Lucky and the Killer ✔

Google It Is

As they stepped inside of the portal, the cusp of the second moon made its debut in The Kingdom's expansive sky. King stepped in first. After a few minutes of walking, he sat his foot down on the Earth—only because he knew Gray well enough to know where he would go: somewhere out of the way. What better way to get out of the way than go to another planet? The girls followed soon after him—bumping into one another as they stumbled out and onto the dark street.

"Oh...my...gosh," Sarah grinned. "This is so cool. What is this hard stuff?"

"Asphalt," King said. "People don't really do a lot of walking here. Watch for cars. They can and will kill you."

"Agreed," Lilly said.

"Cars, huh?" Sarah asked. "Well, okay. Where to first?"

King didn't really hear her. His thoughts were zipping past him like tangled strands of yarn racing downhill. Here and there, he thought about the things he'd read all those years ago—once upon a time when he actually gave a damn about history. He thought of Gray. He thought of his own issues with fathers. King knew they could be monsters if they wanted to be.

"This is bad," he grumbled. "I don't want to have to kill anybody."

Lilly and Sarah exchanged a glance with raised eyebrows, but they didn't saw a word. Their steps were quiet behind his, and they listened for instruction. The ground was humid and wet, and everything nearby was dewy. It reminded Lilly of her own front yard, and she realized just how reckless she'd been.

King thought about the gun resting next to his body. He would use it if he had to. He knew that. Still, he didn't want to have to. Everything in his gut told him he would, though. They didn't have a lot of time. Things were going to go downhill, and they were going to go that way fast.

"King," Lilly said his name softly, "are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, but he realized he was clutching his side. He threw his hand back down and gave her a half-hearted smile: one she easily saw through. He wasn't able to be there, and he knew that, too. His body was durable, but gun shots still took a toll. "We're going to check her place first."

"How far away is it?" Sarah asked.

"Not too far," King said. He knew the neighborhood well enough to get around no matter where the portal dumped him. Earth was his hideaway. It always had been.

"R-E-S...," Sarah began to sing to herself as they walked, "C-U-E the lit-tle princess Luck-y!"

"You have way too much energy," Lilly smiled.

"Candy," Sarah said. "The Holy Knight never lets me have any."

"Oops," Lilly said as she rolled her eyes and looked at the sidewalk. The empty alleys gave her the creeps. She knew the neighborhood, too, and it was a place she usually didn't walk past.

"R-E-S-C-U-E the dumb and clut-zy Luck-y!"

"That's not very nice," Lilly sighed.

"Eh," Sarah shrugged.

"Please shut up," King finally said over his shoulder.

"Rude," Sarah said, but she obeyed.

"When we get there," King started, "I want you two to wait outside. No arguing. I mean it. I don't know who is in there...or what we'll find."

"Alright," Lilly said, but it just made her mind wander back to Zee. He'd wanted to keep her out, too. She was sure it was for her own good. She was just an outsider there, but she didn't like being excluded from the danger if it meant someone else was going to have to brave it for her. She folded her arms behind her head as they walked and decided she would step in if she had to.

"Lights are on," King whispered as they approached the building. In a second, he'd already climbed three stairs on the metal rung. He didn't sense anything, but he wasn't going to let his guard down, either.

The door was unlocked. He twisted the handle and swung it open with some level of stealth. Nothing made a noise. He stepped inside anyway.

The light was coming from the back room. He'd been by the apartment enough times after he found her on Earth. Never had he been inside, though. The hallways crept by as he went, and on the floor, at the end of it all, was a cut rope. They'd already came. They'd already gone.

"Well, damn," King said as he picked up the rope, shook his head, and made his way back out. "Don't worry, Lucky. I'll find you."

Outside, Lilly and Sarah stood with large eyes and white knuckles from gripping the metal fence. Sarah stuck her tiny feet into the diamond wiring and started to climb so that she could see further up. Lilly just stood and worried.

"Do you think Zee is okay?" she called up to Sarah.

"The Wicked Lord?" Sarah asked. "Yeah, he never dies. You can't kill him. I've tried."

"Okay...," Lilly said back. "Do you think we might run into him again?"

"Here comes King!" Sarah said as she ignored Lilly and waddled her way back down the fence. "King! Did you find anything?"

"No," he sighed, and his shadow came out from the other shadows around him. "They're gone."

"Turn on your sensors!" Sarah cried. "C'mon. We have to find her. The Dark Skeleton Master is going to kill her!"

"No, he isn't, and stop calling him that," King said in a gruff tone that Sarah was perpetually-oblivious to.

"Do you sense any portal activity? Don't they let off vibrations when they're being used? Do you think they went back?"

"No, no, and no," King said as he shoved the rope into his pocket. "The best we can do is use our heads. It took me years to find her after the emperor passed."

"Maybe they went to see her mom," Lilly offered. "That's where Zee went."

"Mom, huh?" King said to himself. "No, I don't think they went to see their mom, but...he might have gone to see his dad."

"Whose dad?" Sarah asked.

"Gray's," King said.

"Oh," Sarah said. "What's his name?"

"I don't have a clue," King shrugged. "Let's go."

"Where to, King?" Sarah piped.

"The Library, I guess," he said.

"Books?"

"Internet," he said back.

"Or, we could just use my data," Lilly said and pulled her cell phone from her back pocket. "Unless you just want to walk yourself to death. You're doing a good job of it so far."

"I'll take the data," King said and rolled his eyes again. "Give me Google."

"Google it is," Lilly said as she crunched on the last of her candy and handed King the glowing screen.