Chapter 32

Hamster Wheel

I couldn’t believe it but it was just like Angelia said. We’d left an impression on those that stuck around to watch the full display.

“You are AWESOME! I’ll do whatever you say!”

“Can I have your babies? That punch made me weeeeet.”

Okay, that one was a bit much, super gross. I’ll pretend I didn’t read that.

But the next one was worse.

“You’re amazing! It’s so nice of you to team up with that noob girl!”

Jesus help me. I rubbed my forehead, the beginnings of a migraine forming. So much for that miracle cure.

“They love us,” Stephen said, his smile growing the more he read.

“They love you.” I exited out of my inbox. I couldn’t stomach anymore.

“They’ll love you, too. They’ll get over the helmet thing,” Stephen said. He sounded so sure.

“Ehhh," Angelia said. “Maybe.”

She did wonders for my confidence levels. But I couldn’t complain too much, even if I wasn’t a huge fan of my role in the whole thing, we were way ahead of where we started. I just had to smile and bare it. Even though no one can really see my smile inside the fishbowl.

“Whatever,” I finally said. “So, what now?”

“Tomorrow, we meet your adoring fans. We will mass reply to their message, nothing fancy, gotta be a bit mysterious, and tell them where to meet.”

“The clearing again?” Stephen asked.

Angelia shook her head mid sip, spilling some of the pink drink onto the table. She wiped it away with her hand. “No, I don’t think so. We need somewhere more remote. Not quite so in the open.”

I made eye contact with Stephen. “Should we go back where it all started?”

He groaned. “Do we have to?”

“We don’t have to go all the way in, just the entrance to the cave. But, really, nothing evil should be in there anymore. It’s all out and killing us every day.”

“We don’t know that for sure. But we can bring any item we want now. If I see anymore of those damn vines I’ll burn the fuck out of them.” He grinned with an evil glee. “On second thought, let’s definitely go there.”

I laughed and brought up the map of the game over the table. “Do you remember where it was? I'm not really good with–”

“There.” Stephen marked a place.

“You’re sure?” It seemed right, I examined its surroundings and there was an area that looked like where my drill came out and the crazed girl continued her attack on me. But, again, not great with directions or maps.

“Positive.”

Angelia leaned forward. “Care to share with the class?”

I gestured to the marking. “That’s where the eldritch horror escaped from. Uhh, me and Stephen… might have been the cause of it. But it’s a cave. I figure we could gather people in there. It should hold a dozen.”

She scratched her chin then smiled. “Okay! Perfect. I’ll take that.” She snatched up the map and brought it into her own menu.

“I’m attaching the marker, and… how about something like… ‘This marks the beginning of the end of our struggling.’”

I scrunched up my nose but Stephen spoke first. “Ehh, that’s a little–”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Sent!” She sat back and crossed her fingers on the table, swining her legs that probably couldn’t even touch the ground.

“Angelia, shouldn’t we work together on the messages?” I asked.

“We can if you want. But I know what I’m doing.” She noticed my expression. “I see that I’m bothering you.” She glanced at Stephen. “Both of you. Okay, I’m sorry. You’re right. I should consult you both for everything from now on. I get a little carried away. I’m sorry.”

I was a little shocked. I hadn’t said any of my real feelings and she just completely solved the thing herself. “So this is what mad social skills look like huh?” I asked.

“Yeah. A lot of me talking to myself and figuring stuff out before the other person talks.”

“We’re a team though, you know? You don’t have to do everything for us.” I said. Stephen was silent so I kicked him under the table.

“R-right!” He blurted out. “We want to be a part of everything.”

She nodded. “Noted. So, here is the battle plan for tomorrow…”

The more she talked the deeper I sank into the booth.

#

I would love to focus on the psychic training, anything to put off talking about what came later that day, but… not much happened. The only thing of note, was, after telling Kenzo about the branches and the tree:

“You lifted it onto your shoulders before she activated the machine? That is still incredibly impressive. I know being in the thick of things can boost abilities, but to go from the branches to a whole tree… that’s not something to scoff at. It’s time to graduate from feathers.”

Boulders were next. We got a big one each, that came up to the middle of our chests and I could wrap my arms around it and probably not be able to grab my hands on the other side. Big hulking rocks.

We worked the full three or four hours trying to move them. We got close, managing to shake them like mad, lift for like a centimeter and then it would drop back down. He then told us to focus on one rock, together. We lifted it by a foot.

[ Level up!

{Levitation}: Level 3 -> 5

{Levitation} Cost down:

50 -> 25 per thirty seconds ]

We could have gone beyond that, but our time ran out. Which, unfortunately, also means I have run out of material with which to put off the embarassing ass plan our glorious mastermind planned for us.

When we got to the cave, Angelia was already there. She waved to us. “Hurry, hurry! Someone could show up any second!”

I walked slower, out of spite. To my surprise, Stephen matched me. “Hey. Are you sure you won’t take off that helmet? It’s not too late. You can be the face. It should be you. Every crazy predicament we’ve gotten into since we’ve met… you got us out of all of them. I helped, sure, but you… it should be you.”

I'm not sure what expression I made, I didn’t know what I felt, just a hodge podge of emotions and mixed feelings. But, my fishbowl hid all of those conflictions.

“It’s okay. I’m not taking off the helmet. Please stop asking me that. But I’ll play along.” He nodded and started to turn away but I grabbed his arm. “But Stephen… thanks. What you said means a lot.”

He smiled. “Of course, I’m serious. You’re, like, the hamster wheel of this partnership.”

That took me aback. “Why, cause you walk all over me?”

“No, because you keep us rolling,” He said with a grin.

I laughed and though I would never admit it, I think I teared up a little. “That’s maybe the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. How did you come up with that?”

“I’m a writer, remember?” He winked.

We sped up, still laughing. “You know, you keep saying that but I’ve never read anything you’ve written.”

He started to reply but we made it to the cave and Angelia grabbed him and yanked him inside. “Enough talking! We need to get ready!”

The moment of peace and acceptance burst a little. Even if I felt better about my role, I still had to play it.

“Darcy, did you bring the chair? Put it right here.” Angelia knocked on the ground near the entrance of the cave.

“What? It needs to be back inside further.”

“I changed my mind. I think it will be cooler for the peons to gather outside. Only you guys are special enough to be in the cave. In their heads, subconsciously, they will elevate you. Trust me.” She kicked the spot again. “Hurry!”

I groaned but did as she asked, clicking on the chair in my inventory and placing it down in the exact spot she wanted. To call it a chair was underselling it. It was a throne, pure black, and decked out in strange swirls. I always thought it looked like a Tim Burton creation but my mom always denied that was her inspiration for it.

Yeah, my mom owned a homemade gothic throne. For… some reason. She had these weird moments where she would swivel from her coding and decide she needed to do something more… Earth-like. Something that the Interverse couldn’t classify. So she turned to art. She made all kinds of weird stuff. Tie dyed shirts, wool shirts and scarfs–all vastly outdated things that no one in the Interverse wore anymore.

The throne though… that was a whole other level of weird. It’d just been in storage, collecting digital dust. Today it was at least going to get some use.

Angelia and Stephen were a flurry of movement as they worked out everything else that was needed. While they did that, I ran my hand on the throne. It’d been a long time since I’d seen it. The throne of loops and swirls, a chair of lashing darkness.

I wondered if it meant anything. Wondered if it represented something. Her darkness, her sadness. Without thinking about it, I sat down. Still extremely uncomfortable.

“Darcy!” Angelia hissed. “What are you doing, someone could see! Move!”

She pushed me out of the chair and my fishbowl bounced off the side of the cave. I glared at her but, she was right–I could see people in the distance.

I took up my designated spot behind it. I glanced over my shoulder to see Stephen’s progress and–

“Oh my god.”

Where had my lanky nerd gone?