The Demon's Game (8 page)

Feeling awkward for my outburst, I sat down and
pulled Hail down with me.

“Are you not mad at me for fighting at school?” Hail
asked Dad.

“I know you would only fight to protect or defend
someone, especially your brother. The principal didn’t tell me why you were
fighting, but I assumed you were protecting Drake from someone, since he was
crying when I arrived.”

“Those boys were making fun of Drake for being sick.
Then one of them tried to attack Ron. I wouldn’t kill anyone, but if he comes
at Ron, Drake, or any of our friends, he will have more than a bruise next
time.”

“You broke his arm and bruised his ribs.”

“I was holding back.”

“I know very well that you held back. So, no, I’m not
mad at you. I was thinking… they teach martial arts for kids at the
after-school care. Maybe you both should do that instead of coming straight
home.”

“Martial arts like what Mordon taught us?” I asked.

“No, that was combat.”

“What Granddad taught us?” Hail asked.

“Yes, it’s very much like what your granddad taught
you. Do you know the difference?”

Hail shook his head, but I nodded. “What Mordon
taught us and what Granddad taught us was very different. Combat is how to
strike and how not to get hit in turn. Martial arts is how to avoid a fight and
how to end it if there is one.”

“That’s excellent, Ron.”

“So, I need to be a master of martial arts and Hail
needs to be a master of combat. That way, we have all our bases covered.”

He laughed.

“You have to be very careful, though,” Mom said to
Hail. “If people realize you’re too strong to be human, you’ll bring suspicion
to our family.”

“Hey, what happened?” Dad asked, holding up Mom’s
hand. Around her wrist was a bad rash, almost like a burn mark. “You’ve been in
the void?”

“What?”

“The only way you can’t heal yourself is if you’re
injured in the void. Why the hell would you go there? Every single doorway to
the void needs to stay closed.”

“How do you know that? I’ve never told you that.”

I wanted to know, too, since I had no idea a god
could be injured in the void.

“I don’t know. I must have heard one of the gods say
it. Iadnah magic and the void are on opposite ends of the spectrum. It’s like
how a demon can’t heal himself from Iadnah magic, a god can’t heal himself from
damage done in the void.”

He covered her wrist with his hand and Mom winced.
When he removed his hand, her skin was healed.

“What are you talking about? Opposite ends of the
spectrum? That doesn’t make any sense. Iadnah energy is superior to the void.
We can’t harm it because it is an absence of life, but we can keep gates
closed,” Mom insisted.

“That’s wrong. The Land of the Iadnah is a piece of
the universe inside the void, protected from it. Iadnah can manipulate and
destroy universes, but they are ruled by the balance. The universes,
dimensional space and time, that’s all in little bubbles inside the void. The
Iadnah, every universe, even time and space can be destroyed, but not the
void.”

“So there can be more bubbles like the Land of the
Iadnah?” Hail asked.

“That I don’t know.”

“Does that mean that the balance is more powerful
than the gods?” I asked. This was both a worry and a relief. Right off the bat
it had been my intention to develop my mind and powers until both were superior
to a god’s. Then it would be easy to control the balance inside me and
everything that follows. To discover that the balance inside me was superior to
my Iadnah power was worrisome because I didn’t want it to rule me. It was also
a relief, because it meant as soon as I mastered the balance, I was
automatically superior to the other gods.

“Not exactly,” Dad said. “The balance cannot be
controlled by the gods, but they can hold it off.”

I scribbled some more math in my science book. “Mom,
when I flash, I’m tearing a whole through the universe, into the void, and back
into the universe at a different point in the third dimension, right?”

“You’re not going through the void, but through the
Land of the Iadnah. Other than that, you’re correct.”

“But the bright light is void light,” I argued. I
realized as I said it that Mom was getting irritated. She was a god, supposedly
all knowing, but she believed her brothers and the idea that gods were higher
to everything else. It was my greatest power to know my weaknesses and how to
overcome them. I knew I didn’t know everything, and that’s why I could learn.
Dad was the same, but Mom didn’t want to hear anything that made her feel less
like the most powerful force in the universe. Then again, I guess that was all
Moms.

“Flashing is Iadnah magic.”

Of course, but I couldn’t see with my mind how any
being could cross from one universe to the next without using the void. I
understood that there were many magical and mundane ways to travel across one
universe, but even flashing from one point to another in the same universe
meant exiting and reentering the universe.

“Okay, but my point is, does that mean I can flash
from the third to the fourth dimension?”

“I think it’s time for bed,” Mom said.

Dad sighed. Obviously, he didn’t agree with her, but
he wasn’t going to say anything. Although, in sago culture, the father laid the
law on the sons and the mother was in charge of the daughters, this was not the
rule in our house since our mother was a god.

Hail took my hand.
“We can ask Vretial about it
later.”

“Goodnight, Drake,” I said.

*          *          *

My uncle stood facing my father with blood across his
chest and dragon claws exposed. I felt cold and lonely and the worst part was
that I couldn’t sense Hail with me. This was Hail’s vision, so he should have
at least been in it with me. I couldn’t understand why it was so dark or cold
or why I felt a deep, bone-chilling sense of despair. Something was
inconceivably wrong. I had to stop it.

*          *          *

I woke up to Hail gasping in blind panic. The
nightlight was flickering from the Iadnah energy flooding the room. While his
visions did not use god energy, his fear made his energy go nuts. I flipped on
the light beside my bed and scooted over to the wall just in time for him to
get up, run to my bed, and dive under my covers. This was the routine every
time Hail had a bad vision.

He hugged me, shaking, for the next hour. We didn’t
speak about the vision because there was nothing to say. We didn’t know what it
meant. My only suggestion was to ask Vretial for help, and my brother hated
Vretial looking into our minds. After he finally relaxed and fell back to
sleep, I got up to make breakfast.

Mordon was asleep on the couch in the living room,
which suggested either he was too tired to make it to his room, or he felt like
he needed to guard Dad for some reason. I turned on the kitchen light, pulled
out my pans, and got to work. I had learned how long it took for Dad’s coffee
to brew so it was ready when the food was. Everybody seemed to have impeccable
timing whenever I made breakfast. My little family piled into the kitchen and
all took seats around the kitchen table.

Mom wore a red plaid shirt that was snug around the
waist and loose on the shoulders and short jean shorts with tall leather boots.
She tried to braid her hair at the table, obviously still half asleep, but Dad
reached over and undid her work every couple of minutes. Mom didn’t seem to get
the hint.

Dad’s clothes gave us no clue as to what was in store
for us today. He wore a dark green t-shirt with black jeans and a black leather
jacket. Mordon wore a simple black t-shirt and blue jeans, which he seemed to
be getting used to.

“So, what are we doing today?” Hail asked.
Unfortunately, my brother was wearing a gaudy orange and green Hulk shirt with
grape-purple jogging shorts. If he thought I was letting him out of the house
like that, he had another thing coming.

“It’s a surprise, honey.” That knowing grin told me
more than anything we weren’t going swimming. “I’m taking the kids for a day
out. Do you want to come?” Dad asked Mom.

She shook her head with regret. “I have something I
need to take care of. Sort of a missing person. Nothing to panic about, but I
definitely need to get it sorted out.”

“There’s a national park a few hours from here, I’m
going to see if I can…” Mordon started before Dad shot him a glare. “I mean…
I’m going with you and the boys?”

“That’s great, Mordon; the more the merrier,” Dad
said.

Mom laughed as Mordon grumbled something under his
breath. The subtle silence between Dad and Mordon hinted that they were talking
to each other, probably about Dad’s plans for the day. If it was anything like
his normal plans, it would sound absolutely dreadful until we actually did it,
and then it would turn out to be really fun.

*          *          *

An hour later, we were suiting up for laser tag.
“Friend or foe?” Dad asked.

“Friend,” Mordon and Hail said simultaneously.

“No,” I argued.
“If we can split Mordon and Dad
up, we can take them out.”

“But we would be split up, too.”

“We can’t beat Mordon and Dad together.”

“If we go foe, I call Ron,” Dad said, surprising us.

“Why? Hail’s a better shot,” I argued.

“Yes, but Hell would never risk shooting you, so I
can use you as a shield.”

“You can’t use your son as a shield!” Mordon debated.

“Why not? This is laser tag, not paintballs. Fine,
we’ll have to go friend, then. When Mordon and I win, you two have to clean the
apartment for a week.”

“When Ron and I win, you buy ice-cream,” Hail said
before I could stop him.

I elbowed him. “We could have got something good!”

He looked guilty. “But I want ice-cream.” Receiving
my glare, he struggled to add onto our deal. “Not that dollar store, stuff
either; we want Braums.”

Dad laughed evilly while Mordon strapped on his vest.
Although Dad would be playful about it, he played to win, while Mordon would
never lose a battle when he was with his brother. Dad was a force to be
reckoned with, but together, they were unstoppable.

Damn… I hated cleaning.

Dad teased us and let us think we were winning at
first. About ten minutes in, Hail almost got him, but that was a trap. We
should have gone for Mordon and gotten him out of the way before he really got
into it, because by attacking Dad, we set off Mordon’s protective instincts.
Within five minutes, we were cornered and out of options.

The flashing lights and loud music made it difficult
to hear myself think let alone come up with a plan. Magic was my fallback, but
any flex of my energy would kill the electricity and that would ruin the game.
It would be a forfeit.

“If I can get to that panel over there,”
I
started before Dad’s phone went off, playing that familiar ringtone. I never
understood why Dad thought “Hungry Like the Wolf” was such a funny song,
especially since Granddad always just rolled his eyes.

I heard Dad groan and stood up from our shelter just
as Dad was hanging up. “They have some kind of weird case and they need me to
go in. I shouldn’t be long, but I don’t have time to drop you off at home. Do
you think you guys can hang out around here for a while?”

“Yeah. I assume there’s a Braums,” Mordon said.

Hail could barely contain his excitement.

Dad laughed. “Right across the street. Here.” Dad
pulled out his wallet and gave Mordon way too much for ice-cream. “What we talked
about before…”

“Yeah, I know where it is; we drove right by it. If
we get done with ice-cream before you get back, we’ll be
there
.”

They were still plotting.
“Damn hospital ruining
our day out. They better have a good reason or every one of them will need a
doctor when I’m done with them.”
Hail slipped his hand in mine to help cool
my ire before we started stripping off the laser gear.

The ice-cream was fantastic, and Mordon was great,
but we needed Dad there. Uncle Mordon was kind of quiet without Dad there to
rile him. We asked how Emiko was doing and he gave us a little shrug.

“I haven’t spoken to her in two months.”

“How is Sen?”

“He’s doing well. He’s looking forward to starting
school. I’m just glad the education system in Mokii has improved with my
father’s new laws.”

Mordon and Emiko obviously liked each other a lot,
but Emiko didn’t like Dad, god magic, or the fact that Dad was from Earth. She
really didn’t like anyone that wasn’t a dragon from Duran. Unfortunately, that
also pertained to her son. Kaori-le Sen was the result of an impulsive decision
from us and an act of violence from a mage king in the far future. Not only was
Sen a reminder of a man violating her, but he was neither fully dragon nor
fully from Duran. Dragons were exceptionally arrogant about their bloodlines.

It turned out the surprise was a new bookstore.
Obviously the laser tag was for all of us to have fun together, the ice-cream
was particularly for Hail, and the bookstore was for me. Mordon told me to pick
out whatever I wanted and I thought I was going to die from an overdose of
excitement. First I hit the cookbooks, then the science books. I was in the
math section when I realized something was wrong.

My head started throbbing, but I could tell it was
actually Hail who was in pain. I tried to find him, but my world blurred
further with every step. Hail’s visions could become violent when he resisted
them and he needed me with him to help. I had learned very early in life that
it was easier for Hail when I shared his visions, even if that meant I couldn’t
keep a look out. I didn’t get to choose when I saw his visions and when I
didn’t, although I could sometimes hold them off if I fought hard enough. This
one I couldn’t fight.