Page 31 of Forbidden

Alex’s grin was blinding. He clapped Ira on the shoulder. “Wow, thanks. Nicely done.”

Across the room, Luke was dispatching the last of them while Talon and Malachi pinned it down.

“Was that the last one?” Alex called when the Rink grew quiet.

“I think so,” Luke replied.

“Yes,” Talon said. “I don’t sense any others.”

“Neither do I,” Malachi agreed.

Ira picked up the forgotten lantern and carried it over, setting it on the partition wall and bracing his hands beside it, panting. The Rink had seen better days, certainly. He had no doubt it would take some convincing to get Alex and Luke to sink their time and money into such a place. But as he looked around the shadowed ruin, he didn’t see it as it was. He didn’t see the dust and detritus and graffiti. He saw training mats out on the skating floor, gleaming weapons on racks hanging from the walls. Practice dummies lined up across the room. He heard laughter, saw humans and demons mingling together, working together toward a common goal.

When he turned to look at the others, Talon was studying him.

“There’s something special about this place,” Talon guessed.

Ira nodded. “Yeah. This is it.”

“It?” Talon asked, and the others sidled closer to listen.

“This is where we’ll do some of our best work. This will be our base of operations for the most important era of our lives.”

Alex glanced around dubiously. “This place?” he asked doubtfully.

“Yes,” Ira insisted. “It needs a lot of work, but it’ll be worth it. There’s a ‘for sale’ sign out front. You two should call the number first thing in the morning and make an offer to buy it outright. Don’t worry about the price, they’ll take whatever you offer them just to be rid of it. And then we can start working.” He inhaled, imagining the scent of takeout, fresh paper, and incense rather than the stale, musty air that actually filled his lungs.

Alex and Luke exchanged a look. “Can we even afford to fix all the problems this place probably has?” Luke asked.

“Yep. There are a couple of kids outside who’ll be able to help, too. Come on, we should check on them.”

He led them outside, pretending not to hear Talon’s low, “So, prophets are interesting,” and Alex’s sage agreement.

Just as he’d known, the kids were still waiting by Malachi’s trunk. The boy was leaning against the car, but the girl had rallied, brandishing the dagger at them all as they approached.

“Okay, weirdos, what the hell? How did you know my name? How did you know we were here? Who the hell are you?”

“I am a prophet of the Lord,” Ira said matter-of-factly. “You won’t believe that at first, and that’s fine, most people don’t. Basically, I see the future. I know your name is Angela Alvarez, and this is your brother, Zachary. I know you both come here to blow off steam while your father is at work or drunk, usually the latter. Those things inside the building were demons from Hell, yes that Hell, and no, they weren’t the only ones here on Earth. There are others. We are warriors who fight them?—”

Malachi cleared his throat pointedly, and Talonsnickered.

“These two are warriors who fight them,” Ira amended, pointing at Alex and Luke. “The other two are actually demons, too, but not the bad kind. They’re here to help us.” He clasped his hands in front of his chest and smiled in a way he hoped was calm and disarming. “You’ll have many questions, which we will all answer in time, so you’ll forgive me if I cut to the heart of the matter: eventually, you’re going to ask us if you can join us and help us fight. The answer is yes. We could use your help. We’re going to buy this building and fix it up, make it our base, of a sort. This place has been a sanctuary for you from your father’s temper, and that doesn’t have to change just because its ownership is changing hands. If you want to learn more about what we do, you can come by tomorrow afternoon. It should be in our possession by then, and we’ll start the process of cleaning the place up. And since a lot of that graffiti in there isyours, you can help us.” He arched one pointed brow.

Zachary looked away sheepishly, and Angela glanced over at her brother as though searching for a reaction.

“Okay,” Zachary said, straightening. “Yeah, we’ll come. You’re right, it’s all hard to believe, but I can’t deny that that thing in there wasn’t… normal. I want to know more, so we’ll come by after school.”

Angela nodded her agreement.

Ira grinned. “Perfect.”

Because they hadIra’s assurances that they could buy the Rink in the morning, they saw no reason not to go ahead and get started on the place while they waited for the sun to rise. Alex had Talon teleport him to a store to purchase somecleaning supplies, and they reappeared laden with shopping bags, brooms, and mops. It would take a lot more than that to really fix all of the Rink’s problems, but it was a good starting point. The place had been abandoned for long enough that no one would care about their trespassing, and when Alex and Luke told the current owners they wanted to buy it immediately and waive the inspections and red tape, they’d jumped at the chance to be rid of it. No one would ever know they’d gotten started early.

They set up lanterns around the building for light and got to work. They swept and dusted and mopped. Ira lost count of the number of times he sneezed. Some of the back rooms were worse than others. Some food for the snack bar had been left behind when the original business shut down, and a broken window had allowed animals inside. They swept up animal hair and old droppings, rotted food, and nesting materials, carting everything out in bulging garbage bags. Alex thought to prop open all the doors and service entrances to let a fresh breeze into the musty space. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

By the time Wolf arrived, they were all lying in the middle of the newly mopped rink floor, not far from where Zachary had been sprawled when they arrived. It would need to be sanded and polished, but that was a problem for another day. At least it was clean.

“Hello?” he called as he pushed open the glass front door.

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