Ivan was the more difficult of the two to manage; they were prepared for Clay’s strength and they knew that the size of his body would increase by nearly half its normal mass and his power would increase at a twenty to one ratio. Ivan’s powers were always tricky to quantify from surveillance video, even from eyewitnesses on the scene. They knew that he could surround himself in a raging, green fire that was practically an optical illusion unless Ivan purposefully directed it in a harmful way, like if he threw energy at someone or if he used it to cushion a blow or a fall. The full strength of the green flame when Ivan directed it seemed to vary but it wasn’t believed to be as big a threat as Clay posed with his extreme level of strength.
They were with Clay’s aunt Bernadette and her husband, for the third time, Kyrie, in the low country at her house that was like the second home they wished was their only home. Clay liked it because it made him feel close to his father and the life he had before his mother died, and Ivan liked it because Clay was happy and because he loved his family like his own. They were there for Christmas, visiting for the week or so that everyone had a break from work and could convene at Bernadette house for good food and porch conversations. Ivan liked to walk the woods at night and he would take Clay’s hand to wander among the creaking oaks that could look eerie in the moonlight.
One evening, after they had been there for a couple days, they sat on the porch in the new twilight conversing and laughing.
“I ain’t never in all my life,” Bernadette said, very animated on the edge of her rocking chair, “seen so many spiders, Kyrie!” She leaned over and slapped his knee for emphasis and he laughed at her enthusiasm. “They was two feet thick on that border and I could feel em. I know you did some stuff, we did some stuff together, but Kyrie, I didn’t know what would happen if they overran us. We ain’t never had to deal with a threat like that.”
Kyrie nodded, his eyebrows high to indicate how impressive it sounded. He’d heard the story before, Bernadette had told him about it, but that was the first time he’d spoken with Ivan and Clay about it.
“They handled them though, both of them. They ran out there like soldiers.” She looked at them both with admiration in her eyes. “I don’t know why I ever doubted them. Or, I doubted them cause Clay did.”
“I was scared,” Clay said sipping a beer. He rocked slowly in a chair next to Ivan in his. “My face was wrecked, you remember auntie. You definitely worked magic on it. And I ain’t never been hit like that before. He was strong and he had them spiders.”
“He had Anes,” Ivan said. “She was so beautiful.”
“I still can’t believe that,” Bernadette said. “She was like a statute.”
“He was really strong,” Ivan continued. “His power felt so hostile, but I’ve felt meaner.”
“Y’all control it now?” Kyrie asked. “It’s yours now?”
“We haven’t been using it, but yeah. No more evil spiders,” Clay said.
“Why don’t y’all use it? I hear you stopped them spiders and a drug dealer.”
Clay looked to Ivan and eventually Ivan returned his gaze. Then Ivan said,
“It was causing problems. We decided to figure out what we are together without all of that stuff.”
Kyrie nodded thoughtfully.
“All that stuff ain’t necessary,” Bernadette said. She could tell that Ivan’s words had bothered Kyrie who saw the powers he wielded as an important responsibility. “It ain’t more important than your happiness. And if y’all can find a way to be happy, then you might be able to help when it’s really time.”
“You have to practice with it,” Kyrie said. “It can be like breathing or walking.”
“Well, as long as they happy,” Bernadette said, breaking up the conversation. She could tell that Kyrie wanted to lecture them and she wasn’t in the mood to hear it. “We should get some food. Clay been drinking since two.”
They all laughed and Bernadette glared at Kyrie as he entered the house as if to warn him against pressuring her nephew to fight evil, and he shrugged at her and gave her a look of apology for upsetting her.
Christmas day was on a Wednesday and by then, they had traded many stories of their encounters with the strange and supernatural. They exchanged gifts early in the day and that night Clay and Bernadette stacked wood in the fire pit out back to create a big fire that would last for hours. While they gathered wood and drank beers, Ivan and Kyrie sat on the back porch.
“I told them I would help,” Ivan said, “but they’re having fun together.”
“They alright,” Kyrie said. “Don’t nobody stack wood like them Franklins, they would just do your work over anyway.”
They both laughed. Kyrie was silent for a moment and then he looked at Ivan.
“I’m real happy for you and Clay. I mean, I’m glad y’all can be together like you are. I know y’all probably hear stuff from stupid people, but my uncle Fitzroy, growing up out here a man like he was, he had it hard. People said the worst things about him just cause he was gay. His own brother, my daddy, hated him like he murdered my grandma. I’m glad things are different for y’all.”
Ivan was touched. He’d lost his family the day his father found out about his sexuality, and if not for Clay and his family, he would be alone in the world. He wanted to hug Kyrie, and then he did before he could stop himself.
The firepit raged high for hours, and by the time it was calmed to a small flame they had to stand close to for warmth, it was after midnight.
“I love Charleston,” Clay said, speaking more loudly than normal and slurring a little. “But I didn’t know about all the stuff there. I didn’t know you could see ghosts, Kyrie.”
“I only see Wendy’s ancestor clear,” Kyrie said. “All the others I can see like a blur.”
“Well ” Ivan said, “when it’s time for us all to come together again, we’ll meet here or at Clay’s house. I don’t want to risk going back to Charleston.”
When the fire was gone, the sun was almost up and Kyrie and Bernadette had snuggled up next to each other in the grass and been asleep for hours. Clay was asleep with his head on Ivan’s stomach. Ivan smiled up at the sky, watching it turn from deep purple, almost black, with the flecks of stars, to the indigo it became as the sun rose to the horizon.
Then Ivan heard sounds that disturbed the peace around him. Feet moving? he thought, and he looked to his right and he saw people in dark clothing and facemasks advancing and aiming guns. Just as he saw them, the smoke started and it woke Kyrie briefly, before he fell unconscious.
Ivan’s green flame raged around him and he pushed it up and away from himself, and the momentum swept the smoke up. But the men were closer and they surrounded him as he stood. Clay, Kyrie, and Bernadette were still unconscious in the grass.
“We will open fire,” Ivan heard one of them say. “Surrender, and the older couple will be safe. We want you and Clay.”
Ivan moved his hand to throw a ball of the green flame, and he felt a sudden pressure in his thigh that made him drop to one knee.
“We’re aiming for their heads now. Don’t make this difficult.”
Ivan hung his head. He was furious, but he was scared. Then he felt something enter his shoulder, sharp like a dart, and he lost consciousness.
When Ivan regained his awareness of himself, he was in a strange place. He was sitting high up and the view around him was like a castle made of polished green stone. There were figures moving far below him, like people made of the same polished stone of the walls walking around and tending to the duties of the castle. He stood from his throne and realized the large robe he was wearing that seemed to swallow his arms up to his hands. As he looked at himself, he heard a distant voice and steps approaching across the stone floor, metal clanging with each foot fall.
“It’s all for us!” Ivan heard Clay scream before he saw him and he finally spotted him ascending the stairs.
“This place is ours,” he said when he was standing before Ivan in a suit of metal armor that was the same deep, emerald green of the palace around them.
“Where are we?” Ivan asked, sure that he did not recognize the place they had found themselves. It was so hard and their voices echoed up around them to the high ceilings that he could barely see even from the elevated throne.
“I don’t know, but it’s only us. I’ve been flying around the planet and it’s just us and those stone people. It’s just us Ivan, everything we wanted, everything we deserve.”
Clay hugged Ivan and he smiled, wanting to be happy, but feeling very strange about his present condition.
Time passed strangely on the emerald planet that Clay eagerly showed him as the two both flew over the rocky surface. There was no sunlight, no source of light that shined down on the planet, but it still seemed to glisten like it was under some light all over the surface. When they were among rocky cliffs, sitting on the edge with the black expanse behind them and a sea of jagged emerald and jade before them, Ivan looked closely at the rock that was slick and it seemed to shine from within, like there was a light source deep inside.
“Isn’t it beautiful here?” Clay said and even though he wasn’t looking at his face, Ivan could tell that he was smiling.
“It’s unreal,” Ivan said.
Clay grabbed his chin softly and kissed him.
“It is real,” he said and stared into Ivan’s eyes.
And then Ivan felt a searing pain at the back of his head. He screamed and when he closed his eyes, he could see a hazy view inside a room that came in and out of focus. He saw a man strapped to a bed that was standing almost vertical. His view of the scene hazed over briefly and then he could see the man more clearly; it was the man who had introduced himself as Danny so many years ago, who was also known as the deadly Desperation Jackson, and he looked to be barely conscious.
He wanted to call out to him, to say his name, but Ivan wasn’t aware of his mouth, only the view through his eyes, and it lasted a minute longer before he opened his eyes on a bed in a bedroom that was lavishly decorated. There were curtains draping the high bedposts and he sat up between them looking around himself.
When he stands, he is wearing the same robe as before and his bare feet feel the cool of the slick green floor. He pulled at the heavy, ornate door of the room and it opened onto a hallway where two of the stone men stood guard. He walked past them and soon he heard Clay’s voice at a distance. As he walked the long, vaulted hallway that was mostly smooth stone walls, Clay’s voice became louder and more distinct.
When he came to a doorway with no door, he looked inside at Clay in his green armor and he conversed with what appeared to be a man in yellow, orange and red cloth that seemed to wrap his torso and fray out around his waist and down to his knees. He had the face of a wolf and the color of his fur was light brown, almost golden. When he talked, Ivan could see his sharp teeth, but he chatted with Clay casually.
Clay noticed Ivan at the doorway and the wolfman smiled at him.
“Coyotl,” he introduced himself. “It is nice to meet you. I’ve heard about you. Koyu is still sore from the beating you all put on him.” Coyotl laughed and then he put an arm around Clay.
“I was just telling your man here how to make this place yours forever.”
“It can be permanent,” Clay said smiling. “We can stay here forever.”
“I knew it wasn’t real,” Ivan said and he turned angrily to the wolf man. “Who are you?”
“I’m something like the spider and the deer you two robbed for your powers. Only I’m a much bigger deal. Koyu is a child of a child of mine no doubt. I’m here because the Ascendant sent someone here who wants to destroy this place and if she does, she will be one step closer to ending existence as we know it. You know this woman. Anansi, the big spider, is a liar, but he told the truth about this woman. We found out that the Ascendant want to reset reality so us beings of the Quinspace no longer exist. And I can’t have that. So if you two could stop her here, I would very greatly appreciate it.”
“What is he talking about Clay?” Ivan knew that none of it was good.
“Alia is coming to destroy our planet, Ivan,” Clay said seriously. “You have to stop her. Coyotl says you’re strong enough. If you do that for us, we can stay here forever, just you and me.”
Ivan shook his head. He knew it was wrong, but soon Clay was hugging him and kissing him and he only wanted to make Clay happy.
Ivan was unable to reach Alia with his mind as he had been able to do in the past. He wasn’t sure exactly where he was when he was inside the castle or on the planet, but he knew that it wasn’t real and that his reality was most likely inside the room where his vision was hazy and Desperation was strapped to a bed. But he couldn’t force that experience, it only came to him randomly after he experienced a sharp pain in the back of his head. And it was easy not to question anything when Clay came to him and kissed him. When Clay spoke to him, it was easy to ignore everything that wasn’t the green planet and he wanted to forget everything else.
Until the day Clay arrived with Alia.
See The Hyperion – Issue 29 – Tales to Astonish Part 5 of 6 for the conclusion!
PRL Serials 