Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson (ebook voice reader TXT) š
- Author: Eden Robinson
Book online Ā«Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson (ebook voice reader TXT) šĀ». Author Eden Robinson
30
KILONOVA
We are togetherāthe bitter remains of two monumental stars locked in a gravitational death spiral.
(God, save my daughter and my grandson. Iām begging you, Jesus, have mercy.)
Richieās bedraggled spirit bear wanders through the apartment wall, growling. We see what it wants us to see: Tricksters buried alive in a field, a cacophony of voices we canāt understand, pleading, shouting. The firefly descends from the ceiling to join the bear and shows you the hexes in the Trickstersā hearts that hold them prisoner.
You sense Sarah as she rockets towards Jared in a rusty minivan driven by an otter in human form. The Wild Man of the Woods is with her, as are his friends, who donāt bother with human forms. Theyāre too far away, the firefly tells you. Theyāre not going to get there in time.
(Burn the hexes from their hearts, oh Lord. Free them.)
(Free them. Free all of them.)
We donāt have enough power between us. We burn, we burn. The bear fades first, groaning as the last energy it has joins theirs, and then heās gone. The firefly pulls away.
(Anitaās heart, Anitaās heart, you want her to stop before her heart stops.)
(I want my grandson safe.)
(A final surge of her power and then her heart spasms.)
You are alone. You want to live. You have always wanted to live. Anita leaves her body in a burst of gold light, a halo.
You can live or you can follow her.
All the things you wanted to do, all the plans you hadātheyāre empty because youāre alone, youāve been alone all your life except for those brief years with her. You thought you had known love, but youād never known it until she held you in her arms.
The fear, your fear, this cowardice thatās always held you back, you push through it, you keep pouring yourself against the hexes, and you feel yourself going past the point where you can sustain your own life. You push.
Anita wears a blue sundress, her long hair in a single black braid. She holds a basket of freshly picked salmonberries, laughing as she waits for you.
31
THE GENERAL FEATURES OF A SYSTEMS COLLAPSE
Zip Tie grabbed one of the shed human skins and ran, raising her gun as she turned to back out the front door. The other coy wolves began fighting each other over the other one, the humans fighting the humans and the wolves snarling and rolling together on the floor.
A tiny blob, no bigger than a pea, left Bear Tricksterās nose and rolled up Jaredās shoe. It slithered up his pant leg and under his shirt. He clenched his mouth shut as it climbed up his neck. He shook his head to try to get it off but felt it crawling into his nose, moist and smelling like blood. He fought against the zip ties. He felt the blob oozing through his sinuses and tried to sneeze it out, but it wiggled so deep he could feel it touching his brain.
This isnāt permanent, the little blob told him. Fucking relax. Donāt give the game away.
Couldnāt you get the charm off me first?
It took everything we had to get me here. Iāve got nothing left to move your charm.
Okay, Jared told himself. Okay. So youāre here to help?
All the futures say youāre going to bring her back.
I canāt. I didnāt do it by myself the last time and the fireflies wonāt help me. I thought Sofia would come, but she hasnāt.
Fireflies?
They say theyāre super-aliens.
The little blob radiated irritation. Remember what they told you.
A tumble of memories, mashing together.
Ah, theyāre massless explorers from the universe the ogress is stuck in, the blob said. And youāre Anita Moodyās grandson.
You know Gran?
Sheās notorious. She would date other Tricksters whenever Weeāgit fucked around on her.
Ew, Jared thought.
When all the fighting calmed down, the human skin was torn and the coy wolves all began shouting about whose fault it was.
When you bring Jwasins through, youāre both malleable.
Whatās malleable?
Within the limitations of this universeās physics, you can reassemble her into a different body with a caveat that you canāt cause her harm.
Whatās a caveat?
The ogress is covered in protection spells. You wonāt be able to harm her. You canāt kill her. You need to think of something that limits her but doesnāt hurt her and cause her protection to react.
Okay. But what do I do?
Itās amazing you tie your own shoelaces.
Nice.
Did you ever watch Ghostbusters?
The theme song rattled through Jaredās head and the blob almost exploded with irritation.
Iām his pituitary gland NOT a blob, the blob said. Stop fucking singing.
Sorry.
Do you remember when they were all supposed to clear their minds of thoughts, but one of them imagined the marshmallow guy?
Yeah.
Iām not saying you can turn her into a marshmallow guy. Got that? Iām saying itās like that. You use your imagination to turn her into something that is to our benefit but doesnāt hurt her.
Like what?
Seriously, how are you Weeāgitās son?
Just tell me what to do!
Here we go, the little blob said.
The crawling, toe-sucking sorcerer poked its head through the wall then slithered over to Jared, circling and circling the chair he was zip-tied to, thrilled at this turn of events. Mallory came in, skipping through the shouting coy wolves.
āHi, Puppy,ā she said, ruffling his hair. āYouāve been bad, but I forgive you.ā
āGoody,ā Jared said.
āDonāt make me mad.ā
The coy wolves finally noticed Mallory and circled them both.
āCut on his mother until he brings Granny G back,ā one of the men said.
āIt doesnāt work that way,ā Jared said. āYou can flay Mom dead and I canāt bring Georgina back without power and without making a connection to her.ā
āStill, itās worth a try,ā Mallory said. She blew him a kiss before she skipped to the back of the room, putting her hand in his motherās hair and yanking her head back.
āNo,ā Jared said. āNo, no, get her away from Mom!ā
āYou have that for power,ā one of the coy
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