--==Chapter 30: Useless.--==

"Why did crows attack us, and why are you with Oberon?" Nia asked Sori.

"I speak for Oberon," Sori said from my shoulder.

"Why? What does he want?" Denis interjected.

"To answer questions," Sori said. "To ask questions."

"And the crows?" Anderson prodded.

"The crows are a hive mind. They want to turn Jessica and Alice into more crows."

"That's insane," Denis said. "They're dead."

But Anderson was already nodding. "It's the time loop, I bet. Somehow, it's related."

Sori told them that crows and monsters would keep attacking Alice and Jessica until they became monsters themselves, which wasn't exactly my understanding. It seemed to me like there were two likely results. Crowseph's murder could kill the trauma monsters and use the memory crystals to bring Jessica and Alice's minds into Crowseph's swarm. Alternatively, the trauma monsters could torment Jessica and Alice until they can take control and become like Crowseph. Or so the bird butler had claimed, and the specifics were well beyond me.

"Oberon can save them. But he needs to find something he lost," Sori said. "It looks like a shadow, except it will let you walk inside."

Tell them I can also help Maebe if I can find the shadow.

You can? Sori asked, sounding surprised.

I mean. Probably right? Crowseph said this has happened to someone before. He called them 'empty' and claimed it was done by my shadow to remove the trauma. I don't know if it's the same with Maebe, but it would make sense.

"We believe we can help Maebe, too, if we can find Oberon's Shadow."

"'Called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him,'" a new voice said with that odd humming inflection people use when quoting scripture.

A man walked into the room from the hall on the right. "Hello, Oberon," said a person I had no memory of.

"Hello," Sori said for me. "My name is Sori. His real name is-."

"I don't care about your name, demon. The only name with any power is Jesus Christ."

"Buck?" Anderson said. "I thought you'd made it out."

"Hey," Buck said, flashing a smile and walking over to hug Anderson. He was decent-looking, with glossy brown hair, broad shoulders, and semi-fit. He gave off a Fraternity-bro vibe despite being roughly middle-aged. I blamed his tight polo shirt and khaki pants.

He clapped a reassuring hand on Denis's shoulder as he walked by and knelt down beside Nia. He looked sadly at the sheet-covered people and lowered his head. "I'm sorry for their suffering, but we can take solace knowing that they're with the Lord."

"But Alice will come back, right?" Nia asked. "The day will start over, and we can save her. That's what Sori said. And we found this note card that says the day is looping, and I can almost remember it."

"Sh, hush, child. Don't listen to the lies of the devil. Trust in the peace of the Lord. They will return when the Lord opens the gates of heaven in the east and calls the rest of us home. Your sister will be with you then."

As he comforted them, Buck didn't let me out of his line of sight. His eyes moved between Sori and me, "From Revelations: 'And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.' Be gone from this place, demon. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." His voice raised as he went on, and he reached behind his back to pull a gun and point it at me.

In the name of Jesus, indeed.

The others became suddenly alert and cried out various things. Nia told him to leave me alone. Anderson protested that I hadn't done anything to warrant pointing a gun. Denis was quiet.

"They're tools of the devil. You're a good girl, Nia, but that thing isn't Scooby-Doo, and you aren't Velma. It's a demon that has lied so much that God stole its voice. Why else would he need the unnatural bird? Don't trust it; it's an ancient evil, older than man. It knows how to deceive."

I managed to roll my eyes instinctively. Oh, surprise, surprise, someone using religion to justify violence and hate. I thought.

Sori shortened it to. "you're a cliché," which sounded bitchier than I wanted, but it fit. I was still using an illusion on Denis, but this guy was more hostile than Denis was.

"Satan, demon, devil spawn, unnatural miscreation. If you want to keep breathing, you'll do it outside this hospital." Buck said.

"Fuck off," Sori said for me. Being shot hurt, and I wasn't thrilled at the idea of being shot again, but I didn't think even this jerk would shoot while kneeling next to Nia.

I started considering what Buck felt toward me, planning to switch my illusion's target. He was open enough about his feelings that it shouldn't be hard.

Uh, Sam, you may want to avoid letting go of the illusion on Denis right now. Sometimes, there's a backlash when your glamour gets challenged. You told Denis you were an innocent puppy, but Buck is reminding Denis of the fear and anger he felt before, Sori said in my mind.

Your illusions kind of suck.

It's not mind control. You just have to learn to use it better. One-on-one, it works great.

Yeah, I can tell. Would I be talking to you at all without your illusion influencing me?

What illusion? I'm a bird. Birds can't do illusions. If you still think of me as a friend, that's all you. Well, and me. I mean, I am pretty cool.

If I couldn't use glamour to get Buck to relax, I'd need to change tactics. Even if he believed me when I told him I was looking for a shadow, there was no way he'd believe it wasn't something evil.

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"We're looking for a friend, a cop named Jon," Sori said. If no one knew where the shadow was—or wouldn't tell me—I'd move on to my main goal of finding my friend.

"Are you leaving?" Nia asked, sounding uncertain.

"There's none here for you, so go elsewhere," Buck said, never lowering his weapon. "Don't worry, child. I was sent for you."

"No one knows where Officer Jon is?" I asked again through Sori, looking at everyone but paying close attention to Nia.

For Nia, it would have been only hours since Jon and I had given her a ride here. But that also meant hours since her dad had disappeared right before her eyes. I didn't know how much she remembered, but I didn't want to dredge it up more than I had to. I didn't need Tickles to know it was traumatizing. After talking to Crowseph, though, I worried what would happen if that memory was allowed to torment her.

"Fine. We'll leave," Sori said. "For now," he added as I nodded at Nia.

Then, turning to Buck, I had Sori say, "Bring her to her mom." Not because I expected him to do my bidding, but because I was guessing that was why he was here, and I was betting it would annoy him.

"Demon. Stay out of my head." Buck said, adjusting his aim on me.

"You know where my mom is?" Nia asked Buck.

"She's right where she's meant to be, leading the faithful in prayer in the chapel. God told her you were up here and needed her. She sent me to get you, all of you. Not the demons, of course."

The guy was an asshole and clearly overconfident about what was happening. That said, if they had people gathered in the chapel, it was probably safe as could be found. In any case, I'd done what I could for their group. If I wanted to do more, I needed to find my shadow. Sori suggested I check places where I knew I'd died. I needed allies who trusted me, a place to look for my shadow, and a place to look for Jon before I lost the use of Sori's crow. It just so happened I knew where I could find all three.

"Oberon promises to do what he can for your sister and Jessica," Sori said for me. "Fine, fine, fine. He also says his name is Sam, and if you find Jon, you should tell him that. If you find the shadow, you should write where on that note card with the crystal."

It would be nice to see the Gremlins again. The world was mad, and I just needed it to not be my problem for a minute. Since I couldn't make that happen with a wave of my hand, I'd at least try to enjoy what I could.

The gremlins were fun, and even if Jon wasn't waiting over there, they were cute and welcoming, and that alone would go a long way to lift my spirits. If Jon did show up shooting, I could use another of my force-field buttons to stay alive and have Sori tell him I was me.

If nothing else, I could at least make sure I hadn't left a shadow lying around over there. I doubted it, considering someone had to have used the shadow on Maebe—unless she did it to herself somehow. Either way, it didn't fit the behavior I'd seen from the gremlins.

I shrugged Anderson's golf bag off my shoulder and placed it on the ground in front of me. "You should arm yourselves," Sori said. "There's monsters all over the place." Then I removed the baseball bat and walked backward out the lobby entrance, never turning my back on Buck. I didn't trust him not to shoot me the moment I looked away.

Walking across the parking lot, I made my way to the little makeshift hut. It looked more built up than the last time I'd seen it. It was later in the day, so I supposed that made sense. Did they spend the whole day making a house, only to have to start over each loop?

"Oberon!" a basso voice cried, and my mouth opened in a rare natural doggy grin rather than the one I put on. Two little gremlin things came galumphing out of the hut, skip-galloping on two legs like the weird little creatures they were chirping excitedly to each other.

"You make more shapes?" one of the mottled creatures said in a rich, deep-throated voice.

"You bring scary man? His stick too loud!" the other Gremlin rumbled.

"Why you have stupid bird?"

"Stupid crow birds take pretty rock."

"I'm a smart crow-bird. I left other birds, and now I speak for Oberon." Sori said.

"Bird is Oberon's voice?" One of the Gremlins said. I still couldn't tell them apart.

"Talking bird for Oberon!" the other Gremlin cheered, and they danced excitedly for a moment before abruptly stopping a horrified look on its rodent face. "Bird draw pictures for Oberon?" One of them rumbled with a tilt of its head.

In answer, I took a golf club out and used the handle to draw in the dust in front of their home.

I drew a square in the dirt to act as a canvas. "What should he draw?" Sori asked for me.

"A square!" one of them squeaked.

I looked between the eager gremlins and the square I'd just drawn. "Tada!" Sori said, pointing a wing at the dirt.

The two gremlins jumped and cheered, and I was glad I'd come out here. I kept an eye out over my shoulder, half expecting to see Jon lining up a shot, but even if he didn't show up, I needed this break.

For now, the parking lot was empty, and I could enjoy the simple fun. It reminded me of playing with kittens or puppies too young and innocent to be skittish, just purely curious about everything and always looking for ways to play.

I wondered what they were—where they came from. I almost didn't want to ask; I just wanted to appreciate the moment of peace. Well, I could at least be polite. "Do you have names?"

"Husband," one of the pear-shaped and vaguely humanoid creatures said.

"Wife," the other Gremlin said.

I remembered Husband had said that before, but I hadn't realized he was saying their names.

"What bird Name?"

"Bird is Sori"

"Why? What bird do?"

It suddenly occurred to me that if they did have something to do with the apocalypse—not that I could really believe it of them—then they might know something about Sori and vice versa.

Sori, what are these guys?

Husband and Wife? Traditional? Adorable? What are you looking for here, Sam?

I mean, where did they come from?

When a mommy Gremlin and a daddy Gremlin love each other-

Okay. I mean, are they like Crowseph, a result of the apocalypse, or like you, part of the cause.

Aw, come on, look at those guys. They don't exactly look like world-enders, Sam.

You don't know, do you?

I do not.

Useless.

--==