A match was struck, lighting four figures.
Fish sucked on his cigarette, the end glowing, as he and his gang stepped out of the shadows.
“Get out of here, Fish,” Diego said. He tried to sound tough, but his heart was racing. This wasn’t a public place like the exhibit hall.
“Can’t do that,” Fish said. He plucked his cigarette between two fingers and waved it in their direction. “Have to rescue the damsel.”
“What are you talking about?” Petey asked.
“It’s a classic tale, really. Damsel in distress and then along comes a hero and his mates.”
“That punk better not think he’s talking about me,” Paige muttered.
Fish scowled. “Not you, love. That one.” He pointed at Lucy.
“Oh, I’m in no need of a rescue, thank you very much,” Lucy said.
“Sure you are. Look at ya: led into associations with a Mid-Time colored girl and a half-breed clock mongrel.”
“Shut up, Fish!” Diego shouted. “What happened to you anyway?”
“I wised up.”
“Sounds like the opposite,” Petey said.
“You need to step off before you step in it,” Paige said.
Fish shook his head. “It’s like there’s this barking and yapping, but I can’t quite understand what it’s saying. Come on, damsel. Before things get ugly.”
“I think the ugly’s already here.” Paige slapped a fist into her palm and glared at Fish.
“Ooh,” Fish said. “I normally wouldn’t hit a lady, but you don’t count.”
“You’d do well to pay her mind,” Lucy said. “And just because I’m a Steam Timer doesn’t mean I’d want anything to do with you hooligans.”
“I see how it is.” Fish flicked his cigarette aside. “Tommy, Seamus: get Ribera and hold him down for me. Billy, grab the skater girl. She’ll be next. And make sure that Petey-boy sees stars!”
“Run!” Diego shouted. He curled his fingers into a fist as the boys advanced.
“Yeah, right!” Paige replied. She’d already dropped her backpack and skateboard. Billy was just reaching for her arm when she darted toward him, grabbed him by the forearm, and judo flipped him to the floor.
“Whoa!” Petey said.
The move made Fish and the others freeze for a second. Diego saw his chance. He lunged for Paige’s skateboard, grabbed it with tingling fingers, and slammed Fish across the face with it.
Fish crumpled to the floor, rolling back and forth, holding his nose and cursing. Tommy and Seamus rushed over to him.
“Okay, now we might want to run!” Lucy said.
“Let’s go!” Diego darted for the hallway, Petey, Lucy, and Paige right behind him.
When they reached the dark corridor, Diego glanced back and saw Billy staggering to his feet, the other two crouched beside Fish.
“Let’s keep moving,” Petey said. They hurried back to the stairs and up to the service door.
Diego shut it and then punched in the key code, but the lock didn’t engage.
“Are you sure it’s the same code to lock it?” Petey asked.
“Please tell me you thought to check that beforehand,” Lucy said.
“Nah, it’s the same,” Diego said. He had no idea. “Just gotta get it right.”
Footsteps thundered up the stairs from below.
“Hurry up!” Lucy said.
“I’m trying.” Diego glanced through the window and saw Tommy and Seamus coming. “Grab the door and hold it shut!” Diego shouted.
As they crowded around him and grabbed the handle, Diego closed his eyes again. Had to push everything out, had to focus. Just the door. Just the intricacies of that lock . . .
Fists pounded on the door, breaking his concentration.
“We . . . can’t . . . hold them!” Petey shouted.
Diego took a deep breath and held it. Sank into his head. Nothing but the lock. Flashes exploded in his mind. He let the visions reach his fingers, tapped at the keypad, and the lock slid shut.
“Mongrel!” Fish shouted, his face pressed against the window, steaming up the glass. Diego could see the blood dripping down his nose. “You’re gonna pay!”
Diego stepped back, panting, and offered Fish a wordless smile and shrug. Angry muffled shouts and thuds continued behind them as they stepped away.
Once they rounded the corner, they stopped to catch their breath.
“Where did you learn to do that?” Petey asked, gazing at Paige.
“One of our neighbors is a jujitsu master,” she said. “My brother . . . and I used to practice with him.”
“Thank you,” Lucy said, her breath still short. “For getting us out of trouble.”
“No problem,” Diego said.
“She meant me, fool,” Paige said. “You’re the one who got us in trouble.” She took her skateboard back from Diego. “You’re just lucky you’re so . . . lucky. And that I was there to bail you out.”
She and Lucy started across the hall.
“But . . . ,” Diego said, “you have to admit: not bad, right? For a couple of kids?”
“Whatever,” Paige said, not looking back.
Lucy glanced over her shoulder but didn’t say a word.
Diego and Petey wound their way through the Ice Age hall looking for their class.
“So?” Petey asked.
“So what?” Diego replied. “I wish I could’ve hit Fish again for what he said.”
“Ah, don’t listen to him,” Petey said. “Fish doesn’t know nothin’, and his people are ignorant. You just gotta ignore it.”
“It’s not that easy,” Diego said. “Clock mongrel.” The words made him clench his fists. The name was vicious and hateful. He wanted to believe that Joe didn’t really mean it deep down, that he was only imitating his father and his brothers. But Fish had changed.
“Well, you showed him. And you’ll show him again. But hey . . .” Petey draped an arm around his shoulders. “Besides, that’s not even what I meant.”
“Huh?”
“I meant, what do you think about Lucy?”
“Oh,” Diego said. “I’m trying not to.”
The school day passed in a blur. Diego and Petey decided not to fly the gravity boards at lunch, worried that Fish and his gang might be waiting for a chance at payback, and instead stayed in the cafeteria. Diego kept an eye out for them in the halls after lunch too, and also for Lucy.
After school, Petey drove the Goldfish, delivering Diego to the ferry station.
“What’s up?” Diego asked over a new cassette, this one by another of his dad’s favorite bands, U2. Petey had been quiet all day since the fight with Fish.
“Nothing,” he said.