Seymour rolled his harder. “Sorry, I was a little fuckin’ distracted by the giant troll and all his buddies tryin’ to smash my head in ’cause we found their magical doodad under the stage.”
“Under the stage?” Dagobert seemed alarmed. “What?”
Day pulled out the crystal, passing it up to Seymour.
“Thank you kindly, ma’am.” Seymour held the crystal out for Lou and Dagobert to see. “This thingie.”
“And thethingieis what?” Lou asked.
“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Seymour shook the crystal. “It’s just some kinda… thingie. Day spotted the squonk after he left it under the stage, and just a second ago, before all the trolls and rawr shit happened, he called it a beacon. Why don’t you ask ol’ Batty to have a taste?”
“Fine.” Lou sneered. “Acrobat, spring forth.”
The Acroboat appeared as before, a chaotic bouncing blob pinging from the sidewalk to the side of the building besidethem. She landed on a lamp post above them, giggling wildly. She hung upside down by one leg hooked around the pole and then grinned. “Hey-o, hi-o! It’s been so, so, so long-o! More work to do-o?”
“Acrobat.” Lou held up the crystal. “What is this?”
The Acrobat promptly swallowed the crystal whole like she had with the music sheets, and then—yup, melted into a giant wave of goop again.
Yuck.
Lou expertly caught the crystal before it could hit the ground, and he gave it a little shake since it was now damp to remove some of the excess slime.
Extra yuck.
The Acrobat reformed herself, but now she seemed distraught. “Quartz, quartz, and more quartz!” She hopped over to Lou, staring at the tiny item inside the crystal. “But there’s more, more, more!”
Lou frowned. “What’s wrong?”
The Acrobat licked the side of the crystal and her tongue stuck like it was a metal post in winter. “Ah cannah taste id! Thar ish ah sheld!”
Lou grabbed her tongue, pulled it off and back. It stretched like a rubber band and he let it go, and it popped back into her mouth. “What was that?”
The Acrobat laughed. “Oh! I cannot taste it! Nope, nope, nope! There is a shield! Ooo, a very old one indeed!” She hummed and smacked her lips. “But I can tell you what it does.”
“Okay, what?”
The Acrobat cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “It makes noise noisier! Loud louder! Yells yellier!”
Seymour’s stomach knotted. “Like a speaker?”
“Yes!” The Acrobat wiggled happily. “Ding ding! You win!”
“A speaker,” Lou repeated, his eyes narrowing. “And we have magical music sheets...” He reached for his phone, handing the crystal over to Dagobert.
Dagobert wrinkled his nose and held the crystal away from his body. “Who are you calling?”
“Mr. Kalt. If the squonk left one of thesebeaconshere, it stands to reason he may have done the same at Mr. Kalt’s club or any of the other places he may have visited.”
“Hey, I think we got a list you might wanna see,” Seymour said. “The one that Talos gave us of all the spots the monster rebel dudes were gonna be at or already were and all that?”
Lou looked to Sariel. “Send it to me.”
Sariel nodded obediently. “Yes, sir.”
“Fucking voicemail,” Lou grumbled. He waited and then snapped, “Call me.Now.” He hung up with a growl. He swiped through his phone, reading silently for a moment before he snapped, “Sariel. Take Seymour home. Stay there.”
“Hey, fuck you. Hello? I’m right here.” Seymour waved his hand in front of Lou’s face. “I still have a robot brain to find?—”
