adventures v5.5 second episode

Chapter 2 – Alvy and Max
Outside, the air was chilly, foretelling the coming winter. I’d Alvy by my side trotting down a street I’d honestly never been to. I was pretty lost. She was breathing heavily.
“There’s a cute café I wanna show you,” she said promptly.
“Do you /ever/ use those stairs?” I asked. Alvy gasped at me. “Yes or no answer, I don’t /expect/ someone like you to use stairs.”
“Now how could /you/ possibly know /that/ love?” she smiled her words into me.
“You come from my imagination, I know everything about you already,” I looked up, into a sky full of too many stars for a city night. Strange. “This place is surreal,” I sighed.
“Shows you hardly know a thing,” Alvy skipped a few steps, waited for me ahead by the corner and walked alongside again after turning me right. “I want some ice cream. Reckon chocolate will be a nice break from,” she paused. “Mints…”
A small cornershop was beside the café we walked into. Typical tiny place with an odd scent of tobacco lurking in the air. Wooden panels, brightly lit.
“Alright Alvy,” the girl behind the counter hailed.
“Whaddup Sammy,” Alvy said, hanging up her jacket on the wall. “Fancy you could /whip/ me and my boyfriend up some …” her voice trailed away naughtily.
“Aye, so that’s who he is,” Sammy smiled. I simply turned my left palm to the air and looked at Alvy, the first of what would become known as my ‘what the fuck Alvy?!’ look.  Normally, I’m used to getting ‘what the fuck Max?!’ looks from people, and now I felt their pain.
I walked over to the windowside table for two, taking the corner. Alvy looked outside worriedly before sitting down.
“I’ve got so much to do now, oh my god,” she sighed.
“Stuff?”
“Nah blud, not stuff. I do stuff automatically,” she looked out the window again.
“What can I help with?”
“Everything,” she looked back. “That’s why you’re here, innit?”
Sammy arrived with two big bowls of ice cream. Chocolate with sugar sprinkles for Alvy, giant chocolate-chip mint scoop for me. How in the world did she know the order?
“She swings both ways, mind ye,” Sammy smiled with a don’t-fuck-this-up-or-I’ll-kill-you tone of voice.
“I’m up for threesomes,” I quipped.
“Max!” Alvy turned at me, gasping into her hands on her mouth with a giggle. She put her hands down and gave Sammy the brightest look of appreciation anyone could ever get. “Thanks pet, I’ll let you know before I leave.”
Sammy walked away and I found myself biting my lips at Alvy again. “Queen, huh. They all love you loads.”
“Fears,” Alvy corrected me, digging into her ice cream with a spoon immediately. She was going to mush it all up. And as fast as she’d started she shoved a giant spoonful into her mouth. “Loads!” she finished, giggling childishly. Hot.
“And loves,” I insisted, picking out the chocolate-chips and putting them all under a giant chunk of mint cream. Alvy literally reached into her bra, pulling out a joint and a lighter.
“Sammy, ashtrays!” she barked.
Sammy appeared in seconds with one, disappearing in a flash.
“Nice,” I grumbled. “See your problem.”
“First I make you my boyfriend, then I let you handle all this pressure,” Alvy sighed.
“You want me to run your scene?!” it finally hit me. Sort of.
“Yeah,” she moaned. “I need a vacation.”
There was stuff hidden away in her head. “What did you plan?” I asked, casually shoving ice cream into my mouth as she lit up.
“Wake up safe in your arms every morning, take the stairs down,” she smiled dreamily, staring out the window. “Catch a bus to school ‘cause there ain’t any other way we’d make it on time,” she sighed. “Get high in the evenings, somehow make it back here in time for homework, and,” she looked me in the eyes. “I’d make us random shit from the kitchen and we’d hardly eat it, eat pizza instead, grow fat together,” she made me laugh. “Do fucked up shit all night long and then sleep a wee bit, snort some amphy for breakfast and it’s back to school…”
“Ain’t gonna be that simple, though,” I said, though unable to hold my grin back.
“Your face says you want it,” and Alvy was right. I was doing every ten thousand quid’s worth of falling in love with her. And it felt like all the drugs, all the drugs. She passed me the joint.
“You’re gonna put me through some fucked up shit alright,” I put up one last wall.
“You’re gonna put /me/ through some,” she broke it down.
Speechless.
“I’ve some things to take care of, Maxxie, and I won’t be able to do ‘em without someone to protect me.”
“You think I can do that?”
“Aye, you think like me, that’s the best part,” she finished her bowl and threw the spoon in, stretching back. My android started vibrating suddenly and I pulled it out quickly.
“Bring Alvy and come to school,” Candyce said urgently. “I’ll meet you guys in front of the Observatory in ten minutes.”
“What the fuck?” I mumbled as I put my phone away and told Alvy.
“Duty calls,” she sighed and pushed her chair back. “Leggo.” I hopped up to follow her, she barely even said a word to Sammy as she grabbed her jacket and we stood outside on the pavement. “Well, fuck. We’ll have to wait for buses.”
“Nah, we’ll walk, I can see the river,” I said, heading towards it. Alvy ran after me.
“Seriously?”
“Do you walk, /princess/?” I glared.
“A-aye,” she squeaked. “I don’t, not really..”
“Come on doll,” I sighed, grabbing her hand gently. I’d figure out her issue against walking some other time. We talked about some silly shit about her friends in the College when we realized we had Quantum Theory lectures together, the only time of the week our timetables overlapped. The last two hours of every Friday in school were Quantum Theory lectures.
Eventually we crossed the last bridge into Collegiate, and up a path through the park where the Observatory was. There were benches everywhere under secluded trees and, well, it’s between these trees that I normally bought my weed from. There’s always someone in the evenings. Seemed a little empty for this time of the day.
“There they are,” Alvy pointed out as the dimly lit building-with-the-giant-telescope came into view and I could see Steven, Candyce and a few others standing outside.
“You’re late!” Candyce shot out.
Alvy was about to start when I said “Aye I’d her busy, what do you need?”
“Your /friend/, Calem,” Steven started. “Shot in the head. They found him there, under the trees. Thought you’d like a look before we called the cops.”
“Where’s Devon?” Alvy asked as we walked slowly into the woods. Probably the big guy from earlier.
“Haven’t the slightest. Had you called up as soon as my lads hit me up.”
A lump of dead human lay in the grass between some trees and Alvy and I walked up to take a look.
“Shine a light babe,” I said, and Alvy pulled out a mint coated pen out, turned it around and it turned into a wee LED torch. The light fell on the face and we stared at the gruesome expression of Calem’s fatal surprise. “Pity,” I shrugged.
“Ye,” Alvy grumbled too, and shone the light around.
“Check his pockets,” I said, and Alvy promptly fished a phone out of the dark, wet jeans. “Ew,” I rolled my eyes as she handed it to me by the tips of her fingers.
“He oughtn’t have anything else on him,” she sighed and I pocketed the phone as we walked back to where the others were. “He was dying ‘cause he was bleeding out of the stab wound in his leg, was shot afterwards ‘cause he was taking too long.”
“Right,” Steven rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Let’s go, I’m getting cops called.” Alvy stuck on my left, grabbing my hand and Candyce came out of nowhere and grabbed my right arm and I followed Steven and his lads, sandwiched by the girls, in the direction of the dorms.
“Do you like him?” Candyce asked suddenly.
Alvy puffed a giggle. “I can see why you do.”
“I feel like a sandwich,” I had to.
“Shut up or I’ll eat you,” Alvy smirked. Okay.
“Hang on I’ll grab my keys,” I said once the lot of us were up in the dorms and Steven’s back-up went their separate way. Then we were in my tiny flat after a few hi’s and hello’s between mainly Alvy and everyone we crossed on our way.
“Fuckin’ dead bodies,” I grumbled, flopping into bed. Steven did that thing he does and went straight into my kitchen, leaving Alvy to drop her jacket on the floor and climb atop me. Candyce sat down beside.
“When are you breaking him in?” she laughed at Alvy, who moaned “later” into my neck. I smiled and shook my head at Candyce.
“Good game love,” I said.
“No hard feelings cupcake,” she smiled back lovingly.
“Share the drugs and there won’t be any!”
“Mmmno, no more drugs for you tonight,” Alvy moaned into my neck again and pressed her breasts into my chest and I put an arm around her.
“Why’s that?”
“I gotta get you hooked onto me,” she looked up and giggled.
“H-honestly Max, what’ve you done to her?!” Steven suddenly reappeared with mugs of coffee in his hands. Alvy got up and even said ‘thank you’ cutely as she was handed her mug. The next thing I knew, I was snuggled up to while I sipped my coffee and Candyce was having a whispered conversation under her hair with Steven, sitting across his knees on the chair at my desk, quiet squelches of kisses every now and then.
Her hands went between his thighs and I saw Steven clench up slightly.
“Enjoying it, aren’t you?” Alvy whispered.
“Mum and dad finally found me a babysitter,” I chuckled.
“What are you on about, /I’m/ your mum,” she stared at me and pouted as if I’d hurt her feelings.
“You’re the biological one!” I whispered. “They adopted me, they count too.”
“Fair enough,” Alvy actually seemed to like that answer and she licked my chin cutely.
“She went through a lot,” I sighed in Candyce’s direction. “Just to get-” Steven’s hands clenched tightly, tightly at her waist, “those emotions out of him.”
“Aye, he’s starting to realize what she’s done,” Alvy rubbed her cheek on my chest, letting the feel of just the fabric of my shirt turn her skin to cotton. I closed my eyes, wondering how we could be discovering dead bodies and then cuddling twenty minutes later. I sighed, bit loudly. “Oh, don’t worry love, I got this,” Alvy whispered.
“Can you read my thoughts?” I asked.
“Maybe,” her nose brushed against mine. “I know you want them out so you can… get some sleep, really.”
“Been a bit of a day, really!” I exhaled.
“Mum and dad!” Alvy yelled suddenly, jerking my eyes open and Steven and Candyce out of liplock.
“What?!” Candyce glared.
“Your boy needs some alone time with his girlfriend and you two need to be off to the suite!”
“Ugh, ruin my life why don’t you,” Candyce cried as she jumped off Steven and grabbed her shit. I pouted and made my best I’ll-miss-you face at Steven who, well, looked slightly drunk. Power of women.
“Y-you!” he roared. “You lil piece of shit, you let me know if that one treats you badly!”
“Which one?” Alvy piped up.
“Both of ye,” he got up and held the door open for Candyce. “Cheers, Max, Alvy,” he finally called out, and they were gone. What’s with Steven and closing doors behind him everytime? Oh well.
And all of a sudden, Alvy was off me, inspecting every aspect of the tiny flat, opening my wardrobe, going through my desk, frantically attempted at cracking my laptop’s password till I simply told her it and she gasped as if it should’ve been obvious, and then she went around checking the view out each window while I sipped at the last of my coffee. Coffee made me yawn. When I put it down on the bedside table, Alvy actually turned the lights out and climbed onto bed and onto me.
“I can’t sleep like this,” she whimpered at me all the same. Sighing, I slid my hands under her shirt. Girls’ shirts always felt so much more comfier than what we get to wear, but Alvy’s shirt felt extra soft, extra smooth. So did her skin as my hands went up her back till I unclasped her bra and pulled it out and threw it to the floor. Won’t lie, her sigh of relief made my blood rush.
“Stand up,” I said, and she did. Between her legs, I slid out of my jeans and pulled my shirt off, leaving me in just the boxers I’d underneath. Then I unzipped her denim shorts and pulled them down her legs, and she tip toed as I worked it off her ankles and threw it aside as well. “Grab the blanket on your way down.”
And that was it. I wrapped my arms around her as she laid on me, her head on my chest. It probably wasn’t even midnight. I guessed if my mind needed a little bit of rest, hers did too. Without goodbyes, without goodnights, she rested on me. Her soft breathing became thick within minutes into the silence and I stroked her back tenderly. Alvy was ticklish as I’d always known, and her body squirmed cutely on mine whenever I stroked her waist with just my fingertips. But she’d fallen asleep so fast, so deeply, and anything the world needed from her would have to wait till tomorrow.
I hadn’t done my homework. I closed my eyes real quick.
Well, I didn’t wake up to anyone in my arms. Instead, I woke to Alvy at my desk, sitting delicately perched on the chair, reading my blog on my laptop, talking to someone on the phone.
“What the hell do you mean you can’t deliver today?! I’m not gonna pay you a bloody penny if you’re over a second late!”
A stack of my notebooks sat beside, with fresh post-it notes stuck into several of them.
What the hell Alvy?!
I groaned and rolled over under the covers.
“Wake up!” she whispered eagerly at me, definitely not for the first time.
“Ugh,” I moaned, lifting myself on my elbows.
“Sleep okay?” she asked, putting her phone down.
“I’d a fucked up dream,” I said. “Some sorta dragon trying to teach me how to fly.” Alvy scrutinized me with her eyes as if I wasn’t supposed to say that at all, a flaw in her plans. But she shook it off, and I slipped out of bed and barely made an attempt to hide my morning woody. “I’ll be a minute.”
When I stepped out of the shower in a towel, I found Alvy in another and a neat pile of my clothes to wear for the day were laid out on the bed. Beside them, my white hoodie with her shorts.
“Gonna wear that?”
“Aye,” she said, skipping into the shower.
And eventually, we were on our way to school, surrounded by Alvy’s friends and a few of mine. It was odd, I’d always seen these people around but never talked to them, as if everyone in the world I considered an NPC were turning into real player characters in her presence. It was fucked up.
“Oh yeah,” she suddenly remembered when we arrived under the trees, where we’d found Calem nearby. “You had an order come in earlier, I uh, saw your phone,” she said.
“Huh.” I pulled my phone out and checked everywhere.
“It was a snapchat…”
I stared at her. What the hell Alvy?! And indeed, there was a snap from some randomer.
“Hundred grams, snap pic.”
“That what it said?”
“Aye,” and Alvy pecked my cheek and disappeared off down the hall.
The rest of the school day went by uneventfully. I hung out with Steven and Candyce but the fun came later.
I was on my way from the Laboratories to the Biggest Hall with them when suddenly someone pulled me back by my arm. The three of us turned and Candyce almost screamed, for there was a man we’d never seen before.
He was tall, bald, in a black long-coat with a gold inverted star pinned to the lapel. His eyes were hideously white around his black pupils and his grip on me was too light and yet I couldn’t move.
“Hello, Max.”
His voice was woodier than that of Rowan Atkinson.
“I am the Bookkeeper. You mustn’t have heard of me.”
“Of course not.”
“Interesting, though. I like her taste.”
Candyce stepped up to grab the Bookkeeper’s arm off me. Steven was observing with the biggest oh-you-fucked-up-mate look on his face.
The Bookkeeper let me go and grabbed hers instead. “And you! Candyce Snow.”
That made Steven move, but the Bookeeper’s hand was on an instant in front of Steven’s face who just froze in spot. “Steven Starr.”
“What’s your problem?!” I got in.
“Stay away from Alvy Piper, Max..” he smirked, and for a second I thought I’d explode, but instead the Bookkeeper vanished into a thin wisp of purple haze.
Steven’s eyes went wide and Candyce just stood stuck in place.
What the fuck just happened?
“What the fuck was that?” Steven.
“He told you to stay away from Alvy.” Candyce.
“How did he disappear?!”
“He /grabbed/ me.”
“Ugh shut up!” I yelled. “Better get out of here, right now.”
So we ran into the Biggest Hall and hid in the back rows. The lights here were dim and the seats and everything were wooden with lovely floral patterns engraved into. Professor McNulty was telling us about how extra-dimensional objects would look to us if we were to see them with just 3 dimensions of perception. It hardly had our attentions, we’d just witnessed teleportation.
“Max,” Steven whispered across. “That wasn’t a trip was it?”
“How? We’ve been sober for centuries.”
“No, that was real,” Candyce looked shaken up. She was biting her lips and looking down in a lost gaze, but then she looked up. “Gonna tell Alvy?”
“Hell no.” I shuddered at the thought. I actually wanted Original Alvy in my head for a second.
“Are you gonna see her again?” Steven poked in. “Technically this is the shit she paid for you to handle…”
I could see his worry.  I’d an inkling long ago that letting Alvy have her way with me would mean I’d have to fend off other interested suitors but this was well, crazy.
The rest of the day passed by just fine, but we were an ominious trio when Alvy arrived in front of the Math Floor stairs. “You lot look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she smiled.
“Maybe we have,” Steven smiled back. Professional hiding-everything.
“Assume my goods taste nice then,” Alvy laughed and we made our way towards the dorms when she grabbed my arm too.
“Oi, hang on. I’ve stuff to do. Max,” she tip-toed up to kiss me softly and stared into my eyes. “You’ll wanna hang out with Starr anyway.”
“Would I?”
“Aye, you would,” Steven said. “She’s sending you and me to find out who killed Calem.”
I pulled back slightly, looked at Steven and pointed at her a wee bit. “Does she plan things in her head first or does she make this shit up as she goes along?” I turned back at her. “I’ll hit you up later.” She kissed me again, smiled and stepped back, stared at me an extra second, turned and walked away without even saying goodbye to anyone. “And she always does /that/?”
“What?” Candyce asked.
“Walk away without saying goodbye?”
“Haha, aye,” she smiled and took Steven’s hand in hers.
On the way to the dorms I told Steven about the hundred gram snap. He looked slightly suspicious for a second before telling me to ignore it. I reckon he was racking his records to see if such an order would make sense, I guess it didn’t.
Back in my flat, Steven made coffee and Candyce was on my laptop, skyping friends. I lay down to piece things together. After all, life has turned completely different literally overnight, so Alvy was obviously at the root of it all.
But how?
Who’d kill Calem?
The Pakis? Nah. No way. They’re too pussy to do that kinda shit. Or are they?
“Bong, babe,” I opened my eyes to see Candyce and Steven blazing up. I joined in, then exhaled back down. Steven sat down with his books, uttering something about cyberdemons and Candyce shouted at him to never utter that word in my presence.
Oh yes, my eyes were closed, I was pretending to be asleep. They knew I was pretending. But the word stuck out so hard.
They knew something. Now I felt truly alone.
“Candy,” I sighed.
“Aye, love?” she replied.
“Find out where Devon went.”
“At once.”
“Stevie,” I searched.
“Alright,” he replied.
“The snapchatter was called keeper.”
“What?”
I heard Candyce on the phone in the background.
“Alvy’s the only one who saw that snap,” I explained. “Hundred grams, snap pic.”
“What was the picture?”
“No idea.” Ugh. What the fuck.
“Hundred grams of what?”
“Weed?”
“No way.”
“She said it was an order.” I didn’t even open my eyes and threw my phone in Steven’s direction and I heard him catch it. Epic.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Ask everyone if they’ve ever heard of the Bookkeeper.”
I was thinking about Calem’s dead body when Candyce came in and that made me open my eyes immediately. “Devon’s back at Alvy’s right now.”
“Strange, she hasn’t called us to let us know,” Steven said from the kitchen.
“Why would she?” I called back. “You don’t get it yet, but someone’s playing a massive game right now and…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. The looks on Steven and Candyce’s faces were terrifying.
“Max, you are,” Candyce said sadly.
It finally hit me. I sat up, speechless, for a little while. “You guys knew this was coming,” I sighed.
“We did.” Candyce got in. “But-”
“Shh.” I stopped her. “You’re part of the game too. You mustn’t tell me answers.”
Steven came back to his books and Candyce back on skype and I grabbed my Nintendo 3DS to play Pokemon. I hadn’t played in ages but, well, I’d even made a version of Alvy in the game to play as. How was she even real?
Eventually I beat the Champions League and sighed. If Devon was back at Alvy’s, what was he doing this entire time? Where was he earlier?
I got up. “Candyce move.”
We’d a tiny fight as I reclaimed the laptop from her and sat down with Mixxx.
“Oh look, Max is about to really do some thinking!” Steven threw at me.
“Oh shut it,” I snapped back.
And we just sat and blazed and I put track after track after track of high speed chases and exploding lower tempos with melodic alien synths…
“You should send her that.” Candyce put in once.
“Why?”
“She’ll like it.”
Well, I pressed the record button and continued.
Everything made sense if Alvy pulled the strings. The Pakis weren’t involved at all.
The Bookkeeper. How was he real?
Cyberdemons.
Imagine if Alvy could fly.
Shit, that’s probably right then. After all, she comes from my imagination.
The problem was here. As real as she could be, she still was acting and doing exactly as if she’d never left my mind. The perfectly matching personalities aren’t perfectly matching. It’s just one personality. And she was horribly capable of pretty much anything. The best part’s that she’s real.
I turned the volume of the speakers down a little. “Has she ever done shit like, uh, wordlessly given orders?”
“Hah, all the time!” Steven laughed.
I put the volume back up. Didn’t have time to notice what he and Candyce were up to ‘cause a drop needed fading in.
Calem’s body was lying in the dark with Devon nowhere nearby. Someone found it, and they knew to let someone like Steven know, rather than call the cops right away. Calem wasn’t a randomer. What if he were one of the bests on her team?
He fucked up.
But he needed the money for some reason or another. Oh well.
I ordered him to be left alone, really. Was that really too soft of me?
But there wasn’t an Alvy in my mind to tell me I was right. Instead, she was right there, checking the body and pulling the phone out.
“Where’s the phone?”
“What phone?” Steven.
“One we found on Calem,” I said.
“Ugh hang on.”
“I need it,” I sighed as he picked up his phone.
I finished playing another two tracks and stopped. Clipped the recording and sent it to Alvy’s facebook. When the fuck did I even add her?
Well she’d my phone on her.
She even had us facebook official. No wonder there were like 30 friend requests.
“Max,” Steven took my attention. “The phone’s a wee bit far away, but you’ll like this.”
Ooh, suspense. Better be good, Stevie.
“Asked the lad if he’d heard of the Bookkeeper and he said ‘twas funny, because the phone had been wiped clean but it had snapchat logged in with the username keeper.”
“Brilliant.” I smiled.
Made sense. Alvy never intended for my orders to Devon to go through. Whether it was before or after I’d made them known, she told Devon to lead Calem to the forest, immobilize him and leave.
The Bookkeeper arrived shortly after to finish the job.
Because Cyberdemons.
I picked up my phone and called Alvy.
“Whaddup love?”
“I see cyberdemons.”
Alvy paused, then probably smiled. “Well done.”
“What did Calem do to you?”
“He fucked up.”
“Aye but there’s more, he was in your crew.”
“Obviously.”
“Was it worth killing an entire person?”
“I’m the Angel of Death, Alvy, love.”
“What does the Angel of Death mean?!” I shot out at Steven and Candyce.
Steven and Candyce looked at me for a second, and then Candyce got up. I was about to find out why or how they knew everything I didn’t.
She closed her eyes for a second and two glittery, light orange, feathery wings shot out of her back.
“Welcome to the land of the Cyberdemons, Maxxie,” Alvy whispered. “Are you enjoying the time of eve?”
“What else am I playing for?”
“Everything,” she said, and hung up.
I felt shattered, but I knew it’d be a hellishly stupid thing for me to do by getting angry at her. Or at anyone. Candyce was literally floating a few inches above the floor and Steven was just laying there, looking at her as if it weren’t anything new.
“Greetings, Challenger. I am Candyce of the Elite Four, and although you haven’t beaten me in combat I must lay down to your intellect.”
“What the fuck does that mean Candyce? WHAT THE FUCK?” I exploded.
“She’s a cyberdemon, Max.” Steven said calmly. “There are four of them in this city. Candyce, in the Collegiate, one in Alvy’s district, and two in Banksend and the Other Side.”
“You don’t know who they are?”
“Nope.”
“Ever try finding out?”
“Oh we have,” Candyce sighed.
“Why is she the Angel of Death?”
“She’s the Champion.”
“This isn’t a Pokemon game!”
“That’s how she plays it!”
“Why’d you lot let me summon demons that night then?!”
“It does nothing, that’s why!” Steven laughed.
“I told you guys my fucking theory of the life and the universe and everything!” I yelled.
“You’re right! Why the fuck do you think Candyce made me take you to Alvy’s after all?”
“Oh right so you two’ve talked this out too!”
“Aye we have Max,” Candyce shot. “You don’t fucking get it yet, do you?”
“Get what?!”
“Alvy’s the Champion. She kills kids all the time. I don’t know how she does anything but I know you’re next.”
“The fuck am I expected to do?!”
“I just acknowledged you as a Challenger, that means all the other three know of your existence by now too.”
“Other three what, Elite fucking Four?”
“MAX!” Steven yelled and shot up. There were flames flickering between Candyce Snow’s hands.
“Dammit.” I sat down. I didn’t even remember standing up. Steven got back down too. Candyce effortlessly floated sideways as if she were like fuck-this-shit.
“I’m not a cyberdemon.”
“You think you won’t become one before this ends?” Steven sighed.
“Is that what /you/ think?” I shot again. “I’ve become to Alvy what you are to Candyce, a fuckin’ front.”
“MAX!” This time Candyce really let some flames fly.
“Max, it’s you. We’ve set you up, aye, but Alvy keeps murdering people!” Steven grumbled. “I’m never going to be a cyberdemon. You’ve a chance.”
“It’s like everyone knows about cyberdemons.”
“Aye they do, but they only know we’re not people to mess with. It’s fucking rare for me to have to do this. It’s my first time, really, showing anyone other than Steven what I’m like.” Candyce’s voice was terribly calm.
“Alright, what’s next then?” I reached for the bong.
“You’ve to find the rest of the Elite Four,” said Steven, passing me a bag of greens.
“Bet she knows all of them already,” I sighed.
“Pet, she controls everyone. Of course she does.” Candyce.
“Champion, huh.” First it was Queen.
All the titles, all the titles.
Bookkeeper.
“I know who the next Elite Four is.”
“The Bookeeper?” Candyce smiled at me.
“The Bookkeeper.”