25

Colin looked through the plane window at the wing. Almost three weeks since the battle and all his wounds were nearly healed. All except the hole in his heart left by the loss of Mary, and the one straggler who Colin killed on accident, and all of the others who were killed in that cave.

CERT healed quickly, too. Katrina took over, with the help of Isaac, even though neither of them wanted to lead the group. Carmel had pulled Colin out of the cave, and handed him the sparkling white fragment of Mary's shattered body he turned over in his hand.

Colin slipped the stone back into his pocket and looked at Hammond, who gave a tiny nod. Colin turned to the man beside him, the one who could threaten CERT and the future of all elementals.

"Hey, you're Schmidt, right? You do those myth busting videos, right?"

"Yeah, that's me," Schmidt put on a patient smile.

Colin bent his head to whisper, "I know what you're doing at the convention. I need to stop you."

Schmidt's smile vanished. "Good luck with that."

Schmidt picked up a walkie-talkie and tried to turn it on. It didn't work. He tried his cell phone. It also failed. He pressed the call button on the seat and opened his mouth to yell, but Colin was faster. A single tap stopped him in his tracks. He wouldn't be going to the convention anymore.

Colin jumped out of his seat, yelling. "I think he's having a heartattack! Does anyone know CPR?"

He moved away from Schmidt, slipped through the crowd and found Manny. They left Hammond behind to make sure the job was done properly.

They met again at a different gate and got on a plane to get to the convention.

Huge banners marked booths where dozens of internet celebrities filmed live video and sold merchandise.

Hammond found the rest of the group. "Theater B-3. Let's check it out."

A small sign taped to the door of theater B-3 said, "Debunker Buddies Live. Special Passes Only."

Kurada handed the passes out, and all four entered together.

Lifesize vinyl banners with images of Kat and Schmidt posing with a corn cob pipe and a magnifying glass flanked the stage.

Kat sat alone in a folding chair behind a table that was too long for one person.

"Hello, everyone," she said. "I am one half of Debunker Buddies, I'm Kat."

The crowd applauded.

"My partner Schmidt was supposed to be here for this, but he is in the hospital instead. He should be fine, it's related to a congenital heart condition that he doesn't talk about much. It's not the first time we've had to delay recording, and I promise you it won't be the last. If you want to send him get well messages or tell him to walk it off, I'm sure he'd appreciate that."

The crowd laughed with her.

"He had a special video planned and a special guest lined up, but he didn't tell me anything about the plan and he's not here to run it. So instead, I'll open up to a Q and A, and I hit every vending machine to get the supplies for an urban legend death game. We'll be mixing Pop Rocks and Coke, Wine and Vodka, we'll do a sour candy challenge, we're going to have a lot of fun. Welcome to the bunker!"

The crowd cheered and a lively theme song played. Kat got out of her seat and danced around the stage.

"That's gotta be him," Kurada said. "I'll get him."

Colin watched Kurada creep toward the front row and tap a man on the shoulder. She pointed toward Colin, Manny, and Hammond. The man nodded and followed her outside.

Colin and the others joined. Manny rolled his eyes. "I wanted to see this."

"Shut up," Kurada said. "You know who this is? This big beautiful was supposed to be the special guest."

"No way, it was you?" Hammond asked.

"Supposed to be," the elemental put his arm around Kurada, who hung on him like they'd known each other for years. "Were you guys part of this too?"

Colin produced and burned a slip of flash paper.

"I thought the plan was shit in the first place, but couldn't we still go on with it? I didn't realize they had so many backups. There are still cameras everywhere." The man looked around at the crowd, who were almost as busy recording video as the hosts they came to see.

"It needed to come from a credible source," Colin said.

"The chick's still in there," the elemental said.

Hammond laughed. "I said a credible source. Without him, she's just some chick with pastel hair and big lips."

"I guess you're right. I'd better call my superiors."

"Do you want to grab some lunch first? I have so many questions about this area. You're a local, right?" Manny gave Kurada a jealous look.

"Yeah." The elemental smiled and rubbed Kurada's back. "There's a cantina downstairs."

Colin resisted the urge to roll his eyes at this guy. "No way, if I'm overpaying for a burger, I expect it to taste good."

"Not like wet newspaper dipped in broth," Kurada said, thoughtfully stroking the special guest's chest through his shirt. "Come on, I know a place on the outside. If we hurry, by buddy can get us a discount on drinks."

She darted away and the others followed.

When they reached a patch of grass at the curb, Colin said, "Hold up, there's something in my shoe."

He started to pull at his boot.

"This is going to be a while." Hammond sat on the grass, followed by Manny, Kurada, and the special guest.

Colin tapped the special guest, who slumped immediately.

Hammond laughed. "Night, night. I'm going to grab a burger, then I'll watch him 'til he gets picked up."

"Hurry up," Manny said. "I want to see the rest of the show."

"Well, there's one I have to see in a couple of hours, and we still need to patrol the place in case there's more," Kurada said.

"Now that you mention it," Hammond said, "I want to see that Jenna chick who's on all those posters. What time is she on?"

"She already did her video," Colin said. "I checked. But she's signing stuff later."

Hammond smiled. "You're into her, too?"

"I don't know who any of these people are," Colin said. "But I almost tripped over a few of those signs."

Manny snorted. "Almost. Anyway, we should go back in. We came all this way, we should try to enjoy it."

"Plus we still have those free drink tickets," Hammond said. "It would be a waste not to use them."

"And I think we lost Kurada," Manny said.

"She'll be fine," Hammond said. "You know that girl gets in and out of trouble more often than most people-."

"Shower?" Colin asked.

"I was gonna say 'change their underwear.' but it amounts to about the same thing. She's fantastic, isn't she? Go on, have fun, I'll join you all a bit later. It shouldn't be too long."

***

Andreus came to retrieve Colin and Kurada from the airport. Hammond vanished the minute the plane touched down and Manny wasn't even on the same flight.

"How's it been?" Colin asked.

"I saw the Kat video," Andreus answered. "Entertaining, looks like you did your job."

"Without killing anyone," Colin said.

"Well, probably," Kurada said. "What? We would have heard by now if they were dead. It was so much fun, Andreus. I bought you like five things. I almost got picked to be in a video. That magic guy that Zep was obsessed with?"

"What do you mean almost picked?" Colin asked.

"Well, I could tell he was going to pick me, so I got out of there. I'm not an idiot. But I saw him after and he totally bought me a drink. It was definitely better than the show would have been."

"Okay," Andreus said. "Please keep all further details to yourself."

"Ha, ha," Kurada said. "How about you, Colin? Did you have a good time?"

"Well, I didn't hook up with any internet celebrities, but I think I learned a lot from Hammond."

"What, you're not sure?" Andreus asked.

"Hammond is a real smooth-talker," Kurada said. "He's really good at the job, too."

"I'm a smooth talker," Andreus said. "Silver-tongued, even. I've been called that."

Colin smiled. "You're still my best friend in the whole wide world, Andreus."

Andreus swept his hair back. "That's all I ask. Did you meet any cool famous people? Other than the magic guy?"

"Probably, I just didn't know who anyone was," Colin said.

"Seriously?" Kurada said. "We're going to fix that right now."

She started rattling off names and looking up videos on her phone. They smiled and talked, and watched a few videos before Andreus pulled up to Colin's big, empty house. He looked at it for a long time before Andreus said, "My car, man."

"Sorry," Colin said. "I wasn't paying attention."

"You could come to CERT," Kurada said. "If you don't want to stay here. Or I could stay with you if you don't want to be alone."

"I'll be okay. I have to do this sometime. Thanks, you guys. See you in a few days."

They said their goodbyes and Colin went inside.

He hesitated in the hallway upstairs, trying to decide if it would be better to shower before going to bed, or the other way around. He didn't want to do either, he didn't want to think about the happiness he'd known in this house, as a child with his parents and as an adult with Mary. They were all dead. Dead and buried, not necessarily in that order.

He opted for the shower. He took his clothes off, turned the water on, and felt the blood drain from his face.

The hallway. That statue. The damn lion was back, and he didn't even notice it. Again.

Tentatively, afraid he might have imagined the whole thing, Colin stepped into the hall. It was there, the lion, Mary.

He tapped it.

She collapsed onto the carpet. Colin gathered her up in his arms and kissed her face. "Oh, my god, you're alive. Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." Her voice was a dry, hoarse whisper, but it was her. It was real. Mary didn't die in that cave.

"How long have you been here?"

"Since I could get out," she said. "I don't know. I need time to wake up."

"Wake up?"

"I needed to rest." Clarity slowly came into her eyes and her skin warmed. "I needed to be alone. I meant to wake up before you returned, but I was a little worse off than I originally thought."

"Take all the time you need." Colin brought her to bed with him, covered her with blankets and helped her drink water.

"I'll be okay now," she said. "How did it go with the video guy?"

"Don't worry about that right now, it went great. Didn't even have to kill anyone. No video, no live feed, no suspicion."

"You're amazing."

"I know."

They laughed.

Colin looked into her tired eyes. "Don't worry about it."

"I'll try," she said. "But the next one, the next job…"

"The next job for me is checking on a weather girl or something. There's nothing to worry about right now."

"Oh, Colin," Mary breathed. "There's always something to worry about."

He kissed her. "Not right now. Right now, everything is perfect."

"But what about telling the others I'm alive?"

He kissed her again. "That can wait until tomorrow."

She pulled him closer. "Tomorrow."