We met Vinnie and Rick back downstairs, grabbed a jacket and our helmets, and then went out to get on our bikes. The town wasn’t as big as New York City, but I had no idea which direction to even start a search. So, I hopped on Winnie and waited for instructions.
“They’re north of here, so at least they’ll be on the way,” Rick said. He led the way into downtown New Bedford, where we found the blonde bombers standing in front of City Hall. We parked our bikes near theirs and walked over to them. They seemed to be discussing something, and I couldn’t tell whether the conversation was on the verge of turning heated.
“Oh, hi, guys,” Liam said when we were close enough to talk without yelling. He looked like he was trying to hold back a smile.
“What have you guys been up to?” I asked in my stern, authoritative voice.
“Us? Nothing at all. We were just getting ready to call you guys down, so you can see what we found,” Kyle said. “Follow me.”
He led us up the steps to City Hall and directed us to one of the rooms. Inside the room, every piece of furniture was on the ceiling. There were already five other people in the room staring up at it, trying to figure out how it got there.
“Wow, someone is playing an April Fools’ Day joke a little early,” I said, laughing while I did my best to act like seeing furniture in the opposite place of where it should be was a common occurrence.
“Crazy stuff like this has been happening a lot around here,” a man answered, coming over to us. “Hi, I’m Mayor Michaels. You guys don’t look familiar, are you from out of town?”
“Yes, we’re from New York and took the trip out here to see the Whaling Museum,” Kyle responded for me. Since I didn’t know the area, I had no idea what to use as an excuse.
“Well, welcome to our city,” the mayor replied. “I hope the practical joker allows you to enjoy your trip.”
The rest of his group was focused in our direction, so they missed when the furniture magically righted itself. Everything floated back down into its proper place, like nothing was ever amiss. I looked over to Nate to make sure I didn’t just imagine it and he gave me a wink. I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant.
“You aren’t crazy,” he said to me telepathically.
“That’s good to know. I think I want to get out of here,” I replied via the same method.
“Thank you for the warm welcome mayor. We really do need to be heading out. A lot of things to see and do in the area, you know,” Nate said.
“That’s true,” he replied. “If you have any questions, feel free to come back and ask. We have all sorts of brochures out front by the door. Feel free to grab as many as you want.”
We shuffled back out of the room and heard gasps and shouts when the group finally turned around and saw nothing wrong. When we got out to our bikes, bypassing the brochures, the berserkers couldn’t stop laughing, and like a fool, Rick joined them.
“We’ve seen stuff like that all over town. It has been one of the best mornings ever. See look over there,” Kyle said, pointing across the street.
What I saw was a woman talking to a loaf of bread. She was cradling it like a baby, so I assumed she thought it was her child. I hoped the real child was with someone else, and not sitting at the grocery store waiting for its mommy.
“That’s not funny,” I told the berserkers, smacking them both on the arms. “So we have larger audience pranks like we saw with the furniture and we have individualized delusions. We really need to find this being and ask him to either stop or move on and space out the pranks a little. Rick, Liam, are you feeling the extra power in the city north of us?”
“Yeah, I can feel Joseph west of us now and there’s still something to the north,” Rick replied.
“I can agree that there’s something out there,” Liam said.
“Good, now get on your bikes so we can go find this thing,” I said, heading towards Winnie.
I didn’t want national media outlets showing up while we were in town, and I feared word would eventually spread. If we were bound to have a showdown with some troublesome warlocks, we didn’t need extra eyes on us.
We followed Vinnie in the general direction of north. It didn’t take long before he led us to an empty parking lot. We dismounted the bikes and took a look at the forest before us. All I saw were trees everywhere I looked.
Most of them were tall, so a giant man didn’t happen to tower over them. I could smell the tobacco aroma overly strong in the area, which I hoped meant we were in the right place. There was a hint of it all over the city, but it hadn’t been to the level where I felt like taking steps backwards to get away from it.
“We have an issue,” Rick said, looking around. I followed his gaze, but I didn’t see anything.
“That’s putting it lightly,” Liam said.
“What now? Did gargoyles decide to swoop in and join the party?” I asked, knowing that wasn’t the case.
“There are now two energy sources in these woods and they happen to be in opposite directions,” Liam said.
“I can’t tell them apart. They both feel the same to me,” Rick added.
“Well that’s splendid news. We’re going to have to split up. Vinnie do you mind going with the berserkers? I don’t think Nate or Rick will let me go into an unknown situation without them by my side.”
“Not a problem. I trust them to be able to protect you, and I don’t think we want Liam or Kyle running around in a forest by themselves,” he responded. “They’d probably decide to be one with nature and run around nude without supervision.”
“Hey, we’ve been wandering through swamps and forests before you were even a circuit in your mother’s eye, and it’s been years since we’ve done it naked.” Kyle said.
“Hey, no arguing you two. So, which direction are we heading?” I asked Rick.
“It’s anyone’s guess. Left or right are the options,” he replied.
“My executive decision is that our group goes to the right. Any complaints?” I asked.
“I didn’t know we were allowed to challenge an executive decision,” Liam joked. “I thought they were supposed to be set in stone.”
“Well, we’re still building this organization and we all have a lot to learn. I didn’t say I’d actually change my mind on which way I was going, I was just giving you an opportunity to complain about it.”
“That’s so kind of you,” he said sarcastically, which earned him a mocking head wobble from me. “I think we’ll be fine going to the left. Should we just call you if we find anything?”
“That would be nice of you. How dangerous do you think the swampy parts of this place are, Vinnie?” I asked.
I didn’t see any water, so I hoped the swamp part of the name was just for fun. I hadn’t packed anything for walking around in a swamp, and I didn’t really want to ruin my clothes.
“Wikipedia states it is ‘one of the state’s largest, wildest and most impenetrable swamps’, so I think we’re in for a fun adventure.” For some reason hearing a robot say tromping around in a swamp was going to be a fun adventure seemed wrong.
“Let’s go then,” I said. If my motorcycle boots were swamp-proof, I’d be a happy camper.
“Can you give us a call in about a half an hour?” Nate asked the other team. “Since we’re going up against something that can alter our realities, I want to keep in touch.”
“Will do,” Liam said, before leading his group off towards the left of the forest.
“Okay, lead the way, big brother,” I said, following behind him.
“While we’ve been talking, the being I’m sensing on this side has actually gotten closer to us. It’s still probably an hour’s walk away, but it’s kind enough that it’s making our job easier,” Rick stated.
“That’s good news. Does it feel like it’s continuing in our direction?” Nate asked. I saw him get his gun out, so I grabbed the machete from my back sheath.
“No, it seems to have stopped, at least for the time being. I definitel
y think it knows we’re here looking for it,” he responded.
I thought that point was obvious when it split into two energy sources. I was starting the journey believing only one of the teams were going to be successful finding a Kapre, and nothing had made me think any different.
“Have we discussed what can kill a Kapre, if it’s necessary?” I asked.
“They’re a unique, so nothing short of a charmed weapon would do any good. The knives and bullets may slow it down, but probably not for long,” Nate replied.
“So what happens if it decides it doesn’t like us telling it to leave town?” I inquired.
“Well, there’s a spell that can lock his powers. I had Vinnie look it up in our texts, and if push comes to shove, I’ll reveal it to you,” Nate answered. “I don’t want you to use it unless it’s absolutely necessary, and I know you can be a little trigger happy.”
“And what if this thing somehow separates us, or makes it so you can’t pass it to me?” I asked. “I get to find out what it’s like for two immortal beings to do battle.”
“She has a point, we don’t know what to expect out there,” Rick said, agreeing with me as we continued walking through the swamp.
I about fell over as I stumbled at his words. I was going to have the mark the day on the calendar, “Rick actually says something smart”.
“It may be a good point, but I watched her fly across a room yesterday from saying a spell, and I don’t want to have to witness that again,” Nate replied. “Kapres have never been known for violence, so I doubt we’ll need it anyway.”
“You better hope this one hasn’t lost its mind,” I said to him under my breath.
I explained to him the energy blast was just because it was against someone else’s spell. I couldn’t say for sure, but since it was a spell that they got from a book, I doubted that I’d even experience one of the headaches. I hadn’t tried casting spells that someone else wrote, but for some reason I didn’t think it was the same as making up my own.
After a while, Nate’s phone rang and he answered it, hitting the speakerphone button, so we could all hear.
“Hey, Kyle,” he said in way of greeting.
“Oh speakerphone, how fun. You guys find anything yet?” he asked.
“Nothing yet, but we’re getting closer to our being’s location according to Rick,” Nate responded. “How are you guys doing?”
“About five minutes ago ours disappeared from radar. We think it was just a decoy to get us separated,” he replied. I was surprised Rick hadn’t alerted our group of that fact.
“I figured one of them would end up being a decoy. If there really were two, Rick or Liam would’ve probably felt them both earlier. You guys want to head our way? I’m sure Liam can pick up our Avery beacon,” Nate told him.
We heard him pull the phone away from his mouth while he talked to the others. I didn’t think there was much to discuss.
“On our way. Liam says she’s glowing like her normal bad self and it will take us about thirty minutes to get in your vicinity,” he said when he came back to the phone.
“Rick, how far do you think until we reach him?” Nate asked.
“We’re about twenty minutes away now, he still hasn’t moved.”
“I don’t want to wait for you guys to get here, so angle yourself in a way that will intersect with us about two miles north of our current position,” Nate informed Kyle. “We’ll hopefully already have made contact and be ready to leave by then.”
“Sounds good, boss. See you soon,” Kyle said, and then hung up.
We continued on our path for about ten minutes before I noticed my boot was untied. I tried to continue on, because there was little chance I’d actually trip over it, but it started to annoy me. I bent down to tie it real quick and looked up to see Rick and Nate had disappeared.
“Guys,” I yelled. “Wait up.” I started jogging in the direction they were headed and after five minutes I still didn’t see them. “Come on, guys, this isn’t funny, where did you go?” I bellowed.
I heard no sounds that indicated movement. I decided that I hated anything that could be classified as a swamp. I took out my phone to try to call Nate, but it indicated I had no service. “That figures,” I said, putting it back into my pocket. I tried to call to him telepathically, and that also seemed to be blocked.
Deciding that I hadn’t been turned around, I chose to keep walking straight ahead, and trust that I could at least find the Kapre. At the same time, I hoped the machete would be enough to subdue him until help arrived.