Authors: Playing for Keeps [html]
Lafferty, Mur (30 page)
Colette began wrapping tape around Ian’s towels to hold them in place.
“Any sign of Keepsie?”
“None,” Ian said.
Peter rubbed his face. “We have to believe she’ll be all right. She can take care of herself.”
“And if she can’t, well, she’s got the strongest power of us all,” Barry said. “It’s not like I can throw my legs at those things or anything.”
No, he couldn’t. Peter stared at the immobile monster on the floor. He thought about the heroes, immobile once pulled into the bar. He thought of the demons lurking in the alley. And then he smiled.
“I’ve got an idea. I’ll need Barry and Tomas for the next round.”
He told them his plan. They stared at him. Tomas laughed. Barry turned white and scowled at his friend. “Sure, laugh, it’s not like it’s you out there.”
Tomas continued to chuckle. “What is wrong? It is a perfect plan. Peter, you are the king of plans. We live with insignificant powers our entire lives, and we cannot think of ways to use them until we meet you!”
Barry glared at them. “I’ll try it. Once. And if I can’t handle it, we stop, all right?”
“What, you want a safe word, Barry?” Ian asked, pale from blood loss.
“A what?”
He grinned and Michelle snickered. “Never mind.”
Tomas put his hand on Barry’s shoulder. “Of course, Barry. If you do not think this will work, we try something else.”
“It should be fine, Barry,” Peter said, hoping he was telling the truth.
The two men got into position, Barry in front and Tomas behind him, their arms linked.
“Are you ready?” Tomas asked.
“I’m going to die, you know that, right? This is not going to work and I’m going to die.”
“Are you ready?”
Barry took a deep breath and nodded. He walked outside and put his leg on the step as if he planned to ascend.
Immediately a creature swooped down, grabbing for him. He kicked up, making his leg the first thing the demon could grab. It sank its teeth in and tried to carry him away, but Tomas heaved backwards, easily pulling the two of them into the kitchen.
Barry overbalanced with the creature attached to him. He toppled back into Tomas, whose strength gave out and they landed in a heap. Barry made a disgusted noise at the immobile thing on top of him and pulled himself free from his leg. Peter dragged the creature, still clutching Barry’s leg, off to the side.
Barry lay on the floor panting until his leg grew back. He winced and moved his legs around. “I think I pulled a groin muscle.”
“Sucks to be you,” Ian said as Colette secured his makeshift bandage on his right arm.
“Can you go again? There are more out there,” Tomas said, peeking outside.
Barry slowly got to his feet. He didn’t say anything, but got in front of the door again.
“I just hope someone notices that we’re doing everyone’s jobs tonight,” he said.
“What in the hell?” Keepsie said as she saw Clever Jack bringing the creatures through the portal.
Light of Mornings sniffled - she’d been crying since she told Keepsie about the pregnancy - and waved her hand. “Oh, Doodad took that super drug shit and built a bunch of stuff that could work without him. I think they’re seriously scared of you. That’s a portal thing that can tap into some demon dimension or something.”
“Great.”
Keepsie watched the fighting on Main Street and decided to try to sneak Light of Mornings in through the alley. Knowing that she could use some nuclear backup to get into the bar safely, Keepsie was trying to figure out how to ask for help without sounding like she was using the woman as Clever Jack had.
Then again, would the baby be immune to the mother’s radiation? Well, the damage from the earlier fight would have destroyed it already, so there’s probably nothing more it could do.
“Can I count on you to defend yourself if you have to? Are you up to that?” Keepsie asked, watching the heroes and demons battle. They hid behind a dumpster so that Keepsie could collect her thoughts.
Light of Mornings nodded, sniffling. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
“OK, run when I say run.”
Keepsie took off, hugging the buildings and willing herself invisible. If only that had been her power, but then with that she’d likely have been able to enter the Academy. And none of this would be happening.
But it wasn’t her power. A demon flew at her, screeching. Oh, now you attack me, when the drug’s worn off.
There was a bright light and the demon evaporated, covering Keepsie in a shower of ash. She coughed and wiped her eyes. “Thanks.”
“Let’s go.”
They ran again.
The alley had one or two demons in it, not nearly as many as Keepsie had expected. Light of Mornings raised her hand, but Keepsie stopped her.
“Wait.” She wanted to see what was going to happen, but she was also worried about whether her power was protecting her against this radiation. She was not impervious to damage, and Light of Mornings’ radiation was no longer hostile against her. Fairly certain she could be killed by an accident, she didn’t want to experience any more friendly fire from Light of Mornings than she had to.
One demon swooped down and shouting filled the alley, then some swearing. The creature did not come back up.
The last demon, a winged snake, attacked, and this time instead of shouting, there was screaming.
Keepsie nearly retched when she got to the top of the stairs. Barry lay at the bottom of the stairs, struggling with a python-like demon that had swallowed his arm to the shoulder. He screamed and fought, not with the demon, but with Tomas.
“God, don’t pull me inside, you’ll never get it off!”
“Well he sure as hell can’t leave it on!” Ian yelled.
The demon inched up Barry’s arm and he groaned.
“Can you rip it in half, Tomas?” asked Colette.
Barry was hysterical. “Someone kill it, just kill it!”
They hadn’t yet noticed Keepsie and Light of Mornings. In the corner of her eye, Keepsie saw Light of Mornings begin to glow.
“No, wait-“
Two narrow, bright yellow beams shone from the girl’s eyes, bisecting the demon. She misjudged the distance, however, and the bottom half of the demon - and Barry’s hand with it - fell onto the steps cleanly.
The wound, cauterized immediately, smoked slightly. Barry’s screaming intensified and he flailed against Tomas’ grasp. The top half of the dead creature slithered off his arm, and Barry fell against Tomas in a faint.
Peter and Ian yelled in surprise and ran out the door. Colette followed them, wielding a cleaver.
Keepsie held up her shaking hand. “Stop, guys. She’s with me.”
***
“You’re still high.”
“She cut off his fucking hand.”
“We can’t trust her.”
“What happened?”
Keepsie sat at the bar sipping a glass of water. Colette, Peter, Michelle and Ian surrounded her. Light of Mornings and Tomas sat in the kitchen, Tomas watching her and the still-unconscious Barry at the same time.
Keepsie quietly told the story of finding Light of Mornings. She explained she was not high. She mentioned how Light of Mornings’ companions had betrayed her and how she needed friends. She reminded them about how it was to their benefit that the most powerful person, either villain or hero, was on their side now.
She did not tell them about her pregnancy.
“How do you know she’s on our side?” Colette demanded. “She took off Barry’s hand like it was butter!”
“She saved him. She just made a mistake in the distance. If we’re going to persecute for mistakes, then I suppose all of us need to line up for the next stone’s throw. I’ll be first. Who’s behind me?” She looked at Ian. He had the grace to avoid her gaze.
Keepsie shifted her gaze to Peter. “Look. We’re safe in here. She can’t hurt us. We know that much.”
He looked at her with a crease in his forehead that he hadn’t had before. “I suppose we can see how things go.”
His blasé’ manner angered Keepsie. “It’s not like you have a choice. You don’t want her around, you’re free to leave. The back alley is clear for the moment.”
She got off her stool and slid between Colette and Peter.
“Keepsie-“ Michelle said.
Keepsie tromped into the kitchen. Light of Mornings had given Barry a pillow of a bar towel and she was crying again. She held his one hand to her chest and sobbed.
Tomas came up to Keepsie, his face fixed in his typical “you Americans confuse me” expression. “She killed a hero. Incinerated him. Attacked you.
These things did not concern her. She cut off a man’s hand and cannot be consoled.”
“Cutting off his hand was an accident. That’s what’s different. When you try to save someone and end up hurting them, that can be somewhat upsetting.”
“Barry will be all right, yes? His power, I mean.”
“I would guess so. It’s a strange power. We don’t know if it applies to his whole body or just his legs or what. But he still feels the pain of having his hand cut off, and that can’t be fun to experience. He looks like shit, by the way. We need to get him to the hospital.”
“Him. Michelle. Ian. Peter. You.” Tomas ticked them off on his fingers.
Keepsie smiled slightly.
“Course, I could always take another one of those pills, that should cure him.”
“No,” Colette said harshly. Keepsie jumped; she hadn’t heard her enter.
“You saw what that drug did to Timson. We have had enough of you out of your mind as well. Look what you bring back when you’re high,” she indicated the wailing woman on the floor.
“I’m not high! And I wasn’t when I found her. Do you really want an all-powerful fifteen-year-old roaming the streets? She needs someone to watch her. If Clever Jack finds her, he’ll use her. If the heroes find her, they’ll provoke her. She’s safest here.”
“But are we?” Peter asked.
Keepsie gritted her teeth. “You’re safest in the bar. Don’t want to be here? Fine.”
Peter crouched down beside her. “I was not freed from Timson’s control until you took the pill. We don’t know how safe we are. What if she is controlled in the same way? “In all honesty, Keepsie, we don’t know exactly how your power works.”
“But I thought you had us all figured out, Peter,” Keepsie said. “You found out you were all knowing with your power, just walk up and kiss someone and know everything about them!”
Peter flushed. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He stood and left the kitchen.
“Great. Now’s the time to start alienating each other. Way to go,” Ian said. He followed Peter.
Keepsie stared at Light of Mornings, who still sobbed next to Barry. “No one can help her. No one wants to. She’s fifteen.”
Michelle put her hand on Keepsie’s shoulder. “Keepsie,” she began.
“Just leave me alone, Michelle. Go have another little talk with the others about how I’m losing it, and leave me alone for a little bit.”
The hand withdrew, and Keepsie sat on the floor, knees pulled up to her chin, and watched the weeping child.
“She’s losing it,” said Colette.
Peter stared at the kitchen door and shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so. Not really. I think she’s just doing what she should have done since the beginning.”
“What, bring in an unstable nuclear reactor into our kitchen?” Ian asked.
“No. Leading us. She is the one who is protecting all of us. We’d be dead now, several times over, if it hadn’t been for Keepsie.
“And Ian, it’s her kitchen. Never forget that. She can make us thieves with a thought, you know.”
Ian paused, a pint of beer to his lips. He took a cautious sip, and when nothing happened, a longer gulp. “She must not hate me yet.”
“OK, so she’s our leader by default that she’s the strongest of us all.
That doesn’t mean she’s making good decisions,” Colette said.
“Again, I’m not sure of that. Aside from the rather violent entrance and the shock of, well, everything, she has excellent points regarding Light of Mornings. If the girl is truly needing guidance from someone who will not use her, Keepsie is the only one she can trust.”
“Your feelings are getting in the way of common sense,” Colette said.
“He has a point,” Michelle said. “She doesn’t normally have outrageous plans. She’s pretty conservative, when you come down to it.”
“Yeah, but she’s been high on that super drug today. Twice, in fact,” Ian said. “What if it’s eating her mind like old Catharine the Great over there?” He jabbed his finger at the stone statue of Timson.
Peter closed his eyes briefly. “Then I don’t know what we do. If she’s unstable, then we’re truly in a great deal of danger. Our safety lies with her. If she chooses to remove it…” he didn’t finish.
“How do we find out if she has lost it?” Michelle asked.
“Peter can find out, right?” Ian asked.
Peter shook his head and dabbed at his still dribbling nose. “Not right now. I can’t smell a thing.”
“Would she want different food if she was losing her mind?” Michelle asked.
Colette shook her head. “I don’t think so. I cooked for my grandfather while he had Alzheimer’s disease, and the bastard always wanted fried chicken and giblet gravy.” Michelle stared at her. Colette laughed. “Oh, yeah, it was sad that he died, but he was a bastard when he was in his right mind. Losing his mind did the best thing for his demeanor that you could have asked for.”
Ian shifted from one foot to the other and winced at the blood blossoming through the thick towels on his shoulders. “I could use Keepsie’s drugged up power now. Then again, if she runs out again, I have no idea what she’ll bring back for us to be friends with.”
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