The Demon's Game (20 page)

The battle was fast. Ronez had taught Rilryn how to
fight when the younger Guardian was just a child, so I could predict his moves
as he could mine. Because of this, we mowed through the club in a matter of
minutes. It wasn’t easy by any means, so my adrenaline was pumping, but that
had the added benefit of taking my mind off my leg.

We made it outside, narrowly evading bullets, and ran
for the nearest car. The club let out into an alley in which the streetlight
had been shot out. To either end of the alley was a deserted street. It was
raining and cold, but I would take the discomfort over being riddled with
bullet holes.

There were two cars on the street, both empty and
cold on the hoods. The decision of which one to take was made easier when
Rilryn pointed out the flat tire on one. Still trying to avoid being shot, as
the men were shooting from the windows, I couldn’t help but wonder why they
didn’t follow us outside.

I felt like we were in one of the old movies Ronez
used to love as we searched for a rock to break the window with. Finally,
Rilryn found one just as it occurred to me what kind of neighborhood we were
in. “Wait,” I said, stopping his raised fist. I reached around him and pulled
the car handle. It wasn’t locked.

We both ducked down as the club doors burst open.
With a deafening blast, a hole appeared in the brick wall beside my head… right
through the car. They hadn’t followed because they were getting bigger guns.

My magic was greatly weakened on Earth, so putting up
any sort of defense would have done more damage than good. “What have you got
for us?” I whispered to Rilryn.

Dayo was a world that despised magic and was
primitive to Earth in many ways, so Rilryn tried to spend as little time there
as possible. This resulted in Rilryn spending a lot of his time with my
brother, which always led to pranks. Fortunately for both of them Rirlyn had an
inborn advantage in dealing with my brother’s antics; Rilryn was the perfect
escape artist. He wasn’t as reliant on his magic as the rest of the Guardians,
and he could hide his tricks better than anyone.

“I think we should pray.”

“For a painless death?” I asked.

He opened his mouth to respond when a car pulled up
on the main street to our left and honked their horn. Rilryn ran for it before
I could say anything, so I had little choice but to follow. Miraculously, I
made it to the car without getting hit. Rilryn had already gotten the back door
open and was inside. I dived in after him and the car was moving before I could
slam the door shut.

The driver was a young man I didn’t recognize. I also
felt no power from him, so I knew immediately that he wasn’t a wizard.
Normally, the sudden arrival of a getaway car would have been suspicious, but
before I could question the stranger, the woman in the passenger seat twisted
around to grin at me.

“Fancy meeting you here!”

“Abby! How did you…”

“I called her,” Rilryn said. “I didn’t expect you to
show up.”

I couldn’t fault him for calling in backup. However,
Abigial Harland was the last woman I expected him to call. She was a witch,
complete with her own coven, so one would think she was open-minded. On the
contrary, she was quite stubborn and judgmental.

“Alright. Time to explain everything,” I told the
young Guardian.

He sighed. “I just jumped to the wrong conclusion and
ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Actually, I got out of the ties
just fine on my own. So who sent you to hunt me down?”

“Tiamat. She asked me to help you find what you’re
looking for.”

“What is it we’re looking for?” Abby asked.

“A vintage Star Wars lamp,” Rilryn lied. “Drop us off
here.”

“No way. You called me to help you and I’m damn well
going to do it,” the witch argued.

“Seriously, Abby, I’m going to call your mother if
you don’t---” He was cut off as the driver slammed on the breaks.

“What are you doing?!” Abby screeched at the man.

“I’m not getting in trouble with your mother, woman.
The last guy you ran off with ended up a voodoo zombie!”

“Those were just rumors spread by her luncheon
friends. Rilryn! Get back here!”

She was still yelling when I shut the door behind me.
I followed the younger Guardian in silence through many neighborhoods until we
reached an abandoned warehouse. It was a one-story warehouse full of empty
boxes and trash leftover from illegal parties. Behind a wall of boxes, Rilryn
had laid out a blanket on the floor.

“Have you been sleeping here?”

“I haven’t been sleeping anywhere.”

Unlike Ronez, Rilryn was a man of few words. “Why is
it so important for you to find the weapon?”

He sat and stared at me for a minute until I sat
across from him. “How much do you know about it?” he asked.

“I know it can kill a god or an Ancient. How did you
find out about it?”

“From Nano.”

“And he told you where it is?”

“No.”

“Rilryn, don’t play games with me. I’m going to help
you, but you’re just wasting my time now. I have important things to do.”

He sighed. “I have a book that talks about it. It can
lead me to the weapon, I just have to be able to use it.” He was clearly
reluctant as he stood and reached into one of the boxes. The book he pulled out
was undeniably powerful. “This drives the vermin away, but that has been about
all the good I could get out of it.”

The book was large and bound in black dyed skin. He
set it in front of me and I opened it. It was a handwritten grimoire and
journal written in at least three different languages. I read the words I could
and discovered it made absolutely no sense.

“This is gibberish. I mean, whoever wrote this was
crazier than I am.”

Rilryn snapped the book closed and took it back.
“Then don’t read it.”

“Have you been trying to use this to find the weapon?
It’s sending you on a wild goose chase.”

“I can handle it just fine,” he snapped. Rilryn was
not a hot-tempered man, so his ire was strange to me.

“When was the last time you slept?” I asked. He
stared at the book in his lap and shrugged. “When was the last time you ate
something?” He shrugged again. “I’m going to find a grocery store. I’ll be back
soon. Try to get some sleep, okay? In the morning, we’ll work it out together
and you’ll be able to think better.”

He still wouldn’t look at me. I was hesitant to
leave, but Rilryn obviously wasn’t ready to talk. He didn’t seem to be in his
right mind.

I stepped outside and took a deep breath. My brother
could have gotten through to him, but I wasn’t a people person. I made it to
the end of the street before the rain started falling hard. Something told me
to stop; my instincts were telling me to turn back.

I studied the warehouse for a minute before I
returned and opened the door. It was dark inside, so it took me a moment to
realize that Rilryn was gone.

Ron

The phone rang as I flipped pancakes. It was my dad’s
cell phone, so I knew it was either the hospital or the school. Since neither
was worth bothering Dad, I tried to ignore it, but the phone just kept going.
With an irritated sigh, I answered it.

“Hello, Mainstream Extreme Chinese Takeout. You bring
dog, you get discount. Will this be order in or carry out?” I asked. I tried to
hold a straight face because I couldn’t maintain the bad Chinese accent while
laughing.

“Um… this is Principal Wilhite. Is Dylan Yatunus
there?” At this point, Hail walked in. To my shock, he was dressed in a decent
blue shirt and jeans. He even had shoes on.

“He in surgery. Bad accident with mafia. Blood
everywhere, good food.” My brother came forward. “Oh, here he now.”

Hail took the phone. “This is Dylan,” he said with a
nearly perfect imitation of Dad’s voice. This game just became a lot more fun.
After all, the principal suspended us, so he should be messed with for sure. He
nodded to me, putting the phone on speaker. “Sorry about that, my cousin is a
taxidermist and he’s just a little excited.”

“I thought you were at the hospital…”

“I am. He is the morgue’s best taxidermist. I’m a bit
busy at work, what with the Chinese mafia hit man on the loose.”

“The what?” I could practically hear the principal
pale on the other end.

“I know, it’s weird; I’ve never seen so many dogs and
cats disappear. Don’t worry about the boys; they’ve been put to work. They’re
working labor at the hospital and I’m sending them to their aunt’s place in Alaska
for the summer. They can work landmines for getting suspended.”

“Not the right kind of mines,”
I corrected
him. He shrugged.

“I don’t think that is quite necessary…” the
principal hesitated, probably worried for our safety. “I was just calling to
suggest they return to school.”

“What do you think?”
Hail asked.

“I thought we were going swimming today.”

“Mordon will take us afterwards.”

“Let’s go. We can get into more trouble there than
here.”

“Great! Let me mop them up and they’ll be there on
time… or else.” He hung up and looked at me for approval. “I think that was
weird even for this family.”

“No, now he’ll never doubt you’re Dad if you have to
do it again. We’ll just rehearse it a little bit next time.”

“I don’t know, I think you went a little too far with
the hospital having a taxidermist.” We both turned to see Dad standing in the
doorway.

Hail instantly sagged his body in a “pity me” way.
“We were just playing,” he moped.

“Just get ready for school. And Ron, no curses.”

“He---”

“I know, but don’t do it anyway.”

*          *          *

Since we were returning, Stacy agreed to take Drake
back. An hour after the phone call, we were back at the middle school. We had
“breakfast pizza,” which was truly disgusting, before heading to the gym. Other
students milled about as they waited for the bell to ring.

“Are you really sure you don’t want me to transfer to
PE?” Hail asked.

“I’m sure. I think you’ll like wrestling,” I
insisted. To that, he pouted. Still, I knew what was best for him and I wanted
him to be happy. While it meant we couldn’t have more than one class together,
we were only one room apart. There was actually a huge window dividing the
wrestling room and gym.

I heavy hand came down on my shoulder and I startled,
reaching inside for the power that was always ready to be unleashed.

“Whoa, there little buddy. It’s just me.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise when I turned to see Xul
standing behind me. The demon was dressed in black, as usual, but the metal
chains and leather collar were absent. Instead, he wore a black satin,
button-up shirt and black dress pants. His hair was even combed.

“What are you doing here?” Hail asked. Hail, unlike
our uncle, never held a grudge unless someone attacked me. Even though this
demon had tried to possess Hail and destroy his soul, my brother could forgive
the creature.

“Well, I needed a job, and you needed someone to
watch over you while your father was at work. It just so happens that your P.E.
teacher needed a vacation.”

“Did you hurt him?”

“No… I just scared him a little.”

I pulled a cherry Jolly Crunch out of my pocket and
held it out for Xul. “Good demon,” I praised as he took it hesitantly. “What
name did you give the school board?”

“Zeb Carter. I’ve been using the name since I arrived
on Earth.”

“You took Dad’s old last name?”

“I couldn’t use his current name.”

“Why did you choose the name Zeb?” Hail asked.

Xul’s eyes were sad, but before he could answer, the
bell rang. “Ask me another time. Hail, get out of my class. Ron, aren’t you
supposed to be in shorts?”

I growled. Luckily for him, Xul was smart enough not
to make us run. Instead we played basketball, which I was surprisingly good at.
At one point, I was too far away so I used magic to make the basket, after
which Xul discretely smacked me in the back of the head. Since nobody had ever
been so bold or insolent, I was about to go off on him.

“You can’t risk exposing your family like that,” he
warned. “Do you want people hunting your brother down because you showed off?”

My fury drained as I realized Xul was concerned for
my brother. “I wasn’t trying to show off, I just wanted to win. Hail is
athletic; I want to have something in common with him.”

“You’re like your dad, whereas Hail is like Mordon.
It’s okay to be different. Hail would kill a rock to protect you and it’s not
because of your hobbies. If you wanted to sew kittens on pillows for a living,
I’m pretty sure he would be right beside you, cheering you on. Actually, I think
your father should pick that up as a hobby. The point is, when you try to be
someone you’re not, that’s when things go wrong. Just be you and you’ll both do
fine.”

The bell rang and I ran to get dressed. I felt Hail’s
presence closing in, but I thought he would wait for me outside the locker
room, so I didn’t rush. I was trying to clean myself with a washcloth so I
didn’t have to put clean clothes on a dirty body when Hail hugged me from
behind. He was all sweaty.

“Hail! Now I have to wash again!” I screeched.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to stink!”

The joy on his face vanished and there was heartbreak
in his eyes. “Are you saying I stink?”

“Um… of course not,” I backtracked. “I meant that I
smell bad. I think girls don’t like the way I smell and I don’t want them to
think I stink.”

Now he glared. “Are you talking about a specific
girl?” His fist clinched. “Why have I not been told you have a girlfriend? Does
Dad know? Where is she and what is she allergic to? She better be---”

“Cut it out! I don’t have a girlfriend. Why did you
run in here all excited?”

“I saw you playing basketball. You did good.”

“Well,” I corrected instinctively. Everything Xul
said went right out the window. I would join wrestling if Hail wanted me to.
But,
seriously gross.
I mean, I would do it if he asked me to, but I would
complain a lot.

Once I dressed, Hail walked me to math. The tardy
bell rang as we entered, but the teacher wasn’t there. Hail shrugged when I
warned him that he was tardy, and didn’t put one inch of space between us. As
the students all talked to each other, Hail’s expression grew more and more
suspicious.

“Did your teacher tell you where he went?” Hail asked
in his most authoritative voice. Everyone instantly stopped talking and turned
to him.

“He wasn’t in here when we came in,” one of the boys
in the back said.

After five minutes, the teacher was still missing.
Hail grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me out of the room. “You’re coming to
my class today.”

“Shouldn’t we try to find Mr. Cardigan? He could be hurt.”

“He’ll be fine. I’m sure he just forgot about his
class,” Hail said. We reached his classroom only to find the science teacher
missing as well. Another teacher was trying to watch hers and the science
teacher’s classes. “Let’s go find
Zeb
; I don’t like this.”

Because we could be overheard, it would be a bad idea
to say Xul’s name aloud, since that would give power over him to anyone who
knew how to use it. As if we summoned him, the demon came striding towards us.
He stopped in front of the classroom doorway instead of acknowledging us,

“All students of Mrs. Sevenstar’s class are to go
immediately to the gym. Sit on the bleachers and stay out of the way of the
basketball players. Seriously now, those eighth graders will stampede you.” He
turned to us. “Get going, Samhail,” he barked.

Hail glared at the demon and squeezed my hand before
joining the crowd heading to the gym.

Xul ignored him. “Take me to Mr. Cardigan’s
classroom.”

“My math teacher didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No, I believe he’s a victim in this. He was attacked
and hospitalized last night. I’m afraid the one responsible is trying to get to
you.”

“Then why do you want me to take you to his
classroom?”

“Because you’re annoying and would make wonderful
bait.”

“I am the balance. You will obey---”

He slapped his hand over my mouth. “Be very careful
what you say. Half of the teachers in this school are demons and any one of
them could turn on you.”

“They are compelled to obey me.”

“They are compelled to obey the balance, which you
don’t yet understand how to use to your advantage. And I promise before you had
a chance to figure it out, you would be dead. Demons don’t like to be made to
kneel. They are afraid of your father, but that fear does not extend to you and
your brother; you have to make them fear you.”

“How do I do that?”

“Act like your father.” He opened the door to Mr.
Cardigan’s class. There was a woman there who I instantly got a very bad
feeling about. “Mrs. Rose? There has been a mix-up in the office. They
reassigned you to substitute for Mrs. Sevenstar’s class. The students are all
in the gym on the bleachers.”

She looked startled and a bit peeved, but there
wasn’t anything she could do. She frowned at me as she walked out.

“Get in your seat, Ron. Okay, let’s discuss string
theory.”

“Yay!” I yelled, plopping down in my seat.

“Just kidding. We’ll discuss… fractions I guess.”

“No…” I moaned, putting my head down. Here I had an
Ancient at my disposal and I still had to contend with fractions. Evil, boring
fractions. Stupid fractions couldn’t even be whole numbers…

*          *          *

During FACS, the intercom interrupted to tell us that
Hail and I needed to ride the bus because Drake was being taken home early.
Covered in cookie batter and chocolate smeared on my face like war paint, I
growled in frustration. Hail and I were supposed to protect him.
How many
demon teachers have hurt him?

“What’s your problem?” a student asked.

I examined the boy for a minute. “I don’t know you.”

“No, this is my first day,” he said.

“Then don’t assume you can speak to me.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say, Ron,” a girl
said. I looked at her and tried to remember her name. She was a little taller
than me with dark blond hair and big blue eyes.

“I’m not nice. I don’t try to be nice.” I gave up on
trying to remember her name. I only bothered with this class because Hail liked
my food; this class was in no way helpful in getting me into seventh grade the
next year.

FACS let out early so I walked to Hail’s class. My
cookies weren’t done and I had nothing to give my brother, so I was focused on
coming up with a plan distract him. I sensed danger right before I was pushed
from behind. I hit the soft dirt, luckily, as I had taken the shortcut to
Hail’s class, which was through the archery field. Unfortunately, that meant I
was alone with my opponent and Hail didn’t get out for another five minutes. If
I used magic, I would be risking the safety of my family, but I really couldn’t
fight any other way.

It was the boy from FACS. He stood with his fists
raised. “You want to talk shit in front of everyone, let’s see how you put up
now.”

I dusted dirt from my shirt and recalled everything
my uncle and granddad had taught me. Unfortunately, that was Hail’s thing. I
outsmarted our enemy, and he pounded them into pulp. I liked our system. Why
did this fool have to mess that up?

I will not expose my family.

The boy threw a punch at me, which I narrowly dodged.

I will not expose my family.

He kicked this time and caught me in the upper leg.
It hurt, but not enough to knock me down.

I will not expose my family.

I resorted to the best method of fighting I could.
When he tried to punch me again, I grabbed his arm, bit him, and would not led
go no matter how hard he screamed or hit me. Then his eyes glowed yellow and I
released him. He created a fireball in his fist, aimed, and…

I will not expose my family.

His fire shot out and struck an invisible shield in
front of me. Xul, suddenly beside him, grabbed the demon roughly by the arms.
“Big mistake, kid. That was a big mistake.” Xul and his captive vanished.

I was waiting calmly by the door when Hail walked out
of his classroom. He saw me and his face lit up. “You came to walk me to
lunch!””

“Of course I did. How was your morning?”

“Boring! Yours?”

“The same. Nothing interesting. Hey.” I stopped him
and turned to him with my best “forgive me, love me, I’m innocent” expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t get your cookies done in time for lunch.
Don’t be mad.”