A Scripta

Grim felt the yank of a teleport that almost tore apart his stomach, and his next moment of awareness was that he was in the middle of a square, with a fountain nearby. People stopped and almost ran away from them.

Grim also jerked back. "Nice, Shadow, real nice. Next time drop us off in the middle of the god damn street, why don't you."

Shadow said nothing. Grim shook his head and looked around in the bright sunshine. At least Shadow appeared as a human here - Grim didn't want to imagine him appearing as his normal "demon" spirit guise. Lue looked green, even with his glamour.

"We need to find a place with a map of the city," Grim said.

"There is a convenience store over there. Let's check."

Lue led them across the street to a small store. "Wait right here."

Grim felt self-conscious, being the only American in the area. Shadow shimmered in the sunlight. Lue came out, bearing a brochure. "Here is a map of downtown."

Grim nodded, and opened up the map. He closed his eyes and centered, and let his hand drift across the paper. It drifted up, and off the paper. "It's not downtown."

Lue frowned. "That was the only map they had. Maybe if we move closer to the airport, they will have better maps."

"The airport is that way," Grim said, pointing on the map and looking in the distance. Then the square disappeared, and he found himself close to a dumpster behind a building.

"GODDAMIT, SHADOW, WARN US NEXT TIME!"

"Sorry," Shadow said. Lue also looked shaky - he had landed in a puddle of water. At least Grim hoped it was water. Grim waited for Lue to regain his composure, and then they all walked around the building. They found themselves facing a very busy but clean street, close enough to the airport to see planes flying in. They were right behind another convenience store. Lue went in, and the two men hung outside. In moments, Lue returned smiling with a booklet. "A street map of Bangkok and its surrounding areas."

"Great." There was a bench nearby, so the three men went to it. Grim hovered his hand over the book, turned pages. Then, he pointed at a spot. "Here."

He fell off the bench, to land onto concrete. Lue stumbled, because he was leaning on the back of the bench. "Jesus FUCKING Christ, Shadow!"

"Sorry," he said again. Grim got up, dusting his butt off. Grim looked up a fire escape. "It's right up there."

"So do we just go in and ask for it?" Lue said.

"What're you kidding?"

Lue grinned. Grim flew up, while Lue leaped up to the second floor fire escape. It led into a bedroom, but no one was in it. Grim peered inside, and saw the spear resting nonchalantly against the wall near the bedroom door. He drew a rune to open the window, and Lue and Grim slipped inside. Shadow hovered outside. Grim could hear voices in the room beyond. They crept across the room and just as Grim reached the spear, the door opened.

A woman looked directly at him, speechless. He grabbed the spear, smiled and said, "Hi."

She started screaming.

"Shadow, teleport out now!"

Grim ran back to the window as a man appeared behind the woman. The man shoved the woman aside and went at Grim and the spear. He tackled Grim onto the bed, and Lue jumped onto him, a spike erupting from his hand to pierce the man. The woman screamed again, and the man was yelling something to her.

"Shadow, teleport dammit!"

"Not with him!" Lue said, trying to pull the man off Grim. But then Grim felt pain as he fell face first onto grass.

Without the spear.