 
# The Legend of NoCal

### This Is Who We Are

By Matt Christiansen

Copyright 2014 Matt Christiansen

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

# \- Table of Contents -

### Intro

### The Moonlit Hills

### First Impressions

### The Island (Part 1)

### California Paradise

### Follow The Leader

### El Monasterio de San Jamie

### The Kings of the Pacific

### Regime Change

### The Graveyard of the Pacific

### Origins (Part 1)

### The Blood Diamond

### The Author

# \- Intro -

The Legendary West Coast: the golden baked shores where the rocks and the sand blaze orange in the late afternoon sun. The focus of the shallow dreams of many, southern California has taken on a false sheen; its former glory and raw beauty decayed by years of gluttonous use and consumption. The Pacific Northwest, contrarily, is constantly shrouded in clouds imposing an industrial endurance.

Where the endless shine of the southern sun meets the enduring strength of the north, where sunny pop punk meets heavy metal, lies NoCal. A hybrid exists, embodied by Northern California, that lies on the fault line between the up-beat SoCal punk rock and the heavy bass ridden rock that seethes from the Pacific Northwest.

Among the less densely populated coastal shores of Northern California, there is no light pollution to shroud the skies after the sun has fallen, blazing, into the ocean. There's no smog to clog the lungs of the inhabitants as they rise to meet the day. The sun still streams over the wooded foothills and pristine coasts more often than not, but there's a durability and a reality that can no longer be found in California's southern extremes. It is this coast, sun soaked and lasting, that provides the setting of the Legend of NoCal.

A man called Mack lived in Northern California with his two sons, the likes about which legends are told. The first son was named Moses. Just as at home in the water as on his feet, Moses was, at first glance an ordinary fourteen year old boy. There was nothing extraordinary about his appearance; he had long, shaggy blond hair, was most comfortable in cargo shorts and flip flops, and was laden with crudely fashioned wrist, neck, and ankle fixings, featuring minute magnetic black beads. Moses possessed a sort of hidden toughness, in the same way that a dog looks hardly fearsome when relaxed. What Moses lacked in strength he made up for with his uncanny degree of luck. His loyalty and relentless persistence could only be ascribed to that of a guard dog.

The second son was not, like Moses, a native to the coast. Lee was, in a sense, rescued by Mack from the African Congo. The bastard son of an Italian explorer and a member of an indigenous tribe of the Congo, his full name was Leonardo (which had been shortened to Leo, and again after his adoption to Lee). Upon his birth, Lee remained a part of his mother's tribe for the early years of his life. At eight, he was left alone when his village was razed to the ground in a tribal skirmish. On his own and educated by the harshness of the African wilderness, he made his way to the capitol city of Brazzaville where he was taken into an orphanage and eventually adopted.

Lee had an otherworldly physique, toughened beyond imagination by his savage trek. With dreadlocks of assorted blacks, browns, and deep reds falling past his shoulders and a broad noble face, he embodied the courage and indomitable spirit of a lion. Fourteen years old and ferociously educated in the ways of survival, Lee stood fearless in the face of just about anything that this golden coast had to muster.

The two sons, individually, were merely remarkable boys. But together, the pair was as unified as a single solid stone. They had, as they soon discovered, entered the world on the exact same point in history on the opposite side of the globe. Bearing the same birthday, the two brothers seemed to have been drawn from across space and time, laughing and bleeding together through thick and thin. The boys were delivered time and time again through countless adventures and close scrapes, both on the ocean and among the ranging foothills.

Perhaps more incredible than the bond between the two was their indistinguishable taste in music. From birth, Moses had always had an artistic touch, and was introduced early on to the guitar. He had immediately taken to it with all the passion of a dog ripping into a steak. Now, at only fourteen, he had all but mastered his own unique instrumental style. In the same way, Lee had a way of striking up the most complex beats and rhythms upon anything and everything within his grasp. Having grown up in the heart of the Congo, Lee was first introduced to the modern drums upon his arrival in the states. In a few short years he had thoroughly mastered his drum set and could keep up with Moses without so much as missing a beat. The minute the two were united, their heartbeats synchronized; and so was formed NoCal, a specific brand of rock which embodied both melodic and rhythmic punk with spine shattering breakdowns and abyssal thunder.

These stories follow the boys and their adventures on and around the golden coastal region of Northern California.

# \- The Moonlit Hills -

The last rays of daylight were streaming through the window of the ocean-facing second story bedroom shared by Moses and Lee. The room, like the house, was small, but not cramped. The house was old, but not decayed. Rustic, but not rusting. The tile shingles were a burnt brown orange, especially when they were ignited by the setting pacific sun. The ceramic roofing, rather than decaying over time and sun soaked wear, was strengthened and hardened each day.

The wooden walls of the house were of a simple nature, though not alluding to poverty. There were only a few essential rooms to the house, the first floor of which consisted of a den, combination kitchen and dining room, a bathroom, Mack's office, and his studio. Mack was a ceramic artist and sculptor, and his studio consisted of various woodworking tools, a ceramic throwing wheel, and a carving bench. The second level of the house contained Mo and Lee's room, the master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and another bathroom.

Since Mack was a sculptor, the house and property were riddled with small knickknacks inside, as well as larger carvings outside. Perhaps the most interesting of these was the weathered woman's face carved into the lone oak tree at the edge of the bluff upon which the house stood. Facing the open ocean, the forlorn face had a decided expression that seemed to watch the sea with a wisdom existing outside of time.

At the foot of the tree was a rough and worn path that cut diagonally down the face of the cliff and led to a natural beach. The beach was also accessible less directly via the large slope that wrapped around the back of the house. The small cove formed by the layout of the coast provided a shelter from the winds that swept across the vast expanses of water but allowed the waves to continue into the bay. For this reason, Mo and Lee spent countless hours surfing and exploring not only the small inlet that had become known as "Mack's Cove" but also the surrounding coast. The house was situated on an 80 foot stretch of grass between the sun soaked coast and the wooded foothills of the mountainous region inland.

Back at the house, the light was fading from outside the window. The small room was lit by multiple candles and a large tribal head, which Mack had carved out and fashioned into a lantern. On the table in the middle of their room, Mo and Lee were pouring over a map of the physical landscape of the surrounding foothills.

"Okay, the cave is right here so if we cut around the first peak we should be able to surprise them," Mo said, stabbing a knife into the map and sticking it to the table.

Lee nodded his approval and, with the faintest African accent, said, "This time we're gonna catch them off guard. They won't stand a chance."

As the boys creaked the ancient oak front door shut behind them, the light was just leaving the western sky, which was now governed by an enormous full moon. Once out of the house, they made their way directly eastward when Mo stopped short and paused. "Hey wait Lee, we should bring Killer." Mo cupped his mouth and shouted with surprising volume "C'MON, KILLER!"

In a matter of seconds the brush in the nearby woods rustled and from the craggy depths launched a dog. The mutt was a medium-sized mix of golden retriever and what the boys expected was either wild coyote or fox. Though Killer was not legally owned by anyone, he always hung around the woods by the house and the boys had him trained to respond to his name. Although named by the boys' violent and youthful imaginations, Killer was actually quite a tame animal and could have passed quite convincingly to any stranger as the boys' pet.

With their companion by their side, the boys set out into the woods. They walked slowly, talking as they went. They crept through the darkened hills, referring to the map by the light of a flashlight every so often. As they continued to converse, their discussion delved deeper and deeper into the sequence of events that had taken place in the Congo those many years ago.

"So did you have a girlfriend? Back in the tribe?" Mo inquired.

"Well...." there was a great pause before Lee continued, "...no."

"Come on, man, we've known each other for way too long for you to lie to me! That was the weakest 'no' I've ever heard. Tell me about her" Mo pressed. "Tell me more about her."

"Okay, her name was Abeba. She was the most gorgeous girl that you've ever seen; big brown eyes, cute nose, perfect skin, everything. Ever since we were young we were destined to be together, they said it was written in the stars. We did everything together until like a month before our tribe was –" Lee trailed off and was suddenly somber.

"Oh, was she killed?" asked Moses apologetically in a soft voice, sensing that he had struck a nerve.

"No" Lee replied simply. "She was safe and sound when the attack happened. Like a month before we were attacked she began to grow more and more distant. She started to not act like herself... When I asked her she would just smile and tell me not to worry about it. She was so innocent, I never questioned her."

"So what happened then?" Mo asked, sensing that something had been left unsaid.

"She snuck off the night of the attack, I saw her leaving. When it started, I tried to find her right away. When I did, she was with the other tribe. I tried to save her, but when our eyes met I realized that she didn't need saving, she had led them to us. After that..." Lee's voice trailed off as if lost in the distant memory that he had tried relentlessly to forget.

There was a moment of silence before Lee spoke up again, trying to sound revitalized, "Okay so their cave should be just over this next ridge".

Taken aback by the sober glimmer that had surfaced momentarily, Mo mumbled back "Oh, yeah... Okay! So lets... um... we should probably stick together until we get within sight of the cave. Lets sneak around the ridge and come down the shallower side over there."

The boys stealthily made their way over the crest of the wooded hill, dog in toe, and as they cleared the hilltop the moonlight shone down through the thinning trees to reveal a small jagged hole in the side of the rock face opposite them. By the light of the full moon the boys made their way down the slope to the edge of the clearing in which the cave was located. Here the boys halted, squatted, and made ready to make their assault on the creatures gathered within the cave.

"Okay, how are we gonna do this?" Mo asked barely above a whisper as he held Killer in a bear hug, making sure that he didn't burst into the clearing. Taking the pack from his back, Lee dug for a moment before producing a string of firecrackers as he scanned the clearing.

"Look! There's one in the shadows over there, see? Right next to that tree. You can see its eyes illuminated in the moonlight."

Mo's eyes followed Lee's gesture and sure enough, there were two piercing orbs, reflections of the moon in what must have been massive eyes.

"It must not know we're here yet." Lee went on, "It would have attacked by now. You stay here and I'll sneak around and try to get behind it, then you send Killer into the clearing to distract it and I'll set off a string of Black Cats."

As Lee turned to sneak off into the woods, he was met by a second creature standing in the moonlight not three feet behind where the boys were crouched. As a cry of surprise escaped Lee's throat and echoed through the moonlit woods, he sized up his opponent. Standing just under five feet tall, the creature stood bipedal with a surprisingly upright posture. It resembled a gorilla in that it had marginally longer arms than legs and was quite obviously a primate.

This race of primates being the extreme southern branch of what are known in popular culture as sasquatches, it was little wonder that their existence was met with such skepticism. The tall tales of people being attacked or sighting a gangly eight foot tall ape tramping about the mountain trails of the pacific northwest were, in fact, all fictional.

In truth, sasquatches more closely resembled a raccoon in behavior and habit. Growing no taller than five feet tall and living almost explicitly nocturnally, sightings of these creatures were obviously rare and when accounts did surface, they were often exaggerated to the point of being extremely nonfactual. But as with every legend, there was a grain of truth at the center.

In actuality, sasquatches were quite aggressive and were responsible for much of the chaos and discord accredited to wild raccoons and other varmints. The curious trait distinguishing a sasquatch from the fictional tales made up by back woods pseudo-intellectuals was their hair. Covered mostly in fur (except on the abdomen, hands, and feet, much like a gorilla) sasquatches also had a full head of longer hair, oftentimes covering their eyes and giving them a dauntingly human appearance.

As Lee's yell echoed and faded from the hills, he stared into the eyes of the sasquatch, who stared straight back. After a couple second pause and a blink, Lee and Mo (and Killer) simultaneously tore off through the trees when a third beast appeared in front of them. Splitting off, the boys made a wide arc and met back on the opposite side of the third sasquatch. As they ran through the moonlit trees, they could hear twigs snapping and branches cracking behind them, indicating that the bipeds were in pursuit.

"Dude, Plan B....... Plan B," Mo panted breathlessly after a few minutes of running.

Without so much as a noise from Lee, both boys abruptly stopped and plastered themselves behind respective trees. Killer, caught unawares (but in exact concordance with the plan), thundered on clumsily through the brush. Eyes scanning the ground franticly, Mo saw and seized a giant stick that had fallen from his tree. At the finding of this small log, he raised it, poised, and waited.

The sounds of the three beasts in pursuit were now growing dangerously near. Tensed and ready, Moses shot a quick glance at Lee where he was pressed up against his tree grinning from ear to ear, his own club in hand. The sound of footprints drew nearer, louder, closer. One sasquatch passed, then the second. Waiting until the last possible moment Moses ferociously swung his log with every ounce of strength that could be mustered from his body.

There was a dull smack as the log connected squarely with the pectoral region of the last sasquatch. The force of the blow unleashed on the beast was enough to send its legs sprawling up into the air and then to the ground with a hollow thud. As the first two monsters seemed to realize that they had been bested and split off into the darkness, a roar of laughter erupted from Lee at the sight of the sasquatch being struck so unprepared.

"Bahaha! We got 'em good! This thing's out cold!" Lee exclaimed, still wildly entertained by the comical slap-stick manner in which Mo had tamed the animal.

"Now people will have to believe us when we tell them about how evil these little guys are! Then we'll see who's laughing!" Mo said, shaking the reverberations from the log out of his hands. "Now I guess we just drag him back and cage him up until morning."

The boys took turns carrying the deceptively light, unconscious invalid back through the woods, again consulting their map every now and again.

• • •

Mo awoke to darkness in their room. As he shifted his eyes past the stream of silver moonlight coming through the window, his eyes fixed on the digital alarm clock on the opposite wall. The clock read 2:55 am. His eyes now adjusted to the absence of light in the room, he noticed that Lee's bed was vacant.

Concerned, Mo threw on a dark blue sweatshirt and snuck down the stairs, avoiding every squeak with years of experience. Once outside, he knew exactly where Lee would be. Not feeling particularly gutsy, he opted to take the longer, sloping path down to the beach rather than risking the cliff path. As he drew nearer to the water, he could just make out a silhouette against the reflection of the moon on the water. The tide was low, and Moses walked out to where Lee sat at the end of the dock, feet dangling in the water, staring up at the moon. Mo eased down beside him silently, following his eyes to where they were focused off somewhere on the dark horizon.

"T'sup..." Lee greeted him, eyes fixed on the full moon as a string of smoke curled upwards into the night air.

"Dude you were doing so well..." Mo said sorrowfully as he looked over at his brother. "I thought you said you threw your last pack away."

Since his adoption from the Congo, Lee had tried valiantly to kick the habit. The orphanage where Lee had been put up had been a haven for all manor of unhealthy vices, the very mildest of which was cigarette smoking. Having resisted a great many other temptations, Lee had been introduced to nicotine in a moment of weakness.

Having been removed from the orphanage, Lee had made great strides and had, up until this night, gone a full year and two months without a smoke.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I didn't throw them," Lee said apologetically as he stared down into his lap.

"Did it help?" Mo asked pointedly.

"Not at all" Lee replied, a realization dawning in his voice. "This shit's gonna kill me..."

Without so much as a second thought Lee suddenly hurled the remainder of the pack out into the water.

"There, you saw me," Lee smiled triumphantly over at his brother. "That was my last pack from Africa..."

"Looks like you're not getting another one until you're eighteen" Mo beamed back at him, "I'm proud of you."

There was a long pause in which the boys just sat, staring off into the Pacific sky. At length, Lee spoke up abruptly.

"She was the best actress I've ever seen. I knew her for eight years... eight years and I don't even know when she went bad. I don't know how long she planned her betrayal, or what she did when I saw her sneaking out. I have no idea. When I found her during the fight, our eyes met. Instantly I knew. Those eyes were so cold. They were just, like, dead; no remorse. Nothing.

"I try to forget, I cover it up, bury it. But sometimes... Sometimes it comes back up. Sometimes, like tonight, I forget and just miss her. You know? I just want answers. No anger, no regret, just the truth." Lee continued distantly, as though he were gazing across time, into the past in search of answers. "What's she doing right now? Does she even remember me? Does she ever regret hanging our entire village out to dry? Does she feel anything?"

"Dude, I'm sorry. I had no idea what happened," Mo said, staring out into the night.

"Naw, it's cool. I'll be fine tomorrow. It'll pass. It always does. Dude, that moon is huge..." Lee replied, seeming to snap back to the present. "We should probably get back up to bed. I can't wait until we show Mack that sasquatch. He's gonna freak."

• • •

"What?! How could it possibly have gotten loose? You've gotta be kidding me! We had it hog tied, face down, passed out, 15 feet away from any sort of sharp object!" Lee roared.

"Dude, I know! Here's our rope..." Mo answered, staring dismayed down at the severed ropes lying where the sasquatch had been not five hours before. "The other two must have followed us back and waited to take him back after we went back to sleep."

"Alright, now what's this you wanted to show me?" Mack asked, pushing open the great door with a gnarled, tough looking hand.

"It was right here, I swear! See? You can see where we had it tied up in the grass! The thing was right there!" Moses moaned in dismay.

Mack grinned from ear to ear as he stared down at the severed ropes.

"Yeah, yeah, don't even say it." said Lee in a condescended tone.

"Maybe next time," Mack smiled in obvious disbelief, "maybe next time..."

# \- First Impressions -

"Okay, so we'll start with the intro from 'Marianas Trench' then go straight into 'Walk On Water Or Drown'..." Moses said thoughtfully from where he stood five feet in front of Lee's massive drum set. As he finished speaking, Moses looked down at his oddly thick guitar and began to pluck an artistic progression of gradually harshening tabs.

At first glance, his guitar looked rather shot, seeming old and dilapidated. The electric guitar's neck was marginally wider than a traditional neck, for the fact that there were seven strings. The bottom six were standard guitar strings, but the seventh, above the thicker of the E strings was the heavy E string of a bass guitar. This seventh string was used to great effect, accenting Lee's abyssal bass drumming and giving more "meat" to their music.

The neck was designed specifically by Mo (with help from his uncle Myles, from whom he had been given his first taste of the guitar) and featured an oddly shaped headstock. There was a small switch located on the side of the neck just before it met the headstock that doubled the bass string's volume when flicked, functioning as a sort of bass-boosting whammy bar. It's body was of average shape and was only a touch thicker than a normal six string's. The body was a chipping metallic burnt orange and the edge was covered by a thick metal ridging crudely attached by arbitrary looking bolts and rivets. The addition of this metal edge made the guitar unusually durable and gave it a club-like quality.

The wiring of the guitar had all been done cooperatively by Mo and his uncle. It had two outlets and could be manually switched between feeding the guitar and limited bass into one amp or dividing them respectively into their own amps. There was also a whammy bar and a couple of dials that speckled the surface of the guitar's body. It was, all in all, a work of art.

Five feet from Mo, Lee had his drums set up and began rapidly crunching out a beat riddled with double-bass kicks and cymbal. Lee's drum setup was more numerous than the average set, though they included the traditional cymbal, two toms, two floor toms, and two bass drums. In addition to the two bass kick drums sitting on the floor, there was a third drum twice as long as the others, making an uncommonly deep boom. This third drum was created from two old bass drums that had been attached and sealed into one massive drum (making a home made meter-long kick drum).

There were also two dinner plate sized turtle shells set up side by side on the left side of the kit (one slightly larger than the other), and a massive turtle shell mounted to the right. These unique drums were created by Lee from turtle shells that he had found (the smaller two in the woods and the larger one on the beach, having belonged to a great sea turtle). The shells made very hollow dings in three various tones corresponding with the sizes of the shells, and added a tribal essence to his drumming. Further referencing Lee's tribal origins were 4 bongo drums, 2 of which were tall and two of which were mounted.

In Africa, Lee had been the drummer who accompanied his tribe on war parties, since he had not been old enough to fight and was incapable of staying away from the action. Ever since the age of four, Lee had been striking up beats with whatever was in his immediate surroundings, and he now made a point of using each and every drum placed before him.

Just as the boys began to thunder through the tempo pickup Lee stopped abruptly, followed my Mo. "What's-" Mo began before he was cut off by a finger held up to Lee's lips.

"Shhhhhhh..." Lee breathed, his eyes wandering in concentration as he listened for what he must have thought was a noise outside. Not long after the boys paused, there came a noise loud and clear, through the old shed window that was letting in golden light, shimmering from the millions of tiny dust particles lazily floating through the air.

"MOSES.... LEONARDO.... SUPPER TIME!" Mack's voice came ringing through the air. Not a second passed before the boys had laid their instruments at rest and were flying out the door of the old boating shed that they had transformed into their musical laboratory.

"Coming!" Lee roared as they raced up the hill towards the house, where a grill was emitting smoke and an occasional flame. As they approached the house, Mo noticed that there was a table set up outside between the house and the ocean just underneath the lone weathered tree that stood watching the sea.

"Hope you guys are hungry, 'cause I had to cook the rest of these pork chops before they went bad." Mack said as he approached the crude table with a massive ceramic plate on which rested a mound of large cuts of grilled meat. As the boys sat down on the wooden chairs that surrounded the square table they eyed the pork chops hungrily.

Before anybody touched any of the food, Mack closed is eyes and paused for a moment. Silence hung in the air as the world seemed to hold its breath. After a couple seconds he opened his eyes and the three of them tore into their meal.

"I heard there's a talent show at your school in a couple days, are you guys gona play?" Mack inquired between mouthfuls of food.

"We were thinking about it but never got around to signing up. We had to do it by like last week sometime," Lee answered. "Besides, each act only gets like ten minutes which would barely be enough time for two songs.

"I don't know," Mack said thoughtfully, "I think ten minutes would be plenty of time for you guys. Isn't the talent show supposed to be on the Pier?"

"Yeah, it is. I donno, maybe we'll talk to Mrs. Johnson tomorrow and see if we can get squeezed in somewhere," Mo said as both he and Lee started into their third helping. "Now that I think about it, the Pier would be a pretty sick place to play."

• • •

"Hey Mrs. J! Hang on!" Lee called after his and Mo's study hall teacher, Mrs. Johnson. The bell had just rung and the hallways were now flooded with students making their way out of their respective classrooms, to their lockers for the collection of personal effects, and finally out the door to their freedom. The boys chased after their teacher, who was moving at a good clip down the hall. Finally, as Lee's resounding yell reached her ears she stopped short and swung around to face whoever was calling her.

As the boys caught up to where she stood she exclaimed, "Oh boys, I'm sorry! You wanted to see me after class! What was it that you wanted to ask me about?"

Still panting, Mo caught his breath first and asked, "We were just wondering if there was any way that we could maybe squeeze into the talent show. I know we're a couple days late but we were hoping that there was still an empty spot somewhere."

"Hmm," Mrs. Johnson said, jogging her memory. "I think I could squeeze you in at the very end. What kind of talent will you two be performing?" As a side note she added "I assume you two will be entering together."

"We're a band, I play drums and Mo plays guitar," Lee said.

"All right, I'll pencil you two in for the final slot. The show's going to be on the Pier, down by the beach and it's this Thursday night, starting at seven. You boys will have ten minutes." Mrs. Johnson explained before bidding the boys farewell and taking off down the hall again.

"Dude! We're in!" Moses exclaimed as he and Lee made their way back to their lockers to grab their bags.

"Yeah! We only have three days to get ready, though!" Lee said, leading the way out the double doors to where their bikes were tethered to a tree by a rope.

"First things first, we'd better stop down at the Pier and check out what we're gonna be working with. We have to make this as sick as we can," Mo went on. "School talent show or not, we might as well make it good."

"Alright, let's ride!"

• • •

The boys screeched to a halt at the Pier's entrance and dismounted their bikes. The Pier, a landmark of the small seaside town, was wholly unremarkable. It was merely a giant wooden dock, reaching out some eight hundred and fifty feet into the Pacific with a railing around it's edges. The wood making up the Pier was ancient and weathered, having stood stationary for nearly a century. The supporting beams that held up the giant structure were like great thick trees, and the ropes that bound the joints were as thick as Lee's forearm.

As the boys reached the end of the Pier, which they had seen many times but had never actually taken the time to thoroughly explore, they noticed a single gigantic rusty pipe coming up through the floor. Upon taking a closer look, Mo's eyes lit up as he examined what looked to be an old abandoned water pump long neglected.

"This is perfect! They'll probably set up the stage right here, and this giant pump-lookin' thing will be right up next to it," Mo exclaimed, sectioning off the area with his arms. "On the way home we need to stop by City Hall quick."

"Umm... sure, why is the pipe such a big deal?" Lee asked, puzzled, as they made their way back down the Pier to where there bikes lay. After a quick stop at City Hall Mo and Lee zigzagged their way through the streets on their bikes toward the gravel road that led out of town and along the coast northward and on to their house. It was not until they were a good ways along the gravel road that Lee again asked about the significance of the water pump.

"Dude, it's perfect!" explained Mo, "instead of having pyrotechnics we're gona have hydrotechnics. I just asked a city official about the old water pump and they told me that it wasn't in use anymore. I guess they've been meaning to get rid of it for years now and there's still water pent up inside of it from years and years ago. Apparently it was designed so that pressure from water being pumped can't escape, so it's been building up over the years."

"Alright..." Lee replied, still in the dark but trusting in Mo's ingenuity. "I bet EmJay will be there..." he said, changing the subject.

Mo smiled distantly as he agreed, "I bet she will."

EmJay was Moses' muse. He was the calmest and most collected boy to be found on the entire west coast except on occasions involving EmJay; a girl who he failed miserably at pretending not to like. EmJay was among the prettiest of the girls in the class, and shared multiple classes with Mo. She was a smaller girl, with varying shades of brown in her hair and a tan complexion from constantly being outside. The feature that held Mo's heart in check, however, were her eyes, giant orbs of a deep greenish brown.

Mo had been in love with EmJay ever since the first day that he had seen her, but he had never gotten up the nerve to talk to her. The few times that they had talked had been initiated by her and he had been uncharacteristically shaky. He often found himself looking at her during class and was sometimes met, to his horror, by her large glowing eyes. On one hand it mortified him that she had seen him watching her but on the other it had given him hope because this meant that she was watching him as well.

Mo's affection towards EmJay was not that of a normal fourteen year old; the sort of relationships that require sitting by each other at lunch and holding hands every once in a while. Mo, for some reason unbeknownst to him, felt a deep sense of duty and loyalty toward EmJay, who was among the kindest girls he had ever met. It was evident by her every action that she didn't have it in her to harm even the most insignificant of insects. Her gentleness and peacefulness fascinated and compelled Moses. She was more than just a girl, she was the embodiment of something to fight for; an absolute good. She was a Pacific Ocean sunset. A comet across a silent moonlit sky.

• • •

The sun was beginning to sink more rapidly toward where it collided nightly with the sea as the boys sat among the audience of the middle school talent show. Mo and Lee laughed silently at a couple of girls who lip-synced to an outstandingly bad song by Lady Gaga and sat stone faced while a trio of boys told jokes. There was one boy, however, that sparked their attention.

An Asian boy with long hair falling across his spectacled face nervously took the stage. As he reached for the microphone he said in a timid, wobbly voice "Um... I'm Alex and I'm gonna play my violin. It's a string tribute to 'Sugar, We're Going Down'." He then proceeded to pull a violin from a case already on the stage, and promptly began to shred his bow. The rapid and edgy, yet soothing noise that Alex emitted from his instrument and the skill with which he played left both Moses' and Lee's mouths agape.

"Dude! Did you see that kid?!" Mo whispered excitedly to Lee as Alex exited the stage to a thunderous applause.

"We have to talk to him about helping us cover some Yellowcard songs! He's perfect!" Lee answered, motioning for them to get up and go prepare for their two song set that was fast approaching.

As a couple of girls finished their painful rendition of "Take It Off", Mo grabbed his guitar and climbed up onto the stage, followed closely by Lee. Knowing that their time was limited, Mo wasted no time introducing them as Lee took down the curtain that had been hiding his already-set-up drums.

"So we're NoCal, and um..." his voice trailed off as his eyes found EmJay, sitting in the back smiling. "Um... our first song is 'Anthem of Our Dying Day'. Get ready."

• • •

"Wow, these guys actually sound really good..." whispered a girl as she joined her friend at the front of the pier where the crowd of students was gathered.

"Yeah!" her friend said back, her voice straining to be heard over the sound of Mo's guitar. "They almost sound like a recording, everything's so clear."

The girls made their way to the front of the crowd that had formed between the chairs and the stage. As they paused they looked up to see Mo let out a surprisingly melodic scream that blended perfectly with Lee's thunderous drumbeats.

"How old did you say these guys are? Fourteen?" the girl's friend asked, a twinge of disbelief in her voice.

"Yeah, they're both fourteen, the drummer was adopted from the Congo I guess," the girl replied. "We'll have to keep an eye on them, this is probably the best cover I've seen live. I think he's been on every square foot of the stage... Holy energy!"

"Mmhmm," her friend agreed. "Its like really dense punk rock...I like it."

• • •

"Um... yeah," Mo said, tossing his shaggy hair out of his face. He was met by surprised and fascinated faces, as the audience attempted to wrap their heads around what had just happened. The sun was on the brink of setting as Mo addressed the crowd. "This next one is 'I'd Hate to Be You When People Figure Out What This Song Is About'."

Before starting he glanced back at Lee and shot him a grin of inexplicable joy, the sort that one gets when they're on the verge of pulling off something highly illogical. Mo sang in a low voice as he plucked lightly at his guitar, weaving his way through the introduction of the song.

As the intro ended, his eyes met with EmJay's for a split second, enough to light a spark inside his chest. In what seemed like slow motion Lee began his drumming and Mo spun around leading with the blunt end of his guitar, which connected squarely with the valve on the ancient water pump that was at perfect swinging level with the stage. As he connected with the pipe, two things happened instantaneously. As the rusty old metal cracked and the pressure erupted from the inside, Mo struck a chord forcefully and succinctly on his guitar, flooding the audience (which was now composed of the majority of the students in attendance standing near the stage and the adults further back away from the noise) with not only a wave of sound but an explosion of water.

Energized and ecstatic that he had managed to pull off his hydro-technical stunt, Mo played through the rest of the intro, backed by Lee who remained in perfect beat although he was grinning from ear to ear. As the sun sank into the ocean NoCal played out the rest of the song with perfection down to the final chord fading out over the ocean.

It was obvious that NoCal was set apart from the mob of young "bands" that were a dime a dozen. Rather than playing a string of interconnected chords that vaguely echoed a song Mo played with finesse, taking care to hit every note and milk every decibel of sound out of each measure. In the same way, Lee seemed to possess a natural rhythm which he channeled through his drums. He was more than just a kid banging patterns into a drum kit. He was the drums, and they were his canvas. It was obvious that both of the boys played often, which coupled with an uncommon wealth of natural talent, seemed to shine through their speakers.

"So, yeah, we're NoCal, thanks for coming out. This is Lee, I'm Mo. Later." Mo said, grinning, before walking off the stage, followed closely by Lee, who was now laughing audibly as he clapped Mo heartily on the back.

As the boys walked toward the shore, they ran into Alex, who seemed to be waiting for someone uncomfortably. Seizing the opportunity to talk to the boy, Moses hurried up to him and said lightly "Hey, man, that was some sick violin-ing! Why haven't I seen you around before?"

"M-my parents and I just m-moved from L.A. like a w-week ago. I'm i-in Mrs. Jones' class." Alex answered nervously. "You guys s-sounded good too."

"Yeah, we were actually gonna ask you if you wanted to help us out with covering some Yellowcard songs. We've tried but it's just not the same without a violin, and the way you shredded your bow was insane," Lee spoke up.

"Oh! Um... yeah that would b-be sweet! Look, I g-gotta go, but I'll talk to you guys in school!" Alex said excitedly as he scurried off to where a van was waiting on the road.

As the boys watched the van drive off they caught sight of Mack, who was beaming and waiting in his truck, and started off toward their father.

# \- The Island (Part 1) -

"So, where should we go?" Lee asked, gazing off toward the horizon.

"I don't know, just west I guess," Moses replied, sounding bored. "We've explored the coast for like ten miles in each direction but we've never really gone out to sea. Let's go farther out and see what's there."

Lee nodded from the steering wheel and pushed the throttle forward a bit more, setting them off at a good clip toward where the water met the sky. The sun was still high in the Pacific sky but was beginning it's slow descent into the west as the boys tore away from the shore.

After what seemed to the boys to be just under an hour (neither had any sort of clock to speak of) Mo suddenly hopped up and pointed. "Dude! There's an island over there!"

"There's no island on this map," mused Lee as he scoured the old sea chart of the coastal region around their house. "We should be around here somewhere but there's no land charted anywhere. Let's go!"

As the Phoenix drew closer to what was shaping up to be a sizable land mass, Lee eased back on the throttle and brought the vessel down to a crawl. The island boasted valleys and peaks that were covered almost completely with trees, the exception being the rocky peaks and a couple cliff faces. The boys gazed, transfixed, at what they saw. The closer they drew to the shore, the darker and deeper the water grew. The Phoenix slowed to a crawl as Lee brought the second of the vessel's twin motors to a murmur, having already shut off the first one.

Suddenly, out of the deep silence surrounding the island a sharp crack resounded, echoing through the sloping valleys. The boys eyes snapped immediately to each other as two thoughts simultaneously crossed their minds. In a fraction of a second, a light in their eyes ignited and it was decided that they would proceed with caution.

"There's a break in the rock face over there, looks like a cave. Think it's big enough for a boat?" Mo whispered, squinting and pointing at a cliff face jutting from the ocean.

"Might as well try," answered Lee, easing the Phoenix closer to the opening. "Look at the water, I think it's getting shallower," he pointed out.

"It's getting really shallow," Mo agreed, "dude I think we're gonna have to kill the motor and get out. I bet we can touch here."

Lee immediately shut off the boat and promptly launched himself from the side of the boat, followed almost immediately by Moses. Mo surfaced first, shaking the water from his hair and standing up, exposing the upper half of his chest. Lee emerged a few feet from where Mo now stood guiding the boat toward the opening in the cliff.

Upon reaching the cave the boys discovered that it was twenty feet square. Having plenty of room to make berth, they tethered the Phoenix to a rock jutting perfectly from the wall of the cave and set out along the shallow coast. The boys made their way along the base of the cliff, wading, swimming, diving, and enjoying themselves in the crystalline water until they came to the end of the rock face. Where the cliff abruptly ended, a small beach bridged the gap between the harsh slope and the heavily wooded shore.

"Well, looks like we go inland from here," Mo said gravely as they both gazed up the gentle slope flecked with trees and on to whatever awaited them on the island.

"As nice as the path sounds, I think we should walk through the brush next to it. If those really were gunshots we heard earlier, we're gonna need to be careful." Lee warned.

As he moved up the beach on the direction of a small break in the trees not fifteen feet from the worn path running inland, his voice seemed tired; this precaution was all too familiar to him.

The boys proceeded to make their way further toward the center of the island clad only in their board shorts and weathered sandals. After they had covered a good distance Mo, who had taken the lead, paused and Lee instantly followed suit.

"The path meets up with a bigger one up like thirty feet ahead!" Mo said, gazing ahead at what looked to be a wide road trampled and solidified by high traffic. "If there's anything on this island it's gotta be on that road..."

Lee's eyes narrowed. "Listen... there's a vehicle coming! Let's get closer and see if we can get a better look."

The boys slunk through the brush tenderly until they had the clearest view possible while remaining hidden among the vegetation. The noise from the vehicle grew presently louder and soon a small Jeep rolled bumpily into view. The vehicle was manned by two rough looking men who were both heavily tattooed. The men looked like the sort found in a sailor bar; crude and dangerous. They were heavily armed with what looked to the untrained eyes of the boys to be machine guns, hand guns, and crates upon crates of what could only be guessed to be ammunition or explosives.

"C'mon, step on it! We're already late with this shit..." said the man on the passenger's side as the Jeep rolled past where the boys watched, concealed in the woods. The vehicle picked up speed as it bounced out of sight.

"Did you see the size of those guns?! What the hell would they possibly be doing around here with guns like that?" Lee exclaimed.

"I donno, maybe like a drug deal or something. Who knows..." Mo said, with a twinge of fear that flickered then disappeared. "There's only one way to find out."

The boys followed the new wider road in the direction that the Jeep had gone, sticking to the trees as before. They switched back and forth leading until they swore they had walked the entirety of the island.

"Man this island is bigger than it looks!" panted Lee, who was currently in the lead. "It's almost like we've gone in a cir-" He was stopped speaking mid-sentence as his eyes, which had been scanning the distance for anything different from the abundant vegetation, snagged on a non-organic glint.

"Wha-" Mo began before being silenced by Lee's pointing finger, which directed his eye to what had caught his attention. "Oh..."

They continued in silence, moving slower and more cautiously now. Presently they came to the edge of a clearing. They halted just inside the line of oddly assorted trees and brush, hidden but able to observe what had been the source of the reflection through the trees.

Lee's unfinished thought had, indeed been correct. The boys had followed the road in what must have been a great arching circle, judging by the position of the sun, back to the side of the island facing California. The boys now gazed out at the ocean, which was beginning to burn as the sun began to sink. The glint they had seen had been caused by a small shed placed haphazardly next to a surprisingly large dock.

The dock was occupied by a boat easily large enough to voyage on the open ocean. From the look of the vessel, it had seen more than its share of journeys; bearing faded and chipping paintings of foreign looking symbols. Gradually, the boys' gaze shifted from the boat to the shed, across a small path to a sizable ramp zig-zagging up the face of what was presumably the same cliff the boys had beheld earlier. The cliff was much shorter here than where they had tethered the Phoenix, plummeting only 40 feet, and perched atop, away from the edge, was a warehouse.

"That warehouse's gotta be where the Jeep was heading!" Mo said as he stared up at the path leading up the cliff.

"Yeah, I bet you're right. Before we go charging in there we should check out this little shed thing and that ship. Maybe there's some clues to what's going on." Lee answered, staring at the shack. "It looks like the lights are off, maybe it's empty."

After thoroughly scanning the area for any sign of the rough looking men from the Jeep, the boys ran, crouching stealthily up to the window on the side of the shed facing away from the cliff, so as not to be seen from the warehouse. Upon peeking in the window they confirmed that it was, indeed, empty.

"You go in and check it out, I'll keep watch. I'll bang on the wall if anything happens," Mo said in a low voice. "I've got better eyesight."

Lee nodded and ducked into the vacant boating shack. He was gone not two minutes before he reappeared, looking serious but thrilled. "Dude, all I found was this bag, and I'm pretty sure it's not powdered sugar..." he said directing Mo's eyes to a bag of white powder sitting on the desk.

Having been pushed aside to make room for some old looking sea charts that were still laying open, the charts were unfamiliar to the boys, confirming in their minds what they had suspected about the ship having been around the world.

"Whoever was here must have left in a hurry, look!" said Mo, who pointed to the protractor and pencil sprawled out over the chart, as if they had been dropped suddenly. "Whatever's going on, I bet it's up at that warehouse. Let's go check it out!"

"Definitely," Lee confirmed. "But we can't just walk up that path, they'll see us coming. I don't know what they're up to, but by the looks of those dudes with the guns, I'd guess they probably wouldn't want us here. I say we duck back into the woods and climb up the slope using the cover of the trees."

Moses nodded and led the way out of the shack and back into the woods. As the boys made their way up the steadily increasing slope to it's eventual plateau at the top of the cliff, they began to formulate a hushed escape plan for if things went badly.

"So I'm pretty sure this giant cliff is the same one that we saw coming in, so the Phoenix should be at the base on the far end of this crag. If anything happens and we have to split up, let's make our way back to that beach that was right next to the cliff. Whoever gets to the cave first should get the boat and get it out into water deep enough to put the motor down and keep an eye out for the other one. After an hour, if the other one still isn't there, then go for help. We only have a few more hours of light left."

Lee nodded in acceptance, and was about to speak when there was another shrill crack that echoed through the island.

"We're getting near the warehouse now, we'd better shut up," Lee whispered, an air of grave seriousness coming over him.

The boys crept up to the edge of the woods, to the point where their cover came closest to the warehouse. After determining that there was nobody roving the perimeter of the building they streaked across the open ground to the side of the warehouse. They snuck around the building until they found a door that was significantly smaller and more out of the way than the others. To their surprise, they found it unlocked and Mo followed Lee into a dimly lit corridor.

In no time they determined that the building consisted of one enormous room with a single hallway running along three of the four walls (the fourth wall, it could only be assumed, held the giant doors).

"Dude, what are we doing?!" Mo whispered frantically, "We don't know what kind of people we're dealing with."

"I donno, man, but the voices are definitely coming from behind this door. They sound more distant than the other doors. I say if we're gonna do this, we take this door." Lee thought out loud, "Don't forget how we got here. A left at the end of this hall and it's the first door on your right."

Mo swallowed, nodded at Lee, and gently twisted the handle of the door. Little by little, he eased the door open just enough to slip his head through and see what was going on. His head then slid back and he beckoned for Lee to follow him, crouching, into the warehouse.

As it turned out, the door was a rarely used side door opening into the main storage room of the warehouse. The door was partially hidden by a four foot wall of barrels, the contents of which the boys could only guess. The voices were now crystal clear and although the boys couldn't pick out specific words, they sounded angry.

Suddenly Lee, who was crouched next to Moses, went completely still. Mo watched him close his eyes slowly and when he opened them, his usual sharp glint had been replaced by shear terror.

"Dude, what is it?" Mo implored, recognizing the desperation in his brother's face.

Voice wavering uncharacteristically, Lee answered "I know that voice."

The gigantic hangar doors were open, letting in the natural orange light of the sun as it continued it's daily descent into the sea. The air was thick with dust particles sifting through the air lazily, revealing six men standing in a circle, arguing over something. The only lighting was that from the sun, and the shadows in the expansive room seemed extraordinarily deep. The men as a group looked rough and scruffy, but one man in particular looked a cut above the rest. He was a broad, hulking man with the look of a wild beast. His body looked solid and his face chiseled. He was bald, and his skin was pigmented a deep brown.

The great man seemed to be scolding the two men that the boys recognized from the Jeep. Suddenly there was a temporary lull in the conversation and when the man spoke up, Moses heard a thick African accent. The voice was a strange combination of a rasp and a roar, sounding hoarse and nasally and simultaneously thick.

Mo glanced again at Lee, who had once more closed his eyes in recognition. "Who is that?" Mo asked.

"He was there that night my tribe was slaughtered." Lee said calmly, though Mo could tell that terror was stirring just below the calm. "I saw him standing next to Abeba. He looked at me. His eyes..."

He paused, but Mo listened expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"They were red, blood red. And he screamed at me. He told me I'd never escape."

"You're sure that's the same guy from that night?" Mo asked, "I mean, there's a lot of guys in Africa. This seems like an extremely random place for him to be."

"Oh, it's him..." Lee replied softly.

Lee sank into the barrels as if to disappear and suddenly the stack scooted backward and the entire wall of barrels collapsed. When the deafening sound of the evidently hollow drums faded from the cavernous room all six of the men were staring at the boys. Time stood still.

Having been taken by surprise, the men immediately turned their guns on the boys. After the drums had settled and they could make out what they were aiming at, they lowered their weapons as the great man that Lee so desperately feared let out an unnaturally thick laugh. The noise resounding from his throat was high, in a sense whiney but with a deep tension.

"Show yourselves, children," the man commanded in his tell tale voice.

Frozen, the boys didn't budge.

"C'mon, get over here!" another man jeered impatiently.

It was only when the second man started over toward them that the boys began to slink slowly from the shadows where they had been observing.

The African man removed his sunglasses that had shrouded his eyes, revealing two dark red eyes, as Lee had recalled; the color of fresh blood.

"No... Ha! It's the little drummer boy. What are you doing here, boy?" the man asked in a maddeningly amused voice. "It's nice to see a familiar face."

He then addressed the small company of men who now surrounded Moses and Lee. "The Blood Diamond... I knew this one long ago in Africa. He ran from me like a coward once before, now let's see if he'll do it again.

"What do you say, kid? Have you grown a pair since the last time we met or will you run, afraid just like before. Or maybe we should find Abeba first so that she can watch you run again."

The man's voice had tightened down to a tense murmur now. He stared at Lee, grinning an evil smile, waiting for some sort of response.

Mo, who seemed to be invisible though he was standing not three feet from Lee, glanced at his friend and saw that he had again, closed his eyes. He wanted to say something, to console him but was afraid of what the man would do.

After a lengthy pause Lee's eyelids opened, revealing his narrowed brown eyes staring straight into the hellish face of the man. He straightened up, arched his back, and gazing into the man's blood red eyes, he unleashed a roar the volume of which Mo had never heard before.

"You can't win this fight," the man snarled as he lunged towards Lee and struck him in the face with an enormous fist.

Lee had seemed ready, but took the punch full force and was knocked from his feet, landing yards from where he had stood. Dreadlocks spilling onto the floor he whipped his head around to retaliate. To his surprise, the man stood, smiling, staring down at him. "I see why you ran. You're weak."

Lee leapt from where he now crouched on the floor, tackling the monster and landing heavily next to him on the cement floor. Immediately, Lee thrust his knee into the man's back and began assailing him with a flurry of punches.

Moses watched the man strike back, get to his knees, and kick Lee (still on the ground) hard in the stomach. Thinking furiously about how to help his brother, Mo felt in the pocket of his board shorts. His hand wrapped around a small slotted screwdriver. His face lit up as he recalled using the screwdriver to open the gas tanks of the Phoenix to fuel up for their venture. As he looked around, the focus of everybody was on Lee, who was now on his feet dodging haymakers thrown by the man.

"Hey, dick for!" Mo yelled at the top of his lungs.

As the giant turned to face him, Moses hurled the small screwdriver at the man like a knife. As the tool lodged itself, slot first in the man's right eye, Mo roared "Plan B! GO!"

The boys exchanged glances and after shooting him a look of thanks, Lee tore off out of the warehouse and into the trees, in accordance to their plan. He ran as though the armies of hell were lashing at his heels and in a matter of minutes he had cleared the small beach and was crashing through the water toward where he trusted the Phoenix was tied up.

• • •

Moses looked around and found that the eyes of all the men (all but the African who was busy ripping the screwdriver out of his eye) were now locked on him. Before the man could yell for them to capture him, Mo bolted for the door through which the boys had originally come, making sure to topple any barrels that remained standing. Once through the door, he bolted down the hallway, turned the corner, and exploded out the door into the fading sunlight. He had already nearly covered the open ground and was just reaching the woods when the gunshots began to sound.

As Moses reached cover and ducked down he could hear bullets flying and ripping through the trees. He then hurried up a tree and waited; panting and listening to the men's yells.

"I don't care what you have to do, bring me that kid's head on a stick!" the African man roared. His scream was followed almost immediately by footsteps clamoring through the woods.

In the tree Mo waited, until he thought he had given Lee enough time to get to the boat. He then began to calculate the fastest and safest way to the water. His mind raced as he gazed off at where the cliff's slope met the jagged edge and he suddenly grinned.

He leapt down from the tree and with no heed to whoever may see him, he sprinted out into the open, across the plateau and past the warehouse. By the time he heard footsteps they were too late. As Moses neared the edge of the cliff he launched himself into the air and out over the edge.

From the water, Lee stared up at the figure that was careening downwards to where he waited with the Phoenix. He watched as his companion plunged into the water and waited anxiously for him to surface. As he guided the boat over to where he had landed, he saw the head of Moses emerge from the darkening water, hooting and hollering from the adrenaline rush.

As Lee hoisted Moses up into the vessel, he could hear yells from above, howling and screaming obscenities presumably concerning the escape of the boys. As Mo flicked on the massive floodlight mounted on the front of the Phoenix, both he and Lee could scarcely hide their excitement at having foiled the thugs and turning rudder to the island.

"That was sick! Did you see that screwdriver hit that guy's face?!" Mo gushed, having never had any luck with properly throwing knives. "There was like no skill involved whatsoever, I didn't even aim!"

"I donno, that jump was pretty insane too," beamed Lee, "how did your spine not shatter?"

"Dude, I don't know... So that guy was really the man from Africa huh?" Mo asked, shifting to a more serious tone.

"He was. I don't know how he ended up here or what brought him here but I would guess that he'll try to find me. He's the most sadistic man you'll ever meet. He's just a monster. I can't thank you enough for saving my life. He would have killed me." Lee said gravely. "He would have beaten me until I died. I might have broken a couple of his bones but he simply wouldn't have stopped. He might come after you now, too."

Mo smiled at his brother in the fading Pacific light. "You should know this by now, man. No matter what, you aren't gonna fight alone, we're brothers. We fight together."

# \- California Paradise -

"Um, excuse me, Miss Johnson?" rang a shrill, unintelligent sounding voice that grabbed the attention of the class and awoke them from their daydreams.

Mrs. Johnson paused at the white board and stared, annoyed, at the door.

"Can I borrow Moses and Lee for a sec?" asked a leathery orange girl standing in the doorway.

By the look of her she was a high schooler; she bore large sunglasses with a tint that faded at the bottom dangling from the neck of her low-cut shirt, her hair was down with unnaturally uniform bangs all stopping just short of her raised eyebrows. The smell of overused lotion wafted from her and she leaned limply and impatiently on one leg.

"I suppose so, yes," snarled Mrs. Johnson, who had been cut off mid-sentence by the girl.

Moses shot a scared look at Lee and slowly began to rise from his desk. The boys made their way through the array of students out into the hallway where the girl had already started walking sloppily down the hall in the direction of the office.

"What do you want us for?" Lee panted as they caught up with the girl.

"Idk, just follow me..." the girl replied, sounding bored and annoyed.

The boys followed her into the office and past the front desk to a small room that the boys had never even known existed. As they entered the room they were met by the principal and another girl, slightly more intelligent looking than the first but obviously belonging to the same social clique.

"Look, if this is about the toilets in the west bathroom we didn't-" Mo began but was cut off my a suspicious look from the principal.

The principal was a burly man by the name of Mr. Davids. The boys had come to know Mr. Davids quite well over the past few years. The majority of their visits had been for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or for talking (or their involvement with other shenanigans) during class. While the boys had a general dislike for being sent to the office they could find no real problem with Mr. Davids, who seemed to be an even-handed and honest man.

"Like eew! Nobody cares about the boys bathrooms!" said the girl who had brought the boys in.

"Jamie..." Mr. Davids warned. "Since this was your idea, I'll let you do the talking. I'm just here to make sure everything's according to school policy."

The girl sitting at the table opposite the boys gave them a warm (obviously practiced) smile and began, "I'm Kris, I'm the Student Body President. You guys might know my sister, Summer. She's in your class.

"I was at her talent show and heard you play. We were wondering if you'd like to play for the prom!" Kris went on, announcing it as though it was the highest honor the boys could have dreamed of. "What do you guys think?"

"The prom?" Mo asked skeptically. He had never had much interest in prom but was fairly certain that it was something that he wouldn't particularly enjoy.

"I know it sounds a little intimidating, but our theme is 'California Paradise' and we think you guys would be perfect!" Kris added.

"You want us to play for like the dance?" Lee asked in disbelief.

"Yeah!" Kris exclaimed.

"We play rock... You know that right?"

"Of course! You do covers right? We thought we'd give you dance songs and you could cover them for us!" answered Kris.

"Whoa whoa, dance songs? By dance songs you mean..." Mo trailed off.

"Oh you know! All the hits on the radio... like stuff they play at dances!"

Mo glanced over at Lee, who was beaming brilliantly, on the verge of uproarious laughter. Mo smiled distantly as he turned back to Kris.

"How does this sound?" Mo began in a businesslike tone, "We'll play your prom for you but as musicians we can't, in good conscience, play covers of all the crap that's on the radio. For one, because that would simply take too long. The songs would have to be dissected, reconstructed for guitar and drums, and we'd have to practice each song for hours to memorize it (and Lee doesn't even read music). Also, both Lee and I hate the entire genre and lifestyle that hip-hop embraces with the burning fiery passion of a thousand suns.

"If you want us to, we can play the music that we already know; pop-punk and getting more into alternative and metal. We can get a set list for you to approve and you can make adjustments if you want." As Mo finished, his gaze was locked with Kris's in a battle of wills.

After a shocked couple of seconds at the sophistication and thought put into Mo's argument, Kris replied "Okay, I guess that works for me!"

• • •

"Dude, we're playing the senior prom!" Lee exclaimed as their bikes screeched to a halt in front of their old house. Mack was outside, cutting something with a chainsaw as the boys walked across the yard, threw their bags down by the tree, and started immediately down the hill toward their "musical laboratory".

"So Alex should be here any minute, we told him four right?" Mo asked as he ducked his head through the shoulder strap of his guitar.

"Yeah dude, that should give us enough time to get warmed up before he gets here," Lee answered as he dropped down onto his stool behind his drum set. "What do you think? ABR first? Or are we feeling some Austrian Death Machine?"

When NoCal would practice, they often began with music from the screamo or hardcore genres. While they tended to avoid this type of music for its general lyrical thoughtlessness, attempting to keep up with the incredibly fast paced instrumentals (both on drums and guitar) made their specialty (punk rock) seem much slower and easier. While attempting to keep up with the pace of the chaotic din of Killswitch Engage or As I Lay Dying, the boys would then have no problem playing through any New Found Glory or Blink 182 song.

Suddenly, as Mo happened to glance up from his guitar he beheld Alex, standing not three feet from him, beaming. As the din in the room immediately faded, Mo exclaimed, "Dude! You scared the crap out of me, how long have you been here?"

"Oh I got here l-like 3 minutes ago," Alex stammered, smiling at having taken them by surprise.

"You shoulda said something or made some noise, we were just killing time until you got here!" Lee said.

"Okay, so like we said before we're playing the prom, which is in like three weeks and they want us to play for like three hours. I don't know about you guys but that's a long time so we're gonna have to take it easy and pace ourselves. Alex, I'm not sure how comfortable you are with your violin so depending how many songs you want to do we can cover Yellowcard and some other random stuff that has violins," Mo said seriously as the boys sat in a circle, pulling chairs to the center of the room.

"I'll be fine, I do l-like a hundred pushups every night," Alex said. "We could play Yellowcard's entire discography and I'd be good. I already know most of their songs' violin parts."

"Perfect! Do you know 'Bombers'?" Lee asked, surprised at Alex's knowledge of Yellowcard.

Alex smiled and silently took his violin from it's case, grabbed his bow and set the instrument to his neck. "Check this out."

• • •

"Okay, this is it guys!" Moses said as they finished up their sound check in the expansive gymnasium. "Tonight we're gonna rock the senior prom."

"Can I see the set list again, quick?" asked Lee passively from his drum set.

"Yeah, sure. Here," Mo handed the beat-up looking sheet to his friend.

The list went on for both sides of the paper, featuring songs ranging from Dashboard Confessional on the lighter side all the way to Bullet For My Valentine on the heavier extreme.

• • •

The stage was dark as the boys stepped in front of the crowd. The gym was packed with overdressed high school students and the noise rose and fell as bored conversations came and went. Suddenly, lights flooded the stage and the crowd went silent. Taken slightly by surprise, Moses looked back at Lee then at Alex, shrugged, and they immediately began into "Gifts and Curses".

NoCal, who had been practicing every day for several hours after school, had played through each and every song on the set list until they had nailed it down thoroughly. As they thundered through the first half of the song, everything seemed to be clicking perfectly. Eventually the guitar and drums dropped and Alex strode to the center of the stage with his violin, beginning his lengthy solo.

The song had been recorded with a piano meandering along with the violin, but as neither Mo nor Lee knew how to play, they let Alex suffice. The way he wielded the violin still captivated Moses, even after practicing for three weeks together. As Mo listened to the beautiful solo, he scanned the crowd. After a minute or so of Alex playing came Mo's cue.

As the solo picked up, Moses struck a broad chord on his guitar (all seven strings) simultaneously with his amplifying switch. As the chord washed over the crowd Mo noticed a familiar face way in the back, standing by the door. As he gazed at what he swore was EmJay's face he struck another deep chord, waited a few seconds, and struck another. Luckily, he snapped out of his trance and as he wondered what she could be doing there, they finished up the remainder of the song.

• • •

"That drummer seriously hasn't missed a beat..." a girl said into her friend's ear. "He's insane!"

"I know!" her friend replied, pausing to converse. "These covers are like... really good! And they're not just copying the artists, their versions sound original."

"This little Asian kid is keeping right up too," said the girl, looking toward the stage with the makings of a smile crossing her face. "He's a nice addition because now Mo can move around some more."

"I agree," her friend smiled as she turned back toward the stage, letting out a holler of approval.

• • •

As Mo let the final chord carry through the system, he glanced back at Lee who seemed to be having the time of his life. Likewise, Alex showed no sign of tiring. "Okay, this next song's for the guys standing in the back getting wasted, it's called 'Taste The Poison'" Mo said, smiling as a group of boys in the back looked up, startled, from their bottles of what was presumed to be water. Mo had been watching them for awhile and had noticed them getting marginally more relaxed as the night went on.

For songs such as this where there was no violin incorporated, Alex provided backing vocals, which gave Moses more freedom to jump around. As NoCal reached the end of the third verse, Alex yelled "YEAH!"

At his cue, Mo doubled over for his guitar solo, his guitar screaming rapidly as the gym erupted with energy. It was a short solo but a flawless one and as they ranged through the final bridge of the song, the audience seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

"Okay, so here's a couple slower-ish songs by Bullet. You guys can try to slow dance if you want..." Mo said passively as he began to play.

• • •

"Who knew they could cover metal too?" mused a girl after taking a draught of punch. "I don't think he's missed a single note."

"I know! We've seen them like four times now and I swear they get better every time," her friend replied, sounding surprised.

"Right?" the girl agreed. "They could probably give Bloody Demon a run for their money."

From where the girls stood in the crowded gym they had a clear view of the band. The crowd had subsided leaving pockets of students clustered throughout the gym, some dancing and some conversing. As the girls talked busily they were suddenly barreled into rudely by an older looking boy storming between them, spilling the girl's nearly empty cup of punch and almost knocking her friend over.

The girls glared after a bulky looking guy as he stalked angrily toward the door.

"What the hell was that about?" snarled her friend. "Did you smell the booze on him?"

• • •

The boys had played through "Forever and Always" and were dragging out the final breakdown of the song (the couples seemed content to slow dance so they saw no reason to end the song). They had found a rhythm and had settled into it almost lazily when the lights of the gym lit up, revealing a couple of policemen standing at the doors, arms crossed.

Mr. Davids made his way from a side door up onto the stage, hardly giving Alex time to step away from his microphone stand. He ripped the mic off of it's housing and said angrily, "The party's over, guys. I'm sorry to the students who aren't drinking but as it reeks like alcohol in here, we're going to have to check every last one of you. I'd be scared to even light a match in here... Your prom is officially over." As he flicked the mic off, he turned to the boys apologetically and said "I'm sorry boys, it looks like we're going to have to wrap it up here. For what it's worth, you did a nice job."

• • •

The students were ushered through the double doors of the gym in a single file line as the boys finished packing up their equipment. The students who passed the tests were released out into the night but the students who were suspected of inebriation were pulled to the side. The size of the group pulled aside was astounding.

"Well, I say we just leave our stuff here for tonight and come pick it up tomorrow. I don't feel like dragging it all home tonight," Lee said.

"Yeah, definitely," agreed Moses, "plus we rode our bikes here anyways."

As they waited around outside the school for Alex's mom to pick him up, Mo noticed a girl's silhouette against a tree next to the outside door on the other end of the gym.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna catch up later, okay? Lee, tell dad I'm helping clean up and that I'll be back later." Mo said, staring at the tree.

Lee recognized the silhouette too, and gave Mo an understanding smile before nodding. "Go get 'er."

As Moses rose from where he had sat against the building and began to approach the tree, his heart began to beat faster as he drew nearer. The closer he got, the clearer the silhouette became and the more nervous he got.

"Um... Hey, EmJay," Mo stuttered as he approached her, "what are you doing here?"

"Oh hey Moses! My parents are out of town tonight and my sister is having a party and told me I couldn't be there so I had to find something else to do. I heard you and Lee were playing the prom and had nowhere else to go so I decided to just come watch you play," EmJay said, sounding a little embarrassed.

"Really? You came just to watch us play?" Mo was in shock that she even knew his name, let alone had come to watch NoCal.

"Yeah! You guys are amazing, I just love watching you play. You look like you aren't even trying," EmJay said, again sounding embarrassed.

"Is it cool if I sit down?" Mo asked, gazing down into her enormous brown eyes.

"Mmhmm," was all the reply he got.

"So that was a pretty crazy bust," mused Mo as he sank down next to EmJay at the base of the giant tree. "I hope I didn't cause it with that comment before 'Taste the Poison'."

"Naw, they were gonna get busted anyways I bet, it smelled pretty bad in there. I recognize how it smells from my sister's parties" EmJay assured him. "Oh it looks like Lee's leaving, if you need to go I understand!"

"Well what are you gonna do the rest of the night?" asked Mo, a glimmer of hope flickering across his eyes.

EmJay's eyes fell, along with her face as she replied, "Oh I don't know, just sit here I guess."

Mo looked over at her, an idea running through his head. "Wanna go for a walk?" he asked.

EmJay's face lit up as she lifted her head and stared into Mo's face, "I'd like that."

Mo got to his feet first and helped EmJay up. As they stood there under the light of the lamp attached to the gymnasium wall, she asked, "Where are we going?"

"I know of a place we can go," Mo said after a brief pause before he began slowly walking down toward the ocean. The pair walked side by side, awkwardly at first but as they went they began to talk.

"So what kind of music do you listen to?" Mo asked thoughtfully as they made their way down the sidewalk of the empty street.

"Well, my parents listen to country all the time, but I like the stuff that you guys play. I really like the lighter emo-pop bands like Dashboard," she began, thinking as she spoke. "I loved your version of 'Thunder'. I think my favorite song of all time, though, has gotta be 'Thriller'..." she smiled guiltily. She looked over at Mo, who was grinning from ear to ear.

Presently, they passed the Pier where NoCal had played their first public show, and made their way down along the beach. They walked along its entire shore until they came to the end where it became rocky and grassy as it sloped harshly upward.

"Where are we going?" asked EmJay as she stared up the rough looking hill.

"At the top of that hill there's a place that'd be perfect for watching the stars," Mo explained, following her gaze up the hill. "I'll go if you will."

EmJay said nothing, but slid her small hand into his and nudged him gently forward. Together they made their way up the hill along the winding dirt trail that he and Lee had found nearly two years earlier. Finally, after a few minutes of climbing they came to the top, where a crater had been imprinted into the west facing side of the hill.

"Hmm..." thought Mo out loud, "I remembered this dent being big enough for two."

"Sit down, I have an idea," EmJay said sweetly. Mo did as he was told, and was followed by EmJay, who then sat on his lap, nuzzling up comfortably.

"Wow," breathed Mo as he gazed out at the dark Pacific sky, riddled with thousands upon thousands of brilliant points of light. Far off in the distance there were clouds rolling across the horizon, illuminated by the moon as it sat, far off in the dark blue. As the two sat there they were at a loss for words; EmJay at the sky, and Mo at the fact that he was staring out at the oceanic stars with his dream girl sitting on his lap, her hair nestled up against his cheek.

"It's so beautiful," EmJay whispered, an air of awe in her voice as he felt her breathing nervously. "Nobody ever really watches the stars anymore..."

Off toward the horizon they could now make out feint flickers of lightning in the far off clouds. Between the storm in the distance and the stars shimmering over the ocean, the two sat and marveled at the spectacle before them. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, Mo spoke.

"I don't wanna sound cheesy, but I've always dreamed about being here, with you, under the stars. The way that you feel when you gaze out at the stars, that's the way I feel whenever I look at your eyes."

He felt her draw in a breath as though she had been taken by surprise. After what seemed like forever she whispered softly into his ear, "That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me."

As the two watched, the clouds seemed to draw closer, bringing with them loudening claps of thunder and lightening strikes that could now be seen clearly. Their focus had shifted from the night sky to the approaching storm on the horizon when suddenly Mo broke the silence again.

"I like you, EmJay, and I've liked you ever since I can remember. I would give anything to see your smile and I would die for you in a heartbeat; but I can't let myself date you," Moses whispered in a somber tone.

"Why not?" asked EmJay, quite obviously disappointed.

"Well," Mo began, hesitating as he thought of how to word it. "There's this crazy African pirate guy who's after Lee and he maybe sorta might be after me, too. I swear I'm not making this up, it's the truth." His voice was almost pleading, knowing that she would never believe him.

"No, I believe you," whispered EmJay calmly. "Why would he be after you?"

Mo cringed as he said, "I may have sort of popped one of his eyes with a screwdriver."

She turned her head to look at him, a mixed look of surprise and awe.

"I know it sounds extreme but if you had been there you'd understand why. It's a long story but sometimes things are just worth fighting for. That's why I can't risk having you as my girlfriend. If he were to find out who you were..." Mo's voice trailed off at the thought of the horror.

EmJay shifted where she sat so that she could face Mo properly and said in a sweet voice, "Moses, I can't even begin to tell you how touched I am. That's the noblest thing anybody has ever said to me." She stared into his eyes with innocence. "We could keep it a secret. I've liked you for a long time, too, and if we've liked each other secretly for so long why can't we just keep doing that?"

As he stared at her in the starlight, a silver glow highlighting the curvature of her face, Mo's expression was set in stone. The only thing that showed his joy was his eyes, which seemed to be glowing. "I like it," he said as she shifted back to where she had originally rested.

They sat, again in silence, watching the storm progress steadily toward the unsuspecting coastline. The next time the silence was broken, it was EmJay who spoke.

"So you stabbed an African pirate in the eye with a screwdriver?" she mused.

A smile crossed Mo's face as he replied "Well, not exactly stabbed. He was gonna kill Lee so I threw it at him from across the room and it stuck straight into his eye. Sorry, I know how much you hate violence. You probably think I'm a freak."

"Naw," EmJay pondered, "I like it. You were fighting for a reason."

• • •

An hour later, the pair made their way back down the narrow path, out along the shore again and just as they had covered the beach the rain began. As the storm had grown closer they had realized that this inevitably meant that it would eventually reach the coast. They now hid under the Pier, sheltered from the rain and contemplated their next move.

"I bet my sister's party is over, so I should probably go home." EmJay said, staring out into the now pouring rain.

Mo looked at her and offered, "Can I walk you home?"

EmJay simply smiled at him before grabbing hold of his hand and leading him off in the direction of the school. They ran, ducking under awnings and store fronts as they went, to where Mo's bike was still sitting alone at the tree by the gym. The pair then made their way the few blocks to where EmJay's family lived (with Mo pedaling while she stood perched on the pegs protruding from the rear wheel).

When they reached her house it looked vacant and spent; the last of the partiers had gone and there were still red solo cups strewn about the yard. As they stood under the shelter of a great oak tree, EmJay turned to Mo and said, "Thanks for everything, Moses. For keeping me company and bringing me home and everything. Are you sure you can make it back to your house okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'll be okay," Mo said as he glanced from EmJay to the pouring rain and back. "I had a great night. I'll always be here for you..." he pledged soberly and distantly. "Forever and always."

She smiled as she repeated him. "Forever and always," before running out across her front yard to their porch, where she glanced back at Mo to give him the all clear.

Mo nodded and, seeing that she had made it into the house, tore off, water flinging from the spokes of his bike, out into the torrential darkness.

# \- Follow The Leader -

The world outside the window was gleaming brilliantly in the morning sun. Everything was shimmering, having been doused from the torrential rain that had drenched the coast and everything on it under the cover of night. The sun, now breaking through the fast dissipating clouds, ignited everything it touched and made even the dullest of colors rich and shiny.

As Lee opened first one eye then the other, he scanned the small room. His eyes caught on the small digital clock that read 9:42. Suddenly snapping awake he leapt from his bed, threw on a pair of board shorts and flew down the stairs and out the door. As he burst from the house he tore off across the yard, almost colliding with Moses, who stood staring down at the beach.

"Dude, why didn't you wake me up? I wa-" Lee was cut off by Moses, who pointed gravely down at the beach. Lee followed his gaze and his eyes popped.

"What is that?" Lee asked, gazing down at a herd of enormous creatures covering the entirety of the cove.

"Northern Elephant Seals," Mo said, disgusted. "They're like the biggest, ugliest, nastiest, meanest things on the coast. They're actually considered a varmint by most fishing vessels."

Lee replied, "So what about surfing? Did you hear that storm last night? Those waves coming in are gonna be sick, we can't miss 'em!"

"Those seals aren't gonna let us surf, we gotta get them out of here somehow." Mo replied.

The boys slunk down the hill to the small shed that housed their instruments and surf boards. As they sat against the wall hidden from the beach, Mo said in a low voice, "Okay, so we're gonna each take a side and run out screaming as loud as we can. Hopefully, the seals will get freaked out and leave. I'll take this side, you go around the other way..."

Lee nodded before holding up three fingers. He paused a moment and pulled one down. A second later he dropped the second finger and as he slowly pulled the last finger into a fist, the boys erupted from behind the shed yelling at the top of their lungs. They charged, arms flailing toward the giant herd of monsters. As they came closer they were met only by bored glances as the great beasts continued to lounge lazily on the beach. The boys stopped within twenty feet of the seals.

"Dammit!" Mo exclaimed, annoyed.

"Maybe we need to make some more noise..." Lee said thoughtfully as he stared in the direction of the shed, a smile growing across his face. He led the way to the run down little shack with Moses in tow. Lee hardly broke stride as he flung the small garage door (facing the beach) open and strode toward his drum set, grabbing one of the two microphones as he went. He removed the mic from its stand and set it, with a thump, on the ground between his feet, amidst the three bass kick drums.

Mo was close behind, dragging the speakers into the doorway facing the water, flicking each one on as he went. He then grabbed his guitar and plugged it in, simultaneously adjusting his microphone.

"'In The Shadows'?" Mo suggested over his shoulder.

Lee nodded, grinning at the thought of the excessively loud song. Mo strummed the few introductory chords before Lee joined him, creating massive blasts of noise that immediately got the attention of the entire herd of great flabby brutes. After dragging along the rough, loud sounding intro Mo and Lee both began screaming. "WE BOTH TAKE THE HARDEST PUNCHES AND COLLECT-" The noise immediately faded as the herd of giants erupted into the floppy blubbery equivalent of a stampede.

Mo's eyes widened as he noticed the status-quo change and yelled, "Lee! Grab the boards and let's go!"

Mo and Lee burst from the shed, surf boards under arm, and charged up the hill away from the beach. After a quick glance at one another, they silently agreed on a plan. As they rapidly climbed the hill, the mass of Northern Elephant Seals thundered behind them seeming thoroughly aggravated by the deafening noise created by NoCal, particularly the bloody screams. The boys broke the crest of the hill, charging toward the great tree on the edge of the cliff.

"Lee," panted Mo as they hurdled towards the cliff's edge, "it's high tide, right?"

"Should be, it looked like it on the beach," Lee breathed.

"Perfect," Mo smiled as they neared the edge of the cliff.

The seals were now beginning to gain on the boys and just as they closed the gap the boys hurled themselves out over the cliff face, boards held tight to their chests, poised for the landing. Time seemed to stand still as the boys flew out over the edge of the cliff. They hurdled away from the rock wall, gradually coming closer to the water. As the boys broke the choppy plane of the water and surfaced almost immediately, paddling on their boards as if nothing had happened, there was suddenly a concussive "plunk", followed by another and another.

As the seals clumsily plummeted over the side of the cliff (having no traction on the still soaking grass) and splashing like giant rocks safely into the water, the boys paddled their boards furiously back around toward the beach. The seals, having not the slightest clue of what had just happened, floundered about and began swimming gradually up the coast away from the beach.

"Dude! How did we just pull that off?!" Mo exclaimed in triumphant disbelief, shaking the water from his eyes. "I can't believe that worked!" he continued, scanning the water for a wave to catch.

Lee was beaming from ear to ear. He too was gazing into the distance and as he looked his eyes caught on a giant ripple. His grin spread even wider, as he roared "Here they come!"

# \- El Monasterio de San Jamie -

"Dude, are you ready yet?" Moses yelled up the stairs impatiently.

"Yeah hold up, I'm looking for my knife!" Lee bellowed back from above.

"I got 'em already! They're outside!" hollered Mo.

Lee then came bolting down the stairs and out the door as Mo turned and followed him.

As the boys crossed over the threshold into the brilliant late morning sun, the sky was an even deeper sapphire than usual. They crossed the yard, heading toward their usual entry point into the woods. Lee was fastening the knife's sheath to the belt of his cargo shorts as they went, and just before crossing into the woods they were joined by their faithful companion; Killer. Dog in tow, the boys headed off into the hills in search of St. Jimmy's monastery.

The monastery of St. James (referred to by the locals as St. Jimmy) was an urban legend spoken of mostly by the youth around town. Having been set up as a Spanish monastery in the 1600's, St. Jimmy's was mythologized and gave rise to many legends and ghost stories that were whispered amongst the local kids. It was said to have been abandoned for many different reasons (depending upon which version of the story was told) including curses, murders, disappearances, and all manner of strange goings on.

The boys' curiosity had been sparked by the tales exchanged at school and they had decided to explore and see if the monastery even existed. Having written down the locations specified in the stories and having plotted them on a map (the locations seemed to differ greatly), the boys calculated the general area where most accounts came from.

"So do you think there's even a monastery out here? I mean these hills are big but to hide an entire monastery?" Lee conversed as they made their way through the ranging wooded hills.

"Honestly, I doubt anything like that's actually out there. I've lived here for my whole life and I've been all around these hills. There's no way it'd be there without my knowing," replied Mo, ducking around a branch. "Either way, it should be a good time; we've got our trusty dog, our knives, and like six cans of Mountain Dew!"

• • •

"We've gotta be getting close!" panted Mo, sinking down by a tree to consult the map. Lee knelt beside him and the two traced their progress throughout the morning's hike. "Okay we must be around here, so yeah we're pretty close to ground zero for the stories."

"If the place really is there, it's going to be down in a valley most likely, otherwise it'd be like impossible for it to be hidden," Lee thought aloud "and it's probably really overgrown from a few hundred years of disuse. I say we take a Dew break and then we start sweeping the woods for St. Jimmy's."

The boys sat at the foot of an enormous redwood tree and enjoyed their Mountain Dew as Killer basked lazily in the sun. The woods all around them seemed to be holding their breath. As the sun sifted through the trees onto the hillside, time seemed frozen. There were no birds to be heard, no squirrels, no rabbits, no cracking of twigs. Nothing but the methodical pant of their mutt could he heard.

"Dude, it's creepy quiet out here," Lee said, breaking the silence. "Well, let's start looking for this bad boy."

"Yeah, I can see why people would get creeped out around here, there's literally no noise besides us," Mo agreed as he rose and shouldered the bag. He then started off up the hill, talking as he went. "I say we stick to the tops of the ridges so we can see down into all the valleys and ravines and don't have to do as much climbing."

"Right behind you," Lee replied.

The boys wandered the woods for what seemed to them to be close to an hour and as they reached the edge of the area that they had deemed the epicenter of the stories Lee suddenly stopped. Eyes narrowed into a squint, he asked, "Hey Mo! Do you see that?"

"I donno," squinted Mo, "what's 'that'?"

"A Cross, down in the treetops... it's got a glint on it!" Lee exclaimed in a hoarse whisper.

"No freakin' way!" Mo exclaimed, recognizing the cross and quickly marking the valley on the map. "Let's go check it out!"

• • •

"This is insane! I can't believe there's actually an old monastery out here!" Mo whispered as they peered at the ancient looking building. It had a generally square layout, with much of it's former glory lost to decay and overgrowth. It sat in what looked to have once been a clearing in the valley, but was now flecked with young saplings. There was a steeple, the crowning cross of which Lee had picked out amongst the trees.

The sanctuary (or what looked to have once been a sanctuary) was the tallest side of the square, with another hallway of crumbling stone running adjacent. The other two sides of the monastery looked to have once been a colonnade, with what were now the disintegrated remnants of a thick wall standing three feet from the ground. There was an arched gate that still stood, featuring an ancient looking bronze colored bell, and upon which was inscribed the words "El Monasterio de San Jamie". The walls and architecture of St. Jimmy's monastery seemed to have been abandoned abruptly and left to the forces of nature. The walls were crumbling into shambles while vines and all sorts of vegetation had taken root amidst their remains. Plants and small trees had pushed their way through the stone floors of every visible area and the old, browned stone had a rustic quality to it.

"No wonder this place is so legendary," Lee said, "Just look at it!"

"Yeah," Mo replied breathlessly. "It's like the-"

He was cut off by an enormous crash. One of the higher remaining sections of the wall had just crumbled, causing a deafening clamor and a cloud of dust to rise. Eyes still wide at the surprise of the crash and hearts still pounding in their throats, they stared at the cloud of dust, waiting for it to settle. As it finally dissipated, a small figure could be made out as the dust swirled in the rays of light pouring through the ruins. Both boys immediately ducked in recognition, Killer daftly following suit.

"Dude! It's a sasquatch!" Mo whispered frantically.

"Of course there's a sasquatch..." Lee whispered back, exasperated. He slowly and silently rose and peered over the fallen tree the boys had taken shelter behind. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..." he went on, a tone of realization suddenly creeping into his voice. "Of course... it all makes sense!"

"What makes sense?" Mo inquired, his voice barely audible as he, too, peered out at the remains.

"See that matted down pile of weeds over against that wall? And that one up over there on that second story where the near wall is collapsed? They're nests..." Lee whispered. "The sasquatches nest here! Gorillas do the same thing in Africa."

"That actually makes perfect sense," whispered Mo, suddenly noticing a dozen or so matted down areas in the vegetation in and around the monastery. "It's so secluded around here because everybody thinks it's haunted. Nobody ever comes back in here so logically this would be where they nest. The ruins must provide some shelter from the weather, too.

"So whadaya think?" Mo continued, "do we go check it out or do we back off?"

"Well, I think as long as we keep our eyes peeled we can go check it out. How about, if anything happens we meet back at that giant redwood tree up there?" Lee suggested, pointing up to a towering tree on the crest of the ridge.

"Deal," replied Mo, rising silently from where they had crouched. The sasquatch had disappeared and the boys slowly made their way into the clearing. They made it not five feet from where they had huddled when a single enormous sasquatch appeared through the gate of the monastery. This was the biggest sasquatch either of the boys had ever seen, standing at about six feet and having enormous girth. The boys immediately froze and as they watched they were gradually surrounded by the beasts, the shear number of which they had never seen before. The monastery was crawling with them.

Lee slowly began to reach for his knife, but Mo slowly shook his head.

"There's waaaaaaay too many to take on, we'd both get mauled to death" Mo said through clenched teeth, barely audibly. "We can't win this one. Maybe if we had the cover of the trees..."

Lee smiled. "On "go"..." was all he said as he reached slowly into Mo's bag, his hand emerged with two cans of Mountain Dew.

The air seemed to hold it's breath as Lee hurled a can of Mountain Dew end over end straight up into the air. The eyes of every sasquatch (and Killer) followed the can upward as it caught the glint of the sun. Slowly it stopped its ascent and began to plummet down toward the monastery. As it crashed into the stone floor amidst the beasts it erupted, spraying the animals with Mountain Dew and causing an uproar the likes of which the boys had never heard.

As the can struck the ground, Lee hurled the second can at the largest sasquatch, striking him squarely between the eyes and causing it to burst like the first can. As the can connected he bellowed "GO!"

The boys took off into the woods, not stopping to see if they were being followed. It was not until they got halfway up the hill that they stopped and peered back through the woods. They presently heard footsteps and, knowing the drill, the boys immediately began to search the forest floor for sticks or manageable logs. Having been chased by sasquatches before, they now knew that an ambush attack was by far the most effective tactic.

The boys each took a tree to hide behind and waited. Killer, the bait for their ambush, continued to charge up the hill. As the footsteps grew closer, the boys poised and as Lee's sasquatch crossed first, he swung with all his might and connected with the brute squarely in the face. Almost instantaneously, Mo's crossed and he delivered a swift blow to the chest. The boys then fell back, charging further up the hill, dropping behind trees after about fifteen feet.

They continued to make their way up the hill in increments varying between fifteen and twenty feet, wearing their opposition down. Killer, who had now reached the crest of the hill, seemed to realize what was going on and sat, perched atop the hill, yelping and howling as if enticing the pursuers to come and get him.

The sun was streaming through the woods as Moses and Lee made their stand against the sasquatches. Dust was floating lazily in the bright sunny air and were it not for the raging battle taking place, the wooded hillside would have been the very definition of serenity. The boys fought valiantly, working their way backwards up the hill. The sasquatches were relentless and overtook the boys on a couple occasions.

When their tactical plans disintegrated they would unsheathe their knives, fighting valiantly and fending off ruthless attacks. They would try first to injure the beasts, never going initially for the kill. They fought tooth and nail and would only take the kill if the beast would not back down. They would fight until the wave had been beaten back and would then resume their guerilla tactics.

Finally, as the boys reached the top of the hill the sasquatches had begun to tire of repeatedly being bashed and gave up their relentless assault. The boys sat atop the crest of the hill, panting and gazing down at their new discovery.

"Man," said Lee, cracking open a remaining can of Mountain Dew, "that got kinda dicey..."

"Yeah," wheezed Mo, following suit, "that was like Bunker Hill! How many waves do you think we fought off?"

"Dude, I lost track..." Lee paused to sip his can. "I say if anybody asks, we didn't find anything. It's not fair to the monastery or the sasquatches if there are swarms of people around."

"Good call," Mo said, a smile crossing his face, "not that anyone would believe us anyways. Any other day I'd say we should go check out the damage we did and maybe bring back a body, but I think we've both earned a break."

# \- The Kings of the Pacific -

The stars began to emerge from the abyss of the dark Pacific sky as Lee hunched over the pile of wood on the beach. To the west, the gradient of the sky faded into a pastel orange where the sun had finished its descent. The hulking structure of the Pier loomed in the gathering darkness as the small congregation of silhouettes sat talking amongst themselves. There were three surf boards propped up against the Pier's gargantuan support beam and half a dozen bikes strewn about in the sand. Suddenly the deepening shadow of the structure was scattered by an orange light as Lee leapt away from the fire pit.

"Got it!" he said triumphantly as he gazed at the fire from a safe distance.

Fire was one of Lee's gifts, a skill that he had perfected out of necessity in the jungles of the Congo. He turned and searched for an open spot on one of the three logs rolled up to the fire pit. As he located and started toward a gap on the log, he heard the sound of an acoustic guitar begin to pick gently in the night.

"Nice fire," Mo's voice came from across the blaze.

"Yeah, nice work. It's sick," came a few other voices from around the circle.

Lee smiled, the light from the fire catching his dreadlocks, reflecting the varying shades of brown, black and a couple deep reds.

As the fire grew brighter and the night grew darker the conversations would rise and fall, broken here and there by the serenades of the acoustic guitar, wielded by a boy named Jordan. While Moses could easily have played circles around Jordan, he was content to listen and gaze into the fire while stealing shared glances with EmJay from across the circle.

"Hey Mo, I heard that NoCal is gonna compete in the Kings of the Pacific," came a voice after a temporary lull in the conversation.

Not seeing who had spoken, Mo replied without moving his gaze from the bonfire. "I hadn't planned on it. It's in San Fran isn't it? Did you want to, Lee?"

"This is the first I've heard of it," Lee replied from across the circle.

"No they changed it, it's a totally different setup this year," the voice answered. "It's in the back room of The Pub now and there's only going to be four bands."

"It's at The Pub?" Lee asked skeptically. The Pub was the local combination bar and music venue in town and was hardly big enough to house a mid-sized concert, let alone a battle of the bands.

The voice replied smoothly, "Yup, there's three bands already and rumor has it NoCal is the fourth."

As Moses and Lee pondered in silence, Mo strained to see the face of whoever was speaking. As he squinted in the direction of the voice, he saw a hooded figure sitting at the edge of the circle of logs. As he studied the figure he could make out no facial features, only what seemed to be a mask.

With a sudden twinge Mo realized that the masked and hooded figure hadn't been there earlier and seemed to have appeared out of the darkness. With the unsettling realization of the mysterious figure, he abruptly demanded, "who's asking?"

"Your better," came the voice, now chillingly hostile. The figure sat motionless as all of the side conversations instantaneously died.

"Uh, what?" Lee asked sharply from the other side of the fire.

The figure rose silently and continued, "Did I stutter? Unless you're scared to get torn apart at the Kings of the Pacific we'll see you Wednesday night at The Pub." The figure then slunk back into the shadows leaving the circle speechless and silent.

After what seemed like an eternity Mo became aware that all the eyes were fixed on either him or Lee. He looked around gravely and drew in a sober breath. Finally Jordan broke the silence.

"Dude, what are you gonna do?"

"I donno," Mo replied distantly.

Jordan said sympathetically, "If you need anything, just let me know..."

"I say we fight back, we can't just take this laying down," suggested Lee in a sharp voice.

"Lee's right." It was EmJay that spoke now. "You guys are amazing and you could mop up the stage with that weirdo." As she spoke her gaze fell on Moses and her eyes continued to console him long after her short soliloquy had ended.

There was a pause again as Mo stared blankly into the fire, deep in thought. "Looks like we're playing the Kings of the Pacific."

• • •

The fire had died down to a glow of embers and the group had dispersed, leaving Moses, Lee, and EmJay alone on the beach.

"What just happened?" asked Mo rhetorically, as if in a daze. He seemed to have been particularly shaken by the mysterious challenger, and had been mostly silent since his disappearance.

EmJay sat next to him, now that everybody had gone, and said comfortingly, "You guys are a lighthouse on this coast, Moses. It's not just how you play your instruments, it's who you are. You're a beacon of light standing up to the gathering darkness. You can totally handle whatever this creep could possibly have in store. You guys are brave..."

"He was like a shadow, I couldn't read him. Couldn't look into his eyes. It was like there was no soul there. No humanity..."

EmJay smiled back encouragingly and continued, "The thing about light is, it shatters the darkness every time. The light always drives away the dark. Every time."

• • •

"I'll be home in a few," Moses said over his shoulder as Lee began to turn onto the gravel road that led up to the boys' house.

"Aight, later! Good night EmJay!" Lee replied as he faded into the darkness.

EmJay replied from the back of Mo's bike, perched on the pegs of his back wheel, "Night!"

As they pulled up to her house, EmJay hopped off of the pegs and waited expectantly as Mo propped his bike up against the giant oak tree in her front yard. Mo then turned to see her smiling at him with her enormous brown eyes. The light from the street lamp was casting a shadow so that Moses was nearly invisible while EmJay was bathed in the tinted yellow light.

"Thanks for everything," she whispered as she met him in the shadow and wrapped her skinny arms around him. As Mo returned the embrace he replied with a silent smile. As they hugged, in the shadow of the tree darkened to near pitch black by the light of the street lamp, EmJay's lips found Mo's. The kiss was nothing more than a peck but was all that either of them had ever wanted. After one last embrace Moses waited to see that she made it into her house safely and again tore off into the darkness.

• • •

The Pub was a venue much like any other, usually consisting of a stage and an open floor for the crowd. The Kings of the Pacific Battle of the Bands competition, however, had transformed the place to the point of non-recognition. There were now four stages set up, one on each wall of the square room. Each stage was a square 20 feet by 20 feet and held a different band. Located in the center of the room was a platform upon which there were three judges. The rest of the open floor space was packed with bodies who were gathered to see the cut throat battle of the bands.

Each band had been given an hour to set up their stage, the only regulations being that The Pub provided the sound system. NoCal had set up Lee's drum set and had tacked a massive, tattered old American flag to the backdrop of their stage. The stage situated to the left of NoCal's, however, held a microphone stand decorated to look as though it were made out of bones, sticking out atop a pile of what looked to be skulls. The backdrop was a giant poster, depicting a hooded figure with points of red light emulating eyes. There was a sinister looking fence that one might find in a graveyard running through the middle of the stage, separating it into a front and a back. The fence's gates were ajar, swung outward creating a sort of funnel.

"Dude, where have I seen that backdrop before?" Mo asked Lee as they waited for the battle to begin. Three out of the four stages were occupied, leaving only the skull-laden one vacant.

"I donno, man, but they better hurry up or they're not gonna make it in time for the show. That must be our masked challenger..." Lee mused. No sooner had he spoken then the lights went down and a hush fell over the crowd. As The Pub went silent the emcee wasted no time introducing the event.

"Welcome everybody, hope you found the place okay. Who's ready for the eighth annual Kings of the Pacific Battle of the Bands?!" boomed a voice that the boys recognized from the local rock radio station. "We're switching things up this year and it should be a good time. There will be four bands competing in the cut throat style battle. We'll go in random order, giving each band one song. After each has played their chosen song the judges will chose which team to eliminate. The elimination will continue until there is one remaining band who will then be dubbed the Kings of the Pacific!

"Playing on the East stage will be Rotten Weasel Indicator; an Indie band from Sacramento." The crowd gave a delayed cheer. "Playing on the West stage will be hometown heroes NoCal." The crowd erupted into cheering as Lee thumped a couple heartbeats from behind his drum set. "On the South stage we have the So-Cal act, Caligirl." More applause. "And performing on the North stage..." The announcer, standing on the stage to the left of NoCal was suddenly interrupted by a masked figure who strode across the stage, ripping the microphone out of his hand and growling in a painfully throaty voice, "Bloody...Deeeemonnnnn-ah".

The hearts of both Moses and Lee sank as they recognized the unsettling mask from the bonfire. Bloody Demon was a notorious band shrouded by myth and legend. Having a ferocious reputation for their live concerts, they were a band who played mostly covers of all manner of hardcore and sharp edged gritty heavy metal. The band was like smoke; even the number of members was widely disputed. They featured mainly two vocalists and an unidentified number of screamers. There were sometimes one and sometimes two drummers and often two or three guitarists. The only members who were easily and widely recognized from show to show were the masked guitarist, the bass player, and the leading vocalists, one in particular by the name of Anne.

The boys watched, half in horror and half in awe as the stage was flooded by people. The drummer took his seat behind the drum set as two more guitarists took the stage behind where the masked guitarist stood. The bassist, a heavyset guy looking to be in his late teens stalked onto the stage, followed by the most prominent leading vocalist. He had long hair covering his eyes and was clad, as was the rest of the band, in all black. Anne was last to appear on the stage. She picked her way across the platform daintily and up the pile of skulls to the center mic stand as the crowd roared.

Anne was a slender girl, who had all the petite mannerisms of an innocent and mild mannered child. Even the way she carried herself across the stage was in denial of her presence amidst the rest of the dark scene. She had black tights on, leading up to a short red dress. Her hair was dyed reddish orange and her delicate facial features were decorated by a nose ring in one nostril and a small gage in both of her ears. On one of her ears she had what looked to be a small black devil horn piercing. She looked frail and as the boys watched, they found themselves doubting her reputation.

By now she had perched herself atop the mound of skulls. The crowd seemed to have a premonition of what was coming and went from a deafening buzz into a dead silence at the flick of her wrist. She held her hand out for what might have been four seconds and gave the crowd a clearly practiced smile. Her small lips curled into a cute grin as she held her palm out, waiting. The silence was like a deep breath before a plunge and without warning she abruptly dropped her hand onto the microphone and heaved a scream that seemed physically impossible coming from someone of her stature. As she heaved the word "Blood" repeatedly the guitarists and drummer joined in, sending the audience into instant chaos.

• • •

"Wow, this chick is nuts..." said a girl as she pushed her way through the crowd toward the front.

"Yeah she is," her friend yelled, competing with the din. "You've never seen Bloody Demon before?"

"No I've never been to a show of theirs, this stage setup is ridiculous..." the girl barked, bobbing her head as the song slowed and Anne began talking slowly, building back up to another chorus breakdown. "This should be a good show, I hope NoCal brought their big boy pants!"

• • •

Bloody Demon, as Mo and Lee began to realize, was very deserving of their mythologized status. Their stage presence was perfect and with the amount of musicians they had in their arsenal, they played flawlessly and were able to move around and put on a show. They continued through the rest of the song without so much as missing a breath, providing background screams every now and again and jumping all over their graveyard-esque stage.

When the last chord had faded from their speakers, the crowd cheered wildly. After they had finally died down, the entire venue shifted its attention to the East stage, where they were met by three mid-teen looking guys; a drummer, a bassist, and a guitarist.

"Hey guys, we're Rotten Weasel Indicator. We're pretty underground so a lot of you might not have heard of us before but we're pretty legit. We have a pretty rad following on MySpace..." said the front man, who was clad in a beanie hat, thick rimmed glasses, a plaid shirt and skinny jeans.

The band then proceeded to labor their way through a couple minutes of music riddled with "Hey"-s and "Ho"-s. The individuals themselves were adequately talented but the music that they played clashed horribly and lacked cohesion, sounding like three instruments playing at the same time, but never in unison.

After a weak cheer the crowd shifted again, this time to NoCal's stage, who awaited the attention of the entire venue. They had decided to open their fight with an old school cult-classic and when the attention was turned to their West stage Moses said "Umm, we're NoCal. Thanks for coming out, our first song's called 'Cute Without the E (Cut From The Team)'."

• • •

"They seriously couldn't have picked a better song to come out with," said a girl as she pushed her way through the crowd to see NoCal's stage, her friend in toe. "The harmony is seriously perfect for their raw style... it sounds like there's like four people on stage."

"True story, I didn't know Lee could sing too!" her friend agreed as they found a pocket in the crowd.

As the girls nodded with the music, NoCal hit the bridge of the song and the crowd erupted into cheers when Lee came in screaming the second harmony, adding a sharp artistic touch to the song as they wove in and out. They crashed through the remainder of the song much like waves repeatedly beating the shore, washing over the rocks.

• • •

The final chords fading through the speakers were drowned out by the now ecstatic crowd, who eventually died down and turned their attention toward the South stage.

"Hey everybody! We're Caligirl and we're uber excited you're here!" exclaimed a bubbly blond girl at the front of the stage. They were an average sized band, consisting of a guitarist, bassist, drummer, and the girl singer. All looked to be in their middle years of high school. "We're pretty much like Jimmy Eat World or Blink 182 but better because we have a girl singer!" She paused to point to herself before continuing. "We're gonna play 'Crushcrushcrush'!"

As the band began to play they sounded neither good nor bad. They played through the song adequately enough but had little claim of extraordinariness apart from the fact that their singer was a girl. Their song ended uneventfully and after the crowd cheered briefly, the attention was turned in towards the center of the floor where the three judges and the emcee sat above the crowd at their table.

"Alright, the judges have had their first listen! Now let's see who they decided to kill ..." the emcee said in his signature voice. There was a pause during which the crowd began to chatter amongst themselves about who they thought should be eliminated.

Finally, after what seemed to the boys to be an eternity the emcee spoke again. "Alright, so the judges have made their first elimination. And I quote," he said, unfolding and reading a paper aloud, "Often times if nobody's heard of your band it's because you suck. We, the judges, hereby eliminate Rotten Weasel Indicator."

"Ouch!" Mo leaned over and whispered to Lee, "they could at least be nice about it..."

"Yeah," Lee agreed, "What a buncha pricks!" Mo could tell that Lee was about to continue when he was cut off once again by the emcee.

"Alright, guys, that was round one. As we found out the judges this year are brutally honest so I guess you're gonna have to step it up a notch!" he said with a twinge of sympathy in his voice. "Bloody Demon, you have the floor."

There was a moment of silence before Bloody Demon's drummer set straight into four cymbal crashes to introduce 'Begging For Mercy'. The masked guitarist, who demonstrated a considerable amount of talent, bobbed through the gate carrying with him the sharp sounding guitar intro while the prominent singer howled "Yeeeeeahhhhhhh" into the center microphone from the mound of bones. The drummer then erupted into some double bass work. One of the other guitarists strode to the front and made a giant circular motion with his hand, demanding a circle pit.

• • •

"Look at that guy go..." a girl yelled, following her friend to a safe place in the crowd away from the mass of movement. "His voice doesn't sound human when he hits those low screams..."

"I wonder how many cough drops he goes through after a show," her friend replied, a smile crossing her face.

"They sound really good, almost as good as Bullet!" said the girl. "Its a really good thing we got out of there..."

She pointed to where they had stood just seconds ago, where a great swirling pit of bodies was skipping and bobbing around to the music. Although they were inside, they swore they could see dust rising from the ground as bodies hurdled through the air.

• • •

The song had been intense up until now but as Bloody Demon entered into the second verse all hell seemed to break loose on the stage. The masked guitarist, Anne, the bassist, and the lead vocalist each screamed in rapid succession (and in near perfect harmony), flooding out of the gates and launching themselves all over the stage. The band moved independently but in perfect sync as noise came smashing through the speakers, chaos reigned as smoke canisters were set off and like clockwork the band moved around the stage weaving in and out without so much as nicking one another. Just as the chaos started to make sense on the stage, the music paused as the bassist growled in a deep raspy voice bordering the boundaries of humanoid vocalization. "Let it out just KNOW I CAN HEAR YOU."

After converging once more at the chorus, there seemed to be nothing left standing in the way of Bloody Demon. They played through the complex song flawlessly, backing up screams from what seemed like every direction. Finally the song ended with a grueling "OH!" from the bassist, whose scream unsettled Moses a bit.

The crowd was deafening as they spun 180 degrees to face NoCal's empty and now naked looking stage. Mo stood alone on NoCal's bare stage, with Lee behind him. He looked forsaken and helpless as he scanned the crowd in a daze. Finally, he saw EmJay standing just in front of the judges' table. As he watched her, he suddenly got up the courage to fight back and without so much as a word he started straight into 'At Least I'm Known For Something' by New Found Glory. Lee was right behind him with the drums as they made their way through the introduction.

• • •

"This is seriously exhausting..." a girl said as she and her friend arrived at the edge of the crowd on NoCal's side of the venue.

"Oh man... Moses looks pissed, he's like on a mission," her friend said from right behind her. "This is another really good song for them."

Mo was harshly smashing out the chords, but with a finesse that almost hinted at sarcasm. As NoCal hit the first chorus and began their mini-breakdown, the girls jumped up and down to the music.

"Yup, he's definitely on a mission," the girl told her friend as they bounced up and down.

• • •

They continued into the second chorus in the same flawless manner that they had become renowned for. Lee was in the zone, providing a bit more beef with a double kick bass. The crowd rolled like the ocean as Mo proceeded to sing ironically all about how much they sucked.

As the second chorus came to a close, Mo began to play the chords leading into the breakdown. Just before the song broke down they stopped, letting the sound waves bleed through the speakers. Mo let his guitar hang limp from his shoulder as he stared straight across the crowd and pointed at Bloody Demon's masked guitarist, silently calling him out. The entire crowd seemed to follow his stare across the room and just as the crowd began to chatter excitedly, Lee broke the silence with two rapid concussive blows to his long kick bass.

"Let's get down, to business now," Mo sang, strumming the rocky breakdown as Lee backed him up with cymbals and bass kicks. The crowd immediately left their feet and rose and fell with every cymbal crash.

"I'm saving myself the trouble in the end."

Mo stood motionless with the exception of his hands, staring down the faceless mask from where he stood at the front of the stage. Mo's eyes were unfaltering, unblinking, and unafraid. Even as the breakdown ended he stared into the blank mask, smiling darkly and singing.

As they rounded into their last chorus, the crowd was bouncing and nodding and rolling; enjoying themselves at the excitement at the musical brawl on their hands.

It took a good minute for the crowd to settle down and turn to the South stage, where they were awaited by Caligirl. Just as the girl opened her mouth to introduce their song, she was cut off by the emcee.

"Alright guys, it looks like the judges have seen what they've needed to see for this round," he paused, accepting another piece of paper from the judges. "This fight is between Bloody Demon and NoCal. Caligirl is eliminated," he read aloud. The girl's face sank as the crowd almost immediately turned it's attention back to Bloody Demon. Moses watched her and as the crowd turned, their eyes met and she mouthed three words that he understood perfectly, "Give 'em hell."

Lee had seen it too and as they both smiled faintly, the emcee butted in again "The fight's come down to two bands. Each gets a single song of their choice and whoever wins the approval of the judges will be dubbed the Kings of the Pacific. We've decided that since Bloody Demon has been crowned Kings of the Pacific for the past four years, NoCal will go first this time."

Mo's face fell into a frustrated glare as he took in what the announcer was saying. He walked back to where Lee sat, scowling, and whispered, "Past four years?! Are they frickin' kidding right now? Of course they're gonna win, the judges have already decided I bet!"

Lee smiled calmly and said, "Yeah but this is what we do best. We're probably not gonna win this one, but we can sure as hell give 'em a fight."

Mo returned the smile and said, "'Eye For An Eye'. This isn't over tonight, we're gonna overthrow these guys..."

As he turned to face the now expectant crowd, he started in on a long, painful sounding power slide, slipping his fingers gradually down the neck of his guitar, disturbing the strings. He walked slowly and ran his fingers back up the neck of the guitar until Lee broke in with four consecutive cymbal crashes and dove straight into a rapid beat, adding bursts of double bass here and there to add his signature beef. Mo played along and after about fifteen seconds, both of the boys yelled loudly into their respective microphones.

• • •

"There's really not much structure to this song, is there?" mused a girl as she and her friend found an open pocket in the crowd just feet from NoCal's stage.

"Yeah but listen to the lyrics, they're making a statement..." her friend replied, impressed.

As the song rounded into the chorus, Lee took over singing and Mo exploded onto the stage, rocking out as though his life depended on it. His hair flinging around as he jumped and rocked, it was obvious that they were going out with a bang.

"Lee's not just singing... he's warning..."

• • •

Lee once again led straight into the second verse, much the same as the first. When they came to the chorus, they broke it down with Lee singing a throaty hybrid between a sing and a scream, Mo leading the crowd in jumping. This time, as Lee vocalized he locked eyes with one of the judges and his tone turned sharp and dangerous. As Mo jumped he could tell who Lee had picked to stare down because the middle judge seemed a bit uncomfortable and shifted in his seat.

The song wasn't much over two minutes long and it stopped as abruptly as it had started. The crowd once again cheered a deafening cheer, hooting and hollering before turning to face Bloody Demon for their closing song. The eyes of everybody in the venue were on the stage.

The crowd was once again silenced by Anne's slender wrist being held out over the crowd. She then climbed the skull pile gingerly. When she reached the top she grabbed the microphone with both hands and began to whisper quietly into the mic, "Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the..."

The crowd immediately began screaming and cheering the second they recognized the words and by the time they had started it off with two cymbal crashes her voice was barely able to be heard. Much like the last two songs, Bloody Demon played ferociously through "Bodies". They used their assets well and seemed to attack from every side with every weapon in their arsenal.

Their song ended to deafening applause from the crowd and, to nobody's surprise, the emcee walked onto the stage and shook the hand of the lead vocalist. "Bloody Demon, everybody!" he said in his signature voice. "It's by split decision, for the first time ever, that we crown Bloody Demon the Kings of the Pacific. NoCal fought valiantly, but congratulations once again to Bloody Demon!"

• • •

The stars were out as the boys waited in the back alleyway. Lee's attention was skyward and Mo's was focused on the dingy door. They sat waiting patiently and quietly.

Presently they heard noise coming from inside and finally the door swung open as seven people stepped out into the moonlight. Immediately Moses and Lee got to their feet and stood, waiting for Bloody Demon to approach them. As they got closer, the masked guitarist, still masked and walking in front said in his calm, cool voice, "Well well well, we thought you boys had gone crying home to your mother."

Mo's eyes flashed dangerously in the light of the street lamp and it was clear that he had struck a nerve. Lee placed his hand on Mo's shoulder warningly and spoke up "Yeah, congratulations on beating out a shitty hipster band, a poser girl band, and two guys who had like three days to get ready for a rigged battle of the bands."

"What, came to throw cheap shots after we beat you in a regulated competition?" the guitarist shot back from behind his mask.

Suddenly Lee was face to face with the mask, breathing heavily on it and causing it's wearer to shrink back ever so slightly. "Let's talk about fear, mask," he said darkly, "the seven of you gang banged the two of us. You outnumbered us, you caught us off guard, and you're still hiding behind your mask."

"So what? We both entered a battle of the bands and we beat you fair and square." It was Anne who spoke now, her voice relaxed and small. Had the boys not just witnessed the beast within they would hardly have believed it.

Moses started in. "We're challenging you for your crown. This time we have a fair fight; no biased judges, no fancy stages, no special effects, just the seven of you versus the two of us. Unless that doesn't sound easy enough for you..."

"Go on," Anne replied tentatively.

"We set up two identical stages on the Pier, side by side. We get three songs each, flipping a coin to see who plays first each round. The crowd will be the judges. We can rent identical sound systems from The Pub."

"Just name your day," the masked guitarist now spoke again.

"Friday," Moses was ready; he had been hoping that they would ask.

"Fine," breathed the masked guitarist as he turned heel and walked away, followed by the rest of the band. As Anne turned to follow suit, she shot Lee a look that he couldn't quite place. It was somewhere between a look of impression and what could almost have been mistaken for a subtle cry for help.

"Be there at eight o'clock sharp..." Mo called after them into the darkness. He was answered by a middle finger slung straight up in the air by whoever was bringing up the rear.

As Bloody Demon disappeared down the alley, EmJay emerged from the shadows holding a digital camera. "I got everything," she beamed as she handed the camera to Mo.

"I guarantee a mob will show up to see this!" Mo smiled as they played the video over. "We'd better get ready..."

# \- Regime Change -

"Okay so that should be everything right?" Lee said as he gazed at the two identical stages.

"Yep, it's ready to go," Moses replied, staring distantly ahead.

"So how are we gonna do this? Lee thought aloud.

"Well first we're gonna give them a taste of their own brand of medicine. Then we try to throw them off and make them change their plans. Then we go in for the kill," smiled Mo. "If everything goes according to plan, we're gonna play 'Sidewinder' third... All of it."

Lee beamed, "Sick."

The stages were set up facing the west, rather than the east. This was done in part so that the sun wouldn't be in the eyes of the audience as it sank and in part to ensure that the crowd (who would act as the judges) remained for the entirety of the battle and weren't as free to come and go as they pleased.

• • •

The sun was getting low and was casting an orange glow on the west facing stages. As the clock drew nearer to eight the Pier was filled to capacity with expectant concertgoers. The square created between the stages and the three sides of the pier were packed with excitedly chattering onlookers. Even the fifteen-foot gap between the stages was full of excitedly chattering music fans. The energy in the air was almost palpable as both NoCal and Bloody Demon prepared for their musical dual.

The crowd was silenced suddenly as Mo strummed a broad E chord from the stage on the right. From behind the microphone stand he greeted the crowd.

"Hey guys, welcome to the Dethroning of the Kings of the Pacific!" he said as he removed the microphone from it's stand and walked across the stage toward where an odd looking structure functioning as a bridge stood spanning the gap between the stages. His guitar bounced harmlessly on his back as he climbed the structure to stand atop it, where he was met by the masked guitarist of Bloody Demon.

"The rules are as follows," began Mo, "Each band will be allowed three songs, with a fourth awarded to the winner as an encore. The order in which the two bands will perform will be determined by a coin flip, with the winner choosing to open or close the round. The winner of the contest will be decided by the audience after each band has played three songs apiece. The winner will receive the crown and be dubbed Kings of the Pacific. Does that sound fair to you?" he asked looking over challengingly at the masked guitarist.

The guitarist seized the microphone from Mo and said roughly "So be it..." He then produced a quarter and held it up for the crowd to see before handing it to Mo for inspection.

Satisfied, Mo cleared his voice and said loudly, "Call it in the air..."

As he flicked the quarter skyward the masked guitarist called tails into the microphone. Time seemed to stop as the coin flipped through the air and finally landed in Mo's outstretched palm.

"Tails it is," Mo said just below a shout so that the crowd could hear him. "It's your move," he said as the guitarist handed him back his microphone.

Even as they strode towards their respective stages, Bloody Demon's drummer began a beat that sent the crowd into a frenzy. Moses, Lee, and everybody in attendance recognized the steady thumping of "Down With The Sickness".

"Can you feel that?" Anne asked from the front of the stage, enticing a cheer from the crowd.

"Oh shit," said the lead vocalist after another cycle of beats had been thumped.

It was the masked guitarist who broke into the song with the famed screech "awa-a-a-a" and sent the crowd skyward. The song had a nice introduction and a good beat to it but in comparison to Bloody Demon's songs during the first battle, it lacked somewhat of a direction. Once the crowd hit their initial energy level, there wasn't much in the song to break past it. Bloody Demon carried on with their relentless precision, though, and by the time they reached the point three minutes in where the song took an unsettling twist the crowd was ready to explode again.

The lead vocalist took the center of the stage and began screaming and ranting while the song broke down. Both the words and the way he was seething them were unsettling and seemed either to energize or deaden everybody in the crowd. Some people moshed around crazily while others stopped and stood awkwardly.

Finally they rounded into one last chorus and after the song ended with an abrupt bang, there was a moment of silence before the crowd applauded. In a matter of fifteen seconds all the attention was on NoCal and there was a dead silence in the air, broken only by the sound of distant seagulls screeching.

"Yikes," Mo smiled under his breath, but loud enough for the mic to pick it up. "Came across a little strong..." The song that they had chosen to open the fight with was a taste of Bloody Demon's own medicine. They had selected "Dignity" and Mo held his fist straight up in the air. Lee watched his hand and the second it dropped to his guitar they began the rapid intro. They usually shied away from Bullet's faster songs because of their complex and layered guitar riffs, but tonight they had opted to push their envelope.

• • •

"Oh wow, they're really gonna try to out-metal Bloody Demon," said a girl as she and her friend put their hands up in salute as Mo and Lee smashed rapidly through the introductory riffs.

"I don't know... they sound pretty good!" her friend answered, an amused smile crossing her face.

As NoCal entered into the first verse, the crowd responded in a subdued cheer, as if congratulating them on making it through the intro.

"Wow, listen to the lyrics... No wonder they picked this song to open with. I just hope they can keep up..." the girl said, a twinge of doubt in her voice.

"Which band?" her friend shot back, grinning as NoCal picked up once again. Mo was roaring as his hands moved like smoke across his fret board.

• • •

As they ended their second chorus the song dropped and gave a quick lull in the guitar. Without much warning, Mo's fingers began flying around his guitar as he began to shred the solo. He was backed up by Lee on the drums and as he delved further into the solo, he stared over at the masked guitarist, silently challenging him with a dark smile. The solo was impressive and executed perfectly, but what nobody seemed to realize was that Mo's eyes weren't even on the fret board. Nobody except for the masked guitarist, who had stiffened up

As Mo's fingers flew over the neck of his guitar it was obvious that he was struggling to keep up. He was, nevertheless, keeping up though and as he stared at the other stage, the masked guitarist looked uncomfortable. Where he was usually relaxed looking and collected, he seemed rigid and clenched. He was being called out and he knew it.

Finally, when his solo had ended he let Lee drop a beat by himself for a couple seconds to thrust a pointing finger straight over at the masked guitarist before diving back into the chords of the song. They played one final chorus, stirring up the crowd and ending the song with an enormous crash featuring all of Lee's limbs smashing down on a drum at the same time. The deep thunder echoed out over the ocean on all three sides of the Pier.

The crowd was elated at the step up that the contest had just taken. Their attention was then turned to the bridge between the stages, where Mo and the masked guitarist were once again standing toe to toe.

"You call it this time," the guitarist said from behind his mask. He then flipped the quarter and Mo called out "heads!" The coin landed in the guitarist's gloved hand and showed the shimmering head of our founding father.

"Looks like we're up!" said Mo gleefully. The first song had gone exactly as expected and now it was time to loosen it up. As he turned away from Bloody Demon's stage he whispered softly so that the masked guitarist was the only one within earshot. "That all you guys got?" Out of the corner of his eye he could see the guitarist clench his fist as they walked back to their respective stages.

As Mo took his place back behind his microphone stand, he began strumming the crisp and edgy chords introducing "Follow". The crowd seemed to recognize the song and cheered as Lee joined in with a crash. The song was a welcome change for the crowd, being much easier on the ears when compared to the structure of their opener.

• • •

"Okay you have to admit that solo was pretty sick, he wasn't even looking at his fret board..." the girl's friend replied as they watched Mo stride back toward NoCal's stage.

"Yeah I'm not gonna lie, I hope NoCal pulls this out..." replied the girl. "We'll see though, I feel like they're playing with fire."

"This is an interesting song choice... It's not really metal," the girl's friend pointed out. "But I guess it fit's NoCal better."

"Yeah, I haven't listened to the original in forever but this cover sounds really 'NoCal', if that makes any sense..." the girl replied. "Like listen to the chords, it reminds me of water gliding over a beach, but then there's these little metal twangs everywhere."

As NoCal started into the chorus, the crowd roared as Lee complexified the beat, adding double bass thumps, making the song simultaneously soar and plummet.

"Okay," grinned the girl as she turned to her friend. "I'm sold."

• • •

The second verse passed much like the first, as did the second chorus. The boys rocked out the song, giving credit to it's original state but lacing it with personal touches at every turn. It was not until after the second chorus that they deviated from the song's structure.

After the second chorus, rather than proceeding into the original climax of the song, Moses tore off on a twenty second guitar solo, the likes of which nobody recognized. The audience was taken totally by surprise, as was Bloody Demon. As Mo attacked his fret board ferociously, there was nothing that could stop him. His fingers were positively flying and his eyes were now glued to the neck of the guitar. As he played, Lee recycled a modified beat used throughout the song and watched grinning as Mo went to town. There wasn't an inch of the guitar's neck left untouched and after twenty seconds of wailing, he suddenly struck a strong chord and let it reverberate out over the ocean.

The crowd, energetic up until this point, erupted into the loudest and most uproarious frenzy that the Pier had ever seen. Just as the chord was starting to fade, they picked back up for the final chorus.

They wound down the song's original fifteen second breakdown and were met with deafening cheers and whistles. There wasn't a body in the crowd that wasn't maddened by the musical duel unfolding.

When the crowd finally died down, it shifted its attention once more to Bloody Demon's stage, who seemed unprepared. After spreading out and putting up a united front, they began into the threatening sounding intro of "Psychosocial". They proceeded in their fashion, layering and screaming in different keys, shredding their guitars and the drummer thundering double basses in the back.

As they played, Mo walked to the back of NoCal's stage where Lee sat watching. As he walked up, Mo shot him an enormous grin and whispered, "They're right where we want them!"

"That was the sickest solo I've ever heard, dude! You were like leveling mountains!" Lee whispered back excitedly. "Shadow boy seems pretty determined..." he continued, nodding at the other stage where the masked guitarist was leading the other two guitarists in a synchronized head bang.

"No, this is perfect..." Mo explained. "This isn't gonna be enough for him. He's gonna need to have his own solo. With their next song they're gonna try to go in for the kill, so it's gonna be a straight up power song. I'd bet anything it's 'Freak On A Leash'."

Lee's face lit up as Mo's plan dawned on him. "There's no solo in 'Freak On A Leash'... He's gonna try to make one up! You're a genius."

Presently Bloody Demon ended it's song to the uproarious applause of the crowd, who was by now having the time of their lives. Moses once again met the masked guitarist on the bridge between their stages. As they approached each other, Mo said in a low voice audible to only the guitarist, "That wasn't bad, kinda blended in though."

He then spoke up into the microphone and addressed the crowd. "One song remains, you have the call," turning his attention to the masked guitarist.

"Tails," he said in a raspy voice before Mo had even flipped the coin.

"Alright," Mo shrugged as he flipped the quarter and watched it turn over and over in the air. He caught it in a fist and opened it, revealing a shimmering head in the fading rays of daylight. Mo grinned from ear to ear as he said loudly and gleefully "Your turn, man!"

As the masked guitarist turned to stalk away, Mo stopped him, turning the microphone off for a second. "Hey," he said, stopping the masked guitarist dead in his tracks and forcing him to turn around to face him. "Let's see it," he said, a challenging glint in his eye.

He then turned and made for his stage, leaving the guitarist to stand there for a second before heading back toward his stage to join Bloody Demon. As Mo returned to his stage, he shot Lee a grin spreading from ear to ear. Lee beamed back and mouthed the words "we got 'em" as Mo approached. When Mo reached Lee's drum set they heard, coming distinctly and unmistakably from the speakers, the eerie introductory screeches accompanied by the deafening bass. Though before it had not seemed possible, Mo's face lit up even more as he cheered along with the rest of the crowd.

The song started out slowly and simply. Bloody Demon's choice of song seemed to be based solely on its weight and it's intended effect to strike awe into the crowd. The size of the band, as NoCal had hoped, lent itself horribly to the song. They proceeded through it much as could be expected, with their distinct layering style. They also made use of both Anne and the other lead vocalist, mimicking Korn's collaboration with Amy Lee. As the song proceeded the crowd bobbed and nodded intently, waiting for the infamous breakdown.

As the song took a turn about two and a half minutes in, the vocalists broke apart and started chanting and convulsing unsettlingly. After about thirty seconds of chanting, the song reached it's climax. Here the guitars were meant to converge and overwhelm the audience with a unified beat designed to shatter spinal cords.

As the band (with the obvious exception of the drummer) leapt into the air to emphasize the blast, the masked guitarist seemed to see his moment to shine. As the rest of Bloody Demon prepared to bow in sync, he set off on a solo, seeming frantically determined to melt the faces off of the crowd. The chaos that ensued on stage was far from the coordinated lethality of their prior shows.

NoCal watched with elation as both of the other two guitarists stopped and stared at the masked guitarist, who seemed not to have warned anybody of his modification. The lead vocalist strode up to the masked guitarist and muttered what were clearly distinguishable vulgarities to him as he proceeded with his solo. The bass player stopped playing altogether and made a slitting motion across his neck with his thumb as he glared at the guitarist. Even the drummer missed a couple beats as their song seemed to crumble before the eyes of the entire audience, who had gone relatively motionless, with the exception of a few metal fingers fluttering in the air.

After a good fifteen seconds of chaos, Bloody Demon seemed to recuperate and finished out their song with what little unity was left. The crowd gave a delayed applause, not fully understanding what had happened. Being done with the song, the band seemed to turn on the masked guitarist, surrounding him in what didn't look to be a friendly huddle. Anne was the only one who seemed not to be livid, and she shot a glance over at NoCal's stage, locking eyes with Lee with an amused expression for a split second before turning back to the chaos.

"Are you ready to stick the knife in?" Mo asked, grinning from ear to ear. There was nothing standing between them and their victory over Bloody Demon.

Lee smiled back confidently, "I was born ready."

As Mo walked slowly to his place at the front of the stage, he looked over in between the two stages and a light flickered across his face. As he approached his microphone stand he began to play a high introduction that could easily have been mistaken for a solo itself. The crowd roared in recognition, desperately hoping that NoCal would deliver on what they had come to expect as the greatest rock show of their lives.

• • •

"No way, they're gonna play 'Sidewinder'?" exclaimed a girl as she jumped with the crowd, who now had a resurgence of energy.

"They actually sound really good!" her friend yelled back over the din.

Mo was commanding the crowd with his guitar, switching between the lead and rhythm guitar parts stylistically, transitioning between the two with a certain mastery. As he milked his guitar there seemed to be nothing standing in NoCal's way.

"I wonder what they're gonna do for the end of the song," said the girl amusedly. "I bet whatever they have planned is ridiculous..."

"Oh I'm sure it will be," her friend replied. Their conversation was suddenly broken up by a spontaneous mosh pit that broke out not five feet from where the girls stood.

On the opposite stage, Bloody Demon looked on in horror as NoCal gained momentum. Like a juggernaut they rumbled on with out so much as a stumble.

• • •

After just under three minutes, Lee began rolling rapidly across his drum set as the song seemed to pick up. They then broke out onto a completely new level, thundering along in perfect sync just in time for another solo.

As Mo knocked out the rapid notes flawlessly, the crowd seemed to burst through an unseen barrier, reaching a whole new decibel level. There was no question now who the Kings of the Pacific were. The only thing left to be seen was what else could possibly happen before the song was over.

When they entered again into the chorus, there came faintly through the speakers an invisible acoustic guitar backing up Moses. The support wasn't glaring and it seemed to only occur to a few people in the audience. They played through the winding chorus and as Mo struck the final chord the audience erupted in a surprised cheer, nearly drowning out even Lee.

Jordan came striding out on to the stage, strumming chords on an acoustic guitar that was amped. He strummed quickly, keeping up a steady beat as Mo struck one final chord on his electric guitar. As Mo struck the echoing chord, Lee, who had stopped drumming, launched both of his drum sticks out into the crowd. Now having no sticks, Lee began creating a beat to Jordan's strumming with his bare hands, utilizing the entirety of his drum set (most notably the turtle shells and his bongos). His knuckles and palms flew across his drum set as he nodded, keeping time with his feet.

As Lee threw his drum sticks and began beating tribally on the drums, Moses set his electric guitar on the floor of the stage and produced an acoustic one that had been concealed behind the speaker at the front of the stage, plugging it into the cord from his electric. NoCal's shift came so suddenly that the crowd at first was silent, pondering what had just happened. As Lee struck up his beat, however, they understood and cheered. Not a voice on the pier (except for Bloody Demon's) was silent.

"Stay inside tonight," Moses sang melodically as they carried on their tribal beat. After awhile Mo began to pluck tabs from his acoustic guitar, adding another element entirely to their song. He was in a sort of zone and as he began into Synyster Gates' legendary acoustic solo, his fingers were at total ease. He seemed to break through to an entirely new level of performance and as he continued to nail every note of the solo his fingers glided across the neck of the acoustic guitar so mesmerizingly that even Anne and a couple other members of Bloody Demon held up their metal fingers, waving them rapidly in approval.

He continued to milk the captivating noise from the guitar and by the end of his solo he stared out at a sea of hands, all outstretched and hailing, fingers waving approvingly. It was a long few minutes before the crowd seemed to bring itself under control. As Lee left his drum set for the first time all night and came to stand before the crowd next to Moses and Jordan, the three were approached, this time by Anne as she made her way delicately across the bridge and on to their stage.

"Well, I guess we won't even have to ask who the new Kings of the Pacific are..." she said in a congratulatory tone. "Let's give it up for NoCal! Moses, Lee, and..." she paused as she looked questioningly at Jordan.

"Umm... Jordan," he said.

Anne nodded in approval and spoke again into the microphone. "I give you the Kings of the Pacific," she addressed the crowd, producing an ancient looking crown and handing it to Moses.

The crown had an artifactual quality to it. It seemed to be carved out of an aged wood riddled with complex designs burnt into it. The crown was essentially a band with five crests pointing upwards, each endowed with a murky looking black stone.

The sun was nearing the ocean now, casting an orange light on the stage. Moses took the mask and turned towards the audience, suddenly realizing how many people were in attendance. He stood there, eyes wandering, thinking of what to say.

"Erm..." he began in a humbly nervous voice. "Thanks."

Somebody from the crowd shouted, "Put it on!"

Mo began again, as if suddenly thinking of what to say. "The crown is cool and all, but we're not kings. We're just like you guys, but we happen to have a band. We'll take the crown but it'd be a lie for us to wear it and try to act like we're better than everybody else."

He then handed the mic over to Anne, who said, "I believe you have another song left..."

The crowd roared and began to chant a mixture of "NoCal, NoCal, NoCal" and "One More Song, One More Song!"

Anne and Jordan left the stage and both Moses and Lee walked back to the drum set. They spoke a few quick words of agreement before Mo doubled back to the front of the stage to scoop up his electric guitar. The crowd had long since hushed and the entire coast seemed to be listening silently, holding it's breath to see what happened next.

Suddenly there came through the speakers a deep thud as Lee struck first a standard kick bass and then his deeper one in succession. "Thud, thudthud." The noise echoed across the now almost still water, out into the ocean. As he repeated this, Mo plucked a couple soft notes. They continued into "The Minstrel's Prayer", a dramatic change from the loud and rapid shredding that had taken place earlier. Now that they had demanded the attention of the entire coast, NoCal had something to say.

Mo strummed a few chords that were much softer and more melodic, carrying back to their usual lighter territory. Lee provided a steady and unwavering beat as Moses serenaded the now entranced crowd.

Presently the boys reached the bridge and Lee spiced up the beat as Mo's voice reached its peak. As Mo sang, he scanned the crowd, searching for EmJay's face.

There was five seconds of dead silence as Lee's drums faded out over the crowd and on into the ocean. It was broken at last by Mo's plucking and the cheer of the crowd, captivated by the melodic serenade that was different but not stylistically dissimilar to the other songs making up their abbreviated set.

Mo's voice faded and stopped as he continued to strum, then fading into the gentle plucking which was accompanied by Lee's unwavering beat. Presently, even the plucking ceased, leaving only Lee's drumming and a mesmerized silence over the crowd. Then Lee began to add a beat in between his thuds. Then another. And another until it grew much more complex and the crowd began to move gently. They moved more and more loosely as Lee continued on with his drumming. The crowd finally broke into one last riot as Mo topped off the change of pace by strumming deep and crisp chords to Lee's improvised beat. The result was a break down that sent the audience into a final frenzy.

They held the breakdown for a good thirty seconds, breathing life back into the crowd. Then without warning Mo silenced his guitar sharply, leaving the singular "doom" of Lee's deep kick echoing out across the water.

# \- The Graveyard of the Pacific -

The Phoenix carved its way northward along the coast, weaving this way and that, turning as it pleased at the command of Moses. The hardened brown and orange rock faces to the right of the boat were particularly ragged looking, even more so than usual. The coast was rugged, but not barren. There was life everywhere above the cliff face in the form of trees and vegetation. The water was clear and though the boys couldn't make out the specifics of the sea bed, there was a crystalline quality to it.

"Okay, so let's not total the boat like we did last time," Lee joked over the din of the twin motors. "You remember where that rock was?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mo replied lazily, "I remember exactly where it was and I'm telling you it wasn't a rock!"

He abruptly killed the motors and The Phoenix lulled to a glide in the water. The boat stopped just as they cleared a point in the coast and without wasting any time Lee picked up a rather jagged, painful looking object tied to a rope and heaved it over the side of the vessel with a plunk. The rope sank down for what seemed to be around twenty feet before snagging onto the bottom.

"Here we are" Mo said as Lee gazed, awestruck, down into the water, "the Graveyard of the Pacific".

Below the boat, in the clear water there could be made out what at first seemed to be white rocks. Upon further examination, however, they could be identified as hundreds upon thousands of bones belonging to all manner of deceased aquatic life. They beheld the seemingly endless underwater graveyard, bleached white bones picked clean by subterranean scavengers. Everything was tinted a watery blue, with wriggling lines riddling the entire aquatic universe as the sunlight penetrated the water. The area was the converging point of two underwater currents that ran parallel to the coast on each side, meeting and redirecting seaward as the shoreline jutted and came to a point. The bodies of animals that died for miles up and down the coastline were carried via the underwater currents to where they would be dropped at what was locally known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.

As the boys watched, they saw the inevitable sharks patrolling the water, roving in hopes of scavenging a free meal.

"Did you bring the flowers?" Lee asked, not taking his eyes off of the seabed.

There was a certain species of flower that Mo's grandmother had always sprinkled around the water before she would allow the kids to go swimming. She insisted that it was a special flower, the scent of which repelled sharks. Moses had never been able to determine how much truth there was to this myth but the flowers grew abundantly around the house so whenever the boys ventured out they made sure to bring a few flowers for good measure.

"Sure did." Mo replied, "Did you bring Page Avenue?"

The combination of the flowers in the water, the magnetic beads that adorned the boys' crudely fashioned jewelry, and loud bass seemed to keep even the most curious of sharks at bay and was used as the boys' default defense.

Lee produced the CD and as he slid it into the player that they had installed, Moses leapt from the small vessel out over the water, a length of rope tied to his ankle. Just before he plunged into the water he heard the introductory drum beats of the album's first track (ironically named "And The Hero Will Drown") thundering through the mismatched speakers strewn around the boat.

As Mo broke the surface of the water and plunged down into the cool Pacific, he could very well have been in an altogether different universe. The water of Northern California was cold and crisp. Those used to the warmer and safer waters of Southern California often asked the boys why they swam in such cold and shark infested waters. The nature of the coast along northern California was cooler and clearer than the densely populated waters to the south, much like the air. There was more life in these waters. More danger. More reality.

Moses opened his eyes to get his bearings in the aquatic underworld and after a few moments he heard a dull concussion as Lee entered the water. Seconds after Lee met the water, they could hear the bass thumping from the boat. The Phoenix had, on its underside, a submersible waterproof subwoofer that had been rigged to be raised and lowered by a crude pulley system. It was usually carried up above the surface of the water but was, when diving, lowered so as to directly inject the water with the shark repelling bass.

The boys then began to swim down into the aquatic graveyard, steadily approaching the seabed littered with bones and carcasses piled atop one another. As Moses descended with the umbilical rope around his ankle, his eyes scanned the seabed until he found what he was looking for. Through the crystalline water he swam towards the remains of a shark atop a pile of bones, positioning himself directly above it before he quickly jutted up for air.

He was followed to the surface by Lee who, after taking in a deep breath, said "Do you got one?"

"Yeah, straight below me," Moses sounded surprised that Lee hadn't already picked out the shark head.

"Let's do it!" Lee gasped as he plunged back down, followed immediately by Mo.

The two raced to where the shark's head sat, mouth agape. Both the boys then produced pliers from the pockets of their board shorts and promptly began to work one by one on the teeth of the long deceased shark. Back and forth they wiggled the teeth until they were able to rip them out. Lee finished first and stowed the tooth in his pocket. As he shoved off to surface for air, Moses finished his tooth and followed suit.

Up and down the boys swam, collecting shark teeth and coming up for air. By and by the jaws of the dead shark were picked bare and the boys returned to the Phoenix to empty their pockets and seek out a new shark.

Being only fourteen years of age, the boys had no jobs and no longer got weekly allowances from Mack, who earned enough to support their family but not much more. They had since taken to "shark toothing", a term coined by Mo, as a way of bringing in a profit to fund NoCal. The local surf shop in town paid two dollars per shark tooth that the boys brought them (which the shop then used to make jewelry that they turned and sold for anywhere from fifteen to twenty dollars apiece). There were never any questions asked as to where the boys got their teeth and it was often rumored among the more imaginative locals that the boys killed the sharks themselves before harvesting their teeth.

As the boys treaded water they were approached by a dark blur circling their proximity from below. Noticing the visitor, Mo shot a glance over to Lee and offered, "Dude let's check it out!"

The boys ducked under the water to see a small, dark gray shark swimming curiously up to the boys, circling ever tighter. Under the water, the boys squinted at it, sensing no ill will from the creature. As it circled closer it suddenly broke toward Lee and lunged at his wrist, barring its teeth as if to bite. At the last second though, the fish veered and swam pointedly away into the blue.

They boys surfaced and caught their breath before Mo exclaimed "HA! Did you see that?! I told you the bracelets work!"

"Huh..." Lee mused, raising his wrist above the water to examine the crudely fashioned bracelet featuring multiple small magnetic beads. "So the magnets like screw up their sense of direction?"

"Something like that..." Mo replied "I'm not a doctor... I've just always been told it works and it seems like it actually does."

The boys made their way back to The Phoenix to rest awhile before diving once again. The world seemed as it should be as they basked in the afternoon sun, gently rolling on the surface of the water, the feint sound of their muffled bass occasionally thumping from below.

"I think I saw another one over that way," Mo said, rousing himself from a distant musing.

"Let's go check it out!" said Lee, pulling the drawstring around the opening of the burlap bag tight and tying a complicated looking knot.

Out over the side of the boat the boys flew, working systematically as they located, harvested, and brought back the teeth of three more sharks. It was hard work, but enjoyable and the boys took their time as they dove repeatedly down into the silent crystalline world. There were small fish swimming here and there among the bones but the sharks, for the most part kept their distance.

The boys had just finished their fourth shark and were swimming upwards to get a breath before heading back to the Phoenix when something shot past them. The boys snapped around and stared at the wriggling, weaving creature that had just careened past them. It was unlike any aquatic life the boys had ever seen, and nothing that Mo had ever heard of even in the childhood sea tales told by Mack.

As it whirled and weaved, it had a long, skinny body that Mo would have guessed to be around seven feet long, with an eerily serpentine body. It was moving sporadically and as abruptly as it had whooshed past them it turned around, ducking and cutting, and wove its way back toward where the boys were now gawking at it, dumbfounded. As it came closer to where the boys were now floating limply below the surface of the water, it opened an unnaturally wide mouth revealing the oddest set of teeth either of the boys had ever seen.

Rather than rows of teeth like a shark or fangs like a snake, it's mouth was lined with dozens of pads, each holding lines (reaching inward instead of across) of three-pronged needle-like teeth. As it lunged at an eerie velocity, spiraling up and down, side-to-side, it turned away from the boys at the last minute and vanished into the blue haze of the distant waters.

The boys had been so taken by the unearthly creature that they had forgotten to surface for air. As they finally did they wheezed loudly, their lungs burning as the much needed oxygen finally filled them with life.

"Dude!" Lee said between deep droughts of air. "What was that thing?!"

Mo looked grim as he filled his lungs. "I've never seen anything like that in my fourteen years in these waters. I have no idea..." He sounded put off. "Did you see those teeth?!"

Both boys had an unspoken sense that they had witnessed something rare.

By now they had reached the Phoenix and were starting to unload their last harvest of the day. Lee reached over and turned down the music, which was still thumping away, defending the boat against the sharks. "I've never seen any sort of teeth even remotely resembling those... Not in Africa and not here."

"Maybe Mack would know..." Mo said, relaxing a bit now, his tone picking back up. "I'd say that's enough for today."

# \- Origins (Part 1) -

The entire world seemed to draw in its breath for a moment before there was an ear splitting clap of thunder that rolled and echoed across the water. Moses and EmJay had just begun to head back from a joy ride on the Phoenix when it had begun to cloud over. They were now racing the wind and rain and were moving at a good clip up until the thunder crashed.

Mo looked over at EmJay before turning the Phoenix toward the shore where he scoured the coast for somewhere to dock the boat, at least until the thunder subsided.

"There!" said EmJay, pointing to an inlet that looked to be uninhabited.

"Perfect..." Mo said from behind the steering wheel as he guided the vessel towards where EmJay was pointing.

Mo eased the Phoenix through an enormous gap in the rock face, looking like a forbidding gate. The break in the cliff was abrupt, leaving both sides of the natural doorway shear. The rock faces were a deep brown, baked with a slight rusty orange from the near constant sun. As they passed through the cliff, the water suddenly got shallow; very shallow. So shallow that Mo had to kill both of the motors immediately and raise them up so as not to ruin them. The Phoenix skimmed across the thirty-foot bay, propelled by its momentum and slowly eased up onto the beach.

The rain was now pouring and a flash shot through the air, followed closely by another clap of thunder. Mo led EmJay off the boat and across the rocky beach to where the sand abruptly met the cliff, which shot jaggedly upward at a near right angle. The tiny cove was surrounded entirely by the rock face, which was riddled with vegetation and greenery, even featuring a couple trees growing straight out of the side of the cliff. As they searched for shelter from the rain, Mo came across a cave. The cave was shallow, just deep enough to fit the two inside, a few comfortable feet from the rain. It was tall enough to stand and after checking it over for wildlife they determined that it was as close to a shelter as they were going to get.

EmJay sank to the ground slowly, watching the rain that was now pouring down over the opening of the small cave. Mo followed suit, sitting across from her and staring out into the torrential downpour.

After a long pause of listening to the rain beat against the side of the crag, EmJay said pleasantly, "Well this cave couldn't be better..." As she looked around, smiling and examining the perfectly sized cave. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure!" said Mo, who found himself torn between staring at the rain pounding the coast outside their cave and her glowing eyes.

"What happened to your mom?" she said in a quiet voice that said that she knew she was touching a sore spot. EmJay scooted across the sandy floor of the cave to where Mo sat, staring out at the rain. She sat next to him and continued in a soothing voice, "I saw you flare up when that masked guitarist mentioned her..."

Mo's face had fallen, and as he finally tore his eyes away from the entrance of the cave to look into her face he spoke softly and humbly. "She died before I was born..."

"What?" EmJay asked, her face contorted with confusion.

Mo drew in a deep breath and continued, "When she was nine months pregnant with me she was out on our boat with my dad and my uncle Myles. They were coming back in when something hit the boat..."

"You mean like they hit a rock?" asked EmJay after a pause.

"No, it wasn't a rock. Both my dad and Uncle Myles have told me the story so many times. I've seen Mack drive a boat, there's no way he would have hit a rock, especially with my mom on board. He doesn't know how to explain it, something just crashed into the side. It messed up the boat pretty bad, there was a huge hole in the side of it, and my mom fell into the water.

"Something attacked her. I don't know if it was whatever had just hit the boat or if it was something else but something attacked her and all they could see was red in the water. Mack and Uncle Myles both dove in after her and they got her back onto the boat, but she was torn up pretty bad I guess."

"Oh Moses, I'm so sorry..." EmJay said, resting her head on his shoulder sympathetically.

"Somehow they managed to limp the boat back to the marina and they got an ambulance right away. She died on the way to the hospital." Mo stared at the cave wall now.

"So how did you..." EmJay asked, still confused.

"When she got to the hospital they decided to try and save me and after like an hour of operating they managed to get me out and on life support until I was able to breathe on my own. The doctors said that I wasn't gonna make it through the night and that if I did I would have permanent brain damage." He suddenly smiled as he continued, "Mack told them we'd see. In the morning when I was still alive my dad named me Moses. It means 'drawn out of water'".

"That's really cool..." EmJay mused, staring with a mesmerized look at Moses. "And you've been kicking ass ever since," she said with a reassuring smile, her voice welling with pride.

"My dad says I got her eyes and her smile. He says that he prayed for me that whole night and that he could feel her praying too. He always tells me that I'm the reason that he believes in God."

• • •

The rain presently grew thinner and eventually the sun broke through the clouds. As Moses and EmJay emerged from what they had dubbed their 'secret place', they beheld an entirely different cove from the one they had seen before. The apocalyptic foreboding rock faces that they had stared up at before had transformed into glowing reddish brown cliffs, dripping with shimmering water and riddled heavily with lush looking vibrant green vegetation. Mo shoved them off of the shallow beach and they eased their way slowly through the giant rocky gates. The clouds had disintegrated and the world was an entirely new place as they resumed their course back towards Mack's cove.

# \- The Blood Diamond -

"Welcome to Micky's, what can I get ya?" boomed an enormous Hawaiian man.

"Yeah we'll take two number threes to go, please," Lee said through the walk up window of the little burger shack. The sun was pouring into the small eat stand, sifting through the thick air behind the window. The burger stand was situated five blocks above the Pier, facing the road that sloped down to meet the highway running parallel to the ocean.

"That'll be ten bucks," said the sweaty overweight man working the stand. Lee exchanged a crumpled up bill with the man and was handed a brown paper bag with a blue M stamped on the side.

"Thanks!" yelled Moses over his shoulder as he and Lee dashed away on their bikes, surfboards under arm. They pedaled down to the expansive public beach, picking up speed as they flew down the hill towards where the afternoon sun beat down on the waves rolling in. The boys guided their bikes straight into the sand until they lost traction and slowed to a stop.

They made their way over to a bench carved from a giant log, propping up their surfboards and digging into their bag. Lee produced two enormous burgers and two containers of fries.

"Mmm-mmm," Mo said as he took a large bite out of his burger. "Nothin' like Micky's burgers!" Lee hummed in agreement as he dug into his own massive burger. In a matter of minutes, the boys had devoured their burgers and had moved on to their fries.

"Dude, life is so good right now..." Lee said between mouthfuls of fries as he stared out at the waves. "We got a full stomach, the sun's shining, the waves are big, there's a slight breeze... We have the entire afternoon to surf and relax... what else is there?"

Mo, who had finished his fries and was brushing his hands off on his board shorts replied with gusto. "Nothin' better..."

He walked over to a large barrel designated for trash and nonchalantly tossed the paper bag in. As he walked contentedly back towards Lee and the surfboards, he heard his name being called from behind. He turned to see Alex running toward him, board in hand.

"Alex! Right on time!" Lee yelled, holding a hand in the air.

After joining up with their companion, all three brandished their surfboards and charged down towards where the sea awaited. They met the shallow water at full speed, crashing and splashing their way deeper until they lost their balance, diving into the water.

One by one they surfaced and began paddling their surf boards out into the ocean, battling the crashing waves as they went. Presently they got far enough out and turned their boards, floating in wait. Moses was the first to go, getting first to his knees and then standing, poised on his surf board as it began to ease forward as a wave passed, carrying him with it. The wave picked up speed and as it did he began to zigzag through the water. The wave grew steadily larger and larger until he was flying back and forth on the side of a watery slope eight feet tall. He turned and started skimming across its length as the wave began to break. It arched over him, curling and crashing just feet behind his board as he screamed past, skimming the wave with his outstretched hand. He rode the wave until it crashed behind him and his board eased to a stop in the shallows.

As he slowed to a stop, Lee came washing up beside him, having taken the next wave that had passed. They both turned to watch as Alex, clad in red floral board shorts and a red spandex shirt hurled towards them, riding a wave until it crashed down on him unexpectedly. Mo and Lee cheered as Alex emerged a couple feet from his board, water flying off his hair as he shook his head.

"Dang!" Mo yelled as Alex got his bearings and collected his board. "That might qualify for the 'sick spill of the week'."

They surfed until the sun began to sink steadily towards the oceanic horizon. Back and forth they swam, riding the waves and crashing periodically. They eventually tired and three hours later they found themselves sitting on the bench, staring contentedly out at the waves. The tide was coming in and they watched with tired and heavy but satisfied breaths as the water grew ever closer to where they sat.

At length Alex spoke. "Well, I should probably be getting home, my mom said supper's at six. I'll see you guys around!" With that he rose and gathered his surf board before walking over to where his bike was sitting.

"Well..." Mo said after Alex had left, "I suppose we should get home too."

"Yeah, I can't remember if we told Mack we were going surfing or not," Lee replied with a guilty smile.

"I guess we're gonna find out!" Mo said as he rose and lifted his surf board under arm and began to stride to where their bikes lay abandoned in the sand.

• • •

"Hey Lee, you got a letter in the mail today..." Mack said as the boys walked through the door.

With a look half of surprise and half of relief that he had not wondered where they had been, Lee walked over to where Mack sat at his work bench. "I got a letter?"

"It's addressed to you..." Mack said with a smile as he handed his adopted son the envelope. Lee took the letter and thanked his father before turning heel with Mo and crashing up the stairs to their room.

Once in their room, Lee took a knife and slit the envelope across the top, reached in and produced a tattered looking piece of paper that he unfolded and began to read. As he read his face fell from excitement to sobriety. He stared at the paper for what seemed like an eternity before setting it down on the small table in the middle of the room.

"What is it?" Mo asked cautiously, picking up and examining the envelope that he noticed had no return address.

"It's from her..." Lee said with a twinge of fear. "It's from Abeba." He handed the letter over to Mo.

"What?! How do you know? There's no signature..." Mo said, trying to rationalize for his friend. "How can you be sure?"

"It's her handwriting. I'd recognize it anywhere. See the curves on all of her lowercase b's? And look how it's signed..." said Lee grimly. "Love, yours. That's what she used to call herself. No fancy pet names, just mine."

"But how would she... I mean, Wha-" Mo started before he was silenced by Lee, who had closed his eyes slowly.

"She wants to meet me on Thursday night. At Astoria Park." As Lee spoke Mo could tell that he was thinking hard, trying desperately to decide what to do.

Moses, who was just finishing reading the letter looked up at Lee. His eyes were closed and his hands were shaking. At length he opened his eyes and said "I'm gonna do it."

"Why?" Mo protested. "Dude, this sounds like a trap. I mean... what are the odds..."

"Yeah... I know," Lee said, sounding appreciative but resolved. "I have to go, though. There are so many questions that need answers. So many gaps that need filling. I have no doubt in my mind that Adeba wrote this letter. I have to go. And you might be right, this might be a trap but I have no choice but to spring it. I need closure..."

"Okay, man..." Mo said, unconvinced. "You know I got your back..." He then smiled as he said "I have an idea..."

• • •

Lee stood alone in the dark, waiting silently for his confrontation. The stars were out and the sun's final glow had faded from the western sky. He glanced upward often, gaining what little reassurance he could from the mystical points of light that had accompanied him through his nightmarish journey through the African Congo those many years ago. As he waited, concealed by a shadow cast from the far off streetlight, he heard a noise.

His eyes scanned the darkness for movement and caught on a figure moving slowly but steadily towards him. As the small figure grew near, he could make out the silhouette of a slender girl with soft dark skin and jet black hair. She reached a spot ten feet from where Lee stood in the shadows.

"Lee?" said a soft and innocent sounding voice through the darkness. "Is that you?"

Silently, Lee stepped from the shadow out into the light cast by the street lamp and faced Abeba, his face set in stone. "I'm here..."

"Lee!" Abeba exclaimed, starting toward him but was stopped short by a look shot by Lee. "It's been so long, I can't believe I found you!"

"What?!" Lee replied, his voice raising. "Do you remember the last night I saw you? The smell of fire and death in the air? Do you remember the voices of our tribe as their princess betrayed them and had them slaughtered? Do you remember that?"

She drew close to him now and he locked his eyes with the pair that he had never been able to erase from his mind. They were so dark, so beautiful, so enticing.

"Lee..." she began, her voice shaking as though she were on the verge of tears "you don't know what happened after you escaped. I tried to save the village, after seeing your eyes ice over, I broke down. I tried to get Kifo to stop, but he wouldn't."

"Kifo..." Lee said solemnly. "So he has a name..."

"Lee! I tried to stop him but he tied me up and made me watch. It was horrible!" she cried, bursting into tears and falling into Lee so that he had no choice but to catch her. "When everybody was dead he took off in search of you and left me there alone to die..." she continued between sobs.

Lee, who had come to Astoria Park with every intention of reaming Abeba with every ounce of malice he could muster, found the wind emptied from his sails. Try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to hurt her seemingly tortured soul. Finally, almost with a sense of dejection, Lee whispered, "It's okay. You're okay."

She went on to tell him all about how she had been tricked by Kifo, who had claimed to be a distant relative of hers, into thinking that their tribe was involved in a secret operation of hiding blood diamonds. Kifo, posing as a government official, had conned her into giving up the location of their village. He had then, she insisted, dragged her along and made her watch as he razed their entire village to the ground.

As she sobbed into Lee's chest, he didn't know what to believe. With as much blurry area as there was being filled about the goings on those many years ago in Africa, he felt as though he could have been blindly angry at the wrong person. From Abeba's side of things, she seemed to be as much at fault as he was. For half an hour they talked and caught up and presently she looked at her small watch with a start.

"Oh no!" she said hurriedly, stepping away from where they now sat on the swings. "It's almost eleven, I have to go. Can you meet me here at the same time tomorrow?"

Perplexed, Lee responded slowly "Um... I guess so."

She then turned and walked away.

After she had left there was a rustling in the brush nearby as Moses emerged from behind a tree. Lee looked over at him and said blankly "Did you hear all that?"

"Yeah..." said Mo flatly. "I don't know what to think..."

"I think I believe her... I mean, she was so shaken up and it all sort of makes sense. I remember Kifo howling something about finding the blood diamond."

"Okay man, just be careful... so are you gonna meet her again tomorrow night?"

"I guess so... We'll see how that goes and see if her story changes."

• • •

The sun was half hidden as it descended into the ocean, and Lee pushed the door open, stepping outside into the fading light.

"So what are you gonna do tonight?" Lee asked as Mo followed him out the door.

"Oh..." Mo said deeply, staring out over the ocean. "I'll be around."

Lee nodded as he turned and began to walk down the road.

• • •

It was once again dark when Lee reached Astoria Park. A public park in town, it was rarely occupied at night and tonight was no different. He walked slowly past the swing set and the monkey bars, knowing that he was early. Suddenly, he became aware that he was not, as he had thought, alone. He looked around, straining his eyes and trying to pierce the thick shadows. From the shadows came a voice that froze Lee dead in his tracks. He stiffened up and turned to face the great African man who was emerging from the shadows.

"We meet again, little drummer boy," came the thick nasally voice as he strode into the light. He was virtually unchanged, except for a patch now covering the eye that Mo had done away with. As Kifo emerged, Lee went rigid, half with fear and half with anger. So it had been a trap all the time. Lee's thoughts were so intense and so infuriating that he found himself tuning out the hulking man, seething at himself for buying into what must have been a practiced melt down by Abeba. Presently, he found his composure and focused on the great man who was now confronting him.

"So tell me, my little blood diamond. Are you going to run a third time?" Kifo asked with his hellish grin, the light from the street lamp reflecting off of the red in his good eye.

Lee's hands clenched into fists at his side, knuckles cracking. His little blood diamond? He found himself raising his fists into a fighting stance when the man produced a shiny object. Lee's heart sank as Kifo tossed the knife in the air, catching it in his other hand. Lee looked around wildly but could find nothing to defend himself with. His head suddenly stopped swiveling and he stared directly at Kifo, who was stalking steadily closer.

Lee's eyes narrowed, his focus on the pirate as he waited.

Kifo suddenly lunged at Lee, knife slashing harshly, held with a loose hand that screamed experience. Lee ducked out of the way, dreadlocks waving wildly as he dodged the assault. He spun around and hurled his fist into the back of Kifo's body, connecting solidly with what he hoped was a kidney. Kifo then spun around to face Lee, knife shining in the yellow light.

Lee found himself again facing the horrid man, looking alone and outsized when suddenly from the darkness a blur came flying, hitting Kifo with full force in the side. As Kifo belched a surprised yelp of pain, Moses, who had been watching again from the bushes, rolled out of the way of the great African man and quickly found his feet.

"Here!" Mo exclaimed, tossing one of two knives, handle first to Lee who was grinning. Their attention then turned to Kifo, who had gotten back up and was staring loathingly at the pair. "Nice eye patch..." Mo said, now addressing Kifo. "It makes your face that much less ugly."

"This is none of your concern boy. You may as well save yourself a trip to the morgue and run along home. You got out alive last time but I doubt it'll happen again," Kifo seethed, his wicked grin once again stretching across his face.

"Hey Lee?" Mo whispered under his breath as they stared down the great man. "It's been an honor."

He then tore off towards Kifo, who turned to meet him. Kifo heaved a broad slash with his knife and ripped through Mo's sweatshirt, tearing a gash running the width of Mo's chest. Mo, who had leapt back in anticipation, remained unscathed. As the knife cut across his shirt he followed it with his own knife, feeling it catch on more than cloth.

Lee, seeing the diversion for what it was, charged from where he stood, heaving a heavy roundhouse kick to the side of Kifo's knee. There was a sickening crunch as he buckled in pain. The boys, shocked at having actually wounded the man, both backed off. At their remission, Kifo regained his balance, swallowing the pain rather impressively. He seemed solid, the only sign of pain being his clenched teeth which glowed white in contrast with his dark face.

He squeezed a throaty noise somewhere between a yell and a scream through his teeth, challenging the boys to give it another go. They could now see blood dripping down his right side where Mo had blindly caught him with his knife. Lee strode up to him, unafraid with his brother at his side, and ducked another broad swing of Kifo's knife before throwing all of his power into a sucker punch, which connected squarely with the man's face.

Kifo toppled backward, losing his balance from the momentum of his missed swing in rapid succession with being struck so hard in the face. As he fell to the ground, Lee turned to walk away, lazily dropping the knife behind him as though to say 'I don't need it'. As Lee strode away, the knife fell and plunged into Kifo's left thigh, the same leg that had suffered a blow to the knee.

Lee suddenly turned to face where Kifo laid crumpled in the grass. "You see this?" he said, shaking a foot lazily at the pile of muscle. "I'm walking away. Not running, walking. I'm not afraid. I'm just done..."

With that he turned heel and walked past Mo, who turned and followed him across the grass to where the road was. Silently Lee held out his fist for Mo to pound as they walked down the street until they were sure they were out of sight and out of ear shot.

When they had gone a block, Lee stopped dead in his tracks and whispered excitedly to Mo, "How did you- Where were?"

"I told you I'd be around," Mo grinned at him. "I didn't trust Abeba for a second so I had to follow you and make sure. The knives were a lucky guess. What do you think is gonna happen now?"

"We're gonna end this tonight..." Lee replied with a smile. "Whatever happened that night in Africa, we're getting to the bottom of it and ending it now."

Lee had turned around and was walking slowly back toward the park. Moses followed and asked "But how are we gonna do that?"

He suddenly followed Lee's gaze back to the park and grinned. "Are you- You think?"

Lee smiled knowingly back at Mo and said "I'd bet anything he'll lead us back to Abeba. We find her, we get our answers..."

Mo's eyes were sparkling with excitement as he said under his breath "The hunter becomes the hunted..."

They had by now reached the park and both Mo and Lee hid in the shadows cast by a couple of giant oak trees. Perfectly concealed in the blackness, they watched where Kifo still lay. Presently he got up and hobbled weakly toward the street, reached it and started off slowly in the opposite direction.

The boys slunk from tree to tree, keeping a safe distance behind Kifo as he made his way with impressive speed through the darkened streets. After turn upon turn, he finally made his way down the entirety of main street to where the old Super 8 motel stood next to the ocean. Mo, who had taken to scouting out Kifo's movement when he had reached main street (where there was nowhere to hide), turned and whispered excitedly to Lee.

"He's going to the Super 8! Let's go around the back alley!"

They jogged through the back alley running parallel to the main street and as they approached the motel they slowed to devise a plan.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and see him through a window. After that we wait until she comes out and we confront her..." Mo said thoughtfully. "Do you wanna do it alone or should I come with?"

Lee thought a moment and replied, "I'd better do it alone. We don't wanna complicate it by having you there. Just wait here, I'll go find them..."

• • •

Lee crept along the wall of the Super 8, which was luckily only one level. He was creeping up to the fourth door when he heard a distinct voice coming from inside. He took off, seeking shelter behind the first thing he could find, which happened to be a dumpster. He peered out from behind it to see the door open, making Kifo's voice clearly audible. He was angry, yelling at who Lee could only assume was Abeba. Not long after the door had opened Abeba's small silhouette emerged from the door before it slammed shut.

She paused a moment, head swiveling, and headed towards where Lee hid. Looking around wildly, Lee saw a bench under a sign that read "designated smoking area". Seizing the opportunity, he hustled over and sat, hands folded, waiting for Abeba.

Before long she rounded the corner, cigarette in hand. She walked with her head down, not expecting to meet anybody. As she walked Lee said in a dark voice "Smoking kills, Abeba..."

Her small head snapped up and looked wildly around before locating Lee, who was still sitting calmly. "Lee!" she said in a shocked voice. "What are you? I was just-"

"Stop." Lee said sharply as he rose, immediately silencing his foe. "Don't run. I just wanna talk. Enough blood's been spilled tonight, I just want answers." He was now approaching Abeba slowly, who had taken a step back.

"I'm sorry, Lee. I tried to meet you but he..." She paused a second, thinking wildly, eyes looking everywhere but Lee. "I..."

"Stop." Lee said darkly. "There's nothing you can say that I'll believe anymore. I don't know what happened or why you betrayed us, but I don't trust for a second that you were tricked."

"But Lee..." she said, still in a sweet and innocent voice. "I..."

"Arrgh!" Lee roared in frustration, pounding a hand against the brick wall. "Cut the shit, princess! I'm not buying it anymore so you can just stop. No more sugar coating, no more lies. You're gonna tell me the truth."

His face was inches from hers now and as he talked, a dramatic change came over her face. The sweetness and innocence transformed into a cold calculated stare. Finally being called out for what she was, she seemed to abandon her masquerade. She was dark now, unfeeling and harsh.

"That's better..." said Lee, his tone saying that he had her right where he wanted her. "Now tell me why Kifo called me his little blood diamond." She opened her mouth and was shot a warning look from Lee.

"There's an ancient tribal prophecy." Abeba's voice was flat and icy now, and her eyes were the same as they had been that night so long ago. "A boy with hair stained by the blood of the people of Africa, named by the stars 'the Blood Diamond', would be born when the stars aligned just so. It happens once every century and they aligned the night you were born. The prophecy said that you would be a great warrior and would be undefeatable in battle. Kifo was determined to capture you and bend you to his will. He thinks you're the incarnation of the Blood Diamond and wants to make you his soldier."

The lack of feeling in her words told Lee that she was speaking, for once in her life, the truth. "And growing up together, that meant nothing? You were just getting close to me so you could tell him how to capture me..." Lee concluded, met only by silence and an emotionless stare.

He then turned his back to Adeba, saying in a quiet but firm voice "This... this ends tonight. Tell Kifo that he can dream all he wants. I'm not eight anymore, my mind isn't mush. Remind him that we could have killed him tonight, and that we didn't. Likewise, I'm not gonna hurt you or pursue you. You're gonna leave and I'm never gonna hear from you again. Am I?"

As he turned to face Adeba again he was met by a desperate sounding barrage of cutting words. "Mercy... the weak excuse of the cowardly. The Blood Diamond... HA! That bridge has been burned. Kifo isn't looking to transform you anymore. He's just gonna hunt you down and kill you, you're too weak to be the Blood Diamond! And as for me, you think I'm something that you can just ignore and I'll disappear? I'm inside your soul, Lee. I'm not going anywhere. You're going to be haunted for the rest of your life..."

Lee smiled darkly, knowing that he must have struck a nerve to provoke such a reaction. Her voice was brimming with actual passion now, which was far removed from her practiced voice. In a matter of seconds Lee covered the distance between them and had Abeba pinned against the wall. He spoke barely above a whisper, but with a threatening tension that dared her to move.

"You think you have some privileged place in my life? You're dead. You've been dead for four years, Abeba. Four years. You betrayed an entire village of innocent people to help some raving drunk try to bend and fulfill a pagan prophecy that has absolutely no roots in reality." He looked down, grabbing the gold chain of the necklace that hung limply around her neck.

"You see this?" he said, ripping it off of her neck. "This is a blood diamond." He held up the small red luminous rock to her face, forcing her to look at it. "This chain that you think you have on me?" he continued, shaking the gold chain in her face, "Gone." He took hold of the small red rock attached to the chain and ripped it out, leaving the gold bent and warped. "Take your chain, princess... I'm done."

As he turned and strode from where she was now crumpled against the wall, he heard her slide to the ground, unable to speak or retort. Without so much as a glance over his shoulder he turned the corner and was gone.

• • •

Moses and Lee walked slowly, talking as they made their way through the darkened town. Lee gave his account to a fascinated looking Mo as they walked. Lee told him all about the prophecy about the Blood Diamond and about his confrontation with Adeba.

"Dude... way to go!" Mo said, pride welling in his voice. "Do you think she'll keep her distance?

Lee smiled in the dark. "Oh yeah. She's not coming back. I don't know about Kifo though. If what she said is true, he'll be after us with a vengeance now..."

"That's alright," Mo said, "he knows that we can fight back now. He's gotta just be twisted after tonight."

Lee's hands were now shaking slightly as he rationalized what had gone down over the past hour. After a stretch of silence, Mo asked him quietly, "So what do you think about the whole prophecy thing?"

"Honestly? I don't think there's anything to it. I've always had red in my hair, but it's not like I'm some great, undefeated warrior. You've saved my life like three times. Kifo would have killed me on that island, and he would have killed me again tonight. That doesn't sound like an invincible soldier to me..." Lee spoke slowly and distantly.

Presently, as they made their way through the sparsely lit town they came to the eastern most street, where the slope up from the ocean took a steep incline and the trees met the outskirts of town. Making their way along the edge of town, they found an unlit gravel road and began to ascend it through the trees. The seldom-used road continued upward through the dark silhouettes of trees, turning and finally reaching it's end at a clearing, amidst the trees at the top of the ridge overlooking the small town.

The boys gazed up at the looming shadow of the town's old water tower, surrounded by a haphazardly placed chain link fence. Mo was the first one to clear the fence, followed closely by Lee. They then crossed the distance to where one of the legs of the water tower rose. Mo, again taking the lead, reached for a ladder that would otherwise have been invisible in the darkness and began to ascend the looming black tower.

As the boys reached the top and sat, feet dangling, staring down at the rows of lights sloping down to meet the sea, the sky was riddled with stars, a crescent moon, and wispy clouds that scarred the otherwise perfect gradient of the night sky. The night was breathless and as the boys sat gazing out over their kingdom the silence was deafening. There was no traffic in the streets, which were traced by tiny beads of light along each of the main roads in the seaside town. The air coming up from the ocean was cool, with a salty smell. The boys sat in the stillness, over the dark rooftops.

"What are we doing, Lee?" Mo asked rhetorically.

"What?" asked Lee, genuinely at a loss for words.

"We're not men, we're not warriors or soldiers. We're not heroes or adventurers or kings. We're just kids..." Moses said, sighing tiredly. "We're in way over our heads... we always are. I mean, how is it that we always find ourselves thrown into such heavy stuff?"

The stars were out in full, shining down on the boys as they gazed out into the endless horizon. It was Lee who spoke up next.

"You're right. I wish we could change the stars, change what happens to us and lead normal fourteen-year-old lives..." Lee mused as he gazed into the night.

"This is who we are," said Mo, a realization dawning in his voice. "There's nothing we can do to change what happens to us, all we can do is pray that God's doing it for a reason. Sure Kifo might be hunting for us, but we both know that we're not alone. There's no way I'm always that lucky. No way. There's something out there watching out for us, Lee. You know I'm right..."

There was a long pause. The stars themselves seemed to be taking in a breath. The silence of the night air was deafening and at length Lee spoke up again, this time smiling.

"You're right... We don't have any idea what we're doing, but you're right. There's always been something out there watching over me. Calling me. I was awake when Kifo attacked the village. I heard him coming. I never knew what it was before, but since I've come to realize what it was...." There was another pause as a star went streaking across the dark speckled sky. "It's out there. I can feel it..."
