It wasn't so bad when we got up there.
I mean, Kori turning into a dragon – that was new for us. But once we were up there, I could get a nice view of the city. I could also easily see our location – and McPherson.
The building was in the shape of a cross, which I'd never really understood. It also sported an octagonal dome in the center of that cross. That roof shape always gave off the impression of a temple to me. Only fitting for it, really. A temple of information and knowledge. However, it was quite an irony now, what with the activities we were presently investigating.
Kori flew us over. It was quite nerve-racking to be flying by Marven Airlines. I mean, I was hanging off a freaking dragon, sailing a foot over the cars, worrying about hitting one.
In other words, it was pretty awesome.
How many people would pay to have that sort of experience? Flying on a dragon? There's a reason How to Train Your Dragon got so popular. The experience was a bit like hang gliding, but way more epic. For real.
As soon as we landed, she morphed back into her human form.
"Next time give us a little heads-up before you start transforming," I put in. I was still dizzy from the flight. Vinny Lee didn't look all that unharmed, but that's Vinny Lee for you. I swear, it would take a full-on tornado to shake that one.
"You could have given me a thank-you," Kori said, patting her hips. Her holsters became virtually invisible.
I could see why she was taking precautions. The library, like most places, didn't allow civilians to carry weapons inside. We were lucky that avatars with weapons could conceal them if necessary. If only they knew Kori wasn't necessarily a civilian – that she wasn't even human. But I guess I'm not them.
"Now let's go in," she said. "I myself could give that librarian a piece of my mind."
I barely got onto the front walk when I nearly got bumped into by Samirah.
I don't even know whether she did it deliberately or not. She was one of the people in my community who looked down on me.
"¡Ten cuidado!" Vinny Lee whisper-shouted. (We were near a library, after all.)
"What's your concern?" Samirah whispered, straightening her blue hijab. (Why did it have to be blue?) "Worried about Miss Big Love –"
Kori clenched her fists. When she unclenched them, her fingers had turned to dragon claws. "Worried about these?" she asked, thrusting the claws in Samirah's face.
"Kori!" I whisper-shouted. I never liked Samirah, but claws in her face seemed like overkill. Literally. Besides, where had I seen her name?
Samirah flinched, trying not to scream.
"Bet you didn't know she has friends in strange places, did you?" Kori whispered.
"Psst, Kori!" Vinny Lee whispered. "Could we refrain from fighting here, por favor?"
Samirah frowned at me. "What's your concern?"
Vinny Lee shook her head at Samirah with a sharp tsk, tsk. "I'd think we were on the same side, since we're going to the same escuela. But, por supuesto, that's never the case."
Aha. Now I knew. Her name was in last year's registry for Fairview High School – the exact same school I was going to, for reasons I couldn't understand as of yet. But Vinny Lee was right, that didn't make it all fair play.
Samirah's frown got deeper. "How do you know about that?"
"I have my sources," I said tersely, finishing in my head, maybe not the sources I would've liked. "Why are you there? Did your parents want something that actually cares about getting people into the workforce?" I asked, remembering what Tails had said about them getting their students career-ready.
"More like something that didn't simply thrust things in my head with no grounding in reason. Like these blasted drag story hours."
I frowned. I didn't like where it was going. Not the discussion, but the whole subject matter. So, Samirah's family had heard about the drag story hour, as well? "You and me both. My brother was led away from there and look what he's getting for it. Chased by the man behind it –"
Samirah looked ready to faint. "Allah help us. This is why my family canceled our cards. Why I'm even bothering coming here after that –"
I flinched. The Fallads had canceled their cards? I was upset, but not necessarily surprised. Samirah's father wasn't that into drag queens to start out – and that was putting it mildly. It made total sense that he'd cut himself off from any place associating with one. He was a radical about that kind of stuff. On the other hand, if this was happening in our neighborhood, it would be pretty problematic. The Islamists in Maryland protesting the removal of opt-out weren't the only Muslims doing so.
Besides, as much as I hated Samirah, I was a VLADJI. I couldn't just stand by while she suffered. At the very least, we had a common enemy now.
"Is there a problem?" The librarian was just outside. She looked a little stern, with pale skin and dark hair in a bun. Her attire was sharp – crisp white jacket with black accents, white shirt and black knee-length skirt, with black pumps – making her look like some black and white mime.
Something about that attire rang alarm bells in my mind. She never dressed in monochrome. She always believed in a lot of color. But then, wardrobes tend to change as much as attitudes.
So why was I uneasy?
"No," Samirah said tensely. "Just –"
Kori went into defense mode. "Don't. The fudge. Come near us."
"What is –?" Samirah frowned. "Why is your friend acting like that? Does she not like librarians?"
"That's no librarian, lady." Kori said this like it was the biggest insult she could think of. Hard to blame her, really, as Samirah hadn't given her the best first impression.
Most people would've thought Kori was just being paranoid. But I had dealt with Kori before, and I knew her kind. I knew she could see much more than most humans could. So I was thinking, What's she seeing that I'm not?
The librarian's eye twitched. "I don't recall you having a card with us," she said to Vinny Lee, approaching her slowly with a smile – one I did not like. "But you look the type."
Uh-oh. This was not looking good for our investigation.
"If you think I'm getting a card with you after you sicced a drag performer on my friend's hermanito, forget it," Vinny Lee said. "I was here to –"
Before I could react, a pair of cords shot out and grabbed Vinny Lee. Or rather, tried to. Luckily, Vinny Lee had good reflexes, so she easily dodged it.
"Oh, my girl," the librarian purred. "We have ways of making you get one."
"Hey!" I shouted. "You want to make my friend get one? That's not very professional! You'd get fired for that!"
I knew for a fact that coercion was not only unprofessional, but a federal offense. I also really did not like the way she stressed girl when she addressed Vinny Lee – as if that could ever change. The bad feeling I had about the librarian-not-the-librarian grew worse.
"Some methods must be used." At that I definitely noticed something off about the woman. Her tone was raspy, as if she was recovering from an electric shock in her larynx.
Or hosting an electrical current…
Kori tapped her hips, showing her pistols. "Hey! It's me you want!"
What was Kori thinking?
The librarian turned toward Kori. Now I could see where the cords grabbing Vinny Lee were coming from – the small of her back, like Doc Ock. Worse, I could see her coat becoming a covering of metal… like on the monitor of the Holo.
My stomach twisted. Monster.
"You wish to be connected, avatar?" the librarian rasped.
At once the librarian transformed. Her legs melted together into a single unit which then tapered off, like a snake's tail. Her arms transformed into something that looked disturbingly like lightning chargers, with her hands becoming the ends. Her chest transformed to become a collection of charging cables – USB, USB-C, the works. Her head turned snake-like, as if she'd become a lizard – a hideous, cyborg lizard fused with charging cables. Believe me, that's the least frightening way I can describe it.
Kori muttered another set of words that Pop would've washed her mouth out with soap for. "Cysnake!" she yelled. "I would've known."
"What the heck's a cysnake?" I asked. "And why's it chasing Vinny Lee?"
"A dangerous creature from the Void. The nightmare of anyone's chargers. As for what it's trying to do to your friend… your guess is as good as mine."
I didn't like the sound of that. Could it really be that dangerous? I didn't want the answer.
"Oh, pretty, pretty," the cysnake whispered, still talking to Vinny Lee. "You certainly are a sweet little gender unic –"
I cut her off. "Don't. Use. That. Term." I grabbed a hold of one of the cables.
My plan was simple: use the cable to throw her off into the tree nearby, then once she was unconscious, beat the crud out of her before Kori shot her down.
It was ruined, however, by the shock.
How can I describe it?
If you've ever been hit by lightning (and survived), the shock was probably pretty nasty. Getting it from the cysnake was even worse. I felt a nasty twitch in my hands, which probably meant I'd fried a few nerves. Wonderful. Although, a lesser being would've been fried completely by such an incident. I was only glad Vinny Lee had dodged it.
The cysnake started to slither off.
"That's it?" I yelled after her. "Shock one prey and then run off? Is that how you work? Don't you have any sense of honor? Do you know me?"
The cysnake turned toward me. "But I was there in your shop," she said. "Your family picked Fairview – because they were visited by the stranger. Frequently. He was chiding them about their management of you." She hissed, which coming from a snake/electric cord hybrid was quite bizarre. "Honestly, do they care about you at all?"
Stranger? What was she referring to?
I spotted Kori. She had her pistols out. She made a rolling gesture with her hand – keep her talking.
"What sort of stranger?" I asked, only partly because Kori had asked me to. I remembered what Pop had said – someone from heaven. I wanted to know more – even if it was from a monster.
Kori cocked down on her knee and put away one of the pistols. What in the world was she doing?
"They thought him Heaven's messenger." The cysnake tilted her head as if amused by the thought. "He told them about the Fallads' decision – to cut off from here, to enlist their daughter in Fairview. They found me out. It was only a matter of time before I got your brother, though."
"Leave Achmed out of this," I growled, though it was kind of hard to sound intimidating when you're on the ground.
"Oh, but my brother has a keen eye for catching little ones," the cysnake said. "He will be… quite a lovely snack."
My anger – and Kori's own rage – saved me. I managed to shake off my paralysis and yelled, "Kill it!" just as the cysnake's cords whipped out again.
I rolled on the ground and dodged the assault. Kori raised her pistol and fired at the cysnake's head. The cysnake screamed and burst into powder and electrical cables.
"Dios," Vinny Lee murmured.
Samirah shivered, turning even paler than before. "What was that?"
"A frickin' monster." Kori turned into a dragon and scooped me up. "Let's get out of here. Creamer could be here any minute."
That's when I blacked out.
