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“Are you telling me that we’re about to take a walk though Never Never Land?” Bret asked with scorn.
“You don’t fucking know what your saying.” A.J. snarled. “Then again, how could you? You’ve never seen a six-headed beast rip apart your friends in front of your very eyes knowing all too well that there’s absolutely nothing you can do. How could you possibly know?” He turned away, not wanting the group to see that tears that threatened to spill over at any moment.
Jarred, seeing how much Bret’s words had hurt this old man, and wanting very much to learn more about his story, placed his arm around the older man. “You okay?”
“Oh God, I don’t know D. How can I make them see? I don’t want them to learn the hard way, the way we did. How many do they have to loose before they realize that this shit is serious? Dargonna told me it would be difficult. Did I listen? Hell no. She could have come herself, she would have made them see that their lives depend on what I’m saying to them. But they’ve yet to enter Kinsod, yet. Perhaps that will persuade them. Yeah, what you think Howie?” A.J. looked up, and found, much to his surprise, that the face staring at him with concern was not that of his friend’s.
A.J. shoved away from Jarred, embarrasses at what he had just said. “I know who Howie is, and I know who you are.” Jarred spoke softly, not sure whether the others were ready to hear this or not.
“No shit. The Challenges are quite rewarding, for those who survive them, that is. Mind-reading is only one of the dozens of gifts.” the old man snapped.
Jarred didn’t flinch. The others watched the pair, shocked that their friend knew anything about this strange man, but knowing that this wasn’t their fight. “And Howie? What happened to him?”
McLean snorted, “He wasn’t strong enough. I was. Simple as that.” He turned to glare at the Latino, daring him to throw a counterattack.
The older man’s stare didn’t phase the younger one. “And Brian? Kevin, Nick? Where did they go? Were they ‘strong enough’?”
“Nick is alive, if that’s what your asking. He would have died had Brian not stopped that bastard from killing Nick.” A.J.’s words were the last straw for Sean. Everyone was completely and utterly lost.
“What the fuck are you two talking about? Jarred? You actually know what he’s talking about? What do you know about all this? Who’s Brian, Kevin, Nick, Howie? Who are they, and what do they have to do with all this?” Sean exploded. He’d kept quiet long enough, he wanted answers. He couldn’t help but wonder why Jarred had kept this from the group for so long.
“Please, Sean, like you don’t know. Brian, Kevin, Howie, Nick, and A.J. were part of the group called the Backstreet Boys. Twenty years ago, they were the hottest pop group since the Beatles. They even out-did the Beatles, selling more albums, having more number one hits, and twice the amount of screaming girls. Then, just two weeks after the release of their twelfth album, poof. They disappeared. They just vanished out of thin air, right our of wives’ and girlfriends’ arms. There was a massive search party, but nothing came of it. Eventually the search parties gave up. Police were clueless, no bodies, no blood, no murder weapon, no sign of a struggle. And, most importantly, no Backstreet Boys.” Even A.J. was shocked at the clarity of Bret’s speech. Bret glared at the others, daring them to raise a protest.
“Very good, boy. Now if you’d be so kind, the Drag Queen will be most annoyed if we are late.” A.J. stated, turning once more to the opening. To his annoyance, no one followed.
“You still haven’t answered my first question. Who is the Drag Queen?” Amanda quizzed the older man, stepping up to face him.
He frowned in response. “If I answer, will you just shut up until we reach our destination?”
“Yes.” Amanda answered instantly without hesitation.
“Amanda,” Zach hissed, “how do we know we can trust him?” The woman turned to face her husband.
“Well, who else are we going to follow? Sean hasn’t been doing such a good job of follow the leader. At least this guy knows where he’s going.” she snapped. Zach frowned and shook his head, but remained quiet.
“As for your question, ‘Drag Queen’ is my nickname for Dargonna, the unicorn that controls this portion of Kinsod. You must have respect for her, just because I call her Drag Queen doesn’t mean you can. She knows me. You punks, however, she has never met. Got it kiddies?” he waited for a nod from the group before continuing.
“There are fifteen point three sections of Kinsod, don’t ask me why, there just is. Dargonna controls the area that we will enter through this door. I am taking y’all to her, for she is the one that will be best able to describe the situation in terms you people can understand.
“Leader is actually a bad term, she’s more like a manager. There are fifteen point three leaders of Kinsod, and each has his or her own unicorn to take care of their land. Dargonna’s owner is called Sogno, he is the one who choose you.
“Oh, one last thing. Once we enter Kinsod, you’re gonna see a lot of funky things. Touch nothing. Everything belongs to the fifteen point three owners, and some get very mad when you mess with there stuff. Sogno won’t be thrilled, but at least he won’t kill you slowly. There is another region right next to Dargonna’s, it belongs to the same guy who picked the Backstreet Boys to come here and try to do what y’all are about to do. We kinda failed, so Abbruch throws a hissy fit every time me or Nick tries to get in.
“Okay, that’s it, any questions?” A.J. said, looking around at the shocked faces and remembering when his Boys had looked like that. They hadn’t stayed shocked for long, Abbruch’s unicorn, Violenza, had made sure of that. He shook the thoughts from his head, hoping, for the group’s sake, that Sogno was more forgiving than Abbruch had been.