“Fair enough,” said Zin.

Now that their peace had been made, Isaiah turned to Nick. “So are you just passing through again, or is there something you want from us?”

And that’s when the real work began.

CHAPTER 21
Let ’Er Rip

Winning over the Atlanta Afterlights was a delicate matter, as painstaking, as … well … the making of chocolate. Too hot and it would burn, too cool, and it would lump. With Isaiah’s reluctant permission, Nick introduced Zin to all the Atlanta Afterlights. There were almost four hundred of them. Once more they filled the streets of the Atlanta underground— this time without weapons.

As they gathered, Nick stood patiently with an impatient Zin. Johnnie-O and Charlie provided security, keeping space between them and the curious crowd.

“If things get out of hand, do I got permission to knock some heads?” Johnnie-O asked.

“Absolutely not,” Nick told him.

“You’re no fun,” he grumbled.

When all of Atlanta was there, Isaiah came up to Nick. “Do I introduce you as Nick, Nicholas, or the Chocolate Ogre?”

Nick’s instinct was to simply go by Nick, plain and simple—but if Mary was the Sky Witch, how could he hope to be taken seriously if he was just “Nick”?

“Go with the Ogre,” he told Isaiah. Mary had invented the name as a smear tactic. Well, it was time he used it to his advantage.

Isaiah raised his hand to get everyone’s attention, and in a few moments the murmuring crowd quieted down. “Hey y’all, everybody,” he said, in an informal, yet commanding voice. “This here is the Chocolate Ogre, as I’m sure you already know. I’ve checked him out, and he’s okay. He wants to talk to you, so listen up—and don’t make him mad, or he’ll turn you into chocolate chips or something.”

Nick cleared his throat twice. He was nervous, and whenever he was nervous his throat clogged with chocolate.

“Afterlights of Atlanta,” Nick began. “I come in friendship … and to prove it, I would like to present to you Zinnia the Ripper!”

“Zinnia?” said some kid in the crowd. “Like the flower?”

“Shut yer trap!” said Zin.

Nick pushed on. “I know you’ve all heard bad things about the ripper—just like you’ve heard bad things about me. Well, I’m here to set you straight. The ripper’s not going to rip anyone’s guts out—”

“I could if I wanted to,” said Zin, and Kudzu seconded it with a bark and growl.