Infernal Father of Mine (41 page)

The carpet wove between two concrete pillars. I
took us into a nearly vertical climb up several stories of the
skeletal superstructure before straightening out and flying through
a maze of plywood and steel beams in the center. Only the magic
bonding our bodies to the carpet prevented us from flying
off.

"I should probably be grateful I can't see very
far," Elyssa said, her grip growing even tighter as we whooshed
past a row of support columns.

Dad laughed. "It's the only reason my underwear
is still clean."

"Don't you ever get tired of poop jokes?" Mom
said.

"Never."

They're falling behind,
Minder Justin
said.

I didn't risk a glance back. "Let me know when
they can't see us." I wound through a narrow alley, and took a
sharp right around a corner.

Now
.

"Hang on!" I shouted above the wind even though
it really wasn't necessary. I gripped a lamppost and took the
carpets into a tight turn.

"Maybe I shouldn't have eaten before I left,"
Dad said in a strained voice.

The building ahead appeared to be a combination
apartment and commercial complex. I took the carpets to the
sidewalk and jerked open the door to a restaurant. Everyone jumped
off the carpets and ran inside.

Are they still following us?
I sent to
Minder Justin.

See for yourself
, he said.

The Exorcists appeared as blue outlines against
the black shadow of the building. There were three carpets with two
people on each one. The people on the rear of the carpets had bows.
They streaked past the building and slowed. I saw one of them
pointing in the direction we'd been heading while another shook his
head.

"What's going on?" Elyssa asked.

I explained the situation. "We'll have to
wait."

"They only sent six?" Dad said. "Maybe we can
ambush them."

"They have bows and arrows," I reminded him.
"With their magic glasses we wouldn't make it close enough before
they skewered us."

The Exorcists spread out, apparently combing
the nearby area for us. There weren't many other tall buildings in
this section of town, or my ploy might have worked
better.

Which way to the fortress?
I asked my
minder.

A tug on my brain told me without him saying a
thing.
You want to kill minders?
he said in a disgusted
tone.

It took a few seconds to process the question
before remembering he could read some of my thoughts.
Just the
brain Serena uses to control the fortress and the
sentinels.

He made a pshawing noise in my head.
That's
easy. Just jerk out their tentacles.

That's not what Cinder told
me.
"

Yeah, I was just joking about the
tentacles,
Minder Justin informed me.
Cinder might be right.
I don't know.

Can you convince the minders to enter the
psionic disruptor?
I asked.

He paused.
I don't think so. They'd read my
intentions. You'll have to lure them in some other
way.

I suddenly spotted a flying carpet hovering
outside with shadowy shapes resembling Mom and Dad. I was about to
yell in alarm when I saw my parents still inside.

"I'm dreamcasting that," she said. "I can lure
them away."

Already, my minder vision helped me spot one of
the Exorcist duos on a carpet swooping down to investigate. "How
far away can you lure them before you lose control of your
clones?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

I narrowed my eyes. "I have a better
idea."

I wondered if the magic glasses allowed them to
see our heat signatures through the concrete. If they looked
through the windows, they'd see us for sure. The restaurant was
built like a loft with a high ceiling. Even though I couldn't see
the details, my mind seemed to know what my eyes were seeing thanks
to the link with my minder.

"Back on the carpets," I said.

Everyone stepped back on without
question.

"Crouch low." I took us to the ceiling, set the
carpets against the front corner where the concrete would hopefully
block us from sight from their thermal goggles.

"Lure them inside," I told Mom.

She nodded. The dreamcasted versions of my
parents got off the flying carpet and ran inside."

"Down there," I heard a man say.

My fake parents ran to the bar, ducked behind
it, and peeked over the edge enough so their pursuers could clearly
see them.

I looked down and saw the archer and his
companion rush inside the restaurant. They were only ten feet below
us. One look up, and it was game over. I felt Elyssa squeeze my
hand as the two men spoke in low tones.

The archer nocked an arrow and aimed. "Come out
now, and I'll spare you."

The other man drew a sword and held it at the
ready.

Elyssa pointed down and made a motion of
hitting a palm with her fist.

I nodded. Gripping the edge of the carpet, I
slid off it and hung over the men's heads. Elyssa performed a
graceful forward flip off the carpet so she was hanging next to
me.

The cloned version of my parents stood from
behind the bar, arms raised. The archer laughed. "Actually, I
lied." He shot my father in the chest. The arrow bounced off
harmlessly.

"What the hell?" the archer said.

Elyssa mouthed the word, "Now" and dropped. I
let go at the same time.

I landed atop the bowman. He grunted. A knee to
his stomach and blow to the head put him out of commission. Elyssa
put the other man in a chokehold and squeezed until he passed out.
She ripped the magic glasses off the man's head and tried them
on.

"Perfect," she said.

Dad took the other set from the archer. "We're
golden now."

"There are still four more Exorcists out
there," Mom reminded him.

"I have an idea," Elyssa said. She grabbed the
bow from the floor and slid the quiver over her
shoulder.

"We going wabbit hunting?" I asked.

She blew me a kiss. "You know it."

Our girlfriend is hot
, Minder Justin
said.
Especially with those nerdy magic glasses.

She's mine, not ours
.

A guy can dream, can't he?
Chagrin
filled his voice.

I felt kind of bad for him.

Oh, don't feel sorry for me. I'll
just live vicariously through you. Oh, wait, I already
do.

I smiled.
You can help us put down some bad
guys.

Dude, I am so in.

"Their carpet is a little larger," Elyssa said.
"We'll need to use it so they think it's their buddies."

I looked at my parents. "We'll be
back."

"Son, be careful," Mom said.

I pecked her on the cheek. "I'm always
careful."

Liar
, my minder said in a smug
voice.

We went outside and hopped on the Exorcist
carpet. I told Elyssa how the archer had stood behind the carpet
driver. She mimicked the position, and we shot upward. Thanks to my
minder vision, I spotted the other two carpets quickly. They were
circling over opposite sides of the area, one of them scouting
through a parking deck, and the other combing nearby
alleys.

I told Elyssa their positions and directed the
carpet toward the pair in the alley first. Since I knew they
couldn't see us through the building, I used my unfair advantage to
its fullest, and swooped down from above as they passed below.
Elyssa put an arrow through the archer. He shouted and fell off.
Before the driver could react, an arrow sprouted from his back. He
slumped forward, and the carpet coasted to a halt. We dropped next
to the carpet. Elyssa hopped to it and landed it on the ground. We
stripped the gear from the men. I noticed the arrows had hit the
men in virtually the same exact spot even though one was taller
than the other.

"I didn't know you could shoot a bow," I
said.

She stuffed the extra magic glasses into a
duffel bag one of the Exorcists had strapped to the carpet. "I've
never shot a person with an arrow before." Her voice sounded sad.
"I didn't want to take a chance by just winging them."

I squeezed her hand. "Hey, I understand.
They're trying to kill us." I kissed her cheek just beneath the rim
of the thermal goggles. "You did what you had to do."

"Let's take out the others," she
said.

I heard a shout of alarm and turned to see
they'd already found us. An arrow streaked right at me. Before I
could react, I felt Elyssa slam into me and we hit the ground with
a grunt.

I heard shouts of alarm and rolled to my back
in time to see my parents slam their flying carpet into the
Exorcists. The men plummeted to the ground bellowing in
terror.

The impact of carpets didn't even faze my
parents. When their doubles pulled up to us a moment later, I
realized why. Mom had used their dreamcasted clones to take out our
attackers.

"Very clever," I said to my Mom.

She looked at the bodies of the fallen with sad
eyes. "Hopefully that's the last of them."

We went back inside the restaurant we'd used
for cover to get our Templar-issued carpets since they had the
camouflage spells. I saw the men we'd ambushed slumped against a
wall, their necks bent at grotesque angles. "What happened?" I
asked.

Mom looked at my father. He looked at the
bodies. "We couldn't let them report back to Montjoy so I took care
of the problem."

I felt a little nauseated even though I
understood his reasoning.

Man, our dad is sick
, Minder Justin said
with awe.

I looked away from the corpses.
Tell me
about it.

No, I mean he's wicked sick, dude.
This is a man who does what needs doing.

I looked at the floating brain and blew out a
disgusted breath.
If you say so.

"Let's get moving," Elyssa said. "We've lost a
lot of time."

Dad had gathered magic glasses for everyone. I
elected to stick with minder-enhanced vision since it was so much
better. We took a couple more bows and quivers of arrows though I
figured they wouldn't do much good against sentinels or Nazdal, and
hopped onto the carpets. At full speed, we reached the outskirts of
the quarry and the bubble of clear air within minutes.

Are there any flying sentinels guarding this
place?
I asked Minder Justin.

Hang on
. He vanished into the fog, and I
was suddenly blind again. My chest tightened at the claustrophobic
sensation. Relief swept over me when he returned and latched onto
my head again.
All clear. I guess they didn't think anyone would
come by air.

We dropped beneath the fog cover and into the
clear bubble of air around the fortress. The others took off their
magic glasses. I looked straight down into the quarry pit and saw
rubble and water. Something was missing. A lot of something. "The
Nazdal aren't in the pit."

"It's empty," Mom said in a quiet
voice.

"They must have sent them through the Shadow
Nexus," Elyssa said.

Dad looked at me. "Oh, crap."

The battle had already started.

"We've got to get down there," I
said.

Dad grimaced. "A better question is how we're
supposed to get through the back door if nobody is left inside to
open it."

"Before we jump to any conclusions, maybe we
should observe the situation." Mom peered over the edge of the
flying carpet and looked at the fortress and quarry for a long
moment. "If the Shadow Nexus is inside the domed building and the
arch is open, shouldn't we feel at full strength?"

Elyssa nodded. "I still feel puny."

"Me too." Dad lay down next to Mom and poked
his head over the edge of the rug. "Then again, they could have
sent through the army of Nazdal and closed the arch behind
them."

Despite the dampening effect of the Gloom,
coming into my new powers seemed to have helped quite a bit. For
one thing, my vision remained sharp even from this distance.
Movement caught my eye. I zoomed in on it and spotted one of the
formerly human ghouls shamble a step or two before stopping. Its
skin was so discolored, it blended in with the moss and algae on
the rock near the quarry pond.

The granite near the creature's feet seemed to
move. I looked long and hard for so long, I thought it might have
been my imagination. The ghoul dropped to its haunches. The rock
beneath it leapt and scurried away. I suddenly realized why the
quarry looked empty. Thinking back to when I'd opened the Shadow
Nexus to the Nazdal realm clarified my confusion.