The houses gained stories as they had gone deeper into the village. They blocked his view around the curve. He eased the van around the curve and stopped.
This had to be Sinzerklaazz’s keep.
48
The gray creatures were behind the van, too.
Cold air, scented with sugar cookies and peppermint came through the partially open window beside Hilario.
Sinzerklaazz’s Keep filled the view in front of him. But at the moment, what he saw in the side view mirror was what worried him more.
The gray line of fur people ahead of the van had grown to a line behind the van too. And to the sides. The fur people, with their strange heads shaped like a combination of seal and cat, all held flickering candles. And sung their strange, soothing chant of a song. If the song had words, they weren’t in any language he knew.
Larry slouched low in the passenger seat. His ghostly form seemed even brighter now. But the dour look on his face made Hilario’s stomach do an extra flip flop.
The smell of cookies and peppermint candy wasn’t helping. His stomach rumbled and twisted, complaining about the lack of nourishment. He told it now wasn’t the time. He needed his attention on what was happening outside.
Especially since the two most powerful passengers in his van weren’t going to help.
Both Odom the Paladin and the Sapphire Witch sat silent in the back. Which would have been a welcome change a while back, but now was just making him even more tense.
Someone could have broken a crowbar over his shoulders.
Detective Marco moved back up between the driver’s and passenger’s seats. He still carried the sour scent of the Sea Terror…and his musky cologne.
“They’re tight around us,” Marco said, “Don’t look like they can do us much damage.”
Hilario refrained from rolling his eyes. In the unseen world, if something looked cute and harmless, that was a cue to start running in the other direction. Fast as you could.
Roger the Ogre popped his head down over the driver’s side window. His rotten cabbage stench temporarily blocked the cookies and candy smell.
“Oy, clowns,” Roger said, “Whys the’s stops?”
Hilario clenched his teeth. His white gloved fingers did the same to the steering wheel.
He glanced at the side view mirrors again. The fur people were closing in behind. So close the almost pressed against the van. The message was clear. Keep moving.
He let out a sigh. Made himself look up at Sinzerklaazz’s keep.
Except his eyes skittered over the face of it. Or maybe they just couldn’t focus on it. He forced himself to stare at it. But he could make little sense of it.
Other than it was the seat of some powerful, powerful magic.
The keep seemed to be little more than a shimmer in the air. It had a shape. Turrets and walls and towers. But when he tried to focus on any one element, it just shimmered away. Revealing nothing but the aurora streaked sky behind it.
Of course he knew it was simply cloaked. Somewhere under all that magic was probably a perfectly ordinary castle. Made of out of stone. Or maybe the bones of Sinzerklaazz’s defeated enemies.
Those who ended up on Sinzerklaazz’s naughty list.
The fur people in front of the van slowly parted from the middle of their line. Like furry gates. Created a lane that led straight to the shimmery keep.
The van rocked, its suspension creaked. He checked his mirrors.
The fur people behind the van held their candles in one paw. And with their other cute, furry little paws, pushed at the van.
“You might as well move forward, clown,” Odom said, “You are summoned to an audience.”
Hilario’s insides clenched. Oh dear. An Audience.
Audiences with powerful beings were never a good thing. In fact, they were pretty much always a bad thing for whatever poor lesser being who had the misfortune to be summoned. It wasn’t like he was someone important like Odom or the Sapphire Witch. No, he was just a clown.
Though he liked to think he was a pretty good clown, all things considered.
He lifted his floppy shoe from the brake pedal. The van groaned and slowly moved forward. Down the fur people lined lane. The yellow light of their candles flickered in their black eyes. Their snout-like mouths moved with their chanting song.
And the icy air that seeped through the partially open window still smelled like freshly baked sugar cookies and peppermint candy.
He had never been more terrified in his life.
And he was no stranger to being terrified. For most of his life, it was his normal state.
The van rolled toward the shimmering mirage that was the keep. With any luck there was a door at the end of the lane. And not a thousand foot cliff. With Sea Terrors and Sharkigators at the bottom.
“Hilario, don’t-a do-a this-a,” Larry said.
Larry’s ghostly form was bright now. So bright Larry was almost solid.
And he looked scared beyond measure. Eyes wide, limbs shaking. His arms wrapped around himself. Rocking back and forth on the seat.
“I don’t think we have much choice,” Hilario said, “What’s the matter? Why are you so scared?”
Larry’s head whipped around. “You should all be scared!” he shouted, “We shouldn’t go in there!”
Hilario slowed the van’s already creeping advance.
“Why Larry?” he asked, “What do you know?”
Larry squeezed his eyes shut. He clapped his hands to the side of his head. A high pitched moan escaped him.
Hilario thought back to Larry’s reaction to the news Rachel had been sent to the Ice Realm. It was hysteric. Maybe beyond hysteric. And he hadn’t shown any enthusiasm for going
