Dedrus slashed at Craetis, who grabbed a chair and used it as a shield. Dedrus’s sword cut right through it.
Their movements were so quick, it took the cafe patrons a moment to realize what was going on. When they finally did, they stirred with panic. The woman with the strollered baby hopped out of her chair and hurried across the cafe. The teens with the comics watched in shock and horror, but couldn’t seem to pull their attention from the spectacle. The homeless sleepers roused, full of bewilderment as they rushed to their feet and scurried for the door, like a light flicking on in a cockroach-infested apartment.
Dedrus struck at Craetis again. He dodged the attack. Kinzer and Deter’s swords clashed.
Gotta get to the second floor, Kinzer thought,before it’s too late.
As Deter pulled his sword back, Kinzer grabbed his cup of coffee and chucked it at Deter.
The coffee exploded like a grenade across his face.
“Fuck!” Deter cried, smoke rising around the scalding coffee.
Kinzer made haste. He dashed into the adjoining bookstore and up the stairs to the second floor.
Wide-eyed patrons gasped and screamed as he passed them, his sword bobbing about as he ran.
The second floor was a labyrinth of bookshelves. Kinzer caught a glimpse of Mika. He had an arm around Maggie and his hand over her mouth as he pulled her around a shelf in Home & Gardening. She slapped at him with her magazine.
Kinzer raced around the shelf. “Stop right there!” he ordered.
Mika whipped around, maintaining his hand over her mouth. He chuckled. “Sloppy, sloppy,” he said, shaking his head.
“Thank you, Kinzer,” Vera said, walking alongside Kinzer, making her way to Mika, “for watching her for us.”
She flashed beside Mika and Maggie, wrapped her arms around them, and disappeared.
“No!” Kinzer exclaimed. This didn’t just mean the end of Maggie. It meant the end of the Antichrist…which meant the end of the resistance against the Christ…which meant the end of the world.
In a single moment, he felt like everything that he and Janka had worked so hard for had been stripped from him.
He hurried back downstairs to find Dedrus. His heart ached. Dedrus met him at the bottom of the stairs, sweat sliding across his temples.
“Vera just teleported Deter and Craetis outta here.”
“She got her,” Kinzer said, his heart steadily sinking.
Dedrus panted as he tried to catch his breath. Sirens blared outside. Through the front windows, Kinzer saw cop cars lining the sidewalk. Officers filed out like they were clown cars. Blue and red lights blazed.
“We gotta get out of here,” Kinzer said.
From a nearby bookshelf, Maggie stepped out, her eyes wide.
“They gone?” she asked.
“What the—” Dedrus started.
“Fie!” Kinzer exclaimed. He felt bad that he’d been so hasty in assuming that he’d sold them out. “He must’ve…but…where’s your magazine?”
“That old lady you were talking to took it,” Maggie said.
The doors to the cafe and the entrance to the bookstore burst open. Policemen stormed in.
“We can chat about this later,” Dedrus said.
“Can you get us outta here?” Kinzer asked.
“I sure fucking hope so. Get in front of me and run.”
