Chapter 36

Once the battle was over and my extreme focus receded, I again became aware of my surroundings. I was lying face down in snow, which wasn't surprising. I probably was in one of the filthy snow banks that lined both sides of the road. That thought grossed me out enough that I immediately tried getting up.

I heard a male adult voice say, "He's coming around."

At the same time, I felt a hand on my back and a different male adult voice say, "Don't move, guy, you might be hurt."

I turned my head sideways and back to see who was talking to me. He was wearing a fire department uniform and squatting down. I took stock of my physical condition. I felt cold from lying in the snow, but I didn't feel any pain. I kicked my legs a bit to make sure they worked and flapped my arms. "I'm fine," I said. "The snow broke my fall. Let me up."

"Wait until the paramedics check you out."

"I'll be a lot happier letting them check me out if I can get out of this snow."

"Stay put. The kids who came to get us said you were unconscious for several minutes."

"You were," said a female voice from behind me. I recognized it. It was the girl from the group of three kids I had played and sang for. They must have turned west when they got to the end of Weiner. I concluded that we had approached the corner of Cord and Silver at the same time. Because I had been traveling a lot faster on my bike, that was entirely possible.

"Yeah, dude," said the shorter boy. "You like drove right up into the snow bank and flew over your handlebars. At first we were laughing our asses off, but when you didn't move, we came over to check you out."

"We asked if you were all right," said the tall boy. "When you didn't answer, we went to get help at the fire station."

"These two dummies," said the girl, "were going to roll you over, but I told them they shouldn't do that."

"I feel fine," I said. "Hey! How's my guitar?" I started trying to reach behind myself.

"Your guitar is fine," said the fireman. "Just settle down. The paramedics are here." I decided to cooperate for the time being.

"What's your name?" asked a third male voice, presumably a paramedic.

We don't want these people to be able to identify us, thought Ursus.

"Tony," I said.

"Do you feel any pain, Tony?"

"None."

"Can you wiggle your fingers for me?" I wiggled. "How about your toes?" I wiggled them, too.

"Turn your head from side to side." I did it. "Was there any pain or discomfort?"

"No."

"Now move it up and down."

"No pain," I said as I complied.

He started poking around my back. "Any pain?" he asked.

"None."

"OK, I'm going to take this guitar off so I can check you out better."

I didn't want to give up custody of my guitar. I needed to get out of there, and I didn't want to have to abandon it. I waited until there were no hands upon me and surged to my knees all at once. "See? I'm fine," I said as I continued to get to my feet.

"Let me do my job, kid." He now had a grip on my arm.

I took the opportunity to look around. I had been in a snow bank by a driveway. The paramedics had driven the ambulance over from the nearby fire station. Two firemen were standing in the street. One paramedic had my arm. Another stood in front of me. The three teens were watching from the driveway. Someone had dug my bike out of the snow and put it up on its kickstand--the kids, probably.

The paramedic had given up on taking my guitar for the moment and was now probing the front of my torso. "Any pain?"

"Nope." I saw the two firemen turn and start to head back to the station.

The paramedic took out a penlight and was about to shine it in my eyes. Once he let me go, I took my opportunity. I screamed, "My brother's bike! He's going to kill me!" as I ran toward my bicycle. I continued to accelerate as I grabbed the handlebars and pushed the bike. Once I had a gap opened up between everyone else and me, I swung a leg over as quickly as I could, kicked the stand out of the way, and pedaled for all I was worth. I went south down Silver.

I heard someone yell, "Hey!" My actions must have taken everyone by sufficient surprise, because no one stopped me. I knew that as soon as the adrenaline wore off I'd feel weary from my battle with the demon, so I needed to keep the pump going as long as I could.

We have a hard choice to make, thought Ursus. If the demon managed to kill his minion, our best course would be to find a pay phone, call the police, and say we heard female screams coming from the magician's house and that there are a couple of bodies in his freezer. But if we do that and the magician isn't dead, he'll find a way to summon the demon again, even if he is in prison, and we'll be worse off than we were before.

So we need to make sure he's dead, I concluded.

That's right, Ursus said.

You mean we have to kill him if he isn't already dead, Arthur thought as we turned onto Sire.

I'm sorry, Arthur, Ursus thought.

After facing the demon and learning about the magician's crimes, I now agreed completely with Ursus. The law wasn't equipped to handle the situation. I felt sympathy for Arthur, though. He was only eleven. Eleven-year-olds shouldn't have to make such heavy decisions.

I turned onto Weiner and a few seconds later turned onto the magician's driveway and rode all the way up. Without hesitating, I got off the bike and pushed it along the walk at the side of the house. I then pushed it through the wooden gate into the backyard and right through the snow as if I had every right to do what I was doing. I didn't stop until I was behind the house. Fortunately, the magician had a redwood privacy fence around his entire backyard. All the better to conceal nefarious deeds, I supposed.

How likely is he to still be alive? I asked as I turned my guitar around front. It looked undamaged.

The demon was weakened when he destroyed our protective spell, thought Ursus, and we weakened him some more when we defeated him. He might very well have failed.