28 XXVIII. | 'Beware thy shadow...'

Hector checked the messages. The conversation read:

unknown_sender: delroy. 8133 sampson st. life/death. keep them safe

user: r u ok?

user: what happened?

unknown_sender: im fine do u have the kids?

"He actually answered," said Hector.

'That's a relief. Ask him what happened again.'

Hector did so. They didn't have to wait long for the reply.

a lot. easier to explain in person. lets meet up asap

"Hmm." He showed the message to Garovel.

'There's no reason to tell him where you live. Pick somewhere else.'

"The cemetery?"

'Eh, that's too close. You know that park west of here? About two kilometers or so?'

"Uh... Nelson Park, right?"

'Yeah.'

"Okay..." He sent the message.

ok heading there now

Hector's brow receded. "In the middle of the night...? Geez. I guess he's eager to get his kids back. I suppose I would be, too, if I were him..."

He wasn't sure if he should sneak out through the window. It seemed like a bad idea with two babies in his arms. He knew his parents both had early starts in the morning, especially his mother, so he checked downstairs and was relieved to find that they had both gone to bed already.

He slipped out through the front door with the children, bringing the baby supplies just in case. As he approached the motorcycle, he made a fresh iron carriage for them.

Hector soon arrived at Nelson Park. He saw no one immediately around, save a young couple walking by the entrance and an occasional passing car.

"It's pretty dark," said Hector. "You mind helping me find him from the sky?"

'Sure thing.' Garovel flew above the trees, which were dense enough that Hector had trouble following where the reaper had gone.

'But, uh... stay in my line of sight, please...'

'Yes, Mother.'

Hector moved toward the center of the park, where there was a manmade pond with a small fountain. He stopped under a tall lamp along the main footpath, but he decided not to sit on the bench there.

'Hmm,' Garovel said after a few minutes. 'I don't see him. Do you?'

'No. Guess we're waiting...'

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Nestled behind a tall air vent on the roof of an apartment complex, Geoffrey found his spot. It was rather far, but he could see practically the whole park from here. He pointed his binoculars at the moving glimmer in the sky, and he saw the reaper. Hector's reaper.

Geoffrey grinned. "Aha. I thought it might be you two who helped Mr. Colt." He panned down across the park. "Now where is Hector...?"

He saw the dark figure below a streetlamp. Geoffrey touched the sore lump on his chest. It was no more than an occasional nuisance, so he had never bothered to get it looked at by a doctor, contrary to Desmond's wishes. Rather, Geoffrey enjoyed the feeling, enjoyed how it reminded him of Hector--his very special friend.

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he even wanted to kill Hector. Thinking about all the potential hostilities that they could have, the violent clashes and innocent casualties and long sessions of torture, Geoffrey couldn't help but smile. Hector seemed like someone who could amuse him for a very long time.

But at the same time, Geoffrey knew that he could not let things draw out too much. There was one insurmountable obstacle that would surely end all the fun sooner or later. His grandfather.

Damian was rebuilding the family business. Hector was an active hindrance to that effort. Their clash seemed inevitable. And obviously, stopping Damian was no kind of option. So the more he thought about it, the more Geoffrey realized that even if he didn't exactly want Hector dead, he certainly didn't want someone else to get the kill. That was, after all, why he had told Feromas and Damian nothing before coming here. If Hector had to die, then Geoffrey had to be the one responsible for it. Simple as that.

He saw Hector pull out a cellphone and begin texting. Colt's phone started beeping soon after. The message read:

where r u?

Geoffrey thought a moment and then wrote back:

sry. cant make it. reschedule for tmrw?

There was a long pause. He returned to watching the reaper as his patience began to wear thin, and then Hector's next message read:

fine. but tell me what happened

Geoffrey pursed his lips as he considered what to write next. "Ah, here we go..." He wrote:

geoffrey attacked me but i got away. hiding from cops now

He laughed to himself. "And people think I'm not smart."

Hector sent one more text, suggesting they meet back up in the afternoon, to which Geoffrey agreed, and then Geoffrey watched them leave the park. Hector was too difficult to follow in the darkness, but the reaper was clear as day.

Geoffrey kept his distance, bounding between rooftops, splashes of red carrying him along as he maintained his view. And it wasn't long before he saw the reaper slow. He looked through his binoculars again and watched the reaper disappear into a two-story house.

"So that is where you live," said Geoffrey. "Interesting."

For a while, Geoffrey merely sat and watched the house.

"What should I do?" he mused. "Hmm. I do not want to just rush right to the good part. It has to be something special. Obviously, I need to make him watch his reaper die, but what else? Umm... oh! The children! Of course the children! I couldn't make Mr. Colt watch them die, so I can make Hector watch, instead!"

Geoffrey furrowed his brow and folded his arms. "But wait. He is much stronger than Mr. Colt. Removing the children from his possession without killing him first could prove difficult... Maybe if I lure him away from the house...? Well, let me think. It is the middle of the night... and he is rather protective... How can I get him to leave without taking the children with him? Hmm..."

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Back in his room, Hector sat practicing with metal, trying to improve his speed in the creation of gauntlets again. He'd found an old stopwatch and decided to time himself. After a few attempts, he discovered that he had managed to shave a whole second off the process.

"Only another fourteen and a half minutes to go," he mumbled.

He was about to give it another try when a distant pop interrupted him. A small tremor passed through the room, and the light from his desk lamp flickered and died.

"What was that?"

'An explosion, if I'm not mistaken.' Garovel flew up through the ceiling.

Hector waited in the dark. 'The power isn't coming back on...'

'It's not just your house. Several blocks just went completely dark. I think we can assume the blast came from the power plant.'

'What do you want me to do? Should I go check it out?'

'I'm thinking so, yeah.'

Hector looked at the twins in the darkness, still asleep in their makeshift beds. 'But... what about the children?'

'Do you think you should stay?'

His expression strained. 'I don't know... people could be hurt out there, right? Trapped under rubble or something?'

'That they could.'

He stood and ran a hand across his face as he started pacing across the room. 'What do I do? If someone's dying over there, and I could--agh--but I just--!'

'Take the kids with you.'

He watched Garovel float back down through the ceiling. 'What?!'

'You could be gone for hours, depending on how things go. Shouldn't leave babies unattended for that long.'

'But it's fucking dangerous!'

'You'll keep them safe.'

He was incredulous. 'You can't know that! What if I fuck things up again?!'

'Hector,' said Garovel. 'I know you still lack confidence, but there is no doubt in my mind that you will protect them. Need I remind you of all the people you've already saved?'

He looked at the floor and frowned.

'I do need to? Okay, well, let's see. There's Bohwanox, me, Colt, these same children, me again, those people from the apartment complex the other day, Lynn, Roman, Mehlsanz, the fucking Queen of Atreya, me a third time--oh, and that girl from your first night as my servant, remember her? Come on, there are so many that I can't even remember them all. And guess what? You're stronger now than you've ever been.'

'I... ah... but if they get hurt...'

'They'll always be in danger of getting hurt. But right now, one of the safest places they can be is by your side. Just don't use them to reflect bullets, and I think they'll be fine.'

Hector was silent.

Garovel waited, and then said, 'How about I go scout out the situation first, then?'

He looked up. 'N-no. I don't want you going anywhere without me, either.'

'I'll be careful.' The reaper moved toward the wall.

'No, you're right. I'll... I'll keep the kids safe... and I'll keep you safe, too.'

'Then let's hurry,' said Garovel.

Hector gathered up the children.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Walking all the way back to the motel from the port had been irritatingly slow. He'd wanted to just steal a car--as apparently Geoffrey had thrown Colt's into the water--but Bohwanox wouldn't allow it.

Yellow tape lined the parking lot, but after waiting for the last squad car to leave for the night, Colt was relieved to discover that his room had not been ransacked by the police. His money, clothes, and travel supplies were all safe.

'I suppose this means the cops weren't able to identify you,' said Bohwanox.

"Could be that someone heard gunshots but no one actually saw me." Colt exchanged his torn shirt and pants for fresh ones, finding a lone shark tooth in the collar as he threw the old clothes away. "That, or the cops here are just stupid--which is honestly more probable."

'I thought you'd think more highly of the police.'

"Not in this fucking country." He gathered his things and headed back outside.

'Then why did you even bother becoming a police officer in the first place?'

'Because I thought I could be useful,' said Colt. It was the dead of night, so almost no one else was on the street, but he decided to keep their conversation quiet anyway. 'Tried the military for a while, but it was all training and bullshit. Had to spend all my time with a bunch of dumbasses, and we never even left the country. Got back to Brighton, which was up to its eyeballs in criminal shit, and the law was doing absolutely everything it could to help the assholes get away with it. So I started using the law to fuck them over every chance I got.'

'And that's when the Rofals took notice?'

Colt raised an eyebrow. 'You know about that, huh? How long have you been following me, anyway?'

'Since Hector helped you and your kids escape from that underground mansion.'

'I see.'

The reaper tilted his shadowed face at him. 'You don't strike me as the type of person who wants to improve society. No offense.'

'I am not a good man,' said Colt. 'A good man would regret a lot of the things I've done, I think. But I've known good people. Or at least, people who deserved a lot better than what they got. And I figured that I could do things that good people can't.'

'Things, huh? Care to elaborate?' said Bohwanox.

'No.'

'We are going to be spending a lot of time together. It would be best if we learned to get along.'

'I think we'll get along just fine without knowing every little thing about each other.'

'You're not curious about me, then?'

'Tell me whatever you want. I'm not stopping you.'

'Hmm. So you'd prefer a business-like relationship.'

'Hell yes.'

Bohwanox paused. 'I'm okay with that. As long as you don't disobey me.'

'Fine.' Colt stopped, looked around the open street, and then eyed Bohwanox another time. 'Look, I know you're against it, but I really need to steal a car if I wanna make it all the way back to Brighton by morning. How about if I steal it from someone who deserves it?'

'I suppose that would be okay. But can you actually find someone like that?'

An hour later, he had a car. Annoyingly, Bohwanox made him drive the drunken idiot home first.

Next, Colt found a pay phone.

'Calling Hector?'

'Yeah. I memorized his number in case of emergencies.'

'Quite prepared, aren't you?'

'Not enough, obviously.' He listened to it ring.

A few beats passed. 'He's not picking up,' said Bohwanox.

'The kid's probably just busy.' Colt hung up and scratched his beard, eyeing the phone up and down. 'Bah. This thing doesn't have SMS. I gotta find another cellphone so I can text him.'

'How long is that going to take?'

Colt abruptly noticed the mobile phone store at the far end of the street. 'Couple minutes, I'm guessing.'