Eighty-two.
It took him eighty-two trips as he looked at the last two kids still waiting for him. He held the two cloaks, not nearly having enough and needing to ferry a handful back and forth each time so they were ready when he came up. He did not need any more cloaks left, stuffing the extra in a sack to trudge back down with him.
Unlike the cloaks, all the candies were eaten. Norbert assumed some kids would not want to make the journey even if their supposed leader was taking it. Shrugging to himself, he looked at the last two kids. “You his right-hand man, Mord?” Norbert asked, surprised to see the young kid still here. He had expected someone of that age not to be organising so much and to have gone earlier.
Mord shrugging partially in response “Someone has to be.”
Norbert looked him up and down, seeing the boy properly for the first time. The squat muscles were hidden under the cloak, and Norbert stared down at the boy coming to his hip. “How old are you?”
A shrug in response to Norbert’s question.
“Just luck that you fall into the position?” Norbert asked.
“Work and chance. Haven’t believed in luck for a long time, not until you appeared at least.” Mord told Norbert.
The kid next to them was yawning, one of the oldest people Norbert had seen. The boy was at least sixteen years old, not properly called a child.
“Well, I guess this one is getting tired of the lack of movement, and everyone else is waiting, so let’s head off,” Norbert said, turning himself around and heading down the pathway he was so used to taking now. He looked around as the two kids followed after him. There were still some hanging about, but at least these were no longer coughing or looking sickly.
“Anyone else wants to come with me?” Norbert asked around, his voice echoing as he waited and stayed still. “Last call, not coming back here to pick anyone else up!” Norbert shouted out loud, letting any other kids have a chance to climb on the Norbert train.
“Don’t bother, the rest have moved off to places they think are better.” The older kid spat out to Norbert. Surprised by the croaking voice with such venom, sounding closer to an old man who smoked way to much rather than someone half way through being a teenager.
Giving one last shrug of his shoulders, his consciousness now abated in turmoil over possibly leaving one of them behind; Norbert made his way back through the city. The spot they were now in was much quieter than the first time he came here. There were no more sounds of people moving about, just the quietness of an emptied city.
***
Stopping at the bar, Norbert sat on the seat as he looked towards Brezan. So. The sun was starting to set on the day with the amount of time it took, unable consistently to carry the kids and needed to take the long way being streets and not leaping over houses and buildings.
“Last one?” The bartender asked Norbert, sliding a drink towards him.
Norbert nodded his head in thanks, placed the glass to his lip, and drank the clear liquid. He was happy to find it was just water, as his slightly parched throat from the running around he did for the day under the sun was finally being quenched.
Finishing the glass in a gulp, Norbert gently placed it down on the bar as he went up, heading to the stairs once more. The other patrons did not care for Norbert and his musings, having already gotten used to the man in the sun hat walking around with kids on his heels.
Standing at the stairs, Norbert shouted, “Any word from Vivienne?” Norbert asked.
Brezan shook his head. “No, were you expecting anything?”
“Nope, which was why I was expecting something,” Norbert said.
The half-skeleton looked at Norbert, a confused expression painting his face. Norbert just waved his hand in dismissal as he walked down the sandstone steps, finally getting to the slide one last time for the day.
“How many people do you know?” Mord asked Norbert.
Norbert looked at the boy, shrugging his shoulders. “Enough to get stuff done,” Norbert replied, not wanting to count the small list of people that he knew. Sometimes, keeping things a mystery was for the better, a skill that he should really be working on with others, and not just random kids he helps out in cities.
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Coming to the storage once again, Norbert found the trap door open. Nobody saw the point of closing it with Norbert’s many passages he had done that day. As he counted down, waiting in case anyone else had just been, Norbert turned to his last two people under his care.
“There’s a slide down there. Bundle your hands in. When you see the lower city, try and slow yourself down. If you don’t, its fine; I’ll catch you.” Norbert recited his spiel that he was now used to saying. After the first several being scared, Norbert had slightly refined it for the next groups.
“Anyone want to go with me?” Norbert asked, looking at the two kids. Neither of them stepped forward. Standing over the hole, Obsius went off his shoulder as he looked at them. “It's best to invert your cloaks here.”
With that, Norbert jumped down, waving his hand and holding his sun hat on his head, and plunged into darkness. Twisting his body around so his back would be on the slide, Norbert raced down, thankful for the brief moment of peace he had on the trip when he didn’t need to do anything but sit and wait.
The city lights opened up around him, waking him from his serenity, having a quick look at the guards, who both waved him down. Norbert slightly wondered what they were there for, maybe assistance when required or to stop people coming up the wrong way, but still, Norbert was thankful for the company.
Levelling out and coming to a stop, Norbert stepped out, waving over to the guards as he stretched his back out the same way he had done multiple times before.
“Last time?” One of them called out.
Norbert smiles, nodding in return, “You're going to be sorry not to see this mug around here anymore.”
“Heh, that’s what you think, and one of them are coming down.” The guard Norbert didn’t know their name said to him.
Nodding in thanks Norbert trained his eyes, watching as one came down, Norbert seeing it was Mord as the small boy’s cloak was in the air, a rainbow flag flapping in the wind.
Seeing the kid try and slow down, end up going feet overhead as Norbert waited for them to slow down, happy not to see any blood coming out.
Mord finally stopped as Norbert picked him up, placing him on the side as he looked around. Several bruises were already coming out in the tumble. Holding the boy's face up, tears started to well in his eyes as Norbert just patted his head, holding it into his body so the boy could cry his tears if needed.
The next flash of colour came down, and this one was not trying at all to stop as the kid shot down, not slowing down at all. Leaning down, Norbert grabbed the kid by his shirt, feeling it strain and tear slightly from the force as he held him up, thankful that the big one didn’t hit their head, not wanting to look like a complete kidnapper with one crying and the other unconsciousness over his shoulder.
Picking him up, Norbert gently placed him down, feeling the boy take his own weight as he stepped off. He waved to the two guards to once more make his way through the city.
Obsius followed down, landing on his shoulder. The bird chirped in annoyance at needing to fly down the dark tunnel.
“At least this is the last time you will be by yourself today. Just cuddle up to me next time.” Norbert said to the bird.
Obvious tweeted in response, moved about, and finally sat down, waiting for the bumpy ride to the casino to be finished. Norbert began walking off, waving to the two guards who stood watch as he made his way down the stone stairs, stalactites above him as he danced around the lower city.
***
Walking up the casino steps, Norbert was not even getting a look from the bodyguards on the outside anymore. Both were just letting Norbert pass as others were stopped, some of them not knowing of Norbert’s many trips and asking why he was able to walk through.
Slightly snickering to him, if only they knew how often he had to walk past and get checked to be able to walk in like this they wouldn’t be complaining at all.
Heading to the doorway, Norbert once more said, "There's an Invisible door up ahead. You just need to walk through the walls.” He reached for both hands; both of them trying to wriggle their way out, but Norbert did not let them as he continued barrelling through the doorway and into the hallway with the torches around it.
No waiters on the other side were waiting for him, something Norbert was thankful for as he let go of the still-resisting boys, walking forward as he made a beeline for the spiral staircase on the right-hand side. Making his way down for the final time of the day, he could navigate the steps with his eyes closed and backwards, something he tried once to the humour of the two kids that were tailing him that time.
At the bottom, Norbert looked over the crowd of children, the workers being pushed further and further away as humanity took up their space. With his arrival, everything seemed to quiet down. Count von Count had become a playground for the children, using his blood as slides and whatnot to entertain them. Norbert stood there still as the vampire slowly realised he had arrived.
"Is that the last one?" The nanny vampire asked Norbert.
"Yep, last one," Norbert said aloud.
There was a groan of relief from both the workers and the nanny. Norbert made his way through, coming to where he believed the operator was.
"All set?" Norbert asked,
The man grumbled, "It was all set a while ago. This one didn't want to start the process until you returned."
Norbert looked to who the undead worker was pointing to, the face of Korn sticking out of the crowd as the boy slowly made his way over to Norbert.
"Whelp, now that we're here, I guess it's time to begin. So, are you all set up?" Norbert asked, pointing at the portal.
Receiving a nod from the undead worker's head, annoyed that the person running this operation didn’t have a pair of ears on him. Norbert stepped through, feeling the jitteriness in his body pulsing through him. After the stretch, making it out on the other side, Norbert looked, seeing the familiar doorway there, the human workers around him setting him at ease.
"A lot of bodies are going to be coming through, so make space!" Norbert shouted out, not replying as he went through again to begin the procession.