He was in the middle of the entry when a loud thud on top of the car interrupted him, as well as his brothers' argument. A hand came crashing through the passenger seat window, grabbing Matthew's arm. Wesley let loose an obscenity from his mouth while James, shocked at the sudden attack, steered the truck sharply to the left, trying to maintain control. In the midst of the chaos, the three brothers could see that Thomas was back again, trying to rip Matthew from the seat of the truck through the window. Wesley managed to free himself from his seatbelt and tried to keep Matthew inside the truck from the backseat, but he seemed to be fighting a losing battle.
"Freeze him!" James shouted.
"It's not like I haven't been trying!" Wesley shouted back, waving his hands erratically. "It's not working! He's still pulling Matt!"
"Stop the car, Jimmy!" Matthew yelled, trying to fight Thomas off.
James slammed his foot onto the brake pedal, but to his surprise, the car only moved faster and faster as it zoomed down the hill. He tried several more times to stop the truck, but it was all futile.
"I can't!" James replied. "The brake's aren't working!"
"Why can't you use your power, Matt?" Wesley asked, referring to Matthew's phasing ability.
"A little preoccupied here!" Matthew exclaimed.
The truck only went faster as it sped down towards Turner Lake. Fortunately, it was late enough that there were very few other cars on the road, giving James more freedom to swerve and try to knock Thomas off the top of his truck. Due to the constant swerving, Wesley had had a hard time getting a tight hold on Matthew. James' truck turned into the docks of the lake, where he darted his eyes around quickly, trying to find something to safely run into. Directly in front of him was an enormous pile of hay, packed up against the edge of the lake.
"What are you doing?" Wesley asked, eyeing the giant haystack.
"Just hang on, y'all," James yelled.
James rammed the truck headfirst into the haystack and swerved to the right, screeching to a stop just as it was about to plunge into the cold water. Although the impact was lightened, Matthew and Thomas both went flying into the water. Seconds later, there were the sounds of splashes as both of them hit the water.
"Matt!" James called, trying to get out of his seatbelt.
"Wesley had fallen into the small space in between the backseat and James' seat. He had a small cut on his forehead when he finally picked himself up. He yelled for Matthew and hopped into the front passenger seat. He opened the door and almost fell into the water had not James grabbed his arm.
"Whoa!" Wesley shouted. "Thanks for the lift!"
"Sure," James said, trying to unfasten his seatbelt. "My seatbelt's stuck. I can't get it off."
"You might have to just wriggle your way out of it," Wesley suggested.
James sighed, then loosened the seatbelt as much as he could with Wesley's help. It took a lot of struggling and labor due to James' size, but eventually he managed to work himself free.
"Can Matt swim in the dark?" Wesley asked.
"We're about to find out," James said. "Get the flashlight out of the glove compartment."
"James took the Book of Light while Wesley shone the flashlight out into the lake. It was a huge lake, but he and James were both relieved when they saw Matthew's head above the water, slowly swimming back towards them. The two of them climbed out of James' side of the truck and walked around to see Thomas resurface at that moment. He was swimming straight for Matthew.
"Matt!" Wesley yelled. "Swim!"
"Faster!" James added. "He's right behind you!"
Matthew heard his brothers yelling and turned to see if they were right. In fact, Thomas was making a beeline straight for him and he showed no signs of slowing down. That was motivation enough for him to swim as fast as he could. Already freezing in the ice cold water, Matthew freestyled harder than he had ever done in his life, with his brothers cheering him on. After what seemed like an eternity, he reached the dock and his brothers pulled him out. They dragged him to James' side of the truck when Thomas reached the dock. James saw him and sent him far back into the lake with a violent wave of his hand. With the truck out of commission, the brothers ran out of the docks and into the streets. However, they were progressively becoming slower because of Matthew. He was nearly non-functional after swimming so long in the cold water. Eventually, his knees gave out and he collapsed to the ground, shivering very badly. James and Wesley both took their own jackets off and wrapped them around him.
"You th-th-threw me out o-o-o-o-of th-the c-c-c-c-car," Matthew stammered.
"Sorry," James said lowering his head. "The brakes weren't working and there was no better way to stop the truck."
"Jimmy," Wesley said, "we gotta find a place quick. Matt needs somewhere to warm up."
"Okay," James said, looking around. "There's a cheap inn nearby. We'll go there and hopefully we'll be able to stay out of sight long enough to figure things out."
"Figuring things out can wait," Wesley scolded. "Matt's about to start an earthquake with all this shivering over here."
Matthew was fast asleep in the bed while Wesley sat in a corner, ironing Matthew's clothes over and over again. James was pacing back and forth, trying to think of what to do next. Without Matthew, who seemed to always be the one with the ideas, James and Wesley felt that they were a serious disadvantage.
"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor if you pace any more," Wesley commented. "And we don't need those extra carpet replacing fees."
"You should really get that cut cleaned up," James replied. "It looks pretty bad. Maybe next time you'll wear a seatbelt."
"Oh yeah?" Wesley asked. "Well maybe next time you won't choose to slam your truck into a bale of hay at eighty miles an hour. And maybe next time there won't be a demon pulling Matt halfway out of the car. Besides, I'm doing a lot better than he is at the moment."
The two of them looked at Matthew, who was still shivering although he was asleep. He was mumbling in his sleep, something he usually didn't do. The only words that were audible to Wesley and James were "threw me out the car." James sighed, but Wesley laughed just a little bit.
"I think he's gonna remember this for a while," Wesley said. "It's great bargaining leverage for the future, you know."
"Don't remind me," James said. "He scared the hell out of me when he hit that water."
"What?" Wesley asked, his face sporting a look of surprise. "The Almighty Jimmy got scared?"
"Don't rub it in," James said as he quickly changed the subject. "I've been looking at this page over and over again and there's no kind of secret message that we could've missed. I wish we could figure out why this damn warlock won't die."
"I don't get it, either," Wesley said. "And did you notice his powers? One minute I could freeze him, the next minute I couldn't. Something strange is definitely going on."
"But what?" James asked rhetorically, looking upwards. "We sure could use some help right about now."
"Who are you talking to?" Wesley asked curiously. "The people upstairs won't have an answer."
"Right," James said.
"Listen," Wesley said, "I think we need to get Matt some medicine since we're here. He's gotta have something for whatever he has. At least something to keep him at bay. He's burning up over there."
"How do you know?" James asked. "You feel his forehead?"
"Normally I might do that," Wesley said, "but I'm going by the heat wave coming from his forehead."
"But it's five in the morning!" James protested.
"Fine," Wesley said. "Well, why don't we wait until he ends up with pneumonia or something. Then we'll have a logical reason to take him through emergency."
"Okay, okay," James said. "You're so annoying."
"Share the love," Wesley said.
"You stay here in case something happens," James said.
"What if I get scared?" Wesley asked.
"You're a complicated person," James said, leaving the room.
Oh no! Not Matt! I think he's the last person who needs to get sick right about now! Anyway, coming up next chapter: Matt gets sicker and sicker, but will Thomas (the warlock) give the brothers a time out to recover?