Authors: Kaleb Nation
A Deal at the Roadside
Oswald was waiting for Bran when he stepped through the gates.
“I got Gary’s signal,” he said. The trip to the mainland was quiet, with only the rumblings of the car and the sounds of the water rushing by outside. When the cab finally came to the surface and drove up an abandoned side of the mainland, Bran asked Oswald to leave him at the nearest pay phone.
They spotted one just a minute away, planted outside an old grocery store, and Bran bid Oswald farewell. He walked briskly to the phone, put his money in, and dialed the number for home.
It rang many times before he finally heard the other line pick up.
“Who’s this?” came the irritated voice of Sewey, by way of greeting.
“Hello Sewey, it’s Bran,” he replied. “I’m going to the Jenkins Plaza Mall. I’ll be in the food court.”
“What the rot?” Sewey spluttered. “What are you even talking about?”
“The Jenkins Plaza Mall,” Bran said again. “Probably in about an hour. I’ll be sitting somewhere obvious, in the food court.”
“Are you drunk, young man?” Sewey said with horror. “There isn’t a Jenkins Plaza Mall anywhere in Dunce. What is all this absurdity?”
“The Jenkins Plaza Mall,” Bran said a third time, speaking very clearly. “That’s where I’m going. Good day, Sewey.”
“The
rot?
” Sewey nearly screamed with confusion, but Bran hung the phone up before he could say anything else.
He managed to catch a bus and cross a few miles into downtown East Dinsmore, using up nearly all of the little cash he had left on him. He got off at the intersection he had written down before leaving Gary’s house. From the corner he could see a sprawling parking lot covered with cars, and beyond that a great collection of buildings and shops. There was a sign at the entrance that read
Jenkins Plaza Mall
.
He went under the concrete overpass that supported the highway crossing and walked across the lot to the entrance. People were strolling in and out of the mall in small crowds. It felt so odd being outside after being secluded in Gary’s house, and seeing other humans actually felt strange too. Bran tried to act natural—he only wanted to attract the attention of one person in particular. Nim stayed hidden as he passed through the doors.
Two escalators and a towering map of the mall later, Bran found a seat in the food court, which was packed with children and their parents who were desperately trying to bribe them with food so they could shop in peace. Bran had gotten two sandwiches, resting one in front of the single, empty chair across from him. Both sat untouched as he stared off into the distance, waiting and watching.
“You’re far smarter than you appear, Bran,” came a familiar voice not ten minutes later. Nim, who had been on Bran’s shoulder, was taken by surprise and fell, clinging to his shirt.
“I’ve had practice,” Bran replied, not turning as Thomas passed him and slid into the seat across.
“Perhaps it’s hereditary?” Thomas replied with his half-smile.
“Don’t think so highly of yourself,” Bran said coldly. “I figured if you were smart enough you’d have my home phone lines tapped, and you’d be somewhere nearby.” Thomas’s eyes moved from Bran to Nim, and she clung tighter to Bran, afraid that he was going to take her. But he merely glanced at her and returned his gaze to Bran. Thomas was wearing a dirty jacket and jeans, blending in well; his eyes scanned the crowd of people around them, silently studying each of their faces, but he masked any unease he might have meeting Bran there.
“I’m still curious as to why you would choose to bring me straight to you,” Thomas said. “I mean, it is altogether dangerous, considering how little trust you have of me.”
“I don’t have any other choice,” Bran said. “I want to make a deal with you.”
Thomas turned so that he could meet Bran’s eyes. “A deal, with me?”
“Yes,” Bran said. “I know you want the Specter Key. I don’t know what for, and I don’t really care. But I’m willing to give it to you if you help me.”
Thomas seemed only slightly shocked at Bran’s words, but even that little bit was enough to confirm in Bran’s mind that he had taken him by surprise.
“Just like that?” Thomas asked.
“Yes,” Bran said. “Like I said, I don’t have any other choice.”
Bran reached into the front pocket of his luggage bag and slid both tiny pieces of the map toward Thomas.
“Ah, I see,” Thomas said, and he smirked.
“Where does this point to?” Bran said. Thomas gently lifted the pieces of paper from the table and brought them closer, studying the markings even though they were still far too small to be read in that manner. He seemed to confirm whatever he was looking for, and he set it back again without comment.
“Is this for me?” Thomas gestured to the sandwich and drink. Bran nodded, and Thomas started to eat. His father seemed to be pondering something as he ate, not meeting Bran’s eyes even once. He kept looking at Nim, and each time she moved to hide from his gaze, so that finally Bran moved her to his leg under the table and out of Thomas’s sight.
“That map you have there,” Thomas finally said, still chewing, “shows part of a labyrinth inside a temple. I’ve never been inside of it, but your mother was there, a long time ago.”
He reached for his drink, but it was only a cover for him to study Bran’s face for a reaction. Bran did not give him the satisfaction.
“There’s a place in that temple,” Thomas went on, “where that Key you’ve got fits. We found out about it while studying the Fearum scrolls. There’s deep, ancient magic there, one of few places where such a power exists in this world. Your mother turned it into a prison for the souls.”
He drew a slow drink through the straw. “The door has been secret for thousands of years: hence, the labyrinth and its traps and dead ends. You’ve got part of the map there. Each piece was kept in a different place.”
“And who’s got the rest?” Bran asked. Thomas swallowed his food.
“I’ve got it,” he said simply. “One of the pieces, at least. The last is with Elspeth.”
Bran could not keep himself from sinking back into his chair bleakly.
“Don’t do that now,” Thomas said. “You were doing well acting confident.”
“I don’t know how I could go through a labyrinth this big with only part of a map,” Bran hissed, trying not to draw attention to them.
“You wouldn’t stand a chance,” Thomas replied.
“Then we’ll need the other piece,” Bran said.
“That’s the only thing that really makes sense, isn’t it?” Thomas said, and he seemed so at ease with the situation that Bran was irritated.
“Calm down,” Thomas said, and his voice was low but held warning. “You don’t want to bring attention to us.”
“If we don’t have the rest of the map, then there’s no point in me making a deal with you,” Bran said under his breath. “And you know very well you can’t pry the Key from me.”
“I have no intention to,” Thomas replied. “If we need the other half of the map, then we’re going to have to get it.”
“Well, then,” Bran said, crossing his arms. “I’d very much like to hear your plan.”
Thomas looked up at him with an amused expression. “I think it’s about time I give Elspeth a call.”
***
Thomas chose to meet with Elspeth in the daylight, down a long, empty highway that cut through the grassy land outside the city. When Bran saw a black van rumbling down the road, he stiffened as he felt her presence getting nearer.
“You’re sure this is safe?” Bran asked. Thomas was leaning against the back of the car and had donned a hat. He didn’t reply, as if that was enough to assure Bran, but turned and opened the trunk. From it he pulled the same music box that Bran had found in Nigel Ten.
Before Bran could react, Thomas began to turn the wheel, and Nim immediately dashed toward it. The familiar song was hurtful for Bran to hear now that he knew who had written it. Nim’s eyes glowed green, and she looked to Thomas with a wild expression on her face.
“What are you doing?” Bran hissed, stalking forward.
“Wait, Bran,” Thomas said, holding up his hand. “Trust me on this one.”
“You can’t just take her like that!” Bran said through clenched teeth, even as he heard the van door pop open.
“Does she belong to you or to me?” Thomas asked. “Do you want to have this argument right here, or do you want to look to Elspeth like we’re a team?”
Bran’s anger simmered. “I’m not on a team with you,” Bran said.
“Then we’re simply enemies forced to work together,” Thomas said. “Whatever you want to call it, neither of us has a choice. And I know a bit of what I’m doing here.”
Bran clenched his teeth together and stood silently, glancing at Nim.
Elspeth wore a dark, new jacket that was clean and zipped up the front, and her jet black hair was loose—a single white streak played in the wind. Her eyes were so blue that Bran could see their color even in the dusk sunlight. She was stunning, but Bran felt nothing but deep loathing for this was the woman who had killed his mother.
To Bran’s greatest surprise, when Elspeth appeared, Thomas’s fingers rolled up into fists before he relaxed them and returned to a calm pose. Nim rested on Thomas’s shoulder, and Bran sneaked a glance at her, but she did not even recognize him.
“You presented me with an offer I could not refuse,” Elspeth said, giving Bran a glance and then turning her attention Thomas.
“As are all my offers,” Thomas replied, with equal lack of feeling.
“Then why waste time speaking more of it?” she said. “You know I want the Specter Key, and you know the only way I might obtain it.”
“And you have something that we want,” Thomas said.
“I do have it,” Elspeth said. “An exchange, then? Mine for yours? Willingly.”
She looked to Bran, and Bran nodded slowly, saying nothing as Thomas had instructed him.
“Still, I think it’s only fair to ask for a bit of proof on your end,” Thomas said. Elspeth reached into the hidden pocket of her jacket, drawing forth a single, tiny slip of withered paper. It was just as small as Bran’s pieces were, though older and bent at the ends. She held it up flat between her fingers, and Nim flew from Thomas’s shoulder, drawing closer so that she could examine it. Satisfied by whatever was there, she darted back to Thomas without a sound, and Elspeth hid the paper once more.
“Happy?” Elspeth said.
“Very,” Thomas replied with a smile.
“I shall follow you to the location,” Elspeth said. “When we arrive, the three of us will go down into the temple together, and I will provide my part when it is needed in the labyrinth. After we reach the end, and you know my piece bears no counterfeit, you will willingly hand over the Key.”
“Agreed,” Thomas said. And they were done. Elspeth said nothing more, turning and going back toward the van.
“That wasn’t right,” Bran whispered to Thomas as they started to walk. “I only agreed if Astara is freed first, then she would have the Key.”
“Just get in the car,” Thomas commanded under his breath. Bran obeyed, closing his door as Thomas smoothly started the engine. He checked the mirror to see if Elspeth was following and saw her still walking to her van. Thomas, however, did not wait, and began to roll forward.
“Hold the wheel for a moment, will you Bran?” he asked, so Bran reached across and held it straight.
“What are you doing?” Bran asked as Thomas reached around for something on the floor of the back. Bran managed to glance there and saw Thomas throw a blanket aside. Hidden underneath was the biggest gun Bran had ever seen. Before he could react, Thomas spun it over Bran’s head and aimed it out the driver’s side window.
Something launched from the end of the giant gun, speeding like a football toward the black van behind them, and Thomas slammed on the gas, with Bran being unable to do anything but hold the wheel straight as best he could as a rattling explosion shook the road beneath them.
The Eyes of Nim
Thomas tossed the gun into the back seat and grabbed the wheel from Bran’s grasp, swerving the car and speeding off.
“What in the world are you doing?” Bran demanded, his voice masked by the sound of the explosion still roaring around them.
“Be quiet for one minute, Bran—I can’t see if she was hit or not,” Thomas hissed, turning quickly to get a better look.
“See if she was hit?” Bran shouted. “She’s got the other piece of the map!”
“Forget that for now,” Thomas said, spinning to face the road again. “Looks like she’s sent some trouble after us.”
Bran spun to look out the back window, and he saw Elspeth’s gruner launch out of the smoke and raining gravel of the van’s wreckage. The creature had a hideous, slobbering look of rage, and it shot after them at a startling speed, its long claws scraping against the road.
“Speed up!” Bran shouted, and Thomas gunned the engine, which spluttered as it strained to speeds it was hardly meant to handle. Even then the gruner still sped after them, the hairs on its back bristling and its teeth bared in a roar.
“Hold the wheel again, Bran?” Thomas said.
“No!”
“Just hold it still,” Thomas said and let go. Bran had no other choice but to grab it and right the car. Thomas reached down between the seats and produced a large handgun. He poked his head out the window again, taking shots at the gruner. He missed the first few because the car was swerving, but then the bullets began to strike the creature. It tripped and slid but was back on its feet in less than a second, even more incited and faster than before.
“Cars are coming!” Bran shouted, trying to hold the wheel.
“You’re doing fine,” Thomas said. “Just ease us a little more into our lane. They’ll get out of the way.”
“That’s a bit difficult from this position!” Bran said. Thomas didn’t seem to care. There was a collection of large freight trucks headed their way, and even though Bran was trying his hardest, from the passenger seat it was nearly impossible to even stay in the boundaries of the road.
The gruner, much to Bran’s dismay, had actually caught up with them. Thomas had run out of bullets, so he tossed the empty gun into the back seat and reached across to Bran’s side, pulling another gun from between his seat and the middle compartment.
“How many guns have you got in this car?” Bran demanded.
“Not nearly enough,” Thomas replied, shooting three more times at the beast. It seemed entirely unperturbed, as if the bullets merely bounced off its hide. It leapt forward in the air, slamming against the car with its body like a wrecking ball, and the wheel jerked in Bran’s grasp.
“He just dented the car!” Thomas roared.
The car sped onto a bridge, the gruner still right beside them. It slammed into the side again with a possessed roar, throwing the car against the railing and causing sparks to fly as metal brushed metal. Thomas tossed his useless gun and reached under his seat. He produced yet another gun, this one twice the size. The recoil of this one threw Thomas back against the wheel when he shot it, and Bran lost his hold. The car flew in and out of their lane dangerously. A truck had to swerve to avoid them as they rocketed over the bridge.
“Missed him again,” Thomas said as the beast lunged ahead and reached the window of the car. Its face was right in line with them, seething for air as it kept in pace with them. It roared and jumped at the window, but Thomas drew back just in time. It once again rammed into the car, grinding them against the guard rail.
Bran was thrown about in his seat. He saw the beast leap forward, snapping at the window and nearly reaching Thomas’s neck. Bran had had enough. Thomas was obviously getting nowhere, so with his free hand he reached behind the seat, pulling his mother’s wand free from the front pocket of his luggage. He blasted magic out of its tip toward the gruner. The powers hit the creature, and it was thrown from the car and into the other lane, where it was struck head-on by a passing freight truck.
Thomas grabbed the wheel and slammed on the brakes. One final truck passed on the other side of the road, narrowly missing them and then swerving to miss the body of the gruner, which sat like a black, hairy mound in the middle of the bridge.
“What do you think you’re doing, Bran?” Thomas roared. He slammed his fist into the wand so hard that it fell from Bran’s grasp. Thomas then spun the car around in a U-turn, sliding into the other lane and rumbling to a stop in the middle of the road. He leapt out, tearing the hat off his head and coming up to the creature. Bran jumped out the other side, the engine still running.
“That was magic!” Thomas shouted, stopping in the road and looking wildly at Bran. “You’re never to use magic in this car!”
“But look, he’s dead!” Bran shouted, gesturing to the creature. “He almost had us.”
“No!” Thomas burst, and his eyes were filled with such rage that Bran drew back, ready to defend himself.
“Never use magic to kill, do you understand?” Thomas said. He spun again, as if he didn’t even want to look at Bran’s face any longer. He still held the gun in his hand, and he waved it at the gruner, blasting one shot at its body, and then a second and a third.
“Look, it’s already dead!” Bran protested.
“It’s not the first time that one’s been dead, Bran,” he said, but he stopped and turned to the car and wiped his brow with the sleeve of his shirt, putting the hat back on.
“Would you mind telling me what you’re thinking?” Bran demanded, but his father just walked to the car, reaching inside and grabbing a bottle of water. He downed a gulp.
“I don’t guess we’re in a worse position now though,” Thomas said, ignoring Bran. “Elsepth’ll be heading this way soon enough, once she gets a hold of Joris.” Thomas smiled. “And once he’s on board, the real killing can begin.”
“But now that you’ve completely broken our deal with them not ten minutes after making it,” Bran burst, “how do you think we’re going to get that piece of the map?”
He was beside himself with anger, and Thomas flashed a grin that made Bran even more irate. Nim appeared from the car at just that moment, unshaken by the ordeal in her present robotic state. Thomas nodded in her direction, and she flew to his side, and he said nothing as he went around to the back of the car and opened the trunk.
“You’re not going to answer me, are you?” Bran asked. “You know if I don’t get into the temple, you’re not getting the Key.”
“Oh really? I’d forgotten,” Thomas replied in a snarl. “Perhaps remind me of it once or twice or fifty times more. Maybe I’ll start to understand then.”
He drew the music box out of the trunk and started to turn the wheel. Nim leapt toward it, and Thomas opened the lid so that she could go inside. He slammed it shut and then placed it at the bottom of the trunk and reached for his computer bag, drawing a laptop out and starting it up. Bran watched silently as Thomas pulled out a thin wire and wrapped its exposed end around the metal handle of the music box.
“Watch closely,” Thomas said, and he pressed a few buttons on his computer. A program popped up, and Thomas punched a string of keys into it, bringing another window in front of the others. He clicked once, and it began to play a video. It was the very spot they had met Elspeth not fifteen minutes before.
“How did…?” he began, but whatever it was stopped as the window wavered a bit, and Thomas pressed another key. It began to fast forward through Elspeth getting out of her car and then speaking in a garbled noise.
“This was all filmed from Nim’s eyes!” Bran burst with realization. Thomas nodded. Nim’s eyes had recorded everything he had done since getting her, allowing Thomas to following his every move.
“Isn’t that magic?” Bran managed to gasp out, because he could hardly say anything more coherent.
“Not in the slightest,” Thomas said. “It is entirely mechanical. The box reads the sensors connected to Nim’s eyes and brain, and these wires transfer those signals to my computer. No magic needed at all.”
“I might have been able to Comsar with her faster,” Bran returned.
“But your magic would have fallen short,” Thomas replied. “Even Comsar powers could not match with the ability of my sensors to do this…”
He struck a key, and the image froze. Thomas pressed two keys, and the image blew up larger until it filled the screen, and there was a precise and sharp image of Elspeth’s piece of the map.
“See?” Thomas said. “I had it figured out from the beginning. But were you about to listen to me? Of course not.”
He tapped a few keys, saving the image while Bran could do little but stand there. Curiously, he had a small printer in his trunk as well as many other gadgets that Bran did not recognize, and he only had to slide away a pile of handguns and bullets to uncover it.
“Think about it,” Thomas said as he worked. “What sort of deal were we making there? Give Elspeth the Key when we were down in the temple? She knows just as well as I do that once we’re there, and once you free the Specters, there won’t be any power left. Why would she even agree to something as stupid as that?”
“She was going to double-cross us,” Bran realized.
“Right,” Thomas replied. “It was too stupid of a deal for her to simply agree. Elspeth is far smarter than that. She had other plans, and I wasn’t about to fall into her trap.”
Bran felt a bit stupid for not thinking it through as much as his father had but consoled himself with the fact that Thomas had worked with Elspeth before. Still, even as Thomas closed the computer and opened the music box to set Nim free, Bran could not help feeling dejected.
“W-why are you doing this?” Bran stammered. Thomas looked at him.
“Doing what?”
“Helping me,” Bran said. “What use do you even have for the Key?”
Thomas was silent as he slid the items in the trunk and closed the lid. He glanced at Bran, as if trying to see through his question.
“Imagine this, Bran, if you can fathom it,” Thomas said, wiping his hands against each other. “I loved your mother, though others might have led you to believe that I’m some sort of monster who led her astray.
“I was led to think that if both of us followed orders and did as we were told, we would one day be able to live freely while those around us did not. However, I discovered many years later that it was all a scheme by Joris, who was using us to make himself great amounts of money—ruining Emry and causing her death.”
Bran was dismayed by Thomas’s words. “You’re one to talk about ruining my mother, as if you had no part in it.”
Thomas narrowed his eyes. “So you’ll listen to Gary above your own father? You think I’m the only person who played a part in ruining your mother?”
“I believe what Gary told me,” Bran said.
“I did little corrupting of your mother besides taking her when Gary left,” Thomas replied, his jaw tightening. He set his fist lightly upon the car. “It was magic that led your mother wrong. It was magic and the manipulation of Joris and Elspeth and Baslyn. It was magic that led us all astray.”
He waved his hand. “We’re cursed with it, Bran! Can’t you see the death and destruction and evil that magic has caused? How many creatures have we killed with it? If not for magic, your mother would still be alive.”
Bran drew a deep breath but said nothing in defense.
“But,” Thomas said, calming himself slightly when Bran did not respond, “I can hardly wage war against something as invisible and formless as magic, so I am forced to wreak my vengeance upon more physical enemies: Elspeth and Joris. I cannot rest soundly until they have suffered the same fate that your mother did. If you had any honor within you, Bran, you would seek their murder just as deeply as I do.”
“Murdering them would make me no different than they are,” Bran said between his teeth.
“No matter,” Thomas said. “Not all of us think in the same way. I, however, cannot feel any peace until I see both of them dead. I’m haunted by images of Emry and the great deception that was drawn over both of us.”
Bran, as angry as he was, could not help but detect an unexpected emotion coming from Thomas. It seemed as if he were about to weep right there, though no tears shone in his eyes. Thomas hid it well, but even that slight change caused Bran’s anger to waver.
“You weren’t the only person who lost her,” Bran said, his voice coming out as a hiss. “I don’t remember anything about her. Gary had to watch her leave because he stood for something right. So don’t think for a minute that this has been hardest on you.”
Thomas looked away at that, as if Bran had hit him, and said nothing in reply. Bran stared at him with sharp and angry eyes. Thomas shrank under the weight of Bran’s words.
“Well, then,” Thomas finally said. “I suppose we have little choice but to go on working with each other if we want to make anything good come of this.”
“And what is it you propose?” Bran asked.
“A new deal,” Thomas said. “Or the first one, altered slightly. Joris and Elspeth will inevitably follow us, and they know where we’re headed. I have absolutely no intention of letting either of them claim that Key—or its powers—before you have freed the Specters and rendered it useless.”
“And what’s my part of it?” Bran asked.
“Very little you aren’t already accustomed to,” Thomas said.
“Just act as bait, for Joris and Elspeth?” Bran said. Thomas nodded.
“And that’s all?” Bran pressed.
“Once we’re at the temple, you can go in by yourself. I will wait outside and kill both of them when they arrive.”
“And what if they overpower you?” Bran said. “One’s a mage, and the other has gotten away from you before, I imagine. I don’t think either of them will go down easily.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Thomas said. “I can take care of them both.”
“Then it’s a deal,” Bran said. “You bring me there, and I’ll act as bait, and we never have to see each other again.”
Thomas tilted his head to the side at Bran’s last words, but he covered it with a nod toward the car.
“We’ve got a bit of driving ahead of us,” he said. “We should be off.”