Chapter 49
Ash
Ash saw Blink pop back on the dashboard, right next to the steering wheel and tried not to swerve. "Red alert," Blink said. "Twister and Flow are as good as dead if those two don't put on the charms now." His doll pointed an arm at the backseat where Curtis and Janey were squeezed in next to everyone else.
The street around them was still empty, except for parked cars. Ash put a hand on Bambi's shoulder to steady her, then he stomped on the brakes. She whimpered, but didn't protest. Ash slammed the gearshift into park and turned around in his seat. He held the charms out again, pointed a finger at Curtis and felt his upper lip pull up into a sneer. "If you don't put on the charms, you're either going to be dead in a few minutes or you'll end up like your families."
Curtis shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."
Ash felt his sneer grow. "Listen. I just hit both my parents with a broken table leg. I'm about to go Bruce Campbell on your ass."
Eun Kyung picked the table leg up from the floor of the car and offered the end of it to Ash. Curtis looked at it for a long second, then back to Ash. "Which Bruce Campbell?"
Ash shook his head. It was the dumbest question he'd heard in a long time. "Army of Darkness, you primitive screwhead. What else?"
Janey looked confused. Even Bambi shifted in her chair. Ash saw her looking at him in his peripheral vision, but kept his eyes on Curtis.
"What does that mean?" Danica asked.
James shook his head and Eun Kyung wriggled into a sitting position between Danica and the car door. "In geek-speak, it's a very serious threat. Boom stick kind of serious," she said.
"Boom stick?" Danica asked. Eun Kyung nodded back at her.
Then Janey gasped and grabbed her right arm. She cradled it to her chest and curled up.
Curtis turned, put a hand on her shoulder and tried to help her sit up. "What? What is it?"
She shook her head and stayed curled over her arm. Ash heard that her breathing was quick and shallow. "I don't know. It just hurts."
"Twister got cut there. I saw it," Blink said.
Ash shook the charms and Curtis tried to shove them away. Ash shoved them back. "If she doesn't put this on, she's going to die. We probably all will," Ash said. He took the table leg from Eun Kyung with his free hand.
Janey looked up and after a moment Curtis reached out, took a charm. "Okay, if it's that serious," he said. Janey winced as she reached out, but she took hers too. Ash watched Curtis and Janey look at each other, then put the necklaces with the Mobius links over their heads.
Ash felt Blink pat him on the shoulder, then his friend disappeared.
*
Chapter 50
Squat
Squat stared down the stairs. He did not want to go back down there, not at all. Beside him Sticks rubbed her left forearm. He raised a stitched eyebrow at her. "What?"
"My arm hurts. Weird."
"Yeah, too much weird today," Squat said. A few minutes ago he had felt the change. He was still sore, and the patched over cuts and burns on his body still hurt, but he wasn't tired anymore. He felt stronger than he ever had. He wouldn't mind testing it out, but going down those stairs after Midnight and his lackeys seemed like a dumb way to do it.
"Why'd he leave like that?" Sticks asked. "He picked up the cell call?" She held up the burner. They never had received their call that the coast was clear.
"They probably need help, don't they?"
Sticks nodded.
Squat stared down the stairs. "I'm getting tired of acting like a piece of bait on a hook."
For a moment, Sticks was quiet. She looked down the stairs too. "Maybe we're not bait anymore. Maybe we're the cavalry."
That made Squat snort out a laugh. "That'd be funny." He sighed, nodded and hefted his sign post bat. "Okay."
He and Sticks started down the stairs together.