23. CHAPTER #3
The cracks in the pavement twisted and curled, suddenly rolling forward like a wave until they crashed into the side of the club.
The building rumbled, shook, and the entire right side of it ripped away like an earthquake had erupted and decimated it in a blink.
Because that wasn’t insane enough, that broken section of the building then stood up.
Sure.
Why not?
The building stood on twisted legs that were vaguely birdlike and made up of rebar and chunks of foundation. The very shadows on the exterior wall shifted and formed new shapes—words.
YAY
“Holy shit.” Indy cackled. “Izba?”
HI INDY
Izba turned toward Neil.
HI NEIL
“Hey, Izba! Can I hitch a ride?” Neil asked, grinning.
NO
YOU STAY HERE
“What?” Neil scoffed. “Don’t you dare—”
BABY
YOU ARE GOING IN THE CORNER
YOU ARE MY FAVORITE
I WILL BE UPSET IF YOU DIE
“No way!” Neil shouted. “I am not—”
A thick length of wires from one of the broken pumps slithered over to snatch Neil up and wrap around him.
“Dammit! Izba!” Neil wiggled angrily. “I will dump paint thinner all over you, I swear to—”
BYE
The word curled across the ground as Izba dropped Neil on what remained of the club’s roof and then ran away.
“Fuck!” Neil shouted. “That stupid fucking house! I am never watching Wicked with him again!”
“Look, we’ll figure out how to get you down!” Indy called up to him. “Hang tight—”
“Fuck!”
“What now?”
“The dragon has Sariel!”
Indy stared in horror as Murray chomped down on Sariel, having likely snatched him right out of the air. He shook him like a dog would a toy, and even from this distance Indy could see golden blood gushing like rivers.
Day was on Murray’s back leg, trying to swallow it whole, and Dill and Izba were clobbering him relentlessly. Seymour was a tiny blip, swinging a bat or something at Murray’s other rear leg. None of it seemed to be hurting Murray in the slightest and he refused to let go of Sariel.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck—” Indy looked around, eyes wild.
Mr. Heiss and Lou were busy battling Mr. Mitternacht with the help of a scary Renn Fair lady, a weird horse man thing, and Flanders. Nyp remained a motionless heap, and for now it seemed like they had Mr. Mitternacht on the defensive and victory appeared likely if they kept going.
But Sariel might not have that kind of time.
“Hey!” Indy screamed. “Lou! Heiss! Hello! We need some fucking help!”
Lou and Mr. Heiss both looked over to see Sariel fighting for his life, and Lou shouted, “Go! Now! I’ve got this bastard!”
Mr. Heiss soared upward, his wings flapping as his body glowed. The crown between his horns exploded with pale purple flames and strange black tendrils slithered through the holes in his wings in an effort to make them appear whole.
The vine-like things looked as if they’d been roasted because their texture resembled burned wood.
They were able to move as if liquid, however, and glistened as they snaked across Mr. Heiss’s body.
They abruptly separated his limbs and his head to rearrange them and create some larger, more monstrous form.
Additional tendrils grew in to occupy the space between all the various parts until Mr. Heiss was at least ten or twelve feet tall. A wave of bright eyes popped up across Mr. Heiss’s back and shoulders, but they were blue now.
No, lavender again.
No—they kept changing.
The tendrils had woven together so that Mr. Heiss’s body was entirely covered by their inky blackness and magically iridescent eyeballs except for his wings, horns, and his crown. His wings flapped once, twice, and then he soared like a missile directly at Murray’s head.
There was an explosion of blinding purple light, Murray let out a furious roar, and Mr. Heiss came flying back out with—Sariel!
Sariel was in Mr. Heiss’s arms, but he didn’t seem to be moving. He was a faintly flickering being of light, golden rings, and glittering blood. His body was covered in an army of eyes like Mr. Heiss, but all of his were closed
Mr. Heiss landed beside the club, gently placing Sariel down on the ground. “He is weak, but he is alive.” Many of his eyes flickered toward Indy. “Stay here. As long as Mr. Mitternacht lives, he controls Murray and—”
“Got it, got it! Just go!” Indy shouted.
“I got him!” His heart twisted up as he watched Mr. Heiss fly away again to rejoin Lou, and he tried to think quickly.
He had no idea how to help a wounded angel, Dill and Aodnait were still getting their asses kicked, and Neil was stuck on the damn roof with no way down.
“Sariel!” Seymour screamed, running as hard and fast as he could toward them. “No, no, no!” He threw himself down beside Sariel, carefully easing his head into his lap. He sobbed as Sariel’s body dimmed even more. “Fuck! Someone help!”
“Help is on the way!” Gammy hollered as she appeared in a burst of light and purple hair, and Indy had never been so happy to see her in his whole life.
“I’m here! I can help!” She held her hands over Sariel’s body and they glowed bright blue, the light pouring all over every inch of his battered body.
Whatever she was doing seemed to be helping as Sariel slowly reverted to his human form, and the blood stopped pouring out of him. His eyes fluttered, and he peered up at Seymour. “Seymour…?” He tried to sit up. “Day! Where is Day?”
“She’s fine!” Seymour said tearfully. “Stop. You gotta rest for a sec, just—”
“There is no damn time!”
Sariel was right, Indy realized as he watched the ongoing battle, and all the while his heart plummeted.
Lou and Mr. Heiss still had not managed to take Mr. Mitternacht down.
The demon was too fast, too strong, and one good blow was all it took to put Lou on the ground.
The spirits all swept into the fray to defend him and retaliate, but Mr. Mitternacht was unnaturally good at fighting things he couldn’t see.
Shit.
This was bad.
Really, really bad.
Indy looked all around, swallowing hard.
Mr. Heiss was slowing down, dodging Mr. Mitternacht’s attacks with less success as the battle dragged on. Lou could barely stay on his feet and kept falling over. Seymour cried quietly as he held Sariel close, Gammy still hard at work healing him.
Aodnait was a tiny flame on Dill’s shoulder, too weak to keep fighting and in clear danger of going out.
Day had given up on Murray’s leg and was now trying to eat his tail or at least take a good chunk out of it.
Izba had been reduced to the first floor of the building, but he was valiantly kicking Murray over and over with no sign of tuckering out anytime soon.
Tanze and Underwood were there now, Azazel too, and they all took turns jabbing at Murray’s sides and underbelly, but they’d yet to do any visible damage.
No one had.
The dragon’s scales were too tough, but there had to be a way…
Oh no.
Indy had an idea.
A very stupid, stupid idea.
He sprinted to the parking lot, ignoring Gammy’s and Neil’s calls behind him. He didn’t stop until he reached the first row of cars, screaming, “Dill! Aodnait! I need you!”
Dill howled, clearly not wanting to leave Izba alone.
Izba took a break from stomping Murray to turn and bump Dill, pushing him away as the remaining side of his walls lit up with words.
GO NOW
I HAVE GOT THIS
Izba went back to wailing on Murray, shuddering as sections of asphalt curled up from the ground like peeling the wrapper off a Band-Aid on either side of him.
He wielded them like arms, punching Murray furiously and driving him back.
Murray tried to breathe fire at him, but Izba simply shifted the asphalt over to act as a shield.
A shield that was actively melting, but it gave Dill enough time to race over to Indy. He shrunk as he got closer, his face twisted up with worry as he cradled Aodnait’s tiny flame close. “Grow?”
“We’re gonna play basketball, okay? Know what basketball is? Okay, just follow me here for a second. We’re gonna play, but me and you are the ball, and Aodnait is gonna dunk us right over there—”
“Grow?”
“Yes! Now!”
“Grow!”
Death had been Indy’s greatest fear, and what he was about to do, well…
Fuck it.
Time to put up or shut up and all that, right?
For Gammy.
For his new friends. Seymour, Sariel, Neil, Lou, and yes, the crazy house, Izba, and all the spirits too. Myrna, Flanders, Day, Dill, and Aodnait.
For Raph.
For everyone.
Indy took a deep, shaking breath as Dill wrapped him up in a big leafy ball.
He could see Aodnait growing bigger until she could pick up the ball like, well, a basketball.
Indy’s stomach sloshed as she ran with them back to Murray, and Indy cringed, knowing what was coming and only being certain of one thing:
It was going to be awful.
Aodnait screeched as she tackled Murray, waiting for that perfect moment for him to open his mouth to breathe fire. That’s when she slammed her fist into Murray’s throat, bypassing whatever part made that fire and stuffing the Dill-ball with Indy inside as deep as she could.
Which was really deep.
She was immune, being made of fire herself, and her own flames acted as a shield around Dill so Murray’s never even touched him. She had to eventually let go though, and Indy realized he had a whole new problem.
Namely that a dragon’s stomach acid worked fast.
Really fast.
Indy closed his eyes, cringing as he felt hot, wet muscle closing around him as Dill’s protective greenery dissolved.
He was glad he couldn’t see anything at least, squeezing his eyes shut.
He tucked his body in as tightly as he could and hissed as the hot liquid gushed around him and burned horribly.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, he had to keep going, he couldn’t give up, he would never give up, not fucking ever.
And now…
“Grow?”
“Dill! Fucking grow.”