The Candy Shop War, Vol. 2: Arcade Catastrophe (42 page)

“There’s too many,” Ted said. “I don’t know where we could stash them. Hopefully she doesn’t know about the coins. We’ll try to stop her.”

“Don’t try too hard,” Nate said. “If she makes it through that hallway, you won’t stand a chance. I’ve seen her fight. She probably knows about the coins. Jonas seemed to know everything about this place.”

“We’ll do our best to delay her,” Ted vowed. “It’s our sworn duty.”

“I’d appreciate that. What now?”

“Normally you would lie on a levitating tablet to get into position,” Ted said. “We have many of them. But you can fly, so you can probably get into position easier yourself. Be careful. Accidentally bumping Uweya with your elbow could kill millions. Look through the coin, then say ‘utcha
.
’ You’ll enter Uweya where you’re looking when you speak. Point the coin skyward and say ‘utcha’ to get out.”

“Utcha?”

“Utcha.”

“Will people be able to see me?” Nate asked.

“The people of Earth? No. You’ll see their clothes and their cars, things like that, but they won’t see you or anything you bring. Nor will they be able to touch you. Not directly. But all of the nonliving components of Uweya can interact with you. If a car runs you down, you’ll feel it.”

“It’ll kill me?”

“Just like a normal car. Take care.”

“She’s almost here!” Celia cried. “She’s unstoppable!” Celia heaved the door closed.

“Thanks,” Nate said. “Good luck.”

“Save all your luck for yourself,” Ted said. “Take mine too!”

Nate glided over to Uweya. He approached slowly. It was easy to find the California coastline, easy to find the distinctive inlet of the San Francisco Bay. The Peak Performance remained active in his system, keeping his senses keen.

Holding the coin to his eye, Nate found that with a small effort, he could zoom his vision in closer to the surface, as if the coin were a magical telescope. He zoomed in and out at will, marveling at the details. There was San Francisco. There was the Golden Gate Bridge. He could see the vehicles crossing it. He found vessels in the bay.

Nate could not help thinking how much Pigeon would have enjoyed all the detail. Pigeon loved maps and geography, and this put every map in existence to shame. But if Nate accomplished his goal, Pigeon would never get a chance to see it.

There was Alcatraz. There was Yerba Buena Island.

Nate zoomed out. He needed to find Mt. Diablo.

But wait.

If he went to Mt. Diablo and destroyed Uweya’s power source, Jonas White would still be holding his friends prisoner. Jonas would still have simulacra of Pigeon, Trevor, Summer, Lindy, and the others. If Nate took out Uweya, Jonas could retaliate by killing most of the people he cared about. Unless he went after another power source first.

The door opened. Nate saw that Celia and Ted had taken up hidden positions. Nate peered through the coin. With Peak Performance still augmenting his senses, locating Arcadeland was no big trick.

“Utcha,” he said softly.

Nate felt like he was getting turned inside out. His head seemed to retract down into his belly, and his legs seemed to withdraw up into his head. Quickly, painlessly, he collapsed down to a single point.

When he expanded back to his regular size, Nate was standing on a curb, part of the way down the block from Arcadeland. He felt proud that he had landed so close to his destination. The buildings looked how they should, and the street, and the cars. But the planter boxes were empty except for dirt and some snarled, dead vegetable matter. A closer look revealed that the cars were empty as well. A combination of denim shorts, a T-shirt, a baseball hat, a wristwatch, sneakers, and socks strolled along the sidewalk, holding a leash attached to an empty collar, as though both dog and owner were invisible.

The sky was the oddest part. Instead of clouds, or a sun, or blueness, or starry black, the sky looked like part of the domed chamber that housed Uweya. Nate was not staring up from the Earth toward the immensity of space. He was staring up from a large globe in a well-lit room.

Nate slipped the stone coin into his pocket. He was relieved to find that he really could still fly. He soared over to Arcadeland, alighting near the front doors. A few sets of clothes pushed the doors open from inside, then walked toward the parking lot.

Nate pulled a door open. It felt no different from interacting with a normal door. He walked into the arcade.

Clothes stood playing arcade games. Clothes manned the food counter. Clothes threw basketballs for points. Clothes aimed the guns at the shooting gallery. The scene was very eerie, as if everyone in the world had obliviously become invisible.

Nate watched a set of clothes at a table lift a hamburger. A bite of the hamburger disappeared. The food was not visible as it was chewed or swallowed. Once ingested, it vanished.

Nate took out the simple map Ziggy had drawn. He studied it for a moment, comparing it to his surroundings, then flew to the appropriate EMPLOYEES ONLY door. He found it locked.

Of course it was locked! Now what?

Nate looked around for something he might use to break it down. Then again, maybe there was a subtler way. After all, nobody could see him.

He knocked softly. He knocked harder. Then he knocked really hard. He started beating the door with both hands. He kicked it with the sole of his shoe, making it shudder.

A set of clothes came hustling over. Nate scooted out of the way. A key came out and was inserted into the lock, and the door opened. Obviously the employee thought that somebody was stuck on the far side. Nate recognized that just as he could see no people, he could also hear no voices. He wondered if the employee was speaking, perhaps calling to the person who had battered the door. The set of clothes passed through the door, checking down the hallway beyond.

Nate used the opportunity to slip through the doorway, flying over the clothes of the employee. Leaving the clothes behind, Nate soared down the hall. He could feel the effects of Peak Performance wearing thin. He would have to be careful with his last stick. It was his only hope of making it through the obstacle course within Mt. Diablo.

Keeping an eye on his map, Nate found his way to the stairway door. Again, it was locked. Nate tried the same routine. He knocked softly at first, then harder, then he pounded it relentlessly.

This time a set of clothes opened the door from the far side. Nate recognized the clothes from that morning. It was Conner! That made sense. Conner had probably been posted to watch the stairway. When he heard the commotion, he had come to investigate.

Straightening his body, Nate flew over Conner though the top of the doorway. Conner passed beyond the doorway, turning to look up and down the hall. Then he hurried back through the door, shut it, and locked it. He rushed down the stairs. Nate followed.

Conner used a key on the door at the bottom of the stairs. Nate wondered whether they had kept all of these doors locked before last night’s intrusion. When Conner opened the door, Nate darted through the top of it.

Below him, Conner paused, apparently conversing with another person. Nate didn’t recognize the second person’s clothes. After a moment, Conner started down the hall, striding briskly. He was going the same direction Nate wanted to travel.

Nate felt an excited flutter of hope. He had considered trying to blindside Conner with a heavy object in order to take his keycard to Jonas White’s sanctum. But what if Conner was voluntarily heading to the sanctum to report the strange disturbance? Nate kept checking his map as Conner kept making the correct turns.

Sure enough, Nate found himself drifting above and behind Conner as he made his way down the hall toward a sturdy metal door. The metal door matched up with the location of the sanctum on the graph-paper map.

“Keep going, you brainless gorilla,” Nate mouthed, not daring to speak the words even though he felt sure Conner wouldn’t be able to hear them.

Conner paused at the door, looking back down the hall as his wallet came out of his back pocket. A plastic card was removed. Conner swiped the card, then tugged the heavy door open.

Just as Nate was about to slip over Conner and into the sanctum, he heard footfalls from behind. The rhythm was strange. Although each step sounded abnormally loud, there was too much time between them.

Swiveling in the air, Nate saw Katie come tearing around the corner at the end of the hall. Her eyes locked on Nate as she came bounding forward, devouring nearly twenty feet per stride. Her normally immaculate hair was disheveled, with part of it slashed away parallel to a clotted gash along her cheek. Scratches crisscrossed her face, the tip of her nose was gone, and it looked like wild animals had savaged her bodysuit. Her left arm was missing at the elbow. Despite her many injuries, no fresh blood flowed.

Apparently responding to a signal from within the sanctum, Conner moved to close the door. Nate knifed through just before it slammed shut.

Conner had shut himself and Katie out of the sanctum. For the moment, Nate was alone with a crowd of wax figures and a fancy black robe with gold embroidery that could only belong to Jonas White. The black robe stood near the wax figure of Katie Sung. The wax figure had injuries to match Katie’s, including the scratches on her face and the missing forearm. Needles of varying size protruded all over the wax figure, and Jonas continued to insert more.

Nate saw the jade urn in the recess on the far side of the room. It was the only object that fit the description. He flew to the recessed shelf, grabbed the top of the vase, and yanked.

It didn’t budge.

Behind Nate, the door to the sanctum opened. Katie sprang through before Conner heaved it closed. Although she had entered, he remained outside. Evidently Conner realized he was defending Jonas from invisible intruders, but he didn’t understand that they kept slipping by him. Nate wondered how much Katie had communicated to Jonas via seashell.

Instead of yanking, Nate gave the urn a steady pull and felt it begin to tip. It was apparently held in place similarly to how the Protector had been anchored to its pedestal, as if by unseen magnets.

With a shrieking battle cry, Katie came flying at Nate, one foot outstretched. Nate had to soar away or she would have demolished him. Her foot hit the wall instead of his head. She landed nimbly. The urn remained upright.

Nate flew away from her as she gave pursuit. Katie leapt around the room almost as if she could fly as well. Nate made no effort to engage her. He had seen how hard she could kick and punch. One blow might be all she needed to finish him.

He tried to swerve back toward the urn, but she knew what he wanted and kept cutting him off. Gradually she herded Nate toward a corner.

Jonas toddled away from Katie’s wax figure toward the figure of Nate. A knife emerged from his robe.

Nate realized that if things didn’t change quickly, Katie would corner him and take him down. He crammed his final stick of Peak Performance into his mouth.

Jonas stabbed the figure of Nate in the back of the head. Slashing the throat, he removed the wax head from the body. Nate winced but felt no effect from the attack.

As the Peak Performance entered his system, Nate saw the room more clearly. He knew what he had to do.

Nate flew back into the wall as if he didn’t know it was there. With triumph in her damaged features, Katie sprang at him, her foot snapping forward with a vicious kick. But Nate anticipated the move based on the pattern of her offense and swooped under her attack, his nose inches from the floor.

If he went for the urn, Nate knew Katie would get to him before he could overturn it. So instead he flew at her wax figure. First he kicked the figure in the stomach with everything he had. The wax figure toppled.

Behind him, Katie collapsed, vomiting violently.

Nate crouched and began stripping away the acupuncture needles all over the wax figure. Behind him, Katie went into wild convulsions.

Nate noticed the robe making its way toward the wax representation of Mozag, knife upraised. Again, Nate doubted whether he could tip the urn in time. Instead he flew to the robe, grabbed the back of it, and jerked it hard. Jonas had always appeared unsteady. Sure enough, the robe fell to the ground and the knife skidded free. The sleeves of the robe reached toward one of the invisible legs, as if grasping an injury.

Nate flew to the urn. Bracing a foot against the wall, he seized the top with both hands and pulled steadily. The urn tipped a little at first. As Nate kept straining, and the urn tipped more, it began to lean easier. The urn came free, and Nate carried it away from the niche.

Raising the urn over his head, Nate crashed it down to the tile floor with all of his might. It burst into countless fragments, great and small. For an instant the light in the room dimmed and an indefinable energy throbbed through Nate, making him a little queasy. Then the moment passed, and all seemed as it had before.

Nate took no time to celebrate. He was chewing his last stick of gum, and he had a simulacrum to destroy. First he took out his stone coin, looked through it, aimed it upward, and said, “Utcha.”

Nothing happened.

Apparently he needed to actually be looking at the sky.

Nate flew to where Katie lay inert. Noticing a telltale bulge in a zippered pocket on her side, he removed a keycard and a small set of keys. Nate flew to the sanctum door, swiped the card, and shoved it open.

Conner’s clothes waited outside. Nate flew down the hall faster than he would have dared without Peak Performance. He swooped around corners and sped down halls until he reached the staircase door. He unlocked it with the second key he tried, sailed up the stairs, then unlocked the door at the top with the same key. Nate flew to an EMPLOYEES ONLY door that he remembered led outside, unlocked it, and flew out.

Flying to Mt. Diablo from here would consume too much valuable time. Removing the coin from his pocket, Nate peered through it, looked up, and said, “Utcha.”

Nate shrank down to a point and unfolded hovering above Uweya. Without pausing, without looking at his surroundings, Nate peered through the coin, found Mt. Diablo, zoomed in close, found the SUV abandoned on the slope, then traced the path they had taken up the slope to the cavity they had entered. Enhanced as he was by Peak Performance, the task felt simple.