39. Familiar Comforts

Somewhere in me, I could feel the change in tone. Doubt was smiling as well.

When the Gem awakens to call a Hero, the world is ill prepared...and its fate is placed in the hands of a 17 year old boy, named Wendell. 

Some will say this is nothing but a tale of fiction.
Let them think as they may. 

After all...I can't fix stupid.

Previously: In a curious turn of events, Wendell meets the last Hero of the Gem.

Seriously.

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When you find yourself overwhelmed by circumstances, don’t panic.
The key is to retrace your steps to the last sure moment when you knew your course was correct. It’s ok to take a moment to re-plot your course…and to lick your wounds if need be.

“You remember nothing at all?” Alhannah asked.

I shook my head

“Not a stinkin’ thing,” Dax said.

He’d been up all night, refusing to leave my side, I was told. Apparently he insisted on watching over me. I’m…not sure what to think about that, yet.

“That’s kinda freaky, kid.”

I shrugged, sinking back a bit more in to the bed. The room looked like an old section of a warehouse, not a hospital. It was too big for a recovery room, anyway. There were cobwebs along the ceiling. Stacks of boxes and odd equipment crowded the corners. Plopped in the center, nestled between a couple of conference tables, was a single hospital bed, monitor equipment, and me.

Wendell P. Dipmier.

The boy back from the dead.

…I can’t seem to do anything right.

“Think about how I feel,” I said. “Those are some crazy stories. If all that actually happened, and I can’t remember it?”

“It happened,” Alhannah added. “I mean, I was on this side of the experience, but I heard their voices. I watched your body go into shock.” She reached over and gave my hand a loving squeeze. “I watched your heart stop.”

“I’m fine,” I said, offering her my best smile.

“That’s not what I meant, Hannah,” said Dax.

Alhannah patted my hand. “If it was so scary, maybe it’s a good thing he’s blocked it out, right?”

“Quite right,” said a female gnome, pushing her way in through the doorway. She had a stocky build, had a rather enormous nose and ears, common among gnomes. Her hair was pulled up in a tight single bun, with a pen thrust through the globe to keep it in place. The white lab coat made her skin look darker than I believe it actually was. “If you two are going to stand around whispering like plotting politicians, do it elsewhere. Wendell needs his rest.”

She stared at both of them until they finally shuffled out of the room.

Scooting around the boxes and tables, she set a tray next to my bed. It was then that I noticed Chuck, in the corner, legs up in the recliner, fast asleep.

“I’ll get back in the morning and get this junk out of here. Make it a bit more comfortable for you, alright?” She said.

I smiled. “Thank you, uh…”

“Deloris.”

“Deloris. Right.” The name didn’t sound familiar, but… “And we’ve met before, correct?” The awkwardness of the question made me laugh. “Because you really look familiar to me, but I haven’t met too many gnomes.”

Deloris smiled. “That’s a mental residue you’re feeling, Wendell. It’s from the procedure we used to bring you out of your coma. Nothing to worry about. You’ll connect the dots soon enough.” Lifting the lid from the soup bowl, she placed the tray in front of me. “Hungry?”

“Famished.”

“Hope you like mushrooms.” She clicked on the small lamp next to the bed.

The scent hit me as soon as I took a deep breath. “Oh, wow. That smells wonderful, whatever it is.”

“Luckily, it was my husband that made that for you.” She chuckled then. “If I was the cook, you’d likely need more recovery time.”

I snorted. “That bad?”

She nodded. “Not my talent. Now Mort…there’s a gnome with talent.”

Grabbing the slice of bread, I broke off a piece and dipped it in the thick, gray liquid. “Thank you.”

“Finish that and get some rest. You’ve had a busy first day in Clockworks City.” Deloris picked up a clipboard hanging from the side of my bed and thumbed through the papers. “Let’s take the second day slower, shall we?” Taking a last glance at the snoring wizard, she clicked off the overhead light and shut the door behind her.

The instant silence of the room made my munching noises echo as I ate.

How long had it been since I’d had food?

It tasted wonderful—which made the experience even better, because it tasted so much like home. I loved mushroom soup. Onion soup. Simple things that mom would make with her fresh baked bread.

It felt good to have something…anything familiar.

“Can’t remember a thing, eh?” Chuck said calmly.

I flinched so hard the silverware rattled on my tray. Startled, a crumb of bread stuck in my windpipe. I coughed. “You’re…awake.”

The wide rim, pointy hat shaded Chuck’s face from the lamplight, keeping his eyes in deep shadow. “You gave us quite a scare, son.” His hands remained perfectly still on the arms of the recliner. “How you feeling?”

I took a sip of water. “A lot better than being dead, I guess. It’s all confusing, though. I…remember pain.” The thought caused my stomach to cramp, and I shuddered. Strange images of some creature, hunched over in robes…about to hurt Lili. The thing was pulling flame from the surrounding torches. “Lots of pain,” I added. “Not sure I could even describe it. Then,” I looked around the room and held out my hands. “I wake up here.”

The lounge chair slowly lowered the leg rest, and Chuck sat up. “You remember nothing else? Nothing in between?”

I dipped the last of the bread into the soup and popped it into my mouth. “Mm-mm,” I shook my head.

Chuck leaned forward and pushed the rim of his hat back, so the soft lamplight revealed the whole of his face. He smiled warmly. “Then let’s not dwell on it. There’s much to do and if you remember…” There was a brief pause and he watched me gulp down the last of the soup. “Well,” he said more softly, “it will come back.”

The overhead light kept flickering and buzzing.

Deloris had flipped the switch off, but you could hear that sound, like something wanted to be on.

The sound didn’t let me sleep.

Chuck had left me to rest, but something bugged me. The way people looked at me.

Alhannah, Dax…heck, even Chuck was looking at me in strange ways and I just couldn’t figure it out.

Also didn’t help that from the ankles down, I was hanging off their version of an extra large bed.

Gnomes.

For the life of me, I couldn’t turn off the desk lamp. The thought of going back into the darkness… No. I didn’t want that. Not yet.

Breath, Wendell. Just inhale and exhale.

Don’t think about it. Just breathe.

I pushed my shoulders back into the pillows, adjusted my head so my neck had support.

Breathe like normal.

I couldn’t help but smile.

…which turned into a laugh.

Normal.

There wasn’t anything left about me that was…‘normal’.

‘Nice of you to come to my side,’ Doubt whispered.

Where have YOU been all this time?

*sigh*…‘You had enough on your plate. You didn’t need me riding you to make things worse.’

I laughed again. “Isn’t that your job?” I said aloud.

‘To make things worse?’

“Yeah.”

‘Absolutely not,’ Doubt gasped. ‘My JOB…is to push you hard when you don’t want to be pushed. To compel you to look at things from a different perspective, so you have more options. Oh, and sometimes…though you may not believe it…my job is to tell you the truth, even when you don’t want to hear it, or accept it, from anyone else!’

“Sorry I asked.”

‘No, you’re not.’

I smiled. “You’re right. I’m not sorry.”

Somewhere in me, I could feel the change in tone. Doubt was smiling as well.

‘I’m glad you’re okay, Wendell.’

“Thanks.”

‘I mean, if you go, then I go too.’

“Aaaaand there’s the actual point.”

‘You know what I mean.’

I nodded to myself. “So…do you know what happened to us, or me? I mean, do you know what Chuck and Dax are talking about?”

There was a long hesitation.

‘Maybe.’

That got me to sit up. My eyes went to the door as I adjusted the pillows and crossed my legs to get a bit more comfortable. The lights were also out in the hallway. The last thing I wanted was to have someone walk in while I was having a full-blown conversation with myself.

“Spit it out,” I whispered.

‘I know what you’re hoping for, but that’s not what I know.’

I frowned. “Tell me what you know.”

‘I’d say it was a miracle. That you survived what you did. That you’re here, right now, alive…and I wouldn’t push your luck.’

“What do you mean by that…push my luck?” I said.

‘Think about it,’ Doubt said. ‘You’re what these folks are calling the ‘Gnolaum’, Wendell. You’re sitting in some mock recovery room with a thing called the Ithari…and actual, talking, living diamond, in your chest.’ Doubt snorted. ‘Not to forget that you just had not just one…but multiple people IN YOUR BRAIN…’

“Subconscious…”

‘NOT…the point, Wendell. If anything else, you have regular conversations with yourself, in private.’

“True.”

‘You seriously think people can consider treating you like any other youth your age?’

He wasn’t wrong. But what was I supposed to do about it?

‘Nothing,’ answered Doubt.

“What?”

‘Still here. I’m IN your mind, remember? I can hear you.’

Ah. Right. Sorry. But that still doesn’t really answer my question.

‘I know.’

Then tell me…what do you know?

‘You don’t remember the complete experience of the fire. The pain and the burning.’

Oh, I do so remember…

‘Stop. Just…stop. You don’t remember it like I do…because part of my job is also protecting you. Protecting you from the extreme things that may cause you to…for lack of a better term, we’ll say ‘break’.’

It was that bad?

‘Worse. So don’t dwell on it, okay? I will not share that part, no matter how bad you want to know.’

Fair.

‘What I can tell you is that I followed you around for a time and you couldn’t hear me. It’s like you were lost, looking for something, but there was nothing I could do for you. I had to follow you and just…watch.’

Huh.

‘Then some guy shows up. Right there, in your head. He points to a door, tells me to go into a room and wait.’

I frowned. “A guy? Who guy? What…?”

‘I don’t know who he was, and I wasn’t going anywhere. This is US, right? So I shook my head…and the guy just smiled.’

“He…smiled?”

‘Yup. Like he knew something I didn’t and there was no way he was going to share. Next thing I know, he’s making a polite gesture with his hand…like and “after you” motion…and I walked to the door!’

You just gave up?

‘No! That’s the thing. I didn’t want to go, but when he made that motion, I couldn’t help myself. I walked past him, opened the door, stepped into the room, and closed it behind me!’

What was in the room?

‘Nothing.’

Nothing?

‘It was just me. There was nothing to see. No sound. No light. Just…nothing. No clue how long I was in there, either. When the door opened, I sat up in this room.’

Just like me.

The clack-clack-clack of Chuck’s staff grew louder in the dark hallway. A moment later, the door opened and the point of his tall hat poked through the doorway.

“You doing alright, son?” Chuck said. He asked me, but his eyes searched the room.

“I’m fine,” I said. “Can’t seem to sleep.”

Chuck nodded. “Sounds about right. You’ve been asleep long enough, I suppose.” His attention focused back on me. “How would like to get out of that bed, stretch your legs, and join us for a chat in the kitchen?”

That made me smile. “Is that okay? With Deloris, I mean?”

He nodded. “She’s waiting for us with the rest of the crew.”

That’s all the encouragement I needed. Slipping out of bed carefully, I tested my unused legs. The moment I put pressure on my feet, there was a familiar surge of strength from my chest, pushing warmth throughout my limbs. It allowed me to stand up straight, without wobbling.

I gave Chuck a grin, then rested a palm gently on my chest. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For everything.”

‘We still need to talk,’ Doubt said as we got to the door.

Count on it.

‘Then let’s go find out what everyone else knows.’

Turns out this was an actual warehouse. An old warehouse, by the looks of it. Worn and grungy, the living parts were clean enough, swept, and the furnishings seemed new. The old part was the general structure.

Chuck led me along a series of hallways, and to an off-white door that said ‘Staff Only’ on it. He tapped his staff on the ground as we approached, and the door swung open to a medium-sized break room you might find in any large business building. This had a full kitchen, a large boardroom type table, three fridges, and a lounge area with two sectional sofas and what looked to be a TV over 100 inches wide mounted on the far wall.

We walked in as Dax bit the cap off a bottle and spat it into the waste can.

“Son, you know our team, and you met our brilliant young hostess, Deloris, but let me introduce the others.” He gestured to each with an open hand. “This is my good friend and local genius, Mortimur Teedlebaum.”

“Morty,” the gnome corrected, though he was grinning under his massive handlebar mustache.

I nodded.

“And this is Nat Taylor, right-hand man to the G.R.R. leader, Motherboard.”

Unlike the rest of those at the table, the gnome was sitting in some mechanical wheelchair of sorts. He raised a hand and waved. “Hey,” he said, smirking.

“Hello.”

“You believe him?” Dax blurted out.

I thought he was talking to me, but everyone stared at the wizard.

Chuck sighed and stretched his shoulders as he rounded the end of the table. Alhannah pulled out the chair for him, which he gratefully accepted. Letting go of his staff, it stood at attention where he left it. “I do,” he said soberly, giving me a weak smile. He motioned for me to take a seat.

Dax grinned at me widely and pointed to a chair next to a portable heater.

Flopping his hat onto the table, Chuck ran gnarled fingers over his forehead and through the thinning white hair of his head. “There’s no reason not to. We can’t know for certain what Ithari was doing in Wendell’s noggin. We may never know.” He paused and glanced over at me. “Son, I promised you back at the Black Market that I would never lie to you. No one at this table will lie to you. If you value my opinion, I will vouch for each of them. That also means from this point forward, you have to be involved in all the discussions. In all the hard decisions.”

I nodded. “Good.”

That’s when I noticed Lili across from me.

She was staring right at me.

…and she smiled!

I couldn’t swallow.

“But what we know,” Chuck continued, “is that we have our dear boy back and we must do all that we can to help him…and protect him.”

Dax grabbed another beer from the fridge and slid it haphazardly across the table. Chuck held out his hand. The bottle curved across the surface in a wide arc, dodging the other bottles used by others, and into his open fingers.

Deloris and Nat coughed into their mugs.

Dax walked over and set a big mug in front of me. “Coffee,” he whispered. “Two cream, two sugars. Good?”

I smiled. “Perfect. Thank you.”

He gave my shoulder a light fist-bump.

“Then what’s the plan?” Alhannah asked outright. She set her cup on the table and tapped the surface with her knuckles. “You wanted to get Wendell here. We got him here. You wanted him healed and awake. He’s healed and awake.” She paused. “But you said something back at Til-Thorin that concerns me.”

“Oh? And what was that, dear?” Chuck asked. Blowing at the beer cap, it popped off and flipped onto the table. He started guzzling.

“You said there was a traitor.”

The wizard threw himself forward in a choking fit. Bubbles rolled up over his lips and down his beard.

Alhannah jumped up and patted him firmly on the back. “You ok, uncle Chuck?!”

I noticed the wizard shot a glance at Lili, who immediately averted her eyes.

She didn’t say a word, but her cheeks turned a darker shade.

“Quite,” Chuck said through his coughs. “The beer’s more bitter than I expected, that’s all.” He set the bottle down and wiped his face with the lower part of his beard. “The traitor has been found and dealt with, my dear, so there’s no need to concern yourself. Besides,” he said with a cheerful spin in his tone, “I need you to run that interference I mentioned.”

“Anything we can help with?” asked Nat, curious.

Chuck grinned at him, then at both Deloris and Morty. “Actually, my young mobile genius, there is something the entire G.R.R. can help with.”

Morty frowned. “Oh no. Count me out, old man. I DID my deal with you…and you owe me!”

“Yes, yes, I owe you,” Chuck replied. “Just tell me when, for goodness’ sakes.”

Morty sat upright, cocking his head in consideration. “I’m in no rush. If you intend to stick around for a bit, then I want that time to think this through.”

Chuck squinted. “You really want something good.”

The gnome squinted back. “Painfully good.”

“Right then!” the wizard exclaimed. “That leaves the resistance and the fate of the world.”

Deloris coughed into her mug again. “The…what?”

Chuck grinned wide enough to show teeth. “The fate of the world, woman. I came to Clockworks for more than just a jumpstart for the boy. ”

Dax grumbled. “I knew this was too simple. Come in, fix the kid, get out…”

“Oh, hush.”

Dax glared across the table. “Why don’t you ever lay out the entire plan, so we know what we’re getting ourselves INTO?”

With the flick of his wrist, the bottle cap from the wizard’s beer jumped up from the table and flew across the table. It hit Dax square in the forehead.

“Ow!” Dax growled.

“That’s precisely what I’m trying to do, monkey, so if you’re finished whining, I’ll get started!”

Dax snarled and flicked the cap off the table.

“Approximately twenty chimes ago, I’m guessing you felt a tremor here in Clockworks?” Chuck looked to Nat. “That is, if you pay attention to anything outside the walls of this city.”

Nat looked at Deloris, confused. “We…do, but I figured it could have been anything. It’s not uncommon for collapsing structures to send out shockwaves during reconstruction.”

The wizard shook his head. “This was a world shake.”

Nat frowned and pushed a few buttons on his chair’s console. “Cryo?”

I flinched as a loud voice sounded from everywhere around us.

“Yes, Nat?”

“Would you check seismic activity outside the pond?”

“Certainly, Nat. Processing now.”

Dax scoffed, “The pond?”

“It’s what we call our gnome-made lake surrounding the city,” Deloris clarified. “We built it as a first line of defense against invasion.”

“Invasion?” Dax laughed, “Invasion from who!? You’re out in the middle of the ocean, at least a month from the shores of any continent!”

Deloris glared at him so intensely, his laughter dropped off almost immediately. “My people were hunted, Dax. Not to wipe us out, not because we were a threat…but for food!” Morty squeezed her hand, but she hoicked it. “In the dark of night, we cast ourselves into the sea by the thousands! Life rafts and meager boats of our own design, risking the unknown to get here because we were being slaughtered for meat.” Her body trembled, the grip around the tea cup tightening as it rattled against the saucer…tap-tap-tap-tap.

“It’s alright,” Morty whispered, undaunted and casting a reassuring smile in Dax’s direction. “He meant to offense, sweetheart. They don’t know our history.”

“But I do,” said Chuck plainly.

“Nat, I have that data if you’re ready.”

“What did you find?”

Deloris turned back to her cup of tea and sipped in silence. Morty leaned over and kissed her on the temple.

“Readings show an island wide tremor, at 21.1.12n. It was a 4.2 on the shift scale—easily absorbed by Clockworks foundation stabilizers. However, this was only an aftershock. The origin of the disturbance is beyond the range of my sensors.”

“That’s because it happened at Til-Thorin,” added the wizard. Sitting back, he slowly combed through his beard with his fingers. “The tremor you felt was from the destruction of a Demoni Vankil seal.”

“A what?” Nat asked, confused. “What’s a Demoni Vankil?”

“The Fishis Archive Foundation defines it as one of the greatest magical devices ever devised, which was used, with Lanthya shards, to trap and bind the Dark Lord Mahan, rendering him powerless and chained to Unrest. Further information is found in Höbin Luckyfeller’s Field Guide, entitled Demoni Vankil. End of reference.”

“Three seals have kept Mahan where his is,” Chuck groaned. His eyes were fixated on the bottle in front of him, lost in thought. “Imprisoned,” he added, almost in a whisper, “and away from this world so long as the seals remain intact.”

Nat looked around the table and shifted in his wheelchair. “B-but you just said one seal was destroyed. That doesn’t sound good. Not good at all. If the other two were to…”

“The other one,” Dax said bluntly. The gnomes looked up at him and his expression softened. “The first seal was found and toasted centuries ago. It was held by the Nocturi.”

Now it was Morty that gulped. “…but the Nocturi are extinct.”

Dax nodded.

“There’s only one seal left,” Deloris whispered. She looked at Chuck, eyes wide as saucers. “What happens if the last one…”

Draining the last of the beer from the bottle, Dax set it roughly on the table. He looked at each of the gnomes from under his thick brows. “Then there’s nothing to stop Mahan from coming back to our world.”

Morty let his forehead hit the table. “Balls and bolts.”

It felt like all the life was sucked out of the room, and everyone went silent. I may have been the Hero of the Gem, but I didn’t have a clue what to say. Gripping the hot mug in my hands, I held it to my chest and clamped my mouth shut.

“Good thing it was a decoy,” Chuck burped.

“Excuse you?” Deloris snapped.

Chuck blinked at her. “What? Oh. Manners! Excuse me.”

“No, Chuck,” she glared, “Not ‘excuse me’,…excuse YOU!”

The wizard looked at me and shrugged. “Well, now you’re talking female. I don’t speak code, my dear. Be a bit more direct, will you?”

Deloris stood up so quickly it startled me. Her chair slid away from her. “You just got through telling us the second Demoni Vankil seal was destroyed.”

“Yes.”

“Then you let us wallow in whatever fear our ignorant minds conjured up.”

“Uhhh…”

Leaning over the table, Deloris pointed a single finger at the wizard. “Then you casually tell us this was all a lie? A Demoni Vankil was NOT destroyed?”

Chuck thought about it for a moment. His eyes wobbled back and forth, and making hand gestures in the air as he worked out the conversation.

“Yes,…and no,” he said finally.

Deloris made claws with her hands and let out a roar of frustration. Spinning to Morty, she grabbed his face and gave him a very…*ahem*…passionate kiss.

Morty flopped back in his chair, now grinning from ear to ear. “What was THAT for?”

She pulled her chair back, plopped down on it, and then leaned her head on Morty’s shoulder. “That was another apology. If you’ve had to deal with the likes of him, Mortimur Teedlebaum, I’m ashamed of ever putting pressure on you!”

Morty patted her hand affectionately.

…and winked at Chuck.

The wizard sighed. “I’m sorry, Deloris. You are certainly correct. I should have handled that correctly. The weight of this, however, is real, my friends. The last hero knew the lengths Mahan’s followers would go to freeing their master. Decoys were created. Laced with powerful spells, to give us time.”

“Time for what?” I asked.

Chuck made a hand gesture. A mug, and the coffee pot, floated to the table. He took both from the air and poured himself a cup. “Time for us to find an actual seal and secure it.” He took a sip and flinched. “Hot. That’s the other reason we’re here, Wendell.” He lifted the mug to his lips, staring at me squarely. “A seal is here, in Clockworks.”

Nat’s mouth dropped open.

“Here?!” Morty squealed. Now it was he who pulled away from Deloris’s touch. “That’s like placing a fat target on our foreheads!” He pushed away from the table, jumping to his feet. Throwing his hands into the air, he shouted, “Hey you blood-sucking cannibals, we have your master’s key to freedom…COME AND TAKE IT!” His chest heaved, shoulders rising and falling. Eyes wild and unblinking, he stared at Chuck in anger. “Who in the depths of insanity thought up THAT idea!?”

Chuck’s mustache and beard quivered. “I did,” he mumbled, barely above a whisper.

The gnomes in the room, including Alhannah, all stared back at him as if they’d be doused with ice water. Deloris leaned heavily on the table. “Say…that again.”

“I said it was me,” he mumbled. Chuck shrugged, then said louder, “Well, not just me, but I was the delivery boy.”

The shriek was almost deafening, sending chills down the spine like nails across a blackboard. My hands fumbled with the coffee mug, which flipped to the floor and shattered.

“WHY?” Morty yanked painfully at the two braided legs of his beard. “WHY CHUCK? WHY US??”

“Because the last hero told me to, that’s why.” Setting his coffee down carefully, Chuck tapped his index finger on the table. “It was because I saw..what…you…would eventually become.”

The tinkerer fumed. “Fodder?”

“NO!” the wizard snapped, “Brilliant!”

The lights flickered at his raised voice.

“Mortimur Teedlebaum, you’ve made yourself heard, now sit down and shut up!” Taking a deep breath, he said softer, “Let me explain.” Chuck reached out and grabbed Alhannah’s hand, giving it a loving squeeze, but he kept his focus on Deloris, Nat, and Morty.

“Let me tell all of you the whole story.”

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Author Notes

It’s Christmas 2024 next week.

I’m going to do something I’ve never done.

I won’t be working. At all. For anyone.

…for the whole week.

Just want to be with my wife and kids…and no one else.
…not even Wendell, Chuck and Dax.

See you on January 3rd =)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

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