Chapter Thirty Seven
“You didn’t have to give me an outfit but I appreciate it.
It’s cute.” Dina looks down at her clothing and smiles.
It’s nice to see her not look like she’s about to burst into tears.
She’s wearing a dress, something flowing and nice with a cloak.
There’s a dagger at her waist and she has a staff in her hand.
The second we got to the Chamber of Commerce doors she started begging to be allowed to come along to save Clyde.
“He’s my soul mate. If this goes south, I want to have tried to save him. Staying out here will be torture. Please, let me go to him. If this is the end, then I want it to be with him.”
“We look like a proper gang now. This is the big time, folks,” Charlie says.
“We’re not a gang,” I remind him.
“Not with that attitude we’re not.”
The nice surprise is that Dina’s handy with her weapon, better than handy, I didn’t even have to give her any skills like I did Charlie.
“I did flag corp in band and this is pretty much the same,” she says, twirling her staff like a pro. “I’m going to stick this up that World Eater’s ass from 50 yards out.”
“Wow, you’re really good with that. You’re a natural.”
“Thanks. I was all state twice.”
“Good to know. Stay close to me when we go in then.” We’re outside of the doors that Dina says lead right up into the center of the Chamber of Commerce.
The doors are different from any of the other ones we’ve seen.
Where every other door has been a single one these are a pair of humongous floor to ceiling doors with the emblem of a snake eating its tail on them.
“Something tells me this has always been a villain's lair,” I say, nodding at the snake. “Mort, are you going to be good to use your magic when we’re in there? Like the big tentacle monster Jaak and I fought?”
“Certainly. That’s my combat form, though it is difficult for me to strike at a distance.”
I remember the way the fog rolled in, how it was hard to see and that’s why I thought the tentacles couldn't find us. Turns out Mort just couldn’t see.
“Hmm, maybe do the fog thing and hang back until we see what we’re up against. Jaak, Dina and I will go in first. Charlie, you and Mort guard the rear from attack. I don’t know what’s on the other side of those doors and I’ll need someone I trust to watch my back.”
Charlie gives me a mini salute and Mort looks like he tries to mimic the gesture but somehow ends up tangled in his cloak.
“I don’t think I need to say how serious this is, what we’re doing.
The fate of the world hangs in the balance because some freaky monster wants a midnight snack and I personally think that’s bullshit.
I’ve never been the hero,” I look at the group in front of me and a surge of adrenaline hits me.
They’re in this with me till the end, I can see it in their eyes, “But today I want to try. I’ve just started living my life and I don’t intend to stop for anyone or anything, not even the end of the world.
So I say we go in there, kick major monster ass and be back at Dina’s for a round of BLTs and milkshakes for dinner. Who’s with me?”
Charlie is the first to yell. “Fuck yeah, I’m with you!” He raises his bow. “You have my bow. Oh my gods, I’ve always wanted to say that in a life or death situation. All my dreams are coming true.”
The bond glows bright between Jaak and I. “You always have me with you, my heart. None will stand before you so long as I draw breath. I will follow you into this life or the next, Meadow.”
Dina nods at me and raises her staff. “I’m an independent woman and I deserve to get what I want. I’m ready to save Clyde!”
Mort gives me a slight bow. “I am honored to fulfill my duty as a member of the House of Vallayer.”
I take one last lingering look at Jaak before I turn back to the doors.
The snake on the double doors looks scary, but I can be scary too.
I grab my swords and kick the doors in, or at least I try to.
When I kick the doors they don’t just open, they fly off the hinges.
I wince when I hear them slam against a far wall and crash to the floor.
From the sound of it, they don’t stop moving when they hit the floor, they keep sliding and the sound of metal scraping against stone fills the air for a while before they finally stop.
The quiet after the doors stop is deafening.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” I whisper.
“I mean, it makes a statement,” Dina whispers back and despite everything I laugh.
“You’re right,” I tell her. “Let’s see what they think of it.
” I take a tentative step over the threshold and then another.
When nothing happens, I pick up the pace.
The floor is stone here, so are the walls.
The room we’re in almost looks like the tunnels but it’s newer.
It opens up into a vestibule and then into another room.
This one is circular, the walls and floor a dark black stone.
Over the floors there are thick, red carpets embroidered with golden thread and all along the walls massive banners hang.
Each of them shows an apocalyptic scene featuring worlds crumbling, cities on fire, and then finally the sharp teeth of a World Eater devouring a body.
There are five doors leading out from the room.
The doors I kicked rest up against a raised dais in the center with a stone basin in the middle that sparkles in the sunlight streaming in from the ceiling, which is one giant glass window.
Early afternoon sun streams into the room making it light and bright.
It’s almost serene in the quiet. The sunny atmosphere at odds with the medieval torture chamber vibe the room has going on.
“What the hells kind of Chamber of Commerce is this?” I ask, turning in a circle to take in the room.
I see tall lit braziers at each doorway as well as a sword resting on a rack.
In the corner a cage is suspended from the ceiling which would be concerning on its own but there’s a blonde man with blood on his face inside.
He grabs the bars and rattles them with a sob.
“Are all Chamber of Commerces like this?”
Jaak steps up beside me and looks around. “I would say not. This is a World Eater Temple. Each tapestry you see depicts a step in their feeding cycle. Their acolytes worship here. This will be where the last offering is made when the time for their feeding comes.”
“That explains the vibe and all the teeth.”
“Help me!” he moans, reaching a hand out to us. He’s dirty, barefoot, and in a ripped business suit. Whatever happened to him hasn’t been easy. I wonder how long he’s been hanging there in that cage.
I sheath my swords and start to head for the man. “We have to help him. Come on.”
Dina grabs my arm. “No, don’t. Leave him.”
I look at her in confusion. “But he needs our help. We can’t just leave him up there. You heard Jaak about the last offering. What if it’s him?”
“Offering or not. He’s my husband.”
“Ha! So we didn’t explode him!”
Dina gives me a confused look. “Um, exactly. Now leave him. He called this horror down on us. I hope he’s the last offering.
He did it knowing exactly what it would bring.
I’m done cleaning up his messes.” Dina glares at the man spinning in the cage with a look of disgust. “He made this happen. He can pay for it.”
We all back away from the cage but we hardly get a step in the opposite direction when Dina’s husband shouts.
“You can’t leave me here! Dina! Get your ass back here you ungrateful bitch! You would be nothing without me! Nothing, Dina! You’re trash, Dina! I married you when no one else would touch you!” She flips him off and we keep walking while he carries on screaming at her.
“You’re a freak, Dina! You and that witch family of yours. You think people in town haven’t talked about how you’re cursed? No one wanted you. Just me. You should be grateful I gave you the time of day you witch bitch.”
Mort makes a face. “He’s a bit mouthy for a man in a cage, isn’t he?”
“He is. Just ignore him.” I’m about to check out the mystery bowl on the dais when he yells again.
“I know where they’re keeping your precious Clyde!”
We all stop when he says that. Shit. Clyde is Dina’s whole deal and as little time as I’ve known her he’s my deal too now that she’s a part of the group.
I lift a sword and point it in her shitty husband’s direction. “Where is he?”
“Who the fuck are you? I’m not talking to you Ren Faire freaks! Are those even real swords?”
“I’m the witch bitch that’s going to cut your tongue out and make you swallow it, that’s who the fuck I am. Now tell us where Clyde is or I’m going to show you exactly how fake this sword is.”
Dina’s husband slams his hands against the bars. “You can’t do this to me, Dina. You cheating whore. Thought I didn’t know about Clyde, I did. That’s why they grabbed him. I offered him right up to her.”
Dina stomps over to his cage and jabs her staff through the bars to hit her husband in the mouth. Not once, but twice. The whole thing takes maybe five seconds and I watch with an open mouth the same as everyone else. I didn’t see this coming at all.
“I never cheated on you,” she growls. “Clyde was a friend and even though I loved him I didn’t say a word. Not like you carrying on with half the town. You think I don’t know about Ali and Jen because I do! Since the day we got married you’ve had Jen in our house!”
Mort gasps beside me. “Jen at the floral shop? Really? I never pegged her for that sort. Who else is a cheater in town?”
“You’ve been running around on me for years, so I made a friend.
It’s not my fault I fell in love with him.
” She jabs him again with her staff, this time in the gut.
I sheath my swords and clasp my hands behind my back.
I am not needed here at all. “Now where is he, Dustin? And don’t think for a second I’m scared of you anymore.
I told you not to mess around with the Chamber of Commerce but did you listen to me?
No. You just had to join for the free parking passes.
Why would you even want them when we don’t have cars? !”
“Not now, sure but one day we will, and parking is exorbitant. I won’t pay to park in my own town.”
I clear my throat and walk towards them both. “Hi, I don’t want to get in the middle of this but we’ve got an apocalypse kind of happening here, so to speed this along, just tell us where Clyde is and we’ll let you out after we stop the end of the world.”
Dustin looks between me and his wife like he’s trying to decide which one of us he’s more scared of before he spits on the ground at our feet.
“Fucking bitches. I hope he’s dead.”
I kick his cage as hard as I can which sends it spinning and careening into the wall so hard pieces of stone come flying off.
“Come on, he’s a dick. That’s going to spin for a while so let’s go find Clyde on our own,” I tell her and we both walk away with her husband screaming bloody murder as his cage spins on like a top.
“I can’t believe I married him. How could I have done something so stupid?”
“It happens. You live and you learn. What matters right now is getting a fresh start, yeah?”
Dina nods and picks up her staff with a deep breath. “Yeah. Thanks for being so nice to me. Not a lot of people are. I know how it sounds and looks to say I’m in love with someone else while I’m still married but we’ve been over for years. I don’t know how everything got so messed up.”
Behind us the cage hits the wall again and sparks fly from the metal on stone, which just makes Dustin shriek. The sound makes me smile.
“I know what it’s like to wake up in a life that doesn’t feel like it’s yours. You don’t have to explain anything to me, and maybe we’ll start calling that whack job your ex-husband?”
“I like that.”