Freak City Page 19

  Chapter Nineteen

  "Holy moley,” Argus said, "what the heck?"

  "I think we had better skedaddle,” Seth told him, as he scrambled to his feet and ducking, headed back out to the door leading out to the yard, Argus following behind them.

  "Hurry up,” Seth called out, "I think he's behind you.”

  Fulsom had also come down through the hole. Seth had been down there the whole time, listening, and it was just dumb luck that Argus was standing on a heating vent and that the floor was so old and so rotten that Seth was able to pull it down with only a crowbar he'd found in the yard and brought along just in case. Argus and Seth crawled as fast as they could on their hands and their knees, coming into the yard all out of breath.

  "Hey guys,” Brian said as he saw them emerge. "Anything interesting down there?"

  "Guy's got a gun!” Seth managed to yell as he leaped and rolled over some old boards for cover, Argus copying his every move.

  "A what?" Brian asked him, confused. Fulsom came out shooting wildly and missing.

  "Oh damn,” Brian said, and looking around, picked up a piece of old rebar and brought the thing down as hard as he could on the gun, knocking it out of Fulsom's hand. The gun clattered among some driftwood and vanished from sight.

  At the sounds of the shots, Mikael had come running, and piled on as Brian had jumped onto Fulsom. They soon had him pinned and though Fulsom struggled, Mikael got his arm in a very tight grip, and threatened to pull it right out its socket. Jolene, right above them, opened the window, and did as Seth said and called nine one one on her cellphone.

  Argus and Seth got to their feet. Argus was still in shock. He kept shaking his head and repeating to himself, over and over again, "What do you know? It was just a trap the whole time!"

  Seth was bleeding. He'd managed to scratch himself on old wooden nails several places. Sylvia had followed Mikael to the back and, once again congratulating herself on her foresight, pulled out the first aid kit she'd brought from the car along with her flashlight. She was cleaning and bandaging Seth when they first heard the sirens.

  "You're a handy one to have around,” Mikael told her while tightening his hold. "But you probably knew I was going to say that"

  "You could try and surprise me sometime,” she replied, and gave him a warm little smile.

  Fulsom kept trying to talk, although Brian kept pushing his face in the dirt.

  "Shut up,” Brian said. "I don't like people shooting my friends"

  "It's going to get you,” Fulsom was ranting, "maybe not this time, but some day it will."

  "What are you talking about?" Mikael asked. "No, don't tell me. I don't want to know."

  "It's his birthday,” Jolene yelled in genuine outrage. "You're supposed to get PRESENTS when it's your birthday." She was always a stickler for tradition.

  Argus just laughed, really laughed for the first time in years. He felt like a spell had been broken, like a price had indeed been paid and a curse genuinely lifted.

  "All that for nothing,” he shouted at Fulsom. "For nothing. You hear me? For nothing!"

  "One day,” Fulsom started to answer, but Mikael pulled back on his arm and he stopped.

  "Forget it,” said Argus, and he walked away. He made it as far as the front of the house, where he sat down on a crumbling cement step and looked up at the clear night sky as the sirens drew closer and closer.

  After a time, Sylvia came up and joined him on the steps.

  "You know," she said, "that thing, it's still out there, and it wants you. Why does it want you?"

  "You're asking me?" Argus muttered. "As if I have a clue? What do you know about it?"

  "Only what I saw in that man's face," she replied. "It used him to get to you, but it was too strong for his mind. He made a bad deal. In the end, the thing got no closer."

  "And it never will," he declared. Argus stood up. He was certain, now more than ever, of what it was he wanted, and it had nothing to do with dragons, and nothing to do with the past, and it was all there with him at that moment, his people, his friends, and once the authorities came and hauled that psycho away, he'd go back to join them and begin the next chapter of his story.