Jeremy Chikalto and the Demon Trace (Book III of The Hazy Souls) (3 page)

Jeremy tensed in his restraints.

But just then Maren rounded the corner,
escorted by three soldiers.

"Maren!" shouted Jeremy.

"Jeremy!" Maren's eyes widened and she
smiled with relief.

The guard nearest Jeremy sneered. "Okay,
you've seen your precious, now talk."

"I want to... touch her one last time."

"How romantic! I'm getting choked up,
fellas!" said the peanut gallery. The soldiers snickered.

Now Maren piped up, sensing Jeremy's plan.
"If I could just hold his hand for a second? Please?"

"What a couple of disgusting saps!" One of
Maren's guards spat on the ground. "Come on then, graze fingertips
or whatever the hell you need to do." He led her to Jeremy's cell
and everyone waited for the show. Maren's fingers slipped through
the bars and made contact. Jeremy locked eyes with her, smiled, and
a second later, she was floating unconscious in the Haze. The
wounds on his arm shrank away and the electric throbbing of his
knee vanished. He exhaled slowly and pulled Maren through again to
a better spot on Watico.

They were in a dusky forest of dismow trees
with an underbrush of ferns and moss. Maren drowsily came to while
Jeremy stroked her cheeks.

"I'm invincible, Maren."

"No one is invincible," said Maren. "I need
to sleep."

Jeremy wrapped his arms around her and they
drifted off under the stars.

The next morning, Jeremy woke up early and
began gathering suitable wood to build a makeshift shelter. He used
a small tree with a sturdy branch as one of his anchors, and then
leaned the other pieces of wood up against it, creating a nook.
Then, he covered it in ferns. Maren smiled at their hut.

"I'm going to leave you again. I need you to
hide in here until I get back." Jeremy held his hand up at Maren's
protest. "I'm getting some supplies. We need water, food, that sort
of thing. I want to minimize the Haze; it's taking a toll on your
health. Lyrna will stay with you until I get back."

And Jeremy was gone. Maren waited for a time
in silent repose, but then rose and began to pace. She had spent
the better part of her youth in the Farmoore Galaxy studying to be
an Earth Studies scholar. She knew that the University of Gilk had
an extensive collection of Earthen religious texts. Maybe the
answers were already in books, somewhere. How would they live out
the remainder of their days? Was that something they could even
control?

Jeremy appeared in front of her with two
backpacks and handed her one. She opened it up and saw a new outfit
folded on top. "Thanks." Maren reached past the black studded
leggings and tan tunic and grabbed a bottled water.

“So I found a place,” said Jeremy. “It's
just through there.” He pointed behind him through the thick of the
forest.

Maren finished her water
bottle and then squirreled it away inside her backpack. “I can't
throw this onto the beautiful forest floor. Where we're
going
—
does it
have recycling?”

“It does.” Jeremy laughed and then led Maren
to a recently abandoned house. Though compact, it stood three
stories high, and looked as pretty as the flowering trees beside
it. It was painted a soft yellow and the shutters were mint green.
Vespian engravings on the front door meant that it was an old
house, possibly built during the reign of Vor Paul Chikalto II.
Jeremy ran inside and then gestured with an air of coolness,
leaning nonchalantly against a black coat rack. “Shower's upstairs,
hot mess.”

Maren showered, dressed, and then found
herself seated across from the Cajjez in the dining room. She
rolled a stress ball between her hands. "Jeremy, I think you should
give the public an explanation."

Jeremy remained silent.

Maren walked to a window and pulled back the
curtain. Outside, the smoke was rolling over the hills to the east.
"Why do people set fires and destroy things when they want
answers?" She shivered. “You need to show them your demons."

"I would cause a mass panic."

"People would be frightened, but you are
powerful enough to enforce order. This chaos is far more
dangerous."

Jeremy considered this, but shook his head.
"It's not safe to sleep here tonight. They're probably canvassing
the area." A smile spread across Jeremy's face. "How about we go
somewhere with palm trees?"

Maren squinted at him. "Leviathan
Island...?"

"Something like that. We'll rest, then find
our parents. For sure." He held his hand out to her and she
cautiously accepted.

Jeremy zipped through the Haze, pulling out
at intervals for Maren's sake. His demons followed at his heels
like gruesome puppies, despite Lyrna's hisses and spats. At last,
Jeremy arrived at his destination. Thankfully, his demons stayed
behind in the Haze.

Maren felt the warm, fresh air fill her
lungs. There was no smoke here, instead the smells of rich food.
Her eyes fluttered open. They were sitting on a pale beach abutting
a blue ocean, with sunbathers cooking on towels nearby, high rises
in the background, and the noontime sun overhead. Jeremy de-shoed
his feet and worked the sand with his toes.

"I've borrowed some money just now from that
nice gentleman over there." Jeremy pointed to a tall, rounded
gentleman in a fashionable wide-brimmed hat. "And she helped
finance our fun, too." Jeremy nodded at an older lady, clinking
martinis with friends.

"You stole from them. Where are we?" asked
Maren.

Jeremy laughed and made off into the
crowd.

Chapter 4

That Day and Hour

An hour later and Jeremy and Maren were
checking in at Vista Marina, an all-inclusive resort overlooking
the Mediterranean Sea.

"Your plan is Barcelona, Spain?" Maren
stepped into the elevator.

"Stress clouds my judgement. We need to
catch our breath." Jeremy pressed the button for the 10th
floor.

Their room was a spacious suite with yellow
deco walls. Lizard paintings slithered on the stone masonry,
flowing along the walls to the outside balcony. Maren plopped onto
a green sofa. "This is nice."

"Remember when we were six, and you told me
that if you swim deep enough in the ocean, you disappear?"

"I don't remember saying something that
creepy."

"'Well, that's a shame. I thought you were
on to something."

Jeremy sat on the couch, lifting Maren's
feet and placing them on his lap. "I actually had my castle
engineer design me a deep sea diving suit because of that
conversation."

Maren cooed and sunk deeper into the
cushions. "I want cake."

"You deserve some cake."

"Hot chocolate."

"That too. I hear it's quite good in Spain."
Jeremy jumped to his feet.

"No." Maren pushed Jeremy back onto the
couch. "I'd like to go by myself."

He raised an eyebrow.

"For vacation, I'd like cake, hot chocolate,
and to feel safe enough to walk the streets by myself."

Jeremy nodded. “Sounds nice.”

While Maren was out, Jeremy lay on the bed,
willing his demons to enter Earth's atmosphere, disappear, then
reappear again. He settled on their absence, but wished the entire
connection was severed. When the demons had been gone for a while,
Lyrna poofed onto the bed, her head cocked to the side.

"Meow?" Lyrna leapt onto Jeremy's lap and he
nuzzled her under the chin.

“I need a few drinks to loosen up.”

“Drinks stink.”

“Drinks do not stink, Lyrna.”

Lyrna puffed slightly, then disappeared.

In a flash, Jeremy was downstairs. He walked
up to a hotel employee. "Where is the bar my good man?"

The concierge smiled. "The ground level by
the pool." His Spanish accent was thick, but his English was
impeccable.

"Why thank you." Jeremy followed the signs
for the pool. He strolled down a winding staircase that led outside
and breathed in the fresh salt air. Jeremy slid past the large
in-ground pool and made his way to the tiki bar. He drummed on the
counter and admired the gin and tonic the bartender was making. She
juiced an orange slice over the dry liquor.

“Yes, señor?” She slid the drink to another
patron and smiled at Jeremy.

Jeremy disappeared behind the air and
reappeared behind the bar. He snatched the top-shelf champagne,
scotch, bourbon, and something sweet-looking in a bejeweled flask.
The bartender gasped, and he was gone.

Back in the hotel room, Jeremy was lounging
on the couch, sipping champagne. Then the door opened and an amused
Maren came in.

"Maren, look at what I've got." Jeremy
hopped off the couch and pulled a purple sheet dramatically off his
stash of goods. The champagne bottle teetered and Jeremy dove
towards it. "Oops!" He steadied it and faced Maren.

"Very nice," she said. Maren placed her cake
next to the bottles, along with grapes, salsa, chips, guacamole and
cheese.

Together they feasted, indulged, and
imbibed. After a few toasts, they reclined in their chairs on the
balcony and watched the sun set.

"We should just live here. I'll bring our
families, we'll live in obscurity; it'll be beautiful.

"When we find them we will," replied Maren,
stretching her arms overhead.

Jeremy took another sip. “I was sitting with
Lyrna earlier and it made me think.... I could find a suitable ball
of fluff with supernatural dimension-crossing powers just for you.
They come in handy in times of Apocalypse."

Maren swiped Jeremy's glass from his hand
and dumped the bubbly liquid down her throat. "What spirit animal
would suit me?"

"A fox."

Maren smiled.

"You're cunning and your feet are so small."
Jeremy picked up one of Maren's feet and kissed it. "I've always
loved your feet."

"Thank you. I've always enjoyed your..."
Maren slinked over to Jeremy's seat and sat on his lap. "Your
voice.”

“Well I am an
intergalactic singer
—
”

“Yes, but I mean the way you talk. There's a
soothing quality to it. And when you speak low, there's a slight
gravely edge. When I'm close,” she lifted his shirt up and pressed
her cheek against his chest, “I can feel the vibrations.”

"Tipsy Maren is very bold."

She leaned forward and began to kiss his
chest, working her way down. She stopped just above the top button
of his jeans.

Jeremy sighed and slid his fingers through
Maren's hair. He pulled her face to his, cradling her chin
delicately in his fingertips, and kissed her.

The next morning, Maren woke up first. Her
eyes would open, but she would drift back into the feather
mattress. She dreamt of milk in a bucket, which was divided into
quadrants, one red, one blue, one yellow, and one green. The
surface of the milk thickened, as all the cream rose to the top.
Then she saw that the sky was falling, and the cream evaporated. In
dreams, the Haze mixed with the mind and told riddles.

At last, Maren sat upright
and rubbed her eyes. She looked beside her at
Jeremy
—
her
Jeremy. She leaned forward and brushed his cheek. Then someone
screamed outside and she jumped. Jeremy jolted up in
bed.

Maren crept to the window. An old woman was
outside in the alley between the white buildings, sobbing, her face
in her hands. A frowning man walked over to her and put his arm
around her shoulder, and they disappeared together inside a
high-rise hotel across the street. Maren let out a breath of air
she'd been holding and looked to Jeremy.

"I hope everything is all right," he offered
in a hushed voice. He slid out of bed and wrapped his arms around
Maren. "We're still on vacation."

Two hours later, they decided on snorkeling.
The hotel was strangely empty, and there was no concierge at the
desk downstairs. They left the hotel and walked down the street
towards the beach, a block away. Before hitting the sand, they
stopped at a surf shop to rent some gear. The shop was small and
colorful, with baskets full of sea shells and pretty stones by the
door, and jewelry displayed in a large wooden chest in the center
of the room. Surf boards, flippers, snorkels, masks, and floats
lined the walls, and a TV was positioned above the counter. The
shopkeeper wouldn't look them in the eye, and absently handed them
flippers, masks, and snorkels. As Jeremy and Maren left the shop,
they heard a muffled cry. Maren gave Jeremy a worried smile.

The beach was empty, and the sun was making
them pleasantly hot. Jeremy pulled out the flippers, masks, and
snorkels from his backpack while Maren stripped to her bathing
suit. Jeremy pretended not to watch. They donned their gear and
flip-flopped like a couple of penguins into the halcyon ocean.

The water was brisk, blue and calm, but they
were kicking up too much sand and scaring away the fish.

"Let's go over there." Maren flippered
forward and swam into the vastness. Jeremy followed her. They went
farther out, until their flippers couldn't reach the ocean floor.
The ocean around them was indigo.

"Not scared?" asked Jeremy.

"Nope." Maren ducked below the water.

Jeremy turned and twisted to try to see her
figure under the depths. All he could see was the blue water, the
white caps rolling along the surface. He dove down into the depths
for a time and counted the seconds...one...two...
three...four...five. But he was never one for patience. He
resurfaced and took his mask off. "Maren," he called out.

A slosh of water gurgled up beside him. He
watched it expectantly. His pulse quickened. "Maren!" he yelled.
She appeared behind him.

"It's okay," she said, placing her hands on
his shoulders. "Are you okay?"