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Stories from the Verse
Con Version
Chapter 80: Brown 310
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 109
Facing down a crowd with the devil inciting them to riot, Derek was not at all certain what they could do. His first thought was to strike up their music, play Saints, and Silent Night, and fight back with music. After all, when he was given this trumpet, the implication was that this was a weapon he would use in his fight against the devil. Unfortunately, their instruments were on the stage, and to get to them they would have to get past the crowd. So, what then? They could flee into the dark part of town and make their ways home, but the man they had left watching their instruments had been clobbered, and they would surely lose them. He thought about turning into Morach and flying over their heads, then turning into Derek and playing the trumpet--but he would have to be the garoyle-like Ferris Hoffman twice, once going from Derek to Morach and again going from Morach to Derek. Was it checkmate? Had the devil won?
Maybe he could take the curse of the Rougarou upon himself, and then find a way to get the curse removed. That did not seem like a good idea, but he was hard pressed to find another.
Wait. Think. When he was Morach, he had functional wings and he glowed, and he could at will double his size and become Ferris, who had wings adequate for gliding. Then he could double his size again and become Derek, who had no wings because he was completely indistinguishably human. All he had to do was think of being these people, and he became them. But could he invent another person? He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to imagine a ten-foot tall glowing angelic being with powerful feathered wings. It was a composite of his other personas, to some degree, so when he had a clear image in his mind he gave his new self a name. This would be Michael Gabriel. He said it aloud, to confirm it.
Abruptly it happened. He grew to twice his height and sprouted powerful white wings, and his skin glowed the way it did when he was a sprite, illuminating the area around him.
The people immediately before him fell back. He pointed at Mister Misery, and in a voice more powerful and deeper than he had anticipated he said, “Devil, I rebuke you. You have no power over God’s people. Take your minions and leave.”
There was a general panic. Indeed, madness and mayhem seemed to be the order of the night--but it was not directed at them. The devil realized the tide had turned, and he was pushing his way through the crowd trying to reach an alley, the Sisters and several other people of dubious connection trying to follow him.
Glad that the magic suit was able to make that adjustment, Derek returned to his normal form.
Vashti was staring at him wide-eyed.
“What?” he said.
“I--I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Honestly, neither did I; but I didn’t see many options, so I tried it. Come people, let’s get our gear before we have more trouble.” He started picking his way through the crowd, the others in tow, and it parted for them until he reached Alfonso. Derek checked on the pianist, still in a heap in the road. It seemed Alfonso had neglected his duty of guarding the musical instruments, but he had also spoken up for them.
“Is he alright?” Maurice asked.
“I think,” Derek answered, “Alfonso is just out cold. He’s going to be fine,” and he helped shift him into a more comfortable position on the road and waited a few more minutes until the piano player had recovered enough to give groggy responses. By then the road had largely cleared out, and after helping him to his feet they all headed to the stage in the square with Alfonso explaining that he had handed off the duty to another whom he trusted. Getting to the nearly empty square, the small group saw Henry guarding the musical instruments on the now otherwise barren stage from which hope and wonder had been thought to flow. He smiled at them, checked Alfonso’s head with a tsk tsk, and heard of the treachery of the Black Keys with a quiet fury.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eleven other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #509: Character Challenges. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
