda was wonderful. I still don't know how she climbed the Drop the way she did, but we did the ritual, and your father took Kharos, but pulling him out of the host body made it stagger. He grabbed for the host just as Glenda said, 'Redimio,' and the rush as Kharos was pulled out of him knocked him off balance. He shoved the host to safety but he couldn't save himself. He fell.”

  Ethan felt sick. “So Kharos killed my father.”

  “Yeah,” Gus said. "Kharos and the rest of them, trying to escape. And now it's all happening again.”

  There was no sound but the wind howling through the struts of the Dragon Coaster for a while. Finally, Ethan stirred. “Okay. Let's get Setvans and call it a night.”

  “Yeah,” Gus said.

  The wooden tunnel that was the Dragon was bolted to the top of the coaster. Making sure his safety line was in place, Ethan climbed up the iron framework until, one arm looped around the dragon's neck, he could reach out toward the empty eye socket. The crystal eye was pulled out of his hand as it got close. It snapped into the socket with a solid click. Ethan felt a shiver go through his body.

  He climbed back onto the service track and followed Gus as he finished the walk. Then they went over to the orange Strong Man statue together. A panel in the rear had rotated open, and Ethan reached it and picked up Selvans' chalice.

  It was heavier than the others had been, pulsing with a kind of dull, confused anger.

  “Vicious son of a bitch,” Gus said.

  Ethan put the chalice under his arm. “I'll take him to the Keep with the others. You okay?”

  “Yeah,” Gus said, but he didn't sound good.

  “It's okay,” Ethan said. “This time the good guys will survive.” He patted the old man on the shoulder and turned to go.

  “I just want it over,” Gus said, and went back in the booth.

  Mab stood in front of the empty Fortune-Telling Machine, trying to figure out why she felt so bereft. She fished a penny out of her bag and put it in the machine and turned the lever, and a card slid into the tray. A real card.

  She picked it up.

  YOU WILL HAVE MANY INTERESTING ADVENTURES.

  “Somehow, that's not reassuring,” she said to the booth, but Vanth was gone, so she was just talking to an empty statue. Alone. “I used to love being alone,” she told the statue. “What the hell happened to me?”

  “Happiness,” Fun said from behind her, and she turned to see him smiling at her in the cold sunshine, warm and real and looking like Joe.

  “Does Dave know you're taking him for a ride again?” Mab said.

  “His request.” Fun came closer, and Mab steeled herself not to step back. “If I possess him for an hour every day, his hair stays curly. Women love it.”

  “He can't use a curling iron?”

  “Dave? He'd put his eye out.” Fun smiled down at her, warm and real and treacherous. “Look, I know you're mad at me, but give me some credit. You're a lot happier since you met me, you're -”

  “Pregnant,” Mab said, and Fun lost his smile. “Yep, and you're the daddy, so you want to tell me again how good you've been for me?”

  “There's a baby?” Fun said, dumbfounded. “But it's Dave's, not mine.”

  “Wrong again.” Mab smiled up at him, feeling some vindication in turning the tables. “Conception possession. Since you were in Drunk Dave when he was in me, you're the dad, too. And she's definitely got your demon genes along with mine.”

  “She?” Fun said, still looking stunned.

  “Delphie. Little girl. Redhead. Green eyes. Crooked smile. Green glow. Demon spawn.”

  Fun sat down on the cold hard ground as if his knees had given out.

  “Of course, by the time she's born, you'll be back in your chalice,” Mab went on. “Off the hook completely. But that's okay because I have family here.” She stopped, a little startled by how easily she'd said family, but then she went on. “Glenda's going to be a kick-ass grandma, and Ethan's going to be the uncle every kid should have, and Cindy's going to be the best aunt ever, what with the ice cream and the dragons, and I'm sure Weaver will teach her to maim and kill.”

  “I'm going to be a father,” Fun said, dazed.

  “Okay, just for the record, this is not about you. This is about keeping this baby safe and happy and... undemonized for as long as possible. So you are not actually going to be a father in the pick-her-up-from-high-school, first-dance-at-her-wedding sense of the word. You're going to be in a chalice.”

  “Does she look like me?” Fun said. “I mean, you've seen her, right? In the future?”

  “She has your smile,” Mab said, relenting. “Although I don't know if I actually saw -”

  He stood up, his face dead serious. “I'll take care of this. I'll take care of you.”

  “No,” Mab said, alarmed. “No, no, I have backup, really, don't -”

  But Fun was already striding down the midway to the back of the park, his shoulders set in determination.

  Frankie flew down to Mab's shoulder.

  Mab bit her lip. “Follow him,” she said after a moment. “Find out where he goes.”

  Frankie bobbed his head once and then launched himself into the air.

  “This is all just too complicated,” Mab said to nobody, and went to find Oliver.

  Research would save her. And if it didn't, she was pretty sure Oliver would.

  Kharos was annoyed by the soul who sat down beside him, young, dressed in a blue pin-striped shirt, lounging on the bench as if sitting beside the Devil meant nothing -

  YOU WANTED TO SEE ME? Fufluns said.

  Kharos was startled. This was not a soul; it was an Untouchable. How had he missed that?

  I HAVE THINGS TO DO, Fufluns said. PEOPLE TO MEET. LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH.

  Kharos looked at him more closely and realized that Fufluns had been playing in Dreamland too long, so saturated in human emotions, human thoughts, that the demon in him was obscured.

  That could be a problem, especially if he'd developed the human flaw of not following orders.

  I NEED YOU IN THE KEEP ON HALLOWEEN. GO THERE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

  SURE, Fufluns said. ON ONE CONDITION.

  Kharos went still. Nobody asked him for conditions, especially not this upstart ex-god debased by humanity.

  NOTHING HAPPENS TO MAB , Fufluns said.

  Mab. Ray's niece.

  YOU TOUCH HER IN ANY WAY, THE DEAL'S OFF.

  Kharos cursed whatever demonic fate had made this clown part of the Untouchables. DO WE HAVE A DEAL? Fufluns said. OF COURSE
, Kharos lied.

  WHY DO I NOT BELIEVE YOU?

  WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

  Fufluns smiled up at him. I CAN WORK AGAINST YOU WHEN YOU NEED ALL FIVE TO BECOME UNTOUCHABLE AGAIN. YOU NEED ME, KHAROS, AND I NEED MAB UNHURT AND HEALTHY. SO WHEN YOUR NATURAL INSTINCT TO DESTROY ZEROES IN ON HER, REMEMBER YOU'LL BE COMMITTING DEMONIC SUICIDE IF YOU GIVE IN TO IT.

  Kharos seethed, knowing what he said was true. But he also knew that if Fufluns had been affected by the human cattle, then he probably had some of their traits. He was making this deal out of fear.

  Fufiuns stood up. SHE'S MY LINE IN THE SAND. CROSS ME THERE, AND YOU'RE DEAD. LEAVE HER ALONE, AND I'LL JOIN YOU IN THE KEEP.

  He turned and walked away without waiting for an answer.

  WHAT LINE IN WHAT SAND? Kharos thought, confused, and began to brood on a way to make the Mab woman weep with despair without paying Fufluns' price.

  For the rest of the week, Ethan focused on sharpening his team, spending his off hours looking for the Kharos key, the last piece of his puzzle. The team-sharpening went better than the puzzle search. Minion demons were infinitely easier to catch than Untouchables, and after several captures each night, the Guardia had built up a library of demons trapped in Tupperware, coin purses, Jack Daniels bottles, milk cartons, ziplock bags, and Altoids tins. If it had a lid, the Guardia could put a minion in it. Some of the minions were more optimistic about this than others - the demon in the not-quite-empty Jack Daniels bottle seemed happier than most - but they were all stuck, no matter how the five-beat chant was performed. Their only real disagreement was that Weaver wanted to kill all the demons, and Oliver preferred to keep them alive for study purposes. Ethan let them fight it out and concentrated on the big picture: living through Halloween.

  The rest of the time, Ethan focused his energy on the tangibles: repairing the outer fence, preparing the Keep for any assault, planting iron weapons throughout the park along with the ever-present spears in the wrought-iron railing, and patrolling nightly with Weaver at his side, snatching a few hours of sleep with her in Hank's trailer, which somehow had become their trailer by Friday. Erhan wasn't exactly sure how he'd ended up living with a woman in a committed relationship, but now that he was, it wasn't bad. At least he felt no compelling instinct to return to the woods and the rock under his sleeping bag. And it wasn't just Weaver; he was feeling the same sense of responsibility and loyalty to the Guardia that he had to his team in Afghanistan. He was responsible for them, even if they weren't sure they wanted to be part of his team. Especially Cindy, who seemed more perplexed than involved, although she redimio-ed like a champ whenever called upon.

  Being responsible felt normal, like the way things should be, but sometimes, late at night, he woke in a cold sweat, memories of what had happened in Afghanistan terrorizing his subconscious. Responsibility for other people brought risks. He didn't need any more ghosts in his dreams.

  So on Friday, he got up, put Beemer in the warm spot he left in the bed, walked down to the Dream Cream, and sat down at the counter,

  Cindy came to put a coffee cup in front of him.

  “Hey, boss.”

  “Nor boss,” Ethan said. “We're equals.”

  “Right. You want breakfast?”

  “No, I want to make sure you're okay with all of this.” Ethan tried to find his warm, sympathetic, understanding side and then realized he didn't have one. “You're the newest, and you weren't paying much attention at the meeting in the Keep. I -”

  “Yes, I was,” Cindy said, unfazed. “And I've been paying a lot of attention to the book Mab gave me. It's slow going, but I'm learning many things. Including how to control the dragons. Most of them. Really, my skill set is vastly enhanced, as Mab would say.”

  “Well, that's good,” Ethan began, and the door opened and a teenager came in, gangly and goofy and happy looking, and sat down one seat away from him.

  “Be right back,” Cindy said, and dished up a waffle.

  Then she took the bowl into the storeroom and came out with a pile of orange ice cream on top of the pastry and put it in front of the boy.

  “You look like somebody who'd be up for experimental ice cream,” she said, beaming at him. “Cinnamon Surprise. On the house.”

  “Great!” the kid said, and dug in as Cindy moved back down to Erhan.

  “So it's good you're learning, uh, many things,” Ethan said. “But what we need -”

  “Like it's not all spells, although Glenda gave me some of that, too. She says I'm a natural,” Cindy said, watching the kid shovel ice cream.

  “That's good,” Ethan said again, “but what we need are practical skills -”

  The boy dropped his spoon on the counter with a clatter and began to choke.

  “Like now I can spot a demon as soon as he walks through the door.” She leaned over the counter to the boy and said, “That's for knocking up Mab and lying to her.”

  Ethan saw the yellow flash in the kid's eyes, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and hauled him to the door as Cindy dumped the bowl of ice cream into the trash and the entire Dream Cream froze, watching them. Then Cindy said, “Everything is just fine!” in Glenda's overbright version of these-are-nor-the-droids-you're-looking-for, and they all went back to chatting and eating.

  Ethan dragged Fun around to the deserted side of the building and slammed him against the striped paneling.

  “Easy,” Fun said, still gasping. “I'm dying here.”

  “As long as it's you and not the host, I don't care,” Ethan said, and then Cindy came out and joined them, looking very Midwestern and cheery in her pink stripes, the sequins on her turquoise cardigan glittering in the October sun as she hugged herself to keep warm.

  “What was in that?” Fun said, starting to recover.

  “Iron rust,” Cindy said. “Looks just like cinnamon. And I have gallons of it.”

  “Look,” Fun said, smiling at them as he choked. “I know about the baby, and I think it's great. I've never had a kid -”

  “You're not going to have one now.” Ethan hit him, knocking him cold, and then let him drop to the ground. “You knocked up my sister, you bastard.”

  “Might want to go easy on the body,” Cindy said. “That's Jerry Ferris Wheel.”

  “The Ferris Wheels are having a bad week.” Ethan picked up the unconscious teenager. “I'll take him to the Keep, you call Mab to bring the chalice and get everybody else you can.”

  “I'll go with you,” Cindy said, and made her calls while she walked beside Ethan, who had Fun over his shoulder. They got some looks, but Cindy would smile that amazing smile and say, “We're fine, thanks,” and people would nod and move on.

  “Okay,” Ethan said after he loaded Fun into one of the paddleboats. “I apologize for doubting the new skills.”

  “You haven't seen anything yet,” Cindy said, and got in the boat with him.

  Mab had just settled in on the velvet banquette in her trailer with a bowl of vegetable soup when she heard a knock at the door. She slid out from behind the malachite table and opened the door.

  Weaver stood there with a pained look of friendliness on her face.

  “You don't have to fake it,” Mab said. “I'm good with open hostility.”

  Weaver's smile disappeared into her sigh. “I'm not hostile. You're hostile. I'm ... exasperated.”

  “Come on in, Exasperated,” Mab said, and stood back to let her in.

  “Wow.” Weaver took in the gold-starred walls and the branch crown molding with Delpha's urn ensconced next to Frankie's nest. “This is ”Delpha's,“ Mab said, sitting down again. ”Oh, I forgot. Can I get you anything? Coffee, Diet Coke, vegetable soup She looked up at Frankie. sunflower seeds?"

  “No,” Weaver said. “Thank you. I've come for a, uh, psychic reading.”

  “Whoa.” Mab sat back. “Either you really want to make friends or you really have a problem.”

  Weaver pulled out the chair on the other side of the table and sat down. �
�Look, you and I don't get along, and that's okay. But if we're going to work together to defeat the demons, we need to at least respect each other. And Oliver seems to think you're the real deal.”

  “Really?” Mab bit back a smile. “Well, we've only been working together for a week. He doesn't really know me at all.”

  “Right,” Weaver said, dismissing that. “So, I want a reading. You know what I do; I want to see what you do.”

  “Ten bucks,” Mab said, and ate some more of her soup.