The Demon Conspiracy (23 page)

Granny Price chuckled. “I eat my
Wheaties.”

Travis got very excited. Wheaties was his
favorite cereal. “Wheaties does that?” We all laughed and Granny
rubbed his head. She’d been kidding, of course, which made Travis
feel dumb.

“Come on, li’l mate,” she said, putting a
hand on his shoulder. “Let’s get Brandon some ice for his
face.”

As we entered the restaurant, Granny
whispered advice to everyone.

“Kids, don’t say anything to Chris and Angie
about the fight, okay?”

I readily agreed, but Jon seemed to ignore
her as he watched Robbie and Kurt, who had stopped running. They
glared at him from a safe distance. Kurt was pointing at us, making
empty threats.

Travis couldn’t believe it. “We can’t tell?
Why not? Jon and Brandon won! And, Granny, you’re like super
woman!”

“Just don’t mention it until I get to know
‘em better,” said Granny. “Chris seems a bit distracted, I need to
figure him out. And we wouldn’t Angie getting the wrong idea about
Jon, okay?”

Everyone but Jon glared at him and Travis
felt the pressure. “Okay. But I want to be the one to tell ‘em when
we can!”

“Cross my heart,” said Granny. “But only
when the time comes.” She gripped Jon by the bicep and squeezed his
arm. “Nice moves, Jon Bishop. You too, Brandon. I’m glad I got back
in time to see the action.”

“Thank you,” said Jon, keeping a wary eye on
Kurt. “I used magic on them.”

“Magic, you say?” Granny laughed. “Whatever
magic you used made ‘em bleed like stuck pigs.”

“Yeah, Jon,” said Brandon. “We make a pretty
good team, don’t we?”

“You make a
great
team, Brandon.”
Maria said it proudly as she clapped her friends on the
shoulders.

They were excited about the fight, but I
needed more information. “Who was that guy? Why’d he go after you,
Brandon? How come he knows Jon?”

“Kurt Lazarus. His rich daddy owns at least
a dozen strip malls in northern Virginia, including this one.
Kurt’s a pig. He told me his father would raise the rent on the
restaurant if I didn’t date him. He was gonna keep beating up
Brandon unless I said I’d go out with him. He must have checked up
on Jon when he found out I had a boyfriend.”

Granny let out a low growl. “Maria, have you
told your father about this?”

“No way. If Daddy knew, he’d probably beat
up Kurt and end up in jail. Please don’t say anything about what
happened.”

Even as she spoke, her father appeared in
the doorway. I gulped. Tony Sanchez’s eyes burned. “Please don’t
say anything about what?”

Maria was the only one who spoke. “I’ll tell
you in your office.” She hung her head and went off. Tony looked at
Jon. “Get Brandon a new shirt out of the storeroom. And get him a
bag of ice. Brandon, you can stay out of sight in the back and wash
dishes for the rest of the night. I don’t want my customers
thinking I beat up my employees.”

Tony walked off. Jon murmured,
“Storeroom?”

The others went inside, but Jon stopped and
went back out again. I followed him, mostly to call for help in
case Kurt was dumb enough to return and try something. Kurt and
Robbie were still there, about three businesses over, standing near
a dumpster.

“When you least expect it, Bishop!” cried
Kurt. “We’re gonna take you down hard!”

“Yeah!” added Robbie.
“
Real
hard!”

Jon glanced back at me, then raised one hand
like he had when he was learning to make the tennis ball disappear.
He lowered his head and took in a deep breath.

Suddenly, both Kurt and Robbie went flying
up into the air. They sprawled and thrashed at nothing until they
dropped into the dumpster with a solid thump. The heavy lid slammed
shut.

“Magic,” said Jon, winking at me again. He
brushed by me and entered the kitchen. I looked back at the
dumpster. I heard Robbie talking from inside.

“That ain’t natural, man! You can kick his
ass on your own, I ain’t goin’ anywhere near Jon Bishop again.”

***

On the drive home Travis was still talking
about Kurt Lazarus. “Brandon said Kurt’s nineteen and drives a
Corvette. He gets into fights a lot and he’s been in juvie for
selling drugs and stealing. What’s juvie?”

“Juvenile detention,” said Angie. “Prison
for kids.”

“I don’t get it. Why’s he do that? His dad’s
rich.”

“Some people are born bad,” said Granny
Price soberly.

“Who are we talking about?” asked Angie.
“Who’s been in juvie?”

“This guy Brandon knows,” I said quickly,
remembering that we’d agreed not to mention the fight. “A real
loser.”

“Yeah,” parroted Travis. “A real loser. Hey,
Granny, I almost forgot. How’d your job interview go?”

“It turns out Mike, the boss, wanted a
bouncer for the place. And the only way to get the job was to beat
him at arm-wrestling.”

I laughed. “Mike’s a beast! His arms are
bigger than my body. He can’t do that.”

“He can and he did.”

“How’d you do?” asked Travis.

“Let’s just say you’re lookin’ at the new
bouncer for Mike’s Pub.” Granny grinned big. “What’d you
expect?”

17

FANG II

TRAVIS

Travis has gotten used to riding the bus to
school and he’d gotten so he liked it just fine. He preferred
riding with Jon in the Mustang, but since Jon was most likely
possessed by a demon that didn’t know how to drive, Travis was
content to hang out with his friends, Addie Stamen and Tony Valdez.
On the way home he hardly noticed it when the bus dropped off some
kids about a mile from where he lived. He was too busy telling
Addie and Tony about how Jon had made the tennis ball appear and
disappear.

“He held out his hand and bam! It was
gone!”

“Did it really go bam?” asked a small third
grader in another seat.

Travis was irritated. He wasn’t even talking
to that kid. “It didn’t make noise. It was just gone!”

“He probably put it up his sleeve.”

“He didn’t put it anywhere! I told you he
didn’t move, you moron!” Travis didn’t have much patience with
third graders. They were just too young to understand.

“My mom made us do zombie escape drills last
night,” said Tony.

“What’s a zombie escape drill?” asked
Travis, not even sure what a zombie was.

“My mom drives her car really slow and me
and my sisters practice getting in and out on the run. It’s kind of
scary at first, but we’re really good at it now.”

“Your mom thinks zombies are real?” asked
Addie.

Tony nodded. ‘Yeah. She’s kind of weird
sometimes. She told me she’s seen real zombies and thinks they’re
going to be a problem some day. She wants us to be ready, ya
know?”

Travis nodded like he did, but he really
didn’t. What the heck was a zombie? He decided not to ask about it
now.

The bus stopped in the cul-de-sac. The door
opened and everyone waited.

“Hey, Travis,” said Addie. “Here’s your
stop.”

Tony laughed. “Didja forget where you
lived?”

When Travis realized they were in front of
his house, he laughed too. “I kinda forgot I was going home. See
you guys!” He got off the bus and ran inside.

After a brief study of the chandelier with
the lights both on and off, he went all over the house looking for
Angie, but she wasn’t there. In fact, the only person he could find
was Chris in the basement.

“Don’t come down here anymore! No one can
know my secret recipe!”

“I don’t care about
your
stupid
recipe!” Travis had never mouthed off at Chris before. But
now Chris was working on his top-secret product and nothing else
mattered to him. He didn’t seem to care what Travis said as long as
he stayed out of the basement when he said it. Travis decided to
check on his new rabbit, Fang II. But the rabbit’s box behind the
couch was empty.

“Fang?” Travis didn’t know how the rabbit
had gotten out of the box, and he realized locating it could be a
real problem, especially if it was hiding. Did Angie get a cage for
it? Did she put Fang II back in his bedroom? Travis got hopeful and
ran up the stairs.

He knocked on his own door. It was his room,
too, but he knocked anyway. There was no answer so he went in. Jon
wasn’t there, but right off he noticed something was different. The
big cardboard box was gone. Had Jon sold his swords and
computer?

The bookshelf and all the books that had
been on it were gone, too; many of those books belonged to Travis.
And the blankets, pillows and sheets from Jon’s bed were missing
along with all the stuff from his dresser drawers and closet. Did
he sell his clothes? He was getting pretty good at magic, but he
still needed clothes. Was he planning to be the naked magician?

Travis searched the room and couldn’t find
Fang II anywhere. That got him worried. What if Jon had sold the
rabbit, too? He hoped not. Travis was thirsty and went into the
bathroom for a drink. As he gulped down a cup of water, something
in the trashcan caught his eye. It was white and red and partly
covered by toilet paper. He moved the paper out of the way and
jumped back.

The only thing left of
Fang II was a mess of bloody fur in the bottom of the trashcan.
Travis covered his mouth and backed out of the bathroom. He
couldn’t take his eyes off the trashcan. Suddenly, the hairs on the
back of his neck tingled.
Ghost
fingers!

Travis spun quickly.

Jon stood there holding two overstuffed
shopping bags. He set the bags on his bed and looked at Travis with
narrowed, suspicious eyes. “What are you doing in my room?”

Travis was scared, but he was angry with
Jon, too. He inched toward the door. “It’s my room, too! Where’s
Angie?”

“She’s running errands while I sleep.”

“You’re not asleep.”

“I couldn’t sleep. I have much work to do. I
must work hard and fast.”

Travis did his best not to cry, but it
wasn’t working. Finally, he blurted out, “You killed Fang II! Why’d
you do that?”

“I was hungry.”

Travis couldn’t believe
what he’d heard. “You
ate
Fang II? I hate you!” He screamed it at the top
of his lungs. All Jon did was smile and take things out of the
bags.

Travis ran down the hall
certain that Jon would try to skin and eat
him
next. He couldn’t hold back the
tears anymore as he wept for that poor rabbit. But he also wept for
his brother, Jon Bishop. How had he changed so much? The old Jon
wouldn’t have hurt the rabbit at all, let alone eaten it! But this
new Jon…he probably didn’t even cook it first! Only a demon or a
crazy person would do that. Travis stopped in his tracks.
Was Jon really possessed by a demon? Or was he
just plain crazy?

When Angie got home Travis told her about
the rabbit. “Angie, Jon’s gone crazy! He sold everything he owns
and he ate Fang II!”

“He ate the rabbit? He cooked it and ate
it?”

“He didn’t cook it.”

About that time Jon came into the room.
Angie was on fire.

“Jon Bishop! I can’t believe you killed that
poor rabbit! Why would you do such a thing?”

“I was hungry,” said Jon in a steady
voice.

“That’s what happens when you skip
breakfast. Why the rabbit? He was Travis’ pet!”

“I let Travis play with it. The rabbit was
mine.”

“Normal people don’t go around eating their
pets! And you sold your clothes! The swords, okay. They were yours.
The computer, too. But your clothes? What do you plan to wear to
school? And the bedding was mine, buddy boy! You didn’t pay for any
of it! You owe me money! Don’t even think about leaving the house
for the entire week. You’re grounded!”

Jon seemed to ignore her as he fiddled with
a magic card set he had bought. Without looking up he asked, “How
much do I owe?”

“If I remember correctly the sheets,
blankets and pillows were about a hundred dollars! How could you do
such a thing?”

Jon looked at her. He put one hand out, palm
up, to show that it was empty. Next he turned it down and waited a
few seconds. When he turned it over again, he was holding a
one-hundred-dollar bill. Angie gasped.

“We are even,” he said, giving her the
money.

“How’d you do that? Is this even real?”

“It is magic, and it is real. Soon I will be
the greatest magician in the world.”

“I didn’t know you could do that. Is that
what you spent the money on? Is all this for your show? Are these
magic tricks?”

“Of course.”

“Oh. Well, keep practicing. That was really
pretty good. But you’re still grounded and I’m still mad at you.”
When Angie left, she seemed completely dumbfounded. Travis hung his
head as he followed her out. Angie wouldn’t even think about poor
Fang II again, not with Jon getting to be so good at magic. He
could do almost anything he wanted and nobody would care as long as
his magic worked.

Travis closed the door behind him and looked
up at Angie. He could tell she was feeling better, but was confused
about some things. She held the hundred-dollar bill in front of his
face.

“Did you see that?” she asked. “Did you see
what he just did?”

Travis nodded. “It’s like the tennis
ball.”

“Yes it is. Let me tell you something,
Travis. If this is something teenagers go through, well, fine. Is
that the money he got selling his stuff?”

“I don’t care about money. What about Fang
II? Jon ate him!”

“I grounded him for a week for that, and I
might go for two. I’m sorry, Travis, I’m new at being a parent. I’m
not really sure what to do about a teenager who eats pet
rabbits.”