Love Charms and Other Catastrophes (30 page)

The robot was charmed to move quickly and gracefully; the water didn't slow it down as it landed on the bank and ran up toward the ticket booth and Bram.

“Why is he after you?” Ms. Ward asked.

Bram grunted. “You wouldn't know, would you?”

When Stoffel drew close, Ms. Ward slammed her book against the robot's left hand. The electrical guide was a rugged hardcover with peeling edges and over five hundred pages, by the looks of the thing. While the heavy impact could have taken down a bank robber, the robot barely acknowledged the attack.

Ms. Ward tried again, lifting the book over her head this time.

Stoffel knocked her over with one gloved hand. The book flew from her fingers and tumbled down the bank, into the water.

Ms. Ward gasped and struggled to sit up.

“Stay down,” Bram warned, rushing to shield her. He aimed his gun between Stoffel's glowing red eyes and fired. The bullet went through, but the robot kept moving. It grabbed Bram by the arm and dragged him forward.

“Mirthe, now!” Hijiri yelled.

The twin removed her gloves, whispered something that rhymed, and snapped her fingers: the sound echoed. The air around Stoffel and Bram rippled and grew sharply cold within seconds. Ice formed on Stoffel's arm, gluing its fingers together. Bram wrestled his way out of the robot's grip and backed off.

The cold was gone as soon as it had come. Stoffel flexed its fingers and the ice cracked.

“Cold snap,” Mirthe explained, catching Hijiri's eye. She motioned in the direction of the water. “Get down there.”

Hijiri nodded and ran down the bank toward the cloud-covered canal.

Mirthe must have unleashed another weather charm because she felt the rush of hot wind at her back. Hijiri's hair whipped around her face and she felt the pull of what was probably a tornado tug at her bones. But she wasn't going to stop.
I have to find them. They're in the fog somewhere, I know it.

She plunged feetfirst into the water and squinted as the cloud obscured her vision. She adjusted the strap on her bag to keep her charms dry. The canal water numbed her legs as she waded, searching for any sign through the thick cloud that her friends were okay. After a few breathless moments, she saw shadows in the water ahead of her.

Femke had her eyes closed, whispering a charm that thickened the cloud around her even further. Sweat beaded at her temples.

Ken stood close by her, fingers wrapped tight around Hijiri's charmed bracelet. When he saw Hijiri, his eyes flashed with worry. “What are you doing here? Stoffel could come back any minute.”

“It's busy with Mirthe,” Hijiri said. Her teeth chattered.

“It won't be with you here,” Ken said, his eyes wide with fear. “You need to get somewhere safe.”

“What are you trying to do?” Hijiri said, not budging.

“My heart is calling Stoffel,” Ken said. “Any minute now, my heartbreak will tempt it back here.”

Hijiri grabbed him by the elbow, digging her nails into his sweater. “I
knew
it,” she whispered. “You're the bait.”

“Femke needs time to craft a stronger charm. She asked me to think of you, to feel every sharp edge of my broken heart.”

“Like pouring salt on a cut,” Hijiri said.

Ken raised his fingers to her lips, silencing her. He closed his eyes and listened. The faint sound of heavy splashing and gears met their ears. “See? It's coming back. You have to go.”

No way
, she thought, gripping his elbow harder.
I'm not leaving him and Femke alone with Stoffel. I need to stick a bandage on his heart, however temporary.

Hijiri wanted to kiss him. Kisses were miracles. They solved problems. But the last time she had tried, Ken pushed her away; the memory was like a scorch mark on her heart. So she hugged him instead. Her arms snug around his waist. Her nose buried in the crook of his neck.

This wasn't like the last time she had hugged him, sobbing with relief when they met Sofie and Lars after the first challenge. Hijiri focused on him, finding him as real in that moment as she ever thought with her body pressed against his. He smelled of boy and evergreen. His skin was soft at his neck.

Ken rested his chin on her head with a shaky breath. They soaked in each other's warmth for a few precious seconds. Hijiri felt their heats beating together through their coats. His sounding as healthy as it could be with the break she had given it. Just enough.

Stoffel's wet footsteps stopped. Its head creaked as it turned. After a few seconds, it started walking back to the bank again.

“I think … that worked,” Ken said, letting her go.

Hijiri shivered when the chill came rushing back, but she knew they needed to keep going. Through the thick cloud, she heard Bram and Mirthe goading Stoffel from the bank.

Femke's green eyes flashed. She stopped whispering and the cloud started losing its sticky thickness. “I can't do this alone.”

“What can we do?” Hijiri asked.

Femke bit her lip. “The fog is only obscuring the robot's vision. Without another weather charm, it won't do much more than that.”

“What will you use?” Ken asked, looking through the twin's backpack.

Femke let out a humorless laugh. “I didn't pack anything but cloud and fog charms. I thought I'd show off and finally impress my sister, but Stoffel's charms guard him from water. I'm stuck.”

Hijiri stepped toward her. “Do you need Mirthe?”

Femke's face crumbled. “We're still fighting. She's not going to help.”

“Mirthe would have
flown
here to save you if your moped had wings,” Hijiri said.

“Really?”

Hijiri nodded.

Femke dragged her fingers through the foggy air, collecting it in thick bunches. She threw it over her shoulders like a cloak. “I need my sister,” she said with new determination. “Let's go.”

They ran for the shore. Femke's charmed cloud thinned, revealing the struggle onshore. Mirthe's tornado had torn the grass and clods of dirt from the bank. The material covering Stoffel's chest had a few more tears than before. Fallon and Sebastian had arrived, both of them helping Bram and Ms. Ward to their feet. Meanwhile Mirthe tried to distract the robot by taunting it with wind charms that pushed at its metal frame.

Stoffel's head creaked as it turned this way and that. Hijiri noticed that it had lost one of its red eyes. She wondered if Bram's gun or Mirthe's tornado had been responsible.

Mirthe saw Femke coming. “It's about time,” she yelled. “You're okay?”

Femke tugged the fog around her tighter. “Fine. Pay attention to what
you're
doing,” she snapped.

Mirthe frowned and was about to spit back a reply when Stoffel grabbed her around the waist. The charmed bracelet activated, pushing girl and robot apart with unseen force.

Femke raced to her sister and helped her up off the cobblestones. “Listen,” she said, “I was trying to craft something big to stop this robot, but I can't do it without you.”

Mirthe dusted off her knees. “So you're going to change your specialty?”

“Absolutely not,” Femke said. Then she smiled. “But fighting about it is ridiculous. We should be supporting each other's decisions.”

Stoffel got to its feet as well and scanned the rebels for its next victim.

Mirthe grabbed her sister's hand and shook it. Then she drew Femke into a hug. “Let's blow this robot to pieces,” she said, her voice muffled in Femke's shoulder. “Together.”

The twins ran back into the water while Hijiri turned to the robot.
We have to protect the twins long enough for them to craft whatever powerful weather charm Femke has up her sleeve
, she thought.

Stoffel scanned the rebels a few times over, its head gliding back and forth. One red eye piercing their hearts with its inhuman gaze.

Ken inched forward, intent on shielding Hijiri.

Bram's hand hovered over his gun.

Stoffel's head and body started spinning. The charms and wiring within hummed.

“What's it doing?” Sebastian asked.

Stoffel's red eye dimmed slightly. It started walking back into the water with a different course in mind.

“Is it … retreating?” Ken asked.

Maybe it sensed the shift in their hearts; none of them ached strong enough for it to stick around. “We can't let it get away,” Hijiri said.

“When our charm's ready, we'll find you,” Mirthe yelled from the water. The fog had thickened again, this time with tendrils of lightning tangled inside.

“Stoffel's entering the Tunnel of Love,” Fallon said, squinting.

“Then why bother chasing it?” Sebastian asked. “The tunnel loops. Stoffel will just come out on the other end.”

“Not necessarily,” Nico said, arriving just in time with Martin at his side. They were both panting from having run across town. Nico fished a ring of keys out of his pocket and dashed to the control box. He jammed the key in and twisted, awakening the Tunnel of Love. The lights flickered on and the music began mid-note.

The bank showed signs of their earlier struggle with the torn-up grass and cracked cobblestone on the street. Bram jogged down to the water and bent down on his knees. He dragged something heavy out of the water. The thoroughly ruined electrician's guide.

Ms. Ward clasped her hands together, looking as if she might cry. “My book.”

Bram wiped droplets off the ruined cover and handed it to her. “Figured you'd still want it.”

“I do,” she insisted, opening to the first page and surveying the smudged type. Ms. Ward sniffed and choked out a laugh.

Hijiri nearly jumped when she heard the sirens. Three police cars pulled up across the canal, clogging the road with flashing lights and disgruntled police officers.

“Oh no,” Ken said.

“We can't let them stop us,” Hijiri said, “not when we're so close to stopping Stoffel.”

“Some of us need to stay behind, then,” Sebastian said.

“And if Stoffel
does
come out the other end, we'll be here,” Fallon added.

“This is my family's attraction. I have to go in,” Nico insisted.

“I'm going too,” Martin said.

They quickly decided that Fallon, Sebastian, Ms. Ward, and Bram would stay behind to deal with the detective.

Detective Archambault ran to the edge of the bank, looking angrier than Hijiri had ever seen the cool, stern woman.

Good thing Fallon's staying behind
, Hijiri thought as they took off running.
She'll be able to keep her cool with the detective much better than I would.

Nico led the way into the water. They stuck to the right side of the tunnel where a narrow path had been built in, hidden by the mood lighting, googly-eyed stuffed animals, and walls covered with enlarged love letters.

Stoffel had chosen the left side of the tunnel. Its legs kept getting caught by the soft fur of the bow-tied bears and cats. Nico let out a low whine when he saw the destruction the robot had already caused. Without a path on that end, it smashed whatever it walked through.

“Dad's going to kill me,” Nico said. He looked ready to plunge across the water.

Martin grabbed Nico's shoulders. “Stay focused. It's going to be okay.”

Hijiri felt for him. There was nothing they could do to stop the robot from breaking the items in its path; it was still a robot, charmed or not, without any care for stepping around the delicate heart-eyed plushies and toys.

When the tunnel curved, she lost sight of Stoffel.

“There,” Ken said, pointing over her shoulder.

Stoffel had ripped open the tunnel's ceiling—no, it was a door—and was pushing itself up.

“We're going to lose him,” Hijiri said.

“There's an emergency door on our side too,” Nico said. “And a ladder. We can follow it.” Nico pushed back the dark pink curtain on the tunnel wall to get the ladder hidden behind it for the emergency door.

Hijiri's boots slipped on the ladder's rungs as she climbed. The cold air bit her skin when she reached the top. The door led them behind the tunnel where a bicycle path separated the backs of houses from the Tunnel of Love's unmemorable stone outside.

“Hurry, he's going north,” Nico shouted.

Hijiri took a deep breath and hoped her lungs could hold out for another chase.

With nothing blocking Stoffel's way, the robot practically glided up sidewalks and across empty streets. Nico and Martin slowed down after a few blocks, having run farther than Hijiri and Ken had throughout the night. Nico unzipped his windbreaker and tugged off his scarf. Martin wheezed. Hijiri passed them, her eyes never leaving the robot.
I know this street
, she thought.
We're so close to Heartwrench.

“Why are we here?” Hijiri whispered. “Gage is already behind bars. He can't be controlling Stoffel from his jail cell.”

“Someone is,” Martin whispered back.

“Someone who's still trying to get Heartwrench pulled from competition, perhaps,” Ken said.

“Sabotage,” Hijiri murmured.
It's possible. Clea and Sanders certainly seemed capable of it.

The robot slowed its steps as the love charm shop came into view. The lights were on inside Heartwrench, oil stains from the car repair shop next door illuminated on the concrete. The electric sign flickered.

The door opened, revealing a tired-looking Ryker. His slicked-back hair and glasses absorbed the colors from the neon sign.

“Watch out,” Hijiri warned. “Don't let it hug you.”

Ryker startled at her voice. Far away, sirens started up again.

Stoffel came to a stop in front of Ryker, arms slack and head bent forward.

“Stand back, Ryker, while it's not moving,” Hijiri said. “We have to destroy it to end the charm Gage put in it.”