The Shadow Fixer Page 8

  Kirsten laughed. He zoomed out, leaving her to eat. A trip in a delivery bot made the sandwich somewhat less hot than it ought to be, but it still tasted perfect. Evan obviously hadn’t forgotten the significance of the day, though seemed to treat it as the anniversary of her saving him more than a birthday.

  He probably doesn’t know kids get presents on their birthday. Kirsten sighed egg-jalapeño fumes out her nose. She hadn’t realized birthdays meant presents until thirteen, when the dorm staff got her a few plush animals and gifts. Mother certainly wouldn’t buy nice things for an agent of the Devil. It had been a miracle she let her keep the dolls Dad brought back from his business trips.

  This is his first real birthday. She chewed another bite of breakfast, wondering if there might be something wrong with him since he hadn’t started bouncing around with excitement. Other kids would’ve definitely told him about birthdays by now. He should be expecting some presents.

  After eating, she jumped in the autoshower, got dressed in civilian clothes—a periwinkle blue mini dress over black leggings.

  On Friday, Kirsten went into the classroom to help hand out cupcakes for a mini birthday party. Abernathy the ghost popped in as well, even if only Evan and Kirsten could see him. He still had some citizenship points to burn off, but the administration let him skip out on chores for his birthday.

  For today, Kirsten made ‘birthday reservations’ at a Funzone, which included a big semi-private table in the corner, food, cake, and a few perks. She’d snuck away on Saturday for a few hours while Evan went to Nila’s apartment to set things up at the Funzone. Two employees helped her put up decorations around the table as well as arrange the stash of gifts.

  She and Evan had a nice, lazy morning at home. A little past noon, they flew to the PAC, specifically the dorms to meet up with his school friends, Walter, Shawn, Maela, and Willow. Nila and Nicole met them there, both in uniform due to being on rotation for the weekend. They had the okay from Captain Eze to attend the party on the understanding they might need to rush off for an emergency.

  Everyone piled into three patrol craft and flew to the Funzone.

  A family crossing the rooftop parking deck paused to stare at a pair of police vehicles swooping in. When it became clear no emergency went on, they kept walking. Kirsten hopped out and snuck around to the trunk, quietly retrieving ‘present number one.’ Evan didn’t notice her concealing the small, squishy package as the group walked across the parking area to the elevator entrance. The Funzone took up the seventh and eighth floors of a high-rise entirely devoted to commercial space.

  Samuel Chang met them at the entrance, in costume as Sir Halek from the Monwyn universe.

  Evan cheered at him, then stopped to glance down at his normal clothes before giving Kirsten an ‘am I supposed to be dressed up’ look.

  She handed him the package.

  “What’s this?” He took it, turning the soft bundle over in his hands.

  “A little gift for your birthday.” She grinned.

  “Cool. Thank you.” He hugged her, then opened it to reveal a kid-sized dark blue Monwyn wizard’s robe. His expression of complete awe would have been worth a thousand times what she paid for the costume. “Oh wow! Awesome!”

  He pulled it on over his clothes, then high-fived Sam.

  The group made their way down to the Funzone, dealt with the check-in process—which involved everyone getting a temporary electronic bracelet as a mark of having paid the admission fee—then headed to the reserved table.

  “What’s all that stuff?” Evan pointed at the wrapped gifts.

  “Birthday presents, dork.” Walter elbowed him.

  “Oh…” Evan twisted to look at Kirsten. It’s so much!

  She patted him on the head. It’s from everyone.

  “Cool!” Evan grinned.

  “Do you want to open stuff first or go play games?” asked Kirsten.

  Evan made a clueless face. “Uhh. We can play games first. Don’t wanna make everyone wait for me.”

  The kids cheered and zoomed off to the various games, amusements, and mini-rides set up around the massive room—almost an entire story of the high-rise.

  Kirsten, Sam, Nicole, Dorian, and Nila sat at the table, talking about random stuff for a while. Nicole yammered endlessly about a new holovid series she’d started watching detailing the exploits of a privateer starship captain. The show took some liberties with the fantasy starship combat, as few real spacecraft transporting cargo out to colony worlds had weapons. Ships cost way too much to blow up. Any real-world conflict happened via boarding parties, usually swinging axes or swords at each other to avoid a stray bullet or laser punching a hole in the hull.

  Dorian didn’t say much other than offering a few well-timed quips that made Kirsten burst out laughing.

  Eventually, the kids returned to the table for dinner when summoned by flashing lights on their pass bracelets. Pizza went over well. Birthday cake even more so. A Funzone employee named Allie brought the cake to the table, then lit ten candles shaped like wizard staves.

  “Think of a wish, then blow out the candles,” said Kirsten.

  Shawn, Walter, Maela, and Willow chanted, “Wish… wish… wish…”

  Evan looked at Kirsten and smiled.

  Maela covered her mouth, making a face like she just saw a stray kitten.

  Evan blew all ten candles out in one breath—but they popped back to life. He blinked.

  Nila raised an eyebrow at Willow.

  Again, Evan blew out the candles, and they reignited.

  Kirsten blinked once in confusion, then realized the look Nila gave Willow. They both had Pyrokinesis. Nila must have sensed her using it. Evan tried to blow out the candles again. For the third time, they flared back to life. Willow continued staring at the candles, though appeared to be having trouble not smiling.

  Aww! said Maela’s voice in Kirsten’s mind. He used his wish so you wouldn’t get hurt doing cop stuff.

  Kirsten’s heart swelled. Shh. You’re not supposed to tell anyone what the wish is or it doesn’t work.

  Really? Maela blinked. Are you teasing me or is this real?

  Fun superstition. No idea if wishes really work. Kirsten smiled, more than a little amused at the slightly older—almost thirteen—girl believing in wishes.

  Maela laughed.

  Shani tickle-attacked Willow. “Stop messing with him. We can’t eat cake if he’s blowing out candles all night!”

  Evan’s non-reaction gave away he knew she’d been doing it the whole time. He blew the candles out, and they stayed out. Allie, the Funzone employee, cut the cake for them and distributed pieces to everyone.

  While his friends had cake, Evan opened his presents. Kirsten didn’t want to go too overboard with the Monwyn stuff, even though they had a theme birthday party. She got him a toy spaceship as well as a couple Monwyn action figures and a wand that projected holographic versions of spells. Nila’s gift came in the largest box: a red dragon bot capable of flying, breathing hologram fire, and emitting a startlingly loud, screechy roar.

  Evan probably said ‘wow’ about a thousand times.

  You did say you were going to get him the most obnoxious toy you could find. Kirsten narrowed her eyes playfully at Nila.

  Hah! Nila snickered. Mostly kidding. There are lots of toys more annoying than this one’s scream.

  It looks expensive.

  Nila waved dismissively. Way cheaper than a personal defense bot. You know they have a version of these dragons with Class 1 lasers in the eyes?

  Are you serious? Kirsten gawked.

  Yeah, but they’re not toys—at least not toys for children. I can see a guy like Sam keeping a few around for home defense.

  Kirsten whistled innocently. I dunno. The boy’s kinda got me into the whole fantasy thing. Used to think it kinda silly, but it’s grown on me.

  Sam, of course, got him a new Monwyn video game for the Yume Koujou system.

  Evan practically fainted
from happiness. Kirsten leaned on Sam, holding his hand while watching her son bask in the joy of having a birthday while surrounded by family and friends. A few minutes after all the kids finished with their cake, Evan glanced toward—more past—Kirsten, jaw open. He shook his head slightly, then shifted his gaze to make eye contact.

  Uhh, Mom. That’s way too much.

  “What is?” She followed his gaze to another robotic dragon. It looked much like the one powered down on the table, other than being the size of a tiny car. The thing probably cost more than a Chīsai compact. “Whoa. Uhh… wow.”

  A teen girl in a Funzone T-shirt and matching lime green hair, peeked around from behind it. “I heard there’s a birthday boy at this table who might like to ride a dragon.”

  Realizing none of her friends had spent a ridiculous amount of money on a giant toy they had no room to keep, Kirsten melted against Sam.

  “Yay!” Evan jumped up, cheering.

  He scrambled out of his seat and bounced over to the Funzone employee. The big dragon bot lowered itself so he could climb into the saddle on its back. She tapped a little device in her ear, and her voice boomed out over the whole Funzone, announcing Evan’s tenth birthday. Except for kids in VR games, everyone looked over at him waving his arms and shouting lines from the Monwyn movies.

  Shawn shrank in on himself, blushing. Maela hunched down as well, obviously not a fan of being in the spotlight. Walter stood on his chair, also cheering. Kirsten found it weird—but awesome—the kid who started off trying to bully him ended up a friend.

  Evan cruised off on the flying dragon. The bot spat holographic flames randomly while the boy ‘fought’ holographic winged goblins in a full 3D immersive experience around the entire room. It didn’t look anywhere near as realistic as the senshelmet games but based on the delighted cheers coming from her son, he loved it.

  Seeing him so happy got her all choked up. Fortunately, she didn’t need to speak.

  A high-pitched scream came from the plastic ball pit, not an unusual sound in a Funzone. Kirsten didn’t pay it much mind until the same small child shrieked again, adding a, “Daddy, help!” At that, she stood for a better look. Several people rushed over to the ball pit.

  One man shouted, “Bree?”

  The child’s voice wailed again.

  Evan steered the dragon bot toward the ball pit.

  “Bree?” yelled the man. “Where are you?”

  “Here!” screamed a voice likely belonging to a four- or five-year-old.

  The adults around the ball pit scurried to the left.

  Evan’s friends all stood on their chairs to see over other tables.

  “Should we help?” asked Nila. “Can’t tell what’s happening.”

  Mom! Evan’s voice entered her thoughts. There’s a ghost in the ball pit holding a little girl down at the bottom. He’s dragging this kid back and forth like he’s mopping the floor with her.

  Bree’s father jumped into the ball pit.

  “Dammit. Bad ghost. Nikki, need you.” Kirsten jumped out of Sam’s lap and ran down the aisle, slaloming around kids, workers, and parents.

  Evan, his eyes glowing bright white, stood in the stirrups on the flying dragon, shouting, “Stop! Leave her alone!”

  Nicole followed. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Grab the kid out of the ball pit. She’s all the way on the bottom,” yelled Kirsten.

  “Okay.”

  Kirsten ran into the area surrounding the ball pit. The father had gone neck deep, feeling around blind for the missing girl—who had stopped screaming. Nicole and Kirsten simultaneously located an unconscious toddler at the bottom of the swimming-pool-sized pit via Telepathy, their thoughts bumping into each other inside the child’s mind. Nicole began shoving the plastic spheres out of the way, burrowing a tunnel. Fortunately, despite its vast size, the ‘pool’ was only three feet deep.

  People in the area reacted with gasps of awe at the sight of a large ‘tunnel’ forming by itself in the plastic balls.

  A man stood out of the multicolored spheres—without disturbing them. He lunged and grabbed a small boy running along the side, dragging him into the pit. The same adults staring in awe at the open space expanding in the balls seemingly for no reason screamed in alarm when Kirsten summoned the lash and dove like an idiot straight into the pit while swiping the fifteen-foot energy whip straight down on top of the spot where the ghost went under. Her sense of a spirit presence and a screaming small boy gave her a good idea of where to aim.

  The lash passed through the plastic orbs as easily as air, striking a gelatinous substance close to the bottom of the pool an instant before Kirsten went face-first into the multicolored balls.

  “Kid’s clear,” yelled Nicole.

  “Bree!” shouted a man nearby.

  Kirsten got her legs under her, struggling to stand. An unconscious toddler in a purple dress glided by on the left, into Nicole’s arms.

  A hail of plastic balls burst upward as the ghost wrenched the little boy into view, still howling in pain from the lash strike. The spirit had devolved into a vaguely human figure lacking any features. His limbs darkened to black near the extremities.

  Crap. He’s turning into a wraith…

  Kirsten raised the lash again, hesitating when the spirit chucked the screaming boy straight up.

  “I got him!” yelled Shani.

  The four-year-old boy appeared to stick to the ceiling, twenty feet overhead. Bewildered, the spirit gazed upward as if he couldn’t understand why the boy wouldn’t fall. Kirsten sliced the glowing whip across his torso, blasting him out of his humanoid shape into a cloud of phantasmal light everyone reacted to. Spirit energy imploded to a point, vanishing with a dull thud. Kirsten cringed at the unexpected sense of obliteration, stunned at the surprising weakness of the spirit. She stared blankly at the spot until scream-crying from the left distracted her. She twisted to look.

  Nicole knelt by the little girl, who’d regained consciousness apparently after CPR. The child’s father scooped her into a hug. Kirsten looked back and forth between the floating boy and Nicole, bewildered how her friend could telekinetically levitate someone without looking at them—until she noticed little Shani standing with the rest of Evan’s friends by the ball pit entrance, staring fixedly up at him.

  The bad ghost is gone, said Kirsten telepathically. You can let the boy down now.

  Nodding, Shani lowered the boy into the arms of a woman reaching toward him and screaming.

  Evan, still perched on the dragon bot above the ball pit, thrust both hands in the air and cheered.

  “What the hell’s going on?” asked an older, slightly chubby guy in a green Funzone polo shirt.

  Kirsten dispelled the lash. Everyone around the ball pit except for Bree’s father stared at her, their expressions unreadable. Possibly awe, possibly fear. “Give me a sec to get out of this pit and I’ll explain.”

  She fought her way through the nearly waist-deep plastic orbs to the edge. Nila and a random guy took her hands, lifting her out of the pool. Shani amused herself by telekinetically flicking the stray balls back into the pit.

  “Hand-shaped bruise on her chest,” said Nicole. “He squeezed the air out of her.”

  Kirsten growled, then looked at the guy she assumed to be the Funzone manager. “This is probably not going to be easy for you to believe, but a ghost attacked these two kids. It’s gone now. Destroyed.”

  The manager gestured at her right hand. “The glowing cord?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Some kinda psionic thing?” asked the manager.

  Kirsten nodded. “Yep.”

  “You seriously let psionics in here?” shouted a woman at the narrow end of the ball pit.

  “That psionic just saved two kids’ lives, you idiot,” barked another woman.

  Almost everyone in sight—including several small children—gave the woman the finger. People near her loomed in a mass until she scurried off to the exit.
/>
  “Call the police,” shouted another man somewhere in the back.

  “We are already here.” Captain Eze, in uniform, slipped out of the crowd.

  Two teen boys near Nila and Nicole—who also both wore their uniforms—pointed at them while making ‘duh’ faces.

  “Captain?” Kirsten blinked at him.

  He smiled. “Couldn’t miss Evan’s birthday. Am I late to the party?”

  “A little.” Kirsten exhaled. “Angry spirit attacked some kids in the ball pit.”

  Bree’s father showered Nicole with thanks.

  Kirsten and Captain Eze spent a few minutes explaining what happened to the manager—and everyone close enough to overhear. It surprised her no one truly flipped out; however witnessing the light flash of the destroyed spirit made for convincing evidence.

  Evan resumed flying around for a while longer before his birthday ride officially ended.

  Twenty minutes after the spirit exploded, the Funzone had largely gone back to normal—though no one went near the ball pit.

  * * *

  Kirsten lay on her sofa, staring at the ceiling, cuddling up to Sam.

  Wrangling five kids at a Funzone exhausted her as much as a fight with an abyssal, even if it had been a lot of fun. Fighting abyssals was the opposite of fun. More than her group, all the other kids in the place wore her out as they appeared incapable of talking—they screamed everything. Shani came out of her shell and got loud, too, as did Walter. Then again, the boy had two volume settings: loud and sonic assault. Fortunately, Maela, Evan, and Shawn were sedate for kids, Maela being the quietest. Like many of the dorm kids, she had issues to work out. Evan making friends with a twelve-year-old relative outcast gave her a big case of the ‘awws.’

  Still, as much fun as they had, she couldn’t wait for bedtime.

  In further celebration of Evan’s birthday—and Saturday—the kids all got to sleep over. She had to stay awake until at least their bedtime. Somehow, Sam didn’t look tired. He could probably keep an eye on the kids while she crashed early. Alas, getting up off the couch to go to bed required energy.