David, Bern, and Sakari traced the crab’s path through the intersection and beyond it. Bern followed his nose and David his growing sense of dread as they passed by the darkened offices of accountants, lawyers, and insurance agents. Only the bank’s neon sign still glowed.

In the dim light, Bern noticed wooden debris littering the street. Something told him that it wasn’t a storm that tore off these twigs and tree branches. Sakari paused long enough to catch a feather kicked up by a passing breeze. It was a dull, unnatural blue.

The curving street led them to a wide, tiered square built into the side of a hill. It was too quiet, even for nighttime. The square’s central fountain stood still and silent. The grass and shrubbery were immaculate. Yet all of the trees bore recent scarring, like something was deliberately ripping their branches off.

Bern looked up at the two-story brick building standing at the top of the hill. “Ya think they’ve holed up in the Old Courthouse?” he asked Sakari.

“Gotta be,” Sakari answered confidently, even though he’d never seen the place before. The architecture looked centuries older than the rest of the city. He could only guess at the history that happened here.

The boys walked up to the Old Courthouse. Its wooden double doors were open. None of them could see into the shadows beyond.

A burst of neon blue shot out of the doors, circling around to their left. Whatever it was kicked up a gust of wind that made the boys freeze. A loud caw caught their attention. A six-foot-tall heron stood behind them. It was mostly neck and legs with a long, sharp beak. The Gibberish was covered in neon blue feathers, crowned with fluorescent amber. It cawed angrily again, spreading its wings to puff itself up.

“You wanna party, roadrunner?” Bern taunted the beast. “Well, do ya?!”

Recognizing the tone of his ally’s voice, David turned to his partner. “Sakari, make sure Bern gets out of this alive.”

“Gotcha,” Sakari replied as he readied his sword.

David used his telekinesis to uproot a park bench and fling it at the giant bird. But for all that effort, all it did was clip the heron’s wing. At least a surprised squawk confirmed a hit.

Bern cut loose with a loud war cry. He swung wildly at the bird’s tall legs. The bird kicked him away, sending him tumbling onto the cobblestones.

Fearing the worst, Sakari rushed in to attack the heron with his sword. David grabbed a shovel, ran behind Sakari, and threw it at the heron like a javelin. The shovel grazed the bird’s neck. It let out a painful scream and shook its head, trying to recover from the blow.

Panting heavily, Bern stood then ran in to take a couple more swings at the Gibberish. Both of his attacks struck true: once in the thigh, and once in the chest. The heron let out a final caw before disappearing into black smoke.

Bern continued swinging at the drifting smoke then empty air, oblivious to his victory. When Sakari realized what happened, he jumped and shouted for joy. David laughed out loud and applauded. It was stunts like the one Bern just pulled that taught David years ago to never underestimate him.

His energy and adrenaline gone, Bern dropped to his knees then collapsed. Celebration morphing into concern, Sakari dismissed his sword and ran to Bern. Sakari shook him, asking, “Hey, you okay?”

Bern looked up at Sakari bleary-eyed. “Did — did we get ‘im?” he asked weakly.

“Yeah, a while ago, thanks to you cutting loose.”

Bern smiled. “I knew that’d do the trick.”

David joined them, picking up Bern’s dropped skateboard along the way. “I think that’s the end of them. Either we cleared the place out or scared the rest away.”

Bern propped himself up and pointed at David. “Oy. You do anything to my board…” he threatened.

“He won’t,” Sakari assured him. “Let’s just get outta here.” He looked up at David, who nodded in agreement. Sakari pulled Bern onto his feet, wrapping Bern’s arm around his shoulders.

Bern hissed through his teeth. “Thanks,” he whispered to Sakari.

David pulled out his cellphone as the three of them slowly made their way back down the square. “I’ll message the others — let them know we’re done. Maybe we can head straight to Silver Arches.”

“I’d like to see Rianne,” Bern said.

“No kidding,” Sakari replied. “But subway first, okay?”

Bern nodded, clearly spent.

D: Vista Street cleared. Top priority fulfilled.

D: We’re heading back to the subway now. Bern needs to heal up, so we want to go straight to Silver Arches. Cara, Mia, can we meet you there?

©2026 Skyla Caldwell. All rights reserved.