Durance by Lyn Gala Page 0,79

correction. What they did—” Kavon stopped, his jaw clenched and fury pouring out into the spirit plane like fog.

“This isn’t about you,” Dave said, and that was the wrong move. Kavon whirled around.

“Don’t you start, old man. My own parents didn’t know how to talk to me, what to say. My classmates tormented me out of fear, but you... what excuse do you have?”

Dave drew himself up. “I taught you.”

“You used me,” Kavon shot back. “You saw Bennu, and that was your chance to make your mark on the world, but why couldn’t you change the world without Bennu? Is it because the world is so prejudiced that you couldn’t? And who fed that hatred?” Kavon gave the phoenix his coldest look.

“They did their best,” Julie said. Again, she caught Kavon’s arm, but this time when he tried to jerk it away, he failed. She clung and the power she had on the spirit plane prevented his escape. “They don’t exist in the same linear fashion we do. They tried to put us back the way they found us, but they don’t understand that our world is a pond, and every stone you drop in it creates ripples that cannot be stopped.

“Correction!” The word flew from Darren’s mouth, and then Darren was free. He fell to his knees, and Kavon leapt to his side, kneeling next to him. Meanwhile, the phoenix gave a raucous cry and flew into the tree, its long tail feathers dragging across the ground.

Anzu made a pained noise and brought his wings up into the air. Already, he was starting to heal, and Darren struggled to his feet before Anzu could attack again. “Kavon!” Darren said. Kavon brought his hand up, ready to protect them, and his guide trumpeted his anger. The bull was becoming fond of his mastodon form.

Pochi darted into the air, blasting the spirit plane with fear and rage and confusion. And then Detective Johnson from El Paso appeared. He wore basketball shorts and a confused expression. Pochi landed on his shoulder and sent out another blast.

“Um... Okay?” Johnson seemed confused. “Hey guys, what’s up?” This casual response made Darren laugh, despite the tense atmosphere or perhaps because of it.

“Welcome to the apocalypse,” Darren said. “On your right you have Anzu, a monster who—”

“Yeah, I know him,” Johnson interrupted. “I’ve been getting technicolor visions of what he did last time. Pochi is not a fan.”

“We got that.” Darren glanced toward the tree and wondered if all the ifrit felt that way about Anzu. He knew the other birds were suspicious of Bennu and his willingness to get involved, but how did they see one of their own trying to destroy Earth? Almost as if the phoenix and others could hear Darren’s thought, the birds all started to cry out.

Ice shards began to grow up from the ground, and the other hummingbirds darted to the near side of the nascent wall.

“Wait,” Kavon said. “Your lock failed, so you just build another lock?”

“The lock will fail again,” Julie said. “There’s too much magic on both sides of the barrier for it to hold. But that’s the nature of the old ones. The only reality that can exist is the one that already does. There is nothing new, and they exist in a loop. They can only choose which section of the loop to recreate.” As she said that, warm sands rose up to engulf the ice. After a second, the mound started to sink back into the ground.

Anzu sat up and raised his head to the sky and gave an unearthly scream. All the birds in the tree began to call back, creating a wild cacophony of cries. Anzu beat his wings, scattering the sand Julie had conjured and blasting all of them. Darren turned his head away and shielded his eyes.

Kavon pulled Darren behind him and wrapped his arms around Darren until the wind finally stilled. Darren blinked, his eyes stinging and watering. Kavon turned around to face Anzu. “Kill him,” Kavon said. His certainty was a blue stain on reality.

Darren looked at him. “What? Are you sure?” In all the years Darren had known Kavon, he had never known him to make a quick decision or to suggest violence as a solution. He had used force, and had even killed. He had held Darren’s hand when Darren had shook so hard from pulling the trigger on his own gun that Darren couldn’t control himself. But he had never gone into a fight expecting