"It'll be a fun time in Disneyland," Jess mumbled. "Y'all think we could arm Mickey? He might be badass with a gun."
Abigail slapped him lightly on the arm. "What do we have to do, Ren?"
"Get his jars before they do."
It amazed Jess that Ren could make the impossible sound easy. Too bad reality didn't go that way. "Does Coyote know where it is?"
"I don't think so. But then, neither do we. Choo Co La Tah should be able to track it ... if we can get him to wake up. However, the one who spilled Guardian blood has to make an offering on the sacred ground to appease the ancient elements before sunrise. Otherwise all of the jars will open ... at once ... which would then also blow open the Gate and all that concentrated evil would pour out of it."
Oh yeah, that would seriously suck. "Did they launch that last space shuttle yet?"
"I don't follow," Ren said.
"I'm just thinking maybe we should evacuate the whole planet. I've heard the moon is kind of nice this time of year."
Both Abigail and Ren let out mutual sounds of aggravation.
"Focus your ADD, Jess."
He rolled his eyes at Ren's quip. "I gotcha, brother. What you're forecasting is six more plagues coming out of the northwest at maximum velocity with a mild chance of survival. Followed by the world getting swallowed whole into a vat of evil."
"Well, yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Nice to know I didn't misunderstand and all." He purposefully exaggerated his drawl on that. "Ah, hell, y'all lucky I can follow anything, especially given how many times I got kicked in the head when I's a kid." Sobering, Jess let out an irritated breath.
Instead of Renegade, his name should be Mary Sunshine. "I'll get Abigail to you as soon as I can."
"I'll keep working on Choo Co La Tah. You be careful."
"Same to you. Let me know if anything changes. I could really use some good news right about now." Jess hung up and turned to face Abigail. Unfortunately, she had her clothes buttoned up all the way to her neck.
Damn.
She let out an exaggerated breath. "I don't want to know about Choo Co La Tah, do I?"
"Not really. Kind of wish I didn't know." Jess toyed with the keys that dangled from the ignition while he watched the wasps continue to swarm outside. He didn't like the idea of being trapped, and he wasn't keen on the idea of being beholden to Sasha for anything.
"Ah, screw this. I'm not going to wait for rescue like a puppy on a float. Buckle up. We're going for it."
Abigail wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. But what choice did she have? Jess was in the driver's seat.
Besides, she was with him on this. No need in waiting around when they could at least be trying to get home.
She snapped the belt over her lap and braced herself. "All right, cowboy. Let's do it."
Jess put the car in gear, then opened the garage door with his powers. The wasps immediately swarmed inside. Something that didn't faze Jess at all. She admired that.
He gripped the wheel, then tore out of the garage as fast as he could. The lights were dimmed by the number of wasps gathering around them.
But that wasn't the worst part.
She cringed at what awaited them on the street. Everything had gotten worse. There was no movement from anyone, anywhere. Businesses and homes had their windows drawn shut, and most were dark-as if afraid that the light might attract more wasps.
It terrified her.
But at least there was no sign of the mountain lion. He appeared to have moved on.
Needing to understand what was going on in the world around them, she turned the car radio on and scanned the channels until she found the local news.