The Pure: Book Three of the Oz Chronicles (13 page)

“‘You want to put me down?’ I said
having a little trouble breathing.

“Tarek effortlessly tossed me aside. I
went tumbling to the ground nearly crashing into April and Bobby. I winced in
pain as I stood and brushed the dirt from my clothes. April stared at the white
monster with extreme trepidation, while Bobby seemed oddly calmed by Tarek’s
presence.

“Tarek lost interest in me and watched
Lou holding the child. ‘This one is already trouble. He is into everything.’

“Lou tweaked the youngster’s nose and
made him giggle. ‘It’s tough being a parent,’ she said.

“Tarek shook his massive head. ‘A Keeper
does not a parent make. I am his protector. It is not my job to raise him.’

“‘Gee,’ she said. ‘Whine much?’ She
bounced the child on her hip. ‘Why are you here anyway?’

“‘He’s begun,’ Tarek said. ‘The
stories.’

“Lou stopped bouncing the kid. ‘It’s too
early. You said it would take him years.’

“The giant beast shrugged. ‘I was wrong.
Look in the backpack.’

“Lou put the child on the ground and
unzipped his backpack. She removed a piece of paper from it and straightened it
out. I could see it was a drawing, a rudimentary one at that. It appeared to be
a large nondescript black mass. Meaningless.

“‘What is it?’ Lou asked.

“‘You can’t tell?’ Tarek replied.

“‘A ball?’

“‘It’s a cave,” Bobby said and then
immediately looked away sheepishly

“‘Bingo,’ Tarek said.

“‘A cave?’ Lou said. ‘How do you get a
cave out of this?’ “‘I don’t,’ Tarek said picking up the kid. ‘But he does, and
that’s the important thing.’ He walked to the thick forest canopy from which he
emerged.

“‘What does it mean?’ Lou asked.

“‘Not sure yet,’ Tarek said, ‘but I’ll
keep you posted. Incidentally, Wes and the others are about a half mile south
of here.’

“‘Bye, Nate,’ Lou cooed. ‘See you soon.’

“‘By the way, Archie Maynard,’ Tarek
said. ‘At the count of three, you will be wide-awake and feeling better than
you did before.’

“‘What are you talking about? I’m not
asleep.’ I looked at Lou for confirmation that I was indeed awake, but she was
gone.

“‘One, feeling refreshed and confident.’
Tarek said. “‘Two, feeling revitalized and ready to have a productive day.
Three, open your eyes. You’re wide awake, rejuvenated with a clear mind.’

Bones is waiting for me when I emerge
from the closet. He begins to speak, but I cut him off before he gets the
second syllable out. I am tired. I am angry. I am confused. In other words, it
is business as usual for me in this place. I thought listening to Scoop-face’s
sessions would give me answers, and if not answers, hope that I wasn’t
completely off my rocker, that the things I thought happened really did happen.
But so far, all I’ve been able to determine is that Scoop-face is as crazy as
me.

Bones is surprised as I pass the hallway
to my room and continue on toward the rec area and cafeteria. I am not in the
mood to sit and stew in my room and go over the story Scoop-face is spewing in
his sessions. Bashirs, militant survivors, lung locusts. That didn’t happen.
And if his story is clearly nuts, then my story is obviously nuts, too.

I groan. Not in frustration, but in
relief. I am nuts. The Takers, the Délons, General Roy, Reya, Ajax the talking
gorilla, none of that is real. I know that now. The memory of them can’t haunt
me anymore because it’s not a memory.

I have not been in the cafeteria before.
I hear spoons clank against porcelain bowls as I make my way to the ice cream
line. Most of the crazies watch my every move. They are unnerved by my
presence. They don’t know what to make of my visit. I stand behind the fat lady
who is scared by her own farts. I pray she doesn’t let one go. Bones is
standing behind me. He is unsure of my motives. He has been instructed to watch
over me, but he has no idea how to protect me from myself.

“Ah, chief,” he says. “Do you think it’s
a good idea to be here?”

“I’m hungry,” I say. “You don’t have to
stay.”

“It’s just that...” He smiles nervously
at our onlookers. “You’re kind of freaking everyone out, and believe me, boss,
these aren’t the kind of people you want to freak out.”

“Do I make you nervous?” I yell out to
the crowd.

“Oh, geez,” Bones mutters. “Shhhhh, you
can’t... stop drawing attention to us.”

“Why?” I ask the cafeteria. “We’re all
crazy here. I know I am. I just found out today that my second hand doesn’t go
all the way around the clock, if you know what I mean.”

Bones backs away from me. “Whoa, whoa,
whoa, shhhh.” He turns to the cafeteria. “He’s okay folks. He’s just making
conversation. Back to your food. I’m sure it’s delicious.”

I step up to the metal counter with the
wait staff looking at me like I have three heads. “Scoop of vanilla and
chocolate, please,” I say.

“I don’t like this, boss,” Bones says.
“I really don’t like this.”

“Then don’t get any,” I say.

“That’s not what I mean,” Bones says.
“We should be back in your room. Archie will be around to see you tonight. You
might want to sit and think about what you’re going to say to him.”

The lady behind the counter hands me my
bowl of ice cream. The mounds are perfectly scooped. They look like works of
art. I sit at a nearby table and hesitate. It feels wrong somehow to destroy
such perfection. I quickly shake it off and cut through the chocolate mound
with my spoon. I let the ice cream touch my lips first. I savor the feel of it.
The smell of it. I cannot believe how relaxed it makes me. I shove the spoonful
of ice cream in my mouth and close my eyes. It is heaven. My next spoonful is
vanilla, then chocolate, then vanilla. I alternate the two flavors with an
ever-increasing pace. I feel the cold racing through my veins until a pounding
pain hits me between the eyes. Brain-freeze. I double over. Eyes shut tight. I
press my thumb and index finger against the bridge of my nose. I grow dizzy
from the pain. The muttering from the others grows louder and louder. My eyes
still closed, I can feel them closing in on me. I hear a tray crash to the
floor.

“Oz,” a voice echoes through my
throbbing head. I am in too much pain to respond. “Oz.” I breathe rapidly,
sucking air in deeply and pushing it out through pursed lips. The pain begins
to slowly subside. I feel the muscles in my body begin to relax. I open one eye
and then the other, fluttering my eyelids to adjust to the light. The
fluorescent glow of the cafeteria is gone. There is now a faint yellow radiance
above my head from a single light bulb hanging from a vaulted ceiling.

“You’re wasting time,” a voice says.

I stand. “Who’s there?”

I hear the click, click, click of spiked
feet approaching. Canter steps under the yellow dome of light. “This is getting
us nowhere.”

“What are doing here?”

“Failing to make you see the truth,” he
says.

“Which is?”

“You’re crazy.”

I laugh, softly at first and then I
cackle madly. “I know I’m crazy. Where have you been?”

He shakes his upside down head. “You’ve
accepted it temporarily. It will pass. Eventually you will start to believe
again. Archie will get to you. He’ll convince you that you are a warrior... a
great warrior who is the key to vanquishing the Destroyers. But you’re not. Do
you understand me? You’ve done bad things. You’ve killed people... people you
love.” He points down.

I look at my feet. Lou lays bleeding.
I’m stunned beyond words. I begin to hyperventilate.

“It’s not true,” I hear Scoop-face say.
He steps out of the darkness led by Bones.

I hear Canter scream in my head. “How
did you get in here?”

Scoop-face smiles. “I found your hiding
place,” he says. “That’s the benefit of getting in somebody’s head.”

I bend down and stroke Lou’s cheek with
the back of my hand.

“Do you remember her real name,”
Scoop-face asks.

“Shut up,” Canter says. He rushes Bones
and Scoop-face, but stops short. Bones shields his face with his left arm.

Scoop-face smiles. “Relax, Bones. The
Silencer is harmless here.”

“Her real name,” I say to myself.

“Lou is just a nickname,” Scoop-face
says. “If you can remember her real name, you can go back.”

I turn to him. “Go back where?”

“Back to the cave. Before the shunter.
You made a mistake. You can correct it.”

Canter chuckles. “There is no going
back.”

“The cave?” I shudder at the sound of
the words. Why would I want to go back there?

“If you can remember Lou’s real name.
You’ll find her. You can correct your mistake and get back on the right path.
The Storytellers want you to win, Oz, but you have to figure out how on your
own. They want to give you a chance to do the right thing.”

“Storytellers,” Canter sneers. “They are
weak and feebleminded. They have no power because they chose corrupt and
undeserving warriors to save the world.”

Scoop-face smiles. “That’s the problem
with you Destroyers. You never understood the power of forgiveness.”

Canter rolls his eyes. “Please.” He
stomps a single spiked foot and the light bulb that illuminated the room
explodes. “And you humans never understood the power of darkness.”

***

I awake in my room. I shake the cobwebs
and feel strangely refreshed. As I swing my legs over the bed and rub the
soreness out of my shoulders, I hear the dead scatter. I can’t bear to seek
them out. I know they are there. That’s enough.

I peer up and see something on the
padded wall in front of me, a word... no, two or three words. I narrow my eyes
and try to focus on them. I can’t see them through the gloom. I stand and
slowly shuffle towards the wall. I am afraid and curious at the same time. I
have a desire to know what it says, and I have a fear that knowing will harm me
in some way. When I make it out, I realize that it did more than harm me, it
confused me. Written in blood is “Millie B. Story.”

***

Scoop-face arrives in my room an hour
later. His eyeless face is highlighted by an impossible smile.

“What are you smiling at?” I ask.

“I don’t know,” he says. “I guess it’s
just good to get back there. To see everybody again.”

“Everybody like Tank,” I say.

His smile disappears. “There was nothing
I could have done.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Didn’t seem like
you tried very hard.”

A scowl now. “I guess I’m not the great
and powerful Oz.”

I sigh. I feel bad for what I said. “I
don’t want to do this anymore, Archie. I belong here. The world is better off
with me in here.”

“The world would have been better if you
were a good person. We’re here because of you. You can’t decide to quit. You
are creyshaw!”

I laugh. “You see! That’s it right
there! The whole creyshaw business! It’s nonsense!”

“Keep your voice down,” he says. He
whispers. “You have to see this through.”

I wave him off. “There’s nothing to see
through. It’s not real.”

“It is,” he says raising his voice. “It
has to be.” He points to his face. “How did this happen to me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you were born like
that for all I know.” He stomps. “No, think. You know. You were there. You did
this to me.”

I examine the vacant area of his face,
and try to absorb what he just said. I couldn’t have done that. “What... me?”

“Think,” he demands.

I try to recall what he wants me to, but
I can’t. “Why would I do that to you?”

“Because I asked you to,” he says.

I snicker. “Now I know you’re crazy. Why
would anyone want that done to them?”

“Because if you didn’t, I would have
become one of them. I’d rather have no face than become one of them.”

A flash of a memory pops off in my
brain. I see the shunter on Archie’s face. My fingers are digging deep into the
jellyfish body of the face-sucker. I am pulling it off with all my might.
Archie is holding on tight to my arm.

The memory gone, I fall to my knees. “I
did that to you.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder.
“Warriors make hard choices. That’s what makes them warriors. You are creyshaw.
You have to see this thing through.”

I nod. “I am creyshaw.” I force a laugh.
“You should know that I’m more coward than warrior.”

He makes his way to the door. “We all
are.”

***

When I arrive in the janitor’s closet
the next afternoon, I discover a pen and small notepad sitting on one of the
supply shelves. I grab it and flip to a blank page. I write down
Millie B.
Story
and then tap the pen on the paper just as I had seen Dr. Graham do a
thousand times. I write down
Lou’s real name?
She told me. I know she
did. I examine the name
Millie B. Story.
The harder I stare, the more
the letters float apart.

Archie enters Dr. Grahams office and
their session begins.