It’s nice to
see he’s listening.”
“But,” Les
said, utterly shocked, “he didn’t have to kill this guy. Michael only did it
because the guy got on his nerves.”
Jason
shrugged his shoulders and said, “Boys will be boys, you know.”
Les couldn’t
believe it. He was surrounded by crazy people. These brothers looked at murder
as a minor thing.
Suddenly he
was aware Jason was no longer standing next to him. Les turned and saw him
returning to where he had come from.
“What are
you doing?” Les asked.
“Retreating
into the darkness, of course,” Jason replied, and it seemed he was doing just
that, for he disappeared before Les’s very eyes, in
the corner of his yard where the darkness was absolute.
Les went
back to his room and found Michael holding a sack full of purple crystals.
“What are
these?” Michael asked.
Damn it, Les thought. I knew he’d go through my stuff.
“ Burgani crystals,” he said. “I use them to protect myself
from evil spirits.”
Michael
laughed and put them back in Les’s desk drawer.
That’s when Les handed him the bag Jason had given him.
“This is for
you.”
Michael
stared at the bag for a moment, then took it. He opened it slowly and pulled
out what looked like a dark-red bowling ball, only it didn’t have finger holes.
For a long while, he just stared at it, not saying a word.
“My brother
was here?” he finally asked Les.
“Yeah.”
Les became
more nervous as Michael sat there at his desk, staring at the strange ball, its
dark, shiny red surface barely reflecting anything around it.
“So, you
don’t know how to use that thing?” Les asked.
“It’s weird,
I have a faint idea of how to use it,” Michael responded. “I just can’t
actually use it.”
“That must
be frustrating.”
“Very.”
Michael noticed
a Rubik’s cube sitting on Les’s desk. He put down the
ball, picked up the cube, and started playing with it. An awkward silence
followed.
“Why did you
say what you said to Curtis at the arcade?” Les suddenly asked, breaking the
silence and changing the subject at the same time.
Michael
continued to play with the cube. “As soon as I met him, the thought just came
to mind.”
“You’re not
racist, are you?”
Michael
laughed at that. “No, it’s not like that. I can sense things about people when
I’m near them. I could sense some friction between you two.”
He set down
the cube, with all colored sides matching.
“Could you
really sense something from me?”
“Clear as
day, my friend.” Michael went back to the ball, studying it.
Les looked
at the Rubik’s cube again. “You must be really smart; I’ve been working on that
cube for years.”
Michael
didn’t respond.
“So,” Les
said, “you and your brother are looking for someone to help you activate the
ball … to do what?”
Michael
finally looked up from the orb and stared at Les, his eyes suddenly alive.
“Before I tell you, you have to promise you’ll still help me, no matter what.”
Les didn’t
like that. There was no way he was going to make a promise to something if he
didn’t know what it was first.
“I promise,”
he said, hating himself for it.
“I know what
this thing does, but not how to use it. My brother plans to enslave the human
race and take over the world.”
Les sat
silently on his bed, many thoughts running through his head now. And then, he
laughed uncontrollably. Michael smiled.
“You’re
joking, right?” Les asked.
“No. I’m
serious. I’m certain this orb can help us do that. I told my brother and he
came up with the plan to use it.”
“How do you
know what it does?” Les asked.
“I saw it in
a dream. I saw me and another person building it at the same time. We were in a
green room, surrounded by creatures in cages. I don’t know what the other
person looks like, but I know he or she is here in this city. There’s a link
between us.”
Les listened
intently. He could tell by Michael’s tone he was