Chapter 28

To Vince’s shock, nothing else emerged from the woods to attack them as they left the lookout area and passed into the tourist trap section of Port Harrington. He did not trust this apparent good luck, though, even as they explained the bizarre situation to Luis.

“Well, whatever’s going on, Rufus doesn’t need to be part of it,” said Luis as the neared Cedar Hill. “He’s a good dog, but not monster fighting material.”

Nanora let out a disappointed moan from the back, where she redoubled her efforts in petting the dog. She accepted his judgement, though.

Vince noticed that at some point in the drive, Rufus had laid down, pressing his body against the unconscious Murphy. Must be those old St. Bernard’s instincts.

There’s bigger worries, though. “We don’t have the time,” said Vince. “Marazza is still out there. We need to get to the tear ASAP.”

“I’m not sending my dog to fight a demon shark that you just told me beat up Nora’s pet monsters,” he retorted as they parked. “You can stay here if you want. Nora, want to come up and see my place? Before you see it after our date, I mean.”

“I will pass this time,” she said, her tone icy. “And next time.”

“Oh please, play hard to get. It’s my favorite.” Luis did not wait for a response, and the van shifted as he stepped out.

Vince felt his worry rise with each moment Luis was gone. Marazza was still out there, and their enemy could summon huge beasts out of nowhere, just like Nanora. Even resuming the journey north did nothing for Vince’s nerves. If it’s another witch, then she’s better at this than Nanora, which…

“Hey, Vince,” said Luis.

Vince’s seatbelt kept him from jumping out of his skin at the unexpected sound. His startled cry echoed through the van.

“Jesus, man,” said Luis. “What’s your problem?”

“Startled me,” he managed, his heart hammering in his chest. “Don’t you think it’s weird how smoothly things are going?”

“That seems obvious to me,” stated Bayla. “You had never heard of the witches or any other magic before. If they are operating in Port Harrington, they have kept themselves hidden. They will leave us alone as long as we are in public.”

“They must be good at keeping themselves secret,” added Nanora from the back. “I’ve had no hint there was any other magic users operating on Fin Island until Princess Wakerider showed up.”

“So you’re saying we’re liable to get ambushed in the farm country, or the forest,” said Vince.

Luis rolled his eyes. “You worry too much, man. Look at me; I just had two monster-horses just about smash up my van, and I’m doing fine.”

“How are you doing fine?” demanded Vince. “You seemed excited when we told you everything about Bayla and Marazza. I’m still shook, and I’m the one who got superpowers from a whale, which sounds like the ravings of a madman now that I said it out loud! I’m way safer than you, in theory.”

“Nandi Bears are pretty low tier cryptids,” he replied. “Especially if they’re Chalicotheres; if they were those gnarly hyena-reptile hybrids Yancy Roberts thought they were, we’d have been in trouble. That’s the difference, man; I knew this was all real. You were delusional the whole time.”

“Delusional?” Vince’s tone of voice rose sharply.

Nanora poked her face over the back of the seat, cutting off Vince’s retort. “I thought you were taking this awfully well. Who is this Yancy Roberts?”

Please don’t.

Vince’s silent prayer went unanswered. “Really, Nora? Someone like you isn’t part of the Yance Clan? I get Mr. Skeptic Vince over there, but you’re an honest-to-God witch. He’s where you get the real news.”

Nanora beamed at him. “I am eager to learn more about the downplane. Where can I meet him?”

Stolen story; please report.

“It’s been a while since he did a meet and greet around here. His politics don’t tend to play well on the west coast, if you feel me.” Luis caught Nanora’s blank look in the rear-view mirror. “Guess you wouldn’t. Anyway, I’ve got the next best thing to a meetup.” A broad grin spread across his face as he pulled over, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I’ve got some of his podcasts saved… here we go, the Cadborosaurus episode from last summer is a pretty good starter.”

Vince wanted to object, but he was almost curious how much Roberts’ ramblings would line up with his new reality. Jesus, what if he was right about everything all these years? I still think I’d rather be in a death coma or insane than that.

“Welcome to Episode One Thousand and Seventy-Nine of the Yancy Roberts show. We say what they won’t, and boy, do we have an exciting show in store for you tonight! Do ancient plesiosaurs roam the Pacific Northwest, and why don’t the powers that be want you to know about it? But before we get started, you need to hear this message about Virtual Private Networks, and a special offer that can keep you safe from them…”

Vince rolled his eyes, as he would several times as the show progressed. Yancy had callers who all swore to have seen the Cadborosaurus, with each story seeming more outlandish than the last. One man had seen it in the distance, and ‘knew for sure it wasn’t no driftwood’, but by the fifth tale, one had ripped a fresh-caught king salmon from his grasp. Vince figured that either Yancy had arranged them that way on purpose, or the callers were listening to the live show and finding ways to one-up each other. It was exciting, though Yancy always found ways to slide in ads for this pill or that supplement between calls.

Nanora gasped in surprise when he got to an ad for the colloidal silver supplements. “Vince, did you take any of those?”

“Yes?” he responded.

“I gave them to him,” said Luis. “I thought he was in trouble, but I wouldn’t have if I’d known you were tracking him.”

Nanora snapped her fingers. “No wonder I lost track of Vince! I thought my ritual had failed. I did not know that downplaners knew about silver’s ability to block magic.”

Vince had to look away; Luis’ smug, ‘I told you so’ grin in the rear-view mirror was insufferable. Maybe I should subscribe… not that I’d tell Luis at this point.

“You still got those pills, man?” asked Luis. “I kinda gave you my only bottle, and if there’s monster sharks and wizards running around, I need all the protection I can get.”

“Hm? Yeah, sure.” He pulled them from his ever-present backpack. He had stowed them there, partly due to lack of better options, and partly because he had not wanted to dignify that as ‘medicine’ by putting it on his shelf.

“You shouldn’t take any, Vince,” said Nanora as Luis downed one of the capsules. “Silver disrupts the natural flow of magic. I don’t know what it would do to a human modified by blackfish magic, but I doubt it would be pleasant.”

“Good to know,” he said. Once Luis had taken his pill, he handed the bottle back to Vince, since his backpack was a convenient spot to store it.

Bayla absorbed the broadcast in silence, though her attention was clearly split. For reasons Vince could not grasp, she kept staring at her hands, flexing and unflexing her fingers.

“You doing alright?” he asked.

She cast a glance at the other riders, shaking her head. “Not in front of them.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. To his surprise, she collapsed like a stringless mannequin, her head resting on his chest. “We’ll get it sorted out.”

“Also, this show is nonsense,” said Bayla. “As if some snake-necked sea drake could fight off two orcas. Their jaws are so tiny! They are fortunate they taste like garbage.”

Vince felt some relief. If she was feeling pride about her species, she must not have been too bad off.

They listened for a while longer as Port Harrington slowly faded away to be replaced by farmland. Vince felt the blood drain from his face as they passed a familiar offroad. “I never told Ma I wasn’t going to be there!”

“What, you don’t have a phone?” asked Luis.

Vince pulled the waterlogged device from his pocket. It was still damp hours after his dip in the surf. “Ruined it saving Bayla.”

“I guess you can borrow mine,” said Luis.

“Wait a moment, that may not be necessary.” Bayla pepped up at the chance to be useful. “Please, allow me to try to fix your magic; you did break it to save me.” She did not wait for his approval, but found she could not pry the slab of glass and metal from his enhanced grip. Her mood instantly soured at the reminder of their changed circumstances. “Let go!”

He relented, and Bayla grasped it in one hand. Yancy Robert’s harangues about central banking faded into the background as a familiar golden glow surrounded his phone. Slowly at first, and then more and more rapidly, the liquid flowed down one arm, across her chest, before forming a sphere in the other. The baseball sized mass carried the silty brown tinge of the surf.

“You better not get that on my seat,” warned Luis.

As soon as Bayla declared the work done, the phone sprang back to life.

Vince felt a smile tug at his lips for the first time in hours. “Bayla, you’re a miracle worker! I didn’t have the money to get a new one.”

He changed his tune quickly; he only had a minute to enjoy his wallpaper (his favorite picture of Zeke) before a dozen missed calls and texts flowed in, all from Ava.

Vince stifled a curse; there were ladies present, and specifically one lady who would nag him about it.

His screen had not been so immaculate since he had bought it, which was how he caught a glimpse of movement behind him. The warning came too late, and something hard and metallic pressed against the back of his head.

“Pull the hell over,” spat Sergeant Murphy. “You’re all under arrest, obviously.”