Chapter 15

    Ten minutes to four at night.
    Downtown area of Old Hardrock City was only six minutes away from the depository.
    They had four minutes to prepare, gear up, and be at Mainstreet.
    Sean’s mind was struggling to keep him upright. The adrenaline that was once his friend had almost disappeared altogether now. His energy was nearly gone, rapidly declining every minute he spent standing around waiting for Lance to approve of Percy’s suggestion and finishing touches. But within a minute they were finished, and it sparked Sean’s heart up again. A rapid climb in ascending, to keep Sean going, that was key. Sean had to do something. To keep his mind alert. To keep it clear. Once out of the planning room, they all had snacked on energy bars and downed several water bottles before acquiring the artifacts.
    Everyone had assembled in the lobby. Lance and Percy converse about the plan, but this time Sean sensed constructive criticism disappeared from their tone. They were genuinely arguing at each other. They broke it up after Smyth called their attention to the artifacts, and that was where they were now. Tryss was helping Percy assemble three wooden crates right in the lobby. Apparently, Sean had underestimated the size of Percy’s rucksack. All the wood from the crates that they were assembling, Percy had all picked from his rucksack. He had pulled every single piece of lumber straight of the mouth of his rucksack. Sean didn’t have enough time to ask how or why.
Eight minutes until four.
For the size of the crates, there was a large one, the size of a small car. The second was about a yard and a half long, six inches wide; it looked like a flower box container. The third box was exactly two cubic feet wide. The assembling of all three crates was made inconceivably quick by Elise aiding them with her Medallion. In between his pit stops of helping Lance retrieve the artifacts, Sean would see Elise move the long pieces of slats and wooden boards into place as Tryss and Percy would connect them together with pneumatic nail guns.
    “I’ve never seen these things before.” Sean said, looking at the artifacts. Sean, Lance and Smyth had just wheeled the biggest of the three bargaining items into the lobby: a unicorn. They had set it right next to a horizontal glass case that held a sword in it. The Sword of Kings. The third was a dirty set of enormous pair of boots.  Smyth came around from his side of the positioning the unicorn and stood alongside Sean. He stared up at the creature. The unicorn was the exact opposite of what Sean expected a unicorn to be. It wasn’t pristine white. It wasn’t glorious looking. It wasn’t even magnificent. The only thing that Sean could distinguish it as being anything close to a unicorn was the short stub of horn coming out of the forehead of the large horse. The horse’s abdomen was large like a barrel, but its legs were a bit too short for its stature. It looked like a bigger version of a shetland pony. The unicorn stood on its wooden pallette as if it were surveying a land that was forgotten in time. What the animal lacked in aesthetic features, it made up for with a regal thousand yard stare into an unknown horizon. Sean guessed at one time, this unicorn must have been an Alpha among its group. Or were all unicorns Alphas? Sean didn’t know.
    The creature’s mane was long and unkempt, almost coming lower than the shoulders of the unicorn and nearly connecting with the tail at its rear end. It was an unflattering color of neutral light gray with beige coating its underbelly. The horn wasn’t a gleaming white but instead gray and round like a rhino’s horn. Sean guessed it was about two feet at most.
    The next artifact was the Sword of Kings. The blade looked sharp enough to slice through paper, even though several nicks scarred the edge. The handle was made of sullied gold that was in need of a good cleaning. At the end of the sword as the pommel was a sneering dragon’s head, its tongue wrapping its way up the handle. The final item in the trio of relics was the thousand league boots. The pair was so large that Sean figured he could insert both of his feet into one boot and still have room to move around.
    After Sean could take his gaze off of the over-glorified horse that was the unicorn, he eyed the thousand league boots critically. He walked over to them, checking out the huge dimensions of the leather footwear.
    “Aren’t these a little. . .”
    “Big?” Lance said, coming round Sean, moving blankets rolled under each arm. He said, “These used to belong to giants, you know. Once they stepped into them, they had the ability to travel the maximum distance of a thousand leagues. That’s just about three thousand and four hundred miles long.”
    “What in the world?” Sean coughed, looking at Lance and then back at the boots in astonishment.
    “Exactly.” Lance responded, moving around Sean. “Once a giant got in those shoes, they could cross continents-oceans-in only three good lunges.”
    “That’s insane.” Sean whispered, touching the boots. Examined the thick heels. It had large, lengthy side pull straps with wide loops, which Sean assumed was just the right size for a giant’s finger. Sean looked inside at the grimy and soiled inside. The thousand leagues looked like really ugly Ugg boots fashioned for the outback of Australia. Sean looked up at Lance.
    “Are there anymore giants alive today?”
    Lance raised an eyebrow, his gaze shifting to the boots then to Sean. “No, thank God. They were the most dangerous and most foul of creatures that ever lived on this planet. It’s a good thing the wizards stopped them when they did.”
    Lance began moving off towards Percy and Tryss, but Sean said.
    “Wizards? And ‘stopped’? What do you mean by that? Was there was a war? When did that happen?”
    “Let’s just say,” Lance said over his shoulder to Sean. “there is a reason why there was no recordable progress during the Dark Ages.”
    “What’s that supposed to-” Sean stopped himself. Sighed and shook his head. He waved his hand in front of his face as if he were shooing away a fly. “Oh, nevermind.”
    “It’s okay.”
    Sean turned to see Elise standing there, empty plastic water bottle in both her hands. She crushed it into a ball, plastic crackling loudly in the lobby. She smirked at Sean.
    “There’s a lot you don’t know about the world of magic.” She gave him a cold wink, her smirk growing. “Sometimes it’s better that way.”
    Sean frowned. He looked at the three artifacts lined in a row. Biggest to smallest. The ugly, yet regal unicorn down to the ridiculous yet potentially over-the-top thousand league boots.
    “Do you know how any of this works?” Sean asked, his stare going down the trio of relics. “How does magic work? What are its limits-if it has limits at all. And who made magic?”
    Elise held up both hands, the crumpled water bottle in one palm. “Woah. Slow down on the philosophy there, Plato. No need to overthink things.”
    “Do you know how magic works and why it exists?”
    “Sean.” Elise began to levitate the ball of plastic a foot above her palm. “Sometimes, somethings don’t have to make any sense.”
    Slitting his eyes poignantly, Sean tilted his head and gave Elise a confused dry grin. “Well, that doesn’t make any sense.” The crumpled plastic water bottle twirled around in the air as Elise looked at Sean.
    Sean continued. “You use something that defies the laws of physics, and you don’t even question why it exists or how it works? Can you even tell me how the Medallion you’re wearing is giving you power to do that?” Sean pointed at the floating ball of plastic. Elise licked her lips, the crumpled water bottle falling down to her palm without a noise.
    “How does magic work?”
    He stared at Elise intently, as if the answers he were searching for were there in her burnished emerald eyes. Her smirk disappeared, her lips retreating into a thin line.
    She hesitated for a second, looked back at Lance, Percy, and Tryss. They were stuffing the empty storage wooden crates with blankets and some gray packing material.
    “Elise?” Sean said. Elise turned back around and looked at Sean for a long hard second. When she finally spoke, her voice was low and her words measured. As if she were a person that had stage fright speaking for the first time in front of a crowd of people.
    She said. “I’ve learned over the years not to really question that. When I first discovered the Medallion, it just felt like an extension of me. I never really thought about it much, I just. . . did. I’ve just, sort of . . . thought it was normal.”
    Sean stared at Elise, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a little strange, don’t you think? How you use magic and yet not be able to explain how it works?” Sean held his hands up defensively. “Now, I’m not about disbelieving magic exists. I’m past that right now. I’m just trying to ask you an honest question.”
    “I mean,” Elise spoke up, her tone regaining confidence. She weighed the plastic ball in her hand. “I know how do it, it comes naturally to me. I know the functions and types of magic and all that but. . .”
    “But. . . what?”
    Elise blinked, and looked away from Sean’s central gaze. “I don’t know, Sean. I wish I the had answers to your questions. I  simply don’t know.”
    “Sean! Elise!” Lance called out. Both of them looked at their head leader. Him, Percy and Tryss were finished with packing the crates and they were coming over to the museum relics.
    Elise said hurriedly. “Look. I wish I had more time to talk about this, I really do. But, come one. They need help.”
    Nodding slowly, Sean followed Elise and the rest of Team Delta position and insert all three artifacts into their respective boxes. The boots were the easiest and took the least amount of time to store; the sword, not as difficult either. But for the unicorn, Elise used magic from her Medallion to levitate the stuffed creature in the air. It took everyone else, including Smyth, to help position the unicorn as Elise lowered it into the crate. The crate lids were spiked on with and extra flurry of speed.
    Three crates.
    Three artifacts inside.
    Three minutes left until departure.
    And Sean couldn’t help thinking about what Elise had said.
    I wish I had the answers to your questions. I simply don’t know.
   
    At first Sean was worried about how they would be able to transport the three wooden crates all the way down to mainstreet when the only vehicle they had was the van. But Percy’s rucksack saved the hassle. Percy pulled out three matching size tarps for the three crates from his bag and they fitted each one over their respective sizes. Once the crates were tied down with bungee cords and tie-down straps made available by the magical rucksack, Percy put the mouth the rucksack itself over each tarp-covered box. Sean watched as the mouth of the rucksack contort and shift until it was as wide enough for a beach volleybal to fit in. Then it stopped stretching. Instead of the mouth of the rucksack expanding to fit over the crate, the box began to shrink as Percy shoved the rucksack down to the ground.
    It surreal for Sean to witness; it was like watching a vacuum suck up water. Once the largest crate was sucked up by Percy’s magical backpack, he proceeded to stuff the second and third in with ease. Once all three were finished being unnaturally stored in Percy’s rucksack, it became too heavy for him to carry. But the travelling backpack didn’t have a single bulge or even a dent.
Two minutes left till four.
Tryss did a gear and head count while Lance helped Percy lug his rucksack to the front door of the depository. They set it down in front of the entrance unsteadily, Percy barely managing to keep his side up. Elise and Sean were saying goodbye to Smyth in the foyer. He looked at them both. His pocket watch on a wrinkled palm and his gaze a mix of hope, stress, and worry.
They exchanged short and awkward snippets that consisted of something like a goodbye. Then they were waved off by the old man. His wisps of white hair flattened down on his head by a trembling hand.
He said. “Need I remind you of your oath, Sean?”
Sean shook his head. He gave the aged curator a dry grin and managed to croak out a goodbye.
“Thanks, Mr. Smyth. I appreciate all that you’ve done for me.” Sean chuckled. “You were the best boss I’ve ever had.”
“He was your only boss.” remarked Elise, smirking. She stepped up to the old man and hugged him tightly for a second. Then she let go.
Elise said quietly. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“I don’t intend to.” Smyth replied with a wink. Elise nodded, then turned to Sean. Her hand already dragging him away.
“We’re going to be late.”
Sean replied. “But you’re going to teleport us.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Elise said as they came to a grinding halt at the entrance. It was one minute to four. “With a trap as big as this, you don’t want to be late.”

    ~~~

Four in the morning was unearthly.
The time in between the day and the night, the most soundless and private of hours. The group got no aggression upon exiting the depository. Even though Percy had declared there were no enemies in the current vicinity, they all still looked over their shoulders once every minute. Sean couldn’t describe the utter emptiness of the early morning. There wasn’t a single noise, not a single sound that would indicate anything was living within a one mile radius of the museum. Sean’s skin felt foreign to the chilled air of the night. There wasn’t even a breeze.

They were all stuffed in the back of the van, the same arrangement as last time. Lance in the passenger seat, Tryss the driver. Elise and Percy on either side of Sean in the middle of the canvas seat. The rucksack holding the bargaining relics for Sean’s family rested in a nook among the metallic foliage of computers and software and cables on the right side of the van. The atmosphere in the van was as thin as the film on creamy milk. It took only a few seconds for them to teleport. Yet again, Elise worked her magic, using the Medallion. Fancy hand positions. Glowing Medallion. But when she did the ritual this time, Sean noticed her face wasn’t as concentrated. Not as deep and centered on her actions. Instead it was calculating. Feeling. Sensing.
The sudden drop in gravity made Sean weightless for a second. There was no black hole to swallow him from underneath, no carnival slide of flashing colors, all of which Sean was extremely grateful for. There was just a simple dip in Sean’s gut and shifting sensation that gave the illusion he was moving sideways. Even though Sean knew he wasn’t moving at all, it felt like he being pushed to his right ever so slightly. Like a gentle fall. Sean knew the feeling of vertigo. He steadied himself by pushing his back against the van’s wall, the dizzying motion rocking his eyes.
Then it all stopped short.
Sean felt a trickle of bile travel up his windpipe. He swallowed it down with a thick wad of saliva. The sickening tasted crawled back down and he blinked hard.
“What time is it?” he asked, his breath shallow.
“Exactly four.” Percy stared at Sean and Elise. They stared back. Percy’s hand was wrapped around his rucksack.
“It’s showtime.”

“There’s nothing to it.”
Percy handed a small, red pill that looked like an ear plug to Sean, while simultaneously inserting an identical pill into his ear.
Sean breathed in and out. First through his nose then exhaling short breaths out his mouth. “Sure doesn’t feel that way.” Sean accepted the ear plug and rolled it in between his fingertips. It was just like an ear plug. Same feel, same size. Except when he squeezed it hard enough, Sean felt something hard inside.
“Gelatin communication device.” Percy pointed at the pill Sean was examining. Percy tapped the device in his ear. “Personally, I call them gel comms, but call them whatever you like.” He nodded at the device in Sean’s fingers. “Put it on. So I’ll be able to hear you and vise versa.”
Sean rolled the plug in between his thumb and forefinger, and with a delicate hand, inserted it into his right ear.
“Keep your heart rate down by breathing slowly. That helps. Remember to periodically check in every, oh, a minute or so and tell us what you see.”
“Thanks.”
“Feeling nervous?”
“What do you think?”
Percy patted Sean’s shoulder with a friendly hand as he closed the gel comm container with a click. He held another gel comm in his opposite hand. “Good. That’s a good sign. You would either have to be dead or an idiot if you weren’t a tiny bit anxious right now.”
Sean grunted, nodding vaguely. Then he asked. “How can you hear me when I don’t have a mic to talk into?”
Percy smiled at Sean, then briefly turned back round to hand Elise a gel comm. “The gel comm receives the vibrations from your throat and translates them into audible sound waves, allowing me to hear whatever you’re saying.”
“That’s. . . pretty cool.” Sean frowned, moving his jaw up and down to naturalize the setting of the expanding gel comm inside his ear. “It operates on magic, doesn’t it?”
Percy chuckled, shaking his head. “Nope. One hundred percent magic-less. Just good old, plain technology brought into existence by magic. It just doesn’t rely on magic.”
“Oh.” Sean scratched his skin underneath his ear, the gel comm finally settling. He then glanced down at the rucksack.
“What about your rucksack?” Sean gestured at the large bag beside Percy. “How does that even work? If it were a normal bag, it wouldn’t even be able to fit the thousand league boots.”
Percy nodded, hefting the rucksack closer to the van’s doors, readying it in a position that would be easy for him to carry. He said. “I would like to think the rucksack is attached to a bigger bag or a room via magical portal. But that isn’t the case.”
Percy sighed, patting the rucksack. He said. “It’s not a portal into a room or a bag, because if it was I would have to get into the rucksack myself to grab what I wanted. But I only need to reach my hand into the mouth of the rucksack and think of whatever I remember putting in there.” He chuckled. “I even have a pocket dedicated to storing an inventory list of the items I’ve put in here.”
Sean could see that it was full, as if clothing packed every single square inch inside of the thing. But it was holding more than clothes. Probably more than just the three relics and technological gear.
    “Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that-” Sean began to say, but Percy held up a hand, a finger to his ear.
    “We don’t have time to talk about my rucksack right now.” Percy looked at Sean expectantly as he said. “Testing tone one.”
    Inside of Sean’s right ear, a bell sounded. It was clear, and high pitch. Elise in the back said, “Got it.”
    “Try it,” Percy said, pointing at Sean’s gel comm inside of his ear. “Make sure our lines are working properly. Say ‘testing tone one’.”
    Sean repeated the words and saw Percy nod and give him a thumbs up. Elise leaned into view and looked at Sean. She nodded and gave him a thumbs up as well. Sean grinned dryly and looked at Percy.
    Percy said. “Okay, great. When you’re out there, make sure to report in every five minutes or so. Anything you see that is suspicious or unusual in any shape or form-even if it’s a feeling-I want you to call it in. Understand?”
    Sean nodded, his heart rate jumping up a notch in tempo. “What if. . . what if the Angel of Death comes? What do I do when I see him?”
    “Well, call it in then. Tell us where he is-his relative location, and describe anything else that is with him. You’ve got to scan your surrounding area constantly, don’t forget that.”
    “No,” Sean croaked, shaking his head. His throat was dry like arid dirt. “What if he attacks me or something. Or what if there are more bamofets out there? Do I have a weapon of some sort?”
    Scrunching up his lips, Percy nodded slowly. “Right. Weapons.” He opened the mouth of his rucksack and buried his arm elbow deep. He mumbled, “Okay, here” as he handed Sean another medallion. Instead of a faded bronze color with flashy lights, this medallion was more pleasing to look at. The medallion was shaped into a shield, much like that of a police officer’s badge. It had a brushed chrome steel finish on its face, with Latin script etched in rough lines on it. The ancient language curled around the medallion like a snake.
    “Put it on, it’ll keep you safe from small to mostly lethal effects of deadly magic.” Percy said ,reaching into the bag again, withdrawing two items. He added. “It’ll keep you relatively safe from physical attacks too.”
Putting his head through the leather loop of the silver shield and tucking the medallion underneath his shirt. The protective medallion clanked noisily underneath his shirt against the rifle round. Percy stopped in mid shuffling of the contents inside his satchel and looked up at the sound of the noise.
Sean pulled down his shirt a bit, reached in, and pulled out the gift from his father. He said. “It’s a 300 Winchester Magnum rifle round.” The the poor lighting inside the van barely lit the blackwash of the sizable caliber round. Percy huffed, staring at it.
“Does it hurt? Wearing it?”
Sean shrugged, sticking it back into his shirt. “I don’t really notice it that much, really.”
Percy nodded, resuming his search of his rucksack. “Who gave it to you?”
“My father.”
“Don’t tell me it’s a live round.”
“Of course not!” Sean lied. “I would have to be insane to wear a live round of this size around my chest.” He added a little chuckle and shake of his head, as if insulted by Percy’s comment. Percy eyed Sean for a moment, and Sean thought he saw suspicion in his gaze. But then Percy just nodded, his mouth construed into a mild expression.
“Too bad. I think I have the rifle that goes with that round.” Just as he spoke, Percy retrieved two items from the mouth of the rucksack. Sean glanced down at the new objects that Percy was holding. The first of the items was a half-sphere, about the size of a tennis ball. It had the smooth texture of an eggshell and a red and white swirling pattern design of a toy marble. The second item in Percy’s hand was about a foot long, and an inch and a half thick. Sean lifted it up and down, testing its weight. It was so light it felt like it was made of plastic.
    Sean stared down at both of the objects in his hands.
    “What am I going to do with these?”
    “The ball cut in half is called a subantro. When you set it flat side down on the ground and stomp on it, it creates a shield of approximately ten feet in diameter. Make sure you’re in the circle completely, because there have been cases of severed limbs.”
    Sean stared at the half-sphere in his hand and said slowly, “Okay. . ?”
    Percy closed the rucksack flap and nodded at the half foot long rod in Sean’s grip.
    “And that’s a telescopic baton.”
    Sean raised an eyebrow. “Does it stun like yours?”
    “No. It’s just a regular telescoping baton.” Percy scooted closer to the doors, his hand reaching for the handle. “Use it according to your discretion.”
    “Can’t you give me a gun, or something?” Sean said as Percy opened the door. The night air filled Sean’s lungs.
    “Right.” Percy snorted, dropping down to the ground.
    Sean asked. “What about a magical weapon that has offense capabilities?”
    Putting wrapping his hands around the rucksack, Percy gave Sean a disapproving glance. “You may be sworn as a Vanguard, but you haven’t earned it.”
    Sean didn’t say anything for a long while after Percy’s comment. Lance and Percy carried the weighty rucksack towards main street to unload the items while Sean and Elise took their places. Main Street was a single two lane road that cut through the older parts of Hardrock City and the rest of the aged districts. Main Street led straight up North, with little or no intersecting roads along it. Another two-lane road by the name of Central Boulevard cut straight through the middle of Main Street, creating a giant ‘X’ in the middle of the old Hardrock area. Alleyways and little pathways snaked in and out of the various buildings and operations of businesses lining Main Street. The post office was a small corner establishment sheltered in between a restaurant and a book store. The post office was one building down from Town Hall. The Town Hall was located directly on the corner of Main Street and Central. It sat upright and stared into the sky like a proud lion surveying its kingdom. Town Hall looked much the same. It’s regal pose. Confident metal struts and canopies. Elegant hand rails. Sleek doors with steel brushed finishes. It stood out like an orange in an applecart. The model of modern and contemporary design among old constructions and nearly decrepit businesses.
    On the opposing side corner of the Town Hall building and the local post office stood a run-down, three apartment building. It had rustic brick inlay, dating back to the twenties. A single dilapidated fire escape facing the post office barely hung onto the side of the squat structure. Most of the windows that weren’t shuttered or boarded up were open vessels edged with jagged glass, like vacant eyes looking at the Town Hall.
But another pair of eyes stared out from the building.
On the third story of the building, at the corner closest to the street and overlooking most of Central Boulevard, Sean was stationed near a window. The window was one-sixth of the way boarded up, a single panel a foot wide nailed at the top of the sill. It wasn’t much of an obstruction. Sean could see the entire street intersection just fine. Same with the Town Hall and the post office. A street lamp shone brightly a few feet to the left of the window sill Sean was looking through. It was so quiet, Sean could hear the bulb humming.
“Hello? Percy?” Sean whispered, his voice sounding unnatural and loud inside the desolate interior of the apartment. The room he stood in was empty except for a rotting stool and random splurges of brightly spray painted words and images on the walls. On the sill Sean had set the half-ball subantro and his telescopic baton sat inside a side pouch holder similar to Tryss’s. He wore new clothes now, his old dress shirt and pants discarded in a nearby dumpster. He was wearing a black longsleeve with matching pants. His new clothes were woven with a very soft on the inside, durable on the outside mesh that sat very comfortably on Sean’s skin. On his head he wore a watch cap that was a size too big, and a pair of tactical boots that were a size too small.
“Is anybody there?” Sean pulled his baton away from its holster. He held it in his hands, gripping it and twisting it nervously as he stared out the window. He shifted his feet along the trash covered floor and looked out the window in the opposite direction from the post office and down main street. A couple of blocks down, Sean spied the Vanguard vehicle parked under a tree.
The gel comm in his ear responded. “Go ahead, Sean.”
It was Lance’s voice.
Sean peeked through the four foot high gap in the window. Stared down at the street. At the Town Hall. At the postal office.
“Just checking in.” Sean replied. “I don’t see anybody right now. It’s all clear.”
Lance replied. “Tell us when someone or something is there. Not when it’s empty.”
“Oh, but-”
“You only need to check in if me or Percy ask for one.”
“Right. Okay.”
Sean put a hand on the wallpapered corner of the sill to steady himself. He leaned on it, his gaze roving all over the street. The alleyways. The pathways. No one was there. But Sean knew better. In an alleyway that wasn’t visible to Sean, Elise was position directly behind a dumpster, watching the entrance of the post office. What Sean couldn’t see from up top and from his position, Elise saw the rest on the ground. She saw the pockets and street corners and darkened adjacent alleys that was out of Sean’s line of sight.
Sean shivered.
A cold breeze had picked up in the night, blowing chilled air through the open window. It snuck through the cracked boards, hoarse whistling noises echoing throughout the still building. Even though his new outfit concealed his body warmth well, the breeze cut right through the fabric of the material, sluicing its way through the fibers and touching his skin. Sean gasped in reflex to the sudden change in temperature. His heart beated faster in his chest. Harder. Needles trickled all around the surface of his back. His nervous system going into overload, the sensation covering his entire body. The wind died down for a strained second, only to come back with more ferocity. It was like there was a small fan position directly in Sean’s face that was turned to the medium setting.
Sean swallowed. Licked his lips. His eyes wide, staring out the window. At the post office. Street lamps. Sidewalk trees. Blacked out windows. Nothing. Sean switched his gaze to the Town Hall building. Street lamps. Empty sidewalk. Blacked out windows. Nothing. The wind grew in intensity a notch.
A noise entered the building. It was dying out now, a sound that had traveled a long distance and which was just beginning to fade. Sean recognized the sound. It broke through the wood and concrete and iron rebar and brick inlay of the building. It reached Sean’s ears. It was a screech. A howl. A combination of a baby crying a demented high pitched squeal of an animal being slaughtered. The night shook with the noise, even though it had emanated from far away. It rocked the night air. The street lamp in front of the apartment building dimmed noticeably. Sean stared out the window. Stared at the dimming light. For a second Sean thought it would disappear, leaving the street in darkness. He moved forward and saw that all the lights along the streets were dimming. Slowly. Main and Central became increasingly filled with darkness that crept along with the rapid rush of the breeze. Sean looked at the weakening glimmer of the street lamps. Without notice, they all flickered back to their original brightness.
Sean inched his head a bit farther to the window sill.
All the street lamps died.
Every single street light on Main and Central had went out, leaving the corner an inky blob of darkness. The entire downtown area of Hardrock City no longer had lights. The icy cold breeze grew stronger, whipping through the apartment, ripping through Sean’s clothes. Sean refused the urge to stick his head out the window. It wouldn’t be any use. The streets no longer were visible. There was no sight of the moon’s beams. Not a single source of light source out there. Sean stuck out his hand through the window. Complete darkness.
“Report.” Percy’s voice now. Urgent. Tense. Anxious.
“Not much to report.” Sean stared out the window. On the sill, he could see the faintest glow of the subantro laying there. A white and red luminescent glimmer cast obtuse, jagged shadows all around the room in the apartment. In a hurried state, Sean snatched the subantro off from the sill and put it in the farthest corner on the same side of the wall as the window. Even with a light that dim in a darkness right now, Sean knew he would be visible like a burning candle a mile away.
Percy replied. “What do you mean?”
Sean stood, nudged the subantro into the corner as far as it would go. He breathed heavily, every inhale and exhale a scraping thunderous rasp in the stillness of the air. The breeze had died now. Just stillness.
Sean closed his eyes. Opened them.
He said. “There’s nothing. I can’t see a thing.”