And now, for the real 21st chapter…
Jessie had been pondering what her first line dealt to Lucy would be, once the blond girl woke up from her chloroform-induced nap. Currently, the two girls were tied to wooden chairs with tough nylon rope. Their arms were pulled behind the back of the chairs and tied at the wrists. Their ankles were bound, too, and a few coils of rope kept their torsos lashed to the chairs. They sat a few feet apart, facing each other, inside a dark and grungy room. Malcolm watched them from across the room, as he sat on a stool and cleaned his handgun.
"Are all of your friends backstabbing jerks?" Jessie growled at Lucy when the girl finally came to.
"I didn't know he was going to do this!" Lucy said, her voice high-pitched and whiny.
"Now look at the mess we're in! Who knows what that creep wants?"
"Jessie, I'm scared."
Okay, it was hard to stay mad at Lucy when she was scared. "I know, I know. We'll figure some way out of this. I've been in worse situations."
"How heartwarming," Malcolm commented blandly as he watched their conversation. He opened a package of ammo. "Shall I sit here and wait for you two dips to figure out what I want, or should I just tell you? It's kind of fun to watch you argue."
"Sicko!" Jessie sneered at him.
"Sticks and stones," he responded.
"I'm never listening to your ideas again," Jessie said to Lucy.
Her head drooped. "Sorry!"
"Don't be so harsh with her," Malcolm said mockingly. "After all, isn't she supposed to be your friend?"
"What do you want from us, creep?"
Malcolm crossed his arms. "Easy. A set of enchanted flint and steel. The kind that can open portals to other dimensions, not just the Nether."
"Not happening, buster." Jessie stared daggers at him.
"I mean, who wouldn't want that awesome little trinket? So powerful! Using that, you have the power to jump from world to world as you please! Think of the opportunities!"
"Like getting away from the law? I'm getting the feeling that you and the law aren't exactly friendly."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I've done some things that weren't exactly legal. Big deal."
"Did you know about that?" Jessie glared at Lucy.
The blond girl shook her head. "Uh-uh."
"Look, if you two cooperate, this is going to be a lot easier." Malcolm stood up. "Just answer my questions and do what I say, and life will go on."
"Yeah, but the magic flintensteel is rare," Lucy said.
Jessie gave Lucy a dirty look.
"What?"
"WHY would you tell him that? You're giving him an advantage!"
"I'm helping him?" Lucy asked tearfully. "Oh, no! Does this mean I'm an accomplice? Am I gonna get in trouble for this?"
"No, Lucy. Calm down," Jessie said. "You're not an accomplice. You're not in trouble."
"She's gonna be in trouble—both of you are going to be in trouble—if I don't start hearing some answers." Malcolm tested the grip on the handle of his handgun.
"Put that gun away," Lucy pleaded. "It's making me nervous."
"You won't have to be nervous if you cooperate."
Lucy shuddered. "Please don't hurt us. What do you want from us?"
"I just want you two to answer a few questions. That's all."
Jessie was going to say "Okay, shoot," as clearance to ask his questions, but that made a very unfortunate pun, given their situation. The last thing she wanted was for Malcolm to take that instruction literally.
Instead, she said, "All right, ask your dumb questions."
He started to pace around the room, running his fingers over the length of the gun barrel. "As I said before, I want that enchanted flint and steel. I know one of you two has it, or at least has connections to it."
Jessie and Lucy shared a nervous but knowing glance. They both had connections to an enchanted flint and steel, but they couldn't let Malcolm know that, or that he needed two steels to light the portal.
He continued, "So, tell me. Where is it?" At this point, he was standing in the space between the chairs.
Lucy bit her lip, then wrinkled her nose at him. "I don't have to tell you."
"Actually, you kinda do."
"You won't get me to say a word."
"Really?" Malcolm perked an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure." Lucy tilted her chin up and closed her eyes in defiance.
Her eyes blinked back open very quickly when she felt cold metal touch her forehead. She looked up in dry panic at the gun barrel pressed to her skull.
"Now are you so sure?" Malcolm's mouth was curled up in a half-smirk, half-snarl. He turned his head and glared at Jessie. "I hope she talks. Blood and yuck is a pain to clean up."
Lucy's resolve melted like wet paper. "Jessie has the portal key! She has it in her Pocket! Just take it, just take it. Please don't hurt anyone."
"Lucy!"
"I'm sorry, Jessie! I'm so sorry!" Lucy sobbed. "I'm scared! I don't want anyone to get shot."
"Now that's more like it." Malcolm withdrew the gun.
Lucy's shoulders relaxed. She sighed.
Then Malcolm turned to a fidgeting Jessie. "All right. Hand over the enchanted flint and steel. Lucy told me it's in your Pocket."
"In case you haven't noticed, I can't reach my Pocket at the moment." Jessie tugged at the bonds on her wrists to illustrate her point.
Malcolm grunted and untied the ropes on Jessie's wrists. "All right. Take the portal key out of your pocket. Don't try anything funny, or I'll fire." He gripped the handgun.
Jessie gritted her teeth. She questioned the possibility of lashing out with her diamond sword instead of getting the key as Malcolm wanted. Could she stab him with it before he pulled the trigger?
"It's loaded and ready to fire," Malcolm said, almost as if he could read her thoughts. "I'll pull the trigger long before you can whip that stupid sword out."
Jessie moved slowly on purpose. She wanted to move just slowly enough to waste time and make Malcolm angry without seeming deliberate. She removed one piece of the portal key, the steel bit, and tossed it on the ground at Malcolm's feet.
"Now the other half," he growled.
She dug the flint part out of her Pocket with all the speed of cold molasses. She gripped it in her hand, running her finger along the sharp edge. Before swords were invented, people used flint rocks as knives...no...that wouldn't work. If her sword wasn't quick enough, neither would a flint knife be. She grimaced and tossed the flint next to the steel.
"See, it's better when you cooperate," Malcolm said as he swept the flintensteel off the floor. Then he pulled Jessie's hands behind her back and tied them again. Jessie grunted in frustration as he did it. He knew she was going to try something daring.
"There. You have your stupid flintensteel. Can you let us go now?" Jessie tried to mask her anger (and anxiety!) over losing her enchanted flint and steel.
Malcolm turned the flint and steel pieces over his hands, studying their magical blue glow. "Why sure...after you tell me where the second flint and steel is. I'll be needed two of those bad boys for the portal."
Jessie's jaw dropped. "How did you know you needed two flint and steel sets to light this world's portal?"
Malcolm rolled his eyes, incredulous. "Oh, come on, Jessie! How dumb are you to think I don't? I've been living here my whole life. I hung out with Lucy and her stupid friends. You think I wouldn't have have picked up on that little detail somewhere along the line?"
Jessie snarled out something unintelligible in her frustration and rocked back and forth on her chair.
"So, are you two ladies going to tell me where the second set is, or will I have to use other means of getting that information?"
"Lucy, we can't let this creep escape to the Portal Network," Jessie warned her friend.
"Jesse isn't even anywhere near here. I couldn't give Malcolm the flint and steel even if I wanted to." As soon as the words dropped out of Lucy's mouth, she regretted them. "Oh crap."
Malcolm chuckled. "Oh-ho, so your friend Jesse...the other Jesse...has a portal key? Well now. I guess I'll have to float your friend an offer he can't refuse."
He crossed over to a table lit by a bare lightbulb. Upon the table sat a blue box with a dumbbell-shaped apparatus resting on top. It was a telephone, of course. Malcolm picked up the receiver and dialed a number.
"Who are you calling?" Jessie questioned, eyes narrowing. "And what's this 'offer' you're talking about?"
"We're about to see. Which does Jesse value more—that trinket or the lives of his friends?"
"Wow, look at that," Ivor commented, glancing up at the neon sign over the entrance. "The Horticulture Club really is a thing."
"I'm just glad we didn't get double-crossed again," Lukas said. "I was really upset when Oliver tricked us."
They had followed Lucy's directions and found the Horticulture Club building as promised. It was an old townhouse converted into a small business. A few stodgy silver cars were parked on the street outside it, bearing bumper stickers that either gushed about grandchildren or said snappy slogans about being a senior. The club had a lawn, which bloomed with beds of perfectly tended flowers. A line of stepping stones led up to the porch.
They stepped up onto the porch. The boards creaked under their armored feet. Ivor rapped on the door. A few seconds later, the door creaked open and an elderly woman glared back at them. Her hair was white and curly, her dress was pink and floral, and her apron was smattered with potting soil.
"What can I do for you people?" she asked. "Oh, do you want to join? We were just about to start a discussion on the best technique for arranging a zinnia display."
"Um...No…" Petra stammered. "We were looking for someone. Is she here?"
"Who are you looking for?" the old woman questioned.
"Someone named Ivory," Lukas said. Ivor cast a sideways glance; the name similarity was awkward. He couldn't be too disappointed, though, he reasoned; after all, Jessie and Jesse's names sounded exactly alike. That would be annoying to deal with.
Speaking of Jessie, Ivor wondered how she was doing. Had she and Lucy found this Peter character yet? He hoped she hadn't gotten lost in the city on her way.
His thoughts were interrupted when the old woman turned and shouted to her friends inside the club. "Ivory! There are two dumb kids and some old coot who want to talk to you!"
"Tell them I'm busy, Ethel!" Ivory shouted from within the club. Her voice was cranky-sounding and loud just like Ivor's, except obviously more feminine.
"But we need to talk to her right now," Petra said. "It's super important."
"What could this 'super important' thing possibly be?" Ethel tilted up a haughty nose at them. "Certainly not more important than our Saturday meeting."
Petra looked over to Ivor for help.
"Because...um...I brought her flowers!" Ivor said out of the blue. "I wanted to give her some flowers."
He produced a fistful of gardenias from his Pocket. Petra didn't know why he had them, and she didn't feel like asking. He probably picked them from the flowerbeds when Ethel wasn't looking.
"Ah, I see. I didn't know Ivory had a beau. I'm sorry. Here, come on in." Ethel ushered them inside. "Oh, but trim the stems! And find a vase full of clear water for them. You look like you just tore them out of the ground." She shuddered, then scuttled away into some other room off the main den.
With Ethel gone, the threesome turned their attention to Ivory. She was an elderly woman, with the same long black hair as Ivor. She wore an olive-colored dress that strongly resembled his robe. She sat on a high-backed chair, with seed packets and potion recipes strewn on the floor around her. She was reading a book on floral alternatives to potion ingredients like Blaze powder and rabbit feet.
Ivor just stopped and stared at his female doppelganger. "Um...I'm not sure what to make of this."
"Me neither!" Ivory said, still looking at her book. "Crushed tulip bulbs as a replacement for Ghast tears! Fah! Now who would honestly believe that?"
"Ma'am, not to be rude, but we need your help," Lukas spoke up.
"What do you want?" Ivory glanced up and squinted at them.
"Uh...Um...Enchanted flint and steel!" Lukas blurted. "Do you know about a flint and steel that's been enchanted so it can light special portals?"
"Well, of course I do," Ivory said. "Jesse has one. It lights portals to other dimensions. Not merely the Nether or the End. Entirely new worlds. It's really quite fascinating. I'd love a chance to study it."
The threesome blew out a big sigh of relief. Finally, someone who understood that they were from another dimension!
Ivory squinted at them again. "You people are strangers. Why do you seem so familiar?"
Petra took off her helmet. "Come again?"
"Young lady, you remind me of Jesse's friend Peter. I mean, he's a boy and you're a girl, but you have the same red hair and spicy attitude. What's more, he wears a blue bandanna just like yours. The resemblance is uncanny. Intriguing.
"And you, blond boy." She pointed at Lukas. "You remind me of Lucy. She even puts as much product in her hair as you do."
Lukas defensively reached up and stroked his hair.
Ivor and Ivory met gazes. At first their expressions were surprised, then confused, then mildly disgusted.
"What's going on here?" Ivory demanded of Ivor.
Ivor stammered, "Uh...Um…"
There was another round of pounding on the door. Ivor, Lukas, and Petra looked at each other quizzically. They shrugged, none of them knowing who was at the door. Ethel, who had just sat down to mend her gardening gloves, groaned and tossed the gloves on a table of planters.
"Who is it now?" she grumbled as she shuffled over to answer it. She had barely opened it when two teenaged boys suddenly blasted inside the club, wide-eyed and talking over each other.
One wore a purple T-shirt, a black jacket, and black shorts. His flame-colored hair was hardly tamed by a blue bandanna wrapped around his head. The other wore a blue T-shirt and patched-up pants (which were held up by yellow suspenders.) He was dark-skinned and black-haired, just like Jessie.
"Ivory! Ivory!" the two boys shouted in a panic. "Help!"
"Jesse? Peter?" Ivory immediately stood up and cast her book aside. "What's the matter?"
"I told you that Lucy's friend Malcolm was a bum!" Peter shouted.
"What are you talking about?"
"We got a phone call from him—" Jesse babbled.
"—And he threatened us," Peter said.
"He's got Lucy…"
"...And he's holding them hostage!"
"My enchanted flint and steel or their lives!" Jesse clutched his own set of flint and steel. It was orange.
"What?" Ivory thundered. "How is that possible?"
"Waitwaitwaitwait," Lukas said, voice rising with anxiety. "Jessie went with Lucy. If Lucy was taken hostage by Malcolm...where's Jessie?"
"Jessie wouldn't let Malcolm kidnap Lucy without a fight," Ivor said. "That's not the Jessie I know. She's either kidnapped along with Lucy or…" The other possibility was terrible, so Ivor broke off and let it go unmentioned.
"No, no, no, no…" Lukas said. "Please, no…"
"What were his demands?" Ivory asked.
"I told you," Jesse said. "He wants us to give him the flint and steel, or else Jessie and Lucy are gonna get it."
"Don't give him the flint and steel." Ivory pointed a scolding finger at Jesse. "You can't go along with his demands. It's not the advisable thing to do."
Peter suddenly yelled and threw his hands up in the air. "Screw the advisable thing! This is two girls' lives were talking about. We need to shoot over to wherever that creep is holed up and stop him."
Lukas, Petra, Jesse, and Ivor looked at Ivory. "He's got a point. We can't afford to mess around in this situation."
Ivory clasped her hands. "That he does. Pete, did Malcolm tell you where to deliver the flint and steel?"
Peter nodded.
"My van is parked outside. Take us there."
It rained heavily as Peter blasted Ivory's silver van through the Moog City streets. His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that his knuckles were turning white. Ivory sat shotgun, reminding him to use the turn signal and to pull into the first available lane. The remaining four were crammed into the backseat.
"Would you settle down?" Jesse asked Petra. She was seated next to him in the way-back, where there was no space between his seat and hers. She seemed on edge, squirming and wrestling with her seatbelt.
"Second time riding in a car, Jesse," Petra said. "At least this one's safer than Tiberius's C.A.R...I hope..."
"Who?"
"Never mind."
"I'm going to flay the living hide off that good-for-nothing tramp," Peter snarled. "I warned Lucy he was no good. I told her to stay away from him. I told him to buzz off. I warned them both, and look what happened."
"Peter, it's the six of us versus the one of him," Jesse reasoned.
"I'm just worried about Lucy, okay?" He glanced at his friend in the backseat, using the rearview mirror.
"And I'm worried for Jessie!" Lukas was gnawing on his fingernails in his anxiety. "If Malcolm hurts her…" He clenched his fists. Normally Lukas wasn't the violent type, but this situation was a game changer.
Jesse was still talking to Peter. "I know you do. Just don't worry, okay? That won't solve anything."
After a few minutes, they pulled into the parking lot at the foot of a decrepit hotel. It was fenced by chain-link. A few other cars were parked in the lot. A payphone booth stood at one end of the lot.
"We're here," Peter said, shutting off the engine. "Now let's give that rat a piece of our minds."
"Cool your jets," Jesse said as he climbed out of the car. "We have to wait first."
While the others exited the van, Jesse took out his enchanted flint and steel. It glowed bright orange in the waning daylight. He paced on the ground a little, considering it, then walked over to a tree in a planter near the hotel building. The group had discussed their plan of action on the car ride here.
"I still don't think it's a good idea. What if he just runs off with it?" Lukas asked. He and the rest of the group had caught up with Jesse.
"The punk's not going to run off with it," Peter said. "Not if I can do something about it." He flexed a bicep.
Jesse bent down and wedged the flintensteel into the dirt in the planter. "There. One set of flint and steel, delivered to this hotel at sundown, just like the ransom demanded."
"Now what?" Ivor, who wasn't quite on the same page as everyone, asked.
"Now we wait." Jesse withdrew from the planter. "Find some hiding places, guys. Time for an old-fashioned stakeout."
With that instruction, everyone scattered. Ivor and Ivory ran back and took shelter behind Ivory's van. Petra ducked into a thicket of shrubbery and was promptly joined by Peter. Lukas and Jesse crouched behind a Dumpster by the door.
Crouched in their hiding places, they waited an agonizing sun hung low on the horizon. As day started to fade into night, the streetlights flicked on. Jesse started to doze off, until Lukas jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow.
"Huh?"
"Stay awake. He could be coming any minute now."
Night finally fell, cloaking the world in darkness. Just the sort of darkness suited for doing evil deeds that must be hidden. Malcolm came slinking out of the hotel building, sneaking around because he knew he was up to no good.
Petra heard leaves rustle as Peter tensed up.
Malcolm glanced around the seemingly empty parking lot, then crossed over to the planter. He chuckled, satisfied, when he saw the glowing orange trinket half-buried in the dirt. He pulled it out and dusted it off.
And that was the cue.
"RRRYAAAH!" Peter war-cried as he exploded from his hiding place. Malcolm, startled by the sudden noise, turned and gawked. It was just the delay needed for Peter to catch Malcolm in a flying tackle. The two teens crashed to the ground, a flurry of fists and kicking feet.
The others came rushing from their posts as well, gathering into a gaggle of people in the lot.
"Peter! Be careful, he's got a gun!" Jesse hung back, not sure if it was a good idea to join the skirmish.
"What the Nether? Get off me!" Malcolm snarled, throwing punches at Peter's jaw and neck. Peter tried to grab Malcolm's wrist, to wrestle the gun away from him. It wasn't working. Malcolm kept his hand clear of Peter's reach.
"Oh, geez." Lukas bit his fingernails, frightened.
"Crazy hick! You're asking to get shot!" Malcolm socked Peter in the jaw, then tried to shove the boy off him. There was such a tussle, though, that he couldn't get a clear enough aim to fire. So he resorted to using his fists instead.
"Peter needs backup," Petra said, and drew her sword. "Does anyone else have weapons?"
Lukas had a stone sword and so did Ivor, but no-one from this dimension had any weapons.
"Swords went out of vogue years ago," Ivory explained. "They're considered obsolete, now that guns have replaced them as the main mode of weaponry."
"Obsoleteness is relative!" Petra remarked. "We're in a bit of a situation here."
Peter and Malcolm were still exchanging blows when the threesome equipped with weapons rushed in to help. They made a brave run in, but then Malcolm accidentally fired off his gun in the midst of the struggle. It missed hitting anyone (ricocheting and hitting one of the hotel windows instead) but the noise and zinging bullet were enough to startle Petra, Lukas, and Ivor.
"Whoa!" Lukas exclaimed.
"Next time I won't miss!" Malcolm growled at the blond kid as he blocked a punch from Peter. He kicked up and kneed Peter in the gut, almost offhandedly.
"Lukas!" Peter groaned through the pain of the gut attack. "Quick, get inside that hotel and save Lucy! And Jessie! They're still trapped in there!"
Lukas nodded and ran to the hotel doors. He gasped and dodged when he heard a gunshot behind him. The glass panes in the doors suddenly cracked, just as he was about to push them open. Malcolm's aim was improving.
"Holy crap!" Lukas ducked inside and slammed the doors shut again, before Malcolm could take another shot. The glass in the doors cracked again. Lukas sprinted down the halls of the hotel, in a desperate search for Lucy and Jessie.
Meanwhile, Peter finally caught hold of Malcolm's wrist. Pressing his knee into Malcolm's gut, he used the other hand to punch that stupid weapon out of the goon's hand. The gun skidded across the pavement. Malcolm reached for it, but Peter batted his arm away. Malcolm spewed obscenities as his weapon remained out of reach.
"Gotcha!" Peter taunted. "Unarmed! What are you going to do now?"
"I'm gonna take it right back," Malcolm snarled. Then he threw a lucky right hook at Peter, downing the boy. He made a dash to retrieve his weapon.
"Heck no!" Peter caught him in another tackle from behind. They slammed into the asphalt, with the gun just out of Malcolm's reach. Peter tried to catch Malcolm's arms in a hammerlock, but his foe was agile and wormed free of Peter's grip. Ivor helped by kicking the gun further away from the aggressor.
Just then, Lukas emerged from the hotel, with Lucy and Jessie at his heels. He'd found them, thank goodness. There had been much expressed gratitude, hugging, and crying when Lukas rescued them.
"You found them?" Petra called to him.
"Yeah! They were tied to chairs and everything. I had to cut their ropes." Lukas stroked Jessie's hair out of her face and dusted off her shoulder armor. "Are you OK? Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Jessie replied. "Don't fuss over me."
"I need a hand!" Peter cried out, still wrestling an incredibly resistant Malcolm. "He's too strong!"
"We're not going to be able to subdue him on our own," Lucy said to Jessie. "We have to call the police."
"The who?"
"Good people. They work for the city. They catch people who break the law and put them in jail where they won't cause a problem. Quick, you have to call them."
"How do I do that?"
"Look, there's a phone booth over there, in this parking lot. Hop inside and call the cops. They'll come."
"Are you sure?"
Lucy gasped as Peter took a punishing punch to the face. "Yes, I'm sure. GO!"
Jessie didn't waste any more time after that. She sprinted to the end of the parking lot, where the phone booth stood. She swung open the little glass door and climbed inside.
Inside the phone booth, there was just one telephone hooked to the wall (it was green.) Two signs were posted to the wall next to it, one asking for an iron piece for each call and the other posting a list of emergency phone numbers. Jessie paid attention to them. She popped an iron nugget, one that Petra had given her earlier, in the slot.
"What number is the police?" she mused as she scanned the list of emergency contacts. She was pretty sure she found it, so she started pressing number keys to dial. First number was the 9. Then she hit the 1. And the 1 again. She lifted the receiver to her ear, listening to the ringing on the other end.
Someone picked up the phone. "Moog City Police Department. What's your emergency?"
Jessie screamed into the receiver, telling the operator everything about the situation and gave a location where it was taking place. When she was done, there was a slight pause as the operator recovered from the screaming.
Then the operator said, "We'll be over there as fast as we can. Hold tight."
"I'll try," Jessie said, before hanging up. She ran out of the phone booth. There was no telling how long it might be before the police came, so she and her friends would have to hold down the fort until then.
Peter and Malcolm were still fighting. Since they were an even match, both boys were landing lots of hits on each other. No-one could get close enough to help Peter. Malcolm kept kicking away anyone who tried to intercede. They couldn't use their swords, either, because it was impossible to strike at Malcolm without running the risk of harming Peter as well.
"Peter!" Lucy cried. "Oh gosh...we have to help him."
"We're trying," Petra said. She ran at the fighting teens, only to get kicked in the knees by Malcolm as she approached. Petra recoiled and stumbled back.
"Can't you throw a potion?" Jessie asked Ivor.
The alchemist shook his head. "If I try, I might hit Peter along with Malcolm."
Many minutes passed, but they felt like hours. By now, Peter and Malcolm were striking each other hard enough to draw blood. Jessie had never seen a villain resist so violently before. Not even Cassie Rose had been this combative when Jessie tackled her in her lair. Ironically, this fight was also over an enchanted flint and steel. What was with this trinket, that it made people desperate enough to kill over it?
At last, a shrieking siren filled the air. It grew louder; whatever was making it was approaching the parking lot. Red and blue light washed over the lot and the people standing therein. A black car roared into the lot and pulled to a stop a few feet away. It was a black car, with "MPD" painted in white on the hood. A bar of flashing red-and-blue light was mounted on its roof. The police car's engine fell silent, and the doors swung open as the occupants exited. They were a man and woman in official blue uniforms, bearing utility belts with handguns in holsters.
When Malcolm saw the cops arrive, he froze. He was caught in the unfortunate pose of kneeling on top of Peter, holding Peter by the shirt collar in preparation to punch him again. The handgun lay on the ground a stone's throw away.
"Oh, crap," he said, eyes wide. "This looks really bad, doesn't it?"
"Yes. Yes, it does," the female officer replied.
Peter heaved a giant sigh of relief. He had bruises on his face, one of his teeth had been knocked out, and his nose was bleeding.
"Am I under arrest?" Malcolm squeaked.
"Quite possibly," said the male officer. "Stand up. Hands behind your head."
Malcolm didn't dare disobey. The cop snapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists.
"So can you explain what happened, young lady?" the female officer asked Jessie.
Jessie showed the lady cop her wrists, which were a bit chafed from the ropes. "Malcolm kidnapped my friend Lucy and I. He was holding us hostage for ransom. He stole my flint and steel. He threatened to kill us if Jesse didn't deliver the ransom. Lukas went into the hotel to rescue us, and he said that he and the others planted the ransom at the hotel and staked out until Malcolm came to get it. Then Peter tackled Malcolm to stop him and get that handgun away from him. Malcolm tried to fire at Peter with the gun until it got kicked out of his hand. Then he resorted to punching and kicking. After Lukas got us out of the hotel, I called the police. And that's what happened." Jessie breathlessly related her story, trying to piece together all the details. For clarity, whenever she mentioned a name, she pointed to its corresponding person.
"She's lying!" Malcolm howled.
"We'll see about it," the officer responded. "For now, we definitely know that you're charged with assault. You've been fighting, and you definitely did a number on that young man. You're coming with us tonight, son."
First Malcolm was forced to give up the enchanted flint and steel that he had taken from Jessie. Then he was herded into the cop car. To his credit, he didn't resist, figuring that the jig was up anyway. Lucy ran over to Peter, helped him to his feet, and started to fuss over him.
"Oh, you poor guy!" she whimpered, wiping his bloody nose with a hanky. "I am so, so sorry!"
"At least we got that rat off the streets," Peter said. He ran his tongue over the gap between his teeth. Then, to Jessie's surprise, he wrapped his arms around Lucy for a hug.
"Oh!" Lucy exclaimed.
"I'm glad you're okay. That was scary."
"If you're all right, I'm all right." Lucy melted into his embrace. "Your tooth gap looks cute. Honest."
"Thanks. Aww, your hair got messed up." Peter wound one of her blond curls around his finger.
"No touching my hair!"
"...Sorry."
The others watched this little reunion unfold, but they didn't do so quietly. Jesse fawned over how cute it was. Petra rolled her eyes, pretending to be so above it. Ivor picked the orange flint and steel off the ground (it had gone flying when Peter tackled Malcolm) and handed it back to Jesse. Lukas's primary concern at the moment was checking to make sure that Jessie was okay. She was fine, she kept telling him, just a little shaken up.
When the officer gave Jessie the blue flint and steel back, she stuffed it in her Pocket right away. Then she went over to talk to Jesse.
"So you're Jesse, huh?" Jessie asked.
"Yep. And you're Jessie?" he responded.
"Uh-huh."
There was a slight pause. "This is...kinda weird."
"I'll say."
"We need help getting home," she explained. "In order to light the portal for this world, we need two sets of flint and steel." She eyed the orange pair in his hands.
A slow smile crossed his face. "I think we can make that work. Come on, let me show you the portal."
Jessie forgot that the gravity was wonky in the genderflipped world. She had walked plainly through the portal on that side, assuming that it was going to be a nice, smooth exit to the Portal Hallway. Like walking through a doorway. Instead, she found herself somehow army-crawling through it, as if it was flat on the ground. She scrabbled and scrambled, trying to hoist herself out of the portal. She finally accomplished it and stood up.
Immediately she fell off the Portal Hallway wall, landing spreadeagled on the floor. It took her a second to re-coordinate, adjusting to the change.
Ivor, Lukas, and Petra emerged from the portal in the same manner. Likewise, they fall off the wall and landed on the floor around Jessie. It was up there with the sheep from the Twilight Forest World, in terms of surreal exits from the portals.
Definitely one of the weirdest worlds so far. Jessie hoped that their next try would be better.
Yeah, it probably wouldn't, but it was worth hoping.
A/N: And Arc Five is a wrap! Thanks for coming along. For the next arc, I'm combining the Ice Lakes World and Fire World into the same realm. It's an important part of the plot.
And good news! I already have the first two chapters of the next arc written and ready to go! IN YOUR FACE, WRITER'S BLOCK!