Vista Street, Part 1 – Apprentice Wordsmith

The rain had stopped by the time Bern, Sakari, and David emerged above ground. The station opened onto the eponymous Vista Street running along the south bank of the river. Thick mist clung to the water’s surface, blurring the city’s glittering nighttime skyline.

Bern stretched his arms to warm up while they had a few moments. “Yep. Nico was right,” he observed. “There’s definitely Gibberish around here. I can smell ’em.”

“Smell?” Sakari asked.

“You noticed it yesterday, yeah? Kinda metallic, kinda — off, ya know?”

Sakari shook his head no.

“Next time we run into one, keep your nose open. Might just catch a whiff.”

David didn’t like being this close to the river. He didn’t like how it whispered to him. This time, it was a low, rhythmic pulse. Was it a threat or a warning? All he knew was that the sound was stronger when he faced westward. “This way,” he told the others once he summoned enough courage to walk toward it.

“Why?” Bern asked.

David stopped. He looked back and gave the best explanation he could think of. “Got a hunch.”

“Huh.” Bern picked up his skateboard and said, “Well, let’s see if this hunch of yours is right.”

The boys walked west along Vista Street. Many of the street lights’ glass globes were cracked. Most appeared empty. Yet all of them still shone with a cold, amber glow. An inexplicable chill followed them as they headed deeper into the district.

A woman’s voice pierced the stillness. “YOU!!” Sakari, David, and Bern soon spotted her passing through puddles of light as she marched toward them. “How dare you show your faces here again?!”

The three boys looked at each other, utterly confused. “Uh, lady…” Bern started.

“Don’t try to talk your way out of this!” she snapped. “I know what you did. I saw you. I watched you do it.” Now that she was closer, they could see that she had dark wavy hair. Her dark eyes narrowed, and her face contorted in anger.

“And what did we do, exactly?” Sakari asked innocently.

The woman looked at Sakari, stunned speechless for a few seconds. Then she laughed — long, hard, and loud — enough to echo up and down Vista Street. “You’re denying it? You’re actually denying it! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten, you murderous bastards!” The brand on her right hand glowed. With a sweep of her hand, a row of watery orbs appeared in front of her.

Bern and Sakari flinched, recognizing the magic. It must be similar to Nico’s fire and Mia’s lightning.

David sighed. He quietly stepped behind the other two to hide what he was planning to do.

Sakari panicked. “Wait wait wait! You’ve got it all wrong! We — we aren’t the bad guys!”

David found a plank of plywood in a knocked-over trash can. He grabbed a corner with his telekinesis and carefully slid it free.

Bern explained, “Look, lady, we don’t know you or what you’re talking about. We just fucking met, and you’re acting like we killed your homies.”

“We just got here!” Sakari added.

“SHUT UP!!” she yelled.

She took a second to calm herself, then raised her hand. Her orbs of water floated higher into the air. They began circling around her head, faster and faster, building up momentum. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. Her tone was deathly serious. Her anger quietly simmered beneath every word. “I know the truth. And I will avenge them. I will avenge them all. You will pay.”

David moved the plywood behind the woman as she spoke. He raised it up to her head and angled it so the flat side was facing him, Bern, and Sakari.

Sakari saw the plywood and shouted, “Look out!”

Jerking his hand back, David pulled the plywood toward them. It struck the woman in the back of the head and popped her watery orbs. Bern and Sakari ducked. David closed his eyes as the plank flew past, clattering onto the street behind him.

Sakari ran forward to check on the woman.

“The hell, man?!” Bern demanded of David.

The woman wasn’t dead — just unconscious. Sakari asked David, “Why did you do that?! You could’ve killed her!”

“She was wasting our time,” he answered flatly, a neutral expression on his face.

“We can’t just leave her.”

“We can, we will, and we should.” He casually walked up the street, stepping over the unconscious woman and around Sakari.

“How can you…?”

“Simple. She’s not Gibberish. That’s our mission, remember?”

David’s coldness stunned Sakari speechless.

“C’mon. I don’t want to be here when she wakes up.”

David walked away, and Bern silently followed him. Though, Bern paused long enough to give Sakari an I-told-you-so sort of look as he passed by.

Sakari stood and followed behind Bern. He felt bad abandoning the poor woman. But he couldn’t abandon David or Bern either, even if this new side of David unsettled him.