Part 19

I look to my right and am relieved that Mary appears to be in one complete piece.

Benny leans over and smiles at me, “Man, I’m glad you picked here.”  

I smile and shake my head.  Looking around, I realize I am weary of this room.  It is just as Mary and
I had left it a few days ago, cardboard boxes piled high against the walls.  I kick the metal box beside me and it hums to life, as do the Christmas lights it powers.

“So, she’s a witch?”  I ask, turning around and expecting to find the Russian behind me. 

He does not disappointed.  “With capital W.”

“And the snake?”  I shudder at the question, recalling the creature slithering from Catherine’s scarf.

“She’s a witch,”  Rush says, and spits on the ground beside himself for emphasis.

“But we’re safe now, right?”  Mary asks, looking each of us in the eyes.

I nod, as does Benny, but the Russian shrugs and snorts.  “She’s a witch…”  He looks to me and winks.

“So…”  Mary says.

“So,” Rush flashed his yellowing teeth in what could only be described as a sneer, “An Underground Princess?”

I am proud of her.  She stands her ground.  “I guess so.”

The sneer stays upon his face as he takes a step toward her.  “Princess Dairy Mary, I see it now.”

The sound of her slapping him echoes off the damp stone walls.  She inhales sharply and attempts to shake the sting from her hand.  Benny and I both step in front of her, forming a barrier between the two but it is not needed.

Rush is laughing, “That’s my girl.  Now you may call me Rush too.”

I sigh and step back to the side but Benny does not move.

“Benny, calm down,” I say, wanting to see how this plays out.  He looks at me, then at the Russian, and finally at Mary, who nods before he finally backs down.

“So, there are five missing Princes.  I know that Tibault was found dead by authorities and his family has Sphere now, but I know not where they are.”

“And Andreus’ Sphere is rumored to have shattered when he was pushed off that bridge.”  I add, trying to remember which bridge it was.

“That leaves Demetrius, Khaos…” Benny starts.

“No, Khaos’s sphere was taken by Christof.”  Rush interrupts.

“Ah, yes, sorry.  So Demetrius, Lampman, and…”

“The Bird Man,” I say, bringing our quintet to a close.  I scratch my chin, the stubble just long enough to itch.  “But which one will be the easiest to find?”

“Easiest? This not about easy.  If you want to find needle, you search haystack.”  Rush says, pulling a flask from his grey corduroy coat.  He unscrews the lid and takes a sip, coughing as the liquid burns his throat.  “Lampman!”

“What about him?”  Benny asks.

“I remember story he once told me.  He found the Glass Shore.”

“I’ve heard the story too,” I say, adding “And it wasn’t just the Glass Shore that he had found, but out in the underground ocean he found a passageway, and beyond that an island.”

“Wait, Glass Shore?  Underground ocean?  What are you guys talking about,” Mary asks.

Benny looks at me and it is my turn to shrug.  He begins, “Back during the rule of Samual, Cyrus’ ancestor that is,” he added, cutting off the question that had formed on Mary’s lips.  “It was rumored that he, he being Samual mind you, traded across an underground ocean that broke upon a shore of glass.  The tales suggest that there was some form of bazaar-“

“The Black Bazaar,” Rush says.

“Yes, the Black Bazaar,” Benny says and then continues, “across the ocean that Samual sent agents to to trade.”

“And you think The Lampman-“ Mary begins.

“Lampman, not ‘the,’ just Lampman,” I say.

“Ok, you think Lampman found this Glass Shore and the ocean, and the Black Bazaar.”

“It’s possible,” I admit.

“And you think that’s going to be the easiest Sphere to find?  What about Demetrius, or… or was it The Bird Man?”

“Last I spoke to Demetrius, he was talking about hopping a train to and heading west.  We could head west.”

“And The Bird Man?”

I look away and shake my head.  “No, he’s out of the question.”

“Why?” She asks.

“Leave it,” Benny says, but she does not.

“This is my future we’re talking about.”

“The Bird Man is in an asylum upstate.  He killed some man for killing his birds.”

“Oh, so he’s not dead?”

I shake my head again.  “No.”

“Ok, so Lampman it is.  Anyone know where the Glass Shore is by chance?”

I smile.  “No, last I heard Lampman talk, it was out passed the end of the line a ways.”

“I remember him talking about the constant thunderstorm that must rage overhead at the end of the line and how he could never find the storm when he went looking. And pipes!  He talked about pipes a lot.”  Freak Beans says.

“But the end of what line?”  Mary laments.

“I don’t know, but this might help,”  I say as I pull the envelope I picked up at the library from my within my heavy coat.  I unseal the clasp that holds the packet shut, reach in and pull out an ancient piece of paper, browning with age, and gently unfold it, setting it upon a carton for everyone to see.  

“Where’d you get that?”  Freak Beans asks.

“I found it,” I say without looking at him directly.  I use my fingertips to smooth out the paper, a map of the old subway system with numerous hand written notes scribbled all over it.

“Where?”

“Now’s not the time, Benny,” I say, looking it over.  “There!” I jab at the brittle map.  The others huddle around me.

“Where?” It is Mary’s turn to ask.

I move my finger, revealing a scrawl almost smudged away by time.  “I remember something Lampman said before he disappeared, something about the path to the Glass Shore led through the ‘Walking Rocks, and through the Devil’s Rib Cage.’”

Rush leans closer, “Yes, I think you’re right.  ‘Walking Rocks’ it says.”

“Ok, who’s with me?”  Mary says, picking up the map.