Stuff Of Legend

Chapter 21

They were swift with their departure. Ansley had also brought weapons in the car she drove over. Raven had an emergency supply kit ready to take with them in the kitchen. They quickly piled into the car and left. In hindsight, they probably should have told Caldwell directly about what they found, but if they wanted to move fast, leaving the message with Ansley was the best option they had.

This time, the ride was much smoother than the roller-coaster Piper and Wren ventured on nearly a week ago. Brannon knew all the rules of the road, and drove fast with accurate precision. Raven sat in the passenger seat, giving him directions. The car was a big black van with three seats along each wall in the back. Audrey, Wren, and Piper sat on the left, and Charlie, Jon, and Logan on the right. They were distributing weapons, going over the plan.

"Brannon, Logan, and Audrey will go around front, knock on the door and see if he's home. Piper, Jon, and Raven will head around back in case he tries to escape. Wren and I will park the car at the edge of the block. You'll need to get out of the car before that. If he's not home, we'll scout out the rest of the town, starting with going to that old factory you two checked out last time." Charlie said, pointing to Wren and Piper.

"We'll need to watch out for that group of deviants we ran into last time. Did you find anything on them? Kipley called them The Curst." Piper said. Charlie gave her a folder.

Inside were the pictures of the six deviants. Clive Dennis, magnetism manipulation. Aldwyn Campos, molecular manipulation. Flicka Wells, darkness manipulation. Linton Friedman, madness embodiment. Tia Mack, pain illusion. Vander Hess, freeze vision. The worst group possible to go against, and they were working for Kipley. Or at least recommended to him.

Tia Mack was the first girl Piper had encountered. It explained why the pain she felt came so fast and left so soon; it was an illusion. Vander caused the block of ice to appear on her leg and why his eyes glowed white. Piper assumed the blonde was Flicka and had made that cloud of shadows appeared, leaving the red head to be Aldwyn. The other male must have been Linton, but Piper couldn't figure out why his face was only distorted. He was fear embodiment but Piper didn't feel scared. The other guy, Clive, hadn't been at the ambush.

"Be careful for Tia. Her power is strong, as well as Vander's. I haven't seen Aldwyn or Clive in action, but naming themselves The Curst and being recommended to Kipley, they all must be pretty powerful." Piper informed the group.

"Don't worry about us, Piper," Logan said, loading his gun, "We're pretty powerful too."

They zipped through the streets of Coventry. The town wasn't as alive as it was at night. But the people outside look inherently happier than they did when Piper and Wren came here in the dark. In the dark, every building just looked like a square box, all colored the same gray, but here in the light, Piper can see every color. Much of the grass was dead, leaving behind dirt patches. In one large pass, the town turned it into a baseball diamond where young children of every race were put playing. The playgrounds were old and rusted, but they had unique colors splatted on them. The city was decorated in different styles and shades of graffiti. To many people, that's just plain vandalism, but it gives the city personality. To the people of Coventry, this is their culture, and many would be proud of it.

The group got out at one of the gas stations, three blocks from Psalm Truant, aka Mansur Platt's, supposed home. People were gathered around the station, cleaning cars, laughing and chatting, and helping themselves to a midday smoke and beer. It was still a cold out, but people didn't mind; they were just going about their lives.