Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Eighty Three

     "We decided to film another Will It episode for our show," Rhett started, noticing the look of confusion on Baker's face. "That's where we ask ourselves literally if something will it. Like, will it taco for instance. One of our tacos had congealed pig blood in it instead of the standard ground beef and that was the nastiest thing on the planet." 

     Baker grimaced, bringing his hand up to his mouth. "You actually... ate that?" 

     Rhett nodded his head emphatically. "Regrettably. But we do it to entertain our mythical beasts, so that makes it easier," he said with a chuckle. "So we filmed the episode all the way up to the end, testing what we could shoot out of a nerf gun other than the styrofoam darts. We tried glitter, M&M's, crafting beads, and then this mystery item," Rhett narrowed his eyes as he vividly recalled the mystery item. "Link shot the mystery item out of the gun, and it looked like a little pebble that you would find outside. It was a tealish color and it reminded me of the bottom of the ocean. It was very pretty."

     "Anyway, he shot the pebble out of the gun and when it made contact with our cardboard target, it erupted into flames. Then when it hit the wall, the room was cascaded in a bright white light and there was a gaping hole in the wall. With blue flames emanating from it." 

     Rhett used his hands as he spoke, and Baker sat there listening intently, unblinking. 

     He finally blinked, his lips slightly apart. "You happened upon a solar rock," he said. 

     Rhett nodded his head once again. "We found out that's what it was when two of our crew members brought us to the place where they had bought it. I shouldn't have put it past the boys to buy something for our show at a paranormal convention," Rhett added as an afterthought, shaking his head slowly. Baker nodded his head, waiting for Rhett to tell more of the story. "We finally discovered what the rocks were and this guy came up to us. He seemed to know who Link was and this happens quite frequently, so we really didn't think anything of it. Link looked terrified though, and suddenly the lights went out. There was a scream in the building that sounded like a woman being slaughtered, and then the lights came back on without a problem. As if nothing ever happened." 

     Baker narrowed his eyes. "What did the man look like?"

     "Uh, he had long hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail. Thin face, long nose, always wears a long black leather jacket," Rhett trailed off, squinting his eyes as he was trying to rack his brain for more details. "His eyes were brown, but they weren't a warm inviting brown like my wife's. They were cold, vile, and menacing." 

     Baker raised his eyebrows and he drew a piece of paper out of his desk along with a pen to jot down the details. "And you said he seemed to know Link, correct?" 

     Rhett nodded his head, and watched as Baker wrote something down. "But it wasn't the kind of knowing like Lydia last night, you know what I mean? It was very creepy. Like stalker creepy," Rhett said, running his fingers through his beard while gazing through the blinds of the window. 

     Baker scratched his nose, catching Rhett's attention. "So what happened after the lights came back on?" 

     Rhett straightened up in his chair and cleared his throat, reaching for the mug for another sip of coffee. Rhett swished the coffee around in his mouth a bit, quite enjoying the taste. He was suddenly reminded of The Usual Suspects, where Verbal was complaining about the police station coffee being crap. This was rather phenomenal. He swallowed and nodded his head, indicating he was about to begin speaking again.

     "When the lights came back on, we started exploring the building a bit. The entire place seemed to have evacuated to a single room in the building, which was the auditorium. To our surprise, the guy with the ponytail was putting on a show, and that's when things started getting really weird," Rhett trailed off, bringing his hand up to his forehead. The mere effort of trying to recall the events was sapping every last drop of energy he had left in him, and Baker looked at him with concern. Rhett took a deep breath, continuing.