better.”
Zachary was thankful that Bret hadn’t been there during any of the cleaning. The clouds of dust would surely have made him sick.
“You probably should try to reach that gnome guy,” Bret said, “before someone else comes.”
3) He Finally Calls
Doesn’t she have other customers to talk to? Zachary wondered when Medusa reappeared in the swirling U-Ghoul fog. He had never seen another operator. Even if there weren’t that many supernatural customers, it seemed that sooner or later someone else would try to communicate with her at the same time as him.
“You have seven thousand, two hundred and fifty-six messages,” Medusa said.
“Are they all from Krage?” Zachary asked.
“All but two messages are from His Lordship Ker Sevikrage,” she told him.
Zachary felt his insides tremble.
“Two are from someone else?”
“One is from the U-Ghoul administrators who wanted to thank you for your order of our Deluxe Privacy Package.” She remained unemotional, but Zachary got the distinct impression that some of the snakes on her head were grinning at him.
“And the other one?” Zachary asked.
“It is from Francis Neddleson Pill,” she said.
“Uncle Ned!” Zachary exclaimed. Was his father all right? Were they both back on Earth? “Please show me his message.”
Medusa disappeared to be replaced by his Uncle Ned, but not the way Zachary had ever seen him before. His face was dirty and his clothes were in tatters. Blood streaked one of his cheeks. He seemed to be in some sort of a dirt tunnel. The light was dim and flickering, possibly from a torch or candles.
“Sport,” Uncle Ned said, “I assume you’ve figured out how to use your father’s U-Ghoul by now. You never were one to follow orders overly well.” He smiled and wiped at his forehead, leaving another streak of blood. “You might have guessed from looking around that things aren’t going so well at the moment. Don’t worry, though; Pills always find a way.”
“Except for when they die,” Zachary muttered, remembering most of his family had already been lost to Krage.
“I received news from the Pandemone corridor, sport. Your dad is definitely still alive, or at least he was a day or so ago. Unfortunately, that’s the last I heard because he slipped through the barrier and is now somewhere on Pandemone. I—”
Zachary realized that sometime during his uncle’s message he had stopped breathing. He forced himself to gulp some air.
“—barely remember Pandemone,” his uncle continued, uninterrupted, “because I was only five or six years old when my father escaped with us. But your dad was ten at the time, so he should remember enough to get around okay.”
Suddenly the light in his uncle’s tunnel went dark and flickered on again.
“There isn’t much time,” his uncle said, “so I better get to why I called. First, you should know that I had a friend package up your slumber guard and ship it to you. It should arrive any day. Remember you need only to rub its belly for it to wake. It will usually return to sleep on its own, once it determines any danger has passed.”
The tunnel light flickered again and Zachary could see dirt falling in clumps not far behind his uncle. Zachary wiped at his unbidden tears. Why was this happening to his family?
“Here’s the most important thing, sport,” his uncle said. A clump of dirt fell in his hair and he brushed it off. “The corridor realms are buzzing with rumors that a new wizard is destined to become the Guardian of Earth. Since Merlin disappeared, his lionbrarian has been holding the fort. But gnomes aren’t very good with magic, and it’s doubtful he’ll be able to manage things for long. There are some rumors that the new Guardian will be a boy. Here’s the part you won’t believe, partner: since you’re the only boy wizard with Pandemone blood on Earth that I know of, I’m afraid that boy is probably you."
Zachary’s mouth fell open. This was impossible; he knew nothing about magic and had no idea what a Guardian of Earth was!
The light in Uncle Ned’s tunnel flickered, went black then came back on more dimly than before. “If you can avoid it, buddy,” Uncle Ned warned, “stay away from that gnome. Believe me, you don’t want to be saddled with Merlin’s wand or that Guardian position. It would make you the target of every magical crazy on the planet. And since you’re already a Pill…well, let’s just say your odds of making it to adulthood wouldn’t be great.”
Zachary heard snarls and growling coming from somewhere close to his uncle. The big man grimaced and flexed his massive chest.
“Guess that’s it, buddy,” he said. “I’ve got an ogre hound or two to deal with. Remember, stay away from the gnome!”
The smoke screen went black for a moment before Medusa reappeared.
“Do you have any summons you’d like to make?” she asked.
“How long ago did my uncle send that message?” Zachary asked.
Medusa’s eyes turned white for just a moment. “His smoke impression was made forty-three minutes ago.”
“Can I reach him?” Zachary asked. He glanced over at Bret and knew his friend was rooting for him.
Medusa’s eyes went white for almost a full minute before she focused on him again. “I’m sorry, but Francis Neddleson Pill doesn’t seem to have a U-Ghoul portal on the system.”
“Then how did he leave my message?” Zachary asked.
Medusa shook her head. “We don’t currently know, but our administrators are looking into it.”
Zachary brushed at the tears streaking both his cheeks. Was it possible that he would soon be losing both his father and his uncle? How could any of this be fair? Hadn’t he suffered enough? Wasn’t the loss of his mother enough?
“Maybe you’d prefer to shut the unit down,” Medusa said. It was an odd comment, coming from her, and he wondered if he should take it as advice.
He looked over at Bret. “What do you think?”
Bret’s eyes were wide. “I-I don’t really understand what y-y-your uncle was talking about, b-but he doesn’t know about the d-d-dragon bite.”
Zachary knew his friend was right. There was no way his uncle would have thought that becoming a dragon was safer than talking to the Guardian of Earth. He turned to Medusa.
“I need to talk to Larzell, the gnome.”
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Zachary Pill, With Dragon Fear
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THE PHEESCHING SECTOR
Tim Greaton