by Gina Ranalli
I decide to intervene on Circe’s behalf, which probably surprises me even more than it does him.
-Hey, at least he’s being honest with me. Not sending me to me to my room like I’m a child.
When Atropos reaches the top of the stairs, she turns her gaze to me and she doesn’t look happy.
-It is not my intention to treat you like a child, Mr. Eon. It is for your own protection.
-Protection from what?
There is a moment when I don’t think she’s going to answer. She’s just going to leave me hanging. But then she does.
-From yourself, essentially.
-Oh? How do you figure? Is this the whole oh, he’s just a stupid junkie thing because I may be a junkie but I’m not stupid.
-No one thinks you’re stupid, Mr. Eon.
I look at all their faces in turn and they are all equally expressionless.
-Then why don’t you tell me what’s going on? What’s the revolver?
Atropos shoots a nasty glance at Circe again before replying.
-It’s exactly what it sounds like. You will revolve us all into an alternate dimension.
I must be looking at her like she’s insane because that’s when Luna speaks up.
-Think of it this way: a revolver—a pistol—has a cylinder, right?
-Yeah, so?
-That’s why it’s called a revolver. It revolves to the next chamber. It goes around and around and that is basically what you’ve been doing.
-But a revolver only has six chambers. I’ve spun more than six times. For the analogy to work, I should have already gone back to the rock star.
Circe speaks up in his same snide tone.
-Way to be anal, dude.
-I’m just saying.
Atropos explains further.
-In theory, this is how we believe the spinning works. But we already know there are an infinite number of dimensions. We would have to spin an infinite number of times to have a repeat visit to one of them.
I’m getting totally lost and I hate being lost.
-Then what’s the point? Even if we find a perfect dimension, we’ll never be able to get back to it.
-Not until we find the trigger.
-The trigger? Oh, come on! Give me a fucking break here!
-I know there is a trigger, but not who or what it is. Because you spin more frequently than anyone else, you’re the one who is most likely to be able to find the trigger before it’s too late.
-Too late? It’s already too late.
I know I’m starting to be belligerent but I don’t care. I want this over with.
-It will be soon enough but trust me, we don’t want to be here when it happens.
-What?
Raising my voice, I throw my arms into the air with frustration. Both Luna and Circe step closer to my side, as if ready to tackle me if the need arises.
-What’s gonna happen? Nuclear war? Alien invasion? A plague? Tell me!
-Does it matter?
Atropos is not the slightest bit intimidated by my outburst. Her voice is still smooth and calm and if I were a betting man I’d say her pulse hasn’t increased even the smallest fraction.
-I don’t know! Maybe it matters. Maybe it’s something I could survive.
-Maybe it is. It’s highly improbable but perhaps you could. But what about the rest of the world? Do you not care what happens to everyone and everything else?
My first instinct is to shout you’re damn right I don’t care but I stop myself because, am I really that much of an asshole? Thinking about it, I don’t believe I am. Yes, I’ve done some shitty things but at my core, I do care and Atropos knows it. I can tell by the way she’s looking at me. In fact, I think Circe and Luna know it too.
I say the only thing I really can:
-Fuck!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—The Deputy
The town of Bellflower is a far cry from the city where I grew up and I wish I’d moved here sooner. Better late than never, of course, but it probably would have spared me a lot of grief in the long run.
The main thing I find here that I never found anywhere else is kindness. Also, the folks in this place have a mutual respect for one another that city people tend to be lacking. Back there, no one gives a crap about anyone else, but here, people will actually go out of their way to help a friend or neighbor in need.
Hell, even a stranger, which is what I was when I first arrived. I was a drunk with no assets to speak of. No skills. Just a desire to get away from the people who wanted to keep me down and wanted me to accept my station in life.
I’m not sure what gave me the strength to finally look around and say I want out, but it wasn’t the love of a good woman or a fear of death or anything else you’re likely to find as a motivation for a hero’s journey in a book or movie.
Not that I’m a hero. Not by a long shot. I’m just a man who tried to be a good person and I guess it was ultimately that desire that got my feet moving and landed me here in small town America with nothing but a duffle bag of clothes and a beat-up pick-up truck.
I’d just been driving, no destination in mind. But I knew I wanted the country, I wanted fresh air and lots of tall trees generations old and the sound of birds in the morning. Not pigeons either.
I’d been driving for two days when I stopped in Bellflower’s diner for some pie and coffee and I just never left. I knew it almost immediately. This was the place. I could heal here and I did.
At first I got a job in that very same diner-Sam’s-working as a fry cook, then I moved on to the lumber mill and finally, after making friends with sheriff Patrick Roberts, he, having more faith in me than I’d ever had in myself, hired me on as a deputy. It was a part time gig until I proved my mettle and took some college courses over in Indigo Bend, but now I’m full time and pretty much Pat’s right hand man.
Carol, the waitress at Sam’s Diner, is bringing me another cup of coffee, her cottony white hair almost making her look angelic somehow, dazzling in the sunlight.
-Let me guess. You want another refill?
I grin at her.
-Now that you mention it.
As she’s filling my mug, she returns the smile.
-I don’t know how you can consume so much caffeine, Jeff. I’d be nervous as a cat full of rocking chairs.
-I couldn’t function without it. Well, it and candy. And sugary cereals.
She laughs and moves away to the next table where old Joe Macintyre is sitting and reading the paper.
It’s somewhat miraculous, but they still have newspapers in this town. It’s like living with a bunch of luddites but in the best way possible.
I check my watch and see it’s nearing five pm. Another day with nothing doing. And it being a Tuesday night, I expect more of the same. Most of the people in this town are early to bed, early to rise. There are exceptions of course. Mostly the town drunks and teenagers, but they rarely ever get up to anything more than rowdiness.
Popping the last bite of pecan pie into my mouth, I look out the diner’s window and see a long black car pulling into the lot off the highway. Not one I recognize but Route 55 is the main drag through town, winding off to other, bigger, places in both directions, so people pulling in as they pass through is nothing unusual.
I pull some bills out of my wallet and toss them onto the table top, downing my new cup of coffee in three long gulps.
While I’m standing up and putting my hat back on, the person driving the car walks into the diner and I do a double take.
It’s Halleck.
Immediately, I feel my blood temperature rise a couple degrees and I’m tempted to pull the brim of my hat down and avert my gaze as I pass him on the way out. But, that would do no good. He’s looking directly at me and his face isn’t showing a single lick of surprise. He expected to find me here.
He saunters up and stops at the table I’m still standing beside.
-Hello, Eon.
I cast a quick look around the diner. Old Joe has glanced up from
his paper, watching me with interest but Carol is busy at the counter. Sam is back in the kitchen and no one else is in the place. It’ll fill up soon though. Lots of townies like to come here for dinner. Sam makes the best damn meatloaf in four counties.
-What are you doing here?
I keep my voice low.
He smiles the way I’d imagine a snake would smile if it could.
-That’s no way to greet an old friend, Jeff. Where are your manners? I’ve heard you’re a respectable man nowadays. I’d have figured you’d be polite.
I ignore the histrionics and repeat the question.
-What are you doing here?
His smile broadens.
-Came to see you, of course. May we sit? Maybe have a cup of coffee?
-I have to get back to work.
I start to walk past him but he grabs my forearm, stopping me.
-I think you’re going to want to listen to what I have to say, Jeff.
Yanking my arm free, I lower my voice even more.
-Don’t touch me again.
He gives a little bow of his head.
-My apologies, Deputy.
The title makes him snigger and my anger rises a bit closer to the surface.
-But, please. Let us have a quick chat. It won’t be more than five minutes of your time. I promise.
I start walking again, my back to him and suddenly a loud crack explodes in the diner and I whirl around just in time to see old Joe collapse face first into his paper, the back of his head sporting a new, wide, wet, gleaming hole and the booth behind him splattered with brains and gore.
-Now that I have your attention, Eon, may we sit and speak a spell?
Halleck is holding a smoking .45 and I pull my .38 from its holster and shout at him.
-Drop your fucking weapon now!
I’m dimly aware of Carol screaming but it sounds far away. I dare a quick glance in the direction of the counter and see her frozen there, two mugs in each hand.
I yell at her to get down, but have to repeat it twice before she snaps out of her trance and does as commanded.
Halleck speaks just as casually as ever.
-I’ll kill her too, Eon. Just as easily as I blew out the brains of the old timer there. And anyone else who happens to come in. Not to mention the fat old chef who’s peeking out at us right now.
He directs his attention towards the kitchen and yells.
-Peek-a-boo, I see you!
-Whatever this is, leave them out of it!
When he looks back at me, his expression is one of amusement.
-That’s up to you, Eon. We could have been having a nice cup of coffee right now but you had to go and be difficult and rude about it and now that gentleman right there has gone to meet his maker. And all because you chose to be a snotty little prick who forgets where he came from.
-What the fuck are you talking about?
-Drop your weapon, Deputy.
He must be joking.
I don’t even lower it, never mind drop it.
-No way.
Halleck fires in the direction of the kitchen. Something explodes back there—ceramic mugs, probably—and Sam lets out a yelp. One of pain or fear, I can’t tell.
-You’re practically glowing.
Halleck tells me, smirking again.
-Did you know that? You’re like a pregnant woman. Just glowing away. Or like a candle flame and all the little moths, myself included, are drawn to you now. You’ll never be able to hide again.
-I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about and I don’t give a shit. You put down the gun or I’ll be forced to shoot you. You have until the count of three.
I pause, waiting for his trigger finger to so much as twitch, but it doesn’t.
-One.
-Two, three. I don’t care about your counting, Eon. You’re a good guy now, remember? You won’t shoot me. You’ll arrest me, certainly, and probably give me a good beating to go along with it, but shoot me? I doubt it.
I fire my gun, shooting him in the thigh. He drops, screaming, and fires his own weapon into the ceiling before swinging it back in my direction.
Diving into a booth, I swear I can hear the sound of the bullet passing over me, right where my head previously was.
Halleck shrieks with fury.
-I will own you, Eon. Do you understand? I will fucking own you and that will be the end of all this. You will never escape, no matter where in the universe you try to hide.
He fires his weapon repeatedly in my general vicinity, but the old red vinyl booth proves to be suitable protection.
I get on my radio, calling the sheriff, telling him to come quick. There’s a known drug dealer in the diner. He’s already killed one person and has attempted to murder both myself and others in the building. He’s clearly on some kind of drug, but I don’t know which one.
Hurry.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE—The Junkie (13)
When I tell the others what Halleck said, Luna and Circe exchange worried glances with each other. Not Atropos though. She doesn’t seem worried so much as surprised.
-What does it mean?
I ask the question like a child asking about God.
Luna is the first to reply.
-He’s taking Satellite for one thing.
Atropos agrees.
-He’s taking it and is fully aware of what’s happening. He was able to completely take over his alternate self.
Chiming in, Circe says,
-That dude is gonna wonder what the fuck is going on once Halleck comes back from the spin.
We’re all in the dining room. Again or still? I don’t know anymore. Time has become such a fluid, flexible thing. And not just time either, but also space. Even the space in my head is not to be trusted anymore.
-He said I was glowing. Like a flame. And others would be able to find me now. And he didn’t make it sound like it was going to be a good time for me. Well, the other me. Or me’s. Whatever.
-Yes.
Atropos’s voice is thoughtful.
-You’re becoming more powerful, which does give you a certain aura which will cross with you through dimensions. I’m curious as to how he found you so quickly though. This last spin of yours was one of the shortest you’ve had.
-Then he’s aware.
I can’t tell if Luna is angry or scared when she speaks.
-Aware or awake. Maybe both.
-He must be the trigger.
Watching the two women converse is like watching a tennis match without knowing the rules of the game. I am, as I always have been, lost at sea.
-Wait a minute.
Circe holds up a hand.
-Halleck can’t be the trigger. If he was, Hoop would have said so.
Luna comes back quickly.
-Did you ask him?
-Well, no, but—
-Then we should.
Getting up from the table, Luna pulls a hair band out of her front hip pocket and pulls her hair back into a tight ponytail. I suspect this is a sign she means business.
-Let’s do it!
Circe pounds the table with an enthusiastic fist and also gets to his feet.
-You coming Atropos?
She doesn’t answer, obviously lost in thought. I speak up instead.
-I’m coming too.
Luna shrugs and Circe mimics the gesture.
-Fine by me, little man. I mean, since you two are buddies and all.
-We’re not buddies. We haven’t been buddies in a long time.
-What about in that universe where you were so happy to be slinging drinks with him? Sounds like you were buddies then.
-Yeah, well, not in this lifetime. Not anymore. The dickhead had me tied up in his fucking basement, remember?
-The night we met? How could I forget? It was so romantic. Luna had to rescue you.
He blows a kiss at me and I feel like leaping over the table and choking the snide out of him. Instead, I decide to be the bigger man and ignore his stu
pid ass.
Since Atropos doesn’t protest, the three of us go upstairs and Luna pulls out an old fashioned key and unlocks the door to the library where Hoop is being held.
He’s asleep on a leather sofa when we enter, a plaid red and blue wool blanket thrown over his lower body, his head resting on the sofa’s arm.
-Rise and shine, cupcake!
Circe practically yells the words, startling not only Hoop, who comes awake with a small cry of alarm, but also myself. Luna only sighs.
Sitting up straight, Hoop whips the blanket off his body as if he’s pretending to be a matador flipping his cape. He swings himself off the couch and charges Circe, leaping over a huge oak coffee table in the process.
With barely any physical motion at all, Luna shoots her fist out, catching Hoop in the throat easily. He goes down gagging.
Circe starts laughing and I have to admit, it’s tempting to join him, but I’m too busy being impressed with Luna’s self-defense skills to be too amused.
-You have to teach me how to do that.
She gives me a little smile that makes my heart flutter like a damn school girl’s, then she bends over and questions Hoop.
-Why didn’t you tell us Halleck is the trigger?
He coughs, holding his throat, then croaks out a curse at her.
-Fucking bitch.
This makes Circe laugh even harder.
-Uh oh, Luna. He called you a bad word.
-Yeah, I heard him.
She takes a step towards Hoop and I expect her to kick the shit out of him but she walks around him and sits down on the sofa, tossing the wool blanket over the back.
-What do you think of the library, Eon?
Not knowing what her game is, or even if she’s playing a game, I take the room in. It’s just as impressive as the rest of the house and it definitely lives up to its name. All four walls contain floor to ceiling bookcases that appear to be just as old as their contents, which seem very old indeed. In addition to the sofa, there are several forest green stuffed plush chairs and two massive intricately carved mahogany desks, each with matching sturdy chairs. The room’s accents are silver and in the few places the walls are visible, a green and silver diamond pattern wallpaper reminds me of what I imagine an old casino might look like.
-It’s nice.