19. Rescue plan?

Ray, Louise, Zeeta, and I were sitting around the low table in the living room.

In the street, before parting, Ray had advised Styzz to forget what just happened—it turned out that they were classmates, and Styzz had been quite surprised to find out I was actually the same age as him and was “that nerd’s best friend”. That Hero-to-be wasn’t a bad guy, in the end: he had even asked if we needed help, without even knowing what kind of thugs we were up against. I think I managed to convince him that the matter wasn’t that big of a deal, or at least not that serious to go call the police.

After quickly changing my drenched clothes, I explained to Ray and Zeeta all the details. As I fell silent, I looked at Rainbows, curled up on Ray’s lap. I wondered if she felt more attached to him because of their bond or just because he was alive.

“So,” Ray said, rubbing his forehead, “you intended to go there so those thugs would free Erma and get their revenge on you.”

Was he going to reproach me for barging in again without a plan? I smiled, a bit annoyed.

“Ray… Even now that I told you guys, the problem hasn’t changed one bit: they’re stronger than us, and they’ve got a hostage—”

“I’ll go instead!” Zeeta growled. He was restless, cracking his knuckles as if craving for a fight. His feral side was showing…

I bluntly refused:

“That won’t do. They’re after me specifically. I was the one who scared that merfolk to death, remember?”

“But we were all there!” Zeeta protested. “If not for Ginger, Sunflower, and Rock-Beard, we wouldn’t have been able to catch them in the first place.”

“You’re right, but… for that kind of people, being subdued by a power like the one I had back then seems to have been an experience way more traumatic than just receiving some punches. That said,” I turned to Ray, “those four guys are your common thugs: they know their limits. I won’t die.”

“So you’re gonna let them do as they please?” Zeeta snorted. “Not in a thousand years!”

“There must be a way,” Ray muttered, lost in thoughts. When he put that concentrated face, it always made me feel uncomfortable… His dark eyes suddenly fastened on me. “Armen, they did tell you to meet them at a specific location, right? Do you know the place well?”

“Erm… Yes and no. I’ll remember when I get there, I guess?”

“You’ve never had a good sense of direction, Straw Head,” Zeeta chimed in teasingly. “But I know very well where it is. I… used to live around there for years so… You see, Ray. The place those bastards have chosen is a large construction site. It’s been abandoned since the last crisis. Actually, the whole area has become a den for all sorts of gangs and outlaws. We call it the Work-Lair. I can draw a map if you want.”

“That would be useful,” Ray approved.

“Seeta! I’ve got sheets here!” Louise cried out, putting them down on the table pompously. “And there’s the pencil! Woops, it broke… but it’s all right, it happens to me all the time! Papa says it’s because I’m very strong. Heehee… Oh, the nib is broken too. I’ll use the machine to fix it! Do you have one here?”

“You mean a pencil sharpener. Here you go,” Ray said, taking it out from his school bag.

“Thanks, Louise,” Zeeta smiled.

I watched him draw a plan of the construction site, increasingly annoyed. What were they thinking? That they would be able to save Erma from under the nose of the Black-Hearts? That was unnecessarily complicated. Not to mention I had to recover my wallet and my phone too. My idea may look rash and thoughtless, but I was sure that things would be over faster if I were to just do as the merfolk had told me.

I stood up and went to sit by the window. The snowman that Rainbows had destroyed the day before was barely recognizable now. The sky had become cloudy, and tiny snowflakes were falling.

Erma.

Despite having spent one year working with her, I had seldom heard her speak about her past. She had spent her early childhood with her grandma, who was apparently a witch; when she was nine, she had gone to Farskyer to live with her dad and siblings. And barely a year and a half ago, she had decided to run away from them “for a while” and joined the Cheetahs just a few months before I did. That is how she ended up in the Underworld at such a young age.

I remembered well the day I met the Cheetahs. Erma was the first one to make me feel at ease—though she also scared the wits out of me with her power, but well… She was also the only Cheetah who had actually answered my text in summer, saying: ‘Straw Head!!! Happy to hear from you!! Things are getting messy, so I think I’ll be going back to my family for now!! (Don’t have really the choice…!) What about you?’ Incidentally, if my messages were overloaded with emojis, Erma’s, on the other hand, were chock-full of exclamation marks. She had stopped answering my texts in August, though. I had been wondering if she was doing all right now that she was back with her family. To me, she had been like a sweat storm in my life. In a year, we had become really good friends, and I could say, without a doubt, that out of all the Cheetahs, the ones that I had missed the most those four last months were Zeeta and Erma. That’s why…

There was no way in hell I would abandon her.

The fact that Erma had changed her cellphone number in August had made me think she had wanted to forget everything of the Underworld, and I had decided not to meddle, but now… things were different. Why did those bastards even kidnap her? She personally did nothing to them, and the merfolk and his people couldn’t have known beforehand that they would catch sight of me in the Old Docks, so… Why now? And what did they do to her?

Even though my blood had long dried out, I could feel it boil inside me.

“Armen,” Ray said suddenly.

I turned, startled.

“Yeah?”

“Were you listening?”

“Ah, sorry, no. What did you say?”

“According to Zeeta, the building in question has only the main pillars built, without the walls. If they’re waiting for you there, we’ll be able to know what’s going on from afar, thanks to Zeeta’s power. The most important thing right now is to find out Erma’s whereabouts.”

I frowned. Did he mean there was a possibility that Erma was being kept elsewhere? I didn’t even think about that. Geez. I was really reticent about letting Ray get into this mess but…

“Do you have a plan?” I asked.

“Not really, but…” He looked me in the eye. “I’m not gonna let you go there just to be beaten up. You hear?”

The young necromancer’s eyes were sparkling, defying me to argue with him. Good grief…

“Okay. I’d honestly rather solve this problem my own way but… I guess I can’t tell you guys to stay put. Let’s make a deal. I’ll go there. When they let Erma go, I’ll try to run away. If I can’t, you may come save me. How about that?”

There was a silence. Then Zeeta spoke.

“That’s probably the best way to get Erma out of there safe and sound… if they really let her go, that is.” He raised a hand to calm me down. “Remember you’re not the only Cheetah here, Armen. Like you, I’m pissed like hell right now, but let’s not rush headlong. I won’t let those guys have you just like that. You say you won’t die, but even for an undead like you… Don’t forget you’re not against the Hell Hounds but the Black-Hearts. Those guys may have new comrades that are on a totally different level.”

That was precisely why I insisted on going there alone: a spy with earbuds, a fledgling telekinetic, and a budding necromancer couldn’t possibly do anything against those guys. Getting the Lord Necromancer to help us was out of the question: Ray’s dad was a head of the Dark Alliance, and I couldn’t imagine him stirring up trouble between the two big groups just because of a girl that wasn’t even a member of the Necro-Haven. I doubted the Lord would lift a finger to save a girl his son didn’t personally know.

Zeeta stood up.

“I’ll go take a look around. I’ll be careful.”

“Are you going to call Sunflower?” I asked. She was the only Cheetah with Zeeta who had joined the DA after all…

Zeeta wavered at the entrance.

“Actually, I didn’t tell you but… last time I sent her a message, in summer, she told me to go to hell and stopped taking my calls.”

“Hah? Sunflower did?”

“Yeah. And for no special reason. I mean, I just asked her something like ‘how our princess’s going?’. She’s always got a bad temper, but still…”

“Perhaps she just had a bad day?”

“I wonder.” Zeeta shrugged. “She apparently got a power that interested the Goal-Ring. I heard that to get into the Goal-Ring you need to be some big-shot or be a real genius. I guess such a special treatment went to her head.” He paused, then waved at us. “Well then, I’ll be off. Let’s meet by the docks at night. Bye, bye, Louise!”

“Bye!”

As Zeeta left, I stood silent for a while. Louise was lazily drawing on the edge of Zeeta’s map, and Ray was holding the brim of his cap with two fingers, clearly trying to come up with a better plan… I smiled. Ray and Zeeta’s determination to help me out was definitely moving, but…

“It’s all right, Ray. You don’t need to come along. I’ll save Erma and tomorrow it will be as if nothing had happened. Trust me, everything will be fine!”

Ray clicked his tongue and got to his feet, Rainbows in his arms.

“I’ll go.”

Crap.

“A-Actually I’ll be more worried if you come and run into trouble—”

“I’ll go!”

“Me too!” Louise let out.

We both turned to her, surprised. Ray cleared his throat.

“Sorry, Louise, but you go back to my dad’s.” Even though Louise was pretty strong, I agreed with Ray’s decision. After all, despite her looks, Louise was just a little girl. “Also, Louise… say nothing about this to him, okay?” As I gave Ray a curious face, he snorted: “What? I’d rather get beaten up than ask for his help again.”

I grinned, then patted Louise’s head to cheer her up.

“Okay, let’s get ready.”