Moondancers

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Cough, cough, cough… Cough, cough.

  My lungs were burning.

  I opened my eyes. Petros was staring down at me, his face awash with concern.

  “Please don’t tell me you gave me mouth-to-mouth,” I said, sputtering up a lungful of pool water. Cough, cough.

  “Okay, I won’t. But somebody had to, and I don’t believe you wanted it from your friend over there.”

  I glanced in the direction of his gaze. Alan was seated on the gym floor throwing up his guts. Rive was standing over him.

  I gazed back at Petros. “You’re right about that,” I said, prompting a smile. “Thanks for saving my life.”

  “I didn’t save you. We got here too late. Lara did.”

  I gazed back over in the direction of Rive and Alan, looking for her. Alan had stopped puking and was sitting up breathing deeply. I gazed in the opposite direction toward the partially open gym floor.

  “Where is she?” I asked.

  “Josh, you need to take it easy for a few minutes.”

  Not the answer I was looking for.

  “I need to know where Lara is!”

  I bolted upright, and a wave of dizziness erupted in my head. Everything went wonky. It was as if I’d suddenly lost my sea legs. I felt bile rising up my throat. I gazed frantically around the gym.

  No Lara.

  “Josh, are you alright?” Petros asked. Try as I might to stay upright, I was slumping back down to the floor.

  “No, I’m not all right,” I said, my word slurring. “Where’s Lara?”

  “The creature…” he said, his words trailing off.

  “You mean, she’s d…dead?”

  “No. Not yet, at least. The creature took her hostage. If our guess is right, he’s on his way back to the sea.”

  “Where were you?” I screamed. “You were supposed to be here. This is all your fault.” I struggled myself to an upright position and took a swing at him. He easily side-stepped my swing, and I fell over, nearly face-planting on the gym floor.

  “Josh, it’s not over yet. She’s the Countesses’ daughter. I promise you, this is not over. Laertes is taking Lara back to his people at the sea, and we will stop him before he gets there.”

  “All your fault,” I mumbled as I lay, my face resting against the gym floor. It was cool, and soothing. “You and him,” I slurred, pointing toward Rive.

  “You’re right. It is my fault. All my fault. But we will save her,” Petros said. I thought I heard his voice cracking. I wasn’t sure. I didn’t care.

  I dragged myself up from the floor. It took all my strength, but I got to a standing position and shambled across the gym to Alan.

  “Hey, are you okay?” I asked as I arrived. He looked horrible. Wait. I’m sure I looked horrible, too.

  “You saved my life, bro,” he said. He gazed up into my eyes, and I could tell he was embarrassed. “Thanks.”

  “No problem,” I said, and forced a smile for his sake. “Legion of Doom, right?”

  The comment had the desired effect, and brought a smile to his face, although it was a cautious one.

  “They had a handshake,” he said.

  “I don’t know. Did they?”

  “They did. It was a really neat handshake. I think it went something like this.”

  “Alan, stop. You’re geeking out.” My faculties were returning. I needed to push on.

  “Oh. Right,” he said, gazing over at the two satyrs. “Where’s Lara?”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. The creature’s got her. I have to save her.”

  Alan sat silent for a moment. He took in a deep breath and let it out quickly. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  “You don’t have to come along. She’s my girl. You’ve done your part. The creature is out of your pool. Alexia and her mother are safe. Go home and be with your girl.”

  “Naw, Dude. We’re in this together. The Legion of Doom, remember?”

  He stared into my eyes, and all the fear and trepidation I expected to find in his wasn’t there. I’d given him the perfect excuse to bail, and he didn’t take it. Regardless, I considered Alan a liability.

  “It’s all right, Alan. I got this.”

  “It’s not all right!” he said, his voice getting emotional. “Every chance I’ve had to prove myself, I’ve failed. And worse than failing Alexia, I’ve failed you. You’re my best friend, you know that, right?”

  “Yeah. I do.”

  “Then let’s go dancing with the beast in the moonlight, and get your girl back.”

  “What?” I said, releasing a coughing laugh that made my lungs ache.

  “I sounded like an action hero just then, didn’t I?”

  “You sounded like a dipstick,” I said, and he cracked a smile.

  “I was never that good at the smooth lines. Truth is, I’ve never been good at much of anything. But I am good at being your friend, your best friend. I’m excellent at that. I won’t let you down this time. Promise.”

  I gazed into his eyes, and saw a determination in them I’d never seen before. It softened me. “The Legion of Doom,” I said. “Let’s go moondancing.”

  I pulled Alan to his feet, and together we dragged back over to Petros and Rive.

  “We’re going with you,” I said when we arrived.

  Rive peered at two bedraggled teenage boys, and then over at Petros. “I’m sorry, but there’s no way—”

  Petros stopped him by planting a firm hand on Rive’s shoulder. “It’s all right,” he said.

  Rive gaped at Petros, blinking wildly for a moment before his eyes moved back to me. “Laertes is travelling through the storm drains beneath the city. Lara’s injured him, so he can’t move quickly. He will emerge from underground at Ballona Creek before continuing his walk to the sea. We have to get to Ballona Creek before he does.”

  “Okay. Let’s do it,” I said.

  Rive heaved a deep sigh, again eying Petros nervously. “We need to move quickly, and you two will slow us down.”

  “We’re going!” I said. “Figure it out.”

  “But if we have to carry you, we may arrive too late,” Rive implored.

  “We’re going!” I said, raising my voice.

  “Rive is right, Josh. If we have to carry you, we may arrive too late to save Lara.” Petros fixed me with a firm gaze. “You don’t want that.”

  “Then don’t carry us!” I said, the words scorching up my throat. “We don’t need you. We got this. Alan and me, we’re the Legion of Doom. We’ll get there on our own,” I said, puffing myself up with fake bravado like a preening peacock.

  “We have to go now. Getting to the creek before Laertes is imperative,” said Rive.

  “So, go! Just tell us where to meet you, and we’ll be there.”

  Rive again looked between me and Petros before telling us the street address of where the storm drain emptied into Ballona Creek.

  “Trust me, Josh. We will save her,” Petros said.

  “See, that’s the thing. I don’t trust you. We will save her,” I said.

  The two satyrs shared another quick look before trotting over to the gym’s double doors.

  “We will save her,” Petros said definitively, shooting me a last glance, and then they headed off. The sound of their galloping hooves retreated down the hall. The outer door opened and banged shut, and they were gone.

  I peered over at Alan who was staring at me, his eyes eager. “So, what’s the plan?”

  I shook my head, my shoulders slumping as the confidence I’d displayed moments earlier fled like a thief in the night. “I have no idea.”

  Alan and I exited the gym, consumed in a cloud of despair. We stepped out into the parking lot. A soft breeze stroked my face. The cool fresh air felt good after being in the stiflingly hot gym for so long.

  I still hadn’t come up with a plan. I considered that we could uber to Ballona Creek, but both of our phones had been destroyed in the pool, so th
at wouldn’t work.

  Honk, honk.

  The headlights of a car across the parking lot flashed at us, two tiny beacons winking in the night.

  “Uh-oh. We’ve been spotted,” said Alan. He turned sharply to the left, and started walking away.

  “We need a ride,” I said, and began dragging toward the car.

  “But that’s the security patrol,” Alan called. “We go to him, we’re busted. Remember what you said about wanting to graduate without a criminal record?”

  “We need a ride!” I called back, over my shoulder. “You have a better idea?”

  Alan didn’t respond, so I guess he didn’t. As I dragged toward the car, I realized that I recognized it—a black Mustang convertible sitting in the shadows.

  The bitches on wheels.

  “It’s Conner,” I called. I spotted our friend behind the wheel of the Mustang, grinning back. Never before had there ever been a more welcome sight.

  Earlier, when Conner released the net, dumping the creature into the pool, he assumed our mission was complete. As far as he was concerned, we three had accomplished something we couldn’t share with anyone but ourselves, and Conner felt we needed to celebrate. So he hightailed it home, and “borrowed” his sister, Sara’s, car to take us on a celebratory joyride around Beverly Hills, leaving campus before any of the creature excitement began.

  As it turned out, there would be no celebration. Not yet, anyway. Maybe after we rescued Lara from the creature. Maybe.

  We piled into the Mustang and headed for Ballona Creek.

  “Nice car,” Alan said as he lay down on the back seat.

  “Feel free to bleed all over the upholstery,” Conner said.

  That got a laugh out of both of us.

  As the car travelled toward Venice, the pain in my shredded ankle became more evident. Every bump we hit, or steep turn we made, the ankle throbbed with an agony that rocketed up my leg, through my body, exploding in my brain into a million tiny embers of red hot hurt.

  Alan wasn’t complaining, but I imagine his side, that had been ravaged by the creature’s claw was aching at least as much as my ankle.

  The anguish in my ankle however, was nothing compared to the ache in my heart.

  Lara had sacrificed her life to save mine.

  She was willing to give her life for me even as she refused to give her heart to me. I didn’t want to admit it, but I had the feeling it was too late for us. The music in my mind had ceased to play. No music indicated the worst, that one of us was going to die… had died.

  I was hoping that I was wrong, that we’d arrive at Ballona Creek and save Lara from the creature in time. I didn’t believe it, though. I propped myself up with false hope, but I did not believe we’d save her.

  “We’re here.”

  Conner’s voice snatched me from my dismal thoughts.

  “Okay, thanks,” I said. Fear churned my belly, for I knew the moment of truth was at hand.

  We exited the car in an affluent neighborhood on a street lined with Cape Cod style homes. The smell of the ocean was in the air. There was a path that ran alongside the homes. The path wound down to Ballona Creek.

  The creek was a watershed area the government had declared off limits for the Southern California builders who seemed to have snatched up every bit of open space to erect new condominiums. It was an area of the city whose natural, rustic beauty had been preserved.

  All the storm drains that sucked up the rain water of Beverly Hills emptied out into a lovely canal, a marshland complete with ducks and geese, and all sorts of aquatic birds, as well as a variety of exotic plants and flowers.

  We left Conner at the car and proceeded along the path, and down to the creek. A quarter of a mile down the waterway we saw the opening. It was a concrete tunnel forty feet in height. This was where the water flowed from the city’s storm drains into Ballona creek, from the creek to the sea. This was where the creature would emerge, hopefully, with Lara still alive in his arms.

  “Down there,” I said pointing to the storm drain opening. Alan nodded solemnly. We exited the path, and moved through tall grass and down an embankment. We waded into the creek, and began trudging toward the drain pipe opening.

  I realized as we waded into knee-deep water that I hadn’t retrieved my tennis shoes. They were still on the gym floor. I was in my stocking feet.

  “We beat them here,” Alan said. There was a sense of pride in his voice.

  I gazed around. There was open space all around us, and not a soul to be seen in the tall grass leading down to the creek, or on the bridge above the tall drain pipe. There was no sign of Petros or Rive anywhere.

  “You think we came to the right place?” I asked.

  “Yes. This is it. Don’t worry. We don’t need them. I got this,” he said.

  Right.

  As we continued moving in the shallows toward the drain, the fear in my belly rose into my chest making it harder and harder to breathe with each step. She’s not dead, I said in my mind. We will rescue her, I said. The thoughts offered no comfort. I didn’t believe one word.

  My footsteps slowed.

  “Are you all right?” Alan asked.

  “My ankle,” I lied.

  “I got this,” he said, and splashed on ahead of me.

  I had no idea what he thought he could accomplish with a few throwing stars, but I knew in my heart I couldn’t lose both Lara and Alan. I quickened my pace, catching up to him. Shoulder-to-shoulder, we approached the drain.

  As we neared the darkened opening, a sloshing could be heard coming toward us from within. We stopped ten feet in front of the opening of the drainpipe and listened as the churning grew louder. The creature was coming.