Bubble Gum and Monsters

by Mark Francis

  Chapter 7

  “Come on, Daea. Wake up. We’re going to be late for class.”

  Daea rolled to the other side of her bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin.

  “Let’s go. We don’t have any time.”

  The girl groaned.

  “I’ll leave without you.”

  Daea opened half an eye. She saw Eli standing above her. “OK, go without me.” She smiled when he walked away. Only a few moments later, though, a big splash of cold water hit her in the face. Aghast and instantly awake, she shrieked, “Why did you do that?”

  “We are late for class.”

  “So!”

  “So you don’t want to get grounded again, especially on Halloween. It’s one of the few nights of the year we know there won’t be a mission

  Daea laughed. “Every day should be Halloween, and then we could have fun all the time.”

  “Try getting the grownups to agree to that.”

  “All I know is that I am going to get a record haul of candy tonight.”

  As the duo walked to class, Eli asked, “Why do you care how much candy you’ll get when you have the museum requisition such absurd amounts of junk food?”

  “It tastes better when you work for it.”

  The classroom was a clean white room filled with desks of varying sizes. The smallest were at the front and the largest at the back.

  Eli protested when the teacher marked them both late. He blamed Daea and said he should be rewarded for bringing her. The teacher told him not to tattle, to which Daea agreed. She, in turn, was told she was on thin ice after her spitballs yesterday, and that she had best behave. The girl rolled her eyes, and the teacher said that was her first strike.

  Eli sat at a desk in the middle of the front row. Jesi-Sera sat in the back with Chuck a spot ahead. Daea took the seat in the furthest corner. The teacher, as always, asked her to move closer to the front. Daea looked at Jesi-Sera, who pointed forward. The girl scrunched her nose and moved up a couple of seats. She crossed her arms and banged her head on the desk.

  The teacher told her to be quiet, then presented the day’s lesson. Eli asked questions and engaged the teacher in academic conversation. Chuck slumped in his chair and tracked the teacher with his gold eyes. Jesi-Sera used Chuck to hide the comic book she read.

  Daea looked at the clock. She closed her eyes and counted to sixty. When she opened them, the second hand indicated that only fifty-eight seconds had passed.

  Daea whispered to Chuck about the dinosaur exhibit in the museum, but he ignored her. She ripped a piece of paper from her notebook, wrote something, folded it, and tossed it toward the Sight. Her note was intercepted by the teacher, who read it aloud to the class. It said, “Do you like dinosaurs?” Two check boxes, one for yes and the other for no, were drawn under the question. The teacher told her that was strike two.

  She then drew pictures in her notebook of the missions they had been on since arriving in Ottawa. The first was a Stomp in Vanier, where they fought a group of evil leprechauns called Ollphisttes. The second was an Operation in Gloucester, which was quickly solved when the team helped a bureaucrat clear her name after she had been falsely accused of embezzlement. The last mission had been a Stomp in the Greenbelt where they tracked and destroyed thousands of Crawlies. At first it had been fun, but it became repetitive and boring. Daea still enjoyed it more than school.

  The teammates took turns scouring the tunnels. In teams of two, they would rid the passageways of Crawlies and whatever else they found. It was better to do a little every day than have something really big spawn. Daea liked working with Jesi-Sera the most, then Eli, and she hated when it was just her and Chuck. The bell rang, and the girl was startled out of her daydreams. She packed her things and ran out of the class.

  The common room was filled with excitement as the Childaar awaited sundown. Chuck had a shower and put on his hockey equipment. Jesi-Sera dressed as a fairy princess. She wore a pink gown with translucent wings coming out the back, her shoes looked like glass, and she held a simple wooden wand. Eli was zipped inside a green dinosaur costume with a long tail and spikes down the ridge. Only his face poked out of the neck. Daea dressed as a classic vampire with slicked back hair, a white face, and fangs that fit onto her teeth. She wore a black cape around a dark suit. Jesi-Sera and Chuck told her that her outfit was in bad taste because it celebrated the evil Eldaar, Dracul. Daea told them to relax.

  The Childaar were allowed in the Byward Market, near the Chateau Laurier and U.S. Embassy. It was one of the few nights of the year that the B-team was allowed into the A-team’s territory. The Byward Market, popular with tourists and locals alike, was full of shops and restaurants.

  The team trick-or-treated as they walked. Excitement greeted them at each door as their costumes were praised as the best of the night. Their bags were half full of candy by the time they got to the market.

  The first place Chuck took them was a small BeaverTails shack. He ordered four of the flat, oval, deep-fried pastries. He handed one to each of the team members. Daea devoured hers, looked at the menu, and ordered four more. The ones she got had specialty toppings like chocolate candies, maple syrup, and banana. She offered them to her teammates, who declined, so the little girl ate them herself as they explored.

  They followed Chuck in and out of a list of restaurants. They sampled a wide variety of cuisines, from New Orleanian to Vietnamese.

  A group of costumed teenagers befriended the Childaar. All the boys sidled up to Jesi-Sera, and the girls wanted to be close to Chuck. The rookies found the company boring, so they left to explore on their own.

  “We should find places to get more candy,” said Daea as she shook her bag, which was three-quarters full. “There are houses behind the market we can get to before it’s too late.”

  Eli sighed. “It’s too late already, and you have enough. Let’s explore. We never get into this area.”

  “Where do you want to go?”

  “Let’s walk around Parliament.”

  “Sure. I wonder if they are giving out candy.”

  The Childaar walked to Rideau Street and crossed Sussex. Eli halted Daea as they passed the Chateau Laurier. He pointed over the bridge. “See that? Those are locks which allow boats to go uphill from the Ottawa River onto the Rideau Canal, or downhill in the other direction. The boat enters a gate at the first stage, and then they flood or drain the compartment until the water level is in line with the next one. They open the gate and the boat moves through. The process repeats eight times until they get to the river or canal.”

  Daea paid the Smart little attention as she unwrapped candies and stuffed them in her mouth. The parliament buildings were only steps away from the locks. The young vampires walked into the large courtyard. The Canadian flag flapped atop the Peace Tower, and shadows hid in the walls of the great buildings of Parliament.

  “Are we done? There must be somewhere we can get candy?”

  “Let’s stay here and enjoy the night,” Eli replied.

  “Candy!”

  “Alright, let’s go into downtown. We’ll see if the apartments and shops are giving any.”

  They left Parliament and crossed Wellington Street. Eli pointed at a solid, rectangular sandstone building with ornate blue-trimmed windows. “Remember this place? It’s the Langevin Block. It’s where the Prime Minister’s office is located. The Prime Minister is kind of like the Canadian president.”

  “I know what the Prime Minister is,” snapped Daea. Her eyes sparkled as she pointed to a side door behind a spiked iron fence. “Look at that. The door is open. We could get in.”

  “No way. Even though we’re allowed downtown tonight, there’s no chance we’d be allowed to enter these buildings.”

  “What’s the harm? We’re safe. There aren’t any Stomps or Operations. We’ll be fine.”

  “If Owen found out, we’d be dead meat.”

  Daea jumped and pulled herself over the barrier. “It’
s a good thing that Owen won’t find out.” She landed nimbly on the other side and snuck toward the door.

  Eli struggled to get over the fence in his dinosaur costume. “This is a bad idea.”

  The Childaar crept and peeked inside and saw nothing but an elaborate staircase and a corridor.

  Daea entered the building. “Where do you think the Prime Minister’s office is?”

  “Probably on one of the upper floors, but we should leave.”

  Daea stopped on the first landing. “I’m just going to take a peek.”

  Eli sighed. “Be quick. I want to get out of here.”

  The girl walked up to the second floor landing. There was a big wood door. She opened it and saw a dark hallway lined with office doors. The third floor was the same. When she peeked through the door to the top floor, however, she heard a voice resonate from an open office halfway down the hall.

  “Let’s go.”

  Daea jumped, started by Eli. “Shhh, someone is up here. I want to see who it is. Maybe it’s the Prime Minister.”

  “Are you crazy? You have had your look, now let’s get out of here already.”

  Daea slid through the door and skulked down the hall. The office doors were further apart than in the halls below. The nameplates said that they were the offices of different kinds of ministers. She felt Eli behind her. As they approached the office in the middle of the hall, she saw a nameplate which stated that it was indeed the Prime Minister’s.

  Inside, wood walls surrounded a large wooden desk. She made out five figures in the room. Two men and two women sat in front of the desk. They all wore square, dark suits. They sat, transfixed and trembling, in front of the individual standing behind the desk.

  Dracul was tall and skinny. Fangs peeked out from a thin mouth on an alabaster face. His slicked back dark hair enhanced an already distinctive V-shaped hairline. He wore a fine, black velvet suit. His black, leather, pointy-toed shoes reflected their surroundings. The only thing that marred his immaculate appearance was the long, thick, claw-like fingernails protruding from his hands.

  “This is sheer incompetence,” the vampire said. His voice had a Transylvanian accent. “How can this be explained?”

  The Prime Minister cleared his throat and said that he had been clear with the minister when he had given his instructions. A woman cut him off and nervously responded to the accusation, claiming that she was assured that the Senator was under control. The other man cut her off, and they all began to squabble.

  “Silence.” Dracul’s head snapped to the side, and he peered into the dark hallway. “What’s this? What have we here?” He turned to the Kinedaar. “Is this a gift? For me? You may yet survive this night after all.”

  Daea and Eli stood frozen in terror.

  “Come closer,” the Eldaar said.

  Daea and Eli walked into the room.

  “Stand still.”

  Daea tried to move but was powerless. He walked behind the kids, leaned down, and took a deep breath.

  “Delicious,” he whispered, “simply delicious.” He turned to the Kinedaar and asked, “Who is responsible for this? Who has my gratitude on this hallowed eve?”

  The room sat in silence. The tall vampire turned to the children and said, “Tell me, then, what brings you two tasty specimens to me?”

  Eli blurted, “My name is Eli, and that’s Daea. It’s Halloween, so we were allowed to go to the market. We decided to explore the area, and as we passed this building, we saw an open door. Daea jumped the fence and entered. I didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Is that so? So no one knows that you are here?”

  The Childaar nodded their heads.

  “Do you know who I am?” the vampire asked.

  “An Eldaar?” Eli said.

  A low, raspy laugh came out of the man. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”

  “If you’re going to eat us, just get it over with already,” Daea stammered.

  “Oh, my lookalike is a feisty one,” the Eldaar remarked. “Don’t be so hasty. In life, or rather unlife,” he cackled, “we must savor the finer things.” The vampire paced behind them muttering, “What to do? What to do?” He eyed them like a lion eyes a zebra.

  A scraping sound preceded two balls of fur pouncing into the room. Buddy and Whiskers leapt at the Eldaar. His eyes flash with hatred as he shot the dogs a furious look. The dogs hit the ground, slid, whelped, and ran away.

  Dracul then flicked his wrist, and Chuck was spun into the room. He flicked his wrist again, and the boy was thrown up into the ceiling, which he bounced off of before he fell back to the ground.

  “How cute,” the Eldaar said. “He thought he could hide from me. Get up!”

  Chuck pushed himself off the ground. The man asked them a detailed series of questions. The Childaar held nothing back. The Eldaar’s tongue darted in and out of his mouth as he listened.

  “What we have here is a classic example of short-term gratification versus long-term benefit.” He rubbed his hands together and licked his lips. “On the one hand, I could eat you all right now. It’s been too long since I’ve tasted sweet Childaar blood. On the other hand, I could use you as a resource.”

  He rubbed his hands through his hair. “Unfortunately, I can’t eat just one or two of you. That would draw suspicion.” He licked his lips, frowned, and said, “The prudent choice is to use you. You Childaar have gotten more organized and powerful in recent times. I need information.”

  “Here’s what’s going to happen,” he told the group. “I am going to wipe this memory from your minds. If you ever think back to this night, you will only remember having a fun Halloween. I am, however, going to give you a new friend.”

  He snapped his fingers, and a blue feline creature appeared in front of them. It had the body of a tiger and the head of a bat. It was hairless, with tough, taut, leathery blue skin. It sat down next to the Eldaar and yawned. Its open mouth revealed a full set of shark teeth. The Eldaar stroked the creature’s head.

  The vampire smiled. “This here is my little friend, Hyelsing. She is going to watch you and report to me.” The creature disappeared and then reappeared. “As you can see, my friend has special powers. You don’t need to be afraid since you won’t even know she’s around.” He looked at his watch. "Well, then, shall we get on with it?”

  He told the Kinedaar that he would be back shortly to deal with them. The vampires, young and old, walked down a lavish staircase to the front entrance. The Eldaar leaned down and smelled each Childaar in turn. He waved his hand in front of their faces and said, “You will remember nothing of this night.” The Childaar’s eyes glazed, and they nodded their heads.

  “I look forward to seeing you all again. I hope your usefulness will have expired by then.” He took one last deep breath, opened the door, and showed them out.

  Glassy-eyed, the Childaar stumbled down the street.

  When they arrived back at the museum, Jesi-Sera had just showered and was making a cup of tea.

  She looked at the bedraggled kids. “I take it ye had a happy Halloween?”

  Daea ran to the Charm and showed her the bag of candy. “It was the best Halloween ever. Look at all my loot. I think I could have got more, but people started to get annoyed when we knocked on their doors too late.” She poured the sweets onto a table and began to sort them.

  “Don’t get to comfortable,” the team leader said. “We have class now.”

  The young girl returned the treats to her bag. “I’m taking my candy with me.”

  Chapter 8

  Most of the red, orange, purple, and yellow leaves had fallen off the trees. They spread across lawns and gathered in corners. It was mid-November, and the team hadn’t had a mission since Halloween.

  Jesi-Sera and Chuck told the rookies to enjoy the downtime while they could. Chuck watched a hockey game, and Eli worked on his Tomes. Jesi-Sera processed reports in her bedroom. Daea walked into the common area.

&nb
sp; “There’s going to be a mission tonight,” the girl said, breathing warmth into her hands. “And it’s really cold out.”

  “You haven’t felt cold yet, rookie,” Chuck said, pulling himself off the couch. “Eli, why don’t you get Seeingness already? That way you can inspect the Suffering and I can stay and watch this game.”

  Without looking up the Smart said, “Not really something I can control, Chuck.”

  Daea said, “You might need your warm hat. What do you call it?”

  “Tuque,” the Sight replied.

  Daea laughed. “Tuque. That sounds so funny.”

  “Not really,” the older boy snarled.

  As Daea made herself a banana split, Jesi-Sera exited her room. “Did I hear we have a mission tonight?”

  “Yep, Chuck is out looking at the Suffering. I wonder what it’ll be,” the girl said as she dumped a container of pineapple cubes into her bowl.

  The Sight returned with a knitted cap atop his head. “It looks like a Stomp in Kanata. We should leave in about an hour. Traffic shouldn’t be too bad.”

  Eli packed away his Tome materials. “In the old days, Kanata didn’t get many missions. Now that it is home to the city’s technology sector, it has become part of the regular rotation.”

  Chuck nodded. “If it’s a Stomp, we can probably expect to fight Polters and Geists.”

  “What are those?” Daea asked.

  Eli answered, “They are the ghosts in the machine, spirits that possess anything with mechanical parts. Centuries ago they could only affect simple things like windows and clocks, but these days they are far more formidable.”

  “What’s the difference between a Polter and a Geist?”

  “Polters are more powerful.”

  “So, we fight machines?”

  The Sight replied, “Yes. I’ve fought possessed farm equipment, snow blowers, cars, and computers.”

  Jesi-Sera spoke. “Ye know Big Ben, the famous clock tower in London? I once helped on a mission where it was possessed by a Polter. Not fun. We had to abandon that one.”

  The team suited up and walked to their black SUV. Buddy and Whiskers, tails wagging vigorously, awaited the team outside the museum. Chuck opened the back hatch and in they jumped. Jesi-Sera got in the driver’s seat, while Chuck hopped in the passenger seat, and Eli and Daea climbed into the back.

  They drove west on the Queensway.

  Daea poked Eli, who had taken out a Gameboy. He ignored her, but she kept poking.

  “Stop it, Daea! You’re being annoying.”

  “I’m not doing anything,” she said as she tried to poke him again, but he pushed her hand away.

  Jesi-Sera looked in the rearview mirror. “Come on, Daea. This drive is long enough without ye bugging Eli.”

  “OK,” the girl said as she drew an imaginary line down the middle of the backseat. “This side is mine, and that side is yours.”

  Eli returned to his game. “Perfect.”

  Daea put her finger over the imaginary line and giggled.

  When Eli looked at her, she pulled her hand back and asked, “What?”

  Eli would return to his game and she would do it again. If Eli ignored her, she would encroach into his space and poke him.

  “Stop it, Daea!” Eli yelled.

  “Daea. I thought ye said you would behave? What happened?”

  “I was,” she protested. “We have a barrier. Sure, I was over it a little, but it’s not my fault if he can’t take a joke.”

  Chuck swung around and snarled, “It’s not a joke. There is nothing funny about it. You are just irritating us. Now sit still!”

  They drove into a warehouse parking lot. The temperature had dropped to near freezing.

  Daea buttoned up her red, wool jacket and donned the tuque she had stuffed in a pocket. “Hey, Jesi-Sera, check this out.” The girl performed a well-executed roundhouse kick. “Our kung fu is getting good. I’m going to kung fu all kinds of things tonight, tiger style.”

  Eli ran in front of Daea. His shoulders paralleled hers. Imitating Bruce Lee, he pretended to taste blood on his hand, then attacked his teammate.

  The Childaar sparred until Chuck yelled at them to quit.

  “Looking good,” Jesi-Sera said. “You’ll get to test your skills soon enough.”

  Chuck let the dogs out. They licked and jumped all over the Sight, seemingly unaware of the cold. He laughed, then walked toward the leader.

  Daea yelled, “Woohoo,” and rushed the building.

  The team ran after her. They arrived at the entrance to the warehouse just as the girl kicked the door in.

  “Daea,” Jesi-Sera yelled. “We always make a plan. Ye know that.”

  “Sorry. I’m just so excited to kung fu some monsters.”

  “So, what do ye reckon?” the Charm asked Chuck.

  “Let’s find out what this place is and then move from front to back. I think we should stick together.”

  Eli pointed at a sign. “Umm, this is a factory for bomb detonation robots.”

  Chuck shook his head. “Of course it is.”

  The front door opened into a typical office. The Suffering was knee-high, and it rolled angrily around the room. A reception desk sat outside the manager’s office in front of a closed door which read “staff only.”

  “Chuck, open that staff door and see what’s back there. Eli and Daea, stay behind me,” Jesi-Sera said as she entered the manager’s office. “Don’t forget that you need to see me to get my Adoreness buffs.” The Charm’s Adoreness made the team stronger, tougher, faster, and more confident.

  A paper shredder jumped onto the manager’s desk. Its feed had become a mouth with spinning blades for teeth. As it was about to leap, Jesi-Sera waved her hand at it. A glow radiated from her body, and the machine dropped lifeless on the desk. A glob of Suffering leaked out of the machine and rolled off the side into the inky black pool of Suffering.

  “That was a Geist. My Fear rarely works on Polters.”

  “This is a staff room,” Chuck called. His eyes grew wide, and he braced himself as a refrigerator exploded through the doorway sending splinters and the Sight flying. Buddy and Whiskers jumped into the room and pulled their friend out of the animated appliance’s path.

  Daea crouched and was about to charge the big machine when she was struck in the back by a bolt of light that shot from the manager’s computer monitor. Then the monitor on the receptionist’s desk came to life and also shot a bolt at the girl. Jesi-Sera became a blur as she used her Quickness to step in front of Daea and absorb the attack.

  Eli jumped onto the reception desk and threw a centerline punch at the monitor. His strike stopped short of hitting the machine, and a firebolt shot out of his open palm. The monitor exploded into thousands of pieces.

  Daea rushed into the manager’s office. She jumped at the monitor with a flying kick, but it dodged her attack. She skidded across the desk and landed on the floor.

  Jesi-Sera pointed at the refrigerator; her body glowed, but nothing happened.

  Daea jumped and attempted a flying reverse kick, but the monitor once again dodged her attack. It exploded like its counterpart when Eli hit it with a fireball.

  “Looks like you need more kung fu practice,” the young boy said. He posed like Bruce Lee in a low crouch with one arm outstretched and the other near his chest.

  “Come on, Eli. Why do you shoot at my targets?”

  “Why do you poke me in the back of the car?”

  Daea scrunched her nose, then broke out laughing. She ran out of the manager’s office, jumped, and high-fived the Smart as she landed on the desk beside him.

  Jesi-Sera and Chuck were backed up against a wall, where the refrigerator’s door beat on them. Jesi-Sera stood in front of her teammate, taking the hits. Buddy and Whiskers barked from the flank, unsure what to do.

  Daea flipped off the desk, charged the refrigerator, and climbed up its side. With little room between herself and the ceiling, she kept
low, like a tiger, and hammered punches down on the fridge top. Eli shot a fireball that struck the monster’s broad side, giving Jesi-Sera and Chuck an opportunity to escape.

  Through the busted door frame, in the staff room kitchen, more appliances came to life. Jesi-Sera used her Fear on the room. Suffering oozed out of the coffeemaker and toaster, but the microwave shot a series of blue lasers at Daea. The Charm blurred and jumped in front of the shots, taking them square on her torso.

  The refrigerator flailed and rocked violently. Daea fell flat on her stomach and held tight. On Chuck’s command the dogs got behind the fridge and ripped at its cords and hoses. Eli launched another fireball, but it fizzled out, like a birthday cake sparkler.

  Jesi-Sera reengaged and dented the door of the refrigerator with a knife hand strike. Stuck between the large appliance and the staff room, her back was peppered with blue lasers from the microwave while the freezer door smashed her in the face.

  Daea slipped and fell off the fridge. Jesi-Sera caught her midair and set her down. The younger girl scampered back up and dropped a succession of blows. The machine rumbled and shook as it tried to shake her off.

  The dogs withdrew from the thrashing monster. Hissing coils and hoses whipped wildly. Chuck disappeared. Eli jumped off the reception desk and ran toward the staff room. As he was about to enter, more blue lasers fired and hit the Charm. She stumbled and lost her balance.

  Chuck was engaged with the microwave when Eli entered the staff room. Each time the Sight moved in for an attack, the Polter would shoot a series of blue lasers, forcing him to step back.

  “Incoming,” the Smart yelled as he prepared a fireball.

  Chuck disappeared, and a soft, yellow ball of fire grazed the microwave.

  Jesi-Sera timed her strikes to coincide with the momentum of the refrigerator. When it was most off balance, she pushed her attack and toppled it. The fridge swung its doors at the Charm one last time before it toppled. She flew back through the air and landed in the middle of the reception area. The fridge gurgled, and substantial, thick ooze of Suffering leaked out of the machine.

  Daea jumped off the refrigerator as it fell. She landed in the busted staff room entrance and used her momentum to launch herself back into the air, where she dropped a midair punch on the microwave. The small machine’s lights blinked ERROR ERROR. It lost power and fell off the counter.

  The staff room was dirty and disorganized. A week's worth of trash piled over the can and onto the floor.

  Jesi-Sera entered the room and asked, “Everyone alright?”

  The teammates brushed themselves off and said they were fine. Chuck gave the dogs a treat from his pocket.

  A banging noise rumbled from the other side of a double door.

  Daea yelled, “I got it.” She flung open the doors and saw a large warehouse construction area filled with tools, supplies, and workstations. The noise became near deafening as machines came to life.

  In a flash, Jesi-Sera stood in front of the little girl. Arms outstretched, she used her Fear, and a majority of the machines died and seeped murky blackness into the roiling Suffering that swayed across the concrete floor. “Daea! Ye are too hasty. We need to be more careful.”

  As if to prove her point, a Polter-infused motorized pallet jack rammed into the girls. The machine’s lifted prongs struck them in their legs, and they fell to the ground. Three nail guns, which had climbed and attached themselves to the rafters, rained steel spikes at the prone targets. Jesi-Sera rolled onto Daea as a hail of thick, sharp nails hit her in the back. A welding rig, which consisted of two tanks strapped into a wheeled cart, rolled in behind the jack. Attached to the tanks, a torch swayed in the air like a cobra about to strike. It unleashed a torrent of electricity at the team leader.

  Jesi-Sera pushed herself off the ground and charged the pallet jack, pushing it and the welder back into the assembly room. Chuck told his dogs to stay put and then disappeared. Daea moved into her tiger pose, charged across the floor, hopped onto one of the pallet jack’s prongs, and delivered a low kick to its chassis. Eli moved into the doorway and shot a fireball at one of the nail guns in the rafters. The projectile missed as the nail gun scooted to the side.

  The pallet jack swung to strike Jesi-Sera. The team leader dodged the attack by jumping in front of Daea on the prong, where she promptly intercepted another volley of nails from up high. The torch, which had regained its balance, blasted the Charm, who fell off the jack onto the cement floor. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as she lost consciousness.

  Buddy and Whiskers pulled the comatose Childaar back into the staff room. Chuck climbed up the wall into the rafters. He kicked a nail gun off the beam. It fell to the ground and smashed into pieces. Daea vaulted off the pallet jack and knocked the welding cart over with a drop kick. Eli screamed and threw a hard red and green fireball at the jack. Its prongs slowly lowered to the ground, and a glob of Suffering exited the lifeless machine.

  The nail guns turned and fired at Chuck. He jumped and the nails flew underneath him.

  The welding torch blasted Daea. The girl grimaced as electrical currents flowed through her body.

  Chuck kicked another of the nail guns off the beam while Eli finished the other with a direct hit. Daea pounded on the welding tanks. She continued to strike even after the Polter had rejoined the Suffering.

  Eli pulled the girl off and said, “We cleared the room.”

  Chuck, who had climbed down, attended Jesi-Sera in the staff room. The rookies ran to join him, but before they got to her, the Sight grabbed Daea by her shirt and screamed, “This is your fault! You careless fool!”

  Daea pushed him back. “What! My fault?”

  “You rushed headfirst into every encounter. Jesi-Sera shielded you from every attack. It should be your lifeless body lying here.”

  Eli squeezed himself between the quarrelling Childaar. “Stop fighting. This isn’t over. The Suffering is flowing out of those loading doors. What are we going to do?”

  Dirt, sweat, tears, and fury covered Daea's face. She ran back into the assembly room. The boys ran after her but were unable to stop her before she flung the loading doors open, nearly dislodging them from the track.

  Cold wind and a wave of Suffering blew into the warehouse. The moon lit the yard, and bomb removal robots rolled out of a large cargo ship container. Treaded wheels supported their low bodies. A long arm with a camera and claw protruded from the machine frames. Red lights blinked from the cameras, and shrill sounds, like garbage trucks in reverse, blasted the area.

  Between sobs, the girl screamed, “This ends now!”

  Eli stopped beside her and said, “Calm down! Think! We don’t have Jesi-Sera’s buffs anymore. If we lose this fight and we are outside, we could wipe.”

  “I won’t lose,” Daea said as she stepped into the night.

  Chuck pulled the girl back into the building. He pushed a red button on the wall and the doors made horrible grinding noises as they tried to close.

  Daea screamed and tried to push past him, but he blocked her way. “It’s not worth the risk,” he barked.

  “I don’t care,” Daea yelled. “They hurt Jesi-Sera, and I am going to hurt them.”

  Chuck stuck his face into Daea’s and said, “I am the ranking Childaar here, and I am ordering you to back down. If you don’t, I will ensure that you get grounded and hopefully expelled for insubordination.”

  Daea stepped back from the older boy. Eli put his arm around her shoulder. “We’ll have other opportunities. Let’s go.”

  The team left the warehouse and got into their vehicle. Chuck laid Jesi-Sera in the backseat. Daea cushioned her head on her lap.

  Chuck got into the driver’s seat. Eli opened the passenger side door. “You have a driver’s license too?”

  The Sight started the vehicle. “No.”

  “Then you aren’t allowed to drive.”

  “Feel free to stay.”

  Nobody said anything during t
he drive back to the museum.

  Upon their return, they took Jesi-Sera to her room. She began to regain consciousness. “What happened?”

  Eli held her hand and Chuck said, “We lost. The fight was about to move outside, and I aborted the mission.”

  Jesi-Sera lowered her eyes and nodded.

  Daea sat on the side of the bed. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I never should have rushed in like I did. I won’t do it again. But you can’t place yourself in front of all the attacks. I know I’m a rookie, but I can help too. I’ve got Tuffness if nothing else.”

  Jesi-Sera patted the girl’s arm. “Aye. We still have lots to learn about working together.” She took a deep breath and said, “Now, please leave me. I need to rest.”

  Chuck went to the couch to watch sports.

  “Hey, Daea, can I make you a snack?” Eli asked.

  Daea shook her head. “No thanks. I’m going to go to my room.”

  A couple of hours later, Jesi-Sera joined the boys in the common area. Daea heard her and joined the team.

  “Tough night,” Jesi-Sera said. “Don’t take it personally. We win more than we lose. What’s important is that we keep fighting. Aye?”

  The rest of the team mumbled their agreement.

  The Charm looked at the TV. “Chuck, now why wouldn’t ye watch proper football? Ye know the kind that is actually played with feet and a ball? Not hands and an egg.”

  Chuck laughed. “This is Canadian football, and it’s one of my favorite sports. You should give it a chance.”

  “Maybe someday we can watch a game together and ye can explain the rules to me.”

  “Anytime, Jesi-Sera.”

  She walked over to Eli, who had opened a box to a new board game. He smiled. “Want to play?”

  “Does it play three?”

  “Yes.”

  “Daea, how would ye like to make some popcorn and play a game with Eli and myself?”

  Daea beamed. “I would love to. I’ll even pour maple syrup on the popcorn.”

  Jesi-Sera chuckled. “Maybe take it easy on the syrup.”

  Daea shook her head. “No way, the more syrup the better.”