Magic Street Page 0,119

you, I'll still be connected to you, and as you dance, your power will flow into me so I can capture him and imprison him again."

"Of course we'll all do it," said Grand impatiently.

"There's no of course about it," said Yolanda. "Before you decide, let's find out where the final circle is going to be. Mack... in Fairyland, there should be a place of standing stones. They might be fine columns, or they might look like boulders, or something in between."

Mack nodded. "I've been there."

"Do you know where it is in this world?"

"Oh, yeah. Ceese and me both know. Cause I wrote a message there for Puck, and it showed up in the real world."

"Both worlds are real enough," said Yolanda. "And that one's realer than this one."

"You want to know where the connection is?" asked Mack. "It's where Avenue of the Stars crosses Olympic. Right on that bridge."

"Then that's where the fairy circle needs to form up at dawn," said Yolanda. "Exactly at dawn."

"Whoa," said Ceese. "That's not going to work."

"Why not?" asked Yolanda.

"Century City's got security. You suddenly get seventy black people there, forming a circle that blocks Avenue of the Stars, with no parade permit, and they're going to call LAPD down on us so fast - "

"The circle doesn't have to be in place for very long," said Yolanda.

"How long?"

"Depends on how fast Oberon flies when he gets loose. And how fast you can run."

"Me?" asked Ceese.

"You ain't in that circle, I can tell you that," said Yolanda. "Nor Mack. I got other work for the two of you."

"Oh, you'll see plenty," said Yolanda. "And you'll absolutely know when it's over. Whichever way it turns out."

"So you might not win?" asked Grand.

"If it was easy, I wouldn't need you-all's help."

"Is it dangerous?" asked Moses Jones.

"Oh, shut up, you girly-man," said Madeline Tucker.

"Yes, it's dangerous," said Yolanda.

"Could we, like, die?" asked Kim Hiatt.

"You're mortals," said Yolanda. "Hasn't it dawned on you that you're going to die someday, no matter what?"

That was such a stupid thing to say. Mack looked at Ceese for help.

Ceese stepped in front of her. "It's dangerous," he said firmly. "But not as dangerous as not stopping him. Yes, you're putting your lives at risk. But if you don't do it, then the wishes he releases in the months and years to come will put your families at risk. And what he does with his pony - his slave - that will put the whole human race at risk. So we're the army. We're the special forces. If we succeed in our mission, then the whole world is safe and they won't even know the battle was fought.

And if we fail, then those of us who die are merely the first of many, many thousands. We're like the people on that airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11 instead of blowing up the Capitol."

"They all dead," pointed out Grand.

"And they was trapped in a plane," said Willie Joe Danes. "They had no choice."

"They had the choice to sit there and do nothing and let even more people die," said Ceese. "We got the same choice. But that's why Yolanda White here wanted to make sure you understood just what's at stake, before you agree to be in the fairy circle. Because whoever's in it, they can't change their minds and run away. You got to see it through. And no shame if you say you can't do it! No shame in that! Just be truthful with yourself."

Fifteen minutes later, only five of the adults from Baldwin Hills had left, and a dozen more had arrived, so there were seventy-seven now who would form the circle. Some were young adults, some were quite old. Yolanda assured them that physical strength didn't matter. "It's the fire in your hearts that I need," she said. "That good old mob spirit you showed last night."

Mack and Ceese, who would not be part of the circle, watched as Yolanda led the volunteers to the open ground around the drainpipe and had them join hands in a huge circle. She stood at the drainpipe, watching them, assessing them. Then she slowly began to walk around the drainpipe, pointing at each person in turn. Without taking a step or moving in any way, each person was slid an inch or two until they were all exactly the same distance from the drainpipe and exactly the same distance from each other.

She walked around the circle then, kissing each of them firmly but