Several years ago . . .
Little Jackie Li, barely out of kindergarten, was curled up in the back corner of his bedroom. Arnold was outside, knocking on the door and asking to be let in. But Jackie ignored him.
Finally, Arnold gave up. He stared at the locked white door and sighed. Staring back was a poster hanging on the door of Captain America pointing ahead, as if to scold the boy's guardian.
"Yeah, yeah," Arnold said dejectedly at the poster. "I know I screwed up."
News broke this morning that Eleanor Jones had been murdered. Since then, Jackie had sealed himself in his bedroom.
For the last few weeks, Jackie had complained about noticing something strange around one of their neighbors, a woman named Eleanor Jones. Miss Jones was known in the apartment complex to have some bouts of odd behaviors, which Arnold himself had witnessed from time to time, talking to things that weren't there or staring at empty spaces for prolonged periods of time. But she seemed a pleasant enough person, so Arnold never saw anything wrong with allowing her to watch over his stepson for him while he was away on work. Until Jackie started making those wild claims that a monster was following her.
No one believed the little boy. Even the lady in question herself dismissed his concerns. But Jackie insisted that Miss Jones was in trouble and even went as far as to call Nine-One-One, resulting in an embarrassing situation for Arnold with his fellow police officers. Arnold grounded Jackie and decided then and there to cut all ties between his son and Miss Jones.
Jackie didn't like that and his claims of a dangerous monster going to hurt Miss Jones persisted.
Finally, Arnold snapped and told Jackie that monsters were not real and yelled at him to go to his room.
A few days later, Miss Jones moved out to a different apartment complex elsewhere. Following that, came the news. The details were not pretty.
It didn't take a genius to realize that Jackie had been right about Eleanor Jones being in trouble all along. But it was too late now. Way too late. For Miss Jones and Arnold.
**********
Present day, Arnold sat on the couch watching his stepson scurrying around the dirty abandoned warehouse they found themselves trapped in. While Jackie busied himself by trying to find a means of escape, Arnold slowly let sink the revelations that Jackie had presented.
He really wanted it all to be some kind sick joke. But the reality was both he and Jackie had been levitated off their feet and flung into this forsaken place by Alice using something like the Force. That was about as supernatural as supernatural could get.
It was definitely a freaky experience. Downright scary even. But something from the experience stood out above all else to the police officer of several years now.
"Take care of him for me, Officer! I'm counting on you!" Alice had said.
"She did that to protect us!" Jackie had yelled at him. "To keep us somewhere safe! Alice is definitely NOT on board. She's actually going to stop the Ritual or die trying!"
And then came flashes from the distant past when both those two were no taller than the height of his waist: what happened with Eleanor Jones.
Arnold sighed and then got off the old couch with a grunt. "Jackie. Jackie!"
Jackie was muttering softly to himself ideas while staring at the window up at the second story level when he heard his name called and stopped. Sourly, he snapped, "What?"
"Tell me everything you know about the Gathering, especially the Wizard," Arnold said.
Jackie frowned. "Why?"
Arnold answered, "Because if we're going to save Alice, I need as much info as I can. It'd be great if you even know of a way to handle those invisible monsters."
Jackie stared at Arnold in disbelief.
"Please, Jackie," his step-father implored softly. "I've known Alice for almost as long as you have. I know she's a good kid, and I want to help her. Please tell me everything."
Jackie hesitated. He still could not completely shake his distrust. But time was of the essence and he knew he needed help if he was to get out of this warehouse. So, after mustering up his courage, he talked. This time, he truly told Arnold everything. From knowing about Alice's special eyes since they were kids to discovering Waller had his own special eyes, about the monsters they could see to finding out what they were called from the Rat. He spilled Daisy's past too. And then he revealed something he just discovered a couple of hours ago: the Wizard's true identity.
Arnold frowned. "Are you sure?"
Jackie nodded. "It makes sense when you think about it. I mean, look where we are."
He waved his hand about to ceiling above and Arnold looked around the warehouse.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But that still leaves one question. Where's the Gathering if not here?"
"Apart from this warehouse, there are two places left they could be at now," said Jackie. "Everything else under the Putts name's been taken by someone else. The first is the Putts family home. It's got just enough rooms for all the Gathering members if they share. Actually, I'm pretty sure the house is their main headquarters."
"Then why come here?" asked Arnold. "Why not go straight to the house?"
Not that he was complaining since he didn't think about the house either and still managed to catch up with Jackie.
"Because I figured the house was too small for the Ritual," Jackie replied. "Otherwise the Wizard would be holding those Gathering rallies there too. Either that, or he didn't want to ruin a nice house with occult stuff. The warehouse has plenty of space for lots of people and it's secluded enough to do something wizardly without being bothered. I was hoping to do something to sabotage the Ritual before they could get started. But since it looks like they're not using this place at all, (well, except for keeping us prisoners), that just leaves the last place."
"Which is?" asked Arnold.
"A restaurant," said Jackie. "On the second floor of a big hotel. The hotel is still operating and it looks like they're still looking for someone to lease the place out. But I saw complaints online from people looking to buy that they got turned away because someone already got the contract. I don't know for sure if there's really any truth to that, but if it is true, something tells me a little Wizard magic has something to do with it. It wouldn't make any sense to keep the ad up looking for people to use the restaurant otherwise."
"Wait," said Arnold. "If the Wizard can use his magic to get the hotel folks to help him stop someone from taking the restaurant, can't he use that same magic to take any other place? Why bother with places that are pretty much abandoned?"
"Pride, for one," said Jackie. "But the bigger reason is he just can't. His powers have limits. That's why he's keeping to the abandoned places for now. Less trouble to deal with."
Arnold nodded. "Alright. I already know about the restaurant and the house. If I can just get a call to the station, we can have cops swarming both places. I'm guessing the Chief must know about Waller's special eyes and about magic and invisible monsters. He's probably got others on his payroll who specializes in these sorts of cases."
"Wouldn't surprise me if that's what his spy program is really all about," said Jackie.
"Only problem is," Arnold continued, "my phone's in the car."
"And mine's locked in your room," Jackie added.
The stepfather and stepson pair looked at one another.
"How are we getting out of here?"
"Well, since the only door's locked, I guess through the window?"
Arnold looked up. "Pretty high up, the window."
"Well," Jackie said, turning his gaze to the couch, "we have that."
Arnold looked at the piece of old furniture and then rolled up his sleeves.
Together, he and Jackie lifted the sofa up and brought it to one of the windows missing its glass pane. Once below the empty steel frame, they lifted one side of the couch up, which reached the window short a couple of feet. Not unexpected.
With the couch up against the wall, then came the next phase of their great escape plan: Arnold boosting Jackie up so he could climb up the couch and reach the window. Jackie put his foot on Arnold's cupped hands and was flung up to the couch's left side now up. Using that side as a platform while Arnold kept the couch steady, Jackie reached up for the window sill, only to his frustration discover that it was still a few inches out of reach.
"Careful, Jackie," Arnold said as he nervously watched his stepson stand on his tiptoes to try and reach their ticket out of the warehouse.
Jackie, however, was too focused on the window sill to hear.
"Almost . . . there," he grunted.
He decided to try hopping, so he did. It worked and he managed to grab the window sill. But at the same time, gravity brought him back down and his grip wasn't strong enough. The way out literally slipped from his fingers. Or should it be vice versa?
Jackie fell back down onto the makeshift platform. His sudden weight caused the couch to wobble strong enough that Arnold couldn't hold on.
"Whoa!"
Both Jackie and the couch fell. Arnold dove to catch him, but the couch got in his way and there was no way he would make it in time anyway. But to everyone's relief and astonishment, Jackie didn't crash onto the hard ground. Instead, he floated midair. At least, it looked like he was floating in midair.
Jackie didn't feel like he was floating. Instead, he felt like he was lying in arms like a baby lying in the arms of its mother. It didn't take him long to realize he had just been saved by an invisible monster.
Gingerly, the unseen monster used one hand to put Jackie into the sitting position before lifting him up by the back of his shirt. The moment it did, Jackie figured out that it was a monster he had encountered before.
"Thanks," he said after his feet touched down and he looked up. He couldn't see anything but warehouse walls, but he knew he was speaking to someone there.
Arnold rushed over from around the fallen couch. "You okay?" he asked, looking up and down for any injuries. "Hurt anywhere."
Jackie answered reassured, "I'm fine. Not hurt anywhere. See?"
He jumped up and down to show he was uninjured, bringing relief to his parent who calmed down and then glanced at the empty space Jackie had given a look.
"I suppose some thanks are in order," the police officer said to the empty space. It was embarrassing, but he swallowed the feeling down. "Thanks for saving Jackie. Seriously."
There was no response, making Arnold second-guess himself and wonder if he really was just talking to air. But then Jackie stepped in with some instructions, some questions, and then a request.
"Stomp your foot once for 'yes' and twice for 'no'. Have we met before?"
There was a single, dull thump. "Yes."
That confirms it, Jackie thought before moving on to the next question. This monster was the same one that worked for Zak back in that back alley.
"Did you come with Alice?"
Two thumps, "No."
"Why are you here?"
Silence.
"Oh, right. Sorry. Did you follow me here?"
One thump, "Yes."
"Why?" Jackie asked again. But then a thought crossed his mind and he added, "Were you following me because you were worried about me?"
One thump.
"Were you looking out for me? Trying to keep me safe?"
Again, one thump.
It must want to pay me back for saving it from Liu, Jackie realized. Excitement started to rise in him.
"Did you want to help me?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to help me right now?"
Once more, "Yes."
Jackie smiled. Things were really looking up for him now, he thought.
Without wasting any more time, he got to his request.
"Then can you please bust that door open?"
After an affirmative thump, more thumps followed along with clouds of dirt trailing towards the sheet of steel barring the exit. Huge hand prints dented the edge. Each finger was probably as long and thick as Arnold's legs. All it took was a single yank for the door to be pried open with a brief but sharp squeal and the chain and lock snapped.
Arnold stared at the now clear opening and shook his head. He muttered mostly to himself, "Nothing surprises me anymore."
Together, he and Jackie stepped outside and looked around, basking in fresh air and freedom.
"Alright," Arnold said. "Let's get in the car and-!"
He cut himself short when he turned and saw Jackie floating in the air again, looking like he was sitting on an invisible high chair close to ten feet tall. Dread instantly seized the police officer.
"Jackie, what do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, Arnold," Jackie said from atop the shoulder of the Egregor. "But we can't wait for the police to get ready. The Ritual has to be stopped now."
His words made true Arnold's dreadful prediction.
"Jackie, get down from there now! You can't stop the Ritual alone. At least bring me with you!"
But despite Arnold's plea, Jackie shook his head in refusal. And then he whispered next to him, "Go."
"Jackie!"
Arnold chased after the flying teen. But his stepson's steed was too fast and inexhaustible for Arnold's human legs and stamina.
Before long, Jackie was just a speck in the horizon, leaving Arnold alone in the middle of nowhere.
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