I twirl around, making sure she’s not floating behind us, ready to pop out like a pimple on a first date, but there’s nothing. A wail rings out, bringing my attention to Chester curled up on the floor. Levi grabs his shoulder, and it’s apparent that he’s controlling his emotions since his heart-wrenching cries die down to sniffles.
Ding.
A red light blinks to life in the sky with all our names: Chester, Knox, Levi, Moni, and myself, with a number beneath it. All but Moni have five under our names when she has a number four.
What is going on?
“Woah! That was a whirlie twirlie loopdy doo,” Moni squeaks out.
I twirl around so fast that I almost lose my balance when Chester brushes past me to scoop up Moni.
He squeezes her tight to him as incoherent words tumble from his lips. The rest of us give them their moment as we take in the popped sun before us.
“So, obviously you were right, Zeke,” Knox sighs, looking down at the shredded glowing pieces. He squats down and blowsforcefully, causing the pieces to flutter in the air and float off to the sides.
“It looks safe enough to move on,” Levi assesses.
“True, but does that mean we’ll have to die each time to make it past one?” I ask, pointing down the hall to the next sun ball blocking our path. “I mean, I don’t know how many of those things we need to pass, but we only have five lives and, according to that clock, two hours to get to our safe house.”
Knox stands and turns to look in my direction with a frown, taking in the new red clock ticking down our time.
“Well, it’s obvious we can’t touch them, so who has access to their weapons or S.I.N. box? We might be able to attack or pop them from a distance. I won’t be able to use all my magic because the land is truly dead here for me,” Levi explains as he adjusts his corset.
I don’t have feelings for my brother like that, but I can appreciate the corset. I might be able to convince JP to wear one.
I arch an eyebrow as Levi’s wording registers with me, and I chuckle before giving him a sly smile.
“What?” he asks, giving me a perturbed look.
“Nothing,” I slightly shake my head, casually stepping closer and leaning in to say. “S.I.N. box? I see she’s rubbing off on the robot.” I step away and wink. “It’s a good look on ya.” A faint blush dons his cheeks, and I decide not to push my luck.
“I can try to boom them,” Moni’s voice filters over. I glance over my shoulder and see her trying to make her way over to us as Chester clings to her with a death grip.
“Chill, Chester, else you’re going to rip her bark off,” I tell him and nod down to his white knuckles around her wrist.
“Oh shit. I’m sorry,” he apologizes.
“It’s okay, Chestie.” Moni comforts him before giving him a quick kiss and gently pries his hand off her before patting it.
I sigh as everyone joins me and looks at the new obstacle in front of us.
“So, how do you figure we should go about doing this?” Knox scratches his head.
Before anyone can answer, a tune starts playing, and my jaw drops.Is this a warped version of the Pac-Man song?
“What the hell is that?” Moni shrieks as a darker white skull with wings the size of a car slams down in front of us, knocking us to the ground.
“Hurry, get up,” I tell them as I scramble up and activate my rings. I still can’t believe the great Astaroth gave me a weapon this awesome. Being able to control when they pop out to slice, teamed with my vampire abilities, has been one of the coolest gifts I have received. Well, besides my family. I take a defensive stance as the sickles swing out of the rings because I want to be ready if things go bad. “We’re about to fight our way out of here, and hopefully our friend here is paving the way.”
“What are you talking about?” Chester demands, pushing his glasses back up his nose and picking up his weapon.
I give him a big grin as the ball in our path starts moving and gobbles up the next sun that was in front of us.
“We’re playing a twisted version of the Devil’s Pac-Man,” I shout out excitedly, throwing my fist in the air before following.
As a computer geek, video games are my jam, especially old-school ones. Every once in a while, I hop on and play with Ryker on WOW. Normally, though, I’m glued to a computer trying to improve my skills, but sometimes I just need to unwind and zone out with games.
“What’s a Packed Man? Does that mean he has a bigger package? Is he more prepared? Oh! He’sreallypacked…do you think he gets away with being frisky? Or is that frisked? I don’t remember,” Moni asks as she zips back and forth betweenChester and me before promptly fainting. I easily reach out and grab her before she hits the ground, handing her off to Chester.
