Chapter 23: The Tribunal

Cody awoke as the sun started to peek through the curtains. He rolled over to get comfortable and realized Jewel was awake and looking at her phone.

“Hey, are you OK?” he ask with a yawn.

She turned and gave him a pitiful look.

“Am I OK? Let me see, today my fiancee needs to teleport to some shut down school and face-off with some kind of wacko, cult-like weirdo with supernatural powers. His only aide is a couple, I mean trio, of equally wacky do-gooders that seem to have some powers but nothing like the Grand Oompa Loompa. So, you ask if I am OK? What do you think?”

Cody rolled over and put his arm across Jewel’s chest and pulled her into a hug.

“I love you so much. I...”

Before he could say anything else Jewel interrupted him. “Do not say you’ll promise to do anything. Yes, you will do your best, but there are no promises or guarantees this morning. Of course, I know you love me, and I love you, too, and that is what makes this so fucking unbelievable.”

They stayed in bed for over an hour, talking, kissing, and trying not to imagine a worst-case scenario. Jewel finally rolled out of bed and put on a long t-shirt.

“Come on, go jump in the shower and I’ll make us some breakfast.”

Thirty minutes later Cody found Jewel adding cheese to a skillet of scrambled eggs. Cooked bacon is already on the table, along with toasted English Muffins, milk, and orange juice.

“Smells great,” he said as he sat.

Jewel brought the eggs to the table and sat them on a hot pad between their plates.

Somehow, along with getting breakfast ready, she also got dressed. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail and she had on jeans and a hoodie.

They ate in mostly silence, watching each minute that slowly passed on the large clock on the living room wall.

When the clock showed 9:45 Jewel got up and took the mostly uneaten breakfast to the kitchen. She put it in containers and then put it in the fridge.

“You ready?” she asked when she got back to the table.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” said Cody with shrug.

As one, they grabbed each other in a fierce embrace. Both fought to hold back tears.

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” Cody said.

“Promise?” asked Jewel weakly, ignoring her earlier admonition of no promises.

He smiled and kissed her gently. “Promise,” he replied.

She watched as he tented his fingers, then before he teleported he pulled his hands apart. Jewel looked concerned. “What is it?” Then she felt her talisman buzz.

A strange bald man suddenly appeared in the living room. He was barely five feet tall and had quite the portly belly. His brown woolen suit jacket and pants were a century out of style, as were his top hat and cane.

“I am Gunter. I am taking over for Elaine. There has been a change of plans. You are to drive to this address.”

Gunter passed Cody a folded sheet of paper.

“Twenty minutes. There is no time to waste. Go now!”

He disappeared as quickly as he appeared.

Cody tore open the paper and read out loud.

“1513 Peppermint, #319.”

“Where is that?” asked Jewel.

Cody was already typing the address in his phone.

“Shit! The map says it will take twenty-one minutes.”

“Go, run!” yelled Jewel. She followed him to the door and yelled, “Good luck. I love you!”

Cody was gone less than ten minuets when Jewel’s phone rang.

“Where is he?” demanded Heidrick.

“There was a change of plans. He is going to Peppermint street, 1513, #319,” blurted Jewel. She had just collected her purse and was heading to her own car. She did not know what she could do, but she knew she could not stay in the house.

The building was a mostly empty office building. No one took notice of Cody as he skidded to a stop at a parking spot across the street then bolted to the front door.

Cody ran up the steps two at a time and was panting hard when he got to the third floor. He saw the lower numbers to his left and turned to the right. He found #319 at the end of the hall. The door was closed but Cody knew it would be unlocked. He knew time was not stopped and therefore he should be safe.

He turned the knob and pushed. The door swung silently open. The room was warm and dark. Heavy curtains covered all of the windows. The reception area was empty but the room leading to the back was propped open with a chair.

Cody did not call out. Instead, he walked quietly through the door not knowing what to expect.

Gunter stood to the left of a wall divider. To the right stood Fidelia, Elaine’s Guru. They stared at each other for several long moments before Gunter looked at his watch.

“Twenty four minutes,” he said.

“Yeah? Next time, plan on accounting for traffic. You don’t get through the lights at The Circle in less than five minutes. And, how the fuck can I see you if time isn’t stopped?”

Gunter started to protest when a hollow, raspy voice spoke from behind the divider.

“No matter, he is now here.”

Cody felt a chill run down his spine. He was within fifteen feet of The Onyx. The being that no one other than these top two Gurus had ever seen.

“Yeah, I’m here. Five minutes late, according to your goon, but I’m here,” retorted Cody. “If I could have just teleported...”

Gunter started, “For security, no one teleports into the same room as The Onyx. Because we are in the presence of The Onyx is why we can be seen without time being stopped.”

“Silence!” said the hollow voice. The word was not said with a deep, resounding authoritative timbre, but the effect was the same. The room feel eerily quiet.

“What’s the next step? Do we need to seat a jury? Call witnesses? Was I supposed to bring a lawyer?”

Cody was vamping. He was trying waste time in order to give Orion a chance to find him.

Suddenly, Gunter and Fidelia looked to one another with an alarmed expression. Before they could act, Annike and Argonne burst into the dark room. Whatever weapons both sides had it looked like an electrical storm over a laser show. Along with the flashing lights there was plenty of smoke.

Gunter reacted first and a hellish bright red electrical flame burst from his hand and caught Annike square in the chest. Her eyes went wide as the beam passed through her body, then before she could move or say anything, she exploded. Flesh and guts splattered the room in a deafening roar.