Sure, he thought to himself. College-related. Let’s go with that.
“Um… yeah… thanks… do you mind, though? Sorry, I kind of have to…”
“Go ahead,” she said, laughing now. “Make your call. Love you, honey.”
“Love you too,” he said, and with that, he was out the door.
50
Instructor Report
“I presume you have seen this evening’s news story of the plane that disappeared over the Atlantic?”
“Don’t tell me.”
“Yes. I am sorry to report that a summoned creature was involved in some way. I do not know the exact details, but it seems clear enough that the creature was the cause. It had already attached itself to the aircraft before it took off from Atlanta.”
“Same thing as before?”
“No, actually. This one was larger than the other, and of a different nature. But in the end, I am not certain what difference it makes. It was equally effective in its purpose.”
“It’s not about the thing itself. It’s about whoever’s behind it. If it was the same, I might have believed that they had reached their limits, at least for now. If it’s different—bigger—then they’re still escalating.”
“It would appear so. Yes.”
“Which means it’s even more important that we learn how to fight these things, and so far we haven’t even been able to see one long enough to shoot it at a distance we can measure in paces, for God’s sake.”
“But if we could control it, then your soldiers could shoot it, yes? If you had a target that would stand still for you?”
“And how the hell are you going to get the piss-damn forces of darkness to stand still and let us shoot them? There’s only so far I’m willing to follow you down this rabbit hole, Professor. If it involves garlic, silver chains, or holy water, I don’t even want to hear it.”
“Quite the contrary, Colonel. I believe we have, as you say, already found the man for the job.”
51
Marshmallows and a T-shirt
Sketch was asleep on the couch when the sound of the suite door opening caught his attention, at least for a moment. He opened his eyes groggily, but it was only Rush coming back from wherever he’d been. He rolled over, turning his face away from the light of the hallway, ready to doze off again, before his sleep-addled brain finally managed to process what he had just seen.
Rush!
Sketch flipped back over and opened his eyes wide. It wasn’t a dream. Rush was back, standing right there next to the couch, grinning down at him like he had never left.
“Rush!” Sketch exclaimed, throwing his blanket on the floor and scrambling off the couch to hug his friend.
“Shh,” Rush said, chuckling and hugging him back. “Don’t wake Daniel up. I’ll see him in the morning.”
“So you’re staying?”
“Yep,” Rush confirmed.
“For good?” Sketch asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
“For good.”
“What about your competition? You leaving for that?”
“I don’t think so, buddy. I don’t think they’ll let me, but it doesn’t matter now.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say you were right. Some things are more important.”
“Like friends,” Sketch said, sounding more than a little accusatory.
“Like friends,” Rush agreed, chuckling quietly. “But listen, it’s late. You should get some sleep. We’re both going to need our rest for tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Sketch agreed, frowning. “We’re gonna have to summon something bad tomorrow.”
“Something bad?”
“Yeah, like the imp, only worse. Maybe like the thing from the plane.”
“You saw that?” Rush asked.
“Grid made us all watch the news,” Sketch said. “You saw it, too?”
“Yeah. Sketch, I’m so sorry, man. I didn’t know what was on the line, you know? I never would have left if they had told me. I swear.”
“I know,” Sketch said.
“But what’s this about tomorrow? What imp? What do you mean they want us to summon something bad?”
“So they can shoot it,” Sketch said.
Rush paused for a long moment, letting that sink in.
“You know what?” he said finally. “Maybe we should wake Daniel up after all. It sounds like I have a lot to catch up on.”
? ? ?
“Rush! Wait, are you back? Like, back back? What’s going on? What time is it anyway?”
Rush and Sketch stood in the doorway of Daniel’s bedroom, watching him stretch in bed and rub the sleep out of his eyes. They had decided to wake him up by liberating a bag of marshmallows from the pantry and taking turns tossing them at his sleeping body, which seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the occasion.
“He’s back,” Sketch confirmed, popping a marshmallow happily into his mouth now that they didn’t need it for ammunition.
“It’s 2:15 in the morning,” Rush added, answering his last question.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Daniel admitted. “Oh, hey! Do the girls know?”
“Nope,” Rush said. “I just got in, but it sounds like a lot’s been going on around here.”
“Oh, man, you have no idea,” Daniel said, rolling out of bed and throwing a pair of jeans on over his boxers. “We better get them.”
“Suit yourself,” Rush said, tossing another marshmallow at him just for fun. “I slept on the plane. And again on the bus. If you guys want to be zombies tomorrow, that’s your problem.”
“Are you kidding?” Daniel said. “Gears would kill me if I didn’t get her. I’ll be right back.”
“OK,” Rush said, holding the marshmallow bag in front of Sketch so he could grab another one and toss it at Daniel’s back as he left.
While Daniel was gone, Rush started to unpack his gaming console, only to discover a new one sitting in the spot where his had been set up before.
“What’s this?” he asked Sketch.
“It’s from downstairs. It’s the one you played on,” Sketch explained. “Daniel got it and hooked it up for me after you left, but I never used it. I didn’t really want to.”
There was an echo in Sketch’s eyes of the pain he had gone through when Rush left, and Rush felt fresh pangs of guilt all over again. He was glad to know, at least, that Daniel really had been looking out for the kid, like he had promised.
“Well, that’s gonna be one of the first things we fix,” Rush declared. “That one’s going back downstairs, and mine’s going right there. OK?”
“OK,” Sketch agreed happily.
Just then, the girls walked through the suite door, and Kaitlyn screamed. It was a subdued, middle of the night sort of scream, to be sure, but a scream nonetheless. She ran right up to Rush and hugged him, grinning from ear to ear.
“Are you back?” she asked excitedly. “Like, back back?”
“Yup,” Rush declared. “And apparently, I got here just in time. You and Daniel have been spending way too much time together.”
Daniel blushed, but Kaitlyn only laughed.