Breathing heavily, Static turned in my direction. Like Ursula previously, he had blood running from his ears, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“You,” he sneered, scowling at me. “You did this.”
I didn’t need any guesses to figure out that he was referring to Reverb’s recent assault on him. Rather than respond, however, I teleported — popping up back in the living room of my quarters. It was an effort to buy time and perhaps figure something out.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be an exercise in futility, as I had been there barely a second before Static appeared as well. He popped up right next to me, and before I could react, he had his hand around my throat again. I beat at it ineffectually — even tried stabbing it with his relic — but my struggles barely registered with him.
Instinctively, I tried teleporting again — this time popping up in the room with the frescos. As before, however, Static came with me. It was as if direct contact made him a part of me, such that he went wherever I did. (And if he noticed the change in our environs, he didn’t show it).
“How are you alive?” he demanded, leaning in close. “Reverb’s voice should have killed you.” His eyes narrowed, and then seemed to light up a moment later. “Of course — you have something.”
I didn’t say anything, just continued striving in vain to get away. Static, ignoring my efforts, raised his free hand, which began glowing with an amber light. At the same time, I felt something getting warm near my leg, as well as my chest.
“Ah,” Static muttered after a few seconds.
I felt the equivalent of a forceful tug near the pocket of my pants, accompanied by the distinct sound of fabric being ripped. A moment later, the souvenir Endow had given me — the prism-shaped relic that would offer protection against Reverb’s voice — flew into Static’s hand.
He stared at it for a moment, then said, “Impressive. Powerful. This one will make a fine addition to my collection. Which reminds me…”
Trailing off, he turned his eyes to my hand — the one that still held his relic — and the crystal was abruptly snatched from me by an unseen force. It went floating to his hand, joining the one he’d taken from my pocket. He then held the two items to his chest — specifically, he pressed them against the amulet he wore. Surprisingly, when he pulled his hand away, they stayed fixed to the talisman as if attached to it with superglue.
Noting my attention, he grinned.
“My growing collection,” he explained, gesturing toward the relics and amulets. “Many thanks for your contribution. And don’t worry — I’ll take excellent care of it. It’s in good hands.”
I frowned as Static finished speaking. There was something about his words… Something about what he’d just said resonated with me, echoed in my head. It triggered a cavalcade of thoughts, memories… But they were jumbled, like pieces of a puzzle. I knew they fit together, but wasn’t sure how. Even worse, considering my current situation, I didn’t have much time to figure it out.
“What’s this?” Static asked quizzically, bringing me back to myself. I noticed then that his hand was once more encased in the amber light, and my chest was getting warm again.
“You’ve got something else,” he continued.
And with that, it came to me — all the pieces of the puzzle slid into place.
I reached for the badge that Rune had previously given me, which was the source of the heat I was feeling. Static, however, got to it first, pulling it from the interior of my shirt.
“Don’t touch that!” I screeched, giving him an angry look. “It’s mine!”
As if to emphasize my claim, I reached toward my neck and grabbed a portion of the badge’s chain.
“Let go!” I roared. “It’s mine! Mine, mine, mine!”
“No, it’s mine,” Static said calmly.
He then yanked on the badge, hard, snapping the chain that attached it around my neck. As he pulled it away, the portion of its chain that I held in my hand slithered through my palm like a wriggling eel.
“No!” I wailed.
Static gave me a smug look. “Very generous of you to add more to my collection before you die.” He then began to squeeze my throat. “It’s too bad you won’t be around to see all the things I’m going to do, but I thank you.”
“No,” I croaked, smiling. “Thank…you.”
Realizing all of a sudden that something was amiss, Static stopped attempting to throttle me. He simply looked at me for a moment, then stared at the badge with a frightening intensity. A moment later, his mouth fell open in horror, and he dropped both me and the badge.
“It can’t be…” he mumbled, slowly shuffling backward, but never taking his eyes off the badge. “It can’t.”
“But it is,” I assured him.
“No,” he uttered, but without any confidence. At the same time, the badge began emanating a lavender light that appeared to pulse softly.
Seeing this, Static looked at me and pleaded, “Please. Take it back. You have to take it back.”
“It’s too late,” I said as the light from the badge began to pulse faster. “It’s done.”
“No, wait!” Static begged as the pulsing light increased in tempo. “I’ll do anything! Anything! I’ll–”
His words were cut off as the light stopped pulsing and became steady — and then flared up with a brilliance and luminosity that was too intense to look at and which seemingly encompassed the entire room.
Chapter 58
When the light receded, Static lay on the floor, curled up in a ball. He wasn’t unconscious, but he was obviously addled, because he kept mumbling — making what appeared to be random, disjointed statements. Occasionally there would be an outburst from him, prompting me to do what I could to calm him down (which
