“Can you end the pain?” Patrick said.
Bedlam put a hand to her chest, mechanical fingers gripping her coat tightly.
“We can try to help you,” Kate said, putting a hand on Bedlam’s shoulder to steady her.
“There’s no going back,” one of the other faces said.
“I don’t even remember who I am,” said a third.
“Please set us free,” said a fourth.
“Don’t leave us like this,” Patrick said.
“Don’t leave us like this.”
“Please don’t leave us like this.”
Bedlam made a fist, staring at it, her whole frame shaking.
“I don’t think I can,” she said.
Kate looked to Titus, who nodded. She’d do it if she could, he knew, but this was beyond Kate’s abilities. And this is why I am here. I am the one who kills when nobody else can. Red of tooth and claw. Every team needs a monster.
“I’ll do it,” Titus said. “Patrick, can I ask you one last question?”
The boy nodded.
“Is there anyone we can say goodbye to for you? Any of you?”
“No,” Patrick said.
“I don’t remember,” said another.
“No one will miss me,” said a third.
“No one will ever look for me,” said a fourth.
They’re all ghosts, Titus thought. Chosen for a purpose. The powerful and the powerless.
“Stop the painted man,” Patrick said. “Don’t let them do this to anyone else.”
“We will,” Titus said, feeling the werewolf inside him surging up, ready to strike. “We will avenge you. I promise.”
And then he let go, felt the claws burst from his fingertips and fangs grow in his mouth. Everything went red. It was hard to kill a living hill of flesh, but he found a way. He always found a way.
He came back to his senses sitting on a curb across from the building, Kate sitting beside him, Bedlam standing with her arms crossed.
“I’m sorry you had to do that,” Kate said.
“It’s my job,” Titus said.
“No, it’s not,” Bedlam said. “And I should’ve been able to. I should have been able to honor that request. I’m sorry, Titus.”
“I understand, Bedlam,” Titus said. “Honestly, this is just…”
I’m the monster, Titus thought. I do what needs to be done.
“We’re going to find this painted man,” Bedlam said. “We have to.”
Chapter 24: The Guardians
Doc Silence followed the fairy-creature deeper into the woods on the outskirts of town. The forest itself had taken on a nightmarish quality to match the experiences of the townsfolk, trees dark and twisted in strange, threatening ways, bending and arching like hungry monsters.
Along the way, Doc sensed something following them at a distance, a shadow without a source. It seemed more curious than threatening, though, and so he left well enough alone, though never taking his attention fully away from it.
Eventually, the brush ahead rustled, and a gruff, rumbling voice called out.
“Galinda, what have you done?” it said, and a sight that under other circumstances would’ve brought a smile to Doc’s face emerged from the woods. A walking teddy bear, one eye covered in a leather patch, wearing battered armor and wearing an oversized sword on his back.
“He’s a magician, Captain Teddy,” the fairy said. “He can help us free Queen Alice.”
The bear’s fuzzy shoulders slumped.
“I think our queen is too far gone,” the bear said. He called over his shoulder. “You can come out, Silverhoof. It’s safe, for now.”
This just keeps getting more ludicrous by the second, Doc thought as a pure white unicorn trotted out of the darkness. Her mane was cotton-candy pink, her horn a pearlescent rainbow.
“She’s not too far gone,” another voice said. Doc watched as the shadow that had been stalking them coalesced into a vaguely humanoid form, a pair of pale yellow eyes glowing from its otherwise featureless face. “We just need to get her away from that wretched Vizier.”
“The Vizier will never let us get close enough,” Teddy said.
“But he might let him get close enough, Gloomly,” Galinda said, jabbing a tiny hand in Doc’s direction.
The shadow-creature darted forward so that he was nearly face to face with Doc.
“And who are you, then,” he asked.
“My name is Doc Silence, and I’m here to put this town back where it belongs, and free your Alice,” Doc said.
“Queen Alice,” the armored bear corrected.
“She’s only been Queen Alice since this happened,” Galinda said. “She was our Lissie before, remember?”
The bear shrugged again in the saddest, most resigned gesture Doc had seen in ages.
“I was a pillow with legs before,” he said.
“You look like you’ve seen combat,” Doc said. “Has the Vizier been violent?”
The bear looked at him, his mouth a grim line.
“You mean the eye? A terrible beast took that. It was called a washing machine.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Doc said.
“Most horrifying experience of my life. I thought I was going to drown,” he said.
“It must’ve been terrifying.”
“I don’t like to talk about it, but you look like you’ve seen some things as well.”
“I have,” Doc said, filled with a sudden urge to adopt this walking, talking teddy bear. “What can you tell me about the Vizier?”
“He is new,” the shadow said.
“New?”
“He showed up a few days ago,” Galinda said. “At first we thought he was like us, a… what did you call me?”
“A figment,” Doc said.
“Something like that. Something our queen made with her mind, like us,” Galinda said. “But he’s not.”
“He whispered in her ear, and gave her terrible dreams,” Gloomly said. “But she didn’t know it was him. She thought he was there to save her from the dreams. Maybe he’d been there all along and we never knew.”
“Because we couldn’t,” Teddy said.
“And she became so afraid she changed everything. She made this place,” Gloomly said. “We tried to fight him, but she protected him. And then it was like she began to forget everything that came before. We changed. Transformed. Became her servants.”
“I swear, if we could chase off the Vizier, we’d get our Lissie back,” Galinda said.
The presence he felt in Seville, Doc thought. Something entering this world and changing it. The presence had felt familiar to him, like something he’d fought before, but he couldn’t quite place it. This place though, reminded him of somewhere he’d been trapped for a while with Lady Grey during their accidental banishment from their home reality not all that long ago. He’d spent time in the dream realms, and this place, with its nightmares in every house, its twisted trees, its red skies, felt like a little pocket dimension of nightmares.
He knew nightmares. He could fight nightmares.
“What does this Vizier look like?” Doc asked.
“He’s pretty,” Galinda said.
“No, he’s not,” Gloomly said. “He makes himself look pretty, so as not to scare her. But if you pay attention, you can see his true face out of the corner of your eye. The burning eyes. The fangs. He is more monster than man.”
“I need to get a look at him. Maybe try to talk to Queen Alice. Can one of you show me how to get there?”
All three creatures exchanged a nervous look. Even the unicorn, who remained unspeaking the entire time, looked away sheepishly. Then, the fairy, shadow, and bear all spoke at the same time.
“I’ll go,” they said as one.
“We don’t all have to risk our lives,” Teddy said. “I’ll take him.”
“I found him,” Galinda said. “Let me.”
Gloomly darted onto Doc’s shoulders, wrapping his dark form around him like
a barely visible cloak.
“I’m the one they won’t notice,” he said. “I’ll be his guide.”
“If you’re always as sneaky as you were following us here, you’ll be able to slip away easier than the others if I’m captured, too, I assume,” Doc said.
“Captured?” Galinda said.
“We don’t know what the Vizier is capable of,” Teddy said. “Better safe than sorry.”
“It’s decided, then,” Gloomly said.
Doc looked to both Galinda and Teddy, then gave an equally respectful nod to Silverhoof as well.
“If anything happens, I have friends who will come looking for me. A girl with hair of flames. A boy who can become a wolf. A few others. Help them, if they do. They’ll need your guidance.”
Captain Teddy snapped to attention.
“You have my word,” he said.
I love this bear, Doc thought.
“Thank you,” he said. “Let’s got see about this queen.”
Chapter 25: Magic and bargains
The Lady Dreamless sat alone outside an elegant restaurant in Manhattan, sipping a shockingly expensive drink she did not pay for, watching New Yorkers walk by as if the wave of humanity before her was the most delightful form of entertainment she’d ever seen.
This world was, in many ways, infinitely entertaining to her. No, it didn’t have the impossible variety the Dreamless Lands had, but she found the creativity this reality had despite the limited artistic materials at its disposal incredibly impressive. Like an artist who worked only in clay, she sometimes thought. Or trash. Fine art made from castoffs and scraps.
As someone who wove dreams with magic as one might wield a needle and thread, she found its crudeness delightful.
She reached down to pet one of her demon hounds, amused, as always, the way the glamour cast on them disguised the two impressive beasts as matching pair of jovial Great Danes she called Castor and Pollux. As she scratched behind Castor’s ear, she saw a stranger making a beeline toward her. People approached her often in this world, her own illusory form eye-catching and her demeanor mysterious, but it wasn’t his approach that caught her attention. He, too, had a glamour cast on him, disguising his form to mortal eyes. Beneath the blandly handsome face and expensive suit he hid behind, his skin was a pallid, deathly gray, taught across muscle and bone, covered in ashy white tattoos. He wore no shirt beneath his suitcoat, displaying more mystic tattoos. His feet were bare. The ordinary humans allowed him to pass without so much as a second glance. Just another businessman in an expensive suit, nothing special or out of the ordinary in this place.
She could tell from his gaze he saw through her illusions as well, and he was not afraid.
“May I join you?” the gray man asked. Lady Dreamless gestured for him to sit. Her curiosity was piqued, in the very least, even if she had no real interest in dealing with this world’s sloppy magics.
“I hope you don’t plan to take long,” Lady Dreamless said. She could smell blood on him. Meat magic, she thought, blood and sacrifice, necromancy. Her least favorite kind of magic. She preferred the bargaining tactics of Natasha Grey, or the way Doc Silence learned the secret names of things. There was an elegance to that which blood magic could never possess, as effective as the latter was.
“You’re not from this world, are you,” the man said. “Let me introduce myself. My name is King Tears.”
“King?” Dreamless said. “Such a strange honorarium. I didn’t think this land of the free believed in kings.”
“It’s more of a play on words,” King Tears said. “Not a literal translation. You know magicians often sacrifice our names to learn our craft.”
“And you gave yours away to be called a king.”
“Others have become doctors or professors, ladies or barons or captains. Why not a king?”
The Lady Dreamless shrugged, mildly annoyed at the comment. She was, in fact, royalty in the Dreamless Realms, though she supposed her title meant little or nothing here.
“Speak to me, King of Tears. You have until I finish my drink or until you bore me.”
A smile broke across the face of the man who called himself King Tears. It was a joyless grin.
“There is a power vacuum in this world right now, and I’m attempting to consolidate such power. To keep things from getting out of control, you see. Not for selfish reasons.”
“Everyone who gathers power gathers it for selfish reasons,” Lady Dreamless said. “And those who claim otherwise are the worst among a sea of liars. I know the hearts of men and women, King Tears. Don’t think you can fool me.”
“My apologies, my lady,” King Tears said. “That is your honorarium, is it not? The Lady Dreamless, Queen of the Citrine Tower?”
“I can’t say I’m pleased to hear you know my name,” she said. “I’m here on vacation, after all.”
“Yes, and far from the Dreamless Lands. Your magic is powerful here, but it’s not what it might be if we were on your home turf, so to speak.”
Anger flashed across the dream queen’s eyes, so powerfully they glimmered with their true, luminescent red hue. Mortals around her took an involuntary step back, their subconscious minds sensing danger their waking eyes could not see.
“That sounds like a threat, King Tears.”
“I was hoping it might sound more like an offer,” Tears said. “Join with me, and you can rule over this world as unquestionably as you do the Dreamless Lands.”
“I have no desire to rule this world. As I said, I’m here on vacation. I’m here to learn.”
King Tears pondered her for a moment, a long finger tapping his lip.
“Did you know something followed you through?” he said. “This is no simple guest visa to our world. You brought an invasive species with you.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Deny all you want. But there are footprints all along the ley lines. You should never have come here, where you are not welcome. Where you are not safe.”
“I’ve had enough of you. What is it with wizards and their petty arrogance?”
Lady Dreamless stood up smoothly. Her demon hounds rose then as well, flanking King Tears expertly.
And then Lady Dreamless heard Pollux let loose a soft, pathetic whine. She glanced to her dogs and saw that both had frozen in place. King Tears stood up as well, calmly, his hands moving dexterously as he cast a binding spell, locking her defenders in place.
“Don’t worry. This doesn’t hurt them. I’m sure you’ve used such magic before as well. They just simply won’t be able to interfere,” he said.
“I don’t need my hounds to tear you apart,” Lady Dreamless said. She lifted a hand, which began to glow from within with arcane energy. But nothing happened.
King Tears smiled at her in a grotesque parody of charm.
“I did offer a partnership, remember. But if I need to steal your powers from you instead, I’ll take them by force. It isn’t every day I have a chance to siphon off pure dream magic. It’s so rare here after all.”
“You don’t know who you’re crossing,” Lady Dreamless said.
But then she saw the eyes of the patrons around her, the wait staff, the harmless humanity in the streets. They no longer emanated a sense of life. Instead, blank eyes stared out at her from the husks of faces, sallow, vacant, cold.
The dead turned to her, reaching out with grasping hands.
Chapter 26: Not my type
“You go talk to her,” Billy said.
Jane raised a grumpy eyebrow at Billy, then closed her eyes and sighed as Emily made a grotesque sucking sound with her straw. They’d taken up position in an Ishmael’s Coffee across the street from the fancy bistro Lady Dreamless was having a drink outside, and Emily was on her second venti Entropy Emi-latte with whipped cream, a coffee creation with enough caffeine in it to give an elephant a myocardial infarction. The Indestructibles had, in their first year, struck up a small marketing deal with Ishmael’s, which had seen an unexpected
resurgence after the Nemesis Fleet invasion. Apparently saving the world made people want to buy coffees named after superheroes again.
Of course, that meant Emily was floating on a severe caffeine high and about to become super annoying any second.
“I’ll go talk to her,” Emily said.
“No, you will not,” Jane said.
“I mean, I’ll go,” Billy said. “But you’re the diplomat, Jane. You’d be the best one to approach her.”
They were able to find Lady Dreamless with Natasha’s help, but when they finally spotted her, she didn’t look they the way they thought she would. Jane wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but a slender, elegant woman with dark hair and an old-fashioned movie star’s looks was not how she’d pictured an otherworldly demi-goddess. Dreamless wore a simple black dress with pearls, black heels, a wide hat and oversized sunglasses, something straight out of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She was accompanied by two beautiful Great Danes, both completely black in color as well. She sipped casually on what Jane thought might be a mimosa.
Billy, echoing her thoughts, said what everyone was thinking out loud.
“I did not expect an Audrey Hepburn cosplayer when we were sent on this assignment.”
“Well, first appearances aren’t always what they seem to be,” Jane said.
“You were exactly what you presented yourself as when we met,” Billy said. “I’ve always admired that about you.”
“What?”
“There’s no bull to you. You just are who you are. Everyone else is full of it.”
“I’m not full of it,” Emily said.
“You are more full of it than anyone I’ve ever met,” Billy said. “And that’s why you’re my best friend.”
“I know that was meant as an insult, but I don’t care,” Emily said.
“Of course, you present yourself in such a hyper-stylized mess nobody really knows what to expect from you,” Billy said.
The Indestructibles (Book 5): The Crimson Child Page 12