Voodootown

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Flow

Flow lay on the roof and thought about how much he liked to hang out with Curtis.  Even though the two of them didn't have the same connection that Ash and Blink had, they were still close.  When Curtis started reading a book, either for school or for fun, Flow read it too.  When Curtis had gone through radiation and chemotherapy, they had felt sick together.  And since then, they had enjoyed a lot of quiet time, just thinking.  Flow liked that best of all, lying under Curtis' bed, thinking.

But he didn't like lying on the roof, between Twister and Ju Ju.  He didn't like that at all.

"Give me the periscope," Ju Ju said.  She reached out over Flow's face for the charm Flow had made before they left Ash's basement.  It was mostly an x-ray charm, but he had mixed in three dimensional angle controls so it could give you a view from any vantage point within ten feet.  It hadn't been the hardest charm he'd made all day, but it hadn't been easy either.  The effort had drained him.

"Oh, you need more charms to play with?" Twister asked.  "Flow hasn't made enough of them for you?"  They had been arguing like this since they left Ash's basement.

With Ju Ju on his left and Twister on his right, Flow could only try to squirm down to escape.  But the three bags of charms they had brought with them to Voodootown were placed at their feet and he couldn't stand up, or Doctor Midnight and his thralls would see him.  He was trapped.

Looking down at the bags of charms only reminded him how tired he was.  He hoped Ash and Blink would get Curtis his charm before it was time to deactivate the portal.  Flow didn't think he had enough energy to close a sliding door, let alone a magic portal.  And he knew he didn't have enough to deal with these two bickering dolls.

"Like he hasn't made anything special for you.  You do have that nice little tinfoil hat," Ju Ju said.

Flow saw Twister check the little cap he had made for her.  It was made of blackened tinfoil that was mostly hidden under her dark hair.  At the first touch of Ju Ju's controlling power, the foil would unravel, cover Twister's whole body and insulate her from any external influence.  He had gotten the idea from a video Curtis had seen about an invisible bike helmet.  His smile at the memory disappeared quickly.

"It's necessary," Twister said.

"Really?" Ju Ju asked.  "Think you can't trust me?"

"I don't know if any of us can.  Not anymore," Twister said.

"You have a problem with me?  Spit it out," Ju Ju said. 

Flow winced and held a finger up to his lips.  Both of them had moved from whispering to snarling, and if Midnight heard them, there was no way they'd escape.

Twister kept her mouth shut, just pointed across Flow's body to the tiny voodoo doll that hung around Ju Ju's neck.  Days ago it had been plain, but now there were three charms layered on top of it.  On the back was the first charm he had made her, the amp.  It increased the level of control Ju Ju had and let her maintain her influence over a doll without keeping eye contact.  The second charm was on the front and it accordioned out into a little line of dolls, like a line of paper cut outs.  With it, Ju Ju could control up to a dozen dolls at once.

The final one had made Twister lose her temper as much as Flow had ever seen.  She had sneered at him when she heard about it earlier that day and almost pulled a pin out of her sleeve.  That last charm was a little wig made out of real human hair and it let Ju Ju expand her ability to be able to control humans.

"Who else wants that much control?" Twister asked.  She looked over her shoulder at the place where Midnight was standing.  As soon as he and Ju Ju looked that direction, they heard a crash. 

Flow grabbed the periscope charm and looked through it.  He saw something strike Midnight in the chest, but it was deflected by what looked like an overlapping array of windshield charms.  "Get ready with the gear," he said.  "Almost time to go."

He handed the periscope back to Twister and inched his way down to the bags.  He unzipped his and double checked it for the fourth time.  He hoped he had everything he would need.

A moment later, Ju Ju joined him.  She acted like she was checking her bag, but she just knelt there and looked at him.  "Do you agree with her?" she asked.

Flow leaned his head down onto his bag.  All he wanted at that moment was rest and some time to read a book with Curtis.  Just days ago they had been reading the last act of Macbeth.  The thralls in the street below reminded him of Malcom's army.  All they needed were tree branches to hide behind as they marched into the unsuspecting towns around the world.

"You do, don't you?  You think like she does," Ju Ju said.

"I can hear you," Twister said, her voice still a whisper.

After a sigh, Flow looked up at Ju Ju.  "I think you both have a point.  That's why I made charms for both of you.  Yeah, I know you want to use your ability to fight this guy.  But Twister has a point too.  You're...you're kind of the Scary Mary of the group right now."

She stared at him a long moment, then nodded.  "Fine.  That's what you think."

"He's gone," Twister said.  "The thralls are going too.  Sticks and Squat scored."  She rose, grabbed the large bag that held her gear and leaped over the edge of the building.  Ju Ju followed and Flow enjoyed the silence for a moment before following them.

Once he landed on the street, he didn't bother to look around or look for any threats.  Those were for Twister and Ju Ju to handle.  He ran directly for the portal and opened his bag.  First, he grabbed a pile of brown, doll sized sheets, each about the size of a human's wash cloth.  Then he pulled out eight small bottles of cloudy water.  He cradled them in his left arm and began walking around the perimeter of the portal, throwing the bottles onto the street at regular intervals. 

By the time he reached his starting point, the street was already starting to liquefy, turned to a swampy mush by the quicksand hex.  He made sure he was out of range, then grabbed the first of the sheets.  He waved it out flat, let it settle over a section of the once solid ground.  Once it was settled, he touched a corner and the cloth thickened and hardened into a piece of wood.

He set out two more plywood charms until he had a stable path all the way to the edge of the portal.  As he settled in next to it, he looked around.  Twister had set up the perimeter with the hexes she had carried and Ju Ju was standing close by, looking all around.

"Ju Ju," he said as he waved her over.  "Come on.  Stay on the path and stay close."  He waited for her to step onto the plywood, then turned to examine the portal.