Emerald City Dreamer (38 page)

"
To conclude, we bring him back here, and the cage goes into the holding cell with him in it. He will have three layers of both magical and physical restraint."

The plan seemed extreme, though if it kept them all safe, Jina wouldn't question it.

"
Okay, I think we're ready. Now we wait. Everyone stay close. Jina, would you like to stay with me and watch the mirror?" Sandy asked. "Another chance to talk?"

"
Of course." Jina wheeled her chair over as Hollis and Gretel went to finalize prep work.

"
It feels better, not drinking," Sandy said. "It's hard, but I'm clearer, more connected. Know what I mean?"

Jina nodded. She was so happy Sandy was talking about it. "Remember when I used to stay out too late, drinking or smoking too much pot? I made a lot of poor decisions. So I know all about clarity."

Sandy laughed. "That's true. Who would have thought that you of all people would be lecturing me about the dangers of addiction?"

"
I never would have believed it," Jina said. Sandy seemed so open now. It was finally comfortable to be around her. If only she didn't have the one other worry niggling at her. Her phone hadn't buzzed.

Still, she had to check one last time. No messages.

"
Hey, put it away." Sandy nudged Jina's shoulder. "I said no Facebook."

"
I'm just checking my-"

Sandy grinned. "I'm giving you a hard time. By the way, you said you were worried about something earlier. Want to talk about it?"

Jina just shook her head. "It's nothing. Not right now. You've got too much on your mind. We'll talk about it later."

"
Aren't you always telling me it's best to talk about your problems?"

This wasn't the same thing. At least, Jina didn't think it was. If only her phone could tell her what to do, since it was so smart. Or if Jett would reply to her messages telling her everything was going to be okay.

Jina put the phone back into her pocket, and concentrated on the mirror.

"
THAT'LL BE $5.24," the cashier said. His nametag read:
Bill.

Ezra held out a crumpled five-dollar bill, the last of the money Jett had given him. Even with eating out of dumpsters it had only lasted a couple of days.

"
Where's the rest?" Bill asked.

"
I thought it was only going to be $4.79," Ezra said. "This is all I have."

"
Taxes. You want an Extra Value Meal, you pay $5.24."

Pogswoth lied, too. He said his stew would feed him for a week, but as soon as he was outside the warehouse, he'd been hungry again. "Maybe just... take off the drink?"

"
Costs more without the drink, actually. How else would the meal be an extra value?"

That didn't make any sense.

Someone tapped Ezra on the shoulder from behind. He flinched, waiting for something worse to happen. It was just a woman in a bright construction vest, handing him a quarter. "Here you go, kid. Don't spend it all in one place."

Ezra smiled and accepted her kindness. It might be the last he'd see in a while. As he laid it on the counter, he worked up the courage to ask the question he'd come here to ask. "Are you hiring?"

The cashier looked him up and down and smirked. "In this economy? I guess you could fill out an application." He pulled a stack of forms from under the counter and peeled off the top one. He passed it to Ezra along with a pen and a tray of food.

Ezra sat by the front window to think about his prospects. He held the pen in his hand and looked helplessly at the page before him. He stumbled over some of the words, and the pen shook in his hand.

As he ate, he thought about getting someone to help him fill out the form.

His clothes weren't getting any cleaner. He'd left his other clothes at Congregation, and none of them were up to the latest styles. His torn coat came from a dumpster behind a thrift store. Even if he had a place to shower and could get help filling out the forms, he had no address or phone number to reference.

Ezra pondered a life of panhandling. He couldn't stand the idea of holding a sign to beg for food. If only Pogswoth and those other devils had let him finish his cathedral. Then he'd have plenty of everything he needed.

He finished his burger and neatly folded the job application and put it in his pocket. Then he wandered back out into the streets.

He felt wrong about everything. About his speech, about knowing God by knowing himself, about finding God in everything around him. Some prophet he was. He wasn't even sure if he believed in God anymore.

Ezra touched his bracelet and drew comfort from its bits of simple beauty he'd found in dumpsters two states away. And one new charm: The earring that woman had given him.

He played with the tiny earring and stared into the red gem. He only had to touch it and call for help, that's what she'd said. His
Wanderer
name meant 'help'. And his new name, Orvenoldsted, meant all of those new things he'd learned about himself. Jett had promised to help him, if he'd just ask.

A warm home. Dinner.

Or maybe he'd be her dinner. Pogswoth was no saint either. How could he tell the difference?

He craved the certainty of living with the
Wanderers
, the familiarity of quoted scripture. Even if they were full of crap, at least he'd known
something
.

It was getting late. He'd found a safe place to sleep every night, hidden and well-lit all night long so no one could sneak up on him. He drifted in that direction.

When he reached the Mercer on-ramp, he climbed over the Jersey barrier, crossed a lane, walked into the depths of the tunnel, and then climbed over the next barrier between it and the square pillars. The lights glowed orange and reflected off the dirty and scuffed yellow tiles. There was just enough room where he could lean his shoulders against one grimy pillar and prop his feet against the other. Only a passing car exiting the freeway might be able to see him, and no one would give a crap if they did.

Ezra settled into a light slumber when screeching tires awoke him. A van door slid open, and he opened his eyes.

He saw an attractive woman step out. She asked him an odd question: "Hey, kid. You got a light?"

"
Wha..." He started to stand and got halfway up when she asked again.

"
I said..." She suddenly looked off towards the opening of the tunnel. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

Ezra stepped out and turned in that direction. Pogswoth stood with his hands in his pockets, leaning against a pillar. He vanished and appeared beside them just as suddenly, out of a puddle in the gutter.

"
I'm surprised to see you two together," he said. "Jina, does yer Lady know yer messing around with her
leanai a cailleadh?
She might thank me to save you from him. Or him from you."

Ezra heard the passenger side door of the van open and slam shut. A new woman appeared, this one with darker hair and fancy clothes.

"
What the--" she said.

He couldn't see what happened next. Someone was coming up behind him.

Ezra ducked and tried to spin around. A big man with white hair swooped down with something in his hands. He rolled away, to find himself trapped between the Jersey barrier and the two pillars where he'd been trying to sleep.

"
Hollis, grab him!"

"
Which one?" the man shouted.

"
The one we came for."

The man crouched low to the ground, and grabbed for Ezra's foot to try to get him off balance. Ezra kicked at him, and then shoved against the pillar with his considerable might.

The tunnel shook. Tiles cracked and fell from the ceiling.

"
Korrigan hear me,
" the first woman said, the one Pogswoth had called Jina, "
Hear me true...
"

The pillar had stopped moving and now leaned at an angle, as if a truck had hit it. He turned to vault over the Jersey wall, and caught a glimpse of Pogswoth out of the corner of his eye.

"
Help me, Ezra," he said. "I can't move."

Ezra paused. "Why should I help you? You brought me nothing but confusion."

The white-haired man came at him again. Was it a necklace in his hand?

There wasn't time to jump the barrier.

Ezra slammed against the other pillar, and the ceiling groaned under the weight of concrete. The man kept his distance.

The dark-haired woman was yelling now, "What are you doing, Jina? Bind Ezra!"

He heard the blonde start a new chant. Then he heard his name. His new name.

His third shove against the pillar was like hitting a wall. His shoulder burst with pain and he grunted. The man was on him again, pressing Ezra's hands against his sides, and before Ezra could shove him off, the woman was slipping something around his neck.

He tried to speak, to scream. His vocal chords tightened until he could barely breathe. He tried to run; his feet wouldn't move. His arms went limp at his side, useless.

But he could still feel the bracelet around his wrist.

The bracelet. If he ever needed help, now was the time. He pivoted his wrists painfully until he felt the hemp under his fingers. He rotated it, feeling each charm as it turned.
Where's the earring?

Suddenly the man's grip clenched around his wrist and his finger bent at a painful angle. Then he felt a violent tug, and the cord which had been his since childhood snapped away.

His one true comfort in the world. And his only way to call for help. The man hastily hooked it into his belt, where it dangled like a trophy.

The man grabbed his other wrist, and he felt something replace the warm bracelet with a ring of ice that shot up his arm. He tried to scream again as the sound was stuffed back into his throat like a torrent of water. Soon his wrists were bound together in molten metal.

"
Hey, be gentle with him," he heard the Jina woman say.

"
Don't worry about the duct tape," the other woman said. "Just get him into the van before someone comes down this exit."

"
What about Scarf?" Jina said.

"
We only brought one cage," the man said. "Pick one."

"
The troll," the other woman said.

Ezra tried to glance back. Did they mean him or Pogswoth?

He could only hear Pogswoth laughing and he felt the white-haired man's cruel fingers digging into his arm.

"
Shut it, Scarf, or I'll shoot you down right here," Jina said.

They dragged Ezra inside the vehicle. The man was stuffing something into his mouth. Ezra looked around frantically, and there, at the back end of the van, sat a black cage like something out of a medieval dungeon.

"
Pogswoth almost ruined the whole thing," Jina said. Her voice was coming from the front seat. "I told you we should have caught him first."

The other woman swung open the cage door and it shrieked loudly, then the man stuffed Ezra inside. "We'll get him next, I promise. Maybe in the meantime he'll get hit by a car."

Ezra thought he had felt constrained before; now it felt like a part of him locked off. Anywhere his skin or too-thin clothes touched the metal, it burned just like his wrists did. Then the woman tied something to the lock, a little round metal thing, and his world got even smaller.

He wanted to ask what was going on, what they wanted from him. Why would anyone want to kidnap him? He wasn't worth a single cent. Could these people be enemies of Congregation?

Maybe they thought he was a demon too. Maybe they were mad at Pogswoth and they thought Ezra had something to do with him.

"
Shut up and stop crying, you monster." The man kicked his cage and it jarred his head as the van lurched forward.

"
Hey, I said be nice," Jina said. "There's no reason to be cruel."

"
Be careful about kicking them, Hol," Sandy said. "That's how the doppelganger got free."

"
Good point. Maybe I could poke it with sticks?"