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Oh yes... That was one interesting Halloween. Let's see, how many things didn't go as they should have?
I was very happy as I got off the train in Durem, Lady Luck on my shoulder. Happy to get back to Durem, happy that I was going to be back in my little old flat, which I'd sent the rent money for all the time I'd been gone, happy to be going to the Halloween party, and happiest of all that now that the aliens had arrived, Leon wouldn't be able to blackmail Cindy anymore... To all of which, hindsight only allows me to say a loud "HA!"
The first inkling I had of what was to come was when I looked fondly up at my window. Something was wrong... It took me a minute to see that the broken window had been fixed. Who? Why? How?
I ran inside and went up the stairs two at a time. Much to my relief, my key still fitted in the lock. I opened the door, expecting to see a room full of trash...and saw exactly that. However, I hadn't been expecting it to be full of literal trash, the kind of stuff Cindy took to Barton to have recycled. There was no furniture or carpet any more, just a mountain of trash on the bare boards, and two little brown-haired girls in green, who sat on the floor, facing the trash instead of the door, sorting it.
Needless to say, I was angry. What was this mess doing in my flat? I said as much, very loudly, and the girls jumped up and looked at me. I noticed that the littlest had a racoon tail, while a curly black dog tail stuck out of the pants of the older one, who still clutched an empty chocolate box and a bent spoon. Genetic modification? On garbage sorters?
"This is our house," the older girl said. "How did you get in?"
"I've been paying the rent for months!" I snapped. "My key still fits, you know! What did you do to my stuff?"
The girl looked at me, grinning. "It'll only cost 200,000 gold if you want to buy the place from us," she said, "and we'll throw the trash in too."
"Look, this is my flat, and I want to know what you're doing..."
"Mummy, Dad, make her go away!" the younger girl yelled.
The door to what had been my bedroom opened. Out came two figures as shocking as the state of the living room. The man was dressed in the dirtiest clothes I'd ever seen, and smelled like a landfill. No wonder, there was even bits of garbage in his hair. "What did I tell you about wakeing me up?" he snarled at the little girl, not even noticing me.
Then the woman came out. Dressed in a torn black dress, her red hair trailing on the dirty floor behind her, two large lizards cradled in her arms, a long cloak thrown over her shoulders...I would swear she was a witch. Lady Luck scrambled onto my head and hissed loudly at her.
Needless to say, I had a hard time trying to tell the family it was my flat we were standing in. At least I managed to find out that they had rented it from a "lovely young lady" as the witch drawled with half-closed eyes, and that the furniture and carpet had been gone when they moved in. "She fixed the window too!" the man put in.
I managed to keep my temper long enough to get the phone number of the "lovely young lady", thank them for their help, and leave. I exploded into cursing as soon as I was out the door, but at least I held on that long. Then I went back to the train station, hoping to find a pay phone. I did, and called the number.
"Look," said the sharp voice on the other end of the phone, "if you want to talk to me, come to my office. It's over by the gate... Ask for Dark." She gave an address and hung up.
I don't know how old the witch was, but she must have been over a hundred to think the hag behind the desk who said "I'm her" when I asked for Dark was a lovely young lady. She had a tattered grey dress on, an equally tattered grey coat, glasses, a black tie, and a hidious hat on her tangled, dark blue hair. A skinny black cat seated himself on her desk, causing Lady Luck to again retreat to my head, hissing.
"Look," I said, "I don't know what right you have to rent out my flat when I've been paying the rent..."
"To whom, may I ask?" she asked coldly.
"I've been sending it to the address the old lady who rented it to me gave..."
"She was only renting it from me. The adress was an old people's home. She died four months ago, and since no rent was being paid anymore, I took the contents of the flat for back rent and rented it again."
That was a shock! "Well," I bluffed, "I'll pay the money again if you'll give me the flat back..."
"No." The word carried as much finality as the clock tower striking noon. "They are very good tenants. Very good. Much better then a silly little girl who broke a window."
Barely controling myself, I said, "I didn't do that, someone threw a rock through before I went on vacation. I'll pay on time all the time, which I'm sure those garbage pickers don't..."
She laughed evily. "They have already paid in full, my dear. A one-off payment...but one that will last them for all eternity."
"I'm sure I can do better," I said, feeling rather frightened of this hag.. "I'll pay every month, all the time."
"No."
"Come on..."
"No."
"What was this great payment they made?" I demanded.
She started to laugh again. "Do you really want to know?" She reached into her desk and pulled out a contract of some kind. The words were unreadable, but the four names stood out at the bottom...and they were signed in blood!
Dark stood up and walked into the middle of the room. My eyes were glued to her. although I didn't want to look. She wore fishnet stockings much too young for her...and she had a long, curling, black devil tail. She lifted the cat in her arms, spun around, and, as the carpet around her burst into purple flames, cackled, "Their souls, my dear, their souls! Will you pay that? Only a small price to pay for the flat...just a one-time payment, but you'll pay for all eternity!"
It was Lady Luck who saved me. With a loud hiss, she leaped from my head and ran out the door. I followed, and neither of us stopped running untill we got to the train station.
I picked up Lady Luck and leaned against a wall, horrified at what I'd just seen. I wasn't quite sure if Dark was the Devil, or just a demon, but I'd never belived in either and was shaken to encounter one. And what that family had done... I thought of the little girls in green, and shuddered. I didn't want that flat anymore. I would never set foot in there again.
But I still had to explain to Cindy somehow, so I trudged unwillingly back to the pay phone. Calling cell phones takes loads of coins, so I was glad she answered at once.
"I'm sorry, but we can't use the flat..." I started, but she cut me off.
"Nevermind that, everything's gone off track. Thank goodness you called... Can you be outside the city gate in ten minutes?"
"Yeah, why?"
"To get your first helicopter ride." She hung up, leaving me bewildered. Now what?
I had barely gotten out the gate when I saw the GAIA 9 helicopter hovering above me. It landed so close that I could feel the wind, and as the...the...whatever that thing is on top stopped turning, Cindy scrambled out and shouted, "Come on! Get in!"
Again I ended up in the front seat, next to Mike, while Lady Luck and my pack sat with the equipment next to Cindy in the back. "More balance this way," Mike explained as we took off. I think he just wanted to give me a good view. Sure, it was good...good enough to scare me half to death. It was my first time ever flying, and I decided I didn't like it much.
Thankfully, Cindy's constant chatter from the back was a distraction. "How stupid of Gambino...how could he expect people to know where to go? We all thought the party was going to be in Durem, and now he rebuilds his stupid Isle mansion and has the party there..." My heart sank. How could I take a long flight to the Isle?
That will have to wait untill later. I'm tired.