Chapter Ten LINUS WREN
INTELLECTUALLY, LINUS KNEW SOMEDAY the roads would end. But it still caught him off guard when his dirty, scuffed up sneakers hit gravel instead of tarmac.
He'd given up counting the days. His entire body ached. As the sun began to creep towards the horizon, he took three steps back. The flat, dark treeline in the distance down the gravel roads loomed before him. Golden light bathed the paved roads to his back.
That was going to suck. It was going to suck so much. Traveling alone down long empty strips of highway had sucked too but that was a different kind. That had been monotony. Those trees, hiding predators and monsters and probably half a million bogs and ponds, wouldn't be monotony. It would be hell.
Linus had no interest in hell. He walked down the quiet paved street back into the small town. Occasional street lamps offered breaks in the vast darkness of Manitoba. His feet ached. He needed new shoes. His brown corduroy jacket had a couple of small tears.
Honestly, he just wanted to cry in a shower and hug his Spider-Man pillow back home. But the weight of the gladius on his hip reminded him he couldn't go home. Not yet. Not empty handed.
His dad wouldn't mind. He still hadn't canceled the credit card he'd swiped before running away. The balance seemed to get paid off every month.
But he couldn't go back. Not yet. Not until he found that bow. The beautiful bow, made of sparkling metals and sitting just at the edge of the shoreline. The raven joined him in his dreams every night. Find the bow. Find the bow.
The dumb bird didn't need to tell him that. Of course he wanted to find the bow; he wasn't wandering through the wilds of Canada for fun.
He looked up at a bright sign at the side of the road. Linus smiled. He wasn't wandering through the wilds of Canada for Tim Hortons, either, but he certainly wouldn't say no to some Timbits.
A little bell tinkled when he pushed open the door. A teenage boy with tan skin and straight black hair leaned against the counter, looking down at a cellphone. There were no customers. He supposed it was a little late. And based on the half hearted smile the food service worker shot him, his arrival wasn't exactly appreciated.
"Welcome to Timmies."
There weren't many donuts behind the counter. Why would there be? Linus frowned. It was late. The sun had set ages ago. But all he wanted were Timbits before he went to find a hotel room to cry in.
"Can I have a dozen Timbits?" Linus said.
The older teenager just nodded. He punched a few buttons at his register without saying anything. But the way he looked Linus up and down, eyes widening a bit and eyebrows raised, it made him uncomfortable. He just wanted his Timbits. He didn't want an inquisition.
Linus paid by card, like always. He stepped away from the counter and sat down in a red chair to wait for his Timbits. Man, his stomach ached. A mostly empty backpack hung over his shoulder. At least he'd gotten some muscle through all this hiking across two countries. His dad would be so impressed.
"Timbits for Linus."
He munched on a chocolate one as he wandered back onto the main street. The guy behind the counter recommended the York Boat Inn, just across the street. So York Boat Inn it would be.
If he had come to Norway House Cree Nation for any reason other than to pass through to find an ancient bow while fleeing monsters, he'd have liked to look around. As it stood, that wasn't an option.
Man, he really hated not having options.
Only one other room was occupied at the York Boat Inn. Guess it was a slow night. Linus had his doubts when he saw the plain brown wood siding and small windows from the outside but inside was nice enough. The girl behind the desk, a member of the Cree nation like most of the locals, looked only a little older than him.
He felt his face flush when she smiled and handed him a key. She had kind brown eyes. Her name tag said Kôna.
This time, he's gotten a room on ground level. No more balcony fights, thank you very much. He stumbled in, closed the door, and collapsed face first onto the sienna colored bedspread.
Sleep eluded him. Music blasted outside his window, and he could hear a sizable and clearly drunk crowd availing themselves of the "Entertainment Centre" right next door.
Well fine then. Linus rolled over and stared at the ceiling. If they were going to be entertained, then he would too. He sat upright so fast his head spun.
He hadn't bothered to take his shoes off. Gladius on his belt and water bottle in hand, Linus headed back out the automatic doors and onto the dark street.
Colored light spilled out from the Norway House Entertainment Centre. Through the glass doors he could see a handful of drinking tourists and locals availing themselves of the slot machines.
Linus didn't want to gamble. But maybe they had an arcade or something. That would be cool. He hadn't done anything for fun in way too long.
When he slipped in the door, four of the gamblers were arguing with presumably the proprietor. He stood very tall, with dark hair and bulging muscles. But Linus only saw his back—a blessing in disguise, as he wasn't sure he's have been welcome as a kid in such an establishment if there wasn't also an arcade.
There were dozens of slot machines lining the walls and set up in rows. Linus passed these. He could see a room beyond, with lower lighting but black lights illuminating planets and squiggles in bright colors on black carpeting.
So there was an arcade!
Linus smiled as he stepped through the door. He could hear the argument in the other room heating up. Finally a lucky break. Finally someone else was fighting instead of him.
He swiped his credit card. The machine spit out a plastic token card for use at the machines. It had been so long since he'd played skee ball and damn was he looking forward to it.
The balls had scuffs and grooves from use. Linus ran his thumb over it. He smiled. He and his dad used to go to Chuck-E-Cheese for his birthday every year. Dad beat him at skee ball every time—except for the final game every visit. Linus won those. Well. His dad had let him win.
Whatever. Semantics.
He rolled the ball. With a rumble and a clunk it landed in the 100 point ring. Linus sighed. He picked up another ball.
200 points that time. Much better. He grinned, grabbing another ball tighter as he prepared to roll it.
"Linus!"
Kôna. He dropped the ball. Linus winced as it hit his foot but he turned towards the doors. She wasn't there.
He could feel his cheeks burning. It was stupid. Yeah she'd been cute with her long dark hair over her right shoulder and the way her golden brown skin glowed beneath low quality fluorescent lights. But he was on a dangerous epic quest. And she'd literally just smiled at him and given him a room key.
"Are you in here?" Kôna called, from further in the arcade. "I just got off work!"
Linus felt his heart leap into his throat, but he grabbed the skee ball again. He moved past a claw machine and down a small row of racing simulators.
"Hey? Yeah, I'm here. By the skee ball," he said.
"Amazing! But you've gotta come see this."
Linus rounded the corner. He lifted the skee ball to hand it to her. He thought that maybe he'd think of some witty way to ask her to play with him when he saw her but his voice caught in his throat.
One giant eye narrowed as a gap toothed grin spread across the distorted face two feet above him. Brown hair disheveled, wearing a Norway House Entertainment Centre staff shirt, the proprietor blocked his way forward.
Cyclops.
Linus scrambled back. He threw the skee ball straight at the Cyclops's eye. The monster screamed as he shielded his face. Linus drew his sword.
In the chaos of the skee ball throw, the cyclops knocked into a row of arcade games. The weight of his body sent several crushed to the ground, and others folding like dominoes.
"I'm hungry! Come out!"
Definitely not Kôna. Linus screamsd internally at his own idiocy while he ducked behind a few of the still standing games. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
"I ain't eaten demigod in weeks," he moaned. "I just wanna taste."
No. Nope. Absolutely not.
Linus tried to steady his breaths as he hid beneath some of the crunched in games. Claustrophobic but deeply necessary, he wanted to close his eyes and cover his ears as the cyclops stomped around the room.
"I smell yah, little hero. Get out here."
Linus shifted. He could try to bolt to the door. But then what would he do? He had a backpack full of supplies just lying uselessly in his hotel room. He couldn't book it into the wilderness with no water and no food and no flashlight. And if he dashed from here that's exactly what he would have to do.
The ground shook. Linus's breath quivered. He all but stopped breathing. The cyclops stops so close now he could smell his shoe polish—honestly, even Linus had to admit his shoes were beautifully taken care of—and musty, mucky sweat.
The light disappeared. A massive head came parallel to his crouched body. Linus screamed, stabbing forward into the colossal squid-sized eye even as he jumped and hit his head.
The cyclops also screamed. The monster recoiled, grabbing at his eye and knocking into half a dozen other arcade machines in the process.
"No! No! I know you aren't Nobody!" Another road of pain, another broken machine. "My eye!"
Linus stabbed again. His head ached. His dry throat burned and begged for water. But adrenaline kicked in and he just kept stabbing.
He had to escape. He had to kill this thing.
By the time he registered what happened, the cyclops was a pile of dust on the floor. Linus wasted no time.
Get the backpack, get out of town. There was only one place to go. The wilds of Manitoba would be his salvation, or his doom. And he couldn't put it off any longer.