The Demon Conspiracy (22 page)

“This way.”

In the kitchen we talked with Jon’s best
friend, Brandon Cole. Brandon was a lanky black kid who was about
an inch taller than Jon. Where Jon used to have quiet ambitions of
being a stuntman and a movie producer, Brandon wanted to write and
direct. He had loaned Jon his expensive camcorder to record our
caving trip, but unfortunately, it was still in the cave some
place.

As usual Brandon whistled when he saw me.
“Kelly, you get hotter every day. I can’t believe you’re just
thirteen. Look me up in five years, I’ll put you in a movie.”

“Are you really going to make movies?” I
asked.

“You bet. Jon and I are gonna take over
Hollywood. But right now I gotta take out the trash. First things
first, you know.”

Brandon hauled two overloaded trash cans out
the back door. I took Jon to the tiny office space and pointed.
“Your paycheck’s in here.”

Jon stared at the office, utterly confused.
“Where? What does it look like?”

I went into the office and found an envelope
with Jon’s name on it taped to the wall. The check was inside. I
took it off the wall and gave it to Jon.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Your paycheck,” I said. “You sign your name
on the back and take it to the bank where they give you money.”

Jon lit up. “Money? I can use money. I need
to buy more magic supplies!” He stuffed the envelope into his back
pocket.

I wanted to talk to Brandon or Maria again
about Jon, so the three of us took a seat on a wooden bench near
the rear entrance of the kitchen and waited. Jon had only been back
to school for one day and I was curious how it had gone. When Maria
hugged him a few minutes ago, he didn’t flinch, and that wasn’t
right. He used to get all flushed just talking about her.

Brandon never came back. That dumpster must
have been a mile away.

***

For Travis, life was good.
It could be better, especially as far as Jon and Chris were
concerned, but for right now Travis was happy. As we sat in the
kitchen I listened to his thoughts while he went over the recent
changes in his life. The three of us were together again.
Nothing
could beat that.
And we had a foster family who liked us, maybe even loved us,
though it was still too early to tell. Angie and Chris were two of
the nicest people we’d ever known, and they were
our
people. Admittedly,
Chris had changed a lot since Pandora’s Cave, Jon too. Maybe they
were demonically possessed, or maybe they were having one of those
extreme reactions to stress, but at least they were with
us.

Travis was excited about having a foster
grandmother, too, though she was a strange woman. And he had gum.
And one of Tony’s hot turkey subs was on the way. Tony always
toasted his sandwiches, which made the cheese all gooey. Travis’
mouth watered.

I got out of his mind and leaned back on the
bench. Travis was definitely happier than he used to be. Good,
that’s what I wanted. He looked up and smiled when Maria entered
the kitchen.

“Did you guys see Brandon?” she asked.

“He took out the trash.” I pointed.

“Thanks.” Maria disappeared out the back
door.

A second later Travis gagged on the gum. He
coughed hard and blew the gum across the floor. I jumped off the
bench in surprise.

“You okay?”

Travis shook his head. His expression was
pure terror. “Maria!”

I grabbed Travis by the hand. “Come on!”
When we got outside I was shocked. Brandon was trapped between the
dumpster and the building. Three other boys threw punches at him
while he struggled to fight them off. Maria stood off to the side
yelling at the boys.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!”

“Grab him!” said the biggest guy, who stood
half a head taller than Brandon. “Hold him, Robbie! Get his arm,
Spider!”

The boys named Robbie and Spider out flanked
Brandon. They each caught one of his arms. All at once Brandon
couldn’t punch back.

The big kid swung at him.
He caught Brandon in the side of the head.
Smack!

Brandon shook off the punch. He stomped on
the foot of the boy named Spider, the boy on his left. Spider cried
out in pain, but he didn’t let go.

The big kid grinned at Maria. “You can stop
this, Maria! Right now!” His eyes flashed.

He’s hateful!
cried Travis in my head.
He
likes
hurtin’ people!

I’d already gathered that
much. But what did he mean when he said Maria could
stop it
? Stop what? Stop
them beating up Brandon?

Maria looked helpless. She was about to say
something, but Brandon cut her off. “No, Maria! Not a word!”

“Brandon! I have to!”

“Do it! Do it! Do it!” The
kid named Robbie chanted while he held Brandon’s other arm. Robbie
was tall and skinny with big ears and too many zits. I could tell
Robbie enjoyed pain, too. As long as it was someone
else’s
pain.

Maria charged at the big kid. “Stop it,
Kurt!” She punched him hard in the back. The big kid, Kurt, turned
and pushed her backwards. She stumbled and fell into me. I caught
her and held her up.

“Just say the magic words
and I’ll stop. You
know
what I want. Hold ‘im still, Spider! I’ll finish
him off!”

Jon! Get out back! They’re
beating up Brandon!
When I sent the mental
message to Jon, Travis heard it, loud and clear. The problem was
Jon must have blocked me out. He never responded. I ran back
inside.

“Where ya going?” asked Travis in a
panic.

“Getting Jon!”

Jon was still sitting on the bench where
we’d left him. He glanced up at me in surprise when I grabbed his
arm and pulled him outside. He came with me, apparently sensing my
urgency.

“You’ve got to help Brandon!” I told
him.

Jon stopped when he saw Maria. He took in
the brutal scene as if he didn’t quite understand what was going
on. Kurt focused on him at once.

“Well, if it isn’t Golden
Boy. This is the wimp you’re dating, Maria? Instead of
me
? You gotta be
kidding.”

Kurt went up to Jon, face
to face. He seemed to tower over him. He was a
big
guy! Jon stood passively, like
he had no idea Kurt wanted to pound him. I tried to warn him inside
his head, but he continued to block me out. Maria looked at me
desperately. I quickly read her thoughts.
Does Jon remember how to fight?

I shrugged helplessly. We were about to find
out.

Kurt shoved Jon backwards. Jon didn’t fall,
but he stumbled and caught his balance.

“You don’t seem so tough to me.” Kurt
grinned at Maria. “I think I’d rather beat the hell out of this
one.”

Kurt swung hard, a knockout punch straight
into Jon’s left jaw. The blow caught Jon completely by surprise. He
blinked a few times and cleared his vision. All at once his eyes
narrowed, he bared his teeth, like a wild animal cornered by
hunters.

“Ooh, he’s gonna bite me.” Kurt swung again,
straight for Jon’s nose. Now I’m not certain exactly what happened
at that moment, but something did, something nobody expected.
Kurt’s big knuckles struck Jon squarely in the face. But Jon’s head
never moved and Kurt reacted like he’d just punched a brick wall.
The bigger boy nearly collapsed in pain.

“Aaaah! You ass, you broke my hand!” Kurt
gripped his broken hand with his good one, rocking up and down in
pain. Jon watched him impassively, then tilted his head slightly as
if he was trying to understand something. He raised both hands,
palms out. A terrific force blew out of his hands, or at least
that’s how it seemed. I felt the wind from it, and Kurt felt the
full power. Kurt was lifted from his feet and tossed like a rag
doll a good twenty feet away. He slammed into some cardboard liquor
boxes piled behind the business next door.

Kurt got up, his eyes burning in fury.
“Robbie, get ‘im! Spider, you got Brandon!”

When Robbie ran for Jon, Spider’s eyes grew
large with fear. I scanned his mind and found out he wanted nothing
to do with Brandon on his own. Brandon tore loose on him. He began
punching Spider everywhere like a whirlwind. His fists pounded him
in the face, head, arms, chest, belly…pretty much everywhere he
could reach. Spider was getting his butt kicked good!

Robbie came in from Jon’s blindside. He
threw a haymaker punch, head-high. Jon leaned away from the punch
and caught Robbie’s arm. He pulled down the wrist and landed a
solid elbow to Zit boy’s unprotected face. Robbie’s head snapped
back as he fell over.

A moment later Kurt and Robbie were back on
their feet, ready to finish the fight. Travis ran to help Jon, but
I grabbed his arm. “No, Travis! You’re too little.”

“It’s not fair!” Travis
wanted to beat those guys up
bad
! So did I, but I’m not so brave.
I was already shaking worse than one of those paint-mixing
machines.

The fighters squared off. Jon’s expression
was icy cold, fearless. He never moved a muscle, he just stood and
watched Kurt. He paid no attention at all to Robbie.

Kurt didn’t back away, but he was clearly
unnerved.

“Are you okay, Brandon?” called Maria.
Brandon actually had to make himself stop beating up Spider, who
lay moaning at his feet, bloodied and bruised.

Brandon nodded. He wiped blood from his nose
on his sleeve. “Let’s take these chumps, Jon!”

Kurt laughed. “Maria, when
you’re ready for a
real
man….” Kurt pointed to himself.

“I got a
real
man, Kurt. And he’s
not a jerk like you! Go to hell!”

“When I’m done with your boy here, I’ll come
after you next. Only we ain’t gonna fight. We gonna love.”

Maria spit in Kurt’s general direction.
“Drop dead, pig!”

Kurt glared at her. “You forget who I am?
You want me to tell my daddy about how you won’t go out with
me?”

“What’s he talking about?” asked Travis.

“Nothing,” said Maria. “He’s a piece o’
crap.”

“Piece o’ crap?” Kurt shook his head. “I’m
wastin’ my time here. I’m goin’ home.” He turned as if to walk
away. Suddenly, he spun back around. He threw a rocket punch
straight at Jon’s stomach.

Jon never flinched, but somehow a bolt of
lightning exploded out of his belly. The lightning slapped Kurt
with so much force he went flying into the brick wall. Kurt struck
the wall hard and collapsed like a wet rag. His face was scraped.
Blood spewed from his nose, which was now bent in the wrong
direction.

Jon had always had an amazing sense of
impending danger. It was one of his special skills. I was
telepathic and Travis read emotions. But in a fight Jon had some
kind of built-in advanced-warning system. He sensed what his
opponents would do a split second before they ever did it. He once
told me it was like getting a phone call ahead of time to warn
him.

But I’d never seen him shoot lightning bolts
out of his body before!

Brandon saw it too. He had started after
Kurt until he saw the lightning. Now he froze in place. “What the
hell?”

Robbie quickly raised his hands and backed
away from Jon. “I’m outta here.”

Somehow Kurt rolled over and staggered to
his feet. A heavy stream of blood poured down his face and over his
light blue tee shirt. He touched the broken area of his nose
gingerly.

“You broke my nose, too, asshole! This ain’t
over, Bishop! It ain’t over, I’m tellin’ ya!” Kurt was burning up
with hate and anger, but he was also afraid and he wobbled on his
feet. The fear made Travis smile. Kurt was mostly talk unless he
had the advantage.

Kurt’s gaze shifted. He smiled slowly. I
looked. The kid named Robbie crept up behind Jon. Robbie took a
steel pipe from under his jacket. He raised the pipe to smash Jon
in the skull.

Travis started to cry out. “J—…!”

Robbie swung hard. Jon turned slightly when
he heard Travis start to yell. It probably saved his life. The pipe
slammed into his shoulder instead of his head. Jon spun about and
raised his palms toward Robbie, who drew back for a second try. The
pipe came down fast.

From nowhere a hand reached in and caught
Robbie by the wrist. He tried to continue the swing but he couldn’t
move his arm.

“Come on, Robbie!” cried Kurt. “Pound
‘im!”

Robbie looked. Granny Price gripped him
tightly. Robbie tried to jerk free, but he may as well have been
caught in a vise. He yelled at her. “Leggo, old woman!”

“Who you callin’
old
?” Granny
squeezed.

Robbie cried out. He dropped to his knees.
“You’re breaking my arm!”

Granny released his arm and took the pipe
away from him. I was stunned. So was everyone else. Taking the pipe
from Robbie was extremely cool, but what happened next was
legendary.

Granny gripped both ends of the pipe and
started to push. In no time the steel pipe folded in two. She
tossed it aside and glared at Robbie. He gawked at her,
openmouthed. We all did.

“I despise cowards,” she said to him. “You
three’d best get out of my sight.”

Robbie jumped to his feet and took off
running. Kurt followed, with Spider hobbling after him.

Maria took napkins from her apron for
Brandon to wipe the blood off his face. “Are you all right?” she
asked.

“Heck, yeah,” said Brandon. “I get a bloody
nose every time the weather changes.” He picked up the folded pipe
and tried to straighten it. He couldn’t. “How’d you do that?”