Blue Monday

Chapter 20 - Rhiannon

***ALEX***

When Mom comes up to Gabe and me, the first thing she does is think, Are you all right, boys?

Yeah, I think back. We're both fine.

Mom turns to Gabe, and he nods. Yeah, what he said.

"All right, that's enough of the sickly sweet reunion," grumbles Leah. "Back away from the prisoners, boys."

"Nobody here is a prisoner," Ross says emphatically.

"Bullshit," Luca calls out. I flash him the thumbs-up. "Your attack dog here is looking to go crazy on all of us if you don't leash her up."

"Not all of you," Leah says, turning her gun towards Ross. "Just Alpha. Or, since I'm no longer pretending to respect him as my superior, I'll call him by his first name now. That should make things much easier, eh, Ross?"

"Lambda," Ross says, holding up his hands. "Calm down. Now, let's try to think this through. Are you working against me because you truly believe what we're doing is wrong?"

"Of course," Leah says. "I'm sure you've heard the reports about so-called UFO sightings over different cities back east?" She turns around long enough to turn on the TV, where the morning news is talking about a similar UFO sighting a few hours ago over Bearville. I'm initially confused by the presence of blue sky at sunrise in the news report, but then I realize that this must be...

"Hold the phone," I say, pointing at the screen. "Are we on Earth?"

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Paul asks. "We had to cross the Bridge in Spellman to get here. Don't worry, we're still actually in Spellman. Just under the bay."

"Yeah..." I say slowly. I'm now paying more attention to the news story. According to the reporter, the lights appeared over Bearville at 5:12 in the morning, about an hour ago. That fits with the timing of the universe-breacher bomb in the Second 'Verse. How many more of these "UFOs" have there been? And have they been showing up in all three dimensions of the Prime 'Verse?

"You see this?" Leah says, pointing animatedly at the TV screen with her free hand. "This is what happens when you make deals with devils from worlds beyond ours."

"I didn't 'make a deal,' as you say," Ross points out. "I've just been getting useful info from someone from the other side."

"You've been working with a madman!" Leah cries. "A madman, and a liar. Preston Holly is one of them. He's a scriv, and he's been double-crossing you all this time, you goddamn fool!"

Ross lets out a single loud, harsh, very fake laugh. "I'm with the curly-haired young man on this one. I'm calling bullshit."

"I hate to say it, but La Bitca here is right," Gabe says. "Preston Holly's a scriv. There's actually two types of scrivs - light and dark. And most of the ones you were told are evil dark creatures, they're actually light."

Leah turns to Gabe and heaves a hyper-dramatic sigh. "Thank you. Wait a minute...what the hell is a 'bitca?'"

"It's a Buffy reference," I say breezily. "I don't think you wanna know the details."

Leah seems to catch my drift, though. She lets out another sigh. "It's an insult, isn't it? I suppose I had it coming, after all those nasty remarks I made about you," she says, briefly glancing over to Gabe.

"Is that your way of apologizing to me?" Gabe asks. "'Cause you're too proud to say you're sorry?"

"Well, you'd know all about being proud, wouldn't you?" Leah says, turning her gun on Gabe now. "Isn't that what your people say? 'Out and proud?'"