Nothing to be surprised about, but as soon as they returned home, Arnold took Jackie's phone and then stormed into his step-son's bedroom to take his laptop computer. After locking both devices in his own room, he went as far as to disable the internet in the apartment.
"You are grounded!" the police officer yelled. His face was flushed red with parental fury. "No internet, no freedom. I am driving you to school and I am driving you back home. Tell your boss at the grocery store you're not going to make it to work for the next couple of weeks because apart from school, you are NEVER leaving this apartment!"
To keep his words true, Arnold cashed in the remainder of his vacation time to stay home and keep Jackie under constant watch. He even went as far as to put a cot against the front door where he slept at instead of his own room to prevent Jackie from possibly sneaking out at night.
But Arnold's actions were not enough to deter Jackie from continuing his pursuit of the Gathering. If not even near-death by monsters could stop Jackie, being grounded certainly couldn't.
Jackie bided his time over the remainder of the weekend, during which he was allowed only reading, doing homework and watching cable television. And then, after being dropped off at school on Monday, he went straight to the library, the only place he would have internet access to do some research.
Other than the supernatural stuff, there was one more thing Jackie had neglected to tell the grownups: that the building the Gathering used was once owned by a guy named Putts. He was sure they probably figured that part out already but had an inkling that if they knew he also knew, they'd have a better chance of getting in his way.
The name he discovered at the Gathering's spot turned out to be the jackpot of all clues that Jackie needed. He figured that if the Gathering was using a building owned by Putts for their meetings, they were likely to use another as a backup hideout. After a little bit of online research both in the morning and during lunch, he found what he needed and then made a plan of action.
Once the bell rang to signal the end of the school day, instead of heading out the front where Arnold was surely waiting to pick him up, Jackie went west and through a side exit. A straight cut across the bordering grass field led to a bus stop with fellow teens that he could blend in with. As an extra precaution, he threw the hood of his gray sweatshirt over his head to hide it and put on a pair of black sunglasses to hide his eyes. He purposely brought the hoodie sweatshirt and sunglasses today for that very purpose.
Pretty soon a bus came and opened its doors to the crowd of high schoolers to invite them in. Jackie took the invitation without bothering to check where it would go and, with no place to sit, grabbed one of the small hoops dangling from the overhead rails and stood waiting for departure, which couldn't have come soon enough.
Out the window, Jackie spotted his step-father running over to the bus stop. Heart pounding from panic, Jackie quickly turned his back to the glass pane and flipped his backpack over to hug against his chest, hoping it was enough to escape Arnold's notice.
As the bus drove on, Jackie risked a peak and was relieved to see Arnold rapidly become a speck in the distance. Jackie had successfully escaped and was now free to go where he needed to.
The Putts family used to own several properties all over the city with a variety of different purposes. Apart from the amusement center, they also ran a hotel, a restaurant and a few fashionable boutiques. They also owned a warehouse to store and distribute their brand goods.
Most of those properties had already been taken over by other companies and converted into something else. But a few buildings still remained unclaimed and abandoned like the amusement center had been. Chief on that list was the warehouse, a secluded place perfect for an evil wizard and his army of followers to conduct a nefarious magic ritual.
The journey to the warehouse was somewhat long and difficult. Without his phone's online map, he had to rely on directions and advice from the bus driver, who recommended transfers at certain stops with certain bus numbers.
But the abandoned warehouse was apparently well-known to the transit worker and he questioned why such a young man would go to a place like that. Jackie had to make up some excuse on the spot about filming a homemade movie for a competition. The driver didn't seem to buy it, but let Jackie go with a warning to stay safe and not do anything reckless. Advice that was already too late.
After following the driver's directions, Jackie found himself looking up at two-stories high steel covered in a decade's worth of rust. Weeds jutted out of cracks which spread out from the island of concrete to the neglected black road marred with dents and potholes. The windows that formed a ring around the building were completely covered over by water stains and dust, but had a few panes missing allowing a view inside that showed a completely empty and dismally dark space. Even outside was dark as the sun neared a full retreat for the day.
Jackie took a quick look around the premises and strained his ears for any sign that he was not alone. But he could detect nothing, visible or otherwise.
Although the Wizard's power had been amazing, he showed Jackie that that power had limits. Unless that show of exhaustion back when he levitated everyone was just that, a show, he did not seem capable of putting an illusion on so big a structure. In other words, the warehouse was truly abandoned and there was nothing Jackie was going to find here.
He turned to move on to the next location on the list. It was at that moment he spotted a very familiar car drive up.
Arnold emerged out of the car and yelled out Jackie's name, absolutely livid.
Jackie turned to run, but Arnold shouted, 'Don't even try it! I'll tackle you to the ground!"
Arnold was being completely serious and Jackie knew he had no chance of outrunning the seasoned law man. So, he reluctantly stayed put while his step-father lividly stomped over.
"Really, Jackie? Haven't you had enough already?"
"How did you find me so quickly?" Jackie asked
"Waller tipped me off about the sign by that underground cave," Arnold explained. "Based on everything we already know about the Wizard, it was a safe bet you'd be snooping at other places owned by the Putts's."
He pressed fingers against his temples and turned away for a few seconds before swiveling back over to Jackie.
"What is with you, Jackie? Why do you have to keep putting yourself in danger like this? Why can't you leave it to the grownups? I know you got issues with me, but don't the other guys on the force deserve your trust? You saw for yourself that we were already very close to getting the Gathering. Why couldn't you just stand back?"
"You heard Waller," Jackie said. "They've lost their connection to the Gathering. There's no chance of you guys getting them in time."
"And whose fault do you think that is?" snapped Arnold. "It was yours, because of your recklessness. Because you didn't think things through."
"I thought it plenty through," said Jackie. "You're the one who can't seem to get the picture."
"Then tell me!" screamed Arnold. "Tell me so I can understand! So that I can help! You are my son, Jackie! I know you don't agree, but that is what you are to me. Jessica trusted me to keep you safe, to raise you in her place, to provide what is best for you. If anything happened to you, I could never look your mother in the eye ever again. And you are . . . You are the only family I have left. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you too."
Jackie could tell that everything Arnold said came from his heart. And he felt a little guilty. But he could not stop at this point.
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Arnold. But I'm not going to stop. I can't."
Arnold looked at Jackie with a face that showed he was at the end of his rope.
"Don't make me lock you up," he implored.
"That is actually a good idea."
Father and son whirled around. To their utter surprise, before them stood Alice. The black robes she wore over her Gathering t-shirt and jeans swayed against the wind. Her face grew ever darker with the shift from day to night.
"Let's just hope this time a spy doesn't show up to spring him loose."
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