Magic in the Key of Joy (A Wylde & Cray Adventure) UIC2022

Chapter 7 - Wylde Awakening

Ha! Wouldn't you know it – of all places to find my mystery man, he's in the damned closet. The tremors last for a good two minutes. For all you non-natives who aren't used to our rock 'n rolling, that might seem like no big deal. But it is, for an earthquake of this magnitude...I'm guessing it's at least a 5 or 6 pointer on the Richter scale.

Standing up, I look around for Sunny and Luna, and find them at Blue Eyes' feet. I feel a twinge of jealousy, but it passes – they are his pets, after all. The police are asking students about the wet floor and their wet clothes, and they're all giving them some story about the fire sprinklers going on. What's odd is that, contrary to what you'd expect, all the details are the same. Not a single variation. It's as if they're all reading the same part from the same script.

Luckily, the police don't seem surprised. Something's afoot, and the butler didn't do it. Officer Constantine tells me to inform the Campus Dean that, seeing as California is currently in a state of Extreme Drought, he needs to get the sprinklers looked at and taken care of, pronto. I turn to find Blue gesticulating silently at Sunny and Luna, almost as if he's talking to them. Which he can't be, because he's silent and his mouth isn't moving. I tap him on his shoulder. I swear it's as if my touch is electric, because we both get a shock.

He looks me in the eye, and nervously takes a breath. In a very measured voice, he announces, just above a whisper:

"You'll get that kiss when I feel we're both safe and ready."

Luna meows, and as he gesticulates at her, I sneak a look at Sunny, who's jumped on top of the desk, purring while Ken is stroking him. He's looking back at me, and I swear he rolled his eyes. Never have I seen a cat roll its eyes. It's both endearing and unnerving.

The students file out, most saying they can't wait to pick up the improv from where they left off, until only Ken, Xavier and Cherriere are left. They're still a little shaken. Sunny is getting tummy-rubbed by Ken while Luna is being held by Cherriere, and happily batting at her piercings with moving parts. An image of food forms in my mind.

"You guys hungry?" I ask.

"Hell, yeah!" says Xavier.

"The cafeteria is probably a mess, though," says Cherriere.

"Well then, let's go help them straighten up in exchange for them giving us a free all-we-can-eat meal," I suggest, "And any leftovers that they can't sell, we can drop off at a food bank or the homeless shelter in Ventura. Are you up for that?"

The cafeteria was overjoyed at our offer. Soon other kids joined in, and the task of delivering was given to students who lived in or nearer to Ventura. All the while, as we were working, Blue eyes seemed to lose a little of the tension in his shoulders, and he even began talking with my students. Sunny and Luna had disappeared earlier, and when I asked Blue Eyes, he said they 'had their own tasks' and I was not to worry. It was when I had returned to the counter for seconds that I heard unbridled laughter issuing from our group.

"Hey, Professor! You two should totally work together," shouts Ken, "or else get married. His name's Cray Zieh, and you're, like, Wylde Thing, right? So together, you guys would be Wylde and Cray Zieh!' That's too funny to be co-in...co-ince..."

Cherriere is laughing so hard, her pink hair slides off to reveal...a shaved head with a high-and-tight crewcut.

"Ah, shit. I hate it when that happens," they say, in a voice gone 2 octaves lower. "I'm non-binary, okay? I'm Cherriere when I take your class, Professor. In others, I'm Chuck, just finished with my stint in the Marines. Are y'all cool with that?"

Xavier is first to offer his hand. "Totally." Ken, looking at his classmate, is obviously at a loss for words. Barbie, I think wickedly, might just have some competition or I'm not reading that hungry look right.

"Thanks for the meal, man." Xavier says.

I tell him he worked for it fair and square, but he reminds me that the cafeteria would probably have been closed tomorrow if I hadn't suggested we help clean up, and his aunt works there, so she won't be missing a day's work thanks to us. Finally, I'm alone with a man who seems relaxed, well fed and at ease. It's the scene from She Loves Me, except how it should have played out.

I extend my hand. "Wylde Thingh." The opening strains of "It Only Takes a Moment" from Hello Dolly begin to play in my mind.

He accepts it, and says, "Cray Zieh."

I think, hope swelling in my heart, this is where we lean in and have the most intense, best kiss since Romeo and Juliet. Hell, since Enkidu and Gilgamesh! The most breath-taking, tongue-wrangling, soul-merging meeting of the mouths in history.

But as soon as our palms connect, the world explodes. Not literally, but it feels that way – like the way removing masking tape from your face feels: the peeling and pulling and skin stretching. And we're outside our bodies, looking at them. Two glowing shapes join us, as Cray somehow takes my non-corporeal hand and effing folds space, stepping out into an empty storefront. The one from that fateful bus ride, near the T.O. Lakes Plaza.

Cray says, holding me close, "Our doppelgangers are just now leaving that cafeteria, so we should soon be here completely." And in seconds, we are flesh and blood.

"But under no circumstances should you..."

I have no intention of letting him finish that sentence, as my lips lock with his. This time, the world does explode; Cray and I go flying backwards, each of us hitting a wall, and GODDAMN that m*********ing hurts!!! It takes every ounce of my strength to simply sit up. Cray, however...he's lit up like a Christmas tree, flinging balls of light at – holy shit!

"Why aren't you dead, you piece of no-good worthless E-Bay second-hand overpriced antique shit!" I scream, and once more, something breaks inside of me, only it hurts like hell this time, bringing me to my knees. It doesn't matter, though. I fell off a stage once, practicing for a ballet. I spent months in a back brace. I recovered, and danced again. This pain is nothing compared to that.

Mara means business, standing 10 feet tall, black smoke swirling around her, her face a miasma of eyes and teeth, laughter dripping like acid on my brain. She's brought friends, too. Dozens of hyena-like creatures are swarming Sunny and Luna, who try to protect Cray from Mara's firebolts, acid balls and lightning cages. I see Sunny fall, see Cray and Luna pinned to the wall inside the 1,000-volt cages. Mara lifts Sunny by the tail, and bites his head off.

That does it. I stand and launch into my best Les Miserables:

"Can you hear the people sing, singing the songs of angry men..." It rips into every creature, exploding them in showers of gore. As I continue, the tune sounds – wrong, somehow. I'm making it sound...vengeful, not triumphant. Mara's laughing, and I direct the song at her; only she's somehow feeding on it and getting bigger.

Cray wears a look of despair, shaking his head and crying. Luna hangs limply. I stop, because I see black smoke coming out of me. The smell is intoxicating at first, then quickly smells like rotting eggs. How do you combat cruelty?

The first few lines of Into the Wood's "You Are Not Alone" has Mara shrieking, and she steps towards me. The more feeling I put into lines like "Someone is on our side, Someone else is not..." the more she shrinks, taking step after step towards me, until she's a toddler crawling at my feet. The smoke is gone – hers and mine – and I raise my hands. They're glowing like rainbow disco balls at a Pride event – and tell the demon that I forgive her, and to return one day, to try to be true to the child she once was. Mara disappears.

Cray is holding Luna, standing near Sunny's headless body. I hear a whisper, and pick up the body, singing a different Les Miz tune, called 'Bring Him Home." I get to the last verse, but I just have to lie down. The last thing I see before I pass out is Cray's face bending down and puckered up.