The Demon Conspiracy

  ***

  For Travis, life was good. It could be better, especially as far as Jon and Chris were concerned, but for right now Travis was happy. As we sat in the kitchen I listened to his thoughts while he went over the recent changes in his life. The three of us were together again. Nothing could beat that. And we had a foster family who liked us, maybe even loved us, though it was still too early to tell. Angie and Chris were two of the nicest people we’d ever known, and they were our people. Admittedly, Chris had changed a lot since Pandora’s Cave, Jon too. Maybe they were demonically possessed, or maybe they were having one of those extreme reactions to stress, but at least they were with us.

  Travis was excited about having a foster grandmother, too, though she was a strange woman. And he had gum. And one of Tony’s hot turkey subs was on the way. Tony always toasted his sandwiches, which made the cheese all gooey. Travis’ mouth watered.

  I got out of his mind and leaned back on the bench. Travis was definitely happier than he used to be. Good, that’s what I wanted. He looked up and smiled when Maria entered the kitchen.

  “Did you guys see Brandon?” she asked.

  “He took out the trash.” I pointed.

  “Thanks.” Maria disappeared out the back door.

  A second later Travis gagged on the gum. He coughed hard and blew the gum across the floor. I jumped off the bench in surprise.

  “You okay?”

  Travis shook his head. His expression was pure terror. “Maria!”

  I grabbed Travis by the hand. “Come on!” When we got outside I was shocked. Brandon was trapped between the dumpster and the building. Three other boys threw punches at him while he struggled to fight them off. Maria stood off to the side yelling at the boys.

  “Stop it! Leave him alone!”

  “Grab him!” said the biggest guy, who stood half a head taller than Brandon. “Hold him, Robbie! Get his arm, Spider!”

  The boys named Robbie and Spider out flanked Brandon. They each caught one of his arms. All at once Brandon couldn’t punch back.

  The big kid swung at him. He caught Brandon in the side of the head. Smack!

  Brandon shook off the punch. He stomped on the foot of the boy named Spider, the boy on his left. Spider cried out in pain, but he didn’t let go.

  The big kid grinned at Maria. “You can stop this, Maria! Right now!” His eyes flashed.

  He’s hateful! cried Travis in my head. He likes hurtin’ people!

  I’d already gathered that much. But what did he mean when he said Maria could stop it? Stop what? Stop them beating up Brandon?

  Maria looked helpless. She was about to say something, but Brandon cut her off. “No, Maria! Not a word!”

  “Brandon! I have to!”

  “Do it! Do it! Do it!” The kid named Robbie chanted while he held Brandon’s other arm. Robbie was tall and skinny with big ears and too many zits. I could tell Robbie enjoyed pain, too. As long as it was someone else’s pain.

  Maria charged at the big kid. “Stop it, Kurt!” She punched him hard in the back. The big kid, Kurt, turned and pushed her backwards. She stumbled and fell into me. I caught her and held her up.

  “Just say the magic words and I’ll stop. You know what I want. Hold ‘im still, Spider! I’ll finish him off!”

  Jon! Get out back! They’re beating up Brandon! When I sent the mental message to Jon, Travis heard it, loud and clear. The problem was Jon must have blocked me out. He never responded. I ran back inside.

  “Where ya going?” asked Travis in a panic.

  “Getting Jon!”

  Jon was still sitting on the bench where we’d left him. He glanced up at me in surprise when I grabbed his arm and pulled him outside. He came with me, apparently sensing my urgency.

  “You’ve got to help Brandon!” I told him.

  Jon stopped when he saw Maria. He took in the brutal scene as if he didn’t quite understand what was going on. Kurt focused on him at once.

  “Well, if it isn’t Golden Boy. This is the wimp you’re dating, Maria? Instead of me? You gotta be kidding.”

  Kurt went up to Jon, face to face. He seemed to tower over him. He was a big guy! Jon stood passively, like he had no idea Kurt wanted to pound him. I tried to warn him inside his head, but he continued to block me out. Maria looked at me desperately. I quickly read her thoughts. Does Jon remember how to fight?

  I shrugged helplessly. We were about to find out.

  Kurt shoved Jon backwards. Jon didn’t fall, but he stumbled and caught his balance.

  “You don’t seem so tough to me.” Kurt grinned at Maria. “I think I’d rather beat the hell out of this one.”

  Kurt swung hard, a knockout punch straight into Jon’s left jaw. The blow caught Jon completely by surprise. He blinked a few times and cleared his vision. All at once his eyes narrowed, he bared his teeth, like a wild animal cornered by hunters.

  “Ooh, he’s gonna bite me.” Kurt swung again, straight for Jon’s nose. Now I’m not certain exactly what happened at that moment, but something did, something nobody expected. Kurt’s big knuckles struck Jon squarely in the face. But Jon’s head never moved and Kurt reacted like he’d just punched a brick wall. The bigger boy nearly collapsed in pain.

  “Aaaah! You ass, you broke my hand!” Kurt gripped his broken hand with his good one, rocking up and down in pain. Jon watched him impassively, then tilted his head slightly as if he was trying to understand something. He raised both hands, palms out. A terrific force blew out of his hands, or at least that’s how it seemed. I felt the wind from it, and Kurt felt the full power. Kurt was lifted from his feet and tossed like a rag doll a good twenty feet away. He slammed into some cardboard liquor boxes piled behind the business next door.

  Kurt got up, his eyes burning in fury. “Robbie, get ‘im! Spider, you got Brandon!”

  When Robbie ran for Jon, Spider’s eyes grew large with fear. I scanned his mind and found out he wanted nothing to do with Brandon on his own. Brandon tore loose on him. He began punching Spider everywhere like a whirlwind. His fists pounded him in the face, head, arms, chest, belly…pretty much everywhere he could reach. Spider was getting his butt kicked good!

  Robbie came in from Jon’s blindside. He threw a haymaker punch, head-high. Jon leaned away from the punch and caught Robbie’s arm. He pulled down the wrist and landed a solid elbow to Zit boy’s unprotected face. Robbie’s head snapped back as he fell over.

  A moment later Kurt and Robbie were back on their feet, ready to finish the fight. Travis ran to help Jon, but I grabbed his arm. “No, Travis! You’re too little.”

  “It’s not fair!” Travis wanted to beat those guys up bad! So did I, but I’m not so brave. I was already shaking worse than one of those paint-mixing machines.

  The fighters squared off. Jon’s expression was icy cold, fearless. He never moved a muscle, he just stood and watched Kurt. He paid no attention at all to Robbie.

  Kurt didn’t back away, but he was clearly unnerved.

  “Are you okay, Brandon?” called Maria. Brandon actually had to make himself stop beating up Spider, who lay moaning at his feet, bloodied and bruised.

  Brandon nodded. He wiped blood from his nose on his sleeve. “Let’s take these chumps, Jon!”

  Kurt laughed. “Maria, when you’re ready for a real man…” Kurt pointed to himself.

  “I got a real man, Kurt. And he’s not a jerk like you! Go to hell!”

  “When I’m done with your boy here, I’ll come after you next. Only we ain’t gonna fight. We gonna love.”

  Maria spit in Kurt’s general direction. “Drop dead, pig!”

  Kurt glared at her. “You forget who I am? You want me to tell my daddy about how you won’t go out with me?”

  “What’s he talking about?” asked Travis.

  “Nothing,” said Maria. “He’s a piece o’ crap.”

  “Piece o’ crap?” Kurt shook his head. “I’m wastin’ my time here. I’m goin’ home.” He turned as if to walk away
. Suddenly, he spun back around. He threw a rocket punch straight at Jon’s stomach.

  Jon never flinched, but somehow a bolt of lightning exploded out of his belly. The lightning slapped Kurt with so much force he went flying into the brick wall. Kurt struck the wall hard and collapsed like a wet rag. His face was scraped. Blood spewed from his nose, which was now bent in the wrong direction.

  Jon had always had an amazing sense of impending danger. It was one of his special skills. I was telepathic and Travis read emotions. But in a fight Jon had some kind of built-in advanced-warning system. He sensed what his opponents would do a split second before they ever did it. He once told me it was like getting a phone call ahead of time to warn him.

  But I’d never seen him shoot lightning bolts out of his body before!

  Brandon saw it too. He had started after Kurt until he saw the lightning. Now he froze in place. “What the hell?”

  Robbie quickly raised his hands and backed away from Jon. “I’m outta here.”

  Somehow Kurt rolled over and staggered to his feet. A heavy stream of blood poured down his face and over his light blue tee shirt. He touched the broken area of his nose gingerly.

  “You broke my nose, too, asshole! This ain’t over, Bishop! It ain’t over, I’m tellin’ ya!” Kurt was burning up with hate and anger, but he was also afraid and he wobbled on his feet. The fear made Travis smile. Kurt was mostly talk unless he had the advantage.

  Kurt’s gaze shifted. He smiled slowly. I looked. The kid named Robbie crept up behind Jon. Robbie took a steel pipe from under his jacket. He raised the pipe to smash Jon in the skull.

  Travis started to cry out. “J—…!”

  Robbie swung hard. Jon turned slightly when he heard Travis start to yell. It probably saved his life. The pipe slammed into his shoulder instead of his head. Jon spun about and raised his palms toward Robbie, who drew back for a second try. The pipe came down fast.

  From nowhere a hand reached in and caught Robbie by the wrist. He tried to continue the swing but he couldn’t move his arm.

  “Come on, Robbie!” cried Kurt. “Pound ‘im!”

  Robbie looked. Granny Price gripped him tightly. Robbie tried to jerk free, but he may as well have been caught in a vise. He yelled at her. “Leggo, old woman!”

  “Who you callin’ old?” Granny squeezed.

  Robbie cried out. He dropped to his knees. “You’re breaking my arm!”

  Granny released his arm and took the pipe away from him. I was stunned. So was everyone else. Taking the pipe from Robbie was extremely cool, but what happened next was legendary.

  Granny gripped both ends of the pipe and started to push. In no time the steel pipe folded in two. She tossed it aside and glared at Robbie. He gawked at her, openmouthed. We all did.

  “I despise cowards,” she said to him. “You three’d best get out of my sight.”

  Robbie jumped to his feet and took off running. Kurt followed, with Spider hobbling after him.

  Maria took napkins from her apron for Brandon to wipe the blood off his face. “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “Heck, yeah,” said Brandon. “I get a bloody nose every time the weather changes.” He picked up the folded pipe and tried to straighten it. He couldn’t. “How’d you do that?”

  Granny Price chuckled. “I eat my Wheaties.”

  Travis got very excited. Wheaties was his favorite cereal. “Wheaties does that?” We all laughed and Granny rubbed his head. She’d been kidding, of course, which made Travis feel dumb.

  “Come on, li’l mate,” she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get Brandon some ice for his face.”

  As we entered the restaurant, Granny whispered advice to everyone.

  “Kids, don’t say anything to Chris and Angie about the fight, okay?”

  I readily agreed, but Jon seemed to ignore her as he watched Robbie and Kurt, who had stopped running. They glared at him from a safe distance. Kurt was pointing at us, making empty threats.

  Travis couldn’t believe it. “We can’t tell? Why not? Jon and Brandon won! And, Granny, you’re like super woman!”

  “Just don’t mention it until I get to know ‘em better,” said Granny. “Chris seems a bit distracted, I need to figure him out. And we wouldn’t Angie getting the wrong idea about Jon, okay?”

  Everyone but Jon glared at him and Travis felt the pressure. “Okay. But I want to be the one to tell ‘em when we can!”

  “Cross my heart,” said Granny. “But only when the time comes.” She gripped Jon by the bicep and squeezed his arm. “Nice moves, Jon Bishop. You too, Brandon. I’m glad I got back in time to see the action.”

  “Thank you,” said Jon, keeping a wary eye on Kurt. “I used magic on them.”

  “Magic, you say?” Granny laughed. “Whatever magic you used made ‘em bleed like stuck pigs.”

  “Yeah, Jon,” said Brandon. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

  “You make a great team, Brandon.” Maria said it proudly as she clapped her friends on the shoulders.

  They were excited about the fight, but I needed more information. “Who was that guy? Why’d he go after you, Brandon? How come he knows Jon?”

  “Kurt Lazarus. His rich daddy owns at least a dozen strip malls in northern Virginia, including this one. Kurt’s a pig. He told me his father would raise the rent on the restaurant if I didn’t date him. He was gonna keep beating up Brandon unless I said I’d go out with him. He must have checked up on Jon when he found out I had a boyfriend.”

  Granny let out a low growl. “Maria, have you told your father about this?”

  “No way. If Daddy knew, he’d probably beat up Kurt and end up in jail. Please don’t say anything about what happened.”

  Even as she spoke, her father appeared in the doorway. I gulped. Tony Sanchez’s eyes burned. “Please don’t say anything about what?”

  Maria was the only one who spoke. “I’ll tell you in your office.” She hung her head and went off. Tony looked at Jon. “Get Brandon a new shirt out of the storeroom. And get him a bag of ice. Brandon, you can stay out of sight in the back and wash dishes for the rest of the night. I don’t want my customers thinking I beat up my employees.”

  Tony walked off. Jon murmured, “Storeroom?”

  The others went inside, but Jon stopped and went back out again. I followed him, mostly to call for help in case Kurt was dumb enough to return and try something. Kurt and Robbie were still there, about three businesses over, standing near a dumpster.

  “When you least expect it, Bishop!” cried Kurt. “We’re gonna take you down hard!”

  “Yeah!” added Robbie. “Real hard!”

  Jon glanced back at me, then raised one hand like he had when he was learning to make the tennis ball disappear. He lowered his head and took in a deep breath.

  Suddenly, both Kurt and Robbie went flying up into the air. They sprawled and thrashed at nothing until they dropped into the dumpster with a solid thump. The heavy lid slammed shut.

  “Magic,” said Jon, winking at me again. He brushed by me and entered the kitchen. I looked back at the dumpster. I heard Robbie talking from inside.

  “That ain’t natural, man! You can kick his ass on your own, I ain’t goin’ anywhere near Jon Bishop again.”