.

Crimson Claws

22.

"Wow - that tastes great."

"Sticky's. Best in town. Don't tell anyone," Nora mumbled with her mouth already full. The not overly inviting chicken joint had obviously not been an option for dinner and Michael had wondered where Nora were going when she left the place. But it was just around the corner to the playground there where they sat down on a free bench and unfolded their two boxes of chicken finger combo. Nora had a large portion of chicken fingers with Cajun fries and Michael a smaller one without. But strangeness upon strangeness. Nora immediately pushed her box towards him and Michael grabbed some fries and then sat back with a deliciously crispy breaded chicken finger.

His scraped knees still hurt, his jeans had bled through there and Homer's shoes on his feet were a size too big and he knew he would give them back. But this was really nice. At one of the other tables were some teenagers, none of whom paid any attention to them, who had turned their music up but not unbearably loud and were practicing hip hop moves. A few small children were squealing and screaming as they toddled on the playground equipment and the climbing area, and the large stone steps of a small grandstand were full of people enjoying the shade under the plane trees. As usual, Michael had scanned everyone immediately and was relieved to see that no labyrinth dwellers were among them, so he was sure that his early dinner and his "bad" company would not fall on his feet.

"What sauces do you have?" Nora asked with genuine curiosity, peering at his two cups with interest. Each portion came with two cups of sauce and there had been several to choose from. Michael smiled and eyed Nora's cups in turn.

"Buffalo Balsamic Maple and Sunny Mustard. You?" he asked as if she were one of his buddies.

"Try these." she said. "Mac ... and Sassy BBQ."

Michael dipped his chicken finger into the second one and his eyes widened as he took a bite. "Mhmm."

Nora grinned as she dipped a pair of fries in Sunny Mustard. They finished their food without talking and Michael found it odd but really great how easy it was to get along with Nora when she had her mouth full, was fed to the point of being content and wasn't talking bullshit. That didn't mean he no longer thought she was crazy and brutish. But he had the feeling that she was okay the way she was as long as she was on his side. Maybe that's what his dad had meant. That everyone had their own issues and you had to work around them to get along with most of the people. Although he suspected that even if Nora was cool in that relationship, there were things they needed to talk about.

But for now he concentrated more on his box of treats, which he never got at home in the Labyrinth. Many of the ladies in the community were great cooks. Dishes from many nations and full of tradition and love. Claw was very good at cooking and always emphasized healthy side dishes. But he was a teenager. Sometimes fat and carbs and fatty crusts around juicy chicken parts were just more awesome. After they folded up their packages and stuffed everything into the paper bag to throw it away, he took a deep breath, twirling his can of soda in his hands and watching the kids just not to look at her.

"Thank you. For the help with Danika and all. And sorry. About the orange juice incident."

Nora snorted and he grinned uncertainly as he looked at her where she grinned in amusement. "Is that what we're calling it now? The orange juice incident? Not you, the one who committed the citrus attack? You, the vigilante with orangy weaponry? Juicing the bad bitches?"

"Hehehe, yeah," Michael said laughing out loud.

"It's okay, Zappy. I know how I am. ... And can't stop. I just have a huge ass mouth and it's a wonder it hasn't gotten me into bigger shit yet. I want to fuck off those who fuck me off - but ... I understand the others when they hurl as soon as they see me. No bad blood because of that."

"Why?" asked Michael frowning and at his serious tone the adult looked at him. "Why uhm ... with the swearing and the temper. I mean- yeah, I've heard about your di-disorder. But ... "

"- is that all?" she complemented his stuttering, but without really sounding offended.

She scratched her pale fleshy thigh where her cast ended just below her cargo shorts and thought before she spoke.

"Honestly. I have no idea. You and others call it a disorder. I call it a condition. My state of being. I've never bothered to analyze myself in particular. Rabbit hole and all that. But ... I think I curse all the time because I'm just so full of my ... emotions and feelings and shit and everything is swirling around inside me and I think if I didn't let it out verbally, I'd start a lot more physical fights with everyone. Not that people wouldn't still think I'm a violent lunatic but ... well, it could be worse," she concluded, chuckling. Michael didn't feel like laughing. He nodded without commenting. Oh, he knew it well when there was something inside you that wanted to come out all the time when you were stressed or upset. It wasn't the same as with Nora, but somehow it was. Nora Sykes had a rant and rage storm inside her where Michael sometimes felt like an electric whirlwind was churning inside him.

"And this anger," Nora said, tilting her head back and looking up into the canopy of sycamore trees. "My last foster mother ... she was the only one who never snapped when I snapped. She let me rage, scream, break things. Once I slashed her couch. Another time I set her lawnmower on fire. I don't even remember what it was about or what made me angry. Most of the time I hardly know today. I just get so angry. My last mom let me rage until I was wrung out and sorry. Even when I wasn't sorry. She always said ... I got the bigger rage out of the two of us - she meant my brother and me - because I would feel that I should be so much more than I actually was."

She looked at Michael, a small smile at the corner of her mouth but with such a sad expression that the boy almost wanted to tear up. Michael wasn't sure what to say. What he could say to something like that. He licked his lips, which still tasted like honey mustard.

"She sounds like a cool person. Someone who believes in you is really important. I'm sorry," he said, and he meant it. Until Nora snorted and raised her head, laughing.

"Fuck, thanks for the condolences. But she's not dead. She'll outlive us all, believe me. I think she's got a deal going with some hippie devil."

Nora cackled at the thought in a hilariously crazy way and Michael sighed with relief that Nora still had someone who cared about her. He no longer didn't care about her either. An hour ago he had hated Nora Sykes. He had wanted to leave her to the aboveground witness protection or even to her disgusting brother. She should just go away away away. He was ashamed of it now. If Nora - carelessly running her mouth, cursing, screaming, thrashing - Nora was so much more than he had thought- so much better- then anyone could be. If you tried to approach them and not judge them based on rumors and tiny glimpses into inconsiderate behavior.

"Okay," Nora said, straightening up with a groan and the help of her crutch.

"I suggest you go back first. I'll hobble in half an hour later so no one thinks you're fraternizing with the enemy or that I've kidnapped you and would bring you back fed up.

"Actually...," Michael mumbled, shuffling from one foot to the other.

Nora looked at him open-mouthed. Before she grinned mischievously.

"Ohhh, Zappy has a date? A little girlfriend?"

"NO!" said Michael in horror, raising his flailing arms. The up-and-coming hip-hopper's boombox crunched and cracked due to excessive voltage in the air and Michael took a deep breath and then continued more calmly to the music, which was once again playing undisturbed. "No girlfriend. None, gosh Nora."

"Hahaha, I'm just messing with you. No reason for an electrical surge. That's what I'm doing. But no offense huh?"

"I know," he said with an embarrassed smile. "I mean, now, I know. From now on. But ... if your leg doesn't hurt too much and you still have time-"

"Man, I always have so much time. Every hour away from your dad and his thousand eyes is a blessing," Nora said nonchalantly.

Michael grinned and now it was his turn to lead.

.

.

"Careful, there's a nail sticking out. Take a big step over the hole in the concrete. There's glass there -don't slip. And watch out, the board will swing out. And- "

"Yeah, I get it. You're leading me into a death trap, I get it," Nora growled as she fought her way through the third and hopefully last barrier. First a construction fence, in which Michael knew the only hole through. Then wire mesh and tarpaulins around more fences to protect the bottom floor of whatever this was from adventurers and looters. And now windows and doors thickly barricaded with wooden planks, and only after Michael had lifted aside a plank that was only hanging on one nail did she see the traces of fire in the boarding underneath where Derek's supposed paragon had perhaps burned his own way in. She intercepted the board, which really did lash out, with a groaning grunt. That would probably have given her a concussion if she hadn't been expecting it.

Glass crunched as she wriggled through long broken revolving doors where the slim, smaller boy slipped through easily. Woe betide Michael if she ripped open her good, freshly donned blouse and ruined it because of this odyssey. Damn, why was she so nosy about what there was to see here? This would be the perfect place to be killed and not found for a long, long time.

Finally, with a gasp that made her cough immediately because of the dust, she straightened up in an almost dark room. But tiny rays of light shone through holes and cracks in the boards in front of high windows. Still, it helped when Nora pulled out her cell phone, turned on the flashlight and scanned the surroundings with her mouth and eyes widening.

"Wow, this is ass-fucking huge," and yes, her echoing voice despite some of the piled up debris and rotten smashed furniture of yesteryear proved that it was indeed huge. It looked like a foyer. Of a really fancy former hotel. She had once wanted to take a piss in the Plaza Hotel. They hadn't let her, but this foyer here could have held its own. Maybe 30 to 70 years ago. Nora hobbled a few yards into the wide space supported by large ornate columns, saw the occasional heavily squiggled iron chandeliers in the walls where they hadn't yet been torn out, shone her light over the now partially broken plaster and the faded paintings of somehow peaceful and at the same time ominous-looking landscapes. A picture directly above her on the ceiling showed a hunting scene with dogs chasing a stag. The eyes of the deer were glassy and manic with fear where those of the pack sparkled with the thrill of the hunt. Maybe she was just imagining it.

"Man, this place really triggers my latent schizophrenia," Nora muttered and then said louder so that the child, who was bouncing around the room like he'd been here a hundred times, could hear her.

"You know, they could include this place in a guidebook for kids. Fun with Satan. Cozy and disturbing conjuring places to worship the Lord of Evil. Where are we?"

"This - is the former Hotel Cabal!" shouted Michael beaming as he whirled around and spread his arms wide, visibly proud of his hideout from the world. Because this was something like that, wasn't it? It had to be.

"Cabal ... not creepy at all. Wait - Cabal - something's ringing," Nora said, following Michael as he hopped through the lobby up a set of marble steps, pale with concrete dust, to where there were three elevator doors. The long-abandoned reception desk consisted of a pile of broken pieces of wood swept together against the wall, but the "key box" with the numerous keys to the hotel rooms was untouched and abandoned. As if there was still a demand for the rooms. Perhaps from ghosts and demons. The adult in Nora also saw the potential death trap, but with the other eye she also recognized the dusty and rotten beauty. Deceptive and false - perhaps. Because she remembered the news back then.

"Cabal," she repeated, finding the word disgusting and slimy on her tongue like a writhing hairless animal.

"Yes!" Michael said, standing next to the elevators, his eyes shimmering inhumanly golden in the scattered light of her flashlight.

"It's an open secret that this was an Illuminati torture institution. Where walls shift and death can lurk behind any door and you go insane because you never find your way out." He chuckled as if the stories were ridiculous, or as if he knew something she didn't.

Nora huffed in exasperation.

"Homely. Man, I thought that was an urban legend. Are you sure you won't die of thirst or starve to death before you go mad?"

"Don't worry, the city had it gutted a decade ago, room by room. After all - an exposed torture hotel is no longer of any use. There are certainly no traps left and even if there were, the electricity has been cut off. Nothing works without it anyway. Michael put his hand on a panel next to one of the elevators and instantly the hair on the back of Nora's neck and arms stood up even though the air in here was stifling and not at all cold. She gasped as the light flickered around the elevator and the cabin rattled into motion. Downwards. To them.

"You little asshole!" she whispered and barked out a few insecure laughs.

The child grinned cheekily and yes, rather proudly for the first time. Which also made Nora grin. The elevator door opened with a discontented squeak and closed again behind them.

Michael didn't even have to touch the broken panel inside. The electrical current with which he had brought the elevator to life and made it jerk upwards surrounded him like a radiating field. Nora could feel it on her skin and just below it. But it didn't hurt her.

"Pretty cool move," she mumbled because honestly, she needed to say something and get a conversation going because she was really fucking nervous and creeped out here.

Michael smiled at her, a sad warmth and gratitude in his gaze that softened her heart and hurt at the same time.

"You haven't shown any of the others this yet? Your family? Your friends?"

"I couldn't," he said softly, ducking his head.

"If I could do that, I'd always show it off. And zap anyone who pisses me off."

"Everyone would think you're a monster," the child said, turning away from her.

Nora wasn't someone who cuddled and comforted others. On the other hand, no one had ever given her the opportunity. If everyone thought at the outset that they would get their hand bitten off for every emotional effort around Nora - well, it was in the nature of people that then nobody would make an effort anyway. Just as it was in Nora's nature to respond all the more as if she would bite off the hands of others for every opening. She felt her way into new waters as she tentatively placed a hand on Michael's shoulder. Since she didn't get an electric shock and he didn't shake it off in disgust, she became courageous in a way she had never been before.

"You're never a monster, Michael. You're a cool little shit who should be kept away from orange juice for all eternity and with wet pants for fear of not being accepted. Not even by your parents. Yet you don't even give them the chance. No matter what I think of them or anyone in the Labyrinth - I can see that they all love you like the dickens. And I think - uhm- jeah that loving parents always love their kids as long as they are healthy and happy. Not that I have much experience with that, but yeah - neutral outside view and stuff."

"Maybe that's why I'm showing you this", mused Michael. "Not just as compensation for you not snitching on me about what I can do. But because you're not afraid of anything. And because no one accepts you and you don't give a shit."

"It's not really like that," Nora said quietly, but her words were drowned out by the squeak of the elevator opening and then she couldn't think about Micheal and her fee-fees because she was surrounded by sun and light and heat. Late evening sun shone almost horizontally into the floor they had reached. It was the top floor. Above them the partially torn away roof, only thick, stable iron girders around them with chunks of concrete clinging to them, the shafts of the stairwells and elevators.

"Wow, sun deck. This is where Claw should relocate his plants," whispered Nora, letting Michael pull her through the large open space. Almost all the walls had been torn away, perhaps in an attempt at renovation. And the outer walls were completely gone, giving her an almost panoramic view of New York. It was by no means the tallest building, maybe only 30 stories. But most of the buildings around the former hotel were lower and the view alone was worth ten million dollars.

"The city is stupid not to sell this. It's a prime piece of land."

"Nobody wants it," Michael replied, looking like he was quite happy with that. "To the average person, the Illuminati horror hotel is just an urban legend, but any buyer can google it. No one wants a building, or even a property, with a past like that. Not even in New York. If the developers aren't superstitious enough - those who are supposed to finance a project are. So far."

"Bad juju, I imagine."

"Yeah, and the subtenants you can't get rid of."

"Which- oh. You mean the labyrinth. I knew we were close by. But - are we right on top of it? Right on top just like that?"

"More or less. It's probably- no idea- nobody wants it. Which is good for me."

Nora looked around, a little overwhelmed. But this was a good surprise after the gloom of the entrance area. Michael chuckled and skipped away. Only to get a startled yelp and some words that would have been bleeped on TV out of Nora as he dangled from one of the iron girders not half a minute later.

No stolen shoes on his feet, which were now shaped differently. More like cat paws only longer. It probably suited him well for climbing, there were sharp talons on it as well as claws on his hands. His arms and legs, which peeked out of his T-shirt and shorts, were covered in black-brown, very soft-looking thin fur and even though his face was much more human than the faces of his parents, it still looked very different. In the light of the evening sun, the illuminated areas of his fur showed an otherwise probably invisible spotted pattern. This inherited mutation (presumably only breaking out at the onset of puberty because it was clear this form of his was a secret? was a crazy thing. For a moment the child regarded her with wide golden eyes as if waiting for the other shoe to drop, then Nora shoved his dangling form roughhousing but not brutally out of the way and stumbled back a step, but perhaps only to get a better view of all his glory.

"Little fucker! I'm old enough to have a heart attack - thanks for that. Fucking hell dude!" she exclaimed as she eyed him. But not angry, not disgusted. But with an astonished grin.

"No wings? Or did you leave them in?"

The child breathed out a relieved laugh and scrambled onto the reinforced concrete beams above them, strolling on all fours with strange grace to show off his superhuman sense of balance and the I-don't-give-a-shit attitude of his spine. A long thin panther tail swung back and forth, had pushed his pants down a little. Of course the child had to flex a bit. Nora wasn't a kid person (or a people person) but Michael wasn't as shitty as she had thought and she didn't want to punish his trust with crappy reactions to it. If someone like her reacted well to his uniqueness - then he would gather courage for "coming out" to his parents and the community. He crouched inhumanly on a chunk of concrete, looking like a haughty animal perched on its slain prey, smiling with not quite fangs.

"Maybe someday. When I started practicing here last year, I couldn't transform my feet yet. Or my skin. Now I can. Maybe one day I'll be able to fly like my dad and my mom."

" Would be cool," said adult and child at the same time, and giggled simultaneously.

"Thanks ... for showing me. That's really fucking awesome. Location and show," said Nora, tentatively sitting down on a particularly large chunk of concrete and stretching her leg. She flicked Michael affectionately against the forehead as he slid down an iron beam and within seconds became a mixed-race normal boy again.

"And you won't tell on me?"

"Nah. I probably wouldn't have done it without a bribe. But ... can't blame you for thinking that. Because I always behave like shit."

The boy picked up his shoes again, dropped to the floor and put them back on.

"I could have brought you here as a plot. To leave you here. To zap your cell phone out of order. The stairwell is broken at the twentieth floor, you wouldn't have gotten out."

"Diabolical, Zappy!" Nora gasped, holding a hand against her chest. "If you leave me here because I'm an asshole, I'll haunt your furry shifter ass as a ghost gone mad. You know I'm vile enough to do that."

"You were an asshole."

"I AM an asshole," Nora smart-assed, "One good/bad deed does not make a good person."

"One hundred bad deeds does not make a fundamentally bad person. It depends on why and for whom you do them."

Nora groaned in annoyance, rubbing her concrete-dusted hands over her cheeks. "God, your whole clan really belongs on a children's show. Some really uplifting brainwashing one that leaves kids deluded and flower-picking so they can be better beaten down by reality."

"Believe me, we've all seen enough reality," Michael said seriously. He and Nora had a staring contest for a few moments. Before the adult nodded.

"Yeah, probably. Er uh. Listen okay? Sorry bout evrything. I've been thinking about it. The last few days and today. All of it. The um... homeless didn't choose this and living in such a big community puts everyone on the edge. And I'm adding fuel to the fire. I have no reason to act so arrogant because I'm a loser myself."

"None of you or us are losers, Miss Sykes."

The adult huffed and rolled her eyes. "Nora's okay. I'm just ... trying to be less of an asshole. Klaus must have gotten it into his head to become my behavior chaperone so-"

"- Klaus?" Michael tilted his head. Who had told her that name. EVERYONE in the labyrinth called him Claw. Nora waved it off.

"Claw. The lot of them. They're like your family and-"

"They ARE my family."

"Yes. And they don't deserve to be treated badly. Seriously, they don't. I can't turn everything off, but I'll try to pull myself together."

Michal stood up and leaned against one of the iron girders. He suspected that it was a big deal for Nora to apologize sincerely. Even if he was the only witness. He had placed his trust in her - although not entirely without motive. She did the same. They were cool with each other. Maybe the others would be cool with Nora, too.

"It would be a good start if you could come up with nicer nicknames," he suggested cautiously.

"My nicknames are nice and awesome!" Nora said with wide eyes as if she really had no idea.

"The Creepy Crawley one?"

"Okay, yeah, but he was pawing at my stuff. And I think he likes Crawley."

"Okay... Yeah, maybe. Ben's pretty cool about it. But you calling Erin Morla."

"What doesn't she like about it?"

"It's not her name. She's much more sensitive than Ben because of her mutation."

"But it wasn't meant as an insult! On the contrary!"

Nora could see from the child's expression that, firstly, he didn't believe her and, secondly, he didn't know what she meant. She clapped her hands over her head in horror.

"God, you fucking millennials need to watch other movies on movie night. The Neverending Story is a classic! Morla is the wise giant turtle who helps Atreyu cross the land. She's a guide. And ... Erin showed me around on my first day. So-."

Michael nodded. Jesus- was Nora an asshole half the time because no one understood what she meant?

"Why didn't you ever explain?"

"Because I didn't know it would offend her so much! If I always explain all my brain farts nothing is witty anymore!"

"Maybe, you should give the others some slack and slowly introduce them to Nora-isms."

"Yeah ... probably."

"Are we going back?" Michael asked, looking briefly at the position of the sun, which had just disappeared behind the skyscrapers. Nora pulled herself up on his shoulder.

"Together?" she asked, a little taken aback.

"Jeah. Why not?"

Duh- for ... reasons? You'll make yourself unpopular. Do you like being questioned by adults?"

"Maybe it will make you more likeable?"

"If you explain that I saved you by kicking a girl in the cunt? Yes, Derek and Maggie will be my biggest fans. I'm going to be Baby Abi's godmother!" Nora laughed as she and Michael got back into the elevator and he worked some electric magic again.

"I would have left that out," said the child precociously.

"Still don't think anyone will change their mind about me because we're not banging heads anymore. Man, I hope they never play hide and seek in the labyrinth because no one will bother to look for me."

"I ... maybe."

Nora smiled at Michael's back and put a hand on his head, rocking him back and forth and making him chuckle. Maybe she wasn't such a lost cause after all. That wouldn't change her plans - but it was good to know.

Thanks for reading, Q.T.

Fun Fact: On my vacation in New York I went on a food tour where you could eat small portions at different stations. It was GREAT! And the guide said: Best chicken fingers in town, don't tell anyone. Well, sue me, maybe 50 people read this, if a tree falls in the internet - you hear it at all? Yeah. So, try these divine chicken fingers!

Next chapter- Nash and Graziella meeting again! WOHOOOO!