Portal Combat (24 page)

"I thought you were in Japan." Ted left his bags in the middle of the front walkway.

Yoshi met Ted halfway. "Senator Kable and his men sent that text after they took us captive." His voice wavered. "I barely escaped with my life." 

Yoshi's distress sounded genuine. Ted's efforts to get the truth from the samurai's brain remained unsuccessful. Ted tried to hide his frustration. 

"Where is she?"

Yoshi cracked his knuckles. "I can show you. But you'd better be ready for a fight."

Ted looked deep into the samurai's eyes, but they didn't give anything away. He had yet to trust Erica's former friend from the moment he met him. But if the man truly knew where Erica was, then Ted had no choice but to follow him.

"What's one more fight? I'm ready."

As Yoshi navigated him away from Treasure and onto the highway, Ted realized that he'd never been alone with the samurai. While he remained unsure of Yoshi's loyalty, at least he could find out more information during their time together.

"How long has the Academy been around?"

"Over 300 years." Yoshi seemed pained to discuss his former residence.

Ted pressed on regardless. "And they know about me? And the war?"

Yoshi flared his nostrils. "When you became the living soul, we were some of the first humans on Earth to know about it." 

"How?"

"One of our elders had a vision. He saw you, your name and where you lived." Yoshi glanced over at Ted. "What's it like?"

"Being the living soul?" Ted let his guard down, allowing the thoughts of the fellow drivers into his head. To his surprise, fewer thoughts than normal trickled in. "It's the gift that keeps on giving."

When Yoshi leaned in, unsure of what Ted meant, he elaborated.

"It's like having all and none of the options at once. You have to be strong enough to balance the world on your shoulders."

Yoshi nodded. "Sounds like an impressive duty. Turn onto this exit here."

Ted followed the next few directions and pulled into a stripmall parking lot. The shops had been long abandoned, judging by the grass growing through the sidewalk cracks. Ted's hope grew.

This would definitely be a good place to hide someone.

Yoshi led him around the back of the building to a locked white door surrounded by brick. The samurai gestured to Ted, and he got the hint. For some reason, the lock was difficult for him to disengage with his powers. He felt tired, as if he'd jogged up the stairs too quickly. As Yoshi opened the door, Ted searched for Erica's mind. He couldn't detect her, but with his powers glitching, there was a chance he simply wasn't strong enough.

Ted followed Yoshi inside. The room was larger than it looked from the outside, and it seemed as though it could easily house a small grocery store if it'd ever been finished. Everything was bathed in a concrete grey hue. When Ted closed the door behind them, only a sliver of light came into the room through a broken vent near the ceiling.

"Where is she, Yoshi?"

Yoshi slipped into the shadows, and the sound of his footsteps seemed to disappear, despite the echo-prone interior. Ted kept his back up against the door, recalling his mistakes in the fight last year against Sandra in the school gymnasium.

"Your princess is in another castle." Yoshi's laugh bounced off the walls.

Ted wasn't sure what he was surprised at more: Yoshi's laughter or his knowledge of 1980s Nintendo games.

Yoshi continued. "You'll have to get through me if you want to find her."

Ted crouched down in a fighting position. "You told me to be ready for a fight. I've been ready ever since you got to town."

Ted saw Yoshi's face creep out of the shadows. The samurai's calm demeanor had morphed. His emotionless exterior now bore a massive smile.

"It'll be an honor killing you, Ted Finley."

Chapter 41

Natalie stared with awe as the gatekeeper slammed her staff to the ground and another five portals opened behind her. Each portal yielded several Draconfolk each, and the creatures all lined up in a controlled formation. By the time the portals closed, Natalie could count 16 in all. She glanced back to see the two beasts who'd been chasing them join the ranks.

"How coincidental it is to see you again." The gatekeeper looked beautiful and confident. "Too bad it's not under the greatest of circumstances for you."

Natalie held up one hand. "Hey, there's no need to go around killing people. I mean, we get the point, you can summon up wolves and lizards and stuff. It's very impressive."

The gatekeeper's smile glinted in the moonlight. "Why, thank you. I've never seen such politeness on Earth. If any of you could survive, I'd pick you."

The gatekeeper gestured back to her army of giant lizards. They began to move forward.

"Wait!"

Even the lizards halted in their tracks from the shrill sound of Christina Finley's voice. "We surrender. On behalf of the university, we surrender. Can we discuss the terms of our peaceful ceasefire?"

One of the Draconfolk gave what seemed like a confused gurgle and turned toward the gatekeeper.

Natalie stepped forward. "Erica told me the gatekeepers were fierce, brave and honorable warriors. Let's be diplomatic."

The gatekeeper didn't even pause to consider the offer before bursting into laughter. "Oh, my poor girls. That was a completely different person."

Natalie's stomach squeezed. "I know that your old memories are in there. A part of you wants to keep us all alive."

The gatekeeper gave her squadron a smirk. "It's easier for someone with my strength to suppress those pacifist thoughts." She waved the Draconfolk ahead. "Remember, it's not personal. Just politics."

As the gatekeeper and the Draconfolk moved toward them, Natalie and Christina backed up until they found themselves against a tree. The bark that made Natalie's back itch was the least of her troubles. They shared a glance.

"You know, Dormer. I always held out hope you'd be my sister someday."

Natalie let out a nervous laugh. "Thanks. Me, too."

The gatekeeper crunched through the leaves and got within striking distance of Natalie and Christina. She held up a fist to stop their progress. The gatekeeper drew back her staff and prepared to strike.

"Goodbye, ladies. I'll send Ted your rega–"

A bullet zipped through the air and clipped the gatekeeper on the shoulder. Blood spattered across the leaves below. Natalie looked behind her and saw what looked like the entire school riflery team brandishing their weapons.

The student leading the pack wore a confident smile. "Ma'am, step away from our recruit and we won't fire again."

The gatekeeper lifted her staff into the air, but before she could slam it into the ground, another bullet cut through the air and hit her arm. She screamed and gestured for the Draconfolk to move ahead. Natalie's eardrums hummed with the sounds of gunfire. She watched as several of the lizards took bullets to the chest and arms. As a few of the creatures got close, another wave of students came through, this one comprised of martial artists and wrestlers. Two heavyweights tackled one of the lizards to the ground and started punching it, while five kickboxers surrounded another and assaulted it until the creature collapsed. Natalie was amazed to see so many incredible athletes surrounding her, and the gatekeeper and her small battalion were quickly overmatched.

Christina pulled at Natalie's shirt. "We'd better get outta here."

Natalie nodded, but as they charted a safe path, she heard an exchange between one of the Draconfolk and the gatekeeper.

"No. We're holding them back until the rally."

That was all Natalie could make out as Ted's sister pulled her out of the forest. As she made one last turn back, Natalie watched as the gatekeeper and the one uninjured Draconfolk jumped into another blue portal. When one of the wrestlers slammed the final standing creature to the ground, the group of athletes cheered and exchanged high fives.

When Natalie and Christina exited the woods, they gave each other a big hug. Natalie pulled away first. "What was that, some kind of ‘athletes in trouble' phone chain or something?"

Christina laughed. "Something like that. You alright?"

As far as Natalie could tell, her arm had stopped bleeding. Aside from being shaken up and prepared to die, she was as put-together as ever. As Natalie nodded, she saw Sam limping out of the forest. He had a large gash on his leg, but it didn't appear to be life-threatening.

"Harmless Sam!" Christina ran toward him. "Are you okay?"

The adrenaline seemed to have cut down on Sam's level of intoxication. "Yeah, stupid scaly bastard."

Christina's look of concern was something new for Natalie. "We should take you back to my room. Patch that up until the paramedics come."

He agreed and the three of them tried to recover in Christina's dorm. Natalie's temporary bunkmate fashioned a tourniquet from an old Treasure High long-sleeve tee and wrapped it around Sam's leg. They sipped water and waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Natalie ran the words of the gatekeeper over in her head. Christina, now in full caretaker mode, felt Natalie's forehead.

"You're quiet. Are you gonna pass out?"

Natalie brushed Christina's hand away. "No, I'm just thinking. Why would she say killing us was just politics?"

Christina checked Sam's wound. "I don't know. Maybe she was just trying to be quippy."

Natalie shook her head. "No. I heard her talking about a rally with one of the lizards. Do you think she meant a political rally?"

Sam cleared his throat. "There's a rally coming up in Pennsylvania. It's a home pride thing for the senator."

The two girls looked at Sam. He shrugged. "What? I'm a poli-sci major."

That's when it all started to make sense. Natalie's mind felt like a puzzle that had just been put together. She talked it out before the pieces could no longer make sense. "The attacks have been in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida." Natalie looked into Sam's eyes. She smiled. "You know what all of those have in common?"

Sam gave her a cockeyed glance. "Farming?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe you should change your major. They're all battleground states in the election. Toss-ups. Kable needs to win them if he's going to beat Blake."

Christina squinted at Natalie. "You're saying Senator Kable is working with the gatekeeper and staging attacks to try to win an election?"

Natalie smirked. "It's probably not the most underhanded thing anyone's ever done to get into office." She started to pace around the room. "I need to get back home, stat."

Christina pouted. "What about your visit? You haven't even met most of the team yet."

Natalie began packing her bags. Her shoulders and neck felt tense, but she knew this was the only possible solution. "If we let Kable get away with this, who knows if there'll even be a school next year."

Chapter 42

Jennifer gripped the inside of the car door as tightly as she could. While she was the one who'd convinced her father to drive away from the facility with Redican in tow, she hoped the man wouldn't find his way into her mind again.

"There was a text message that said Erica was in Japan." Sheriff Norris glanced up into the rear-view mirror. "Is that where she really is?"

Jennifer looked in the mirror as well. Dhiraj was pressed against the left window, as far as he could possibly be from Redican. The former substitute teacher seemed to enjoy the uncomfortable personal space.

Redican laughed. "I'm not a GP–" He went completely silent.

Jennifer turned back slowly to study him. He looked like a robot that'd been put into sleep mode.

Dhiraj waved his hand in front of Redican's face. "Looks like we got a dud. Should we take it back?"

Jennifer was about to tap Redican on the shoulder when he burst back to life. Dhiraj let out a tiny yelp.

Redican ignored Dhiraj's girlish squeal. "No. I'm not sure how I know that, but no. She's much closer than that."

Jennifer felt relieved and more anxious at the same time. Using Redican to find Erica had been a good idea so far, but there was no way to know what the consequences might be.

"Where?" Jennifer's voice came out like more of a squeak than she'd intended.

Redican shook his head as if trying to get something loose. "An hour and a half away. Two, tops."

Redican gave the sheriff driving directions a few moments before each turn. They found themselves back on the highway before long, and Jennifer watched as the former teacher became less mechanical.

"Looks like my brain is mine again." He snorted. "For the time being, at least. Perhaps we can play a car game in the meantime?"

Dhiraj gave a hesitant laugh. "You don't seem like the license plate bingo type."

Redican smiled into the mirror. "I've got a different game in mind. It's called Secrets."

Before Jennifer could reply, she felt Redican invading her mind once again. It was much stronger than the sensation had been inside the facility. She knew he was getting stronger. It was like dozens of thoughts were being called up at once without her permission. She saw a childhood carnival with Erica and Ted, the moment she fired the bullet that clipped Deputy Daly's ear, the angry mob trying to break through the front door of the office building, and multiple other memories at once. Her head felt heavy and hot with more thought processes going on at once then she ever thought possible.

Sheriff Norris noticed his daughter's discomfort. His voice filled the car. "Leave her alone!"

"Stop it!" Dhiraj shoved Redican into the other side of the car.

Jennifer felt the tension leave her head as she slumped back against the chair. There was a sharp sting at the base of her skull.

"Owww." Jennifer tried to massage the soreness away with her fingers. "What'd you do in there?"

"I was just gathering some information for our game." Redican looked more vibrant than before, as if he'd sapped some of Jennifer's energy. "Who'd like to go first?"