Page 47 of Dark Stars
"You never googled it?"
"Never thought about it until now."
Bobby stepped over a fallen tree stump, andonce they'd resumed walking, replied, "As with many things in thiscountry, the answer is slavery. Plantation owners used to hostthese dances and the big deal dance of the evening was the cakewalk, or prize walk, where the enslaved did these crazy elaboratedances and whichever one performed the best won the prize, whichwas a big, fancy cake. The dancing wasn't easy, and there'stheories the enslaved were making fun of their slavers the wholetime by mocking them via the dances, but they made it look so easythat it gave rise to the idiom. Also where you get 'take thecake'."
"Fascinating."
They lapsed into an easy silence then, Bobbyleading the way along the path, the moonlight enough for Alejo tojust see by, along with the fireflies that showed up in drips anddrabs to accompany them, a little trail of flickering lightswandering a dark trail that could turn dangerous at any moment.
His legs weren't happy with him after allthe work of the past day, hiking through woods and caves and secretpassages. Alejo must be even more miserable, but he hadn't said aword about it, save for a joke about first dates.
What would he like for a real first date?They'd sort of skipped past all of that. After all the recenttumult, simply going to dinner or the movies seemed so tepid. "Soif the cave trek was our first date, was the picnic in a park oursecond?"
Alejo laughed, and around them the firefliesseemed to flicker in a way that echoed the sound, as though theytoo were laughing. "I went on a picnic date once. The food wassoggy, the wine tasted like it had turned to vinegar, and the guykissed like a slobbering dog. It wasterrible. I couldn'tget out of there fast enough, let me tell you."
"I don't really do dates," Bobby said."Don't really do much of anything unless I'm in the rare mood tofuck somebody. Most of the time it's just me, my books, andwhatever work Jones and Harold need me for. Guess I was waiting forthe boy of dark stars."
"Guess so, Flick." Alejo grinned as theydrew even at a curve in the path, working around some boulders thathad probably been there longer than time. Maybe had once been partof a mountain, or in the bed of a stream long gone.
"I can't believethat'smy nickname,that after all the eons I've been alive, all I've done and livedthrough, we've settled on Flick."
"It's always rather anticlimactic, I'mafraid. Unless it's Camila's quinceañera. That wasextraclimactic. The fireworks wereborderline illegalclimactic,but my father's precious angel baby princess can do no wrong." Herolled his eyes.
Bobby's mouth curved in a sly grin."Mmm-hmm. And who is your mother's most beloved darling?"
"I have no idea," Alejo said loftily, cheeksburning. "Probably my eldest brother."
"I just bet."
"Oh, shut up."
They lapsed back into silence after that,but as ever, it was a warm, comfortable silence, like a blanket ona cold, snowy day. No pressure to talk, no anxiously wondering whatthe other was thinking—not that Bobby had ever really stressed whatothers thought, but Alejo washis.
Though they were still tired despite theirnapping, they made good time and reached the first circle just pastfour in the morning, where dawn was thinking about arriving, butany real light was still an hour or so away.
They were perhaps twenty or so feet awaywhen Bobby heard something. He reached out and grabbed Alejo's arm,signaling him to halt. He pressed a finger to his lips and tookover the lead again, sending silent requests to the dark to keephim enfolded and unseen.
He crept up to a tree that had two trunks,forming a crude V that made it easy for him to stay out of sightwhile watching what was happening a short distance away, perhapsten or so feet now.
They didn't speak, or spoke in a way hecouldn't hear, not without using powers that would possibly alertthem to his presence. Not human, he didn't think, or at least notentirely human. They moved far too easily in the dark for that.
One of them was fussing with something inthe middle of the circle, while the other restlessly prowled thesmall clearing it was set in. Not a natural clearing, though. No,by the smell of it, things had been chopped and burned to make thisspace. Hardly surprising. There weren't going to be thirteenperfect clearings just waiting to be misappropriated for darkrituals, not without a whole lot more planning than his relativeswere generally inclined toward.
He felt movement behind him, Alejo's soft,easy presence, and then a gentle squeeze to his arm that was easyto interpret aswhat should we do?
Chapter Eighteen
Bobby made a sweeping motion with his hands,and Alejo nodded in understanding. They stayed where they were,watching the figures work, until they finally left an interminableamount of time later.
By the time he was comfortable leaving theirhiding place, certain they would not return for the keys theyforgot or whatever, nearly an hour had passed.
"Gonna be a long day," Alejo muttered. "Sowhat now?" He crept out of the tree line and toward the altar. "Sohow do we do this?"
Bobby grabbed his arm lightly, pulling himto a stop. "Let me check for any traps." He put out small feelers,barely there at all, testing for traps on various planes. He founda couple on the mortal plane, half-hearted things clearly done as amatter of habit but not with any earnestness. "There. All clear.Sloppy work."
"Well, I mean, until just hours ago, they'dbeen hiding them in plain sight pretty effectively," Alejosaid.
"Yeah, true," Bobby said with a grimace,still annoyed at himself for missing something so fucking obvious."All right, let's get this done. Thankfully, it doesn't take much,just burning all of this away will do the job. Without the pieceson this plane, the ones formed in the primordial dark will justbreak apart into nothing."
