“We talked about this, Carl,” Donut said as she started to cast.
But before she could, the garage door started to open. And from within, a car revved up.
“Shit,” Louis said, backing away. “We have less than an hour left. We’re too late. They can go to the starting line!”
“So?” I said, also backing up. “Cast! Cast!”
“We can’t,” Imani said, also stepping off the driveway. The GTO pulled out of the garage. Within, both Rapture and Genesis cackled with laughter.
“You think we didn’t hear you out there?” Rapture asked. Across the cul-de-sac, a road leading up to the starting block appeared. And just beyond it, a massive factory loomed. The building hadn’t been there just a moment before. Dark clouds hung over the plant. A flickering neon sign hung from the top of the dilapidated multistory building. It read, “Gasworks Screw Factory, Steel Mill, and Doll Workshop.” And under it, a smallersign read, “There’s no cocaine in here.” Sparks flew from the sign.
“Hey, Porky,” called Genesis, who was driving. Corky remained in the back of the car, passed out as usual. “Wanna hop in?”
“We’ll treat you real good,” added Rapture. She patted the outside door of the car with her lower arm. “We’d love to have a matched set.”
“We can’t attack them when they’re on their way to the starting blocks,” Imani said. “They’re in the car, and they’re safe.”
“Shit,” I said.
“Why you keep thinking we’s dumb?” Rapture asked me. “You don’t think we didn’t hear about the fleshmancer you had at the bar? Corky is ours, not yours. And where’s that crusty old stripper guy? He’s not his, either. We’ll unzip Corky and let him spill before we let you have him.”
“Yeah. You got your own gimp. Keep your paws off ours. He’s nontransferable,” Genesis said. She revved the engine a few times.
The tires on the GTO glowed yellow, and they looked to be literally made of gold. That was new.
“See you in the factory,” Rapture said as they pulled onto the road. Behind them, the garage door started to close.
“Stripper?” Porky asked, turning. His single eye focused on me. Even through the suit, I could see he was enraged. “You failed to mention Dong was a part of this little endeavor.”
“I suppose this means we’ll have to wait until after the next race to do this,” Donut said.
Bucket Boy: He’s getting worse! He’s really upset! I don’t know how much time he has! I don’t know what to do!
Mordecai: Okay, guys. We’re busy prepping for the Li Na exit, but we just took a look at Dong. I think we know what this is. It’s called Negative ROI for some reason, but Mistress Tiatha believes it’s really a curse that’s also called Separation Anxiety. If that’s the case, a temple isn’t going to help him. It’s not good. We’ll need the sock back, and we’ll need every single coin he lost. Otherwise?—
Donut: OH NO! A HUNDRED DIFFERENT NPCS TOOK THE NICKELS! WE’LL NEVER GET THEM ALL BACK!
Mordecai: We don’t have the sock, either. It probably teleported to Hungry Eyes, where it got picked up by an NPC or another crawler. That’s what sapient weapons do. They use their owners until they can’t anymore, and then they move on to someone else. I’m sorry, guys. Even I didn’t see it coming. That was a particularly insidious one. Its danger was masked by its stupid origin story.
Imani jogged off without another word, heading toward our garage. If anyone in the group could save Dong, it would be her. Jacobus zipped after her.
“Goddamnit,” I said, sitting down on the curb. The quest would fail if Dong was dead. But worse, this was all my fault.Ihad given him that sock, which I’d originally gotten from Quan Ch.
Porky stood there, fuming. I, once again, felt like an enormous asshole.
I thought of Li Na sitting in the guildhall, waiting for us to say goodbye. She’d been completely drained of any shred of humanity. We had to get her away from the rest of us just to keep her and ourselves alive.
Was I different? Dong was an NPC. But he was also my friend. Yes, we needed to complete this quest. It was crucial. But I could’ve been less of a prick about it, and I knew that.
Jasha and Radoslav sat watching, talking with Osvaldo and Filipe. All four raised their hands in greeting. I also saw Dwight was out here still unconscious, though he’d be awake in a minute or two. He’d been dumped in front of his garage.
Donut jumped to my shoulder. “We have to do something,” she said.
I didn’t know if we could, but there was at least one wrong I could right and still complete the quest. I stood, and I started striding toward our garage. Everyone else scrambled to catch up.
“We can’t wait until after the race,” I said. “Porky, you’re going to have to put your big-boy pants on. Yes, Dong is here. Yes, I understand you two don’t like each other, but you’re going to get over it. This is to saveyourlife. Grigori, you’re going to spend the next half hour learning how to drive just in case we need you.”
“Drive?” the mage asked.