Rewrite Redemption (40 page)

He told me about his brother and what had happened to his family. He told me what it was like to be an Editor and belong to the Guild. He told me about Oreon, and how the Editor program got put into place. He told me how he screwed up in the first place and that it might have been his energy that knocked me there.

I didn’t care. Meeting him was the best thing that had ever happened to me. Talking to him was so easy. I forgot about my stupid SpongeBob pajamas. He was just so real. He was just so sweet. He was just so—I don’t know—everything wonderful. Who knows how much time went by, but at one point, he stood up and looked at the sky.

“
It’s time
,”
he said softly.

The sun hadn’t risen yet, but you could tell it was just over the horizon. A mist still covered the meadow. The wind picked up every now and then and there was a chill in the air. Edgar was fiddling with the fire, and he kept looking up at me with a scowl on his face. I think it worried him that I was so busy.
Ha.
He was in for a surprise.

Joe was zonked and the Indian was still snoring. I felt bad for scaring the Indian. I decided the least I could do was to wake him up, so it wouldn’t be quite so abrupt. I broke off some twigs and tossed them at him. It took a while since my throwing sucked. Finally, I hit him, and he opened his eyes. I tossed another and amazingly enough, hit him in the chest. He looked up at me, and I put my finger against my mouth in the shh sign. Did they have that in the olden days? Seems like they did.

He looked over at Edgar and back at me and then nodded. He sat up slowly and stretched, watching me with interest. I was glad I had warned him. He was on my side.

Joe, I left sleeping. Joe could have a heart attack, for all I cared. I didn’t ever want to see his evil face again.

Constantine climbed way out on the highest limb that would hold him. He swung the phone round and round until he had it going really hard. Then he let it go. It soared across the campsite and wrapped around a branch high in the pine tree.

Yes!
We both said, grinning at each other like a couple of idiots.

Edgar noticed nothing. He was majorly hung-over to say nothing of having swollen eyes. Served him right, the jerk.

Constantine climbed back down to my branch.
We have three minutes,
he said.

I nodded. I pulled the Velcro straps on Lex’ slippers tight and tucked the bottoms of my PJs into them. I took what had once been my belt, and tied it around my hoodie. I slung my pack over my shoulder. I had visions in my head of how I must look, but shoved them aside. When we got home, I was dressing differently. At that point, we just needed to get out of there.

I waved at the Indian. He watched me carefully. I put my hands over my ears and then pointed to him. He slowly raised his hands and put them over his ears, looking at me quizzically. I nodded enthusiastically. Then I pointed to his horse and did the same thing. He got up and walked over to his horse, holding the reins and talking to him, softly.

Constantine’s eyebrows rose in question.

It’s okay
, I told him.
He’s a good guy.

I waited until Edgar had his back turned, and then I held up my hand to the Indian in, if movies can be trusted, what was a sign of peace. I threw in a regular peace sign just for the heck of it. Then I pointed to myself and to the ground. The Indian nodded and held on to his horse.

It’s time,
Con said.
I’ll help you get on my back, but then you’ll have to hold on. I’ll need my hands to get us down.

He half knelt beside me on the limb while holding on to a higher branch. I climbed onto his back, my arms around his neck, and my face against his soft, dark hair. He stood slowly, hefting me up, and I locked my legs around him. We were the closest we’d ever been. But I didn’t have time to think about that. We had to get home.

Con repeated his earlier performance with his hands and the energy. I could feel it pulsing through his body and shimmering into me. I held my arms tight around him, and suddenly, we were hovering beside the branch.

Then all hell broke loose.

Heavy, pounding rap shrieked wild, echoing off the rock walls. The speaker must have been facing the rock. It sounded like a screaming hoard was charging straight towards us. The unit was rigged for extra amp, and against the silence of the middle of nowhere; it sounded rock-concert loud.

The Indian held firm to his horse, but the other horses bolted, broken reins flying free. Joe screamed like a banshee and lunged to his feet, waving his pistol.

Edgar jerked spastically, arms flailing, seemingly unable to decide which way to go. He lurched forward and tripped over his own big feet right into the hot coals. He leapt up, howling bloody murder and slapping at the fire on his shirt. Then he stumbled towards the trees. Joe took off away from us, just like we wanted.

It was perfect.

In the midst of the chaos, we floated slowly down. The Indian looked stunned, but he stood quietly, holding his horse and frantically watching me. I smiled to reassure him. The warning had kept him from bolting, but the appearance of Constantine in midair had to have spooked him. He stood his ground though. I figured he thought we were spirits of some kind so he was a little more open to the unexplained.

As soon as Con’s feet hit the dirt, I dropped to the ground. He grabbed my hand and said aloud, “ready?”

I nodded.

We didn’t take the time to shade. The cowboys had vanished. I just waved to my Indian, and we headed for the meadow, not bothering to stop at the rocks.

By the middle of the first song, we reached the meadow. Twilight vision gave a soft, eerie glow to everything around us. Combined with the approaching dawn, the effect was magical. The sky was shot with color, and the thigh-high grass waved wild against it. When the wind blew, it rippled like ocean waves against a blood-red sky. It looked like one of my mom’s surrealistic paintings.

“Check out the sky,” she said, as we waded into the waves. “It’s going to be a spectacular sunrise.”

“We’ll probably miss it,” I said. I planned to be gone by sunrise, spectacular or not. I wanted to be safe and back in our own time before daylight hit. Twilight vision faded as we left the shelter of the trees. “We can no longer shade now that we’re past the tree line,” I reminded her. “We’re not safe till we make it across this meadow.”

She nodded and squeezed my hand. Then we hauled ass through the tall grass, as fast as I could tug her along. She was right. She pretty much sucked at running. The slippers didn’t help and the tall grass was a bitch. Still, the temporary boost from the tree, combined with me pulling her, allowed us to keep a decent pace.

But it was a
big
meadow.

By the second song, she was breathing hard. My heart was pounding, and I could feel hers doing the same, right up her arm and into mine. By the middle of the song, they were pounding in unison. By the third song, we were both pretty hyped. If we hadn’t been running from something, the whole thing would have been exhilarating. But we were, and I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to get her to safety in time.

Daft Punk had just begun when the first shot rang out. The boom startled both of us, causing A.J. to stumble. As I caught her, I looked back to see Joe in pursuit, waving his rifle in the air.

Son of a bitch!
Not
good.

Distorted, electronic lyrics screamed wild from the pine trees. Over the music, I heard him yell. “You witch, you harlot, you demon spawn. Yer gonna die!”

“We gotta move!” I shouted.

A.J. hadn’t been exaggerating. That guy, Joe, was a whack-job. He thrashed into the meadow, screaming and waving his rifle, like we were animals, and he was trying to scare us off. Every few seconds, he’d turn and do the same in the other direction…I guess at the music. Who knew what he thought was happening?

Maybe Daft Punk was pushing it as a music choice. At that moment, I regretted our high tech diversion. We wanted to freak him out and we did. But maybe we freaked him out a little too much. He thought A.J. was a witch. I don’t know what he thought I was. But there was no doubt he thought his only salvation from the insanity was to kill the witch.

No way was I going to let that happen.

No way in hell.

When the next shot boomed, I pulled her in front of me. There wasn’t much I could do against a gun, but at least I could cover her back. The only thing we had going for us, was that Joe had a hangover and couldn’t shoot for shit.

 “Keep going!” I yelled. “I’m right behind you.”

The next shot practically shattered my eardrums. It ripped through her flying hoodie. She screamed and I dropped her to the ground. I covered her with my body, wondering what the heck to do next. Even though my ears were ringing, I realized that Joe had stopped screaming. I whipped around to see why. He was trying to reload; but he was shaking so badly, he kept dropping bullets.

I yanked A.J. up, and we gained another thirty yards while he fumbled with the rifle. I watched him over my shoulder, waiting for him to aim again.

He raised his gun.

“Down, now!” I yelled to A.J.

We dropped to the ground, crawling forward in the tall grass, trying to gain distance any way we could. The next shot scattered dirt about a foot away, hitting both of us in the face. A.J. whimpered softly, but she didn’t stop. I covered her trembling body with mine, crawling directly over her. I couldn’t frickin believe this. Big hero I turned out to be.

Then a though hit me like a ton of bricks. It was a hopeless situation—I was toast anyway. But if I could distract him, maybe
she
could escape. I wondered how long I could stay standing. How many bullets could I take before I collapsed, and would it be enough for her to reach the aspen grove? Maybe I was Constantine, the Destroyer, but there was no question that I’d do anything to save her.

“A.J.,” I hissed. “I have a plan. We need to split up. When I say go, jump up and run for all you’re worth. Don’t look back no matter what. As soon as you reach the grove, shade yourself invisible. Find the biggest aspen you can, curl around it and think of your tree. Push your power into the tree and let it take you home. It might not be the exact date, but you’ll be safe.”

She looked back at me, long hair blowing wild in the wind. “What are—?”

I put my fingers to her lips to stop her. “Just do it! Go as fast as you can and don’t stop for anything. I’ll be right behind you.” I felt a sharp pain in my chest, thinking this was the last glimpse I’d have of her, and that the last thing I’d said to her was a lie. My biggest regret was that I’d never even kissed her.

She shook her head. “No, no…wait, what are you—?”

I pulled her up and shoved her forward. “Just go, now, run!”

I needed to do this fast. Not like I
wanted
to die. I just had to save her no matter what it took. I stood and held my arms out. Terror pounded in my chest. “Here I am, you stupid son of a bitch!” I hissed under my breath.

“No!” A.J. screamed.

Joe lowered his rifle for a moment and glared at me. Then he raised it back and took aim.

I held my breath as a cold wave of fear plunged through my core. This was harsh, I knew, but—

I was tackled at the knees, full force from behind, by A.J. We crashed to the ground.

“Look!” she yelled.

Behind Joe, on a huge black stallion, charged A.J.’s Indian. He held a tree branch in his right hand. His left held the reins of the cowboy’s Mustang. They were heading straight for Joe. The Indian raised the branch high in the air and let out a blood-curdling howl.

Joe didn’t even turn around—he was crazed.

As Daft Punk screamed, “harder, better, faster, stronger,” there was a loud thump. The cowboy dropped. The Indian didn’t even pause, but now he had the rifle in the same hand that no longer carried the tree limb.

It was epic!

The Indian slowed the horses beside us and threw me the Mustang’s reins. I straddled the horse in a single bound, grateful in hindsight for summer camp and riding lessons. I reached for A.J., pulling her up behind me. We rode full bore for the aspen grove, A.J. pressed tight against my back. She was right. The Indian was on our side. And we owed him big.