Page 42 of A Brighter Yellow
“Yeah, I got nothing off of that,” he said.
Anna looked annoyed.
“Well, I don’t speak wolf that well,” he said. “So all I know is that you’re grumpy.”
She leaned over and put her head on his chest, and it was like having love beamed straight into his soul.
“Ohhhhhh, that’s so fucking good,” he said, collapsing back onto his ass. Anna huffed impatiently before pulling back—he made a sad noise at the withdrawal. She leaned back in, and this time he got a picture of the plain brown box that he’d picked up from her mailbox—the one that was currently in the People for the Trees office.
“Ah! I got that! The thing you stole from the Warlocks! That’s the source?”
Anna nodded affirmatively, looking smug.
“They must have gotten a replacement. Or were the warlocks bringing in an extra? Why would they do that? I’m feeling better about not bringing it.”
Anna made a wolf shrug. Then she stood up and trotted toward the bunker door. He shook his head and scrambled after her. They made it to the door, and Ochre eased it open a fraction. Nothing moved. Slowly, he opened it enough for them both to enter. They stopped just inside the door and took a lay of the land. The interior was a gray cement hallway lit by industrial bulbs. Nothing moved. The air was still and rank with warlock magic. Anna looked left and right and sniffed the air. Her muzzle lifted in disgust, and then she shook her head and took another sniff. After a moment of hesitation, she headed to the left.
Ochre followed her. He had three spells at the ready, and he took his bow off his back. A bow in close quarters wasn’t exactly the best weapon, but in a pinch, it made a good club. They paused as they reached a junction. Ahead of them, a set of stairs led downward, and another hallway ran perpendicular to theirs. Anna headed down, looking uncertain on the steep metal stairs. Finally, she gave up and simply jumped from the halfway point. She landed and looked back, waiting for him.
“Show off,” he whispered.
They hadn’t gone more than a few steps when Anna paused and appeared to be trying to squint down at her own neck. Then she turned around to Ochre, whining, practically dancing on her long claws. The necklace was flashing.
“It’s gone orange,” said Ochre with a gulp. Anna whined again. “We’ll be there soon.”
They passed a series of rooms that looked like they had been converted to bedrooms from offices. Anna led the way taking unhappy sniffs periodically. He was getting an image of Charlie in his head, and it got stronger as they went on. He guessed Charlie was who Anna was smelling for. They reached another junction, and this time Ochre could hear voices. Anna hesitated. She wanted to go in the direction of the voices, but it sounded like at least ten people.
“Give me just a second,” Ochre whispered. He back-tracked to the nearest empty room and dug through the mess of dirty dishes and laundry until he found a scrap of paper. It was a menu for an American-Chinese food restaurant. Ochre wasn’t sure what that meant—probably that he could get noodles and a burger, but not very good versions of either. He placed his hand over the paper and concentrated on the ink that had been dolloped on the paper. It didn’t have to be in that configuration. It could be in a different shape. A map shape, for instance. He muttered an incantation, and he felt the paper flutter. When he opened his eyes, the ink had rearranged into a map of the facility.
“OK,” he said, holding the paper down for Anna to see. “This is where we are. It sounds like everyone is here.” He pointed to a large room that was further along the hall. “Do you think Charlie is there or further on?”
Anna put her nose on the other side of the big room.
“OK, so what if we cut back through this large place back here? It looks like it connects to that same hallway on the other side.”
Anna nodded and rubbed her head against him. He got the distinct message that she thought he was cool. Ochre grinned and folded the map down into his pockets. Moments later, they were standing in front of two large metal doors. Ochre couldn’t help thinking they looked foreboding. He opened the door, hating the creak that echoed along the hallway. They slipped inside and Anna sneezed.
The space had probably been intended to be used as a garage. A large ramp led upward to the surface level, probably to the large doors they’d seen in the pictures. But now, the space was hung with red silk curtains painted with symbols that Ochre didn’t recognize but hated on sight. In the center was a large dais and a black stone pedestal. On top of that was a large black bowl. Ochre didn’t need to be told that was the source that the warlocks had mentioned. It was everything evil.
Suddenly Anna grabbed the hem of his shirt with her mouth and tugged on him toward one of the curtains. Ochre followed. No sooner were they hidden by the curtain when he heard the door open from the opposite side of the room.
“I don’t understand why I can’t just have her for, like, an hour,” whined a nasal voice.
“I told you, Elliot,” said another man, and Ochre recognized the bathrobe guy’s voice, “she and I have an agreement. As long as you keep your mitts off of her, she’ll help me rebuild the spell.”
“Brett! I can do it,” complained Elliot. “I just need more time.”
“Yeah, I gave you time,” said Brett. “And I’m tired of waiting. We’ll make her do it, and then you can play out whatever sick fantasy you want. I do not fucking care.”
“She doesn’t even speak German,” whined Elliot. “She’s not going to crack it any better than me. I’m telling you, the Final Solution Spell is incomplete.”
“Well, we’ll find out, won’t we,” said Brett.
Ochre peered out around the curtain and saw Brett had advanced to the dais. Brett patted the black bowl on the pedestal affectionately.
“Those Supernatural fuckers ruined my life,” he said. “I want them all to pay, and I’m tired of waiting.”
“I’m telling you: I can do it.”
