Chapter 6 - Interrogation

“Stay down,” Dustbunny said in a hushed whisper, his ears perking up. “I can hear them coming.”

Only moments later, Rick heard the sound of a helicopter flying overhead. They were on the rooftop of a building, and he crouched down beside some of the air conditioning ducts. As the helicopter passed by, he saw a familiar figure in a trench coat.

“Do they have a machine gun on that thing?” David asked, poking his head up. “They really went all out didn’t they? Interest payments must be crazy.”

“Break me…” Rick swore and ran a hand through his hair. “This is insane. This is so ridiculous.”

“Just cannot catch a break, can we, Rick?” David asked, crouching down next to him.

“We?” Rick croaked. “We? How did I even get roped into all of this?”

“You definitely rolled a one on luck there,” David chuckled. “And you needed a twenty.”

“Who… who are you guys?” Rick asked.

“We are adventurers,” Dustbunny answered, he started balancing on the edge of the building, holding his paws out like he was doing ballet. “We do adventurous things. Kinda like this.”

“You’re insane.”

“So, I’ve been told.” David glanced back to Dustbunny to check and make sure he hadn’t fallen off the building. He hadn’t. Yet. “And who are you, Mr. Grumpy pants?”

“Nobody,” Rick gasped out, his chest still heaving, but his breath was beginning to return. “I’m nobody at all.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” David scoffed. “You adventure with the best of ‘em.”

“I’m a high-schooler, I go to school, I do homework, I go to bed,” Rick said.

“Do you do anything for fun?” David asked.

“I… well, no. Not really.” Rick admitted.

“Why not?” David asked.

“Because I don’t have any friends.” Rick answered. “Maybe just my sister, and…” The thought dawned on him, and he couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized before. “And Taylor. She’s my friend too, but…”

“Oh snap,” David leaned in uncomfortably close. “Is that a little bit of longing I hear in your voice? A little bit of romance?”

“I’m a sucker for a good romance,” Dustbunny nodded.

“Maybe,” Rick said. “Wait, why am I telling you this? I’m mad at you. You have gotten me into so much trouble.”

“It’s a talent.”

Before Rick could object any further, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. He opened it up, and it was a text from Vivian.

“Did you forget my chili?”

“No.” He typed back. “Sorry… got held up. I’ll bring chili and a cookie to make it up to you.”

“You better.” Was what she sent back.

He put his phone away and reached into his pocket to hold the necklace. The necklace that he’d been carrying around all day long, too afraid to give away.

Despite the events of the evening, there was no possible way he could go back home and not have Vivian’s hallowed chili. Maybe, if he left right then he could just swing by a different store and go about his life as if nothing had ever happened.

Sure, he would lay low for a couple of months, just to let things cool down for a bit, but no one would remember him. No one ever remembered Rick because he was the most normal guy in the entire city.

“Hey, David, I… I think it’s time for me to go home.” Rick said. “I’m gonna try to get out of here while I still can, y’know?”

“Leaving so soon?” Dustbunny called. He hopped off his perch and ran over to them, offering a hand for Rick to shake. “It was good meeting you, Mr. Rick.”

“Can we walk you home?” David asked. “I’d hate for you to get taken out by skeletons and henchmen.”

“You know,” Rick thought about it, cause he had a point. “I am gonna have to go home and process exactly what I saw for a while, but I think… I think I can make it. Just keep an eye out, I guess.”

“Can do, will do, sir,” David saluted. The wind rustled through Rick’s hair as he gave his new acquaintances one last look. He started for the stairwell door, mentally preparing himself for the long walk home. Chili, and then home, that’s all that he needed.

But just as Rick approached the door it burst open, and there was Rayne, and beside her Alex. She smiled when she saw them, and it wasn’t a good smile.

“Uh oh,” Rick squeaked.

“Looks like we’re running again,” Dustbunny said calmly. Then he screamed as he ran, very un-calmly.

“Oh, no come on!” Rick yelled chasing after David and Dustbunny as they ran across the roof. He was so tired and scared that he was beginning to lose it. He could feel it. He was slowing down, he was going to get caught, the girl was going to catch him.

“Over here!” David called, and he rushed down a fire escape. The adventure hopped down the steps, a flight at a time. “Come on, just a bit further and I’ll buy you some donuts or somethin’.”

“It certainly won’t help me get in better shape,” Rick wheezed in another breath, but he pushed himself farther. If he could just escape, if he could just run, if he could just hide again, he’d be okay.

He yelped as he stumbled. He missed a step and scraped his leg. It only threw him more off balance. He was almost there though, almost to the bottom, just one flight of stairs left.

“Stop right there!” Rayne roared, and the yell was so close it caught him off guard. Rick flinched, missing another step, but this time he fell forward, bouncing down the rest of the stairs.

Rick O’Brien was vaguely aware of the boy, David, calling after him. He thought he heard the girl say something, but then he also heard his own limp body thumping down the stairs before landing in a dumpster, and everything went black.

***

Rayne was pacing back and forth, her thumb pressed to her lips. Inside the room were Alex, M’natherine, and Marcus. They were all looking through the one-way mirror and into the small room that now contained a young man by the name of Rick Everett O’Brien.

After he’d fallen into the dumpster, David had disappeared. Left his friend behind. Typical, Rayne snorted. Of course, David left him behind because that’s what David did. He left people behind.

He left her behind.

Seeing the adventurer and even Dustbunny, sweet little Dust, had invoked a raging of emotions inside of her. Rayne wouldn’t admit to herself that in their short time together she had trusted them, but she had, and it hurt when they broke that trust.

“So, where we at?” M’natherine asked. Alex sat at a small metal table in the corner, flipping through Rick’s file, looking for any valuable information. He closed the file with a sigh and shrugged.

“So far…” he ran a hand through his dark hair. “I can’t find anything that links him to David. As a matter of fact, everything about this guy is as normal as it gets. We really don’t have that much on him. Just goes to school, lives in Old York, absolutely nothing special.”

“That doesn’t mean too much,” Marcus said, his arms crossed, “when David began causing trouble, he wasn’t even in our database, so the only information we have is eyewitness testimony.” He gestured to Rayne. “What do you think?”

“Me?” she asked and swallowed nervously.

“You have the most experience with him,” Marcus said, “as it stands, you’re the expert here.”

Rayne stepped up to the mirror and looked inside. There was Rick, slumped at the table. He was handcuffed and chained. He had bags under his eyes, and he looked exhausted. There were also some bruises beginning to form on his forearms from where he had fallen earlier.

They had his personal effects in a little basket next to his file. A cell phone, wallet, and a soggy piece of gum along with a grocery list, and perhaps the most interesting… a necklace. The necklace looked hand crafted, a copper chain with a thin copper wire wrapping a blue crystal.

It wasn’t an accumulator, it didn’t glow or hum with magic, but it reminded her of the Oasis Spark all too well. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe, but why would David steal the spark and then the next time she sees him, he’s with a guy who has something very similar?

And that was the question, wasn’t it? What was David really after? What did he want the spark for? To sell it? No… The dragon’s cave where she had found it was full of gold, and countless other treasures, so why take the one that she was after? She reached down and picked up the necklace, examining it in the light.

“I don’t know,” she said aloud, “but I think this necklace has something to do with it. It’s too similar to the Oasis Spark to be a coincidence.”

“A decoy maybe?” Alex asked.

“Accumulators are too obvious compared to regular crystals,” Rayne shook her head.

“Why don’t you ask him?” Marcus said.

“Excuse me?”

“Ask him,” Marcus suggested again, this time gesturing to Rick.

“I mean…” She faltered, “I… I’m not…” Rayne trailed away and looked back into the room. This was what Explorer’s did. So, this was what she was going to do, and she wouldn’t back away. Her mission was to find the Oasis Spark, and this was the biggest lead they’d had since she joined the guild.

Marcus didn’t smile, he never smiled, but he gave her a reassuring nod, and didn’t have to say anything more. Rayne gripped the necklace in her hand and took a deep breath. She put the necklace in her pocket and then grabbed Rick’s file. She found another stack of papers and used some of them to bulk up the file, making it look like they had more information than they actually did.

It was colder in the interrogation chamber, and Rayne felt a tingling on the back of her neck, knowing that all eyes were on her. She kept her composure stiff and straight, just like she’d learned at the academy. Mother approved.

When Rick looked up at her, she could see the fear in his eyes. The confusion, the uncertainty. She eyed him for a moment, letting the tension build in silence, before she sat down in the chair opposite him, nice and slow. She dropped the file on the table. He jolted at the weight, at the sound of it.

“So,” she said, and made sure her Northern accent was just a bit thicker than usual. “Rick Everett O’Brien.” She said each part of his name with emphasis, and she could see the subtle flinch in his eyes each time. “My name is Maralyn Rayne.”

“Do you know why you’re here?” she asked, glancing away, almost uncaring.

“Look,” he said, holding up his hands pleadingly, chains clinking. “Look, if this is about the running thing, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I panicked. I panicked, and I ran, and I don’t know what happened. I just… I just got nervous, scared. I don’t know, but I’m sorry.”

“Now, why would you be so nervous, Rick?” She tapped the table with a finger. “It’s not because you lied to me, is it?” She kept her voice smooth and dangerous, inviting him to say the wrong thing.

“Hey, believe it or not, I was actually trying to avoid this exact situation,” Rick leaned forward, and a bead of sweat rolled down his temple. “I didn’t know who you were, I swear, and I didn’t know who he was, and I just didn’t want this to happen.”

“Well…” Rayne leaned forward, mirroring his position, and she placed the now large file in between them, and she spoke softly, sweetly. Her lips were rose petals and her tongue a thorn. “Either you have the worst luck in Flenever, or you’re lying again.”

“I…” Rick’s nostrils flared. He looked around, as if searching for a way out, but there wasn’t one.

“Tell me about David Echoe.” She said.

“I don’t know anything about him,” he spoke, his voice high pitched, and exasperated. “I’m telling you, I don’t know him, and I’m not, you know I’m not involved with him or anything.”

“So, you just cover for, and run away with everyone you meet at the grocery store?” She raised an eyebrow and gave him a look over the rim of her glasses.

“No…” he answered, dejected.

“I might be inclined to believe your story,” Rayne gave him an understanding nod, “but the problem I have is this.” She pulled out the necklace, her trump card. When Rick saw it, his eyes widened, and his shoulders slumped, and he exhaled with relief.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Rick almost laughed, “I thought I’d lost it.”

“What’s so special about this necklace, Rick?” she toyed with the item. “Because David just so happens to have a piece that looks quite similar.”

“It’s… just my necklace?” He said questioning.

“An interesting piece.” Rayne wrapped the copper chain around her fingers. “Where’d you get it?”

“The craft shop on South Avenue,” Rick explained, “look, the necklace isn’t important. I mean, not really, it’s… it’s something that I put together for someone I like, alright?”

Rayne’s silver eyes watched Rick’s face. He was pleading, desperate, scared. He was a nobody, and he seemed like he was bordering on a nervous breakdown. Could he really be an accomplice?

“Why was the Skeleton Mafia after you?” Rayne asked.

“That’s…” Rick closed his eyes, his brow furrowed, “that’s a whole story, we were… we were running away from you guys, and we fell down a trap door, and it sounds stupid, cartoonish even, but that’s what happened.”

“So, you fell through a trap door, and…”

“And we ran into the mafia,” Rick shuddered at something, “it’s leader was a… a skeleton man. Like an actual skeleton.” Rick looked up at that, his eyes widening. “He did say something, though. He knew David and Dustbunny, they’ve met before or whatever, but the skeleton guy said that David had a powerful artifact.”

“Now we’re talking.” Rayne put the necklace on the table and slid it towards him. It was just out of reach, but it was closer. It was convincing.

“He said that there were some bad guys looking for it. Whatever it was, I don’t know. He didn’t say.” Rick continued, eyes glancing at the necklace. “He wanted to kidnap us and take us to them, to the bad guys, I guess.”

“They didn’t say who these ‘bad guys’ were?” Rayne asked, because this was new, this was real information. Someone else knew that David had the spark, and they wanted it too, but why?

“No,” Rick shook his head, “that’s when we escaped, and ran past you guys in the street.”

Rayne fell quiet for a long moment. She had a lot of things running through her mind, a lot of questions. She had a decision to make, though. Was Rick who he said he was? Rayne knew how easily David could manipulate and befriend, and all she could see in Rick was a scared boy.

She clutched the necklace in her hand and scooped up the file, standing up and making her way toward the door.

“Wait, wait,” Rick said, confused, “what’s- are you going to let me go or…?”

“We’ll see,” Rayne said, and closed the door behind her. As soon as it shut, her shoulders slumped, and she exhaled deeply.

“Not gonna lie,” Alex said, looking at her with slight terror in his eyes. “It was a little scary how well you took to that.”

“It’s amazing what you pick up at an all-girls school,” Rayne smirked.

“Good job,” Marcus nodded. “Very good job, Rayne. What’s your read on the situation?”

“He’s convincing,” Rayne said, “but so is David. It’s like I said in there. Either he’s got the worst luck, or he’s more dangerous than I want to think he is.”

“Now, look,” Alex piped in, “I haven’t really met David, but when we were chasing him, he just ran. Not to mention he’s around our age, and he’s not even an Explorer. Aren’t we maybe overestimating him a bit?”

“No,” said Marcus, and M’natherine in unison.

Rayne frowned at that. Who was David to illicit such a response from two of the top Explorers in the guild? Marcus’s face was hard, it always was, and she couldn’t glean any information from his expression. Was he hiding something, perhaps?

She opened her mouth to speak when the lights in the room flickered. Once, twice, then it all went dark for longer, and then came back on again.

“Did Graham forget to pay the electric bill again?” M’natherine sighed.

“No…” Marcus mused, glancing from the interrogation room and up toward the lights. “I don’t think so. Rayne, come with me. We’ll go check it out.”

She was beside him in an instant, ready to follow any order.

“Alex, go get your gun,” M’natherine said. “And bring me my sword. I’m gonna go check outside.”

Rayne took one last look at Rick. At the dejected boy staring towards the glass. She knew he couldn’t see anything, but it felt like he was looking right at her. For a moment, she wondered if he might try to escape, but then pushed the thought away.

Escape was impossible.