Unholyverse

~Part 16~

"Hey," said Mikey, jogging up to Pete when they all piled out of the buses at the rest stop. "I need to talk to you."

They found a picnic bench a reasonable distance away from everyone, and Mikey filled Pete in on what they'd found in Mark's bunk, leaving out the part about their dead parents. "So we really need you to put them back on our bus for the rest of the journey," he finished. "So we can find out what's going on."

Pete shook his head, bewilderment written all over his face. "They're just kids, Mikey. Danny isn't even twenty-one."

"I know." Mikey felt bad – it must be horrible to feel like someone who was supposed to be part of your own crew could do something like this, but even more than that he felt bad for the kids. "But that's why Gee wants to talk to them on the bus, you know, where they can't run away. I don't think Cortez and Charlie should be there to hear it, though."

"But what if they try to hurt you?" Pete said doubtfully. "Maybe Charlie should stay. He's a total hardass."

Mikey laughed. Pete looked offended, but it was just cute that he was worried about them when he was the one writhing in agony the night before. "I think Joe was right when he said we should try to keep this to the four of you. Besides, come on, dude, we can handle two kids."

"Pfft," Pete poked Mikey in the thigh. "Look at you, a stiff breeze would carry you away."

"Lucky for me most crazy evil masterminds don't rely on wind turbines."

Pete laughed, shaking his head. "Man, I can't believe this is even happening. Is it really happening? I mean, necromancy? It's like something out of a movie." Pete set his chin in his hand looked around at the other tables, people sitting, eating, smoking, talking on the phone. Then he looked up at Mikey suddenly, his eyes super-wide. "Wait a minute – does that mean it's all real? God, Jesus, the Devil, all that stuff?"

Mikey shrugged, and picked at a hole in the knee of his jeans. "We don't know for sure. Well, Gerard does. Thinks he does. I don't know." Mikey stopped talking, because it was all coming out wrong. He sorted through his thoughts before trying again. "There's definitely something, I guess, I mean...people keep being able to do this crazy shit. But I don't know about the rest of it."

"Wow," said Pete. He smiled suddenly. "Man, this is gonna piss Patrick off. He's an atheist."

"So's Frank," Mikey said, and then realized he didn't actually know if that was true anymore. "Do you? Believe in God, I mean?"

Pete nodded. "Yeah, totally. I just never thought that meant I ought to believe in the other side too, I guess." He was quiet for a while, picking at the cuffs of his hoodie where they were tugged right up to his fingertips. "Do you know why this is happening to me?"

"No," Mikey said honestly. "But if we can talk to the kids, then maybe we can find out."

Pete still didn't look convinced. "I don't know. Shouldn't we call the police?"

"And tell them what?" Mikey waited for Pete to do something other than look baffled, and when he didn't, added, "Yeah, that's where we always run out of ideas too. Look – the people that do this kind of thing? After we stop them, we have to hand them over to the Vatican."

"What do they do?"

"I don't know." Mikey pulled his knees up and rested his chin on one. "Gerard can't tell us. But I know that whatever it is, he doesn't want it to happen to Danny and Mark. We need to find out what's going on before it gets any worse."

Pete wanted to ask his boys before he'd agree to it, but when the buses started rolling again, Danny and Mark were herded unwillingly up the steps after Gerard.