Observe This!
sat in the Durango—thankfully, still driveable—at a McDonald’s parking lot, Jayson scarfing down his third Big Mac, bringing back memories of a vomiting Eziel that now seemed a lifetime ago. Boston turned his gaze from the rearview mirror and glanced at Amber in the passenger seat, lost in thought. Dusk was upon them.
They had eaten as much as they could, Jayson the only one with a real appetite. Nothing seemed to ever sway it.
After a few more seconds of smacking sounds and Jayson sucking on each of his fingers, cleaning off bits and sauce from the Big Mac, Jayson said, “Sooo, that’s it, right? We can’t be tracked anymore?”
Krull, seated behind Amber, said, “Correct. The light cylinder we cracked back at the apartment took care of them. Plus, we didn’t find any others than the ones that were in our shoes, so even if they still work, Eziel will think we’re back there.”
“I don’t like that Ash went back to the Nexus,” Amber said.
“Yeah, me either,” Boston said, “but he wouldn’t listen to reason. He thinks he can help.”
Jayson sniffed. “Yeah, well, he’s wrong, isn’t he? I mean, we’re kind of fucked, aren’t we? Our hideout is compromised, those pyramid capturing device thingies are gone somehow, and the Quisling abandoned us. Not a big loss there though, bunch of wankers, except maybe Lorcthe and her sexual amusement park; that was hilarious.”
“I don’t want to do this anymore,” Ralph said.
“None of us do,” Boston said. “But if we do nothing, we all know what’s coming.”
Ralph sighed. “What can we do? There’s nothing we can do to Eziel or its kind, and look at how many of them there are. One was bad enough, but hundreds, maybe thousands? And don’t forget about the twister. Maybe this is our fate, was meant to be. Maybe we’ve overstayed our welcome on this planet. I should go find my parents in Mexico and spend whatever time remains with them.”
“I get it,” Boston said. “It looks grim, but we can’t give up. We can’t. We’d be doing a disservice to the ones we care about, the ones we’ve lost. Hold tight. It’s watching. I know it. It’s always watching. Let’s stir the pot.”
Boston exited the vehicle.
“HEY!” Boston yelled. “OBSERVER, WE NEED TO TALK. RIGHT NOW OR WE WALK.”
Patrons gaped from within the McDonald’s, no doubt wondering what maniac was yelling. Boston had no choice. There was nothing for not trying, and it’s all they had left.
He couldn’t see anything hovering, no displacement of stars in the sky.
“FINE. FUCK YOU! We won’t play this game any longer.”
Boston hopped back in and started the vehicle. “You know what, Ralph, maybe you’re right. Let’s not give this Observer any more entertainment.” He reached for the shifter, and it disappeared in a waft of gray smoke. In the next moment he, and the others, stood in a dark expanse, much like the voids he’d been imprisoned in, but he could see the others.
“What the—?” Amber started and then a bright spotlight appeared from above, a ten-foot cylinder of light, just six feet away from them. With a FWOOSH-WHUMP! a figure thumped down within the light, making a superhero-like entrance. Similar to a void, it had the silhouette of a person, but not the paper-thinness of the shadow creatures. It was three-dimensional, and its eyes seared a glowing yellow. The thing was massive—over ten feet tall. It stared down at them.
“Boston, Boston, Boston, there is no walking away.”
His heart wrenched. “Why do you sound like Edward?”
“So you know what you’re fighting for.”
Another spotlight appeared. It was a smaller cylinder, followed immediately by another FWOOSH-WHUMP! Ash appeared before them. His legs almost buckled, and his eyes were wild. “W-what hap—?” He saw them, and then his gaze fell upon the Observer. “What is that?”
“Oh, Ashy,” it said, “you’re part of this now, no question. Felt wrong not to have you join the meeting.”
“Edward?” Ash asked.
“No sirree. I be the Observer I know you’ve heard about.”
It lorded over them with outstretched arms. Whether intended or not, its eyes seared menacingly.
“Help us,” Boston said.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Amber said.
It cackled, not as raucous and horrid as Eziel’s laugh but a close second.
“Is it now?”
“Is our misery amusing to you?” Boston asked.
“Where you see misery, I see courage, resolve.”
Boston stepped slightly closer. “How can you float around in your spaceship, or whatever the hell it is, and watch this progress? You obviously have the power to end this.”
It scoffed. “Two things, my tiny friends: One, that’s not me floating around. I don’t need to use a ship to observe. I appear when and where I want, at will. Two, I cannot end this; it is not up to me.”
“Who is it up to?” Krull asked.
“For the smartest one in this group, I’d have thought that obvious. It’s up to you, and them, and please don’t ask me who they are, or I most certainly will lose faith in your ability to pull off the impossible.” It smiled.
Boston gritted his teeth. There was no question it knew what was going on, but it had no intention of filling them in. Why? It had obviously helped them before.
Krull sighed. “Will you tell us who, or what, is observing us from the invisible vessel?”
“No, other than what I’ve already stated: it is not me.”
“Jesus!” Jayson said. “You help us, yet you don’t help us. Which is it? You helped Boston and I with the sentry guns, with all those playground balls.”
Boston scrunched his eyebrows as confusion spread over the Observer’s face. “Did I now?” it asked.
“No,” Boston said, “I don’t think you did.”
“What?” Jayson said.
“Who did?” Boston asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” it said. “Contrary to what you all believe, I’m not everywhere you are at all times. I’ve got other… obligations. But I did take the pyramid capturing devices. It was agreed that they served their purpose.”
“Wait,” Amber said. “Agreed upon by who? What purpose?”
“All that were captured, including Lorcthe, have been freed. Gotta keep things fair, you understand?”
“No,” Amber said. “Jesus Christ!”
“Perfect,” the Observer said. “As it should be. No more questions about such things. Accept it and move on. You didn’t hear Eziel asking about the Shepherd’s Watch, did you?” It didn’t wait for a response. “No, you didn’t. You all know what you need to know, and that’s that.”
The Observer snapped its fingers and in a flash of light a weapon of some sort appeared before them on the ground; it looked like a black plastic water gun with a trigger, pump, and a steel-blue cylindrical reservoir on top. “Take this”—it pointed at the weapon—“and get Eziel and his followers off your back. Once you do, you’ll have at most two hours where the shadow creatures will not attack as Eziel will be unable to make the command. Don’t dally. None of them will be pleased once they escape, and it’ll be crystal clear when that’s going to happen. Don’t be anywhere near it. That’s the help you’ll get from me. Get to the twisted creature and destroy it. And get the book; Eziel still has it.”
With a pop! they appeared in the McDonald’s parking lot. The Observer was gone. They were in a circle, surrounding the water-gun-looking item that hovered midair, spinning as if on display.
Before anyone had a chance to react or speak, the Observer’s voice boomed from above, still sounding like Edward: “Pump and fire. Don’t miss. Get as many as you can. Pull the cylinder once you’re done; I suggest you create as much distance as you can. And don’t call me Observer. My name is Frank. Good luck.”
They all had questions. Boston could tell just by their knitted brows. Amber beat them to it. “Wait! Jesus! Does Eziel, his followers, have to be in human form to use this”—Amber pointed at the floating gun—“thing on them? And where is the book?”
Patrons from within McDonald’s came outside and stared up at the night sky.
The voice boomed again. “No matter, either way,” Frank said. “Easier if they are in a human; it’s hard to shoot what you can’t see. Regarding the book, I will not tell you where it is, as that should be obvious, but I will give you a hint to the what of it.”
Furrowed brows and shrugs flowed through the group, except for Krull who had a blank stare.
Its voice boomed from above: “I do not speak, cannot hear, but will always tell the truth.”
“What the—?” Amber started and then threw her hands in the air.
Boston shook his head. “What does that mean?” Boston asked.
“For you to figure out,” Frank said. “Reflect on it. One last thing and you’re on your own, as it should be. You have until daylight to use the weapon before it disappears; don’t squander it. Do me proud, others are watching.”
A thunderous CLAP! crashed above them; a teeth-rattling vibration followed. The restaurant’s plate glass windows shook and rattled.
Everyone jumped.
“Jesus Christ!” one of the onlookers said.
Without a word, Boston went to the vehicle, and the others followed and piled in, including a dumbfounded Ash.
Ralph crawled into the very far back seat, Ash beside him. “It’s a riddle,” Ralph said. “I think.”
“Yes,” Krull said, “agreed.”
“A riddle to what the book is?” Jayson asked. “A book is a fucking book. Frank, you may be some powerful being, but you’re also a dick. And Frank? That’s your name? It’s almost as ridiculous as Tony Boswell.” Jayson smiled at Boston. “Sorry, man, couldn’t resist. Frank can’t be its name.”
Boston put his hands up to stay any more comments from Jayson.
“Got it,” Ralph said, looking down at a tablet device they took from Lorcthe’s apartment, since their phones were still back at the Nexus complex somewhere. “It’s a mirror.”
“The book is a mirror?” Jayson asked.
“Maybe,” Krull said. “They are said to be the window to many things.”
“What,” Amber said, “like mirror-mirror-on-the-wall kind of thing?”
“Not so hard to believe after everything else we’ve seen,” Ash said.
“It could be anything,” Ralph said. “Anything reflects in a mirror.”
“Vampires don’t,” Jayson said.
They all laughed.
“Hmm,” Krull said. “Seriously though, I think we all know what the book is, don’t we?”
“Dude,” Jayson said, “don’t make me crack a short joke.”
“That doesn’t make any sense though,” Ash said.
Jayson cleared his throat. “At the risk of sounding stupid, what doesn’t make any sense?”
“If you’ll recall,” Krull said, “Frank’s remark: reflect on it. The book is a person.”