International Graffiti I
Jess sat in one of the classrooms after school.
'Are you ready?' Ms. McGowan asked.
'I think so.' Jess had spent all of her free time in the attic, studying her grandmother's magic book. It was complicated, but she thought she had the basic principles down. Now, she'd have the chance to test just how much she understood that. She hadn't ever seen the language written in the book, but it made sense when she'd made an effort to read it. It was almost like a set of mathematical equations.
Of course, she'd also cracked out all her old books about witches too.
She'd also taken the time to study her grandmother's spellbook. It had been heavy and the pages seemed to be stitched together so she'd been careful turning each of them over. The engraving on the front, however, had gotten her attention. It looked like the symbol for females with two arms extending out from just below the circle at the top. At the end of those two arms were outward facing…horseshoes, she thought.
She made a mental note to drop by the library after she was finished here to try and find the symbol.
But she had to focus on this.
Ms. McGowan set a rubber ball on the table. 'The first thing we need is for you to learn to control your powers. For the same reason soldiers are trained in marksmanship, witches must also have perfect control over their main arsenal.'
Jess wondered at the word choice. 'Arsenal?'
Ms. McGowan nodded. 'When a witch is attacked, by anyone or anything, their magic is their first line of defence. It is, in effect, a weapon. And you must learn to use this weapon responsibly.'
Jess nodded.
'What I want you to do now is to lift the ball with your powers, like this.' Ms. McGowan held a hand out, fingers splayed, and she slowly raised it. The ball lifted up into the air. She then lowered her hand and the ball descended back to the table. 'Now, you have a try. Just focus on the ball and raise it up with your mind.'
'Okay.' Jess lifted her hand. She willed the ball to lift.
It shot into the air. As it came down again, Jess reached out and caught it.
'Not bad.' Ms. McGowan said. 'Often young witches have trouble even getting the ball to do more than wobble. Try to get it under control.'
Jess nodded and set the ball down again.
:[
Violet McGowan strode through the school hallways and into her office. She picked up the phone and dialled. She waited to be connected and considered what she'd just seen. Jess Brenton had just gone off home with a promise to practice her magic. As the girl had just moved here, Violet had no way of knowing whether she would or not. She'd find out soon.
The call connected and she exchanged the expected greetings.
'So, how did she do?' her superior asked.
'Very well indeed,' Violet said. 'She might just be the most talented young witch I have ever trained.'
:[
Dracula sat up in his coffin and yawned, stretching out. Scratching himself somewhat listlessly, he looked around. 'Time for a creep around the crypt.' He chuckled at his own joke. 'And a midnight snack. I wonder what's left in that refrigerator.'
Standing up, he walked across and opened the door.
'Yuck! Nothing but plasma!' Dracula slammed the refrigerator door closed. 'I hate those diet drinks!'
He slunk through his crypt. 'Ah, for the good old days! How I miss those nights in Transylvania.' Quasi-retirement hadn't really been part of the plan. It was something he had to do in order to raise those three boys. Then again, he supposed, none of their parents had planned on meeting the premature ends that they did.
Dracula leaned against one of his prized possessions.
'All I have left is my beautiful collection of gargoyles.' He looked around sadly for a moment. Suddenly, an odd sound got his attention. 'What's that noise?'
One of his gargoyles suddenly transformed, and then the next one, and the next one. One-by-one, each of his beloved gargoyles transformed into an ugly face. 'My gargoyles!' As only seen the man himself once, it took a moment for Dracula to recognise the face he saw. 'All changing to faces of that no-goodnik Dr. Dred! Yuck! And double yuck!'
Dracula shot over to his coffin and grabbed his intercom. He brushed aside his cape at his speedy movement and sudden stop caused it to nearly fly over his head.
'Dracula calling the Drak Pack! Dracula calling—Answer me, you nincompoops!' It suddenly hit him. Dracula dropped the intercom and face-palmed. 'Oh, boy. I just remembered. Those kids are halfway around the world on vacation.'
At the time, it'd seemed like a good idea.
:[
'The Nemrut Dag in Turkey, the Devil Heads in the Czech Republic, the Bayon Temple in Cambodia, the Decebalus Rex in Romania, and, most recently, the Olmec Heads in Mexico.' The man in charge of the investigation slapped the files down. 'First question: how is he doing this?'
'Well, Dr. Dred is a mad scientist, Agent Black,' one of the other agents pointed out. 'It's possible he doesn't know this sort of thing is supposed to be impossible.'
Another spoke up. 'He's going all over the place defacing every statue in the world. And he's not moving in a predictable pattern. We don't know where he's going next until the statue changes into his face.'
'There must be some pattern!' Agent Black turned to the map.
But there didn't seem to be.
:[
'Here we are, boys. Easter Island.'
Vince was the first one to jump off of the magic carpet when it came to a stop.
Frank stumbled off the carpet after him. 'Look at all those weird statues! They're scary.'
'Relax, Frank,' Vince said in a bragging tone. 'Those stone figures have been there for centuries and nobody knows for sure who created them or why.'
Howard had just hopped off the carpet and looked over his shoulder. 'Do you know, Maymun?'
The Jinn chuckled and rolled up his magic carpet. 'No idea. Just because I was alive at the time doesn't mean I know everything that happened, kid.' Maymun morphed into the appearance of a tall and well-muscled man. He flipped the carpet over his shoulder.
Howard chuckled. 'Guess so. Do you know why it's called Easter Island though?'
'Because the Dutch first arrived here on Easter Sunday,' Maymun said. 'But the island's actual name is—'
He was cut off by a loud yell. 'Welcome to Easter Island, civilians!'
The three boys looked wildly around. Maymun scowled as he tried to locate the source of the voice.
'Who said that?' Howard asked.
At that moment, a statue directly in front of them was hit by a beam of light and it transformed into Dr. Dred's face.
Frank pointed. 'Uh, h-he-he did! D-Dr. Dred!'
Dr. Dred immediately began cackling.
Vince frowned but he quickly found Maymun seizing his collar and hissing, 'Hide!'
Frank and Howard dived behind one of the statues. Vince wanted to complain but Maymun dragged him after them.
'Don't move!' Maymun let go of him to peer around the statue, only to duck back as it was transformed too.
'You're not gonna let him deface ancient artefacts!' Vince insisted.
'Vince, I know you're more of an action type,' Maymun whispered, watching as more statues got turned into Dred's face. 'But he called us civilians. Know what that means?'
'He doesn't know we're the Drak Pack?' Howard whispered back.
'That's right, and we want to keep it that way.' Maymun gave all of them a hard look. 'As long as he doesn't know who you all are, he has nothing to use against you. He can't find you and he certainly can't spy on you. Attacking now would expose your identities. And, for Allah's sake, Vincent. You're a vampire. You're a predator. You're supposed to be able to wait.'
Vincent pulled a face. Frank and Howard sat down to wait.
'This is under protest,' Vince grumbled, sitting down next to them.
'Understood.' Maymun peered around the corner again. 'Ah. That's how he's doing it.'
'Hm?' Vince moved. After a moment's hesitation, Frank and Howard followed him. They all followed Maymun's line of sight.
Every one of Dred's underlings in OGRE was standing behind a strange grey contraption. It had two extensions out from the main body. One of them pointed upwards. The other looked like it could be moved about. Toad was operating it. The appendage on top of the machine pointed at Dr. Dred, who was in the Dredgible, and Toad pointed the other end at the statue.
'What is that?' Vince asked.
'No idea.' Maymun huffed. 'Mad scientists!' He peered around again. 'Okay. I think we're safe.' He stepped out first.
'So, what now?' Howard asked. 'We follow them?'
'Hold on.' Maymun raised a hand, palm up. A glowing orb of light appeared over his hand. 'Oracle, I need a word.'
Though none of the teenagers could see the other person's face, they certainly heard the voice. 'I know you do, and I know what's going on.'
'Well, would you please elaborate?' Maymun asked. 'What the hell did we just see?'
'Dr. Dred has engaged in a large scale vanity project,' the Oracle said. 'The device that you saw is called the Face Maker. He intends to use it to transform every statue of a human face into a likeness of his own.'
'Where's he going next?' Vince asked.
'Egypt,' the Oracle said.
'I say we go after him and stop him,' Vince said.
'Why?' Maymun asked. 'It's just a petty little vanity project. And, the odds are, the humans will deal with it themselves. We'll go back to America and see what Dracula has to say about all this.'
:[
America
'Let me get this straight,' Maymun said, tone dripping with disbelief. 'We're doing this because of your gargoyles?'
'Maymun, I spent centuries collecting those things!' Dracula snapped. 'I'm not having them replaced with Dr. Dred's face!'
'He's got a point,' Howard remarked.
'Why don't you just get more gargoyles?' Maymun asked.
'Where?' Dracula demanded. 'Don't tell me you're worried about them, Maymun. They've got two mutants, a disease-ridden vampire, a mummy whose brain is mostly rotted away, and a madman.'
Vince was grinning. 'So we are going to get Dred?'
'You're going to get his Face Maker.' Dracula scowled. 'Then you'll bring it back, reverse it, and fix all of my gargoyles.'
