Chapter 8: Homebound

An hour later. Ethan Greaves sat in the back seat of a black sedan. A man named Jay Showyer rode beside him, while Faye Gilholm sat up front in the passenger seat. The driver was bald and wore a razor-sharp suit. A glaring mole sat at the corner of his mouth, and, like some kind of criminal evidence, a single curled hair sprouted from it. Ethan watched the scenery slide past the window and coughed twice. Jay thoughtfully passed him a bottle of water. "Where are we going?" Ethan asked. "Star City." Ethan blinked, surprised. "You're taking me home?" Jay laughed. "You could say that. We came from Star City in the first place." Ethan couldn't quite wrap his head around it. "If you're with the Demon Suppression Bureau, doesn't Sea City have Demon Suppression Bureau people too?" Jay scratched his head, helpless. "That's… complicated." From the front seat, Faye let out an unkind, cutting laugh. "If the Sea City team could've found that Demon Realm, we wouldn't be dealing with this so late in the game." Ethan heard it clearly. There was history in that line, something personal and sharp. "You should get some rest," Jay said. "Once we reach Star City, you'll be busy." Ethan frowned but didn't respond. Jay seemed to catch the worry behind his silence. "Relax. We just want to know what you went through in the Demon Realm." Ethan paused, then asked, "What exactly is a Demon Realm?" Jay froze, puzzled. "You've never heard of it?" "I've seen bits and pieces online, maybe. Too many versions. Nothing definitive." Jay fell quiet for a moment before he explained, "Think of it like this. When a place gathers enough Demon Soul, or a Demon Soul strong enough, that whole area can form a Demon Realm. "When a Demon Creature gets cut down, it leaves Demon Soul Residue behind. Some of that residue can corrode an object nearby. Worse, it can latch onto a person. Those cases aren't too hard to handle. The hard part is a Demon Realm." Ethan half understood. He nodded stiffly anyway. "Honestly…" Jay's voice turned heavy with emotion. "These past few years, it was all because Senior Spears kept that Demon Realm suppressed. If it hadn't been for her, a Demon Realm of that level spreading freely… it'd be-" "What would happen?" Ethan asked. "The whole Sea City would be eaten away." Jay looked him straight in the eye. "Picture it. A city completely corroded and smothered by a Demon Realm. What do you think the outcome would be? Tens of millions of people turned into fuel. Everywhere you looked, nothing but crimson… Heh. That would be hell on earth." Ethan sat there, stunned, his respect for Ivy Spears deepening by the second. "Oh, right. This is yours, isn't it?" Jay suddenly pulled out a plastic bag. Inside was Ethan's MP3 Player. "Thanks." "No problem. Your bag's still here too. We found everything in the car." Jay glanced at it with interest. "Kind of nostalgic. People still use these to listen to music?" Ethan gave a small laugh. "Just to kill time. It's old. I didn't think it still worked. Want to try it?" "No." Jay's face turned dead serious. "Anything below 5.1 Dolby is basically pouring trash straight into your ears." "...What?" Ethan stared at him, baffled. What was wrong with this guy? "By the way," Ethan said, sobering, "besides the MP3 Player… there should've been a piece of jade, right?" "You mean the Spirit Jade?" Jay said. "When we found you, you were gripping it like your life depended on it. Took me everything I had to pry your fingers open. Senior Spears taught you about it, didn't she?" Ethan nodded. "We're holding onto the Spirit Jade for now. We can't give it back to you," Faye said from the front. "Oh." Ethan didn't argue. It hadn't been his to begin with. They drove to Star City, and it was a long haul. The highway offered nothing worth looking at. Ethan slowly closed his eyes and tried to rest. He didn't know how long he slept. When someone finally woke him, they had reached a service area halfway through the trip. "Where are we?" Ethan asked. "White City. About three more hours," Jay said. Ethan nodded and headed for the restroom. Inside, the lighting was dim, and the air reeked of harsh disinfectant. Near the entrance, two middle-aged men leaned against the wall smoking. Ethan couldn't understand the mindset. Why did so many people insist on smoking in a bathroom of all places? He had barely unzipped when Jay walked up and, of all the empty spots, chose the one right next to him. "Sweet duo queue!" Jay grinned, far too pleased with himself. Ethan glanced around. A dozen stalls stood empty. This kind of behavior, the need to pick the spot beside someone else, felt downright inhuman. "You not heading out?" Jay asked. "I'm taking a dump," Ethan said, face darkening. "Alright, hurry up then. I'll grab you something to eat." After Jay left, Ethan finally went into a stall. *That man's probably a pervert,* he thought. He still didn't know why they'd taken his phone for the time being. Sure, he'd been traveling with it turned off, but "not having it" and "having it but choosing not to use it" were two completely different kinds of empty. In the next stall over, the guy sounded young. He was still on a call, loud enough to echo, his voice thick with complaint. "Are you even human? I drove eight hours for you, and you won't even let me see your face. You're just sending me away?" "What? Your family doesn't approve? I don't get it. We're dating. What does your family have to approve?" "What? Your husband doesn't approve? You-" Ethan couldn't hold it in. He laughed. The guy on the other side rapped his knuckles against the partition, making his displeasure known. Ethan had nothing better to do. He took out his MP3 Player again. He opened the plastic bag and saw it still had one bar of battery left. He shoved the headphones into his ears and pressed play. The sound quality wasn't great. There was even a faint hiss, a static buzz. But for Ethan, every song inside was a snapshot of some chapter of his adolescence. Then the music started to drift, growing distant and then close again, like it couldn't decide where it belonged. He pulled the plug and pushed it back in. He bent the cable, tried to coax the connection into place. Nothing helped. A moment later, both earbuds fell silent. All he could hear was a weak electrical whine. Ethan frowned, about to shut the MP3 Player off. Then a voice slipped into his ears, and cold ran down his spine. "Hee-hee… big brother, wanna jump rope?" Familiar. And chilling.