Voodootown

Chapters 52 and 53

Chapter 52

Sticks

Sticks threw another two pins into the backs of the crowded thralls.  She had put twenty of them down and they hadn't even turned toward them.  Something was happening up ahead that they couldn't see.

But Midnight was visible up there.  He threw another hex at something, dug in a pocket for another, then stopped. 

A bit to her side, Squat swung the square metal club again and sent a dozen thralls crashing into a nearby building.  He stopped and they both watched Midnight.  The human turned and bent over something on the ground.

"I don't like that," Sticks said.

"Yeah, me either," Squat said.  He tried to peer over the thralls, but Sticks knew that wouldn't do any good.

"Can you clear a path?  Get us up there?" Sticks asked.

"Not fast.  There's too many of them."

Sticks nodded.  There were thousands of thralls between them and whatever Midnight was looking at.  "Think we can make it around them?  How long would that take?"

Squat shook his head.  "So much for the cavalry," he said.

Sticks looked at him.  "Hey.  You're strong.  What about jumping over them?"

But he shook his head in reply.  "It's an upper body thing.  I can turn a pull up or pushup into a leap, but can't do much with my legs."  Then he looked at the pole in his hands.  "Huh," he said.

"What?" Sticks said.

He patted his back.  "Piggy back time."  She climbed onto his back and he groaned when she pressed against the patches on his back.  She didn't think anyone had told him that the patches were pastel flower prints.  He switched his grip on the improvised weapon he'd been using.  "We're gonna try pole vaulting."

*

Chapter 53

Flow

The charm plopped down onto the plywood next to Flow.  It was a bulky vest that reminded him of a life preserver, but it had three hooks protruding out from the back and a rip cord like a parachute.  He slumped over.  Even with the boost of energy he'd received when Curtis had put on his charm, this had drained him.

He ducked under his windshield charm as he heard another hex whistle through the air.  The shield was completely blocked with tar, glue and sticky ropes.  Midnight had been throwing every kind of constraining hex imaginable at him and Flow was worried they would build up and start to reach him around the top of his shield.

"Come on, Blink," he said to himself.  "Get over here."  Before he finished the sentence, Blink was by his side.  He stayed low this time and looked at Flow.

"What's new?" Blink asked.

Flow nodded at the vest.  "I've got the charm.  I don't know how Twister's doing."

Another hex hit and Flow felt the windshield creak under some heavy impact.  "What do you need me to do?"

"You know that void you've ended up in a few times?" Flow asked.

Blink grimaced.  "You want me to go there, don't you?"

Flow nodded.  "Put the vest on, think about the void and walk through.  You're the only one that's been there, you're the only one that can make it back."

"What's going to happen?" Blink asked.

The question brought a smile to Flow's face.  "There's no way to destroy the portal or shut it down.  No way at all.  But you can move it.  When you go into the portal, that charm is going to hook onto it and pull it along with you wherever you go.  I could go through and take it to the Sahara or something, but I have the feeling he'd find a way to bring it back."

Another impact shook the windshield charm and Flow felt it crack.  He didn't know a windshield charm could crack.

He looked back at Blink.  "So you take it to the void.  We just need to get him to stop pelting us for a second so you can go through."

And at that, Flow realized he didn't hear any more hexes flying at them.  He looked up, didn't see anything over the top of the charm.  He motioned to the vest and Blink slipped into it.  Together, they stood, peered around the gunk that had built up on the windshield.

Midnight wasn't looking at them.  He stepped to the side and looked down at something Flow couldn't see.  Blink stepped out, stopped, his whole body still.  Flow followed him out, saw Midnight bend down over Twister.  She was stretched out in the middle of the street, unmoving, with Grease crouched over her.

"No," Blink said.

Flow knew what Blink was feeling.  Twister had kept them all safe, all together.  She had helped protect their humans through everything that had happened.  He remembered the night she had challenged Squat.  He had given her advice before the fight, and after she won, she had kissed him.  Dolls didn't really do that, and he had thought it was something to push Janey and Curtis together, but he had wondered if it had been her way of thanking him.  Either way, he had grown closer to Twister since then.  She acted on what she felt and that was all he needed to know about her.

And now she was going to die if they didn't help her.  He looked at Blink.  "You've got to go through the portal.  She'd kill us if you didn't."

Blink kept his eyes on Twister, but nodded.  Flow put a hand on his shoulder and guided his friend to the portal.  Blink stepped closer.  "Pull the ripcord," Flow said.

As soon as Blink pulled it, the three hooks shot out to the sides and hooked onto the edge of the portal.

Flow saw Midnight stand, stare at them.  "What are you doing?" the human asked as he took a step toward them, dug into his vest pocket and raised a handful of hexes.

Flow turned to Blink.  "Go!  Go!"

Blink walked into the portal.