Chum wishing she didn't have such a big nose all over her face. Sherita Banks wishing that boys would find her desirable. Professor Williams wishing people would read his poems. The wishes of their heart. Tonight they finished those dreams. I told Ceese and Yo Yo, and they been working all night trying to stop bad things from happening to these decent people. No more like Tamika! We didn't want any more like Deacon Landry! Maybe Ceese got to the others in time. I know that with Grand Harrison's help, me and Yo Yo saved Ophelia McCallister. And now you want to do the devil's work by killing a woman who helped me save Ophelia McCallister from her own terrible wish!"
"He making this shit up," said Lamar.
"Find out if I am. Call the Chums. Call Sherita's house. You check with Grand Harrison."
He didn't tell them to talk to Ophelia McCallister. Not if she was going to still be babbling about Yo Yo being a witch.
Of course, they might all be infected with the same delusion. In which case, what could he do?
He wasn't strong enough to fight them off.
And he couldn't explain to them about the king of the fairies. Not if he wanted anybody to believe anything he said.
right? Isn't that the dream?"
Lamar took a step back. "You stay out of my dreams."
"How many times have I got you out of that dream? Taken you into my dream, riding along in a clunky car through a canyon and water comes down..."
"Stop it!" shouted Lamar.
"I been keeping you all safe from your own dreams. From the wishes that come up out of that pipe in the ground!" He pointed toward where it was. It was just behind the lip of the hill - they couldn't see it from there. "Go look at it!" Mack said. "Go see the place. It flows up out of there, poisoning the street, poisoning the neighborhood. A river of power, a river of magic, taking your dreams, and I have been protecting you."
They began moving away from Yolanda's house. Out of her yard. Toward the edge of the little valley where rainwater collected to flow down the drain.
Mack didn't know what they'd see. Maybe only the drainpipe just like always. Or maybe the red glow he had seen.
Ebby came up to him. "You really have a crush on me?"
"Of course I do," said Mack. "But I didn't expect to tell you standing on a porch yelling at a mob."
"I don't know what got into me," said Ebby. "I just knew she was evil and stealing you away, only it doesn't make sense, and now I can see that she... that you..."
"It's cool," said Mack. "It's all cool now. Nobody going to kill nobody."
"But I was so sure. Like it was the most important thing in the world. To stop her."
"Come on," said Mack. He held out his hand. She took it. They walked up the hill behind the others.
They lined up along the edge of the valley, looking down. It still glowed red, but not as strong.
Could anybody see that except Mack?
If they couldn't see it, why were they still looking at it?
"Anybody else see what I see?" said Lamar. "That thing look hot enough to melt."
The others murmured their assent. "Red," somebody said. "Red hot."
"Red as the devil in hell," somebody else said.
They were silent. Listening to him respectfully, now that he had woken them from the trance of blood lust.
"I tell you what it is," said Mack. "It's the one who made me. The king of... it's going to sound stupid, but it's not. The king of the fairies. The elves. The leprechauns. He's been shut up under the earth. Imprisoned for a long time. He's mad as hell and he's getting ready to make a break for it. He's been sending his power out into the world through that pipe."
Through me, Mack thought but didn't say.
"I feel it more than anybody," said Mack. "Being found by that pipe the way I was. It's inside me. That's why I see your wish dreams. But I got no power of my own. I'm nothing compared to him.
We got to stop him, and I don't know how. Yolanda, she's not a witch. She's good. But she's got a little bit of power. That's all. She used to have more. She used to have so much, she was the one who imprisoned him. Get it? She's his most terrible enemy, so that's why he sent out